下载掌阅APP，畅读海量书库
立即打开
星期一
这个长头发的新生物真碍事。它总是在我周围晃悠，跟着我走来走去。我不喜欢这样，也不习惯有谁陪在我身边。我希望它老老实实地和其他动物待在一起。今天阴天，刮东风，感觉我们要有雨了……我们？这个词，我是从哪儿学来的？对，想起来了——是新生物用的。
Monday
This new creature with the long hair is a good deal in the way. It is always hanging around and following me about. I don't like this；I am not used to company. I wish it would stay with the other animals. Cloudy today, wind in the east；think we shall have rain……Where did I get that word?……I remember now—the new creature uses it.
星期二
我仔细地观察了大瀑布。我觉得大瀑布是这里最美的事物。新来的人为其取名为尼亚加拉大瀑布——我不知道这个名字是怎么取的。新来的人说因为它看起来像尼亚加拉大瀑布。
Tuesday
Been examining the great waterfall. It is the finest thing on the estate, I think. The new creature calls it Niagara Falls—why, I am sure I do not know. Says it looks like Niagara Falls.
这可不是理由，仅仅是因为任性和愚蠢罢了。我根本没有机会为事物取名。我还来不及提出抗议，新来的人就为所有遇到的东西取好了名字。每次的理由都一样——那东西看起来像什么，就取了那个名。
That is not a reason；it is mere waywardness and imbecility. I get no chance to name anything myself. The new creature names everything that comes along, before I can get in a protest. And always that same pretext is offered—it looks like the thing.
比如渡渡鸟，新来的人说只要看上一眼，就会觉得那东西“看起来像渡渡鸟”。毫无疑问，渡渡鸟这个名字就定下来了。我厌烦自己为这件事苦恼，而且这样做又没好处。渡渡鸟！那东西看起来像渡渡鸟？我看还不如我像呢。
There is the dodo, for instance. Says the moment one looks at it one sees at a glance that it“looks like a dodo.”It will have to keep that name, no doubt. It wearies me to fret about it, and it does no good, anyway. Dodo！It looks no more like a dodo than I do.
星期三
我搭了个避雨的居所，却不能静静地独自享用。新来的生物闯了进来。当我把它赶出去的时候，它那用来看东西的两个小孔流出了水，然后它用它爪子的背面把水擦去，还发出动物伤心时会发出的声音。
Wednesday
Built me a shelter against the rain, but could not have it to myself in peace. The new creature intruded. When I tried to put it out it shed water out of the holes it looks with, and wiped it away with the back of its paws, and made a noise such as some of the other animals make when they are in distress.
它总是在说话，我希望它能消停一会儿。这听起来像是对这个可怜的东西的嘲讽，是在诽谤它，但我本意并非如此。我只是从未听过人的声音，这片梦一般孤寂的地方庄严静谧，任何新奇的声音都会让我的耳朵不舒服，听着不对劲。而且新来的人的声音离我太近了；就在我的肩头，在我耳边，先是在这一侧，然后又到了另一侧，而我所习惯的声音，多少都离我比较远一些。
I wish it would not talk；it is always talking. That sounds like a cheap fling at the poor creature, a slur；but I do not mean it so. I have never heard the human voice before, and any new and strange sound intruding itself here upon the solemn hush of these dreaming solitudes offends my ear and seems a false note. And this new sound is so close to me；it is right at my shoulder, right at my ear，first on one side and then on the other, and I am used only to sounds that are more or less distant from me.
星期五
虽然能做的我都做了，但新生物仍在无所顾忌地取名。对于这个地方，我本来有个特别好的名字，动听又美丽，叫作“伊甸园”。私下里，我还是用这个称呼，但公开使用就不行了。因为它说这里全是树木、岩石和自然风光，所以一点也不像花园。它还说这里像个公园，别的什么也不像。
Friday
The naming goes recklessly on, in spite of anything I can do. I had a very good name for the estate, and it was musical and pretty—GARDEN-OF-EDEN. Privately, I continue to call it that, but not any longer publicly. The new creature says it is all woods and rocks and scenery, and therefore has no resemblance to a garden. Says it looks like a park, and does not look like anything but a park.
结果，在没跟我商量的情况下，这地方就有了一个新名字——尼亚加拉瀑布公园。在我看来，这种行为真是专横得很。而且它还立了一块标识牌，上面写着：
不要践踏草地！
我的日子没有之前快乐了。
Consequently, without consulting me, it has been new-named—NIAGARA FALLS PARK. This is sufficiently high-handed, it seems to me. And already there is a sign up：
KEEP OFF THE GRASS
My life is not as happy as it was.
星期六
新生物吃了太多果子。我们很可能要遇到水果短缺的情况了。我又用了“我们”——这个词是新生物用的，我现在也用这个词了。今天早上雾很大。有雾的话，我不会独自出门。但新生物照样会出去。无论什么天气，它都会出门，哪怕回来的时候脚上沾满泥巴，也直接迈步就进来。新生物总在说话。之前这里可是又宜人又安静的。
Saturday
The new creature eats too much fruit. We are going to run short, most likely.“We”again—that is its word；mine too, now, from hearing it so much. Good deal of fog this morning. I do not go out in the fog myself. The new creature does. It goes out in all weathers, and stumps right in with its muddy feet. And talks. It used to be so pleasant and quiet here.
星期天
熬过一日。星期天越来越难熬。去年十一月，这一天被挑出来专门作为休息日。但在这天之前，我每个星期已经有六天休息的日子了。今天上午，我发现这个新生物在试图用土块把禁树上的苹果打下来。
Sunday
Pulled through. This day is getting to be more and more trying. It was selected and set apart last November as a day of rest. I already had six of them per week, before. This morning[I]found the new creature trying to clod apples out of that forbidden tree.
星期一
新生物说它的名字叫夏娃。这没问题，我并不反对。它说我可以在找它的时候喊这个名字。当时，我说这纯属多余。但“多余”这个词，显然让它对我更加尊敬；这的确是个很大、很好的词，经得起多说几遍。新生物还说它不是“它”，而是“她”。我对此怀有疑问；但无论如何它对我来说都是同一个生物。只要她安安静静地自己待着，不要说话，她究竟是什么，对我而言无关紧要。
Monday
The new creature says its name is Eve. That is all right, I have no objections. Says it is to call it by when I want it to come. I said it was superfluous, then. The word evidently raised me in its respect；and indeed it is a large, good word, and will bear repetition. It says it is not an It, it is a She. This is probably doubtful；yet it is all one to me；what she is were nothing to me if she would but go by herself and not talk.
星期二
她用讨人厌的名字和标识牌把这个地方弄得一团乱，牌子上写着：
此路通往漩涡。
此路通往山羊岛。
风洞由此向前。
Tuesday
She has littered the whole estate with execrable names and offensive signs：
THIS WAY TO THE WHIRLPOOL.
THIS WAY TO GOAT ISLAND.
CAVE OF THE WINDS THIS WAY.
她说这里会变成一个不错的避暑胜地，如果有这种做法的话。避暑胜地——这是她发明的另一个词——只是词语而已，没有任何意义。不过，什么是避暑胜地呢？最好别问她，否则她会解释个没完没了。
She says this park would make a tidy summer resort, if there was any custom for it. Summer resort—another invention of hers—just words, without any meaning. What is a summer resort?But it is best not to ask her, she has such a rage for explaining.
星期五
她最近总是求我不要再去瀑布了。去瀑布那边有什么坏处吗？她说那会让她不寒而栗。我不明白为什么。我总是这么做——我喜欢水流直泻而下，喜欢那种凉爽。我认为这正是瀑布的作用。我看不出它们还有什么别的用处，而且它们一定是为了有些什么用处才存在的。她说瀑布的存在只是为了风景而已——就像犀牛和乳齿象一样。
Friday
She has taken to beseeching me to stop going over the Falls. What harm does it do?Says it makes her shudder. I wonder why. I have always done it—always liked the plunge, and the excitement, and the coolness. I supposed it was what the Falls were for. They have no other use that I can see, and they must have been made for something. She says they were only made for scenery—like the rhinoceros and the mastodon.
我坐着木桶前往瀑布——但她不满意。我坐着盆去——她还是不满意。我穿着无花果叶子做的衣服，到漩涡和急流中游泳。结果衣服破损得很厉害。于是她又没完没了地抱怨我浪费。我在这里真是束手束脚。我必须要换个地方了。
I went over the Falls in a barrel—not satisfactory to her. Went over in a tub—still not satisfactory. Swam the Whirlpool and the Rapids in a fig-leaf suit. It got much damaged. Hence, tedious complaints about my extravagance. I am too much hampered here. What I need is change of scene.
星期六
上周二的晚上，我逃出来游荡了两天，在隐蔽的地方造了另一个住处，还尽可能把我的踪迹掩盖起来，但她还是凭借一头由她驯服的野兽找到了我，她把那头野兽叫作狼，她又发出了那种可怜的声音，用来看东西的地方也流出水来。我只好跟她回去，但只要时机一到，我还是会立刻离开。
Saturday
I escaped last Tuesday night, and travelled two days, and built me another shelter, in a secluded place, and obliterated my tracks as well as I could, but she hunted me out by means of a beast which she has tamed and calls a wolf, and came making that pitiful noise again, and shedding that water out of the places she looks with. I was obliged to return with her, but will presently emigrate again, when occasion offers.
她做了许多愚蠢的事——比如，她想知道为什么叫作狮子和老虎的动物会以草和花为生，据她所说，从它们所拥有的锋利牙齿来看，它们应该相互撕咬、吃掉对方。这太蠢了，因为这样做就会杀死对方，就会招来我理解的所谓的“死亡”；而据我所知，这个地方从未发生过死亡。从某些方面来说，我觉得这有点遗憾。
She engages herself in many foolish things：among others, trying to study out why the animals called lions and tigers live on grass and flowers, when, as she says, the sort of teeth they wear would indicate that they were intended to eat each other. This is foolish, because to do that would be to kill each other, and that would introduce what, as I understand it, is called“death”；and death, as I have been told, has not yet entered the Park. Which is a pity, on some accounts.
星期天
熬过一日。
Sunday
Pulled through.
星期一
我相信我明白了每个星期的意义：它是为了消除星期天的疲劳。这个主意似乎不错……她又爬上了那棵树。我用土块把她赶了下来。她说反正没人在看。她似乎认为只要没人看见，就有充分的正当理由去冒险。我把这话告诉了她。“正当理由”这个词让她十分赞赏——我想她或许还有点妒忌。这真是个好词。
Monday
I believe I see what the week is for：it is to give time to rest up from the weariness of Sunday. It seems a good idea……She has been climbing that tree again. Clodded her out of it. She said nobody was looking. Seems to consider that a sufficient justification for chancing any dangerous thing. Told her that. The word justification moved her admiration—and envy too, I thought. It is a good word.
星期四
她告诉我，她是用我身上的一根肋骨做的。就算这不是胡说，多少也让人怀疑。我明明没有缺少肋骨……她很为那只秃鹫操心：她觉得秃鹫应该吃腐肉而不是青草，她担心养不了它。我觉得，秃鹫应该尽可能地适应现有情况。我们不能为了迁就秃鹫，而推翻所有的秩序。
Thursday
She told me she was made out of a rib taken from my body. This is at least doubtful, if not more than that. I have not missed any rib……She is in much trouble about the buzzard；says grass does not agree with it；is afraid she can't raise it；thinks it was intended to live on decayedflesh. The buzzard must get along the best it can with what is provided. We cannot overturn the whole scheme to accommodate the buzzard.
星期六
她常常在池塘边看自己的倒影，昨天她又这样做，结果掉下去了。她差点窒息而死，她说那种差点窒息的感觉让她很难受。
Saturday
She fell in the pond yesterday, when she was looking at herself in it, which she is always doing. She nearly strangled, and said it was most uncomfortable.
于是她很同情活在水里的生物，她把它们叫作“鱼”——她仍然在给各种东西取名，其实它们并不需要名字，就算喊那些名字它们也不会来，不过这对她无关紧要，反正她就是这么傻——昨天晚上她把鱼捞出来，放在我的床上让它们取暖。然而，我整天不时去看看这些鱼，也没看出它们比以前更快乐，只是更安静了。
This made her sorry for the creatures which live in there, which she calls fish, for she continues to fasten names on to things that don't need them and don't come when they are called by them, which is a matter of no consequence to her, as she is such a numskull anyway；so she got a lot of them out and brought them in last night and put them in my bed to keep warm, but I have noticed them now and then all day, and I don't see that they are any happier there than they were before, only quieter.
等夜幕降临，我就要把它们扔出去。我不想再和鱼一起睡觉，因为我发现，如果光着身子和它们躺在一起，就会又湿又冷，很不舒服。
When night comes I shall throw them out-doors. I will not sleep with them again, for I find them clammy and unpleasant to lie among when a person hasn’t anything on.
星期天
熬过一日。
Sunday
Pulled through.
星期二
她现在和一条蛇关系很好。其他动物都很高兴，因为她总是拿它们做实验，打扰它们；我也很高兴，因为蛇会说话，我就能休息一下了。
Tuesday
She has taken up with a snake now. The other animals are glad, for she was always experimenting with them and bothering them；and I am glad, because the snake talks, and this enables me to get a rest.
星期五
她说，蛇建议她尝尝那棵树的果子，结果会是一次重要、美好而又高尚的教育。我告诉她，还会有另一种结果——这样做会把死亡带到这个世界。我不该指出这一点的——把这话放在心里会更好；我这样说，只会让她想到，她可以拯救生病的秃鹫，也能给垂头丧气的狮子和老虎提供新鲜的肉。我劝她不要靠近那棵树。她说她不会靠近的。我觉得要有麻烦。我要离开这里。
Friday
She says the snake advises her to try the fruit of that tree, and says the result will be a great and fne and noble education. I told her there would be another result, too—it would introduce death into the world. That was a mistake—it had been better to keep the remark to myself；it only gave her an idea—she could save the sick buzzard, and furnish fresh meat to the despondent lions and tigers. I advised her to keep away from the tree. She said she wouldn’t. I foresee trouble. Will emigrate.
星期三
我过得很愉快。昨晚我逃了出来，骑了一整夜的马，尽可能地快跑，希望能在麻烦发生之前离开公园，躲到别的地方去；但我没能如愿。
Wednesday
I have had a variegated time. I escaped that night, and rode a horse all night as fast as he could go, hoping to get clear out of the Park and hide in some other country before the trouble should begin；but it was not to be.
日出后大约一小时，我骑着马穿过一片鲜花盛开的平原，数不清的动物正如往常一样各随其好地吃草、睡觉或相互嬉戏，突然，它们发出一阵暴风雨般可怕的声音，一时间，整个平原陷入了疯狂的骚动中，每一只野兽都在撕咬身边的同伴。
About an hour after sunup, as I was riding through a flowery plain where thousands of animals were grazing, slumbering, or playing with each other, according to their wont, all of a sudden they broke into a tempest of frightful noises, and in one moment the plain was in a frantic commotion and every beast was destroying its neighbor.
我知道这是怎么回事——夏娃吃了那棵禁树的果子，死亡来到了这个世界……老虎吃了我的马，当我让它们不要那样做，它们毫不理睬。如果我留下来，它们也会把我吃掉的——我没有留下，而是匆忙地离开了……我找到了现在这个地方，在公园外面，这几天相当舒服，但她还是找到了我。
I knew what it meant—Eve had eaten that fruit, and death was come into the world……The tigers ate my horse, paying no attention when I ordered them to desist, and they would even have eaten me if I had stayed—which I didn't, but went away in much haste……I found this place, outside the Park, and was fairly comfortable for a few days, but she has found me out.
她找了过来，还把这个地方命名为“托那旺达”——说它看起来像“托那旺达”。事实上，我并不觉得她的到来不好，因为这里能摘的东西很少，而她带来了一些苹果。我太饿了，不得不吃了些苹果。这有违我的原则，但我发现，在填不饱肚子的时候，原则是虚弱无力的……
Found me out, and has named the place Tonawanda—says it looks like that. In fact, I was not sorry she came, for there are but meagre pickings here, and she brought some of those apples. I was obliged to eat them, I was so hungry. It was against my principles, but I find that principles have no real force except when one is well fed……
她来的时候，身上的树枝和一把把树叶像帘子一样遮蔽着她的身体，我问她这样瞎闹是什么意思，还把枝叶一把拽下来扔到了地上，这时她傻傻地笑了，脸涨得通红。我从来没有见过一个人这样哧哧地傻笑、脸红，在我看来，这既难看又愚蠢。她说我很快就会知道怎么回事。这话说得对。
She came curtained in boughs and bunches of leaves, and when I asked her what she meant by such nonsense, and snatched them away and threw them down, she tittered and blushed. I had never seen a person titter and blush before, and to me it seemed unbecoming and idiotic. She said I would soon know how it was myself. This was correct.
虽然我很饿，但苹果只吃了一半我就放下了——虽然这无疑是我所见过的最好的苹果，毕竟这个季节就要过去了——我把刚才扔掉的树枝挂在自己身上，然后有些严肃地跟她说话，让她再去找些树枝来，不要这样出洋相。
Hungry as I was, I laid down the apple half eaten—certainly the best one I ever saw, considering the lateness of the season—and arrayed myself in the discarded boughs and branches, and then spoke to her with some severity and ordered her to go and get some more and not make such a spectacle of herself.
夏娃照做了，之后，我们爬到野兽搏斗过的地方，收集了一些兽皮，我让她做了几件在公开场合穿的衣服。这些衣服的确不舒服，但很时尚，时尚才是衣服的重点……
She did it, and after this we crept down to where the wild-beast battle had been, and collected some skins, and I made her patch together a couple of suits proper for public occasions. They are uncomfortable, it is true, but stylish, and that is the main point about clothes……
我发现她是个很好的伴侣。我明白，我已经失去了所有的一切，如果再没有她，我会感到寂寞和沮丧。还有一件事，她说今后我们必须干活来养活自己，她也会帮忙。我会监督她的。
I find she is a good deal of a companion. I see I should be lonesome and depressed without her, now that I have lost my property. Another thing, she says it is ordered that we work for our living hereafter. She will be useful. I will superintend.
十天后
她竟然指责我，说我是造成这场灾难的原因！她带着一脸恳切和真诚说，那条蛇曾向她保证，禁果不是苹果，而是栗子。我说我是无辜的，因为我没有吃过什么栗子。她说，蛇告诉她，“栗子”是个比喻的说法，指的是老掉牙的过时笑话。
Ten Days Later
She accuses me of being the cause of our disaster！She says, with apparent sincerity and truth, that the Serpent assured her that the forbidden fruit was not apples, it was chestnuts. I said I was innocent, then, for I had not eaten any chestnuts. She said the Serpent informed her that“chestnut”was a figurative term meaning an aged and mouldy joke.
听了这话，我的脸都变白了，因为我开过许多玩笑来打发无聊的时光，其中有些可能就是她说的那种笑话，虽然我在说那些笑话的时候，确实以为它们是新的。她问我是不是在灾难发生的时候讲了什么笑话。我不得不承认，我当时确实给自己讲了一个，不过没有大声说出来。
I turned pale at that, for I have made many jokes to pass the weary time, and some of them could have been of that sort, though I had honestly supposed that they were new when I made them. She asked me if I had made one just at the time of the catastrophe. I was obliged to admit that I had made one to myself, though not aloud.
情况是这样的，我当时想到了瀑布，我在心里说：“看到这么多水从上面滚落下来，多么美妙啊！”然后刹那间，我脑子里闪过一个聪明的念头，我一时兴起地说道：“要是能看到水从下往上流，那就更妙了！”——这个念头让我笑得不行，就在这时，大自然的一切在战争和死亡中全乱了套，我也只能逃命去了。
It was this. I was thinking about the Falls, and I said to myself，“How wonderful it is to see that vast body of water tumble down there！”Then in an instant a bright thought flashed into my head, and I let it fly, saying，“It would be a deal more wonderful to see it tumble up there！”—and I was just about to kill myself with laughing at it when all nature broke loose in war and death, and I had to flee for my life.
“瞧，”她得意扬扬地说：“这就对了。蛇提到的就是这个笑话，说它是‘第一枚栗子’，还说它与造物主是同时代的。”唉，确实该怪我。真希望我没那么机灵；哎呀，我要是从来没有过那个聪明念头就好了！
“There，”she said, with triumph，“that is just it；the Serpent mentioned that very jest, and called it the First Chestnut, and said it was coeval with the creation.”Alas, I am indeed to blame. Would that I were not witty；oh, would that I had never had that radiant thought！
次年
我们把这个捡来的小家伙叫作“该隐”。我在伊利湖北岸设陷阱捕猎的时候，夏娃抓到了这个小家伙；她在树林里捉到了它，那片树林离我们的地洞几英里远——也许是四英里，她也不确定。
Next Year
We have named it Cain. She caught it while I was up country trapping on the North Shore of the Erie；caught it in the timber a couple of miles from our dug-out—or it might have been four, she isn't certain which.
夏娃觉得它在某些地方与我们很像，可能是我们的亲戚。但我不这么认为。它的体型和我们相差太大，由此可以断定，这是一种不同的新动物——或许是一种鱼，我把它放到水里来看看是不是，它却沉下去了，夏娃跳下水把它抓了回来，实验就此中止，于是也就搞不清了。
It resembles us in some ways, and may be a relation. That is what she thinks, but this is an error, in my judgment. The difference in size warrants the conclusion that it is a different and new kind of animal—a fish, perhaps, though when I put it in the water to see, it sank, and she plunged in and snatched it out before there was opportunity for the experiment to determine the matter.
我还是觉得它是条鱼，但她并不关心它到底是什么，也不让我再拿它去试。我真不明白。这个生物一来，她整个人似乎都变了，对实验很不理智。她经常想着它，对它的关心超过其他所有动物，但又解释不了为什么。
I still think it is a fish, but she is indifferent about what it is, and will not let me have it to try. I do not understand this. The coming of the creature seems to have changed her whole nature and made her unreasonable about experiments. She thinks more of it than she does of any of the other animals, but is not able to explain why.
从很多事上都能看出，她大脑混乱了。有时那条鱼不开心，要到水里去，她就把它抱在怀里，半个晚上都不放下。这时，她脸上用来看东西的地方就会流出水来，她拍着那条鱼的背，嘴里发出轻柔的声音抚慰它，表现出无尽的忧伤和牵挂。我没见过她这样对待其他鱼，这让我很担心。
Her mind is disordered—everything shows it. Sometimes she carries the fish in her arms half the night when it complains and wants to get to the water. At such times the water comes out of the places in her face that she looks out of, and she pats the fish on the back and makes soft sounds with her mouth to soothe it, and betrays sorrow and solicitude in a hundred ways. I have never seen her do like this with any other fish, and it troubles me greatly.
以前，在我们没有失去伊甸园的时候，她也曾这样抱小老虎，与它们玩耍，但也只是与它们玩儿；如果老虎不喜欢它们的晚餐，她也不会像现在这样激动。
She used to carry the young tigers around so, and play with them, before we lost our property；but it was only play；she never took on about them like this when their dinner disagreed with them.
星期天
她在星期天不干活，就躺在那儿，看起来疲惫不堪。她喜欢让那条鱼在她身上打滚，还发出傻傻的声音逗它开心，假装要咬它的爪子，这会让它大笑起来。以前我从未见过会笑的鱼。这让我很想不通……我开始喜欢上星期天了。整整一星期的工作让身体累得够呛。星期天应该更多一些。我以前觉得星期天很难熬，但现在，有星期天可真不错。
Sunday
She doesn't work Sundays, but lies around all tired out, and likes to have the fish wallow over her；and she makes fool noises to amuse it, and pretends to chew its paws, and that makes it laugh. I have not seen a fish before that could laugh. This makes me doubt……I have come to like Sunday myself. Superintending all the week tires a body so. There ought to be more Sundays. In the old days they were tough, but now they come in handy.
星期三
它不是鱼。究竟是什么我也不太清楚。它如果感到不满，就会发出奇怪的、魔鬼似的声音；感到满足的时候就会“咕咕”叫。我觉得它跟我们不是同类，因为它不走路；也不是鸟，因为它不会飞；也不是青蛙，因为它不会跳；也不是蛇，因为它不爬行。虽然我无法知道它究竟会不会游泳，但我确定它不是鱼。
Wednesday
It isn't a fish. I cannot quite make out what it is. It makes curious, devilish noises when not satisfied, and says“goo-goo”when it is. It is not one of us, for it doesn’t walk；it is not a bird, for it doesn’t fly；it is not a frog, for it doesn’t hop；it is not a snake, for it doesn’t crawl；I feel sure it is not a fish, though I cannot get a chance to find out whether it can swim or not.
它常常脸朝上，四脚朝天地躺着。我从没见过其他动物这样做。我说它是个谜；可她只是钦佩“谜”这个字眼，并不理解真正的意思。在我看来，它要么是个谜，要么就是种虫子。如果它死了，我就把它打开，看看它的构造。从来没什么东西让我如此困惑。
It merely lies around, and mostly on its back, with its feet up. I have not seen any other animal do that before. I said I believed it was an enigma, but she only admired the word without understanding it. In my judgment it is either an enigma or some kind of a bug. If it dies, I will take it apart and see what its arrangements are. I never had a thing perplex me so.
三个月后
我的困惑没有减少，反而增加了。我睡得很少。它现在已经不愿意躺着，而是开始用四条腿到处爬行。可是它的前腿特别短，和其他四条腿的动物都不一样。结果，它身体的大部分都别扭地立在空中，这可真不好看。
Three Months Later
The perplexity augments instead of diminishing. I sleep but little. It has ceased from lying around, and goes about on its four legs now. Yet it differs from the other four-legged animals in that its front legs are unusually short, consequently this causes the main part of its person to stick up uncomfortably high in the air, and this is not attractive.
它的身体和我们差不多，但它走路的样子说明它和我们不是同类。它前肢短、后肢长，这说明它属于袋鼠科，但它显然是个变种，因为真正的袋鼠会跳，它却不跳。不过，它是一种奇特而有趣的变种，此前都没有相关记载。
It is built much as we are, but its method of travelling shows that it is not of our breed. The short front legs and long hind ones indicate that it is of the kangaroo family, but it is a marked variation of the species, since the true kangaroo hops, whereas this one never does. Still, it is a curious and interesting variety, and has not been catalogued before.
既然这一点是由我发现的，我觉得应该让它冠上我的名字，来显示这份荣耀，于是我称之为亚当袋鼠……
As I discovered it, I have felt justified in securing the credit of the discovery by attaching my name to it, and hence have called it Kangaroorum Adamiensis……
它来的时候，应该还是个幼崽，因为它后来一直在长。它现在肯定有刚来时五倍那么大，不满足时发出的声音也更大，是一开始的二十二到三十八倍。威吓没法让它安静，还会适得其反。于是我放弃了这个办法。夏娃则轻声安抚来让它安静，或者给它点东西，她之前明明跟我说不会给它。
It must have been a young one when it came, for it has grown exceedingly since. It must be five times as big, now, as it was then, and when discontented is able to make from twenty-two to thirty-eight times the noise it made at first. Coercion does not modify this, but has the contrary effect. For this reason I discontinued the system. She reconciles it by persuasion, and by giving it things which she had previously told it she wouldn’t give it.
前面说过，当初它来的时候，我不在家，夏娃对我说，她是在树林里找到这个小东西的。如果说它独自一个、没有同类，似乎有些奇怪，但实际情况好像真是这样，因为最近几个星期，我疲于再找一个这样的生物来扩充收藏，还能跟它做个玩伴——如果有个伴儿，它肯定要安静一点吧，这样我们就能更轻易地驯服它。但我一个都没找到，也没有发现它的同类留下的痕迹，而最奇怪的是，没有脚印。
As already observed, I was not at home when it first came, and she told me she found it in the woods. It seems odd that it should be the only one, yet it must be so, for I have worn myself out these many weeks trying to find another one to add to my collection, and for this one to play with；for surely then it would be quieter, and we could tame it more easily. But I find none, nor any vestige of any；and strangest of all, no tracks.
它肯定生活在陆地上，这一点毋庸置疑；那么，它怎么能四处走动而不留下脚印呢？我设了十多个陷阱，抓到了所有小动物，也没抓到像它这样的小东西。我想，那些动物完全是出于好奇才走进陷阱，它们就是想看看放在那儿的奶是干吗用的。它们并不喝奶。
It has to live on the ground, it cannot help itself；therefore, how does it get about without leaving a track?I have set a dozen traps, but they do no good. I catch all small animals except that one；animals that merely go into the trap out of curiosity, I think, to see what the milk is there for. They never drink it.
又三个月后
这只袋鼠还在长，真是奇怪，让人疑惑。我从没见过别的袋鼠要花这么久的时间长大。现在它脑袋上长出了毛，不像袋鼠的毛，倒和我们的头发一模一样，不过更细、更软，不是黑色而是红色的。
Three Months Later
The kangaroo still continues to grow, which is very strange and perplexing. I never knew one to be so long getting its growth. It has fur on its head now；not like kangaroo fur, but exactly like our hair, except that it is much finer and softer, and instead of being black is red.
这只小怪物在动物学上没法归类，它的生长过程变化莫测、令人烦躁，都要把我逼疯了。要是能再抓到一只就好了——但这不太可能。毫无疑问，这是一种新物种，而且仅此一只。
I am like to lose my mind over the capricious and harassing developments of this unclassifiable zoological freak. If I could catch another one—but that is hopeless；it is a new variety, and the only sample；this is plain.
我觉得它很孤单，一个亲戚也没有，应该会愿意去找只袋鼠做伴，甚至愿意找任何动物，只要对方能让它感到亲近或者给予它同情，毕竟它现在处境凄凉，周围都是不懂它的生活方式和习惯的陌生人，也不懂该怎么做才能让它感到友好，于是我抓了一只真正的袋鼠带回家。但是，我想错了——它一看到袋鼠就发起狂来，于是我相信它以前并没有见过袋鼠。
But I caught a true kangaroo and brought it in, thinking that this one, being lonesome, would rather have that for company than have no kin at all, or any animal it could feel a nearness to or get sympathy from in its forlorn condition here among strangers who do not know its ways or habits, or what to do to make it feel that it is among friends；but it was a mistake—it went into such fits at the sight of the kangaroo that I was convinced it had never seen one before.
这可怜的小动物叫嚷不休，我很怜悯它，却没办法让它开心。我要是能驯服它就好了……但这不可能；我越是努力，结果似乎越糟糕。
I pity the poor noisy little animal, but there is nothing I can do to make it happy. If I could tame it—but that is out of the question；the more I try, the worse I seem to make it.
看着这小东西一阵阵的悲伤和激动，我心里很难过。我想把它放了，可夏娃不答应。这似乎太残忍了，不像她的行事风格，不过她或许是对的。如果放它走，它也许会更孤独，既然我都不能给它找到同伴，它自己怎么能找到呢？
It grieves me to the heart to see it in its little storms of sorrow and passion. I wanted to let it go, but she wouldn't hear of it. That seemed cruel and not like her；and yet she may be right. It might be lonelier than ever；for since I cannot find another one, how could it?
五个月后
它不是袋鼠。肯定不是，因为它能握着夏娃的手指站稳，接着用后肢走几步，然后倒下来。它很可能是某种熊，但又没有尾巴——目前还没有，而且它只有脑袋上长了毛。它还在不断发育——这就有些奇怪了，因为熊的发育比这早很多。
Five Months Later
It is not a kangaroo. No, for it supports itself by holding to her finger, and thus goes a few steps on its hind legs, and then falls down. It is probably some kind of a bear；and yet it has no tail—as yet—and no fur, except on its head. It still keeps on growing—that is a curious circumstance, for bears get their growth earlier than this.
自从灾难降临到我们身上，熊是很危险的，所以，如果这头熊嘴上不戴罩子，在我们住的地方晃来晃去，我会很不放心。我跟她说，如果她愿意把它放了，我就给她抓一只袋鼠，但我的提议没用。我想，她是铁了心要让我们去进行愚蠢的冒险。她脑子出了问题，她以前可不是这个样子。
Bears are dangerous—since our catastrophe—and I shall not be satisfied to have this one prowling about the place much longer without a muzzle on. I have offered to get her a kangaroo if she would let this one go, but it did no good—she is determined to run us into all sorts of foolish risks, I think. She was not like this before she lost her mind.
两个星期后
我查看了它的嘴巴。它只有一颗牙，目前还不算危险。它的尾巴也还没长出来。现在，它比以前更吵闹了——大多是在夜里吵。我已经搬出去了。不过我还是会过去，早上我去吃早饭，顺便看看它有没有长出新牙。等它长出满嘴的牙齿，就该让它离开了，不管它到时有没有尾巴，因为熊就算没有尾巴，也是很危险的。
A Fortnight Later
I examined its mouth. There is no danger yet；it has only one tooth. It has no tail yet. It makes more noise now than it ever did before—and mainly at night. I have moved out. But I shall go over, mornings, to breakfast, and to see if it has more teeth. If it gets a mouthful of teeth, it will be time for it to go, tail or no tail, for a bear does not need a tail in order to be dangerous.
四个月后
我已经在外打猎捕鱼一个月了，就在夏娃取名为“水牛”的地方，我不明白她为什么取这个名字，难道是因为那里根本没有水牛。与此同时，这头熊已经学会了自己用后肢摇摇晃晃地走路，还会说“爸爸”和“妈妈”。
Four Months Later
I have been off hunting and fishing a month, up in the region that she calls Buffalo；I don't know why, unless it is because there are not any buffaloes there. Meantime the bear has learned to paddle around all by itself on its hind legs, and says“poppa”and“momma”.
它肯定是个新物种。它发出的声音很像单词，肯定只是凑巧，并没有什么目的或意义。不过，尽管如此，这也很不寻常了，因为别的熊可都不会。它能模仿人说话，身上基本上没有皮毛，没有尾巴，这充分表明，它是一种新的熊。
It is certainly a new species. This resemblance to words may be purely accidental, of course, and may have no purpose or meaning；but even in that case it is still extraordinary, and is a thing which no other bear can do. This imitation of speech, taken together with general absence of fur and entire absence of tail, sufficiently indicates that this is a new kind of bear.
进一步探究的话，肯定会非常有趣。与此同时，我打算去北方的树林远行，彻底地搜索一番。肯定还有这样的熊在某个地方，如果有同类做伴，这头熊就不那么危险。我马上就动身，但我要先把这头熊的嘴给套住。
The further study of it will be exceedingly interesting. Meantime I will go off on a far expedition among the forests of the North and make an exhaustive search. There must certainly be another one somewhere, and this one will be less dangerous when it has company of its own species. I will go straightway；but I will muzzle this one first.
三个月后
这次搜索很累、很累，而且我一无所获。然而与此同时，夏娃待在家里，竟然又抓了一个它的同类！我从没有这么好的运气。就算我在树林里找个一百年，也遇不到这样的东西。
Three Months Later
It has been a weary, weary hunt, yet I have had no success. In the meantime, without stirring from the home estate, she has caught another one！I never saw such luck. I might have hunted these woods a hundred years, I never should have run across that thing.
次日
我一直在比较新抓住的这只和原来那只，它们显然属于同一物种。我本来想把其中一只做成标本，收藏起来，但不知道为什么，她却反对这种做法，于是我放弃了这个念头，虽然我觉得放弃是个错误。万一它们逃走了，那将是科学上无法弥补的损失。
Next Day
I have been comparing the new one with the old one, and it is perfectly plain that they are the same breed. I was going to stuff one of them for my collection, but she is prejudiced against it for some reason or other；so I have relinquished the idea, though I think it is a mistake. It would be an irreparable loss to science if they should get away.
原来那只比以前更温驯了，它会笑，还会像鹦鹉一样说话。毫无疑问，这是因为它经常和鹦鹉待在一起，而且模仿能力很强。如果它是一种新的鹦鹉，我会感到惊讶；但是，我不该感到惊讶，因为最初那些日子里，它是一条鱼，从那以后，所有能想到的东西，它几乎全都当过。
The old one is tamer than it was, and can laugh and talk like the parrot, having learned this, no doubt, from being with the parrot so much, and having the imitative faculty in a highly developed degree. I shall be astonished if it turns out to be a new kind of parrot, and yet I ought not to be astonished, for it has already been everything else it could think of, since those first days when it was a fish.
新来的很丑，和第一只最初的时候一样；它们都有生肉一般的硫黄色皮肤，都有没毛发的奇特脑袋。夏娃叫它“亚伯”。
The new one is as ugly now as the old one was at first；has the same sulphur-and-raw-meat complexion and the same singular head without any fur on it. She calls it Abel.
十年后
他们其实是男孩；这一点我们很久以前就发现了。只不过他们刚来的时候形态幼小，我们才困惑了很久；那时候我们还不习惯。现在我们还有了几个女孩。亚伯是个好孩子，但如果该隐是头熊，那反而更好。
Ten Years Later
They are boys；we found it out long ago. It was their coming in that small, immature shape that puzzled us；we were not used to it. There are some girls now. Abel is a good boy, but if Cain had stayed a bear it would have improved him.
过了这么多年，我才明白当初对夏娃的看法是错的；一个人住在伊甸园里，不如和她一起住在伊甸园外。起初我觉得她话太多；但现在，如果我的生活中没了她的声音，我会感到难过。愿那枚栗子得到保佑，是它让我们走到一起，让我懂得她心地的善良、精神的甜美！
After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning；it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her. At first I thought she talked too much；but now I should be sorry to have that voice fall silent and pass out of my life. Blessed be the chestnut that brought us near together and taught me to know the goodness of her heart and the sweetness of her spirit！
