精美英文欣赏:同行者

Part 4 Fellow Travelers

第四部分 同行者

August 28th, 1931

1931年8月28日

The next day in the afternoon four of us started out for the hop-fields. The most interesting of the men with me was a youth named Ginger¹, who is still my mate when I write this. He is a strong, athletic² youth of twenty six, almost illiterate³ and quite brainless, but daring enough for anything. Except when in prison, he has probably broken the law every day for the last five years. As a boy he did three years in Borstal，came out, married at eighteen on the strength of a successful burglary, and shortly afterwards enlisted⁴ in the artillery⁵. His wife died, and a little while afterwards he had an accident to his left eye and was invalided⁶ out of the service. They offered him a pension or a lump sum, and of course he chose the lump sum and blew it all in about a week. After that he took to burglary again and has been in prison six times, but never for a long sentence, as they have only caught him for small jobs; he has done one or two jobs which brought him over ￡ 500. He has always been perfectly⁷ honest towards me, as his partner, but in a general way he will steal anything that is not tied down. I doubt his ever being a successful burglar, though, for he is too stupid to be able to foresee risks. It is all a great pity, for he could earn a decent living for he chose. He has a gift for street selling, and has done a lot of jobs at selling on commission, but when he has had a good day he bolts instantly with the takings. He is a marvelous hand at picking up bargains and can always, for instance, persuade the butcher to give him a pound of eatable meat for two pence, yet at the same time he is an absolute fool about money, and never saves a halfpenny. He is given to singing songs of the Little Grey Home in the West type, and he speaks of his dead wife and mother in terms of the most touching⁸ sentimentality. I should think he is a fairly typical petty criminal.

第二天下午我们四人开始启程，前往种植着蛇麻草的田地。和我同行的人中最有趣的一个叫金格，当我写下这些文字的时候他仍然和我在一起。他26岁，体格强健，朝气蓬勃，几乎一字不识，笨头笨脑，但是敢于冒险，敢做任何事。除了在监狱的日子，他在过去5年中可能天天都在干着违法的勾当。年少时，他在少年犯感化院待了3年，出来后凭借一次成功的盗窃在18岁时娶了妻子，后来当了炮兵。他妻子死后不久，由于一次事故，他左眼受伤，不能继续留在军中，从此伤残退役。军队给他提供抚恤金，有月付和一次付清两种选择，他选了后者，一周不到就挥霍耗尽。此后他又重操旧业，开始行窃，到如今已经蹲过6次监狱，但每次都判刑不长，因为他们只是因为小偷小摸而逮捕他。他曾经抢劫一两次，捞到了500多英镑。因为我是他的同伴，他向来都对我开诚布公。总的说来，任何东西他都会顺手牵羊。但我怀疑他是否是一位成功的窃贼，因为他过于愚蠢，无法预知风险。我觉得只要他愿意，他是可以过上体面生活的，这实属一大憾事。他天生擅长做街头买卖，曾经好些次得到了销售提成呢。但是一旦有点好日子，他立即逃之夭夭。他还是一个能买到便宜货的顶级好手，例如，他总能说服屠夫给他一磅肉，而只花两分钱。但与此同时，对于钱财他却是一个十足的傻瓜，从来不会存得半分半子儿。 他会倾情演唱和《西边的灰色小屋》类似的感伤歌曲，当他提起死去的妻子和母亲时，也总是声泪俱下，悲痛万分。我想他是一个极为典型的小罪犯。

Of the other two, one was a boy of twenty named Young Ginger, who seemed rather a likely lad, but he was an orphan⁹ and had had no kind of upbringing, and lived the last year chiefly on Trafalgar Square. The other was a little Liverpool Jew of eighteen, a thorough guttersnipe. I do not know when I have seen anyone who disgusted me so much as this boy. He was as greedy as a pig about food, perpetually scrounging around dustbins, and he had a face that recalled some low-down carrion-eating beast. And we could never persuade him to wash more of himself than his nose and a small circle round it, and he mentioned quite casually¹⁰ that he had several different kinds of louse on him. He too was an orphan, and had been "on the toby" almost from infancy¹¹.

至于其他两个同伴，一个20岁，名叫小金格，他看上去像个放荡不羁的小伙， 他是个孤儿，没有多少教养，过去一年主要在特拉法加广场上度过。另外一个是一个利物浦的犹太人，18岁，完全是个流浪汉。在我见过的所有人中，我不知道是否还有比他更令我作呕的人了。他对食物贪婪得像猪一般，总是不停地在垃圾桶边转悠他的脸让我想起某种低贱的以腐肉为生的野兽。我们绝不可能劝服他把自己洗漱干净，他洗脸时总是只洗自己的鼻子和鼻子周围一圈的范围。他非常若无其事地跟我们讲他身上长着几种不同类别的虱子。他也是一个孤儿，几乎从婴儿起就流落街头。

1 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

2 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

3 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

4 enlisted   

adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• enlisted men and women 男兵和女兵
• He enlisted with the air force to fight against the enemy. 他应募加入空军对敌作战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

6 invalided   

使伤残（invalid的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He was invalided out of the army because of the wounds he received. 他因负伤而退役。
• A plague invalided half of the population in the town. 这个城镇一半的人口患上了瘟疫。

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

9 orphan   

n.孤儿；adj.无父母的

参考例句：

• He brought up the orphan and passed onto him his knowledge of medicine.他把一个孤儿养大，并且把自己的医术传给了他。
• The orphan had been reared in a convent by some good sisters.这个孤儿在一所修道院里被几个好心的修女带大。

10 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

11 infancy   

n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期

参考例句：

• He came to England in his infancy.他幼年时期来到英国。
• Their research is only in its infancy.他们的研究处于初级阶段。