一個陰雨的星期天

文/華盛頓·歐文

一個陰雨的星期天

A Wet Sunday

文/華盛頓·歐文

T he windows of my bedroom looked out among riled①riled adj. 被攪混了的 ②stack 英 ［st?k］ 美 ［st?k］ n. 堆；堆疊roofs and stacks②of chimneys③chimney 英 ［'t??mn?］ 美 ［'t??mni］ n. 煙囪, while those of my sitting-room commanded a full view of the stable yard. I know of nothing more calculated, to make a man sick of this world than a stable yard on a rainy day. The place was littered④litter 英 ［'l?t?］ 美 ［'l?t?］ vt. 亂丟；給……墊褥草；把……弄得亂七八糟vi. 產(chǎn)仔；亂扔廢棄物 n. 垃圾；轎，擔架；一窩（動物的幼崽）；凌亂with wet straw that had been kicked about by travellers and stable-boys.

In one corner was a stagnant⑤stagnant 英 ［'st?ɡn?nt］ 美 ［'st?ɡn?nt］ adj. 停滯的；不景氣的；污濁的；遲鈍的pool of water, surrounding an island of muck⑥muck 英 ［m?k］ 美 ［m?k］ n. 淤泥；垃圾；肥料；品質(zhì)低劣的東西; there were several halfdrowned fowls crowded together under a cart, among which was a miserable, crest-fallen⑦crest-fallen 垂頭喪氣的cock, drenched⑧drenched drench的過去分詞 drench 英 ［dren（t）?］ 美 ［dr?nt?］ vt. 使?jié)裢?；給（牲畜）灌藥 n. 滂沱大雨；浸液out of ail⑨ail 英 ［e?l］ 美 ［el］ vt. 使苦惱，使煩惱 vi. 生病 n. 病痛，苦惱life and spirit; his drooping tail matted, as it were, into a single f eather, along which the water trickled⑩trickled trickle的過去式 trickle 英 ［'tr?k（?）l］ 美 ［'tr?kl］ vi. 滴；細細地流；慢慢地移動vt. 使……滴；使……淌；使……細細地流from his hack; near the cart was a half- dozing cow, chewing her cud?cud 英 ［k?d］ 美 ［k?d］ n. 反芻的食物, and standing patiently to be rained on, with wreaths of vapour?vapour 英 ［'ve?p?］ 美 ［'vep?］ n. 蒸氣（等于vapor）；水蒸氣rising from her reeking hide.

A drab of a kitchen wench tramped backwards and forwards through the yard in patterns, looking as sulky as the weather itself; everything, in short, was comfortless and Forlorn, excepting a crew of hardened ducks, assembled like boon（愉快的） companions round a puddle and making a riotous（狂歡的）noise over their liquor.

從臥室的窗口望出去，是一片磚瓦的屋頂和林立的煙囪，而從起居室的窗口往下看，則能望見整個馬廄院子。我覺得再也沒有比雨天的馬廄院子更令人厭惡的了，遍地是淋濕了的稻草，被旅客和小馬倌們踢得凌亂不堪。

在院子的一角，一潭污水圍著孤島似的糞堆，幾只幾乎被雨水淋透的雞簇擁在一輛馬車底下，其中一只可憐的公雞，倒垂著雞冠，被淋得沒精打采，毫無生氣，它那耷拉著的尾巴黏結(jié)在一起，仿佛只成了一根羽毛，雨水順著它從背脊往下直淌，高馬車不遠處，有一頭睡眼惺忪的奶牛，嘴里嚼著反芻的食物，默默地站在那里，任憑雨水打在身上，濕淋淋的背上升起繚繞的水氣。

一個邋遢廚娘拖著木屐，邁著沉重的步子在院子里進進出出，她那郁郁不樂的神色，就像陰沉的天氣一樣；總之，除了一群飽經(jīng)風雨的鴨子，像飲酒作樂的朋友那樣聚集在污水潭的四周呷呷嬉水而外，這兒的一切都令人感到凄涼的沮喪。