第二届“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛原文.doc

【翻译比赛原文】His First Day as Quarry-Boy采石场工作的第一天By Hugh Miller (18021856) 作者：休米勒It was twenty years last February since I set out, a little before sunrise, to make my first acquaintance with a life of labour and restraint; and I have rarely不常, 很少地, 难得地had a heavier heart than on that morning. 二十一年前，时值二月，天还没亮，我便出发了，去初次体验一种受约束的劳动生活。那天早上，我的心情罕见地沉重。I was but a slim, loose-jointed（关节松弛的，自由行动的） boy at the time, fond of the pretty intangibilities（无形，不可触知） of romance, and of dreaming when broad awake; and, woful（悲伤的，不幸的） change! I was now going to work at what Burns has instanced, in his Twa Dogs, as one of the most disagreeable of all employments,to work in a quarry. 那时，我还是个身体单薄、关节松弛的孩子，醒着的时候喜欢幻想一些遥不可及的浪漫。可悲的变化呀！现在我要去采石场干活了，彭斯在他的两只狗中曾将此列为最讨厌的工作。Bating（减少，抑制） the passing uneasinesses（不安） occasioned（引起） by a few gloomy（悲观的，暗淡的） anticipations（预期，期盼）, the portion of my life which had already gone by had been happy beyond the common lot命运; 运气; 生活状况. 抑制着过去由一些没有希望的期盼所带来的不安，我之前的生活还是比较快乐的。I had been a wanderer among rocks and woods, a reader of curious books when I could get them, a gleaner （拾穗者）of old traditionary（传说的） stories; 我流连于岩石、树林间，读着我所能得到的稀奇古怪的书，俯拾那些古老的传奇故事；and now I was going to exchange all my day-dreams, and all my amusements（娱乐，乐趣，消遣）, for the kind of life in which men toil （长时间或辛苦地工作）every day that they may be enabled to eat, and eat every day that they may be enabled to toil! 现在，我将以我所有的白日梦和乐趣换取另一种生活，一种日日辛劳以饱腹、日日饱腹以辛劳的生活。The quarry in which I wrought（work的过去式和过去分词） lay on the southern shore of a noble inland bay, or frith狭窄的海岔,河口，三角港rather, with a little clear stream on the one side, and a thick fir wood冷杉木on the other.我干活的采石场位于一个美丽的内陆湾南岸，或者说那是一个三角港，一边是一条清澈的小河，另一边是一片茂密的冷杉林。 It had been opened in the Old Red Sandstone老红砂岩of the district, and was overtopped 高出,高耸之上by a huge bank of diluvial冲积的clay粘土，泥土, which rose over it in some places to the height of nearly thirty feet, and which at this time was rent断口，裂缝and shivered颤抖, wherever it presented an open front前开口to the weather, by a recent frost霜冻, 严寒天气. 它的出口是那一地带的老红砂岩，一长条冲积而成的泥堤高耸其上，有些地方比它高出近30英尺，各种天气它总是首当其冲，不久前的一场霜冻使它断裂了而遥遥欲坠。A heap (一)堆of loose fragments碎屑, which had fallen from above, blocked up the face of the quarry and my first employment was to clear them away. 一堆松土从上面塌下来，堵住了采石场的正面，我的第一项任务便是将它们清理掉。The friction摩擦of the shovel铲子; 锹soon blistered(使)起水泡 my hands, but the pain was by no means very severe, and I wrought hard and willingly, that I might see how the huge strata地层below, which presented so firm and unbroken a frontage建筑前面的空地面积，滩岸, were to be torn up挖开(地面等)，揭开，掀起and removed. 很快，铲子磨得我的双手起泡了，但根本不怎么痛，我干得很努力，也心甘情愿，这样我就有可能看到底下巨大的地层将怎样被掀起、移开，它们是那么地坚硬难摧。Picks镐, 锄, and wedges楔, and levers杠杆, were applied by my brother-workmen; and, simple and rude as I had been accustomed通常的to regard these implements工具, I found I had much to learn in the way of using them.工友们用上了镐、楔和杠杆，这些我常以为简单、简陋的工具，我还得好好学习怎么使用。They all proved inefficient, however, and the workmen had to bore挤出(路)(通常与through或into连用) into one of the inferior低等的, 下级的,级别低的,较低的strata, and employ gunpowder. 然而，事实证明它们也是无效的，工友们只好对付不那么坚硬的地层，并用上了火药。The process was new to me, and I deemed认为, 相信 it a highly amusing one: it had the merit优点, too, of being attended关心；注意，留意；仔细听，倾听，听取；留神地看 with some such degree of danger as a boating or rock excursion远足, 短途旅行, and had thus an interest independent of its novelty新奇；新颖；新鲜. 于我这个过程挺新鲜的，我觉得非常有意思：值得称赞的是，它的危险度不过相当于一次划船或岩间探险，却受到高度关注，因此有了一种新鲜以外的乐趣。We had a few capital极好的；第一流的，顶好的，上流的 shots: the fragments flew in every direction; and an immense极大的, 巨大的mass of the diluvium洪积物came toppling down推翻,颠覆,倒塌, bearing with it two dead birds, that in a recent storm had crept into one of the deeper fissures裂缝, to die in the shelter. 我们有几次爆破很出色：碎片纷飞四散，大堆的洪积物坍塌滑落，两只死鸟混在其中，它们是最近一次暴风雨中爬进深缝中死在里面的。I felt a new interest in examining them. The one was a pretty cock雄goldfinch金丝雀，金翅雀, with its hood兜帽, 头巾of vermilion朱红色; 鲜红色and its wings inlaid镶嵌的with the gold to which it owes its name, as unsoiled未弄脏的,清洁的,未被破环的and smooth as if it had been preserved for a museum. 我对观察它们产生了新的兴趣。一只是漂亮的雄金丝雀，鲜红的头羽，因翅膀上镶嵌的金色而得名，羽毛光洁，犹如博物馆的展品。The other, a somewhat rarer bird, of the woodpecker啄木鸟tribe(动、植物的)族, 类, was variegated杂色的,斑驳的with light blue and a grayish浅灰色的,微带灰色的yellow.另一只是更为珍稀的啄木鸟，浅蓝和灰黄色的羽毛错杂在一起。 I was engaged in admiring the poor little things, more disposed乐意的, 愿意的to be sentimental伤感的，充满柔情的；多愁善感的, perhaps, than if I had been ten years older, and thinking of the contrast between the warmth and jollity欢乐;愉快of their green summer haunts某人常去的地方,常去的场所；消磨时光的去处, and the cold and darkness of their last retreat隐退；逃避；躲避, when I heard our employer bidding命令, 吩咐 the workmen lay by their tools. 我专注地欣赏着这两只可怜的小东西，或许，那种伤感比我老十岁更甚，想象着夏天它们逗留在绿树林里的温暖和欢愉，与他们最后藏身之地的寒冷、黑暗是多大的反差呀！这时，我听到老板吩咐工友们放下工具。I looked up and saw the sun sinking behind the thick fir wood beside us,