In a moment the fisher people sprung from their beds and hastily dressed themselves. The moon had risen,and it was light enough to make the surrounding objects visible to those who could open their eyes in the blinding clouds of sand,the violence of the wind was terrible,and it was only possible to pass among the sandhills if one crept forward between the gusts,the salt sprayspray n.喷雾,飞沫vt.喷射,喷溅 flew up from the sea like down,and the ocean foamed like a roaring cataract towards the beach. Only a practised eye could discern the vessel out in the offing,she was a fine brig,and the waves now lifted her over the reef,three or four cables’ length out of the usual channel. She drove towards the shore,struck on the second reef,and remained fixed.
渔人们立刻跳下床来,穿好衣服。月亮已经升起来了。月光亮得足够使人看见东西——只要他们能在风沙中睁开眼睛。风真是够猛烈的,人们简直可以被它刮起来。人们得费很大的气力才能在阵风的间歇间爬过那些沙丘。咸味的浪花像羽毛似的从海里向空中飞舞,而海里的波涛则像喧闹的瀑布似的向海滩上冲击。只有富有经验的眼睛才能看出海面上的那只船。这是一只漂亮的二桅船。巨浪把它簸出了平时航道的半海里以外,把它送到一个沙滩上去。它在向陆地行驶,但马上又撞着第二个沙滩,搁了浅,不能移动。
It was impossible to render assistance,the sea rushed in upon the vessel,making a clean breach over her. Those on shore thought they heard cries for help from those on board,and could plainly distinguish the busy but useless efforts made by the stranded sailors. Now a wave came rolling onward. It fell with enormous force on the bowsprit,tearing it from the vessel,and the stern was lifted high above the water. Two people were seen to embrace and plungeplunge vi.投入,跳进,陷入vt.使投入,使插入,使陷入 n.跳进,投入 together into the sea,and the next moment one of the largest waves that rolled towards the sandhills threw a body on the beach. It was a woman,the sailors said that she was quite dead,but the women thought they saw signs of life in her,so the stranger was carried across the sandhills to the fishermans cottage. How beautiful and fair she was! She must be a great lady,they said.
要救它是不可能的了。海水非常狂暴,打着船身,扫着甲板。岸上的人似乎听到了痛苦的叫声,临死时的呼喊。人们可以看到船员们的忙碌而无益的努力。这时有一股巨浪袭来;它像一块毁灭性的石头,向牙樯打去,接着就把它折断,于是船尾就高高地翘在水上。两个人同时跳进海里,不见了——这只不过是一眨眼的工夫。一股巨浪向沙丘滚来,把一个尸体卷到岸上。这是一个女人,看样子已经死了。不过有几个妇女翻动她时觉得她还有生命的气息,因此就把她抬过沙丘,送到一个渔人的屋子里去。她是多么美丽啊!她一定是一个高贵的妇人。
They laid her upon the humble bed,there was not a yard of linen on it,only a woollen coverlet to keep the occupantoccupant n.占有者,居住者 warm.
大家把她放在一张简陋的床上,上面连一寸被单都没有,只有一条足够裹着她的身躯的毛毯。这已经很温暖了。
Life returned to her,but she was delirious,and knew nothing of what had happened or where she was,and it was better so,for everything she loved and valued lay buried in the sea. The same thing happened to her ship as to the one spoken of in the song about “The King of Englands Son”。
生命又回到她身上来了,但是她在发烧;她一点也不知道发生了什么事情,也不知道自己现在在什么地方。这样倒也很好,因为她喜欢的东西现在都被埋葬在海底了。正如《英国的王子》中的那支歌一样:“Alas! how terrible to seeThe gallant bark sink rapidly.”
“ 这情景真使人感到悲哀,
这条船全部都成了碎片。”
Fragments of the wreck and pieces of wood were washed ashore; they were all that remained of the vessel. The wind still blew violently on the coast.
船的某些残骸和碎片到岸上来,她算是它们中间惟一的生物。风仍然在岸上呼啸。
For a few moments the strange lady seemed to rest,but she awoke in pain,and uttered cries of anguishanguish n.痛苦,苦恼vt.使极苦闷,使极痛苦vi.感到痛苦 and fear. She opened her wonderfully beautiful eyes,and spoke a few words,but nobody understood her.—And lo! As a reward for the sorrow and suffering she had undergone,she held in her arms a newborn babe. The child that was to have rested upon a magnificent couch,draped with silken curtains,in a luxuriousluxurious adj.奢侈的,豪华的 home. It was to have been welcomed with joy to a life rich in all the good things of this world,and now Heaven had ordained that it should be born in this humble retreat,that it should not even receive a kiss from its mother,for when the fishermans wife laid the child upon the mothers bosom,it rested on a heart that beat no more—she was dead.
她休息了不到几分钟就开始痛苦地叫喊起来。她睁开一对美丽的眼睛,讲了几句话——但是谁也无法听懂。作为她所受的苦痛和悲哀的报偿,现在她怀里抱着一个新生的婴儿——一个应该在豪华的公馆里、睡在绸帐子围着的华美的床上的婴儿。他应该到欢乐中去,到拥有世界上一切美好东西的生活中去。但是上帝却叫他生在一个卑微的角落里,他甚至于还没有得到母亲的一吻。 渔人的妻子把孩子放到他母亲的怀里。他躺在一颗停止了搏动的心上,因为她已经死了。
The child that was to have been reared amid wealth and luxury was cast into the world,washed by the sea among the sandhills to share the fate and hardships of the poor.
这孩子本来应该在幸福和豪华中长大的,但是却来到了这个被海水冲洗着的、位置在沙丘之间的人世,分担着穷人的命运和艰难的日子。
Here we are reminded again of the song about “The King of Englands Son”,for in it mention is made of the custom prevalent at the time,when knights and squires plundered those who had been saved from shipwreck. The ship had stranded some distance south of Nissum Bay,and the cruel,inhuman days,when,as we have just said,the inhabitants of Jutland treated the shipwrecked people so crudelycrudely adv.照自然状态,不成熟地,粗杂地 were past,long ago. Affectionate sympathy and selfsacrifice for the unfortunate existed then,just as it does in our own time in many a bright example. The dying mother and the unfortunate child would have found kindness and help wherever they had been cast by the winds,but nowhere would it have been more sincere than in the cottage of the poor fishermans wife,who had stood,only the day before,beside her childs grave,who would have been five years old that day if God had spared it to her.
这时我们不禁又要记起那支古老的歌:《英国的王子》。因为当中提到了武士及护卫们抢劫从船难中获救的人,在当时这已经很普遍了。船搁浅的地方是在尼松湾南边,在布格老爷曾经宣称为自己的领地的那个海滩上。据传说,沿岸的居民常常对遭难船上的人做出坏事,不过这样艰难和黑暗的日子早已经过去了。遭难的人现在可以得到温暖、同情和帮助,我们的这个时代也应该有这种高尚的行为。这位垂死的母亲和不幸的孩子,不管“风把他们吹到什么地方”,总会得到保护和救助的。不过,在任何别的地方,他们不会得到比在这渔妇的家里更热诚的照顾。这个渔妇昨天还带着一颗沉重的心,站在埋葬着她儿子的墓旁。如果上帝把这孩子留给她的话,那么他现在就应该有五岁了。