一个阴雨的星期天

文/华盛顿·欧文

一个阴雨的星期天

A Wet Sunday

文/华盛顿·欧文

T he windows of my bedroom looked out among riled①riled adj. 被搅混了的 ②stack 英 ［stæk］ 美 ［stæk］ n. 堆；堆叠roofs and stacks②of chimneys③chimney 英 ［'tʃɪmnɪ］ 美 ［'tʃɪmni］ n. 烟囱, 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 ［'lɪtə］ 美 ［'lɪtɚ］ vt. 乱丢；给……垫褥草；把……弄得乱七八糟vi. 产仔；乱扔废弃物 n. 垃圾；轿，担架；一窝（动物的幼崽）；凌乱with wet straw that had been kicked about by travellers and stable-boys.

In one corner was a stagnant⑤stagnant 英 ［'stæɡnənt］ 美 ［'stæɡnənt］ adj. 停滞的；不景气的；污浊的；迟钝的pool of water, surrounding an island of muck⑥muck 英 ［mʌk］ 美 ［mʌk］ n. 淤泥；垃圾；肥料；品质低劣的东西; there were several halfdrowned fowls crowded together under a cart, among which was a miserable, crest-fallen⑦crest-fallen 垂头丧气的cock, drenched⑧drenched drench的过去分词 drench 英 ［dren（t）ʃ］ 美 ［drɛntʃ］ vt. 使湿透；给（牲畜）灌药 n. 滂沱大雨；浸液out of ail⑨ail 英 ［eɪl］ 美 ［el］ vt. 使苦恼，使烦恼 vi. 生病 n. 病痛，苦恼life and spirit; his drooping tail matted, as it were, into a single f eather, along which the water trickled⑩trickled trickle的过去式 trickle 英 ［'trɪk（ə）l］ 美 ［'trɪkl］ vi. 滴；细细地流；慢慢地移动vt. 使……滴；使……淌；使……细细地流from his hack; near the cart was a half- dozing cow, chewing her cud⑪cud 英 ［kʌd］ 美 ［kʌd］ n. 反刍的食物, and standing patiently to be rained on, with wreaths of vapour⑫vapour 英 ［'veɪpə］ 美 ［'vepɚ］ n. 蒸气（等于vapor）；水蒸气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（狂欢的）noise over their liquor.

从卧室的窗口望出去，是一片砖瓦的屋顶和林立的烟囱，而从起居室的窗口往下看，则能望见整个马厩院子。我觉得再也没有比雨天的马厩院子更令人厌恶的了，遍地是淋湿了的稻草，被旅客和小马倌们踢得凌乱不堪。

在院子的一角，一潭污水围着孤岛似的粪堆，几只几乎被雨水淋透的鸡簇拥在一辆马车底下，其中一只可怜的公鸡，倒垂着鸡冠，被淋得没精打采，毫无生气，它那耷拉着的尾巴黏结在一起，仿佛只成了一根羽毛，雨水顺着它从背脊往下直淌，高马车不远处，有一头睡眼惺忪的奶牛，嘴里嚼着反刍的食物，默默地站在那里，任凭雨水打在身上，湿淋淋的背上升起缭绕的水气。

一个邋遢厨娘拖着木屐，迈着沉重的步子在院子里进进出出，她那郁郁不乐的神色，就像阴沉的天气一样；总之，除了一群饱经风雨的鸭子，像饮酒作乐的朋友那样聚集在污水潭的四周呷呷嬉水而外，这儿的一切都令人感到凄凉的沮丧。