翻译天堂  2016-09-16

Ralph Moody

父子伙伴情

拉尔夫·穆迪

I like all kinds of chocolate. Best of all, though, I like bitter baking chocolate. Mother had bought a bar of it, and somehow I couldn't stop thinking about it.

I was helping Father on the winnower. It was right then I got the idea. I could whack a chunk off the end of that bar of chocolate. Mother would be sure to miss it, but before she had any idea who had done it, I could confess I'd taken it. Probably I would not even get a spanking.

我喜欢各种各样的巧克力，不过我最喜欢那种做糕点用的无糖巧克力。妈妈买了一块这种巧克力，我不知怎么的总在不停地打它的注意。

我在帮爸爸扬谷。这时我突然有了个主意。我可以从那块巧克力的一头敲下一块来，妈妈肯定会发现丢了巧克力，但在她意识到这件事是谁干的之前，我可以先承认是我偷吃的，也许连屁股也不会挨打。

I waited until Mother was out feeding the chickens. Then I told Father I thought I'd go in for a drink of water. I got the bar down, but I heard Mother coming just when I had the knife ready to whack. So slipped the chocolate into the front of my shirt and left quickly. Before I went back to help Father, I went to the barn and hid the chocolate there.

我一直等到妈妈出去喂鸡，然后我对爸爸说我要回屋去喝口水。我拿到那块巧克力，但正当我准备用刀切的时候我听见妈妈进屋的声音，所以就悄悄把巧克力塞进我衬衫的硬衬胸中，赶紧溜出房间，我走进谷仓把巧克力藏在那里。

All the rest of afternoon, I didn't like to look at Father. Every time he spoke it made me jump. My hands began shaking so much that he asked me what was the matter. I told him it was just that my hands were cold. I knew he didn't believe me, and every time he looked my way my heart started pounding. I didn't want the chocolate anymore. I just wanted a chance to put it back without being caught.

整个一下午，我连看都不敢看爸爸一眼，每次他开口讲话就吓得我心惊肉跳。我的双手开始抖得厉害，以致爸爸问我出了什么事。我告诉他只是因为手冷。我知道他没有相信我的话，因此每当他朝我看的时候，我的心就开始怦怦地跳。我再也不想要那块巧克力了，我只想找个机会在没有被抓住的当口就把它放回去。

On the way out for the cows, I calmed down a little and could think better. I told myself that I hadn't really stolen the whole bar of chocolate, because I meant to take only a little piece. That's as much as I would have taken, too, if Mother hadn't come along when she did. If I put back the whole bar, I wouldn't have done anything wrong at all.

I nearly decided to put it all back. But just thinking so much about chocolate made my tongue almost taste the smooth bitterness of it. I got thinking that if I sliced about half an inch off the end with a sharp knife, Mother might never notice it.

在去放牛的路上，我感到平静了一些，头脑也比较好使唤了。我对我自己说，我并不真的要真的偷那块巧克力，因为我只想弄它一小块。如果我把整块巧克力放回去的话，那我就根本没干过什么错事了。

我几乎已决定把它完整无损地放回去。但是，我对巧克力的向往使我的舌头似乎尝到它那绝妙的味道。我一再想，假如我用把快刀从它的一头切下半英寸，妈妈或许不会注意到它的。

I was nearly out to where the cows were when I remembered what Father had said once — some of the family money was mine because I had helped to earn it. Why wouldn't it be all right to figure the bar of chocolate had been bought with my own money? That seemed to fix everything.

我快走近牛群的时候，突然想起了爸爸曾经讲过的话——家里的钱有我的一份，因为我已帮着家里挣钱了。为什么不可以说这块巧克力正是用我自己的钱买来的呢？看来一切都说得过去。

But by the time I had the cows headed home, I had begun to worry again. We were nearly to the railroad tracks when I decided to leave the whole matter to the Lord. I picked up a dried soap weed stalk with seed-pods on it and decided I would throw it up into the air and take my orders from the way it landed. If it pointed west, I'd take the whole bar back. If it pointed south, I'd take half an inch off the end. If it pointed east, I'd bought the bar with my own money and it wouldn't be stealing to keep it.

但到赶牛回家的时分，我又开始担心起来。当我们快到铁路轨道时，我决定让上帝来确定这桩事该怎么办。于是，我捡起一根带荚的干的皂草梗，并且决定把它抛向空中，看它落地后的方向而行事。如果它指向西方，我就把整块巧克力放回去；如果它指向南方，我就从头上切下半英寸；如果它指向东方，这块巧克力就是用我自己的钱买来的，这样把它留下就不算是偷。

I swung the pod stalk as high as I could. When it came down, it pointed mostly west — but a little south.

That night I couldn't sleep. I kept trying to remember how much that stalk had really been pointing to the south. At last I got up, slipped out into the yard, and took the ax from the chopping block. Then I went into the barn and got the chocolate. I took it outside and laid it on the lower rail of the corral fence. The moon gave enough light for me to see what I was doing.

我使劲把那根带荚的草梗尽力甩向空中。落地时，它几乎全指向西方，但稍微有点偏南。

那天晚上，我怎么也睡不着。我竭力回想那根草梗指向南方的程度到底有多大。最后，我翻身下床，悄悄溜到院子里，从劈柴墩上抓起一柄斧头。然后我进入谷仓把巧克力拿了出来。我把它拿到外面，搁在牛厩篱笆下面的横栏上。月亮的光亮足以使我看得清要干的事。

Just as I was starting to cut, Father said: "Son!"

I couldn't think of a thing to say. I grabbed up the bar of chocolate and hid next to my chest before I turned around. Father picked me up by the shoulder straps of my overalls and took me over to the woodpile. I didn't know anybody could spank as hard as he did!

Then he stood me on my feet and asked if I thought I had deserved it. He said it wasn't so much that I'd taken the chocolate, but that I'd tried to hide it from him.

"Son," he said, "I know you help to earn the family money. We might say the chocolate was yours in the first place. You should have had it if you'd asked for it, but I won't have you being sneaky about things. Now, do you want to keep your money separated from mine — or are we partners?"

就在我动手要切巧克力时，爸爸叫道：“儿子！”

我不知道说什么好，转身之前我抓起这块巧克力把它藏进胸前的衬衫里。爸爸抓住我工装裤上的背带，把我带到柴堆那里。我不晓得还有谁打屁股像他打得这样狠！

然后，他叫我站直，问我这是不是我应得的惩罚。他说我拿走巧克力不算什么，但不该瞒着他。

“孩子，”他说，“我清楚你帮家里挣了钱，可以说巧克力本来就是你的。要是你坦率地要它，你本可以得到它的。但我不允许你做事偷偷摸摸的。现在要是想把你的钱和我的分开呢，还是与我结成伙伴呢？”

I never knew till then how much I wanted my money to go in with Father's. When I went to sleep my hand was still hurting — from where he squeezed it when we shook hands.

直到这时我才知道我是多么想把我的钱和爸爸的合在一起。我去睡觉时，我的那只手——我们握手时父亲曾用力握过的地方——还在痛呢。

乔萍（译）