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双语·居里夫人的故事 第四章 整整一年的假期

所属教程:译林版·居里夫人的故事

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2022年06月02日

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Chapter IV A Whole Year's Holiday

MANYA was sixteen. Gold medal day had come and Manya's gold medal was the third in the family. It was June and very hot. Manya, like all the prize winners, was dressed in black with a bunch of tea roses in her belt. The crowd pressed around her congratulating her and shaking hands. When it was all over, she left the High School for good, her fingers pressed tight on her proud father's arm.

He had promised her a whole year's holiday. That was a gift indeed, a year's holiday! Manya hadn't an idea why she should have it, but her father thought that as she had been working very hard and as she had done her work in less time than other girls, it was only fair that she should take that delightful way of waiting for her age-fellows to catch her up. So Manya the industrious became a lazybones and entered into the full fun of the thing.

“My dear little Devil,” she wrote to Kazia, “I don't believe algebra and geometry exist. Anyway I have completely forgotten them. I don't even do my embroidery. I don't do anything. I get up at ten, or sometimes at six—in the morning, be it spoken—I read nothing or only tales. I am the stupidest of the stupid and I laugh all alone at my complete inanity. A crowd of us wander through the woods or play battledore and shuttlecock, at which I am a booby, or puss-in-the-corner or follow-my-leader or any such intellectual game. Wild strawberries are everywhere and for a penny-farthing we can buy enough for a meal—that's a soup-plate full, piled high and overflowing. Alas! Alas! they are almost over and my appetite is limitless so that I am quite scared at my greed. We swing… we swing right up into the sky. We bathe, we catch shrimps by torchlight. By-the-bye, we have met an actor. He sang to us and recited to us and gathered us so many gooseberries that in return we plaited him a crown of wild poppies and white pinks and blue cornflowers and threw it at him as he left for Warsaw. They say he put it on and then, when the train came in, packed it in his suitcase and took it all the way to the city.”

Manya was to spend her year in the country, She loved every bit of it. She was to watch all the seasons go round and to discover at every turn fresh beauties in the land of Poland. Her uncle, Xavier, lived on the plains of Zwola. There she looked over level land to the furthest, furthest horizon of which one could dream, green land streaked with the brown colours of ploughed earth. Her uncle had many horses in stable and there she learned to ride. What she wore didn't matter to her. She borrowed trousers from her cousin which were too big for her, turned them up, belted them into gathers and was ready. Left hand on reins and holding the big horse's mane, left foot in the stirrup and right hand on the saddle, she stood for the first adventure as she had seen her uncle and cousins stand. But what a long way it was up! She would never get there however much she hopped or however still the good old horse stood.

“Good to try!” said her uncle, “scramble!” But her cousins did not leave her untaught. They showed her how to stand with her back to the horse's head before she sprang, how to help herself with a convenient mound and, finally, how to get just the right spring that could land her into the saddle of the tallest horse. It became her delight to go long expeditions on horseback over the spreading fields. Soon she could rise in the saddle at the trot or sit tight at the gallop. She explored new villages and met strange country folk and knew more and more of the Polish plain.

But an even greater pleasure was in store for her: she went to stay with another uncle, whose name is quite unpronounceable to English ears, Uncle Zdzislaw, who lived among the Carpathian Mountains. For the first time she saw snowy heights, dazzling in their whiteness and dark pine forests like rivers of ink making the snow more white… She longed to get closer up; to make her way through the trees, perhaps to the edge of the snow itself. She went for long walks up winding mountain paths which sometimes ended unexpectedly in a precipice, so that she had to retrace her steps. Sometimes the path ended at a hut and Manya and her cousins would go in and ask to see the owner's work; for all the mountaineers of that district were wood carvers and their simplest piece of furniture was a work of art. The peasants loved to show the things that they had made and when the children had admired the chairs and table and cuckoo clock and the coloured wooden bowls against the wall, they delved into cupboards and brought out little carved men or drinking cups or toys or even pictures carved in wood.

Once, in her wanderings, Manya came to a little mountain lake, a patch of water lying in the hills as blue as massed speedwell, and men called it “The sea's eye.” It was so lovely lying among the snow peaks that Manya thought it the gem of the whole country.

Within doors, life was quite riotously merry. Her uncle loved gaiety; so did his beautiful wife and as to his three daughters, they laughed all day and Manya with them. Guests arrived in plenty. Uncle and aunt would probably have been out shooting and have plenty of game to offer them. If they hadn't, there was nothing to do but slay a barn door chicken of which there were hundreds running about the yard. Then the girls flew to the kitchen and hastily baked the cakes. All was ready for the feast. For clothes, they hastily turned out cupboards and sewed together gay fancy dresses for charades, or if it was winter, for a “Kulig”—a winter fête.

Manya's first Kulig was a tremendous experience. The night was dark, but lit by the strange northern snow-light. Manya and her three cousins, wrapped in thick rugs, masked and dressed as Cracovian peasants, took their places in two sledges. Their outriders were boys in rustic costumes who lit the darkness with fantastic torches. Through the dark forest, they caught glimpses of other torches approaching. The cold night was suddenly filled with music, for the musicians were coming up, bringing four little Jews, who for two whole nights and two whole days Were to wring heart-stirring airs from their violins. They would play waltzes and mazurkas and all the world would catch up the refrains and sing them in chorus, making the night tuneful and noisy.

As the Jews played, other sledges joined them out of the darkness, three, five, ten sledges. In spite of hair-raising bends and glassy slopes those little musicians never missed a note as they led the fantastic troop under the frosty stats.

At the first lone farmhouse the sledges stopped with jingling bells and harness and all the company, laughing, shouting, and knocking loudly on the door, awakened the inmates, who were only pretending to be asleep. In a few moments the musicians were hoisted on to a table and the ball began in a room lit by torches.

Presently supper was brought and then, at a signal, suddenly the whole house was empty—empty of casks, of inhabitants, of horses, of sledges, of everything. A larger procession, with all the sledges of the new homestead, was wending its way through the forest to another farm.

A sledge with fresh horses, trying to pass another, went out of the beaten road, failed to get back and overturned in the snowdrift. The procession halted, torches waving in the wind, and gathered into a semicircle while willing hands brushed the snow from the occupants and righted their sledge. Again the bells rang out a wild peal of jingling speed in the night. But what had become of the musicians? Nobody knew. The leading sledge went faster and faster, hoping to catch them up; but it was soon apparent that they were not on that road; they had not gone on! A halt was called, a fork in the road was remembered. There was nothing for it but to go back and look for the little Jews along the other road. Everyone was worried. How would the dance go at the other farms if the musicians could not be found? But presently someone caught the joyful cry of violins above the sound of bells and the procession was complete again and growing in length as they stopped to dance at yet another farmhouse, and yet another and another.

The sun rose… the sun went down… the sun rose. The fiddlers had scarcely any time to eat or sleep. On the second night the vast train of sledges stopped with snorting horses and jingling bells before the biggest homestead for the real ball.

The little fiddlers played louder. The guests took their places for the famous figure dances. The chief boy, handsome and elegant, in his embroidered white costume advanced to lead out the best dancer of all the company. It was Manya Sklodovska, in the dress of a mountain maiden with a velvet jacket, puffed linen sleeves and a star-like crown decked with long, brightly coloured streamers.

They danced through the night. They danced a mazurka at eight in the morning. Manya said that never in her life had she enjoyed herself so much and her aunt said that if she enjoyed Kuligs so much, she should have one to celebrate her wedding.

But the joys of holidays were not over. An old pupil of Madame Sklodovska's, who had become Countess of Fleury, invited Hela and Manya to stay with her. The house stood on a tongue of land between two rivers. Manya had a lovely view from her room across the meeting waters and there she learned to row. “We do anything,” she wrote home, “that comes into our heads. We sleep all night and sometimes in the day. We dance. We are mad. In fact only a lunatic asylum would suit us!”

They varied their sleeping and dancing with riding and mushroom gathering and practical jokes. Once Manya asked the Countess's brother to go to town on a message. The unsuspecting young man went. The town was far. He came home in the dark and went to his room where all the young people of the house had slung his bed,his table, his chairs, his trunks, his clothes from the beams of the roof. His possessions had become entirely aerial and slapped him in the face as he moved among them.

On another day, lunch had been prepared for distinguished guests and the children were not invited. They ate the whole lunch before lunch and placed, by the empty table, a scarecrow representing a most satisfied and well-fed count! The culprits? Where were they? Vanished into thin air!

On the anniversary of the Count and Countess's wedding day, the gay company sent them, by two of their number, a huge crown made of vegetables. It weighed a hundred pounds and was presented to the happy couple as they sat on a decorated throne. Then the youngest member recited a poem which had been written by Manya for the occasion and ended thus:

For Louis' blessed day

A picnic be our pay!

For every girl invite a boy

In your example let us joy

And follow to the altar soon.

Grant us, grant us now this boon!

The Count and Countess did their best with a ball instead of a picnic. Manya and Hela wanted to be especially ravishing that night. They were poor and their ball dresses well worn. They counted their money. They turned the dresses over and over. They ripped off the faded tulle and found the linings quite good. A little blue tarlatan would do, they decided, instead of the tulle, and a ribbon here, a ribbon there would create new dresses. Thin purses and a skilful needle would do wonders. Flowers would do the rest and there would be money enough for two new pairs of shoes. When the shopping was done and the needlework was done and the garden had done its share, the mirror said: “You'll do.”

And Manya danced her new shoes through and fêted the morning by throwing them away.

第四章 整整一年的假期

玛妮雅十六岁了。授予金质奖章的日子悄然来临,玛妮雅是家中第三个拿到金质奖章的孩子。颁奖的日子在六月份,正当炎炎酷暑。玛妮雅同其他获奖人一样,身穿黑裙,腰带上别着一束蔷薇花。周围熙熙攘攘的人们向她握手道贺。这一切的结束也就意味着玛妮雅永远告别了高中生活,她挽着自豪的父亲,手指紧紧地握着父亲的胳膊。

父亲亲口许诺要给她放整整一年的假。这的确是一份大礼,整整一年的毕业假!玛妮雅不知道为什么自己可以放这么久的假,但父亲认为玛妮雅一直以来十分勤奋,而且比同龄的其他女孩都早毕业,她可以尽情享受自己的努力成果,悠闲等待同龄人追赶上她的进度。于是玛妮雅一下子从一个勤奋上进的小姑娘变成了“小懒虫”,开始尽情享受这其中的乐趣。

“亲爱的小伙伴,”她在给卡西娅的信中写道,“我已然不知这世上竟然还有代数和几何这样的东西。我早把它们一股脑儿抛在脑后了。我甚至连手工也不做了。我什么都不做。我早上十点钟起床,有时六点,什么也不学,有空就看看故事书。我现在是笨蛋中的大笨蛋,我嘲笑自己的空虚无聊、无所事事。我们一群人在树林里闲逛,或是打打羽毛球,有时还玩躲猫猫或找头领等益智类游戏,在这方面我简直就是个傻瓜。这儿到处都是野生草莓,一个铜板就能买一堆,足够一顿饭吃的——能装满满一大盘,摞得高高的还止不住往下滚。哎呀呀!哎呀呀!这一大盘都快吃完了,我的胃好像无底洞,我都被自己的贪吃给吓到了。荡秋千……荡得高高的,直冲蓝天。然后下河游泳,举着火把捉虾。顺便告诉你,我们遇见了一个演员。他给我们唱歌、朗诵,还给我们摘好多好多的醋栗。作为回报,我们就用深红色的野生罂粟花、蓝色矢车菊和粉白色的鲜花给他编了一个花环,在他动身去华沙前送给了他。伙伴们说看见他戴上了花环,等火车进站时又把花环装进了行李箱,一路带去了华沙。”

玛妮雅要在乡下度过她整整一年的假期。她热爱乡下的一点一滴。她将亲眼见证四季更迭,发现波兰这片土地角角落落的自然之美。她的叔叔赛维尔住在斯沃拉平原。在这里,她能望见平坦的大地绵延伸向远方,一望无际到天边地平线,绿油油的大地上遍布着一片片土黄色的耕地。叔叔家的马圈里养了许多匹马,于是玛妮雅也学会了骑马。她丝毫不必为骑马的装束而费心。从堂姐妹那里借来的衣服太大,她就用皮带把衣服扎起来,束出一片片衣褶,整装待发。左手拉着缰绳,拽着大马的鬃毛,左脚踩着马镫,右手扶着马鞍,她想像叔叔和堂姐妹那样一跃上马。但想骑到马背上可不是一件容易的事儿!无论她怎么又蹦又跳,就是上不去,那匹温顺的老马站在那里纹丝不动,她还是上不去。

“动作还行!”叔叔说道,“使劲往上爬!”而堂姐妹们也不会对她置之不管。她们教她上马时后背要向着马头的方向,教她可以巧借小土堆上马,最后给她讲跳上马的不同方法,这样即便是最高的马,她也能顺利坐到马鞍上。在绵延不断的田野上骑马远行带给玛妮雅最大的快乐。很快,即便是马儿一路小跑,她也能从马鞍上站起身来;即便快马疾驰,她也能稳坐如山。她骑着马到访了许多新村庄,遇见不同的乡里人,也领略到了越来越多的波兰平原风情。

其实还有更大的惊喜在等着她:玛妮雅后来又去了另一位叔叔家小住,那位叔叔的名字对英国人来说简直无法发音,他叫兹齐斯瓦夫,住在喀尔巴阡山区。这是玛妮雅第一次见到白雪皑皑的高山,它们闪烁着耀眼的白光,深色的松林带像一条条黑色的河流,将白雪衬得愈白……玛妮雅渴望近距离接触雪山;穿过树林走到白雪覆盖的山边。她长途跋涉,沿着蜿蜒的山路一路向上爬。有时候道路戛然而止,悬崖峭壁横在面前,她也就只能沿路折返。有时候,道路的尽头坐落着一间小木屋,玛妮雅和她的堂姐妹们就敲开木屋的门,想要看看屋主人的手艺活儿;所有在这片地区生活的山里人都是木匠,随便一件简单的家具就是一件艺术作品。山上的农民喜欢向人们展示自己的手艺,当孩子们对桌椅板凳、布谷鸟钟及挂在墙上的彩色木碗大加赞叹时,山民们就在橱柜里掏掏拣拣,拿出木刻的小人、酒杯、玩具,甚至还有木刻版画。

一次,玛妮雅闲逛时在山里发现了一个小湖,一汪湖水静静地躺在山间,瓦蓝瓦蓝的,就像长了一大片水蔓菁,山里人也叫它“蓝海之眼”。这汪湖水落在白雪皑皑的山峰之间,显得格外明媚动人。玛妮雅想,这儿风景秀丽,定是整个国家的瑰宝。

家里的生活也超乎寻常地令人感到轻松愉悦。叔叔爱热闹,美丽的婶婶和三个堂姐妹亦是如此,他们整日欢笑,玛妮雅也不觉加入其中。家里的宾客络绎不绝。叔叔婶婶有时候外出打猎,带回山野猎物款待客人。如果没出去打猎,便宰掉一只家禽,反正院子里养着上百只踱来踱去的家禽。女孩们就疾跑到厨房,匆忙地烤制些蛋糕。盛宴一切准备就绪。对于宴会穿的衣服,她们翻箱倒柜找出漂亮的裙子并缝制好,准备猜字谜的时候穿;如果是冬天,就准备好玩“库利格”时能穿的衣服,“库利格”可是严冬里的庆祝活动。

玛妮雅第一次参加“库利格”的经历总是让她记忆犹新。夜空漆黑,但却被北边的白雪映亮。玛妮雅和三个堂姐妹裹着厚厚的毛毯,穿着打扮就像克拉科夫的农民,分坐在两架雪橇上。她们的骑士是穿着朴实的乡下男孩,举着熊熊燃烧的火把照亮黑夜。穿行在漆黑的树林里,他们瞥见周围还有其他火光也在移动。寒冷的夜晚突然间响起了音乐声,原来是乐手来了,随行的还有四个犹太人。在接下来的两天两夜里,他们拉着小提琴,弹奏出扣人心弦的华美乐章。他们演奏华尔兹和玛祖卡舞曲,整个世界都跟着副歌一起欢唱,奏响夜晚的美妙乐章,叽叽喳喳好不热闹。

伴随着犹太人的乐曲,其他雪橇也穿过黑暗加入队伍中,三架、五架、十架,雪橇数不断增多。尽管有些令人汗毛竖起的艰险弯道和草坡,但那些乐手一个音也没错,用音乐引领着队伍在朦胧的星空下一路前行。

系着响铃的雪橇在途中遇到的第一间农舍前停下来,人们卸下挽具,欢笑着,高喊着,大声敲着农舍的屋门,叫醒农舍主人,不过屋主人也只是在假睡。乐手一下子就被举到了桌子上,房间被火把照得通亮,舞会正式开始。

热腾腾的晚餐端上了桌,随即一个手势,整个房子突然空无一人——不见了木桶,不见了欢闹的人群,不见了马匹,不见了雪橇,一切都不见了。一个更庞大的队伍,加上了农舍里的所有雪橇,穿过树林又赶往下一个农场。

几匹健马拉的雪橇在试图超车时,偏离了熟路,没法再返回原路,撞翻在了雪堆里。大部队停下来,火把在风中燃烧,众人围成半个圈,七手八脚地拍掉翻车人身上的雪,扶正他们的雪橇。疾驰的雪橇又响起了叮叮当当的铃声,打破了夜晚的沉寂。不过乐手去哪儿了呢?没有人知道。领头的雪橇滑得越来越快,希望能追赶上乐手;但很快就意识到他们走的并不是同一条路,也就不再继续追赶。队伍停下来,想起了刚才走过的岔路口。没办法只能折回去,去另一条路上看看能不能找到犹太乐手。大家都有点儿担心,找不到乐手可怎么去其他农场跳舞呢?突然这时,有人听到了响铃声中夹杂的那些欢快旋律,队伍终于完整了,而每到一处农场,队伍都会加长,越来越长。

日升……日落……太阳又一次升起。乐手几乎没有时间吃饭和睡觉。第二晚,庞大的雪橇队带着气喘吁吁的马儿和丁零当啷的响铃,在最大的农场门前停了下来,舞会正式开始。

矮小的乐手演奏着响亮的乐曲。宾客们各就各位,准备跳那著名的交谊舞。领舞的男孩帅气优雅,穿着刺绣的白色礼服,向前一步牵住舞姿最优美的舞伴,那便是玛妮雅·斯克沃多夫斯卡。她穿着山林仙女般的梦幻裙子,披着天鹅绒外衣,连着蓬松的亚麻袖,头戴如星星般闪亮的王冠,缀着飘逸鲜艳的彩带。

他们彻夜起舞,清晨八点钟还在跳玛祖卡舞。玛妮雅说她从没有过这样放松愉悦的感觉,婶婶说如果她真的这么喜欢库利格活动,将来结婚时可以采用这种方式来庆祝。

假期带来的欢乐还远未结束。斯克沃多夫斯卡夫人以前的学生,现在已成为弗勒里伯爵夫人,她邀请海拉和玛妮雅同她小住几日。伯爵夫人的公馆坐落在两条河流之间的狭长地带。在玛妮雅住的房间里,刚好能看到河水交汇时的壮丽景象,这段日子也让她学会了划船。她在给家里的信中写道:“只有我们想不到的,没有我们不能玩的。我们每晚睡得安稳,有时候白天也能适当休息。我们跳舞,几乎玩疯了。现在看来只有疯人院能容得下我们啦!”

她们除了睡觉、跳舞,还换着花样来骑马、采蘑菇、讲笑话。一次,玛妮雅写了个便条给伯爵夫人的弟弟,让他去镇上一趟。这个年轻人没起半点疑心,便赶赴镇上。往返小镇路途遥远。等回到家时天已经黑了,走进自己的房间,他才发现原来小伙伴们将他的被褥、桌椅、行李箱、衣服都挂在了屋子的横梁上。他的物品被挂得到处都是,多到在房间里走路随时都会打到脸。

有一天,有尊贵的客人登门拜访,家里准备了丰盛的午宴,孩子们却并未获邀参加。他们在中午前便把那午餐都吃掉了,并在空桌子上放了一个稻草人装扮成一位心满意足、饱餐过的伯爵先生。这些恶作剧的小坏蛋们呢?跑哪儿去了?早都消失得无影无踪啦!

在伯爵先生和夫人的结婚纪念日上,这群淘气的小家伙们送给他们一顶用蔬菜做的巨形王冠。正当夫妻二人乐呵呵地坐在装饰华丽的宝座上时,小家伙们呈上了这个重达一百磅的王冠。最小的孩子背诵了一首诗,这首诗是玛妮雅为了庆典专门作的,结尾如下:

在这受人祝福的美好日子

一顿美味代表我们的心意!

愿每位少女都能觅得如意郎君

如二位一般伉俪情深

共同携手步入神圣殿堂

请赐予我们,赐予我们这欢乐时光

伯爵先生和夫人用尽心思举办了一场舞会。玛妮雅和海拉想要尽情享受那个美好的夜晚。破洞的舞裙尽显二人的穷困。她们数了数钱,又翻来覆去仔细检查舞裙。扯掉褪色的薄纱,发现里衬还能继续穿。两个人决定买点蓝色的塔拉丹薄纱,两边再系上绸带,那就是件新裙子啦。干瘪的钱包和熟练的针线活儿能化腐朽为神奇,其他的地方就用鲜花来装点,剩下的钱能买两双新鞋子。买好了东西,缝好了裙子,也从花园里采好了鲜花,一切准备就绪,望着镜中的俏丽佳人,仿佛在说:“你们是最美的。”

玛妮雅穿着新鞋跳了一整晚,直到跳烂了鞋子,第二天早上便把鞋子扔掉,迎接新的一天。

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