美國語文第五冊 第311期：論烤豬（02）
China pigs have been esteemed a luxury all over the East from the remotest periods we read of.
什么窩棚，豬崽呀，統(tǒng)統(tǒng)在沖天大火中化為烏有。追溯到我們尚且可查的悠久記載中，中國豬一向堪為整個東方世界奢侈生活的象征。
Bo-bo was in the utmost consternation, as you may think, not so much for the sake of the tenement,
不難想象，波波當時的錯愕不已，當然他并不擔心那間糟糕茅屋；
which his father and he could easily build up again with a few dry branches, and the labor of an hour or two, at any time, as for the loss of the pigs.
隨便拈來三兩根枯枝干柴，他與父親只消花上一兩個時辰就可重新鋪蓋完畢。
While he was thinking what he should say to his father,
讓波波百般糾結的是，他如何向父親大人交差，
and wringing his hands over the smoking remnants of one of those untimely sufferers,
因此不停地摩挲雙手，不知所措。眼前一具燒焦的豬崽冒出縷縷青煙，
an odor assailed his nostrils unlike any scent which he had before experienced.
一股平生未曾聞到的香味撲鼻而來。
What, could it proceed from? Not from the burnt cottage,— he had smelt that smell before,
天呀，究竟哪里飄來的香味？這味道不是來自灰燼尚存的茅屋，
indeed, this was by no means the first accident of the kind which had occurred through the negligence of this unlucky young firebrand.
那位倒霉孩子的疏忽過失引起火災頻發(fā)，當然祝融絕非第一次光顧這間茅庵破窩；
Much less did it resemble that of any known herb, weed, or flower.
至于波波熟悉的那些花草植物，更是八竿子沾不上邊；
A premonitory moistening at the same time overflowed his nether lip. He knew not what to think.
波波居然有了某種預感，他的涎水嗒嗒滴地流了下來，盡管眼前一切看來似乎懵懂未知。
He next stooped down to feel the pig, if there were any signs of life in it.
波波俯身彎腰摸了摸火中小豬，想看看是否豬崽還存有一絲氣息，
He burnt his fingers, and to cool them he applied them in his booby fashion to his mouth.
沒想到驀然縮回燙疼的手，于是慍惱地湊在嘴邊猛吹；
Some of the crumbs of the scorched skin had come away with his fingers,
烤焦乳豬的零星碎屑碰巧沾到他的手指，
and for the first time in his life (in the world's life, indeed, for before him no man had known it) he tasted—crackling!
于是，他平生第一次品咂到烤乳豬的焦脆美味（這也是人類有史以來第一次體驗未曾品嘗的口腹之妙）。
