美國語文第五冊 第315期：論烤豬（06）

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In a few days his lordship's townhouse was observed to be on fire.

不幾天，法官大人官邸火光眼見紅了半邊天。

The thing took wing, and now there was nothing to be seen but fire in every direction.

這樣稀罕之事簡直像長了翅膀。這下好了，城里不時有此起彼伏的火光冒出，

Fuel and pigs grew enormously dear all over the district.

劈柴與豬崽價格眼見突突地漲個不停，

The insurance offices one and all shut up shop.

保險當鋪一家家倒閉關門；

People built slighter and slighter every day,

日復一日，居民窩棚越發(fā)粗制潦草，

until it was feared that the very science of architecture would in no long time be lost to the world.

甚至有人開始擔憂，這門蓋房技藝無需良久就會失傳，無人承繼。

Thus this custom of firing houses continued till in process of time,

于是，焚燒房屋的習俗延續(xù)下來，直到后來的文明進步才得以廢除。

says my manusCRIpt, a sage arose, like our Locke, who made a discovery that the flesh of swine, or indeed of any other animal,

一位類似西方洛克的圣人橫空出世，我的那本手抄本如此描述，那位睿者發(fā)現(xiàn)，不管豬肉，還是其他動物的肉，

might be cooked (burnt, as they called it) without the necessity of consuming a whole house to dress it.

無須點燃整座房屋，同樣可通過烹制為食（或如中國人所說的炙烤）。

Then first began the rude form of a gridiron.

由此，粗陋的食物烤架最先問世，

Roasting by the string or spit came in a century or two later; I forget in whose dynasty.

一兩百年后，成行成串的炙烤烹制方法開始流行，我可真忘了這些事發(fā)生在哪朝哪代。

By such slow degrees, concludes the manusCRIpt, do the most useful, and seemingly the most obvious, arts make their way among mankind.

不過，那部手抄本給出以下結論，伴隨緩慢的文明進步，那些人類生活中最為實用、似乎最為顯見的生存技藝，就是這樣逐漸地完善起來。

Without placing too implicit faith in the account above given,

無須對上述歷史塵封過分當真，

it must be agreed that if a worthy pretext for so dangerous an experiment as setting houses on fire (especially in these days)

然而，對于那種放火燃盡茅舍窩棚的危險實驗（尤其在原始蠻荒時期），

could be assigned in favor of any culinary object that pretext and excuse might be found in Roast Pig.

我們還是深以為然；因為，如果說這類冒險價有所值，那么，烹飪史上的烤乳豬顯然值得一書。