牛津書蟲系列 黑駿馬 3 Ginger's story

3 Ginger's story

3 金兒的故事

What more could I want? Freedom!For the first four years of my life I had a large field where I could gallop around at full speed—with no straps，no bit，and no blinkers.Now I stood in a stable，night and day，except when I was wanted for work， and sometimes when John took me out，I felt so strong，so full of life，that I wanted to jump or dance.

我還想要什么呢?自由!在我生命的頭4年，我曾擁有那么廣闊的田野，我可以在那兒全速奔馳——沒有韁繩，沒有嚼口，也沒有眼罩?，F(xiàn)在，除了有活干的時候，我得日夜呆在馬廄里，有時約翰帶我出去的時候，我覺得自己是那么強壯有力，充滿生機，我按捺不住地想跳躍，想舞蹈。

'Calm down，boy!'he would say.

“靜一點兒，伙計!”他會說。

Then，as soon as we were out of the village，he would let me trot fast for a few miles.Some grooms punished a horse for getting too excited，but not John.He knew how to control me with only the sound of his voice， and I was very fond of him.

我們一出村，他就會讓我撒開了跑上幾里。有的馬夫會懲罰過度興奮的馬，約翰不。他知道怎么能只用聲音來控制我，我真喜歡他。

Sometimes we did have our freedom in the field for an hour or two.This was on fine Sundays in the summer，because the carriage never went out on Sundays.It was wonderful.The grass was cool and soft to our feet，and the air was so sweet.And we could gallop or lie down or roll over on our backs，or do what we liked.

有時在田野里，我們可以盡情享受一兩小時自由。這時往往是在夏天的周日，因為馬車在周日不外出。那真叫妙不可言。青草踏上去涼爽而柔軟，連空氣都是甜的。我們可以或飛跑或臥倒或是滾來滾去，隨心所欲。

One day Ginger asked me about my old home and my train-ing.When I finished telling her，she said，'Life has been differ-ent for me.I was taken from my mother when I was young，and there was no kind master like yours to look after me.I had a bad time when I was trained.Several men caught me in a corner of the field and one held my nose so hard that I could only just breathe.Then another pulled my mouth open to put the bit in， and I was pulled along and beaten from behind.They didn't give me a chance to understand what they wan-ted.

一天金兒問起我的老家和我受的訓練。我講完后，她說：“過去我的生活可不是這樣。我小時候就被人從我媽媽身邊帶走，可沒有像你的主人那么好的人照顧我。訓練時我可受了罪了。幾個人在草場的一角捉住我，一個人緊緊地抓住我的鼻子，我都快透不過氣來了。另一個掰開我的嘴，塞進嚼子，我一路被拖著，屁股被抽打著。他們不給我時間弄明白他們到底想要我干什么。

'The old master， Mr Ryder， knew about horses， but he gave up most of the business to his son， who was tall and strong， but not gentle. They called him Samson， and he said that no horse could throw him out of the saddle.One day，he made me run round the field on a long rein until I was very tired and miser-able.The next morning he did the same again，then he put a saddle and bridle on me，and a new kind of bit into my mouth.

“老主人萊德先生倒是懂得馬匹，但他已把絕大部分工作轉(zhuǎn)給了他的兒子，那是個又高又壯、又不和氣的家伙。他們叫他薩姆森，他說沒有哪匹馬能把他甩下馬鞍。一天，他用長鞭子趕著我繞著田野跑啊跑，直到我精疲力荊第二天他又這樣來了一遍，還給我備上馬鞍，綁上籠頭，而且還給我嘴里塞進了一種新式嚼口。

'The new bit was very painful and I pulled away and stood up on my back legs， which made him very angry. He stayed in the saddle and beat me with a whip，but after a long and terri-ble battle I threw him off and galloped to the other end of the field.

“新嚼口讓我的嘴很疼，我掙脫開去，用后腿直立起來，這可惹惱了他。他仍坐在馬鞍上，用鞭子抽我，經(jīng)過一番長時間的激烈較量，我終于把他甩了下來，跑到田野的另一邊去了。

'I watched him go into the stable， but no one came to fetch me.Time went on and the sun was very hot.I was hungry and very thirsty.At last，just as the sun was going down， the old master came out with some oats.He spoke kindly and held out the oats for me to eat，then patted me gently and looked at the blood on my sides where Samson had whipped me.

“我看著他走進馬廄，但是沒人來把我領(lǐng)回去。時間一分一秒地過著，太陽變得火熱。我好餓，還渴得要命。最后，到太陽快落山的時候，老主人帶著一些燕麥出來了。他對我和氣地講話，又捧出燕麥來喂我，還輕輕地拍著我，察看了我身上被薩姆森抽打出的鮮血。

'“Poor girl!”he said，then led me to the stable.Samson was there.“Keep out of the way，”said the master.“You've done a bad day's work for this horse with your bad temper. A bad-tempered man will never make a good-tempered horse.”He led me into my box and took off my saddle and bridle.Then he called for some warm water and gently cleaned the blood from my sides.

“'可憐的姑娘!'他說著，牽我回了馬廄。薩姆森也在那兒。'滾出去，'老主人說。'你的臭脾氣讓這匹馬受了一天的罪。一個壞脾氣的人永遠訓練不出好脾氣的馬。'他帶我進了我的圓欄，卸下了我的馬鞍和籠頭。然后他叫人送來了溫水，輕輕地為我擦拭身上的血。

'After that，he often came to see me， but a man called Joe went on training me.He was quiet and thoughtful and I soon learned what he wanted.

“從那以后，他常來看我，一個叫喬的人繼續(xù)訓練我。他又安靜又周到，我很快就能領(lǐng)會他的意圖。

'After my training，'Ginger went on，'I was bought by a dealer to match another horse of my colour.But then we were sold to a man in London who drove us with a bearing rein—a rein to hold our heads up unnaturally high and to keep them there，for hours and hours，until the pain was terrible.We had to wear two bits instead of one，and mine was so sharp that it made my mouth bleed.Sometimes we waited for hours while our master or mistress was at parties or the theatre， and if we weren't patient，the driver would whip us.'

“訓練之后，”金兒繼續(xù)道，“我被一個商人買去配他的另一匹顏色和我相仿的馬。隨后我們被賣到倫敦。新主人用韁繩把我們的頭勒得老是不自然地高昂著，一連好幾個小時，直到我們痛得受不了。我們得戴兩副嚼子，而不是一副，我的嚼口鋒利得把我的嘴都劃出血了。有時我們的男主人或女主人參加舞會或去劇院，我們得等上好多個小時，如有一點不耐煩，馬夫就抽我們。”

'Didn't your master care about you at all?'I said.

“你們的主人就一點也不關(guān)心你們?”我說。

'Only about how we looked，'replied Ginger.'He knew very little about horses.The driver told him I had a bad temper but would soon get used to the bearing rein.I was willing to work and learn，but they were so cruel that it made me angry.Then I broke away from the carriage one day，and that was the end of that place.

“他只在乎我們的外貌。”金兒說。“他對馬懂得很少。馬夫告訴他說我的脾氣很壞，但很快就會適應(yīng)韁繩。我愿意干活和學新本領(lǐng)，但他們太冷酷了，我就生氣了。于是一天我從那輛車上掙脫開逃走了，從此告別了那個地方。

'I was sold to another man，but he had a groom as bad-tem-pered as Samson.He hit me across the legs with his stable brush if I didn't move quickly.I hated him， and one day when he made me angry，I bit him!He never came into my stall af-ter that， and I was soon sold again.

“我被賣給了另一個人，他有一個脾氣和薩姆森一樣壞的馬夫。如果我走得慢一點，他就用馬刷打我的腿。我恨他，一天他惹惱了我，我就咬了他!他后來再也沒進過我的馬廄。很快我又被賣掉了。

'A dealer heard of me and said he thought he knew one place where I should do well.“It's wrong for a fine horse to go bad like that，”he said.And I was brought here，not long before you came.Of course，it's very different here.But who knows how long it will last? I've decided that all men are my natural enemies.'

“一個商人聽說了我，說他知道有一個地方適合我。'一匹好馬不應(yīng)該就這樣一天天變壞，'他說。我就被帶到這里，就在你來之前不久。當然，這里倒真是不一樣。可誰知道這能維持多久呢?我認定所有人類都是我的天敵。”

I was sorry for Ginger， but as the weeks went on， she be-came happier and more gentle.

我真為金兒難過，不過時間一星期一星期地過去，她變得高興起來，而且溫和起來。

'I do believe Ginger is getting quite fond of me，'James said one day.

“我確信金兒喜歡我了，”一天詹姆斯說。

'She'll be as good as Black Eeauty one day，'replied John.'Kindness is all she needs，poor thing!'

“有一天她會變得和黑駿馬一樣出色的，”約翰說。“可憐的小家伙，她要的不過是善意罷了。”