精美英文欣赏:奥格登·纳什致女儿（在线收听）

Part 3 Ogden Nash to His Daughters

第三部分 奥格登·纳什致女儿

February 6, 1939

1939年二月六号

My sweet girls,

我可爱的女儿们:

I wish so that you were here with us. the next time we must surely bring you along. so remember to practice your manners and (learn to eat all sorts of food. Paris is full of children. There are lots of parks, and every park is full of boys and girls on bicycles and roller skates, or playing football and other games all day long. Also, I think everybody in Paris has a dog, but none of them are as pretty as Spangle. A beautifu1 river, the Scine, runs right through the middle of the city, and Mummy and I have already counted 22 bridges that cross it. Don't you think that you could have fun here? The French children are very polite, as everyone is in France, and I am sure you would enjoy playing with them; so, Linell, you must pay great attention to your French teacher and learn very fast, in order to be able to understand well when you come here. You might teach Isabel some of what you learn, too.

真希望你们能和我们一起在这里，下次我们一定会带上你们的，所以记住要做到有礼有节，还要学会吃各种各样的食物。巴黎到处都是孩子，公园众多，而且每个公园里整天都有许多男孩和女孩在骑自行车、滑旱冰，或者踢足球和玩其他的游戏。我还觉得巴黎的每个人都有一条狗，不过没有一条狗像斯潘格那样漂亮。美丽的塞纳河正好从城市中间穿过。我和妈妈已经数过了，河上横跨着22座桥。你们难道不觉得你们在这里会感到非常有趣吗? 就像每个法国人一样，法国孩子非常有礼貌，我相信你们会非常喜欢和他们一起玩耍的; 所以，利内尔，你必须全神贯注地倾听法语教师讲课，快快地学习法语知识，以便你来这里后能更好地理解法文，你也可以教伊莎贝尔一些你所学到的内容。

There are many, many interesting things to see here. Paris is a very old city, and today Mummy and I saw a beautiful building, that was started by the Romans more than 1600 years ago. It is called Cluny. We have also been to the Louvre,a museum now full of the most beautiful paintings and statues; but years ago the kinds and queens of France used to live there, until the French people got angry with them and chopped off their heads.

这里有许许多多有趣的东西可看。巴黎是一座非常古老的城市。今天我和妈妈看了一处非常美丽的建筑。它是1600多年前由罗马人开始建造的，它的名字叫克卢尼。我们还去参观了卢浮宫，这个博物馆里现在挂满了美妙绝伦的绘画，摆满了最令人叹为观止的雕塑。但是许多年以前，法国历代国王和王后都曾住在那里，直到后来法国人民愤怒起义，砍掉了他们的头。

This afternoon we went to a beautiful cathedral on an island in the middle of the river. It is called the Cathedral of tre Dame, which means the cathedral of Our Lady the Virgin. It is more than 900 years old, and so high that you can hardly see the top. The windows are of gorgeous stained glass, red and blue and yellow and green and purple, so that they cast light like a rainbow on the walls. A very good king of France who lived 700 years ago and later became Saint Louis was buried there. Tell Delia that we offered a candle to the Virgin Mary for each of you there, and that we are bringing her back a rosary from there also. Mummy and I climbed the tower later. We were very tired when we got to the top, but it was interesting. Some hideous stone gargoyles were looking right into our faces, so we looked down at Paris lying at our feet, and it was beautiful. We could see miles of river, at the bridges and the lovely old buildings.

今天下午，我们去看了一座美丽的教堂，它座落在塞纳河中央的一个岛上，名为巴黎圣母院，意思是"我们的圣母教堂"。教堂已有900多年的历史，巍峨耸立，高得几乎看不到它的顶部。窗户用精美的彩色玻璃建造而成，有红色、蓝色、黄色、绿色和紫色，玻璃投射在墙面上的光就像彩虹一样。700年前曾经有一位非常善良的法国皇帝，他后来成为圣路易，他就理在那儿。告诉迪莉娅，我们在那里替你们每个人给圣母玛利亚献了一支蜡烛，并且我们会给她带回一串那里的念珠，我和妈妈后来爬上了高塔。当我们爬到塔顶时，感到非常累，但却有趣极了。一些奇形怪状的石刻滴水嘴正对着我们，我们便俯视脚下的巴黎，它十分美丽。我们能看到数英里长的河流、河上的桥以及可爱的占老建筑。

I think you would like the French trains. We rode on one from Le Havre to Paris just like the one that Gaston et Josephine took when they were leaving for America. When the engine whistles it says "tweet tweet" instead of "toot toot", and the porters are very polite. You would like the boat, too. There is a little theatre where there are puppet shows for children every afternoon, and there is plenty of room to run and play on the decks. Sometimes, when the wind blows hard and the sea is rough, the boat joggles a little bit, but that is good fun, like being in a swing.

我想你们一定会喜欢法国的火车。我们乘火车从哈佛尔到巴黎，那列火车与加斯东和约瑟芬他们去美国时乘坐的火车很相似，引擎拉响时，发出的不是"嘟嘟"声，而是"吱吱"的声音，车上服务员们都彬彬有礼。你们也会喜欢这里的船的。船上有一个小剧院，每天下午给孩子们表演木偶剧，而且甲板上有一足够的空间让孩子们奔跑玩耍。有时候，风刮得很厉害。海浪汹涌，船会微微摇晃，这非常有趣，就像在荡秋千一样。

I must tell you that whenever you walk along the banks of the Seine you see dozens of old men fishing with long, long poles. I don't think they ever catch anything, but they have a lovely time thinking about what they might catch just supposing there were any fish there. We'll try it when you come here with us; perhaps we'11 catch the first fish ever to be caught there.

我还要告诉你们，无论什么时候沿着塞纳河河岸行走，你们都能看到许多老人拿着很长很长的鱼竿在那里垂钓。我并不认为他们会钓到什么，但是假设河里真的有鱼，他们想着自己可能钓到的东西，他们会过得很愉快。等你们一起来这儿的时候，我们也去试一试吧，也许我们将钓到这里有史以来的第一条鱼。

I adore you both, my darlings, and don't forget me

我爱你们俩，亲爱的，不要忘记我。

Daddy