《风语河岸柳》第2章宽敞的公路(4)（打印版）

In the end, of course, the Rat agreed to go, and by the evening they found themselves on a lonely hillside miles from home.

最后，当然，水鼠同意去了。傍晚他们到了离家数里的一个孤零零的山坡上。

It had been a golden afternoon, and even the Rat had enjoyed the journey so far. Only the old grey horse was not very happy.

那是一个金色的下午，现在甚至水鼠也非常喜欢这次旅行。只有老灰马不很乐意，

He had to do all the hard work of pulling the caravan, and he was not at all pleased about it.

他得干所有拉大篷车的苦力活，他根本就不爱这份工作。

The next morning the Toad was still sleeping deeply when the other two got up.

第二天早上，水鼠和鼹鼠起床了，癞蛤蟆还在呼呼大睡。

They shook him very hard but couldn't wake him, so they had to do all the work.

他们俩用力摇他，但弄不醒他，因此他们不得不干所有的活。

The Rat took care of the horse, lit the fire, and did last night's washing-up.

水鼠照料马，生起火，还清洗了昨晚的脏物。

The Mole walked to the nearest village, a long way away, to get milk and eggs and bread, which the Toad had, of course, for gotten to bring.

鼹鼠则步行长长的一段路到最近的村庄去弄些牛奶、鸡蛋和面包，这些，癞蛤蟆当然忘了随车带来。

And when at last the Toad got up, he said what a pleasant easy life it was on the open road.

最后癞蛤蟆起床了，他说，在宽敞公路上的旅行生活是多么轻松愉快。

The day passed happily as they travelled over green hills and along narrow country roads.

然后，他们翻过青山，沿着一条狭窄的乡村小路旅行着，就这样快快乐乐地过了一天。

But the next morning the Rat and the Mole got Toad out of bed and made sure that he did some of the work.

但是第三天早上，水鼠和鼹鼠把癞蛤蟆从床上拉了起来，要他也干些活。

Because of this, Toad said very little about a pleas ant easy life.

就为这，癞蛤蟆很少再说多么轻松愉快之类的话了。

Later, he even tried to get back into bed, but the Mole and the Rat pulled him out again.

后来他甚至还想回到床上继续睡觉，但鼹鼠和水鼠又把他拉了出来。

The end of their journey came very suddenly.

他们的旅行结束得很突然。

In the after noon they were travelling along a big road.

那天下午，他们正行进在一条大马路上，

The Mole was walking beside the horse, and the Toad and the Water Rat were walking behind the caravan, talking together.

鼹鼠走在马旁，癞蛤蟆和水鼠在大篷车后面边走边聊着天，

Actually, the Toad was talking, and the Rat was listening-some of the time.

确切地说—很多时候—癞蛤蟆在说，水鼠在听。