‘Very well sung, boys!’ cried the Rat heartily. ‘And now come along in, all of you, and warm yourselves by the fire, and have something hot!’
“唱得太好了，孩子们！”河鼠热情地喊道。“都进屋来，烤烤火，暖和暖和，吃点热东西！”
‘Yes, come along, field-mice,’ cried the Mole eagerly. ‘This is quite like old times! Shut the door after you. Pull up that settle to the fire. Now, you just wait a minute, while we—O, Ratty!’ he cried in despair, plumping down on a seat, with tears impending. ‘Whatever are we doing? We’ve nothing to give them!’
“对，田鼠们，快进来，”鼹鼠忙喊道。“跟过去一个样！关上大门。把那条长凳挪到火边。现在，请稍候一下，等我们——唉，鼠儿！”他绝望地喊，颓然坐在椅子上，眼泪都快掉下来了。“咱们都干些什么呀？咱们没有东西请他们吃！”
‘You leave all that to me,’ said the masterful Rat. ‘Here, you with the lantern! Come over this way. I want to talk to you. Now, tell me, are there any shops open at this hour of the night?’
“这个，就交给我吧，”主人气派十足的河鼠说。“喂，这位打灯笼的，你过来，我有话问你。告诉我，这个时辰，还有店铺开门吗？”
‘Why, certainly, sir,’ replied the field-mouse respectfully. ‘At this time of the year our shops keep open to all sorts of hours.’
“当然，先生，”那只田鼠恭恭敬敬地回答。“每年这个季节，我们的店铺昼夜都开门。”
‘Then look here!’ said the Rat. ‘You go off at once, you and your lantern, and you get me----‘
“那好！”河鼠说。“你马上打着灯笼去，给我买——”
Here much muttered conversation ensued, and the Mole only heard bits of it, such as—‘Fresh, mind!--no, a pound of that will do—see you get Buggins’s, for I won’t have any other—no, only the best—if you can’t get it there, try somewhere else—yes, of course, Home-made, no tinned stuff—well then, do the best you can!’ Finally, there was a chink of coin passing from paw to paw, the field-mouse was provided with an ample basket for his purchases, and off he hurried, he and his lantern.
接着他俩又低声嘀咕了一阵，鼹鼠只零星听到几句，什么——“注意，要新鲜的！——不，一磅就够了——一定要伯金斯的出品，别家的我不要——不，只要最好的——那家要是没有，试试别家——对，当然是要家制的，不要罐头——好吧，尽力而为吧！”然后，只听得一串丁当声，一把硬币从一只爪子落进另一只爪子，又递给田鼠一只购物的大篮子，于是田鼠提着灯笼，飞快地出去了。
The rest of the field-mice, perched in a row on the settle, their small legs swinging, gave themselves up to enjoyment of the fire, and toasted their chilblains till they tingled; while the Mole, failing to draw them into easy conversation, plunged into family history and made each of them recite the names of his numerous brothers, who were too young, it appeared, to be allowed to go out a-carolling this year, but looked forward very shortly to winning the parental consent.
其余的田鼠，在条凳上坐成一排，小腿儿悬挂着，前后摆动，尽情享受炉火的温暖。他们在火上烤脚上的冻疮，直烤得刺痒痒的。鼹鼠想引着他们无拘无束地谈话，可没成功，就讲起家史来，要他们逐个儿报自己那许多弟弟的名字、看来，他们的弟弟因为年纪还小，今年还不让出门唱圣诞歌，不过也许不久就能获得父母的恩准。
The Rat, meanwhile, was busy examining the label on one of the beer-bottles. ‘I perceive this to be Old Burton,’ he remarked approvingly. ‘SENSIBLE Mole! The very thing! Now we shall be able to mull some ale! Get the things ready, Mole, while I draw the corks.’
这时，河鼠在忙着细看啤酒瓶上的商标。“看得出来，这是老伯顿牌的，”他赞许地评论说。“鼹鼠很识货呀！是地道货！现在我们可以用它来调热甜酒了！鼹鼠，准备好家什，我来拔瓶塞。”
It did not take long to prepare the brew and thrust the tin heater well into the red heart of the fire; and soon every field-mouse was sipping and coughing and choking (for a little mulled ale goes a long way) and wiping his eyes and laughing and forgetting he had ever been cold in all his life.
甜酒很快就调好了，于是把盛酒的锡壶深深插进红红的火焰里；不一会，每只田鼠都在啜着，咳着，呛着（因为一点点热甜酒劲头就够大的），又擦眼泪，又笑，忘记了他们这辈子曾经挨冻来着。
‘They act plays too, these fellows,’ the Mole explained to the Rat. ‘Make them up all by themselves, and act them afterwards. And very well they do it, too! They gave us a capital one last year, about a field-mouse who was captured at sea by a Barbary corsair, and made to row in a galley; and when he escaped and got Home again, his lady-love had gone into a convent. Here, YOU! You were in it, I remember. Get up and recite a bit.’
“这些小家伙还会演戏哩，”鼹鼠向河鼠介绍说。“戏全是由他们自编自演的。演得还真棒！去年，他们给我们演了一出精彩的戏，讲的是一只田鼠，在海上被北非的海盗船俘虏了，被迫在船舱里划桨。后来他逃了出来，回到家乡时，他心爱的姑娘却进了修道院。喂，你！你参加过演出的，我记得。站起来，给咱们朗诵一段台词吧。”
The field-mouse addressed got up on his legs, giggled shyly, looked round the room, and remained absolutely tongue-tied. His comrades cheered him on, Mole coaxed and encouraged him, and the Rat went so far as to take him by the shoulders and shake him; but nothing could overcome his stage-fright. They were all busily engaged on him like watermen applying the Royal Humane Society’s regulations to a case of long submersion, when the latch clicked, the door opened, and the field-mouse with the lantern reappeared, staggering under the weight of his basket.
那只被点名的田鼠站起来，害羞地格格笑着，朝四周扫了一眼，却张口结舌，一句也念不出。同伴们给他打气，鼹鼠哄他，鼓励他，河鼠甚至抓住他的肩膀一个劲摇晃，可什么都不管用，他硬是摆脱不了上场昏。他们围着他团团转，就像一帮子水手，按照皇家溺水者营救协会的规则，抢救一个长时间溺水的人那样。这时，门闩卡嗒一声，门开了，打灯笼的田鼠被沉甸甸的篮子压得趔趔趄趄，走了进来。
There was no more talk of play-acting once the very real and solid contents of the basket had been tumbled out on the table. Under the generalship of Rat, everybody was set to do something or to fetch something. In a very few minutes supper was ready, and Mole, as he took the head of the table in a sort of a dream, saw a lately barren board set thick with savoury comforts; saw his little friends’ faces brighten and beam as they fell to without delay; and then let himself loose—for he was famished indeed—on the provender so magically provided, thinking what a happy Home-coming this had turned out, after all. As they ate, they talked of old times, and the field-mice gave him the local gossip up to date, and answered as well as they could the hundred questions he had to ask them. The Rat said little or nothing, only taking care that each guest had what he wanted, and plenty of it, and that Mole had no trouble or anxiety about anything.
等到篮子里那些实实在在的东西一股脑倾倒在餐桌上时，演戏的事就再也没人提了。在河鼠的调度下，每只动物都动手去干某件事或取某件东西。不消几分钟，晚饭就准备停当。鼹鼠仿佛做梦似的，在餐桌主位坐定，看到刚才还是空荡荡的桌面，现在堆满了美味佳肴，看到他的小朋友们个个喜形于色，迫不及待地狼吞虎咽，他自己也放开肚皮大嚼那些魔术般变出来的食物。他心想，这次回家，想不到结果竟如此圆满。他们边吃边谈，说些往事。田鼠们告诉他最近的当地新闻，还尽力回答他提出的上百个问题。河鼠很少说话，只关照客人们各得所需，多多享用，好让鼹鼠一切不必操心。
They clattered off at last, very grateful and showering wishes of the season, with their jacket pockets stuffed with remembrances for the small brothers and sisters at Home. When the door had closed on the last of them and the chink of the lanterns had died away, Mole and Rat kicked the fire up, drew their chairs in, brewed themselves a last nightcap of mulled ale, and discussed the events of the long day. At last the Rat, with a tremendous yawn, said, ‘Mole, old chap, I’m ready to drop. Sleepy is simply not the word. That your own bunk over on that side? Very well, then, I’ll take this. What a ripping little house this is! Everything so handy!’
最后，田鼠们卿卿喳喳，一迭连声地道谢，又祝贺主人节日愉快，告辞离去了，他们的衣兜里都塞满了纪念品，那是带给家里的小弟妹们的。等送走最后一位客人，大门关上，灯笼的叮咚声渐渐远去时，鼹鼠和河鼠把炉火拨旺，拉过椅子来，给自己热好睡前的最后一杯甜酒，就议论起这长长的一天里发生的事情。末了，河鼠打了个大大的呵欠，说，“鼹鼠，老朋友，我实在累得要死啦。‘瞌睡’这个词儿远远不够了。你自己的床在那边是吧？那我就睡这张床了。这小屋真是妙极了！什么都特方便顺手！”
He clambered into his bunk and rolled himself well up in the blankets, and slumber gathered him forthwith, as a swathe of barley is folded into the arms of the reaping machine.
河鼠爬进他的床铺，用毯子把自己紧紧裹住，立刻沉入了梦乡的怀抱，就像一行大麦落进了收割机的怀抱一样。
The weary Mole also was glad to turn in without delay, and soon had his head on his pillow, in great joy and contentment. But ere he closed his eyes he let them wander round his old room, mellow in the glow of the firelight that played or rested on familiar and friendly things which had long been unconsciously a part of him, and now smilingly received him back, without rancour. He was now in just the frame of mind that the tactful Rat had quietly worked to bring about in him. He saw clearly how plain and simple—how narrow, even—it all was; but clearly, too, how much it all meant to him, and the special value of some such anchorage in one’s existence. He did not at all want to abandon the new life and its splendid spaces, to turn his back on sun and air and all they offered him and creep Home and stay there; the upper world was all too strong, it called to him still, even down there, and he knew he must return to the larger stage. But it was good to think he had this to come back to; this place which was all his own, these things which were so glad to see him again and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome.
倦乏的鼹鼠也巴不得快点睡觉，马上就把脑袋倒在枕头上，觉得非常舒心快意。不过在合眼之前，他还要环视一下自己的房间。在炉火的照耀下，这房间显得十分柔和温煦。火光闪烁，照亮了他所熟悉的友好的物件。这些东西早就不知不觉成了他的一部分，现在都在笑眯眯毫无怨言地欢迎他回来。他现在的心境，正是机敏的河鼠不声不响引他进入的那种状态。他清楚地看到，他的家是多么平凡简陋，多么狭小，可同时也清楚，它们对他有多么重要，在他的一生中，这样的一种避风港具有多么特殊的意义。他并不打算抛开新的生活和明朗的广阔天地，不打算离开阳光空气和它们赐予他的一切欢乐，爬到地下，呆在家里。地面世界的吸引力太强大了，就是在地下，也仍不断地召唤着他。他知道，他必须回到那个更大的舞台上去。不过，有这么个地方可以回归，总是件好事。这地方完全是属于他的，这些物件见到他总是欢天喜地，不管他什么时候回来，总会受到同样亲切的接待。
VI MR. TOAD
