The Water Rat was restless, and he did not exactly know why. To all appearance the summer’s pomp was still at fullest height, and although in the tilled acres green had given way to gold, though rowans were reddening, and the woods were dashed here and there with a tawny fierceness, yet light and warmth and colour were still present in undiminished measure, clean of any chilly premonitions of the passing year. But the constant chorus of the orchards and hedges had shrunk to a casual evensong from a few yet unwearied performers; the robin was beginning to assert himself once more; and there was a feeling in the air of change and departure. The cuckoo, of course, had long been silent; but many another feathered friend, for months a part of the familiar landscape and its small society, was missing too and it seemed that the ranks thinned steadily day by day. Rat, ever observant of all winged movement, saw that it was taking daily a southing tendency; and even as he lay in bed at night he thought he could make out, passing in the darkness overhead, the beat and quiver of impatient pinions, obedient to the peremptory call.
河鼠心烦意乱，焦躁不安，也不知究竟因为什么。从表面看，大自然还保持着盛夏欣欣向荣的气象，尽管庄稼地的翠绿已让位给金黄，花楸树变红了，丛林已有多处染上了烈焰般的赤褐，然而光照、气温和色彩依旧没有减退，看不出一年行将逝去的萧瑟迹象。不过，果园里树篱间那弦歌不辍的大合唱已削减，只剩下几个不知疲倦的演唱者，偶尔表演一曲黄昏之歌。知更鸟又开始大出风头。空气里荡漾着一种变迁和别离的意蕴。杜鹃自然早就沉默了，许多别的羽毛界朋友，几个月来一直是这幅熟悉的风景画和那个小小社会的一部分，也逐渐隐没不见，他们的队伍看来正一天天减员。河鼠向来密切关注着所有羽翼界的活动，看到他们正日渐趋向南迁。甚至夜间躺在床上，他也能听出那急于南行的鸟儿们听从造化的指令，扑打着翅膀掠过夜空。
Nature’s Grand Hotel has its Season, like the others. As the guests one by one pack, pay, and depart, and the seats at the table-d’hote shrink pitifully at each succeeding meal; as suites of rooms are closed, carpets taken up, and waiters sent away; those boarders who are staying on, en pension, until the next year’s full re-opening, cannot help being somewhat affected by all these flittings and farewells, this eager discussion of plans, routes, and fresh quarters, this daily shrinkage in the stream of comradeship. One gets unsettled, depressed, and inclined to be querulous. Why this craving for change? Why not stay on quietly here, like us, and be jolly? You don’t know this hotel out of the season, and what fun we have among ourselves, we fellows who remain and see the whole interesting year out. All very true, no doubt the others always reply; we quite envy you—and some other year perhaps—but just now we have engagements— and there’s the bus at the door—our time is up! So they depart, with a smile and a nod, and we miss them, and feel resentful. The Rat was a self-sufficing sort of animal, rooted to the land, and, whoever went, he stayed; still, he could not help noticing what was in the air, and feeling some of its influence in his bones.
自然界的大饭店，也和其他大饭店一样，有它自己的旺季和淡季。旅客们一个又一个收拾行装，结帐离店，公共餐厅里每开过一顿饭，坐椅就撤去一批，怪凄凉的。一套套房间关闭了，地毯卷起来了，侍者辞退了。而那些长住的客人，则留下等待来年饭店全面开业。他们眼瞅着大批旅伴飞走的飞走，告别的告别，热烈地谈论着下一步的计划、路线和新居，眼瞅着伙伴的人数日渐削减，心情难免不受影响。他会感到心绪不宁，郁郁寡欢，烦躁易怒。你们干吗要变换环境？干吗不老老实实呆在这儿，安安生生过日子？这家饭店在淡季的模样，你没见识过；你哪里知道，我们这些留下来共赏四时美景的动物，享有多少乐趣。可那些打定主意要走的动物总是回答说：当然，这无疑是事实；我非常羡慕你们——也许改年我们也留下来——不过现在我们有约会——公共汽车就停在门口，出发的时刻到啦！于是，他点头微笑，走啦，撇下我们苦苦思念他们，心头窝着火。河鼠是一种知足常乐的动物，扎根在这片土地上，不管谁走，他反正不走；尽管如此，他还是不免觉察到空气里有种变化，打骨节里感受到它的影响。
It was difficult to settle down to anything seriously, with all this flitting going on. Leaving the water-side, where rushes stood thick and tall in a stream that was becoming sluggish and low, he wandered country-wards, crossed a field or two of pasturage already looking dusty and parched, and thrust into the great sea of wheat, yellow, wavy, and murmurous, full of quiet motion and small whisperings. Here he often loved to wander, through the forest of stiff strong stalks that carried their own golden sky away over his head—a sky that was always dancing, shimmering, softly talking; or swaying strongly to the passing wind and recovering itself with a toss and a merry laugh. Here, too, he had many small friends, a society complete in itself, leading full and busy lives, but always with a spare moment to gossip, and exchange news with a visitor. Today, however, though they were civil enough, the field-mice and harvest-mice seemed preoccupied. Many were digging and tunnelling busily; others, gathered together in small groups, examined plans and drawings of small flats, stated to be desirable and compact, and situated conveniently near the Stores. Some were hauling out dusty trunks and dress-baskets, others were already elbow-deep packing their belongings; while everywhere piles and bundles of wheat, oats, barley, beech-mast and nuts, lay about ready for transport.
处处都在忙着辞行送别，行色匆匆，在这种时候，要安下心来干点正事，是很难的。河岸边，灯芯草丛已经长得又高又密，河水已经流得缓慢，水位低落了。河鼠离开了河岸，漫无目地的朝田野走去。他走过一两块龟裂的布满尘埃的牧场地，一头钻进一大片麦田。麦子金黄灿灿，麦浪翻滚，沙沙作响，充满了宁静的动作和呢喃细语。河鼠常喜欢在这里漫游，穿行在粗壮的麦秆丛林之间。麦秆在他头上高高地支起一片金色的天空——那天空总在不停地婆娑起舞，闪闪发光，细语绵绵，有时被过路的风刮得歪歪斜斜，风一过，它又把头一昂，开怀大笑，恢复故态。在麦田里，河鼠也有许多小友，整个儿一个小社会，过着丰足忙碌的的生活，。可也总能抽出片刻空闲，和来访的客人聊会儿闲天，互换个信息。但今天，不知怎的，野鼠和田鼠尽管挺客气，却似乎心不在焉。有些在忙着挖洞掘壕；另一些则分成小组，在研究一套套小居室的规划和草图，考虑如何才能构造得紧凑适用，而且要建在仓库附近。有的正把积满尘土的箱笼和衣篓拖出来，有的已经在埋头捆扎自己的财物；遍地都是一堆堆一捆捆的小麦、燕麦、大麦、果实、干果，等待运走。
‘Here’s old Ratty!’ they cried as soon as they saw him. ‘Come and bear a hand, Rat, and don’t stand about idle!’
“河鼠兄来啦！”他们一见河鼠，便喊了起来。“快过来帮一手，河鼠，别在那儿愣着！”
‘What sort of games are you up to?’ said the Water Rat severely. ‘You know it isn’t time to be thinking of winter quarters yet, by a long way!’
“你们在玩什么游戏呀？”河鼠绷着脸说。“你们该懂得，现在还不是考虑过冬住所的时候，早着呐！”
‘O yes, we know that,’ explained a field-mouse rather shamefacedly; ‘but it’s always as well to be in good time, isn’t it? We really MUST get all the furniture and baggage and stores moved out of this before those horrid machines begin clicking round the fields; and then, you know, the best flats get picked up so quickly nowadays, and if you’re late you have to put up with ANYTHING; and they want such a lot of doing up, too, before they’re fit to move into. Of course, we’re early, we know that; but we’re only just making a start.’
“是啊，这我们懂，”一只田鼠有点不好意思地说。“不过，及早作准备总是好的，对不？我们必须赶在那些可怕的机器开始轧轧地翻地之前，把这些家具、行李和储备粮搬走。再说，你也知道，现如今最好的套间很快就给抢光了，要是你晚了一步，你就得随便找个地方将就住下；而且，新住所还得先修整拾掇一番，才能搬进去呀。当然，现在是早了点儿，这我们知道；不过我们也只是刚开个头。”
‘O, bother STARTS,’ said the Rat. ‘It’s a splendid day. Come for a row, or a stroll along the hedges, or a picnic in the woods, or something.’
“开什么头，”河鼠说。“天气这么好，跟我一道划划船，或者在树篱边散散步，或者到树林里去野餐，或者干点别的什么不好吗？”
‘Well, I THINK not TO-DAY, thank you,’ replied the field-mouse hurriedly. ‘Perhaps some OTHER day—when we’ve more TIME----‘
“噢，今儿个不去了，谢谢你。”田鼠忙说。“也许改天等我们有空——”
The Rat, with a snort of contempt, swung round to go, tripped over a hat-box, and fell, with undignified remarks.
河鼠轻蔑地哼了一声，转身要走，不想蹴到一只帽盒，摔倒了，嘴里不干不净地骂了几句。
‘If people would be more careful,’ said a field-mouse rather stiffly, ‘and look where they’re going, people wouldn’t hurt themselves—and forget themselves. Mind that hold-all, Rat! You’d better sit down somewhere. In an hour or two we may be more free to attend to you.’
“要是人们小心在意些，”一只田鼠尖刻地说，“走路留神看道，人们就不致伤着自己，不致失态了。注意那只大旅行袋，河鼠！你最好找个地方坐坐。再过一两个钟头，我们也许就有空闲陪陪你了。”
‘You won’t be “free” as you call it much this side of Christmas, I can see that,’ retorted the Rat grumpily, as he picked his way out of the field.
“你所说的‘空闲’，只怕在圣诞节以前，是不会有的。”河鼠没好气地反唇相讥。他在行李堆中择路走出了麦田。
He returned somewhat despondently to his river again—his faithful, steady-going old river, which never packed up, flitted, or went into winter quarters.
河鼠灰溜溜地回到了河边。那是他忠实的稳重的老河，它从不收拾行装，从不开溜；也从不搬到别的住宅去过冬。
In the osiers which fringed the bank he spied a swallow sitting. Presently it was joined by another, and then by a third; and the birds, fidgeting restlessly on their bough, talked together earnestly and low.
他看见，岸边的一排杞柳林里，栖着一只燕子。不一会又来了一只，跟着又来了第三只。。燕子们在枝头不停地动弹，热烈地低声交谈。
‘What, ALREADY,’ said the Rat, strolling up to them. ‘What’s the hurry? I call it simply ridiculous.’
“怎么，这就要走？”河鼠踱到他们跟着，问道：“着什么慌呀？我说，这简直滑稽可笑。”
‘O, we’re not off yet, if that’s what you mean,’ replied the first swallow. ‘We’re only making plans and arranging things. Talking it over, you know—what route we’re taking this year, and where we’ll stop, and so on. That’s half the fun!’
“噢，如果你是说要走，我们还不走哩，”第一只燕子回答说。“我们，只是筹划筹划，安排安排。只是谈谈，今年打算走哪条路线；在哪歇脚，诸如此类。这也挺有趣哩。”
‘Fun?’ said the Rat; ‘now that’s just what I don’t understand. If you’ve GOT to leave this pleasant place, and your friends who will miss you, and your snug Homes that you’ve just settled into, why, when the hour strikes I’ve no doubt you’ll go bravely, and face all the trouble and discomfort and change and newness, and make believe that you’re not very unhappy. But to want to talk about it, or even think about it, till you really need----‘
“有趣？”河鼠说，“我真不理解。要是你们非离开这个愉快的好地方不可，非离开想念你们的朋友和刚刚安顿好的舒适的家不可，到该走的时候，我不怀疑，你们会勇敢地飞走，面对一切艰难险阻、变化莫测的新环境，还要摆出一副高高兴兴的样子。可是，还没到非走不可的时候，就谈论起来，哪怕只是想一想，这未免——”
‘No, you don’t understand, naturally,’ said the second swallow. ‘First, we feel it stirring within us, a sweet unrest; then back come the recollections one by one, like homing pigeons. They flutter through our dreams at night, they fly with us in our wheelings and circlings by day. We hunger to inquire of each other, to compare notes and assure ourselves that it was all really true, as one by one the scents and sounds and names of long-forgotten places come gradually back and beckon to us.’
“你当然理解不了，”第二只燕子说。“首先，我们内心感到一种骚动，一种甜蜜的不安。然后，往事就像信鸽一样，一桩桩一件件飞了回来。它们夜间在我们梦中遨翔，白天就随我们一道在空中盘旋。当那些早已忘掉的地方，它们的气味、声响和名称一个个飞回来向我们招手时，我们就渴望互相询问，交流信息，好让自己确信这一切都是真实的。”
‘Couldn’t you stop on for just this year?’ suggested the Water Rat, wistfully. ‘We’ll all do our best to make you feel at Home. You’ve no idea what good times we have here, while you are far away.’
“今年你们能不能留下不走，就呆一年行不行？”河鼠巴巴地向他们建议。“我们要尽力使你们过得舒适惬意。你们走得老远，根本想不到我们这儿过得多么开心。”
‘I tried “stopping on” one year,’ said the third swallow. ‘I had grown so fond of the place that when the time came I hung back and let the others go on without me. For a few weeks it was all well enough, but afterwards, O the weary length of the nights! The shivering, sunless days! The air so clammy and chill, and not an insect in an acre of it! No, it was no good; my courage broke down, and one cold, stormy night I took wing, flying well inland on account of the strong easterly gales. It was snowing hard as I beat through the passes of the great mountains, and I had a stiff fight to win through; but never shall I forget the blissful feeling of the hot sun again on my back as I sped down to the lakes that lay so blue and placid below me, and the taste of my first fat insect! The past was like a bad dream; the future was all happy holiday as I moved southwards week by week, easily, lazily, lingering as long as I dared, but always heeding the call! No, I had had my warning; never again did I think of disobedience.’
“有一年我试着留下来的，”第三只燕子说。“我越来越喜欢这地方，所以到了该走的时候，我就留下了，没跟别的燕子一块儿走。开头几星期，情况还算好，可后来，哎呀呀，黑夜那么长；好无聊啊！白天不见阳光，阴凄凄的！空气又潮又冷，一亩地里也找不到一只虫子！不行，这样可不中；我的勇气垮掉了，于是在一个暴风雨的寒夜，我起飞了。；那天东风刮得紧，我在内陆飞得挺顺利。飞过高山峡谷时，下起了大雪，我努力拼搏一番，才穿过山隘。当我迅速飞到大湖上时，我又一次感到背上晒着暖融融的太阳；尝到第一只肥胖的虫子的美味，那种幸福的感觉真是再也忘不掉！过去的时光就像一场恶梦，未来全是快乐的假日。一周又一周，我不停地往南飞，飞得轻松，飞得悠闲，需要逗留多久就多久，只是随时注意倾听南方的呼唤。所以，我不能留下，我有过教训，再也不敢违抗南方的召唤了。”
‘Ah, yes, the call of the South, of the South!’ twittered the other two dreamily. ‘Its songs its hues, its radiant air! O, do you remember----‘ and, forgetting the Rat, they slid into passionate reminiscence, while he listened fascinated, and his heart burned within him. In himself, too, he knew that it was vibrating at last, that chord hitherto dormant and unsuspected. The mere chatter of these southern-bound birds, their pale and second-hand reports, had yet power to awaken this wild new sensation and thrill him through and through with it; what would one moment of the real thing work in him— one passionate touch of the real southern sun, one waft of the authentic odor? With closed eyes he dared to dream a moment in full abandonment, and when he looked again the river seemed steely and chill, the green fields grey and lightless. Then his loyal heart seemed to cry out on his weaker self for its treachery.
“是啊，是啊，南方在召唤，南方在召唤！”另两只燕子做梦似地呢喃着。“南方的歌。南方的色彩，南方明朗的空气！噢，你可记得——”他们忘掉了河鼠，只顾沉湎在热情的回忆里。河鼠听得出神，他的心开始烧得火辣辣的。他暗自明白，那根弦，那根一直沉睡着、没被觉察的弦，终于也震颤起来了。光是这几只南飞鸟儿的闲谈，他们那并不生动的第二手叙述，就足以撩拨起这种如醉如狂的新感受，激得他浑身上下躁动不已。如果亲自去体验一下，感受南方太阳热情的抚摩，南方香风轻柔的吹拂，那将会是怎样一番滋味？他闭上双眼，有一刻儿大胆地纵情沉溺在幻梦里，等他再睁眼时，那条河似乎成了铅灰色，冷冰冰的，绿色的田野变得暗淡无光了。这时，他那颗忠贞的心，似乎在大声谴责他那个软弱的自我的背叛。
‘Why do you ever come back, then, at all?’ he demanded of the swallows jealously. ‘What do you find to attract you in this poor drab little country?’
“那你们为什么还要回来？”他猜疑地问燕子。“这片可怜的灰暗的小天地，还有什么可吸引你们的地方？”
‘And do you think,’ said the first swallow, ‘that the other call is not for us too, in its due season? The call of lush meadow-grass, wet orchards, warm, insect-haunted ponds, of browsing cattle, of haymaking, and all the farm-buildings clustering round the House of the perfect Eaves?’
第一只燕子说：“在适当的季节到来时，你以为我们会感受不到另一种召唤吗？那丰茂的草地，湿润的果园，满是虫子的暖水池塘，吃草的牛羊，翻晒的干草，理想的屋檐，房子周围的各种农场设施，不是也在召唤我们吗？”
‘Do you suppose,’ asked the second one, that you are the only living thing that craves with a hungry longing to hear the cuckoo’s note again?’
第二只燕子说：“你以为只有你才渴望再一次听到杜鹃的啼声吗？”
‘In due time,’ said the third, ‘we shall be Home-sick once more for quiet water-lilies swaying on the surface of an English stream. But to-day all that seems pale and thin and very far away. Just now our blood dances to other music.’
“到一定的时候，”第三只燕子说，“我们又会患起思乡病；想念着英国溪水上漂着的幽静的睡莲。不过在今天，那些似乎都显得那么苍白，单薄，遥远。这一刻，我们的血液是和着另一种音乐翩翩起舞。”
They fell a-twittering among themselves once more, and this time their intoxicating babble was of violet seas, tawny sands, and lizard-haunted walls.
他们又自顾自地互相唧喳起来。这回他们那兴奋的话题是蔚蓝的海洋、金黄的沙滩，和壁虎爬上爬下的围墙。
Restlessly the Rat wandered off once more, climbed the slope that rose gently from the north bank of the river, and lay looking out towards the great ring of Downs that barred his vision further southwards—his simple horizon hitherto, his Mountains of the Moon, his limit behind which lay nothing he had cared to see or to know. To-day, to him gazing South with a new-born need stirring in his heart, the clear sky over their long low outline seemed to pulsate with promise; to-day, the unseen was everything, the unknown the only real fact of life. On this side of the hills was now the real blank, on the other lay the crowded and coloured panorama that his inner eye was seeing so clearly. What seas lay beyond, green, leaping, and crested! What sun-bathed coasts, along which the white villas glittered against the olive woods! What quiet harbours, thronged with gallant shipping bound for purple islands of wine and spice, islands set low in languorous waters!
河鼠又一次焦躁不安地走开了。他爬上大河北岸那缓缓的斜坡，躺了下来，极目朝南望去。南边那条环形的大丘陵带，挡住了他的视线，他看不到以南更远的地方——迄今为止，那就是他的地平线，他的梦幻山脉，他目光的极限，在那以外，就没有什么值得他去看或去了解的东西了。今天，他极目南眺时，由于一种新的渴求在心中翻腾，那绵亘低矮的丘陵上面的晴空，仿佛颤动着希望。今天，看不到的东西成了至关重要的，不了解的东西成了生活中唯一的真实。山这边，是真正的空虚；山那边，展现着一派熙熙攘攘、五彩纷呈的生活全景，他内心的眼睛现在看得很清楚。那边有碧波荡漾、白浪翻滚的海洋！有沐浴在阳光下的沙滩，白色的别墅在橄榄林的掩映下闪光！有宁静的港湾，停满了气派的船舶，准备开往盛产美酒和香料的紫色岛屿，那些岛屿低低隆起在水波不兴的海面上。
He rose and descended river-wards once more; then changed his mind and sought the side of the dusty lane. There, lying half-buried in the thick, cool under-hedge tangle that bordered it, he could muse on the metalled road and all the wondrous world that it led to; on all the wayfarers, too, that might have trodden it, and the fortunes and adventures they had gone to seek or found unseeking—out there, beyond—beyond!
