“这就对了！”兴奋的蟾蜍喊道。“这才是真正的生活，这才是我失去好久的伟大世界！我要叫住他们，我的轮上的哥们儿，我要给他们编一段故事，就像曾经使我一帆风顺的那种故事，他们自然会捎带我一程，然后我再给他们讲更多的故事。走运的话，说不定最后我还能乘上汽车长驱直入回到蟾宫！叫獾看看，那才叫绝了！”
He stepped confidently out into the road to hail the motor-car, which came along at an easy pace, slowing down as it neared the lane; when suddenly he became very pale, his heart turned to water, his knees shook and yielded under him, and he doubled up and collapsed with a sickening pain in his interior. And well he might, the unhappy animal; for the approaching car was the very one he had stolen out of the yard of the Red Lion Hotel on that fatal day when all his troubles began! And the people in it were the very same people he had sat and watched at luncheon in the Coffee-room!
他信心十足地站到马路当中，招呼汽车停下来。汽车从容地驶过来，在小路附近放慢了速度。就在这时，蟾蜍的脸一下子变得煞白。心沉了下去，双膝打颤发软，身子弯曲起来，瘫成一团，五脏六腑恶心作痛。不幸的蟾蜍，难怪他会吓成这样，因为驶过来的汽车，正好是那倒霉的一天他从红狮旅店场院里偷出来的那辆——他所有的灾难都是打那天开始的！车上的人，恰恰是他在旅店咖啡厅里看到的那伙人！
He sank down in a shabby, miserable heap in the road, murmuring to himself in his despair, ‘It’s all up! It’s all over now! Chains and policemen again! Prison again! Dry bread and water again! O, what a fool I have been! What did I want to go strutting about the country for, singing conceited songs, and hailing people in broad day on the high road, instead of hiding till nightfall and slipping Home quietly by back ways! O hapless Toad! O ill-fated animal!’
他瘫倒在路上，成了惨兮兮的一堆破烂．他绝望地喃喃自语说：“全完啦！彻底完蛋啦！又要落到警察手里，带上镣铐，又要蹲大狱，啃面包，喝白水！咳，我是个十足的大傻瓜！我本该藏起来，等天黑以后，再捡僻静小路偷偷溜回家去！可我偏要大模大样在野地里乱窜，大唱自吹自擂的歌子，还要在大白天在公路上瞎拦车！倒霉的蟾蜍啊！不幸的动物啊！”
The terrible motor-car drew slowly nearer and nearer, till at last he heard it stop just short of him. Two gentlemen got out and walked round the trembling heap of crumpled misery lying in the road, and one of them said, ‘O dear! this is very sad! Here is a poor old thing—a washerwoman apparently—who has fainted in the road! Perhaps she is overcome by the heat, poor creature; or possibly she has not had any food to-day. Let us lift her into the car and take her to the nearest village, where doubtless she has friends.’
那辆可怕的汽车慢慢驶近了，最后，他听到它就在身边停了下来。两位绅士走下车，绕着路上这堆皱皱巴巴哆哆嗦嗦的破烂儿转。一个人说：“天哪！真够惨的哟！这是一位老太太——看来是个洗衣婆——她晕倒在路上了！说不定她是中了暑。可怜人。说不定她今天还没吃过东西哩。咱们把她抬上车，送到附近的村子里。那儿想必有她的亲友。”
They tenderly lifted Toad into the motor-car and propped him up with soft cushions, and proceeded on their way.
他们把蟾蜍轻轻抬上车，让他靠坐在柔软的椅垫上，又继续上路。
When Toad heard them talk in so kind and sympathetic a way, and knew that he was not recognised, his courage began to revive, and he cautiously opened first one eye and then the other.
他们说话的语调很和蔼，并且充满同情，蟾蜍知道他们没把他认出来，于是渐渐恢复了勇气。他小心翼翼地先睁开一只眼，再睁开另一只眼。
‘Look!’ said one of the gentlemen, ‘she is better already. The fresh air is doing her good. How do you feel now, ma’am?’
“瞧，”一位绅士说，“她好些啦。新鲜空气对她有好处。你觉得怎么样，太太？”
‘Thank you kindly, Sir,’ said Toad in a feeble voice, ‘I’m feeling a great deal better!’
“大谢谢你们了，先生，”蟾蜍声音微弱地说，“我觉得好多了！”
‘That’s right,’ said the gentleman. ‘Now keep quite still, and, above all, don’t try to talk.’
“那就好，”那绅士说，“现在，要保持安静，主要是别说话。”
‘I won’t,’ said Toad. ‘I was only thinking, if I might sit on the front seat there, beside the driver, where I could get the fresh air full in my face, I should soon be all right again.’
“我不说话，”蟾蜍说。“我只是在想，要是我能坐在前座，在司机身边，让新鲜空气直接吹在我脸上，我很快就会好的。”
‘What a very sensible woman!’ said the gentleman. ‘Of course you shall.’ So they carefully helped Toad into the front seat beside the driver, and on they went again.
“这女人头脑真清楚！”那绅士说。“你当然可以坐在前座。”于是他们小心地把蟾蜍扶到前座，坐在司机旁边，又继续开车上路。
Toad was almost himself again by now. He sat up, looked about him, and tried to beat down the tremors, the yearnings, the old cravings that rose up and beset him and took possession of him entirely.
这时，蟾蜍差不多已恢复常态了。他坐直了身子，向四周看看，努力要抑制激动的情绪。他对汽车的渴求和热望，正在他心头汹涌，整个儿控制了他，弄得他躁动不宁。
‘It is fate!’ he said to himself. ‘Why strive? why struggle?’ and he turned to the driver at his side.
“这是命中注定呀！”他对自己说。“何必抗拒？何必挣扎？”于是他朝身边的司机说：
‘Please, Sir,’ he said, ‘I wish you would kindly let me try and drive the car for a little. I’ve been watching you carefully, and it looks so easy and so interesting, and I should like to be able to tell my friends that once I had driven a motor-car!’
“先生，求你行个好，让我开一会儿车吧。我一直在仔细看你开车，像是不太难，挺有意思的。我特想让朋友们知道，我开过一次车”
The driver laughed at the proposal, so heartily that the gentleman inquired what the matter was. When he heard, he said, to Toad’s delight, ‘Bravo, ma’am! I like your spirit. Let her have a try, and look after her. She won’t do any harm.’
听到这个请求，司机不禁哈哈大笑，笑得那么开心，引得后面那位绅士忙追问是怎么回事。听了司机的解释，他说道：“好啊，太太！我欣赏你这种精神。让她试一试，你在一旁关照。她不会出岔子的。”
Toad eagerly scrambled into the seat vacated by the driver, took the steering-wheel in his hands, listened with affected humility to the instructions given him, and set the car in motion, but very slowly and carefully at first, for he was determined to be prudent. The gentlemen behind clapped their hands and applauded, and Toad heard them saying, ‘How well she does it! Fancy a washerwoman driving a car as well as that, the first time!’
这话使蟾蜍大喜过望。他急不可耐地爬进司机让出来的座位，双手握住方向盘，佯作谦逊地听从司机的指点，开动了汽车，起初开得很慢很小心，因为他决心要谨慎行事。后座的绅士们拍手称赞说：“她开得多好啊！想不到一个洗衣妇开车能开得这么棒，从没见过！”
Toad went a little faster; then faster still, and faster.
蟾蜍把车开得快了些，又快了些。越开越快。
He heard the gentlemen call out warningly, ‘Be careful, washerwoman!’ And this annoyed him, and he began to lose his head.
后面的绅士大声警告说：“小心，洗衣婆！”这话激恼了他，他开始头脑发热，失去了理智。
The driver tried to interfere, but he pinned him down in his seat with one elbow, and put on full speed. The rush of air in his face, the hum of the engines, and the light jump of the car beneath him intoxicated his weak brain. ‘Washerwoman, indeed!’ he shouted recklessly. ‘Ho! ho! I am the Toad, the motor-car snatcher, the prison-breaker, the Toad who always escapes! Sit still, and you shall know what driving really is, for you are in the hands of the famous, the skilful, the entirely fearless Toad!’
司机想动手制止，可蟾蜍用一只胳臂把他按牢在坐位上，动不得。车全速行驶起来。气流冲激着他的脸，马达嗡嗡地响，身下的车厢轻轻弹跳，这一切都陶醉了他那愚钝的头脑。他肆无忌惮地喊道：“什么洗衣婆！嗬嗬！我是蟾蜍，抢车能手，越狱要犯，是身经百难总能逃脱的蟾蜍！你们给我好好呆着，我要叫你们懂得什么才是真正的驾驶。你们现在是落在鼎鼎大名、技艺超群、无所畏惧的蟾蜍手里！”
With a cry of horror the whole party rose and flung themselves on him. ‘Seize him!’ they cried, ‘seize the Toad, the wicked animal who stole our motor-car! Bind him, chain him, drag him to the nearest police-station! Down with the desperate and dangerous Toad!’
车上的人全都惊恐万分地大叫，站起来，扑到蟾蜍身上。“抓住他！”他们喊道，“抓住蟾蜍，这个偷车的坏家伙！把他捆起来，戴上手铐，拖到附近的警察局去！打倒万恶的、危险的蟾蜍！”
Alas! they should have thought, they ought to have been more prudent, they should have remembered to stop the motor-car somehow before playing any pranks of that sort. With a half-turn of the wheel the Toad sent the car crashing through the low hedge that ran along the roadside. One mighty bound, a violent shock, and the wheels of the car were churning up the thick mud of a horse-pond.
唉！他们本该想到，应当审慎行事，先想法把车子停下来，再采取行动就好了。蟾蜍把方向盘猛地转了半圈，汽车一下子冲进了路旁的矮树篱。只见它高高跳起，剧烈地颠簸，四只轮子陷进一只饮马塘，搅得泥水四溅。
Toad found himself flying through the air with the strong upward rush and delicate curve of a swallow. He liked the motion, and was just beginning to wonder whether it would go on until he developed wings and turned into a Toad-bird, when he landed on his back with a thump, in the soft rich grass of a meadow. Sitting up, he could just see the motor-car in the pond, nearly submerged; the gentlemen and the driver, encumbered by their long coats, were floundering helplessly in the water.
蟾蜍觉得自己突然往上一窜，像只燕子在空中划了一道优美的弧线。他颇喜欢这动作，心里正纳闷，不知会不会继续这样飞下去，直到长出翅膀，变成一只蟾蜍鸟。就在这一刹，砰地一声，他仰面朝天着了陆，落在丰茂松软的草地上。他坐起来，一眼看到水塘里那辆汽车，快要沉下去了；绅士们和司机被他们身上的长外套拖累着，正无可奈何地在水里扑腾挣扎。
He picked himself up rapidly, and set off running across country as hard as he could, scrambling through hedges, jumping ditches, pounding across fields, till he was breathless and weary, and had to settle down into an easy walk. When he had recovered his breath somewhat, and was able to think calmly, he began to giggle, and from giggling he took to laughing, and he laughed till he had to sit down under a hedge. ‘Ho, ho!’ he cried, in ecstasies of self-admiration, ‘Toad again! Toad, as usual, comes out on the top! Who was it got them to give him a lift? Who managed to get on the front seat for the sake of fresh air? Who persuaded them into letting him see if he could drive? Who landed them all in a horse-pond? Who escaped, flying gaily and unscathed through the air, leaving the narrow-minded, grudging, timid excursionists in the mud where they should rightly be? Why, Toad, of course; clever Toad, great Toad, GOOD Toad!’
他火速跳起来，撒腿就跑，朝着荒野拼命跑，钻过树篱，跳过沟渠，奔过田地，直跑得上气不接下气，累得只好放慢速度，缓步而行。等到稍稍喘过气来，可以平静地想事了，他就格格笑开了，先是轻笑，然后大笑．笑得前仰后合，不得不在树篱旁坐下。“哈哈！”他自我欣赏、得意洋洋地高声喊道，“蟾蜍又成功啦！毫无例外，蟾蜍又大获全胜！是谁，哄着他们让他搭车的？是谁，想出招来坐到前座，呼吸新鲜空气的？是谁，怂恿他们让他试试开车的？是谁，把他们一股脑抛进水塘的？是谁，腾空飞起，纹丝没伤着，逃之夭夭，把那帮心胸狭窄、小里小气、胆小怕事的游客丢在他们该呆的泥水里？当然是蟾蜍，聪明的蟾蜍，伟大的蟾蜍，善良的蟾蜍！”
Then he burst into song again, and chanted with uplifted voice—
接着，他又放开嗓门儿唱起来——
‘The motor-car went Poop-poop-poop, As it raced along the road. Who was it steered it into a pond? Ingenious Mr. Toad!
O, how clever I am! How clever, how clever, how very clev----‘
“小汽车，噗噗噗，
顺着大路往前奔。
是谁驱车进水塘？
足智多谋的蟾蜍君！
瞧我多聪明！多聪明，多聪明，多聪——”
A slight noise at a distance behind him made him turn his head and look. O horror! O misery! O despair!
这时从身后远处，传来一阵轻微的喧闹声，他回头一看。哎呀呀，要命呀！倒霉呀！全完啦！
About two fields off, a chauffeur in his leather gaiters and two large rural policemen were visible, running towards him as hard as they could go!
大约隔着两块田地，一个扎着皮绑腿的司机和两名乡村警察，正飞快地朝他奔来。
Poor Toad sprang to his feet and pelted away again, his heart in his mouth. O, my!’ he gasped, as he panted along, ‘what an ASS I am! What a CONCEITED and heedless ass! Swaggering again! Shouting and singing songs again! Sitting still and gassing again! O my! O my! O my!’
可怜的蟾蜍一跃而起，又嗖地蹦开，他的心都跳到嗓子眼里了。他气喘吁吁地跑着。气喘吁吁地说：“我真是头蠢驴！一头又狂妄又粗心的蠢驴！我又吹牛了！又大喊大叫大唱起来了！又坐着不动大夸海口了！天哪！天哪！天哪！”
He glanced back, and saw to his dismay that they were gaining on him. On he ran desperately, but kept looking back, and saw that they still gained steadily. He did his best, but he was a fat animal, and his legs were short, and still they gained. He could hear them close behind him now. Ceasing to heed where he was going, he struggled on blindly and wildly, looking back over his shoulder at the now triumphant enemy, when suddenly the earth failed under his feet, he grasped at the air, and, splash! he found himself head over ears in deep water, rapid water, water that bore him along with a force he could not contend with; and he knew that in his blind panic he had run straight into the river!
他回头瞄了一眼，看到那伙人追上来了。他心慌意乱，拼命狂奔，不住地回头望，只见他们越来越近了。他使出最大的力气跑，可他身体肥胖，腿又短，跑不过他们。现在，他能听到他们就在身后了。他顾不得辨方向，只管发狂似的瞎跑，还不时回过头去看他的那些就要成功的敌人。突然间，他一脚踩空了，四脚在空中乱抓，扑通一声，他没头没脑地掉进了深深的湍急的流水。他被河水的强大力量冲着走，无能为力。他这才知道，原来他在慌乱中瞎跑时，竟一头栽进了大河！
He rose to the surface and tried to grasp the reeds and the rushes that grew along the water’s edge close under the bank, but the stream was so strong that it tore them out of his hands. ‘O my!’ gasped poor Toad, ‘if ever I steal a motor-car again! If ever I sing another conceited song’—then down he went, and came up breathless and spluttering. Presently he saw that he was approaching a big dark hole in the bank, just above his head, and as the stream bore him past he reached up with a paw and caught hold of the edge and held on. Then slowly and with difficulty he drew himself up out of the water, till at last he was able to rest his elbows on the edge of the hole. There he remained for some minutes, puffing and panting, for he was quite exhausted.
他冒出水面，想抓住岸边垂下的芦苇和灯芯草，可是水流太急，抓到手的草又滑脱了。“老天爷！”可怜的蟾蜍气喘吁吁地说，“我再也不敢偷车了！再也不敢唱吹牛歌了！”说完又沉了下去，过后又冒出水面，喘着粗气胡乱打水。忽地，他发现自己正流向岸边的一个大黑洞，那洞恰好就在他头顶上。当流水冲着他经过洞边时，他伸出一只爪子、够着了岸边，抓牢了。然后他吃力地把身子慢慢拖出水面，两肘支撑在洞沿上。他在那儿呆了几分钟，喘着气，因为他实在是累垮了。
As he sighed and blew and stared before him into the dark hole, some bright small thing shone and twinkled in its depths, moving towards him. As it approached, a face grew up gradually around it, and it was a familiar face!
正当他叹气，喘息，往黑洞里瞪眼瞧时，只见洞穴深处有两个小光点。闪亮眨巴，朝他移过来。那光点凑到他跟前时，显出了一张脸，一张熟悉的脸！
Brown and small, with whiskers.
Grave and round, with neat ears and silky hair.
It was the Water Rat!
一张黄褐色的、小小的、长了胡髭的脸。
一张严肃的、圆圆的脸。一对纤巧的小耳朵和丝一般发亮的毛发。
原来是河鼠！
XI ‘LIKE SUMMER TEMPESTS CAME HIS TEARS’
