河鼠神情严肃，站着沉思了一两分钟。随后他转身进屋，将一根皮带系在腰间，往皮带上插几把手枪，又从大厅的一角抄起一根粗棒，撒腿朝野林走去。
It was already getting towards dusk when he reached the first fringe of trees and plunged without hesitation into the wood, looking anxiously on either side for any sign of his friend. Here and there wicked little faces popped out of holes, but vanished immediately at sight of the valorous animal, his pistols, and the great ugly cudgel in his grasp; and the whistling and pattering, which he had heard quite plainly on his first entry, died away and ceased, and all was very still. He made his way manfully through the length of the wood, to its furthest edge; then, forsaking all paths, he set himself to traverse it, laboriously working over the whole ground, and all the time calling out cheerfully, ‘Moly, Moly, Moly! Where are you? It’s me—it’s old Rat!’
他走到林边的第一排树时，天色已经昏暗下来，他毫不犹豫地径直钻进树林，焦急地东张西望，看有没有朋友的踪迹。到处都有不怀好意的小脸，从洞口探头探脑向外张望，可一看到这位威风凛凛的动物，看到他的那排手枪，还有紧挨在他手里的凶神恶煞的大棒，就立刻隐没了。刚进林子时分明听到的哨声和脚步声也都消逝了，止息了，一切又都归于宁静。他果敢地穿过整座树林，一直走到尽头，然后，撇开所有的小径，横穿树林，仔细搜索整个林区，同时不停地大声呼叫：“鼹儿，鼹儿，鼹儿！你在哪？我来啦——鼠儿来啦！”
He had patiently hunted through the wood for an hour or more, when at last to his joy he heard a little answering cry. Guiding himself by the sound, he made his way through the gathering darkness to the foot of an old beech tree, with a hole in it, and from out of the hole came a feeble voice, saying ‘Ratty! Is that really you?’
他在树林里耐心搜索了大约一个多小时，末了，他听到一声细微的回答，不禁大喜。他循着声音的方向，穿过越来越浓的黑暗，来到一株老山毛榉树脚下。从树下的一个洞里，传出一个微弱的声音，说：“鼠儿！真的是你吗？”
The Rat crept into the hollow, and there he found the Mole, exhausted and still trembling. ‘O Rat!’ he cried, ‘I’ve been so frightened, you can’t think!’
河鼠爬到洞里，找到了精疲力尽浑身发抖的鼹鼠。“哎呀，鼠啊！”他喊道，“可把我吓坏了，你简直想象不到！”
‘O, I quite understand,’ said the Rat soothingly. ‘You shouldn’t really have gone and done it, Mole. I did my best to keep you from it. We river-bankers, we hardly ever come here by ourselves. If we have to come, we come in couples, at least; then we’re generally all right. Besides, there are a hundred things one has to know, which we understand all about and you don’t, as yet. I mean passwords, and signs, and sayings which have power and effect, and plants you carry in your pocket, and verses you repeat, and dodges and tricks you practise; all simple enough when you know them, but they’ve got to be known if you’re small, or you’ll find yourself in trouble. Of course if you were Badger or Otter, it would be quite another matter.’
“噢，我完全能理解，”河鼠抚慰他说。“你真的不该来，不该这么干，鼹鼠。我曾极力劝阻你的。我们河边动物从不单独上这儿来。要来的话，起码也得找个伴同行，才不会有问题。而且，来以前你必须学会上百种窍门儿，那些我们都懂，可你不懂。我指的是有效的口令、暗号、口诀，衣兜里还要带上装备，要反复背诵某些诗句，经常练习逃避方法和巧技。你学会了，就全都很简单。作为小动物，你必须学会这些，否则就会遇到麻烦。当然啰，假如你是獾或者是水獭，那就另当别论了。
‘Surely the brave Mr. Toad wouldn’t mind coming here by himself, would he?’ inquired the Mole.
“那，勇敢的蟾蜍先生，他该不怕独自来这里吧？”鼹鼠问。
‘Old Toad?’ said the Rat, laughing heartily. ‘He wouldn’t show his face here alone, not for a whole hatful of golden guineas, Toad wouldn’t.’
“老蟾？”河鼠哈哈大笑。“他独自一个，才不会在这里露面哩，哪怕你给他整整一帽子的金币，他蟾蜍也不会来的。”
The Mole was greatly cheered by the sound of the Rat’s careless laughter, as well as by the sight of his stick and his gleaming pistols, and he stopped shivering and began to feel bolder and more himself again.
听到河鼠那爽朗的笑声，看到他手中的大棒和亮闪闪的手枪，鼹鼠大受鼓舞。他不再发抖，胆子也壮了，情绪也恢复了。
‘Now then,’ said the Rat presently, ‘we really must pull ourselves together and make a start for Home while there’s still a little light left. It will never do to spend the night here, you understand. Too cold, for one thing.’
“现在，”河鼠当下说，“咱们真的必须打起精神，趁天还有一丝丝亮，赶回家去。在这儿过夜是万万不行的，你明白。至少是，太冷了。”
‘Dear Ratty,’ said the poor Mole, ‘I’m dreadfully sorry, but I’m simply dead beat and that’s a solid fact. You MUST let me rest here a while longer, and get my strength back, if I’m to get Home at all.’
“亲爱的鼠儿，”可怜的鼹鼠说，“实在对不起，可我真是累坏了，确确实实是累垮了。你得让我在这儿多歇会儿，恢复一下体力，才谈得到走回家去。”
‘O, all right,’ said the good-natured Rat, ‘rest away. It’s pretty nearly pitch dark now, anyhow; and there ought to be a bit of a moon later.’
“那好，”和善的河鼠说，“那就歇着吧。反正天已差不多全黑了，待会儿，该有点月光了。”
So the Mole got well into the dry leaves and stretched himself out, and presently dropped off into sleep, though of a broken and troubled sort; while the Rat covered himself up, too, as best he might, for warmth, and lay patiently waiting, with a pistol in his paw.
于是鼹鼠深深钻进枯树叶，伸开四肢，不一会就睡着了，尽管睡得时断时续，惊悸不安。河鼠为了取暖，也尽量把身子捂得严实些，一只爪子握着手枪，躺着耐心等待。
When at last the Mole woke up, much refreshed and in his usual spirits, the Rat said, ‘Now then! I’ll just take a look outside and see if everything’s quiet, and then we really must be off.’
鼹鼠终于醒来，精神好多了，恢复了平日的情绪。河鼠说：“好啦！我先去外面瞅瞅，看是不是平安无事，然后咱们真该开步走啦。”
He went to the entrance of their retreat and put his head out. Then the Mole heard him saying quietly to himself, ‘Hullo! hullo! here—is—a—go!’
河鼠来到洞口，探头向外望。鼹鼠听见他轻声自言自语说：“嗬，嗬，麻烦啦！”
‘What’s up, Ratty?’ asked the Mole.
“出什么事儿，鼠儿？”鼹鼠问。
‘SNOW is up,’ replied the Rat briefly; ‘or rather, DOWN. It’s snowing hard.’
“出雪啦，”河鼠简短地回答；“就是说，下雪啦。雪下得可冲哪。”
The Mole came and crouched beside him, and, looking out, saw the wood that had been so dreadful to him in quite a changed aspect. Holes, hollows, pools, pitfalls, and other black menaces to the wayfarer were vanishing fast, and a gleaming carpet of faery was springing up everywhere, that looked too delicate to be trodden upon by rough feet. A fine powder filled the air and caressed the cheek with a tingle in its touch, and the black boles of the trees showed up in a light that seemed to come from below.
鼹鼠也钻出来，蹲在他身旁。他向外望去，只见那座曾经吓得他失魂落魄的树林，完全变了样。洞穴、坑洼、池塘、陷阱，以及其他一些恐吓过路人的东西，统统迅速消失了。一层晶莹闪光的仙毯，蒙盖了整个地面，这仙毯看上去太纤巧了，粗笨的脚都不忍往上踩。漫天飘洒着细细的粉末，碰到脸上，痒痒的，怪舒服。黝黑的树干，仿佛被一片来自地下的光照亮，显得清晰异常。
‘Well, well, it can’t be helped,’ said the Rat, after pondering. ‘We must make a start, and take our chance, I suppose. The worst of it is, I don’t exactly know where we are. And now this snow makes everything look so very different.’
“唉，唉，没办法，”河鼠想了一会说。“我看，咱们还是出发，碰碰运气吧。糟糕的是，我辨不清咱们的方位。这场雪，使一切都改了模样。”
It did indeed. The Mole would not have known that it was the same wood. However, they set out bravely, and took the line that seemed most promising, holding on to each other and pretending with invincible cheerfulness that they recognized an old friend in every fresh tree that grimly and silently greeted them, or saw openings, gaps, or paths with a familiar turn in them, in the monotony of white space and black tree-trunks that refused to vary.
确实如此。鼹鼠简直认不出，这就是原来那座树林了。不过，他们还是勇敢地上路了。他们选择了一条看似最有把握的路线，互相搀扶着，装出一副所向无敌的兴冲冲的样子，每遇见一株阴森沉默的新树，就认作是一位老相识，或者面对那白茫茫的一片雪野和千篇一律的黑色树干，都硬装作是看到了熟悉的空地、豁口或通道。
An hour or two later—they had lost all count of time—they pulled up, dispirited, weary, and hopelessly at sea, and sat down on a fallen tree-trunk to recover their breath and consider what was to be done. They were aching with fatigue and bruised with tumbles; they had fallen into several holes and got wet through; the snow was getting so deep that they could hardly drag their little legs through it, and the trees were thicker and more like each other than ever. There seemed to be no end to this wood, and no beginning, and no difference in it, and, worst of all, no way out.
约莫过了一两个钟头——他们已完全失去了时间概念——他们停了下来，又沮丧，又倦乏，又迷惘，在一根横倒的树干上坐了下来，喘口气，考虑下一步该怎么办。他们已累得浑身酸痛，摔得皮破血流；他们好几次掉进洞里，弄得浑身湿透。雪已经积得很厚很厚，小小的腿几乎拔不出来。树越来越稠密，也越来越难以区分。树林仿佛无边无际，没有尽头，也没有差别，最糟的是，没有一条走出树林的路。
‘We can’t sit here very long,’ said the Rat. ‘We shall have to make another push for it, and do something or other. The cold is too awful for anything, and the snow will soon be too deep for us to wade through.’ He peered about him and considered. ‘Look here,’ he went on, ‘this is what occurs to me. There’s a sort of dell down here in front of us, where the ground seems all hilly and humpy and hummocky. We’ll make our way down into that, and try and find some sort of shelter, a cave or hole with a dry floor to it, out of the snow and the wind, and there we’ll have a good rest before we try again, for we’re both of us pretty dead beat. Besides, the snow may leave off, or something may turn up.’
“咱们不能久坐，”河鼠说。“得再加把劲，采取点别的措施。天太冷了，雪很快就会积得更深，咱们趟不过去了。”他朝四周张望，想了一阵，接着说：“瞧，我想到这么一个办法：前面有一块谷地，那儿有许多小山包、小丘冈。咱们去那儿找一处隐蔽的地方，一个有干地面的洞穴什么的，避避风雪。咱们先在那儿好好休息一阵子，再想法走出树林。咱们都累得够呛了。再说，雪说不定会停下来，或者会出现什么别的情况。”
So once more they got on their feet, and struggled down into the dell, where they hunted about for a cave or some corner that was dry and a protection from the keen wind and the whirling snow. They were investigating one of the hummocky bits the Rat had spoken of, when suddenly the Mole tripped up and fell forward on his face with a squeal.
于是，他们又站起来，踉踉跄跄走下谷地，去寻找一个山洞，或者一个干燥的角落，可以抵挡刺骨的寒风和飞旋的雪。正当他们在察看河鼠提到的一个小山包时，鼹鼠突然尖叫一声，脸朝下摔了个嘴啃泥。
‘O my leg!’ he cried. ‘O my poor shin!’ and he sat up on the snow and nursed his leg in both his front paws.
‘Poor old Mole!’ said the Rat kindly.
“哎哟，我的腿！”他喊道。“哎哟，我可怜的小腿！”他翻身坐在地上，用两只前爪抱住一条腿。
‘You don’t seem to be having much luck to-day, do you? Let’s have a look at the leg. Yes,’ he went on, going down on his knees to look, ‘you’ve cut your shin, sure enough. Wait till I get at my handkerchief, and I’ll tie it up for you.’
“可怜的老鼹！”河鼠关切地说，“今儿个你好像不大走运，是不是？让我瞧瞧你的腿。”他双膝跪下来看。“是啊，你的小腿受伤了，没错。等等，让我找出手帕来给你包上。”
‘I must have tripped over a hidden branch or a stump,’ said the Mole miserably. ‘O, my! O, my!’
“我一定是被一根埋在雪里的树枝或树桩绊倒了，”鼹鼠惨兮兮地说。“哎哟！哎哟！”
‘It’s a very clean cut,’ said the Rat, examining it again attentively. ‘That was never done by a branch or a stump. Looks as if it was made by a sharp edge of something in metal. Funny!’ He pondered awhile, and examined the humps and slopes that surrounded them.
“伤口很整齐，”河鼠再一次仔细检查他的腿。“绝不会是树枝或树桩划破的。看起来倒像是被什么锋利的金属家伙划的。怪事！”他沉吟了一会，观察着周围一带的山包和坡地。
‘Well, never mind what done it,’ said the Mole, forgetting his grammar in his pain. ‘It hurts just the same, whatever done it.’
“噢，管它是什么干的，”鼹鼠说，痛得连语法都顾不上了。“不管是什么划的，反正一样痛。”
But the Rat, after carefully tying up the leg with his handkerchief, had left him and was busy scraping in the snow. He scratched and shovelled and explored, all four legs working busily, while the Mole waited impatiently, remarking at intervals, ‘O, COME on, Rat!’
可是，河鼠用手帕仔细包好他的伤腿后，就撂下他，忙着在雪里挖起来。他又刨又铲又掘，四只腿忙个不停，而鼹鼠在一旁不耐烦地等着，时不时插上一句：“唉，河鼠，算了吧！”
Suddenly the Rat cried ‘Hooray!’ and then ‘Hooray-oo-ray-oo-ray-oo-ray!’ and fell to executing a feeble jig in the snow.
突然，河鼠一声喊：“啊哈！”跟着又是一连串的“啊哈——啊哈——啊哈——啊哈！”他竟在雪地里跳起舞来。
‘What HAVE you found, Ratty?’ asked the Mole, still nursing his leg.
“鼠儿，你找到什么啦？”鼹鼠问，他还在抱着自己的腿。
‘Come and see!’ said the delighted Rat, as he jigged on.
“快来看哪！”心花怒放的河鼠说，一边还跳着舞。
The Mole hobbled up to the spot and had a good look.‘Well,’ he said at last, slowly, ‘I SEE it right enough. Seen the same sort of thing before, lots of times. Familiar object, I call it. A door-scraper! Well, what of it? Why dance jigs around a door-scraper?’
鼹鼠一瘸一拐地走过去，看了又看。好半晌，他慢吞吞地说：“唔，我瞧得真真切切。这类东西以前也见过，见得多啦。我管它叫家常物品。只不过是一只大门口的刮泥器！有什么了不起？干吗围着一只刮泥器跳舞？”
‘But don’t you see what it MEANS, you—you dull-witted animal?’ cried the Rat impatiently.
“难道你还不明白这意味着什么吗？你呀，你这个呆瓜！”河鼠不耐烦地喊道。
‘Of course I see what it means,’ replied the Mole. ‘It simply means that some VERY careless and forgetful person has left his door-scraper lying about in the middle of the Wild Wood, JUST where it’s SURE to trip EVERYBODY up. Very thoughtless of him, I call it. When I get Home I shall go and complain about it to—to somebody or other, see if I don’t!’
“我当然明白啦，”鼹鼠回答说。“这只不过说明，有个粗心大意爱忘事的家伙，把自家门前的刮泥器丢在了野林中央，不偏不倚就扔在什么人都会给绊倒的地方。我说，这家伙也太缺德了。等我回到家时，我非向——向什么人——告他一状不可，等着瞧吧！”
‘O, dear! O, dear!’ cried the Rat, in despair at his obtuseness. ‘Here, stop arguing and come and scrape!’ And he set to work again and made the snow fly in all directions around him.
“天哪！天哪！”看到鼹鼠这么迟钝不开窍，河鼠无可奈何地喊道。“好啦，别斗嘴了，快来和我一道刨吧！”他又动手干了起来，掘得四周雪粉飞溅。
After some further toil his efforts were rewarded, and a very shabby door-mat lay exposed to view.
又苦干了一阵子，他的努力终见成效，一块破旧的擦脚垫露了出来。
‘There, what did I tell you?’ exclaimed the Rat in great triumph.
“瞧．我说什么来着？”河鼠洋洋得意地欢呼起来。
‘Absolutely nothing whatever,’ replied the Mole, with perfect truthfulness. ‘Well now,’ he went on, ‘you seem to have found another piece of domestic litter, done for and thrown away, and I suppose you’re perfectly happy. Better go ahead and dance your jig round that if you’ve got to, and get it over, and then perhaps we can go on and not waste any more time over rubbish-heaps. Can we EAT a doormat? or sleep under a door-mat? Or sit on a door-mat and sledge Home over the snow on it, you exasperating rodent?’
“什么也不是，”鼹鼠一本正经地说。“好吧，你像是又发现了一件家用杂物，用坏了被扔掉的，我想你一定开心得很。要是你想围着它跳舞，那就快跳，跳完咱们好赶路，不再为这些破烂垃圾浪费时间啦。一块擦脚垫，能当饭吃吗？能当毯子盖着睡觉吗？能当雪橇坐上滑回家吗？你这个叫人恼火的啮齿动物！”
‘Do—you—mean—to—say,’ cried the excited Rat, ‘that this door-mat doesn’t TELL you anything?’
“你当真认为，”兴奋的河鼠喊道，“这块擦脚垫不能说明任何问题吗？”
‘Really, Rat,’ said the Mole, quite pettishly, ‘I think we’d had enough of this folly. Who ever heard of a door-mat TELLING anyone anything? They simply don’t do it. They are not that sort at all. Door-mats know their place.’
“真是，河鼠，”鼹鼠烦躁地说，“我认为，这套荒唐游戏，咱们已经玩够了。谁又听说过，一块擦脚垫能说明什么问题？擦脚垫是不会说什么的。它们根本不是那种货色。擦脚垫懂得自己的身份。”
‘Now look here, you—you thick-headed beast,’ replied the Rat, really angry, ‘this must stop. Not another word, but scrape—scrape and scratch and dig and hunt round, especially on the sides of the hummocks, if you want to sleep dry and warm to-night, for it’s our last chance!’
“你听着——你这个呆瓜，”河鼠回答说，他真的火了。“别再跟我来这一套！一句话也甭说，只管刨——刨，挖，掘，找，特别是在小山包四周找。要是你今晚想有个干干爽爽暖暖和和的地方睡上一觉，这就是最后的机会！”
The Rat attacked a snow-bank beside them with ardour, probing with his cudgel everywhere and then digging with fury; and the Mole scraped busily too, more to oblige the Rat than for any other reason, for his opinion was that his friend was getting light-headed.
河鼠冲他们身边的一处雪坡发起猛攻，用他的粗棒到处捅，又发疯似地挖着。鼹鼠也忙着刨起来，不为别的，只为讨好河鼠，因为他相信，他的朋友头脑有点发疯了。
Some ten minutes’ hard work, and the point of the Rat’s cudgel struck something that sounded hollow. He worked till he could get a paw through and feel; then called the Mole to come and help him. Hard at it went the two animals, till at last the result of their labours stood full in view of the astonished and hitherto incredulous Mole.
苦干了约十分钟光景，河鼠的棍棒敲到了什么东西，发出空洞的声音。又刨了一阵，可以伸进一只爪子去摸了。他叫鼹鼠过来帮忙。两只动物一齐努力，终于，他们的劳动成果赫然出现在眼前，把一直持怀疑态度的鼹鼠惊得目瞪口呆。
In the side of what had seemed to be a snow-bank stood a solid-looking little door, painted a dark green. An iron bell-pull hung by the side, and below it, on a small brass plate, neatly engraved in square capital letters, they could read by the aid of moonlight MR. BADGER.
就在看去像是一个雪坡的旁边，立着一扇漆成墨绿色的坚实的小门。门边挂着铃绳的铁环，铃绳下有一块小小的黄铜牌子，牌子上，用工整的楷书清晰地刻着几个字，借着月光，可以辨认出是：獾先生
The Mole fell backwards on the snow from sheer surprise and delight. ‘Rat!’ he cried in penitence, ‘you’re a wonder! A real wonder, that’s what you are. I see it all now! You argued it out, step by step, in that wise head of yours, from the very moment that I fell and cut my shin, and you looked at the cut, and at once your majestic mind said to itself, “Door-scraper!” And then you turned to and found the very door-scraper that done it! Did you stop there? No. Some people would have been quite satisfied; but not you. Your intellect went on working. “Let me only just find a door-mat,” says you to yourself, “and my theory is proved!” And of course you found your door-mat. You’re so clever, I believe you could find anything you liked. “Now,” says you, “that door exists, as plain as if I saw it. There’s nothing else remains to be done but to find it!” Well, I’ve read about that sort of thing in books, but I’ve never come across it before in real life. You ought to go where you’ll be properly appreciated. You’re simply wasted here, among us fellows. If I only had your head, Ratty----‘
