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第69章 木偶戲藝人 The Puppet-Show Man

《木偶戲藝人》,1851 年

the puppet-Show man, 1851

在一艘輪船上,我曾經遇到一位上了年紀的人,他面容十分歡快,倘若這面容真能反映他的心境,那他肯定是世上最幸福的人了;事實上他自己也這麼認為,因為這是我聽他親口說的。

on board a steamer I once met an elderly man, with such a merry face that, if it was really an index of his mind, he must have been the happiest fellow in creation; and indeed he considered himself so, for I heard it from his own mouth.

他是個丹麥人,是一家流動劇院的老闆。

he was a dane, the owner of a travelling theatre.

他把所有的演職人員都裝在一個大箱子裡帶著,因為他是一家木偶戲班的班主。

he had all his pany with him in a large box, for he was the proprietor of a puppet-show.

他說,他與生俱來的樂天性格曾被一位理工學院的成員測試過,而這次測試讓他感到無比幸福。

his inborn cheerfulness, he said, had been tested by a member of the polytechnic Institution, and the experiment had made him pletely happy.

起初我並不完全明白這一切,但後來他把整件事都跟我解釋清楚了;事情是這樣的:——

I did not at first understand all this, but afterwards he explained the whole story to me; and here it is: —

“我當時正在斯拉格爾斯小鎮的驛站大廳裡演出,” 他說,“觀眾非常出色,除了兩位可敬的女士,其餘全是孩子。

“I was giving a representation,” he said, “in the hall of the posting-house in the little town of Slagelse; there was a splendid audience, entirely juvenile excepting two respectable matrons.

突然,一個身穿黑衣、模樣像學生的人走進房間,坐了下來;遇到精彩之處,他就放聲大笑,該鼓掌的時候也鼓得恰到好處。

All at once, a person in black, of student-like appearance, entered the room, and lived down; he laughed aloud at the telling points, and applauded quite at the proper time.

對我來說,這可是個很不尋常的觀眾,我很想知道