The Toll-Gatherer's Day

TWICE TOLD TALES

大卫·维杰整理制作

THE TOLL-GATHERER'S DAY

《说过两遍的故事》

A SKETCH OF TRANSITORY LIFE

收费员的一天

By Nathaniel Hawthorne

一幅描绘浮生百态的速写

Methinks, for a person whose instinct bids him rather to pore over the current of life, than to plunge into its tumultuous waves, no undesirable retreat were a toll-house beside some thronged thoroughfare of the land. In youth, perhaps, it is good for the observer to run about the earth, to leave the track of his footsteps far and wide,—to mingle himself with the action of numberless vicissitudes,—and, finally, in some calm solitude, to feed a musing spirit on all that he has seen and felt.

纳撒尼尔·霍桑 著

But there are natures too indolent, or too sensitive, to endure the dust, the sunshine, or the rain, the turmoil of moral and physical elements, to which all the wayfarers of the world expose themselves. For such a man, how pleasant a miracle, could life be made to roll its variegated length by the threshold of his own hermitage, and the great globe, as it were, perform its revolutions and shift its thousand scenes before his eyes without whirling him onward in its course.

在我看来，对于一个天性更愿意静观人生长河、而不愿投身其汹涌波涛之中的人来说，在国道上某条人来人往的大道旁，开一间收费站，倒也不失为一处可心的归隐之地。或许在年轻的时候，一个旁观者最好还是四处奔走于天地之间，把自己的足迹留得又远又广，把自己融入无数世事沧桑的洪流之中，最后再寻一处宁静的僻壤，用自己所见所感的一切，去滋养一颗好沉思的心。

If any mortal be favored with a lot analogous to this, it is the toll-gatherer. So, at least, have I often fancied, while lounging on a bench at the door of a small square edifice, which stands between shore and shore in the midst of a long bridge. Beneath the timbers ebbs and flows an arm of the sea; while above, like the life-blood through a great artery, the travel of the north and east is continually throbbing. Sitting on the aforesaid bench, I amuse myself with a conception, illustrated by numerous pencil-sketches in the air, of the toll-gatherer's day.

可总有些人天性太过懒散，或者太过敏感，受不了尘土、日晒、雨淋，受不了世上一切行路人都要经受的道德与自然的种种磨难。对这样的人来说，倘若人生真能有这样一个奇迹——让斑斓多彩的生活径自从他自家隐居之处的门槛前滚滚流过，让这偌大的地球仿佛自顾自地转动，把千百种情景在他眼前一一变换，却不把他也卷入这奔涌的洪流之中——那该是多么惬意的事啊！

In the morning—dim, gray, dewy summer's morn the distant roll of ponderous wheels begins to mingle with my old friend's slumbers, creaking more and more harshly through the midst of his dream, and gradually replacing it with realities. Hardly conscious of the change from sleep to wakefulness, he finds himself partly clad and throwing wide the toll-gates for the passage of a fragrant load of hay. The timbers groan beneath the slow-revolving wheels; one sturdy yeoman stalks beside the oxen, and, peering from the summit of the hay, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished lantern over the toll-house, is seen the drowsy visage of his comrade, who has enjoyed a nap some ten miles long.

倘若真有哪个凡人能享有这般的命运，那便是收费员了。至少，我自己是常常这样想象的，那时我正懒洋洋地倚在一条长桥中段一间小小方屋门口的长凳上。木梁之下，一条海湾潮起潮落；而在木梁之上，南来北往的车马络绎不绝，就像大动脉里的血流一般跳动不息。我就坐在前面说的那条长凳上，凭空描摹出无数幅铅笔速写般的图景，自娱自乐地想象着这位收费员一天的光景。

The toll is paid,—creak, creak, again go the wheels, and the huge haymow vanishes into the morning mist. As yet, nature is but half awake, and familiar objects appear visionary. But yonder, dashing from the shore with a rattling thunder of the wheels and a confused clatter of hoofs, comes the never-tiring mail, which has hurried onward at the same headlong, restless rate, all through the quiet night. The bridge resounds in one continued peal as the coach rolls on without a pause, merely affording the toll-gatherer a glimpse at the sleepy passengers, who now bestir their torpid limbs, and snuff a cordial in the briny air.

清晨——那朦胧灰蒙、露水未干的夏日清晨——远处沉重车轮的隆隆声，渐渐混进了我这位老朋友的睡梦之中，那声音在他梦境里越发刺耳地嘎吱作响，渐渐把梦境替换成了现实。他几乎没意识到自己已从睡梦中醒来，便发现自己已经半穿好衣裳，正打开收费栏杆，放行一车芬芳扑鼻的干草。木梁在缓缓转动的车轮下呻吟着；一个健壮的农夫大步走在牛群旁边，透过草垛顶上微弱的光亮，还能瞧见他同伴那张昏昏欲睡的脸——那人已经美美地打了个十英里长的盹儿了。

The morn breathes upon them and blushes, and they forget how wearily the darkness toiled away. And behold now the fervid day, in his bright chariot, glittering aslant over the waves, nor scorning to throw a tribute of his golden beams on the toll-gatherer's little hermitage. The old man looks eastward, and (for he is a moralizer) frames a simile of the stage coach and the sun. While the world is rousing itself, we may glance slightly at the scene of our sketch.

过路费付清了——车轮又嘎吱嘎吱地转动起来，那堆巨大的干草垛便消失在了晨雾之中。此时大自然还只醒了一半，眼前熟悉的景物看着都恍如梦境。可你瞧那边，随着车轮隆隆作响、马蹄杂沓，从岸边疾驰而来的，是那辆永不知疲倦的邮车，它整整一夜都以同样不顾一切、片刻不停的速度赶着路。马车不停歇地滚滚驶过，桥上响起一片连绵不绝的轰鸣，只让收费员匆匆瞥了一眼那些睡眼惺忪的乘客，他们此刻正活动着麻木的四肢，在这咸湿的空气里嗅着提神的气息。

It sits above the bosom of the broad flood, a spot not of earth, but in the midst of waters, which rush with a murmuring sound among the massive beams beneath. Over the door is a weather-beaten board, inscribed with the rates of toll, in letters so nearly effaced that the gilding of the sunshine can hardly make them legible. Beneath the window is a wooden bench, on which a long succession of weary wayfarers have reposed themselves. Peeping within doors, we perceive the whitewashed walls bedecked with sundry lithographic prints and advertisements of various import, and the immense showbill of a wandering caravan.

清晨的气息拂上他们的脸庞，惹得他们泛起红晕，他们早已忘了黑夜是何等疲惫地耗尽了自己。看哪，如今炽热的白昼驾着它那辆光灿灿的马车登场了，斜斜地在波浪上闪耀着光芒，也不吝惜把几缕金色的光辉洒向收费员那间小小的隐居之所，作为一份贡礼。老人朝东望去，（因为他好爱说些人生道理）便由驿车和太阳打了个比方。趁着这世界渐渐苏醒过来的当口，我们不妨稍稍瞥一眼这幅速写描绘的场景。

And there sits our good old toll-gatherer, glorified by the early sunbeams. He is a man, as his aspect may announce, of quiet soul, and thoughtful, shrewd, yet simple mind, who, of the wisdom which the passing world scatters along the wayside, has gathered a reasonable store.

它坐落在这片宽阔水流的怀抱之上，那地方本不属于陆地，而是立在水中央，水流哗哗地穿过下方那些粗大的横梁。门上方挂着一块饱经风霜的木牌，写着收费的标准，字迹已经模糊得几乎难以辨认，就算阳光把它镀上一层金色，也几乎照不出个字来。窗下有一条木凳，一代又一代疲惫的行路人都曾在这上面歇过脚。往门里瞧一眼，只见刷白的墙上，东贴一张西挂一幅的石版画和各式各样的广告，还有一张流动马戏团的巨幅海报。

Now the sun smiles upon the landscape, and earth smiles back again upon the sky. Frequent, now, are the travellers. The toll-gatherer's practised ear can distinguish the weight of every vehicle, the number of its wheels, and how many horses beat the resounding timbers with their iron tramp. Here, in a substantial family chaise, setting forth betimes to take advantage of the dewy road, come a gentleman and his wife, with their rosy-cheeked little girl sitting gladsomely between them. The bottom of the chaise is heaped with multifarious bandboxes and carpet-bags, and beneath the axle swings a leathern trunk dusty with yesterday's journey.

我们这位善良的老收费员就坐在那里，沐浴在清晨的阳光里，仿佛被镀上了一层光辉。从他的相貌便能看出，他是个心境平和、思虑周详、精明却又质朴的人，从这川流不息的世界沿途散落的智慧当中，攒下了一份相当可观的家底。

Next appears a four-wheeled carryall, peopled with a round half-dozen of pretty girls, all drawn by a single horse, and driven by a single gentleman. Luckless wight, doomed, through a whole summer day, to be the butt of mirth and mischief among the frolicsome maidens! Bolt upright in a sulky rides a thin, sour-visaged man, who, as he pays his toll, hands the toll-gatherer a printed card to stick upon the wall. The vinegar-faced traveller proves to be a manufacturer of pickles.

如今太阳已朝这片景色微笑，大地也回以微笑，遥望天空。此刻，行人渐渐多了起来。收费员那双训练有素的耳朵，能分辨出每辆车的分量、车轮的数目，以及有多少匹马正用铁蹄敲打着这作响的木梁。瞧，一辆结结实实的家用轻便马车正及时出发，好趁着道路还带着露水的时候赶路，车上坐着一位绅士和他的太太，中间坐着他们那位脸蛋红扑扑、满心欢喜的小女儿。车底堆满了各式各样的帽盒和地毯包，车轴下方还悬着一只沾满昨日旅途尘土的皮箱。

Now paces slowly from timber to timber a horseman clad in black, with a meditative brow, as of one who, whithersoever his steed might bear him, would still journey through a mist of brooding thought. He is a country preacher, going to labor at a protracted meeting. The next object passing townward is a butcher's cart, canopied with its arch of snow-white cotton. Behind comes a "sauceman," driving a wagon full of new potatoes, green ears of corn, beets, carrots, turnips, and summer-squashes.

紧接着出现的是一辆四轮敞篷马车，车上坐着足足半打俊俏姑娘，只由一匹马拉着，一位绅士驾着车。这倒霉的家伙，注定要在整整一个夏日里，成为这群顽皮姑娘们打趣戏弄的靶子！一个瘦削、面色酸涩的男人笔直地坐在一辆双轮马车里，付过路费的时候，递给收费员一张印刷的名片，让他贴在墙上。这位一脸酸相的旅客，原来是位做泡菜生意的商人。

See there, a man trundling a wheelbarrow-load of lobsters. And now a milk-cart rattles briskly onward, covered with green canvas, and conveying the contributions of a whole herd of cows, in large tin canisters. But let all these pay their toll and pass. Here comes a spectacle that causes the old toll-gatherer to smile benignantly, as if the travellers brought sunshine with them and lavished its gladsome influence all along the road.

如今，一位身穿黑衣、眉头带着几分沉思之色的骑马人，缓步从一根根木梁上走过，仿佛无论他的坐骑把他带到哪里，他都仍旧要穿行在一片沉思的迷雾之中。他是一位乡村牧师，要去一场延续多日的布道聚会上讲道。接下来朝城里方向驶来的，是一辆搭着雪白棉布拱篷的肉贩子的马车。紧随其后的是个“卖酱菜的”，赶着一辆装满新鲜土豆、青玉米、甜菜、胡萝卜和西葫芦的货车。

It is a barouche of the newest style, the varnished panels of which reflect the whole moving panorama of the landscape, and show a picture, likewise, of our friend, with his visage broadened, so that his meditative smile is transformed to grotesque merriment. Within, sits a youth, fresh as the summer morn, and beside him a young lady in white, with white gloves upon her slender bands, and a white veil flowing down over her face. But methinks her blushing cheek burns through the snowy veil. Another white-robed virgin sits in front. And who are these, on whom, and on all that appertains to them, the dust of earth seems never to have settled?

瞧那边，有个人正推着一车龙虾。此刻一辆牛奶车正咯噔咯噔地飞快驶来，车上盖着绿色的帆布，装着满满几大铁罐、汇聚自一整群奶牛的贡献。不过，且让这些人都照付过路费、径自过去吧。你瞧这边来了一幕光景，惹得这位老收费员满脸慈祥的笑意，仿佛这些旅人自带着阳光，把欢快的气息一路挥洒在道上似的。

Two lovers, whom the priest has blessed, this blessed morn, and sent them forth, with one of the bridemaids, on the matrimonial tour. Take my blessing too, ye happy ones! May the sky not frown upon you, nor clouds bedew you with their chill and sullen rain! May the hot sun kindle no fever in your hearts! May your whole life's pilgrimage be as blissful as this first day's journey, and its close be gladdened with even brighter anticipations than those which hallow your bridal night!

那是一辆式样最新的四轮敞篷马车，车身上打了漆的车板映出了整片流动的风景，也照出了我们这位朋友的样子——他的脸被映得又宽又扁，原本沉思的微笑变得滑稽可笑起来。车里坐着一位小伙子，像夏日清晨一样清新，他身边坐着一位身穿白衣的年轻小姐，纤细的手上戴着白手套，一层白色的面纱垂下来遮住了她的脸庞。可我总觉得，她那绯红的脸颊，正透过那层雪白的面纱隐隐发烫。另一位身穿白袍的少女坐在前排。这些人是谁呢？尘世的尘土仿佛从未落到过他们身上，也未曾落到与他们相关的一切事物之上。

They pass; and ere the reflection of their joy has faded from his face, another spectacle throws a melancholy shadow over the spirit of the observing man. In a close carriage sits a fragile figure, muffled carefully, and shrinking even from the mild breath of summer. She leans against a manly form, and his arm infolds her, as if to guard his treasure from some enemy. Let but a few weeks pass, and when he shall strive to embrace that loved one, he will press only desolation to his heart!

原来是一对恋人，牧师刚在这个吉庆的早晨为他们祝福过，正带着一位伴娘，一同踏上蜜月旅程。你们这对幸福的人儿，也请接受我的祝福吧！但愿天空不要朝你们皱眉，也不要有乌云洒下寒冷阴郁的雨水打湿你们！但愿炽热的太阳，别在你们心里点起半点热病！但愿你们整个人生的旅途，都如今日头一天的行程一般幸福美满，而在旅途终了之时，能有比这神圣的洞房花烛之夜更加灿烂的期盼，为你们添上一份喜庆！

And now has morning gathered up her dewy pearls, and fled away. The sun rolls blazing through the sky, and cannot find a cloud to cool his face with. The horses toil sluggishly along the bridge, and heave their glistening sides in short quick pantings, when the reins are tightened at the toll-house. Glisten, too, the faces of the travellers. Their garments are thickly bestrewn with dust; their whiskers and hair look hoary; their throats are choked with the dusty atmosphere which they have left behind them. No air is stirring on the road. Nature dares draw no breath, lest she should inhale a stifling cloud of dust.

他们过去了；可他脸上那份为他们的欢喜而生的余晖尚未褪去，另一幕景象却已在这位善于观察的老人心头投下了一层忧郁的阴影。一辆封闭的马车里，坐着一个裹得严严实实、身形单薄的人，就连夏日温和的微风也让她畏缩不已。她靠在一个男子汉般的身影上，那人用臂膀将她紧紧搂着，仿佛要护着自己的珍宝，不让某个仇敌伤害。可只消再过几个星期，等他再想拥抱那位心爱的人时，怀里搂到的，恐怕就只剩一片荒凉了！

"A hot, and dusty day!" cry the poor pilgrims, as they wipe their begrimed foreheads, and woo the doubtful breeze which the river bears along with it. "Awful hot! Dreadful dusty!" answers the sympathetic toll-gatherer. They start again, to pass through the fiery furnace, while he re-enters his cool hermitage, and besprinkles it with a pail of briny water from the stream beneath. He thinks within himself, that the sun is not so fierce here as elsewhere, and that the gentle air does not forget him in these sultry days. Yes, old friend; and a quiet heart will make a dog-day temperate.

如今清晨已收拾起她那些露珠般的珍珠，悄然远去。太阳在天空中熊熊燃烧地滚动着，找不到一片云彩来给自己的脸庞降降温。马匹在桥上懒洋洋地拖着步子费力前行，一到收费站勒紧了缰绳，便发出短促急促的喘息，两侧的皮毛也闪着汗光。旅人们的脸上也是一样汗光闪闪。他们的衣服上落满了厚厚的尘土；胡须和头发都显得灰白；喉咙里也被他们身后那片尘土弥漫的空气呛得发紧。路上没有一丝风。大自然仿佛都不敢喘一口气，生怕吸进一团令人窒息的尘云。

He hears a weary footstep, and perceives a traveller with pack and staff, who sits down upon the hospitable bench, and removes the hat from his wet brow. The toll-gatherer administers a cup of cold water, and discovering his guest to be a man of homely sense, he engages him in profitable talk, uttering the maxims of a philosophy which he has found in his own soul, but knows not how it came there. And as the wayfarer makes ready to resume his journey, he tells him a sovereign remedy for blistered feet.

“真是又热又满是灰尘的一天啊！”这些可怜的旅人一边擦着脏兮兮的额头，一边招呼着河面上带来的那几缕若有若无的凉风，抱怨道。“热得吓人！尘土大得吓人！”这位富有同情心的收费员应和道。他们又重新上路，穿过这如同火炉一般的酷热，而他则重新回到自己那间凉爽的隐居小屋里，从桥下的溪水里打上一桶水，洒在屋里降降温。他心里暗想，这地方的太阳，似乎没有别处那么毒辣，就算是这般溽暑天气，那阵阵轻风也没把他给忘了。是啊，老朋友；一颗宁静的心，就能把三伏天也过得清凉几分。

Now comes the noontide hour,—of all the hours nearest akin to midnight; for each has its own calmness and repose. Soon, however, the world begins to turn again upon its axis, and it seems the busiest epoch of the day; when an accident impedes the march of sublunary things. The draw being lifted to permit the passage of a schooner, laden with wood from the Eastern forests, she sticks immovably, right athwart the bridge! Meanwhile, on both sides of the chasm, a throng of impatient travellers fret and fume.

他听见一阵疲惫的脚步声，只见一位背着行囊、拄着手杖的旅人，在这好客的长凳上坐了下来，从湿漉漉的额头上摘下帽子。收费员递上一杯凉水，见这位客人是个通情达理的朴实人，便与他攀谈起来，谈得颇为受益，说出的都是他从自己心底悟出的哲理，只是连他自己也说不清这些道理究竟是从哪儿来的。等这位行路人准备重新上路时，他又教了他一个治疗脚上水泡的灵丹妙方。

Here are two sailors in a gig, with the top thrown back, both puffing cigars, and swearing all sorts of forecastle oaths; there, in a smart chaise, a dashingly dressed gentleman and lady, he from a tailor's shop-board; and she from a milliner's back room,—the aristocrats of a summer afternoon. And what are the haughtiest of us, but the ephemeral aristocrats of a summer's day? Here is a tin-peddler, whose glittering ware bedazzles all beholders, like a travelling meteor, or opposition sun; and on the other side a seller of spruce-beer, which brisk liquor is confined in several dozen of stone bottles.

如今到了正午时分——在一天所有的时辰里，最接近午夜的一刻，因为每一个时辰都自有它的宁静与安歇。可不多时，这世界便又开始绕着自己的轴心转动起来，眼看就要迎来这一天最忙碌的时刻——偏偏这时候，一场意外拦住了尘世万物前行的脚步。为了放行一艘满载着东部森林木材的纵帆船，桥的吊桥段被升了起来，那船却偏偏一动不动地卡在了桥的正中央！与此同时，桥两端聚集起一群焦躁不安、怨声载道的旅人。

Here comes a party of ladies on horseback, in green riding-habits, and gentlemen attendant; and there a flock of sheep for the market, pattering over the bridge with a multitudinous clatter of their little hoofs. Here a Frenchman, with a hand-organ on his shoulder; and there an itinerant Swiss jeweller. On this side, heralded by a blast of clarions and bugles, appears a train of wagons, conveying all the wild beasts of a caravan; and on that, a company of summer soldiers, marching from village to village on a festival campaign, attended by the "brass band."

这边，一辆敞篷双座马车里坐着两名水手，篷顶已经掀开，两人都叼着雪茄喷云吐雾，嘴里嚷着水手舱里学来的各种粗话；那边，一辆时髦的轻便马车里，坐着一对打扮得花枝招展的男女，男的出自裁缝铺的裁衣板，女的来自女帽店的后间——这便是一个夏日午后的“贵族”了。可我们当中最傲慢的人，又何尝不是这夏日一天里昙花一现的“贵族”呢？这边是个卖白铁器皿的小贩，他那闪闪发亮的货物晃花了每个人的眼睛，好似一颗游走的流星，或是一轮与太阳分庭抗礼的小太阳；另一边则是个卖云杉啤酒的，这提神的饮料装在好几十个石瓶子里。

Now look at the scene, and it presents an emblem of the mysterious confusion, the apparently insolvable riddle, in which individuals, or the great world itself, seem often to be involved. What miracle shall set all things right again?

这边来了一群骑马的女士，穿着绿色的骑装，还有绅士们随行陪伴；那边则是一群送去市场的绵羊，用它们那细碎的小蹄子踏得桥上一片啪嗒啪嗒的响声。这边是个肩上扛着手摇风琴的法国人；那边是个走街串巷的瑞士珠宝商。这一侧，在号角声的引领下，出现了一列马戏团的货车，装着各式各样的野兽；那一侧，则是一队夏日民兵，跟着一支“铜管乐队”，正从这个村子行军到那个村子，参加一场节庆式的操演。

But see! the schooner has thrust her bulky carcass through the chasm; the draw descends; horse and foot pass onward, and leave the bridge vacant from end to end. "And thus," muses the toll-gatherer, "have I found it with all stoppages, even though the universe seemed to be at a stand." The sage old man!

如今看看这番景象，倒像是一个象征，象征着那种神秘的混乱，象征着那道似乎无解的谜题——个人也好，或是这个大世界本身也罢，常常仿佛都陷在其中。究竟要有怎样的奇迹，才能把这一切重新理顺呢？

Far westward now, the reddening sun throws a broad sheet of splendor across the flood, and to the eyes of distant boatmen gleams brightly among the timbers of the bridge. Strollers come from the town to quaff the freshening breeze. One or two let down long lines, and haul up flapping flounders, or cunners, or small cod, or perhaps an eel. Others, and fair girls among them, with the flush of the hot day still on their cheeks, bend over the railing and watch the heaps of sea-weed floating upward with the flowing tide. The horses now tramp heavily along the bridge, and wistfully bethink them of their stables. Rest, rest, thou weary world!

可你瞧！那艘纵帆船终于把她那笨重的身躯挤过了缺口；吊桥落了下来；车马行人纷纷继续前行，把这座桥从头到尾都腾了个空。“就这样，”收费员暗自沉思道，“我发现，每一次拥堵，即便看起来整个世界都仿佛停摆了，最终也总能过去。”真是位睿智的老人啊！

For tomorrow's round of toil and pleasure will be as wearisome as to-day's has been; yet both shall bear thee onward a day's march of eternity. Now the old toll-gatherer looks seaward, and discerns the lighthouse kindling on a far island, and the stars, too, kindling in the sky, as if but a little way beyond; and mingling reveries of Heaven with remembrances of Earth, the whole procession of mortal travellers, all the dusty pilgrimage which he has witnessed, seems like a flitting show of phantoms for his thoughtful soul to muse upon.

如今，夕阳已西斜得很远了，把一片灿烂的霞光洒满水面，远处船夫的眼中，也映出这桥梁木架间闪闪发亮的光影。三三两两的闲逛者从城里出来，来享受这渐渐清爽起来的微风。有一两个人放下长长的钓线，钓起了扑腾乱跳的比目鱼，或是杜父鱼，或是小鳕鱼，又或许是条鳗鱼。还有些人——其中不乏俏丽的姑娘，脸颊上还留着白日酷热的余晕——俯身靠在栏杆上，望着一团团海藻随着涨潮漂浮而上。此刻马匹沉重地在桥上踏步而行，一边思念着自己的马厩。歇息吧，歇息吧，你这疲惫的世界！