奧列.路卻埃(七)

SUNDAY

“Good evening!” said Ole Luk-Oie; and Hjalmar nodded， and then ran and turned his great-grandfather’s Portrait against the wall， that it might not interrupt them， as it had done yesterday.

“Now you must tell me stories; about the five green peas that lived in one pod， and about the cock’s foot that paid court to the hen’s foot， and of the darning-needle who gave herself such airs because she thought herself a sewing needle.”

“There may be too much of a good thing!” said Ole Luk-Oie. “You know that I prefer showing you something. I will show you my own brother. His name， like mine， is Ole Luk-Oie， but he never comes to any one more than once; and he takes him to whom he comes upon his home， and tells him stories. He only knows two. One of these is so exceedingly beautiful that no one in the world can imagine it， and the other so horrible and dreadful that it cannot be described.”

And then Ole Luk-Oie lifted little Hjalmar up to the window， and said，

“There you will see my brother， the other Ole Luk-Oie. They also call him Death! Doyou see， he does not look so terrible as they make him in the picture-books， where he is only a skeleton. No， that is silver embroidery that he has on his coat; that is a splendid hussar’s uniform; a mantle of black velvet flies behind him over the horse. See how he gallops along?”

And Hjalmar saw how this Ole Luk-Oie rode away， and took young people as well as old upon his horse. Some of them he put before him， and some behind; but he always asked first， “How stands it with the mark-book? “Well，” they all replied. “Yes， let me see it myself，” he said. And then each one had to show him the book; and those who had “very well” and “remarkably well” written in their books， were placed in front of his horse， and a lovely story was told to them; while those who had “middling”or“tolerably well， ” had to sit up behind， and hear a very terrible story indeed. They trembled and wept， and wanted to jump off the horse， but this they could not do， for they had all， as it were， grown fast to it.

“But Death is a most splendid Ole Luk-Oie，” said Hjalmar. “I am not afraid of him?”

“Nor need you be，” replied Ole Luk-Oie; “but see that you have a good mark-book?”

“Yes， that is instructive!” muttered the great grandfather’s Picture. “It is of some use after all giving one’s opinion.” And now he was satisfied.

You see， that is the story of Ole Luk-Oie; and now he may tell you more himself， this evening!

星期天

“晚上好!”奧列·路卻埃說。哈爾馬點點頭，然后跑過去，把他那位祖爺爺的畫像翻過來對著墻，這樣他就再也不會像昨天那樣插嘴了。

“這回你得給我講故事啦。講一個豆莢里五個青豆的故事；公雞的腳向母雞的腳求婚的故事；還有一根織針覺得自己很了不起，以為自己是縫衣針的故事。”

“好東西太多了也不行呀!”奧列·路卻埃說，“你知道，我很愿意展示一樣東西給你看，那就是我的兄弟。他的名字像我的一樣，也叫奧列·路卻埃，但他拜訪任何人，都不超過一次。他把自己遇到的人抱在馬上，講故事給他聽。他只知道兩個故事：一個故事特別美，世上誰也想像不出來；另一個特別可怕，簡直讓人無法形容。”

于是，奧列·路卻埃將小哈爾馬抱到窗邊，說：

“在這里你可以看到我的兄弟，另一個奧列·路卻埃。人們都叫他死神!你瞧，他看上去不像畫書里畫的那樣可怕，在畫書上他是一具骷髏。不，那只是他上衣的一個圖案。上衣是一個瀟灑騎兵的制服。在馬背上，他那黑色的天鵝絨斗篷飄舉在身后。看，他在縱馬飛奔!”

哈爾馬看見，這個奧列·路卻埃帶著老老少少，縱馬飛馳。其中有些人坐在他身前，有的坐在身后。不過這個奧列·路卻埃總是先問：“讓我們看看通知簿上寫了什么，怎么樣?”“好的，”大家答道。他說：“讓我先看看吧。”然后，每個人都把自己的通知簿遞給他看。那些寫著“很好”、“相當好”評語的人坐在他的前面，他給他們講好聽的故事；那些通知簿上寫著“一般”、“過得去”的人，坐在他后面，他給他們講十分可怕的故事。他們嚇得發抖、哭泣，想跳下馬去，但他們做不到，因為他們都被緊緊固定在馬背上了。

“不過死神才是最好的奧列·路卻埃呢，”哈爾馬說，“我可不怕他!”

“你不用怕他，”奧列·路卻埃說，“但你得留心，讓自己的通知簿里寫上好評語!”

“對啦，這才有教育意義哪!”那個祖爺爺的畫像說，“提點意見還是管用的嘛。”現在他滿意了。

你瞧，這就是奧列·路卻埃的故事。今天晚上，他還要告訴你更多的故事呢。

英語俚語

“節假日照常上班”怎么說

“十一”雖然已過，“十一”的話題卻還未盡。繼續前天的熱門表達“‘十一’：不好也不壞 ”，我們再來看如何形容“‘十一’：有名無實的假日”。

顧名思義，“有名無實的假日”肯定是說你在假日期間仍然照常工作和學習，日子和平時沒什么兩樣。在英語中，這樣的假日可用“a busman’s holiday”來表達。

早在19世紀，英國人出門常常乘坐“公共馬車”。據說，馬車車主大都疼愛自己的馬，常常利用休息日裝扮成乘客，偷偷坐在自家的馬車上，以確保車夫善待馬匹。久而久之，“a busman’s holiday”應運而生，用來形容“沒有休息的節假日”。看例句：

My father spent a busman’s holiday working in his office.

爸爸的假日“有名無實”，整個假期他都呆在辦公室。