第69章 木偶戲藝人 The Puppet－Show Man(第1/9 頁)

《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