泰西50軼事(十)：三個哥坦人 江銘輝 五夢網
泰西50軼事(Fifty Famous Stories Retold)，是永恆的短篇故事，它收集的故事：包括浩瀚歷史的著名英雄和他們的羅曼史，故事內容有勇氣、毅力和情感。故事人物包括拿破崙、羅賓漢，喬治華盛頓、成吉思汗等人。這些故事都是老少咸宜的故事，我將它逐篇翻譯，並配合圖畫，供大家欣賞。
泰西50軼事(十)：三個哥坦人
原文及翻譯如下：
Three Men of Gotham
三個哥坦人
THERE is a town in England called Gotham, and many merry stories are told of the queer people who used to live there.
在英格蘭有個城市叫哥坦，相傳許多有趣的故事，告訴人們居住在那兒古怪的人的故事。
One day two men of Gotham met on a bridge. Hodge was coming from the market, and Peter was going to the market.
一天，兩個哥坦人在橋上相遇了(圖1)。赫奇剛從集市回來，而彼得
正要到集市去。
圖1：二個哥坦人在橋上相遇。
“Where are you going?”said Hodge.
“I am going to the market to buy sheep,”said Peter.
“Buy sheep?”said Hodge. “And which way will you bring them home?”
“I shall bring them over this bridge,”said Peter.
“No, you shall not,”said Hodge.
“Yes, but I will,”said Peter.
“You shall not,”said Hodge.
“I will,”said Peter.
你要到那兒去啊？”赫奇問。
“我正要去集市買羊，”彼得回答。
“買羊？”赫奇說，“你準備把羊從哪條路帶回家呢？”
“我將從這座橋上走，”彼得說。
“不，你不能從這兒過，”赫奇說。
“但是，我就要從這兒走，”彼得說。
“你不能這樣做！”赫奇說。
“我就要這樣！”彼得又說。
Then they beat with their sticks on the ground as though there had been a hundred sheep between them.
“Take care! ”cried Peter.“Look out that my sheep don t jump on the bridge.”
“I care not where they jump,”said Hodge;“but they shall not go overit.”“But they shall,”said Peter.
“Have a care,”said Hodge;“for if you say too much, I will put my fingers in your mouth.”
“Will you?”said Peter.
然後他們用手杖敲打著橋的地面()，好像有一百隻羊在他們中間似的。
“當心啊！”彼得叫了起來，“注意別讓我的羊在橋上亂跳。(圖2)”
“我才不管它們在哪兒亂跳呢，”赫奇說，“但它們不許從這橋上通過。”
圖2：“當心啊！”彼得叫了起來，“注意別讓我的羊在橋上亂跳。
“但是，牠們必須從這裡走過，”彼得說。
“當心，”赫奇說，“你再囉嗦，我就把手指塞到你的嘴裡。”
“你敢？”彼得回敬道。
Just then another man of Gotham came from the market with a sack of meal on his horse. He heard his neighbours quarrelling about sheep; but he could see no sheep between them, and so he stopped and spoke to them.
正在那時，另一個哥坦人牽著馬從集市上回來了，馬背上馱著一袋麵粉。他聽到他的鄰居在為羊爭吵，但他們之間並沒有看見羊啊，於是他就停下來和他們說話。
“Ah, you foolish fellows! ”he cried. “It is strange that you will never learn wisdom. — Come here, Peter, and help me lay my sack on my shoulder.”
Peter did so, and the man carried his meal to the side of the bridge.
“啊，你們真是愚笨的人！”他叫道，“真奇怪，你們怎麼從來不學學聰明呢？過來，彼得，幫我把袋子放到我的肩上。(圖3)”
彼得照做了，這個人把麵粉搬到了橋邊。
圖3：彼得，幫我把袋子放到我的肩上，那人說，彼得照做了。
“Now look at me,”he said，“and learn a lesson.”And he opened the mouth of the sack, and poured all the meal into the river.
“現在看看我，”他說，“來學一個教訓吧。”說著，他打開了口袋，把麵粉全倒進了河裡。
“Now, neighbours,”he said,“can you tell how much meal is in my sack?”
“There is none at all! ”cried Hodge and Peter together.
“You are right,”said the man，“and you that stand here and quarrel about nothing, have no more sense in your heads than I have meal in my sack! ”
“現在，鄰居們，”他問，“你們能告訴我袋子裡還有多少麵粉嗎？”
“一點也沒有了！”赫奇和彼得異口同聲的叫了起來。
“說對了，”這個人說，“你們站在這兒為了不存在的東西而爭吵，你們的腦子正像我的口袋一樣，空空如也！”