泰西50轶事(十)：三个哥坦人 江铭辉 五梦网
泰西50轶事(Fifty Famous Stories Retold)，是永恒的短篇故事，它收集的故事：包括浩瀚历史的著名英雄和他们的罗曼史，故事内容有勇气、毅力和情感。故事人物包括拿破仑、罗宾汉，乔治华盛顿、成吉思汗等人。这些故事都是老少咸宜的故事，我将它逐篇翻译，并配合图画，供大家欣赏。
泰西50轶事(十)：三个哥坦人
原文及翻译如下：
Three Men of Gotham
三个哥坦人
THERE is a town in England called Gotham, and many merry stories are told of the queer people who used to live there.
在英格兰有个城市叫哥坦，相传许多有趣的故事，告诉人们居住在那儿古怪的人的故事。
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，两个哥坦人在桥上相遇了(图1)。赫奇刚从集市回来，而彼得
正要到集市去。
图1：二个哥坦人在桥上相遇。
“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.
你要到那儿去啊？”赫奇问。
“我正要去集市买羊，”彼得回答。
“买羊？”赫奇说，“你准备把羊从哪条路带回家呢？”
“我将从这座桥上走，”彼得说。
“不，你不能从这儿过，”赫奇说。
“但是，我就要从这儿走，”彼得说。
“你不能这样做！”赫奇说。
“我就要这样！”彼得又说。
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.
然后他们用手杖敲打着桥的地面()，好像有一百只羊在他们中间似的。
“当心啊！”彼得叫了起来，“注意别让我的羊在桥上乱跳。(图2)”
“我才不管它们在哪儿乱跳呢，”赫奇说，“但它们不许从这桥上通过。”
图2：“当心啊！”彼得叫了起来，“注意别让我的羊在桥上乱跳。
“但是，牠们必须从这里走过，”彼得说。
“当心，”赫奇说，“你再啰嗦，我就把手指塞到你的嘴里。”
“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.
正在那时，另一个哥坦人牵着马从集市上回来了，马背上驮着一袋面粉。他听到他的邻居在为羊争吵，但他们之间并没有看见羊啊，于是他就停下来和他们说话。
“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，你们真是愚笨的人！”他叫道，“真奇怪，你们怎么从来不学学聪明呢？过来，彼得，帮我把袋子放到我的肩上。(图3)”
彼得照做了，这个人把面粉搬到了桥边。
图3：彼得，帮我把袋子放到我的肩上，那人说，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.
“现在看看我，”他说，“来学一个教训吧。”说着，他打开了口袋，把面粉全倒进了河里。
“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! ”
“现在，邻居们，”他问，“你们能告诉我袋子里还有多少面粉吗？”
“一点也没有了！”赫奇和彼得异口同声的叫了起来。
“说对了，”这个人说，“你们站在这儿为了不存在的东西而争吵，你们的脑子正像我的口袋一样，空空如也！”