泰西50轶事(四十八之一)安东尼奥·卡诺瓦 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(四十七)安东尼奥·卡诺瓦
原文及翻译如下：
Antonio Canova
安东尼奥·卡诺瓦
A good many years ago there lived in Italy a little boy whose name was Antonio Canova. He lived with his grandfather, for his own father was dead. His grandfather was a stonecutter, and he was very poor.
许多年以前，意大利有一个小男孩叫做安东尼奥·卡诺瓦(图1)。他和他的祖父住在一起，因为她他的父亲已经去世了。他的祖父是一个非常贫穷的石匠。
Antonio was a puny lad, and not strong enough to work. He did not care to play with the other boys of the town. But he liked to go with his grandfather to the stone-yard.
安东尼奥是一个身体虚弱的小孩子，年纪太小，还不能够出去工作。他不喜欢和镇上的其他小孩一起玩耍，而喜欢跟祖父到石场去。
While the old man was busy, cutting and trimming the great blocks of stone, the lad would play among the chips. Sometimes he would make a little statue of soft clay; sometimes he would take hammer and chisel, and try to cut a statue from a piece of rock. He showed so much skill that his grandfather was delighted.
“The boy will be a sculptor some day,”he said.
当老人家忙于雕刻和琢磨一大块的石头时，他就在碎石中玩耍。有时他用软泥巴做一个小塑像，有时拿着锤子和凿子在一块石头上雕像(图2)。他的多才多艺使祖父感到很高兴。
“这孩子有一天将会成为雕刻家，”他说。
图2：安东尼奥拿着锤子和凿子在一块石头上雕像。
Then when they went home in the evening, the grandmother would say, “What have you been doing today, my little sculptor?”
And she would take him upon her lap and sing to him, or tell him stories that filled his mind with pictures of wonderful and beautiful things.And the next day, when he went back to the stone-yard, he would try to make some of those pictures in stone or clay.
于是当他们傍晚回到家，祖母就会问，“我的小雕刻家，今天你又做了什么？”
然后她会把他抱到膝盖上，唱歌给他听，或者给他讲故事，使他的脑海里装满了各种奇妙美丽的图像。第二天，当他回到石场去时，就会把那些图像用泥土或石头做出来。
There lived in the same town a rich man who was called the Count.
Sometimes the Count would have a grand dinner, and his rich friends from other towns would come to visit him. Then Antonio’s grandfather would go up to the Count’s house to help with the work in the kitchen; for he was a fine cook as well as a good stonecutter.
在他们那个小镇里有一个被称为伯爵的富人。有时伯爵会举行盛大的宴会，他那些有钱的朋友，便从别的城镇赶来拜访他。那时，安东尼奥的祖父就会到伯爵家的厨房去帮忙。他不仅是一个好石匠，也是一个好厨师。
It happended one day that Antonio went with his grandfather to the Count’s great house. Some people from the city were coming, and there was to be a grand feast. The boy could not cook, and he was not old enough to wait on the table; but he could wash the pans and kettles, and as he was smart and quick, he could help in many other ways.
一天，安东尼奥正好也和祖父去了伯爵家的大房子。有一些人是正从这个城市赶来的，一场盛大的宴会即将要举行。这孩子不会烹调；年纪还小，不能到桌前去伺候客人；但可以洗洗锅和水壶，而且他那么聪明敏捷，可以帮着做许多其他的事。
All went well until it was time to spread the table for dinner. Then there was a crash in the dining room, and a man rushed into the kitchen with some pieces of marble in his hands. He was pale, and trembling with fright.
直到把宴会的菜肴摆上桌时，一切都进行得很顺利。餐室里突然听到摔破的“哗啦”一声，一个人手拿着一些大理石的碎片，冲进了厨房。他脸色苍白，害怕得发抖。
“What shall I do? What shall I do?”he cried. “I have broken the statue that was to stand at the centre of the table. I cannot make the table look pretty without the statue. What will the Count say?”
“我该怎么办？我该怎么办？”他叫道，“我打碎了桌子中间的雕像。没有这雕像，我就不能把桌子装饰得漂亮了。伯爵会说什么呢？”
And now all the older servants were in trouble. Was the dinner to be a failure after all? For everything depended on having the table nicely arranged. The Count would be very angry.
现在所有年纪较大的仆人都发愁了。难道宴会竟然就这样搞砸了吗？因为一切都要靠桌面上美观的布置。伯爵一定会非常生气的。
“Ah, what shall we do?”they all asked.
Then little Antonio Canova left his pans and kettles, and went up to man who had caused the trouble.
“If you had another statue, could you arrange the table?”he asked.
“啊，我们该怎么办呢？”他们都问。
这时，小安东尼奥·卡诺瓦放下锅和水壶，跑到那个惹了麻烦的人前面。
“如果有另一个雕像，你就可以布置这个餐桌吗？”他问。
“Certainly,”said the man; “that is, if the statue were of the right length and height.”
“Will you let me try to make one?”asked Antonio. “Perhaps I can make something that will do.”
The man laughed.
“Nonsense,”he cried. “Who are you, that you talk of making statues on an hour’s notice?”
“I am Antonio Canova,”said the lad.
“Let the boy try what he can do,”said the servants, who knew him.
“当然！”那人说，“如果那雕像的长和高正合适的话。”
“你可以让我试着做一个吗？”安东尼奥问，“或许我能做出一个合适的来。”
那人笑了起来。
“乱说，”他叫道，“你是谁啊？竟然说能在一小时之后做好一个雕像。”
“我是安东尼奥·卡诺瓦，”这孩子说。
“让那孩子试试吧，”认识他的仆人们说。
And so, since nothing else could be done, the man allowed him to try.
On the kitchen table there was a large square lump of yellow butter.
Two hundred pounds the lump weighed, and it had just come in, fresh and clean, from the dairy on the mountain. With a kitchen knife in his hand, Antonio began to cut and carve this butter. In a few minutes he had molded it into the shape of a crouching lion; and all the servants crowded around to see it.
“How beautiful!”they cried.“It is a great deal prettier than the statue that was broken.”
于是，既然没有别的办法，那人只好同意让他试试。
厨房的桌子上有一大块方形的黄色牛油。那黄牛油有两百磅重，刚从山上的牛奶场送来，既新鲜又干净。安东尼奥手里拿着一把厨刀，开始雕刻这块黄色牛油。几分钟之后，他就把它雕成了一头伏狮的形状。仆人们全都围过去看。
“真漂亮！”他们大声地说，“比打碎的那个好看多了。”
When it was finished, the man carried it to its place.
“The table will be handsomer by half than I ever hoped to make it,”he said.
When the Count and his friends came in to dinner, the first thing they saw was the yellow lion.
当它被雕好之后，那人把它摆到原来的位置。
“这桌子比我原来预期的漂亮了一倍，”他说。
当伯爵和他的朋友们进来就餐时，第一眼看到的就是这头黄色的狮子。
“What a beautiful work of art! ”they cried.
“None but a very great artist could ever carve such a figure; and how odd that he should choose to make it of butter! ”And then they asked the Count to tell them the name of the artist. “
多么漂亮的艺术作品啊！”他们叫道(图3)。
“只有最伟大的艺术家才能雕出这样一尊塑像，他选择用黄油来雕又是多么奇特啊！”然后他们要求伯爵说出这个艺术家的名字。
图3：多么漂亮的艺术作品啊！”客人叫道。
“Truly, my friends,”he said,“this is as much of a surprise to me as to you.”And then he called to his head servants, and asked him where he had found so wonderful a statue.
“It was carved only an hour ago by a little boy in the kitchen,”said the servant.
This made the Count’s friends wonder still more; and the Count bade the servant call the boy into the room.
“真的，我的朋友们，”他说，“我和你们一样感到惊奇。”然后他叫仆人的领班进来，问他在哪里找到这么美妙的雕像。
“这是一个小男孩一小时前在厨房里雕成的，”领班回答。
这使伯爵的朋友们更加惊奇了，于是伯爵吩咐领班把那个男孩叫到房间来。
“My lad,”he said, “you have done a piece of work of which the greatest artists would be proud. What is your name, and who is your teacher?”
“My name is Antonio Canova,”said the boy, “and I have had no teacher but my grandfather the stonecutter.”
“我的孩子，”他说，“你创作了一件连最伟大的艺术家都会感到骄傲的作品。你叫什么名字？谁是你的老师呢？”
“我的名字叫安东尼奥·卡诺瓦，”男孩说，“我没有老师，只有我的祖父，他是个石匠。”
By this time all the guests had crowded around Antonio. There were famous artists among them, and they knew that the lad was a genius. They could not say enough in praise of his work; and when at last they sat down at the table, nothing would please them but that Antonio should have a seat with them; and the dinner was made a feast in his honour.
这时，所有的客人都跑过来围着安东尼奥，其中有几个是著名的艺术家。他们认定这孩子是个天才，对于他的作品赞不绝口。后来，当他们在餐桌前坐下时，非要叫安东尼奥坐在一起才高兴，晚餐变成了为安东尼奥庆贺的宴会了。
The very next day the Count sent for Antonio to come and live with him. The best artists in the land were employed to teach him the art in which he had shown so much skill; but now, instead of carving butter, he chiseled marble. In a few years, Antonio Canova became known as one of the greatest sculptors in the world.
第二天，伯爵就派人把安东尼奥接来和他同住了。他请了地方上最好的艺术家来教他那显示出来的多才多艺的技术。现在，他已经不再雕刻牛油，而是在雕刻大理石。几年之后，安东尼奥成了世界上最著名的雕刻家之一。