泰西50轶事(五十之一)美格珑 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(五十)美格珑
原文及翻译如下：
Mignon
美格珑
HERE is the story of Mignon as I remember having read it in a famous old book.
A young man named Wilhelm was staying at an inn in the city.
One day as he was going up stairs he met a little girl coming down. He would have taken her for a boy, if it had not been for the long curls of black hair wound about her head. As she ran by, he caught her in his arms and asked her to whom she belonged. He felt sure that she must be one of the ropedancers who had just come to the inn. She gave him a sharp, dark look, slipped out of his arms, and ran away without speaking.
这里有一个美格珑的故事，我记得曾经在一本有名的旧书读到它。
一个叫威廉的年轻人住在城里的一家小旅馆里。一天，他上楼时遇到一个小女孩走下来。如果不是因为她头上盘绕着长长的黑色卷发，他真会把她当成一个男孩。当她跳过去时，他把她抱住问她是谁家的孩子。他确定她一定是刚到这个旅馆来的那些绳索特技表演(图1)的团员之一。她机警而阴郁地看了他一眼，挣脱了他的手臂，一句话也没说就跑走了。
图1：绳索特技表演：一个人在吊在高中的绳子上，跳舞、行走，或作杂技表演，叫绳索特技表演(ropedancers)，英文解释如下：One who dances, walks, or performs acrobatic feats, on a rope extended through the air at some height.。
The next time he saw her, Wilhelm spoke to her again.
“Do not be afraid of me, little one,”he said kindly. “What is your name?”
“They call me Mignon,”said the child(图2).
“How old are you?”he asked.
“No one has counted,”the child answered.
Wilhelm went on; but he could not help wondering about the child, and thinking of her dark eyes and strange ways.
当第二次看到她时，威廉又和她说话了。
“别怕我，小孩子，”他和蔼地说，“你叫什么名字？”
“他们叫我美格珑，”那孩子说。(图2)
“你多大了？”他又问。
“没有人算过，”那孩子回答。
威廉走开了，但仍忍不住对这孩子感到好奇，想着她的黑眼睛和奇怪的动做。
One day not long after that, there was a great outcry among the crowd that was watching the ropedancers. Wilhelm went down to find out what was the matter. He saw that the master of the dancers was beating little Mignon with a stick. He ran and held the man by the collar.
“Let the child alone! ”he cried. “If you touch her again, one of us shall never leave this spot.”
不久之后的一天，那些正在看绳索特技表演的群众中发出一声极大的叫声。威廉跑下去看发生了什么事。他看到那绳索特技表演团的老板正在用一根棍子打小美格珑，就跑过去抓住那个人的领子。
“放了这孩子！”他叫道，“如果你再碰她一下，我们二人的其中一人，就会死在这里。”
The man tried to get loose; but Wilhelm held him fast. The child crept away, and hid herself in the crowd.
“Pay me what her clothes cost,”cried the ropedancer at last,“and you may take her.”
那人想挣脱，可是威廉抓得很紧。那孩子偷偷的走开了，躲到了人群中。
“把她的服装费赔给我，”最后那绳索特技表演团的主人大声说，“你就可以把她带走。”
As soon as all was quiet, Wilhelm went to look for Mignon; for she now belonged to him. But he could not find her, and it was not until the ropedancers had left the town that she came to him.
“Where have you been?”asked Wilhelm in his kindest tones; but the child did not speak.
“You are to live with me now, and you must be a good child,”he said.
“I will try”, said Mignon gently.
From that time she tried to do all that she could for Wilhelm and his friends.
当一切都平静下来后，威廉去找美格珑，因为现在她是属于他的了。但是找不到她，直到那绳索特技表演团离开这个城市之后，她才跑到他那儿去。
“你这些时候到哪儿去了？”威廉用和蔼的口气问，但那孩子还是不说话。
“你现在和我住在一起了，一定要做一个好孩子啊！”他说。
“我试试吧，”美格珑温柔地说。
从那以后，她总是尽力帮威廉和他的朋友们做力所能及的事。
She would let no one wait on him but herself. She was often seen going to a basin of water to wash from her face the paint with which the ropedancers had reddened her cheeks; indeed, she nearly rubbed off the skin in trying to wash away its fine brown tint, which she thought was some deep dye.
除了她自己之外，她不愿让任何人服侍他，人们经常看见她打着一盆水来洗刷脸上的油彩，这些油彩都是绳索特技表演的人把两颊涂红的。事实上，为了洗去这深褐色的油彩，她几乎要把脸上的皮肤都擦掉了，因为她认为这些都是很深颜色的染料。
Mignon grew more lovely every day. She never walked up and down the stairs, but jumped. She would spring along by the railing, and before you knew it, would be sitting quietly above on the landing.
美格珑一天比一天更可爱了。她下楼梯从来不走，都是跳的。她会沿着栏杆一跃，在你觉察到时，她已经安静地坐在楼梯口上了。
To each one she would speak in a different way. To Wilhelm it was with her arms crossed upon her breast. Often for a whole day she would not say one word, and yet in waiting upon Wilhelm she never tired.
One night he came home very weary and sad. Mignon was waiting for him. She carried the light before him upstairs. She set the light down upon the table, and in a little while she asked him if she might dance.
对每一个人，她都有不同的说话姿势。对威廉说话时，她会把手臂交叉放在胸前。她常一整天都不说一句话，但在伺候威廉时却从不知疲倦。
一天晚上，威廉疲倦而又悲伤地回到家时。美格珑在等着他，提着灯在前面带他上楼，然后把灯放在桌子的上面。过了一会儿，她提出，可否跳个舞？
“It might ease your heart a little,”she said.
Wilhelm, to please her, told her that she might.
Then she brought a little carpet, and spread it upon the floor. At each corner she placed a candle, and on the carpet she put a number of eggs. She arranged the eggs in the form of certain figures. When this was done, she called to a man who was waiting with a violin. She tied a band about her eyes, and then the dancing began.
“那样也许能使你的心情放轻松一些。”她说。
威廉为了使她高兴，就说：“可以。”
于是，她拿来一张小地毯，把它铺到地上。在地毯的每一个角上放上一根蜡烛，在地毯上放了一些鸡蛋，并把鸡蛋排成某些图形。当把这一切布置好之后，又叫了一个人在旁边拉小提琴。
她用一块布把眼睛蒙上，然后开始跳舞。
How lightly, quickly, nimbly, wonderfully, she moved! She skipped so fast among the eggs, she trod so closely beside them, that you would have thought she must crush them all. But not one of them did she touch. With all kinds of steps she passed among them. Not one of them was moved from its place.
她移动得多么轻盈敏捷、活泼美妙啊！她在鸡蛋中间跳得那么快，离鸡蛋那么近，你会觉得她一定会把它们全踩碎。但是，她一个也没碰到。所有各种舞步，都避开了鸡蛋，没有一颗鸡蛋移开它原来的位置(图3)。
图3：美格珑用一块布把眼睛蒙上，然后开始跳舞，地毯布满蛋，但跳完舞，她一颗鸡蛋也没有碰到。
Whilelm forgot all his cares. He watched every motion of the child.
He almost forgot who and where he was.
When the dance was ended, Mignon rolled the eggs together with her foot into a little heap. Not one was left behind, not one was harmed.
Then she took the band from her eyes, and made a little bow.
威廉忘记了所有的心事，注视着这孩子的每一个动作。
他几乎忘了自己是谁，在何处。
当舞蹈结束之后，美格珑用脚把鸡蛋滚成一堆。一颗也没剩下，一颗也没碰坏。然后她把蒙在眼睛的布条取下，微微鞠地一个躬。
Wilhelm thanked her for showing him a dance that was so wonderful and pretty. He praised her, petted her, and hoped that she had not tired herself too much.
威廉感谢她为他跳了一个如此奇妙优美的舞蹈。他赞扬她、爱抚她，并希望她没有过度疲劳。
When she had gone from the room, the man with the violin told Wilhelm of the care she had taken to teach him the music of the dance.
He told how she had sung it to him over and over again. He told how she had even wished to pay him with her own money for learning to play it for her.There was yet another way in which Mignon tried to please Wilhelm, and make him forget his cares. She sang to him.
当她离开这房间后，那个拉小提琴的人告诉威尔汉姆，她教他拉这首舞曲的事，说她是怎样一遍又一遍地唱给他听，还说她甚至想要自己付钱，让他学这首曲子。
美格珑还用另一种方式使威廉高兴，让他忘记烦恼，那就是唱歌。
The song which he liked best was one whose words he had never heard before. Its music, too, was strange to him, and yet it pleased him very much. He asked her to speak the words over and over again. He wrote the words; but the sweetness of the tune was more delightful than the words. The song began in this way:
“Do you know the land where citrons, lemons, grow, And oranges under the green leaves glow?”
Once, when she had ended the song, she said again,“do you know the land?”
“It must be Italy,”said Wilhelm.“Have you ever been there?”
The child did not answer.
有一首歌是他最喜欢的，那歌词威廉以前从没听过。那乐曲对他来说也很陌生，然而他却非常喜欢。他要她把歌词反复地说给他听，然后把它写下来。
但是那曲调的甜美比歌词更加动人。那首歌的开头是这样的：
你可知道那生长着香橼和柠檬的地方，还有橘子在绿叶中发亮吗？
有一次，当她唱完这首歌后，接着问：“你知道这个地方吗？”
“一定是意大利，”威廉说，“你到过那儿吗？”
这孩子没有回答。