IN THE COUNTRY.

乡野远足

Monday, 19th.

十九日，星期一

My good father forgave me, even on this occasion, and allowed me to go on an expedition to the country, which had been arranged on Wednesday, with the father of Coretti, the wood-peddler. We were all in need of a mouthful of hill air. It was a festival day. We met yesterday at two o'clock in the place of the Statuto, Derossi, Garrone, Garoffi, Precossi, Coretti, father and son, and I, with our provisions of fruit, sausages, and hard-boiled eggs; we had also leather bottles and tin cups. Garrone carried a gourd filled with white wine; Coretti, his father's soldier-canteen, full of red wine; and little Precossi, in the blacksmith's blouse, held under his arm a two-kilogramme loaf.

父亲又恕宥了我，并且，还许可我践可莱谛的父亲的约，同作乡野远足。我们早想吸那小山上的空气，代洛西、卡隆、卡洛斐、泼来可西、可莱谛父子，连我总共是七个人。大家都预备了水果、腊肠、熟鸡蛋等，又带着皮袋和锡制的杯子。卡隆在葫芦里装了白葡萄酒，可莱谛在父亲的水瓶里装了红葡萄酒，拨来可西着了铁匠的工服，拿着四斤重的面包。

We went in the omnibus as far as Gran Madre di Dio, and then off, as briskly as possible, to the hills. How green, how shady, how fresh it was! We rolled over and over in the grass, we dipped our faces in the rivulets, we leaped the hedges. The elder Coretti followed us at a distance, with his jacket thrown over his shoulders, smoking his clay pipe, and from time to time threatening us with his hand, to prevent our tearing holes in our trousers. Precossi whistled; I had never heard him whistle before. The younger Coretti did the same, as he went along. That little fellow knows how to make everything with his jack-knife a finger's length long,mill-wheels, forks, squirts; and he insisted on carrying the other boys' things, and he was loaded down until he was dripping with perspiration, but he was still as nimble as a goat.

坐街车到了格浪美德莱乔，以后就走上山路。山上满是绿色的凉荫，很是爽快。我们或是在草上打滚，或是在小溪中洗面，或是跳过林篱。可莱谛的父亲把上衣搭在肩上，衔着烟斗，远远地从后面跟着我们走。拨来可西吹起四笛来，我从未听到过他吹口笛。可莱谛也一边走一边吹着。他拿手指般长的小刀，做着水车、木叉、水枪等种种东西，强把别的孩子的行李背在身上，虽已遍身流汗，还能山羊似的走得很快。

Derossi halted every moment to tell us the names of the plants and insects. I don't understand how he manages to know so many things. And Garrone nibbled at his bread in silence; but he no longer attacks it with the cheery bites of old, poor Garrone! now that he has lost his mother. But he is always as good as bread himself. When one of us ran back to obtain the momentum for leaping a ditch, he ran to the other side, and held out his hands to us; and as Precossi was afraid of cows, having been tossed by one when a child, Garrone placed himself in front of him every time that we passed any.

代洛西在路上时时站住了教给我草类和虫类的名称，不知他怎么能知道这许多东西啊。卡隆默然地嚼着面包。自从母亲去世以后，他吃东西想来已不像以前有味了，可是待人仍旧那样亲切。我们要跳过沟去的时候，因为要作势，先退了几步，然后再跑上前去。他第一个跳过去，伸手过来搀别人。泼来可西！幼时曾被牛触突，见了牛就恐怖；卡隆在路上见有牛来，就走在泼来可西前面。

We mounted up to Santa Margherita, and then went down the decline by leaps, rolls, and slides. Precossi tumbled into a thorn-bush, and tore a hole in his blouse, and stood there overwhelmed with shame, with the strip dangling; but Garoffi, who always has pins in his jacket, fixed it so that it was not perceptible, while the other kept saying, "Excuse me, excuse me," and then he set out to run once more. Garoffi did not waste his time on the way; he picked salad herbs and snails, and put every stone that glistened in the least into his pocket, supposing that there was gold and silver in it. And on we went, running, rolling, and climbing through the shade and in the sun, up and down, through all the lanes and cross-roads, until we arrived dishevelled and breathless at the crest of a hill, where we seated ourselves to take our lunch on the grass.

我们上了小山，跳跃着，打着滚。可西滚入荆棘中，把工服扯破了，很难为情地站着。卡洛斐不论什么时候都带有针线，就替他补好了。泼来可西只是说：“对不起，对不起。”一等缝好．就立刻开步跑了。卡洛斐在路上也不肯徒然通过。或是采摘可以作生菜的草，或是把蜗牛抬起来看，见有尖角的石块就抬了藏入口袋里，以为或许含有金银。我们无论在树荫下，或是日光中，总是跑着，滚着，后来把衣服都弄皱了，喘息着到了山顶，坐在草上吃带来的东西。