That fall the snow came very late. We lived in a brown wooden house in the pine trees on the side of the mountain and at night there was frost so that there was thin ice over the water in the two pitchers on the dresser in the morning.
Mrs. Guttingen came into the room early in the morning to shut the windows and started a fire in the tall porcelain stove. The pine wood crackled and sparked and then the fire roared in the stove and the second time Mrs. Guttingen came into the room she brought big chunks of wood for the fire and a pitcher of hot water.
When the room was warm she brought in breakfast. Sitting up in bed eating breakfast we could see the lake and the mountains across the lake on the French side. There was snow on the tops of the mountains and the lake was a gray steel-blue.
Outside, in front of the chalet a road went up the mountain. The wheel ruts and ridges were iron hard with the frost, and the road climbed steadily through the forest and up and around the mountain to where there were meadows, and barns and cabins in the meadows at the edge of the woods looking across the valley.
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山谷很深,谷底有一条溪水流进湖中,有时风从山谷那边吹来,我们能听见岩石间的琮水声。
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5
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The valley was deep and there was a stream at the bottom that flowed down into the lake and when the wind blew across the valley you could hear the stream in the rocks.
Sometimes we went off the road and on a path through the pine forest. The floor of the forest was soft to walk on; the frost did not harden it as it did the road.
But we did not mind the hardness of the road because we had nails in the soles and heels of our boots and the heel nails bit on the frozen ruts and with nailed boots it was good walking on the road and invigorating. But it was lovely walking in the woods.
In front of the house where we lived the mountain went down steeply to the little plain along the lake and we sat on the porch of the house in the sun and saw the winding of the road down the mountain-side and the terraced vineyards on the side of the lower mountain, the vines all dead now for the winter and the fields divided by stone walls, and below the vineyards the houses of the town on the narrow plain along the lake shore.
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9
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湖中有个小岛,上面有两棵树,远远望去,真像一条渔船上的双帆。
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9
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There was an island with two trees on the lake and the trees looked like the double sails of a fishing-boat.
① 罗纳河从日内瓦湖的东南端注入该湖,再从西南端流进法国,朝南注入马赛西面的狮子湾。② 瑞士高山,在蒙特勒南,高达10,690 英尺。
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The mountains were sharp and steep on the other side of the lake and down at the end of the lake was the plain of the Rhone Valley flat between the two ranges of mountains; and up the valley where the mountains cut it off was the Dent du Midi. It was a high snowy mountain and it dominated the valley but it was so far away that it did not make a shadow.
When the sun was bright we ate lunch on the porch but the rest of the time we ate upstairs in a small room with plain wooden walls and a big stove in the corner. We bought books and magazines in the town and a copy of "Hoyle" and learned many two-handed card games.
The small room with the stove was our living-room. There were two comfortable chairs and a table for books and magazines and we played cards on the dining-table when it was cleared away. Mr. and Mrs. Guttingen lived downstairs and we would hear them talking sometimes in the evening and they were very happy together too.
He had been a headwaiter and she had worked as maid in the same hotel and they had saved their money to buy this place. They had a son who was studying to be a headwaiter. He was at a hotel in Zurich.
Downstairs there was a parlor where they sold wine and beer, and sometimes in the evening we would hear carts stop outside on the road and men come up the steps to go in the parlor to drink wine.
There was a box of wood in the hall outside the living-room and I kept up the fire from it. But we did not stay up very late. We went to bed in the dark in the big bedroom and when I was undressed I opened the windows and saw the night and the cold stars and the pine trees below the window and then got into bed as fast as I could.
It was lovely in bed with the air so cold and clear and the night outside the window. We slept well and if I woke in the night I knew it was from only one cause and I would shift the feather bed over, very softly so that Catherine would not be wakened and then go back to sleep again, warm and with the new lightness of thin covers.
The war seemed as far away as the football games of some one else’s college. But I knew from the papers that they were still fighting in the mountains because the snow would not come.
Sometimes we walked down the mountain into Montreux. There was a path went down the mountain but it was steep and so usually we took the road and walked down on the wide hard road between fields and then below between the stone walls of the vineyards and on down between the houses of the villages along the way.
There were three villages; Chernex, Fontanivent, and the other I forget. Then along the road we passed an old square-built stone chateau on a ledge on the side of the mountain-side with the terraced fields of vines, each vine tied to a stick to hold it up, the vines dry and brown and the earth ready for the snow and the lake down below flat and gray as steel.
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20
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下山的路在城堡下成为一段很长的坡路,向右拐弯,路改用圆石子铺了,险峻地转入蒙特勒。
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20
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The road went down a long grade below the chateau and then turned to the right and went down very steeply and paved with cobbles, into Montreux.
We did not know any one in Montreux. We walked along beside the lake and saw the swans and the many gulls and terns that flew up when you came close and screamed while they looked down at the water. Out on the lake there were flocks of grebes, small and dark, and leaving trails in the water when they swam.
In the town we walked along the main street and looked in the windows of the shops. There were many big hotels that were closed but most of the shops were open and the people were very glad to see us. There was a fine coiffeur’s place where Catherine went to have her hair done. The woman who ran it was very cheerful and the only person we knew in Montreux.
While Catherine was there I went up to a beer place and drank dark Munich beer and read the papers. I read the Corriere della Sera and the English and American papers from Paris. All the advertisements were blacked out, supposedly to prevent communication in that way with the enemy. The papers were bad reading. Everything was going very badly everywhere.
I sat back in the corner with a heavy mug of dark beer and an opened glazed-paper package of pretzels and ate the pretzels for the salty flavor and the good way they made the beer taste and read about disaster. I thought Catherine would come by but she did not come, so I hung the papers back on the rack, paid for my beer and went up the street to look for her.
The day was cold and dark and wintry and the stone of the houses looked cold. Catherine was still in the hairdresser’s shop. The woman was waving her hair. I sat in the little booth and watched. It was exciting to watch and Catherine smiled and talked to me and my voice was a little thick from being excited.
The tongs made a pleasant clicking sound and I could see Catherine in three mirrors and it was pleasant and warm in the booth. Then the woman put up Catherine’s hair, and Catherine looked in the mirror and changed it a little, taking out and putting in pins; then stood up. "I’m sorry to have taken such a long time."
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27
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“先生很感兴趣。不是吗,先生?”女人笑着问。
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"monsieur was very interested. Were you not, monsieur?" the woman smiled.
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“是的,”我回答。
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"Yes," I said.
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29
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我们出门走上街头。街上又寒冷又冷落,又刮起了风。“哦,亲爱的,我太爱你了,”我说。
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29
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We went out and up the street. It was cold and wintry and the wind was blowing. "Oh, darling, I love you so," I said.
"Don’t we have a fine time?" Catherine said. "Look. Let’s go some place and have beer instead of tea. It’s very good for young Catherine. It keeps her small."
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31
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“小凯瑟琳,”我说。“那个小浪荡鬼。”
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31
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"Young Catherine," I said. "That loafer."
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32
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“她一直很乖,”凯瑟琳说。“她简直没给你什么麻烦。医生说啤酒对我有益,同时能叫她长得细小。”
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32
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"She’s been very good," Catherine said. "She makes very little trouble. The doctor says beer will be good for me and keep her small."
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33
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“你这么叫她长得细小,倘若是个男孩的话,将来也许可以当骑师。”
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33
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"If you keep her small enough and she’s a boy, maybe he will be a jockey."
"I suppose if we really have this child we ought to get married," Catherine said. We were in the beer place at the corner table. It was getting dark outside. It was still early but the day was dark and the dusk was coming early.
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35
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“我们现在就结婚去,”我说。
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35
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"Let’s get married now," I said.
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36
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“不,”凯瑟琳说。“现在太窘了。我这样子太明显了。我这样子站在谁面前结婚都太难堪了。”
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"No," Catherine said. "It’s too embarrassing now. I show too plainly. I won’t go before any one and be married in this state."
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37
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“我倒希望我们已经结了婚。”
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37
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"I wish we’d gotten married."
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38
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“结了婚也许是好一点吧。但是我们什么时候可以结婚呢,亲爱的?”
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38
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"I suppose it would have been better. But when could we, darling?"
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39
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“我不知道。”
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39
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"I don’t know."
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40
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“我只知道一件事。在这像奶奶太太般的大腹便便的情况下,我不结婚。”
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40
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"I know one thing. I’m not going to be married in this splendid matronly state."