Tourists 游客----Nancy Mitford
The most intensive(强烈的) study I ever made of tourists was at Torcello,where it is impossible to avoid them.Torcello is a minute island in the Venetian lagoon(泻湖);here among vineyards and wild flowers,some thirty cottages surround a great cathedral(大教堂) which was being built when William the Conqueror came to England.
我所做过的关于游客的最透彻的研究是在Torcello完成的,在那里你根本没法避开他们。Torcello是威尼斯泻湖上一个很小的岛屿:这里的葡萄园和野花间散布了大概三十间村舍,环绕着建立于征服者威廉到达英国时期的一座大教堂。
A canal and a path lead from the lagoon to the village;the vineyards are intercted (分隔的)by canals ;red and yellow sails (帆船)glide slowly through the vines.Bells from the campanile (钟塔)ring out reproaches three time a day ("cloches,cloches,divins reproches")joined by a chorus from the surrouonding islands.
一座运河和一条小道将泻湖和村庄连结起来;运河蜿蜒而过将葡萄园隔开;红色和黄色的船
帆缓慢地穿梭于葡萄藤之间。钟楼每天三次鸣响谴责曲,届时周围岛屿的钟声也会响起,组成一曲大合唱。
There is an inn(hotle ) where I lived one summer,writing my book and obrving the tourists .Torcello which ud to be lonely as a cloud has recently become an outing from Venice.Many more visitors than it can comfortably hold pour into it,off the regular steamers,off chartered motor-boats,and off yachts,all day they amble up the towpath,looking for what?
我曾花费一年夏天的时间住在一间小旅馆写作,同时观察形形色色的游客。曾经孤独如一片浮云的Torcello最近成为从威尼斯出发的短途旅游热点。游客之多远远超出了Torcello的正常接待能力:他们跳下定期汽轮、跳下租借的摩托艇、跳下豪华游艇,蜂拥而至;他们整天都在运河边的小路上漫步,到底在寻找什么?
The cathedral is decorated(装饰) with early mosaics-scences from hell,much restored,and a great sad ,austere(严峻的) Madonna;Byzantine art is an acquired tast
e and probably not one in ten of the visitors has acquired it.
大教堂由早期的马赛克装饰,很好的重现了地狱般风格,其间还有一尊巨大的神情悲伤而严峻的圣母像;拜占庭艺术品味需要后天培养,而真正能够欣赏的游客可能还不到十分之一。
They wander into the church and look round aimlessly.They come out on to the village green and photograph each other in a stone armchair said to be the throne (王座)of Attila.They relentlessly tear at the wild ros which one has en in bud and longed to e in bloom and which ,for a day have scented the whole island.
他们步入教堂,漫无目的地四处张望。他们走进村庄的绿地中,坐在据说是匈奴王阿提拉坐过的一张石椅上互相拍照。他们无情地将野玫瑰摘走,很多人曾经见过这些玫瑰含苞时的样子,并且渴望着看到它们盛开时的景象,而且它们曾经在一天内就让整个小岛遍布花香。
As soon as they are picked the ros fade and are thrown into the canal .The Americans visit the inn to eat or drink something.The English declare that they can't afford to do this .They take food which they have brought with them into the vineyard and I am sorry to say leave the devil of a mess behind them.
一经摘取,这些玫瑰很快凋零,随后就被丢弃至运河内。美国人到餐馆里吃喝。英国人声称他们负担不起这样的花费,他们将自带的食物拿到葡萄园里,我很遗憾地说他们留下一片狼藉。
Every Thursday Germans come up the towpath,marching as to war,with a Leader .There is a standing order for fifty luncheons at the inn;while they eat the Leader lectures them through a megaphone .
每周四德国人沿运河边的小路上来,跟着导游,就像奔赴战场一样。在餐馆里他们总会要50桌正餐;在他们吃饭时,他们的导游通过扩音器向他们演讲。
After luncheon they march into the cathedral and undergo another lecture.They ,at least,know what they are eing .Then they march back to their boat.They are tidy;they leave no litter.
午餐后他们长驱直入到教堂内,再听取导游的另一次讲座。至少他们知道他们在看什么。随后他们整齐划一地退回到他们的船上。他们很整洁;不留任何垃圾。
More interesting,however,than the behaviour of the tourists is that of the islanders.As they are obliged,whether they like it or not,to live in public during the whole summer,they very naturally try to extract some financial benefit from this state of affairs.
然而岛上居民的行为比游客更有趣。由于他们被迫整个夏天都生活在公众视野之下,无论他们喜爱与否,他们很自然的想从这样的状况中极力获取一些经济利益.
The Italian is a born actor;between the first boat from Venice , and the last on which the ordinary tourist leaves ,the island is turned into a stage with all the natives playing a part.
意大利人是天生的演员;上午11点从威尼斯开来第一班船,下午6点普通的游客会乘最后一班船离开,在此期间,整个小岛变成一个所有本地人都参与进来的一个大舞台。
Young men from Burano,the next island,dress up as gondoliers and ferry tourists from the steamer to the village in sandolos.One of them brings a dreadful little brother called Erin who pesters everybody to buy the dead bodies of a-hors,painted gold.
隔壁的布拉诺岛年轻人装扮成刚朵拉船(Gondola)的船夫,用桑德拉船(Sandolo)将游客从汽轮摆渡到岛上的村子来。其中一人带着他名叫艾瑞克的令很多人很讨厌的弟弟,他纠缠所有人让他们买漆成金黄色的海马的死尸。
"Buona fortuna",he chants.I got very fond of Eric.Sweet-faced old women sit at the cottage doors lling postcards and trinkets and apparently making point de Veni lace.