...A wet Sunday in a country inn!—whoever has had the luck to experience one can alone judge of my situation. The rain pattered against the casements; the bells tolled for the church with a melancholy sound. I went to the windows in quest of something to amuse the eye; but it seemed as if I had been placed completely out of reach of all amusement. The windows of my bed-room looked out among tiled roofs and stacks of chimneys, while those of my sitting-room commanded a full view of a stable yard. I know of nothing more calculated to make a man sick of the world than a stable yard on a rainy day. The place was littered with wet straw that had been kicked about by travelers and stable boys. In one corner was a stagnant pool of water, surrounding an island of muck; there were several half-drowned fowls crowded together under a cart, among which was a miserable, crest-fallen cock, drenched out of all life and spirit; his drooping tail matted, as it were, into a single feather, along which the water tickled from his back; near the cart was a half-dozing cow, chewing her cud, and standing patiently to be rained on, with wreaths of vapor rising from her reeking hide; a wall-eyed horse, tired of the loneliness of the stable, was poking his spectral head out of a window, with the rain dripping on it from the eaves; an unhappy cur, chained to a doghouse hard by, uttered every now and then between a bark and a yelp. A drab of a kitchen-wench tramped backwards and forwards through the yard in patterns, looking as sulky as the weather itself; everything, in short, was comfortless and forlorn, except a crew of hardened ducks, assembled like boon companions round a puddle, and making riotous noise over their liquor.
By Washington Irving
［参考译文］
乡村客栈的一个阴雨星期天
华盛顿·欧文
……乡村客栈的一个阴雨的星期天！凡有幸度过这样一天的人，都能体会我现在的感觉。雨点噼噼啪啪地打在窗子上；教堂里传来沉重的钟声，召唤人们去做礼拜。我走到窗前，想找一些赏心悦目的东西；但看来我已完全被置于一切欢乐之外。从卧室的窗口望出去，是一片砖瓦的屋顶和林立的烟囱；而从起居室的窗口往下看，则能望见整个马厩院子。我觉得再也没有比雨天的马厩院子更令人厌烦的了。遍地是淋湿了的稻草，被旅客和小马倌们弄得凌乱不堪。在院子的一角，一汪污水围着孤岛似的粪堆；几只几乎被雨水淋透的鸡簇拥在一辆马车底下，其中一只可怜的公鸡，倒垂着鸡冠，被淋得没精打采，毫无生气；它那耷拉着的尾巴粘在一起，仿佛一根羽毛，雨水顺着它从背脊往下直淌；离马车不远处，有一头睡眼惺忪的奶牛，嘴里嚼着反刍的食物，默默地站在那里，任凭雨水打在身上，湿淋淋的背上冒出缭绕的水汽；一匹斜白眼的马厌倦了马厩里的寂寞，把它那幽灵似的脑袋从窗口探了出来，屋檐上的雨水淅淅沥沥地落在它头上；一条不幸的杂种狗被链条拴在近旁的狗窝里，时时发出似吠似嚎的声音；一个邋遢厨娘拖着木屐，迈着沉重的步子在院子里进进出出，她那闷闷不乐的神色，就像阴沉的天气一样；总之，除了一群饱经风雨的鸭子，像饮酒作乐的朋友那样聚集在污水潭的四周呷呷嬉水而外，这儿的一切都令人感到凄凉和沮丧。
［注释］
judge of : 对……作出评价
looked out : （房间等）面朝
commanded a full view of : 俯瞰……的全景；居高临下
-wreath [riːθ] n. 烟、云作螺旋状的圈 a circular form
-drab [dræb] adj. 浅褐色，不整洁 of a dull light brown
［作者简介］
华盛顿·欧文（Washington Irving, 1783-1859)，美国文学史上最早的著名作家，是美国文学的奠基人之一，有“美国文学之父”之称。他的散文和故事以亲切的幽默感和优美的文笔著称。其代表作有短篇故事集《睡谷传奇》和《瑞普·凡·温克尔》等。