16 Goat's tobacco

Goat's tobacco When I was about nine, the ancient half-sister got engaged to be married. The man of her choice was a young English doctor and that summer he came with us to Norway. Manly lover and ancient half sister (in background)

我九岁的时候，我同父异母的姐姐订婚了。 她选择的男人是一位年轻的英国医生，那年夏天他和我们一起去了挪威。 男子情人和古老的同父异母姐姐(背景)

Romance was floating in the air like moondust and the two lovers, for some reason we younger ones could never understand, did not seem to be very keen on us tagging along with them. They went out in the boat alone. They climbed the rocks alone. They even had breakfast alone. We resented this. As a family we had always done everything together and we didn't see why the ancient halfsister should suddenly decide to do things differently even if she had become engaged. We were inclined to blame the male lover for disrupting the calm of our family life, and it was inevitable that he would have to suffer for it sooner or later. The male lover was a great pipe-smoker. The disgusting smelly pipe was never out of his mouth except when he was eating or swimming. We even began to wonder whether he removed it when he was kissing his betrothed. He gripped the stem of the pipe in the most manly fashion between his strong white teeth and kept it there while talking to you. This annoyed us. Surely it was more polite to take it out and speak properly.

浪漫像月尘一样飘浮在空气中，这对恋人，出于某种我们年轻人永远无法理解的原因，似乎不太喜欢我们跟着他们。 他们独自坐船出去了。 他们独自爬上了岩石。 他们甚至单独吃早餐。 我们对此很反感。作为一个家庭，我们总是一起做任何事情，我们不明白为什么那个古老的同父异母的妹妹突然决定做不同的事情，即使她已经订婚了。 我们倾向于指责男性情人扰乱了我们家庭生活的平静，他迟早要为此付出代价，这是不可避免的。 男情人是个大烟枪。 除了吃饭或游泳的时候，那根恶心的臭气熏天的烟斗从来没有离开过他的嘴。 我们甚至开始怀疑他是否在亲吻未婚妻时摘下了它。 他以最男子气概的方式，用他洁白有力的牙齿紧紧咬住烟斗杆，一边跟你说话，一边把它握在那里。 这让我们很恼火。当然，把它拿出来，适当地说话，更有礼貌。

One day, we all went in our little motor-boat to an island we had never been to before, and for once the ancient half-sister and the manly lover decided to come with us. We chose this particular island because we saw some goats on it. They were climbing about on the rocks and we thought it would be fun to go and visit them. But when we landed, we found that the goats were totally wild and we couldn't get near them. So we gave up trying to make friends with them and simply sat around on the smooth rocks in our bathing costumes, enjoying the lovely sun. The manly lover was filling his pipe. I happened to be watching him as he very carefully packed the tobacco into the bowl from a yellow oilskin pouch. He had just finished doing this and was about to light up when the ancient half-sister called on him to come swimming. So he put down the pipe and off he went. I stared at the pipe that was lying there on the rocks. About twelve inches away from it, I saw a little heap of dried goat's droppings, each one small and round like a pale brown berry, and at

有一天，我们坐着我们的小汽艇去了一个我们以前从未去过的岛屿，那同父异母的老姐姐和那男子气概的情人决定和我们一起去。 我们选择这个岛是因为我们看到岛上有山羊。 他们在岩石上爬来爬去，我们想去看看他们会很有趣。 但当我们着陆时，我们发现山羊完全是野生的，我们无法接近它们。 所以我们放弃了和他们交朋友，只是穿着泳衣坐在光滑的岩石上，享受着可爱的阳光。 男子气概的情人正在装烟斗。 我碰巧看到他非常小心地把烟草从一个黄色的油皮袋里装进碗里。 他刚刚做完这些，正要点烟时，这位同父异母的姐姐叫他去游泳。 于是他放下烟斗走了。 我盯着躺在岩石上的管子。 离它大约十二英寸远的地方，我看见一小堆干羊粪，每一堆都又小又圆，像一个浅棕色的浆果

that point, an interesting idea began to sprout in my mind. I picked up the pipe and knocked all the tobacco out of it. I then took the goat's droppings and teased them with my fingers until they were nicely shredded. Very gently I poured these shredded droppings into the bowl of the pipe, packing them down with my thumb just as the manly lover always did it. When that was done, I placed a thin layer of real tobacco over the top. The entire family was watching me as I did this. Nobody said a word, but I could sense a glow of approval all round. I replaced the pipe on the rock, and all of us sat back to await the return of the victim. The whole lot of us were in this together now, even my mother. I had drawn them into the plot simply by letting them see what I was doing. It was a silent, rather dangerous family conspiracy. Back came the manly lover, dripping wet from the sea, chest out, strong and virile, healthy and sunburnt. 'Great swim!' he announced to the world. 'Splendid water! Terrific stuff!' He towelled himself vigorously, making the muscles

这时，一个有趣的想法开始在我的脑海中萌芽。 我拿起烟斗，把里面的烟丝都敲了出来。 然后我拿起山羊的粪便，用手指拨弄它们，直到它们被撕碎。 我轻轻地把这些切碎的粪便倒进烟斗的碗里，用拇指把它们塞进去，就像男人情人经常做的那样。 完成后，我在上面放了一层薄薄的真正的烟草。 整个家庭都在看着我做这件事。 没有人说话，但我能感觉到周围一片赞许的气氛。 我把管子放回岩石上，我们所有人都坐回去等着被害者回来。 现在我们所有人都在一起，包括我母亲。 我只是通过让他们看到我在做什么来吸引他们进入情节。 这是一个秘密的、相当危险的家族阴谋。 那位男子情人回来了，从海上淋湿了，挺起胸膛，强壮而有男子气概，健康而晒得黝黑。 “伟大的游泳!他向全世界宣布。 “灿烂的水!很棒的东西!”他用毛巾使劲擦身，擦亮肌肉

of his biceps ripple, then he sat down on the rocks and reached for his pipe. Nine pairs of eyes watched him intently. Nobody giggled to give the game away. We were trembling with anticipation, and a good deal of the suspense was caused by the fact that none of us knew just what was going to happen. The manly lover put the pipe between his strong white teeth and struck a match. He held the flame over the bowl and sucked. The tobacco ignited and glowed, and the lover's head was enveloped in clouds of blue smoke. 'Ah-h-h,' he said, blowing smoke through his nostrils. 'There's nothing like a good pipe after a bracing swim.' Still we waited. We could hardly bear the suspense. The sister who was seven couldn't bear it at all. 'What sort of tobacco do you put in that thing?' she asked with superb innocence. 'Navy Cut,' the male lover answered. 'Player's Navy Cut. It's the best there is. These Norwegians use all sorts of disgusting scented tobaccos, but I wouldn't touch them.'

他的二头肌微微颤动，然后他坐在岩石上，伸手去拿烟斗。 九双眼睛聚精会神地看着他。 没有人傻笑着泄露了秘密。 我们因期待而颤抖，而很大程度上的悬念是由于我们谁也不知道接下来会发生什么。 这位有男子气概的情人把烟斗放在他洁白有力的牙齿之间，划了一根火柴。 他把火焰举过碗，吸了吸。 烟草点燃了，发出耀眼的光芒，情人的头被蓝色的烟云笼罩着。 “啊——啊——啊。”他说，鼻孔里喷着烟。 “没有什么能比得上游泳后舒舒服服地泡个热水澡。”我们仍然在等待。 我们几乎无法忍受这种悬念。 七岁的妹妹根本无法忍受。 “你在那玩意儿里放的是什么烟草?”她天真地问道。 “海军蓝发型，”男情人回答。 玩家的海军蓝发型。这是最好的了。 这些挪威人使用各种气味难闻的烟草，但我不会碰它们。”

'I didn't know they had different tastes,' the small sister went on. 'Of course they do,' the manly lover said. 'All tobaccos are different to the discriminating pipesmoker. Navy Cut is clean and unadulterated. It's a man's smoke.' The man seemed to go out of his way to use long words like discriminating and unadulterated. We hadn't the foggiest what they meant. The ancient half-sister, fresh from her swim and now clothed in a towel bathrobe, came and sat herself close to her manly lover. Then the two of them started giving each other those silly little glances and soppy smiles that made us all feel sick. They were far too occupied with one another to notice the awful tension that had settled over

“我不知道他们的口味不同，”小妹妹接着说。 “他们当然喜欢，”这位男子情人说。 所有的烟草对有鉴别力的烟斗制造者来说都是不同的。 海军蓝剪裁是干净和纯粹的。 这是男人的烟。”这个人似乎特意用了一些冗长的词，比如歧视性的和纯粹的。 我们一点也不明白他们的意思。 这位同父异母的老姐姐，刚游完泳，现在穿着浴衣，走过来坐在她的男子情人身边。 然后他们俩开始互相傻乎乎地瞥了对方一眼，含情脉脉的笑着，让我们都觉得恶心。 他们太专注于彼此，没有注意到已经平息的可怕的紧张气氛