22 Fagging

Fagging I spent two long years as a Fag at Repton, which meant I was the servant of the studyholder in whose study I had my little desk. If the studyholder happened to be a House Boazer, so much the worse for me because Boazers were a dangerous breed. During my second term, I was unfortunate enough to be put into the study of the Head of the House, a supercilious and obnoxious seventeen-year-old called Carleton. Carleton always looked at you right down

我在雷普顿当了漫长的两年的苦工，这意味着我是学生的仆人，我在他的书房里有我的小桌子。 如果这个研究对象碰巧是豪犬，那对我来说就更糟了，因为豪犬是一种危险的品种。 在我的第二个任期里，我很不幸地被安排到学院院长的书房里，他是一个目中无人、令人讨厌的十七岁少年，名叫卡尔顿。 卡尔顿总是直勾勾地看着你

the length of his nose, and even if you were as tall as him, which I happened to be, he would tilt his head back and still manage to look at you down the length of his nose. Carleton had three Fags in his study and all of us were terrified of him, especially on Sunday mornings, because Sunday was study-cleaning time. All the Fags in all the studies had to take off their jackets, roll up their sleeves, fetch buckets and floor-cloths and get down to cleaning out their studyholder's study. And when I say cleaning out, I mean practically sterilizing the place. We scrubbed the floor and washed the windows and polished the grate and dusted the ledges and wiped the picture-frames and carefully tidied away all the hockey-sticks and cricket-bats and umbrellas. All that Sunday morning we had been slogging away cleaning Carleton's study, and then, just before lunch Carleton himself strode into the room and said, 'You've had long enough.'

即使你和他一样高，我碰巧和他一样高，他也会歪着头，仍然设法从鼻子的高度看你。 卡尔顿的书房里有三只耗子，我们都很怕他，尤其是在星期天早晨，因为星期天是打扫书房的时间。 所有研究小组的同志们都必须脱下外套，卷起袖子，拿起水桶和抹布，开始清理他们的研究小组成员的书房。 当我说清理的时候，我指的是对这个地方进行消毒。 我们擦地板，擦窗户，擦壁炉，掸窗台上的灰尘，擦相框，小心地收拾好所有的曲棍球棒、板球拍和雨伞。 整个星期天上午，我们都在忙着打扫卡尔顿的书房，然后，就在午饭前，卡尔顿自己大步走进房间，说:“你们玩得够久了。”

'Yes, Carleton,' the three of us murmured, trembling. We stood back, breathless from our exertions, compelled as always to wait and watch the dreadful Carleton while he performed the ritual of inspection. First of all, he would go to the drawer of his desk and take out a pure-white cotton glove which he slid with much ceremony on to his right hand. Then, taking as much care and time as a surgeon in an operating theatre, he would move slowly round the study, running his white-gloved fingers along all the ledges, along the tops of the picture-frames, over the surfaces of the desks, and even over the bars of the fire-grate.

“是的，卡尔顿，”我们三个颤抖着低声说。 我们往后退了几步，由于劳累而喘不过气来，只好像往常一样等着看那可怕的卡尔顿进行例行检查。 首先，他会走到书桌的抽屉里，拿出一只纯白的棉手套，然后很有礼节地戴在右手上。 然后，他会像手术室里的外科医生一样小心翼翼地在书房里慢慢地走动，戴着白手套的手指沿着所有的壁架、相框的顶部、桌子的表面、甚至壁炉的栅栏移动。

Every few seconds, he would hold those white fingers up close to his face, searching for traces of dust, and we three Fags would stand there watching him, hardly daring to breathe, waiting for the dreaded moment when the great man would stop and shout, 'Ha! What's this I see?' A look of triumph would light up his face as he held up a white finger which had on it the tiniest smudge of grey dust, and he would stare at us with his slightly popping pale blue eyes and say, 'You haven't cleaned it have you? You haven't bothered to clean my study properly.' To the three of us Fags who had been slaving away for the whole of the morning, these words were simply not true. 'We've cleaned every bit of it, Carleton,' we would answer. 'Every little bit.' 'In that case why has my finger got dust on it?' Carleton would say, tilting his head back and gazing at us down the length of his nose. 'This is dust, isn't it?' We would step forward and peer at the whitegloved forefinger and at the tiny smidgin of dust that lay on it, and we would remain silent. I

每隔几秒钟，他就会把他那白皙的手指靠近脸，寻找灰尘的痕迹，我们三个费格就站在那里看着他，几乎不敢呼吸，等待那个可怕的时刻，那个伟大的人会停下来大喊一声:“哈!我看到的是什么?”当他举起白色的手指，手指上沾着最细小的灰灰时，他的脸上会闪现出胜利的神情，他会用微微凸出的淡蓝色眼睛盯着我们说:“你们还没洗干净吧?” 你没有好好打扫我的书房。”对我们三个辛辛苦苦干了一上午活儿的费格来说，这些话根本不是真的。 "卡尔顿，我们已经把它打扫得干干净净了，"我们会这样回答。 “一点一滴。“既然这样，为什么我的手指上有灰尘?”卡尔顿说着，向后仰着头，从他的鼻梁向下凝视着我们。 “这是灰尘，是吗?”我们会走上前去，凝视着戴着白手套的食指和手指上的一小片灰尘，然后我们会保持沉默。 我

longed to point out to him that it was an actual impossibility to clean a much-used room to the point where no speck of dust remained, but that would have been suicide. 'Do any of you dispute the fact that this is dust?' Carleton would say, still holding up his finger. 'If I am wrong, do tell me.' 'It isn't much dust, Carleton.' 'I didn't ask you whether it was much dust or not much dust,' Carleton would say. 'I simply asked you whether or not it was dust. Might it, for example, be iron filings or face powder instead?' 'No, Carleton.' 'Or crushed diamonds, maybe?' 'No, Carleton.' 'Then what is it?' 'It's… it's dust, Carleton.' 'Thank you,' Carleton would say. 'At last you have admitted that you failed to clean my study properly. I shall therefore see all three of you in the changing-room tonight after prayers.'

我很想向他指出，要把一间经常使用的房间打扫得没有一点灰尘是不可能的，但那无异于自杀。 你们中间有人否认这是尘土吗?卡尔顿总是举起手指说。 “如果我错了，请告诉我。"这灰尘并不多，卡尔顿。""我可没问你，尘土多还是少，"卡尔顿说。 “我只是问你那是不是灰尘。 比如，它会不会是铁屑或脸粉呢?"不，卡尔顿。"“或者碎钻石?”"不，卡尔顿。"”“那是什么事?“是……是灰尘，卡尔顿。”"谢谢你，"卡尔顿总是这样说。 “你终于承认你没有好好打扫我的书房了。 因此，今晚祈祷过后，我将在更衣室里见到你们三个。”

The rules and rituals of fagging at Repton were so complicated that I could fill a whole book with them. A House Boazer, for example, could make any Fag in the House do his bidding. He could stand anywhere he wanted to in the building, in the corridor, in the changing-room, in the yard, and yell 'Fa-a-ag!' at the top of his voice and every Fag in the place would have to drop what he was doing and run flat out to the source of the noise. There was always a mad stampede when the call of 'Fa-a-ag!' echoed through the House because the last boy to arrive would invariably be chosen for whatever menial or unpleasant task the Boazer had in mind. During my first term, I was in the changingroom one day just before lunch scraping the mud from the soles of my studyholder's football boots when I heard the famous shout of 'Fa-a-ag!' far away at the other end of the House.

雷普顿学校的规则和仪式是如此复杂，以至于我可以写满一本书。 例如，一个众议院的酒鬼，可以让任何一个同性恋服从他的命令。 他可以站在大楼里、走廊里、更衣室里、院子里任何他想站的地方，大喊“faa -a-ag!”这地方的每一个同志都不得不放下手头的工作，拼命向噪音的源头跑去。 每当听到“faa -a-ag!”因为最后一个到的孩子总是被选去做博阿泽想做的任何卑贱或不愉快的工作。 在我的第一学期，有一天午饭前，我正在更衣室里刮我的学生足球靴鞋底的泥，这时我听到了那声著名的“Fa-a-ag!”“在房子的另一头。