Sigh no more ladies,
　　 Sigh no more,
　　Men were deceivers ever.
　　 One foot in sea,
　　 And one on shore,
　　To one thing constant never.
　　
　　Then sigh not so,
　　 But let them go,
　　And be you blithe and bonny.
　　Converting all your sounds of woe,
　　 Into hey nonny, nonny!
　　
　　Sing no more ditties,
　　 Sing no more,
　　Of dumps so dull and heavy.
　　 The fraud of men
　　 Was ever so,
　　Since summer first was leafy.
　　
　　Then sigh not so,
　　 But let them go,
　　And be you blithe and bonny.
　　Converting all your sound of woe,
　　 Into hey nonny, nonny!

很早以前在录像带里看老姑娘emma thompson念这段台词就很有爱，抄在本本里。不过就算朱生豪天纵英才也没能翻译出跳跃的节奏感，所以我也不尝试了。shakespeare的妙处还在于语言吧，还有shall i compare thee to a summer's day，念起来就是顺口，就是一个简单句顶得上千言万语的感觉。老头喜欢夏天吧？我也喜欢。这个夏天长一些再长一些吧~~以后回忆起来会是狩猎的夏天么。。

啊呀我真文艺。

ps. 在卫报看到这样一段：we should remember the message of the old Tang dynasty poet, Bai Juyi (772-846 AD):

Sent as a present from Annam,
A red cockatoo.
Coloured like the peach-tree blossom,
Speaking with the speech of men.
And they did to it what is always done
To the learned and eloquent.
They took a cage with stout bars
And shut it up inside.

愣是没想出来，google了一下：安南远进红鹦鹉，色似桃花语似人。 文章辩慧皆如此，笼槛何年出得身？Orz 从来没读过耶，我真没文化。

原来Attached please find 是很老派的说法吗？
PFA(Please find attached...) 也是。中文是 请见附件 么（有什么古雅的说法伐？）

这几个比较自然。。。
I have attached the new Word document.
The new Word document is attached.
Please take a look at the attached Word document.
Replace the old Word document with the new one which is attached.
You will find the new Word document attached to this e-mail.

Chapter III
It was Sunday morning. The Renown had caught the northeast trades and was plunging across the Atlantic at her best speed, with studding sails set on both sides, the roaring trades driving her along with a steady pitch and heave, her bluff bows now and then raising a smother of spray that supported momentary rainbows. The rigging was piping loud and clear, the treble and the tenor to the baritone and bass of the noises of the ship's fabric as she pitched — a symphony of the sea. A few clouds of startling white dotted the blue of the sky, and the sun shone down from among them, revivifying and rejuvenating, reflected in dancing facets from the imperial blue of the sea.
The ship was a thing of exquisite beauty in an exquisite setting, and her bluff bows and her rows of guns added something else to the picture. She was a magnificent fighting machine, the mistress of the waves over which she was sailing in solitary grandeur. Her very solitude told the story; with the fleets of her enemies cooped up in port, blockaded by vigilant squadrons eager to come to grips with them, the Renown could sail the seas in utter confidence that she had nothing to fear. No furtive blockade runner could equal her in strength; nowhere at sea was there a hostile squadron which could face her in battle. She could flout the hostile coasts; with the enemy blockaded and helpless she could bring her ponderous might to bear in a blow struck wherever she might choose. At this moment she was heading to strike such a blow, perhaps, despatched across the ocean at the word of the Lords of the Admiralty.
And drawn up in ranks on her maindeck was the ship's company, the men whose endless task it was to keep this fabric at the highest efficiency, to repair the constant inroads made upon her material by sea and weather and the mere passage of time. The snow white decks, the bright paintwork, the exact and orderly arrangement of the lines and ropes and spars severe proofs of the diligence of their work; and when the time some for the Renown to deliver the ultimate argument regarding the sovereignty of the seas, it would be they who would man the guns —

第三章
这是个星期日的早晨。名望号赶上了东北信风，正以全速穿越大西洋，两侧的辅助帆都张开了，咆哮的信风一路将船抛上掷下，峭直的船头不时带起一片水雾，制造出短暂的彩虹。绳索绞具发出响亮清晰的声音，就像高音部，和着船帆布料奏出的中低音部，演出了一曲海洋交响。碧空点缀着朵云白得惊人，阳光从云层中直洒下来，充满了新生和活力，宝蓝色的海面上闪现出粼粼波光。
帆船就像精致布景上一位精致的美人，峭直的船首和成排的大炮给这图画添色不少。她是一台华丽的战斗机器，飘然独行的海浪之主，她孑然的身影仿佛在宣告：敌方的舰队只能退避港口，被警惕的卫队封锁压制，名望号可以在海上无畏航行，任何鬼祟封锁都不能与她抗衡，任何敌舰都不能与她相提并论。她可以轻蔑地横扫敌对的海岸；她可以随时给孤立无援的敌军沉重一击；此时，在海军部的命令下，她横越海洋，正准备发动这样的攻击。
在主甲板上各司其职忙活着的是船上的船员。水手们不停的工作着，保证船帆总是处在最高效的状态，足以抵抗大海、天气、时间的侵袭。雪白的甲板、闪闪发亮的油漆、精确有序的排列着的绳索桅桁正是他们勤奋工作的明证；有一天名望号会为了海上的霸权尽自己的一分力，当那一天到来的时候，正是这些水手，将操纵这些大炮——
the Renown might be a magnificent fighting machine, but she was so only by virtue of the frail humans who handled her. They, like the Renown herself, were only cogs in the greater machine which was the Royal Navy, and most of them, caught up in the time-honoured routine and discipline of the service, were content to be cogs, to wash decks and set up rigging, to point guns or to charge with cutlasses over hostile bulwarks, with little thought as to whether the ship's bows were headed north or south, whether it was Frenchman or Spaniard or Dutchman who received their charge. Today only the captain knew the mission upon which the Lords of the Admiralty — presumably in consultation with the Cabinet — had despatched the Renown. There had been the vague knowledge that she was headed for the West Indies, but whereabouts in that area, and what she was intended to do there was known only to one man in the seven hundred and forty on the Renown's decks.
Every possible man was drawn up on this Sunday morning on the maindeck, not merely the two watches, but every 'idler' who had no place in the watches — the holders, who did their work so far below decks that for some of them it was literally true that they did not see the sun from one week's end to another, the cooper and his mates, the armourer and his mates, sail maker and cook and stewards, all in their best clothes with the officers with their cocked hats and swords beside their divisions. Only the officer of the watch and his assistant warrant officer, the quartermasters at the wheel and the dozen hands necessary for lookouts and to handle the ship in a very sudden emergency were not included in the ranks that were drawn up in the waist at rigid attention, the lines swaying easily and simultaneously with the motion of the ship.
It was Sunday morning, and every hat was off, every head was bare as the ship's company listened to the words of the captain. But it was no church service; these bareheaded men were not worshipping their Maker. That could happen on three Sundays in every month, but on those Sundays there would not be quite such a strict inquisition throughout the ship to compel the attendance of every hand — and a tolerant Admiralty had lately decreed that Catholics and Jews and even Dissenters might be excused from attending church services.
倘若名望号称得上是一台华丽的战斗机器，那也全靠操作她的这些脆弱的人类。他们，就像名望号自身，仅仅是皇家海军那台更大的机器上的一个小小齿轮。他们中的绝大多数，在服役的过程中总是默默遵循着这个时代所推崇的惯例和准则，甘于变成齿轮；他们清洗甲板、安装绳索、瞄准大炮、或是手持短刀冲向敌方的壁垒。他们很少想到帆船的航向是北还是南，他们冲锋陷阵的敌人是法国人、西班牙人还是荷兰人。今天只有船长知道海军部交给名望号的任务——应该也是内阁的授意。大家模糊的知道名望号正驶向西印度群岛，但是具体去哪里，去做什么事儿，在名望号甲板上的七百四十人中，只有一个人心中有数。
在这个周日的早晨，每一个可能的人员都被叫到主甲板上，不仅仅是两班轮值，也包括不安排轮值的每个"闲散人员"——底舱，他们在甲板下的深处干活，以至于有些人真正是几周都看不到太阳。桶匠、军械士、制帆士、厨师、乘务，所有的人都穿着最好的衣服，军官们带着折起的帽子和佩剑站在他们分管部门的人员旁边。只有当值的军官和准军官、掌舵的舵手、以及十来个望风和操控船只的必要水手没有被叫出来参加列队。船腰上，人们齐整的立正站好，队伍随着船身的晃动轻轻摇摆着。
在这个周日的早晨，人们都不戴帽子，光着头听船长训话。不过这可不是教堂礼拜，人们脱帽并不是在礼拜他们的造主。每个月有三个周日会有礼拜，但并不像今天这样强制要求每个人参加——最近愈发宽容的海军部已经颁令允许天主教徒、犹太教徒、甚至反国教的人缺席礼拜活动了。
 This was the fourth Sunday, when the worship of God was set aside in favour of a ceremonial more strict, more solemn, calling for the same clean shirts and bared heads, but not for the downcast eyes of the men in the ranks. Instead every man was looking to his front as he held his hat before him with the wind ruffling his hair; he was listening to laws as all embracing as the Ten Commandments, to a code as rigid as Leviticus, because on the fourth Sunday of every month it was the captain's duty to read the Articles of War aloud to the ship's company, so that not even the illiterates could plead ignorance of them; a religious captain might squeeze in a brief church service as well, but the Articles of War had to be read.
The captain turned a page.
"Nineteenth Article," he read. "If any person in or belonging to the fleet shall make or endeavour to make any mutinous assembly upon any offence whatsoever, every person offending therein, and being convicted by the sentence of the court martial, shall suffer death."
Bush, standing by his division, heard these words as he had heard them scores of times before. He had, in fact, heard them so often that he usually listened to them with inattention; the words of the previous eighteen Articles had flowed past him practically without his hearing them. But he heard this Nineteenth Article distinctly; it was possible that the captain read it with special emphasis, and in addition Bush raising his eyes in the blessed sunshine, caught sight of Hornblower, the officer of the watch, standing at the quarterdeck rail listening as well. And there was that word 'death'. It struck Bush's ear with special emphasis, as emphatic and as final as the sound of a stone dropped into a well, which was strange, for the other articles which the captain had read had used the word freely — death for holding back from danger, death for sleeping while on duty.
The captain went on reading.
"And if any person shall utter any words of sedition or mutiny he shall suffer death . . ."
"And if any officer, mariner, or soldier shall behave himself with contempt to his superior officer . . ."
这是第四个周日，对上帝的崇拜暂且被放在一边，让位给一个更严谨庄重的仪式。人们同样被要求穿上干净的衬衣、脱掉帽子，但是列队的人们无需目光下垂。相反，每个水手都要看向前方，手持帽子，任海风吹乱头发；他必须听从如同十诫般包容万有的准则，如同利未记般严格的条款，因为在每个月的第四个周日，船长必须当着全体船员宣读战争法典，即使是文盲也不能托词说他不懂；一个虔信的船长也许会挤出时间加上一段简短的布道。不过战争法典必须宣读。
船长翻了一页。
"第十九条"，他念道，"任何舰队成员或归舰队管辖的人员，严禁进行或试图进行叛乱集会，无论何人何事触犯本条，经由军事法庭起诉，都将判处死刑。"
布什站在自己的分管部门旁边，听着这些耳熟能详的字句。事实上他听得次数多到再听也已经是耳旁风了；前十八条就这样从他耳边溜过。但这第十九条他听进去了；也许因为船长宣讲的时候用了特别的重音。布什在美好的阳光下抬起了眼睛，看到当值军官霍恩布洛尔站在后甲板栏杆边也在留神倾听。那个字眼"死刑"，重重地在布什耳边敲响，沉重的决定性的声音仿佛石头沉入深井。这不免有些奇怪，因为船长念其他条款的时候这个字眼的出现好像无足轻重——逃避危险的判处死刑，当值睡觉的判处死刑。
船长继续念道。
"任何人发表煽动叛乱的言论，判处死刑。。。"
"任何军官、水手、士兵，言行中藐视高阶军官的。。。"
Those words had a fuller meaning for Bush now, with Hornblower looking down at him; he felt a strange stirring within him. He looked at the captain, unkempt and seedy in his appearance, and went back in his memory through the events of the past few days; if ever a man had shown himself unfit for duty it was the captain, but he was maintained in his position of unlimited power by these Articles of War which he was reading. Bush glanced up at Hornblower again; he felt that he knew for certain what Hornblower was thinking about as he stood there by the quarterdeck rail, and it was strange to feel this sympathy with the ungainly angular young lieutenant with whom he had had such little contact.
"And if any officer, mariner, or soldier or other person in the fleet" — the captain had reached the Twenty Second Article now — "shall presume to quarrel with any of his superior officers, or shall disobey any lawful command, every such person shall suffer death."
Bush had not realised before how the Articles of War harped on this subject. He had served contentedly under discipline, and had always philosophically assured himself that injustice or mismanagement could be lived through. He could see now very special reasons why they should be. And as if to clinch the argument, the captain was now reading the final Article of War, the one which filled in every gap.
"All other crimes committed by any person or persons in the fleet which are not mentioned in this Act . . ."
Bush remembered that article; by its aid an officer could accomplish the ruin of an inferior who was clever enough to escape being pinned down by any of the others.
The captain read the final solemn words and looked up from the page. The big nose turned like a gun being trained round as he looked at each officer in turn; his face with its unshaven cheeks bore an expression of coarse triumph. It was as if he had gained by this reading of the Articles reassurance regarding his fears. He inflated his chest; he seemed to rise on tiptoe to make his concluding speech.
"I'll have you all know that these Articles apply to my officers as much as to anyone else."
霍恩布洛尔看了一眼布什，这些字眼对布什来说忽然有了更真切的含义，在他心里引发了一种奇怪的悸动。他看了看船长，头发蓬乱衣衫破旧；回忆一下过去几天发生的事情，如果说有什么人表现不称职的话，非船长莫属。但船长还是拥有无穷的权力，他正在宣读的战争法典保证了这一点。布什又瞟了一眼霍恩布洛尔；几乎能确信霍恩布洛尔站在后甲板的栏杆边上想着些什么。很奇怪他会对这个没有深交的笨拙而又满是棱角的年轻中尉报有如此的同情。
"如果任何军官、水手、士兵，或其他舰队成员"——船长已经读到了第二十二条——"被认为与高阶军官争吵、或违背任何合法的命令，触犯本条的人将判处死刑。"
布什以前没有意识到战争法典中对这些事儿喋喋不休到这种程度。他安安心心的遵规守矩，认为不公正和管理不善总是能凑合对付过去的。现在他看出来为什么这种事儿会发生了。如同要铆牢这些规矩似的，船长开始读最后一条战争法典，能填补一切漏洞的一条。
"任何舰队成员的任何没有在其他条目中指定的罪行。。。"
布什知道这条，有了这条，即使有人聪明的逃过了其他条目的规范，一个高阶军官也能把他搞定。
船长把最后几个字庄严的念完，从书页间抬起了眼睛。当他依次看向各个军官的时候，大鼻子就像一门大炮在依次瞄准；他那没刮干净胡须的脸上带着一种粗鄙的胜利表情。仿佛籍着念出这些法典，他就获得了一种保障、不用再惧怕。他鼓起了胸膛、好像还踮起了脚尖开始说结语。
"我会让你们都知道这些法典对我的军官们和对其他人一样有效。"
 
Those were words which Bush could hardly believe he had heard. It was incredible that a captain could say such a thing in his crew's hearing. If ever a speech was subversive of discipline it was this one. But the captain merely went on with routine.
"Carry on, Mr Buckland."
"Aye aye, sir." Buckland took a pace forward in the grip of routine himself.
"On hats!"
Officers and men covered their heads now that the ceremonial was completed.
"Division Officers, dismiss your divisions!"
The musicians of the marine band had been waiting for this moment. The drum sergeant waved his baton and the drumsticks crashed down on the side drums in a long roll. Piercing and sweet the fifes joined in — 'The Irish Washerwoman,' jerky and inspiriting. Smack — smack — smack; the marine soldiers brought their ordered muskets up to their shoulders. Whiting, the captain of marines, shouted the orders which sent the scarlet lines marching and counter-marching in the sunshine over the limited area of the quarterdeck.
The captain had been standing by watching this orderly progress of this ship's routine. Now he raised his voice.
"Mr Buckland!"
"Sir!"
The captain mounted a couple of steps of the quarterdeck ladder so that he might be clearly seen, and raised his voice so that as many as possible could hear his words.
"Rope yarn Sunday today."
"Aye aye, sir."
"And double rum for these good men."
"Aye aye, sir."
Buckland did his best to keep the discontent out of his voice. Coming on top of the captain's previous speech this was almost too much. A rope yarn Sunday meant that the men would spend the rest of the day in idleness. Double rum in that case most certainly meant fights and quarrels among the men.

布什简直不敢相信他的耳朵。一个船长会在他的船员面前说这样的话真是不可思议。如果说有什么言论颠覆权威破坏纪律莫过于此。但船长却若无其事的开始了船上的日常工作。
"继续工作，布克兰先生。"
"了解，长官。"布克兰也马上跟上开始了干自己的分内活儿。
"戴帽!"
军官和水手们戴上了帽子。仪式结束了。
"部门长官，解散各部门！"
军乐队的乐师们正等着这时候。鼓手长挥动了一下指挥棒，鼓槌落在边鼓上，接着锐利甜美的横笛加入了进来——"爱尔兰洗衣妇"的曲调欢快鼓舞。啪啪啪，士兵把步枪扛到肩上，海军队长怀廷大声喊着命令，在洒满阳光的后甲板上，红衣的队列在有限空间里列队前行后退.
船长站在一边观察着船上这些例行公事有条不紊的进行着。他抬高嗓音喊了一声。
"布克兰先生！"
"长官！"
船长沿着后甲板的楼梯向上跑了几阶，这样他可以更清楚地被看到。然后又喊得更响些让更多人听到自己的话。
"今天下午休息日。"
"了解，长官。"
"给这些好水手们双份朗姆酒。"
"了解，长官。"
布克兰先生竭力克制住声音里的不满。船长前面的训话之后跟着来这么一招真是让人招架不住。休息日意味着水手们在接下来的时间里都可以无所事事。双份朗姆意味着水手们一定会打架争吵。
 
Bush, coming aft along the maindeck, was well aware of the disorder that was spreading among the crew, pampered by their captain. It was impossible to maintain discipline when every adverse report made by the officers was ignored by the captain. Bad characters and idlers were going unpunished; the willing hands were beginning to sulk, while the unruly ones were growing openly restless. "These good men," the captain had said. The men knew well enough how bad their record had been during the last week. If the captain called them 'good men' after that, worse still could be expected next week. And besides all this the men most certainly knew about the captain's treatment of his lieutenants, of the brutal reprimands dealt out to them, the savage punishments. 'Today's wardroom joint is tomorrow's lower deck stew,' said the proverb, meaning that whatever went on aft was soon being discussed in a garbled form forward; the men could not be expected to be obedient to officers whom they knew to be treated with contempt by the captain. Bush was worried as he mounted the quarterdeck.
The captain had gone in under the half deck to his cabin; Buckland and Roberts were standing by the hammock nettings deep in conversation, and Bush joined them.
"These articles apply to my officers," said Buckland as he approached.
"Rope yarn Sunday and double rum," added Roberts. "All for these good men."
Buckland shot a furtive glance round the deck before he spoke next. It was pitiful to see the first lieutenant of a ship of the line taking precautions lest what he should say should be overheard. But Hornblower and Wellard were on the other side of the wheel. On the poop the master was assembling the midshipmen's navigation class with their sextants to take their noon sights.
"He's mad," said Buckland in as low a voice as the northeast trade wind would allow.
"We all know that," said Roberts.
Bush said nodding. He was too cautious to commit himself at present.
"Clive won't lift a finger," said Buckland. "He's a ninny if there ever was one."
Clive was the surgeon.
"Have you asked him?" asked Roberts.
布什沿着主甲板往后走，清楚的看到混乱在船员间扩散，而混乱的导火索正是船长本人。军官们的汇报都被船长忽略掉了，这样的情况下要维持秩序几乎是不可能的。恶劣的行为和懒散的人都没有受到惩罚；埋头干活的水手们开始焦躁，原本就不安分的那些人更是公开上窜下跳。"这些好样儿的水手们，"船长曾这样说。水手们知道他们上周的表现究竟如何。如果船长在这之后还管他们叫作"好样儿的"，那下周会变得有多糟糕就可想而知了。而且所有的水手都十分清楚船长是怎样对待军官们的，知道他怎样野蛮的加罪于他们，再施以残忍的惩罚。俗话说，"今天军官室的大肉就是明天下舱板的炖汤" ，也就是说船尾（军官室）发生的那些事儿很快就会往前传递，这中间更有以讹传讹断章取义，若是军官得不到船长的尊敬，水手们就不会乖乖听命于他们。布什走上后甲板的时候不禁忧心忡忡。
船长已经到半甲板下他的舱房里去了，布克兰和罗伯茨站在吊床旁边谈着话，布什也参与了进去。
"这些法典对我的军官们一样有效。"他走近时布克兰正在说。
"休息日再加上双份朗姆酒，"罗伯茨接道，"给这些好样儿的水手们。"
继续说话之前，布克兰小心翼翼的扫了周围一眼。一艘战列舰上的大副说话之前还要担心是否被偷听，真是可悲。霍恩布洛尔和威拉德在舵盘的另一边；船尾楼上，教官集合了学航海术课程的准军官们，拿着六分仪准备观察月相。
"他疯了。"布克兰压低了嗓音说，那可是东北信风所能允许的最低的声音了。
"我们都晓得。"罗伯茨说。
布什点了点头。目前他想保持谨慎不发表任何意见。
"克里夫手指头都不会动一下。"布克兰说，"没比他更蠢的了。"
克里夫是船医。
"你问过他么？"罗伯茨问道。
 
"I tried to. But he wouldn't say a word. He's afraid."
"Don't move from where you are standing, gentlemen," broke in a loud harsh voice; the well remembered voice of the captain, speaking apparently from the level of the deck on which they stood. All three officers started in surprise.
"Every sign of guilt," blared the voice. "Bear witness to it, Mr Hobbs."
They looked round them. The skylight of the captain's fore cabin was open a couple of inches, and through the gap the captain was looking at them; they could see his eyes and his nose. He was a tall man and by standing on anything low, a book or a footstool, he could look from under the skylight over the coaming. Rigid, the officers waited while another pair of eyes appeared under the skylight beside the captain's. They belonged to Hobbs, the acting gunner.
"Wait there until I come to you, gentlemen," said the captain, with a sneer as he said the word 'gentlemen'. "Very good, Mr Hobbs."
The two faces vanished from under the skylight, and the officers had hardly time to exchange despairing glances before the captain came striding up the ladder to them.
"A mutinous assembly, I believe," he said.
"No, sir," replied Buckland. Any word that was not a denial would be an admission of guilt, on a charge that could put a rope round his neck.
"Do you give me the lie on my own quarterdeck?" roared the captain. "I was right in suspecting my officers. Plotting. Whispering. Scheming. Planning. And now treating me with gross disrespect. I'll see that you regret this from this minute, Mr Buckland."
"I intended no disrespect, sir," protested Buckland.
"You give me the lie again to my face! And you others stand by and abet him! You keep him in countenance! I thought better of you, Mr Bush, until now."
Bush thought it wise to say nothing.
"Dumb insolence, eh?" said the captain. "Eager enough to talk when you think my eye isn't on you, all the same."
The captain glowered round the quarterdeck.
"我试过。不过他不肯发话。他怕着呢。"
"呆在你们站着的地方别动，先生们。"一个刺耳的声音响了起来，是船长熟悉的嗓音，显然跟他们站着的甲板是同一层。三个军官都吃惊不小。
"一切迹象都证明有罪。"这声音吼道，"做个见证吧，霍布斯先生。"
他们环顾四周，船长前舱的天窗打开了几英寸，船长正从这缝隙注视着他们；他们可以看到他的眼睛和鼻子。船长人很高，站在一本书、一个脚凳或者什么其他矮东西上就能从天窗往外看到舱口栏板。军官们都僵住了，另一双眼睛从天窗船长的眼睛下面探了出来，那是代理炮长霍布斯的眼睛。
"等着瞧吧，先生们。"说"先生们"的时候船长语带讥嘲，"很好。霍布斯先生。"
两张脸消失在天窗下，军官们几乎都来得及交换绝望的眼神，船长又沿着楼梯大步走过来了。
"一个叛乱集会，我相信。"他说。
"不，长官。"布克兰答道。不否认的话就是承认罪行了，那可是会把绳圈套上脖子的指控。
"你竟敢在我的甲板上对我撒谎么？"船长吼道。"我怀疑你们这些军官可怀疑对了。窃窃私语、阴谋诡计，现在简直就没把我放在眼里。我马上会叫你后悔的，布克兰先生。"
"我决没有不尊重您，长官。"布克兰辩解道。
"你又当着我的面撒谎了！还有你们这些同流合污的人！你们简直狼狈为奸！我原本可是很看重你的，布什先生。"
布什觉得一言不发可能还比较好。
"无话可说了吧，嗯？"船长说。"我没看着你的时候你可说得滔滔不绝呀，都一样。"
船长震怒的环顾着后甲板。
 
"And you, Mr Hornblower," he said. "You did not see fit to report this assembly to me. Officer of the watch, indeed! And of course Wellard is in it too. That is only to be expected. But I fancy you will be in trouble with these gentlemen now, Mr Wellard. You did not keep a sharp enough lookout for them. In fact you are in serious trouble now, Mr Wellard, without a friend in the ship except for the gunner's daughter, whom you will be kissing again soon."
The captain stood towering on the quarterdeck with his gaze fixed on the unfortunate Wellard, who shrank visibly away from him. To kiss the gunner's daughter was to be bent over a gun and beaten.
"But later will still be sufficient time to deal with you, Mr Wellard. The lieutenants first, as their lofty rank dictates."
The captain looked round at the lieutenants, fear and triumph strangely alternating in his expression.
"Mr Hornblower is already on watch and watch," he said. "You others have enjoyed idleness in consequence, and Satan found mischief for your idle hands. Mr Buckland does not keep a watch. The high and mighty and aspiring first lieutenant.'
"Sir —" began Buckland, and then bit off the words which were about to follow. That word 'aspiring' undoubtedly implied that he was scheming to gain command of the ship, but a court martial would not read that meaning into it. Every officer was expected to be an aspiring officer and it would be no insult to say so.
"Sir!" jeered the captain. "Sir! So you have grace enough still to guard your tongue. Cunning, maybe. But you will not evade the consequences of your actions. Mr Hornblower can stay on watch and watch. But these two gentlemen can report to you when every watch is called, and at two bells, at four bells, and at six bells in every watch. They are to be properly dressed when they report to you, and you are to be properly awake. Is that understood?"
Not one of the dumbfounded trio could speak for a moment.
"Answer me!"
"Aye aye, sir," said Buckland.
"Aye aye, sir," said Bush and Roberts as the captain turned his eyes on them.
"还有你，霍恩布洛尔先生。"他说，"你不认为这种集会该向我报告么。好个值班军官呀！还有威拉德先生，当然也是一分子。显而易见。不过我猜这些先生们不会给你好脸色看了，威拉德先生。你没有好好给他们望风。事实上你可有大麻烦了，威拉德先生。在这船上你没一个朋友，只有炮手的闺女，你马上就要再去亲亲她啦。"
船长高高在上的站在后甲板上俯视着倒霉的威拉德，后者在他的目光中瑟缩着。亲吻炮手的女儿（海军俚语）意味着俯身绑在炮筒上受鞭打。
"等会儿有足够时间对付你，威拉德先生。中尉们优先，军阶高的特权。"
船长扫了一眼这些中尉，恐惧和胜利感交替浮现在他脸上。
"霍恩布洛尔先生已经是持续当值了，"他说，"所以你们其他人一直闲着，撒旦就让你们的懒骨头蠢蠢欲动了。当然布克兰先生从来不当值，他可是尊贵强大野心勃勃的大副。"
"长官——"布克兰刚起了个头又把话吞了回去。野心勃勃这个词儿无疑暗指他图谋控制这艘船，但军事法庭不会把这个当真。每个军官都理应是有野心的，这么说不算什么。
"长官！"船长语带讥嘲。"长官！总算你还体面到能管住舌头。或者说是狡猾吧。即使这样你也逃脱不掉你的行为应得的惩罚。霍恩布洛尔先生还继续他的持续当值。不过这两位先生每次换岗都得来向你报到，还有每轮岗的两次、四次、六次钟也一样。他们得正式穿戴好了来向你报到，而你，也得保持着清醒状态。明白了么？"
三人都愣住了，一时说不出话来。
"回答我！"
"了解，长官。"布克兰说。
"了解，长官。"船长看向布什和罗伯茨，两人忙答道。
 
"Let there be no slackness in the execution of my orders," said the captain. "I shall have means of knowing if I am obeyed or not."
"Aye aye, sir," said Buckland.
The captain's sentence had condemned him, Bush and Roberts to be roused and awakened every hour, day and night.
"执行我的命令可不能偷懒。"船长说。"我会有办法知道你们有没有遵守的。"
"了解，长官。"布克兰说。
船长已经宣判布什、罗伯茨和他三人都有罪了。他们每个小时都得起来，被叫醒。不分昼夜。
(说明：当时的英国海军舰船上，值班由两组人员轮流，分为7个班次，每班4小时，中午的两班各2小时，每个班次敲8次钟，每半小时一次。)

//实在是太长了。。。慢慢来吧。
//2007-01-04：这一章总算翻译完了。再看前面好像有不少不够顺的。。。慢慢改吧。

Chapter II
HMS Renown was clawing her way southward under reefed topsails, a westerly wind laying her over as she thrashed along, heading for those latitudes where she would pick up the north﷓east trade wind and be able to run direct to her destination in the West Indies. The wind sang in the taut weather-rigging, and blustered around Bush's ears as he stood on the starboard side of the quarterdeck, balancing to the roll as the roaring wind sent one massive grey wave after another hurrying at the ship; the starboard bow received the wave first, beginning a leisurely climb, heaving the bowsprit up towards the sky, but before the pitch was in any way completed the ship began her roll, heaving slowly over, slowly, slowly, while the bowsprit rose still more steeply. And then as she still rolled the bows shook themselves free and began to slide down the far side of the wave, with the foam creaming round them; the bowsprit began the downward portion of its arc as the ship rose ponderously to an even keel again, and as she heeled a trifle into the wind with the send of the sea under her keel her stern rose while the last of the wave passed under it, her bows dipped, and she completed the corkscrew roll with the massive dignity to be expected of a ponderous fabric that carried five hundred tons of artillery on her decks. Pitch — roll — heave — roll; it was magnificent, rhythmic, majestic, and Bush, balancing on the deck with the practiced ease of ten years' experience, would have felt almost happy if the freshening of the wind did not bring with it the approaching necessity for another reef, which meant, in accordance with the ship's standing orders, that the captain should be informed.
第二章
收了上桅，名望号向西南方向慢慢滑行着。她在西风吹拂下逆浪而行，开往东北季风带，之后她就能直接驶向西印度的目的地了。风呼啸着穿过紧绷的绳索，在布什的耳边咆哮着。布什站在右舷后甲板，在风浪中努力保持着平衡。一波波的灰色巨浪扑来，右舷的船首最先被浪冲到，缓缓爬升，将船首斜桅举向了空中；然后船身开始摇晃，慢慢的抬升着，船首斜桅的角度更高了；终于船身摇晃着越过了巨浪，船首腾在半空，伴随着大量的泡沫往下直坠；船首斜桅开始下指，船身则笨重的达到了短暂的平衡；接下来整个船身携着泡沫被大海推到风中，船尾被浪峰抬高；最后船头又回到水中。这个带着500吨炮火的笨重躯体终于完成了一次巨浪的穿越。倾跌——摇摆——抬升——摇摆；如此宏伟、如此壮丽、充满了节奏感。十年的海上生涯让布什在摇晃的甲板上也活动自如，空气中的咸味变淡了，他几乎觉得这风浪是清新而愉快的。不过这也意味着马上要再次收帆，而依照这条船上的铁规矩，他必须通知船长。
Yet there were some minutes of grace left him, during which he could stand balancing on the deck and allow his mind to wander free. Not that Bush was conscious of any need for meditation — he would have smiled at such a suggestion were anyone to make it to him. But the last few days had passed in a whirl, from the moment when his orders had arrived and he had said goodbye to his mother and sisters (he had had three weeks with them after the Conqueror had paid off) and hurried to Plymouth, counting the money he had left in his pockets to make sure he could pay the post﷓chaise charges. The Renown had been in all the flurry of completing for the West Indian station, and during the thirty﷓six hours that elapsed before she sailed Bush had hardly time to sit down, let alone sleep — his first good night's rest had come while the Renown clawed her way across the bay. Yet almost from the moment of his first arrival on board he had been harassed by the fantastic moods of the captain, now madly suspicious and again stupidly easygoing. Bush was not a man sensitive to atmosphere — he was a sturdy soul philosophically prepared to do his duty in any of the difficult conditions to be expected at sea — but he could not help but be conscious of the tenseness and fear that pervaded life in the Renown. He knew that he felt dissatisfied and worried, but he did not know that these were his own forms of tenseness and fear. In three days at sea he had hardly come to know a thing about his colleagues: he could vaguely guess that Buckland, the first lieutenant, was capable and steady, and that Roberts, the second, was kindly and easygoing; Hornblower seemed active and intelligent, Smith a trifle weak; but these deductions were really guesses. The wardroom officers — the lieutenants and the master and the surgeon and the purser — seemed to be secretive and very much inclined to maintain a strict reserve about themselves. Within wide limits this was right and proper — Bush was no frivolous chatterer himself — but the silence was carried to excess when conversation was limited to half a dozen words, all strictly professional. There was much that Bush could have learned speedily about the ship and her crew if the other officers had been prepared to share with him the results of their experience and observations during the year they had been on board, but except for the single hint Bush had received from Hornblower when he came on board no one had uttered a word. If Bush had been given to Gothic flights of imagination he might have thought of himself as a ghost at sea with a company of ghosts, cut off from the world and from each other, ploughing across an endless sea to an unknown destination. As it was he could guess that the secretiveness of the wardroom was the result of the moods of the captain: and that brought him back abruptly to the thought that the wind was still freshening and a second reef was now necessary. He listened to the harping of the rigging, felt the heave of the deck under his feet, and shook his head regretfully. There was nothing for it.
时间还是有的。他可以在甲板上再悠闲的耽搁几分钟。布什不见得需要什么冥想——如果有人这样向他建议的话，他一定会笑出声来。从他接到任命书和母亲姐妹告别以来（他离开征服者号之后与家人团聚了3个星期），过去的几天宛如一阵旋风。当他赶到普利茅斯时曾数了数口袋里的角子，刚够付轻便马车的钱。那时名望号正在为西印度的使命忙乱的准备着，在启航前的36个小时里，布什忙得根本没有时间休息，——直到名望号缓缓驶出港湾的时候，他才总算好好睡了一觉。登船以来船长时而疯狂多疑时而蠢笨放松的怪脾气就没给他一天好日子过；布什并不是一个敏感的人——他的精神足够强健，完全可以应对海上的任何困难——但他还是能充分感受到遍布名望号上的那种紧张恐惧的气氛。他晓得自己有不满有担心，但他不晓得这其实也算是一种紧张和恐惧。行驶了整整三天之后，他还是对同事们一无所知。他只能模糊的推测，大副布克兰是比较有能力而稳重的；二副罗伯茨亲切随和；霍恩布洛尔活跃聪敏；史密斯则有些懦弱。不过所有这些推理都只是猜测而已。军官舱房里——下级军官、卫兵士官、军医、事务长们——都神神秘秘的对各人的情况闭口不谈；一般来说寡言是正常的正确的——布什本人也不是什么爱耍嘴皮子的人——但是这样的沉默似乎也太过分了些，对话全都不超过五、六个字，内容也仅限于工作。要是军官们愿意分享经验的话，布什本可以更快了解船和船员的情况，不过除了霍恩布洛尔那天透露的只字片语之外，所有人都三缄其口。布什若是个长于哥特式幻想的人，他一定会觉得自己就像是困在幽灵船上的幽灵，遗世独立，在茫茫无际的大海上航向一个不知名的所在。军官们的遮遮掩掩很显然正是船长的喜怒无常造成的。想到这里，布什忽然意识到风中的咸味已经变淡了，必须再收帆了。他再听了会儿绳索的声音，和脚下甲板的摇动，遗憾的摇了摇头。该办的还是得办。

"Mr Wellard," he said to the volunteer beside him. "Go and tell the captain that I think another reef is necessary."
"Aye aye, sir."
It was only a few seconds before Wellard was back on deck again.
"Cap'n's coming himself, sir."
"Very good," said Bush.
He did not meet Wellard's eyes as he said the meaningless words; he did not want Wellard to see how he took the news, nor did he want to see any expression that Wellard's face might wear. Here came the captain, his shaggy long hair whipping in the wind and his hook nose turned this way and that as usual.
"You want to take in another reef, Mr Bush?"
"Yes, sir," said Bush, and waited for the cutting remark that he expected. It was a pleasant surprise that none was forthcoming. The captain seemed almost genial.
"Very good, Mr Bush. Call all hands."
The pipes shrilled along the decks.
"All hands! All hands! All hands to reef tops'ls. All hands!"
The men came pouring out; the cry of 'All hands' brought out the officers from the wardroom and the cabins and the midshipmen's berths, hastening with their station﷓bills in their pockets to make sure that the reorganised crew were properly at their stations. The captain's orders pealed against the wind. Halliards and reef tackles were manned; the ship plunged and rolled over the grey sea under the grey sky so that a landsman might have wondered how a man could keep his footing on deck, far less venture aloft. Then in the midst of the evolution a young voice, soaring with excitement to a high treble, cut through the captain's orders.
"'Vast hauling there! 'Vast hauling!"
There was a piercing urgency about the order, and obediently the men ceased to pull. Then the captain bellowed from the poop:
"Who's that countermanding my orders?"
"It's me, sir — Wellard."
"威拉德先生，"他对身边的志愿兵说，"去通知船长，我看得再收次帆了。"
"了解，长官。"
几分钟后威拉德回到了甲板上。
"船长亲自过来了，长官。"
"很好。"布什说。
他说话的时候没有直视威拉德的眼睛。一来他不想让对方看出他的反应，二来他也不想看到对方脸上可能的表情。船长接着就到了，他的乱发在风中狂舞，鹰钩鼻子照例左右查探着。
"你要再收一次帆，布什先生？"
"是的，长官。"布什说，就等着照例而来的驳斥。不过这次真是意外之喜，船长非但没驳斥他，而且近乎亲切地说，
"很好，布什先生。召集大家吧。"
哨声响彻甲板。
"全员注意！全员注意！全员就收帆位置！全员注意！"
水手们都涌了出来。军官们听到"全员注意"的命令也纷纷从军官起居舱、卧舱、准军官卧铺走出，手忙脚乱的把岗位表塞在口袋里以便确认重新排过岗的船员们都各就各位了。船长的命令回荡在风中，水手们在升降索和收帆滑轮边干起活儿来；灰色的天空下，帆船在灰色的大海上不停的起伏颠簸，一直呆在陆地上的人们也许会奇怪，人怎样在能在这样的甲板上站定，更不用说爬高了。正在大家开始忙活的时候，一个年轻的声音、因为激动而格外高亢的声音，打断了船长的命令。
"停止拉索，那边！停止拉索！"
那声音真是十万火急，水手们都遵从着停止了拉索。船长从船尾怒吼道：
"谁在给我唱反调？"
"是我，长官——威拉德。"
The young volunteer faced aft and screamed into the wind to make himself heard. From his station aft Bush saw the captain advance to the poop rail; Bush could see he was shaking with rage, his nose pointing forward as though seeking a victim.
"You'll be sorry, Mr Wellard. Oh yes, you'll be sorry."
Hornblower now made his appearance at Wellard's side. He was green with seasickness, as he had been ever since the Renown left Plymouth Sound.
"There's a reef point caught in the reef tackle block, sir — weather side," he hailed, and Bush, shifting his position, could see that this was so; if the men had continued to haul on the tackle, damage to the sail might easily have followed.
"What d'you mean by coming between me and a man who disobeys me?" shouted the captain. "It's useless to try to screen him."
"This is my station, sir," replied Hornblower. "Mr Wellard was doing his duty."
"Conspiracy!" replied the captain. "You two are in collusion!"
In the face of such an impossible statement Hornblower could only stand still, his white face turned towards the captain.
"You go below, Mr Wellard," roared the captain, when it was apparent that no reply would be forthcoming, "and you too, Mr. Hornblower. I'll deal with you in a few minutes. You hear me? Go below! I'll teach you to conspire."
It was a direct order, and had to be obeyed. Hornblower and Wellard walked slowly aft: it was obvious that Hornblower was rigidly refraining from exchanging a glance with the midshipman, lest a fresh accusation of conspiracy should be hurled at him. They went below while the captain watched them. As they disappeared down the companion the captain raised his big nose again.
"Send a hand to clear that reef tackle!" he ordered, in a tone as nearly normal as the wind permitted. "Haul away!"
The topsails had their second reef, and the men began to lay in off the yards. The captain stood by the poop rail looking over the ship as normal as any man could be expected to be.
年轻的志愿兵对着船尾大喊道，他的声音在风中勉强可辨。站在自己的船尾位置，布什可以看见船长走向了船尾楼的栏杆，他气得全身发抖，大鼻子向前冲着、似乎嗅到了牺牲品。
"你会后悔的，威拉德先生。噢，是的。你会后悔的。"
霍恩布洛尔这时出现了在威拉德的身边。他脸色发青——自从名望号离开普利茅斯港以来，他的晕船就一直没好过。
"有个收帆结卡在滑轮里了，长官——在向风面。"他喊道。布什挪了挪位置就能看到他们所说的情形；如果水手们继续拉索的话，帆很有可能被扯坏。
"你这样子挡在我和违逆我的人之间是什么意思？"船长咆哮道，"你休想袒护他。"
"这是我的职责范围，长官。" 霍恩布洛尔回答说，"威拉德也只是尽他的职责而已。"
"这是共谋！"船长道，"你们这两个共谋犯！"
面对如此无理的指控，霍恩布洛尔只能控制自己牢牢站定，他直面船长、脸色惨白。
"威拉德先生，你到下面去。" 看到霍恩布洛尔显然不准备回嘴，船长于是吼道，"你也是，霍恩布洛尔先生。我过几分钟再来解决你。听到没？到下面去！我会好好教训教训你这种耍弄阴谋的人。"
这是个直接命令，必须遵守。霍恩布洛尔和威拉德慢慢的走向船尾。很显然霍恩布洛尔刻意避免与准军官交换眼神，以免再招惹任何新的密谋的指控。船长目送着他们走下船舱，两人的身影一消失，船长的大鼻子又抬了起来。
"找个人手去把收帆滑轮搞定。"他命令道，用风中能听得清的最正常的语气。"收索！"
上桅帆的第二次收帆完成了。水手们从桁架上爬了下来。船长站在船尾楼的护栏边俯览全船，神色自如。
"Wind's coming aft," he said to Buckland. "Aloft there! Send a hand to bear those backstays abreast the top﷓brim. Hands to the weather﷓braces. After guard! Haul in the weather main brace! Haul together, men! Well with the fore-yard! Well with the main yard! Belay every inch of that!"
The orders were given sensibly and sanely, and the hands stood waiting for the watch below to be dismissed.
"Bosun's mate! My compliments to Mr Lomax and I'll be glad to see him on deck."
Mr Lomax was the purser, and the officers on the quarterdeck could hardly refrain from exchanging glances; it was hard to imagine any reason why the purser should be wanted on deck at this moment.
"You sent for me, sir?" said the purser, arriving short of breath on the quarterdeck.
"Yes, Mr Lomax. The hands have been hauling in the weather main brace."
"Yes, sir?"
"Now we'll splice it."
"Sir?"
"You heard me. We'll splice the main brace. A tot of rum to every man. Aye, and to every boy."
"Sir?"
"You heard me. A tot of rum, I said. Do I have to give my orders twice? A tot of rum for every man. I'll give you five minutes, Mr Lomax, and not a second longer."
The captain pulled out his watch and looked at it significantly.
"Aye aye, sir," said Lomax, which was all he could say. Yet he still stood for a second or two, looking first at the captain and then at the watch, until the big nose began to lift in his direction and the shaggy eyebrows began to come together. Then he turned and fled; if the unbelievable order had to be obeyed five minutes would not be long in which to collect his party together, unlock the spirit room, and bring up the spirits. The conversation between captain and purser could hardly have been overheard by more than half a dozen persons, but every hand had witnessed it, and the men were looking at each other unbelievingly, some with grins on their faces which Bush longed to wipe off.
"风向转到船尾了。"他对布克兰说，"上面那几个！找人把后支索抬到最高。再叫人手到迎风面的转帆索这边，跟好了！好了拉索！一起拉，伙计们！转动前桅帆桁！转动主桅帆桁！每一英寸都给我栓紧了！"
这些命令清晰明了，水手们做完就等下面的值班长官解散大家了。
"水手长！请向勒麦克斯先生致意，让他到甲板上来。"
勒麦克斯先生是事务长，后甲板上的军官们不免交换了下眼色。很难想象事务长有什么必要这个时候跑到甲板上来。
"你叫我来，长官？" 事务长问道，他气喘吁吁的跑上了后甲板。
"是的，勒麦克斯先生。水手们正在拉迎风面的转帆索。"
"是的，长官？"
"这会儿我们就要接上了。"
"长官？"
"你听见啦。这会儿我们就要接上转帆索了。给每个水手一杯朗姆酒。没错儿，男孩子们也都有份儿。"
"长官？"
"你听见啦。一杯朗姆酒，我说。每道命令我都得说两次么？给每个水手一杯朗姆酒。我给你五分钟，勒麦克斯先生，一秒钟也没得多。"
船长拿出了他的表，一本正经的看了起来。
"了解，长官。" 勒麦克斯先生不得不说。但他还是站了一两秒钟，先看了看船长，再看了看他的表，直到那个大鼻子开始朝他转来，蓬松的眉毛也蹙了起来。他立即转身跑了；如果说这个难以置信的命令必须遵守，那么五分钟是不够他把手下人召集起来、打开储酒室、再把酒带上来的。船长和事务长之间的对话虽然只有不到半打人听到，不过所有的水手都目睹了一切。大家都有点不敢相信自己的眼睛，他们互相瞪视着，有的人脸上还挂着嗤笑，布什真巴不得把那些笑容给抹掉。

"Bosun's mate! Run and tell Mr Lomax two minutes have gone. Mr Buckland! I'll have the hands aft here, if you please."
The men came trooping along the waist; it may have been merely Bush's overwrought imagination that made him think their manner slack and careless. The captain came forward to the quarterdeck rail, his face beaming in smiles that contrasted wildly with his scowls of a moment before.
"I know where loyalty's to be found, men," he shouted, "I've seen it. I see it now. I see your loyal hearts. I watch your unremitting labours. I've noticed them as I notice everything that goes on in this ship. Everything, I say. The traitors meet their deserts and the loyal hearts their reward. Give a cheer, you men."
The cheer was given, halfheartedly in some cases, with over-exuberance in others. Lomax made his appearance at the main hatchway, four men with him each carrying a two﷓gallon anker.
"Just in time, Mr Lomax. It would have gone hard with you if you had been late. See to it that the issue is made with none of the unfairness that goes on in some ships. Mr Booth! Lay aft here."
The bulky bosun came hurrying on his short legs.
"You have your rattan with you, I hope?"
"Aye aye, sir."
Booth displayed his long silver﷓mounted cane, ringed at every two inches by a pronounced joint. The dilatory among the crew knew that cane well and not only the dilatory — at moments of excitement Mr Booth was likely to make play with it on all within reach.
"Pick the two sturdiest of your mates. Justice will be executed."
Now the captain was neither beaming nor scowling. There was a smile on his heavy lips, but it might be a smile without significance as it was not re﷓echoed in his eyes.
"Follow me," said the captain to Booth and his mates, and he left the deck once more to Bush, who now had leisure to contemplate ruefully the disorganization of the ship's routine and discipline occasioned by this strange whim.
“水手长，跑去跟勒麦克斯先生说已经过了两分钟了。布克兰先生！请把水手们召集到船尾这边来。”
水手们聚集到了船腰；也许只是布什的过分忧虑产生的错觉，他觉得水手们一个个都一副闲散惫懒的样子。船长走到后甲板的栏杆边，脸上带着喜气洋洋的微笑，和不久之前阴气沉沉的表情形成了鲜明的对照。
“我知道什么人是忠诚的，伙计们，”他喊道，“我见过。我现在就见到了。我看到你们内心的忠诚。我看到你们不懈的努力，所有这一切，这船上的每件事儿我都看在眼里。每件事儿，我说。叛逆者会受到应有的惩罚，忠诚的人也会有应有的奖赏。欢呼吧，伙计们。”
人们确实欢呼了。有的人心不在焉，也有的热心过头。勒麦克斯出现在了主舱口，四个手下每人带着两加仑的酒桶。
“刚刚准时，勒麦克斯先生。如果你迟到的话可没什么好果子吃。有的船上会有那种不公道的事儿，这里可不会发生。布斯先生，到船尾这儿来。”
胖墩墩的水手长用小短腿急匆匆地跑上前来。
“你带着藤条吧，我希望？”
“是的，长官。”
布斯拿出了他那长长的裱银的藤条，藤条上每两英寸都有一个显著的环节。水手中那些懒散的家伙们对这个藤条非常熟悉，不单懒散的人——布斯先生兴奋的时候喜欢把它用在任何够得到的人身上。
“选两个最强壮的伙计，公正将被执行。”
船长这会儿既没有喜气洋洋也没有阴气沉沉。他的厚嘴唇上露出了一丝微笑，不过笑意并没有抵达他的双眼。
“跟着我，”船长对布斯和两个伙计说着离开了甲板。布什总算有了余裕可以进行沉重的思考，思考船上惯例和纪律会被这种反复无常的奇思怪想破坏到什么程度。

====

When the spirits had been issued and drunk he could dismiss the watch below and set himself to drive the watch on deck to their duties again, slashing at their sulkiness and indifference with bitter words. And there was no pleasure now in standing on the heaving deck watching the corkscrew roll of the ship and the hurrying Atlantic waves, the trim of the sails and the handling of the wheel — Bush still was unaware that there was any pleasure to be found in these everyday matters, but he was vaguely aware that something had gone out of his life.
He saw Booth and his mates making their way forward again, and here came Wellard on to the quarterdeck.
"Reporting for duty, sir," he said.
The boy's face was white, set in a strained rigidity, and Bush, looking keenly at him, saw that there was a hint of moisture in his eyes. He was walking stiffly, too, holding himself inflexibly; pride might be holding back his shoulders and holding up his head, but there was some other reason for his not bending at the hips.
"Very good, Mr Wellard," said Bush.
He remembered those knots on Booth's cane. He had known injustice often enough. Not only boys but grown men were beaten without cause on occasions, and Bush had nodded sagely when it happened, thinking that contact with injustice in a world that was essentially unjust was part of everyone's education. And grown men smiled to each other when boys were beaten, agreeing that it did all parties good; boys had been beaten since history began, and it would be a bad day for the world if ever, inconceivably, boys should cease to be beaten. This was all very true, and yet in spite of it Bush felt sorry for Wellard. Fortunately there was something waiting to be done which might suit Wellard's mood and condition.
"Those sandglasses need to be run against each other, Mr Wellard," said Bush, nodding over to the binnacle. "Run the minute glass against the half﷓hour glass as soon as they turn it at seven bells."
"Aye aye, sir."
"Mark off each minute on the slate unless you want to lose your reckoning," added Bush.
"Aye aye, sir."

朗姆酒发完了也喝完了。解散了不当值的人之后，布什督促着轮值水手们开始干活，碰到偷懒的就呵责几句。他意兴阑珊的站在晃动的甲板上，看着帆船旋转颠簸。大西洋的疾风迅浪、调整帆樯、操纵罗盘，这一切都毫无乐趣——每天的例行公事都那么乏味，布什模模糊糊感觉到，有些什么东西已经从他的生活中溜走了。
布斯和几个伙计走开后，威拉德来到了后甲板。
"轮值报道，长官。"他说。
那孩子脸色惨白，紧张僵硬。布什锐利地扫了一眼，发现他的眼睛还是湿的。他走路的样子也颇僵硬，有意挺直了身子，肩膀和头部抬得笔直。这也许是出于骄傲，不过那完全板直的腰臀显然是另有苦衷。
"很好，威拉德先生。"布什说。
他想到了布斯藤条上的绳结。布什早已对不公正的事儿司空见惯了。别说男孩子们，即使是成年人也不时毫无缘由的挨打。这种事情发生的时候布什总是默许的，毕竟，在这个原本就不公正的世界上，受些不公正的待遇也算是种教育。男孩子们挨打的时候成人们相互交换着微笑，一致认为这对所有人都好；自有人类历史以来，男孩子就一直挨打；若是某一天，奇迹般的，他们忽然不挨打了，所有人都会觉得不满意的。这一切都千真万确，尽管如此，布什还是为威拉德感到遗憾。好在他手上有个活儿正适合威拉德的心情和状况，可以让他做做。
"这些沙漏得校对一下，威拉德先生。"布什点头示意罗经柜。"过会儿一敲第七个半时钟，你就开始用分钟沙漏校对。"
"了解，长官。"
"记得在板子上记下每个分钟，别搞混了。"布什又加了一句。
"了解，长官。"

It would be something to keep Wellard's mind off his troubles without calling for physical effort, watching the sand run out of the minute glass and turning it quickly, marking the slate and watching again. Bush had his doubts about that half﷓hour glass and it would be convenient to have both checked. Wellard walked stiffly over to the binnacle and made preparation to begin his observations.
Now here was the captain coming back again, the big nose pointing to one side and the other. But now the mood had changed again; the activity, the restlessness, had evaporated. He was like a man who had dined well. As etiquette dictated, Bush moved away from the weather rail when the captain appeared and the captain proceeded to pace slowly up and down the weather side of the quarterdeck, his steps accommodating themselves by long habit to the heave and pitch of the ship. Wellard took one glance and then devoted his whole attention to the matter of the sandglasses; seven bells had just struck and the half﷓hour glass had just been turned. For a short time the captain paced up and down. When he halted he studied the weather to windward, felt the wind on his cheek, looked attentively at the dogvane and up at the topsails to make sure that the yards were correctly trimmed, and came over and looked into the binnacle to check the course the helmsman was steering. It was all perfectly normal behaviour; any captain in any ship would do the same when he came on deck. Wellard was aware of the nearness of his captain and tried to give no sign of disquiet; he turned the minute glass and made another mark on the slate.
"Mr Wellard at work?" said the captain.
His voice was thick and a little indistinct, the tone quite different from the anxiety﷓sharpened voice with which he had previously spoken. Wellard, his eyes on the sandglasses, paused before replying. Bush could guess that he was wondering what would be the safest, as well as the correct, thing to say.
"Aye aye, sir."
In the navy no one could go far wrong by saying that to a superior officer.

这样的活儿正适合让威拉德投入得暂时忘掉他的痛苦，而且也不需要什么体力，只要不断的看着分钟沙漏里的沙子一点点流光再把它掉个个儿、在板上作个标记就行了。布什对船上半时钟的准确性有所怀疑，正好乘着机会校准一下。威拉德身板僵硬地走向罗经柜，开始准备干活儿。
这当口船长回来了，大鼻子左查右探。不过他的心情已经变过一变：刚刚那种活跃和不安分已经烟消云散，现在他一副刚美美地吃了一顿的样子。船长出现的时候，布什遵从礼节让出了向风面的栏杆，船长慢慢的在向风侧的后甲板上来回踱步。他的脚步早已适应了长年的船上颠簸。威拉德只抬头瞟了一眼，然后又全神贯注于沙漏了：第七个半时钟刚刚敲过，半时沙漏刚调过个儿。船长踱了一小会儿步，然后停下来迎着风观察了一下天色，感觉了一下吹过脸颊的海风，他仔细看了看风向仪，又抬头瞧了眼上桅帆，确保帆桁调整妥当。然后他走向罗经柜，检查舵手的航线是否正确。全都是极正常的行为，任何帆船上的任何船长都会做他在甲板上做的这些事儿。威拉德感觉到船长站得很近，努力不显出任何不安，他把分钟沙漏又掉了个个儿，在板子上划了一下。
"威拉德先生在干活儿么？"船长问道。
他的声音粗厚，有些含混不清，语调和早先那种因激动而拔尖的嗓音颇为不同。威拉德眼睛还盯在沙漏上，回答之前稍稍停顿了一下。布什猜得出他一定是在犹豫怎样回答才最安全最正确。
"是，长官。"
在海军里头，这样回答一个长官的问话总不会有什么大错。

"Aye aye, sir," repeated the captain. "Mr Wellard has learned better now perhaps than to conspire against his captain, against his lawful superior set in authority over him by the Act of His Most Gracious Majesty King George II?"
That was not an easy suggestion to answer. The last grains of sand were running out of the glass and Wellard waited for them; a 'yes' or a 'no' might be equally fatal.
"Mr Wellard is sulky," said the captain. "Perhaps Mr Wellard's mind is dwelling on what lies behind him. Behind him. 'By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept.' But proud Mr Wellard hardly wept. And he did not sit down at all. No, he would be careful not to sit down. The dishonourable part of him has paid the price of his dishonour. The grown man guilty of an honourable offence is flogged upon his back, but a boy, a nasty dirty﷓minded boy, is treated differently. Is not that so, Mr Wellard?"
"Yes, sir," murmured Wellard. There was nothing else he could say, and an answer was necessary.
"Mr Booth's cane was appropriate to the occasion. It did its work well. The malefactor bent over the gun could consider of his misdeeds."
Wellard inverted the glass again while the captain, apparently satisfied, took a couple of turns up and down the deck, to Bush's relief. But the captain checked himself in mid﷓stride beside Wellard and went on talking; his tone now was high﷓pitched.
"So you chose to conspire against me?" he demanded. "You sought to hold me up to derision before the hands?"
"No, sir," said Wellard in sudden new alarm. "No, sir, indeed not, sir."
"You and that cub Hornblower. Mister Hornblower. You plotted and you planned, so that my lawful authority should be set at nought."
"No, sir!"
"It is only the hands who are faithful to me in this ship where everyone else conspires against me. And cunningly you seek to undermine my influence over them. To make me a figure of fun in their sight. Confess it!"
"No, sir. I didn't, sir."
"Why attempt to deny it? It is plain, it is logical. Who was it who planned to catch that reef point in the reef tackle block?"
"是，长官。"船长重复道。"威拉德先生现在可学乖了，没再想跟船长耍阴谋了么、没想跟高贵的乔治二世国王陛下亲自授权的合法上级对着干了么？"
这可不是一个好对付的问题。最后一粒沙子即将流尽，威拉德还在迟疑着。"是"或者"否"都可能同样致命。
"威拉德先生没啥精神呢，"船长说，"或许威拉德先生脑子里还在想着他刚刚的经历呢。他刚刚经历的，'我们坐在巴比伦河边哭泣。'不过傲慢的威拉德先生从来不哭，也从来不坐。不，他会小心着不坐下来。他那见不得光的部分为他见不得光的行为付出代价了。一个汉子犯了什么光明正大的过错就得鞭打背脊，一个小孩，一个肮脏下流的坏胚子，就得换种惩罚方式。是不是，威拉德先生？"
"是的，长官。"威拉德喃喃道。他无话可说，但又不得不回答。
"布斯先生的藤条正合用。可派上大用处了。这罪犯绑在炮筒上也正好可以反省一下他的罪行。"
威拉德把沙漏又掉了个个儿。船长显然很满意，他又在甲板上巡视了几个来回。布什也松了口气。忽然，船长几个大步走到威拉德身边开始继续发话，声调也高亢起来。
"哈，你又想着给我耍阴谋了？"他质问道，"你想让我在水手们面前受到嘲笑么？"
"不，长官。"威拉德慌忙答道，"没有，长官。绝对没有，长官。"
"你，还有那个没规矩的霍恩布洛尔。霍恩布洛尔先生。你们两个密谋盘算，想架空我的合法权力。"
"没有，长官！"
"这船上只有水手们对我是忠心耿耿的，其他人都蠢蠢欲动想造反。你们这些狡猾的人想要破坏我对水手们的影响力，让我在他们面前变成一个跳梁小丑。承认了吧！"
"不，长官，我没有，长官。"
"何必抵赖？多么清楚的事实，多么符合逻辑。说，到底是谁的主意把收帆索卡在滑轮上的？"

"No one, sir. It —"
"Then who was it that countermanded my orders? Who was it who put me to shame before both watches, with all hands on deck? It was a deep﷓laid plot. It shows every sign of it."
The captain's hands were behind his back, and he stood easily balancing on the deck with the wind flapping his coattails and blowing his hair forward over his cheeks, but Bush could see he was shaking with rage again — if it was not fear. Wellard turned the minute glass again and made a fresh mark on the slate.
"So you hide your face because of the guilt that is written on it?" blared the captain suddenly. "You pretend to be busy so as to deceive me. Hypocrisy!"
"I gave Mr Wellard orders to test the glasses against each other, sir," said Bush.
He was intervening reluctantly, but to intervene was less painful than to stand by as a witness. The captain looked at him as if this was his first appearance on deck.
"You, Mr Bush? You're sadly deceived if you believe there is any good in this young fellow. Unless" — the captain's expression was one of sudden suspicious fear — "unless you are part and parcel of this infamous affair. But you are not, are you, Mr Bush? Not you. I have always thought better of you, Mr Bush."
The expression of fear changed to one of ingratiating good fellowship.
"Yes, sir," said Bush.
"With the world against me I have always counted on you, Mr Bush," said the captain, darting restless glances from under his eyebrows. "So you will rejoice when this embodiment of evil meets his deserts. We'll get the truth out of him."
Bush had the feeling that if he were a man of instant quickness of thought and readiness of tongue he would take advantage of this new attitude of the captain's to free Wellard from his peril; by posing as the captain's devoted companion in trouble and at the same time laughing off the thought of danger from any conspiracy, he might modify the captain's fears. So he felt, but he had no confidence in himself.
"没人，长官。那是——"
"是谁跟我的命令对着干？是谁当着两班值勤岗、当着全甲板的水手羞辱我？这绝对是个阴谋。彻彻底底的阴谋。"
船长的手背在身后，自如的立在甲板上，风拍打着他上衣的后摆，把他的头发吹到脸上了。但是布什还是能看到他脸上的怒色——如果那不是惧色的话。威拉德又把沙漏掉了个个儿，在板子上新打了个记号。
"你把脸藏起来是因为上面写着我有罪么？"船长忽然斥道，"你装模作样地干活儿只是为了蒙我吧。伪君子！"
"是我命令威拉德先生校验那些沙漏的，长官。"布什说。
他原不想插嘴。但是插嘴总比继续袖手旁观好些。船长看着他，仿佛他刚刚出现在甲板上。
"你，布什先生？如果你相信这个年轻人是什么好货色的话你可被骗得不轻。或者说"——船长的神情忽然显出一丝疑惧——"或者说你也是这臭事儿的一分子？你没有吧，布什先生？不会是你吧。我一直都很看重你的，布什先生。"
疑惧这时又转成了一种讨好拉拢的神色。
"是的，长官。"布什答道。
"就算全世界都跟我对着干，我也指望着你呢，布什先生。"船长说着，低眉瞥了他几眼。"这样的恶行昭彰总是会罪有应得的，你会高兴看到的。我们一定会从他嘴里套出真话。"
布什有个感觉，如果他是个有急智、善应变的人，他或许能抓住船长态度的转变、救威拉德一救；他可以扮好船长危难中的忠实伙伴的角色，同时对他那套阴谋论的被害妄想一笑置之。他或许能矫正船长的疑虑。他有这个感觉，但对自己却不是很有信心。

"He knows nothing, sir," he said, and he forced himself to grin. "He doesn't know the bobstay from the spankerboom."
"You think so?" said the captain doubtfully, teetering on his heels with the roll of the ship. He seemed almost convinced, and then suddenly a new line of argument presented itself to him.
"No, Mr Bush. You're too honest. I could see that the first moment I set eyes on you. You are ignorant of the depths of wickedness into which this world can sink. This lout has deceived you. Deceived you!"
The captain's voice rose again to a hoarse scream, and Wellard turned a white face towards Bush, lopsided with terror.
"Really, sir —" began Bush, still forcing a death's﷓head grin.
"No, no, no!" roared the captain. "Justice must be done! The truth must be brought to light! I'll have it out of him! Quartermaster! Quartermaster! Run for'ard and tell Mr Booth to lay aft here. And his mates!"
The captain turned away and began to pace the deck as if to offer a safety valve to the pressure within him, but he turned back instantly.
"I'll have it out of him! Or he'll jump overboard! You hear me? Where's that bosun?"
"Mr Wellard hasn't finished testing the glasses, sir," said Bush in one last feeble attempt to postpone the issue.
"Nor will he," said the captain.
Here came the bosun hurrying aft on his short legs, his two mates striding behind him.
"Mr Booth!" said the captain; his mood had changed again and the mirthless smile was back on his lips. "Take that miscreant. Justice demands that he be dealt with further. Another dozen from your cane, properly applied. Another dozen, and he'll coo like a dove."
"Aye aye, sir," said the bosun, but he hesitated.
"他啥也不知道，长官。"他说着，挤出一个笑容。"他斜桅支索和后桅纵帆都分不清楚。"
"你这样看？"船长有点怀疑，他随着摇晃的船身变换着站姿。眼看就要被说服了，忽然一个新的想法又冒了出来。
"不，布什先生。你太老实了。我第一眼看到你就看得出来。你不晓得这个世界会堕落到多邪恶的地步。他们愚弄了你，愚弄了你！"
船长的声音又拔高了，变成一种嘶哑的尖叫。威拉德脸色苍白地转向布什，恐惧让他摇摇欲坠。
"真的，长官——"布什道，还是竭力挤出微笑。
"不，不，不！"船长吼道。"我们必须执行正义！必须揭露事实！我会让他说出来的。军需官！军需官！跑去船头把布斯叫过来。还有他的伙计！"
船长转身开始在甲板上踱步，仿佛为体内的压力寻找一个安全出口。不过他马上又转了回来。
"我会让他说出来的！不然他就得给我跳到海里去！听到没？水手长人呢？"
"威拉德先生还没有完成沙漏的校验呢，长官。"布什做出了最后一次无力的尝试，想要拖延一点时间。
"他完成不了了。"船长说。
水手长用他的小短腿往船尾跑来了。两个伙计在他身后大步跟着。
"布斯先生！"船长说。他的情绪又变了，唇间又一次泛起了那阴沉的微笑。"把这个罪犯带走。要执行正义，他还得再受些惩罚。用你的藤条再打上十二下，好好打，十二下，他就会像个鸽子一样只能哼哼了。"
"了解，长官。"水手长答道，有些犹疑。

It was a momentary tableau: the captain with his flapping coat; the bosun looking appealingly at Bush and the burly bosun's mates standing like huge statues behind him; the helmsman apparently imperturbable while all this went on round him, handling the wheel and glancing up at the topsails; and the wretched boy beside the binnacle — all this under the grey sky, with the grey sea tossing about them and stretching as far as the pitiless horizon.
"Take him down to the maindeck, Mr Booth," said the captain.
It was the utterly inevitable; behind the captain's words lay the authority of Parliament, the weight of ages﷓old tradition. There was nothing that could be done. Wellard's hands rested on the binnacle as though they would cling to it and as though he would have to he dragged away by force. But he dropped his hands to his sides and followed the bosun while the captain watched him, smiling.
It was a welcome distraction that came to Bush as the quartermaster reported, "Ten minutes before eight bells, sir."
"Very good. Pipe the watch below."
Hornblower made his appearance on the quarterdeck and made his way towards Bush.
"You're not my relief," said Bush.
"Yes I am. Captain's orders."
Hornblower spoke without any expression — Bush was used to the ship's officers by now being as guarded as that, and he knew why it was. But his curiosity made him ask the question.
"Why?"
"I'm on watch and watch," said Hornblower stolidly. "Until further orders."
He looked at the horizon as he spoke, showing no sign of emotion.
"Hard luck," said Bush, and for a moment felt a twinge of doubt as to whether he had not ventured to far in offering such an expression of sympathy. But no one was within earshot.
"No wardroom liquor for me," went on Hornblower, "until further orders either. Neither my own nor anyone else's."

这是个戏剧性的瞬间：船长的外套在风中拍打着；水手长用请求的眼光看着布什，他身后站着两个体格魁伟的伙计像巨大的雕塑般纹丝不动；舵手对他身边发生的一切都置若罔闻，照常操着舵，不时瞥一眼上桅帆；还有罗经柜边上这个可怜的男孩子——这一切，都发生在灰色的天空下，灰色的大海在四周起伏绵延，一直伸展到远处的无情的地平线。
"把他带到主甲板下面去，布斯先生。"船长命令道。
一切已经不可避免。船长的话语之后是宪法赋予的权力、以及经年沉淀的传统。已经无法挽回了。威拉德的双手在罗经柜上仿佛紧紧粘住一般、像是必须用外力强拉才能拽开。但他终于还是把放下双手垂在身体两侧，跟着水手长走了。船长看着他们，面带微笑。
对布什来说，总算还有点事情可以帮他换口气，他听到军需官报告说，"还有十分钟就敲八个半时钟了，长官。"
"很好。吹哨叫下一轮班。"
霍恩布洛尔出现在后甲板上朝布什走来。
"你不是下一班替我岗的军官吧？"布什问道。
"就是我。是船长的命令。"
霍恩布洛尔说话的时候面无表情——对于这种防备的样子，布什已经习惯了，这船上的军官们一贯如此。他也知道原因。但他的好奇心还是让他问了一句。
"为什么？"
"我是持续当值，" 霍恩布洛尔钝钝地说，"直到有别的命令。"
他边说边看着地平线，没有流露出任何感情。
"坏运气。"布什说。有一阵他怀疑自己这样表示同情是否过于冒昧了。好在听力所及的范围内倒也没有别人。
"我也不能喝酒了，" 霍恩布洛尔继续说道，"直到有别的命令。自己的酒别人的酒都不行。"

For some officers that would be a worse punishment than being put on watch and watch — four hours on duty and four hours off day and night — but Bush did not know enough about Hornblower's habits to judge whether this was the case with him. He was about to say 'hard luck' again, when at that moment a wild cry of pain reached their ears, cutting its way through the whistling wind. A moment later it was repeated, with even greater intensity. Hornblower was looking out at the horizon and his expression did not change. Bush watched his face and decided not to pay attention to the cries.
"Hard luck," he said.
"It might be worse," said Hornblower.
 
对有些军官来说，这是一个比持续当值更糟糕的处罚（持续当值是日夜不断地当值四小时休息四小时）不过布什了解霍恩布洛尔的习惯，知道这对他不成问题。他正要再说一句"坏运气"，两人耳边忽然传来了一声惨叫，那声音在呼啸的风声中也清晰锐利。过了一会儿又是更为凄厉的一声。霍恩布洛尔继续看着地平线，表情毫无变化。布什看了他一眼决定对惨叫声不予置评。
"坏运气，"他说。
"不算最坏。"霍恩布洛尔说。

有laptop而没有网络的几小时里，就想到随便做做翻译。。。手边唯一的电子书就是这部hornblower。
其实翻译这种东西是要有人看才有意义吧？因为没有去过任何关于航海的中文站，所以不知道贴在什么地方比较合适。。。还是贴在自己blog先吧（估计会一直零回复）。。。

无论如何自己翻译还是很有趣的。有些看书的时候一带而过的细节不得不仔细看，然后会发现自己以前的理解可能不那么正确。还有的一些是虽然意思很清楚，但是想不出中文怎么说。

前段时间看中英文对照的《理想丈夫》，觉得文心的翻译错误百出。自己真的作了，才发现真的很难呀。。。下次再尝试的话，还是翻译wiki的文章吧。。。

给自己的Note:
Aye aye, sir - 了解，长官。
First Lieutenant - 大副。所謂的lieutenant 是按照在船上的資格順序來分，1st lieutenant 是最資深的，位僅在船長之下，其下有 2nd lieutenant，3rd lieutenant...。在這艘船的 2nd調到另外一艘船去可能就變成1st。在第二本書中Mr. Bush 一報到就把原是 3rd的 Hornblower 擠到 4th Lieutenant 去了。所以這些可以翻成大副、二副、三副等等，但是如果他們說 lieutenants 時該怎麼翻？船副們？
midshipman - 准军官。midshipman的意思是在帆船戰艦時代住在船中段的水手，他們因為常常負責傳遞船後段官員的命令與訊息至船前段的水手住艙，因此受官員薰陶較深，日後易成為船上官員幹部，故後來把即將成為官員幹部的的水手稱為midshipman，midshipman為未授命之"准官員"，仍不能以官員稱之，只可以「見習官」稱之。到了19世紀，水手跟midshipman 已經有很大差別。戰時一般水手是抓來的，所謂的「press」；只有少數資深水手是自己願意留在海軍裡，而這些水手通常都會升到相當於士官長/水手長之類的職位，如 boatswain，gunner 等，在地位上跟 midshipman 相當。但是他們見到 midshipman 仍然要敬禮，仍然要稱「sir」。另一方面，這些 midshipman 通常是志願，也受過基本教育，至少能讀能寫，還會基本的三角、幾何，才能學習如何導航；這是一般水手根本不可能做到的，即使他們老資格升到 boatswain，不識字仍然沒有希望成為軍官。所以midshipman稱為「准軍官」可能還比較好一點。
bo'sun - 水手长。BOATSWAIN (pronounced 'bo'sun {';} derived from 'boat' and 'swain,' a servant), the warrant officer of the navy who in sailing-ships had particular charge of the boats, sails, rigging, colours, anchors and cordage. He superintended the rigging of the ship in dock, and it was his duty to summon the cI:ew to work by a whistle. The office still remains, though with functions modified by the introduction of steam. In a merchant ship the boatswain is the foreman of the crew and is sometimes also third or fourth mate.

Lieutenant Hornblower
C. S. Forester
(1952)
霍恩布洛尔上尉

Chapter I
Lieutenant William Bush came on board HMS Renown as she lay at anchor in the Hamoaze and reported himself to the officer of the watch, who was a tall and rather gangling individual with hollow cheeks and a melancholy cast of countenance, whose uniform looked as if it had been put on in the dark and not readjusted since.
"Glad to have you aboard, sir," said the officer of the watch. "My name's Hornblower. The captain's ashore. First lieutenant went for'ard with the bosun ten minutes ago."
"Thank you," said Bush.
He looked keenly round him at the infinity of activities which were making the ship ready for a long period of service in distant waters.
"Hey there! You at the stay tackles! Handsomely! Handsomely! Belay!" Hornblower was bellowing this over Bush's shoulder. "Mr Hobbs! Keep an eye on what your men are doing there!"
"Aye aye, sir," came a sulky reply.
"Mr Hobbs! Lay aft here!"
A paunchy individual with a thick grey pigtail came rolling aft to where Hornblower stood with Bush at the gangway. He blinked up at Hornblower with the sun in his eyes; the sunlight lit up the sprouting grey beard on his tiers of chins.
"Mr Hobbs!" said Hornblower. He spoke quietly, but there was an intensity of spirit underlying his words that surprised Bush. "That powder's got to come aboard before nightfall and you know it. So don't use that tone of voice when replying to an order. Answer cheerfully another time. How are you going to get the men to work if you sulk? Get for'ard and see to it."
Hornblower was leaning a little forward as he spoke; the hands which he clasped behind him served apparently to balance the jutting chin, but his attitude was negligent compared with the fierce intensity with which he spoke, even though he was speaking in an undertone inaudible to all except the three of them.
"Aye aye, sir," said Hobbs, turning to go forward again.


第一章
威廉布什上尉登上了停泊在哈默兹的名望号舰，向当值军官报道。那军官瘦瘦高高的，脸颊瘦削、面容忧郁。他的军装像是摸黑套上后还没整理好的样子。
“欢迎，先生。” 当值军官说，“我叫霍恩布洛尔。船长这会儿在岸上。大副十分钟以前跟水手长到船头去了。”
“谢谢。” 布什说。
他环顾了一下四周，大伙儿正忙碌地为漫长的航行作着准备。
“喂，滑轮边上那个！慢点放，慢点。。。好！” 霍恩布洛尔朝布什肩后大喊着，“霍布斯先生，看好你的人好好干活！”
“了解，长官”，一个阴沉的声音答道。
“霍布斯先生，到船尾这边来！”
一个啤酒肚、扎灰色马尾的家伙踱着步来到了霍恩布洛尔和布什所站的船尾过道。他迎着阳光朝霍恩布洛尔眨了眨眼睛，阳光把他双下巴上的灰色胡子茬照得清清楚楚。
“霍布斯先生！” 霍恩布洛尔说。他的声音并不响，但是话语里自有一种强烈的情绪让布什颇感到有些意外。“这些火药必须在天黑前全部运上船，这你是一清二楚的。下次回答长官的时候不要用这种无精打采的语气，要有点儿精神气的，不然你怎么指望你手下人好好干活？好了，去船首吧，打起精神。”
霍恩布洛尔说话的时候身体微微前倾，双手交握在身后，像是为了平衡伸向前的下巴。不过比起他言语中透出的强度，仪态并不重要。虽然他用的只是三个人听得到的低声而已。
“了解，长官”，霍布斯转身朝船头走去了。

Bush was making a mental note that this Hornblower was a firebrand when he met his glance and saw to his surprise a ghost of a twinkle in their melancholy depths. In a flash of insight he realised that this fierce young lieutenant was not fierce at all, and that the intensity with which he spoke was entirely assumed — it was almost as if Hornblower had been exercising himself in a foreign language.
"If they once start sulking you can't do anything with'em," explained Hornblower, "and Hobbs is the worst of 'em — acting﷓gunner, and no good. Lazy as they make 'em."
"I see," said Bush.
The duplicity — play acting — of the young lieutenant aroused a momentary suspicion in Bush's mind. A man who could assume an appearance of wrath and abandon it again with so much facility was not to be trusted. Then, with an inevitable reaction, the twinkle in the brown eyes called up a responsive twinkle in Bush's frank blue eyes, and he felt a friendly impulse towards Hornblower, but Bush was innately cautious and checked the impulse at once, for there was a long voyage ahead of them and plenty of time for a more considered judgment. Meanwhile he was conscious of a keen scrutiny, and he could see that a question was imminent — and even Bush could guess what it would be. The next moment proved him right.
"What's the date of your commission?" asked Hornblower.
"July '96," said Bush.
"Thank you," said Hornblower in a flat tone that conveyed so little information that Bush had to ask the question in his turn.
"What's the date of yours?"
"August '97," said Hornblower. "You're senior to me. You're senior to Smith, too — January '97."
"Are you the junior lieutenant, then?"
"Yes," said Hornblower.
His tone did not reveal any disappointment that the newcomer had proved to be senior to him, but Bush could guess at it. Bush knew by very recent experience what it was to be the junior lieutenant in a ship of the line.
"You'll be third," went on Hornblower. "Smith fourth, and I'm fifth."
布什暗暗想着霍恩布洛尔会是个危险分子。不过当他们视线相遇的时候，他意外的在那双沉郁的眼睛中看到一束稍瞬即逝的闪光。这瞬间他意识到这个暴戾的年轻军官并不真的暴戾。他话语中的强制意味完全是计划之内的——霍恩布洛尔简直就像是在练习一门外语一样练习这种说话方式。
“一旦你变得消沉，你就没法儿让水手干活儿。” 霍恩布洛尔解释道，“尤其是霍布斯。他是代理炮手长，人不怎么地。总是懒洋洋的。”
“原来如此。”布什说。
对这个年轻的军官——他的双重性格、他的演技，布什心中曾经产生过一瞬间的猜疑。如果说一个人可以这样表现出愤怒的情绪然后又若无其事的恢复常态，那么他多半是不可信赖的。然而，这双闪闪发亮的棕色眼睛自然而然地在布什的蓝眼睛中点燃了同样的闪光。布什能感觉到自己对霍恩布洛尔产生了一种友情的冲动，但是出于天生的谨慎，他立即克制住了自己的这个冲动。毕竟这将是个漫长的航行，他有的是时间好好估量。现在他只需要留心观察就行了。眼下他就能看到一个问题迫在眉睫，就算是布什也能猜出这个问题的内容，果不其然——
“你什么时候升职上尉的？” 霍恩布洛尔问道。
“96年7月，”布什回答。
“谢谢，” 霍恩布洛尔的语气十分平静，几乎没有传达任何情绪。布什不得不主动询问。
“那么你呢？”
“97年8月，” 霍恩布洛尔说。“你比我资历长，比史密斯也长。他是97年1月。”
“这么说你是下级军官？”
“是的，” 霍恩布洛尔说。
他的语调没有任何因为新来者比他资深而懊恼的迹象，不过布什还是能猜得到。就在没多久之前，布什自己就是一艘军舰上的下级军官。
“你是三副，” 霍恩布洛尔说，“史密斯在你之后，而我是老五。”

"I'll be third?" mused Bush, more to himself than to anyone else.
Every lieutenant could at least dream, even lieutenants like Bush with no imagination at all. Promotion was at least theoretically possible; from the caterpillar stage of lieutenant one might progress to the butterfly stage of captain, sometimes even without a chrysalis period as commander. Lieutenants undoubtedly were promoted on occasions; most of them, as was to be expected, being men who had friends at Court, or in Parliament, or who had been fortunate enough to attract the attention of an admiral and then lucky enough to be under that admiral's command at the moment when a vacancy occurred. Most of the captains on the list owed their promotion to one or other of such causes. But sometimes a lieutenant won his promotion through merit — through a combination of merit and good fortune, at least — and sometimes sheer blind chance brought it about. If a ship distinguished herself superlatively in some historic action the first lieutenant might be promoted (oddly enough, that promotion was considered a compliment to her captain), or if the captain should be killed in the action even a moderate success might result in a step for the senior surviving lieutenant who took his place. On the other hand some brilliant boat﷓action, some dashing exploit on shore, might win promotion for the lieutenant in command — the senior, of course. The chances were few enough in all conscience, but there were at least chances.
But of those few chances the great majority went to the senior lieutenant, to the first lieutenant; the chances of the junior lieutenant were doubly few. So that whenever a lieutenant dreamed of attaining the rank of captain, with its dignity and security and prize money, he soon found himself harking back to the consideration of his seniority as lieutenant. If this next commission of the Renown's took her away to some place where other lieutenants could not be sent on board by an admiral with favourites, there were only two lives between Bush and the position of first lieutenant with all its added chances of promotion. Naturally he thought about that; equally naturally he did not spare a thought for the fact that the man with whom he was conversing was divided by four lives from that same position.

“我是三副？”布什自言自语道。
每个海军军官都至少可以做做梦，甚至像布什这样完全没有想象力的人也一样。获得提升至少理论上说是可能的，从下级军官的毛毛虫阶段也能蜕变成蝴蝶般的船长，有时甚至不需要经过中校船长这样的茧蛹期。毫无疑问，军官们有时确实会获得提升，大多数人，只要他们在宫里或者议会里有熟人，或者幸运的获得了一名海军上将的注意，或者幸运的在某位海军上将的麾下等到了合适的空缺。大多数船长的提升总是归因于以上的一条或几条缘由。当然也有的时候，一个军官的提升是因为他的优点——优点和好运的结合——有的时候仅仅是好运而已。如果一艘船在一个历史性的战斗中获得了卓越的功勋，那么船上的大副往往会获得提升（古怪的是这个提升被认为是对船长的肯定）。或者，如果船长在战斗中牺牲了，幸存的军官中最资深的那一位就会替代他的位置。另一方面，有的时候一个成功的划船行动，或是大胆的岸上探险，都有可能让指挥的军官获得提升——当然是最资深的那一位。所有这些发生的可能性都很小，但不管怎么说，机会总是机会。
但是所有的这些微小的机会总是倾向于资深的军官——当大副的。下级军官的机会总是更为渺茫。所以每当一个军官梦想着成为船长，梦想着那随之而来的尊严、安全及大笔赏金的时候，他总是发现他得先忖度一下自己的资历。如果这次名望号使命的目的地没有什么将军把他们中意的军官送上船的话，布什距离升职便利的大副位置就只差两个人了。很自然，他想到了这个；同样自然的，他没有想到，与他对话的这个人距离大副位置，还有4个人。

"But still, it's the West Indies for us, anyway," said Hornblower philosophically. "Yellow fever. Ague. Hurricanes. Poisonous serpents. Bad water. Tropical heat. Putrid fever. And ten times more chances of action than with the Channel fleet."
"That's so," agreed Bush, appreciatively.
With only three and four years' seniority as lieutenants, respectively, the two young men (and with young men's confidence in their own immortality) could face the dangers of West Indian service with some complacence.
"Captain's coming off, sir," reported the midshipman of the watch hurriedly.
Hornblower whipped his telescope to eye and trained it on the approaching shore boat.
"Quite right," he said. "Run for'ard and tell Mr Buckland. Bosun's mates! Sideboys! Lively, now!"
Captain Sawyer came up through the entry port, touched his hat to the quarterdeck, and looked suspiciously around him. The ship was in the condition of confusion to be expected when she was completing for foreign service, but that hardly justified the sidelong, shifty glances which Sawyer darted about him. He had a big face and a prominent hawk nose which he turned this way and that as he stood on the quarterdeck. He caught sight of Bush, who came forward and reported himself
"You came aboard in my absence, did you?" asked Sawyer.
"Yes, sir," said Bush, a little surprised.
"Who told you I was on shore?"
"No one, sir."
"How did you guess it, then?"
"I didn't guess it, sir. I didn't know you were on shore until Mr Hornblower told me."
"Mr Hornblower? So you know each other already?"
"No, sir. I reported to him when I came on board."
"So that you could have a few private words without my knowledge?"
"No, sir."

“无论如何，这次一定是西印度，” 霍恩布洛尔带着点哲学味道说，“黄热病，疟疾，飓风，毒蛇，糟糕的海流，热带的天气，讨厌的热病。还有十倍于海峡舰队的可能性我们会遭遇战斗。”
“确实如此。”布什表示同意。
这两个只有三四年军官资历的年轻人（带着初生牛犊不怕虎的自信）面对着西印度的使命带来的危险颇感到有些志得意满。
“船长回来了，长官。”当值的准军官急匆匆地报告说。
霍恩布洛尔迅速举起望远镜，对准了一艘逐渐靠近的划船。
“没错，”他说，“去船头通知布克兰先生。副水手长！礼宾队！快快快！”
索耶船长从舱门上来了，他对甲板上的人们碰了碰帽沿，用多疑的眼神将四周扫视了一圈。那种飘浮不定的眼神让大伙儿心惊胆战，就像是经过长期的海外服役之后的那种心情。索耶站在后甲板上，大脸上那显著的鹰钩鼻左右转个不停。然后，他瞥见了走上前报道的布什。
“你是我不在的时候上船报到的么？”索耶问道。
“是的，长官。”布什说，略感讶异。
“谁告诉你我在岸上的？”
“没有人，长官。”
“那你怎么猜到的呢？”
“我没有猜到，长官。我不知道你在岸上，直到霍恩布洛尔先生告诉了我。”
“霍恩布洛尔先生？这么说来你们已经认识了？”
“不，长官。我上船来的时候是找他报到的。”
“这样你们就可以背着我说些私房话了？”
“没有，长官。”

Bush bit off the 'of course not' which he was about to add. Brought up in a hard school, Bush had learned to utter no unnecessary words when dealing with a superior officer indulging in the touchiness superior officers might be expected to indulge in. Yet this particular touchiness seemed more unwarranted even than usual.
"I'll have you know I allow no one to conspire behind my back, Mr — ah — Bush," said the captain.
"Aye aye, sir."
Bush met the captain's searching stare with the composure of innocence, but he was doing his best to keep his surprise out of his expression, too, and as he was no actor the struggle may have been evident.
"You wear your guilt on your face, Mr Bush," said the captain. "I'll remember this."
With that he turned away and went below, and Bush, relaxing from his attitude of attention, turned to express his surprise to Hornblower. He was eager to ask questions about this extraordinary behaviour, but they died away on his lips when he saw that Hornblower's face was set in a wooden unresponsiveness. Puzzled and a little hurt, Bush was about to note Hornblower down as one of the captain's toadies — or as a madman as well — when he caught sight out of the tail of his eye of the captain's head reappearing above the deck. Sawyer must have swung round when at the foot of the companion and come up again simply for the purpose of catching his officers off their guard discussing him — and Hornblower knew more about his captain's habits than Bush did. Bush made an enormous effort to appear natural.
"Can I have a couple of hands to carry my sea﷓chest down?" he asked, hoping that the words did not sound nearly as stilted to the captain as they did to his own ears.
"Of course, Mr Bush," said Hornblower, with a formidable formality. "See to it, if you please, Mr James."
"Ha!" snorted the captain, and disappeared once more down the companion.

布什克制着没有说“当然没有”。在一所严苛的学校长大的布什很早就学会在长官要挑刺儿的时候决不能说任何不必要的词儿。不过这个要挑刺儿的主显然比一般水平更胜一筹。
“我会让你知道我不容许任何人在我背后搞什么阴谋诡计。这位…呃…布什先生。”船长说。
“了解，长官。”
布什沉着的用无辜的表情回应着船长探寻的注视，不过他要还要尽力克制自己不露出惊异的表情，作为一个不擅长掩饰的人，这个努力很难不露马脚。
“你的罪行明摆在脸上，布什先生，”船长说，“我会记得的。”
说完他转身走开到舱板下面去了。布什松了口气，转身想向霍恩布洛尔表达一下他的惊讶之情。他很想就这种少见的举止问个清楚，但是一看到霍恩布洛尔木然的表情，他的疑问还没说出口就吞了回去。布什感到疑惑还点儿受伤，他正想将霍恩布洛尔归类为船长的跟屁虫——或是跟船长一样的疯子，这时，忽然他眼角瞟见船长从甲板上探出了头。索耶船长一定是从舱下重新转回来，专门为了抓到军官们松懈下来随意谈论他——霍恩布洛尔显然比布什更了解船长的习惯。布什拼命做出自然的样子。
“能匀两个人手给我把行李带下去么？”他问道，希望这些话在船长听来不像他自己耳朵里听来那么心虚。
“当然，布什先生。” 霍恩布洛尔特别郑重地说，“詹姆斯先生，请帮忙处理。”
“哈！”船长嗤道。他又一次消失在了甲板下面。

Hornblower flicked one eyebrow at Bush, but that was the only indication he gave, even then, of any recognition that the captain's actions were at all unusual, and Bush, as he followed his sea﷓chest down to his cabin, realised with dismay that this was a ship where no one ventured on any decisive expression of opinion. But the Renown was completing for sea, amid all the attendant bustle and confusion, and Bush was on board, legally one of her officers, and there was nothing he could do except reconcile himself philosophically to his fate. He would have to live through this commission, unless any of the possibilities catalogued by Hornblower in their first conversation should save him the trouble.

霍恩布洛尔对布什挑了挑眉毛，对于船长的异常行为，这就是他唯一的一个表示了。布什跟着行李箱往自己的船舱走去，他沮丧的意识到在这条船上，没有人会敢于表达自己的意见。无论如何在一片匆忙和混乱中，名望号正在为航行做最后的准备。布什也已经上船正式成为了这艘船的军官。除了顺应命运的安排之外他没有别的选择。他必须熬过这次使命，除非霍恩布洛尔和他第一次谈话时说到过的那些可能性中有哪样发生了，他才可能逃过一劫。