《两位少女》，1854 年

two maidens, 1854

你见过一种 “少女” 吗？

have you ever seen a maiden?

我指的是我们那些铺路工所说的 “少女”，就是他们用来夯平道路上铺路石的一种东西。

I mean what our pavers call a maiden, a thing with which they ram down the paving-stones in the roads.

这种 “少女” 完全是用木头做的，底部很宽，还围着几圈铁环。

A maiden of this kind is made altogether of wood, broad below, and girt round with iron rings.

顶部比较窄，有一根木棍横穿腰部，这根木棍就成了 “少女” 的双臂。

At the top she is narrow, and has a stick passed across through her waist, and this stick forms the arms of the maiden.

棚屋里就立着两个这样的 “少女”。

In the shed stood two maidens of this kind.

它们和铲子、手推车、独轮车以及卷尺等放在一起；而所有这些物件都听说了一个消息，就是这些 “少女” 不能再叫 “少女” 了，而要叫 “手夯”，这个词在铺路工当中是最新的、也是唯一正确的叫法，用来称呼我们从过去就一直熟知的那种叫做 “少女” 的东西。

they had their place among shovels, hand-carts, wheelbarrows, and measuring-tapes; and to all this pany the news had e that the maidens were no longer to be called “maidens,” but “hand-rammers,” which word was the newest and the only correct designation among the pavers for the thing we all know from the old times by the name of “the maiden.”

现在，在我们人类当中，有某些人被称作 “解放了的女性”，比如，机构的负责人、专业单腿站立的舞蹈演员、女帽商以及护士；而棚屋里的这两个 “少女” 就把自己和这类 “解放了的女性” 联系到了一起。

Now, there are among us human creatures certain individuals who are known as “emancipated women,” as, for instance, principals of institutions, dancers who stand professionally on one leg, milliners, and sick-nurses; and with this class of emancipated women the two maidens in the shed associated themselves.

在铺路工当中它们是 “少女”，并且决定不放弃这个光荣的称呼，不让自己被误称为 “夯”。

they were “maidens” among the paver folk, and determined not to give up this honorable appellation, and let themselves be miscalled “rammers.

“‘少女’是人的称呼，而‘手夯’是个物件，我们可不想被叫做物件 —— 那是在侮辱我们。”

“maiden is a human name, but hand-rammer is a thing, and we won’t be called things — that’s insulting us.”

“我的爱人可能会打算放弃婚约，” 最年轻的那个说道，她已经和一把铺路工用的锤子订了婚；而锤子是那种能像机器一样把大木桩打进地里的东西，所以它做的事和十个 “少女” 以类似方式做的事规模一样大。

“my lover would be ready to give up his engagement,” said the youngest, who was betrothed to a paver’s hammer; and the hammer is the thing which drives great piles into the earth, like a machine, and therefore does on a large scale what ten maidens effect in a similar way.

“他想娶我这个‘少女’，但要是我成了‘手夯’，他还会不会要我就不好说了，所以我不会让我的名字被改掉。”

“he wants to marry me as a maiden, but whether he would have me were I a hand-rammer is a question, so I won’t have my name changed.”

“而我，” 年长些的那个说，“宁愿把我的两条胳膊都折断。”