Indeed, well-to-do and distinguished people lived here; it was the dwelling of the baron and his family.

每一件物品都与它所处的环境相得益彰。

Each article was in keeping with its surroundings.

“各得其所” 是这里的人们行事所遵循的座右铭，因此，所有曾经是那座老宅荣耀的画作，如今都挂在了通往仆人房间的过道里。

“Everything in the right place” was the motto according to which they also acted here, and therefore all the paintings which had once been the honour and glory of the old mansion were now hung up in the passage which led to the servants’ rooms.

那些全都是些旧杂物，尤其是两幅肖像画 —— 一幅画的是一个穿着猩红色外套、戴着假发的男人，另一幅画的是一位头发扑粉、卷曲，手里拿着一朵玫瑰的女士，他们每人都被一大圈柳枝环绕着。

It was all old lumber, especially two portraits — one representing a man in a scarlet coat with a wig, and the other a lady with powdered and curled hair holding a rose in her hand, each of them being surrounded by a large wreath of willow branches.

这两幅肖像画上都有很多洞，因为男爵的儿子们把这两位老人当作弩弓的靶子。

both portraits had many holes in them, because the baron’s sons used the two old people as targets for their crossbows.

他们画的是那位参事和他的妻子，现在这一大家子人都是他们的后代。

they represented the counsellor and his wife, from whom the whole family descended.

“可他们并不真正属于我们这个家族，” 其中一个男孩说，“他是个小贩，她是养鹅的。他们可不像爸爸和妈妈。”

“but they did not properly belong to our family,” said one of the boys; “he was a pedlar and she kept the geese. they were not like papa and mamma.”

这两幅肖像画就是些旧杂物，而且 “各得其所”。这就是为什么曾祖父母的画像被挂在了通往仆人房间的过道里。

the portraits were old lumber, and “everything in its right place.” that was why the great-grandparents had been hung up in the passage leading to the servants’ rooms.

村里牧师的儿子在这座宅邸里当家庭教师。

the son of the village pastor was tutor at the mansion.

一天，他和他年幼的学生们以及他们新近受坚信礼的姐姐一起去田野散步。

one day he went for a walk across the fields with his young pupils and their elder sister, who had lately been confirmed.

他们沿着经过那棵老柳树的路走着，在路上的时候，她采了一束野花。

they walked along the road which passed by the old willow tree, and while they were on the road she picked a bunch of field-flowers.

“各得其所”，确实，这束花看起来非常漂亮。

“Everything in the right place,” and indeed the bunch looked very beautiful.

与此同时，她倾听着大家所说的一切，而且她非常喜欢听牧师的儿子谈论自然元素以及历史上的伟男圣女。

At the same time she listened to all that was said, and she very much liked to hear the pastor’s son speak about the elements and of the great men and women in history.

她心智健全，思想和行为都很高尚，心中充满了对上帝所创造的一切事物的热爱。

She had a healthy mind, noble in thought and deed, and with a heart full of love for everything that God had created.

他们在那棵老柳树旁停了下来，因为男爵最小的儿子非常想要一根柳树枝做的笛子，就像之前从其他柳树上给他削下来的那种；牧师的儿子便折下了一根树枝。

they stopped at the old willow tree, as the youngest of the baron’s sons wished very much to have a flute from it, such as had been cut for him from other willow trees; the pastor’s son broke a branch off.

“哦，请不要这样做！” 年轻的女士说道；但树枝已经折下来了。

“oh, pray do not do it!” said the young lady; but it was already done.

“那是我们着名的老树。我非常喜欢它。在家里，他们常常为此取笑我，但没关系。这棵树有一个故事。”

“that is our famous old tree. I love it very much. they often laugh at me at home about it, but that does not matter. there is a story attached to this tree.”

于是她把我们已经知道的关于这棵树的一切都告诉了他 —— 那座古老的宅邸、小贩和养鹅女，他们就是在那里初次相遇的，并且成了这位年轻女士所属的贵族家族的祖先。

And now she told him all that we already know about the tree — the old mansion, the pedlar and the goose-girl who had met there for the first time, and had bee the ancestors of the noble family to which the young lady belonged.

“那两位善良的老人并不喜欢被封为爵士，” 她说；“他们的座右铭是‘各得其所’，他们认为用钱去买一个头衔是不对的。我的祖父，也就是第一位男爵，是他们的儿子。据说他是一个学识渊博的人，很受王子和公主们的喜爱，还被邀请参加所有的宫廷庆典。”

“they did not like to be knighted, the good old people,” she said; “their motto was ‘everything in the right place,’ and it would not be the right, they thought, to purchase a title for money. my grandfather, the first baron, was their son. they say he was a very learned man, a great favourite with the princes and princesses, and was invited to all court festivities.

家里其他人最喜欢祖父；但不知为何，对我来说，那对老夫妻身上似乎有种东西特别吸引我！在那座老宅里，女主人和女仆们一起坐在纺车旁，而男主人则大声朗读《圣经》，那场面该是多么温馨、多么有家长制的感觉啊！”

the others at home love him best; but, I do not know why, there seemed to me to be something about the old couple that attracts my heart! how homely, how patriarchal, it must have been in the old mansion, where the mistress sat at the spinning-wheel with her maids, while her husband read aloud out of the bible!”

“他们肯定是非常出色、通情达理的人。” 牧师的儿子说道。

“they must have been excellent, sensible people,” said the pastor’s son.

说到这儿，话题很自然地转到了贵族和平民身上；从这位家庭教师谈论贵族身份的重要性的方式来看，几乎让人觉得他自己并非出身平民家庭。

And with this the conversation turned naturally to noblemen and moners; from the manner in which the tutor spoke about the significance of being noble, it seemed almost as if he did not belong to a moner’s family.

“出身于一个声名显赫的家族是一种幸运，而且自身仿佛就有一股激励自己追求一切美好事物的动力。属于一个贵族家庭是件很棒的事，家族的名号就像是进入最高层社交圈子的入场券。贵族身份是一种殊荣；它就像是一枚印有自身价值标记的金币。现在有种时代的谬误，很多诗人也这样表达，说所有的贵族都是恶劣愚蠢的，相反，越是深入到穷苦百姓当中，就越能发现耀眼的美德。我可不认同这种观点，因为它是错误的。在上层阶级当中能看到很多感人至深的美好品质；我母亲就跟我讲过这样的事，我还能列举出好几件呢。有一天，她去城里一位贵族的府上拜访；我想，我祖母在那位夫人小时候曾是她的保姆。”

“It is good fortune to be of a family who have distinguished themselves, and to possess as it were a spur in oneself to advance to all that is good. It is a splendid thing to belong to a noble family, whose name serves as a card of admission to the highest circles. Nobility is a distinction; it is a gold coin that bears the stamp of its own value. It is the fallacy of the time, and many poets express it, to say that all that is noble is bad and stupid, and that, on the contrary, the lower one goes among the poor, the more brilliant virtues one finds. I do not share this opinion, for it is wrong. In the upper classes one sees many touchingly beautiful traits; my own mother has told me of such, and I could mention several. one day she was visiting a nobleman’s house in town; my grandmother, I believe, had been the lady’s nurse when she was a child.

我母亲和那位贵族单独在房间里的时候，他突然注意到一个拄着拐杖的老妇人一瘸一拐地走进了院子；她每个星期天都会来，走的时候会带上一份礼物。

my mother and the nobleman were alone in the room, when he suddenly noticed an old woman on crutches e limping into the courtyard; she came every Sunday to carry a gift away with her.

“‘那个可怜的老妇人来了，’贵族说道，‘她走路太困难了。’

“‘there is the poor old woman,’ said the nobleman; ‘it is so difficult for her to walk.’

我母亲还没怎么明白他的话，他就已经从房间里消失了，下楼去了，为的是让她不必为了来取礼物而艰难地走这一趟。

“my mother had hardly understood what he said before he disappeared from the room, and went downstairs, in order to save her the troublesome walk for the gift she came to fetch.

当然，这只是一件小事，但它有着美好的寓意，就像《圣经》里那个可怜寡妇的两个小钱一样，这种声音能在每个人的心底深处引起回响；而这正是诗人应该展现和指出的 —— 尤其是在我们这个时代，他更应该歌颂这类事情；这是有益的，它能缓和矛盾、促进和解！但是当一个人仅仅因为自己出身贵族、拥有家族谱系，就趾高气扬地站在那里，在街上像阿拉伯马一样嘶鸣，并且当一个平民在房间里待过之后就说：‘一些从街上过来的人来过这儿了，’这时贵族的品质就在堕落；它已经变成了泰斯庇斯所创造的那种面具，而当这样一个人在讽刺作品中被揭露时，是很有意思的。

of course this is only a little incident, but it has its good sound like the poor widow’s two mites in the bible, the sound which echoes in the depth of every human heart; and this is what the poet ought to show and point out — more especially in our own time he ought to sing of this; it does good, it mitigates and reconciles! but when a man, simply because he is of noble birth and possesses a genealogy, stands on his hind legs and neighs in the champion like an Arabian horse, and says when a moner has been in a room: ‘Some people from the street have been here,’ there nobility is decaying; it has bee a mask of the kind that thespis created, and it is amusing when such a person is exposed in satire.”

这就是家庭教师的一番讲话；有点长，但在他讲完的时候，笛子也已经削好了。

Such was the tutor’s speech; it was a little long, but while he delivered it he had finished cutting the flute.

宅邸里正在举行一场盛大的聚会；许多来自附近地区和首都的客人都已经到了。

there was a large party at the mansion; many guests from the neighbourhood and from the capital had arrived.

女士们有的穿着高雅得体，有的则穿着毫无品味；大厅里挤满了人。

there were ladies with tasteful and with tasteless dresses; the big hall was quite crowded with people.

牧师们谦逊地站在一个角落里，看上去好像在为一场葬礼做准备，但这其实是个节日 —— 只是娱乐活动还没开始呢。

the clergymen stood humbly together in a corner, and looked as if they were preparing for a funeral, but it was a funeral — only the amusement had not yet begun.

一场大型音乐会即将举行，这就是为什么男爵的小儿子带上了他的柳木笛子；但他吹不响它，他父亲也吹不响，所以这笛子根本没用。

A great concert was to take place, and that is why the baron’s young son had brought his willow flute with him; but he could not make it sound, nor could his father, and therefore the flute was good for nothing.

有音乐和歌曲，这类表演最让表演者自己感到愉悦；除此之外，还是相当迷人的！

there was music and songs of the kind which delight most those that perform them; otherwise quite charming!

“你是个艺术家吗？” 一位贵族子弟说道；“你会吹笛子，这笛子还是你自己做的；是天赋在起作用 —— 荣誉之位当属你呀。”

“Are you an artist?” said a cavalier, the son of his father; “you play on the flute, you have been made it yourself; it is genius that rules — the place of honour is due to you.”

“当然不是！我只是与时俱进罢了，这当然是不由自主的事。”

“certainly not! I only advance with the time, and that of course one can’t help.”

“我希望你能用这小乐器给我们大家带来欢乐 —— 你愿意吗？” 说着，他把从池塘边柳树上砍下的笛子递给了家庭教师；然后大声宣布，家庭教师想吹奏一首笛子独奏曲。

“I hope you will delight us all with the little instrument — will you not?” thus saying he handed to the tutor the flute which had been cut from the willow tree by the pool; and then announced in a loud voice that the tutor wished to perform a solo on the flute.

他们显然是想捉弄他 —— 这很明显，所以家庭教师拒绝吹奏，尽管他吹得很不错。

they wished to tease him — that was evident, and therefore the tutor declined to play, although he could do so very well.

然而，他们一个劲儿地催促请求他，最后他只好拿起笛子，放到嘴边。

they urged and requested him, however, so long, that at last he took up the flute and placed it to his lips.

那是一支奇妙的笛子！它的声音如同蒸汽机的汽笛声一样震耳欲聋；事实上，它的声音更响亮，因为在院子里、花园里、树林里，甚至在方圆数英里的乡间都能听到它的声音；与此同时，一场暴风雨兴起并呼啸起来；“各得其所”。

that was a marvellous flute! Its sound was as thrilling as the whistle of a steam engine; in fact it was much stronger, for it sounded and was heard in the yard, in the garden, in the wood, and many miles round in the country; at the same time a storm rose and roared; “Everything in the right place.”

于是，男爵仿佛被风卷着一般，径直从大厅飞进了牧羊人住的小屋，而牧羊人则飞了起来 —— 他没法飞进大厅，只能飞进仆人们的大厅，落在那些穿着丝袜、趾高气扬地走来走去的机灵男仆中间；这些傲慢的奴仆们看到这样一个人竟敢和他们同桌而坐，都惊恐万分。

And with this the baron, as if carried by the wind, flew out of the hall straight into the shepherd’s cottage, and the shepherd flew — not into the hall, thither he could not e — but into the servants’ hall, among the smart footmen who were striding about in silk stockings; these haughty menials looked horror-struck that such a person ventured to sit at table with them.

但是在大厅里，男爵的女儿飞到了餐桌尽头的贵宾席上 —— 她当之无愧地坐在那里；牧师的儿子坐在她旁边；两人坐在那里，仿佛是一对新婚夫妇。

but in the hall the baron’s daughter flew to the place of honour at the end of the table — she was worthy to sit there; the pastor’s son had the seat next to her; the two sat there as if they were a bridal pair.

一位属于该国最古老家族之一的老伯爵，在他的贵宾席上安然未动；这支笛子是公正的，人就应该如此公正。

An old count, belonging to one of the oldest families of the country, remained untouched in his place of honour; the flute was just, and it is one’s duty to be so.

那个挑起让笛子吹奏之事、身为贵族子弟的尖嘴薄舌的家伙，一头栽进了家禽棚，但不止他一个人这样。

the sharp-tongued cavalier who had caused the flute to be played, and who was the counsellor of his parents, flew headlong into the fowl-house, but not he alone.

在一英里之外都能听到这支笛子的声音，而且发生了一些奇怪的事情。

the flute was heard at the distance of a mile, and strange events took place.

一个富有的银行家一家，正坐着一辆由四匹马拉的马车出行，结果被吹出了马车，连他们的男仆都没办法在马车后面找到容身之地。

A rich banker’s family, who were driving in a coach and four, were blown out of it, and could not even find room behind it with their footmen.

两位在当今时代发家致富、地位比自家玉米地还高的富农，被甩进了壕沟里；这笛子可真危险。

two rich farmers who had in our days shot up higher than their own corn-fields, were flung into the ditch; it was a dangerous flute.

幸运的是，笛子刚一吹就裂了，这倒是件好事，因为这样它就被放回了主人的口袋 ——“各得其所”。

Fortunately it burst at the first sound, and that was a good thing, for then it was put back into its owner’s pocket— “its right place.”

第二天，没人再提前一天发生的事；于是就有了 “把笛子收起来（不再提及某事）” 这个说法。

the next day, nobody spoke a word about what had taken place; thus originated the phrase, “to pocket the flute.”

一切又恢复了往常的秩序，只是小贩和养鹅女的那两幅旧画像挂在了宴会厅里。

Everything was again in its usual order, except that the two old pictures of the peddlar and the goose-girl were hanging in the banqueting-hall.

它们就挂在墙上，仿佛是被吹上去的；而且一位真正的行家说这两幅画出自大师之手，于是它们就留在了那儿并被修复了。

there they were on the wall as if blown up there; and as a real expert said that they were painted by a master’s hand, they remained there and were restored.

“各得其所”，最终都会如此。永恒是漫长的，确实比这个故事要长得多。

“Everything in the right place,” and to this it will e. Eternity is long, much longer indeed than this story.