LESSON 10 The wonderful pudding
第十课 美味的派
Our Uncle Robert one day came to us, and asked us to dinner. He said he would give us a pudding, the materials of which had given work to more than a thousand men!
有一天,罗伯特叔叔上门拜访我们,要我们给他晚饭吃。他说他会给我们一个有成千人制作的、食材多样的美味的派给我们。
A pudding that has taken a thousand men to make! Then it must be as large as a church!
一个要上千人制作的派哦!一定有教堂那么大啊!
Well, my boys, said Uncle Robert, tomorrow at dinner-time you shall see it.
罗伯特叔叔说:“好了,孩子们,明天吃晚饭的时候就可以看到了。”
Scarcely had we taken our breakfast next day, when we prepared to go to our uncle's house.
第二天,我们很快吃完早饭,准备去叔叔家。
When we got there, we were surprised to see everything as calm and quiet as usual.
当我们到那的时候,只看到一切就如往常一样平静,我们非常惊讶。
At last we sat down to table. The first dishes were removed—our eyes were eagerly fixed on the door—in came the pudding! It was a plum-pudding of the usual kind—not a bit larger!
最后我们围坐在桌子周围,正在上第一道大餐--我们定定的看着门--派就要送来了!这只是一个普通的梅子派--一点变大都没有!
This is not the pudding that you promised us, said my brother.
我弟弟说:”这不是你承诺给我们的派。”
It is, indeed, said Uncle Robert.
叔叔说:“这是啊,的的确确。”
O uncle! you do not mean to say that more than a thousand men have helped to make that little pudding?
噢,叔叔!你不是说这么一个小小的派要成千人制作吧?”
Eat some of it first, my boy; and then take your slate and pencil, and help me to count the workmen, said Uncle Robert.
先吃吧,孩子,拿起你的纸和笔,帮我算算工人吧。”叔叔说。
Now, said Uncle Robert, to make this pudding we must first have flour; and how many people must have laboured to procure it! The ground must have been ploughed, and sowed, and harrowed, and reaped. To make the plough, miners, smelters, and smiths,—woodcutters, sawyers, and carpenters,—must have laboured.
叔叔又说:“现在,为了制作这个派,我们要先有四个人,还要有多少人力才能得到这个派呢?首先得犁地,再播种,还要耙地,最后才能收获。要有犁田的人、矿工、熔炼工、收割的人--还有伐木工、锯木匠、木匠,都必须雇佣。”
The leather of the harness for the horses had to be tanned, and prepared for the harness-maker. Then, we have the builders of the mill, and the men who quarried the mill-stones, and made the machine-work of the mill.
要作马具的皮革已经晒成了褐色,然后就要开始准备制作了。然后,要有建造磨坊的工人,还要有人挖石头做磨石,然后就要让磨坊开始运作。”
Then think of the plums, the lemon-peel, the spices, the sugar;—all these come from distant countries; and to get them hither, ships, ship-builders, sail-makers, sailors, growers, merchants, and grocers, have been employed.
接下来想想梅子,柠檬皮、香料、还有糖--所有材料都来自遥远的国度,要来到这边,要有船、建船商、建帆商、水手、栽培者、商人、杂货店店主人,都要雇佣。”
Then we need eggs, milk, and suet.
然后,我们就要鸡蛋、牛奶和板油。”
Oh, stop, stop, uncle! cried I. I am sure you have counted a thousand!
我大叫:”噢,叔叔,停下!停下!我确定你数到了一千多人了。“
I have not reckoned all, my child. We must cook the pudding, and then we must reckon colliers who bring us coal, miners who dig for tin and iron for the sauce-pan. Then there is the linen of the cloth it was wrapped in. To make this we must reckon those who grow the flax, and gather it, and card it, and spin it, and weave it, and all the workmen who make the looms and machines.
孩子,我还没算到全部呢,我们还要做派啊,还必须要算算给我们煤矿的煤矿工人,矿工挖来了制造平底锅的锡和烙铁,然后就要穿上亚麻布的围裙。为了这一步,我们还必须要算算培育亚麻的人,还有采集、弄在卡片上、纺纱。然后编织的所有在织布机上工作的工人。“
Robert and I both said we were quite satisfied that there were more than a thousand men employed.
我和罗伯特叔叔都对雇佣的制作派的成千人感到非常满意。
QUESTIONS
问题
To how many men had the pudding given work? What kind of pudding was it? What was its size? How could that pudding employ so many men? Were the boys satisfied?
多少人给制作派做出贡献?做的派是什么派?什么尺寸?一个派怎么就需要那么多人呢?男生们满意吗?