LESSON 29 THE TOWN PUMP 小鎮水泵

Nathaniel Hawthorne (b.1804, d.1864) was born in Salem, Mass.He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1825.His earliest literary productions, written for periodicals, were published in two volumes—the f irst in 1837, the second in 1842—under the title of “Twice-Told Tales,” “Mosses from an Old Manse,” another series of tales and sketches, was published in 1845.From 1846 to 1850 he was surveyor of the port of Salem.In 1852 he was appointed United States consul for Liverpool.After holding this office four years, he traveled for some time on the continent.His most popular works are “The Scarlet Letter,” a work showing a deep knowledge of human nature,“The House of the Seven Gables,” “The Blithedale Romance,” and “The Marble Faun,” an Italian romance, which is regarded by many as the best of his works.Being of a modest and retiring disposition, Mr.Hawthorne avoided publicity.Most of his works are highly imaginative.As a prose writer he has no superior among American authors.He died at Plymouth, N.H., while on a visit to the White Mountains for his health.

[SCENE.—The corner of two principal streets.The Town Pump talking through its nose.]

1.Noon, by the north clock! Noon, by the east! High noon, too, by those hot sunbeams which fall, scarcely aslope, upon my head, and almost make the water bubble and smoke in the trough under my nose.Truly, we public characters have a tough time of it! And among all the town offi cers, chosen at the yearly meeting, where is he that sustains, for a single year, the burden of such manifold duties as are imposed, in perpetuity^[1], upon the Town Pump?

2.The title of town treasurer is rightfully mine, as guardian of the best treasure the town has.The overseers of the poor ought to make me their chairman, since I provide bountifully for the pauper, without expense to him that pays taxes.I am at the head of the fi re department, and one of the physicians of the board of health.As a keeper of the peace, all water drinkers confess me equal to the constable.I perform some of the duties of the town clerk, by promulgating^[2] public notices, when they are pasted on my front.

3.To speak within bounds, I am chief person of the municipality^[3], and exhibit, moreover, an admirable pattern to my brother offi cers by the cool, steady, upright, downright, and impartial discharge of my business, and the constancy with which I stand to my post.Summer or winter, nobody seeks me in vain; for all day long I am seen at the busiest corner, just above the market, stretching out my arms to rich and poor alike; and at night I hold a lantern over my head, to show where I am, and to keep people out of the gutters.

4.At this sultry noontide, I am cupbearer to the parched populace, for whose benefit an iron goblet is chained to my waist Like a dramseller on the public square, on a muster^[4] day, I cry aloud to all and sundry^[5], in my plainest accents, and at the very tiptop of my voice.“Here it is, gentlemen! Here is the good liquor! Walk up, walk up, gentlemen, walk up, walk up! Here is the superior stuff ! Here is the unadulterated^[6] ale of father Adam! better than Cognac^[7], Hollands, Jamaica, strong beer, or wine of any price; here it is, by the hogshead or the single glass, and not a cent to pay.Walk up, gentlemen, walk up and help yourselves!”

5.It were a pity if all this outcry should draw no customers.Here they come.

A hot day, gentlemen.Quaff and away again, so as to keep yourselves in a nice, cool sweat.You, my friend, will need another cupful to wash the dust out of your throat, if it be as thick there as it is on your cowhide shoes.I see that you have trudged half a score of miles today, and, like a wise man, have passed by the taverns, and stopped at the running brooks and well curbs.Otherwise, betwixt heat without and fi re within, you would have been burnt to a cinder, or melted down to nothing at all—in the fashion of a jellyfi sh.

6.Drink, and make room for that other fellow, who seeks my aid to quench the fi ery fever of last night’s potations^[8], which he drained from no cup of mine.Welcome, most rubicund^[9] sir! You and I have been strangers hitherto; nor, to confess the truth, will my nose be anxious for a closer intimacy, till the fumes of your breath be a little less potent.

7.Mercy on you, man! The water absolutely hisses down your red-hot gullet, and is converted quite into steam in the miniature Tophet^[10], which you mistake for a stomach.Fill again, and tell me, on the word of an honest toper, did you ever, in cellar, tavern, or any other kind of dramshop, spend the price of your children’s food for a swig half so delicious? Now, for the first time these ten years, you know the fl avor of cold water.Goodby; and whenever you are thirsty, recollect that I keep a constant supply at the old stand.

8.Who next? Oh, my little friend, you are just let loose from school, and come hither to scrub your blooming face, and drown the memory of certain taps of the ferule, and other schoolboy troubles, in a draught from the Town Pump.Take it, pure as the current of your young life; take it, and may your heart and tongue never be scorched with a fi ercer thirst than now.

9.There, my dear child, put down the cup, and yield your place to this elderly gentleman, who treads so tenderly over the paving stones that I suspect he is afraid of breaking them.What! he limps by without so much as thanking me, as if my hospitable off ers were meant only for people who have no wine cellars.

10.Well, well, sir, no harm done, I hope! Go, draw the cork, tip the decanter; but when your great toe shall set you a-roaring, it will be no affair of mine.If gentlemen love the pleasant titillation^[11] of the gout, it is all one to the Town Pump.This thirsty dog, with his red tongue lolling out, does not scorn my hospitality, but stands on his hind legs, and laps eagerly out of the trough.See how lightly he capers away again! Jowler, did your worship ever have the gout?

11.Your pardon, good people! I must interrupt my stream of eloquence, and spout forth a stream of water to replenish^[12] the trough for this teamster and his two yoke of oxen, who have come all the way from Staunton, or somewhere along that way.No part of my business gives me more pleasure than the watering of cattle.Look! how rapidly they lower the watermark on the sides of the trough, till their capacious stomachs are moistened with a gallon or two apiece, and they can aff ord time to breathe, with sighs of calm enjoyment! Now they roll their quiet eyes around the brim of their monstrous drinking vessel.An ox is your true toper.

12.I hold myself the grand reformer of the age.From my spout, and such

spouts as mine, must fl ow the stream that shall cleanse our earth of a vast portion of its crime and anguish, which have gushed from the fi ery fountains of the still.In this mighty enterprise, the cow shall be my great confederate.Milk and water!

13.Ahem! Dry work this speechifying, especially to all unpracticed orators.I never conceived till now what toil the temperance lecturers undergo for my sake.Do, some kind Christian, pump a stroke or two, just to wet my whistle.Thank you, sir.But to proceed.

14.The Town Pump and the Cow! Such is the glorious partnership that shall finally monopolize^[13] the whole business of quenching thirst.Blessed consummation^[14]! Then Poverty shall pass away from the land, fi nding no hovel so wretched where her squalid^[15] form may shelter itself.Then Disease, for lack of other victims, shall gnaw his own heart and die.Then Sin if she do not die, shall lose half her strength.

15.Then there will be no war of households.The husband and the wife, drinking deep of peaceful joy, a calm bliss of temperate affections, shall pass hand in hand through life, and lie down, not reluctantly, at its protracted^[16] close.To them the past will be no turmoil of mad dreams, nor the future an eternity of such moments as follow the delirium of a drunkard.Their dead faces shall express what their spirits were, and are to be, by a lingering smile of memory and hope.

16.Drink, then, and be refreshed! The water is as pure and cold as when it slaked^[17] the thirst of the red hunter, and fl owed beneath the aged bough, though now this gem of the wilderness is treasured under these hot stones, where no shadow falls, but from the brick buildings.But, still is this fountain the source of health, peace, and happiness, and I behold, with certainty and joy, the approach of the period when the virtues of cold water, too little valued since our father’s days, will be fully appreciated and recognized by all.

【中文閱讀】

納撒尼爾·霍桑（1804—1864）出生于美國馬薩諸塞州塞勒姆。1825年，他畢業于鮑登學院。他早期為期刊所寫的文學作品分兩卷結集出版，分別于1837年和1842年問世，題名為《老生常談的故事》和《老邁牧師的古宅青苔》。1845年，他又出版了一系列故事和短篇作品集。從1846年到1850年，他擔任塞利姆港口的勘測師。1852年，他被任命為美國政府駐英國利物浦領事，并任職四年。隨后，他一度在歐洲大陸游歷考察。霍桑最受追捧的《紅字》為一部深刻揭示人性的上乘之作，以及《七座尖閣的房屋》、《布里斯戴爾的羅曼史》和《大理石的農神雕像》，后者是一本關于意大利人的愛情小說。大多數人公認《大理石的農神雕像》為他的巔峰之作。由于生性謙虛，不善社交，霍桑先生向來避免拋頭露面。他的大部分作品都極富想象力。就散文寫作而言，他在美國作家群中并非出類拔萃。霍桑

在新罕布什爾州的普利茅斯與世長辭，當時他正因健康問題去懷特山觀光游覽。

（場景：鎮上的兩條主干道的交叉口，小鎮水泵正通過它的鼻子說話。）

1.北方時鐘報時：正午！東方時鐘報時：正午！這炙熱的陽光近乎垂直地射在我頭上，幾乎快讓我身體里的水沸騰起來，從鼻子里冒出蒸汽。坦率地說，我們這些公眾人物的日子可不好過！所有這些每年選舉出的小鎮官員們，在他們任職的一年中，有誰身上負擔的職責能有我小鎮水泵承擔的這么重呢？我的工作可是永久性的。

2.我是當之無愧的小鎮財政主管，守護著鎮上最珍貴的財產。工會真該提名我做他們的主席，因為我為窮人們慷慨地提供我所守護的財產，分文不取。我是小鎮消防部門當仁不讓的主管，同時行駛鎮上衛生理事會醫生的崇高職責。我是安寧生活的守護者，所有飲水居民無不承認我的作用好比治安巡警。有些時候，我還擔任小鎮書記官的職責，在我身上張貼公告，昭告居民。

3.從某種程度上說，我就是這個小鎮上最重要的人物，鑒于我的冷靜穩定、正直無誤以及公正地勝任工作，堅持履行職責，在我的小鎮官員同行們面前展示出一個令人欽佩的光輝形象。無論寒冬酷暑，無論什么人求助于我，我一概有求必應。從早到晚，我成天站在這鎮上最繁華的角落，就在市場旁邊，向人們伸出雙手，無論貧富都一視同仁。到了夜晚，我會在頭頂高舉一盞燈籠，表明我的方位，提醒鎮上居民小心溝坎。

4.在這個悶熱難當的正午，我為這些干渴的人們倒上涼水，腰上別掛個鐵質酒杯，盡心為他們服務。就像一個在廣場上賣酒的小販，對那些南來北往的人，我用最大的聲音朝他們叫賣：“過來看看吧，先生們！清爽甘甜的飲料！過來吧，過來吧，先生們，都過來看看！這可是上等的飲料，貨真價實的天父所賜的最純正的麥芽飲料！比所有的白蘭地、杜松子酒、牙買加甜酒、黃酒或任何葡萄酒都更美味。過來看看吧，不管你是就著水泵管子直接喝，還是用杯子裝著喝，統統無須付一個子兒。過來吧，先生們，都過來看看，放手暢飲吧！”

5.如果這樣的叫賣聲都招攬不到顧客，那可就太遺憾了。瞧，他們來了。這可真是炎熱的一天啊，先生們。大口痛飲吧，然后再離開，好讓你身上痛快地流出涼爽的汗水。這位朋友，再來一杯吧，好好漱漱你喉嚨口的灰塵，它們厚得像是你皮鞋上沾滿的塵土一樣。能看得出，你今天已經跋涉了二十多里路。你可真是個聰明人，路上經過許多小酒館，卻只在小溪和井邊停下來喝水。要不然，面對外面的炙熱天氣和體內的烈酒燒腹的里外夾攻，你早就被燒成灰燼了，或是像只水母那樣，被熱浪融化得一點不剩。

6.喝吧，再給那家伙騰出點兒地方，他來找我清醒一下昨晚的醉酒，那可不是從我的水管中倒給他的。歡迎，這位滿面紅光的先生！別急別急，我們在此之前素不相識，老實說，你滿口的酒氣太濃烈了，我的鼻子可不著急和你做這種親密的近距離接觸。

7.愿主憐憫你，先生！清水順著你熾熱的食道嘶嘶地流下，很快便轉換成蒸汽，進入一個小小的灼熱地獄，瞧你把自己的胃折騰成什么樣了。再喝一口，然后像一名誠實的酒鬼那樣告訴我，你可曾在任何一家小酒吧、酒館或酒販子那里，揮霍花盡你家孩子的伙食費，買到過這么好喝的飲料？現在，這十年來第一次，你嘗到了清涼冷水的滋味。再見了，無論什么時候，當你渴了，別忘了我永遠站在這個老地方，為你供應清水。

8.接下來是誰？哦，我的小朋友，你剛放了學，便跑來小鎮水泵這里來喝口水，擦洗你年輕的小臉，遺忘掉被戒尺責打的記憶，和其他男孩帶給你的麻煩。拿去吧，這水純凈得像是你年輕的生命，愿你的身心永遠不會像現在這樣受盡饑渴的折磨。

9.往旁邊讓讓，我親愛的孩子，放下杯子，給走過來的這位老先生讓條路來。他踩在石板路上，腳步如此溫柔遲緩，我幾乎懷疑他是怕踏破這些石子。天哪！他竟然一瘸一拐就這么走過，壓根沒想到對我心存感激，難道我熱情的款待好客就只是提供給那些沒有酒窖的窮人嗎？

10.算了，算了，先生，這也沒什么！去吧，去拔出酒瓶上的軟木塞，去往玻璃酒杯里倒上酒。但是，到時候你要是醉得跌了個狗啃泥，那可不關我的事。如果你們這些先生們喜好杯中之物，那我也管不著。瞧，這里有條饑渴的狗，正伸著它鮮紅的舌頭，它可不輕視我的殷勤好客。它用后腿直立著，熱切 趴在水槽旁邊。瞧它離開的時候，腳步多歡快啊，你們就不羨慕這么暢快的痛飲嗎？

11.請原諒我，善良的人們！我得打斷一下我的連珠妙語，為這位從斯丹頓或沿著這條路的其他地方遠道而來的趕車人和他的兩頭牛灌滿水槽了。在我的工作中，再沒有什么比為畜群提供飲水更快樂的事了。瞧！水槽上的水位降得多快啊，這兩頭牛咕咚咕咚地將水吞進它們龐大的胃里，很快就喝得肚鼓腰圓，不時地打上幾聲響嚏，發出快樂的喘息。現在，它們只是安靜地環視著面前這龐大的飲水槽。牛才是真正的豪飲者。

12.我一向把自己看成時代的偉大改革家。從我的泵嘴里，以及成千上萬像我這樣的泵嘴里所吐出的涓流，能凈化這世界上許多從炙熱暴躁的心里所噴涌出的犯罪與痛苦。在這項偉大的事業中，奶牛是我的堅實同盟：我噴出的是水，它噴出的是奶！

13.咳，咳！發表演說還真是一件口干舌燥的事情，尤其是對我們這種初出茅廬的演說家而言。在此之前，我還從來不知道這些演講者們所經歷的辛勞。這位善良的基督徒，請幫忙壓一兩下泵好嗎，好讓我清涼一下喉嚨。謝謝你，先生，我們繼續吧。

14.小鎮水泵和奶牛！這對光榮的合作伙伴，最終將壟斷整個解渴行業。這一上帝佑福的完美組合！貧困終將從這片土地上消失，再也找不到一個悲慘的棚屋可以供她骯臟的軀體容身。沒有人會再患病，因此疾病也將啃噬著自己，然后消亡。至于罪惡，哪怕不能完全泯滅，亦會茍存不多。

15.就這樣，將不會有家庭戰爭。夫妻一起靜靜享受歲月姝好，攜手走過溫馨一生，面對死亡安詳躺下，無怨無悔。在他們眼里，過去的生活并不是瘋狂的暴風驟雨，未來也并不是一場醉酒后的譫熱狂亂。他們死去的面容將反映出他們心靈的模樣，那種回憶與希冀的微笑難以消逝。

16.喝吧，先生們，接下來你們會煥然一新！這水純凈而清涼，正如山間為饑渴的獵人解渴、在老樹下潺潺流過的溪流一樣。現在，這山林間的寶石被貯藏在這火熱的石槽中，小鎮上磚墻林立，看不到樹蔭。但是，這水仍然是健康、和平與幸福的源泉。盡管在我們父輩那一代，人們忽視了這捧清水的價值，但我仍堅定而喜悅地相信，總有一天，所有人會充分認同并贊賞它。

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【注釋】

[1] Perpetuity, endless duration.

[2] Promulgating, announcing.

[3] Municipality, a division of a country or of a city.

[4] Muster day, parade day.

[5] Sundry, several.

[6] Unadulterated, pure, unmixed.

[7] Cognac, a French brandy.

[8] Potations, drinkings.

[9] Rubicund, inclining to redness.

[10] Tophet, the infernal regions.

[11] Titillation, tickling.

[12] Replenish, to f ill again.

[13] Monopolize, to obtain the whole.

[14] Consummation, completion, termination.

[15] Squalid, f ilthy.

[16] Protracted, delayed.

[17] Slaked, quenched.