031 跨年夜

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The holiday season is busy for cab drivers and their horses

假日季节对马车夫和他们的马来说很繁忙。

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People rush about to parties and balls, and nobody wants to walk in the chilly weather

人们赶赴派对和舞会，谁都不想在这寒冷的天气里步行。

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Jerry was glad for the extra work, though the cough he'd had last winter returned

杰瑞很高兴有额外的工作，尽管他去年冬天得的咳嗽又犯了。

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When New Year's Eve arrived, a pair of men hired him to take them to a party

新年前夜来临时，两个男人雇了他，送他们去一个派对。

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We dropped them off at a fancy house at nine o'clock

我们九点钟把他们送到了一栋漂亮的房子前。

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" Come pick us up at eleven," one of the men directed

“十一点来接我们，”其中一个男人吩咐道。

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" But it's a card party

“不过这是个纸牌派对。

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If we're not finished with our game, you might have to wait a few minutes."

如果我们还没打完牌，你可能得等几分钟。”

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Jerry was always punctual. At eleven o'clock we were back in front of the house

杰瑞总是很准时。十一点时，我们又回到了那栋房子前。

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The party was still going on inside

派对里面还在进行着。

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Fifteen minutes passed, and then thirty

十五分钟过去了，接着又过了三十分钟。

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By the time the clock chimed twelve, the door still hadn't opened

当钟声敲响十二点时，门仍旧没有打开。

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It was a cold, windy evening

那是个寒冷多风的夜晚。

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As we stood waiting, the rain started and quickly turned to sleet

我们站着等待时，开始下起了雨，很快又变成了雨夹雪。

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Jerry covered me with my blanket, but there was no shelter for him

杰瑞给我盖上了毯子，但他自己却没有可以遮蔽的地方。

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He walked up and down the block, trying to keep warm, but that made him cough more than ever

他在街区里来回踱步，试图暖和身子，可这让他咳得比以往更厉害了。

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Finally he huddled in the door of his cab

最后，他蜷缩在马车门边。

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At twelve thirty he went to the door of the house to ask if his services were still wanted

到了十二点半，他走到那户人家门口，问是否还需要他服务。

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" Yes, they'll be out pretty soon," a servant told him

“要的，他们很快就出来了，”一名仆人告诉他。

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Another forty-five minutes passed before the party finally ended

又过了四十五分钟，派对才终于结束。

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The two gentlemen came out and climbed into the cab without a word of apology

那两位绅士走出来，爬进马车，连一句道歉的话都没有。

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My legs were numb from standing in the cold, and I was glad to be moving

我的腿在寒冷中冻得麻木了，很高兴能走动起来。

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We dropped off the men and headed home, where Polly was waiting up for us as usual

我们把那两个人送到家，然后回家，波莉像往常一样熬夜等着我们。

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By that time Jerry was coughing so hard he could barely speak

那时候，杰瑞咳得很厉害，几乎说不出话来。

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" Please get Jack something warm," he told his worried wife

“请给杰克弄点热的东西吃，”他对他担心的妻子说。

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She hurried inside while Jerry took off the harness and groomed me

她急忙进屋去，而杰瑞卸下马具，给我刷洗。

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Polly soon brought me a warm mash that made me feel as good as new

波莉很快给我端来一盆温热的饲料，让我感觉焕然一新。

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Nobody came to the stable until late the next morning

直到第二天上午很晚，都没有人来马厩。

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Finally young Harry showed up

最后，小哈里来了。

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He fed us, cleaned our stalls, and then left again

他喂了我们，清理了马厩，然后又离开了。

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" What's going on?" Hotspur wondered." It's not Sunday, is it?"

“怎么回事？”热刺纳闷道，“今天不是星期天吧？”

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" No," I said." This is strange."

“不是，”我说，“这很奇怪。”

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Harry returned a few hours later. This time his sister was with him

几个小时后，哈里回来了。这次他妹妹也跟着一起来了。

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She was crying

她在哭。

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" Don't worry," Harry told her." Father will get better."

“别担心，”哈里对她说，“爸爸会好起来的。”

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" But he's so sick!" Dolly cried." What if he doesn't?"

“可他病得那么重！”多莉哭着说，“万一好不了呢？”

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For two days we didn't see anyone but Harry and sometimes Dolly

整整两天，我们只见到哈里，偶尔还有多莉。

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Both children looked worried all the time

两个孩子一直都显得忧心忡忡。

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On the third day, Harry was in the stable when there was a tap at the door

第三天，哈里正在马厩里，这时传来了敲门声。

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It was the older cab driver known as the Governor

来人是那位被称作“总督”的年长马车夫。

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" I didn't want to bother your parents, my boy," he said to Harry

“我不想打扰你父母，孩子，”他对哈利说。

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" How's your father doing?"

“你父亲怎么样了？”

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" He's pretty sick," Harry said, his voice shaking a little

“他病得很重，”哈利说，声音微微发颤。

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" The doctor says it's bronchitis."

“医生说是支气管炎。”

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" Oh dear," the Governor said." That can be very bad indeed!

“哦天哪，”总督说。“那确实可能很糟糕！

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But if anyone can pull through, it's your father."

但要说谁能挺过去，那一定是你父亲。”

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The next day the Governor came back

第二天，总督又来了。

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When he heard that Jerry was still very ill, he offered to take Hotspur out with his own cab

听说杰瑞仍然病得很重，他便主动提出用自己的马车带火刺出去跑活儿。

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" Jack will be all right with a week or two of rest," he told Harry

“杰克休息一两周就会好的，”他对哈利说。

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" You can walk him up and down the street to stretch his legs

“你可以牵着他在街上遛遛，让他舒展一下腿脚。

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But this young horse is another matter."

可这匹年轻的马又是另一回事了。”

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" Yes," Harry admitted

“是啊，”哈利承认道。

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" Hotspur is already getting restless even though I'm giving him less grain."

“就算我给它减了料，火刺也已经有些烦躁不安了。”

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The Governor offered to take Hotspur out every day and give half of what he earned to Jerry and Polly

总督提出每天带火刺出去，并将收入的一半交给杰瑞和波莉。

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That went on for a week or so

这样持续了大约一周。

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It worked out well for everyone involved, including the Governor's own horses, who got a little extra rest

这对所有相关的人都好，也包括总督自己的马，它们也得到了额外的休息。

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Meanwhile Jerry was finally getting better

与此同时，杰瑞终于渐渐好转了。

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But the doctor told him he should never go back to cab work if he wanted to live to old age

但医生告诉他，如果他想活到年老，就绝不能再干马车夫的活儿了。

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One afternoon Harry was in the stable when Dolly came rushing in

一天下午，哈利正在马厩里，多莉急匆匆地跑了进来。

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" Who lives at Fairstowe?" she asked

“费尔斯托住着谁呀？”她问道。

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" Mother just got a letter from there, and she looks very excited!"

“妈妈刚收到一封从那儿来的信，她看起来非常激动！”

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" Fairstowe? That's the name of the place where Mother worked before she married Father," Harry said

“费尔斯托？那是妈妈嫁给爸爸之前工作的地方啊，”哈利说。

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" Remember? Father said he ran into the lady who lived there last summer."

“记得吗？爸爸说他去年夏天遇见那位住那儿的女主人了。”

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" I wonder what she's writing about?" Dolly said

“不知道她信上写了什么？”多莉说。

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We soon found out. Polly's old mistress had heard about Jerry's illness

我们很快就知道了。波莉过去的女主人听说了杰瑞的病。

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She wanted the whole family to come and live in the cottage on her estate!

她想让这一家人，全都搬到她庄园里的农舍去住！

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Her coachman was retiring soon, and Jerry could take his place

她的马车夫快要退休了，杰瑞可以接替他的位置。

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Hotspur and I were happy for our kind master, of course

当然，火刺和我都为我们善良的主人感到高兴。

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But we were sad too

可我们也很难过。

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Jerry wouldn't be able to take us with him, and so we both had to be sold

杰瑞没法带我们一起走，我们俩都得被卖掉。