《卡门》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

I had always suspected the geographical authorities did not know what they were talking about when they located the battlefield of Munda in the county of the Bastuli-Poeni, close to the modern Monda, some two leagues north of Marbella.

我一直怀疑地理学家们把蒙达战场定在巴斯蒂利波埃尼人的地区，靠近今天的蒙达，即马尔贝拉以北约两里格的地方，是在胡说八道。

According to my own surmise, founded on the text of the anonymous author of the Bellum Hispaniense, and on certain information culled from the excellent library owned by the Duke of Ossuna, I believed the site of the memorable struggle in which Caesar played double or quits, once and for all, with the champions of the Republic, should be sought in the neighbourhood of Montilla.

根据我自己的推测，依据《西班牙战记》无名作者的文本，以及从奥苏纳公爵那座出色图书馆中搜集到的某些信息，我相信那场难忘的战斗的遗址，即凯撒与共和国斗士们一劳永逸地孤注一掷的地方，应当在蒙蒂利亚附近寻找。

Happening to be in Andalusia during the autumn of 1830, I made a somewhat lengthy excursion, with the object of clearing up certain doubts which still oppressed me. A paper which I shall shortly publish will, I trust, remove any hesitation that may still exist in the minds of all honest archaeologists. But before that dissertation of mine finally settles the geographical problem on the solution of which the whole of learned Europe hangs, I desire to relate a little tale. It will do no prejudice to the interesting question of the correct locality of Monda.

一八三〇年秋天，我恰好身在安达卢西亚，便做了一次相当长的远足，目的是澄清某些仍然困扰我的疑问。我即将发表的一篇论文，我相信，将消除所有诚实考古学家心中可能仍存的犹豫。但在我那篇论文最终解决整个博学欧洲都为之悬心的地理问题之前，我想先讲一个小故事。它不会损害关于蒙达正确位置的那个有趣问题。

I had hired a guide and a couple of horses at Cordova, and had started on my way with no luggage save a few shirts, and Caesar’s Commentaries. As I wandered, one day, across the higher lands of the Cachena plain, worn with fatigue, parched with thirst, scorched by a burning sun, cursing Caesar and Pompey’s sons alike, most heartily, my eye lighted, at some distance from the path I was following, on a little stretch of green sward dotted with reeds and rushes. That betokened the neighbourhood of some spring, and, indeed, as I drew nearer I perceived that what had looked like sward was a marsh, into which a stream, which seemed to issue from a narrow gorge between two high spurs of the Sierra di Cabra, ran and disappeared.

我在科尔多瓦雇了一个向导和两匹马，带着几件衬衫和凯撒的《战记》就上路了。有一天，我漫步穿过卡切纳平原的高地，疲惫不堪，口渴难耐，被烈日烤灼，一边最衷心地诅咒凯撒和庞培的儿子们，一边望见离我走的路不远处，有一小片绿色的草地，点缀着芦苇和灯芯草。那表明附近有泉水，果然，走近些我便看出，那看似草地的东西是一片沼泽，一条似乎从两座高耸的谢拉迪卡布拉山嘴之间的狭窄峡谷中流出的溪水，流入其中便消失了。

If I rode up that stream, I argued, I was likely to find cooler water, fewer leeches and frogs, and mayhap a little shade among the rocks.

我心想，如果沿那条溪水骑马而上，很可能找到更凉的水，更少的蚂蟥和青蛙，或许还能在岩石间找到一点阴凉。

At the mouth of the gorge, my horse neighed, and another horse, invisible to me, neighed back. Before I had advanced a hundred paces, the gorge suddenly widened, and I beheld a sort of natural amphitheatre, thoroughly shaded by the steep cliffs that lay all around it. It was impossible to imagine any more delightful halting place for a traveller. At the foot of the precipitous rocks, the stream bubbled upward and fell into a little basin, lined with sand that was as white as snow. Five or six splendid evergreen oaks, sheltered from the wind, and cooled by the spring, grew beside the pool, and shaded it with their thick foliage. And round about it a close and glossy turf offered the wanderer a better bed than he could have found in any hostelry for ten leagues round.

在峡谷口，我的马嘶鸣起来，另一匹我看不见的马也嘶鸣回应。我还没前进一百步，峡谷突然开阔，我看见一个天然圆形剧场，四周陡峭的悬崖把它完全遮蔽。难以想象还有比这更令旅人愉快的歇脚处。在险峻的岩石脚下，溪水冒泡涌出，落入一个小水池，池底铺着雪白的沙子。五六棵壮丽的常绿橡树，避风又受泉水清凉，生长在水池旁，用浓密的枝叶为它遮阴。周围是紧密而光亮的草皮，给漫游者提供的床铺，比方圆十里格内任何客栈所能找到的都要好。

The honour of discovering this fair spot did not belong to me. A man was resting there already—sleeping, no doubt—before I reached it. Roused by the neighing of the horses, he had risen to his feet and had moved over to his mount, which had been taking advantage of its master’s slumbers to make a hearty feed on the grass that grew around. He was an active young fellow, of middle height, but powerful in build, and proud and sullen-looking in expression. His complexion, which may once have been fine, had been tanned by the sun till it was darker than his hair. One of his hands grasped his horse’s halter. In the other he held a brass blunderbuss.

发现这处美景的荣誉不属于我。在我到达之前，已经有人在那里休息，无疑是在睡觉。他被马的嘶鸣惊醒，站起身来，走到他的坐骑旁，那马趁主人打盹，正大口吃着周围的草。他是个活跃的年轻人，中等身材，体格强壮，神情骄傲而阴郁。他的肤色也许曾经很好，但被太阳晒得比他的头发还黑。他一只手抓着马缰，另一只手握着一把黄铜大口径短枪。