泰戈爾《新月集》第29期:著作家 AUTHORSHIP

　　YOU say that father writes a lot of books, but what he writes I don't understand.

　　你說爸爸寫了許多書，但我卻不懂得他所寫的東西。

　　He was reading to you all the evening, but could you really make out what he meant?

　　他整個黃昏讀書給你聽，但是你真懂得他的意思么?

　　What nice stories, mother, you can tell us! Why can't father write like that, I wonder?

　　媽媽，你給我們講的故事，真是好聽呀!我很奇怪，爸爸為什么不能寫那樣的書呢?

　　Did he never hear from his own mother stories of giants and fairies and princesses?

　　難道他從來沒有從他自己的媽媽那里聽見過巨人和神仙和公主的故事么?

　　Has he forgotten them all?

　　還是已經(jīng)完全忘記了?

　　Often when he gets late for his bath you have to go and call him an hundred times.

　　他常常耽誤了沐浴，你不得不走去叫他一百多次。

　　You wait and keep his dishes warm for him, but he goes on writing and forgets.

　　你總要等候著，把他的菜溫著等他，但他忘了，還盡管寫下去。

　　Father always plays at making books.

　　爸爸老是以著書為游戲。

　　If ever I go to play in father's room, you come and call me, "what a naughty child!"

　　如果我一走進爸爸房里去游戲，你就要走來叫道：“真是一個頑皮的孩子!”

　　If I make the slightest noise, you say, "Don't you see that father's at his work?"

　　如果我稍為出一點聲音，你就要說：“你沒有看見你爸爸正在工作么?”

　　What's the fun of always writing and writing?

　　老是寫了又寫，有什么趣味呢?

　　When I take up father's pen or pencil and write upon his book just as he does,--a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i,--why do you get cross with me, then, mother?

　　當(dāng)我拿起爸爸的鋼筆或鉛筆，像他一模一樣地在他的書上寫著，a，b，c，d，e，f，g，h，i，——那時，你為什么跟我生氣呢，媽媽?

　　You never say a word when father writes.

　　爸爸寫時，你卻從來不說一句話。

　　When my father wastes such heaps of paper, mother, you don't seem to mind at all.

　　當(dāng)我爸爸耗費了那末一大堆紙時，媽媽，你似乎全不在乎。

　　But if I take only one sheet to make a boat with, you say, "Child, how troublesome you are!"

　　但是，如果我只取了一張紙去做一只船，你卻要說：“孩子，你真討厭!”

　　What do you think of father's spoiling sheets and sheets of paper with black marks all over on both sides?

　　你對于爸爸拿黑點子涂滿了紙的兩面，污損了許多許多張紙，你心里以為怎樣呢?