《织补针》，1846 年
the darning-Needle, 1846
从前有一根织补针，它想象自己是如此精致，以至于最后它认为自己是一根缝纫针。
there was once upon a time a darning needle, that imagined itself so fine, that at last it fancied it was a sewing-needle.
“现在，注意了，把我紧紧握住！” 织补针对着正要把它拿出来的手指说道。
“Now, pay attention, and hold me firmly!” said the darning-needle to the fingers that were taking it out.
“别让我掉下去！如果我掉到地上，肯定就再也找不到了，我是如此纤细。”
“do not let me fall! If I fall on the ground, I shall certainly never be found again, so fine am I.”
“差不多就是那样吧。” 手指回答道，说着，它们抓住了针的针身。
“pretty well as to that,” answered the fingers; and so saying, they took hold of it by the body.
“看，我后面还拖着一串东西呢！” 织补针说着，身后拖着一根长长的线，但线头上没有打结。
“Look, I e with a train!” said the darning-needle, drawing a long thread after it, but there was no knot to the thread.
手指把针对准了厨娘的一双旧鞋子。鞋面的皮子破了，现在要把它缝起来。
the fingers directed the needle against an old pair of shoes belonging to the cook. the upper-leather was torn, and it was now to be sewed together.
“那是粗活。” 针说，“我可干不了。我会折断的！我会折断的！” 结果它真的折断了。
“that is vulgar work,” said the needle; “I can never get through it. I shall break! I shall break!” And it really did break.
“我不是说过了吗？” 针说，“我太娇弱了。”
“did I not say so?” said the needle; “I am too delicate.”
“现在它一点儿用也没有了。” 手指说，不过它们还得捏着它；厨娘在它上面滴了些封蜡，然后用它把自己的围巾别在一起。
“Now it’s good for nothing,” said the fingers, but they were obliged to hold it still; the cook dropped sealing-wax upon it, and pinned her neckerchief together with it.
“嗯，现在我是一枚胸针了。” 织补针说，“我就知道我会得到荣耀的：一个人要是有本事，肯定会有出息的！” 同时它心里暗自发笑；因为谁也看不到织补针什么时候在笑。
“well, now I am a breast-pin,” said the darning-needle. “I was sure I should be raised to honor: if one is something, one is sure to get on!” and at the same time it laughed inwardly; for one can never see when a darning-needle laughs.
于是它现在就那样骄傲地坐着，仿佛坐在一辆豪华马车里，向四周张望着。
So there it sat now as proudly as in a state-carriage, and looked around on every side.
“我可否冒昧地问一下，您是金子做的吗？”
“may I take the liberty to inquire if you are of gold?”
“你外表光鲜亮丽，还有自己的针头，不过就是小了点。你得努力长大才行，因为不是谁都能被滴上封蜡的！” 织补针问它旁边的一枚别针。
asked the needle of a pin that was its neighbor. “You have a splendid exterior, and a head of your own, but it is small, however. You must do what you can to grow, for it is not every one that is bedropped with sealing-wax!”
然后织补针把身子挺得高高的，结果从围巾上掉了下来，径直掉进了洗碗池里，而厨娘当时正在冲洗那个洗碗池。
And then the darning-needle drew itself up so high that it fell out of the kerchief, and tumbled right into the sink, which the cook was at that moment rinsing out.
“现在我们要去旅行啦。” 针说，“但愿我不会迷路！” 可它真的迷路了。
“Now we are going on our travels,” said the needle. “If only I do not get lost!” but it really did get lost.
“我在这个世界上太娇弱了！” 针躺在洗碗池里说，“不过我知道我是谁，这总归是一种安慰。” 织补针依然保持着它那骄傲的神态，好心情一点儿也没丢。
“I am too delicate for this world!” said the needle, as it lay in the sink, “but I know who I am, and that is always a consolation;” and the darning-needle maintained its proud demeanor, and lost none of its good-humor.
各种各样的东西从它上面漂过 —— 刨花、稻草和旧报纸的碎片。
And all sorts of things swam over it — shavings, straws, and scraps of old newspapers.
“看看它们漂过去的样子。” 针说，“它们不知道自己下面藏着什么呢！我牢牢地扎在这儿：我就坐在这儿。看！有一片刨花漂过去了：它心里除了自己什么都不想 —— 就想着一片刨花！有一根稻草在漂；它怎么转来转去，怎么打转转呀！除了自己，也想想别的事儿吧，不然说不定会撞到石头上呢！有一小片报纸在漂。上面写的东西早就被人忘了，可它还铺展开来，好像自己有多重要似的！我就耐心地、静静地坐在这儿：我知道我是谁，而且我终究还是会留存下来的！”
“only look how they sail by,” said the needle. “they do not know what is hidden below them! I stick fast here: here I sit. Look! there goes a shaving: it thinks of nothing in the world but of itself — but of a shaving! there drifts a straw; and how it tacks about, how it turns round! think of something else besides yourself, or else perhaps you’ll run against a stone! there swims a bit of a newspaper. what’s written there is long ago forgotten, and yet out it spreads itself, as if it were mighty important! I sit here patient and still: I know who I am, and that I shall remain after all!”
有一天，有个东西紧挨着针躺在那儿。
one day there lay something close beside the needle.
它闪闪发光，非常耀眼，以至于织补针以为它一定是颗钻石：但它其实只是一块碎玻璃瓶片，因为它闪闪发光，织补针便和它搭话，并向它介绍自己是一枚胸针。
It glittered so splendidly, that the needle thought it must be a diamond: but it was only a bit of a broken bottle, and because it glittered the darning-needle addressed it, and introduced itself to the other as a breast-pin.
“你无疑是一颗钻石吧？”
“You are, no doubt, a diamond?”
“是的，差不多是那样的东西。”
“Yes, something of that sort.”
于是它们彼此都认为对方是非常珍贵的东西，它们一起谈论起这个世界，以及它是多么傲慢。
And so each thought the other something very precious, and they talked together of the world, and of how haughty it is.
“我曾和一位小姐在一起，在一个小盒子里，” 织补针说，“这位小姐是厨娘；她每只手上有五根手指。在我一生中，我从没见过像这些手指这么自以为是的东西！然而它们只是在那儿把我从盒子里拿出来，再把我放回去而已！”
“I was with a certain miss, in a little box,” said the darning-needle, “and this miss was cook; and on each hand she had five fingers. In my whole life I have never seen anything so conceited as these fingers! And yet they were only there to take me out of the box and to put me back into it again!”
“那么，它们出身高贵吗？” 碎玻璃瓶问道。
“were they, then, of noble birth?” asked the broken bottle.
“高贵！” 织补针说；“不，但是自命不凡！有五个兄弟，都是‘手指’家族的后代。它们总是在一起，尽管它们长短不一。最外面的那根，小拇指，又短又粗；他走在边上，稍稍在队伍前面一点：他的背部也只有一个关节，所以他只能鞠一个躬；但他说，如果有人把他砍掉，这样的人就不再适合服兵役了。食指，也就是贪吃指，会去探究甜的东西，也会探究酸的东西，会指向太阳和月亮，而且写字的时候也是他用力。”
“Noble!” said the darning-needle; “no, but high-minded! there were five brothers, all descendants of the ‘Finger’ family. they always kept together, although they were of different lengths. the outermost one, little thumb, was short and stout; he went at the side, a little in front of the ranks: he had, too, but one joint in his back, so that he could only make one bow; but he said, if a man were to cut him off, such a one were no longer fit for military service. Sweet-tooth, the second finger, pryed into what was sweet, as well as into what was sour, pointed to the sun and moon, and he it was that gave stress when they wrote.
中指，也就是高个子老三，轻蔑地扭头看着其他手指。无名指，也就是金腰带老四，身上围着一条金腰带呢！而小不点儿整天玩耍指什么都不做，他还为此非常得意。净是吹牛，吹牛，除了吹牛还是吹牛，于是我就离开了。
Longman, the third brother, looked at the others contemptuously over his shoulder. Goldrim, the fourth, wore a golden girdle round his body! and the little peter playallday did nothing at all, of which he was very proud. ’twas boasting, and boasting, and nothing but boasting, and so away I went.”
“而现在我们就坐在这儿闪闪发光。” 碎玻璃瓶说。
“And now we sit here and glitter,” said the broken glass bottle.
就在这时，更多的水顺着排水沟流过来；水从水槽边溢出来，把那块玻璃瓶片也一起冲走了。
At the same moment more water came along the gutter; it streamed over the sides and carried the bit of bottle away with it.
“嗯，那倒是一种提升呢。” 织补针说，“我还留在原地：我太精致了；但这正是我的骄傲之处，就该受到尊重。” 于是它就那么骄傲地坐在那儿，心里冒出许多了不起的想法。
“well, that’s an advancement,” said the darning-needle. “I remain where I am: I am too fine; but that is just my pride, and as such is to be respected.” And there it sat so proudly, and had many grand thoughts.
“我几乎都要认为自己是由一束阳光孕育而生的了，我是如此精致！在我看来，好像阳光也一直在水底寻找我呢。啊！我太精致了，以至于我妈妈都找不到我了！要是我那只坏掉的旧眼睛还在，我真觉得自己都能哭出来了；但我不会 —— 哭！不，哭是不文雅的！”
“I should almost think that I was born of a sunbeam, so fine am I! It seems to me, too, as if the sunbeams were always seeking me beneath the surface of the water. Ah! I am so fine, that my mother is unable to find me! had I my old eye that broke, I verily think I could weep; but I would not — weep! no, it’s not genteel to weep!”
一天，两个男孩在水槽里翻找东西，他们在那儿找到了旧钉子、便士硬币之类的东西。这活儿挺脏的；不过，他们却从中得到了乐趣。
one day two boys came rummaging about in the sink, where they found old nails, farthings, and such sort of things. It was dirty work; however, they took pleasure in it.
“哎哟！” 一个被针刺痛的男孩叫道，“这儿有个家伙。”
“oh!” cried one who had pricked himself with the needle, “there’s a fellow for you.”
“我不是家伙，我是位女士！” 织补针说；但没人听到它的话。
“I am no fellow, I am a lady!” said the darning-needle; but no one heard it.
封蜡已经脱落了，它变得漆黑；但黑色会让人看起来更苗条，针觉得自己看起来比以往任何时候都更娇弱了。
the sealing-wax had worn off, and it had bee quite black; but black makes one look more slender, and the needle fancied it looked more delicate than ever.
“这儿有个蛋壳漂过来啦！” 男孩们说；然后他们把针竖直插在了蛋壳里。
“here es an egg-shell sailing along!” said the boys; and then they stuck the needle upright in the egg-shell.
“墙是白色的，而我是黑色的，” 针说，“这样很相称！现在人们能看到我了！但愿我不会晕船，不然我会折断的。”
“the walls white and myself black,” said the needle. “that is being! people can see me now! If only I do not get seasick, for then I shall snap.”
但它没有晕船，也没有折断。
but it was not sea-sick, and did not snap.
“有个钢铁般的胃对防治晕船很有好处，而且别忘了自己可比普通人强多了！现在我的晕船症状已经过去了。人越娇贵，就越能忍耐！”
“It is good for sea-sickness to have a stomach of steel, and not to forget that one is something more than a human being! Now my sea-sickness is over. the finer one is, the more one can endure!”
“咔嚓！” 蛋壳碎了：一个轮子从上面碾了过去。
“crack!” said the egg-shell: a wheel went over it.
“天哪！压得多沉呀！” 针说，“现在我要晕船了！我要折断了！” 但尽管轮子从它身上碾了过去，它却没有折断。
“Good heavens! how heavy that presses!” said the needle. “Now I shall be sea-sick! I snap!” but it did not snap, although a wheel went over it.
它平躺在那儿，而且可能还会一直躺在那儿呢。
It lay there at full length, and there it may lie still.