LADIES IN THE PIGPEN

　　豬圈里的婦人

　　The capital of Anhui province has a funny name： Hefei. That means Together Fat.

　　安徽省的省府有個有趣的名字：合肥。

　　Nearby， in Paitou Village， Xuan 4 was a hog butcher with over twenty years' experience. He had made a lot of money in this business， and saved it carefully， so he owned three houses. He lived in one and rented out the other two.He also owned a hundred acres of good crop land.

　　附近一個叫排頭的村子里，有個叫宣四的人，他是一個有二十多年經驗的殺豬屠夫。他做這門生意賺了很多錢，還小心地存起來，買了三間房子。他自己住一間，另外兩間租出去。他還有一百多畝上好的田地。

　　In other words， he really had enough money to retire and take it easy. But few people know when they've had enough. As a matter of fact， Xuan was so used to killing hogs that he felt something was wrong if he let a day go by without killing something. On holidays， he kept himself busy sharpening his knives.

　　也就是說，他已經賺了足夠的錢，可以退休養老了。但是很少人會知足。實際上，宣已經習慣了要殺豬，如果他哪一天不殺點什么就覺得不對勁。假日時，他就老在磨刀。

　　He got up early one morning as usual to begin his day's work. His wife went into the outhouse， which in old houses was always right next to the pigpen. She happened to look in， and let out a scream that brought her husband running.

　　一天早上，他像往常一樣早早起床開始他一天的工作。他的妻子去上廁所，廁所就在豬圈旁的舊屋子里。她不經意瞧了一眼豬圈，突然放聲尖叫。她丈夫趕緊跑了過來。

　　"What's wrong？ What's wrong？"

　　"怎么了？怎么了？"

　　"I looked into the pigpen， and I saw two ladies lying there， not pigs！ I thought I must be imagining things， so I rubbed my eyes and looked again， and sure enough， two ladies it was！

　　"我望了一下豬圈，看到那里躺著兩位婦人，不是豬！我想這可能是我的幻覺，但是我揉揉眼睛再看，果真是兩位婦人！"

　　"I think this is an omen， dear. Please， don't kill any more pigs！"

　　"我想這是一個預兆，親愛的。求求你，不要再殺豬了！"

　　"Ha， ha， ha！" Xuan 4 laughed. "You sure have a strange sense of humor！ You just hadn't got the sleep out of your eyes！"

　　"哈哈哈！"宣四笑起來，"你真是幽默！你還沒睡醒呢！"

　　Mrs. Xuan saw he wasn't going to take her advice， so she grabbed his knife and threw it down the toilet， straight into the cesspool. Uh！ Xuan 4 didn't kill any pigs that day， but he went out shopping for a new knife.

　　宣夫人看到他不聽，就抓起他的刀扔到廁所的糞坑里去了。宣四這天沒有殺豬，而是去買了一把新刀子。

　　The next day Mrs. Xuan asked her parents to come talk with her husband. "Look， you already have more than enough money to see you through the rest of your life. Why don't you just listen to your wife and take it easy？"

　　第二天宣夫人叫她的父母來勸勸她丈夫。"看，你已經有了足夠的錢，后半生可以生活無憂了。你為什么不聽聽你妻子的話，歇一歇呢？"

　　"But it's my job to kill hogs."

　　"殺豬是我的職業。"

　　"If you can't stop it， our daughter is going to move out."

　　"如果你不回頭，我們的女兒就會搬出去。"

　　Xuan thought back on all their years of married life together， and all the money he made killing hogs.

　　宣回想起他們多年的婚姻生活，還有他殺豬掙來的錢。

　　"I guess she'll have to move out."

　　"我看還是讓她搬出去吧。"

　　Xuan gave his ex-wife half of their property， and she got custody of their child. When everything was settled， Xuan went back to work， and slaughtered those pigs in the pen， the ones his wife had thought were ladies.

　　宣分給他的前妻一半財產，還把孩子的監護權給了她。當所有的事情辦好后，宣又開始殺豬了。他殺了豬圈里的豬，就是他妻子認為是婦人的那些豬。

　　He slaughtered their piglets， too， and just as he finished， someone came running up with the message that his child had suddenly dropped dead.

　　他還把它們的小豬殺了。他剛殺完，有人跑來通知他他的孩子忽然死了。

　　Xuan was remorseful， but he was too stubborn to admit he had been wrong. He started gambling to take his mind off his cares. In a short time， all the local gamblers knew that when Xuan came to the table， their pockets would be filled up， because every time he gambled， he lost.

　　宣很懊悔，但是他又很頑固，不肯承認自己錯了。他開始賭錢，想忘掉自己的苦惱。不久，所有的賭徒都知道只要宣進了賭場，他們的口袋就會裝滿錢，因為每次他賭錢都會輸。

　　Before long， he had gambled away all of the property he had left.

　　不久以后，他把剩下所有的錢都輸光了。

　　"So what？" he said， "I can always go back to butchering， can't I？" He scraped together some money and bought some pigs to raise and slaughter， but before a month was out， he was flat on his back， sick in bed.

　　"那又怎么樣呢？"他說，"我總還可以再殺豬的。"他省了一些錢，買了一些小豬，想把它們養大殺了。但是一個月還沒過，他便臥病在床。

　　He had some strange disease. The blood and pus coming out of his nose hurt so much that he screamed. The people who heard him said he sounded just like a stuck pig！

　　他得了一種怪病。血和膿從他的鼻子里流出來，他疼的尖叫。聽到他叫喚的人都說他聽上去就像是被只被刀子刺的豬一樣！

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