In the bazaar huge families of Jews, all dressed in the long black robe and little black skull-cap, are working in dark fly-infested booths that look like caves. A carpenter sits crosslegged at a prehistoric lathe, turning chairlegs at lightning speed. He works the lathe with a bow in his right hand and guides the chisel with his left foot, and thanks to a lifetime of sitting in this position his left leg is warped out of shape. At his side his grandson, aged six, is already starting on the simpler parts of the job.
在集市上,一大家一大家的犹太人,全都身着黑色长袍,头戴黑色便帽,在看起来像洞窟一般阴暗无光,苍蝇麋集的摊篷里干活。一个木匠两脚交叉坐在一架老掉牙的车床旁,正以飞快的速度旋制椅子腿。他右手握弓开动车床,左脚引动旋刀。由于长期保持着种姿势,左脚已经弯翘变形了。他的一个年仅六岁的小孙子竟也在一旁开始帮着干一些简单的活计了。
I was just passing the coppersmiths' booths when somebody noticed that I was lighting a cigarette. Instantly, from the dark holes all round, there was a frenzied rush of Jews, many of them old grandfathers with flowing grey beards, all clamouring for a cigarette. Even a blind man somewhere at the back of one of the booths heard a rumour of cigarettes and came crawling out, groping in the air with his hand. In about a minute I had used up the whole packet. None of these people, I suppose, works less than twelve hours a day, and every one of them looks on a cigarette as a more or less impossible luxury.
我正要走过一个铜匠铺子时,突然有人发现我点着一支香烟。这一下子那些犹太人从四面八方的一个个黑洞窟里发疯四地围上来,其中有很多白胡子老汉,都吵着要讨支烟抽。甚至连一个盲人听到这讨烟的吵嚷声也从一个摊篷后面爬出来。伸手在空中乱摸。一分钟光景,我那一包香烟全分完了。我想这些人一天的工时谁都不回少于十二小时,可是他们个个都把一支香烟看成是一见十分难得的奢侈品。
As the Jews live in self-contained communities they follow the same trades as the Arabs, except for agriculture. Fruitsellers, potters, silversmiths, blacksmiths, butchers, leather-workers, tailors, water-carriers, beggars, porters-whichever way you look you see nothing but Jews. As a matter of fact there are thirteen thousand of them, all living in the space of a few acres. A good job Hitlet wasn't here. Perhaps he was on his way, however. You hear the usual dark rumours about Jews, not only from the Arabs but from the poorer Europeans.
犹太人生活在一个自给自足的社会里,他们从事阿拉伯人所从事的行业,只是没有农业。他们中有买水果的,有陶工、银匠、铁匠、屠夫、皮匠、裁缝、运水工,还有乞丐、脚夫--放眼四顾,到处是犹太人。事实上,在这不过几英亩的空间内居住着的犹太人就足足有一万三千之多。也算这些犹太人好运气,希特勒未曾光顾这里。不过,他也许曾经准备来的。你常听到的有关犹太人的风言风语,不仅可以从阿拉伯人那里听到,而且还可以从较穷的欧洲人那里听到。