There came an April when something seemed to be wrong with Grandmother. She still knitted stockings and mended garments, peeled potatoes for the stew and sliced apples for drying, but somehow she wasn’t happy. For Grandmother to be unhappy was all wrong. It wouldn’t do at all! Her eyes that had been so sharp and bright now quite frequently held tears, and there was a woebegone look on her deeply-wrinkled face.
四月来了,祖母好像出了什么事。她仍然织袜子,缝补衣服,削土豆皮炖菜,切苹果片晾干,但不知怎么的,她不高兴了。祖母不快乐是完全不对的。这根本不行!她那双曾经那么锐利、那么明亮的眼睛,现在却常常含着眼泪,她那布满皱纹的脸上显出一副愁眉苦脸的神色。
It was one evening at the supper table that she asked, suddenly, “Ugo, do you think Naples is still there?” “Still where, Grandmother?”
一天晚上,在餐桌旁,她突然问道:“乌戈,你觉得那不勒斯还在那里吗?”“还在哪儿,祖母?”
“By the sea.”
“海边。”
“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“在,当然。为什么会不在?”
“I dream about the sea,” said Grandmother.
“我梦见了大海,”祖母说。
It was at breakfast the next morning that she asked, “Margaretta, you don’t think, do you, that Mount Vesuvius is gone?”
第二天早餐时,她问道:“玛格蕾塔,你不认为维苏威火山已经消失了吗?”
“Gone where. Grandmother?”
“去哪儿了。祖母吗?”
“Well,” said Grandmother dreamily, “gone away.”
“好吧,”祖母如梦如幻地说:“走吧。”
“Grandmother!” put in Mario, laughing. “To be sure it is still there! And the Bay of Naples is still there, and all of Italy, and Sicily, too!”
“祖母!”马里奥笑着说。“确定它还在那里!那不勒斯湾还在那里,整个意大利,还有西西里!”