住在我们后进院子里的三太太，在夏间买了一对白兔，是给伊的孩子们看的。
During the summer Third Missus, who lives in the rear courtyard, bought her children a pair of white bunnies. 1
这一对白兔，似乎离娘并不久，虽然是异类，也可以看出他们的天真烂熳来。
You could tell they hadn't been separated from their mother very long, for though belonging to a different species, even a human being like myself could discern that they were still naive and trusting.
但也竖直了小小的通红的长耳朵，动着鼻子，眼睛里颇现些惊疑的神色，大约究竟觉得人地生疏，没有在老家时候的安心了。
And yet, when they erected their long pink ears and twitched their nostrils, their eyes could take on an apprehensive and suspicious look too.After all, this new environment was probably somewhat strange to them, and they didn't feel as secure as they had felt back home.
这种东西，倘到庙会⑵日期自己出去买，每个至多不过两吊钱，而三太太却花了一元，因为是叫小使上店买来的。
If you went to a temple fair yourself to buy creatures like these, they cost no more than two strings of cash apiece; but Third Mistress had spent a dollar, because she sent a servant to a shop to buy them.
孩子们自然大得意了，嚷着围住了看；大人也都围着看；还有一匹小狗名叫Ｓ的也跑来，闯过去一嗅，打了一个喷嚏，退了几步。
The children, of course, were delighted and chattered excitedly as they gathered round in a circle to get a look at the tiny creatures.
The adults came out and gathered around to watch too.
Even the little dog called "S" came running up, barged in, took a few sniffs, started to sneeze, and then backed off again.
三太太吆喝道，“Ｓ，听着，不准你咬他！”
Third Missus slapped him on the head and scolded, "Now you listen to me S, you are not going to be allowed to bite those bunnies!”
于是在他头上打了一拳，Ｓ便退开了，从此并不咬。
^+1 S retreated and, from this point on, kept his teeth to himself.
这一对兔总是关在后窗后面的小院子里的时候多，听说是因为太喜欢撕壁纸，也常常啃木器脚。
These rabbits were kept most of the time in a small courtyard behind the back window.
We were told this was because they were too fond of tearing the wall-paper and chewing the legs of furniture.
这小院子里有一株野桑树，桑子落地，他们最爱吃，便连喂他们的菠菜也不吃了。
They feasted upon windfall mulberries from the tree growing wild in the courtyard, leaving barely any appetite for the spinach they were given.
乌鸦喜鹊想要下来时，他们便躬着身子用后脚在地上使劲的一弹，砉的一声直跳上来，像飞起了一团雪，鸦鹊吓得赶紧走，这样的几回，再也不敢近来了。
When crows and magpies showed an interest in landing, the rabbits would arch their backs and spring forcefully into the air like balls of snow, terrifying all feathered intruders into flight.
After a few such warnings, the birds kept a respectful distance.
三太太说，鸦鹊到不打紧，至多也不过抢吃一点食料，可恶的是一匹大黑猫，常在矮墙上恶狠狠的看，这却要防的，幸而Ｓ和猫是对头，或者还不至于有什么罢。
Third Missus said she wasn't really all that worried about the crows and magpies in the first place, for the worst they could do was steal a bit of the bunnies' food.
What we really had to guard against was that obnoxious big black cat who often perched atop the low courtyard wall, watching them with savage eyes.
Fortunately, however, S and the cat were natural enemies, so perhaps nothing would go amiss after all.
孩子们时时捉他们来玩耍；他们很和气，竖起耳朵，动着鼻子，驯良的站在小手的圈子里，但一有空，却也就溜开去了。
The children were always playing with them.
Confined in small, cupped hands, the rabbits would sit docilely enough, pricking up their ears and twitching their noses.
But the moment an escape route opened up, they'd be off.
他们夜里的卧榻是一个小木箱，里面铺些稻草，就在后窗的房檐下。
Their bed at night was a box, strewn with straw, under the eaves jutting over the back window.
这样的几个月之后，他们忽而自己掘土了，掘得非常快，前脚一抓，后脚一踢，不到半天，已经掘成一个深洞。
After things had gone on like this for several months, the pair, now full-grown, suddenly began digging a burrow one day.
They accomplished this with amazing efficiency.
Clawing their way in with their forepaws and kicking the dirt out with their hind ones, they'd succeeded in excavating a good-sized hole before the day was half over.
大家都奇怪，后来仔细看时，原来一个的肚子比别一个的大得*
Everybody marvelled, until a closer inspection revealed that one rabbit's stomach was much bigger than the other's.
他们第二天便将干草和树叶衔进洞里去，忙了大半天。
The pair spent most of the next day busily carrying straw and leaves into the burrow.
大家都高兴，说又有小兔可看了；三太太便对孩子们下了戒严令，从此不许再去捉。
Everyone was quite happy and said we'd soon have more baby bunnies to play with.
At this juncture, Third Missus issued a stern injunction to the children against picking up the rabbits.
我的母亲也很喜欢他们家族的繁荣，还说待生下来的离了乳，也要去讨两匹
My mother, too, was delighted by their family's flourishing and said, once the litter was weaned, she would ask for a couple to keep outside her own window.
他们从此便住在自造的洞府里，有时也出来吃些食，后来不见了，可不知道他们是预先运粮存在里面呢还是竟不吃。
From then on the pair kept to the confines of the burrow they'd fashioned for themselves, occasionally venturing forth to get a little something to eat.
Then they disappeared entirely.
We didn't know whether it was because they'd stored so much they didn't need to come out any more, or whether they'd simply stopped eating.
过了十多天，三太太对我说，那两匹又出来了，大约小兔是生下来又都死掉了，因为雌的一匹的奶非常多，却并不见有进去哺养孩子的形迹。
More than ten days later, Third Mistress told me that the two rabbits had come out again.Most likely all their baby rabbits had died, because the doe had copious milk but showed no sign of going in to suckle her children.
伊言语之间颇气愤，然而也没有法。
As Third Missus spoke, she seemed rather put out with them, though of course there was nothing she could do.
有一天，太阳很温暖，也没有风，树叶都不动，我忽听得许多人在那里笑，寻声看时，却见许多人都靠着三太太的后窗看：原来有一个小兔，在院子里跳跃了。
One balmy day when there was no breeze and not a single leaf was stirring on any of the trees, all of a sudden I heard some people laughing over next to Third Missus' place.
When I got to where the sound was coming from, I found several people leaning out her back window and watching something outside―a little bunny bounding about in the yard, a bunny that was much smaller than its parents had been when Third Missus first bought them.
这比他的父母买来的时候还小得远，但也已经能用后脚一弹地，迸跳起来了。
And yet, firing its hind legs out behind it, it was already able to bound high into the air.
孩子们争着告诉我说，还看见一个小兔到洞口来探一探头，但是即刻便缩回去了，那该是他的弟弟罢。
The children all competed to be the first to tell me they'd seen still another little one poking its head out the opening of the burrow for a look around, but that it had immediately shrunk back inside―presumably a younger sibling of the one that was in the yard.