Part 3 Book 1 Chapter 9 The Old Soul of Gaul

There was something of that boy in Poquelin, the son of the fish-market; Beaumarchais had something of it. Gaminerie is a shade of the Gallic spirit. Mingled¹ with good sense, it sometimes adds force to the latter, as alcohol does to wine. Sometimes it is a defect. Homer repeats himself eternally, granted; one may say that Voltaire plays the gamin. Camille Desmoulins was a native of the faubourgs. Championnet, who treated miracles brutally², rose from the pavements of Paris; he had, when a small lad, inundated³ the porticos of Saint-Jean de Beauvais, and of Saint-Etienne du Mont; he had addressed the shrine⁴ of Sainte-Genevieve familiarly to give orders to the phial of Saint Januarius.

The gamin of Paris is respectful, ironical⁵, and insolent⁶. He has villainous teeth, because he is badly fed and his stomach suffers, and handsome eyes because he has wit. If Jehovah himself were present, he would go hopping⁷ up the steps of paradise on one foot. He is strong on boxing. All beliefs are possible to him. He plays in the gutter⁸, and straightens himself up with a revolt; his effrontery⁹ persists even in the presence of grape-shot; he was a scapegrace, he is a hero; like the little Theban, he shakes the skin from the lion; Barra the drummer-boy was a gamin of Paris; he Shouts: "Forward!" as the horse of Scripture¹⁰ says "Vah!" and in a moment he has passed from the small brat¹¹ to the giant.

This child of the puddle¹² is also the child of the ideal. Measure that spread of wings which reaches from Moliere to Barra.

To sum up the whole, and in one word, the gamin is a being who amuses himself, because he is unhappy.

在菜市场的儿子波克兰①的作品中有这孩子，在博马舍的作品中也有这孩子。野孩的作风是高卢精神的余韵。那种作风渗进了良知，正如醇精入酒，能增加它的力量。有时那种作风是缺点。好吧，荷马是颠三倒四的，伏尔泰，我们可以说他野。卡米尔·德穆兰②是郊区居民。以粗暴态度对待奇迹的尚皮奥内③出生于巴黎街头，很小时便“淹”过圣让·德·博韦和圣艾蒂安·德·蒙的回廊，他常对着圣热纳维埃夫④的遗骸盒开玩笑，向圣詹纳罗的小瓶子⑤发命令。

①波克兰（Poquelin），莫里哀的姓。

②卡米尔·德穆兰（Camille　Desmoulins，1760-1794），法国政论家，十八世纪末资产阶级革命活功家，右翼雅各宾党人。

③尚皮奥内（Championnet，1762-1800），革命时期的将军。

④圣热纳维埃夫是巴黎的保护神，她的遗骸盒很受人尊敬。

⑤圣詹纳罗是那不勒斯的保护神，他殉教时留下的一瓶血一直被视为圣物。

巴黎的野孩是恭谨、辛辣、横蛮的。他的牙齿怪难看，因为他的饮食差，他的眼睛美，因为他有智慧。他会当着耶和华的面用一只脚跳完天堂的台阶。他踢腿的本领强。任何发展，对他来说都是可能的。他在水沟里游戏，也能为暴动而挺起胸膛，他在开花弹前也仍是嬉皮笑脸的。那是一个顽皮小鬼，也是一个英雄，和底比斯的孩子一样，他掀住狮子的皮乱摇。鼓手巴拉①便是个巴黎野孩，他高呼“前进！”正如圣书中马的嘶鸣“哗！”一眨眼，他由小猴变成了巨人。

①巴拉（Bara，1779-1793），共和军的少年军人，被俘后敌人强迫他喊“国王万岁”，他的回答是“共和万岁！”接着就在敌人的排枪下牺牲，时年十四。巴黎先贤祠有他的塑像。

这污泥中的孩子也是理想中的孩子。你衡量从莫里哀到巴拉的智力的广度便知道了。

总而言之，简括起来说，野孩是个贪玩的孩子，因为他苦恼。

1 mingled   

混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系]

参考例句：

• The sounds of laughter and singing mingled in the evening air. 笑声和歌声交织在夜空中。
• The man and the woman mingled as everyone started to relax. 当大家开始放松的时候，这一男一女就开始交往了。

2 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

3 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

5 ironical   

adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironical end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• From his general demeanour I didn't get the impression that he was being ironical.从他整体的行为来看，我不觉得他是在讲反话。

6 insolent   

adj.傲慢的，无理的

参考例句：

• His insolent manner really got my blood up.他那傲慢的态度把我的肺都气炸了。
• It was insolent of them to demand special treatment.他们要求给予特殊待遇，脸皮真厚。

7 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

8 gutter   

n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟

参考例句：

• There's a cigarette packet thrown into the gutter.阴沟里有个香烟盒。
• He picked her out of the gutter and made her a great lady.他使她脱离贫苦生活，并成为贵妇。

9 effrontery   

n.厚颜无耻

参考例句：

• This is a despicable fraud . Just imagine that he has the effrontery to say it.这是一个可耻的骗局. 他竟然有脸说这样的话。
• One could only gasp at the sheer effrontery of the man.那人十足的厚颜无耻让人们吃惊得无话可说。

10 scripture   

n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段

参考例句：

• The scripture states that God did not want us to be alone.圣经指出上帝并不是想让我们独身一人生活。
• They invoked Hindu scripture to justify their position.他们援引印度教的经文为他们的立场辩护。

11 brat   

n.孩子；顽童

参考例句：

• He's a spoilt brat.他是一个被宠坏了的调皮孩子。
• The brat sicked his dog on the passer-by.那个顽童纵狗去咬过路人。

12 puddle   

n.(雨)水坑，泥潭

参考例句：

• The boy hopped the mud puddle and ran down the walk.这个男孩跳过泥坑，沿着人行道跑了。
• She tripped over and landed in a puddle.她绊了一下，跌在水坑里。