The boys went down to breakfast, which the girl Charlotte had made for them. She gave an extra piece of meat to Noah, then told Oliver to hurry up as it was his job to look after the shop.
男孩们下楼去吃早餐，那是夏洛蒂给他们做的。她加了块肉给诺亚后，再出声让奥利弗吃快点，早点回去看着棺材铺。
'Did you hear that, workhouse?' shouted Noah.
“听到了吗，济贫院小子？”诺亚吼了一句。
'He heard, Noah.' said Charlotte, 'Leave him alone.'
“他听到了，诺亚”夏洛蒂说，“别管他。”
'Why?' aske Noah. 'All his relations have already left him alone. His mother and father aren't going to interfere with him!' Charlotte and Noah both started laughing loudly. Oliver sat alone in the corner, eating old bits of bread.
“为什么不管？”诺亚问，“他所有的亲戚都不管他，又没有父母管他。”诺亚和夏洛蒂发出一阵狂笑。奥利弗独自坐在角落里，啃干面包。
Noah was a charity-boy, but not a workhouse orphan; he at least knew who his parents were. But for a long time all the local shop-boys had insulted him because he wore the uniform of a charity-boy. Now fortune had brought him a creature in an even lower position in society than himself. Noah intended to repay to Oliver every insult he had ever received, and to make the new boy's life a misery.
诺亚是慈善学校的学生，而不是济贫院的孤儿，他至少知道他有父母。但还是有相当长的一段时间，所有当地店里的学徒都因为他穿着慈善学校的校服而对他言辞侮辱。现在命运竟让他遇见了一个比自己更卑微的人。诺亚打算把自己受到的侮辱统统都发泄到奥利弗身上，好让他的生活痛苦不堪。
After a few weeks, Mr Sowerberry decided that he liked Oliver's appearance enough to train him in the undertaking business. Oliver's permanent expression of sadness was very suitable, the undertaker thought, for collecting dead bodies from houses and accompanying the coffins to funerals.
几个星期后，苏尔贝里先生十分喜欢奥利弗的长相，便打算把他训练成职业送葬人。奥利弗脸上的苦相，殡葬承办人想，与从屋内给死者检尸到葬礼随棺到墓地等场景都十分契合。
One day Mr Bumble came to tell them about a woman who had died in an extremely poor part of the town, and Sowerberry and Oliver went to collect the body. They went down dirty narrow streets where the houses on either side were tall and large, but very old. Some of the houses were almost falling down, and had to be supported by huge blocks of wood. The area was so poor that even the dead rats in the street looked as though they had died of hungry.
一天，班布尔先生来告诉他们，特困贫民区有个女人死了，苏尔伯里先生便带着奥利弗去检尸。他们走进肮脏的窄巷，巷子两侧林立着的高大房屋，但已破败不堪。有些房子都几近坍塌了，但用粗壮木材勉强支撑着不让它倒塌。这个地方穷得就连街上的死老鼠看着都像饿死的。
They found the right house, and climbed the dark stairs to a miserable little room. Some children watched them from the shadows as they entered. Something lay beneath a blanket on the floor in one corner. A man and an old woman stood near the body. Oliver was afraid to look at them. With their thin faces and sharp teeth, they looked like rats he had seen outside.
他们找到了那间房，顺着漆黑的楼梯来到一个小房间。几个孩子瞧着他们进屋落在地面上的影子，有东西躺在角落的地板上，上面盖了块毯子。一个男人和一位老妇人站在尸体旁，奥利弗都不敢去看他们的脸。因为他们脸庞消瘦、牙尖利齿，就像刚在街上看到的死老鼠般吓人。
As sowerberry began to measure the body for coffin, the man knelt on the floor and cried out. 'She starved to death, i tell you! That's why she died!' He fell to the floor, and all the children behind him started to cry. Sowerberry and Oliver, their work done, left as fast as they could.
苏尔伯里正打算给死者量尺寸，来确定要用的棺材时，那个男人猛地跪到地板上，凄楚悲切地说：“她是饿死的，听我说，她是饿死的。”一头栽在了地板上，他身后的孩子都在哭。苏尔伯里和奥利弗完成他们的工作后，很快就离开了。
They returned the next day with the coffin and four man from the workhouse who were to carry it. The man and the old woman followed the coffin to the church, and waited silently by the grave for the priest to arrive. When at last he came, he hurried through the burial prayers, and as quickly as possible(it was only a job, after all) the coffin was put into the ground. At this point the husband, who had not moved once during his wife's burial - not even during the long wait for the priest - suddenly fainted to the ground and had to have cold water thrown over him.
他们第二天过来时，带来了棺材，由4个济贫院的人抬来的。那个男人和老妇人跟着棺材到了教堂，默不作声地在墓地等牧师来安排葬礼。牧师到时，他匆忙念完祷告词（毕竟这只是一份工作）就让死者入土了。关于那位丈夫，在他妻子的葬礼上，他连动都没动过一下――不仅仅是在等牧师的时候没动――他突然就晕倒在地上，接着就往他身上泼了一盆冰水。
'So how did you like it, Oliver?' asked Sowerberry later, as they walked home.
“怎么，你喜欢这份工作吗，奥利弗？”他们走回家时，苏尔伯里先生问。
'Not very much, sir.' Oliver answer truthfully.
“不是特别喜欢，先生。”奥利弗真诚答道。
'You'll get used to it, my boy!'
“你会习惯的，孩子！”
Oliver wondered how long that would take, and remained silent all the way back to the shop, thinking about everything that he had seen and heard.
奥利弗想要多久才能习惯呢，但一直到店里，一路上都没再说话，奥利弗只是在想他看到听到的一切。
更多译文：
PS:本书为牛津系列简易读物，有著名作家查理德·罗杰根据英国作家查尔斯·狄更斯的同名小说改写。英文为书虫系列原文，译文是笔者翻译。
另本文仅因个人兴趣而译，故本文谢绝转载和各种商业用途，同时承诺若出现任何责任由作者承担，必要时简书可删除文章。
