In a minor but respectable plaza in the Imperial City sat, or perhaps lounged, Lord Vanech's Building Commission. It was an unimaginative, austere building not noted so much for its aesthetic or architectural design as for its prodigious length. If any critics wondered why such an unornamented, extended erection held such fascination for Lord Vanech, they kept it to themselves.
在Imperial Ｃity的一个出名的广场上坐落着或者叫横着一座与它的巨大的体积完全不相称的保守平淡无奇的建筑风格的建筑Lord Vanech's Commission.如果任何人得知如此毫无特色的平庸的建筑是Lord Vanech的风格的话，他们就不会质疑了。
In the 398th year of the 3rd Era, Decumus Scotti was a senior clerk at the Commission.
在第三纪元第398年，Decumus Scotti 是委员会的一个资深办事员。
It had been a few months since the shy, middle-aged man had brought Lord Vanech the most lucrative of all contracts, granting the Commission the exclusive right to rebuild the roads of Valenwood which had been destroyed in the Five Year War. For this, he had become the darling of the managers and the clerks, spending his days recounting his adventures, more or less faithfully... although he did omit the ending of the tale, since many of them had partaken in the celebratory Unthrappa roast provided by the Silenstri. Informing one's listeners that they've gorged on human flesh improves very few stories of any good taste.
一切都发生自几个月前，这个有点内敛的中年男人为委员会带来了一个最有价值的合同，一份授予委员会独家授权重修因5年战争而毁掉的Valenwood省的马路。因为这个他成了委员会里面的红人，整天讲诉着他的冒险奇事轶闻，当然大部分的都是真的。。。虽然在最后有点省略，这都是自从Silenstri为了庆祝Unthrappa举办的烧烤晚会，当大部分人都在大快朵颐的时候有人提醒大家他们吃的是人类的肉，这个故事也无助于大家的食欲了。
Scotti was neither particularly ambitious nor hard-working, so he did not mind that Lord Vanech had not given him anything to actually do.
Scotti不是那种有野心的人也不是那种工作狂人，所以他也不会介意Load Vanech会给他一些其他更重要的工作。
Whenever the squat little gnomish man would happen upon Decumus Scotti in the offices, Lord Vanech would always say, "You're a credit to the Commission. Keep up the good work."
无论何时只要这个矮小的侏儒Lord Vanech看到Scotti就总会说：“你是我们委员会的骄傲，继续努力吧”。
In the beginning, Scotti had worried that he was supposed to be doing something, but as the months went on, he merely replied, "Thank you. I will."
最开始Scotti还会担心他会不会让自己去干点什么，几个月过去了，他仍然也只是回答道：“谢谢，我会的”。
There was, on the other hand, the future to consider. He was not a young man, and though he was receiving a respectable salary for someone not doing actual work, Scotti considered that soon he might have to retire and not get paid for not doing work. It would be nice, he decided, if Lord Vanech, out of gratitude for the millions of gold the Valenwood contract was generating, might deign to make Scotti a partner. Or at least give him a small percentage of the bounty.
另一方面，他又考虑到未来。相对于年轻人来说，他的工资很优厚，但他已不再年轻，不久后会退休。他思考着让Lord Vanech因这个百万金币进账的项目而提拔他为合伙人，或者最少也应该要给他一笔奖金的这个想法应该会很不错。
Decumus Scotti was no good at asking for things like that, which was one of the reasons why, previous to his signal successes in Valenwood as a senior clerk for Lord Atrius, he was a lousy agent. He had just about made up his mind to say something to Lord Vanech, when his lordship unexpectedly pushed things along.
Scotti不是很擅长这种求人的事情，其中一个原因是当他还是Lord Atrius手下的资深办事员的时候，他工作确实很糟糕。当他做好决定要对Lord Vanech说点什么的时候，出人意料的是他的领导先开口了。
"You're a credit to the Commission," the waddling little thing said, and then paused. "Do you have a moment free on your schedule?"
“你是我们委员会的骄傲”这个蹒跚的小个子说道，又顿了下说：“你有空吗？”
Scotti nodded eagerly, and followed his lordship to his hideously decorated and very enviable hectare of office space.
Scotti认真地点点头，然后跟着他的主人来到他那毫无美感装潢的而又巨大的办公室。
"Zenithar blesses us for your presence at the Commission," the little fellow squeaked grandly. "I don't know whether you know this, but we were having a bad time before you came along. We had impressive projects, for certain, but they were not successful. In Black Marsh, for example, for years we've been trying to improve the roads and other routes of travel for commerce. I put my best man, Flesus Tijjo, on it, but every year, despite staggering investments of time and money, the trade along those routes only gets slower and slower. Now, we have your very clean, very, very profitable Valenwood contract to boost the Commission's profits. I think it's time you were rewarded."
“Zenithar保佑我们有你的存在！”小个子发出洪亮的声音：“我不知道你是否了解，在你搞定那个合同之前我们经历了一个难熬的时期，我们曾经有许多令人印象深刻的大的项目，是的，但都不是很成功。举个例子在Black Marsh，这些年来我们一直在努力修路和开发旅游线路，我把我最好的员工Flesus Tijjo派到那里，每年花费了无数精力和财力，可是到现在越来越难以维系。现在正因为你的这个有价值的Valenwood合同，才让我们委员会得以盈利，我想现在是你得到回报的时刻啦。”
Scotti grinned a grin of great modesty and subtle avarice.
Scotti 露出了谦虚而又有一丝贪婪的微笑。
"I want you to take over the Black Marsh account from Flesus Tijjo."
“我想让你代替Flesus Tijjo在Black Marshash的职位。”
Scotti shook as if awaking from a pleasant dream to hideous reality, "My Lord, I - I couldn't -"
Scotti 像是突然从美梦中回到了残酷的现实中般的一惊“我的主人，我不能-”
"Nonsense," chirped Lord Vanech. "Don't worry about Tijjo. He will be happy to retire on the money I give him, particularly as soul-wrenchingly difficult as this Black Marsh business has been. Just your sort of a challenge, my dear Decumus."
“没关系，”Lord Vanech 吱声道：“不要担心Tijjo，他会很高兴的得到一笔钱退休的，作为是这个让人痛苦不堪的Black Marsh生意的回报。而对你来说，这只是一个挑战而已，亲爱的Decumus。”
Scotti couldn't utter a sound, though his mouth feebly formed the word "No" as Lord Vanech brought out the box of documentation on Black Marsh.
Scotti的嘴都摆成说不得口型了，还没等机会说不，一大箱装有Black Marsh的文件就摆在他的面前。
"You're a fast reader," Lord Vanech guessed. "You can read it all en route."
“你看书很快”Lord Vanech 说到“你在路上都能看完。”
"En route to ..."
”到。。。？“
"Black Marsh, of course," the tiny fellow giggled. "You are a funny chap. Where else would you go to learn about the work that's being done, and how to improve it?"
“当然是到Black Marsh”，他说到“你在逗我吗，除了那里还有哪儿能学习研究你要做的工作？”
The next morning, the stack of documentation hardly touched, Decumus Scotti began the journey south-east to Black Marsh. Lord Vanech had hired an able-bodied guard, a rather taciturn Redguard named Mailic, to protect his best agent. They rode south along the Niben, and then south-east along the Silverfish, continuing on into the wilds of Cyrodiil, where the river tributaries had no names and the very vegetation seemed to come from another world than the nice, civilized gardens of the northern Imperial Province.
第二天早上，一堆资料安放妥当，Scotti开始他的旅程一路向东南方向出发。Load Vanech 雇了一个保镖。一个沉默寡言的Redguard人叫Mailic来保护他的最好的员工。他们先是往南方到达Niben，然后往东南方向到达Silverfish，然后走入Cyrodiil的郊区，那里有许多不知名的小溪流，周围的植被和Imperial北部地区花园里面的植物比起来就像是进入了另一个世界。
Scotti's horse was tied to Mailic's, so the clerk was able to read. It made it difficult to pay attention to the path they were taking, but Scotti knew he needed at least a cursory familiarity with the Commission's business dealings in Black Marsh.
Scotti的马系在Maililc的马上，方便他可以阅读文档，虽然在那种路面很难把注意力集中到文本上，但他知道至少在这期间他必须对Black Marsh的工作有个大概的了解。
It was a huge box of paperwork going back forty years, when the Commission had first been given several million in gold by a wealthy trader, Lord Xellicles Pinos-Revina, to improve the condition of the road from Gideon to Cyrodiil. At that time, it took three weeks, a preposterously long time, for the rice and root he was importing to arrive, half-rotten, in the Imperial Province. Pinos-Revina was long dead, but many other investors over the decades, including Pelagius Septim V himself, had hired the Commission to build roads, drain swamps, construct bridges, devise anti-smuggling systems, hire mercenaries, and, in short, do everything that the greatest Empire in history knew would work to aid trade with Black Marsh. According to the latest figures, the result of this was that it took two and a half months for goods, now thoroughly rotten, to arrive.
从委员会第一次投入上百万金币开始这个交易以来过了40多年累积了好大一箱资料。在Lord Xellicles Pinos-Revina那时起就在维修从Gideon 到Cyrodiil的道路，在那个时候大米运输到到达Imperial省要花费3周的时间，至少一半都已经发霉变质了。Lord Pinos-Revian死后数十年间许多人也在投资修建道路，包括Pelagius Septim V他自己，抽干沼泽地，修建桥梁，建立反走私系统，招募雇佣兵，总之从以前的历史上也找了很多办法来帮助开展到Black Marsh的贸易活动，从最近的反馈来看，运输时间延长到了至少要2个半月，大部分的粮食等都发霉腐败了。
Scotti found that when he looked up after concentrating on what he was reading, the landscape had always changed. Always dramatically. Always for the worse.
当Scotti把注意力从他的文件中移开后，他发现周围的景色越来越变幻莫测，越来越阴森。
"This is Blackwood, sir," said Mailic to Scotti's unspoken question. It was dark and woodsy, so Decumus Scotti thought that a very appropriate name.
“这里就是Blackwood，先生。” 在Scotti还在疑惑的时候Mailic适时的说到，Scotti觉得这个名字配这里的阴暗荫蔽的环境真是太合适了。
The question he longed to ask, which in due course he did ask, was, "What's that terrible smell?"
“到底是什么味儿啊？”这个问题他憋了很久后终于开口了。
"Slough Point, sir," Mailic replied as they turned the next bend, where the umbrageous tunnel of tangled tree and vine opened to a clearing. There squatted a cluster of formal buildings in the dreary Imperial design favored by Lord Vanech's Commission and every Emperor since Tiber, together with a stench so eye-blindingly, stomach-wrenchingly awful that Scotti wondered, suddenly, if it were deadly poisonous. The swarms of blood-colored, sand-grain-sized insects obscuring the air did not improve the view.
“Slough Point到了，先生” Mailic说完后他们沿着由一大片相互缠绕的树枝和藤条的小道拐了一个弯走到了一片空地上 ，那里坐落着从Tiber时代起就修建在那里的一看就知道是出自Lord Vanech的风格的丑陋建筑，让人感觉心里十分厌恶，就像是有毒的气味一样，刺激的睁不开双眼，恶心肚子疼。就连血色的沼泽和漫天的沙砾大小的昆虫都不能和这里媲美。
Scotti and Mailic batted at the buzzing clouds as they rode their horses towards the largest of the buildings, which on approach revealed itself to be perched at the edge of a thick, black river. From its size and serious aspect, Scotti guessed it to be the census and excise office for the wide, white bridge that stretched across the burbling dark water to the reeds on the other side. It was a very nice, bright, sturdy-looking bridge, built, Scotti knew, by his Commission.
Scotti 和Mailic 一边驱赶漫天的飞虫一边让他们的马朝着最大的建筑物走去。那座建筑就矗立一个又黑又稠的河面边上和河水相见一色。从它的严肃的样子和体积来说，Scotti猜测可能是人口普查和税务局办公室之类的，一座白色的桥从黝黑的河水中延伸到芦苇丛生的另一端，从这个桥的风格来看也是出自委员会之手。
A poxy, irritable official opened the door quickly on Scotti's first knock. "Come in, come in, quickly! Don't let the fleshflies in!"
一个一脸嫌弃表情的官员在他刚敲了第一下的时候就把门打开了。“快点进来，不要让FLeshflies进来！”
"Fleshflies?" Decumus Scotti trembled. "You mean, they eat human flesh?"
“Fleshflies？”Scotti 吓了一跳。“你是说他们要吃人肉？”
"If you're fool enough to stand around and let them," the soldier said, rolling his eyes. He had half an ear, and Scotti, looking around at the other soldiers in the fort noted that they all were well-chewed. One of them had no nose at all to speak of. "Now, what's your business?"
“如果你傻到站在野外一动不动让他们下口的话。”那个士兵转着眼珠说到。他只有一半的耳朵，Scotti看了看四周其他的士兵也有不同程度的受伤被咬过痕迹，他们中的一个几乎可以说没有鼻子的家伙说到：“你们到这里来干什么？”
Scotti told them, and added that if they stood outside the fortress instead of inside, they might catch more smugglers.
Scotti 告诉了他们，又说他们应该在外面执勤而不是在城堡里面呆着。
"You better be more concerned with getting across that bridge," the soldier sneered. "Tide's coming up, and if you don't get a move on, you won't get to Black Marsh for four days."
那个士兵讥笑道：“你最好把注意力放在过桥上，马上潮汐就要来了，如果你没有动身的话，你至少要推迟4天到达Black Marsh。”
That was absurd. A bridge swamped by a rising tide on a river? Only the look in the soldier's eyes told Scotti he wasn't joking.
那简直太荒谬了，一座大桥居然会被涨潮淹没？只是他看着那个士兵的眼睛才确信他没有撒谎。
Upon stepping out of the fort, he saw that the horses, evidently tired of being tortured by the fleshflies, had ripped free of their restraints and were bounding off into the woods. The oily water of the river was already lapping on the planks, oozing between the crevices. Scotti reflected that perhaps he would be more than willing to endure a wait of four days before going to Black Marsh, but Mailic was already running across.
走出那座建筑，他看到他的马们因为不堪忍受fleshflies的折磨，挣断了缰绳跑进了黑深林中。油腻的河水已经上涨到桥面木板上了，通过缝隙不断涌入。Scotti觉得他可能要在这里多呆几日了，但是Mailic已经冲了出去。
Scotti followed him, wheezing. He was not in excellent shape, and never had been. The box of Commission materials was heavy. Halfway across, he paused to catch his breath, and then discovered he could not move. His feet were stuck.
Scotti气喘吁吁地跟着他，他不是那种好身材的人，从来也没有过。那箱委员会文件又很沉，跑了一半他就喘不过气来，停下来休息，但却发现他已经动不了了，他被困住了。
The black mud that ran through the river was a thick gluey paste, and having washed over the plank Scotti was on, it held his feet fast. Panic seized him. Scotti looked up from his trap and saw Mailic leaping from plank to plank ahead of him, closing fast on the reeds on the other side.
黑色的粘稠的淤泥通过河水冲刷着地板，很快就把他的脚困住了。他感到很恐惧，他抬头看了看，Mailic正一蹦一跳的从地板间穿过，就快要到达了对面的芦苇群中。
"Help!" Scotti cried. "I'm stuck!"
“救我！”Scotti 叫喊到：“我被困住了！”
Mailic did not even turn around, but kept jumping. "I know, sir. You need to lose weight."
Mailic 都没有停下来，甚至转过身来。“我知道了，先生，你要减轻重量才行！”
Decumus Scotti knew he was a few pounds over, and had meant to start eating less and exercising more, but embarking on a diet hardly seemed to promise timely aid in his current predicament. No diet on Nirn would have helped him just then. However, on reflection, Scotti realized that the Redguard intended that he drop the box of documents, for Mailic was no longer carrying any of the essential supplies he had had with him previously.
Scotti 知道他体重有点超重，也开始在注意讲究饮食和锻炼，但是现在的情况下他也无法短时间内减轻体重啊。进过思索，他觉得Mailic 说的可能是让他丢掉这包文件，因为他看见Mailic也都丢弃了他的包含生活必需品的包裹。
With a sigh, Scotti threw the box of Commission notes into the glop, and felt the plank under him rise a quarter of an inch, just enough to free him from the mud's clutches. With an agility born of extreme fear, Scotti began leaping after Mailic, dropping onto every third plank, and springing up before the river gripped him.
Scotti长叹一声，把这箱文件丢进黏乎乎的河水中，这时他感觉到木板升高了一些，足够他摆脱淤泥，他鼓起勇气开始学着Mailic的样子每三个木板跳一次，躲开那些淤泥。
In forty-six leaps, Decumus Scotti crashed through the reeds onto the solid ground behind Mailic, and found himself in Black Marsh. He could hear behind him a slurping sound as the bridge, and his container of important and official records of Commission affairs, was consumed by the rising flood of dark filth, never to be seen again.
终于在第46跳后，Scotti 冲进了芦苇堆，扑在了结实的地面上，终于到了Black Marsh的地盘。他都可以听到身后桥被淹没的身影，而他的那些重要文件也被吞噬了再也无法找到。
网友评论