一成不變的修鞋匠【1】（笑話，譯文）
譯自法語by me, 英語由Gemini proofread過
The Unchanging Cobbler
A gentleman leaves his home, a pair of shoes in hand, and goes to the cobbler who has a shop on the corner of the street. He leaves the shoes with the repairman for resoling.
The war erupts. The man is mobilized, then he endures the “Phoney War【2】”, and then he is taken as a prisoner. He eventually escapes by disguising himself as a German soldier, only to be captured by the Russians. He is sent to the Gulag, and at last, forty years later, he is liberated.
He comes home and by chance finds the cobbler's receipt at the bottom of an old wallet, which traveled with him for forty years. Miraculously, the shop and the cobbler are still there.
“Good morning, sir. In 1939, I left a pair of shoes with you for resoling.”
“Do you have the receipt?” asks the old cobbler.
“Here you are.”
The cobbler goes to the back of the shop, searches for a moment, and then asks his customer:
“Your shoes, they're quite worn, with the white toe and grey laces?”
“Yes, yes, they are.”
“Good. You’ll have to come back. They should be ready by Tuesday evening.”
一成不變的修鞋匠
一位紳士走出家門，提著一雙鞋，到街拐角的修鞋店。他讓修鞋匠幫他換鞋底。
戰爭爆發了。他應征入伍，參加“奇怪戰爭【2】”，當了俘虜，扮成德國兵逃離，卻被俄國人逮捕。他被關進古拉格【3】，最後，40年後，他被釋放。
回到家裏，他在那個一直陪伴著他40年的老錢包底兒裏偶然找到修鞋匠的收據。修鞋店和修鞋匠仍奇跡般地存在著。
“早上好，先生，在1939年，我把一雙鞋留在您這兒讓您給換底。”
“您有收據嗎？” 老修鞋匠問。
“這兒那。”
修鞋匠走到店鋪後麵，找了一會兒，問他的顧客：
“您的鞋，是已經咧成老虎大嘴，白鞋頭，灰鞋帶嗎？”
“對，對， 沒錯。”
“那好，您還得再來一次，星期二傍晚就可以取了。”
【1】. p. 59. LE CORDONNIER IMMUABLE。1000 Blagues <Les Meilleures>. Rajko Zobec. Z-R Edition.
【2】. Drôle de Guerre. 奇怪戰爭。假戰爭。靜坐戰。 這是一個曆史專有名詞，特指第二次世界大戰初期，從1939年9月英國和法國對德國宣戰，到1940年5月德國真正發動西線閃電戰之間的一段時期。在此期間，盡管英法已經對德宣戰，但西線陸地上幾乎沒有發生大規模的軍事衝突。雙方軍隊在堅固的防線（如法國的馬奇諾防線）後對峙，隻有一些小規模的空中偵察和海上衝突。這種“宣而不戰”的奇怪狀態，因此得名“奇怪戰爭”。這段沉寂期最終在1940年5月10日被打破，德軍閃擊荷蘭、比利時和法國，戰爭進入了激烈階段。(from Deepseek)
下麵是Gemini的注釋：
Meaning of "Drôle de Guerre"
The term "Drôle de Guerre" refers to the period at the start of World War II, specifically from September 1939 (when the UK and France declared war on Germany following the invasion of Poland) up until May 1940 (when Germany launched the invasion of France and the Low Countries).
- Literal Translation: Funny War, Strange War, or Phoney War.
- Contextual Meaning: It describes a period of relative inactivity and lack of large-scale combat on the Western Front.
Why the Quotation Marks?
The quotation marks serve two main purposes in this text:
- To Mark a Specific Historical Term (Colloquialism): The phrase is not the formal name of the period, but the nickname or popular expression given to it by the people at the time, particularly the French and British forces. The author uses quotes to signal that this is a specific, well-known historical term of art, not a literal description made by the narrator.
- To Emphasize the Paradox: The word "drôle" (funny, strange) is a stark contrast to the word "guerre" (war). The quotes highlight the irony of a "war" where nothing seemed to be happening.
【3】. Gulag. 古拉格。下麵的解釋選自p. 673. The Penguin Encyclopedia. The Penguin Books. London. England. 2004。
