世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第3章Part 8

"The magistrate," úrsula answered disconsolately. They say he's an authority sent by the government."
Don Apolinar Moscote, the magistrate, had arrived in Macondo very quietly. He put up at the Hotel Jacob--built by one of the first Arabs who came to swap knickknacks for macaws-and on the following day he rented a small room with a door on the street two blocks away from the Buendía house. He set up a table and a chair that he had bought from Jacob, nailed up on the wall the shield of the republic that he had brought with him, and on the door he painted the sign: Magistrate. His first order was for all the houses to be painted blue in celebration of the anniversary of national independence. José Arcadio Buendía, with the copy of the order in his hand, found him taking his nap in a hammock he had set up in the narrow office. "Did you write this paper?" he asked him. Don Apolinar Moscote, a mature man, timid, with a ruddy complexion, said yes. "By what right?" José Arcadio Buendía asked again. Don Apolinar Moscote picked up a paper from the drawer of the table and showed it to him. "I have been named magistrate of this town." José Arcadio Buendía did not even look at the appointment.
"In this town we do not give orders with pieces of paper," he said without losing his calm. "And so that you know it once and for all, we don't need any judge here because there's nothing that needs judging."
Facing Don Apolinar Moscote, still without raising his voice, he gave a detailed account of how they had founded the village, of how they had distributed the land, opened the roads, and introduced the improvements that necessity required without having bothered the government and without anyone having bothered them. "We are so peaceful that none of us has died even of a natural death," he said. "You can see that we still don't have any cemetery." No once was upset that the government had not helped them. On the contrary, they were happy that up until then it had let them grow in peace, and he hoped that it would continue leaving them that way, because they had not founded a town so that the first upstart who came along would tell them what to do. Don Apolinar had put on his denim jacket, white like his trousers, without losing at any moment the elegance of his gestures.
"So that if you want to stay here like any other ordinary citizen, you're quite welcome," José Arcadio Buendía concluded. "But if you've come to cause disorder by making the people paint their houses blue, you can pick up your junk and go back where you came from. Because my house is going to be white, white, like a dove."
Don Apolinar Moscote turned pale. He took a step backward and tightened his jaws as he said with a certain affliction:
"I must warn you that I'm armed."

“鎮長，”烏蘇娜怏怏不樂地回答。“聽說他是政府派來的官兒。”
阿·摩斯柯特鎮長先生是不聲不響地來到馬孔多的。第一批阿拉伯人來到這兒，用小玩意兒交換鸚鵡的時候，有個阿拉伯人開了一家雅各旅店，阿·摩斯柯特首先住在這個旅店裏，第二天才租了一個門朝街的小房間，離布恩蒂亞的房子有兩個街區。他在室內擺上從雅各旅店買來的桌子和椅子，把帶來的共和國國徽釘在牆上，並且在門上刷了“鎮長”二字。他的第一道命令就是要所有的房屋刷成藍色，藉以慶祝國家獨立的週年紀念。霍·阿·布恩蒂亞拿着複寫的命令來找鎮長，正碰見他在小辦公室的吊牀上睡午覺。“這張紙兒是你寫的嗎？”霍·阿·布恩蒂亞問。阿·摩斯柯特是個上了歲數的人，面色紅潤，顯得膽怯，作了肯定的問答。“憑什麼權力？”霍·阿·布恩蒂亞又問。阿·摩斯柯特從辦公桌抽屜內拿出一張紙來，遞給他看。“茲派該員前往上述市鎮執行鎮長職務。”霍·阿·布恩蒂亞對這委任狀看都不看一眼。
“在這個市鎮上，我們不 靠紙兒發號施令，”他平靜地回答。“請你永遠記住：我們不需要別人指手畫腳，我們這兒的事用不着別人來管。”
阿·摩斯柯特先生保持鎮定，霍·阿·布恩蒂亞仍然沒有提高聲音，向他詳細他講了講：他們如何建村，如何劃分土地、開闢道路，做了應做的一切，從來沒有麻煩過任何政府。誰也沒有來麻煩過他們。“我們是愛好和平的人，我們這兒甚至還沒死過人咧。”霍·阿·布恩蒂亞說。“你能看出，馬孔多至今沒有墓地。”他沒有抱怨政府，恰恰相反，他高興沒有人來妨礙他們安寧地發展，希望今後也是如此，因爲他們建立馬孔多村，不是爲了讓別人來告訴他們應該怎麼辦的。阿，摩斯柯特先生穿上象褲子一樣白的祖布短上衣，一分鐘也沒忘記文雅的舉止。
“所以，如果你想留在這個鎮上做一個普通的居民，我們完全歡迎。”霍·阿·布恩蒂亞最後說。“可是，如果你來製造混亂，強迫大夥兒把房子刷成藍色，那你就拿起自己的行李，回到你來的地方去，我的房子將會白得象一隻鴿子。”
阿·摩斯柯特先生臉色發白。他倒退一步，咬緊牙關，有點激動他說：
“我得警告你，我有武器。”