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The notes one of my uncles (who had the same kind of curiosity in collecting family anecdotes) once put into my hands, furnished me with several particulars relating to our ancestors.
我有一位伯父，他也同样地爱好搜集家族中的遗闻轶事，有一次他交给我一些笔记，其中讲到关于我们祖先的一些事情。
From these notes I learned that the family had lived in the same village, Ecton, in Northamptonshire, for three hundred years, and how much longer he knew not
从这些笔记我知道，我们的家族在诺桑普顿郡的爱克顿教区至少已经住了三百年，究竟在这以前还有多少年，他就不知道了，
(perhaps from the time when the name of Franklin, that before was the name of an order of people, was assumed by them as a surname when others took surnames all over the kingdom),
(也许从他们采用“富兰克林”为姓的那时候起。“富兰克林”在这以前是一个人民阶层的名称，当时英国各地人们都在采用姓氏。)
on a freehold of about thirty acres, aided by the smith's business, which had continued in the family till his time, the eldest son being always bred to that business;
他们享有三十英亩的自由领地，以打铁为副业。直到我伯父的时候为止，打铁这一行业一直保持在我们家族中，家中的长子总是学打铁的，
a custom which he and my father followed as to their eldest sons.
我伯父和我父亲都按照这个传统叫他们的长子学铁匠。
When I searched the registers at Ecton, I found an account of their births, marriages and burials from the year 1555 only, there being no registers kept in that parish at any time preceding.
我查考了爱克顿教区的户籍册，我只找到了1555年以后的出生、嫁娶和丧葬的纪录，那时以前的户籍册在那个教区里已经没有了。
By that register I perceived that I was the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back.
从这个户籍册里我发现我是五世以来小儿子的小儿子。
My grandfather Thomas, who was born in 1598, lived at Ecton till he grew too old to follow business longer, when he went to live with his son John, a dyer at Banbury, in Oxfordshire, with whom my father served an apprenticeship.
我祖父托马斯生于1598年，住在爱克顿直到他年迈不能从事生产的时候为止，然后他住到他儿子约翰的地方去，他儿子是牛津郡班布雷村的一个染匠，我父亲就是跟着他学徒的。
There my grandfather died and lies buried. We saw his gravestone in 1758.
我的祖父就死在那里，葬在那里。我们在1758年看到了他的墓碑。
His eldest son Thomas lived in the house at Ecton, and left it with the land to his only child, a daughter, who, with her husband, one Fisher, of Wellingborough, sold it to Mr. Isted, now lord of the manor there.
他的长子托马斯住在爱克顿的住宅里，后来把住宅和田产遗留给他的独养女儿，他女儿和她的丈夫(是威灵堡的一个叫做费雪的人)又把房产卖给伊斯德先生，他现在就是那里的庄园领主。
My grandfather had four sons that grew up, viz.: Thomas, John, Benjamin and Josiah.
我祖父养大了四个儿子，名叫托马斯、约翰、本杰明和约瑟。
I will give you what account I can of them at this distance from my papers, and if these are not lost in my absence, you will among them find many more particulars.
我手边没有材料，但是我将把我记得的给你写出来。如果我的纪录在我离家以后未曾遗失的话，你可以从纪录里找到更详细的材料。
Thomas was bred a smith under his father; but, being ingenious,
托马斯跟他父亲学了打铁，但是他秉性颖悟，
and encouraged in learning (as all my brothers were) by an Esquire Palmer, then the principal gentleman in that parish, he qualified himself for the business of scrivener; became a considerable man in the county;
当地教区的大绅士伯麦老爷鼓励他求学上进(他的弟弟们也得到同样的鼓励)，他获得了充当书记官的资格，成为地方上有声望的人，
was a chief mover of all public-spirited undertakings for the county or town of Northampton, and his own village, of which many instances were related of him;
也是当地(无论是他的本村，诺桑普顿的城镇或是他所在的州)一切公益事业的主要推动者，我们听到了许多关于这一类的事例。
and much taken notice of and patronized by the then Lord Halifax.
在爱克顿教区他颇受到当时的哈利法克斯勋爵的赏识和奖励。
He died in 1702, January 6, old style, just four years to a day before I was born.
他死在旧历1702年1月6日，恰巧是我出生以前的四年整。
The account we received of his life and character from some old people at Ecton, I remember, struck you as something extraordinary, from its similarity to what you knew of mine.
我记得当我们从爱克顿教区的一些老人口中听到关于他的生平和性格的时候，你觉得很像你所知道的我的一生和个性，颇为惊异。
"Had he died on the same day," you said, "one might have supposed a transmigration."
你说：“他如果死在您出世的那一天，人家也许认为是灵魂转生呢！”
John was bred a dyer, I believe of woollens, Benjamin was bred a silk dyer, serving an apprenticeship at London.
约翰学了染匠，我相信是染呢绒的，本杰明是丝绸染匠，在伦敦拜师受业。
He was an ingenious man. I remember him well, for when I was a boy he came over to my father in Boston, and lived in the house with us some years.
他秉性聪颖。我很清楚地记得他，因为当我还是一个孩子的时候，他渡海到波士顿来，住在我父亲那里，跟我们同住了几年之久。
He lived to a great age. His grandson, Samuel Franklin, now lives in Boston.
他一直活到高龄，他的孙子撒木耳·富兰克林现在还住在波士顿。
He left behind him two quarto volumes, MS., of his own poetry, consisting of little occasional pieces addressed to his friends and relations, of which the following, sent to me, is a specimen.
他死后留下了两本四开本的诗稿，里面是一些写赠给他亲友的即兴短诗，下面寄给我的一首诗就是一个实例。
He had formed a short-hand of his own, which he taught me, but, never practising it, I have now forgot it.
他自己制定了一套速写术，并且教会了我，但是因为我从来不练，所以现在忘光了。
I was named after this uncle, there being a particular affection between him and my father.
我是跟这位伯父命名的，因为我父亲跟他感情特别融洽。
He was very pious, a great attender of sermons of the best preachers, which he took down in his short-hand, and had with him many volumes of them.
他笃信宗教，经常去听著名传教师的说教，并且把他们的说教用他的速记术记下来，他身边有许多这样的笔记本。
He was also much of a politician; too much, perhaps, for his station.
他也是一个很好的政治家，或许从他的地位来讲，他过分地关心政治了。
There fell lately into my hands, in London, a collection he had made of all the principal pamphlets relating to public affairs, from 1641 to 1717;
最近在伦敦我获得了他所搜集的从1641到1717年间重要的政论手册，
many of the volumes are wanting as appears by the numbering, but there still remain eight volumes in folio, and twenty-four in quarto and in octavo.
从书本上的卷号看来，有许多册已经遗失了，但是还留下了对开本八本，四开本和八开本二十四本。
A dealer in old books met with them, and knowing me by my sometimes buying of him, he brought them to me.
一个旧书商人获得了这些书籍，因为我有时候从他这里买书，他认识我，所以就把它们送到我这里来。
It seems my uncle must have left them here when he went to America, which was about fifty years since.
看样子是我伯父在去美洲之前留在伦敦的，这已经是五十多年以前的事了。
