Gimpel the Fool - Isaac Bashevis Singer

Yiddish - a Jewish language, originally used in central and eastern Europe, based on a form of German with words from Hebrew and several modern languages 意第緒語，依地語（猶太人的語言，起源於歐洲中部和東部，以德語為基礎，借用希伯來語和若干現代語言的詞語）

Ghetto
-an area of a city where many people of the same race or background live, separately from the rest of the population. Ghettos are often crowded, with bad living conditions. （相同種族或背景人的）聚居區；貧民區
-the area of a town where Jews were forced to live in the past （昔日城市中的）猶太人居住區

imbecile, donkey, flax-head, dope, glump, ninny (a stupid person 笨蛋；傻子), and fool

What did my foolishness consist of? I was easy to take in (To deceive or swindle: was taken in by a confidence artist.).

I was no weakling (a person who is not physically strong 瘦弱的人；弱不禁風的人).

Cracow (Kraków is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland.).

I'm really not a slugger【口】打擊力強的選手 by nature.
Tartar韃靼人(an ethnic group in present-day Russia)

pranksters (One who plays tricks or pranks.惡作劇)

leg-pullers (leg-pull: A comical hoax or practical joke.) (The act of attempting to make somebody believe something that is not true, done as a joke.)

And I like a golem ((猶太傳說中的)有生命的泥人) believed everyone.
(In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic擬人化being, created entirely from inanimate matter.) (In modern Hebrew the word golem means "dumb" or "helpless")

A student from the yeshiva正統猶太小學came once to buy a roll

the Messiah (in Judaism 猶太教 a king who will be sent by God to save the Jewish people 彌賽亞（上帝要派去拯救猶太人民的國王）) has come.

Besides, you can't pass through life unscathed (not hurt 未受傷害；未受傷), nor expect to.

She was dressed in a worn hand-me-down (A hand me down is something you inherit from someone else after they no longer need or want it. (noun) An example of a hand me down is the clothing your older sibling wore that you have been given to wear. ) gown of plush (a silk or cotton fabric with a thick soft surface made of a mass of threads （絲或棉的）長毛絨).

She had her hair put up in braids and pinned across her head.

It took my breath away, almost, the reek散發臭氣；發出難聞的氣味of it all.
the drip (a boring or stupid person with a weak personality 怯懦討厭的人；愚蠢膽怯的人)

I want a dowry of fifty guilders荷蘭盾
Dowry
- money and/or property that, in some societies, a wife or her family must pay to her husband when they get married （新娘的）嫁妝，陪嫁
- money and/or property that, in some societies, a husband must pay to his wife's family when they get married （新郎給新娘家的）彩禮，財禮

plainspoken直言不諱的;說話直率的
Then she said, "Don't bargain with me. Either a flat 'yes' or a flat 'no'…."

It so happened that there was a dysentery (an infection of the bowels that causes severe diarrhoea with loss of blood 痢疾) epidemic流行病at the time.

the sexton's負責看管教堂及其周邊設施、敲鐘等的）教堂司事 wife answered for her, "Both a widow and divorced."

galore大量；很多

I realized I was going to be rooked騙.

. And she said, "My monthly (period) has come."

The screams rose to the welkin【詩】天空,蒼穹.

One of the congregation從屬某教堂並定期做禮拜的）教堂會眾put a straw to my mouth

You couldn't wedge (to put or squeeze something tightly into a narrow space, so that it cannot move easily 將…擠入（或塞進、插入）) another soul in.

If my mother had known of it she'd have died a second time.

and when he was colicky肚腹絞痛的;疝痛的 I was the only one who could pacify使平靜；平息；撫慰him

to get one of those abracadabras (a magical charm or incantation) for him that would get him out of it

orations演說,演講

I adored her every word. She gave me bloody wounds though.
poppyseed常用於烘製糕餅的罌粟籽 rolls I baked myself

I thieved because of her and swiped everything I could lay hands on: macaroons杏仁餅, raisins, almonds, cakes.

she had heartburn (a pain that feels like something burning in your chest caused by indigestion （不消化引起的）胃灼熱，燒心)

hiccups (a sharp, usually repeated, sound made in the throat, that is caused by a sudden movement of the diaphragm and that you cannot control 嗝；呃逆)

Another man in my place would have taken French leave (French leave is "Leave of absence without permission or without announcing one's departure",[1] including leaving a party without bidding farewell to the host. The intent behind this behaviour is to leave without disturbing the host. The phrase was born at a time when the English and French cultures were heavily interlinked.[citation needed] In French, the phrase "filer à l'anglaise" (English leave) means the same thing. ) and disappeared. But I'm the type that bears it and says nothing.

Another in my place would have made an uproar, and enough noise to rouse the whole town, but the thought occurred to me that I might wake the child.

sucker (a person who is easily tricked or persuaded to do something 容易上當受騙的人；沒有主見的人)

it made a great commotion（突然發生的）喧鬧，騷亂，騷動in the town

They sent the beadle教區執事for Elka right away.

the abscess (a swollen and infected area on your skin or in your body, full of a thick yellowish liquid (called pus) 膿腫) had to burst.

mannikin (a life-sized human doll used in medical education)

And if that's so, I'm doing her an injustice.

And when I got so far in my thoughts I started to weep.


I hadn't realized that there could be so much erudition great academic knowledge 博學；學問about a matter like this.

They called me up to the Torah (in Judaism 猶太教 the law of God as given to Moses and recorded in the first five books of the Bible 托拉，律法書，梅瑟五書，摩西五經（《聖經》中的首五卷）)

The louts舉止粗野的男人（或男孩）and loudmouths高聲講話的人of the town who came into the bakery gave me a going over (a serious physical attack on somebody 痛打).

I resolved that I would always believe what I was told.

wedding strudel (a cake made from pieces of fruit, especially apple, rolled in thin pastry and baked 果餡捲（餅）)

"Well, they have long tongues," he said, "and nothing to do with them but babble胡言亂語. Ignore it as you ignore the cold of last winter."

Maimonides (Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides or Rambam was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages. He was born in Córdoba, Spain on Passover Eve, 1135, and died in Egypt (or Tiberias) on 20th Tevet, December 12, 1204.[6] He was a rabbi, physician and philosopher in Morocco and Egypt.)

I said nothing to anyone, although as far as my heart was concerned it was like one of the Holy Days.

The women teased and twitted嘲笑,揶揄,挖苦,非難me as they did every day

with your loose不精確的；不嚴謹的talk

The truth is out, like the oil upon the water.

As I approached the house my heart started to pound as though it were the heart of a criminal.

my heart went thump! thump!

The nanny goat was a good little creature. I had a nearly human feeling for her.


examined her udders乳房, and found nothing wrong

Get out, or I'll scream all Frampol (Frampol is a town in Poland) out of bed!

accuse me of raising spooks and dybbuks (In Jewish folklore, a dybbuk (Yiddish: דיבוק, from Hebrew attachment) is a malicious or malevolent[1] possessing spirit believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person.)

If I had been clouted凝結的 on the head with a piece of wood it couldn't have bewildered me more.


Eating kreplach三角餛飩

A thick mire (an area of deep mud 泥潭；泥沼)

We kneaded the bread, scattered caraway (the dried seeds of the caraway plant, used to give flavour to food 葛縷子乾籽（用於食物調味）) seeds on it, and set it to bake.


kissed the mezuzah (On the doorposts of traditional Jewish homes (and many not-so-traditional homes!), you will find a small case like the one pictured at left. This case is commonly known as a mezuzah (Heb.: doorpost), because it is placed upon the doorposts of the house. The mezuzah is not, as some suppose, a good-luck charm, nor does it have any connection with the lamb's blood placed on the doorposts in Egypt. Rather, it is a constant reminder of G-d's presence and G-d's mitzvot.) (A mezuzah (Hebrew: מְזוּזָה‎ "doorpost"; plural: מְזוּזוֹת mezuzot) is a piece of parchment (often contained in a decorative case) inscribed with specified Hebrew verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21). These verses comprise the Jewish prayer "Shema Yisrael", beginning with the phrase: "Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is One")

panhandler - a person who asks other people for money in the street 叫化子；乞丐