paragraph 01
When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.
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袋底洞的比尔博先生宣布即将举办他的第一百一十一次生日宴会，届时还会有特殊的惊喜。哈比屯就多了许多兴奋的议论。
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paragraph 02
Bilbo was very rich and very peculiar, and had been the wonder of the Shire for sixty years, ever since his remarkable disappearance and unexpected return. The riches he had brought back from his travels had now become a local legend, and it was popularly believed, whatever the old folk might say, that the Hill at Bag End was full of tunnels stuffed with treasure. And if that was not enough for fame, there was also his prolonged vigour to marvel at. Time wore on, but it seemed to have little effect on Mr. Baggins. At ninety he was much the same as at fifty. At ninety-nine they began to call him well-preserved, but unchanged would have been nearer the mark. There were some that shook their heads and thought this was too much of a good thing; it seemed unfair that anyone should possess (apparently) perpetual youth as well as (reputedly) inexhaustible wealth.
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比尔博非常富有也非常古怪。自从他突然的消失又意想不到的回归之后，他成为了夏尔的传奇，到现在已经六十多年了。他从旅程中究竟带回了多少财富，已经变成了当地的传说。不管那些老人们怎么说，现在比较流行的说法是，在山丘的袋底洞里面到处都是塞满了宝藏的隧道。但是这些财富本身并没有让他这么有名，让他出名的是他令人惊讶的精力充沛。时光飞逝，但是岁月却没有在比尔博的身上留下痕迹。他的九十岁就和五十岁一样。九十岁的时候，人们还说他是保养的好。但是一直都这样年轻就令人惊讶了。总有些人摇着头，觉得这事未免太好了。一个人同时拥有永驻青春和无尽财富是很不公平的一件事。
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paragraph 03
'It will have to be paid for,' they said. 'It isn't natural, and trouble will come of it!'
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“ 他会付出代价的，” 他们这样说。“这不自然，会带来麻烦的”。
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paragraph 04
But so far trouble had not come; and as Mr. Baggins was generous with his money, most people were willing to forgive him his oddities and his good fortune. He remained on visiting terms with his relatives (except, of course, the Sackville-Bagginses), and he had many devoted admirers among the hobbits of poor and unimportant families. But he had no close friends, until some of his younger cousins began to grow up.
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但是麻烦很久没有找上门了，而且比尔博先生是这样的慷慨，以至于大多数人们乐意去原谅他的怪癖和好运。他保持着去亲戚家做客的习惯（当然除了赛克威尔·巴金斯一家），而且他还在一些穷人和平凡的家族中有很多仰慕者。但是自从他的一些年轻的表亲们长大后，他也就没有了亲密的朋友。
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paragraph 05
The eldest of these, and Bilbo's favourite, was young Frodo Baggins. When Bilbo was ninety-nine, he adopted Frodo as his heir, and brought him to live at Bag End; and the hopes of the Sackville-Bagginses were finally dashed. Bilbo and Frodo happened to have the same birthday, September 22nd.
'You had better come and live here, Frodo my lad,' said Bilbo one day; 'and then we can celebrate our birthday-parties comfortably together.' At that time Frodo was still in his tweens, as the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three.
Twelve more years passed. Each year the Bagginses had given very lively combined birthday-parties at Bag End; but now it was understood that something quite exceptional was being planned for that autumn. Bilbo was going to be eleventy-one, 111, a rather curious number and a very respectable age for a hobbit (the Old Took himself had only reached 130); and Frodo was going to be thirty-three, 33) an important number: the date of his 'coming of age'.
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这些表亲中最年长的一个，也是比尔博最喜欢的一个，是小伙佛罗多·巴金斯。比尔博九十九岁的时候，他收养了佛罗多，把他带回了袋底洞一起居住。他指定佛罗多为继承者，并以此来希望赛克威尔·巴金斯一家可以不打这里的主意。比尔博和佛罗多恰好有相同的生日，九月二十二日。
“你最好过来住这里，佛罗多。” 一天，比尔博说起：“我们就可以一起开生日派对了。” 那个时候佛罗多还是少年。霍比特人把十二岁到三十三岁的时间，没有脱去稚气的年纪称为少年。
十二年过去了。每一年，比尔博家的两个人都在袋底洞举办了非常热闹的组合生日聚会。但是今年的秋天有一些不一样，而且要提前计划。比尔博马上一百一十一岁了，111，一个非常特殊的数字，也是霍比特人中令人尊敬的长寿。老图克自己也只活了130岁。佛罗多也要满三十三岁了，这是一个重要的年纪，他即将迎来自己的成年。
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paragraph 06
Tongues began to wag in Hobbiton and Bywater; and rumour of the coming event travelled all over the Shire. The history and character of Mr. Bilbo Baggins became once again the chief topic of conversation; and the older folk suddenly found their reminiscences in welcome demand
No one had a more attentive audience than old Ham Gamgee, commonly known as the Gaffer. He held forth at The Ivy Bush, a small inn on the Bywater road; and he spoke with some authority, for he had tended the garden at Bag End for forty years, and had helped old Holman in the same job before that. Now that he was himself growing old and stiff in the joints, the job was mainly carried on by his youngest son, Sam Gamgee. Both father and son were on very friendly terms with Bilbo and Frodo. They lived on the Hill itself, in Number 3 Bagshot Row just below Bag End.
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临水区和哈比屯传出了一些闲言碎语，关于即将发生的事的谣言传遍了整个夏尔。充满了传奇的比尔博先生有一次站在了风口浪尖之上，一些老家伙突然发现自己的记忆变得有市场起来。
没有人能像哈姆·詹吉一样吸引那么多听众，大家都叫他哈姆老爹。他在临水路上一家名叫常春藤的小旅店摆着龙门阵，而且他的话具有某种权威性。他已经为袋底洞当了四十年的园丁了，而且也帮之前的园丁霍曼工作过一段时间。他现在越来越老了，关节也变得僵硬，所以他的工作基本上是他自己最小的儿子山姆·詹吉在做。父亲和儿子都和比尔博还有佛罗多的关系不错。他们独自住在山下的袋边路3号，正好在袋底洞的下面。
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- hold forth 侃侃而谈
