Rolliver's inn, the single alehouse at this end of the long and broken village, could only boast of an off-license; licence, as nobody could legally drink on the premises, the amount of overt accommodation for consumers was strictly limited to a little board about six inches wide and two yards long, fixed to the garden palings by pieces of wire, so as to form a ledge. On this board thirsty strangers deposited their cups as they stood in the road and drank, and threw the dregs on the dusty ground to the pattern of Polynesia, and wished they could have a restful seat inside.
在疏落狹長的村子的這一頭只有一家酒店，名叫羅利弗酒店，但它只有準(zhǔn)許外賣酒類的執(zhí)照；因此，不能夠允許人在酒店里喝酒，而可以公開招待顧客前來喝酒的地方，則被嚴(yán)格限制在一小塊大約六英寸寬兩碼長的木板那兒，木板被鐵絲固定在花園的柵欄上，因此也就算是喝酒的臺(tái)面。從路邊走過的好酒的行人把酒杯放在木板上，就站在路上喝酒，喝完了就把酒杯內(nèi)的沉渣倒在滿是塵土的地上，堆成玻利尼西亞群島的圖樣，心里頭卻希望能在酒店里面有一個(gè)舒適的座位。

Thus the strangers. But there were also local customers who felt the same wish; and where there's a will there's a way.
既然過路的客人有這樣的愿望，因此本地的顧客也就有相同的愿望；于是有志者事竟成。

In a large bedroom upstairs, the window of which was thickly curtained with a great woollen shawl lately discarded by the landlady Mrs Rolliver, were gathered on this evening nearly a dozen persons, all seeking beatitude; all old inhabitants of the nearer end of Marlott, and frequenters of this retreat. Not only did the distance to The Pure Drop, the fully-licensed tavern at the further part of the dispersed village, render its accommodation practically unavailable for dwellers at this end; but the far more serious question, the quality of the liquor, confirmed the prevalent opinion that it was better to drink with Rolliver in a corner of the housetop than with the other landlord in a wide house.