麦琪的礼物：Chapter 1

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

一元八角七。全都在这儿了,其中六角是一分一分的铜板。这些小钱是杂货店老板、菜贩子和肉店老板那儿软硬兼施地一分两分地扣下来,直弄得自己羞愧难当,深感这种掂斤播两的交易实在丢人现眼。德拉反复数了三次,还是一元八角七,而第二天就是圣诞节了。

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

除了扑倒在那破旧的小睡椅上哭嚎之外,显然别无他途。德拉这样作了,可精神上的感慨油然而生,生活就是哭泣、抽噎和微笑,尤以抽噎占统治地位。

While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.

当这位家庭主妇逐渐平静下来之际,让我们看看这个家吧。一套带家具的公寓房子,每周房租八美元。尽管难以用笔墨形容,可它真真够得上乞丐帮这个词儿。

In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr. James Dillingham Young."

楼下的门道里有个信箱,可从来没有装过信,还有一个电钮,也从没有人的手指按响过电铃。而且,那儿还有一张名片,上写着“詹姆斯·迪林厄姆·杨先生"。