双语·《刀锋》 第五章 二

CHAPTER FIVE 2
第五章 二

Isabel had conceived the desire to make a tour of the tough joints, and because I had some acquaintance with them she asked me to be their guide. I did not much like the notion, because in places of that sort in Paris they are apt to make their disapproval of sightseers from another world unpleasantly obvious.But Isabel insisted.I warned her that it would be very boring and begged her to dress plainly.We dined late, went to the Folies-Bergère for an hour, and then set out.I took them first to a cellar near Notre Dame frequented by gangsters and their molls where I knew the proprietor, and he made room for us at a long table at which were sitting some very disreputable people, but I ordered wine for all of them and we drank one another’s healths.It was hot, smoky, and dirty.Then I took them to the Sphynx where women, naked under their smart, tawdry evening dresses, their breasts, nipples and all, exposed, sit in a row on two benches opposite one another and when the band strikes up dance together listlessly with their eyes on the lookout for the men who sit round the dance hall at marble-topped tables.We ordered a bottle of warm champagne.Some of the women gave Isabel the eye as they passed us and I wondered if she knew what it meant.
伊莎贝尔突发奇想，想到那些野去处瞧一瞧，鉴于我在那儿有熟人，便请我当向导。我老大不愿意，因为巴黎的这种地方不喜欢叫外人进去参观，他们对此毫不掩饰，十分叫人扫兴。可是，伊莎贝尔非去不行。我提前告诉她，说那种地方非常叫人倒胃口，吩咐她穿着一定要朴素。我们很迟才吃晚饭，饭后去女神影院看了一个小时的短片。接下来，我先带他们到圣母院附近的一处地下室，那儿是流氓恶棍和他们的姘头常来常往之地。我认识此处的老板，他为我们安排位子，让我们坐到一张长条桌旁，同桌的顾客是几个不三不四的人。我为所有的人都要了杯酒，大家相互敬酒。屋子里闷热、肮脏，乌烟瘴气的。后来，我又带他们去了斯芬克斯舞厅，舞厅里的女人们穿着华丽却俗气，袒胸露怀，面对面坐在两张长凳子上，乐队奏舞曲时，她们便到舞池里无精打采地跳舞，一边用眼睛搜索中意的男人——那些男客散坐在舞厅各处的大理石面桌子旁。我们叫了一瓶未冰镇的香槟酒。有些女人经过我们面前时，会给伊莎贝尔抛个眼色，我不知道伊莎贝尔是否明白其中的含意。

Then we went on to the Rue de Lappe. It is a dingy, narrow street, and even as you enter it you get the impression of sordid lust.We went into a café.There was the usual young man, pale and dissipated, playing the piano, while another man, old and tired, scraped away on a fiddle, and a third made discordant noises on a saxophone.The place was packed and it looked as though there wasn’t a vacant table, but the patron, seeing that we were customers with money to spend, unceremoniously turned a couple out, making them take seats at a table already occupied, and settled us down.The two persons who were hustled away did not take it well, and they made remarks about us that were far from complimentary.A lot of people were dancing, sailors with the red pompon on their hats, men mostly with their caps on and handkerchiefs round their necks, women of mature age, and young girls, painted to the eyes, bareheaded, in short skirts and coloured blouses.Men danced with podgy boys with made-up eyes；gaunt, hard-featured women danced with fat women with dyed hair；men danced with women.There was a frowst of smoke and liquor and of sweating bodies.The music went on interminably and that unsavoury mob proceeded round the room, the sweat shining on their faces, with a solemn intensity in which there was something horrible.There were a few big men of brutal aspect, but for the most part they were puny and ill-nourished.I watched the three who were playing.They might have been robots, so mechanical was their performance, and I asked myself if it was possible that at one time, when they were setting out, they had thought they might be musicians whom people would come from far to hear and to applaud.Even to play the violin badly you must take lessons and practise：did that fiddler go to all that trouble just to play fox-trots till the small hours of the morning in that stinking squalor?The music stopped and the pianist wiped his face with a dirty handkerchief.The dancers slouched or sidled or squirmed back to their tables.Suddenly we heard an American voice：
随后，我们又去了拉佩街。那是一条脏兮兮、路面狭窄的小街。一到这儿，你就会油然产生污秽下流的印象。走进一家咖啡馆，只见一个面色苍白、沉迷于酒色的年轻人在弹钢琴，另有一个倦容满面的老头在刺刺拉拉地抚琴，还有一个吹萨克斯管的，吹出来的调子杂乱无章。咖啡馆里人满为患，好像一张空桌子都没有了。不过，老板看出我们是肯花钱的主顾，便毫不客气地把一对男女赶到另外一张已经坐了人的桌子去，请我们在空下来的桌旁坐下。被赶走的那两个人很不服气，说了一些让我们难以入耳的话。舞池里有许多人——有帽子上缀着红绒球的水手，还有杂七杂八的男子（他们大多数都头戴帽子，脖子上围着帕巾）；有半老徐娘，也有青春女子，一个个描眉涂唇（她们都没有戴帽子），下穿短裙，上穿五颜六色的罩衣。舞伴的搭配乱七八糟——有大男子和矮胖的小男孩跳（小男孩的眼睛化了妆），有身子干瘦、横眉立目的女人和染了头发的胖女人跳，也有男和女搭配跳。屋里弥漫着烟气、酒味和汗臭味。舞曲没完没了地奏着，人群散发着难闻的气味，在舞池里舞个不停，脸上的汗水闪着亮光，气氛严肃、紧张，有一些可怕的成分在里边。男客里有几个大块头，面相凶狠，但大多数男客都是矮个，显得营养不良。我看了看那三个乐手，觉得他们跟机器人一样，演奏起来死板板的。我怀疑他们是否在起步时怀揣过梦想，梦想着自己有朝一日会成为大音乐家，引得人们从大老远赶来听他们演奏，为他们喝彩。即便提琴拉得不好，也得请人教，也得练习呀！这位提琴手十年磨一剑，末了难道就是为了屈身于这么一个肮脏猪圈里，为人家拉狐步舞曲，一直拉到次日凌晨吗？后来，音乐停止了，钢琴手掏出一块脏手绢揩揩脸。跳舞的人纷纷返回自己的座位，或无精打采，或脚步踉跄，或身子歪斜。突然，我们耳边传来了一声美国口音的叫喊：

“For Christ's sake.”
“我的老天呀！”

A woman got up from one of the tables across the room. The man she was with tried to stop her, but she pushed him aside and staggered across the floor.She was very drunk.She came up to our table and stood in front of us, swaying a little and grinning stupidly.She seemed to find the sight of us vastly amusing.I glanced at my companions.Isabel was staring at her blankly, Gray had a sullen frown on his face, and Larry gazed as though he couldn't believe hiseyes.
只见屋子另一头有个女子从一张桌子旁站了起来。和她在一起的那个男子想拦她，却被她一把推开，然后她就摇摇晃晃走了过来。她已经有八九分醉了，来到我们的桌前，站在那儿，脚下有点立不稳，傻里傻气咧嘴笑着。她似乎觉得我们这几个人很好笑似的。我偏头望了望我的同伴们。伊莎贝尔木然瞅着她；格雷一脸愠色；拉里目瞪口呆，仿佛无法相信自己的眼睛一般。

“Hello，”she said.
“你们好呀！”那女子说道。

“Sophie，”said Isabel.
“原来是索菲！”

“Who the hell did you think it was?”she gurgled. She grabbed the waiter who was passing.“Vincent, fetch me a chair.”
“那你把我当成了哪一个了？”索菲咯咯一笑。她一把扯住了一个从身边走过的侍者，对他说道：“文森特，去给我拿把椅子来。”

“Fetch one yourself，”he said, snatching himself away.
“你自己拿去。”侍者挣开她的手说道。

“Salaud，”she cried, spitting at him.
“你个坏东西。”她骂道，朝他啐了一口。

“T'en fais pas, Sophie，”said a big fat fellow with a great head of greasy hair, who was sitting next to us in his shirt-sleeves.“Here's a chair.”
“别担心，索菲，这儿有椅子。”一个油头粉面的大胖子喊了一声。那家伙坐在我们的邻桌，身上只穿了一件衬衣。

“Fancy meeting you all like this，”she said, still swaying.“Hello, Larry. Hello, Gray.”She sank into the chair which the man who had spoken placed behind her.“Let's all have a drink.Patron，”she screamed.
“想不到竟在此处碰上了你们诸位。”她说道，脚下仍站立不稳，“你好，拉里！你好，格雷！”她打着招呼，一屁股坐在了那个胖子放在她身后的一把椅子上，“来，咱们一起干一杯。老板！”她扯着喉咙叫了一声。

I had noticed that the proprietor had his eye on us and now he came up.
我留意到那个老板一直在盯着我们，此时闻声走了过来。

“You know these people, Sophie?”he asked, addressing her in the familiar second person singular.
“你认识这几个人，索菲？”他问道。他对索菲说话，用的是亲昵的单数第二人称。

“Ta gueule，”she laughed drunkenly.“They're my childhood friends. I'm buying a bottle of champagne for them.And don't you bring us any urine de cheval.Bring us something one can swallow without vomiting.”
“当然认识，”她醉醺醺地大笑着说，“他们是我小时候的朋友。我要请他们喝一瓶香槟酒。你可不要给我们把马尿拿来。拿酒来，别喝了叫我们呕吐。”

“You're drunk, my poor Sophie，”he said.
“你醉了，可怜的索菲。”老板说。

“To hell with you.”
“咸吃萝卜淡操心。”

He went off, glad enough to sell a bottle of champagne-we for safety's sake had been drinking brandy and soda-and Sophie stared at me dully for a moment.
老板抽身走掉了，心里乐得卖掉了一瓶香槟酒。我们为了安全起见，只喝白兰地掺苏打水。索菲用呆滞的目光盯着我，把我打量了一会儿。

“Who's your friend, Isabel?”
“伊莎贝尔，怎么不把你的这位朋友介绍一下？”

Isabel told her my name.
伊莎贝尔把我的名字告诉了她。

“Oh?I remember, you came to Chicago once. Bit of a stuffed shirt, aren't you?”
“啊，想起来了。你到芝加哥去过。看你的样子，很有派头呢，是不是？”

“Maybe，”I smiled.
“也许吧。”我笑了笑说。

I had no recollection of her, but that was not surprising, since I had not been to Chicago for more than ten years and had met a great many people then and a great many since.
对于她，我却是一点也想不起来了，其实这也并不奇怪，因为去芝加哥是十多年前的事情了，当时及以后我又接触到了许许多多的人。

She was quite tall and, when standing, looked taller still, for she was very thin. She wore a bright green silk blouse, but it was crumpled and spotted, and a short black skirt.Her hair, cut short and loosely curled, but tousled, was brightly hennaed.She was outrageously made up, her cheeks rouged to the eyes, and her eyelids, upper and lower, heavily blued；her eyebrows and eyelashes were thick with mascara and her mouth scarlet with lipstick.Her hands, with their painted nails, were dirty.She looked more of a slut than any woman there and I had a suspicion that she was not only drunk but doped.But one couldn't deny that there was a certain vicious attractiveness about her；she held her head with an arrogant tilt and her make-up accentuated the startling greenness of her eyes.Sodden with drink as she was, she had a bold-faced shamelessness that I could well imagine appealed to all that was base in men.She embraced us in a sardonic smile.
她的个子很高，站在那儿，由于瘦，就显得更高了。她上穿一件鲜绿的丝绸衣衫，皱巴巴的，上面满是污痕，下穿一条黑短裙，头发染成了亮亮的红褐色，剪得很短，马马虎虎盘了一下，乱得像鸡窝。她把自己打扮得妖里妖气，满脸都搽了胭脂，上下眼皮涂成了深蓝色，眉毛和睫毛上抹了浓浓的睫毛油，嘴唇用口红染成了血红色。她的手脏兮兮的，指甲盖上涂着指甲油。她一看就是个荡妇，比跟前的任何一个女人都显得下流。我怀疑她不仅喝醉了酒，还吸了毒。不过，无可否认的是，她身上有一股狐媚劲；她喜欢风情万种地把头扬得高高的，脸上的脂粉将绿眼珠子衬托得绿得惊人，尽管醉得厉害，却有一种厚颜无耻的荡劲，想象得来是颇受下流男人喜爱的。此时，只听她冲着我们冷笑了一声。

“I can't say you seem so terribly pleased to see me，”she said.
“看来，你们都不太高兴见到我。”她说道。

“I heard you were in Paris，”said Isabel lamely, a chilly smile on her face.
“听说你来巴黎了。”伊莎贝尔有气无力地说道，脸上浮出的笑容冷冰冰的。

“You might have called me. I'm in the phone-book.”
“那你为什么不给我打电话。电话簿上有我的名字。”

“We haven't been here very long.”
“我们来的时间不长。”

Gray came to the rescue.
格雷赶忙解围问道：

“Are you having a good time over here, Sophie?”
“你来这儿过得好吗，索菲？”

“Fine. You went bust, Gray, didn't you?”
“还好。你破产了，格雷，是不是？”

His face flushed a deeper red.
格雷一听，脸红得跟猪肝一样。

“Yes.”
“是的。”

“Tough on you. I guess it's pretty grim in Chicago right now.Lucky for me I got out when I did.For Christ's sake why doesn't that bastard bring us something to drink?”
“够你呛的。芝加哥那边恐怕日子都不好过。幸亏我逃了出来。上帝呀，那个天杀的怎么还没有把酒送来？”

“He's just coming，”I said, seeing the waiter threading his way through the tables with glasses and wine on a tray.
“正朝这边走呢。”我瞧见一个侍者手举托盘，上面放着酒杯和一瓶酒，正顺着桌子间的甬道走过来，于是便这样说道。

My remark drew her attention to me.
我的话把她的注意力吸引到了我身上。

“My loving in-laws kicked me out of Chicago. Said I was gumming up their f-reputations.”She giggled savagely.“I'm a remittance man.”
“我那慈爱的婆家人把我踢出了芝加哥，说我败坏了他们家的名声。”她说完咯咯一笑，笑得野里野气，“现在我是靠汇款过日子。”

The champagne came and was poured out. With a shaking hand she raised a glass to her lips.
香槟酒送来后，倒进了杯子里。她哆嗦着手端起酒杯，把酒杯举至唇边。

“To hell with stuffed shirts，”she said. She emptied the glass and glanced at Larry.“You don't seem to have much to say for yourself, Larry.”
“那些势利小人，去他们的吧。”她说完一仰脖子喝光了杯中的酒，然后望了拉里一眼。“你好像肚子里没有多少话要说的，拉里。”

He had been looking at her with an impassive face. He had not taken his eyes off her since she had appeared.He smiled amiably.
拉里一直在观察着她，脸上一点表情也没有。自从她露面，他的眼睛一刻也没离开过她。此时听了她的话，他便冲她莞尔一笑。

“I'm not a very talkative guy.”
“我本来话就不多么。”他说。

The music struck up again and a man came over to us. He was a tallish fellow and well built, with a great hooked nose, a mat of shining black hair, and great sensual lips.He looked like an evil Savonarola.Like most of the men there he wore no collar and his tight-fitting coat was closely buttoned to give him a waist.
乐手们又奏起了音乐。一个家伙朝我们这边走了过来，他个子比较高，长得虎背熊腰，大鹰钩鼻，头发油黑发亮，嘴唇厚墩墩的，面容有点像“恶人”萨伏那罗拉。跟屋里的大多数男人一样，他没有戴衣领，上衣的扣子扣得紧紧的，显出他的腰身来。

“Come on, Sophie. We're going to dance.”
“来呀，索菲，咱们跳舞去。”

“Go away. I'm busy.Can't you see I'm with friends?”
“走开。我忙着呢。你没看见我和朋友在说话吗？”

“J'm'en fous de tes amis. To hell with your friends.You're dancing.”
“我才不管你的什么朋友不朋友呢。叫你的朋友见鬼去吧。你跟我跳舞去。”

He took hold of her arm but she snatched it away.
他说着一把抓住了索菲的胳膊，却被索菲甩开了。

“Fous-moi la paix, espèce de con，”she cried, with sudden violence.
“松开我，你这个浑蛋！”她勃然大怒，吼了起来。

“Merde.”
“妈的。”

“Mange.”
“王八蛋。”

Gray did not understand what they were saying, but I saw that Isabel, with that strange knowledge of obscenity that the most virtuous woman seems to possess, understood perfectly, and her face went hard with a frown of disgust. The man raised his arm with his hand open, the horny hand of a workman, and was about to slap her, when Gray half raised himself from his chair.
格雷听不懂他们的话，但我看出伊莎贝尔却完全能理解他们的意思——奇怪的是，大多数讲究道德修养的女子对污言秽语很敏感，一听就懂。这时，只见她沉下脸来，蛾眉紧蹙，显出一副厌恶的表情。那人举起胳臂，张开他那只长满老茧的工人的手，眼看就要扇在索菲的脸上。就在这时，格雷从椅子上半抬起身子，恶声恶气地大吼一声：

“Allaiz vous ong，”he shouted, with his execrable accent.
“还不快滚！”

The man stopped and threw Gray a furious glance.
那人住了手，气哼哼地瞥了格雷一眼。

“Take care, Coco，”said Sophie, with a bitter laugh.“He'll lay you out cold.”
“小心点，可可，”索菲奸笑了一声说，“他会要你的命的。”

The man took in Gray's great height and weight and strength. He shrugged his shoulders sullenly and, throwing a filthy word at us, slunk off.Sophie giggled drunkenly.The rest of us were silent.I refilled her glass.
那人看了看格雷的个头和体重，看得出他力大无穷，悻悻地耸耸肩膀，冲我们骂了一句脏话，灰溜溜地跑了。索菲醉醺醺地咯咯笑个不停。大家谁都没有说话。我又给她的杯子斟满了酒。

“You living in Paris, Larry?”she asked after she had drained it.
“你住在巴黎吗，拉里？”她喝干杯中的酒，问道。

“For the present.”
“只是暂时的。”

It's always difficult to make conversation with a drunk, and there's no denying it, the sober are at a disadvantage with him. We went on talking for a few minutes in a dreary, embarrassed way.Then Sophie pushed back her chair.
跟一个喝醉酒的人说话一般是很吃力的。毫无疑问，没喝酒的与喝醉酒的交谈，总是谈不拢。我们跟索菲说了一会儿话，气氛别别扭扭，很是尴尬。后来，索菲把椅子向后一推，说道：

“If I don't go back to my boy friend he'll be as mad as hell. He's a sulky brute, but Christ, he's a good screw.”She staggered to her feet.“So long, folks.Come again.I'm here every night.”
“我再不回到我的男朋友那儿去，他会气疯的。那是个爱生气的混球。不过，感谢上帝，他床上的功夫很棒。”她说着，摇摇晃晃站了起来，“再见，老乡们。欢迎再来。我每天晚上都在这儿呢。”

She pushed her way through the dancers and we lost sight of her in the crowd. I almost laughed at the icy scorn on Isabel's classic features.None of us said a word.
她挤进跳舞的人群，然后就消失了。伊莎贝尔那典雅的脸上冷若冰霜，挂着蔑视的表情，我看了差点没笑出声来。有半晌儿，大家谁都没有说话。

“This is a foul place，”said Isabel suddenly.“Let's go.”
“这是个藏污纳垢的地方，”伊莎贝尔突然蹦出了这么一句，“咱们走吧。”

I paid for our drinks and for Sophie's champagne and we trooped out. The crowd was on the dance floor and we got out without remark.It was after two, and to my mind time to go to bed, but Gray said he was hungry, so I suggested that we should go to Graf's in Montmartre and get something to eat.We were silent as we drove up.I sat beside Gray to direct him.We reached the garish restaurant.There were still people sitting on the terrace.We went in and ordered bacon and eggs and beer.Isabel, outwardly at least, had regained her composure.She congratulated me, somewhat ironically perhaps, on my acquaintance with the more disreputable parts of Paris.
我付了酒水钱，也为索菲的那瓶香槟酒埋了单。随后，我们鱼贯走出咖啡馆。人们仍在舞池里跳个不停，我们却看也不看便离开了。时间已过两点，我觉得应当睡觉了，可格雷说他肚子饿，于是，我建议到蒙马特高地的格拉芙餐馆去吃点东西。汽车启动时，大家都默默无语的。我坐在格雷身旁为他指路，一直把车开到了那家富丽堂皇的餐馆。餐馆的露台上还坐有顾客。我们进了门，要了鸡蛋、火腿和啤酒。至少从表面看，伊莎贝尔已经恢复了平静。她用一种夹枪带棒的口气对我表示祝贺，祝贺我竟然和巴黎那些乌七八糟的地方有来往。

“You asked for it，”I said.
“是你自己提出来要去的。”我抢白道。

“I've thoroughly enjoyed myself. I've had a grand evening.”
“反正我玩得倒是十分开心的，度过了一个美妙的夜晚。”

“Hell，”said Gray.“It stank. And Sophie.”
“糟透了，”格雷说，“想起来就叫人恶心。索菲也真够可怜的。”

Isabel shrugged an indifferent shoulder.
伊莎贝尔不置可否地耸了耸肩。

“D'you remember her at all?”she asked me.“She sat next to you the first night you came to dinner with us. She hadn't got that awful red hair then.Its natural colour is dingy beige.”
“你能想起来她吗？”她问我，“你第一次到我们家吃晚饭时，她就坐在你身旁。那个时候，她的头发是原色，即浅棕色，没有染成现在这种可怕的红颜色。”

I threw my mind back. I had a recollection of a very young girl with blue eyes that were almost green and an attractive tilt to her head.Not pretty, but fresh and ingenuous with a mixture of shyness and pertness that I found amusing.
我回想了一下当时的情景，记起了一个年龄不大的小女孩，一双蓝眼睛带点绿色，说话时把脑袋一偏，挺招人喜欢的。她并不漂亮，但活泼、坦率，同时带几分腼腆和唐突，让人觉得很有意思。

“Of course I remember. I liked her name.I had an aunt called Sophie.”
“当然能想起来。我当时就喜欢她的名字，因为我有个姑妈也叫索菲。”

“She married a boy called Bob Macdonald.”
“她嫁了一个叫鲍勃·麦克唐纳的小伙子。”

“Nice fellow，”said Gray.
“那小伙子挺不错的。”格雷说道。

“He was one of the best-looking boys I ever saw. I never understood what he saw in her.She married just after I did.Her parents were divorced and her mother married a Standard Oil man in China.She lived with her father's people at Marvin and we used to see a lot of her then, but after she married she dropped out of our crowd somehow.Bob Macdonald was a lawyer, but he wasn't making much money, and they had a walk-up apartment on the North Side.But it wasn't that.They didn't want to see anybody.I never saw two people so crazy about one another.Even after they'd been married two or three years and had a baby they’d go to the pictures and he’d sit with his arm round her waist and she with her head on his shoulder just like lovers.They were quite a joke in Chicago.”
“在我见过的极为英俊的小伙子里面，他算其中的一个。我简直不明白他看上了索菲的哪一点。我刚结婚，她也结了婚。她的父母离异，母亲改嫁给了一个在中国工作的美孚石油公司的人。她随父亲一家住在马文，我们经常见面。不过，她结婚之后，便淡出了我们的朋友圈。鲍勃·麦克唐纳是个律师，挣钱却不多。他们住在北区的一座没有电梯的公寓楼里。不过，这也没什么。他们相亲相爱，那种热乎劲真是少见。即便结婚已经有两三年而且生了一个孩子之后，他们上电影院时，还是像一对情侣——他搂着她的腰，而她把头靠在他的肩上。他们一时成了芝加哥谈笑的话题。”

Larry listened to what Isabel said, but made no comment. His face was inscrutable.
拉里听伊莎贝尔说话，中间未置一词，脸上带着一种叫人捉摸不透的表情。

“What happened then?”I asked.
“后来怎么啦？”我问。

“One night they were driving back to Chicago in a little open car of theirs, and they had the baby with them. They always had to take the baby along because they hadn't any help.Sophie did everything herself, and, any-way, they worshipped it.And a bunch of drunks in a great sedan driving at eighty miles an hour crashed into them head on.Bob and the baby were killed outright, but Sophie only had concussion and a rib or two broken.They kept it from her as long as they could that Bob and the baby were dead, but at last they had to tell her.They say it was awful.She nearly went crazy.She shrieked the place down.They had to watch her night and day and once she nearly succeeded in jumping out of the window.Of course we did all we could, but she seemed to hate us.After she came out of the hospital they put her in a sanatorium and she was there for months.'
“一天晚间，他们开着自家的敞篷汽车返回芝加哥，孩子也和他们在一起。他们出去总把孩子带上，因为家里没人帮他们照料。反正索菲干什么事都自己来。再说他们也片刻离不开孩子。有几个醉鬼开着一辆大轿车，以每小时八十英里的速度和他们的车迎头相撞。鲍勃和孩子当场死于非命。索菲被撞成了脑震荡，还断了一两根肋骨。大家千方百计瞒着她，不让她知道鲍勃和孩子已经死了。瞒到最后，也只好将实情告诉了她。据说，当时的情景可怕极了。她差点没发疯，哭天喊地，声音能把房子都震塌。不分白天和黑夜，都有人看着她——有一次，她差点跳楼自杀。我们能做的全都做了，但她好像恨上了我们。出了医院之后，又把她送进了疗养院，在那儿疗养了几个月。”

“Poor thing.”
“是个可怜的人呀。”

“When they let her go she started to drink, and when she was drunk she'd go to bed with anyone who asked her. It was terrible for her in-laws.They're very nice quiet people and they hated the scandal.At first we all tried to help her, but it was impossible；if you asked her to dine she'd arrive plastered and she was quite likely to pass out before the evening was over.Then she got in with a rotten crowd and we had to drop her.She was arrested once for driving a car when she was drunk.She was with a dago she'd picked up in a speak-easy and it turned out that he was wanted by the cops.”
“一旦放松了监管，她就开始酗酒，喝醉了，谁要她，她就跟谁睡觉。她夫家的人身陷窘境。他们都是些老老实实的本分人，十分痛恨她的丑闻陋行。起初，我们还想帮她一把，但无济于事。你请她吃饭，她来时就已经喝得醉醺醺的了，不等散席便不省人事了。后来，她跟一些不三不四的人交往，我们只好和她一刀两断了。一次，她因醉驾而被捕。车上还有一个人，是她随便勾搭上的一个混混，结果发现此人是警方通缉的逃犯。”

“But had she money?”I asked.
“她靠什么生活呀？”我问。

“There was Bob's insurance；the people who owned the car that smashed into them were insured and she got something from them. But it didn't last long.She spent it like a drunken sailor and in two years she was broke.Her grandmother wouldn't have her back at Marvin.Then her in-laws said they'd make her an allowance if she'd go and live abroad.I suppose that’s what she’s living on now.”
“有鲍勃的人寿保险呢。和他们撞车的那辆车的车主上了保险，她获得了一些赔偿。但那点钱没多久便花光了。她挥霍无度，花钱如流水，不出两年就一贫如洗了。她的祖母不肯让她回马文去。她夫家的人说，如果她到国外定居，就给她寄生活费。我想，她现在就是靠这笔钱过日子呢。”

“The wheel comes full circle，”I remarked.“There was a time when the black sheep of the family was sent from my country to America；now apparently he's sent from your country to Europe.”
“这可真是命运的大轮回呀。”我说道，“想当初，我们国家把害群之马流放到美国去，而今你们美国则将害群之马送到欧洲来了。”

“I can't help feeling sorry for her，”said Gray.
“我真是为索菲感到惋惜呀。”格雷说。

“Can't you?”said Isabel coolly.“I can. Of course it was a shock and no one could have sympathized with Sophie more than I did.We'd known one another always.But a normal person recovers from a thing like that.If she went topieces it's because there was a rotten streak in her.She was naturally unbalanced；even her love for Bob was exaggerated.If she'd had character she'd have been able to make something of life.”
“是吗？”伊莎贝尔冷静地说，“我却不这么想。当然，那是一次沉重的打击。按说，我比任何人都同情索菲。我们俩可是知根知底的。不过，一个正常人总是能够恢复过来的。她一蹶不振，只是因为她有这方面的劣根性。她在本性上是不健全的。就连她对鲍勃的爱情都超过了正常的范围。假如她性格坚强，便可以重新爬起来，继续生活下去。”

“If pots and pans……Aren't you very hard, Isabel?”I murmured.
“人和人是不同的……你是不是太严苛了些，伊莎贝尔？”我咕哝了一句。

“I don't think so. I have common sense and I see no reason to be sentimental about Sophie.God knows, no one could be more devoted to Gray and the babes than I am, and if they were killed in a motor accident I should go out of my mind, but sooner or later I'd pull myself together.Isn't that what you'd wish me to do, Gray, or would you prefer me to get blind every night and go to bed with every apache in Paris?”
“恐怕并非如此。我觉得应该保持理智，在看待索菲这件事上实在不应该感情用事。上帝知道，谁也没有我对格雷及两个孩子的感情深，如果他们死于车祸，我会发疯的，但迟早会重新振作起来。格雷，你是愿意让我重新振作起来，还是愿意叫我夜夜喝个大醉，然后随便跟巴黎的哪个混混上床睡觉？”

Gray then came as near to making a humorous remark as I ever heard him.
格雷的回答很妙，可以说是我听到他所说的最幽默的一段话：

“Of course I'd prefer you to hurl yourself on my funeral pyre in a new Molyneux dress, but as that's not done any more, I guess the best thing you could do would be to take the bridge. And I'd like you to remember not to go an original no-trump on less than three and a half to four quick tricks.”
“当然，我倒愿意让你穿一件莫利纽克斯服装店的衣服跳进我的火葬堆陪葬，只是现在不准这样做了。所以，我想你最好的出路就是打桥牌了。请你一定要记住：不要急于求成，不要一开始就出王牌，而应该等到手中有三叠半到四叠牌再说。”

It was not the occasion for me to point out to Isabel that her love for her husband and her children, though sincere enough, was scarcely passionate. Perhaps she read the thought that was passing through my mind, for she addressed me somewhat truculently.
此时不是时候，我不便向伊莎贝尔指出她对丈夫和孩子们的爱是诚挚的，但并不怎么热烈。也许，她看出了我心里在想什么，于是略带挑战意味地问我：

“What have you got to say?”
“你是怎么看的？”

“I'm like Gray, I'm sorry for the girl.”
“和格雷一样，我为那女孩子感到惋惜。”

“She's not a girl. She's thirty.”
“她不是女孩子了，都三十岁的人了。”

“I suppose it was the end of the world for her when her husband and her baby were killed. I suppose she didn't care what became of her and flung herself into the horrible degradation of drink and promiscuous copulation to get even with life that had treated her so cruelly.She'd lived in heaven and when she lost it she couldn't put up with the common earth of common men, but in despair plunged headlong into hell.I can imagine that if she couldn't drink the nectar of the gods any more she thought she might as well drink bathroom gin.”
“我想她的丈夫和孩子一死，就等于是世界末日的来临。至于她自己会有什么样的结果，她已完全不在乎了，于是便陷入堕落的泥潭，酗酒和淫乱。她认为命运之神对她过于残酷，于是便借此进行报复。她本来住在天堂，现在天堂失去了，却又住不惯平凡人的平凡世界，因此，绝望之余，一头钻进了地狱。可以想象得来，既然再也喝不上天界的琼浆玉液，那她情愿喝厕所里的小便。”

“That's the sort of thing you say in novels. It's nonsense and you know it's nonsense.Sophie wallows in the gutter because she likes it.Other women have lost their husbands and children.It wasn't that that made her evil.Evil doesn't spring from good.The evil was there always.When that motor accident broke her defences it set her free to be herself.Don’t waste your pity on her；she’s now what at heart she always was.”
“这是你们作家在小说里讲的一套大道理。完全是无稽之谈，是瞎胡扯。索菲陷入泥潭，那是因为她喜欢那儿。丧夫丧子的大有人在，谁也不像她。并非一次事故就会叫人变坏；坏并不是由好变过来的，而是本身就存在。车祸冲破了她的防线，于是她就露出了本性。你可不要怜香惜玉，浪费你的感情，她现在这个样子，其实就是她的本来面目。”

All this time Larry had remained silent. He seemed to be in a brown study and I thought he hardly heard what we were saying.Isabel's words were followed by a brief silence.He began to speak, but in a strange, toneless voice, as though not to us, but to himself；his eyes seemed to look into the dim distance of past time.
在这段时间里，拉里一句话也没说。他似乎在思考着什么，我们的话恐怕并没有听进耳朵里去。伊莎贝尔说完话，一时谁都没有再吭声。后来，拉里开了口，声音古怪、单调，不像是对我们说话，而像自言自语，目光仿佛飘向了如烟似雾般过去的岁月。

“I remember her when she was fourteen with her long hair brushed back off her forehead and a black bow at the back, with her freckled, serious face. She was a modest, high-minded, idealistic child.She read everything she could get hold of and we used to talk about books.”
“记得她十四岁的时候留着长发，头发从额头朝后梳，在后面打一个黑蝴蝶结，脸上有雀斑，表情沉稳。那时，她是个谦虚、高尚、充满理想的孩子，什么书都喜欢看。我们经常在一起谈诗论文。”

“When?”asked Isabel, with a slight frown.
“什么时候呀？”伊莎贝尔把眉头微微一皱，问道。

“Oh, when you were out being social with your mother. I used to go up to her grandfather's and we'd sit under a great elm they had there and read to one another.She loved poetry and wrote quite a lot herself.”
“哦，就是你和你的母亲出外从事社交活动的时候。我常到她祖父家，我们就坐在他们家的大榆树下读书，有时我给她念，有时她给我念。她喜欢诗歌，写了许多诗呢。”

“Plenty of girls do that at that age. It's pretty poor stuff.”
“那个年龄的女孩子都喜欢写写诗，都是些蹩脚的歪诗。”

“Of course it's a long time ago and I dare say I wasn't a very good judge.”
“当然，那是许久以前的事了。那时候，我不太懂诗，看不出来优劣。”

“You couldn't have been more than sixteen yourself.”
“那时候，你顶多也只有十六岁。”

“Of course it was imitative. There was a lot of Robert Frost in it.But I have a notion it was rather remarkable for so young a girl.She had a delicate ear and a sense of rhythm.She had a feeling for the sounds and scents of the country, the first softness of spring in the air and the smell of the parched earth after rain.”
“当然喽，她的诗都是模拟之作，许多地方学的是罗勃特·弗罗斯特。不过，我觉得那么小的孩子能把诗写成那样，相当了不起。她心思细密，写出的诗很有节奏感。乡间的声音和气息——早春柔和的芳香以及干旱土地在雨后散发出的气味，都能引起她的共鸣。”

“I never knew she wrote poetry，”said Isabel.
“我从来不知道她在写诗。”伊莎贝尔说。

“She kept it a secret, she was afraid you'd all laugh at her. She was very shy.”
“她守口如瓶，生怕你们会取笑她。她比较害羞。”

“She's not that now.”
“她现在可不害臊了。”

“When I came back from the war she was almost grown-up. She'd read a lot about the condition of the workingclasses and she'd seen something of it for herself in Chicago.She'd got on to Carl Sandburg and was writing savagely in free verse about the misery of the poor and the exploitation of the working classes.I dare say it was rather commonplace, but it was sincere and it had pity in it and aspiration.At that time she wanted to become a social worker.It was moving, her desire for sacrifice.I think she was capable of a great deal.She wasn't silly or mawkish, but she gave one the impression of a lovely purity and a strange loftiness of soul.We saw a lot of one another that year.”
“我从战场上归来时，她几乎已长成个大人了。关于工人阶级的生存状况，她读了许多这方面的书，在芝加哥也有所耳闻目睹。她痴迷于卡尔·桑德堡的诗，自己也拼命写自由体的诗，反映穷苦人水深火热的生活以及工人阶级受剥削的情况。依我看，她的诗平淡无奇，然而却感情真挚，满怀同情之心，充满了热忱。那时，她想当一个社会工作者。她那种对公益事业的献身精神让人感动。我觉得她很有能力，头脑一点不糊涂，遇到问题不是感情用事，而给人一种纯洁可爱、心灵高尚的印象。那一年里，我们经常见面。”

I could see that Isabel listened to him with growing exasperation. Larry had no notion that he was driving a dagger in her heart and with his every detached word twisting it in the wound.But when she spoke it was with a smile on her lips.
可以看得出，伊莎贝尔越听越恼怒。拉里全然不知自己在拿刀子捅她的心窝，每说一句话，就像是用刀子在她的伤口上搅动了一下。不过，轮到伊莎贝尔说话的时候，她的嘴角却挂着笑容。

“How did she come to choose you for her confidant?”
“她怎么会选中你，对你推心置腹呢？”

Larry looked at her with his trustful eyes.
拉里用坦荡的目光望了望她。

“I don't know. She was a poor girl among all of you who had plenty of dough, and I didn't belong.I was there just because Uncle Bob practised at Marvin.I suppose she felt that gave us something in common.”
“我也不清楚。你们都是有钱人，而她家很穷，我和她都不属于你们那个阶层。我到马文去，只是因为纳尔逊叔叔在那儿行医。也许，她觉得我们俩在这方面有共同之处吧。”

Larry had no relations. Most of us have at least cousins whom we may hardly know, but who at least give us a sense that we are part of the human family.Larry's father had been an only son, his mother an only daughter；his grandfather on one side, the Quaker, had been lost at sea when a young man and his grandfather on the other side had neither brother nor sister.No one could be more alone in the world than Larry.
拉里举目无亲。一般人都有些堂兄堂妹什么的，虽然并不熟悉，却至少有一种感觉，觉得自己是一个家族的成员。拉里的父亲是独生子，母亲是独生女；他的祖父是教友派教徒，年纪很轻时就在海上遇难，他的外祖父没有兄弟，也没有姐妹。在这个世界上，恐怕数拉里最为孤单了。

“Did it ever occur to you that Sophie was in love with you?”asked Isabel.
“索菲爱你，这些你可曾想到过吗？”伊莎贝尔问。

“Never，”he smiled.
“从没想到过。”拉里笑了笑说。

“Well, she was.”
“哦，她是爱你的。”

“When he came back from the war as a wounded hero, half the girls in Chicago had a crush on Larry，”said Gray in his bluff way.
“拉里是战场上负了伤的英雄，当年返回故乡时，半个芝加哥的女孩子都迷上了他。”格雷以他那种坦率的语气说。

“This was more than a crush. She worshipped you, my poor Larry.D'you mean to say you didn't know it?”
“索菲不仅仅是迷恋，还崇拜你。可怜的拉里，她的感情你难道一无所知吗？”

“I certainly didn't and I don't believe it.”
“我当然不知道。我也不相信。”

“I suppose you thought she was too high-minded.”
“也许，你把她想得太高尚了。”

“I can still see that skinny little girl with the bow in her hair and her serious face whose voice trembled with tears when she read that ode of Keats's because it was so beautiful. I wonder where she is now.”
“我仿佛仍能看见那个瘦瘦的小女孩，头发上扎了个蝴蝶结，表情严肃，读起济慈的颂歌来，声音有点发抖，眼里涌出泪水来，因为济慈的诗写得太美了。真不知那个小女孩今在何方。”

Isabel gave a very slight start and threw him a suspicious inquiring glance.
伊莎贝尔微微吃了一惊，带着迷惑不解的神情把拉里看了一眼。

“It's getting frightfully late and I'm so tired I don't know what to do. Let's go.”
“时间太晚了。我累得都不知道怎么样才好了。咱们走吧。”