那些无法抗拒的名篇15:Araby 阿拉比(节选)
15 阿拉比
Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlor watching her door. The blind was pulled down to within an inch of the sash so that I could not be seen. When she came out on the doorstep my heart leaped. I ran to the hall, seized my books and followed her. I kept her brown figure always in my eye and，when we came near the point at which our ways diverged, I quickened my pace and passed her. This happened morning after morning. I had never spoken to her, except for a few casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.
每天早晨，我躺在前客厅的地板上，望着她家的门，百叶窗拉下来，只留不到一英寸的缝隙，那样别人就看不见我了。当她出现在台阶上时，我的心就怦怦跳。我冲到过道里，抓起书就跑，跟在她后面。我紧盯着她穿着棕色衣服的身影。快到岔路口时，我便加快步伐超过她。每天早晨都是如此。除了随便招呼一下之外，我从没跟她讲过话。可是，她的名字总能让我情绪激动。
Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance. On Saturday evenings when my aunt went marketing I had to go to carry some of the parcels. We walked through the flaring streets, jostled by drunken men and bargaining women, amid the curses of laborers，the shrill litanies of shop boys who stood on guard by the barrels of pigs' cheeks, the nasal chanting of street singers, who sang a come-all-you about O' Donovan Rossa, or a ballad about the troubles in our native land, These noises converged in a single sensation of life for me:I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes. Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand. My eyes were often full of tears (I could not tell why) and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom. I thought little of the future. I did not know whether I would ever speak to her or not or, if I spoke to her, how I could tell her of my confused adoration. But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.
她的样子甚至在最不浪漫的场合也陪伴着我。每逢周末傍晚，我都要跟姑姑上街买东西，替她拎包儿，我们穿行在五光十色的大街上，被醉鬼和讨价还价的婆娘们挤来挤去，周围一片喧嚣:劳工们的诅咒，站在一桶桶猪头肉旁守望的伙计的尖声叫嚷，街头卖唱的用浓重的鼻音哼着的关于奥唐纳万·罗沙的《大伙儿都来》，或一支关于爱尔兰动乱的歌谣。在我看来，这些噪声汇合成一片熙熙攘攘的众生相。我仿佛感到自己正端着圣餐杯，在一群对头中间穿过。有时，在莫名其妙地做祷告或唱赞美诗时，她的名字几乎从我嘴里脱口而出，我时常热泪盈眶(自己也说不清为什么)。有时，一股沸腾的激情从心底涌起，流入胸中。我很少想到前途。我不知道自己究竟会不会同她说话，要是说了，怎么向她倾诉我那迷茫的爱慕。这时，我的身子好似一架竖琴，她的音容笑貌宛如拨弄琴弦的纤指。
One evening I went into the back drawing room in which the priest had died. It was a dark rainy evening and there was no sound in the house. Through one of the broken panes I heard the rain impinge upon the earth，the fine incessant needles of water playing in the sodden beds. Some distant lamp or lighted window gleamed below me. I was thankful that I could see so little. All my senses seemed to desire to veil themselves and, feeling that I was about to slip from them, I pressed the palms of my hands together until they trembled, murmuring: "O love! O love !” many times.
有一天，薄暮时分，我踅到教士死亡的画室。那是一个漆黑的雨夜，屋子里一片沉寂。透过破碎的玻璃窗，我听到雨密密麻麻地泻在土地上，如针般的细雨在湿透了的泥地上不断跳跃。远处，有路灯的光或是哪一家窗口透出来的光在下面闪烁。我庆幸自己的视线模糊。我的全部感官似乎都想隐蔽起来，我觉得自己快要失去知觉了，于是把双手紧紧地合在一起，以致手都颤抖了，同时嘴里还喃喃自语:“啊，爱!啊，爱!”
At last she spoke to me. When she addressed the first words to me I was so confused that}did not know what to answer. She asked me was I going to Araby. I forgot whether I answered yes or no. It would be a splendid bazaar,she said, she would love to go.
她终于跟我说话了。她一开口，我就慌乱不堪，呆在那儿，不知道说什么好。她问我去不去阿拉比。我记不得是怎么回答的。她说那儿的集市一定很热闹，她很想去呐。
"And why can't you?" I asked.
“为啥不去呢?”我问。
While she spoke she turned a silver bracelet round and round her wrist. She could not go, she said, because there would be a retreat that week in her convent. Her brother and two other boys were fighting for their caps and I was alone at the railings. She held one of the spikes, bowing her head towards me. The light from the lamp opposite our door caught the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair that rested there and, falling, lit up the hand upon the railing. It fell over one side of her dress and caught the white border of a petticoat, just visible as she stood at ease.
她不断地转动着手腕上的银镯子说，她不能去，因为这星期女修道院里要做静修。这时，她的弟弟正在和两个男孩抢帽子。我独自站在栏杆旁。她手中握着一支熏衣草，低着头，凑近我。门对面，街灯的光照着她白嫩的脖子，照亮了披垂的头发，也照亮了扶在栏杆上的手。她从容地站在那里，灯光使她衣服的一边清晰可见，显出了裙子的白色镶边。
"It's well for you,"she said.
“你真该去看看。”她说。
"If I go,"I said, "I will bring you something."
“要是我去的话，”我说，“一定会给你捎点什么的。”
What innumerable follies laid waste my waking and sleeping thoughts after that evening! I wished to annihilate the tedious intervening days. I chafed against the work of school. At night in my bedroom and by day in the classroom her image came between me and the page I strove to read. The syllables of the word Araby were called to me through the silence in which my soul luxuriated and cast an Eastern enchantment over me. I asked for leave to go to the bazaar on Saturday night. My aunt was surprised and hoped it was not some Freemason affair. I answered few questions in class. I watched my master's face pass from amiability to sternness, he hoped I was not beginning to idle. I could not call my wandering thoughts together. I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life which, now that it stood between me and my desire, seemed to me child's play, ugly monotonous child's play.
从那时起，数不清的愚蠢的怪念头充塞在我白天的幻想和夜半的梦中!但愿出发之前那段乏味的日子快点过去。学校里的功课使我烦躁。每当夜晚在寝室里或白天在教室中读书时，她的形象便闪现在书页之间。阿拉比的音节在静谧中向我召唤，我的心灵沉溺在寂静中，四周弥漫着迷人的东方气息。我要求星期六晚上要到阿拉比的集市去。我姑姑听了后大吃一惊，怀疑我跟共济会有什么勾搭。在课堂上，我很少能回答得出问题。我看着老师的脸从和蔼到严峻。他说，希望你不要变懒。我成天神思恍惚。生活中的正经事使我厌烦，它们使我的愿望不能尽快实现，所以在我看来，这些正经事就像小孩子的游戏，单调乏味的小孩子游戏。
On Saturday morning I reminded my uncle that I wished to go to the bazaar in the evening. He was fussing at the hall stand, looking for the hat brush, and answered me curtly: "Yes, boy, I know."
星期六早晨，我对姑父说晚上我要到集市去。他正在前厅的衣帽架那里手忙脚乱地找帽刷子，漫不经心地说:“行，孩子，我知道了。”
As he was in the hall I could not go into the front parlor and lie at the window.I left the house in bad humor and walked slowly towards the school. The air was pitilessly raw and already my heart misgave me.
他待在过道里，我没法去前客厅，就躺在窗边了。我悻悻地走出家门，去上学。那刺骨的阴冷，使我心里一阵阵忐忑不安。
When I came home to dinner my uncle had not yet been home. Still it was early. I sat staring at the clock for some time and, when its ticking began to irritate me，I left the room. I mounted the staircase and gained the upper part of the house. The high cold empty gloomy rooms liberated me and I went from room to room singing. From the front window I saw my companions playing below in the street. Their cries reached me weakened and indistinct and, leaning my forehead against the cool glass, I looked over at the dark house where she lived. I may have stood there for an hour, seeing nothing but the brown-clad figure cast by my imagination, touched discreetly by the lamplight at the curved neck, at the hand upon the railings and at the border below the dress.
当我放学回家时，姑父还没回来。时间还早呢。我呆呆地坐着，滴答滴答的钟声让我心烦意乱，我便走出房间，登上楼梯，走到楼上。那些高敞的空房间，寒冷而阴沉，却使我无拘无束。我唱起歌来，从一个房间跑到另一个房间。透过正面的玻璃窗，我看见伙伴们在街上玩。他们的喊声隐隐约约传到我耳边。我把前额贴在冰冷的玻璃窗上，望着她家。大约一个小时过去了，我还站在那儿，什么都没看见，脑海中全是她那穿着棕色衣服的身影，街灯的光朦胧地照亮呈曲线的脖子、扶在栏杆上的手以及裙子下摆的镶边。
When I came downstairs again I found Mrs. Mercer sitting at the fire. She was an old garrulous woman，a pawnbroker's widow, who collected used stamps for some pious purpose. I had to endure the gossip of the tea table. The meal was prolonged beyond an hour and still my uncle did not come. Mrs. Mercer stood up to go:she was sorry she couldn’t wait any longer, but it was after eight o' clock and she did not like to be out late, as the night air was bad for her. When she had gone I began to walk up and down the room, clenching my fists. My aunt said:
我再下楼时，看见当铺老板的遗孀莫塞太太坐在火炉边。她为了某种虔诚的目的在收集用过的邮票。我陪着吃茶点，耐着性子听她嚼舌。开饭的时间早已过了一个小时，姑父还没回来。莫塞太太站起身来说对不起，不能久等，8点多了，她不愿在外面待得太晚，夜里的风她受不了。她走后，我在屋里踱来踱去，紧接着拳头。姑姑说:
"I’m afraid you may put off your bazaar for this night of Our Lord."
“兴许你今晚去不成了，改天再去集市吧。”
At nine o'clock I heard my uncle's latchkey in the hall door. I heard him talking to himself and heard the hall stand rocking when it had received the weight of his overcoat. I could interpret these signs. When he was midway through his dinner I asked him to give me the money to go to the bazaar. He had forgotten.
9点，我忽然听见姑父用钥匙开过道门的声音。接着听见他在自言自语，听到挂衣服时衣架的晃荡声。我很明白这些举动的含义。晚饭吃到一半，我跟他要钱到集市去。他已把这件事忘得一干二净了。
"The people are in bed and after their first sleep now,"he said.
“人们早已睡了一觉了。”他说。
I did not smile. My aunt said to him energetically:
我没笑。姑姑大声地说:
"Can't you give him the money and let him go? You've kept him late enough as it is."
“还不给钱让他去?他等的时间已经够长啦!”
My uncle said he was very sorry he had forgotten. He said he believed in the old saying: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." He asked me where I was going and, when I had told him a second time he asked me did I know The Arab's Farewell to His Steed. When I left the kitchen he was about to recite the opening lines of the piece to my aunt.
他说非常抱歉，忘了这件事。然后又说他很欣赏的那句老话:“只工作不玩，聪明孩子也变傻。”他又问我去哪儿，于是我又说了一遍。他问我知不知道《阿拉伯人向骏马告别》。我走出厨房时，他正要给姑姑背诵那故事的开场白。
I held a florin tightly in my hand as I strode down Buckingham Street towards the station. The sight of the streets thronged with buyers and glaring with gas recalled to me the purpose of my journey. I took my seat in a third-class carriage of a deserted train. After an intolerable delay the train moved out of the station slowly. It crept onward among ruinous houses and over the twinkling river. At West/and Row Station a crowd of people pressed to the carriage doors;but the porters moved them back, saying that it was a special train for the bazaar. I remained alone in the bare carriage. In a few minutes the train drew up beside an improvised wooden platform. I passed out on to the road and saw by the lighted dial of a clock that it was ten minutes to ten. In front of me was a large building which displayed the magical name.
我紧紧撰着一枚两先令硬币，沿着白金汉大街大步走向火车站。街上熙熙攘攘，尽是买东西的人，煤气灯的照耀如同白昼，这景象提醒我快到集市去。我在一列空荡荡的火车的三等车厢找了个座位。火车迟迟不开，叫人等得恼火，过了好久才缓慢地驶出车站，爬行在沿途倾圮的房屋中间，驶过一条闪闪发亮的河流。在威斯特兰罗车站，来了一大群乘客，直拥向车厢门。列车员说，这是直达集市的专车，这才把他们挡回去。我独自坐在空荡荡的车厢里。几分钟后，火车停在一个临时用木头搭起的月台旁。我下车走到街上。有一只钟被亮光照着，我瞅了一眼:9:50。我的面前矗立着一座高大的建筑物，上面是那魅人的名字。
作者介绍:
詹姆斯·乔伊斯(1882-1941)，他自小就显露出在音乐、宗教哲学及语言文学方面的才能，并开始诗歌、散文习作。他谙熟欧洲大陆作家作品，受易卜生影响尤深，并渐渐表现出对人类精神世界特殊的感悟及对家庭笃信的宗教和自己生活环境中的习俗、传统的叛逆。詹姆斯·乔伊斯是二十世纪最伟大的作家之一，他的作品及“意识流”思想对全世界产生了巨大的影响。
《阿拉比》是詹姆斯·乔伊斯小说集《都柏林人》中一篇反映少年心理变化的短篇小说。小说讲述了一
个都柏林少年对同伴的姐姐产生了朦胧的爱情，在经过漫长而又焦急的等待之后，最终爱情幻想以破灭而告终。
