目 录 上一节 下一节 
下面就是他跟我讲话的内容，这个故事非常生动，我几乎没有作什么改动。 Yes (Armand went on, letting his head fall against the back of his armchair), yes, it was on an evening like this! I had spent the day in the country with one of my friends, Gaston R. We had returned to Paris in the evening and, for want of anything better to do, had gone to the Theatre des Varietes. 是啊，--阿尔芒把头靠在椅背上，接着说道，--是啊，就是在这样的一个傍晚！我跟我的朋友R·加斯东在乡下玩了一天，傍晚我们回到巴黎，因为困得无聊，我们就去杂耍剧院看戏。 During one of the intervals, we left our seats and, in the corridor, we saw a tall woman whom my friend greeted with a bow. 在一次幕间休息时，我们到走廊里休息，看见一个身材颀长的女人走过，我朋友向她打了个招呼。 'Who was that you just bowed to?' I asked him. “您在跟谁打招呼？”我问他。 'Marguerite Gautier, ' he replied. “玛格丽特·戈蒂埃。”他对我说。 
“她的模样变得好厉害，我几乎认不出她来了。”我激动地说。我为什么激动，等会儿您就明白了。 'She's been ill, The poor girl's not long for this world.' “她生过一场病，看来这个可怜的姑娘是活不长了。” I recall these words as though they had been said to me yesterday. 这些话，我记忆犹新，就像我昨天听到的一样。 Now, my friend, I must tell you that for two years past, whenever I met her, the sight of that girl had always made a strange impression on me. 您要知道，我的朋友，两年以来，每当我遇见这个姑娘的时候，就会产生一种说不出来的感觉。 Without knowing why, I paled and my heart beat violently. I have a friend who dabbles in the occult, and he would call what I felt an affinity of fluids; I myself believe quite simply that I was destined to fall in love with Marguerite, and that this was a presentiment. 我会莫名其妙地脸色泛白，心头狂跳。我有一个朋友是研究秘术的，他把我这种感觉称为“流体的亲力”；而我却很简单地相信我命中注定要爱上玛格丽特，我预感到了这点。 
她经常给我留下深刻的印象，我的几位朋友是亲眼目睹的，当他们知道我这种印象是从谁那儿来的时候，总是大笑不止。 The first time I had seen her was in the Place de la Bourse, outside Susse's. An open barouche was standing there, and a woman in white had stepped out of it. A murmur of admiration had greeted her as she entered the shop. For my part, I stood rooted to the spot from the time she went in until the moment she came out. Through the windows, I watched her in the shop as she chose what she had come to buy. I could have gone in, but I did not dare. I had no idea what sort of woman she was and was afraid that she would guess my reason for entering the shop and be offended. However I did not believe that I was destined ever to see her again. 我第一次是在交易所广场絮斯商店门口遇到她的。一辆敞篷四轮马车停在那儿，一个穿着一身白色衣服的女人从车上下来。她走进商店的时候引起了一阵低低的赞叹声。而我却像被钉在地上似的，从她进去一直到她出来，一动都没有动。我隔着橱窗望着她在店铺里选购东西。我原来也可以进去，但是我不敢。我不知道这个女人是什么人，我怕她猜出我走进店铺的用意而生气。然而那时候，我也没有想到以后还会见到她。 She was elegantly dressed; she wore a muslin dress with full panels, a square Indian shawl embroidered at the corners with gold thread and silk flowers, a Leghorn straw hat and a single bracelet, one of those thick gold chains which were then just beginning to be fashionable. 她服饰典雅，穿着一条镶满花边的细纱长裙，肩上披一块印度方巾，四角全是金镶边和丝绣的花朵，戴着一顶意大利草帽，还戴着一只手镯，那是当时刚刚时行的一种粗金链子。 She got into her barouche and drove off. 她又登上她的敞篷马车走了。 One of the shop-assistants remained in the doorway with his eyes following the carriage of his elegant customer. I went up to him and asked him to tell me the woman's name. 店铺里一个小伙计站在门口，目送这位穿着高雅的漂亮女顾客的车子远去。我走到他身边，请他把这个女人的名字告诉我。 
“她是玛格丽特·戈蒂埃小姐，”他回答我说。 I did not dare ask him for her address and I walked away. 我不敢问她的地址就离开了。 The memory of this vision ?for, truly, vision it was ?did not fade from my mind like many other visions I had already seen, and I searched everywhere for this woman in white so regal in her beauty. 我以前有过很多幻觉，过后也都忘了；但是这一次是真人真事，因此这个印象就一直留在我的脑海里。于是我到处去寻找这个穿白衣服的绝代佳人。 A few days after this, there was a big production at the Opera-Comique. I went along. The first person I saw, in a stage-box in the balcony, was Marguerite Gautier. 几天以后，喜剧歌剧院有一次盛大的演出，我去了。我在台前旁侧的包厢里看到的第一个人就是玛格丽特·戈蒂埃。 The young man I was with recognized her too, for he said, mentioning her by name: 我那位年轻的同伴也认识她，因为他叫着她的名字对我说： 
“您看！这个漂亮的姑娘！” Just then, Marguerite turned her opera glasses in our direction, saw my friend, smiled at him and gestured that he was to come and pay his respects. 正在这时，玛格丽特拿起望远镜朝着我们这边望，她看到了我的朋友，便对他莞尔一笑，做手势要他过去看她。 'I'll go along and wish her a pleasant evening, ' he told me, 'I'll be back in a moment.' “我去跟她问个好，”他对我说，“一会儿我就回来。” I could not help myself saying: 'You're a lucky man!' 我情不自禁地说：“您真幸福！” 'In what way?' “幸福什么？” 
“因为您能去拜访这个女人。” 'Are you in love with her?' “您是不是爱上她了？” 'No, ' I said, reddening, for I really did not know how I stood in the matter, 'but I would like to get to know her.' “不。”我涨红了脸说，因为这一下我真有点儿不知所措了，“但是我很想认识她。” 'Come with me, I'll introduce you.' “跟我来，我替您介绍。” 'Ask her permission first.' “先去征得她同意吧。” 
“啊！真是的，跟她是不用拘束的，来吧。” These words of his were hurtful to me. I trembled at the thought that I should learn for certain that Marguerite was not worthy of my feelings for her. 他这句话使我心里很难过，我害怕由此而证实玛格丽特不值得我对她这么动情。 In a book by Alphonse Karr, entitled Ain Rauchen, there is a man who, one evening, follows a very elegant woman with whom he has fallen in love at first sight, so beautiful is she. Merely to kiss the hand of this woman, he feels he has strength enough for any undertaking, the will to conquer all and the courage to do anything. He scarcely dares glance at the slim ankles which she reveals in her efforts to avoid dirtying her dress as it drags on the ground. As he is dreaming of the things he would do to possess her, she stops him at a street corner and asks if he would like to come upstairs with her. 阿尔封斯·卡尔在一本书名为《烟雾》的小说里说：一天晚上，有一个男人尾随着一个非常俊俏的女人；她体态优美，容貌艳丽，使他一见倾心。为了吻吻这个女人的手，他觉得就有了从事一切的力量，战胜一切的意志和克服一切的勇气。这个女人怕她的衣服沾上泥，撩了一下裙子，露出了一段迷人的小腿，他都几乎不敢望一眼。正当他梦想着怎样才能得到这个女人的时候，她却在一个街角留住了他，问他是不是愿意上楼到她家里去。 He turns his head away, crosses the street and returns home sadly. 他回头就走，穿过大街，垂头丧气地回到了家里。 I now remembered this study and I, who would gladly have suffered for her, was afraid that this woman might accept me too quickly and give me too promptly a love which I should have desired to earn through some long delay or great sacrifice. Of such stuff are we men made; and it is fortunate indeed that the imagination indulges the senses with fancies of this kind, and that the desires of the body make such concessions to the dreams of the soul. 我记起了这段描述。本来我很想为这个女人受苦，我担心她过快地接受我，怕她过于匆忙地爱上我；我宁愿经过长期等待，历尽艰辛以后才得到这种爱情。我们这些男人就是这种脾气；如果能使我们头脑里的想象赋有一点诗意，灵魂里的幻想高于肉欲，那就会感到无比的幸福。 
总之，如果有人对我说：“今天晚上您可以得到这个女人，但是明天您就会被人杀死。”我会接受的。如果有人对我说：“花上十个路易，您就可以做她的情夫。”我会拒绝的，而且会痛哭一场，就像一个孩子在醒来时发现夜里梦见的宫殿城堡化为乌有一样。
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