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这张脸就像委屈女郎①的头像一样。 And then one day, the young girl's face lit up. In the midst of the debauches which her mother organized for her, it suddenly seemed to this sinful creature that God had granted her one happiness. And after all why should God, who had made her weak and helpless, abandon her without consolation to struggle on beneath the oppressive burden of her life? One day, then, she perceived that she was with child, and that part of her which remained pure trembled with joy. The soul finds refuge in the strangest sanctuaries. Louise ran to her mother to tell her the news that had filled her with such happiness. It is a shameful thing to have to say ?but we do not write gratuitously of immorality here, we relate a true incident and one perhaps which we would be better advised to leave untold if we did not believe that it is essential from time to time to make public the martyrdom of these creatures who are ordinarily condemned without a hearing and despised without trial ? it is, we say, a matter for shame, but the mother answered her daughter saying that as things stood they scarcely had enough for two, and that they would certainly not have enough for three; that such children serve no useful purpose; and that a pregnancy is so much time wasted. 一天，这个姑娘的脸突然变得容光焕发。在她母亲替她一手安排的堕落生涯里，天主似乎赐给了这个女罪人一点幸福。毕竟，天主已经赋予了她懦弱的性格，那么在她承受痛苦生活的重压的时候，为什么就不能给她一点安慰呢？这一天，她发觉自己怀孕了，她身上还残存的那么一点纯洁的思想，使她开心得全身哆嗦。人的灵魂有它不可理解的寄托。路易丝急忙去把那个使她欣喜若狂的发现告诉她母亲。说起来也使人感到羞耻。但是，我们并不是在这里随意编造什么风流韵事，而是在讲一件真人真事。这种事，如果我们认为没有必要经常把这些女人的苦难公诸于世，那也许还是索性闭口不谈为好。人们谴责这种女人而又不听她们的申诉，人们蔑视她们而又不公正地评价她们，我们说这是可耻的。可是那位母亲答复女儿说，她们两个人生活已经不容易了，三个人的日子就更难过了；再说，这样的孩子还是没有的好，而且大着肚子不做买卖也是浪费时间。 The very next day, a midwife (of whom we shall say no more than that she was a friend of the mother)called to see Louise, who remained for a few days in her bed from which she rose paler and weaker than before. 第二天，有一位助产婆--我们姑且把她当作那位母亲的一个朋友--来看望路易丝。路易丝在床上躺了几天，后来下床了，但脸色比过去更苍白，身体比过去更虚弱。 Three months later, some man took pity on her and undertook her moral and physical salvation. But this latest blow had been too great and Louise died of the after effects of the miscarriage she had suffered. 三个月以后，有一个男人出于怜悯，设法医治她身心的创伤，但是那次的打击太厉害了，路易丝终究还是因为流产的后遗症而死了。 The mother still lives. How? God alone knows. 那母亲仍旧活着，生活得怎么样？天知道！ 
当我凝视着这些金银器皿的时候，这个故事就浮现在我的脑海之中。时光似乎随着我的沉思默想已悄然逝去，屋子里只剩下我和一个看守人，他正站在门口严密地监视着我是不是在偷东西。 I went up to this good man in whom I inspired such grave anxieties. 我走到这位看守人跟前，他已被我搞得心神不定了。 'Excuse me, ' I said, 'I wonder if you could tell me the name of the person who lived here?' “先生，”我对他说，“您可以把原来住在这里的房客的姓名告诉我吗？” 'Mademoiselle Marguerite Gautier.' “玛格丽特·戈蒂埃小姐。” I knew this young woman by name and by sight. 我知道这位姑娘的名字，也见到过她。 
“怎么！”我对看守人说，“玛格丽特·戈蒂埃死了吗？” 'Yes, sir.' “是呀，先生。” 'When did it happen?' “什么时候死的？” 'Three weeks ago, I think.' “有三个星期了吧。” 'But why are people being allowed to view her apartment?' “那为什么让人来参观她的住宅呢？” 
债权人认为这样做可以抬高价钱。您知道，让大家预先看看这些织物和家具，这样可以招徕顾客。” 'So she had debts, then?' “那么说，她还欠着债？” 'Oh yes, sir! Lots of'em.' “哦，先生，她欠了好多哪！” 'But I imagine the sale will cover them?' “卖下来的钱大概可以付清了吧？” 'Over and above.' “还有得剩。” 
“那么，剩下来的钱给谁呢？” 'The family.' “给她家属。” 'She had a family?' “她还有家？” 'Seems she did.' “好像有。” 'Thank you very much.' “谢谢您，先生。” 
看守人摸清了我的来意后感到放心了，对我行了一个礼，我就走了出来。 'Poor girl, ' I said to myself as I returned home, 'she must have died a sad death, for in her world, people only keep their friends as long as they stay fit and well.' And in spite of myself, I lamented the fate of Marguerite Gautier. “可怜的姑娘！”我在回家的时候心里想，“她一定死得很惨，因为在她这种生活圈子里，只有身体健康才会有朋友。” All this will perhaps seem absurd to many people, but I have a boundless forbearance towards courtesans which I shall not even trouble to enlarge upon here. 很多人对此可能会觉得可笑，但是我对烟花女子总是无限宽容的，甚至也不想为这种宽容态度与人争辩。 One day, as I was on my way to collect a passport from the prefecture, I saw down one of the adjacent streets, a young woman being taken away by two policemen. Now I have no idea what she had done. All I can say is that she was weeping bitterly and clasping to her a child only a few months old from which she was about to be separated by her arrest. From that day until this, I have been incapable of spurning any woman on sight. 一天，在我去警察局领取护照的时候，瞥见邻街有两个警察要押走一个姑娘。我不知道这个姑娘犯了什么罪，只见她痛哭流涕地抱着一个才几个月大的孩子亲吻，因为她被捕后，母子就要骨肉分离。从这一天起，我就再也不轻易地蔑视一个女人了。 THE sale was due to be held on the 16th. 拍卖定于十六日举行。 
在参观和拍卖之间有一天空隙时间，这是留给地毯商拆卸帷幔、壁毯等墙上饰物用的。 I was at that time recently returned from my travels. It was quite natural that no one had told me about Marguerite's death, for it was hardly one of those momentous news-items which friends always rush to tell anybody who has just got back to the capital city of News. Marguerite had been pretty, but the greater the commotion that attends the sensational lives of these women, the smaller the stir once they are dead. They are like those dull suns which set as they have risen: they are unremarkable. News of their death, when they die young, reaches all their lovers at the same instant, for in Paris the lovers of any celebrated courtesan see each other every day. A few reminiscences are exchanged about her, and the lives of all and sundry continue as before without so much as a tear. 那时候，我正好从外地旅游归来。当一个人回到消息灵通的首都时，别人总是要告诉他一些重要新闻的。但是没有人把玛格丽特的去世当作什么大事情来对我讲，这也是很自然的。玛格丽特长得很漂亮，但是，这些女人生前考究的生活越是闹得满城风雨，她们死后也就越是无声无息。她们就像某些星辰，陨落时和初升时一样黯淡无光。如果她们年纪轻轻就死了，那么她们所有的情人都会同时得到消息；因为在巴黎，一位名妓的所有情人彼此几乎都是密友。大家会相互回忆几件有关她过去的逸事，然后各人将依然故我，丝毫不受这事的影响，甚至谁也不会因此而掉一滴眼泪。 For a young man of twenty-five nowadays, tears have become so rare a thing that they are not to be wasted on the first girl who comes along. The most that may be expected is that the parents and relatives who pay for the privilege of being wept for are indeed mourned to the extent of their investment. 如今，人们到了二十五岁这年纪，眼泪就变得非常珍贵，决不能轻易乱流，充其量只对为他们花费过金钱的双亲才哭上几声渗透，无法用数量来度量。断言它可精确地表现深层心理的，作为对过去为他们破费的报答。 For my own part, though my monogram figured on none of Marguerite's dressing-cases, the instinctive forbearance and natural pity to which I have just admitted led me to dwell on her death for much longer than it perhaps warranted. 而我呢，虽然玛格丽特任何一件用品上都没有我姓名的开头字母，可是我刚才承认过的那种出于本能的宽容和那种天生的怜悯，使我对她的死久久不能忘怀，虽说她也许并不值得我如此想念。 I recalled having come across Marguerite very frequently on the Champs-Elysees, where she appeared assiduously each day in a small blue brougham drawn by two magnificent bays, and I remembered having also remarked in her at that time an air of distinction rare in women of her kind and which was further enhanced by her truly exceptional beauty. 记得我过去经常在香榭丽舍大街遇到玛格丽特，她坐着一辆由两匹栗色骏马驾着的蓝色四轮轿式小马车，每天一准来到那儿。她身上有一种不同于她那一类人的气质，而她那风致韵绝的姿色，又更衬托出了这种气质的与众不同。
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