名著·茶花女 - 第32节


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  “好吧,”她说,“把这些东西都放在小桌子上,把小桌子移到床跟前来,我们自己会吃,不用你侍候了。你已经三个晚上没有睡好啦,你一定困得很,去睡吧,我再也不需要什么啦。”

   'Should I double-lock the door?'

  “要把门锁上吗?”

   'Yes, you should! And, most important of all, say that no one is to be admitted before noon.'

  “当然要锁上!特别要关照一声,明天中午以前别让人进来。”

   AT five in the morning, when daylight began to appear through the curtains, Marguerite said to me:

  清晨五点钟,微弱的晨光透过窗帘照射进来,玛格丽特对我说:

   'Forgive me if I shoo you away now, but I must. The Duke comes every morning; when he arrives, he'll be told I'm asleep, and he may wait for me to wake.'

  “很抱歉,我要赶您走了,这是没有办法的事,公爵每天早上都要来;他来的时候,别人会对他说我还在睡觉,他可能一直要等到我醒来。”

  我把玛格丽特的头捧在手里,她那蓬松的头发零乱地披散在周围,我最后吻了吻她,对她说:

   'When will I see you again?'

  “我们什么时候再见?”

   'Listen, ' she went on, 'take the little gold key on the mantelpiece there and unlock the door. Then bring me back the key and go. Sometime during the day, you'll receive a letter with my instructions, for you know that you must obey blindly.'

  “听着,”她接着说:“壁炉上有一把金色的小钥匙,您拿去打开这扇门,再把钥匙拿来,您就走吧。今天您会收到我一封信和我的命令,因为您知道您应该盲目地服从我。”

   'Yes ?but what if I were already to ask you something?'

  “是的,不过我现在是不是可以向您要求一点东西呢?”

   'What is it?'

  “要求什么?”

  “把这把钥匙给我。”

   'I've never done for anyone what you're asking me to do now.'

  “这个东西我从来没有给过别人。”

   'Well, do it for me, for I swear that I do not love you as the others loved you.'

  “那么,您就给我吧,因为我对您起过誓,我爱您跟别人爱您不一样。”

   'Very well, keep it. But I warn you that I could at any time see to it that your key served no useful purpose.'

  “那么您就拿去吧,但是我要告诉您,我可以让这把钥匙对您毫无用处。”

   'How?'

  “怎么会呢?”

  “门里面有插销。”

   'You wicked creature!'

  “坏东西!”

   'I'll have them removed.'

  “我叫人把插销拆了吧。”

   'So you do love me a little?'

  “那么,您真有点儿爱我吗?”

   'I don't know how it is, but it seems I do. And now, go: I'm almost asleep.'

  “我也不知道是怎么一回事,不过看来我真的爱上您了。 现在您去吧,我困得很。”

  我们又紧紧地拥抱了一会儿,后来我就走了。

   The streets were deserted, the great city was sleeping still, and a pleasant coolness ran through the neighbourhood which, a few hours later, would be overrun by the noise of men.

  街上阒无人迹,巨大的城市还沉睡未醒,到处吹拂着一阵阵柔和的微风,再过几个小时,这里就要熙来攘往,人声鼎沸了。

   I felt as though the sleeping city belonged to me. I ransacked my memory for the names of men whose happiness, up to that moment, I had envied; and I could not recall one without finding that I was happier than he.

  现在这座沉睡着的城市仿佛是属于我一个人的。过去我一直羡慕有些人运气好,我一个个地回忆着他们的名字,可是我怎么也想不出有谁比我眼下更称心如意的了。

   To be loved by a chaste young girl, to be the first to show her the strange mystery of love, is a great joy ?but it is the easiest thing in the world. To capture a heart unused to attack is like walking into an open, undefended city. Upbringing, the awareness of duty, and the family, are watchful sentries of course, but there are no sentries, however vigilant, that cannot be eluded by a girl of sixteen to whom nature, through the voice of the man she adores, whispers those first counsels of love which are all the more passionate because they seem so pure.

  被一个纯洁的少女所爱,第一个向她揭示神秘之爱的奥秘;当然,这是一种极大的幸福,但这也是世界上最简单不过的事情。赢得一颗没有谈过恋爱的心,这就等于进入一个没有设防的城市。教育、责任感和家庭都是最机警的哨兵,但是一个十六岁的少女,任何机警的哨兵都免不了会被她骗过的,大自然通过她心爱的男子的声音对她作第一次爱情的启示,这种启示越是显得纯洁,它的力量也就越是猛烈。

   The more sincere a young girl's belief in goodness, the more easily she gives herself, if not to her lover, then at least to love. Because she is unsuspecting, she is powerless, and to be loved by her is a prize which any young man of twenty-five may have whenever he likes. And to see how true this is, simply consider how much supervision and how many ramparts surround young girls! Convents cannot have walls too high, nor mothers locks too strong, nor religion duties too unrelenting to deep all these charming birds safe in cages which no one even tries to disguise with flowers. And so, how keenly must they want that world which is kept hidden from them! How tempting must they believe it to be! How eagerly must they listen to the first voice which, through the bars of their cage, tells of its secrets! And how gratefully to they bless the first hand which lifts a corner of its mysterious veil!

  少女越是相信善良就越是容易失身,如果不是失身于情人的话,至少是失身于爱情。因为一个人丧失了警惕就等于失去了力量,得到这样一个少女的爱情虽说是一个胜利,但这种胜利是任何一个二十五岁的男子想什么时候要就什么时候能够到手的。在这些少女的周围,确实是戒备森严。但是要把所有这些可爱的小鸟关在连鲜花也不必费心往里抛的笼子里,修道院的围墙还不够高,母亲的看管还不够严,宗教戒条的作用还不够持久。因此,这些姑娘们该有多么向往别人不让她们知道的外部世界啊!她们该有多么相信这个世界一定是非常引人入胜的,当她们第一次隔着栅栏听到有人来向她们倾诉爱情的秘密时该有多么高兴,对第一次揭开那神奇帐幕一角的那只手,她们该是怎样地祝福它啊!

  但是要真正地被一个妓女所爱,那是一个极其难得的胜利,她们的肉体腐蚀了灵魂,情欲灼伤了心灵,放纵的生活养成了她们的铁石心肠。别人对她们讲的话,她们早已听腻了,别人使用的手腕她们也都熟悉,她们即使有过爱情也已经卖掉了。她们的爱情不是出于感情,而是为了金钱。她们工于心计,因此远比一个被母亲和修道院看守着的处女防范得周密。她们把那些不在做生意范围之内的爱情叫做逢场作戏,她们经常会有一些这样的爱情,她们把这种爱情当作消遣,当作借口,当作安慰,就好像那些放高利贷的人,他们盘剥了成千的人,有一天他借了二十个法郎给一个快要饿死的穷人,没有要他付利息,没有逼着他写借据,就自以为罪已经赎清了。

   But when God allows a courtesan to fall in love, her love, which at first looks like a pardon for her sins, proves almost invariably to be a punishment on her. There is no absolution without penance. When such a creature, who has all the guilt of her past on her conscience, suddenly feels herself gripped by a deep, sincere, irresistible love such as she had never dreamed herself capable of experiencing; when she finally declares her love ?how complete the power of the man she loves! How strong he feels once he has the cruel right to say: 'What you do now for love is no more than you have done for money.'

  再说,当天主允许一个妓女萌发爱情的时候,这个爱情,开始时好像是一个宽恕,后来几乎总是变成一种对她的惩罚。没有忏悔就谈不上宽恕。如果一个女人过了一段应该受到谴责的生活,突然觉得自己有了一种深刻的、真诚的、不能自制的爱情,这种她从来以为不可能有的爱情,当她承认这个爱情的时候,那个被她爱的男子就可以统治她了!这个男子有多么得意,因为他有权对她说,“您的爱情跟做买卖也差不离”。然而,这是一种残酷的权利。

   When this happens, they are at a loss for ways of proving what they feel. A boy in a field who, so the fable goes, persisted in finding it amusing to shout 'Help!' to disturb some workmen, was eaten one fine day by a bear, without it occurring to those he had so often deceived that this time his shouts were real. And so it is with these wretched girls when they genuinely fall in love. They have lied so often that no one believes them any more and, beset by remorse, they are eaten by their love.

  这时候她们真不知道怎样来表明她们的真心。有一个寓言讲过:一个孩子跟农民们恶作剧,一直在田野里叫“救命啊,熊来啦!”闹着玩。有一天熊真的来了,那些被他骗过的人这一次不再相信他的呼救声,他终于被熊吃掉了;这就像那些可怜的姑娘萌发了真正的爱情的时候一样。她们说谎次数太多,以致别人不再相信她们了,她们后悔莫及地葬身于她们自己的爱情之中。

   Which explains the great self- sacrifices, the austere self-seclusions of which a few such women have afforded examples.

  因此,也会有一些真正忠于爱情,认真从良的妓女。

   But if a man who inspires such saving love is sufficiently generous of soul to accept it without thought for the past, if he commits himself totally to her, if he really loves as he is loved, then such a man drains in one draught all terrestrial emotions and, after a love like this, his heart is thereafter closed to any other.

  但是,当一个激起这种超脱的爱情的男子有一颗宽宏的心,愿意接受这个女人而不去回忆她的过去,当他投身于这个爱情之中;总之,当他被她所爱一样地爱上了她时,这个人顿时就享尽了人间所有美好的感情,经过这次爱情以后,他再也不会爱上别人了。

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名著·茶花女 - 第32节