英语PK台 第818期:黑暗幽默悬疑短篇 罗尔德·达尔《南方男人》

 　　It was getting on toward six o'clock so I thought I'd buy myself a beer and go out and sit in a deck chair by the swimming pool and have a little evening sun. Just then I noticed a small, oldish man walking briskly around the edge of the pool. He was immaculately dressed in a white suit and he walked very quickly with little bouncing strides, pushing himself high up onto his toes with each step.

　　时间快到晚上六点了，我觉得是时候为自己买杯啤酒，然后出去躺在游泳池边的躺椅上，享受落日余晖。就在这时，我注意到一位个头不高的老人正沿游泳池边快步地走着。他穿着一身整洁的白色西装，行走时迈着轻盈的步伐，脚尖一踮一踮地。
　　He stopped beside me and smiled, showing two rows of very small, uneven 1 teeth, slightly tarnished 2. I smiled back. "Excuse pleess, but may I sit here?" "Certainly," I said. "Go ahead." "A fine evening," he said. "They are all evenings fine here in Jamaica." I couldn't tell if the accent were Italian or Spanish, but I felt fairly sure he was some sort of a South American. And old too, when you saw him close. Probably around sixty-eight or seventy. "Yes," I said. "It is wonderful here, isn't it?”
　　他停在我身边，微笑着，露出两排非常小、参差不齐且没什么光泽的牙齿。我也对他笑了笑。“打扰了，我可以坐在这儿吗？”“当然可以，”我说，“请坐。”“傍晚的天气多好啊，”他说，“在牙买加，每天傍晚的天气都很好。”我说不清他的口音里夹杂着意大利语还是西班牙语，但我相当肯定他是来自南美。而且，当你靠近些看他时，你就会发现他的确很老了，大概六十八或七十的样子。“说的没错，”我说，“这里的天气很棒，不是吗？”
　　Suddenly an American boy was standing 4 in front of us. He was dripping wet from the pool and one English girl was standing there with him. "Are these chairs taken?" he said. "No," I answered. "Mind if I sit down?" "Go ahead." "Thanks," he said. He offered his cigarettes to the girl and she refused; then he offered them to me and I took one. The little man said, "Tank you, no, but I tink I have a cigar." He pulled out a crocodile case and got himself a cigar, then he produced a knife which had a small scissor in it and he snipped 5 the end of the cigar.
　　突然，一个美国男孩出现在我们面前。他刚从游泳池出来，浑身湿淋淋的，旁边还站着一位英国女孩。“这些椅子有人吗？”他说。“没人，”我回答。“介意我坐下吗？”“坐吧。”“谢谢，”他说。他向女孩递香烟，女孩拒绝了；然后他又向我递了香烟，我拿了一支。那个小老头说，“谢谢你，但不用了，我好像带了雪茄。”他掏出一盒鳄鱼牌雪茄，取出一支，然后又拿出一把小刀（小刀上带着一个小剪刀），接着用剪刀剪断了雪茄尾端。
　　"Here, let me give you a light." The American boy held up his lighter 6."Dat will not work in dis wind." "Sure, it'll work. It always works." "All-ways?" the little man said softly. "Sure, it never fails. Not with me anyway." "Shall we not make a little bet on whether your lighter lights?" "Sure, I'll bet," the boy said. "Why not?" "I make you very good bet. I am rich man and I am sporting man also. Listen to me. Outside de hotel iss my car. Iss very fine car. American car from your country. Cadillac. You strike lighter successfully ten times running and Cadillac is yours. You like to have dis Cadillac, yes?"
　　“我来帮您点烟吧。”那个美国男孩举起他的打火机。“现在有风这东西不好使的！”“没问题，好用。而且总是好用。”“总是？”小老头轻声问道。“当然啦，而且万无一失。反正，我用时是这样。” “我们打个赌吧，就赌你的打火机能不能打着火，怎么样？”“当然可以，这赌我打了，”男孩说道，“我赢定了！”“跟我打赌，赌注一定得上点儿档次。我很有钱，而且很喜欢冒险。我跟你说，我的车就停在酒店外面。车子非常好。是一辆你们美国产的汽车，凯迪拉克。你只要连续成功打着十次打火机，那辆凯迪拉克就是你的了。你想要那辆迪卡迪拉克，没错吧？”
　　"Sure, I'd like to have a Cadillac." The boy was grinning. "All right. Fine. We make a bet and I put up my Cadillac." "And what do I put up?" said the boy. “Perhaps, de little finger of your left hand." "My what! The boy stopped grinning. "Yes. Why not? You win, you take de car. You looss, I take de finger." "I don't get it. How do you mean, you take the finger?" "I chop it off." "Jumping jeepers! That's a crazy bet!" "Well, well, well," he said. "I do not understand. You say it lights but you will not bet. Den 3 we forget it, yes?"
　　“我当然想要一辆凯迪拉克。”那男孩笑嘻嘻地说。“好吧。很好。那我们就打赌，我的赌注是那辆凯迪拉克。”“那我该赌点什么？”男孩问。“也许是你左手的小手指。”“我的什么？！男孩的笑容僵住了。“是的。为什么不呢？你赢了，你开走我的车。你输了，你的手指归我。”“我不明白。你要怎样？你要拿走我的手指吗？”“我把它砍掉。” “天啊！这太疯狂了！”“好吧，好吧，好吧，”小老头说，“我搞不懂，你既然说打火机能打着，但你又不肯打赌。那就忘了这个赌局，好吧？”
　　There was a silence, and I could see that the little man has succeeded in disturbing the boy with his absurd proposal. It was obvious that a small tension was beginning to build up inside him. "Now just let me check up on this bet of yours," he said at last. "You say if I make this lighter light ten times running I win a Cadillac. If it misses just once then I forfeit 7 the little finger of my left hand. Is that right?"
　　紧接着是一阵沉默。我可以看出这个小老头已经用他的荒谬提议成功地让这个男孩变得心神不宁。很明显，一股不安的情绪正在男孩的内心不断积聚。“现在，我跟您核对一下这桩赌局吧，”男孩终于开口了，“您说如果我连续十次成功地打着这个打火机，我会赢得一辆凯迪拉克；如果这十次里有任何一次失败了，我就得失去我左手的小指。是这样吧？”
　　"Certainly. Dat is de bet. But I tink you are afraid." The boy paused for just a moment and he glanced first at the English girl, then at me. "Yes," he said sharply. "I'll bet you." "Good!" The little man clapped his hands together quietly, once. "Fine," he said. "We do it now. And you, sir," he turned to me, "you would perhaps be good enough to, what you call it, to-to referee 8." He had pale, almost colourless eyes with tiny bright black pupils. "All right," I said. "I'll come along, but I don't like the bet." "You come too," he said to the girl. "You come and watch.
　　“没错。就是这个赌法。但我觉得你害怕了。”男孩停顿了一会儿，然后先看了看那位英国女孩，又看了我一眼。“好吧，”他抬高声音说道，“我跟你赌。” “好！”小老头平静地拍了拍手。“很好，”他说，“我们这就开始。先生，您，”他转向我说，“您或许能够胜任一名裁判。”此时，他面色苍白，亮黑色的瞳孔在眼睛里小得几乎看不见。“好吧，”我说，“裁判就裁判，但我声明我并不喜欢这桩赌局。”“你也来吧”小老头对女孩说，“过来旁观就行。”
　　We all went to the little man’s room, sat at a table, and the little man started tying up the boy’s left hand to the table. When he'd finished that, he positioned himself beside the table with a chopper in his hand. "We are all ready?" he said. "Mister referee, you must say to begin."
　　我们都进了小老头的房间，坐在一张桌子旁，然后小老头开始将男孩的左手绑在桌子上。完成后，他也坐在了桌子旁，手里拿着一把斧头。“我们都准备好了吗？”他说。“裁判先生，您说开始我们就开始。”
　　"Are you ready?" I asked the boy. "I'm ready" he said. "And you?" I asked the little man. "Quite ready," he said and he lifted the chopper up in the air and held it there about two feet above the boy's finger, ready to chop. The boy watched it, but he didn't flinch 9 and his mouth didn't move at all. He merely raised his eyebrows 10 and frowned. "All right," I said. "Go ahead."
　　“你准备好了吗？”我问那个男孩。“我准备好了。”他回答说。“您呢？”我问小老头。“准备好了。”他回答说，同时把斧头举高至男孩手指上方约两英尺的位置，做好了砍下去的准备。男孩眼睛盯着斧头，但他并没有表现出退缩，也没有说任何话。他只是抬起了眉毛，皱起了眉头。“好吧，”我说，“开始！”
　　"One!" I called. The flame did not blow out. "Two!" The lighter lighted again. No one else said anything. The boy kept his eyes on the lighter. The little man held the chopper up in the air and he too was watching the lighter. "Three!" "Four!" "Five!" "Six!" "Seven!" "Eight!" I said, and as I said it the door opened.
　　“一”我开始计数。火焰没有熄灭。“二！”打火机再次点燃。此时只能听到我一个人的声音。男孩一直盯着打火机。小老头高举着斧头，同时也看着打火机，三！”“四！”“五！”“六！”“七！”“八！”我继续计着数。而就在此时，门被打开了。
　　We all turned and we saw a woman standing in the doorway 11, a small, black-haired woman, rather old, who stood there for about two seconds then rushed forward shouting, "Carlos! Carlos!" She grabbed his wrist, took the chopper from him, threw it on the bed, took hold of the little man by the lapels of his white suit and began shaking him very vigorously, talking to him fast and loud and fiercely all the time in some Spanish-sounding language. Then she hauled him across the room and pushed him backward onto one of the beds.
　　我们都转过身来。一个身材矮小、黑色头发的老妇人出现在门口。她站在那里约两秒钟后，突然冲进屋来喊道：“卡洛斯！卡洛斯！”她抓住小老头的手腕，抢过斧头扔在床上。然后，她又抓起小老头白色西装的翻领，开始非常猛烈地摇晃他，同时不停地用听上去像西班牙语的语言快速、大声、凶狠地跟他讲话。随后，她把他拖到房间的另一头，并把他推倒在一张床上。
　　"I am so sorry," the woman said. "I am so terribly sorry that this should happen." She spoke 12 almost perfect English. "It is too bad," she went on. "I suppose it is really my fault. For ten minutes I leave him alone to go and have my hair washed and I come back and he is at it again." She looked sorry and deeply concerned.
　　“我很抱歉，”那个妇人说，“发生这样的事情，我真的非常抱歉。”她讲的一口几乎完美的英语。“太糟糕了，”她接着说，“我觉得这确实是我的错。我就是去洗了个头，让他独自呆了十分钟。我回来却发现，他又来这套了。”她看起来非常抱歉，同时陷入了深深的忧虑。
　　The boy wasuntying his hand from the table. The English girl and I stood there and saidnothing. "He is a menace," the woman said. "Down where welive at home he has taken altogether forty-seven fingers from different people,and he has lost eleven cars. In the end they threatened to have him put away somewhere. That's why I brought him up here. I suppose he bet you a car,"the woman said. "Yes," the boy answered. "A Cadillac.""He has no car. It's mine. And that makes it worse," she said,"that he should bet you when he has nothing to bet with. I am ashamed andvery sorry about it all." She seemed an awfully 13 nice woman.
　　此时此刻，男孩正从桌子上解开自己的手；我和那个英国女孩则站在那里哑口无言。“他是个麻烦鬼，”妇人说，“我们还住老家时，他就总共砍掉了别人的47根手指，此外还输了11辆汽车。最后，人们威胁要把他赶走。这就是我把他带到这里的原因。我猜他用汽车做赌注跟你打赌了。“妇人说。“是的，”男孩回答道，“一辆凯迪拉克。”“他没有车。那是我的车。这样的话，就更糟了，”她说，“他跟你打赌时甚至没有赌注。我感到非常惭愧，真是太抱歉了。”此时，她看上去非常善良、非常和蔼。
　　"We were only having a little bet," mumbled 14 the little man."He hasn't anything left to bet with," the woman said. "Hehasn't a thing in the world. Not a thing. As a matter of fact, I myself won itall from him a long while ago. It took time, a lot of time, and it was hardwork, but I won it all in the end." She looked up at the boy and shesmiled, a slow sad smile. I can see it now, that hand of hers; it had only onefinger on it, and a thumb.
　　“我们只是打了个小赌，”小老头咕哝道。“他没有什么可以赌的，”妇人说。“他现在穷困潦倒，身无分文。事实上，很久以前，这一切都是我从他那赢来的。这需要时间，很长时间，而且这并不容易，但我最终赢得了这一切。”她抬头看着那个男孩，露出了微笑，是一种缓慢而又悲伤的笑容。直到现在，她的那只手还会浮现在我眼前——上面只剩下大拇指和另外一根手指。