英语PK台 第866期: 莫泊桑经典短篇 《项链》

 1. She was one of those pretty and charming girls, but had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved, married by a man rich and distinguished 1; and she married a little clerk in the Department of Education. She was simple since she could not be adorned 2; but she was unhappy.

她是世上的漂亮动人的女子之一，却没有陪嫁的资产，没有希望，没有任何方法使得一个既有钱又有地位的人认识她，了解她，爱她，娶她；到末了，她将将就就和教育部的一个小科员结了婚。不能够讲求装饰，她是朴素的，这令她很不快乐。

She suffered intensely, feeling herself born for every delicacy 3 and every luxury. She had no dresses, no jewellery; nothing. And yet she felt herself made for that only. So she wept all day long, from chagrin 4, from regret, from despair, and from distress 5. 

她觉得自己本是为了一切精美的和一切豪华的事物而生的，可她没有像样的服装，没有珠宝首饰，什么都没有。可是她偏偏只欢喜这一套，觉得自己是为了这一套而生的。因此不住地感到痛苦。由于伤心，由于遗憾，由于失望并且由于忧虑，她非常难过。

2. But one evening her husband came in with a proud air, holding in his hand a large envelope. “There,” said he, “there’s something for you.” She quickly took a printed card out of the envelope which said: “The Minister of Education begs M. and Mme. Loisel to do them the honor to pass the evening with them at the palace of the Ministry 6, on Monday, January 18.” Instead of being delighted, as her husband hoped, she threw the invitation on the table with annoyance 7, murmuring: “What do you want me to do with that?” 

不料某一天傍晚，她丈夫带着得意扬扬的神气回来了，手里拿着一个大信封。“瞧吧，”他说：“这儿有点儿东西是专门为了你的。”她赶忙拆开了信封，从里面抽了一张印着这样语句的请帖：“教育部长若尔日·郎波诺暨夫人荣幸地邀请骆塞尔先生和骆塞尔太太参加一月十八日星期一在本部大楼举办的晚会。” 她丈夫希望她一定快活得很，谁知她竟带着伤心而且生气的样子把请帖扔到桌上，冷冰冰地说： “你叫我拿着这东西怎么办？”

3. “But, my dear, I thought you would be pleased. You never go out, and here’s a chance, a fine one!” She looked at him with an irritated eye and she declared with impatience 8: “What do you want me to put on to go there?” He shut up, astonished and distracted at seeing that his wife was weeping. He stuttered: What’s the matter? What’s the matter?” “I have no clothes, and in consequence I cannot go to this party.” He was disconsolate 9. He began again: “See here, Mathilde, how much would this cost, a proper dress?” “I don’t know exactly, but it seems to me that with four hundred francs I might do it.” He grew a little pale, but he said: “All right. I will give you four hundred francs. But take care to have a pretty dress.”

“不过，亲爱的，我原以为你大概是满意的。你素来不出门，并且这是一个机会，这东西，一个好机会！”她用一种暴怒的眼光瞧着他，后来她不耐烦地高声说： “你叫我身上穿着什么到那儿去？” 瞧见他妻子流着眼泪，他不说话了，吃惊了，心里糊涂了。他口吃着说：“你有点怎样？你有点怎样？” “ 我没有衣裳，所以我不能够去赴这个晚会。”他发愁了，接着说道：“这么着吧，玛蒂尔蒂。要花多少钱，一套像样的衣裳？” “细数呢，我不知道，不过我估计，有四百金法郎，总可以办得到。”他的脸色有点儿发青了，然而他却回答道：“就是这样吧。我给你四百金法郎。不过你要想法子去做一套漂亮的裙袍。”

4. The day of the party drew near, and Mme. Loisel seemed sad, restless, and anxious. Yet her dress was ready. One evening her husband said to her: “What’s the matter?” And she answered: “It annoys me not to have a jewel, not a single stone, to put on. I would almost rather not go to this party. There’s nothing more humiliating than to look poor among a lot of rich women.” But her husband cried: “Go find your friend, Mme. Forester, and ask her to lend you some jewellery.” She gave a cry of joy: “That’s true. I had not thought of it.”

晚会的日期已经近了，骆塞尔太太好像在发愁，不放心，心里有些焦躁不安。然而她的新裙袍却置办好了。她丈夫某一天傍晚问她：“你又怎么了？”她说： “没有一件首饰，没有一粒宝石，插的和戴的，一点儿也没有。简直太穷酸了。现在我宁可不去赴这个晚会。”他接着说道： 但是她丈夫高声叫唤起来：“你真糊涂！去找你的朋友伏来士洁太太，问她借点首饰。” “这是真的。这一层我当初简直没有想过。”

5. The next day she went to her friend and asked if she could borrow some jewellery. Mme. Forester opened her large jewellery box, and said to Mme. Loisel: “Choose, my dear.” She saw many precious jewels, yet she kept on asking: “You haven’t anything else?” All at once she discovered, in a box of black satin, a superb necklace of diamonds, and her heart began to beat with boundless 10 desire. Her hands trembled in taking it up. She fastened it round her throat, on her high dress, and remained in ecstasy 11. Then, she asked, full of anxiety: “Can you lend me this, only this?” “Yes, yes, certainly.” She sprang to her friend’s neck, kissed her, and then escaped with her treasure.

第二天，她到她这位朋友家里去了，向她谈起了自己是否可以借一些珠宝首饰。 伏来士洁太太向打开她大大首饰盒说：“你自己选吧，亲爱的。”她看了许多珠宝，末了问着。“你还有没有一点什么别的？”她忽然在一只黑缎子做的小盒子里，发现了一串用金刚钻镶成的项链，她的心房因为一种奢望渐渐跳起来。她双手拿着那东西发抖，她把它压着自己裙袍的领子绕在自己的颈项上面了，对着自己在镜子里的影子出了半天的神。 后来，她带看满腔的顾虑迟疑地问道： “你能够借这东西给我吗，我只借这一件？” “当然可以，当然可以。” 她跳起来抱着她朋友的颈项，热烈地吻了又吻，末后，她带着这件宝贝溜也似地走了。

6. The day of the party arrived. Mme. Loisel was a success. She was the prettiest of them all, elegant, gracious, smiling, and mad with joy. All the men were looking at her, inquiring her name, asking to be introduced. Everyone wanted to dance with her. The Minister took notice of her. She danced in the triumph of her beauty. They both left eventually about four in the morning.

晚会的日子到了，骆塞尔太太得到极大的成功，她比一般女宾都要漂亮，时髦，迷人，不断地微笑，并且乐得发狂。一般男宾都望着她出神，探听她的姓名，设法使人把自己引到她跟前作介绍。本部机要处的人员都想和她跳舞，部长也注意她。她用陶醉的姿态舞着，用兴奋的动作舞着，她沉醉在欢乐里。她和丈夫大约在清晨四点钟光景离开了。

7. Before undressing and getting into bed, she suddenly gave a cry. Her husband, half undressed already, asked: “What is the matter with you?” She turned to him, terror-stricken: “I—I—I have not Mme. Forester’s diamond necklace!” He jumped up, frightened. “What? How?” And they searched in the folds of the dress, in the folds of her wrap, in the pockets, everywhere. They looked for the entire rest of the night and the following days, but did not find it.

就在脱下衣服准备就寝时，她陡然发出了一声狂叫。她丈夫这时候已经脱了一半衣裳，连忙问： “你怎么了？”她发痴似地转过身来向着他：“我已经……我已经……我现在找不着伏来士洁太太那串项链了。”他张皇失措地站起来：“什么！……怎样！……哪儿会有这样的事！”于是他俩在那件裙袍的衣褶里，大氅的衣褶里，口袋里，都寻了一个遍。他们找了一整晚，到处都找不到它。

8. At the end of a week looking everywhere possible, they had lost all hope. And M. Loisel, aged 12 by five years, declared: “We must see how we can replace those jewels.” At a jeweller nearby, they found a diamond necklace just like the one they lost. It was priced forty thousand francs.

一星期以后，他们任何希望都消失了。并且骆塞尔像是老了五年，高声说道：“现在应当设法找一件替代品了。”在一家附近的珠宝店，他们找到了与丢失那串极为相似的项链，价格值得四万金法郎。

Loisel possessed 13 only eighteen thousand francs. He had to borrow the remainder. He borrowed, asking a thousand francs from one, five hundred from another, five here, three there. He gave promissory notes, made ruinous agreements, dealt with usurers, with all kinds of lenders. Frightened by all the anguish 14 of the future, he went on to buy the new diamond necklace.

骆塞尔只有一万八千金法郎。剩下的数目就得去借了。他动手借钱了，向这一个借一千金法郎，向那个借五百，向这里借五枚鲁意金元，向另一处又借三枚。他签了许多借据，订了许多破产性的契约，和那些盘剥重利的人，各种不同国籍的放款人打交道。将来的苦恼令他感到了恐怖，终于买回了那串新项链。

9. Mme. Loisel made the best of it, heroically. “The frightful 15 debts must be paid” she thought. She would pay it. They dismissed the servant; they changed their rooms; they took an attic 16 under the roof. She learned the rough work of the household. She washed the dishes, wearing out her pink nails on the greasy 17 pots and the bottoms of the pans. She washed the dirty linen 18, the shirts and the towels, which she dried on a rope. Dressed like a woman of the people, she went to the fruiterer, the grocer, the butcher, a basket on her arm, bargaining, insulted, fighting for her wretched money.

骆塞尔太太突然一下用英雄气概打定了主意，那笔骇人的债是必须偿还的。她预备偿还它。他们辞退了女佣；搬了家；租了某处屋顶底下的一间阁楼下。她开始做种种家务上的粗硬工作了，她清洗杯盘碗碟，在罐子锅子的油垢底子上磨坏了那些玫瑰色的手指头。内衣和抹布都由她亲自用肥皂洗濯再晾到绳子上；她穿着得像是一个平民妇人了，她挽着篮子走到蔬菜店里、杂货店里和肉店里去讲价钱，去挨骂，极力一个铜元一个铜元地去防护她那点儿可怜的零钱。

10. This life lasted ten years. At the end of ten years they had paid everything back, everything, with the accumulation of heaped-up interest. Mme. Loisel seemed aged now. She had become a robust 19 woman, hard and rough, of a poor household. Only sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat down by the window and she thought of that evening long ago, of that ball, where she had been so beautiful and so admired. What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? Who knows? How singular life is, how changeable! What a little thing it takes to save you or to lose you.

末后，这种生活延长到十年之久。十年之末，他俩居然还清了全部债务，连同高利贷者的利钱以及由利上加利滚成的数目。骆塞尔太太像是老了。现在，她已经变成了贫苦人家的强健粗硬而且耐苦的妇人了。只是有时候她丈夫到办公室里去了，她独自坐在窗前，于是就回想从前的那个晚会，那个跳舞会，在那里，她当时是那样美貌，那样快活。倘若当时没有失掉那件首饰，她现在会走到什么样的境界？谁知道？谁知道？人生真是古怪，真是变化无常啊。无论是害您或者救您，只消一点点小事。