作者：Honoré de Balzac 巴尔扎克
出版社：外语教学与研究出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
红房子旅馆(外研社双语读库)试读：
DEDICATION
献给
To Monsieur le Marquis de Custine.
屈斯蒂纳侯爵先生
THE RED INN红房子旅馆
In I know not what year a Parisian banker, who had very extensive commercial relations with Germany, was entertaining at dinner one of those friends whom men of business often make in the markets of the world through correspondence; a man hitherto personally unknown to him. This friend, the head of a rather important house in Nuremberg, was a stout worthy German, a man of taste and erudition, above all a man of pipes, having a fine, broad, Nurembergian face, with a square open forehead adorned by a few sparse locks of yellowish hair. He was the type of the sons of that pure and noble Germany, so fertile in honorable natures, whose peaceful manners and morals have never been lost, even after seven invasions.
我记不清是哪一年了，一个在德国有着广泛商务关系的巴黎银行家在设宴招待一个商人们经常通过书信在世界各处市场结交的朋友，一个他迄今从未谋面的人。这位朋友是纽伦堡一家相当重要的商号的老板，是个矮胖的德国名流，很有品位和学识的，最重要的是，他总叼着烟斗，有着一张宽阔、漂亮的纽伦堡人的脸，方方正正的开阔的前额上点缀着几缕稀疏的淡黄色头发。他是纯洁而高贵的日耳曼种族的子孙。这个种族天性如此高贵，它那平静的举止和品行从未丧失，即使是经受了七次入侵也未改变。
This stranger laughed with simplicity, listened attentively, and drank remarkably well, seeming to like champagne as much perhaps as he liked his straw-colored Johannisberger. His name was Hermann, which is that of most Germans whom authors bring upon their scene. Like a man who does nothing frivolously, he was sitting squarely at the banker's table and eating with that Teutonic appetite so celebrated throughout Europe, saying, in fact, a conscientious farewell to the cookery of the great Careme.
这个外国人质朴地笑着，专注地倾听，酒喝得相当多，看起来他可能和喜欢稻草色的约翰尼斯雷斯林（德国地名）白葡萄酒一样喜欢香槟。他的名字是赫尔曼，这是大多数被作家们搬上舞台的德国人的名字。就像一个做任何事都不轻率的人，他端端正正地坐在银行家的酒桌前，以闻名全欧洲的日尔曼人的胃口吃着，实际上，他在认认真真地向伟大的卡雷姆(法国一位著名厨师)的菜肴告别。
To do honor to his guest the master of the house had invited a few intimate friends, capitalists or merchants, and several agreeable and pretty women, whose pleasant chatter and frank manners were in harmony with German cordiality. Really, if you could have seen, as I saw, this joyous gathering of persons who had drawn in their commercial claws, and were speculating only on the pleasures of life, you would have found no cause to hate usurious discounts, or to curse bankruptcies. Mankind can't always be doing evil. Even in the society of pirates one might find a few sweet hours during which we could fancy their sinister craft a pleasure-boat rocking on the deep.
为了对客人表示尊重，房子的主人邀请了几个亲密的朋友，都是投资商和商人，还有几位和蔼漂亮的女士，她们可爱的谈吐和大方的举止与日尔曼人的热诚非常协调。真的，你要是看到了，就像我一样，这场缩回了商业爪子的人们的欢乐聚会，只考虑生活中的乐趣，你就会发现自己没有理由去痛恨高利盘剥，或去诅咒破产了。人不可能一直都干坏事。即便是在海盗窝里，你也可能找到几小时甜蜜的时光，这期间我们可能会幻想他们邪恶的船是深海上摇摆着的游船。
"Before we part, Monsieur Hermann will, I trust, tell one more German story to terrify us?"“在我们分手之前，我相信赫尔曼先生能再讲一个德国故事让我们吓一跳。”
These words were said at dessert by a pale fair girl, who had read, no doubt, the tales of Hoffmann and the novels of Walter Scott. She was the only daughter of the banker, a charming young creature whose education was then being finished at the Gymnase, the plays of which she adored. At this moment the guests were in that happy state of laziness and silence which follows a delicious dinner, especially if we have presumed too far on our digestive powers. Leaning back in their chairs, their wrists lightly resting on the edge of the table, they were indolently playing with the gilded blades of their dessert-knives. When a dinner comes to this declining moment some guests will be seen to play with a pear seed; others roll crumbs of bread between their fingers and thumbs; lovers trace indistinct letters with fragments of fruit; misers count the stones on their plate and arrange them as a manager marshals his supernumeraries at the back of the stage. These are little gastronomic felicities which Brillat-Savarin, otherwise so complete an author, overlooked in his book. The footmen had disappeared. The dessert was like a squadron after a battle: all the dishes were disabled, pillaged, damaged; several were wandering around the table, in spite of the efforts of the mistress of the house to keep them in their places. Some of the persons present were gazing at pictures of Swiss scenery, symmetrically hung upon the gray-toned walls of the dining-room. Not a single guest was bored; in fact, I never yet knew a man who was sad during his digestion of a good dinner. We like at such moments to remain in quietude, a species of middle ground between the reverie of a thinker and the comfort of the ruminating animals; a condition which we may call the material melancholy of gastronomy.
这句话是在吃餐后甜点时一个脸色苍白的金发姑娘说的，毫无疑问，她读过霍夫曼写的故事和瓦尔特·司各特的小说。她是那位银行家唯一的女儿，是个可爱的年轻尤物，她当时正在竞技剧场完成她学业，那里上演着她挚爱的戏剧。此刻，宾客们正处于美味宴席后懒洋洋、寡言少语的幸福状态，如果过高估计了自己的消化能力，就尤为如此。他们向后靠在椅子上，他们的手腕轻轻放在桌子边，正怠惰地玩弄他们的甜点刀的镀金刀片。当一场宴席到了这一临近结束的时刻，你会看到有的宾客玩弄梨核；有的人用拇指和其他手指搓着面包屑；恋人们用水果碎块描出难以辨认的字母；吝啬鬼们数着盘子里的果核，并将其排起来，就像剧院经理让他的小配角们在后台排队一样。这些小小的美食乐趣，在布里亚·萨瓦兰（法国美食家，1755-1862）的书里被忽略了，尽管他是个无所不写的作者。男仆们已经不见了。餐后点心就像一支战斗后的舰队：所有的菜肴都面目全非，被洗劫一空，变得残破不堪；几只盘子散落在桌子上，尽管房子的女主人努力将其归位。在场宾客中的一些人正注视着对称地挂在餐厅灰色调墙壁上的瑞士风景画。没有一个宾客感到烦闷，事实上，我还从未见过一个人在消化美味佳肴的过程中会感到难过。在这种时刻我们喜欢保持平静，处于介于思想家的沉思与反刍动物的舒适之间的一种状态，我们可以把这种状态叫做美食学上的肉体忧郁。
So the guests now turned spontaneously to the excellent German, delighted to have a tale to listen to, even though it might prove of no interest. During this blessed interregnum the voice of a narrator is always delightful to our languid senses; it increases their negative happiness. I, a seeker after impressions, admired the faces about me, enlivened by smiles, beaming in the light of the wax candles, and somewhat flushed by our late good cheer; their diverse expressions producing piquant effects seen among the porcelain baskets, the fruits, the glasses, and the candelabra.
因此，客人们现在都不由自主地转过头来面对这个好心的德国人，很高兴有故事听，即便可能后来发现这是个无趣的故事。在这一幸福的间歇，讲故事人的声音对于我们倦怠的感官来说总是愉快的，它增加了感官的消极乐趣。我这个观感的追寻者羡慕周围的那些脸庞，它们因微笑而显得生气勃勃，为烛光所照亮，由于刚刚的乐事而发红；它们各种各样的表情在瓷篮、水果、玻璃器皿和烛台间产生一种活泼的效果。
All of a sudden my imagination was caught by the aspect of a guest who sat directly in front of me. He was a man of medium height, rather fat and smiling, having the air and manner of a stock-broker, and apparently endowed with a very ordinary mind. Hitherto I had scarcely noticed him, but now his face, possibly darkened by a change in the lights, seemed to me to have altered its character; it had certainly grown ghastly; violet tones were spreading over it; you might have thought it the cadaverous head of a dying man. Motionless as the personages painted on a diorama, his stupefied eyes were fixed on the sparkling facets of a cut-glass stopper, but certainly without observing them; he seemed to be engulfed in some weird contemplation of the future or the past. When I had long examined that puzzling face I began to reflect about it. "Is he ill?" I said to myself. "Has he drunk too much wine? Is he ruined by a drop in the Funds? Is he thinking how to cheat his creditors?"
突然间，我的想象力被坐在我正对面的一位宾客的外貌吸引了。他是个中等个头的男子，相当肥胖，笑容可掬，有一股证券经纪人的风度和气质，显然拥有一颗平常心。先前我没有注意他，可是现在，他的脸可能由于光线的改变而变得阴暗，在我看来就像改变了特征一样；那张脸变得惨白，整个脸上都变得发紫，你或许会想到一个垂死的人面如死灰的脑袋。他一动不动，就像透视画上画着的人一样，他呆呆的眼睛盯着一只刻花玻璃瓶塞的闪闪发光的切面，但是他肯定不是在观察这些切面，他好像沉浸在对未来或过去的奇异遐想之中。当我长时间打量了那张使人迷惑的面孔之后，开始琢磨起来：“他生病了吗？”我自言自语。“他酒喝得太多了吗？他由于基金跌价而破产了吗？他是在考虑如何蒙骗他的债主吗？”
"Look!" I said to my neighbor, pointing out to her the face of the unknown man, "is that an embryo bankrupt?"“看！”指着那个陌生人的脸，我对邻座的女士说，“那不是一张即将破产的脸相吗？”
"Oh, no!" she answered, "he would be much gayer."Then, nodding her head gracefully, she added, "If that man ever ruins himself I'll tell it in Pekin! He possesses a million in real estate. That's a former purveyor to the imperial armies; a good sort of man, and rather original. He married a second time by way of speculation; but for all that he makes his wife extremely happy. He has a pretty daughter, whom he refused for many years to recognize; but the death of his son, unfortunately killed in a duel, has compelled him to take her home, for he could not otherwise have children. The poor girl has suddenly become one of the richest heiresses in Paris. The death of his son threw the poor man into an agony of grief, which sometimes reappears on the surface."“哦，是的！”她回答，“他是该更高兴点。”然后，她优雅地点点头，补充说：“如果那个人也会破产，那才叫见鬼了！他拥有百万地产。他原是帝国军队的供应商，是个好人，就是相当古怪。他再婚时是出于投机目的，尽管如此，他却让他的妻子生活得幸福。他有一个漂亮的女儿，很多年都不肯认她。可是他儿子在一场决斗中不幸被杀后，他就不得不把女儿接回家，因为他不能再有孩子了。可怜的姑娘突然成为巴黎最富有的继承人之一。儿子的死使这个可怜的人陷入极度的悲伤，他时不时地会流露出这悲伤之情。”
At that instant the purveyor raised his eyes and rested them upon me; that glance made me quiver, so full was it of gloomy thought. But suddenly his face grew lively; he picked up the cut-glass stopper and put it, with a mechanical movement, into a decanter full of water that was near his plate, and then he turned to Monsieur Hermann and smiled. After all, that man, now beatified by gastronomical enjoyments, hadn't probably two ideas in his brain, and was thinking of nothing. Consequently I felt rather ashamed of wasting my powers of divination "in anima vili,"—of a doltish financier.
就在那一刻，供应商抬起眼睛，把目光落在了我身上，他的目光让我发抖，充满了忧郁的思索。不过，他的脸突然变得生动了，他拿起刻花玻璃瓶塞，机械地把它塞进盘子旁边装满水的玻璃瓶中，然后转向赫尔曼先生，微笑起来。毕竟，那个现在由于可口的美食而倍感享福的人脑子里可能连第二个想法都没有，甚至什么都没想。结果我因为在愚蠢的金融家的卑鄙的灵魂上浪费了我的占卜能力而感到相当耻辱。
While I was thus making, at a dead loss, these phrenological observations, the worthy German had lined his nose with a good pinch of snuff and was now beginning his tale. It would be difficult to reproduce it in his own language, with his frequent interruptions and wordy digressions. Therefore, I now write it down in my own way; leaving out the faults of the Nuremberger, and taking only what his tale may have had of interest and poesy with the coolness of writers who forget to put on the title pages of their books: "Translated from the German."
当我徒劳地做这些骨相学观察的时候，那位知名的德国人已经让他的鼻子享用了一大撮鼻烟，现在开始讲他的故事了。很难用他的原话重述那个故事，因为他总是中断，一离题就是半天。因此，我现在用我自己的方式写下来，省略了那个纽伦堡人犯的错误，只抓住他故事中有趣味和有诗意的部分，并像一些作家那样冷漠地忘记在他们的书名页上标注“译自德文”。
THOUGHT AND ACT
思想和行为
Toward the end of Vendemiaire, year VII., a republican period which in the present day corresponds to October 20, 1799, two young men, leaving Bonn in the early morning, had reached by nightfall the environs of Andernach, a small town standing on the left bank of the Rhine a few leagues from Coblentz. At that time the French army, commanded by Augereau, was manoeuvring before the Austrians, who then occupied the right bank of the river. The headquarters of the Republican division was at Coblentz, and one of the demi-brigades belonging to Augereau's corps was stationed at Andernach.
接近共和七年葡月月底的时候——相当于当今历法的1799年10月20日—两个青年男子一大早离开波恩，日落时到达了屹立在莱茵河左岸的小镇安德纳赫的郊外，这里离科布伦茨有几法里格远。那时，由奥热罗指挥的法国军队正在占领着右岸的奥地利人面前摆开阵势。共和军的师部设在科布伦茨，属于奥热罗军团的一个旅驻扎在安德纳赫。
The two travellers were Frenchmen. At sight of their uniforms, blue mixed with white and faced with red velvet, their sabres, and above all their hats covered with a green varnished-cloth and adorned with a tricolor plume, even the German peasants had recognized army surgeons, a body of men of science and merit liked, for the most part, not only in our own army but also in the countries invaded by our troops. At this period many sons of good families taken from their medical studies by the recent conscription law due to General Jourdan, had naturally preferred to continue their studies on the battlefield rather than be restricted to mere military duty, little in keeping with their early education and their peaceful destinies. Men of science, pacific yet useful, these young men did an actual good in the midst of so much misery, and formed a bond of sympathy with other men of science in the various countries through which the cruel civilization of the Republic passed.
这两个旅行者是法国人。看到他们蓝白相间、缀着红色丝绒的制服、他们的军刀，尤其是他们蒙着绿漆布、装饰着三色羽毛的帽子，即便是德国农民也能认出他们是军医——是受到多数人喜欢的懂科学、有美德的一群人，这不仅在我们自己的军队，而且在我们军队入侵的国家也是如此。在这一时期，因为茹尔当将军最近实行的征兵法规而停止学医的富家子弟，自然宁愿在战场上继续他们的学业，而不愿被限制于仅仅履行兵役的职责，这与他们早期的教育和他们安宁的命运不符。作为爱好合并、乐于助人的科学工作者，这些年轻人确实在这种种的苦痛中做了一些好事，并和残酷的共和国文明经过的各个国家的其他科学工作者惺惺相惜、相互团结。
The two young men were each provided with a pass and a commission as assistant-surgeon signed Coste and Bernadotte; and they were on their way to join the demi-brigade to which they were attached. Both belonged to moderately rich families in Beauvais, a town in which the gentle manners and loyalty of the provinces are transmitted as a species of birthright. Attracted to the theatre of war before the date at which they were required to begin their functions, they had travelled by diligence to Strasburg. Though maternal prudence had only allowed them a slender sum of money they thought themselves rich in possessing a few louis, an actual treasure in those days when assignats were reaching their lowest depreciation and gold was worth far more than silver. The two young surgeons, about twenty years of age at the most, yielded themselves up to the poesy of their situation with all the enthusiasm of youth. Between Strasburg and Bonn they had visited the Electorate and the banks of the Rhine as artists, philosophers, and observers. When a man's destiny is scientific he is, at their age, a being who is truly many-sided. Even in making love or in travelling, an assistant-surgeon should be gathering up the rudiments of his fortune or his coming fame.
这两个年轻人各有一张通行证和一张由科斯特和贝纳多特签发的外科助理医师委任书，他们正在赶往他们所属的那个旅。二人都来自博韦的中等富裕家庭，在这个小镇，乡间的文雅举止和忠诚秉性作为一种与生俱来的特点代代相传。由于被战争的舞台所吸引，虽然他们还没有到达履行职责的规定日期，却还是日夜兼程赶到了斯特拉斯堡。尽管母亲审慎地只给了他们一小笔钱，他们却自以为拥有几个金路易就很富有了，那时这几个金路易是真正的财宝，因为纸券已经贬值到最低，金子远比银子值钱。这两个年轻的外科医生最多也就二十岁，用青年人所有的热情沉湎于他们所处的诗情画意当中。从斯特拉斯堡到波恩的路上，他们带着艺术家、哲学家和观察者的眼光，游览了选帝侯的领地和莱茵河两岸。一个注定要从事科学事业的人，到了他们这个年龄，就真正具有多方面的才能了。即便是在谈情说爱或者在旅行的时候，一个外科助理医师也应该搜集一些能让他发财的或能让他将来成名的基础知识。
The two young had therefore given themselves wholly to that deep admiration which must affect all educated men on seeing the banks of the Rhine and the scenery of Suabia between Mayenne and Cologne,—a strong, rich, vigorously varied nature, filled with feudal memories, ever fresh and verdant, yet retaining at all points the imprints of fire and sword. Louis XIV. and Turenne have cauterized that beautiful land. Here and there certain ruins bear witness to the pride or rather the foresight of the King of Versailles, who caused to be pulled down the ancient castles that once adorned this part of Germany. Looking at this marvellous country, covered with forests, where the picturesque charm of the middle ages abounds, though in ruins, we are able to conceive the German genius, its reverie, its mysticism.
因此这两个青年便全身心地沉浸在莱茵河畔和马耶讷与科隆之间的施瓦本地区的景色中，发出深深的赞叹，所有受过教育的人都会被这种景色感染——这是强大、富饶、生机勃勃、多姿多彩的大自然，充满了封建社会的遗迹，依旧那么新鲜而青翠，却完完全全保留了战火和刀剑的印记。路易十四和蒂雷纳曾焚烧过那片美丽的土地。遍地的废墟见证了这位凡尔赛君王的骄横或者远见，是他摧毁了曾经装饰着德国这一地区的古堡。看着那充满了中世纪魅力的、森林覆盖着的神奇土地，虽然眼前一片废墟，我们仍能够窥见德国人的天才、它的幻想、它的神秘主义。
The stay of the two friends at Bonn had the double purpose of science and pleasure. The grand hospital of the Gallo-Batavian army and of Augereau's division was established in the very palace of the Elector. These assistant-surgeons of recent date went there to see old comrades, to present their letters of recommendation to their medical chiefs, and to familiarize themselves with the first aspects of their profession. There, as elsewhere, they got rid of a few prejudices to which we cling so fondly in favor of the beauties of our native land. Surprised by the aspect of the columns of marble which adorn the Electoral Palace, they went about admiring the grandiose effects of German architecture, and finding everywhere new treasures both modern and antique.
这两个朋友在波恩的停留有医学和娱乐上的双重目的。高卢－巴达维亚军队和奥热罗师的大医院就设在选侯的宫殿里。这些刚出道的外科助理医师去那里见年长的同事，将他们的介绍信呈给医务官，并让自己初步熟悉一下职务。正如他们到了别的地方一样，他们在那里摆脱了一些偏见，那就是总是坚持认为自己家乡漂亮。他们对装饰选侯宫的大理石柱子很是惊叹，他们四处欣赏德国建筑的宏伟效果，发现每个地方都是现代和古典交融的瑰宝。
From time to time the highways along which the two friends rode at leisure on their way to Andernach, led them over the crest of some granite hill that was higher than the rest. Thence, through a clearing of the forest or cleft in the rocky barrier, they caught sudden glimpses of the Rhine framed in stone or festooned with vigorous vegetation. The valleys, the forest paths, the trees exhaled that autumnal odor which induced to reverie; the wooded summits were beginning to gild and to take on the warm brown tones significant of age; the leaves were falling, but the skies were still azure and the dry roads lay like yellow lines along the landscape, just then illuminated by the oblique rays of the setting sun. At a mile and a half from Andernach the two friends walked their horses in silence, as if no war were devastating this beautiful land, while they followed a path made for the goats across the lofty walls of bluish granite between which foams the Rhine. Presently they descended by one of the declivities of the gorge, at the foot of which is placed the little town, seated coquettishly on the banks of the river and offering a convenient port to mariners.
他们悠闲地骑行在通往安德纳赫的公路上，不时登上一座比其他山峰都高的花岗岩山的山顶。从那里，透过森林的缺口或岩石的断裂处，夹于沙岸间或是由茂盛植物妆扮的莱茵河会突然映入他们的眼帘。山谷、森林中的小径、树木都散发出引人遐想的秋天的味道；树尖开始变成金色，呈现出老年特有的温暖的黄褐色；树叶开始落下，可是天空仍是蔚蓝的，干燥的道路恰好被夕阳的斜晖所照亮，像是搁置在景物上的一条条黄线。在距离安德纳赫1.5英里的地方，两个朋友骑着马默默地走着，就好像战争并没在摧残这片美丽的土地。他们沿着一条牧羊道行进，小道横跨高高的蓝色花岗岩峭壁，峭壁间奔腾着莱茵河。不久，他们从峡谷的一面坡上下来，峡谷底部就是那座小镇，故作媚态地坐落在河岸边，为水手们提供了一个方便的港口。
"Germany is a beautiful country!" cried one of the two young men, who was named Prosper Magnan, at the moment when he caught sight of the painted houses of Andernach, pressed together like eggs in a basket, and separated only by trees, gardens, and flowers. Then he admired for a moment the pointed roofs with their projecting eaves, the wooden staircases, the galleries of a thousand peaceful dwellings, and the vessels swaying to the waves in the port.“德国真是个美丽的国家！”两个朋友中叫普罗斯珀·马尼昂的大喊道，此刻他看到安德纳赫涂了油漆的房子，就像篮子里的鸡蛋一样挤在一起，被树木、花园和鲜花隔开。然后，他欣赏了一阵千百座静美的住宅，看着那屋檐凸出的尖屋顶、木头楼梯、门廊，还有港湾里随波摇摆的小船。
(At the moment when Monsieur Hermann uttered the name of Prosper Magnan, my opposite neighbor seized the decanter, poured out a glass of water, and emptied it at a draught. This movement having attracted my attention, I thought I noticed a slight trembling of the hand and a moisture on the brow of the capitalist.（当赫尔曼先生说出普罗斯珀·马尼昂这个名字的那一刻，我对面的客人抓过玻璃水瓶，倒出一杯水，一口喝了下去。这个举动吸引了我的注意，我想我注意到了这个投资家的手在微微发抖，额头有点汗湿了。
"What is that man's name?" I asked my neighbor.“那个人叫什么名字？”我问旁边的客人。
"Taillefer," she replied.“塔耶费。”她回答。
"Do you feel ill?" I said to him, observing that this strange personage was turning pale.“你感觉难受吗？”我看到这个奇怪的人脸色变得苍白，就问道。
"Not at all," he said with a polite gesture of thanks. "I am listening," he added, with a nod to the guests, who were all simultaneously looking at him.“没事。”他边说边礼貌地做了个手势，以示感谢。“我在听呢。”他补充说，朝所有同时向他看过来的宾客们点点头。
"I have forgotten," said Monsieur Hermann, "the name of the other young man. But the confidences which Prosper Magnan subsequently made to me enabled me to know that his companion was dark, rather thin, and jovial. I will, if you please, call him Wilhelm, to give greater clearness to the tale I am about to tell you."“我已经忘记了，”赫尔曼先生说，“另一个年轻人的名字。但是，普罗斯珀·马尼昂后来对我说的话让我知道他的这个同伴有点黑、很瘦、天性活泼。如果你们愿意，我就叫他威廉吧，好让我把故事讲得清楚一些。”
The worthy German resumed his narrative after having, without the smallest regard for romanticism and local color, baptized the young French surgeon with a Teutonic name.)
这个德国名流一点都没有考虑浪漫精神和地方色彩，给那个年轻的法国外国医生起了个日尔曼名字，又继续讲他的故事。）
By the time the two young men reached Andernach the night was dark. Presuming that they would lose much time in looking for their chiefs and obtaining from them a military billet in a town already full of soldiers, they resolved to spend their last night of freedom at an inn standing some two or three hundred feet from Andernach, the rich color of which, embellished by the fires of the setting sun, they had greatly admired from the summit of the hill above the town. Painted entirely red, this inn produced a most piquant effect in the landscape, whether by detaching itself from the general background of the town, or by contrasting its scarlet sides with the verdure of the surrounding foliage, and the gray-blue tints of the water. This house owed its name, the Red Inn, to this external decoration, imposed upon it, no doubt from time immemorial by the caprice of its founder. A mercantile superstition, natural enough to the different possessors of the building, far-famed among the sailors of the Rhine, had made them scrupulous to preserve the title.
当两个年轻人到达安德纳赫的时候，夜色已黑。他们认为要是去找他们的长官给他们在这个兵满为患的小镇上安排一个军人的住处会浪费很多时间，就决定在离安德纳赫大约两三百英尺的旅馆度过最后一个自由的夜晚，他们曾经在小镇上方的山峰上为这家旅馆在夕阳装饰下的丰富多彩的颜色而赞叹不已。这家旅馆完全被漆成了红色，在这处风景上产生了很强烈的效果，或者是由于它远离城镇的一般背景，或者是由于它深红色的墙壁与周围翠绿的植物和灰蓝色的河水之间形成的对比。这所房子叫“红房子旅馆”，得名于它的外部装饰，无疑是很久以前它的建造者一时兴起就把它漆成了这种颜色。这所房子在莱茵河的水手中声名远扬，而房子的不同所有者都出于自然的商业迷信，小心翼翼地维持着它的名号。
Hearing the sound of horses' hoofs, the master of the Red Inn came out upon the threshold of his door.
听到了马蹄声，红房子旅馆的老板便迎到门口来。
"By heavens! gentlemen,"he cried, "a little later and you'd have had to sleep beneath the stars, like a good many more of your compatriots who are bivouacking on the other side of Andernach. Here every room is occupied. If you want to sleep in a good bed I have only my own room to offer you. As for your horses I can litter them down in a corner of the courtyard. The stable is full of people. Do these gentlemen come from France?" he added after a slight pause.“老天爷！先生们。”他喊道，“再晚一点你们就得在星光下入睡了，就像你们在安德纳赫的另一边露营的大多数同胞那样。这里的每个房间都有人了。你们如果想在一张不错的床铺上睡觉，我只能给你们提供我自己的房间了。至于你们的马，我可以在院子的角落里给它们铺些草。马厩里满是人。两位先生是从法国来的吗？”他稍作停顿后又问。
"From Bonn," cried Prosper, "and we have eaten nothing since morning."“从波恩来。”普罗斯珀喊道，“从早晨起我们就什么都没吃。”
"Oh! as to provisions," said the innkeeper, nodding his head, "people come to the Red Inn for their wedding feast from thirty miles round. You shall have a princely meal, a Rhine fish! More, I need not say."“哦！说起食物。”旅馆老板摇头晃脑地说，“方圆三十英里的人都来红房子旅馆摆婚宴呢。你们会吃到皇家美味——莱茵河鱼！更多的我也不必说了。”
After confiding their weary steeds to the care of the landlord, who vainly called to his hostler, the two young men entered the public room of the inn. Thick white clouds exhaled by a numerous company of smokers prevented them from at first recognizing the persons with whom they were thrown; but after sitting awhile near the table, with the patience practised by philosophical travellers who know the inutility of making a fuss, they distinguished through the vapors of tobacco the inevitable accessories of a German inn: the stove, the clock, the pots of beer, the long pipes, and here and there the eccentric physiognomies of Jews, or Germans, and the weather-beaten faces of mariners. The epaulets of several French officers were glittering through the mist, and the clank of spurs and sabres echoed incessantly from the brick floor. Some were playing cards, others argued, or held their tongues and ate, drank, or walked about. One stout little woman, wearing a black velvet cap, blue and silver stomacher, pincushion, bunch of keys, silver buckles, braided hair,—all distinctive signs of the mistress of a German inn (a costume which has been so often depicted in colored prints that it is too common to describe here),—well, this wife of the innkeeper kept the two friends alternately patient and impatient with remarkable ability.
他们将疲倦的马匹交给老板照看，老板徒劳地招呼着马夫，两个年轻人走进旅馆的公共大厅。一大群吸烟者吐出的白色浓烟使他们一下子并没看清周围的人，但他们有着冷静的旅行者久经操练的耐心，知道大惊小怪毫无益处，在桌边坐了一会儿后，他们透过烟草的浓雾分辨出了一个德国旅馆必然拥有的陈设：炉子、时钟、啤酒罐、长烟斗，到处都是面容古怪的人，有犹太人、德国人，还有饱经风霜的水手。几个法国军官的肩章透过烟雾在闪闪发光，马刺和军刀的叮当声不停地在砖地上响起。有的人在玩扑克，其他人在争论，或者默不作声地吃着、喝着，或到处走着。一个结实的小个子女人，戴着一顶黑色丝绒帽子，身穿蓝灰相间的兜肚衣，带着针垫、钥匙串、银搭扣，头发编成辫子，所有这些都是一个德国旅馆老板娘的明显标志（这种装束在彩色图画中司空见惯，这里就不描述了），哦，这位老板娘有着非凡的能力，让这两个朋友一会儿有耐心，一会儿没耐心。
Little by little the noise decreased, the various travellers retired to their rooms, the clouds of smoke dispersed. When places were set for the two young men, and the classic carp of the Rhine appeared upon the table, eleven o'clock was striking and the room was empty. The silence of night enabled the young surgeons to hear vaguely the noise their horses made in eating their provender, and the murmur of the waters of the Rhine, together with those indefinable sounds which always enliven an inn when filled with persons preparing to go to bed. Doors and windows are opened and shut, voices murmur vague words, and a few interpellations echo along the passages.
噪音一点点减少，形形色色的旅客回到了他们的房间，烟雾消散了。当两个年轻人的住处收拾好、经典的莱茵河鲤鱼出现在餐桌上时，十一点的钟声已经敲响，公共房间已是空空荡荡。夜晚的寂静让年轻的外科医生们能模糊听到马吃草料的声音、莱茵河水的低吟，还有住满旅店的客人们准备睡觉时的那种无法描述的声音，这总会让旅馆富有生气。门窗开开关关，传来隐约的低语声，沿着走廊响起几阵盘查声。
At this moment of silence and tumult the two Frenchmen and their landlord, who was boasting of Andernach, his inn, his cookery, the Rhine wines, the Republican army, and his wife, were all three listening with a sort of interest to the hoarse cries of sailors in a boat which appeared to be coming to the wharf. The innkeeper, familiar no doubt with the guttural shouts of the boatmen, went out hastily, but presently returned conducting a short stout man, behind whom walked two sailors carrying a heavy valise and several packages. When these were deposited in the room, the short man took the valise and placed it beside him as he seated himself without ceremony at the same table as the surgeons.
在这个既安静又骚动的时刻，两个法国人和他们那个正在吹嘘安德纳赫、吹嘘他的旅馆、他的饭菜、吹嘘莱茵白葡萄酒、共和国军队、吹嘘他的妻子的旅店老板一起，三个人都饶有兴趣地听着一条可能即将开进码头的船上传来的水手们嘶哑的喊声。旅馆老板当然很熟悉这些船员带着喉音的喊声，于是匆忙地走了出去，可是很快就带着一个矮胖的男人回来了，在这个男人后面跟着两个水手，扛着一只沉重的旅行箱和几只包裹。这些东西都在大厅里安顿好后，矮个子男人拿过旅行箱放到身边，毫不拘谨地在外科医生们的那张桌子旁坐了下来。
"Go and sleep in your boat," he said to the boatmen, "as the inn is full. Considering all things, that is best."“去你们的船上睡吧。”他对船员们说，“旅馆客满了。权衡一下，这是最好的办法。”
"Monsieur," said the landlord to the new-comer, "these are all the provisions I have left," pointing to the supper served to the two Frenchmen; "I haven't so much as another crust of bread nor a bone."“先生。”老板对新来的人说，“这些就是我剩下的所有的食物。”他指着为两个法国人端上的晚餐，“我连一片面包皮或一根骨头都没有了。”
"No sauer-kraut?”“没有酸泡菜吗？”
"Not enough to put in my wife's thimble! As I had the honor to tell you just now, you can have no bed but the chair on which you are sitting, and no other chamber than this public room."“都不够装我妻子的顶针！正如我刚才荣幸地告诉您的，除了您正在坐着的这把椅子，没有床位了，并且除了这间公共大厅也没有其他房间了。”
At these words the little man cast upon the landlord, the room, and the two Frenchmen a look in which caution and alarm were equally expressed.
听到这些话，这个矮个子把目光投向老板、房间和两个法国人，目光中同时透露出谨慎和惊慌。
(”Here," said Monsieur Hermann, interrupting himself, "I ought to tell you that we have never known the real name nor the history of this man; his papers showed that he came from Aix-la-Chapelle; he called himself Wahlenfer and said that he owned a rather extensive pin manufactory in the suburbs of Neuwied. Like all the manufacturers of that region, he wore a surtout coat of common cloth, waistcoat and breeches of dark green velveteen, stout boots, and a broad leather belt. His face was round, his manners frank and cordial; but during the evening he seemed unable to disguise altogether some secret apprehension or, possibly, some anxious care. The innkeeper's opinion has always been that this German merchant was fleeing his country. Later I heard that his manufactory had been burned by one of those unfortunate chances so frequent in times of war. In spite of its anxious expression the man's face showed great kindliness. His features were handsome; and the whiteness of his stout throat was well set off by a black cravat, a fact which Wilhelm showed jestingly to Prosper."（“在这里。”赫尔曼先生中断自己的讲述说，“我应该告诉你们，我们始终不知道这个人的真名和经历，他的证件上写着他来自亚琛，他自称为瓦朗费，并说自己在新维德郊外拥有一家相当大的别针工厂。他像所有那个地区的制造商一样，穿着一件普通布料的外套、一件马甲、深绿色平绒马裤、一双结实的靴子，系一条宽皮带。他的脸圆圆的，他的举止坦诚而热忱，可是整个晚上他似乎不能完全掩饰某种隐秘的恐惧，或者可能是某种焦急的忧虑。店主一直以为这个德国商人正要逃出他的国家。后来我听说，他的工厂在战争中不幸被烧毁了。尽管表情焦虑，这个男人的面相还是非常友善。他面容英俊，白皙而粗大的喉部在黑色领结的衬托下更显白皙，威廉曾半开玩笑地把它指给普罗斯珀看。”
Here Monsieur Taillefer drank another glass of water.)
这时，塔耶费先生又喝了一杯水。）
Prosper courteously proposed that the merchant should share their supper, and Wahlenfer accepted the offer without ceremony, like a man who feels himself able to return a civility. He placed his valise on the floor and put his feet on it, took off his hat and gloves and removed a pair of pistols from his belt; the landlord having by this time set a knife and fork for him, the three guests began to satisfy their appetites in silence. The atmosphere of this room was hot and the flies were so numerous that Prosper requested the landlord to open the window looking toward the outer gate, so as to change the air. This window was barricaded by an iron bar, the two ends of which were inserted into holes made in the window casings. For greater security, two bolts were screwed to each shutter. Prosper accidentally noticed the manner in which the landlord managed these obstacles and opened the window.
普罗斯珀有礼貌地提议那位商人可以和他们分享晚餐，瓦朗费毫不客气地接受了，就像他自以为能够报答这份人情一般。他把旅行箱放在地板上，把脚放在上面，摘掉帽子和手套，从腰带上取下一对手枪；这时店主已经为他摆好一副刀叉，三位旅客开始默不作声地填饱他们的肚子。大厅的空气很热，苍蝇很多，普罗斯珀要求店主打开朝着大门的窗户，好换换空气。这窗子用一根铁棍闩着，铁棍的两端被插进窗框的两个眼儿里。为了更加安全，每面窗板上各拧着两个螺钉。普罗斯珀偶然注意到店主是怎样去除这些障碍，打开窗户的。
As I am now speaking of localities, this is the place to describe to you the interior arrangements of the inn; for, on an accurate knowledge of the premises depends an understanding of my tale. The public room in which the three persons I have named to you were sitting, had two outer doors. One opened on the main road to Andernach, which skirts the Rhine. In front of the inn was a little wharf, to which the boat hired by the merchant for his journey was moored. The other door opened upon the courtyard of the inn. This courtyard was surrounded by very high walls and was full, for the time being, of cattle and horses, the stables being occupied by human beings. The great gate leading into this courtyard had been so carefully barricaded that to save time the landlord had brought the merchant and sailors into the public room through the door opening on the roadway. After having opened the window, as requested by Prosper Magnan, he closed this door, slipped the iron bars into their places and ran the bolts. The landlord's room, where the two young surgeons were to sleep, adjoined the public room, and was separated by a somewhat thin partition from the kitchen, where the landlord and his wife intended, probably, to pass the night. The servant-woman had left the premises to find a lodging in some crib or hayloft. It is therefore easy to see that the kitchen, the
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