作者：[法] 莫泊桑（Guy de Maupassant）
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
孤单(外研社双语读库)试读：
A Coward懦夫In society he was called "Handsome Signoles."His name was Vicomte Gontran-Joseph de Signoles.
在社交场合中，人们叫他“英俊的西尼奥勒"。他的名字叫子爵贡特朗-约瑟夫·德西尼奥勒。
An orphan, and possessed of an ample fortune, he cut quite a dash, as it is called. He had an attractive appearance and manner, could talk well, had a certain inborn elegance, an air of pride and nobility, a good mustache, and a tender eye, that always finds favor with women.
他是个孤儿，拥有一笔数目不菲的财产，因此正如人们所说，颇有派头。他仪表堂堂、举止得体、善于交谈，具有某种与生俱来的优雅、高贵傲岸的神气、漂亮的胡须及温柔的眼睛，这些都令女人喜欢。
He was in great request at receptions, waltzed to perfection, and was regarded by his own sex with that smiling hostility accorded to the popular society man. He had been suspected of more than one love affair, calculated to enhance the reputation of a bachelor. He lived a happy, peaceful life—a life of physical and mental well-being. He had won considerable fame as a swordsman, and still more as a marksman.
他经常被邀请参加各种招待会，华尔兹舞跳得很完美。同性会向他投去投给受欢迎的社交宠儿的那种微笑的敌意。人们怀疑他有好几个情人，引起单身汉的称羡。他过着一种快乐而平静的生活——一种物质和精神都很富足的生活。他是一位有名的剑客，更是一名神枪手。
"When the time comes for me to fight a duel," he said, "I shall choose pistols. With such a weapon I am sure to kill my man."
他说：“若是到了决斗的时候，我会选择用手枪。用这种武器，我肯定能杀死我要杀的人。”
One evening, having accompanied two women friends of his with their husbands to the theatre, he invited them to take some ice cream at Tortoni's after the performance. They had been seated a few minutes in the restaurant when Signoles noticed that a man was staring persistently at one of the ladies. She seemed annoyed, and lowered her eyes. At last she said to her husband:
一天晚上，他陪他的两位女性朋友及她们的丈夫去剧院，看完演出后他邀请他们去妥多尼吃冰激凌。他们在那个餐馆坐了几分钟，这时西尼奥勒注意到有位先生目不转睛地盯着他的女客之一。她似乎恼怒了，低下了眼睛。终于对她的丈夫说：
"There's a man over there looking at me. I don't know him; do you?”“那儿有个男人一直盯着我。我不认识他，你认识吗？”
The husband, who had noticed nothing, glanced across at the offender, and said:
那位什么也没觉察到的丈夫向那个冒犯者瞥了一眼，说道：
"No; not in the least."“不，完全不认识。”
His wife continued, half smiling, half angry:
他的妻子半嗔半笑地继续说道：
"It's very tiresome! He quite spoils my ice cream.”“这太烦人了！他把我的冰淇淋都看脏了。”
The husband shrugged his shoulders.
那位丈夫耸了耸肩膀。
"Nonsense! Don't take any notice of him. If we were to bother our heads about all the ill-mannered people we should have no time for anything else.”“废话！不要理他。如果我们对所有不懂礼貌的人都管，我们就没有时间关注别的了。”
But the vicomte abruptly left his seat. He could not allow this insolent fellow to spoil an ice for a guest of his. It was for him to take cognizance of the offence, since it was through him that his friends had come to the restaurant. He went across to the man and said:
可是这位子爵突然离开了座位。他不能容忍这个无礼的家伙玷污他客人的冰淇凌。既然他的朋友是由他邀请到这个餐馆来的，这种冒犯就是冲着他来的。他走到那位先生那儿说道：
"Sir, you are staring at those ladies in a manner I cannot permit. I must ask you to desist from your rudeness."“先生，我不能容忍你盯着那些女士的方式。请你不要再粗鲁无礼。”
The other replied:
那个人回答道：
"Let me alone, will you!"“你别管我！”
"Take care, sir," said the vicomte between his teeth, "or you will force me to extreme measures."
那位子爵咬牙切齿地说道：“先生，小心点儿，不要逼我采取极端手段。”
The man replied with a single word—a foul word, which could be heard from one end of the restaurant to the other, and which startled every one there. All those whose backs were toward the two disputants turned round; all the others raised their heads; three waiters spun round on their heels like tops; the two lady cashiers jumped, as if shot, then turned their bodies simultaneously, like two automata worked by the same spring.
那个男人只回答了一个字——一个下流的字，这个字响遍了整个餐馆，使那儿的每个人都震惊。所有背对着这两位争论者的人都转过头来，其他所有的人都抬起头来，三个男服务员像陀螺般以脚跟为支点突然旋转过来，两位女收银员像是被枪击了一样吓得跳起来，然后同时将全身转过来，好像她们是两个被同一个发条控制的机器人。
There was dead silence. Then suddenly a sharp, crisp sound. The vicomte had slapped his adversary's face. Every one rose to interfere. Cards were exchanged.
顿时鸦雀无声。继而忽然尖脆的一声响。那位子爵已经打了他的对手一耳光。每个人都站起来调停。两个人互换了名片。
When the vicomte reached home he walked rapidly up and down his room for some minutes. He was in a state of too great agitation to think connectedly. One idea alone possessed him: a duel. But this idea aroused in him as yet no emotion of any kind. He had done what he was bound to do; he had proved himself to be what he ought to be. He would be talked about, approved, congratulated. He repeated aloud, speaking as one does when under the stress of great mental disturbance:
这位子爵回到家，在房间里来来回回快步踱了几分钟。他太焦虑了，无法顺畅地思考。他只有一个想法：决斗。除了这个想法以外，没有引起任何其他情绪。他已经做了他应该做的，证明了他应该证明的。人们将谈论这件事，称赞他、祝贺他。一面像人们在进行重要思考时说话那样，他大声反复说道：
"What a brute of a man!"Then he sat down, and began to reflect. He would have to find seconds as soon as morning came. Whom should he choose? He bethought himself of the most influential and best-known men of his acquaintance. His choice fell at last on the Marquis de la Tour-Noire and Colonel Bourdin—a nobleman and a soldier. That would be just the thing. Their names would carry weight in the newspapers. He was thirsty, and drank three glasses of water, one after another; then he walked up and down again. If he showed himself brave, determined, prepared to face a duel in deadly earnest, his adversary would probably draw back and proffer excuses. He picked up the card he had taken from his pocket and thrown on a table. He read it again, as he had already read it, first at a glance in the restaurant, and afterward on the way home in the light of each gas lamp:"Georges Lamil, 51 Rue Moncey.”That was all. He examined closely this collection of letters, which seemed to him mysterious, fraught with many meanings. Georges Lamil! Who was the man? What was his profession? Why had he stared so at the woman? Was it not monstrous that a stranger, an unknown, should thus all at once upset one's whole life, simply because it had pleased him to stare rudely at a woman? And the vicomte once more repeated aloud:"What a brute!"“真是一个粗野的人！”然后他坐下来，开始深思。天一亮他就得去找见证人。他应该选择谁呢？他琢磨着应该找他所熟悉的人里最有影响力的和最有名望的。他最后选择了黑塔侯爵和布尔丹上校——一位贵族和一名军人。这就很合适。他们的名字在报纸上很有影响力。他渴了，一杯接一杯地喝了三杯水，然后又来回踱起来。如果他表现出勇敢、坚决，准备用一种殊死的热切去面对决斗，他的对手很可能就会退缩并提出道歉。他拿起了那张他曾从衣袋里拿出并扔在桌子上的名片。他重新把它读了一遍，他已经读过，先前在餐馆瞟过一眼，后来在回家的路上的一盏盏灯光下读过：“乔治·拉米尔，梦西路51号。”这就是全部的内容。他仔细地观察这些排列在一起的字，对他似乎是个谜，充满了许多种意义。乔治·拉米尔！是个什么样的人？他的职业是什么?为什么他这样盯着那个女人？一个陌生人、一个不认识的人，由于他喜欢无礼地盯着一个女人看，就一下子搅乱了你的整个生活，这难道不骇人听闻吗？于是子爵又大声重复道：“真是一个粗野的人！”
Then he stood motionless, thinking, his eyes still fixed on the card. Anger rose in his heart against this scrap of paper—a resentful anger, mingled with a strange sense of uneasiness. It was a stupid business altogether! He took up a penknife which lay open within reach, and deliberately stuck it into the middle of the printed name, as if he were stabbing some one.
然后他站着不动，思索着，他的眼睛仍然盯在名片上。对着这张纸片，他的心中升起了一股怒气—一种夹杂着奇怪的不安之感的怨气。真是一件愚蠢的事儿！他拿起旁边一把打开着的折刀，故意刺在印着的姓名中间，仿佛刺穿了某个人。
So he would have to fight! Should he choose swords or pistols?—for he considered himself as the insulted party. With the sword he would risk less, but with the pistol there was some chance of his adversary backing out. A duel with swords is rarely fatal, since mutual prudence prevents the combatants from fighting close enough to each other for a point to enter very deep. With pistols he would seriously risk his life; but, on the other hand, he might come out of the affair with flying colors, and without a duel, after all.
因此他就得决斗！他应该选用剑还是手枪呢？——因为他认为自己是被侮辱的一方。用剑他冒的险少一些，但是用手枪他可能会吓退他的对手。用剑决斗很少是致命的，因为相互的谨慎会阻止打斗的双方过于接近，就不会刺得太深。用手枪会严重地以生命冒险，但是另一方面，他也有可能摆脱这一溅血的事件，并免于一场决斗。
"I must be firm," he said. "The fellow will be afraid."“我必须坚定。”他说。“那家伙会害怕的。”
The sound of his own voice startled him, and he looked nervously round the room. He felt unstrung. He drank another glass of water, and then began undressing, preparatory to going to bed.
他的声音使自己吃惊，紧张地看了看房间的四周。他感到很紧张。他又喝了一杯水，然后开始脱衣服，准备上床睡觉。
As soon as he was in bed he blew out the light and shut his eyes.
他一上床就吹灭了灯，闭上眼睛。
"I have all day to-morrow," he reflected, "for setting my affairs in order. I must sleep now, in order to be calm when the time comes."
他深思着：“我明天一整天都要去安排这些事。为了到时能镇定，我现在必须睡觉。”
He was very warm in bed, but he could not succeed in losing consciousness. He tossed and turned, remained for five minutes lying on his back, then changed to his left side, then rolled over to his right. He was thirsty again, and rose to drink. Then a qualm seized him:
他在床上很热，但不能入睡。他翻来覆去，仰着躺了五分钟，然后转到左侧躺，再翻到右侧躺。他又口渴了，于是起来喝水。然后感到一阵不安：
"Can it be possible that I am afraid?"“难道我害怕吗？”
Why did his heart beat so uncontrollably at every well-known sound in his room? When the clock was about to strike, the prefatory grating of its spring made him start, and for several seconds he panted for breath, so unnerved was he.
为什么房间里每一个熟悉的声音也使他的心无法控制地跳起来？钟报时之前那弹簧的吱吱声也使他吓了一跳，他气喘吁吁地呼了几秒钟的气，他感到真不安。
He began to reason with himself on the possibility of such a thing: "Could I by any chance be afraid?"
他开始自己推理这样一件事情的可能性：“我会害怕吗？”
No, indeed; he could not be afraid, since he was resolved to proceed to the last extremity, since he was irrevocably determined to fight without flinching. And yet he was so perturbed in mind and body that he asked himself:
不，绝对不，他不会害怕的，既然他已经决心继续走到底，既然
试读结束[说明：试读内容隐藏了图片]