作者：[法] 亚历山大?小仲马（Alexandre Dumasfils）
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
茶花女(外研社双语读库)试读：
Chapter 1第一章It is my considered view that no one can invent fictional characters without first having made a lengthy study of people, just as it is impossible for anyone to speak a language that has not been properly mastered.
我认为，没有人可以在对人进行深入的研究之前就能创造出虚构的人物，这就像人们不可能讲一门还没有掌握的语言一样。
Since I am not yet of an age to invent, I must make do with telling a tale.
既然还没到能够创造人物的年纪，我就必须满足于讲故事了。
I therefore invite the reader to believe that this story is true. All the characters who appear in it, with the exception of the heroine, are still living.
所以，我恳请读者相信这个故事是真实的。所有在里面出现的人物，除了女主角，现在都还活着。
I would further add that there are reliable witnesses in Paris for most of the particulars which I bring together here, and they could vouch for their accuracy should my word not be enough. By a singular turn of events, I alone was able to write them down since I alone was privy to the very last details without which it would have been quite impossible to piece together a full and satisfying account.
此外我要补充的是，我在这里记录的大部分详细事实在巴黎还有可靠的证人；他们可以为我作证，如果我自己还不足以让人信服的话。由于某种特殊的机遇，只有我能把这个故事记录下来，因为只有我知道这个故事的所有细节，不然是不可能拼凑出一篇完整、令人满意的文章的。
It was in this way that these particulars came to my knowledge.
我是这样知道这些详细情节的。
On the 12th day of March 1847, in the rue Laffitte, I happened upon a large yellow notice announcing a sale of furniture and valuable curios. An estate was to be disposed of, the owner having died. The notice did not name the dead person, but the sale was to be held at 9 rue d'Antin on the 16th, between noon and five o' clock.
一八四七年三月十二日，我碰巧在拉菲特街上看到一张关于家具和值钱古董拍卖的巨幅海报。这笔财产是因为主人去世而被拍卖的。海报上没有写出死者的名字，只是说拍卖将在十六号中午十二点到下午五点在安坦街九号举行。
The notice also stated that the apartments and contents could be viewed on the 13th and 14th.
海报上还说可以在十三号和十四号参观房子和将被拍卖的物品。
I have always been interested in curios. I promised myself I would not miss this opportunity, if not of actually buying, then at least of looking.
我一直对古董很感兴趣。所以，我向自己保证一定不能错过这个机会，就算不买，至少也要去看看。
The following day, I directed my steps towards 9 rue d' Antin.
第二天，我就去了安坦街九号。
Itwasearly,andyetagoodcrowdofvisitorshadalreadygatheredintheapartment—menforthemostpart,butalsoanumberofladieswho,thoughdressedinvelvetandwearingIndianshawls,andallwiththeirownelegantbroughamsstandingatthedoor,wereexaminingtherichessetoutbeforethemwithastonished,evenadmiringeyes.
时间还早，但是房子里已经聚集了一大群人，大多数是男士，但是也有相当一部分女人。她们虽然穿着天鹅绒衣服，披着开司米披肩，大门口还都有自己华丽的四轮马车候着，但是都用惊异甚至羡慕的眼神打量着眼前的豪华布置。
After a while, I quite saw the reason for their admiration and astonishment, for having begun myself to look around I had no difficulty in recognizing that I was in the apartment of a kept woman. Nowifthereisonethingthatladiesoffashiondesiretoseeaboveallelse—andthereweresocietyladiespresent—itistheroomsoccupiedbythosewomenwhohavecarriageswhichspattertheirownwithmudeverydayoftheweek, who have their boxes at the Opera or the Th tre-Italien just as they do, and indeed next to theirs, and who display for all Paris to see the insolent opulence of their beauty, diamonds and shameless conduct.
没多久，我就很清楚她们羡慕和惊叹的原因了，因为当我也开始打量四周时，很容易就认出自己正站在一个高级妓女的房子里。要是这些时髦的上流社会女性有一件最想看的东西——这里正好有一些这样的女人在场——那就是那种女人的闺房了。那种女人每天有马车代步，让她们双脚不会沾上泥土；那种女人和上流社会的女人们一样在大歌剧院和意大利歌剧院里面有自己的包厢，而且就和她们的包厢挨着；那种女人不知羞耻地向整个巴黎展示着她们的姿色、宝石和风流韵事。
The woman in whose apartments I now found myself was dead: the most virtuous of ladies were thus able to go everywhere, even into the bedroom. Death had purified the air of this glittering den of iniquity, and in any case they could always say, if they needed the excuse, that they had done no more than come to a sale without knowing whose rooms these were. They had read the notices, they had wanted to view what the notices advertised and mark out their selections in advance. Itcouldnothavebeensimpler—thoughthisdidnotpreventthemfromlookingthroughthesesplendidthingsfortracesofthesecretlifeofacourtesanofwhichtheyhaddoubtlessbeengivenverystrangeaccounts.
这所房子里的妓女已经死了，所以现在连最有美德的女士们也可以到处走来走去，甚至进入她的卧室。死亡净化了这间华丽而邪恶的房子里的空气，再说如果她们需要借口，就会推脱说只是来参加一场拍卖，而根本不知道这是谁的房子。她们看到了告示，想来看一看上面介绍的东西，顺便预先挑选一番。这再简单不过了，但这并没能阻止她们通过这些精美的陈设去寻找一个妓女私密生活的痕迹，毫无疑问她们以前就听过类似的奇特故事。
Unfortunately, the mysteries had died with the goddess, and in spite of their best endeavours these good ladies found only what had been put up for sale since the time of death, and could detect nothing of what had been sold while the occupant had been alive.
不幸的是，这些秘密都随着这位如女神般美丽的小姐一起消逝了。尽管这些贵妇人费尽心思，却也只能了解到死者身后将被拍卖的东西，而无法看出女主人身前身为高级妓女的痕迹。
But there was certainly rich booty to be had. The furniture was superb. Rosewood and Buhl-work pieces, S vres vases and blue china porcelain, Dresden figurines, satins, velvet and lace, everything in fact.
不过，这里确实有很多东西可以买。家具真是漂亮、华丽极了。布尔雕刻的和玫瑰木的家具、塞夫尔花瓶和中国青瓷、德累斯顿小塑像、绸缎、天鹅绒还有蕾丝花边，真是应有尽有。
I wandered from room to room in the wake of these inquisitive aristocratic ladies who had arrived before me. They went into a bedroom hung with Persian fabrics and I was about to go in after them, when they came out again almost immediately, smiling and as it were put to shame by this latest revelation. The effect was to make me even keener to see inside. It was the dressingroom, complete down to the very last details, in which the dead woman's profligacy had seemingly reached its height.
我跟着那些比我先到的充满好奇的上流社会淑女们一间一间地溜达。她们走进了一件挂着波斯帷幕的卧室，正当我准备跟着进去的时候，她们却立刻笑着退了出来，似乎对新发现很不好意思。这反而让我更想进去看看。这是一个化妆间，摆满了各种精致的梳妆用品，可以从中看出，这个死去的妓女生前的铺张浪费已经到了一个境界。
Onalargetablestandingagainstonewall—itmeasuredagoodsixfeetbythree—shonethefinesttreasuresofAucocandOdiot. It was a magnificent collection, and among the countless objects each so essential to the appearance of the kind of woman in whose home we had gathered, there was not one that was not made of gold or silver. But it was a collection that could only have been assembled piece by piece, and clearly more than one love had gone into its making.
在靠墙的一张足有六尺长、三尺宽的大桌子上，奥科克和奥迪奥的精美珠宝闪闪发光。这真是一批惊人的收藏啊！而且房子女主人化妆必备的这大批物件中，没有一件不是用金银做的。然而，这应该是一件一件收藏起来的，显然不是一个情人可以办到的。
I, who was not the least put out by the sight of the dressing-room of a kept woman, spent some time agreeably inspecting its contents, neglecting none of them, and I noticed that all these magnificently wrought implements bore different initials and all manner of coronets.
看到妓女的化妆间，我却没有一分一毫的厌恶之情，还用了相当长的一段时间细细欣赏了房间里的东西，一件也没漏掉。我注意到所有这些精致的用具上都刻着不同名字的缩写和各种徽章图案。
As I contemplated all these things, each to my mind standing for a separate prostitution of the poor girl, I reflected that God had been merciful to her since He had not suffered her to live long enough to undergo the usual punishment but had allowed her to die at the height of her wealth and beauty, long before the coming of old age, that first death of courtesans.
我注视着这些东西，它们每一件对我来说都代表着这个可怜姑娘的一次肉体买卖。我心想，上帝对她还算仁慈，没有让她活得够长，遭受她这种人通常会有的惩罚，而是让她早在年老色衰之前，在美貌和财富都达到高峰的时候死去——对妓女来说，年老色衰便是第一次死亡。
Indeed, what sadder sight is there than vice in old age, especially in a woman? It has no dignity and is singularly unattractive. Those everlasting regrets, not for wrong turnings taken but for wrong calculations made and money foolishly spent, are among the most harrowing things that can be heard. I once knew a former woman of easy virtue of whose past life there remained only a daughter who was almost as beautiful as the mother had once been, or so her contemporaries said. This poor child, to whom her mother never said 'You are my daughter' except to order her to keep her now that she was old just as she had been kept when she was young, this wretched creature was called Louise and, in obedience to her mother, she sold herself without inclination or passion or pleasure, rather as she might have followed an honest trade had it ever entered anyone's head to teach her one.
的确，还有什么景象比放荡生活的晚年，特别是女人放荡生活的晚年更加凄凉呢？这种晚年生活没有一丝尊严，也引不起别人的丝毫同情。那些长久的悔恨——不是因为错误的决定，而是因为错打了算盘，挥霍了钱财——是人们能听到的最悲惨的事情之一。我认识一个曾经生活放荡的女人，过去的生活遗留给她的只有一个女儿。据她同时代的人说，她女儿几乎同她年轻时长得一样美丽。这个可怜孩子，她的妈妈从来没对她说过“你是我的女儿”，除了要求这个孩子在如今她年老的时候赡养她外，就像这孩子小时候被她照顾一样。这个不幸的孩子叫做路易丝，她遵循母亲的意愿，心甘情愿地、毫无激情和乐趣地出卖了自己的肉体，就像是有人想到要教她做一种诚实的买卖，她就顺从地去做了。
The continual spectacle of debauchery, at so tender an age, compounded by her continuing ill-health, had extinguished in the girl the knowledge of good and evil which God had perhaps given her but which no one had ever thought to nurture.
长期看到听到的都是荒淫无耻的堕落生活，特别又是从这么小的年纪就开始，加上她一直身体不好，这些都导致这个女孩分辨不出是非。也许上帝曾经赐给她这样的品质，但是从来没有人想过要对此进行培育。
I shall always remember that young girl who walked along the boulevards almost every day at the same hour. Her mother was always with her, escorting her as assiduously as a true mother might have accompanied her daughter. I was very young in those days and ready enough to fall in with the easy morality of the times. Yet I recall that the sight of such scandalous chaperoning filled me with contempt and disgust.
我永远记得那个年轻的姑娘，她几乎每天同一时间都沿着林阴大道走过。她的妈妈总是和她在一起，像一个真正的母亲陪伴自己的女儿一样紧紧地跟着她。那时候我还非常年轻，很容易沾染上当时社会的放浪风气。但是回想起那丑恶的陪娼景象，我从心底感到轻蔑和恶心。
Add to all this that no virgin's face ever conveyed such a feeling of innocence nor any comparable expression of sadness and suffering.
再说没有一张处女的脸上会流露出这样一种天真纯洁的感情或者这样一种充满悲伤和苦恼的表情。
You would have said it was the image of Resignation itself.
也许你会说这分明就是委屈女郎的形象。
And then one day, the young girl's face lit up. In the midst of the debauches which her mother organized for her, it suddenly seemed to this sinful creature that God had granted her one happiness. And after all why should God, who had made her weak and helpless, abandon her without consolation to struggle on beneath the oppressive burden of her life? One day, then, she perceived that she was with child, and that part of her which remained pure trembled with joy. The soul finds refuge in the strangest sanctuaries. Louise ran to her mother to tell her the news that had filled her with such happiness. Itisshamefulthingtohavetosay—butwedonotwritegratuitouslyofimmoralityhere,werelateatrueincidentandoneperhapswhichwewouldbebetteradvisedtoleaveuntoldifwedidnotbelievethatitisessentialfromtimetotimetomakepublicthemartyrdomofthesecreatureswhoareordinarilycondemnedwithoutahearinganddespisedwithouttrial— it is, we say, a matter for shame, but the mother answered her daughter saying that as things stood they scarcely had enough for two, and that they would certainly not have enough for three; that such children serve no useful purpose; and that a pregnancy is so much time wasted.
突然有一天，这个年轻姑娘的脸上散发出了光彩。在她母亲一手替她安排的堕落生活中，好像上帝突然赐给了这个女罪人一点儿幸福。毕竟上帝已经让她生得软弱无助，那么当她在生活重压下苦苦挣扎的时候，怎么会一点儿安慰都不给就抛弃她呢？有一天，她发现自己有孩子了，她身上还仅存的纯洁的思想使她兴奋得全身发抖。她的灵魂在最不可思议的避难所找到了庇护。路易丝急忙跑到她妈妈那儿，讲述了这个让她快乐的消息。这是一件说起来令人感到羞耻的事情。但我们不会在这里无缘无故就编造什么风流韵事，只是在讲述一件真实的事情。这种事，如果我们认为没有必要经常把这些女人的苦难告诉大家，那也许还是不要讲了最好。人们谴责这种女人而又不听她们的申诉，人们蔑视她们而又不公正地评价她们。这的确是件可耻的事。可是那位母亲答复女儿说，她们两个人生活已经不容易了，肯定是不能养活第三个人了；再说，这样的孩子是没有好处的，而且大着肚子不做买卖也是浪费时间。
The very next day, a midwife (of whom we shall say no more than that she was a friend of the mother) called to see Louise, who remained for a few days in her bed from which she rose paler and weaker than before.
第二天，一个接生婆——我们最多能说她是那位母亲的一个朋友——来探望路易丝。路易丝在床上躺了好些天，后来下床了，脸色比以前更苍白，身体也比以前更虚弱。
Three months later, some man took pity on her and undertook her moral and physical salvation. But this latest blow had been too great and Louise died of the after effects of the miscarriage she had suffered.
三个月后，某位男士出于同情，设法医治她身心的创伤。但最近的那次打击实在太大了，路易斯最终还是死于流产的后遗症。
The mother still lives. How? God alone knows.
但是她的妈妈仍然活着。她过得怎么样？只有上帝知道。
This story had come back to me as I stood examining the sets of silver toilet accessories, and I must have been lost in thought for quite some time. For by now the apartment was empty save for myself and a porter who, from the doorway, was eyeing me carefully lest I should try to steal anything.
在我站着仔细看着一套套银质的卫生间装饰物的时候，这个故事浮现在我的脑海里。我一定深陷在回忆中好长一段时间了。因为现在房子已经空了，只剩下我和一个看门人，他正从门口密切地注意着我，以防我试图偷走任何东西。
I went up to this good man in whom I inspired such grave anxieties.
我走到这位好心的看门人跟前，他已被我弄得心神不定了。
'Excuse me,' I said, 'I wonder if you could tell me the name of the person who lived here?'“劳驾，”我说，“您可以把之前住在这里的人的名字告诉我吗？”
Mademoiselle Marguerite Gautier.'“玛格丽特·戈蒂埃小姐。”
I knew this young woman by name and by sight.
我知道这位姑娘的名字，还见过她。
'What!' I said to the porter. Marguerite Gautier is dead?'“什么！”我问看门人。“玛格丽特·戈蒂埃死了？”
'Yes, sir.'“是的，先生。”
'When did it happen?'“这是什么时候的事？”
'Three weeks ago, I think.'“我想是三个星期前。”
'But why are people being allowed to view her apartment?'“那为什么人们可以来参观她的房子呢？”
'The creditors thought it would be good for trade. People can get the effect of the hangings and the furniture in advance. Encourages people to buy, you understand.'“债主们觉得这样会对生意有帮助。大家可以提前来看看悬挂的织物和家具。这样便于招揽生意，您明白的。”
'So she had debts, then?'“这么说她还欠着债？”
'Oh yes, sir! Lots of 'em.'“是的，先生！欠了很多。”
'But I imagine the sale will cover them?'“但我猜这笔买卖可以还清了吧？”
'Over and above.'“够了，还能多出一些。”
'And who stands to get the balance?'“然后谁能拿到剩下的钱呢？”
'The family.'“她的家人。”
'She had a family?'“她还有家人？”
'Seems she did.'“看来是的。”
'Thank you very much.'“非常感谢。”
The porter, now reassured as to my intentions, touched his cap and I left.
那个看门人对我的来意放心之后，行了一个礼，我就离开了。
Poor girl,' I said to myself as I returned home, 'she must have died a sad death, for in her world, people only keep their friends as long as they stay fit and well.' And in spite of myself, I lamented the fate of Marguerite Gautier.“可怜的姑娘，”我回家的时候想着，“她一定死得很悲惨，因为在她的世界里，只有身体健康的人才会有朋友。”因而，我不由自主地为玛格丽特的命运感到惋惜。
All this will perhaps seem absurd to many people, but I have a boundless forbearance towards courtesans which I shall not even trouble to enlarge upon here.
所有这些对很多人来说可能很荒唐，但我对妓女总是有着无限的宽容，对此我不想费心在此详述。
One day, as I was on my way to collect a passport from the pr fecture, I saw, down one of the adjacent streets, a young woman being taken away by two policemen. Now I have no idea what she had done. All I can say is that she was weeping bitterly and clasping to her a child only a few months old from which she was about to be separated by her arrest. From that day until this, I have been incapable of spurning any woman on sight.
有一天，在去警察局领护照的路上，我看见旁边那条街上有一个年轻女人正要被两个警察带走。我不知道她犯了什么罪。我只知道她伤心地哭着，怀里紧紧抱着她那只有几个月大、就要因她被捕而被强迫分离的孩子。从那一天起，我就再也没有轻易看低任何一个女人。Chapter 2第二章
The sale was due to be held on the 16th.
拍卖定在十六号进行。
An interval of one day had been left between the viewing and the sale in order to give the upholsterers enough time to take down the hangings, curtains and so forth.
参观和正式拍卖之间有一天的间隔，这样可以让地毯商人有足够的时间取下帷帐、窗帘以及其他这一类的东西。
I was at that time recently returned from my travels. It was quite natural that no one had told me about Marguerite's death, for it was hardly one of those momentous news-items which friends always rush to tell anybody who has just got back to the capital city of News. Marguerite had been pretty, but the greater the commotion that attends the sensational lives of these women, the smaller the stir once they are dead. They are like those dull suns which set as they have risen: they are unremarkable. News of their death, when they die young, reaches all their lovers at the same instant, for in Paris the lovers of any celebrated courtesan see each other every day. A few reminiscences are exchanged about her, and the lives of all and sundry continue as before without so much as a tear.
我那时正好从外地旅游回来。很自然，没人告诉过我玛格丽特死了的事，因为这很难算得上是一件有重要意义的时事，不足以让朋友们急着转告给刚回到充满新闻的首都的人。玛格丽特活着的时候长得很漂亮，但是这些女人生前充满争议的生活引起的骚动越大，她们死后掀起的风波就越小。她们就像那些暗淡无光的星星，落下和升起的时候都一样不引人注意。如果是她们年纪轻轻就死了，那死讯会在同一时间传到她们所有情人那里，因为在巴黎，名妓的情人们关系通常很密切。他们会一起回忆一些她的往事，接着大家的生活就像平常一样继续，甚至没有人掉一滴眼泪。
For a young man of twenty-five nowadays, tears have become so rare a thing that they are not to be wasted on the first girl who comes along. The most that may be expected is that the parents and relatives who pay for the privilege of being wept for are indeed mourned to the extent of their investment.
现如今，对于一个二十五岁的男人来说，眼泪已经是一件稀罕的东西，是决不会浪费在遇到的第一个女人身上的。最多，也就是在他们身上花费过金钱的父母和亲戚才能得到特权，来让他们为自己哭上几声，作为过去投资的回报。
For my own part, though my monogram figured on none of Marguerite's dressing-cases, the instinctive forbearance and natural pity to which I have just admitted led me to dwell on her death for much longer than it perhaps warranted.
至于我自己，虽然我名字的缩写没有出现在玛格丽特的任何一件梳妆用具上，但是像我之前所承认的，出于本能的宽容和那种天生的怜悯，我对她的死久久不能忘怀，即使她并不值得我如此怀念。
I recalled having come across Marguerite very frequently on the Champs- lys es, where she appeared assiduously each day in a small blue brougham drawn by two magnificent bays, and I remembered having also remarked in her at that time an air of distinction rare in women of her kind and which was further enhanced by her truly exceptional beauty .
我记得以前经常在香榭丽舍大街上遇到玛格丽特，她每天都会准时出现，坐在两匹骏马拉着的一辆蓝色四轮小马车里。我也还记得那时我从她身上察觉到了她那类女人不常有的气质，这种气质又因她无与伦比的美貌而得到了进一步加强。
When these unfortunate creatures appear in public, they are invariably escorted by some companion or other.
这些不幸的人们在公众面前出现时，身边总有个伴侣或其他什么人陪伴着。
Since no man would ever consent to flaunt by day the predilection he has for them by night, and because they abhor solitude, they are usually attended either by less fortunate associates who have no carriages of their own, or else by elderly ladies of refinement who are not the least refined and to whom an interested party may apply without fear, should any information be required concerning the woman they are escorting.
既然没有男人会同意公开他们在私底下和烟花女子的特殊关系，而女人们又痛恨寂寞，所以她们总是和女伴们一同出行。这些女伴有些是因为境况不如她们，自己没有车；有些是怎么打扮也好看不了的老妇人。如果想知道马车女主人的任何私情秘事，尽可以放心大胆地去向那些女伴们请教。
It was not so with Marguerite. She always appeared alone on the Champs- lys es, riding in her own carriage where she sat as unobtrusively as possible, enveloped on winter days in a large Indian shawl and, in summer, wearing the simplest dresses. And though there were many she knew along her favourite route, when she chanced to smile at them, her smile was visible to them alone. A Duchess could have smiled no differently .
玛格丽特却不是这样的。她一直都是独自出现在香榭丽舍大街上，低调地坐在自己的马车中。冬天的时候裹在一条大大的开司米披肩里，夏天就穿着最朴素简单的衣服。虽然她最喜欢的街道上有许多认识的人，但当她偶尔朝他们微笑示意的时候，那笑容是只有对方才看得到的。那笑容和一个公爵夫人并无两样。
ShedidnotridefromtheRond-PointdowntotheentrancetotheChamps-Élyseesasdo—anddid—allhersort. Her two horses whisked her off smartly to the Bois de Boulogne. There she alighted, walked for an hour, rejoined her brougham and returned home at a fast trot.
她不会像她所有同行一样坐着马车从圆形广场驶入香榭丽舍大街。她的两匹马飞快地把她载到郊外的布洛涅树林。她在那里走下车，散步一小时，再登上马车，疾驰回家。
These circumstances, which I had occasionally observed for myself, now came back to me and I sorrowed for this girl's death much as one might regret the total destruction of a beautiful work of art.
那些我自己偶尔观察到的情况现在都再次回到了我的脑海里，我深深地为这个姑娘的去世感到惋惜，就像人们会为一件精美的艺术品被完全摧毁而惋惜一样。
For it was impossible to behold beauty more captivating than Marguerite's.
因为没有比玛格丽特更令人神魂颠倒的女子了。
Tall and slender almost to a fault, she possessed in the highest degree the art of concealing this oversight of nature simply by the way she arranged the clothes she wore. Her Indian shawl, with its point reaching down to the ground, gave free movement on either side to the flounced panels of her silk dress, while the thick muff, which hid her hands and which she kept pressed to her bosom, was encompassed by folds so skillfully managed that even the most demanding eye would have found nothing wanting in the lines of her figure.
她虽然高挑、苗条得有些过分，但她拥有一种最顶级的才能，仅仅改变一下穿衣服的方法就可以掩盖这种天生的缺陷。她披着拖地的开司米大披肩，两边露出了丝绸长裙的镶边，就连她那紧贴在胸前藏手用的厚厚的暖手笼四周的褶裥都做得十分精巧，因此，不管用多挑剔的眼光来看，她的线条都是完美无暇的。
Her face, a marvel, was the object of her most fastidious attentions. It was quite small and, as Musset might have said, her mother had surely made it so to ensure it was fashioned with care.
她的脸型漂亮得让人惊异，那是她身上让人最无法挑剔的珍品。那张脸很小巧，就像缪塞说过的那样，她的母亲一定是有意让它生成那样，以便把它精心装扮。
Upon an oval of indescribable loveliness, place two dark eyes beneath brows so cleanly arched that they might have been painted on; veil those eyes with lashes so long that, when lowered, they cast shadows over the pink flush of the cheeks; sketch a delicate, straight, spirited nose and nostrils slightly flared in a passionate aspiration towards sensuality; drawaregularmouthwithlipspartinggracefullyoverteethaswhiteasmilk;tinttheskinwiththebloomofpeacheswhichnohandhastouched—andyouwillhaveacomprehensivepictureofherentrancingface.
在一张流露着无法用言语描述的可爱神情的鹅蛋脸上，嵌上两只乌黑的大眼睛，上面是两道弯弯的细长眉毛，轮廓清晰得像是描画出来的；长长的睫毛遮盖住眼睛，垂下来时会在玫瑰色的脸颊上投射出一抹淡淡的阴影；鼻子精致、挺拔而又充满灵气，鼻翼因对情欲的渴望而微微煽动；一张端正的嘴，嘴唇优雅地张开，露出如牛奶一样洁白的牙齿；皮肤的色泽就如那未经触碰过的桃花一般——这些就是她留在您的脑海中的大致印象了。
Her jet-black hair, naturally or artfully waved, was parted over her forehead in two thick coils which vanished behind her head, just exposing the lobes of her ears from which hung two diamonds each worth four or five thousand francs.
她留着深黑色的头发，自然而充满艺术感地卷曲着，在额头上被分成两大绺，一直拖到脑后，露出两个耳垂，耳垂上闪烁着两颗各值四五千法郎的钻石耳环。
Exactly how the torrid life she led could possibly have left on Marguerite's face the virginal, even childlike expression which made it distinctive, is something which we are forced to record as a fact which we cannot comprehend.
玛格丽特热情奔放的生活怎么会在她的脸上留下处女般纯洁、甚至带着稚气的表情，让她显得如此与众不同，这些我们只能当作事实记录下来，无法理解。
Marguerite possessed a marvelous portrait of herself by Vidal, the only man whose pencil strokes could capture her to the life. After her death, this portrait came into my keeping for a few days and the likeness was so striking that it has helped me to furnish details for which memory alone might not have sufficed.
玛格丽特拥有一幅维达尔为她画的精美肖像，只有他的画笔才能将玛格丽特画得惟妙惟肖。她去世之后，有几天，这幅画在我手里。画中人和玛格丽特的相似程度太惊人了，它帮助我拼凑出了光靠记忆无法呈现的细节。
Some of the particulars contained in the present chapter did not become known to me until some time later, but I set them down here so as not to have to return to them once the narrative account of this woman's life has begun.
这一章里出现的个别细节也是我后来才知道的，但我把它们在这儿都记下来，这样以来，开始叙述这个女人的故事时就不用回过头来重新提起。
Marguerite was present at all first nights and spent each evening in the theatre or at the ball. Whenever a new play was performed, you could be sure of seeing her there with three things which she always had with her and which always occupied the ledge of her box in the stalls: her opera glasses, a box of sweets and a bunch of camellias.
玛格丽特会出现在所有演出的首场，每天晚上都是在剧院或者舞会度过的。只要有新剧演出，你就一定能在剧院里看见她，她总是随身带着三件东西，而且总是放在她正厅前排包厢前面的栏杆上：用来看戏的望远镜、一盒蜜饯和一束茶花。
For twenty-five days in every month the camellias were white, and for five they were red. No one ever knew the reason for this variation in colour which I mention but cannot explain, and which those who frequented the theatres where she was seen most often, and her friends too, had noticed as I had.
一个月里有二十五天玛格丽特带的茶花是白色的，剩下的五天那些花是红色的。没人知道茶花颜色变换的原因是什么，我也只能指出现象但不能解释其中的道理。此外，在她经常去的那几个戏院里，那些常去的观众和她的朋友也都和我一样注意到了这种现象。
Marguerite had never been seen with any flowers but camellias. Because of this, her florist, Madame Barjon, had finally taken to calling her the Lady of the Camellias, and the name had remained with her.
除了茶花，没有人见过玛格丽特带其他的花。因为这样，她经常光顾的花店主人巴尔容夫人最终开始叫她茶花女，以后这个名字就一直跟着她了。
Like all who move in certain social circles in Paris, I knew further that Marguerite had been the mistress of the most fashionable young men, that she admitted the fact openly, and that they themselves boasted of it, which only went to show that lovers and mistress were well pleased with each other.
就像所有在巴黎的某一个社交圈子里活动的人一样，我还知道玛格丽特曾经做过巴黎最时髦风流的少爷们的情妇，她公开承认过这个事实，那些男人们也对此感到骄傲，这只能说明情夫和情妇们对彼此都很满意。
However, for some three years previously, ever since a visit she had made to Bagn res, she was said to be living with just one man, an elderly foreign duke who was fabulously wealthy and had attempted to detach her as far as possible from her old life. This she seems to have been happy enough to go along with.
然而，之前大概有三年的时间，自从一次去巴涅尔的旅行之后，据说她几乎都和一个年老的外国公爵住在一起，这个公爵极度富有，并且想方设法要让她和自己以前的生活一刀两断。对于这个安排，她看起来心甘情愿地就接受了。
Here is what I have been told of the matter.
以下是别人告诉我的关于这件事的经过：
In the spring of 1842, Marguerite was so weak, so altered in her looks, that the doctors had ordered her to take the waters. She accordingly set out for Bagn res.
一八四二年的春天，玛格丽特的身体虚弱极了，她的气色越来越差，所以医生要求她泡温泉疗养。因此她就去了巴涅尔。
Among the other sufferers there, was the Duke's daughter who not only had the same complaint but a face so like Marguerite's that they could have been taken for sisters. The fact was that the young Duchess was in the tertiary stage of consumption and, only days after Marguerite's arrival, she succumbed.
在巴涅尔疗养的其他病人里面就有那位公爵的女儿，她不止和玛格丽特有着一样的病，而且和玛格丽特有着一张非常相似的脸，她们甚至会被旁人误认成姐妹俩。不过事实是：那位年轻的公爵小姐已经到了肺结核的第三期，玛格丽特来了仅仅几天后，她就死去了。
One morning the Duke, who had remained at Bagn res just as people will remain on ground where a piece of their heart lies buried, caught sight of Marguerite as she turned a corner of a gravel walk.
就像人们不愿离开埋葬着自己至亲的地方一样，公爵留在了巴涅尔，一天早上，他在一条碎石子路的转角看见了玛格丽特。
It seemed as though he was seeing the spirit of his dead child and, going up to her, he took both her hands, embraced her tearfully and, without asking who she was, begged leave to call on her and to love in her person the living image of his dead daughter.
他仿佛看见了死去孩子的灵魂，走过去抓住她的双手，眼含热泪地拥抱她，甚至没有问问她究竟是谁，就恳求玛格丽特同意他去看望她，并且像爱自己去世女儿的替身一样爱她。
Marguerite, alone at Bagn res with her maid, and in any case having nothing to lose by compromising herself, granted the Duke what he asked.
和玛格丽特一起留在巴涅尔的只有她的侍女，她觉得答应这件事也没有什么损失，就同意了公爵的请求。
Now there were a number of people at Bagn res who knew her, and they made a point of calling on the Duke to inform him of Mademoiselle Gautier's true situation. It was a terrible blow for the old man, for any resemblance with his daughter stopped there. But it was too late. The young woman had become an emotional necessity, his only pretext and his sole reason for living.
在巴涅尔也有不少人认识玛格丽特，他们特地拜访了公爵，告诉了他戈蒂埃小姐真实的社会地位。对一个老人来说，这是一个沉重打击，因为到此为止，玛格丽特与他的女儿再也谈不上有什么相似之处了。但是，这已经太晚了。这个年轻女人已经成为了公爵的一种精神必需，是他的唯一寄托和活下去的最后理由。
He did not reproach her, he had no right to, but he did ask her if she felt that she could change her way of life, and, in exchange for this sacrifice, offered all the compensations she could want. She agreed.
他没有责怪玛格丽特，他也没有这样做的权利，但是他确实问了玛格丽特是否觉得可以改变自己的生活方式，而且作为她的这种牺牲的交换条件，他可以提供任何她想要的补偿。玛格丽特同意了。
It should be said that at this juncture Marguerite, who was by nature somewhat highly strung, was seriously ill. Her past appeared to her to be one of the major causes of her illness, and a kind of superstition led her to hope that God would allow her to keep her beauty and her health in exchange for her repentance and conversion.
需要说明的是，那个时侯，天生性格热情奔放的玛格丽特正生着重病。过去的生活在她看来是生病的一个主要原因，一种迷信的想法使她希望上帝能以她的痛改前非和皈依为交换，允许她保留自己的美貌和健康。
And indeed the waters, the walks, healthy fatigue and sleep had almost restored her fully by the end of that summer.
果然，巴涅尔的温泉、散步、自然的体力消耗和正常的睡眠使她在夏天结束时几乎完全恢复了健康。
The Duke accompanied Marguerite to Paris, where he continued to call on her as at Bagn res.
公爵陪着玛格丽特回到了巴黎，他还是像在巴涅尔一样继续看望玛格丽特。
This liaison, of which the true origin and true motive were known to no one, gave rise here to a great deal of talk, since the Duke, known hitherto as an enormously wealthy man, now began to acquire a name for prodigality.
他们的这种关系，因为没人知道其真正的起因和动机，引起了大量流言蜚语，公爵曾经是一个有名的富翁，现在又因为挥霍无度而名声更响了。
The relationship between the old Duke and the young woman was put down to the salacity which is frequently found in rich old men. People imagined all manner of things, except the truth.
老公爵和年轻的玛格丽特之间的关系被大家归结于有钱老头儿身上常有的好色毛病。人们猜想了他们关系的所有情况，就是没有想到事情的真相。
The truth was that the affection of this father for Marguerite was a feeling so chaste, that anything more than a closeness of hearts would have seemed incestuous in his eyes. Never once had he said a single word to her that his daughter could not have heard.
事实是这位父亲对玛格丽特的喜爱是一种如此纯洁的感情，以至于任何超越心灵上的密切交往关系都会被他视作乱伦。他从没有对玛格丽特说过一句不该对女儿说的话。
The last thing we wish is to make our heroine seem anything other than what she was. We shall say therefore that, as long as she remained at Bagn res, the promise given to the Duke had not been difficult to keep, and she had kept it. But once she was back in Paris, it seemed to her, accustomed as she was to a life of dissipation, balls and even orgies, that her newfound solitude, broken only by the periodic visits of the Duke, would make her die of boredom, and the scorching winds of her former life blew hot on both her head and her heart.
我们最不希望的就是把我们的女主角描写得和她本人不一样。因此我们可以说，只要玛格丽特留在巴涅尔，她对公爵许下的诺言是不难遵守的，事实上她也确实遵守了。但是一旦回到了巴黎，对她来说，那只能靠老公爵定期看望才能缓解的孤独，会使得她因无聊而死去，因为她习惯了充满挥霍、舞会，甚至还有饮酒狂欢的生活，过去生活的灼热气息热热地吹着她的头脑和心灵。
Add to this that Marguerite had returned from her travels more beautiful than she had ever been, that she was twenty years old and that her illness, subdued but far from conquered, continued to stir in her those feverish desires which are almost invariably a result of consumptive disorders.
除此之外，玛格丽特从旅行回来之后变得比以前更漂亮了，她正当二十岁的大好年华，她的病虽然并未根除，但已经大有起色，这也激起了她狂热的情欲，这种情欲往往也就是肺病的症状。
The Duke was therefore sadly grieved the day his friends, constantly on the watch for scandalous indiscretions on the part of the young woman with whom he was, they said, compromising himself, called to inform him, indeed to prove to him that at those times when she could count on his not appearing, she was in the habit of receiving other visitors, and that these visitors often stayed until the following morning.
公爵的朋友总是说他和那个年轻女子在一起是在损害自己的名誉，他们一直监视着她的不轨行为；他们后来去告诉公爵，确切地说是向他证明，玛格丽特在确信公爵不会出现的时候会接待其他访客，而且这些访客经常逗留到第二天早上。公爵知道后心里非常痛苦。
When the Duke questioned her, Marguerite admitted everything, and, without a second thought, advised him not to concern himself with her any more, saying she did not have the strength to keep faith with the pledges she had given, and adding that she had no wish to go on receiving the liberalities of a man whom she was deceiving.
公爵质问玛格丽特时，她承认了所有的事情，并毫不犹豫地建议公爵不要再关心她了，她说自己没有力量去继续遵守他们之间的承诺，也不愿意再接受一个受她欺骗的男人的好意了。
The Duke stayed away for a week, but this was as long as he could manage. One week later to the day , he came and implored Marguerite to take him back, promising to accept her as she was, provided that he could see her, and swearing that he would die before he uttered a single word of reproach.
公爵一个星期没有露面，但他也只能忍耐这么久。到了第八天，他又回来恳求玛格丽特像过去一样跟他来往，承诺接受她现在的样子，只要能见到她，还发誓说即使丧命也不会再说一句责备她的话了。
This was how things stood three months after Marguerite's return, that is, in November of December 1842.
这就是玛格丽特返回巴黎三个月之后的情况，时间是一八四二年十一月或者十二月。Chapter 3第三章
On the 16th, at one o'clock, I made my way to the rue d' Antin.
十六号下午一点钟，我就到安坦街去了。
The raised voices of the auctioneers could be heard from the carriage entrance.
拍卖师高亢响亮的声音在供马车进入的大门口就可以听见。
The apartment was filled with inquisitive spectators.
宅子里挤满了好奇的观众。
All the famous names from the world of fashionable vice were there. They were being slyly observed by a number of society ladies who had again used the sale as a pretext for claiming the right to see, at close quarters, women in whose company they would not otherwise have had occasion to find themselves, and whose easy pleasures they perhaps secretly envied.
所有烟花之地的知名人物都在那里了。她们正被一些贵妇人狡猾地打量着，这些贵妇又一次把这个拍卖作为一个借口，声称自己有权利近距离观察这些她们从来没有机会与之共同相处的女人，而且说不定这些贵妇人还暗自在羡慕她们自由放荡的轻松生活呢。
The Duchesse de F rubbed shoulders with Mademoiselle A, one of the sorriest specimens of our modern courtesans; the Marquise de Tshrank from buying an item of furniture for which the bidding was led by Madame D, the most elegant and most celebrated adulteress of our age; the Duc d'Y, who is believed in Madrid to be ruining himself in Paris, and in Paris to be ruining himself in Madrid, and who, when all is said and done, cannot even spend all his income, while continuing to chat with Madame M, one of our wittiest taletellers, who occasionally agrees to write down what she says and to sign what she writes, was exchanging confidential glances with Madame de N, the beauty who may be regularly seen driving on the Champs- lys es, dressed almost invariably in pink or blue, in a carriage drawn by two large black horses sold to her by Tony for ten thousand francs...and paid for in full; lastly, Mademoiselle R, who by sheer talent makes twice what ladies of fashion make with their dowries, and three times as much as what the rest make out of their love affairs, had come in spite of the cold to make a few purchases, and it was not she who attracted the fewest eyes.
F公爵夫人撞上了A小姐的肩膀，后者是当今妓女圈子里最不幸的一位；T侯爵夫人放弃了购买一件D夫人在不断抬价的家具，因为D夫人是眼下最有风姿又最有名的荡妇。Y公爵，马德里的人们说他在巴黎破了产，巴黎的人们说他在马德里破了产，但当这些流言都过去了之后，他其实有花不完的收入，这会儿他正在和M太太闲聊。M太太是最聪明，也是最爱搬弄是非的人之一，她常想把自己讲的东西写下来，并签上自己的大名。Y公爵同时还在和N夫人眉目传情。人们可以经常在香榭丽舍大街上看到N夫人乘马车驶过，她穿的衣衫总是粉红和天蓝两种颜色，她坐在由两匹高大的黑色骏马拉着的马车里，这两匹马，托尼向她要价一万法郎，她都如数照付。最后还有R小姐，她靠自己的才能挣得的财产比那些靠嫁妆的上流社会妇人挣得的要高两倍，比其他那些靠风流韵事赚钱的女人挣得的还要高三倍，尽管患了感冒她还是赶来购买一些东西，她吸引的目光绝不会是最少的。
We could go on quoting the initials of many of those who had gathered in that drawing-room and who were not a little astonished at the company they kept; but we should, we fear, weary the reader.
我们还可以继续列举聚集在这间客厅中的很多人的姓氏打头字母，他们对于在这里遇到的人都感觉非常惊讶；但是我们担心，那样让读者感到厌烦。
Suffice it to say that everyone was in the highest spirits and that, of all the women there, many had known the dead girl and gave no sign that they remembered her.
还值得一提的就是当时每个人都非常兴奋，在场的所有女人中有很多都认识那个死去的女孩，但她们没有做出任何怀念她的表示。
There was much loud laughter; the auctioneers shouted at the tops of their voices; the dealers who had crowded on to the benches placed in front of the auction tables called vainly for silence in which to conduct their business in peace. Never was a gathering more varied and more uproarious.
房子里充满了大笑声；拍卖师们用他们最大的声音吆喝着；满坐在拍卖桌前面板凳上的商人们徒劳地叫着让大家安静，好让他们在安静的环境里做生意。从来没有一个集会像今天这样，各种身份混杂，环境喧闹嘈杂。
I slipped unobtrusively into the middle of the distressing tumult, saddened to think that all this was taking place next to the very room where the unfortunate creature whose furniture was being sold up to pay her debts, had breathed her last. Having come to observe rather than to buy, I watched the faces of the tradesmen who had forced the sale and whose features lit up each time an item reached a price they had never dared hope for.
我默不作声地溜进了这堆闹闹嚷嚷的人群中间，悲伤地想着所有的这些就发生在这个不幸的女人呼出最后一口气的房间旁边，为的是拍卖她的家具来还清她生前的欠债。与其说我是来买东西的，倒不如说是来凑热闹的，我看着那些强迫拍卖进行的商人，每当一件物品被抬升到了一个他们都不敢奢望的价格时，他们的脸便会散发出光彩。
Honest men all, who had speculated in the prostitution of this woman, had obtained a one-hundred per cent return on her, had dogged the last moments of her life with writs, and came after she was dead to claim both the fruits of their honourable calculations and the interest accruing on the shameful credit they had given her.
那些诚实的男人们，他们在这个女人出卖肉体的时候给了钱，现在又全部从她身上拿了回来，他们在她生命的最后时刻还在用各种借据文件和她纠缠不清，在她死后就来收取他们冠冕堂皇的帐款和卑鄙可耻的高额利息。
How right were the Ancients who had one God for merchants and thieves!
古人说，商人和小偷信仰的是同样一个上帝，这是多么正确啊！
Dresses, Indian shawls, jewels, came under the hammer at an unbelievable rate. None of it took my fancy, and I waited on.
裙子、开司米披肩、珠宝，以令人吃惊的速度都落槌成交了。没有一样让我着迷，所以我一直等着。
Suddenly I heard a voice shout: A book, fully bound, gilt-edges, entitled:Manon Lescaut. There's something written on the first page: ten francs.'
突然我听见一个声音叫道：“一本书，精装，书边烫金，书名《玛农·莱斯科》。扉页上写着一些东西，起价十个法郎。”
'Twelve,' said a voice, after a longish silence.“十二法郎。”一个声音说道，在很长的一阵沉默之后。
'Fifteen,' I said.“十五法郎。”我说。
Why? I had no idea. No doubt for that 'something written'.
为什么我要出这个价钱呢？我自己也不清楚。毫无疑问是因为写在扉页上的“一些东西”。
'Fifteen,' repeated the auctioneer.“十五法郎。”拍卖师重复道。
'Thirty,' said the first bidder, in a tone which seemed to defy anybody to go higher.“三十法郎。”第一个出价的人叫道，那语气似乎是想阻止别人出更高的价钱。
It was becoming a fight.
这场拍卖变成了一场较量。
'Thirty-five!' I cried, in the same tone of voice.“三十五法郎！”我叫道，也用一样的口气。
'Forty.'“四十法郎！”
'Fifty.'“五十法郎！”
'Sixty.'“六十法郎！”
'A hundred.'“一百法郎！”
I confess that if I had set out to cause a stir, I would have succeeded completely, for my last bid was followed by a great silence, and people stared at me to see who this man was who seemed so intent on possessing the volume.
我承认如果我是为了引起一阵骚动，那么我已经完全成功了，因为我最后的一次竞价之后紧跟着是全场的鸦雀无声，人们都盯着我看，想看看这个似乎一心要等到这本书的先生究竟是谁。
Apparently the tone in which I had made my latest bid was enough for my opponent: he chose therefore to abandon a struggle which would have served only to cost me ten times what the book was worth and, with a bow, he said very graciously but a little late:
很明显，我最后一次叫价的口气足以震慑住我的对手了，他因此选择放弃这场最后只是让我花了这本书本身价值十倍的钱的竞争，他向我鞠躬，过了一会，优雅地对我说：
'It's yours, sir.'“这是你的了，先生。”
No other bids were forthcoming, and the book was knocked down to me.
没有其他竞价了，这本书就拍给我了。
Since I feared a new onset of obstinacy which my vanity might conceivably have borne but which would have assuredly proved too much for my purse, I gave my name, asked for the volume to be put aside and left by the stairs. I must have greatly intrigued the onlookers who, having witnessed this scene, doubtless wondered why on earth I had gone there to pay a hundred francs for a book that I could have got anywhere for ten or fifteen at most.
因为我害怕我的虚荣心很可能会再一次激起我的倔脾气，而这又一定是我的钱包不能承担的，我留下自己的名字，要求他们把书留在一边，就下楼离开了。我一定激起了目击了这个场景的旁观者们的强烈兴趣，他们无疑会好奇我究竟是为什么来到这里花一百法郎买一本我随便到哪里花十个或者最多十五个法郎就能买到的书。
An hour later, I had sent round for my purchase.
一个小时以后，我派人把我买下的那本书取了回来。
On the first page, written in ink in an elegant hand, was the dedication of the person who had given the book. This dedication consisted simply of these words: Manon to Marguerite, Humility.'
扉页上是赠书人用钢笔写的两行秀丽的字迹。题词只有寥寥几字：“玛农对玛格丽特，惭愧。”
It was signed: Armand Duval.
下面的署名是：阿尔芒·迪瓦尔。
What did this word 'Humility' mean?“惭愧”这两个字是什么意思呢？
Was it that Manon, in the opinion of this Monsieur Armand Duval, acknowledged Marguerite as her superior in debauchery or in true love?
根据这位阿尔芒·迪瓦尔先生的意见，玛农是不是承认玛格丽特在生活放荡方面，抑或是在真爱方面，要更胜一筹？
The second interpretation seemed the more likely, for the first was impertinently frank, and Marguerite could never have accepted it, whatever opinion she had of herself.
第二种解释看起来更可能一些，因为第一种显得过于直白唐突，玛格丽特是绝不可能接受的，不管她对自己抱什么看法。
I went out again and thought no more of the book until that night, when I retired to bed.
我又出门了，没有再想着那本书，直到那天晚上我上床的时候。
Manon Lescautis a truly touching story every detail of which is familiar to me and yet, whenever I hold a copy in my hand, an instinctive feeling for it draws me on. I open it and for the hundredth time I live again with the abb Pr vost's heroine. Now, his heroine is so lifelike that I feel that I have met her. In my new circumstances, the kind of comparison drawn between her and Marguerite added an unexpected edge to my reading, and my forbearance was swelled with pity, almost love, for the poor girl, the disposal of whose estate I could thank for possessing the volume. Manon died in a desert, it is true, but in the terms of the man who loved her with all the strength of his soul and who, when she was dead, dug a grave for her, watered it with his tears and buried his heart with her; whereas Marguerite, a sinner like Manon, and perhaps as truly converted as she, had died surrounded by fabulous luxury, if I could believe what I had seen, on the bed of her own past, but no less lost in the desert of the heart which is much more arid, much vaster and far more pitiless than the one in which Manon had been interred.《玛农·莱斯科》确实是一个令人感动的故事，其中的每个细节我都熟悉，可是不论什么时候，只要我的手中有这本书，对它从心底生出的一种感情就吸引着我。我打开书，普雷沃神父塑造的女主角第一百次出现在我眼前。他的女主角显得如此栩栩如生，仿佛我真遇到过她似的。现在，把玛农和玛格丽特做比较又为我的阅读增添了意料之外的吸引力，我对这个可怜姑娘的怜悯，甚至可以说是喜爱，使我对她充满了同情。我得感谢那场拍卖，因此我才得到了这本书。不错，玛农是死在一个沙漠里的，但是一个用自己生命的全部力量来爱她的男人在她死后为她挖了一个坟墓，用自己的眼泪来浇灌它，还在那里把自己的心也一同埋葬了；但是玛格丽特，一个像玛农一样有罪的人，也有可能像玛农一样已经改邪归正了，却是在极尽奢华的环境中死去的，如果我所看到的值得相信的话。她死在过去一直睡觉的床上，内心却同样迷失沙漠中，这个沙漠比埋葬玛农的沙漠更加干燥、更加荒凉、更加无情。
Indeed Marguerite, as I had learned from friends informed of the circumstances of her final moments, had seen no true consolation settle at her bedside during the two months when she lay slowly and painfully dying.
确实，我从几个了解她临终情况的朋友那里听说，在玛格丽特慢慢而痛苦地死去的两个月中没有看到过谁在床边给她真正的安慰。
Then, from Manon and Marguerite, my thoughts turned to those women whom I knew and whom I could see rushing gaily towards the same almost invariable death.
然后，从玛农和玛格丽特，我的思想又转到了那些我认识的女人，我能看到她们都快乐地奔向那个几乎不变的同样的死亡。
Poor creatures! If it is wrong to love them, the least one can do is to pity them. You pity the blind man who has never seen the light of day, the deaf man who has never heard the harmonies of nature, the mute who has never found a voice for his soul, and yet, under the specious pretext of decency, you will not pity that blindness of heart, deafness of soul and dumbness of conscience which turn the brains of poor, desperate women and prevent them, despite themselves, from seeing goodness, hearing the Lord and speaking the pure language of love and religion.
可怜的女人啊！如果说爱她们是一个错误，那么至少也应该同情她们的遭遇。你们同情从没见过阳光的瞎子，同情从没听过大自然和谐交响的聋子，同情从没有找到声音来表达自己思想的哑巴；但是，在虚伪的以礼貌道德为名的借口之下，你们却不会同情心灵上的失明、灵魂上的失聪、良心上的无语，这些残疾扭曲了可怜、绝望的女人们，并让她们无可奈何地看不到善良美德、听不到上帝的召唤、讲不出关于爱情和信仰的纯洁语言。
Hugo wrote Marion Delorme, Musset wrote Bernerette, Alexandre Dumas wrote Fernande. Thinkers and poets throughout the ages have offered the courtesan the oblation of their mercy and, on occasion, some great man has brought them back to the fold through the gift of his love and even his name. If I dwell on this point, it is because among those who will read these pages, many may already be about to throw down a book in which they fear they will see nothing but an apology for vice and prostitution, and doubtless the youth of the present author is a contributing factor in providing grounds for their fears. Let those who are of such a mind be undeceived. Let them read on, if such fears alone gave them pause.
雨果刻画了马里翁·德洛姆，缪塞创作了贝尔纳雷特，大仲马塑造了费尔南德。各个时期的思想家和诗人将他们的仁慈作为献礼给了妓女，有时候，伟人挺身而出，用他的爱情、甚至姓氏来为她们恢复名誉。我之所以强调这个观点，是因为在那些会读到我这本书的读者中间，很多人可能已经准备把这本书抛开了，他们害怕看到的都是为邪恶和卖淫辩护，而且作者是年轻人这一点想必更容易使人产生这种顾虑。让那些有着这样思想的人觉悟吧。如果只是这样的忧虑使他们停止阅读这本书，那还是请他们继续看下去吧。
I am quite simply persuaded of a principle which states that: To any woman whose education has not imparted knowledge of goodness, God almost invariably opens up two paths which will lead her back to it; these paths are suffering and love. They are rocky paths; women who follow them will cut their feet and graze their hands, but will at the same time leave the gaudy rags of vice hanging on the briars which line the road, and shall reach their journey's end in that naked state for which no one need feel shame in the sight of the Lord.
我只信奉一个原则，即对于任何没有受到过“善”的教育的女子，上帝几乎总是为她们打开两条路，这两条路会让她们殊途同归回到他身边：它们是痛苦和爱。这两条路都是曲折艰难的道路。走上它们的女人会划破她们的脚，磨破她们的手，但同时她们也会把罪孽的盛装留在道路边的荆棘上，以全身赤裸的状态到达旅途的终点，没有人会在上帝面前不好意思。
Any who encounter these brave wayfarers are duty bound to comfort them and to say to all the world that they have encountered them, for by proclaiming the news they show the way.
遇到这些勇敢的旅客的人们都有责任安慰她们，并且告诉所有人说他们曾经遇到过这些女人，因为在告诉大家这件事情的时候，他们也就为这些女人们指出了道路。
It is not a simple matter of erecting two signposts at the gateway to life, one bearing the inscription: 'The Way of Goodness' and the other carrying this warning: 'The Way of Evil', and of saying to those who come: 'Choose!' Each of us, like Christ himself, must point to those paths which will redirect from the second way to the first the steps of those who have allowed themselves to be tempted by the approach roads; and above all let not the beginning of these paths be too painful, nor appear too difficult of access.
这不仅仅是在人生道路的入口处立起两块牌子这么简单的事：一块上面刻着“善之路”，另一块写着警告“恶之路”，然后告诉走过来的人说：“选择吧！”我们中的每一个人，都必须像基督自己一样，向那些受到诱惑走上岔路的人指出从第二条路返回第一条路的途径；尤其是不能让这些途径的开头那一段太痛苦，显得太不好走。
Christianity is ever-present, with its wonderful parable of the prodigal son, to urge us to counsels of forbearance and forgiveness. Jesus was full of love for souls of women wounded by the passions of men, and He loved to bind their wounds, drawing from those same wounds the balm which would heal them. Thus he said to Mary Magdalene: 'Your sins, which are many, shall be forgiven, because you loved much'—a sublime pardon which was to awaken a sublime faith.
基督教义无时无刻不在显现，它用浪子回头的动人寓言，督促我们对人要仁慈、要宽容。耶稣对那些被男人热情伤害的女人的灵魂充满了爱，他喜欢在包扎她们伤口的时候，从伤口本身取出能治愈伤口的香膏敷在其上。因此，他对从良的马丽说：“你深重的罪孽将得到宽恕，因为你爱得多。”这种崇高的宽恕行为自然唤起了一种崇高的信仰。
Why should we judge more strictly than Christ? Why, clinging stubbornly to the opinions of the world which waxes hard so that we shall think it strong, why should we too turn away souls that bleed from wounds oozing with the evil of their past, like infected blood from a sick body, as they wait only for a friendly hand to bind them up and restore them to a convalescent heart?
我们做出评价的时候为什么要比基督严厉呢？这个世界为了让我们认为它很强大而故作严厉，而我们也固执地接受它的成见。我们为什么要和它一样抛弃那些伤口里流着血的灵魂呢？这些伤口里面像病人渗出污血一样渗出他们过去的罪恶，它们在等待着一只友好的手来包扎它们的伤口，治愈它们心头的创伤。
It is to my generation that I speak, to those for whom the theories of Monsieur de Voltaire are, happily, defunct, to those who, like myself, can see that humanity has, these fifteen years past, been engaged in one of its boldest leaps forward. The knowledge of good and evil is ours forever; religion is rebuilding, the respect for holy things has been restored to us, and, if the world is not yet wholly good, then at least it is becoming better. The efforts of all intelligent men tend to the same goal, and all those firm in purpose are yoked to the same principle: let us be good, let us be young, let us be true! Evil is but vanity: let us take pride in Goodness and, above all, let us not despair. Let us not scorn the woman who is neither mother nor sister nor daughter nor wife. Let us not limit respect to the family alone nor reduce forbearance to mere egoism. Since there is more rejoicing in heaven for the repentance of one sinner than for a hundred just men who have never sinned, let us try to give heaven cause to rejoice. Heaven may repay us with interest. Let us leave along our way the charity of our forgiveness for those whom earthly desires have brought low, who shall perhaps be saved by hope in heaven and, as wise old dames say when they prescribe remedies of their own making, if it does no good then at least it can do no harm.
我这是在向我同时代的人呼吁，向那些对他们来说伏尔泰的理论已经不起作用的人们呼吁，向那些像我一样知道近十五年来人道主义向前跨了有史以来最大一步的人呼吁。我们已经永远地拥有了善与恶的知识，宗教信仰正得到重建，我们又重新开始尊敬神圣的事物，如果还不能说这个世界是十全十美的，至少它正变得越来越好。所有聪明人努力的结果都是朝向同一个目标，所有坚定的意志都服从于同一个原则：让我们变善良、变年轻、变真实！邪恶只不过是一种空虚的东西。让我们为善良的行为感到骄傲，除此之外更重要的是，不要丧失希望。不要鄙视那些既不是母亲、姐妹，又不是女儿、妻子的女人。不要将尊敬仅限于对亲人，也不要将宽容仅限于对自己。既然天堂因一个罪人的悔悟而体验到的喜悦，要多于一百个从来没有犯过罪的正直的人所能带来的喜悦，那么我们就努力地给上帝高兴的理由吧。上天会加倍赐福于我们。让我们在前进的道路上给那些被世俗的欲望所打击的人们一些宽恕吧！他们也许可以被天上的希望所拯救，就像老妇人们在开出自制的处方时说的那样，即使没有什么好处，至少也不会有害于人。
In truth, it must seem very forward of me to seek to derive such great results from the slender subject which I treat; but I am of those who believe that the whole is in the part. The child is small, and yet he is father to the man; the brain is cramped, and yet it is the seat of thought; the eye is but a point, yet it encompasses leagues of space.
实际上，我看起来一定太极端、太鲁莽了，试图从细小的论题里面得出如此伟大的结论来，但是我是相信一切都存在于渺小之中的众人之一。孩子虽然幼小，但足以看出他成年后的样子；大脑虽然狭窄，但它是无限思想的产生之处；眼睛只有一点儿大，但它可以看见广阔的天地。Chapter 4第四章
Two days later, the sale was completely over. It had realized one hundred and fifty thousand francs.
两天以后，拍卖全部结束，一共售得十五万法郎。
The creditors had divided two thirds among themselves and the family—a sister and a young nephew—had inherited the rest.
债主们一起分掉了其中的三分之二，玛格丽特的家属——一个姐姐和一个年幼的外甥，继承了剩下的部分。
The sister's eyes had opened wide when the agent had written telling her that she had come into fifty thousand francs.
当公证人写信告诉她说她已经继承了五万法郎的遗产时，这个姐姐的眼睛都瞪大了。
It was six or seven years since this young woman had set eyes on her sister who had disappeared one day without anyone ever discovering, either from her or through other people, anything whatsoever about her life from the time of her disappearance.
这个年轻姑娘已经有六七年没有见过她失踪的妹妹了。有一天她的妹妹突然失踪了，从那以后，再也没有人从她或者其他人那里得到过任何关于她的消息。
So she had now arrived post-haste in Paris, and great was the astonishment of those who had known Marguerite when they saw that her sole heir was a hearty, good-looking country girl who, up to that moment, had never set foot outside her village.
所以这个姐姐急忙赶到了巴黎。那些认识玛格丽特的人看到她时都非常吃惊，这个唯一的继承人居然是一个热情、漂亮的乡下姑娘，她甚至还从来没有离开过自己居住的小村庄。
Her fortune had been made at a stroke, without her having the least idea of the source from which it had so unexpectedly materialized.
她一下子就发了大财，却完全不知道它的来源，它就那么出人意料地出现了。
She returned, I have since been told, to her part of the country, bearing away from her sister's death a deep sadness which was, however, eased by an investment at four and a half per cent which she had just made.
后来有人告诉我，她回到自己村子的时候，背负着对妹妹过世深深的悲伤，然而她把那笔继承的钱以四厘五的利率存起来，这悲伤也就愈合了。
All these happenings, which had gone the rounds of Paris, the mother town of scandal, were beginning to be forgotten, and I myself was forgetting quite what my part in events had been, when something occurred which led to my becoming acquainted with the whole of Marguerite's life, and put in my way particulars so affecting that I was seized with an urge to write this story and now do so.
所发生的这一切，在巴黎这个谣言丑闻的发源地里引来了人们纷纷的议论，可是，随着时间流走也开始慢慢被人遗忘了。就在连我都几乎快忘记自己在这些事情里参与了什么的时侯，我遇上一些事，并知道了玛格丽特一生的故事和一些非常感人的详细情节，这使我产生了把这个故事写下来的念头，现在我就来写这个故事。
The apartment, empty now of the furniture which had all been auctioned off, had been to let for three of four days when one morning there was a ring at my door.
那所空房子，里面的家具全部被拍卖了，又被重新租出去了，在那以后三四天的一个早上，有人拉响了我家的门铃。
My servant, or rather the porter who acted as my servant, went to see who it was and brought me a visiting card, saying that the person who had handed it to him wished to speak to me.
我的仆人，确切地说是兼职做我仆人的看门人，去看了看是谁，替我拿回来了一张名片，说那个客人把这个交给他，希望能和我聊聊。
I glanced at the card and there I saw these two words: Armand Duval.
我的目光扫过那张名片，看到上面写着：阿尔芒·迪瓦尔。
I tried to recall where I had seen the name, and then I remembered the fly-leaf of the copy ofManon Lescaut.
我尝试回忆自己曾经在什么地方看见过这个名字，然后我想起了《玛农·莱斯科》这本书的扉页。
What could the person who had given the book to Marguerite want with me? I said that the gentleman who was waiting should be shown in at once.
送这本书给玛格丽特的人怎么会要见我呢？我吩咐立刻请等在那里的先生进来。
The next moment I saw a young man with fair hair, tall, pale, wearing travelling clothes which looked as though they had not been off his back for several days and which, on his arrival in Paris, he had not even taken the trouble to brush down, for he was covered in dust.
下一刻我就看到了一个金黄头发的年轻人，他身材很高，脸色苍白，穿着一身旅行服装，衣服看起来已经好几天没有脱下来过了，甚至是到了巴黎也没有好好洗刷一下，因为他身上满是尘土。
Monsieur Duval, deeply agitated, made no attempt to hide his feelings, and it was with tears in his eyes and a trembling in his voice that he said: Please excuse my visit and these clothes; not simply because young men do not stand much on ceremony with each other, but because I wanted to see you so badly today that I have not even taken time to stop off at the hotel where I set my luggage, and have rushed straight here, dreading even so, early as it is, that I should miss you.' I begged Monsieur Duval to sit down by the fire, which he did, taking from his pocket a handkerchief with which he momentarily hid his face.
迪瓦尔先生非常激动，他也毫不掩饰自己的情绪，眼眶里含着眼泪，声音颤抖地说：“请原谅我的冒昧来访，还穿着这样的衣服，这不是因为年轻人彼此间不讲究礼节，而是因为我今天就急切地想见到您，所以，在把行李送到旅馆之后，我甚至都没有时间停一下就直接赶到您这儿来了。虽然现在还很早，但我还是害怕会遇不到您。”我请迪瓦尔先生在炉火旁边坐下，他坐下了，从口袋里面掏出一块手帕，用它把脸捂住了一会儿。
You must be wondering,' he resumed with a melancholy sigh, 'what a stranger can want with you at such an hour, dressed in such clothes and weeping like this. I have come, quite simply, to ask you a great favour.'“您一定很奇怪，”他唉声叹气地接着说，“为什么一个陌生人在这时候会想要见您，穿着这样的衣服，还哭成这样。”“我来这儿的目的很简单，是请您帮我一个大忙。”
'Say on.I am at your service.'“您请讲。我愿意为您效劳。”
'Were you present at the Marguerite Gautier auction?'“您参加了在玛格丽特·戈蒂埃家里举行的拍卖会吗？”
As he said this, the emotion which the young man had held in check was for an instant stronger than he, and he was obliged to put his hands to his eyes.
说到玛格丽特的名字时，这个年轻人暂时克制住的情绪一瞬间又变得激动起来，他不得不用双手捂住眼睛。
I must appear very ridiculous to you,' he added, 'forgive me this too, and please believe that I shall never forget the patience with which you are good enough to listen.'“我在您看起来一定显得很可笑，”他又说，“请再一次原谅我的失礼，请相信我永远也不会忘记您耐心听我讲话的这种好意。”
Well,' I replied, 'if a service which it seems I can do for you will in some small way ease the pain that you feel, tell me at once in what way I can help, and you will find in me a man happy to oblige.'“那么，”我回答他说，“如果我为您做的事情可以稍微减轻一些您遭受的痛苦，现在就告诉我，我能帮助您做什么吧，您会知道我是一个非常乐意为您效劳的人。”
Monsieur Duval's grief was affecting and, even had I felt differently, I should still have wished to be agreeable to him.
迪瓦尔先生的痛苦实在令人同情，就算我持异议，我也希望同意他。
He then said:
于是他对我说：
'Did you buy anything at Marguerite's sale?'“您在玛格丽特遗产的拍卖会上买了什么东西吗？”
'Yes. A book.'“是的，我买了一本书。”
试读结束[说明：试读内容隐藏了图片]