作者：Jack London 杰克·伦敦
出版社：外语教学与研究出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
拳赛(外研社双语读库)试读：
CHAPTER I
第一章
Many patterns of carpet lay rolled out before them on the floor—two of Brussels showed the beginning of their quest, and its ending in that direction; while a score of ingrains lured their eyes and prolonged the debate between desire pocket-book. The head of the department did them the honor of waiting upon them himself—or did Joe the honor, as she well knew, for she had noted the open-mouthed awe of the elevator boy who brought them up. Nor had she been blind to the marked respect shown Joe by the urchins and groups of young fellows on corners, when she walked with him in their own neighborhood down at the west end of the town.
许多各式各样的地毯铺开在他们面前的地板上——他们最开始寻觅到的是两块布鲁塞尔地毯，并且打算就买那两块了，但是一些染色地毯又吸引了他们的眼球，这让他们花费了更多时间来讨论购物意向清单。部门经理亲自在一旁恭候他们，以表现对他们的尊敬——或者说是对乔的尊敬，她非常清楚这一点，因为她注意到带他们上楼来的电梯操作员一脸惊诧地张着嘴。而且她也注意到，当她和乔一起在他们住的镇子西头的小区散步时，街角的顽童和年轻人明显对乔表现出尊敬。
But the head of the department was called away to the telephone, and in her mind the splendid promise of the carpets and the irk of the pocket-book were thrust aside by a greater doubt and anxiety.
但部门经理被叫去接电话了。这会儿，她脑海中对地毯的美好愿望和关于意向清单的烦恼被推到一旁，取而代之的是更大的疑惑和焦虑。
"But I don't see what you find to like in it, Joe," she said softly, the note of insistence in her words betraying recent and unsatisfactory discussion.“乔，可我真不明白你喜欢拳击哪一点。”她虽说得温柔，语气却是坚决的，话语中透露出最近他们之间的一些令人不愉快的交谈。
For a fleeting moment a shadow darkened his boyish face, to be replaced by the glow of tenderness. He was only a boy, as she was only a girl—two young things on the threshold of life, house-renting and buying carpets together.
有那么一瞬间，阴霾笼罩了他孩子气的脸，但是这种阴霾很快又被他柔和的表情驱散了。他只是个男孩，正如她只是个女孩一样——这两个年轻人就要一同开始生活，一同租房子，一起买地毯。
"What's the good of worrying?" he questioned. "It's the last go, the very last."“担心有什么用呢？”他问道，“这是最后一场比赛，真的是最后一场。”
He smiled at her, but she saw on his lips the unconscious and all but breathed sigh of renunciation, and with the instinctive monopoly of woman for her mate, she feared this thing she did not understand and which gripped his life so strongly.
他冲她笑了笑，但她从他的嘴唇看到了他下意识里表现出的一切，却未发觉他因舍弃而发出的无声叹息。出于一个女人对爱人本能的控制欲，她害怕拳赛这个她所不能理解却又与他的生活密切相关的东西。
"You know the go with O'Neil cleared the last payment on mother's house," he went on. "And that's off my mind.Now this last with Ponta will give me a hundred dollars in bank—an even hundred, that's the purse—for you and me to start on, a nest-egg."“你知道的，和奥尼尔比的那场还清了妈妈房子的最后一笔贷款，”他继续说，“所以我已经不担心那件事了。现在再和庞塔比赛最后一场，我在银行就能存一百美元——整整一百美元，而这笔奖金——是我和你开始新生活的本钱。”
She disregarded the money appeal. "But you like it, this—this 'game' you call it. Why?"
她漠视金钱的诱惑。“但是你喜欢，这个——这个你所说的‘游戏’。为什么？”
He lacked speech-expression. He expressed himself with his hands, at his work, and with his body and the play of his muscles in the squared ring; but to tell with his own lips the charm of the squared ring was beyond him. Yet he essayed, and haltingly at first, to express what he felt and analyzed when playing the Game at the supreme summit of existence.
他不善言辞。工作时，他用手来表达自己，在拳击场上，他用身体和肌肉的运动来表达自己，但要他亲口来说出拳击场的魅力，可就超出他的能力范围了。因此他先停了一会儿，试图表达参加拳击比赛时的感受，分析人生达到巅峰时的感觉。
"All I know, Genevieve, is that you feel good in the ring when you've got the man where you want him, when he's had a punch up both sleeves waiting for you and you've never given him an opening to land 'em, when you've landed your own little punch an' he's goin' groggy, an' holdin' on, an' the referee's dragging him off so's you can go in an' finish 'm, an' all the house is shouting an' tearin' itself loose, an' you know you're the best man, an' that you played m' fair an' won out because you're the best man. I tell you—”“我只知道，吉纳维芙，当你在拳台上正中对手要害时，当对手准备好两只拳头等着你，而你根本没给他沾到自己的机会时，当你自己的小拳头落到对手身上，他只能东倒西歪地勉强支撑，裁判把他拉走，比赛结束时，那一刻你在拳击场上感觉很好。所有观众都在叫喊着、沸腾着，你知道自己是最棒的，你一点儿诈也不使还能赢得最后的胜利，因为你是最棒的。我跟你说——”
He ceased brokenly, alarmed by his own volubility and by Genevieve's look of alarm. As he talked she had watched his face while fear dawned in her own. As he described the moment of moments to her, on his inward vision were lined the tottering man, the lights, the shouting house, and he swept out and away from her on this tide of life that was beyond her comprehension, menacing, irresistible, making her love pitiful and weak. The Joe she knew receded, faded, became lost. The fresh boyish face was gone, the tenderness of the eyes, the sweetness of the mouth with its curves and pictured corners. It was a man's face she saw, a face of steel, tense and immobile; a mouth of steel, the lips like the jaws of a trap; eyes of steel, dilated, intent, and the light in them and the glitter were the light and glitter of steel. The face of a man, and she had known only his boy face. This face she did not know at all.
他被自己的滔滔不绝和吉纳维芙那惊慌的表情惊住了，便断断续续地停了下来。他说话的时候，她一直看着他的脸，而她自己的脸上则笼上了恐惧。向她描述那些时刻的时候，他脑海里排满了摇摇晃晃的对手、灯光、呼声四起的赛场。而他从不让她接触到她无法理解的生活的这一面，这险恶而诱人的一面，跟这些比起来，她的爱情是可怜而脆弱的。她熟悉的乔远去了、消失了、不见了。他年轻的孩子气的面庞不见了，温柔的眼睛、甜蜜的弯弯的嘴唇和如画的嘴角都不见了。她看到的是一张男人的面孔，一张钢铁一样的面孔，紧绷着、不可动摇；钢铁一样的嘴，捕兽夹一样的唇，一双钢铁般的眼睛急切地圆睁着，眼里闪烁的光芒如同钢铁在闪闪发光一样。那是一张男人的面孔，而她只认识他男孩的面庞。她根本不认识这张男人的面孔。
And yet, while it frightened her, she was vaguely stirred with pride in him. His masculinity, the masculinity of the fighting male, made its inevitable appeal to her, a female, moulded by all her heredity to seek out the strong man for mate, and to lean against the wall of his strength. She did not understand this force of his being that rose mightier than her love and laid its compulsion upon him; and yet, in her woman's heart she was aware of the sweet pang which told her that for her sake, for Love's own sake, he had surrendered to her, abandoned all that portion of his life, and with this one last fight would never fight again.
然而，虽然这张脸吓到她了，但她也隐约被他身上所体现的自豪感撼动。他的男子气概，那战斗中的男子气概，对她有着难以阻挡的吸引力。作为一个女人，所有的遗传特性都决定了她要寻找一个强壮的男性作为伴侣，从而来仰仗他的力量。她不能理解他存在的这种力量，这种力量比她的爱更强大，让他无法抗拒；但是，在一个女人的心里，她感到一种甜蜜的痛苦。这种感受告诉她，为了她，为了爱本身，他已经向她屈服了。他完全放弃了他生活中的那一部分。这是最后一次，以后他决不会再参加拳击比赛了。
"Mrs. Silverstein doesn't like prize-fighting," she said. "She's down on it, and she knows something, too."“西尔弗斯坦夫人可不喜欢职业拳击，”她说，“她反感拳击，但也懂一点儿。”
He smiled indulgently, concealing a hurt, not altogether new, at her persistent inappreciation of this side of his nature and life in which he took the greatest pride. It was to him power and achievement, earned by his own effort and hard work; and in the moment when he had offered himself and all that he was to Genevieve, it was this, and this alone, that he was proudly conscious of laying at her feet. It was the merit of work performed, a guerdon of manhood finer and greater than any other man could offer, and it had been to him his justification and right to possess her. And she had not understood it then, as she did not understand it now, and he might well have wondered what else she found in him to make him worthy.
他宽容地笑了笑，以此来掩饰内心的伤痛。这种伤痛已经不新鲜了。他天性和生活中最引以为傲的地方，却一直不被她欣赏。拳击对他意味着力量，意味着通过自己的努力和辛勤劳动得来的成就。当他把自己和自己的一切都交给吉纳维芙的那一刻，唯独只有拳击是他有意自豪地展现在她面前的东西。这份工作的好处就在于，它可以为男子气概支付报酬，并且这份报酬比其他任何人愿意支付的都要好、都要多。对他而言，这份工作是他拥有她的正当理由和权利。但她从未理解到这一点，正如她现在还是不能理解一样。他很可能曾经考虑过，除此之外，自己到底还有哪点配得上她。
"Mrs. Silverstein is a dub, and a softy, and a knocker," he said good-humoredly. "What's she know about such things, anyway? I tell you it is good, and healthy, too,”—this last as an afterthought.“西尔弗斯坦夫人是个傻瓜，是个多愁善感又吹毛求疵的笨蛋，”他好脾气地说道，“再怎么说，她对这种事又知道什么呢？我跟你说，拳击是好的，也健康，”——这个词他最后才补充上。
"Look at me. I tell you I have to live clean to be in condition like this.I live cleaner than she does, or her old man, or anybody you know—baths, rub-downs, exercise, regular hours, good food and no makin' a pig of myself, no drinking, no smoking, nothing that'll hurt me. Why, I live cleaner than you, Genevieve—”“看着我。我想告诉你，要在这种环境中立足，我必须活得干干净净。我活得比她、比她父亲都干净，比你知道的任何人都干净——泡澡、按摩、锻炼、作息规律、吃优质的食物、不大吃大喝、不喝酒、不抽烟、不做任何伤害自己身体的事。咦，我甚至比你活得还要干净，吉纳维芙——”
"Honest, I do," he hastened to add at sight of her shocked face. "I don't mean water an' soap, but look there."His hand closed reverently but firmly on her arm. "Soft, you're all soft, all over. Not like mine. Here, feel this."“真的，我活得比你还干净，”看到她震惊的面孔，他赶紧又加了一句，“我不是指用水和肥皂，但你看这儿，”他把手虔诚地、坚定地放在她的手臂上。“柔软，你整个都是柔软的，整个都是。跟我不一样。来，你摸一下。”
He pressed the ends of her fingers into his hard arm-muscles until she winced from the hurt.
他把她的指尖按在自己手臂坚硬的肌肉上，直到她疼得缩回手为止。
"Hard all over just like that," he went on. "Now that's what I call clean. Every bit of flesh an' blood an' muscle is clean right down to the bones—and they're clean, too. No soap and water only on the skin, but clean all the way in. I tell you it feels clean. It knows it's clean itself. When I wake up in the morning an' go to work, every drop of blood and bit of meat is shouting right out that it is clean. Oh, I tell you—”“我全身都是如此硬朗，”他继续说，“这就是我说的干净。每一点儿血肉、每一块儿肌肉都干净到骨头里——而且这些骨头也是干净的。水和肥皂只能洗干净皮肤，却不能让人干净到骨头里。告诉你，我的身体摸起来是干净的。它也知道自己本身就是干净的。每天早晨起床去上班，我的每滴血、每块肉都在大声呼喊它们是干净的。哎，我告诉你——”
He paused with swift awkwardness, again confounded by his unwonted flow of speech. Never in his life had he been stirred to such utterance, and never in his life had there been cause to be so stirred. For it was the Game that had been questioned, its verity and worth, the Game itself, the biggest thing in the world—or what had been the biggest thing in the world until that chance afternoon and that chance purchase in Silverstein's candy store, when Genevieve loomed suddenly colossal in his life, overshadowing all other things. He was beginning to see, though vaguely, the sharp conflict between woman and career, between a man's work in the world and woman's need of the man. But he was not capable of generalization. He saw only the antagonism between the concrete, flesh-and-blood Genevieve and the great, abstract, living Game. Each resented the other, each claimed him; he was torn with the strife, and yet drifted helpless on the currents of their contention.
他突然觉得有些尴尬，便停了下来。他又被自己少有的长篇大论惊住了。在他的生命中，他还从未因为被触动而说了那么多话，也从未有过什么原因让他如此触动。但因为这次是拳击赛受到了质疑，它的真实性和它的价值性受到质疑。在乔看来，拳赛是世界上最重要的事——或者说曾经是世界上最重要的事，直到那个偶然的下午。那次他偶然在西尔弗斯坦的糖果店买东西之后，吉纳维芙一下子在他的生命中异常重要起来，胜过了其他一切事物。他开始明白，虽然只是模糊地明白，女人和事业之间、男人的工作和女人对男人的需要之间，是存在尖锐冲突的。但他却未能总结。他看见的只是对立，具体的，有血有肉的吉纳维芙与伟大而抽象的、活生生的拳赛之间的对立。它们厌恶彼此，却都对他提出要求；他被这种冲突撕扯，无助地漂浮在它们争夺的洪流中。
His words had drawn Genevieve's gaze to his face, and she had pleasured in the clear skin, the clear eyes, the cheek soft and smooth as a girl's. She saw the force of his argument and disliked it accordingly. She revolted instinctively against this Game which drew him away from her, robbed her of part of him. It was a rival she did not understand. Nor could she understand its seductions. Had it been a woman rival, another girl, knowledge and light and sight would have been hers. As it was, she grappled in the dark with an intangible adversary about which she knew nothing. What truth she felt in his speech made the Game but the more formidable.
他的一番话使得吉纳维芙端详起他的面庞。她过去喜欢他干净的皮肤、清澈的双眼和女孩子般柔软光洁的脸颊。她意识到了他话语里的力量，而她不喜欢这股力量。她本能地厌恶拳赛。是拳赛把他从她身边拉走，夺走了他属于她的一部分。她理解不了这个对手。也理解不了它的诱惑力。如果她的对手是个女人，是另外一个女孩子的话，那么她在知识、智慧和眼界上都有优势。而事实上，她却是在黑暗中和一个她一无所知的无形对手在胡乱争斗。而她从他话语中了解到的一些事实让她感到拳击愈发难以战胜。她从他的话中了解到的一些东西让她觉得更加可怕。
A sudden conception of her weakness came to her. She felt pity for herself, and sorrow. She wanted him, all of him, her woman's need would not be satisfied with less; and he eluded her, slipped away here and there from the embrace with which she tried to clasp him. Tears swam into her eyes, and her lips trembled, turning defeat into victory, routing the all-potent Game with the strength of her weakness.
她突然意识到自己的软弱。她觉得自己可怜又可悲。她想要他，想要他的全部，哪怕只是少了一点儿，她女性的需求就不能得到满足。她试图用拥抱紧扣住他，但他左右躲闪地避开了。她涌上眼眶的泪水和颤抖的嘴唇使她反败为胜，她用柔弱的力量去对抗强大的拳赛。
"Don't, Genevieve, don't," the boy pleaded, all contrition, though he was confused and dazed. To his masculine mind there was nothing relevant about her break-down; yet all else was forgotten at sight of her tears.“别哭，吉纳维芙，别哭。”男孩满心忏悔地乞求着。虽然他困惑不已，茫然无措。对于他的男性思维来说，她的崩溃和他没什么关系；但是一看到她流泪，这些便通通被抛到了九霄云外了。
She smiled forgiveness through her wet eyes, and though he knew of nothing for which to be forgiven, he melted utterly. His hand went out impulsively to hers, but she avoided the clasp by a sort of bodily stiffening and chill, the while the eyes smiled still more gloriously.
她满眼泪光地笑了笑，表示原谅。虽然他不清楚有什么要被原谅的，但还是完全融化在了她的笑容里。他冲动地想握住她的手，但她的身体变得僵硬，态度冷淡地躲开了这一握，但一会儿便笑得更灿烂了。
"Here comes Mr. Clausen," she said, at the same time, by some transforming alchemy of woman, presenting to the newcomer eyes that showed no hint of moistness.“克劳森先生来了。”她说道。同时用一种女人特有的说变就变的戏法，将目光投向来者，再看不出一点泪水的痕迹。
"Think I was never coming back, Joe?" queried the head of the department, a pink-and-white-faced man, whose austere side-whiskers were belied by genial little eyes.“以为我再也不会回来了吧，乔？”这个面色粉白的部门经理问道。他友好的小眼睛和那一丝不苟的鬓角形成了反差。
"Now let me see—hum, yes, we was discussing ingrains," he continued briskly. "That tasty little pattern there catches your eye, don't it now, eh? Yes, yes, I know all about it. I set up housekeeping when I was getting fourteen a week. But nothing's too good for the little nest, eh? Of course I know, and it's only seven cents more, and the dearest is the cheapest, I say. Tell you what I'll do, Joe,”—this with a burst of philanthropic impulsiveness and a confidential lowering of voice,—"seein's it's you, and I wouldn't do it for anybody else, I'll reduce it to five cents. Only,”—here his voice became impressively solemn,—"only you mustn't ever tell how much you really did pay."“让我想想——哼，对了，我们在讨论染色地毯来着，”他很快接着说，“你看上了那个高雅的小图样，是不是，嗯？嗯，嗯，我什么都知道。我开始做家政时，一周才赚十四块钱。但是你的小爱巢配什么好东西都不过分，对吧？我当然知道。这只贵七分钱，要我说，关系越好我出价越低。告诉你我打算怎么做吧，乔，”——他带着一股要做慈善的冲动，秘密地压低了声音——“这是看在你的面子上，我降到五分吧，别人可没这待遇。只要，”——这时他的声音变得尤其严肃起来，给人印象深刻——“只要你绝不告诉别人你到底付多少。”
"Sewed, lined, and laid—of course that's included," he said, after Joe and Genevieve had conferred together and announced their decision.“缝纫、上线、安置——这些当然都包含在价钱里了。”在乔和吉纳维芙一起商量一下，宣布了他们的决定之后，他说道。
"And the little nest, eh?" he queried. "When do you spread your wings and fly away?To-morrow!So soon?Beautiful!Beautiful!"“小爱巢，嗯？”他问道，“你们打算什么时候展开翅膀飞进去呢？明天！这么快？太棒了！太棒了！”
He rolled his eyes ecstatically for a moment, then beamed upon them with a fatherly air.
他欣喜若狂地转了一会儿眼珠，然后像父亲一样面带微笑地看着他们。
Joe had replied sturdily enough, and Genevieve had blushed prettily; but both felt that it was not exactly proper. Not alone because of the privacy and holiness of the subject, but because of what might have been prudery in the middle class, but which in them was the modesty and reticence found in individuals of the working class when they strive after clean living and morality.
乔回答得很坚决，吉纳维芙则羞红了脸；但他俩都觉得他的做法不太合适。不仅仅因为这个话题是私密而神圣的，还因为这种对于中产阶级而言可能过分拘谨的行为，对于追求严谨生活且品行端正的工人阶级来说，应该表现的谦逊而沉默。
Mr. Clausen accompanied them to the elevator, all smiles, patronage, and beneficence, while the clerks turned their heads to follow Joe's retreating figure.
克劳森先生一路堆笑地陪着他们走到电梯口，希望他们再次光临，带着一股慈善劲儿。期间，那些雇员的目光一直追随着乔远去的背影。
"And to-night, Joe?"Mr. Clausen asked anxiously, as they waited at the shaft."How do you feel?Think you'll do him?"“今天晚上怎么样，乔？”等电梯的时候，克劳森先生不安地问道，“你感觉怎么样？觉得能打败他吗？”
"Sure," Joe answered. "Never felt better in my life."“当然，”乔回答道，“这辈子还没感觉这么好过呢。”
"You feel all right, eh?Good!Good!“你觉得没问题，对吧？太好了！太好了！
You see, I was just a-wonderin’—you know, ha! ha!—goin' to get married and the rest—thought you might be unstrung, eh, a trifle?—nerves just a bit off, you know. Know how gettin' married is myself.“嗯，我只是在想——你懂的，哈哈！——你就要结婚了，其他人——以为你可能会有所松懈，嗯，是不是有点儿？嗯，是不是有点儿？——精神稍微有点儿不那么集中，你懂的。我可知道快结婚是个什么感觉。
But you're all right, eh? Of course you are. No use asking you that. Ha! ha!
但你没问题的，对吧？你当然没问题。根本不用问。哈！哈！
Well, good luck, my boy! I know you'll win. Never had the least doubt, of course, of course."
嗯，祝你好运，孩子！我就知道你会赢的。一点儿问题都没有，当然，当然。”
"And good-by, Miss Pritchard," he said to Genevieve, gallantly handing her into the elevator. "Hope you call often. Will be charmed—charmed—I assure you."“再见，普里查德小姐，”他边对吉纳维芙说着，边殷勤地送她进电梯。“希望你们常常打电话给我。乐意接待——乐意之极——我向你们保证。”
"Everybody calls you 'Joe'," she said reproachfully, as the car dropped downward. "Why don't they call you 'Mr. Fleming'? That's no more than proper."“大家都叫你‘乔’，”她语气责备地说道，这时电梯正往下降。“他们为什么不叫你‘弗莱明先生’？那才最适合你。”
But he was staring moodily at the elevator boy and did not seem to hear.
但他正心绪不宁地盯着电梯操作员，似乎没有听见她的话。
"What's the matter, Joe?" she asked, with a tenderness the power of which to thrill him she knew full well.“怎么了，乔？”她温柔地问道。她非常清楚，这种温柔的力量能让他激动起来。
"Oh, nothing," he said. "I was only thinking—and wishing."“嗯，没什么，”他说，“我只是在想——在盼望着。”
"Wishing?—what?"Her voice was seduction itself, and her eyes would have melted stronger than he, though they failed in calling his up to them.“盼望着？——盼望什么？”她的声音对他来说，本身就是一种诱惑，她的眼睛能够让他更温柔，但这些都未能引起他的注意力。
Then, deliberately, his eyes lifted to hers. "I was wishing you could see me fight just once."
这时，他慎重地抬起眼来，看向她的眼睛。“我希望你能来看我比赛，就一次。”
She made a gesture of disgust, and his face fell. It came to her sharply that the rival had thrust between and was bearing him away.
她做了一个表示厌恶的动作。他的脸沉了下来。她突然意识到她的对手已经插进他们之间，正在夺走他。
"I—I'd like to," she said hastily with an effort, striving after that sympathy which weakens the strongest men and draws their heads to women's breasts.“我——我愿意去看，”她急急地说道，仿佛努力地想要显示出情感上的支撑。这种支撑会让最坚强的男人变得脆弱，让他们将头依靠在女人的胸口上。
"Will you?"“真的？”
Again his eyes lifted and looked into hers. He meant it—she knew that. It seemed a challenge to the greatness of her love.
他又抬起眼来看向她的双眼。他是认真的——她知道。这似乎在挑战她的爱到底有多伟大。
"It would be the proudest moment of my life," he said simply.“那将会是我生命中最骄傲的时刻。”他坦率地说。
It may have been the apprehensiveness of love, the wish to meet his need for her sympathy, and the desire to see the Game face to face for wisdom's sake,—and it may have been the clarion call of adventure ringing through the narrow confines of uneventful existence; for a great daring thrilled through her, and she said, just as simply, "I will."
肯定的答复可能源于她对于爱情的担忧，想要满足他对她感情支撑的需要，以及为了开拓眼界而亲眼看看拳赛的渴望——也许这动人的号召是一种冒险，它穿透平静生活中狭窄的界限；凭着一股巨大的让她振奋的勇气，她也坦率地回答道：“我会去的。”
"I didn't think you would, or I wouldn't have asked," he confessed, as they walked out to the sidewalk.“我本以为你不会去呢，要不然我就不会问了。”他承认道。这时他们正走到人行道上。
"But can't it be done?" she asked anxiously, before her resolution could cool.“但是能行吗？”趁着自己的决心还没冷却下来，她不安地问道。
"Oh, I can fix that; but I didn't think you would."“嗯，我能搞定的，但是我以为你不会答应呢。”
"I didn't think you would," he repeated, still amazed, as he helped her upon the electric car and felt in his pocket for the fare.“我以为你不会答应呢。”他一边依然很惊讶地重复着，一边伸手到口袋里掏车费，和她一起上了电车。
CHAPTER II
第二章
Genevieve and Joe were working-class aristocrats. In an environment made up largely of sordidness and wretchedness they had kept themselves unsullied and wholesome. Theirs was a self-respect, a regard for the niceties and clean things of life, which had held them aloof from their kind. Friends did not come to them easily; nor had either ever possessed a really intimate friend, a heart-companion with whom to chum and have things in common. The social instinct was strong in them, yet they had remained lonely because they could not satisfy that instinct and at that same time satisfy their desire for cleanness and decency.
吉纳维芙和乔是工人阶级里的贵族。在一个满是污秽的恶劣环境里，他们却保持了自身的清白与健康。他们自尊自重，注重生活中美好、干净的事物，这使得他们与众不同。他们不轻易交朋友，也没有真正的密友，即那种心灵相通、有相同之处的密友。他们有着很强的社交本能，但却始终孤独，因为他们无法在满足那种本能的同时满足对干净体面的渴望。
If ever a girl of the working class had led the sheltered life, it was Genevieve. In the midst of roughness and brutality, she had shunned all that was rough and brutal. She saw but what she chose to see, and she chose always to see the best, avoiding coarseness and uncouthness without effort, as a matter of instinct. To begin with, she had been peculiarly unexposed. An only child, with an invalid mother upon whom she attended, she had not joined in the street games and frolics of the children of the neighborhood. Her father, a mild-tempered, narrow-chested, anaemic little clerk, domestic because of his inherent disability to mix with men, had done his full share toward giving the home an atmosphere of sweetness and tenderness.
如果工人阶级里有一个女孩过着备受呵护的生活，那她就是吉纳维芙。在粗暴无情的环境中，她却避开了所有粗暴与无情。她只看她愿意看到的，并且永远只愿意看到最好的，如同本能一样，轻易地就远离了劣等粗糙的事物。从一开始，她就受到了特别的保护。她是家里唯一的孩子，又有个病弱的母亲要照顾，所以她从不上街和邻居的孩子们嬉戏打闹。她的父亲，是个脾气温和，患有贫血症，胸部狭窄的小职员，因为天性不太合群，所以总是呆在家里，他尽其所能为家庭营造出一种甜蜜温馨的气氛。
An orphan at twelve, Genevieve had gone straight from her father's funeral to live with the Silversteins in their rooms above the candy store; and here, sheltered by kindly aliens, she earned her keep and clothes by waiting on the shop. Being Gentile, she was especially necessary to the Silversteins, who would not run the business themselves when the day of their Sabbath came round.
吉纳维芙十二岁就成了孤儿，父亲的葬礼结束后，她就直接和西尔弗斯坦一家人住在糖果店楼上的房间里。她在那儿得到了这家善良的外国人的保护，通过看店赚取自己的生活费和买衣服的钱。吉娜维夫不是犹太人，所以西尔弗斯坦一家人离不开她，因为在安息日到来之时他们自己不看店做生意。
And here, in the uneventful little shop, six maturing years had slipped by. Her acquaintances were few. She had elected to have no girl chum for the reason that no satisfactory girl had appeared. Nor did she choose to walk with the young fellows of the neighborhood, as was the custom of girls from their fifteenth year. "That stuck-up doll-face," was the way the girls of the neighborhood described her; and though she earned their enmity by her beauty and aloofness, she none the less commanded their respect. "Peaches and cream," she was called by the young men—though softly and amongst themselves, for they were afraid of arousing the ire of the other girls, while they stood in awe of Genevieve, in a dimly religious way, as a something mysteriously beautiful and unapproachable.
在这间平静的小店里，六个年头悄然而逝。她认识的人寥寥无几。因为没有令她满意的女孩子，她从不和女孩子们结为密友。她也不愿意和她的邻居小伙子们一起出去，尽管那是女孩子十五岁以后的惯常做法。“那个高傲的娃娃脸。”邻居的女孩子们这么形容她。虽然她的美丽和高傲招致她们的嫉妒，但依然也赢得她们的尊重。“艳若桃李。”年轻的男孩子都这么叫她——虽然总是很小声地在他们内部说，怕引起其他女孩的愤怒，但他们都很敬畏吉纳维芙，以一种朦胧的宗教形式，认为她神秘、美丽而又不可接近。
For she was indeed beautiful. Springing from a long line of American descent, she was one of those wonderful working-class blooms which occasionally appear, defying all precedent of forebears and environment, apparently without cause or explanation. She was a beauty in color, the blood spraying her white skin so deliciously as to earn for her the apt description, "peaches and cream."She was a beauty in the regularity of her features; and, if for no other reason, she was a beauty in the mere delicacy of the lines on which she was moulded. Quiet, low-voiced, stately, and dignified, she somehow had the knack of dress, and but befitted her beauty and dignity with anything she put on. Withal, she was sheerly feminine, tender and soft and clinging, with the smouldering passion of the mate and the motherliness of the woman. But this side of her nature had lain dormant through the years, waiting for the mate to appear.
因为她确实很美丽。她拥有纯正的美国血统，是那些伟大的工人阶级之中一朵罕见的花朵，美貌足以藐视所有她的前辈和周围的人们，她的美显而易见,无需任何解释。她的肤色很美，血液流经雪白的肌肤，显出的颜色如此美丽诱人，这为她赢得了那个恰当的描述——“艳若桃李”。她相貌端庄美丽，即便单论她气质中所带有的娇美，也无愧“美人”这个称号了。她安静、低声细语、庄严、高贵，且不知怎么掌握了着装的诀窍，无论穿什么都能衬托出她的美丽和高贵。此外，她具有十足的女性特质，温柔而执着，既有成为一名伴侣潜在的激情，又有作为一个女人所拥有的母性。但她天性中的这一面这些年来却一直处于沉睡状态，在等待着她的白马王子的出现。
Then Joe came into Silverstein's shop one hot Saturday afternoon to cool himself with ice-cream soda. She had not noticed his entrance, being busy with one other customer, an urchin of six or seven who gravely analyzed his desires before the show-case wherein truly generous and marvellous candy creations reposed under a cardboard announcement, "Five for Five Cents."
然后，在一个酷热的星期六下午，乔到西尔弗斯坦的小店去买冰激凌苏打水，想凉快一下。她没有注意到他进来，而是在忙着招待另一个顾客，一个六七岁的小孩。这个小顽童正站在糖果橱窗前一本正经地解释着他想要的东西。橱窗里有相当多的、造型令人叫绝的糖果陈列，这些糖果安放在一块硬纸板下，纸板上标着“五分五个”的说明。
She had heard, "Ice-cream soda, please," and had herself asked, "What flavor?" without seeing his face. For that matter, it was not a custom of hers to notice young men. There was something about them she did not understand. The way they looked at her made her uncomfortable, she knew not why; while there was an uncouthness and roughness about them that did not please her. As yet, her imagination had been untouched by man. The young fellows she had seen had held no lure for her, had been without meaning to her. In short, had she been asked to give one reason for the existence of men on the earth, she would have been nonplussed for a reply.
她听到他说：“请给我冰激凌苏打水。”她没看他的脸，就问：“什么口味？”说到这一点，她没有注意年轻男孩子的习惯。关于这些男孩子，有些事她不能理解。他们看她的方式让她觉得不舒服，她不知道为什么，他们有些粗野低俗，她不喜欢。迄今为止，她的想象从未被男人触动过。她所见过的小伙子们对她都没什么吸引力，也没什么意义。总之，要是问她世界上为什么要有男人，她会迷惑不已，不知道该怎么回答。
As she emptied the measure of ice-cream into the glass, her casual glance rested on Joe's face, and she experienced on the instant a pleasant feeling of satisfaction. The next instant his eyes were upon her face, her eyes had dropped, and she was turning away toward the soda fountain. But at the fountain, filling the glass, she was impelled to look at him again—but for no more than an instant, for this time she found his eyes already upon her, waiting to meet hers, while on his face was a frankness of interest that caused her quickly to look away.
她把量杯里的冰激凌倒进杯子里，随意瞥了乔一眼。那一刻，她体验到一种幸福的感觉。下一刻，他就看到了她的脸。她已经低垂眼帘，转身朝冷饮柜台走去。但她站在柜台前，往杯子里装苏打水时，又禁不住再次看他——但是看的时间没有超过一秒钟，因为，这一次，她发现他的眼睛正看着自己，等待着和自己的目光相遇，而他脸上那种直率的兴味使得她很快移开了目光。
That such pleasingness would reside for her in any man astonished her. "What a pretty boy," she thought to herself, innocently and instinctively trying to ward off the power to hold and draw her that lay behind the mere prettiness. "Besides, he isn't pretty," she thought, as she placed the glass before him, received the silver dime in payment, and for the third time looked into his eyes. Her vocabulary was limited, and she knew little of the worth of words; but the strong masculinity of his boy's face told her that the term was inappropriate.
她会因为一个男人很高兴，这一点让她很震惊。“这男孩子长得真好看。”她暗自想着，却出于本能，单纯地试着去避开那纯粹的漂亮背后吸引和控制她的力量。“不，他并不好看。”她一边想着一边把杯子放到他面前，收了一角的银币，然后又第三次与他四目相对。她词汇有限，对言语的价值也知之甚少，但是他男孩的面孔上那强烈的男子气概告诉她“好看”这个词不太合适。
"He must be handsome, then," was her next thought, as she again dropped her eyes before his. But all good-looking men were called handsome, and that term, too, displeased her. But whatever it was, he was good to see, and she was irritably aware of a desire to look at him again and again.“那他肯定是英俊了。”这是她的下一个想法。这时，她又低垂眼帘，看着他面前的地方。但是所有好看的男人都可以称为“英俊”，这个词也不能让她满意。无论那个词是什么，总之他看起来很舒服。她意识到自己总想一次又一次地看他，对此她很苦恼。
As for Joe, he had never seen anything like this girl across the counter. While he was wiser in natural philosophy than she, and could have given immediately the reason for woman's existence on the earth, nevertheless woman had no part in his cosmos. His imagination was as untouched by woman as the girl's was by man. But his imagination was touched now, and the woman was Genevieve. He had never dreamed a girl could be so beautiful, and he could not keep his eyes from her face. Yet every time he looked at her, and her eyes met his, he felt painful embarrassment, and would have looked away had not her eyes dropped so quickly.
对于乔来说，他还从未见过一个女孩子像柜台对面的这个女孩子那样。但是在自然哲学上，他比她聪明，能够立即给出地球上为什么要有女人的原因。不过，女人从来不是他世界的一部分。他的想象也从未被女人触动过，就像她的也从未被男人触动过一样。但是现在他的想象却被触动了，而那个女人就是吉纳维芙。他从来没有想象过一个女孩子能够那么美丽，美丽得他都移不开眼。然而每次两人目光相交，他就会感到一种令人棘手的尴尬，要是她没有那么快就低下眼帘，他早就看向别处了。
But when, at last, she slowly lifted her eyes and held their gaze steadily, it was his own eyes that dropped, his own cheek that mantled red. She was much less embarrassed than he, while she betrayed her embarrassment not at all. She was aware of a flutter within, such as she had never known before, but in no way did it disturb her outward serenity. Joe, on the contrary, was obviously awkward and delightfully miserable.
但当最终她慢慢抬起了眼睛，两个人彼此凝视对方时，是他先低下了眼帘，脸颊飞满了红晕。她远没有他那么尴尬，但还是觉得不好意思。她感觉得到内心的波动，这可是她以前未曾经历过的，但是她外表依旧平静如水。相反地，乔明显地局促不安，看起来高兴又困窘。
Neither knew love, and all that either was aware was an overwhelming desire to look at the other. Both had been troubled and roused, and they were drawing together with the sharpness and imperativeness of uniting elements. He toyed with his spoon, and flushed his embarrassment over his soda, but lingered on; and she spoke softly, dropped her eyes, and wove her witchery about him.
他们都不了解爱情，唯一知道的就是有一种强烈的欲望想要看着对方。他们都被爱情唤醒而陷入困境中，并被那直入人心，不可抵抗的联系的因素拉到了一起。他玩弄着勺子，一股气喝光了冰激凌苏打水，好像要把自己的窘迫都倾泻到里面，但他还是耽搁着不走，而她轻声细语、低垂眼帘，对他施着自己的魔法。
But he could not linger forever over a glass of ice-cream soda, while he did not dare ask for a second glass. So he left her to remain in the shop in a waking trance, and went away himself down the street like a somnambulist. Genevieve dreamed through the afternoon and knew that she was in love. Not so with Joe. He knew only that he wanted to look at her again, to see her face. His thoughts did not get beyond this, and besides, it was scarcely a thought, being more a dim and inarticulate desire.
但他不能拿着一杯冰激凌苏打水一直喝下去，却也不敢要第二杯。于是，最后他离开了她，让她精神恍惚地呆在店里，他自己则像个梦游症患者似的沿着街道走。吉纳维芙做了一整个下午的白日梦，最终明白自己是坠入爱河了。乔却并非如此。他只知道想再看到她，想再看到她的脸。他的想法还没有超出这一点，而且，这都说不上是一种想法，只是一种模模糊糊、难以言明的渴望而已。
The urge of this desire he could not escape. Day after day it worried him, and the candy shop and the girl behind the counter continually obtruded themselves. He fought off the desire. He was afraid and ashamed to go back to the candy shop. He solaced his fear with, "I ain't a ladies' man."Not once, nor twice, but scores of times, he muttered the thought to himself, but it did no good. And by the middle of the week, in the evening, after work, he came into the shop. He tried to come in carelessly and casually, but his whole carriage advertised the strong effort of will that compelled his legs to carry his reluctant body thither. Also, he was shy, and awkwarder than ever. Genevieve, on the contrary, was serener than ever, though fluttering most alarmingly within. He was incapable of speech, mumbled his order, looked anxiously at the clock, despatched his ice-cream soda in tremendous haste, and was gone.
他摆脱不掉这种强烈的欲望。这种欲望每天都折磨着他，糖果店和柜台后的女孩总是不停地闯进他的脑海。他打消自己的欲望。他不敢再去那家糖果店，也不好意思再去。为了给自己的害怕找个理由，他说：“我不是受女人欢迎的男人。”不只一两次，而是几十次，他这样喃喃自语，但都无济于事。到了那周三晚上，他工作结束后走进了那家小店。进去时，他努力让自己看起来是一副漫不经心的样子。但他的整个行为却表明了他是费了很大力气才挪动他的双腿，勉强将自己拖到那儿去的。而且，他很害羞，比以前任何时候都要窘迫。相反，吉纳维芙却比以前都要镇静，尽管心都快跳出了嗓子眼。他不善言辞，嘟囔着他要买的东西，不安地盯着时钟，以令人惊讶的速度匆匆地喝下冰激凌苏打水后就离开了。
She was ready to weep with vexation. Such meagre reward for four days' waiting, and assuming all the time that she loved! He was a nice boy and all that, she knew, but he needn't have been in so disgraceful a hurry. But Joe had not reached the corner before he wanted to be back with her again. He just wanted to look at her. He had no thought that it was love. Love? That was when young fellows and girls walked out together. As for him—And then his desire took sharper shape, and he discovered that that was the very thing he wanted her to do. He wanted to see her, to look at her, and well could he do all this if she but walked out with him. Then that was why the young fellows and girls walked out together, he mused, as the week-end drew near. He had remotely considered this walking out to be a mere form or observance preliminary to matrimony. Now he saw the deeper wisdom in it, wanted it himself, and concluded therefrom that he was in love.
她苦恼得都要哭出来了。她等了四天，整天想着她爱的人，却得到如此渺茫的结果！她完全知道，他是个好男孩。他无须这样匆匆忙忙的，一点都不光彩。而乔还没走到街角就又想回去和她呆在一起了。他只是想看看她。他还根本不知道那就是爱。爱？那就是年轻的男孩子和女孩子在一起外出散步。至于他——他的渴望更强烈了，他发现那就正是他想要她做的事。他想要看到她、看着她，只要是她和他一起散步，他就能实现这些了。这就是为什么年轻的男孩女孩在周末来临时会一起散步，他沉思着。以前，他以为这种散步只是结婚前的形式或者惯例。现在他看到了其中更为深层的智慧，自己也想做同样的事，因此得出结论，就是他坠入爱河了。
Both were now of the same mind, and there could be but the one ending; and it was the mild nine days' wonder of Genevieve's neighborhood when she and Joe walked out together.
现在他们两个想法都一样了，那就只会迎来一种结果。最后吉纳维芙和乔一起散步这事最终成了她的左邻右舍间轰动一时的大事。
Both were blessed with an avarice of speech, and because of it their courtship was a long one. As he expressed himself in action, she expressed herself in repose and control, and by the love-light in her eyes—though this latter she would have suppressed in all maiden modesty had she been conscious of the speech her heart printed so plainly there. "Dear" and "darling" were too terribly intimate for them to achieve quickly; and, unlike most mating couples, they did not overwork the love-words. For a long time they were content to walk together in the evenings, or to sit side by side on a bench in the park, neither uttering a word for an hour at a time, merely gazing into each other's eyes, too faintly luminous in the starshine to be a cause for self-consciousness and embarrassment.
两个人都惜字如金，因此他们的爱情简直像长征一样。当他用行动表达自己时，她表现得冷静而有节制。通过她眼中爱情的光芒——她才意识到原来她的心迹已经表露得如此明显，虽然后来她用少女的谦逊掩盖这点。“亲爱的”、“心爱的”对他们来说太过亲密了，不能在短时间内就那么称呼，而且不同于大多数的恋人，他们不滥用这些爱情的字眼。有很长一段时间，他们满足于晚上一起散步，或者并肩坐在公园的长椅上，每次整个小时一句话也不说，只是凝视对方的眼睛，星光是如此地微弱渺茫，以至于他们不会觉得那么害羞和窘迫。
He was as chivalrous and delicate in his attention as any knight to his lady. When they walked along the street, he was careful to be on the outside,—somewhere he had heard that this was the proper thing to do,—and when a crossing to the opposite side of the street put him on the inside, he swiftly side-stepped behind her to gain the outside again. He carried her parcels for her, and once, when rain threatened, her umbrella. He had never heard of the custom of sending flowers to one's lady-love, so he sent Genevieve fruit instead. There was utility in fruit. It was good to eat. Flowers never entered his mind, until, one day, he noticed a pale rose in her hair. It drew his gaze again and again. It was her hair, therefore the presence of the flower interested him. Again, it interested him because she had chosen to put it there. For these reasons he was led to observe the rose more closely. He discovered that the effect in itself was beautiful, and it fascinated him. His ingenuous delight in it was a delight to her, and a new and mutual love-thrill was theirs—because of a flower. Straightway he became a lover of flowers. Also, he became an inventor in gallantry. He sent her a bunch of violets. The idea was his own. He had never heard of a man sending flowers to a woman. Flowers were used for decorative purposes, also for funerals. He sent Genevieve flowers nearly every day, and so far as he was concerned the idea was original, as positive an invention as ever arose in the mind of man.
对恋人，他像骑士一样既有武士精神又心思细腻。他们沿着街道散步时，他细心地站在她的外侧——他不知道从什么地方听说过这样做才恰当——横穿马路到街道对面去时，他就走在了内侧，然后很快在她身后横跨几步，就又走到了她的外侧。他替她拿包。还有一次快下雨时，他替她撑伞。他从未听说过送花给爱人的习俗，所以总是送给吉纳维芙水果。水果很实用。它们也很好吃。他从没想过要送花，直到有一天，他注意到她头发上别了一朵凋零的玫瑰。他盯着看了又看。因为别在她的头发上，所以那朵花的存在引起了他的兴趣。并且，他还感兴趣为什么她会将花别在头发上。因为这些原因，他又靠得更近地看了看那朵玫瑰。他发现玫瑰本身所产生的效果很漂亮，这种美感把他迷住了。他对玫瑰直白的喜爱让她很开心，他们之间有了一个对爱的新的共鸣——因为一朵花。他马上变成了一个爱花的人。同时，他也变成了一个殷勤的恋人。他送了她一束紫罗兰。这是他自己想出来的点子。之前，他从没听说过男人给女人送花。花是用来装饰的，也用在葬礼上。他几乎每天都送吉纳维芙鲜花。他自认为这个点子是他原创的，就像任何其他人发明的点子一样棒。
He was tremulous in his devotion to her—as tremulous as was she in her reception of him. She was all that was pure and good, a holy of holies not lightly to be profaned even by what might possibly be the too ardent reverence of a devotee. She was a being wholly different
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