高老头(外研社双语读库)(txt+pdf+epub+mobi电子书下载)


发布时间:2020-05-17 19:57:37

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作者:Honoré de Balzac 巴尔扎克

出版社:外语教学与研究出版社

格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT

高老头(外研社双语读库)

高老头(外研社双语读库)试读:

CHAPTER 1

第一章

Mme. Vauquer (nee de Conflans) is an elderly person, who for the past forty years has kept a lodging-house in the Rue Nueve-Sainte-Genevieve, in the district that lies between the Latin Quarter and the Faubourg Saint-Marcel.

四十年来,一位夫家姓沃盖,娘家姓德孔夫兰的老妇人在位于拉丁区和圣马塞尔郊区之间的新圣热讷维耶沃街上开着一个家庭旅馆。

Her house (known in the neighborhood as the Maison Vauquer) receives men and women, old and young, and no word has ever been breathed against her respectable establishment; but, at the same time, it must be said that as a matter of fact no young woman has been under her roof for thirty years, and that if a young man stays there for any length of time it is a sure sign that his allowance must be of the slenderest.

这家被邻里称为“沃盖之家”的旅馆,不论男女老少一概接待,而且从未受过流言蜚语的攻击。但是实际上,三十年以来,从来都没有年轻女子住过那里。而如果一个年轻人在那里住了很长时间,就必然说明着他的零花钱少得可怜。

In 1819, however, the time when this drama opens, there was an almost penniless young girl among Mme. Vauquer's boarders.

但是,当这幕戏剧在一八一九年拉开帷幕时,“沃盖之家”里的确有一名几乎身无分文的年轻女房客。

That word drama has been somewhat discredited of late; it has been overworked and twisted to strange uses in these days of dolorous literature; but it must do service again here, not because this story is dramatic in the restricted sense of the word, but because some tears may perhaps be shed intra et extra muros before it is over.

虽然近来戏剧这个字眼被那些基调伤感的文学作品滥用、扭曲,以致都有些不足信了,但是,在这里还是得用上它。这并不是因为从有限的字义上来讲,这个故事具有戏剧性,而是因为在这部戏剧结束之前,城里城外的人也许会掉几滴眼泪。

Will any one without the walls of Paris understand it? It is open to doubt.

巴黎以外的人是否能懂得这部作品呢?这一点还不得而知。

The only audience who could appreciate the results of close observation, the careful reproduction of minute detail and local color, are dwellers between the heights of Montrouge and Montmartre, in a vale of crumbling stucco watered by streams of black mud, a vale of sorrows which are real and joys too often hollow; but this audience is so accustomed to terrible sensations, that only some unimaginable and well-neigh impossible woe could produce any lasting impression there.

只有居住在蒙鲁日和蒙马特尔高地之间的人才会欣赏我对细微之处和地方特色的细致观察和详尽再现。条条溪流携带着黑色泥浆将谷地里的泥灰冲得粉碎。在那里,悲伤才是真实的,而快乐往往是空洞的。但是,那里的人们对苦难已经如此司空见惯了,以致于只有出人意料、世间罕有的不幸才能给他们留下一点印象。

Now and again there are tragedies so awful and so grand by reason of the complication of virtues and vices that bring them about, that egotism and selfishness are forced to pause and are moved to pity; but the impression that they receive is like a luscious fruit, soon consumed.

美德和邪恶会时不时地夹杂在一起引发一些悲剧。这些悲剧是如此悲惨而又如此壮烈。连自负、自私的人也会为之一怔,继而生出点滴的同情心。可是他们的同情就好比一颗甘美的果实,转眼就被吞噬殆尽。

Civilization, like the car of Juggernaut, is scarcely stayed perceptibly in its progress by a heart less easy to break than the others that lie in its course; this also is broken, and Civilization continues on her course triumphant.

文明就像世界主宰的马车。它在行进过程中,若是碰到一颗比较不容易粉碎的心,就会停下来,等到粉碎它之后,才继续得意洋洋地前进。

And you, too, will do the like; you who with this book in your white hand will sink back among the cushions of your armchair, and say to yourself, "Perhaps this may amuse me."

你们也会这样做——身体陷在安乐椅的垫子中,雪白的手里捧着这本书,自言自语道:“也许它能让我消遣一下。”

You will read the story of Father Goriot's secret woes, and, dining thereafter with an unspoiled appetite, will lay the blame of your insensibility upon the writer, and accuse him of exaggeration, of writing romances.

读过高老头隐秘的痛史后,你的胃口会一如既往,然后把自己的冷漠归咎于作者,指责他夸大其词、胡编滥造。

Ah! once for all, this drama is neither a fiction nor a romance!

哎!这部悲剧绝对既非虚构也非编造!

ALL IS TRUE,—so true, that every one can discern the elements of the tragedy in his own house, perhaps in his own heart.

一切都是事实——真实到每个人都能在自己的家中,也许在自己的心中,或多或少觉察到书中的情节。

The lodging-house is Mme. Vauquer's own property.

这家旅馆是沃盖夫人自己的产业。

It is still standing in the lower end of the Rue Nueve-Sainte-Genevieve, just where the road slopes so sharply down to the Rue de l'Arbalete, that wheeled traffic seldom passes that way, because it is so stony and steep.

它现在仍然矗立在新圣热讷维耶沃街的下段。路面就是从这里开始陡然下降到了拉尔巴特大街。因为这一路段石头多、坡度大,很少有马车经过。

This position is sufficient to account for the silence prevalent in the streets shut in between the dome of the Pantheon and the dome of the Val-de-Grace, two conspicuous public buildings which give a yellowish tone to the landscape and darken the whole district that lies beneath the shadow of their leaden-hued cupolas.

正是这种地势让夹在先贤祠穹顶与恩典谷教堂穹顶间的街道变得无比寂静。这两座引人注目的公共建筑给这里的风光染上了微黄的色调。在它们铅灰色穹顶阴影的笼罩下,整个区域都显得暗淡无光。

In that district the pavements are clean and dry, there is neither mud nor water in the gutters, grass grows in the chinks of the walls.

人行道又干净又干燥,阴沟里既没有泥也没有水,墙缝里长满了草。

The most heedless passer-by feels the depressing influences of a place where the sound of wheels creates a sensation; there is a grim look about the houses, a suggestion of a jail about those high garden walls.

连最漫不经心的路人也会感受到此处的压抑,马车在此经过的声音也会引起一阵不小的骚动。房子看上去阴森森的,花园四周的高墙使人联想到监狱。

A Parisian straying into a suburb apparently composed of lodging-houses and public institutions would see poverty and dullness, old age lying down to die, and joyous youth condemned to drudgery.

一个迷路的巴黎人在这片只有旅馆和公共机构的郊区,只会看到贫穷、沉闷、躺着等死的老人和本该快乐却不得不做苦役的年轻人。

It is the ugliest quarter of Paris, and, it may be added, the least known.

它是巴黎最丑陋的地区,也许是最不为人知的一个区域。

But, before all things, the Rue Nueve-Sainte-Genevieve is like a bronze frame for a picture for which the mind cannot be too well prepared by the contemplation of sad hues and sober images.

但是,首先映入眼帘的是新圣热讷维耶沃街。它就像是一个古铜色的相框,里面装着一张充斥着悲哀色调和严肃景象的照片,让人看了之后很难接受这一区域内部是多么破败。

Even so, step by step the daylight decreases, and the cicerone's droning voice grows hollower as the traveler descends into the Catacombs.

尽管如此,太阳渐渐落山了,游客越来越接近地下墓穴,导游低沉的声音也变得越来越来空洞了。

The comparison holds good!

对比依然很明显!

Who shall say which is more ghastly, the sight of the bleached skulls or of dried-up human hearts?

谁就能说哪一个更恐怖,是漂白的骷髅头还是干涸的人类心灵?

The front of the lodging-house is at right angles to the road, and looks out upon a little garden, so that you see the side of the house in section, as it were, from the Rue Nueve-Sainte-Genevieve.

旅馆正面和路面呈直角,朝向一个小花园。因此,房子的侧面看上去就像是新圣热讷维耶沃街的一部分。

Beneath the wall of the house front there lies a channel, a fathom wide, paved with cobble-stones, and beside it runs a graveled walk bordered by geraniums and oleanders and pomegranates set in great blue and white glazed earthenware pots.

房屋正面的墙下有一条六英尺宽的沟渠,里面铺着鹅卵石,旁边是一条砂砾小道,道旁放着蓝白相间的大陶盆,里面种着天竺葵、夹竹桃和石榴树。

Access into the graveled walk is afforded by a door, above which the words MAISON VAUQUER may be read, and beneath, in rather smaller letters, "Lodgings for both sexes, etc.”During the day a glimpse into the garden is easily obtained through a wicket to which a bell is attached.

砂砾小道的一头有一扇门,上面钉着一块牌子,写着“沃盖之家”,下面还有一行小字“男女房客,一律欢迎。”边门上装着一只门铃。白天的时候,人们可以透过边门轻而易举地瞥见园中的景色。

On the opposite wall, at the further end of the graveled walk, a green marble arch was painted once upon a time by a local artist, and in this semblance of a shrine a statue representing Cupid is installed; a Parisian Cupid, so blistered and disfigured that he looks like a candidate for one of the adjacent hospitals, and might suggest an allegory to lovers of symbolism.

小道远端的墙(与小道另一端的门相对)上面画着一扇绿色大理石拱门。这是当地某位画家画的。画中的拱门酷似神龛,中间立着丘比特塑像。这是一个巴黎版的丘比特,全身变得凹凸不平,样貌被损毁,看上去仿佛一位急需就近接受治疗的病人,不过热爱象征主义的人也许会把它当成一幅寓意画。

The half-obliterated inscription on the pedestal beneath determines the date of this work of art, for it bears witness to the widespread enthusiasm felt for Voltaire on his return to Paris in 1777:"Whoe'er thou art, thy master see; He is, or was, or ought to be."

神像底座上模糊不清的铭文记载着这幅作品的完成日期。它见证了一七七七年伏尔泰返回巴黎,大受欢迎的时刻。“不管你是谁,你的师傅在这里;他是今在,昔在,永在的师傅。”

At night the wicket gate is replaced by a solid door.

晚上,格条边门会被换成板门。

The little garden is no wider than the front of the house; it is shut in between the wall of the street and the partition wall of the neighboring house.

小花园和房子的正面一般宽,一头是临街的墙,一头是和邻居家分界的墙。

A mantle of ivy conceals the bricks and attracts the eyes of passers-by to an effect which is picturesque in Paris, for each of the walls is covered with trellised vines that yield a scanty dusty crop of fruit, and furnish besides a subject of conversation for Mme. Vauquer and her lodgers; every year the widow trembles for her vintage.

常春藤密密麻麻地遮住了砖块,吸引着路人的眼球。这幅景象在巴黎是一道很独特的风景。每面墙上都有连成格子状的葡萄藤,藤上结着灰蒙蒙的小果实。这些葡萄藤也为沃盖夫人和她的房客提供了闲谈的话题。每年葡萄收获的时候,这个寡妇都会为之担忧。

A straight path beneath the walls on either side of the garden leads to a clump of lime-trees at the further end of it; line-trees, as Mme. Vauquer persists in calling them, in spite of the fact that she was a de Conflans, and regardless of repeated corrections from her lodgers.

花园的每一边都有一条笔直的小径,小径远处的尽头是一片菩提树林。沃盖夫人虽然是孔夫兰出身,可却坚持要称它为蒲提树林,就算房客们不停地纠正也不管用。

The central space between the walls is filled with artichokes and rows of pyramid fruit-trees, and surrounded by a border of lettuce, pot-herbs, and parsley.

两面墙之间的空地上种着一大片洋蓟和一排排宝塔形状的果树,四周还种着生菜、野菜和欧芹。

Under the lime-trees there are a few green-painted garden seats and a wooden table, and hither, during the dog-days, such of the lodgers as are rich enough to indulge in a cup of coffee come to take their pleasure, though it is hot enough to roast eggs even in the shade.

菩提树下有一张木桌子和几张漆成绿色的庭院长椅。三伏天的时候,即使热得在树阴下都能烘熟鸡蛋,喝得起咖啡的房客也会到这里来喝咖啡、玩乐。

The house itself is three stories high, without counting the attics under the roof.

不算屋檐下的阁楼,“沃盖之家”共有四层楼。

It is built of rough stone, and covered with the yellowish stucco that gives a mean appearance to almost every house in Paris.

房子是用粗砂石建成的,外面用泥灰刷成了淡黄色。巴黎几乎每一幢房子都粉刷成了这种丑陋不堪的颜色。

There are five windows in each story in the front of the house; all the blinds visible through the small square panes are drawn up awry, so that the lines are all at cross purposes.

在房子正面,每一层都有五个窗户;透过小块的方形窗格,所有能看见的百叶窗都挂歪了,使得百叶窗片全都变得横七竖八。

At the side of the house there are but two windows on each floor, and the lowest of all are adorned with a heavy iron grating.

房子每一层的侧面只有两个窗户,最下面一层的窗户上装着厚厚的铁制防盗窗。

Behind the house a yard extends for some twenty feet, a space inhabited by a happy family of pigs, poultry, and rabbits; the wood-shed is situated on the further side, and on the wall between the wood-shed and the kitchen window hangs the meat-safe, just above the place where the sink discharges its greasy streams.

房子后面的院子伸展出去约有二十英尺。猪、家禽和兔子如同一家人一般快乐地住在这里。稍远的一边是堆放木材的棚子。棚子和厨房窗户之间的墙上挂着一个食品橱,正下方是洗碗池。一股股油腻的污水就是从池子里排出的。

The cook sweeps all the refuse out through a little door into the Rue Nueve-Sainte-Genevieve, and frequently cleanses the yard with copious supplies of water, under pain of pestilence.

为了避免瘟疫,厨师把所有的垃圾都从一个小门扫到了新圣热讷维耶沃街上,还经常用源源不断的水冲洗院子。

The house might have been built on purpose for its present uses.

这个房子也许本来就是特意建来当旅馆的。

Access is given by a French window to the first room on the ground floor, a sitting-room which looks out upon the street through the two barred windows already mentioned.

穿过一个法式落地窗,就能到达底层的第一个房间,里面有一个客厅,透过客厅里的两扇带铁条的窗户(前面已经提到过)可以看到街道。

Another door opens out of it into the dining-room, which is separated from the kitchen by the well of the staircase, the steps being constructed partly of wood, partly of tiles, which are colored and beeswaxed.

客厅里的另一扇门通往餐厅。餐厅和厨房之间隔着楼梯井。楼梯的台阶一部分是用木板建的,一部分是用地砖建的。两部分都上了颜色,打了蜂蜡。

Nothing can be more depressing than the sight of that sitting-room.

一眼望去,客厅的景象真是再凄凉不过了。

The furniture is covered with horse hair woven in alternate dull and glossy stripes.

家具上裹着用马鬃织成的、条纹明暗交替的布。

There is a round table in the middle, with a purplish-red marble top, on which there stands, by way of ornament, the inevitable white china tea-service, covered with a half-effaced gilt network.

客厅正中央有一张圆桌,桌面是紫红色的大理石,桌上按惯例摆着一套的白瓷茶具作为装饰。盖在茶具上的金丝网大半都已经脱落了。

The floor is sufficiently uneven, the wainscot rises to elbow height, and the rest of the wall space is decorated with a varnished paper, on which the principal scenes from Telemaque are depicted, the various classical personages being colored.

地板极其凹凸不平,墙裙上缘只及人的臂肘。其他墙面都糊着浸漆绝缘纸,上面画着《泰雷马克颂》主要的几幕情节,画里的一些传统名人都上了彩。

The subject between the two windows is the banquet given by Calypso to the son of Ulysses, displayed thereon for the admiration of the boarders, and has furnished jokes these forty years to the young men who show themselves superior to their position by making fun of the dinners to which poverty condemns them.

两扇窗户之间挂着一幅画供房客们欣赏。这幅画描述的是海之女神卡吕普索为尤利西斯之子举办盛宴的场面。这四十年来,年轻人都拿它开玩笑。他们取笑因为贫穷所迫而不得不接受的晚餐,来说明自己本应处于更优越的环境。

The hearth is always so clean and neat that it is evident that a fire is only kindled there on great occasions; the stone chimney-piece is adorned by a couple of vases filled with faded artificial flowers imprisoned under glass shades, on either side of a bluish marble clock in the very worst taste.

壁炉前的地面总是那么干净、整洁,很明显壁炉只有在重要场合才会点火;石砌的壁炉架上放着一对花瓶作为装饰,里面装着褪色的假花,上面盖着玻璃罩子;两只花瓶中间摆着一个品味很差的浅蓝色大理石摆钟。

The first room exhales an odor for which there is no name in the language, and which should be called the odeur de pension.

第一个房间散发出一种无法用言语形容的味道,应当叫它旅馆的味道吧。

The damp atmosphere sends a chill through you as you breathe it; it has a stuffy, musty, and rancid quality; it permeates your clothing; after-dinner scents seem to be mingled in it with smells from the kitchen and scullery and the reek of a hospital.

当你呼吸这里潮湿的空气时,那种憋闷、腐臭、霉烂的味道直让你发冷,还直往衣服里钻;用餐过后,那股气味更像是融合了厨房的味道、洗碗池的味道,还有医院的臭味。

It might be possible to describe it if some one should discover a process by which to distil from the atmosphere all the nauseating elements with which it is charged by the catarrhal exhalations of every individual lodger, young or old.

这种味道没法描绘,除非有人能发明一种方法将空气中所有令人作呕的臭味单独剥离开来。而每个老少房客都呼吸着这种臭味。

Yet, in spite of these stale horrors, the sitting-room is as charming and as delicately perfumed as a boudoir, when compared with the adjoining dining-room.

话说回来,尽管客厅有这些令人恐惧的陈腐气味,和隔壁的餐厅比起来,你还是会觉得它迷人而芬芳,宛如贵妇人的卧室。

The paneled walls of that apartment were once painted some color, now a matter of conjecture, for the surface is incrusted with accumulated layers of grimy deposit, which cover it with fantastic outlines.

公寓的墙上全都装着墙裙。看起来这些墙壁过去应该漆过某种颜色,因为墙面上的污垢日积月累,结成了形状怪异的硬壳,已经把原来的墙面完全盖住了。

A collection of dim-ribbed glass decanters, metal discs with a satin sheen on them, and piles of blue-edged earthenware plates of Touraine ware cover the sticky surfaces of the sideboards that line the room.

房间里表面黏糊糊的餐具柜排成一排,上面摆着一套有暗螺纹的玻璃瓶、表面闪耀着绸缎般光泽的金属碟子和一堆堆产自法国图赖讷的蓝边瓷盘。

In a corner stands a box containing a set of numbered pigeon-holes, in which the lodgers' table napkins, more or less soiled and stained with wine, are kept.

柜角摆着一只有许多格子的盒子,里面放着房客的餐巾。餐巾多多少少有些脏,还沾着酒渍。

Here you see that indestructible furniture never met with elsewhere, which finds its way into lodging-houses much as the wrecks of our civilization drift into hospitals for incurables.

在这里,你看到的都是一些销毁不掉的家具。这些在别的地方肯定是见不到的。它们最后都来到了这座旅馆,就像那些文明社会的废弃物会流入绝症病人收容所一样。

You expect in such places as these to find the weather-house whence a Capuchin issues on wet days; you look to find the execrable engravings which spoil your appetite, framed every one in a black varnished frame, with a gilt beading round it; you know the sort of tortoise-shell clock-case, inlaid with brass; the green stove, the Argand lamps, covered with oil and dust, have met your eyes before.

在这种地方你肯定能看到一个晴雨盒,每逢雨天的时候就会有僧帽猴出现;你可以看到一些倒人胃口的劣质版画,每幅版画都镶着黑漆框,框子四周还镀了一圈镀金珠;你见过那只内镶黄铜的龟壳座钟,而那只绿色的火炉和几盏满是灯油与灰尘的圆筒芯灯之前你也见过。

The oilcloth which covers the long table is so greasy that a waggish externe will write his name on the surface, using his thumb-nail as a style.

长桌上铺的桌布很油腻,淘气的医学院走读生会用指甲代替笔在上面写下自己的名字。

The chairs are broken-down invalids; the wretched little hempen mats slip away from under your feet without slipping away for good; and finally, the foot-warmers are miserable wrecks, hingeless, charred, broken away about the holes.

此外还有几把缺胳膊少腿的椅子,脚下的几块麻布小地毯破破烂烂的,却还没有彻底烂光;暖脚炉也烂得不成样子。它们通体焦黑、铰链脱落、洞眼破裂。

It would be impossible to give an idea of the old, rotten, shaky, cranky, worm-eaten, halt, maimed, one-eyed, rickety, and ramshackle condition of the furniture without an exhaustive description, which would delay the progress of the story to an extent that impatient people would not pardon.

这些家具都是又老又旧、腐烂不堪、摇摇晃晃、四处松动、虫蚁蛀蚀、难以使用、残破不已、缺牙少眼、摇摇欲坠、东倒西歪。如果要详尽地描述它们,必然会大费周章,从而耽搁故事的进度,甚至会让急性子的人无法忍受。

The red tiles of the floor are full of depressions brought about by scouring and periodical renewings of color.

因为冲洗和定期重新上色,红色的地砖到处都坑坑洼洼的。

In short, there is no illusory grace left to the poverty that reigns here; it is dire, parsimonious, concentrated, threadbare poverty; as yet it has not sunk into the mire, it is only splashed by it, and though not in rags as yet, its clothing is ready to drop to pieces.

总而言之,一派贫穷的气息笼罩着这里,无法让人产生优雅的联想。贫穷集中于此,显得尤为严重。它让人变得吝啬不已,让生活变得了无趣味。迄今为止,它还没有深陷泥潭,只是溅上了泥点。它的外衣虽然没有烂成碎布,离这种状态也不远了。

This apartment is in all its glory at seven o'clock in the morning, when Mme. Vauquer's cat appears, announcing the near approach of his mistress, and jumps upon the sideboards to sniff at the milk in the bowls, each protected by a plate, while he purrs his morning greeting to the world.

这座公寓最光辉的时间是早上七点。那时,沃盖夫人的猫会蹿出来,宣告它的女主人马上就会出现。然后猫会跳上食品柜,嗅一嗅盖着碟子的几罐牛奶,咕噜咕噜地向世界问早安。

A moment later the widow shows her face; she is tricked out in a net cap attached to a false front set on awry, and shuffles into the room in her slipshod fashion.

不一会儿,寡妇出现了。她戴着纱帽,露出歪歪斜斜的假刘海,拖着步子、懒洋洋地走进房间。

She is an oldish woman, with a bloated countenance, and a nose like a parrot's beak set in the middle of it; her fat little hands (she is as sleek as a church rat) and her shapeless, slouching figure are in keeping with the room that reeks of misfortune, where hope is reduced to speculate for the meanest stakes.

她是个有些上了年纪的妇人,长着浮肿的脸,鼻子像鹦鹉的嘴巴一样在脸中央翘着。她那双滚圆的小手(她像教堂的老鼠一样满脑肥肠)和松松垮垮的糟糕身型与这幢散发着不幸气息的房子相互呼应。在这里,人们失去了盼望,只想着如何锱铢必较。

Mme. Vauquer alone can breathe that tainted air without being disheartened by it.

只有沃盖夫人自己才能在这片污浊的空气中呼吸自如,而不会因此灰心丧气。

Her face is as fresh as a frosty morning in autumn; there are wrinkles about the eyes that vary in their expression from the set smile of a ballet-dancer to the dark, suspicious scowl of a discounter of bills; in short, she is at once the embodiment and interpretation of her lodging-house, as surely as her lodging-house implies the existence of its mistress.

她的脸像秋天霜冻的早晨那样“鲜嫩”,眼睛周围布满了皱纹。这些皱纹变化多端,既可以表现出芭蕾舞演员那种死板的微笑,也可以表现出票据贴现商那种板着面孔、满脸狐疑、横眉竖目的样子。总而言之,她简直就是这家旅馆的化身和诠释,就像她的旅馆就意味着其女主人的存在一样。

You can no more imagine the one without the other, than you can think of a jail without a turnkey.

正如监狱少不了狱吏,这家旅馆和这位女主人在人们的印象中必然是一起出现的。

The unwholesome corpulence of the little woman is produced by the life she leads, just as typhus fever is bred in the tainted air of a hospital.

这个小妇人的生活方式让她胖得有点不健康,就像医院污浊的空气会滋生斑疹伤寒一样。

The very knitted woolen petticoat that she wears beneath a skirt made of an old gown, with the wadding protruding through the rents in the material, is a sort of epitome of the sitting-room, the dining-room, and the little garden; it discovers the cook, it foreshadows the lodgers—the picture of the house is completed by the portrait of its mistress.

她穿着一条用旧长裙改成的短裙,底下的衬裙是用羊毛线编织的,填塞物从裂开的布缝里露了出来。这件衬裙正是客厅、餐厅和小花园的缩影,也揭示了厨师的样子、预示了房客的身份。等到描述完女主人,整幢房子的画面就完整了。

Mme. Vauquer at the age of fifty is like all women who "have seen a deal of trouble."

沃盖夫今年五十岁了,她和所有“命途多舛”的妇女们一模一样。

She has the glassy eyes and innocent air of a trafficker in flesh and blood, who will wax virtuously indignant to obtain a higher price for her services, but who is quite ready to betray a Georges or a Pichegru, if a Georges or a Pichegru were in hiding and still to be betrayed, or for any other expedient that may alleviate her lot.

她像一个活生生的奸商那样摆出木然的眼神和无辜的表情。为了多收取些费用,她不惜激起房客的怒火。而且,她时刻准备出卖某个乔治或皮舍格吕。这样做要么是因为这个世界上还藏着某个乔治或皮舍格吕可以出卖,要么是为了不折手段地改善她悲惨的命运。

Still, "she is a good woman at bottom," said the lodgers who believed that the widow was wholly dependent upon the money that they paid her, and sympathized when they heard her cough and groan like one of themselves.

可是,房客们却相信这个寡妇完全依靠他们所付的房租而活,仍会评价道:“她骨子里是个好人。”当听到她像他们中的某个人那样咳嗽和叹息的时候,房客们就会对她同情不已。

What had M. Vauquer been?

沃盖先生以前是干什么的?

The lady was never very explicit on this head.

对于这个问题,她从来不会讲得很清楚。

How had she lost her money?

她当初是怎样丢了家财的呢?

"Through trouble," was her answer.

她的回答是“遭了厄运”。

He had treated her badly, had left her nothing but her eyes to cry over his cruelty, the house she lived in, and the privilege of pitying nobody, because, so she was wont to say, she herself had been through every possible misfortune.

他对她很不好,只给她留下一双为他的残忍而流泪的眼睛、她现在所住的房子以及无需同情他人的特权。她理应享有这种特权,因为她常常说她自己受尽了各种各样的不幸。

Sylvie, the stout cook, hearing her mistress' shuffling footsteps, hastened to serve the lodgers' breakfasts.

听到女主人拖着脚步走动的声音,胖厨娘西尔维赶紧打点房客们的早饭。

Beside those who lived in the house, Mme. Vauquer took boarders who came for their meals; but these externes usually only came to dinner, for which they paid thirty francs a month.

除了住在旅馆里的那些房客,沃盖夫人还接待来这里吃饭的房客。但是,这些走读生通常只来吃晚饭,为此他们每月要支付三十法郎。

At the time when this story begins, the lodging-house contained seven inmates.

故事开始的时候,“沃盖之家”住着七个房客。

The best rooms in the house were on the first story, Mme. Vauquer herself occupying the least important, while the rest were let to a Mme. Couture, the widow of a commissary-general in the service of the Republic.

旅馆里最好的房间都在二楼。沃盖夫人自己住着最不好的一间,剩下的房间都租给了库蒂尔夫人。她是一名寡妇,丈夫曾在共和派军队中担任过总军需官。

With her lived Victorine Taillefer, a schoolgirl, to whom she filled the place of mother.

和她同住的是一个名叫维多琳·塔耶费的女学生。对于她来说,库蒂尔夫人扮演着母亲的角色。

These two ladies paid eighteen hundred francs a year.

这两位女士每年要支付一千八百法郎。

The two sets of rooms on the second floor were respectively occupied by an old man named Poiret and a man of forty or thereabouts, the wearer of a black wig and dyed whiskers, who gave out that he was a retired merchant, and was addressed as M. Vautrin.

三楼的两套房子分别租给了一个名叫普瓦雷的老头和一个四十岁左右、戴黑色假发、染了胡须的先生。他自称是退休商人,被人们称为沃尔特兰先生。

Two of the four rooms on the third floor were also let—one to an elderly spinster, a Mlle. Michonneau, and the other to a retired manufacturer of vermicelli, Italian paste and starch, who allowed the others to address him as "Father Goriot."

四楼的四个房间中,有两个也被长租出去了。一间租给了老处女米绍诺小姐。另一间租给了一位在退休前生产意式细面、面团和淀粉的制造商,他允许别人叫他“高老头”。

The remaining rooms were allotted to various birds of passage, to impecunious students, who like "Father Goriot" and Mlle. Michonneau, could only muster forty-five francs a month to pay for their board and lodging.

剩下的两间房子准备租给各种各样的短期房客,还有那些和“高老头”、米绍诺小姐一样,每月只能筹集四十五法郎来支付食宿费的穷学生。

Mme. Vauquer had little desire for lodgers of this sort; they ate too much bread, and she only took them in default of better.

沃盖夫人不大愿意招待这样的房客,他们吃了太多的面包。她只在没有更好的房客时才接待他们。

At that time one of the rooms was tenanted by a law student, a young man from the neighborhood of Angouleme, one of a large family who pinched and starved themselves to spare twelve hundred francs a year for him.

那时候,其中的一个房间租给了一位从昂古莱姆郊区来这里读法律的年轻男学生。他来自一个大家庭,为了每年给他省下一千二百法郎,全家人都要节衣缩食、忍饥挨饿。

Misfortune had accustomed Eugene de Rastignac, for that was his name, to work.

逆境使这个名叫欧仁·德拉斯蒂涅的人习惯于工作。

He belonged to the number of young men who know as children that their parents' hopes are centered on them, and deliberately prepare themselves for a great career, subordinating their studies from the first to this end, carefully watching the indications of the course of events, calculating the probable turn that affairs will take, that they may be the first to profit by them.

他属于打小就知道父母的希望集中在他们身上的那一类年轻人。他们慎重地做好从事伟大职业的准备,始终都把自己的学业当成是为事业做的准备。他们仔细观察着事情发展的迹象,估计着事情可能会发生的转变,这样他们就有可能成为第一个从中获利的人。

But for his observant curiosity, and the skill with which he managed to introduce himself into the salons of Paris, this story would not have been colored by the tones of truth which it certainly owes to him, for they are entirely due to his penetrating sagacity and desire to fathom the mysteries of an appalling condition of things, which was concealed as carefully by the victim as by those who had brought it to pass.

要不是他好奇而机警,拥有成功跻身巴黎上流社会的本领,这个故事就会失去真实的色彩。这一点无疑要归功于他,因为他爱用敏锐的洞察力来探寻骇人听闻的事件,而这些事件的受害者像肇事者一样小心翼翼地隐瞒实情。

Above the third story there was a garret where the linen was hung to dry, and a couple of attics.

四楼上面有一个可以晾晒衣物的阁楼,里面有两个房间。

Christophe, the man-of-all-work, slept in one, and Sylvie, the stout cook, in the other.

一个房间里住着做杂活的男仆克里斯托夫,另一个房间里住着胖厨娘西尔维。

Beside the seven inmates thus enumerated, taking one year with another, some eight law or medical students dined in the house, as well as two or three regular comers who lived in the neighborhood.

除了上面列举的这七位房客,两年来还有大约八个学习法律或医学的学生,以及两三个住在隔壁的邻居经常在这里吃饭。

There were usually eighteen people at dinner, and there was room, if need be, for twenty at Mme. Vauquer's table; at breakfast, however, only the seven lodgers appeared.

晚餐时通常会有十八个人。如果有需要的话,沃盖夫人的桌子可以容下二十个人。但是,早餐时,只有七位房客会出现。

It was almost like a family party.

早餐几乎就是一个家庭聚会。

Every one came down in dressing-gown and slippers, and the conversation usually turned on anything that had happened the evening before; comments on the dress or appearance of the dinner contingent were exchanged in friendly confidence.

每个人都穿着晨袍和拖鞋下楼。交谈通常都首先提及昨晚发生的任何事情。他们会友好而自信地对晚餐时偶尔出现的人的衣着或相貌交换看法。

These seven lodgers were Mme. Vauquer's spoiled children.

这七位房客是沃盖夫人宠爱的孩子。

Among them she distributed, with astronomical precision, the exact proportion of respect and attention due to the varying amounts they paid for their board.

她对房客们的尊重程度和关心程度完全和他们支付的食宿费用成正比,这个比例像天文学计算一般精准。

One single consideration influenced all these human beings thrown together by chance.

这种唯一的考量标准影响了所有这些萍水相逢的人们。

The two second-floor lodgers only paid seventy-two francs a month.

住在三楼的两位房客每月只支付七十法郎。

Such prices as these are confined to the Faubourg Saint-Marcel and the district between La Bourbe and the Salpetriere; and, as might be expected, poverty, more or less apparent, weighed upon them all, Mme. Couture being the sole exception to the rule.

像这样的价钱只能在圣马塞尔郊区和拉布尔讷和萨彼里埃之间的地区才能找到房子住。而且我们不难想见,他们身上或多或少地压着贫穷的重担。库蒂尔夫人是这一规律中唯一的例外。

The dreary surroundings were reflected in the costumes of the inmates of the house; all were alike threadbare.

这家旅馆的房客们的衣着折射出周边环境的凄凉——所有人都穿得很破旧。

The color of the men's coats were problematical; such shoes, in more fashionable quarters, are only to be seen lying in the gutter; the cuffs and collars were worn and frayed at the edges; every limp article of clothing looked like the ghost of its former self.

男人们穿着说不出颜色的外套。他们穿的鞋子在时尚地区只能在阴沟里才能看到。袖口和衣领的边缘都磨坏了。每一件残破不全的衣服看上去都像是它前身的魂魄。

The women's dresses were faded, old-fashioned, dyed and re-dyed; they wore gloves that were glazed with hard wear, much-mended lace, dingy ruffles, crumpled muslin fichus.

女人们穿着褪了色的、染了又染的旧款衣裙。她们的手套已经磨得发亮、蕾丝边已经补了又补的。她们穿着泛黄的褶裥饰边,披着皱巴巴的平纹细布织成的三角形披肩。

So much for their clothing; but, for the most part, their frames were solid enough; their constitutions had weathered the storms of life; their cold, hard faces were worn like coins that have been withdrawn from circulation, but there were greedy teeth behind the withered lips.

对他们衣服的描述到此为止。但是,就绝大多数人而言,他们的骨架足够结实;他们的体格抵抗过生活中的狂风暴雨;他们冷酷无情的脸就像那些不再流通的硬币一样饱经风霜。但是,他们干瘪的嘴唇后面藏着贪婪的牙齿。

Dramas brought to a close or still in progress are foreshadowed by the sight of such actors as these, not the dramas that are played before the footlights and against a background of painted canvas, but dumb dramas of life, frost-bound dramas that sere hearts like fire, dramas that do not end with the actors' lives.

看到这样的演员,就能看出戏剧是行将终结还是仍在上演。这不是在脚灯和油画背景前上演的戏剧,而是一出生活的哑剧,是像火一般灼烧人心的冰冷戏剧,是一出不会随着演员生命的结束而终结的戏剧。

Mlle. Michonneau, that elderly young lady, screened her weak eyes from the daylight by a soiled green silk shade with a rim of brass, an object fit to scare away the Angel of Pity himself.

米绍诺小姐那个老处女在视力模糊的眼睛上戴了个脏兮兮的黄铜边绿丝绸眼罩来抵挡阳光,这样东西足以让怜悯天使望而却步了。

Her shawl, with its scanty, draggled fringe, might have covered a skeleton, so meagre and angular was the form beneath it.

她的披肩带着稀稀拉拉、邋里邋遢的流苏,像是披在一堆枯骨上面,因为披肩下的身体是如此瘦骨嶙峋。

Yet she must have been pretty and shapely once.

然而,她一定相貌可爱、身材匀称过。

What corrosive had destroyed the feminine outlines?

是什么腐蚀剂毁灭了这女人的体型呢?

Was it trouble, or vice, or greed?

是磨难?是恶习?还是贪婪?

Had she loved too well?

是她以前爱得太深吗?

Had she been a second-hand clothes dealer, a frequenter of the backstairs of great houses, or had she been merely a courtesan?

她曾贩卖过二手服装吗?曾经常去豪宅的后楼梯吗?或者她曾经只是一个妓女吗?

Was she expiating the flaunting triumphs of a youth overcrowded with pleasures by an old age in which she was shunned by every passer-by?

她是不是在为她年轻时过度享乐和招摇而赎罪?以至于等她老了每个路人都对她避之不及。

Her vacant gaze sent a chill through you; her shriveled face seemed like a menace.

她空洞的目光让你全身发冷,她皱巴巴的脸看起来像个危险的怪物。

Her voice was like the shrill, thin note of the grasshopper sounding from the thicket when winter is at hand. She said that she had nursed an old gentleman, ill of catarrh of the bladder, and left to die by his children, who thought that he had nothing left.

她的声音像快到冬天的时候,灌木丛中蚂蚱发出的尖细的叫声。她说,她曾经护理过一位得了膀胱粘膜炎的老绅士。他的子女认为他一无所有,就让他自生自灭。

His bequest to her, a life annuity of a thousand francs, was periodically disputed by his heirs, who mingled slander with their persecutions.

他把自己一千法郎的人寿年金遗赠给了她。而他的继承人们每隔一段时间都会为这笔钱争吵不休,还对她百般迫害,并散播谣言诋毁她。

In spite of the ravages of conflicting passions, her face retained some traces of its former fairness and fineness of tissue, some vestiges of the physical charms of her youth still survived.

虽然饱受冲突和盛怒的蹂躏,她的脸上还是留有以前肌肤白皙、细腻的痕迹,她身上仍然残留着一些年轻时的魅力。

M. Poiret was a sort of automaton.

普瓦雷先生就像是一种机器人。

He might be seen any day sailing like a gray shadow along the walks of the Jardin des Plantes, on his head a shabby cap, a cane with an old yellow ivory handle in the tips of his thin fingers; the outspread skirts of his threadbare overcoat failed to conceal his meagre figure; his breeches hung loosely on his shrunken limbs; the thin, blue-stockinged legs trembled like those of a drunken man; there was a notable breach of continuity between the dingy white waistcoat and crumpled shirt frills and the cravat twisted about a throat like a turkey gobbler's; altogether, his appearance set people wondering whether this outlandish ghost belonged to the audacious race of the sons of Japhet who flutter about on the Boulevard Italien.

无论哪一天,人们都能看见他头戴一顶破帽子,像个灰色的影子一样沿着植物园的小道飘着;他精瘦的手指握着一根拐杖,拐杖的象牙把柄已经旧得发黄了;破旧外套的宽大下摆无法遮挡他干瘦的体型;裤子松散地挂在他干瘪的腿上;套着蓝色长筒袜的细腿像醉汉的腿一样颤颤巍巍;邋遢的白色背心和皱巴巴的衬衫褶边明显不相配;绕在喉咙上的领带就像是勒在一只雄性火鸡的脖子上。总而言之,他的外表会让人们好奇,莫非这只古怪的幽灵和在意大利大街上坐立不安的雅弗(注:圣经人物,诺亚的小儿子)的子孙们同属大胆、无畏的种族吗?

What devouring kind of toil could have so shriveled him?

哪种吃人的苦工能如此榨干他?

What devouring passions had darkened that bulbous countenance, which would have seemed outrageous as a caricature?

哪样吃人的热情使得他圆圆的脸暗淡无光,让那张脸变得像讽刺画一般骇人?

What had he been?

他以前是干什么的呢?

Well, perhaps he had been part of the machinery of justice, a clerk in the office to which the executioner sends in his accounts,—so much for providing black veils for parricides, so much for sawdust, so much for pulleys and cord for the knife.

嗯,也许他以前是司法部门的一员,是一位办公室职员。刽子手会把自己的账目呈递给他——这一笔钱用来购买弑杀父母的罪犯被处决时用的蒙面黑纱,这笔钱用来买锯屑,而这笔钱用来购置滑轮、绳索和匕首。

Or he might have been a receiver at the door of a public slaughter-house, or a sub-inspector of nuisances.

或许他以前是公共屠宰场门前的收银员?或许他以前是负责查处违法乱纪行为的副检查员?

Indeed, the man appeared to have been one of the beasts of burden in our great social mill; one of those Parisian Ratons whom their Bertrands do not even know by sight; a pivot in the obscure machinery that disposes of misery and things unclean; one of those men, in short, at sight of whom we are prompted to remark that, "After all, we cannot do without them."

这个男人看上去确实像我们公共大磨坊里面的一头驮畜,又像巴黎众多拉顿中的一个,他们的贝特朗看见了也不认识他们(注:“拉顿”和“贝特朗”是佳构剧创始人,法国著名剧作家斯克里布作品中的人物),还像一个默默无闻地处理着灾祸和肮脏之事的器械的枢纽。简而言之,我们一看见他,就不由自主地要说“毕竟少了他们我们什么也干不成”,他正是这些人中的一员。

Stately Paris ignores the existence of these faces bleached by moral or physical suffering; but, then, Paris is in truth an ocean that no line can plumb.

威严的巴黎忽视了这些被精神上或物质上的苦难漂白了的脸庞;但是,巴黎事实上又是任何铅垂线都无法测量的深海。

You may survey its surface and describe it; but no matter how numerous and painstaking the toilers in this sea, there will always be lonely and unexplored regions in its depths, caverns unknown, flowers and pearls and monsters of the deep overlooked or forgotten by the divers of literature.

你也许会观察它的表面并描述它;但是,无论多少探险家一起辛苦工作,无论他们有多勤劳,在它的深处总会有偏僻的、未被探知的地方——那里有被各类文献所忽视或遗忘的未知的洞穴、花朵、珍珠和深海妖怪。

The Maison Vauquer is one of these curious monstrosities.“沃盖之家”便是这些奇怪的魔窟之一。

Two, however, of Mme. Vauquer's boarders formed a striking contrast to the rest.

但是,沃盖夫人的房客中有两个人和其他人形成了鲜明的对比。

There was a sickly pallor, such as is often seen in anaemic girls, in Mlle. Victorine Taillefer's face; and her unvarying expression of sadness, like her embarrassed manner and pinched look, was in keeping with the general wretchedness of the establishment in the Rue Nueve-Saint-Genevieve, which forms a background to this picture; but her face was young, there was youthfulness in her voice and elasticity in her movements.

维多琳·塔耶费小姐脸色苍白。这种脸色经常可以在患贫血症的女孩脸上看到。她不变的悲伤表情跟她困窘的举止以及痛苦的面容一样,和新圣热纳维耶夫街上建筑总体上的悲惨基调保持一致,构成了这幅图画的背景;但是,她的脸很年轻,她的声音充满朝气,她的动作灵活而敏捷。

This young misfortune was not unlike a shrub, newly planted in an uncongenial soil, where its leaves have already begun to wither.

这位不幸的年轻人仿佛一株新移植的灌木,因为水土不服,叶子已经开始枯萎了。

The outlines of her figure, revealed by her dress of the simplest and cheapest materials, were also youthful.

她身上穿着最简单、最便宜的料子做的裙子,显出的身材轮廓也很年轻。

There was the same kind of charm about her too slender form, her faintly colored face and light-brown hair, that modern poets find in mediaeval statuettes; and a sweet expression, a look of Christian resignation in the dark gray eyes.

她过瘦的身材、苍白的脸和淡棕色的头发散发的魅力和现代诗人在中世纪小雕像上所发现的魅力一样。她表情甜蜜,深灰色的眼睛中流露着基督徒般顺从的眼神。

She was pretty by force of contrast; if she had been happy, she would have been charming.

经过对比就会发现她很漂亮。如果她再开心点,就会非常迷人了。

Happiness is the poetry of woman, as the toilette is her tinsel.

香水让女人散发魅力,幸福让女人充满诗意。

If the delightful excitement of a ball had made the pale face glow with color; if the delights of a luxurious life had brought the color to the wan cheeks that were slightly hollowed already; if love had put light into the sad eyes, then Victorine might have ranked among the fairest; but she lacked the two things which create woman a second time—pretty dresses and love-letters.

如果有令人愉快、兴奋的舞会让这张苍白的脸红光焕发;如果有奢侈生活带来快乐让已经有些凹陷的、毫无血色的双颊有了颜色;如果有爱让忧愁的眼睛有了神采,那么维多琳也许就可以进入最美的少女的行列了。但是,她缺少可以使女人重生的两样东西——漂亮的裙子和情书。

A book might have been made of her story.

她的故事也许可以写成一本书。

Her father was persuaded that he had sufficient reason for declining to acknowledge her, and allowed her a bare six hundred francs a year; he had further taken measures to disinherit his daughter, and had converted all his real estate into personalty, that he might leave it undivided to his son.

她的父亲听从了他人的劝告,觉得自己有足够的理由拒绝承认她,而且每年只给她六百法郎。他还进一步采取措施剥夺了女儿的继承权,并把自己所有不动产转为动产,以便他的儿子能得到全部财产。

Victorine's mother had died broken-hearted in Mme. Couture's house; and the latter, who was a near relation, had taken charge of the little orphan.

维多琳的母亲在近亲库蒂尔夫人的家中伤心地死去。后者从此担负起照顾这个小孤儿的责任。

Unluckily, the widow of the commissary-general to the armies of the Republic had nothing in the world but her jointure and her widow's pension, and some day she might be obliged to leave the helpless, inexperienced girl to the mercy of the world.

不幸的是,虽然丈夫曾经在共和派军队中当军需官,可是这位寡妇除了她继承的遗产和寡妇养老金以外,在这个世界上其实一无所有。而且某一天她也许不得不让这个无助的、涉世未深的女孩任凭世界摆布。

The good soul, therefore, took Victorine to mass every Sunday, and to confession once a fortnight, thinking that, in any case, she would bring up her ward to be devout.

因此,这好心的夫人想着无论如何都要把这个女孩在虔诚的监护下抚养长大。她每周日都带维多琳去做弥撒,每两周去忏悔一次。

She was right; religion offered a solution of the problem of the young girl's future.

她是对的,宗教可以为这个年轻女孩将来会遇到的问题提供解决办法。

The poor child loved the father who refused to acknowledge her.

这个可怜的孩子爱着那个拒绝承认自己的父亲。

Once every year she tried to see him to deliver her mother's message of forgiveness, but every year hitherto she had knocked at that door in vain; her father was inexorable.

每年她都会去看他一次,试图传达母亲对他的宽恕。但是,迄今为止,每年她都敲不开门。她的父亲一直不为所动。

Her brother, her only means of communication, had not come to see her for four years, and had sent her no assistance; yet she prayed to God to unseal her father's eyes and to soften her brother's heart, and no accusations mingled with her prayers.

她的哥哥——唯一可以替她传话的人——四年来一次都没来看过她,也没给她任何帮助。但是,她仍然祈求上帝让父亲开眼,让哥哥的心肠变软,从未在祈祷中加入对他们的谴责。

Mme. Couture and Mme. Vauquer exhausted the vocabulary of abuse, and failed to find words that did justice to the banker's iniquitous conduct; but while they heaped execrations on the millionaire, Victorine's words were as gentle as the moan of the wounded dove, and affection found expression even in the cry drawn from her by pain.

库蒂尔夫人和沃盖夫人遍寻所有的辱骂词语,也没能找见合适的词来形容这位银行家的恶行。然而当她们千百遍地咒骂这位百万富翁的时候,维多琳的话却柔和得像受伤的鸽子发出的呻吟,甚至当她痛苦地哭泣时,仍然流露着爱意。

Eugene de Rastignac was a thoroughly southern type; he had a fair complexion, blue eyes, black hair.

欧仁·德拉斯蒂涅是地地道道的南方人。他有皮肤白皙、眼睛湛蓝、头发乌黑。

In his figure, manner, and his whole bearing it was easy to see that he had either come of a noble family, or that, from his earliest childhood, he had been gently bred.

他的外形、举止和整体风度,都容易让人觉得他要么来自贵族家庭,要么在幼年时曾接受过良好的教育。

If he was careful of his wardrobe, only taking last year's clothes into daily wear, still upon occasion he could issue forth as a young man of fashion.

如果他能注意下自己的衣柜,就算天天只穿去年流行的衣服,也会时常被认为是时尚青年。

Ordinarily he wore a shabby coat and waistcoat, the limp black cravat, untidily knotted, that students affect, trousers that matched the rest of his costume, and boots that had been resoled.

通常他都穿着一件破外套,配条背心,歪歪扭扭地系着一条学生们都喜爱的、软塌塌的黑色领带,穿着和身上其他衣服很搭的裤子和已经换过底的靴子。

Vautrin (the man of forty with the dyed whiskers) marked a transition stage between these two young people and the others.

沃尔特兰(那个四十岁、染了胡子的男人)代表着处于这两个年轻人和其他人之间的中年人。

He was the kind of man that calls forth the remark:"He looks a jovial sort!"

他是那种可以引发如此评论的人:“他看上去是个乐天派!”

He had broad shoulders, a well-developed chest, muscular arms, and strong square-fisted hands; the joints of his fingers were covered with tufts of fiery red hair.

他肩膀宽阔、胸膛厚实、手臂健壮、方拳充满力量,他的指节上覆盖着一簇簇火红的汗毛。

His face was furrowed by premature wrinkles; there was a certain hardness about it in spite of his bland and insinuating manner.

尽管他性格温和,喜欢阿谀奉承,但是还没多老,脸的皱纹就已经是沟壑丛生,流露出冷酷无情的神态。

His bass voice was by no means unpleasant, and was in keeping with his boisterous laughter.

他低沉的声音绝不会令人不快。这种声音倒是和他那吵闹的笑声相互契合。

He was always obliging, always in good spirits; if anything went wrong with one of the locks, he would soon unscrew it, take it to pieces, file it, oil and clean and set it in order, and put it back in its place again; "I am an old hand at it," he used to say.

他总是乐于助人,总是神采奕奕。如果某把锁坏了,他会立刻把它卸下来,拆成一块一块的,锉一锉,上点油,弄干净,然后按顺序装好,再把它重新放回原位。他以前总是说:“我可是修锁老手了。”

Not only so, he knew all about ships, the sea, France, foreign countries, men, business, law, great houses and prisons,—there was nothing that he did not know.

不仅如此,他知道关于船只、海洋、法国、外国、男人、商业、法律、豪宅和监狱的一切——没有他不知道的事情。

If any one complained rather more than usual, he would offer his services at once.

如果某人的抱怨比平常多得多,他就会立刻提供帮助。

He had several times lent money to Mme. Vauquer, or to the boarders; but, somehow, those whom he obliged felt that they would sooner face death than fail to repay him; a certain resolute look, sometimes seen on his face, inspired fear of him, for all his appearance of easy good-nature.

他好几次借钱给沃盖夫人或者其他的房客。但是,不知何故,他帮助过的那些人觉得不报答就会生不如死。尽管他外表随和,但是偶尔出现在他脸上的某种坚定的表情会让人十分害怕他。

In the way he spat there was an imperturbable coolness which seemed to indicate that this was a man who would not stick at a crime to extricate himself from a false position.

看他唾口水的架势,就知道他很沉着冷静。这似乎预示着他是这样的一个男人:为了把自己从错误的环境中解救出来,他会毫不迟疑地违法犯罪。

His eyes, like those of a pitiless judge, seemed to go to the very bottom of all questions, to read all natures, all feelings and thoughts.

跟无情的法官一样,他的眼睛似乎能洞悉所有问题,能读懂所有事物的本质,能看穿所有的感情和想法。

His habit of life was very regular; he usually went out after breakfast, returning in time for dinner, and disappeared for the rest of the evening, letting himself in about midnight with a latch key, a privilege that Mme. Vauquer accorded to no other boarder.

他习惯规律的生活,通常是早餐后出门,及时回来吃晚餐,然后晚上其余的时间都消失不见,到了大约午夜的时候用碰锁钥匙开门进屋——这是沃盖夫人给他的特权,其他的房客都享受不到。

But then he was on very good terms with the widow; he used to call her "mamma," and put his arm round her waist, a piece of flattery perhaps not appreciated to the full!

不过在那时,他和这个寡妇相处得非常好。他常常叫她“妈妈”,并用胳膊搂着她的腰,可是也许这种谄媚对方体会得不够充分。

The worthy woman might imagine this to be an easy feat; but, as a matter of fact, no arm but Vautrin's was long enough to encircle her.

这位让人敬重的女人也许会觉得这个动作轻而易举。但是,实际上,只有沃尔特兰的长手臂才足以抱住她的腰。

It was a characteristic trait of his generousity to pay fifteen francs a month for the cup of coffee with a dash of brandy in it, which he took after dinner.

晚餐后,他每个月都会大方地花十五法郎喝上一杯加白兰地的咖啡,这是他特有的慷慨举止。

Less superficial observers than young men engulfed by the whirlpool of Parisian life, or old men, who took no interest in anything that did not directly concern them, would not have stopped short at the vaguely unsatisfactory impression that Vautrin made upon them.

那些年轻人身处巴黎生活的涡流之中,而相比之下更为高深的老年人则对与自己没有直接利害关系的事情毫无兴趣。他们按理说是不会对沃尔特兰给人留下的差强人意的印象有动于衷的。

He knew or guessed the concerns of every one about him; but none of them had been able to penetrate his thoughts, or to discover his occupation.

不过他知道,或是猜出每个人都在关注他,但是他们中没有人能够看透他的想法或者发现他的职业。

He had deliberately made his apparent good-nature, his unfailing readiness to oblige, and his high spirits into a barrier between himself and the rest of them, but not seldom he gave glimpses of appalling depths of character.

他有意让表面上的好脾气、乐意助人的品格和慷慨激昂的精神成为他自己和其他房客间的屏障。但是,他会时不时地流露出一些极有深度的品质。

He seemed to delight in scourging the upper classes of society with the lash of his tongue, to take pleasure in convicting it of inconsistency, in mocking at law and order with some grim jest worthy of Juvenal, as if some grudge against the social system rankled in him, as if there were some mystery carefully hidden away in his life.

他似乎很乐于运用口舌鞭笞上流社会,很乐于跟朱文诺(注:罗马著名讽刺家)一样,用冷酷的俏皮话来攻击社会矛盾、嘲笑法律秩序,好像对社会体系的怨恨已经在他体内溃烂、发炎,好像他在生活中小心翼翼地隐藏着某个秘密似的。

Mlle. Taillefer felt attracted, perhaps unconsciously, by the strength of the one man, and the good looks of the other; her stolen glances and secret thoughts were divided between them; but neither of them seemed to take any notice of her, although some day a chance might alter her position, and she would be a wealthy heiress.

塔耶费小姐觉得自己也许在无意间就被这个中年人的力量和那个学生的帅气吸引了。她偷窥的目光和私下的念头都离不开他们俩;但是,似乎他们俩丝毫都没有注意到她——或许某一天会有一个机遇能改变她的处境,让她变成一个有钱的继承人。

For that matter, there was not a soul in the house who took any trouble to investigate the various chronicles of misfortunes, real or imaginary, related by the rest.

说实在的,尽管房客们会讲述自己从小到大所经历的各种各样的不幸,在这家旅馆里没有人会花费力气去调查其他人所讲的不幸是真还是假。

Each one regarded the others with indifference, tempered by suspicion; it was a natural result of their relative positions.

每个人都对其他人漠不关心、心存疑虑——因为他们都很贫穷,自然就会这样做。

Practical assistance not one could give, this they all knew, and they had long since exhausted their stock of condolence over previous discussions of their grievances.

他们都知道自己无法为他人提供实质上的帮助。先前讨论自己的不幸遭遇时,他们早就用尽了能想到的安慰话语。

They were in something the same position as an elderly couple who have nothing left to say to each other.

他们和互相无话可说的老夫老妻所处的情境有些相似。

The routine of existence kept them in contact, but they were parts of a mechanism which wanted oil.

生活中的日常琐事让他们保持着联系,但是他们就像是一部机械上那些缺乏润滑的零件。

There was not one of them but would have passed a blind man begging in the street, not one that felt moved to pity by a tale of misfortune, not one who did not see in death the solution of the all-absorbing problem of misery which left them cold to the most terrible anguish in others.

他们中的每一个人在街头碰到乞讨的瞎子时都可以头也不回地走掉;没有人听到不幸的故事会觉得备受感动、同情不已;所有人都认为死能解决苦难这个无处不在的问题,正是苦难让他们对别人觉得最恐怖的痛苦无动于衷。

The happiest of these hapless beings was certainly Mme. Vauquer, who reigned supreme over this hospital supported by voluntary contributions.

这些不幸的人中最快乐的当然是沃盖夫人,她高高在上地管理着这家私人收容所。

For her, the little garden, which silence, and cold, and rain, and drought combined to make as dreary as an Asian steppe, was a pleasant shaded nook; the gaunt yellow house, the musty odors of a back shop had charms for her, and for her alone.

安静、寒冷、雨水和干旱合起来让这个小花园变得像亚洲稀树大草原一样沉闷。但是,对她而言,这是个令人愉快的阴凉角落。在她眼里——也只有在她眼里——这所荒凉的黄色房子以及修理厂散发出的霉腐气味显得魅力无穷。

Those cells belonged to her.

那些牢房是属于她的。

She fed those convicts condemned to penal servitude for life, and her authority was recognized among them.

她喂养着那些被罚终身服苦役的罪犯,而他们也认可了她的权威。

Where else in Paris would they have found wholesome food in sufficient quantity at the prices she charged them, and rooms which they were at liberty to make, if not exactly elegant or comfortable, at any rate clean and healthy?

除了这里,他们还能在巴黎哪里付给房主这点钱就能得到足量、健康的食物?在哪里还可以找到任其自由支配的房间(尽管这些房间不是特别的优雅、舒适,但也算干净、卫生)?

If she had committed some flagrant act of injustice, the victim would have borne it in silence.

如果她当众对某人不公,受害者会默默地忍受下来。

Such a gathering contained, as might have been expected, the elements out of which a complete society might be constructed.

大家都能预料到,聚了这样一群人的房子包含了几乎可以构建整个社会的所有因素。

And, as in a school, as in the world itself, there was among the eighteen men and women who met round the dinner table a poor creature, despised by all the others, condemned to be the butt of all their jokes.

和学校或社会中一样,一起吃晚餐的十八个男女里有个被所有其他人鄙视、被当成笑柄的可怜虫。

At the beginning of Eugene de Rastignac's second twelvemonth, this figure suddenly started out into bold relief against the background of human forms and faces among which the law student was yet to live for another two years to come.

欧仁·德拉斯蒂涅住到第二年年初的时候,这个人突然像浮雕般轮廓鲜明地从这些人的举止和神情中凸显出来。而这位法律系学生还得在这些人的举止和神情中度过接下来的两年。

This laughing-stock was the retired vermicelli-merchant, Father Goriot, upon whose face a painter, like the historian, would have concentrated all the light in his picture.

这个笑柄就是退休前生产意式细面的高里奥先生。要是请人来给他作画,画家八成会和历史学家一样,将所有的笔墨都集中在他的脸部。

How had it come about that the boarders regarded him with a half-malignant contempt?

房客们为什么会半带恶意地鄙视他呢?

Why did they subject the oldest among their number to a kind of persecution, in which there was mingled some pity, but no respect for his misfortunes?

他们为什么要几近迫害般地对待他们中最年长的房客?为什么他们对他的不幸仅仅是有点同情,却没有表示尊重?

Had he brought it on himself by some eccentricity or absurdity, which is less easily forgiven or forgotten than more serious defects?

难道他是咎由自取吗?莫非是因为他自身有什么古怪或荒诞之处,比更严重的缺点还让人难以原谅或忘却?

The question strikes at the root of many a social injustice.

这个问题直击许多社会不平等现象的根源。

Perhaps it is only human nature to inflict suffering on anything that will endure suffering, whether by reason of its genuine humility, or indifference, or sheer helplessness.

或许人天生就爱将不幸施加给忍受不幸的人,不论这是出于极度的谦让,还是冷漠,亦或是全然的无助。

Do we not, one and all, like to feel our strength even at the expense of some one or of something?

我们大家不是都喜欢感受自己的力量而不惜牺牲某人或某事吗?

The poorest sample of humanity, the street arab, will pull the bell handle at every street door in bitter weather, and scramble up to write his name on the unsullied marble of a monument.

人类社会中,最可怜的莫过于那些街头流浪儿,他们在恶劣的天气下,挨家挨户地拉门铃把手,爬上大理石纪念碑,在洁白的碑身上写下名字。

In the year 1813, at the age of sixty-nine or thereabouts, "Father Goriot" had sold his business and retired—to Mme. Vauquer's boarding house.

一八一三年,“高老头”大约六十九岁。他卖掉了自己的生意,退了休——住进了沃盖夫人的旅馆。

When he first came there he had taken the rooms now occupied by Mme. Couture; he had paid twelve hundred francs a year like a man to whom five louis more or less was a mere trifle.

他刚搬进来的时候,住的是库蒂尔夫人现在住的房间。他一年支付一千二百法郎的租金,仿佛多五个路易或少五个路易都无所谓似的。

For him Mme. Vauquer had made various improvements in the three rooms destined for his use, in consideration of a certain sum paid in advance, so it was said, for the miserable furniture, that is to say, for some yellow cotton curtains, a few chairs of stained wood covered with Utrecht velvet, several wretched colored prints in frames, and wall papers that a little suburban tavern would have disdained.

考虑到他预先支付了一笔房费,沃盖夫人为他把那三间屋子做了各种各样的改善,以供他使用。说起来是做了改善,但只是添了些破家具,确切地说,添了些黄色棉质窗帘、一些乌得勒支天鹅绒面的木质漆椅、几张镶了框的劣质彩色印刷画和一些乡村小酒馆都不屑一顾的墙纸。

Possibly it was the careless generosity with which Father Goriot allowed himself to be overreached at this period of his life (they called him Monsieur Goriot very respectfully then) that gave Mme. Vauquer the meanest opinion of his business abilities; she looked on him as an imbecile where money was concerned.

那时他们都非常尊敬地称他为高里奥先生。在他人生中这个阶段,高老头的粗心大意和慷慨大方让自己被骗了一次又一次。也许正是他的慷慨让沃盖夫人极其小看他做生意的能力,把他看成是富有的冤大头。

Goriot had brought with him a considerable wardrobe, the gorgeous outfit of a retired tradesman who denies himself nothing.

高老头来的时候带了个相当大的衣柜,这是这个什么都不愿意丢弃的退休商人的最佳行头。

Mme. Vauquer's astonished eyes beheld no less than eighteen cambric-fronted shirts, the splendor of their fineness being enhanced by a pair of pins each bearing a large diamond, and connected by a short chain, an ornament which adorned the vermicelli-maker's shirt front.

衣柜里少说也有十八件带细棉布前胸的衬衫。沃盖夫人用惊讶的眼神盯着这些材质精良的衬衫。衬衫上用一条短链挂着一对各自镶有一颗大钻石的别针。这些装饰让衬衫更为光彩夺目,让面条制造商的衬衫前胸更为贵气十足。

He usually wore a coat of corn-flower blue; his rotund and portly person was still further set off by a clean white waistcoat, and a gold chain and seals which dangled over that broad expanse.

他通常穿着一件矢车菊蓝外套和一件干净的白背心。带着各种坠子的金链在他宽阔的胸前晃来晃去,愈发显现出他滚圆、健硕的身材。

When his hostess accused him of being "a bit of a beau," he smiled with the vanity of a citizen whose foible is gratified.

当他的女房东指责他“有点纨绔子弟的气息”的时候,他会像癖好得到满足的市民一样自负地笑起来。

His cupboards (ormoires, as he called them in the popular dialect) were filled with a quantity of plate that he brought with him.

他的食柜(他用流行的口音叫它们“奥蒙伊雷”)装了许多家用银器。这些都是他一起带过来的。

The widow's eyes gleamed as she obligingly helped him to unpack the soup ladles, table-spoons, forks, cruet-stands, tureens, dishes, and breakfast services—all of silver, which were duly arranged upon shelves, besides a few more or less handsome pieces of plate, all weighing no inconsiderable number of ounces; he could not bring himself to part with these gifts that reminded him of past domestic festivals.

这个寡妇在殷勤地帮他整理东西时,不由得眼睛发亮。汤勺、羹匙、叉子、调味瓶架、汤碗、盘子和早餐用具都是银的,都整整齐齐地摆放在架子上,此外还有一些还比较漂亮的托盘。所有的东西都相当有分量。他不能和这些礼物分开,因为它们会让他回想起过去的家庭欢宴。

"This was my wife's present to me on the first anniversary of our wedding day," he said to Mme. Vauquer, as he put away a little silver posset dish, with two turtle-doves billing on the cover.“这是结婚一周年时我夫人送给我的礼物。”他一边放好一个银质牛乳酒盘,一边对沃盖夫人说道。只见盘罩上画着两只正在接吻的斑鸠。

"Poor dear! she spent on it all the money she had saved before we were married.“可怜的爱人!她把婚前所有积蓄都花在了这上面。

Do you know, I would sooner scratch the earth with my nails for a living, madame, than part with that.

你知道吗,夫人,我宁愿用指甲刨土来过活,也不愿意和它分开。

But I shall be able to take my coffee out of it every morning for the rest of my days, thank the Lord!

不过在以后的日子里,我可以天天早上用这个喝咖啡了,真是谢天谢地!

I am not to be pitied.

我不会让人觉得可怜的。

There's not much fear of my starving for some time to come."

接下来的一段日子,我不用太担心会挨饿。”

Finally, Mme. Vauquer's magpie's eye had discovered and read certain entries in the list of shareholders in the funds, and, after a rough calculation, was disposed to credit Goriot (worthy man) with something like ten thousand francs a year.

末了,沃盖夫人用喜鹊般敏锐的目光捕捉到了基金股东的名单。看了一些条目后,她粗略地计算了下,发现高里奥先生(这个大人物)每年大约会有一万法郎的进账。

From that day forward Mme. Vauquer (nee de Conflans), who, as a matter of fact, had seen forty-eight summers, though she would only own to thirty-nine of them—Mme. Vauquer had her own ideas.

德孔夫兰娘家的沃盖夫人虽然实际上已度过四十八个春秋了,但从那天起,她却称自己只有三十九岁——她有自己的打算。

Though Goriot's eyes seemed to have shrunk in their sockets, though they were weak and watery, owing to some glandular affection which compelled him to wipe them continually, she considered him to be a very gentlemanly and pleasant-looking man.

尽管高里奥的眼睛已经深深陷入了眼窝,尽管他因为泪腺有问题,变得视力模糊,眼睛也总是湿漉漉的,需要不停地擦拭,她却认为他是个非常有绅士风度的帅气男子。

Moreover, the widow saw favorable indications of character in the well-developed calves of his legs and in his square-shaped nose, indications still further borne out by the worthy man's full-moon countenance and look of stupid good-nature.

此外,这寡妇觉得他多肉的小腿肚和方形的鼻子暗示着他的性格很好。这位可敬的男人那张满月般的圆脸和愚蠢、忠厚的样子也进一步证实了她的猜测。

This, in all probability, was a strongly-build animal, whose brains mostly consisted in a capacity for affection.

他很可能是一个身体结实的家伙,感情在他大脑中占据了重要地位。

His hair, worn in ailes de pigeon, and duly powdered every morning by the barber from the Ecole Polytechnique, described five points on his low forehead, and made an elegant setting to his face.

他的发型犹如白鸽展翅。每天早晨,来自巴黎综合理工学院的理发师都会按时来为他搽粉。他的头发在低额头上留了五个尖角,让他的脸显得很优雅。

Though his manners were somewhat boorish, he was always as neat as a new pin and he took his snuff in a lordly way, like a man who knows that his snuff-box is always likely to be filled with maccaboy, so that when Mme. Vauquer lay down to rest on the day of M. Goriot's installation, her heart, like a larded partridge, sweltered before the fire of a burning desire to shake off the shroud of Vauquer and rise again as Goriot.

虽然他的行为有点粗鲁,但是他总是穿戴得十分整洁。他派头十足地抽着鼻烟,就像一位知道自己的鼻烟壶里总是会装着马可巴鼻烟的人。因此,在高里奥先生搬进沃盖公寓的那天,沃盖夫人躺下来休息的时候,她的心就像只涂满油的鹑鸡,在燃烧的欲火前烤着,热得喘不过气来。她想要摆脱沃盖的裹尸布,以高里奥夫人的身份重生一次。

She would marry again, sell her boarding-house, give her hand to this fine flower of citizenship, become a lady of consequence in the quarter, and ask for subscriptions for charitable purposes; she would make little Sunday excursions to Choisy, Soissy, Gentilly; she would have a box at the theatre when she liked, instead of waiting for the author's tickets that one of her boarders sometimes gave her, in July; the whole Eldorado of a little Parisian household rose up before Mme. Vauquer in her dreams.

她要再嫁,卖掉她的旅馆,把手伸向这朵优良的市民之花,变成这个地区显要的夫人,并且为慈善事业捐款;周日,她会去舒瓦西、索瓦西、让蒂伊旅游;她还可以随心所欲地在剧院里要个包厢,而不用等着她的一个房客在七月时不时地给她几张剧作者的赠票。沃盖夫人在梦见了巴黎小市民憧憬的黄金国的全景。

Nobody knew that she herself possessed forty thousand francs, accumulated sou by sou, that was her secret; surely as far as money was concerned she was a very tolerable match.

没有人知道她有四万法郎,那都是一个苏一个苏地攒起来的。这是她的秘密。毫无疑问,以钱财而论,她还是个不错的伴侣。

"And in other respects, I am quite his equal," she said to herself, turning as if to assure herself of the charms of a form that the portly Sylvie found moulded in down feathers every morning.“而且在其他方面,我和他也不相上下。”她自言自语道,翻了翻身,仿佛想要确认一下自己迷人的身材。每天早上,胖子西尔维都能从羽绒褥子上的凹陷处看出她的身材。

For three months from that day Mme. Veuve Vauquer availed herself of the services of M. Goriot's coiffeur, and went to some expense over her toilette, expense justifiable on the ground that she owed it to herself and her establishment to pay some attention to appearances when such highly-respectable persons honored her house with their presence.

那天之后的三个月里,寡妇沃盖夫人雇佣高里奥先生的理发师为自己服务,并在梳妆打扮上花了点钱。她推说为了自己和旅馆着想,这笔钱应该花。当高里奥先生这样备受尊敬的人光临她的旅馆时,她得注意下自己的形象。

She expended no small amount of ingenuity in a sort of weeding process of her lodgers, announcing her intention of receiving henceforward none but people who were in every way select.

她也没少想出种种甄选好房客的办法,宣称从此以后她只专注于招待各方面都很优秀的房客。

If a stranger presented himself, she let him know that M. Goriot, one of the best known and most highly-respected merchants in Paris, had singled out her boarding-house for a residence.

如果有陌生人出现,她就会告诉他,巴黎最有名、最受人尊敬的商人高里奥先生也选择在她的旅馆长住。

She drew up a prospectus headed MAISON VAUQUER, in which it was asserted that hers was "one of the oldest and most highly recommended boarding-houses in the Latin Quarter.”

她起草了一份简介,开头用大字写着“沃盖之家”,声称她的旅馆是“拉丁区最古老、最值得推荐的旅馆之一”。

"From the windows of the house," thus ran the prospectus, "there is a charming view of the Vallee des Gobelins (so there is—from the third floor), and a beautiful garden, extending down to an avenue of lindens at the further end.”“透过旅馆的窗户,”简介这样写道,“可以看到戈布兰山谷迷人的风景(的确可以看见,但得从四楼眺望),看到美丽的花园向下一直延伸到远端那一条长满菩提树的大道。”

Mention was made of the bracing air of the place and its quiet situation.

简介还提到了这地方清爽的空气和安静的环境。

It was this prospectus that attracted Mme. la Comtesse de l'Ambermesnil, a widow of six and thirty, who was awaiting the final settlement of her husband's affairs, and of another matter regarding a pension due to her as the wife of a general who had died "on the field of battle."

正是她的简介吸引了德朗贝梅尼尔伯爵夫人。她是一名三十六岁的寡妇,丈夫曾是个将军,死在了战场上。她正在等待着和丈夫相关的事务和另外一件事的处理结果,这件事涉及到她作为将军妻子所应得的抚恤金。

On this Mme. Vauquer saw to her table, lighted a fire daily in the sitting-room for nearly six months, and kept the promise of her prospectus, even going to some expense to do so.

为此,沃盖夫人有半年时间都很注意自己供应的伙食,还天天在客厅里点上火,并履行简介上的承诺,甚至不惜破费维持承诺。

And the Countess, on her side, addressed Mme. Vauquer as "my dear," and promised her two more boarders, the Baronne de Vaumerland and the widow of a colonel, the late Comte de Picquoisie, who were about to leave a boarding-house in the Marais, where the terms were higher than at the Maison Vauquer.

伯爵夫人这一方称沃盖夫人为“我亲爱的朋友”,并承诺给她介绍两位房客——德沃梅朗德男爵夫人和已故上校德皮科西德伯爵的遗孀——她们打算搬出梅里公寓,那里的租金比“沃盖之家”要贵得多。

Both these ladies, moreover, would be very well-to-do when the people at the War Office had come to an end of their formalities.

而且,当作战部的工作人员办完所有正式手续的时候,这两位女士就会变得非常富有。

"But Government departments are always so dilatory," the lady added.“但是政府部门办事总是这么拖沓。”伯爵夫人加了一句。

After dinner the two widows went together up to Mme. Vauquer's room, and had a snug little chat over some cordial and various delicacies reserved for the mistress of the house.

晚餐过后,两个寡妇一起上楼去了沃盖夫人的房间。她们享用着旅馆女主人自备的甜酒和各式各样的精致点心,十分惬意地聊着天。

Mme. Vauquer's ideas as to Goriot were cordially approved by Mme. de l'Ambermesnil; it was a capital notion, which for that matter she had guessed from the very first; in her opinion the vermicelli maker was an excellent man.

沃盖夫人对高里奥的看法得到了德朗贝梅尼尔夫人诚挚地赞同。她认为这是个好主意,而且从一开始就已经看出了沃盖夫人的用意。在她看来,这个面条制造商是个优秀的男人。

"Ah! my dear lady, such a well-preserved man of his age, as sound as my eyesight—a man who might make a woman happy!" said the widow.“啊!我亲爱的夫人,他这个年纪保养得如此好,和我的视力一样好——是个会让女人快乐的男人!”伯爵遗孀说道。

The good-natured Countess turned to the subject of Mme. Vauquer's dress, which was not in harmony with her projects.

和蔼的伯爵夫人把话题转向了沃盖夫人的裙子,说这裙子和她的抱负不搭配。

"You must put yourself on a war footing," said she.“你必须把自己武装起来。”她说道。

After much serious consideration the two widows went shopping together—they purchased a hat adorned with ostrich feathers and a cap at the Palais Royal, and the Countess took her friend to the Magasin de la Petite Jeannette, where they chose a dress and a scarf.

认真考虑一番之后,这两个寡妇一起去购物——她们去卢浮宫区买了顶饰有鸵鸟羽毛的帽子和一顶便帽,然后伯爵夫人又带她的朋友到“拉珀蒂特德拉让内特”商店选了一条裙子和一条围巾。

Thus equipped for the campaign, the widow looked exactly like the prize animal hung out for a sign above an a la mode beef shop; but she herself was so much pleased with the improvement, as she considered it, in her appearance, that she felt that she lay under some obligation to the Countess; and, though by no means open-handed, she begged that lady to accept a hat that cost twenty francs.

这样,向高里奥发起进攻的装备就齐整了。这位寡妇看起来简直就像挂在风味牛肉店门口的招牌菜一样。但是,因为她本人对自己外貌的改变感到非常满意,就觉得欠了伯爵夫人的恩情。于是,虽然她为人绝非大方,她还是买了一顶二十法郎的帽子,乞求那位女士收下。

The fact was that she needed the Countess' services on the delicate mission of sounding Goriot; the countess must sing her praises in his ears.

她这样做其实是因为在试探高里奥这项任务上需要伯爵夫人的帮助——她需要伯爵夫人在高里奥耳边大肆赞美她一番。

Mme. de l'Ambermesnil lent herself very good-naturedly to this manoeuvre, began her operations, and succeeded in obtaining a private interview; but the overtures that she made, with a view to securing him for herself, were received with embarrassment, not to say a repulse.

德朗贝梅尼尔夫人非常和善地应下了这份差事,并开始行动起来,还成功地和高里奥私下里谈了次话。但是,她的那些话有想独霸高里奥的意思。高里奥虽然没有说拒绝的话,但听这些话时还是很尴尬。

She left him, revolted by his coarseness.

他的不解风情把她气走了。

"My angel," said she to her dear friend, "you will make nothing of that man yonder.“我的宝贝,”她对她亲爱的朋友说道,“你在那个家伙身上什么也得不到。

He is absurdly suspicious, and he is a mean curmudgeon, an idiot, a fool; you would never be happy with him.”

他疑神疑鬼的态度简直荒谬可笑,他是个低俗、乖戾的人,是个蠢货,是个笨蛋。你和他在一起永远不会快乐。”

After what had passed between M. Goriot and Mme. de l'Ambermesnil, the Countess would no longer live under the same roof.

高里奥先生和德朗贝梅尼尔夫人会面的经过让伯爵夫人不愿意再和他住在同一个屋檐下。

She left the next day, forgot to pay for six months' board, and left behind her wardrobe, cast-off clothing to the value of five francs.

第二天她就离开了,还忘了支付半年的房租。只留下了她的衣橱,丢下的衣服只值五法郎。

Eagerly and persistently as Mme. Vauquer sought her quondam lodger, the Comtesse de l'Ambermesnil was never heard of again in Paris.

尽管沃盖夫人后来一直急切地寻找自己这位曾经的房客,却再也没有在巴黎打听到德朗贝梅尼尔伯爵夫人的下落。

The widow often talked of this deplorable business, and regretted her own too confiding disposition.

这位寡妇常常跟人讲起这桩倒霉的生意,很后悔自己太过轻信他人。

As a matter of fact, she was as suspicious as a cat; but she was like many other people, who cannot trust their own kin and put themselves at the mercy of the next chance comer—an odd but common phenomenon, whose causes may readily be traced to the depths of the human heart.

实际上,她和猫一样多疑。但是,她也和其他很多人一样,无法相信和自己亲近的人,却在遇到某个不速之客时让自己受其摆布——这是一个奇怪却普遍的现象,我们很容易就能将它的根源追溯到人的心灵深处。

Perhaps there are people who know that they have nothing more to look for from those with whom they live; they have shown the emptiness of their hearts to their housemates, and in their secret selves they are conscious that they are severely judged, and that they deserve to be judged severely; but still they feel an unconquerable craving for praises that they do not hear, or they are consumed by a desire to appear to possess, in the eyes of a new audience, the qualities which they have not, hoping to win the admiration or affection of strangers at the risk of forfeiting it again some day.

也许有这么一些人,他们知道在共同生活的那些人身上再也得不到什么了。他们就对自己的室友暴露出心灵的空虚,而他们内心里也明白这样会被人严厉批判,明白这样自己理应受到这样严厉的批判。但是,他们仍然会感觉到一股难以抑制的欲望,希望听到没有听到过的赞美,或者说他们渴望在新观众眼里展现他们并没有的优点,希望赢得陌生人的景仰或喜爱,而不惜冒着某一天会再次失去景仰或喜爱的危险。

Or, once more, there are other mercenary natures who never do a kindness to a friend or a relation simply because these have a claim upon them, while a service done to a stranger brings its reward to self-love.

更有一些天生就唯利是图的人,他们从来不会因为亲戚朋友的需要而去帮助他们,却去帮助陌生人来满足他们的自恋情结。

Such natures feel but little affection for those who are nearest to them; they keep their kindness for remoter circles of acquaintance, and show most to those who dwell on its utmost limits.

这样的人对那些离他们最近的人一点好感也没有。越是生疏的朋友,他们就越是殷勤。他们对那些陌生的人付出的最多。

Mme. Vauquer belonged to both these essentially mean, false, and execrable classes.

沃盖夫人同时属于这两类人,骨子里散发着卑鄙、虚伪和恶劣。

"If I had been there at the time," Vautrin would say at the end of the story, "I would have shown her up, and that misfortune would not have befallen you.“当时我要是在这里,”沃尔特兰会在故事的结尾说,“我会揭穿她的真面目,这样你就不会吃这个亏了。

I know that kind of phiz!”

我知道那种人的嘴脸!”

Like all narrow natures, Mme. Vauquer was wont to confine her attention to events, and did not go very deeply into the causes that brought them about; she likewise preferred to throw the blame of her own mistakes on other people, so she chose to consider that the honest vermicelli maker was responsible for her misfortune.

和所有目光短浅的人一样,沃盖夫人习惯于把注意力局限在事件表面,而不会去推想导致事情发生的深层原因。同样,她也喜欢将自己的过失怪罪到别人身上。因此她认定,那个老实的面条制造商应该对她的不幸负责。

It had opened her eyes, so she said, with regard to him.

她是这样说的——这件事让她开了眼,看清了高里奥。

As soon as she saw that her blandishments were in vain, and that her outlay on her toilette was money thrown away, she was not slow to discover the reason of his indifference.

当看到自己的奉承和挑逗毫无用处,她马上就意识到自己在化妆打扮上的花费都打了水漂。她很快就发现了他无动于衷的原因。

It became plain to her at once that there was some other attraction, to use her own expression.

她立刻就清楚地觉察到——用她的话来形容就是——他另有所爱。

In short, it was evident that the hope she had so fondly cherished was a baseless delusion, and that she would "never make anything out of that man yonder," in the Countess' forcible phrase.

简而言之,她如此深深珍爱着的希望明显只是个毫无根据的错觉。用伯爵夫人那句强有力的话来说,她“永远不能从那个家伙身上得到什么”。

The Countess seemed to have been a judge of character.

伯爵夫人似乎是人性的裁判。

Mme. Vauquer's aversion was naturally more energetic than her friendship, for her hatred was not in proportion to her love, but to her disappointed expectations.

沃盖夫人自然比厌恶她的朋友还要厌恶高老头。因为她的憎恨并非与她的爱成正比,而是和希望破灭后的失望感成正比。

The human heart may find here and there a resting-place short of the highest height of affection, but we seldom stop in the steep, downward slope of hatred.

人类的心灵也许会在各种没有爱情这种至高感情的地方落脚小憩,但是我们很少会在仇恨这面陡峭的斜坡上停下脚步。

Still, M. Goriot was a lodger, and the widow's wounded self-love could not vent itself in an explosion of wrath; like a monk harassed by the prior of his convent, she was forced to stifle her sighs of disappointment, and to gulp down her craving for revenge.

高里奥先生仍然是房客,因此,这个寡妇受伤的自尊心无法在怒火中喷发出来。她就像个受到修道院院长折磨的修士,被迫抑制自己失望的叹息,咽下想要报复的欲望。

Little minds find gratification for their feelings, or otherwise, by a constant exercise of petty ingenuity.

小人都会不停玩弄小手段让自己的愿望得到满足,或是让自己的仇恨得到宣泄。

The widow employed her woman's malice to devise a system of covert persecution.

这个寡妇凭着自己女性的恶毒,想出了一系列暗中折磨人的法子。

She began by a course of retrenchment—various luxuries which had found their way to the table appeared there no more.

她先采取了缩减开支的做法——取消了过去会摆上餐桌的各色奢华食物。

"No more gherkins, no more anchovies; they have made a fool of me!" she said to Sylvie one morning, and they returned to the old bill of fare.“不要再做腌小黄瓜了,也不要做银鱼了,他们玩弄了我。”一天早上她对西尔维说道。此后,他们恢复了以前的旧食谱。

The thrifty frugality necessary to those who mean to make their way in the world had become an inveterate habit of life with M. Goriot.

省吃俭用对那些想要在世界上生存的人来说是必要的,它已经成了高里奥先生根深蒂固的生活习惯。

Soup, boiled beef, and a dish of vegetables had been, and always would be, the dinner he liked best, so Mme. Vauquer found it very difficult to annoy a boarder whose tastes were so simple.

他以前晚餐最喜欢吃汤、水煮牛肉和一碟青菜,以后也还是这样。因此,沃盖夫人发现很难惹怒一个口味如此简单的房客。

He was proof against her malice, and in desperation she spoke to him and of him slightingly before the other lodgers, who began to amuse themselves at his expense, and so gratified her desire for revenge.

沃盖夫人的恶意对他毫无效果。绝望中她只能当着其他房客的面用轻蔑的语气对他说话或是谈论他,并以此来满足她想要报复的欲望。于是,那些房客开始通过牺牲他来自娱自乐。

Towards the end of the first year the widow's suspicions had reached such a pitch that she began to wonder how it was that a retired merchant with a secure income of seven or eight thousand livres, the owner of such magnificent plate and jewelry handsome enough for a kept mistress, should be living in her house.

第一年年尾的时候,这寡妇对他的怀疑升级到了无以复加的程度。她开始猜疑为什么一个有七八千里弗赫固定收入、拥有如此华丽的银器和珠宝的退休商人竟然会住到她的家里?那么多的银器和珠宝都可以养个小情人了。

Why should he devote so small a proportion of his money to his expenses?

为什么他只把财产中如此小的一部分钱用在自己的开销上?

Until the first year was nearly at an end, Goriot had dined out once or twice every week, but these occasions came less frequently, and at last he was scarcely absent from the dinner-table twice a month.

第一年里,高里奥每周都要出去吃一两次饭。但是到了第一年快要结束的时候,这样的情况越来越少了,最后他只是一个月才出去吃两次饭。

It was hardly expected that Mme. Vauquer should regard the increased regularity of her boarder's habits with complacency, when those little excursions of his had been so much to her interest.

我们不可能指望沃盖夫人会对高里奥日益规律地用餐习惯感到满意,因为她一直都对他出门吃饭很感兴趣。

She attributed the change not so much to a gradual diminution of fortune as to a spiteful wish to annoy his hostess.

她觉得这一变化并不单单是因为他的财产在逐渐减少,更多是因为他心怀恶意,想要惹怒女房东。

It is one of the most detestable habits of a Liliputian mind to credit other people with its own malignant pettiness.

小人有一种最可憎的习惯。他们总是认为别人和他们一样恶毒,一样卑鄙。

Unluckily, towards the end of the second year, M. Goriot's conduct gave some color to the idle talk about him.

不幸的是,第二年快结束的时候,高里奥先生的行为证实了关于他的闲言碎语。

He asked Mme. Vauquer to give him a room on the second floor, and to make a corresponding reduction in her charges.

他要求沃盖夫人在三楼为他腾出一个房间,并相应地降低他的房费。

Apparently, such strict economy was called for, that he did without a fire all through the winter.

显而易见,他真的迫切需要缩减开支。为了省钱,他一整个冬天都没有生火。

Mme. Vauquer asked to be paid in advance, an arrangement to which M. Goriot consented, and thenceforward she spoke of him as "Father Goriot."

沃盖夫人要求他提前支付房费,高里奥先生同意了这个要求。从此以后,她便管他叫做“高老头”。

What had brought about this decline and fall?

是什么让他如此落魄潦倒?

Conjecture was keen, but investigation was difficult.

大家纷纷做出了猜测,但是真正的原因很难查证。

Father Goriot was not communicative; in the sham countess' phrase he was "a curmudgeon."

高老头不爱说话,用那位假伯爵夫人的话来说,他是“一个乖戾的人”。

Empty-headed people who babble about their own affairs because they have nothing else to occupy them, naturally conclude that if people say nothing of their doings it is because their doings will not bear being talked about; so the highly respectable merchant became a scoundrel, and the late beau was an old rogue.

头脑空空的人总会对自己的事情喋喋不休,因为他们没有其他事情可干。他们自然会得出结论,如果人们对自己的行为一言不发,肯定就是因为他的行为经不起他人的谈论。于是,受人敬重的商人变成了一个恶棍,以前的纨绔子弟变成了老无赖。

Opinion fluctuated.

大家的看法变来变去。

Sometimes, according to Vautrin, who came about this time to live in the Maison Vauquer, Father Goriot was a man who went on 'Change and dabbled (to use the sufficiently expressive language of the Stock Exchange) in stocks and shares after he had ruined himself by heavy speculation.

有时,据那时候住进“沃盖之家”的沃尔特兰所说,高老头是一个投机商。在一次大规模的投机失败之后,他变得一无所有。此后,他继续在交易所打拼,涉足证券和股票交易(用的都是证交所的专业术语)。

Sometimes it was held that he was one of those petty gamblers who nightly play for small stakes until they win a few francs.

有时,人们说他是一个小赌徒,天天晚上去玩上几把。这些人下的赌注都很小,不赢上几个法郎就不罢休。

A theory that he was a detective in the employ of the Home Office found favor at one time, but Vautrin urged that "Goriot was not sharp enough for one of that sort."

还有一种风靡一时的说法,说他是内政部雇佣的侦探。但是沃尔特兰力劝说:“高老头不够犀利,不是当侦探的料。”

There were yet other solutions; Father Goriot was a skinflint, a shark of a money-lender, a man who lived by selling lottery tickets.

还有其他的说法:高老头是个吝啬鬼,是个放高利贷的大鳄,是个靠卖彩票过活的人。

He was by turns all the most mysterious brood of vice and shame and misery; yet, however vile his life might be, the feeling of repulsion which he aroused in others was not so strong that he must be banished from their society—he paid his way.

他不停成为人们口中各种卑劣、可耻、悲惨的神秘角色。但是,不管他的生活可能会有多糟糕,别人对他的排斥感还没有强烈到一定要把他从的生活中驱除的地步——他毕竟付过自己的那份钱了。

Besides, Goriot had his uses, every one vented his spleen or sharpened his wit on him; he was pelted with jokes and belabored with hard words.

况且,高老头自有他的用处,每个人都在他身上出气或者利用他让自己的笑话变得更加犀利。他受着玩笑话的攻击,受着尖酸话的抽打。

The general consensus of opinion was in favor of a theory which seemed the most likely; this was Mme. Vauquer's view.

大家的意见得到了大致的统一。大家都开始支持一个看似最可能的说法,即沃盖夫人的看法。

According to her, the man so well preserved at his time of life, as sound as her eyesight, with whom a woman might be very happy, was a libertine who had strange tastes.

据她所说,这个男人在这个年纪还保养得像她的视力这样好,能让和他在一起的女人感到很开心,但他是个有怪异癖好的浪子。

These are the facts upon which Mme. Vauquer's slanders were based.

沃盖夫人的诋毁是有事实依据的。

Early one morning, some few months after the departure of the unlucky Countess who had managed to live for six months at the widow's expense, Mme. Vauquer (not yet dressed) heard the rustle of a silk dress and a young woman's light footstep on the stair; some one was going to Goriot's room.

那个倒霉的伯爵夫人在“沃盖之家”白住了半年之后的一天早晨,沃盖夫人还没穿好衣服便听见了丝绸裙子的沙沙声和一个年轻女人上楼梯时轻轻的脚步声——有人正向高里奥的房间走去。

He seemed to expect the visit, for his door stood ajar.

他似乎很期待这个客人,因为他的房门一直半开着。

The portly Sylvie presently came up to tell her mistress that a girl too pretty to be honest, "dressed like a goddess," and not a speck of mud on her laced cashmere boots, had glided in from the street like a snake, had found the kitchen, and asked for M. Goriot's room.

胖子西尔维马上跑上去告诉她的女主人说,有个“穿得像个女神一样”、漂亮得让人不敢轻信的女孩,穿着带蕾丝边的、一尘不染的山羊绒靴子,像条蛇一样从街上溜了进来。她还摸到了厨房,问高里奥先生的房间在哪里。

Mme. Vauquer and the cook, listening, overheard several words affectionately spoken during the visit, which lasted for some time.

他俩的会面持续了一段时间。其间,沃盖夫人和厨娘一直在偷听,听到了一些饱含深情的话语。

When M. Goriot went downstairs with the lady, the stout Sylvie forthwith took her basket and followed the lover-like couple, under pretext of going to do her marketing.

当高里奥先生和这位女士一起下楼的时候,胖子西尔维立刻提起她的篮子,以要去买东西为借口,跟着这对看似情人的两个人。

"M. Goriot must be awfully rich, all the same, madame," she reported on her return, "to keep her in such style.“夫人,高里奥先生一定仍然非常有钱,”她回来的时候向女主人报告道,“才能让她穿成这样。

Just imagine it!

您试想一下!

There was a splendid carriage waiting at the corner of the Place de l'Estrapade, and she got into it.”

有一辆漂亮的马车在吊刑广场的转角处等着,后来她走了进去。”

While they were at dinner that evening, Mme. Vauquer went to the window and drew the curtain, as the sun was shining into Goriot's eyes.

那天晚上,大家一起吃晚餐的时候,沃盖夫人走到窗前去拉了下窗帘,因为阳光正照着高老头的眼睛。

"You are beloved of fair ladies, M. Goriot—the sun seeks you out," she said, alluding to his visitor.“您很受漂亮女士的青睐啊,高里奥先生——连太阳都要把您给挑出来。”她的言语间暗指他的客人,

"Peste! you have good taste; she was very pretty.”“哟!您眼光不错啊,她很漂亮。”

"That was my daughter," he said, with a kind of pride in his voice, and the rest chose to consider this as the fatuity of an old man who wishes to save appearances.“那是我女儿。”他骄傲地说道。其他人都认定他这是在干蠢事,妄图挽救颜面。

A month after this visit M. Goriot received another.

距这次拜访一个月后,高里奥先生接待了另一个来客。

The same daughter who had come to see him that morning came again after dinner, this time in evening dress.

那天早上来看过他的那个女儿晚餐后又来了,这次她穿着晚礼服。

The boarders, in deep discussion in the dining-room, caught a glimpse of a lovely, fair-haired woman, slender, graceful, and much too distinguished-looking to be a daughter of Father Goriot's.

房客们正在餐厅里进行着深入的讨论,突然瞥见了一个可爱的金发女人。她苗条而优雅,气质是如此的高贵,绝不可能是高老头的女儿。

"Two of them!" cried the portly Sylvie, who did not recognize the lady of the first visit.“第二个了!”胖子西尔维大叫道。她没有认出这就是第一次来的那位女士。

A few days later, and another young lady—a tall, well-moulded brunette, with dark hair and bright eyes—came to ask for M. Goriot.

几天后,另一位个子高挑、身材出众、皮肤浅黑、头发乌黑、眼睛明亮的年轻女士也来寻找高里奥先生。

"Three of them!" said Sylvie.“第三个了!”西尔维说。

Then the second daughter, who had first come in the morning to see her father, came shortly afterwards in the evening.

接着,早上才来过的第二个女儿过了没多久又在黄昏的时候来了。

She wore a ball dress, and came in a carriage.

她穿着一件舞会礼服,坐马车来的。

"Four of them!" commented Mme. Vauquer and her plump handmaid.“第四个了!”沃盖夫人和她胖胖的女仆评论道。

Sylvie saw not a trace of resemblance between this great lady and the girl in her simple morning dress who had entered her kitchen on the occasion of her first visit.

西尔维看不出这位高贵的女士和第一次来的那个穿着简单晨服走进厨房的女孩有什么相像之处。

At that time Goriot was paying twelve hundred francs a year to his landlady, and Mme. Vauquer saw nothing out of the common in the fact that a rich man had four or five mistresses; nay, she thought it very knowing of him to pass them off as his daughters.

那时候,高老头每年向女房东支付一千二百法郎。沃盖夫人觉得一个富翁养四五个情人再平常不过了。不过,她觉得他把她们冒充成自己的女儿的做法还挺狡猾的。

She was not at all inclined to draw a hard-and-fast line, or to take umbrage at his sending for them to the Maison Vauquer; yet, inasmuch as these visits explained her boarder's indifference to her, she went so far (at the end of the second year) as to speak of him as an "ugly old wretch."

对于高老头派人请她们来“沃盖之家”,沃盖太太根本不会不懂变通,也没有感到冒犯。然而,由于这些访客解释了高里奥对她冷淡的原因,她在第二年年尾的时候更是把他说成是个“又老又丑的流氓”。

When at length her boarder declined to nine hundred francs a year, she asked him very insolently what he took her house to be, after meeting one of these ladies on the stairs.

她的房客最终降级住进九百法郎一年的房间。有一次她在楼梯上碰到了其中的一位女士之后,就非常傲慢地问他打算把她的房子当成什么地方。

Father Goriot answered that the lady was his eldest daughter.

高老头回答说这位女士是她的大女儿。

"So you have two or three dozen daughters, have you?" said Mme. Vauquer sharply.“所以你有两三打女儿,是吗?”沃盖夫人刻薄地问道。

"I have only two," her boarder answered meekly, like a ruined man who is broken in to all the cruel usage of misfortune.“我只有两个女儿啊。”她的房客温和地答道。他就像个破落户,默默忍受着他人残酷地利用其不幸所做的一切攻击。

Towards the end of the third year Father Goriot reduced his expenses still further; he went up to the third story, and now paid forty-five francs a month.

第三年年尾的时候,高老头仍然进一步削减开支。他换到了四楼,现在每月只需支付四十五法郎。

He did without snuff, told his hairdresser that he no longer required his services, and gave up wearing powder.

他戒掉了鼻烟,并告诉他的发型师自己不再需要他的服务了,也不再搽粉了。

When Goriot appeared for the first time in this condition, an exclamation of astonishment broke from his hostess at the color of his hair—a dingy olive gray.

当高老头第一次以新的形象出现时,他的女房东一看到他头发的颜色——一种暗淡的橄榄灰——就立刻惊叫起来。

He had grown sadder day by day under the influence of some hidden trouble; among all the faces round the table, his was the most woe-begone.

在某种隐疾的影响下,他一天比一天悲伤。在围桌而坐的所有人中,他是最愁眉苦脸的一个。

There was no longer any doubt.

现在大家都不再怀疑他们的推断了。

Goriot was an elderly libertine, whose eyes had only been preserved by the skill of the physician from the malign influence of the remedies necessitated by the state of his health.

大家认为高老头是个老色鬼。要不是医生医术了得,他的眼睛早就不保了,因为照他的健康状况来看,他所需的药品是有很大副作用的。

The disgusting color of his hair was a result of his excesses and of the drugs which he had taken that he might continue his career.

他头发颜色之所以这么恶心,就是因为他纵欲无度,还服用了那些可以让他继续纵欲的药物。

The poor old man's mental and physical condition afforded some grounds for the absurd rubbish talked about him.

这个可怜的老男人!他的心理和生理状况使得关于他的恶意中伤有了些道理。

When his outfit was worn out, he replaced the fine linen by calico at fourteen sous the ell.

他的优质亚麻布衣物用破了,他就用十四苏一厄尔的粗棉布来代替。

His diamonds, his gold snuff-box, watch-chain and trinkets, disappeared one by one.

他的钻石、金鼻烟壶、金表链和金饰品一个接一个地消失了。

He had left off wearing the corn-flower blue coat, and was sumptuously arrayed, summer as well as winter, in a coarse chestnut-brown coat, a plush waistcoat, and doeskin breeches.

他不再穿矢车菊蓝外套。不论冬夏,他能穿的最好的衣服也就是粗糙的栗色外套、长毛绒背心和母鹿皮长裤了。

He grew thinner and thinner; his legs were shrunken, his cheeks, once so puffed out by contented bourgeois prosperity, were covered with wrinkles, and the outlines of the jawbones were distinctly visible; there were deep furrows in his forehead.

他越变越瘦,双腿也萎缩了。因为身为富有的中产阶级而得意地鼓起来的双颊上也爬满了皱纹,下颚骨的轮廓变得清晰可见,前额也刻上了深深的沟壑。

In the fourth year of his residence in the Rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve he was no longer like his former self.

他住到新圣热讷维耶沃街的第四个年头,已经完全不像以前的自己了。

The hale vermicelli manufacturer, sixty-two years of age, who had looked scarce forty, the stout, comfortable, prosperous tradesman, with an almost bucolic air, and such a brisk demeanor that it did you good to look at him; the man with something boyish in his smile, had suddenly sunk into his dotage, and had become a feeble, vacillating septuagenarian.

过去,这个矍铄的面条制造商都六十二岁了,看起来却还不到四十岁。这个身体结实、生活舒适、财力丰厚的商人,曾经带着田园诗意,动作如此干净利落,以至于看看他就能让你开心。可是这个笑容中带着点孩子气的男人突然就变得老态龙钟,成了一个身体孱弱、优柔寡断的古稀老人。

The keen, bright blue eyes had grown dull, and faded to a steel-gray color; the red inflamed rims looked as though they had shed tears of blood.

锐利、明亮的蓝眼睛褪成了暗淡的青灰色;红肿的眼眶看上去好似流了血泪。

He excited feelings of repulsion in some, and of pity in others.

他激起了一些人的排斥感和另一些人的同情心。

The young medical students who came to the house noticed the drooping of his lower lip and the conformation of the facial angle; and, after teasing him for some time to no purpose, they declared that cretinism was setting in.

年轻的医学院学生们来到“沃盖之家”时注意到了他耷拉着的下嘴唇和颜角的构造。在毫无目的地奚落了他一段时间后,他们便断言他快要得痴呆症了。

One evening after dinner Mme. Vauquer said half banteringly to him, "So those daughters of yours don't come to see you any more, eh?"Meaning to imply her doubts as to his paternity; but Father Goriot shrank as if his hostess had touched him with a sword-point.

一天傍晚,吃过晚餐后沃盖夫人半开玩笑地对他说:“哎,你的那些女儿不再来看你了吗?”沃盖夫人的言语意在影射她对高老头父亲身份的怀疑。但是,高老头好似被女房东的剑尖刺了一下,向后退了退。

"They come sometimes," he said in a tremulous voice.“她们有时会来。”他用颤抖的声音说道。

"Aha! you still see them sometimes?" cried the students.“啊!你有时还会看到她们啊?”那些学生叫了起来,

"Bravo, Father Goriot!"“真了不起啊,高老头!”

The old man scarcely seemed to hear the witticisms at his expense that followed on the words; he had relapsed into the dreamy state of mind that these superficial observers took for senile torpor, due to his lack of intelligence.

这老人似乎很少听得出他人言语之中对他的嘲讽。他重新恢复了迷迷糊糊的思想状态。这些肤浅的观察者把那种状态看成是老年人的迟钝的表现,因为他太傻了。

If they had only known, they might have been deeply interested by the problem of his condition; but few problems were more obscure.

要是他们知道高老头目前所面临的问题,他们肯定会对此非常感兴趣。但是,没有什么问题比高老头现在的问题更为隐晦了。

It was easy, of course, to find out whether Goriot had really been a vermicelli manufacturer; the amount of his fortune was readily discoverable; but the old people, who were most inquisitive as to his concerns, never went beyond the limits of the Quarter, and lived in the lodging-house much as oysters cling to a rock.

当然,要查明高老头是不是面条制造商很简单,他的财产数额也很好查清。但是,那些对他最好奇的老人们却从没有走出过拉丁区,他们就像粘着岩石的牡蛎一样死抱着“沃盖之家”不放。

As for the rest, the current of life in Paris daily awaited them, and swept them away with it; so soon as they left the Rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve, they forgot the existence of the old man, their butt at dinner.

至于其他人,他们还要应对巴黎每日的生活之潮,这种潮水会将种种疑问一扫而空。他们一走出新圣热讷维耶沃街,就忘记了这个老人的存在,忘记了他们晚餐桌上的笑柄。

For those narrow souls, or for careless youth, the misery in Father Goriot's withered face and its dull apathy were quite incompatible with wealth or any sort of intelligence.

对那些见解狭隘的老人或者粗心大意的年轻人来说,高老头干瘪的脸上所流露出的迟钝和冷漠与富有格格不入,也体现不出一丝智慧。

As for the creatures whom he called his daughters, all Mme. Vauquer's boarders were of her opinion.

说起他称为女儿的那些人,沃盖夫人所有的房客都支持她的看法。

With the faculty for severe logic sedulously cultivated by elderly women during long evenings of gossip till they can always find an hypothesis to fit all circumstances, she was wont to reason thus:"If Father Goriot had daughters of his own as rich as those ladies who came here seemed to be, he would not be lodging in my house, on the third floor, at forty-five francs a month; and he would not go about dressed like a poor man.”

老女人们总爱在漫漫长夜里嚼舌根,她们最后总能找到一种适用于所有情况的假说。她们就这样孜孜不倦地培养了缜密的逻辑思维能力,于是总是习惯这样思考:“那些来这里的女士看上去很富有。如果高老头自己当真有那么有钱的女儿,就不会住在我旅馆的四楼,每月才支付四十五法郎房费,也不会穿得像穷人一样四处走动了。”

No objection could be raised to these inferences.

没有人能对这些推论提出异议。

So by the end of the month of November 1819, at the time when the curtain rises on this drama, every one in the house had come to have a very decided opinion as to the poor old man.

所以到了一八一九年十一月底,当这幕戏剧将要拉开帷幕的时候,旅馆里的每一个人都对这个可怜的老人有了个极其肯定的看法。

He had never had either wife or daughter; excesses had reduced him to this sluggish condition; he was a sort of human mollusk who should be classed among the capulidae, so one of the dinner contingent, an employee at the Museum, who had a pretty wit of his own.

他压根就不曾有过妻子或女儿,过度放纵让他沦落到了这种悲惨的境地。一起吃晚餐的客人中有一个是博物馆员工。他有着自己独到的小幽默。他说高老头是一种人形软体动物,应该被列入偏盖螺科。

Poiret was an eagle, a gentleman, compared with Goriot.

跟高里奥比起来,普瓦雷是一只目光锐利的鹰,是一位绅士。

Poiret would join the talk, argue, answer when he was spoken to; as a matter of fact, his talk, arguments, and responses contributed nothing to the conversation, for Poiret had a habit of repeating what the others said in different words; still, he did join in the talk; he was alive, and seemed capable of feeling; while Father Goriot (to quote the Museum official again) was invariably at zero degrees—Reaumur.

只要有人和他说话,普瓦雷就会参与进去。但是,他的话语、争论和回答对谈话没有任何实际意义,因为他习惯用不同的字眼来重复其他人所说的话。不过,他的确加入了大家的谈话。他是个活生生的人,看起来懂得感知。而高老头(再次引用博物馆员工的话)在列氏寒暑表上永远都是零度。

Eugene de Rastignac had just returned to Paris in a state of mind not unknown to young men who are conscious of unusual powers, and to those whose faculties are so stimulated by a difficult position, that for the time being they rise above the ordinary level.

欧仁·德拉斯蒂涅刚刚回到巴黎。对于那些意识到自身特殊力量,能力被困难处境所激发而暂时超出正常水平的年轻人来说,他的思想状态并不陌生。

Rastignac's first year of study for the preliminary examinations in law had left him free to see the sights of Paris and to enjoy some of its amusements.

拉斯蒂涅第一年的学习是在为法律系的预备考试做准备。这一年让他自由自在地欣赏了巴黎的风景,享受到了一些娱乐活动。

A student has not much time on his hands if he sets himself to learn the repertory of every theatre, and to study the ins and outs of the labyrinth of Paris.

如果一个学生要着手了解每个剧院的全部剧目并研究巴黎这座大迷宫的里里外外,他的手里就不会有多少时间。

To know its customs; to learn the language, and become familiar with the amusements of the capital, he must explore its recesses, good and bad, follow the studies that please him best, and form some idea of the treasures contained in galleries and museums.

要想知道它的风俗民情,学习语言,并熟悉首都的娱乐活动,他就必须利用自己的假期来探索巴黎的隐秘之处——不论这些地方是好是坏——去学习他最喜欢的东西,并对画廊和博物馆里的珍品形成一些看法。

At this stage of his career a student grows eager and excited about all sorts of follies that seem to him to be of immense importance.

在人生的这个阶段,一个学生会对各种各样的蠢事感兴趣,并为这些蠢事兴奋不已。在他眼里,这些事情似乎无比重要。

He has his hero, his great man, a professor at the College de France, paid to talk down to the level of his audience.

他有自己的英雄、自己的伟人——法兰西学院的一名教授。人们花钱请这位教授用听众能够理解的话语来讲授知识。

He adjusts his cravat, and strikes various attitudes for the benefit of the women in the first galleries at the Opera-Comique.

他整理了一下自己的领带,对坐在喜剧剧院顶层楼座的女士们搔首弄姿。

As he passes through all these successive initiations, and breaks out of his sheath, the horizons of life widen around him, and at length he grasps the plan of society with the different human strata of which it is composed.

一样一样入门以后,他脱下了自己的外壳,扩展了自己的生活圈子。最后他领会到社会是由不同的人类阶层组成的。

If he begins by admiring the procession of carriages on sunny afternoons in the Champs-Elysees, he soon reaches the further stage of envying their owners.

如果一开始他只是羡慕阳光明媚的下午在香榭丽舍大街上前行的一队队马车,很快他便会更进一步去妒忌它们的主人。

Unconsciously, Eugene had served his apprenticeship before he went back to Angouleme for the long vacation after taking his degrees as bachelor of arts and bachelor of law.

在回昂古莱姆过长假之前,他就不知不觉地完成了学业,获得了文学学位和法学学位。

The illusions of childhood had vanished, so also had the ideas he brought with him from the provinces; he had returned thither with an intelligence developed, with loftier ambitions, and saw things as they were at home in the old manor house.

童年的幻想消失了,他从外省带来了的观念也消失了。他带着更健全的智慧、带着更崇高的抱负回到了那里。家乡的一切在他看来就像是古旧庄园里的事物。

His father and mother, his two brothers and two sisters, with an aged aunt, whose whole fortune consisted in annuities, lived on the little estate of Rastignac.

他的父亲、母亲、两个兄弟、两个妹妹,还有一个除了养老金外没有其他财产的、年迈的姑妈一起住在拉斯蒂涅家小小的房子里。

The whole property brought in about three thousand francs; and though the amount varied with the season (as must always be the case in a vine-growing district), they were obliged to spare an unvarying twelve hundred francs out of their income for him.

家里所有的财产约有三千法郎,尽管这个数目随着季节会有所变化(葡萄种植区一直都是这样),他们每年都会从收入中为他省出一千二百法郎。

He saw how constantly the poverty, which they had generously hidden from him, weighed upon them; he could not help comparing the sisters, who had seemed so beautiful to his boyish eyes, with women in Paris, who had realized the beauty of his dreams.

尽管家人们都好心地瞒着他,他明白家里一直以来的穷困状况。穷困始终压在他们身上。他不由自主地拿自己的两个妹妹——当他还是个小男孩的时候,她们在他眼里看来是如此美丽——和他理想中的美女,巴黎女人比较起来。

The uncertain future of the whole family depended upon him.

整个家庭渺茫的未来都靠他了。

It did not escape his eyes that not a crumb was wasted in the house, nor that the wine they drank was made from the second pressing; a multitude of small things, which it is useless to speak of in detail here, made him burn to distinguish himself, and his ambition to succeed increased tenfold.

家里连面包屑都舍不得浪费,喝的酒是二次压榨的,这些都逃不过他的眼睛。许许多多琐事说也无益,就无需赘述了。它们让他迫切想要出人头地,想要成功的野心也膨胀了十倍。

He meant, like all great souls, that his success should be owing entirely to his merits; but his was pre-eminently a southern temperament, the execution of his plans was sure to be marred by the vertigo that seizes on youth when youth sees itself alone in a wide sea, uncertain how to spend its energies, whither to steer its course, how to adapt its sails to the winds.

和所有伟大的灵魂一样,他原本打算完全依靠自己的努力来取得成功。但是,他有着典型的南方人性格。这个年轻人仿佛孤零零地漂在宽广的大海中间,不知道怎样利用自己的能力,不知道该驶向哪里,不知道怎么调整风帆,于是他变得晕头转向。这时候,他实施计划的雄心壮志肯定会被削弱。

At first he determined to fling himself heart and soul into his work, but he was diverted from this purpose by the need of society and connections; then he saw how great an influence women exert in social life, and suddenly made up his mind to go out into this world to seek a protectress there.

一开始,他下定决心要全心全意地投入到学习当中,但是出于社交应酬的需要,他偏离了自己的决定。然后,他了解到女人能给社交生活带来很大的影响,于是突然决定走出房门,进入社会,去那里寻找一个女性保护人。

Surely a clever and high-spirited young man, whose wit and courage were set off to advantage by a graceful figure and the vigorous kind of beauty that readily strikes a woman's imagination, need not despair of finding a protectress.

他是个聪明、热情的年轻人,优雅的外表和阳刚的气质更是彰显出了他的智慧和勇敢。这样的人肯定很容易叫女性着迷,根本不愁找不见女性保护人。

These ideas occurred to him in his country walks with his sisters, whom he had once joined so gaily.

他在乡间和妹妹们散步的时候突然有了这些念头。从前,他和她们一起就很开心。

The girls thought him very much changed.

女孩们觉得他大大地改变了。

His aunt, Mme. de Marcillac, had been presented at court, and had moved among the brightest heights of that lofty region.

他的姑妈,德马西亚克夫人曾经入过宫廷。在那个位高权重之地,她曾在达官显贵之间游走。

Suddenly the young man's ambition discerned in those recollections of hers, which had been like nursery fairy tales to her nephews and nieces, the elements of a social success at least as important as the success which he had achieved at the Ecole de Droit.

她的那些回忆以前对于自己的侄子侄女来说只是幼稚园的童话故事。现在,这个野心勃勃的年轻人突然在它们中看到了可以在社交上助他取得成功的元素,这一成功至少跟他在法学院取得的成功一样重要。

He began to ask his aunt about those relations; some of the old ties might still hold good.

他开始向自己的姑妈打听那些亲戚,觉得有些老交情也许还有效。

After much shaking of the branches of the family tree, the old lady came to the conclusion that of all persons who could be useful to her nephew among the selfish genus of rich relations, the Vicomtesse de Beauseant was the least likely to refuse.

这位年迈的女士想了想族谱中的各个分支,得出了这样的结论:在所有能够帮助她侄子的那些自私自利的有钱亲戚中,德伯桑子爵夫人是最不可能拒绝他的人。

To this lady, therefore, she wrote in the old-fashioned style, recommending Eugene to her; pointing out to her nephew that if he succeeded in pleasing Mme. de Beauseant, the Vicomtesse would introduce him to other relations.

因此,她用老式的体裁给这位女士写了一封信,向她推荐了欧仁,并告诉自己的侄子,如果他能取悦德伯桑夫人,德伯桑夫人就会把他介绍给其他亲戚。

A few days after his return to Paris, therefore, Rastignac sent his aunt's letter to Mme. de Beauseant.

所以,回到巴黎几天后,拉斯蒂涅就把他姑妈的信寄给了德伯桑夫人。

The Vicomtesse replied by an invitation to a ball for the following evening.

那位子爵夫人给他回复了一张请帖,邀请他参加第二天晚上的舞会。

This was the position of affairs at the Maison Vauquer at the end of November 1819.

这就是一八一九年十一月末时,“沃盖之家”的大概情况。

A few days later, after Mme. de Beauseant's ball, Eugene came in at two o'clock in the morning.

几天后,欧仁参加了德伯桑夫人的舞会,清晨两点才回来。

The persevering student meant to make up for the lost time by working until daylight.

这个有恒心的学生原本打算开夜车来弥补失去的时间。

It was the first time that he had attempted to spend the night in this way in that silent quarter.

这是他第一次试图在这个安静的街区以这样的方式度过夜晚。

The spell of a factitious energy was upon him; he had beheld the pomp and splendor of the world.

虚假的活力让他着了魔。他已经见识到世界壮观、华丽的一面了。

He had not dined at the Maison Vauquer; the boarders probably would think that he would walk home at daybreak from the dance, as he had done sometimes on former occasions, after a fete at the Prado, or a ball at the Odeon, splashing his silk stockings thereby, and ruining his pumps.

他没有回“沃盖之家”吃晚饭,房客们也许认为他黎明时分会离开舞会,然后走回来。因为过去在参加完普拉多高级住宅区的宴会或者奥德翁剧院的舞会后,他时不时地会这样做,还因此害得自己的丝制长筒袜溅满了泥、轻舞鞋也走了样。

It so happened that Christophe took a look into the street before drawing the bolts of the door; and Rastignac, coming in at that moment, could go up to his room without making any noise, followed by Christophe, who made a great deal.

事情的经过是这样的。克里斯托夫在插门闩之前,先朝街上看了看,拉斯蒂涅就在这个时候回来了。他原本可以悄悄上楼,不发出一点声响,但跟在后面的克里斯托夫倒是弄出了很大的声响。

Eugene exchanged his dress suit for a shabby overcoat and slippers, kindled a fire with some blocks of patent fuel, and prepared for his night's work in such a sort that the faint sounds he made were drowned by Christophe's heavy tramp on the stairs.

欧仁脱下了礼服,换上了破旧的外套和拖鞋,拿了几块加了粘合剂的煤球点上了火,准备开夜车。他做这一切的时候声音很轻,微弱的声响完全淹没在克里斯托夫上楼时那重重的脚步声中。

Eugene sat absorbed in thought for a few moments before plunging into his law books.

欧仁在全身心读法律书之前,先坐在那里出神地想了一会儿。

He had just become aware of the fact that the Vicomtesse de Beauseant was one of the queens of fashion, that her house was thought to be the pleasantest in the Faubourg Saint-Germain.

他刚刚了解到了一件事,即德伯桑子爵夫人是时尚女王之一,她的府邸被认为是圣日耳曼郊区最舒适的地方。

And not only so, she was, by right of her fortune, and the name she bore, one of the most conspicuous figures in that aristocratic world.

不仅如此,凭她的财力和家世,她简直就是贵族世界里最引人注目的人物之一。

Thanks to the aunt, thanks to Mme. de Marcillac's letter of introduction, the poor student had been kindly received in that house before he knew the extent of the favor thus shown to him.

多亏了他的姑妈,多亏了德马西亚克夫人的引荐信,这个穷困的学生在那所府邸里受到了优待,却还不知道他受到的优待是多么高。

It was almost like a patent of nobility to be admitted to those gilded salons; he had appeared in the most exclusive circle in Paris, and now all doors were open for him.

能在那些奢华的社交沙龙露面几乎就是一张贵族许可证。他进入了巴黎最排外的圈子,现在所有的门都向他敞开了。

Eugene had been dazzled at first by the brilliant assembly, and had scarcely exchanged a few words with the Vicomtesse; he had been content to single out a goddess among this throng of Parisian divinities, one of those women who are sure to attract a young man's fancy.

一开始,华丽的宴会让欧仁眼花缭乱,他几乎没能跟子爵夫人说上几句话。后来,他从一群巴黎女神中挑出了一位肯定能叫人一见倾心的女神,对此他很满意。

The Comtesse Anastasie de Restaud was tall and gracefully made; she had one of the prettiest figures in Paris.

阿纳斯塔谢·德雷斯多伯爵夫人亭亭玉立、体态优雅。她是巴黎身段最好的女子之一。

Imagine a pair of great dark eyes, a magnificently moulded hand, a shapely foot.

想象一下,一对秀美的黑眸,一只优雅的玉手,还有一只漂亮的秀足。

There was a fiery energy in her movements; the Marquis de Ronquerolles had called her "a thoroughbred," "a pure pedigree," these figures of speech have replaced the "heavenly angel" and Ossianic nomenclature; the old mythology of love is extinct, doomed to perish by modern dandyism.

她的一举一动都活力四射。德龙侯爵称她为“一个血统纯正的人”,“一个出身名门的人”,这些词代替了“迷人的天使”和莪相(注:莪相是古代爱尔兰说唱诗人)式的夸张称谓。古老的爱情神话彻底消失了,它注定要消亡在时尚的现代生活中。

But for Rastignac, Mme. Anastasie de Restaud was the woman for whom he had sighed.

但是对于拉斯蒂涅来说,阿纳斯塔谢·德雷斯多夫人正是他所渴求的女人。

He had contrived to write his name twice upon the list of partners upon her fan, and had snatched a few words with her during the first quadrille.

他想方设法在她扇子上的舞伴名单中将自己的名字写了两遍,还在第一次跳方阵舞的时候和她搭了几句话。

"Where shall I meet you again, Madame?" he asked abruptly, and the tones of his voice were full of the vehement energy that women like so well.“我怎样才能再看见您,夫人?”他唐突地问道,说话时语调充满了热情,这正是女士们非常喜欢的。

"Oh, everywhere!" said she, "in the Bois, at the Bouffons, in my own house."“哦,哪里都可以啊!”她说道,“树林里、谐谑剧场、我家里,都行。”

With the impetuosity of his adventurous southern temper, he did all he could to cultivate an acquaintance with this lovely countess, making the best of his opportunities in the quadrille and during a waltz that she gave him.

于是,凭着南方人的那股冒险的冲动劲,他充分利用了方阵舞和她邀请他一起跳华尔兹的机会,竭尽全力想和可爱的伯爵夫人熟识起来。

When he told her that he was a cousin of Mme. de Beauseant's, the Countess, whom he took for a great lady, asked him to call at her house, and after her parting smile, Rastignac felt convinced that he must make this visit.

当他告诉伯爵夫人,自己是德伯桑夫人的堂弟时,他眼中的高贵女士立刻邀请他去她家玩。她笑着和他道别,之后拉斯蒂涅更加觉得自己必须得去拜访她。

He was so lucky as to light upon some one who did not laugh at his ignorance, a fatal defect among the gilded and insolent youth of that period; the coterie of Maulincourts, Maximes de Trailles, de Marsays, Ronquerolles, Ajuda-Pintos, and Vandenesses who shone there in all the glory of coxcombry among the best-dressed women of fashion in Paris—Lady Brandon, the Duchesse de Langeais, the Comtesse de Kergarouet, Mme. de Serizy, the Duchesse de Carigliano, the Comtesse Ferraud, Mme. de Lanty, the Marquise d'Aiglemont, Mme. Firmiani, the Marquise de Listomere and the Marquise d'Espard, the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse and the Grandlieus.

他是多么幸运啊,找到了一个没有嘲笑其无知的人。无知是当时富有、傲慢的年轻人的致命缺点。舞会的宾客有莫林库尔、马克西姆·德拉特尔、德马尔塞、龙格罗、阿尤达-平托和范登埃塞。这些纨绔子弟个个光彩照人、声名显赫,周旋在巴黎打扮得最时尚、最高雅的女士之间——布朗东女士、德朗热公爵夫人、德凯尔加鲁埃伯爵夫人、德塞里夫人、德卡里利安诺公爵夫人、费罗伯爵夫人、德朗蒂夫人、德艾格勒蒙侯爵夫人、菲尔米亚尼夫人、德利斯图梅雷侯爵夫人、德埃斯帕侯爵夫人、德莫弗里涅公爵夫人和格朗利厄等等。

Luckily, therefore, for him, the novice happened upon the Marquis de Montriveau, the lover of the Duchesse de Langeais, a general as simple as a child; from him Rastignac learned that the Comtesse lived in the Rue du Helder.

所以说拉斯蒂涅这个新手碰到了德蒙特里沃侯爵实在很幸运。他是德朗热公爵夫人的情人,是一个和小孩一样单纯的将军。拉斯蒂涅从他口中得知伯爵夫人就住在埃尔德街。

Ah, what it is to be young, eager to see the world, greedily on the watch for any chance that brings you nearer the woman of your dreams, and behold two houses open their doors to you!

啊,他是如此年轻,如此渴望见识世界,觊觎着可以拉近自己和梦中情人距离的所有机会。现在,他看到有两家的门已经为他而开了!

To set foot in the Vicomtesse de Beauseant's house in the Faubourg Saint-Germain; to fall on your knees before a Comtesse de Restaud in the Chaussee d'Antin; to look at one glance across a vista of Paris drawing-rooms, conscious that, possessing sufficient good looks, you may hope to find aid and protection there in a feminine heart!

踏进了德伯桑子爵夫人位于圣日耳曼郊区的府邸;拜倒在居住于德安丁路的德雷斯多伯爵夫人的面前,瞟一眼巴黎的客厅的景色,他明白了只要样貌足够英俊,就有希望在女性的心中找到帮助和庇护!

To feel ambitious enough to spurn the tight-rope on which you must walk with the steady head of an acrobat for whom a fall is impossible, and to find in a charming woman the best of all balancing poles.

以前,他必须在杂技演员平稳的引领下才敢在绷紧的绳索上走动,因为杂技演员是不可能摔倒的。而今,他感到自己有了足够的雄心壮志,可以丢掉绳索,在一位迷人的女士身上找到最好的平衡杆了。

He sat there with his thoughts for a while, Law on the one hand, and Poverty on the other, beholding a radiant vision of a woman rise above the dull, smouldering fire.

他坐在那里这样想了一会儿,一边是法律,另一边是贫穷,他好似看见一位容光焕发的女士出现在奄奄一息的火焰上方。

Who would not have paused and questioned the future as Eugene was doing? Who would not have pictured it full of success?

谁不会像欧仁那样,停下来思考一下自己的未来呢?谁不想未来能功成名就呢?

His wondering thoughts took wings; he was transported out of the present into that blissful future; he was sitting by Mme. de Restaud's side, when a sort of sigh, like the grunt of an overburdened St. Joseph, broke the silence of the night.

他的思想仿佛插上了翅膀。可正当他觉得自己离开了现实,来到了幸福美满的未来,正坐在德雷斯多夫人旁边的时候,一声叹息打破了夜的宁静。那叹息就好像是负荷过重的圣约瑟发出的嘟囔声。

It vibrated through the student, who took the sound for a death groan.

这个学生觉得它就像是死亡的呻吟,不禁全身颤抖起来。

He opened his door noiselessly, went out upon the landing, and saw a thin streak of light under Father Goriot's door.

他轻轻地打开房门,走到楼梯平台,瞥见高老头房门底下的那一线微光。

Eugene feared that his neighbor had been taken ill; he went over and looked through the keyhole; the old man was busily engaged in an occupation so singular and so suspicious that Rastignac thought he was only doing a piece of necessary service to society to watch the self-styled vermicelli maker's nocturnal industries.

欧仁担心他的邻居生病了,就走了过去,透过钥匙孔朝里面看了看。那位老人正忙着在干活。拉斯蒂涅觉得他干的活非常奇怪,非常可疑,因此他觉得自己必须得看清这个自称是面条制造商的人大晚上在干什么勾当才行。他这可是在为大家服务。

The table was upturned, and Goriot had doubtless in some way secured a silver plate and cup to the bar before knotting a thick rope round them; he was pulling at this rope with such enormous force that they were being crushed and twisted out of shape; to all appearance he meant to convert the richly wrought metal into ingots.

高老头把桌子翻了过来,很明显,他在用粗绳子把一套银盘子和银杯子绑起来之前,已经大致把它们固定在桌子的横档上了。他拼命地拉紧绳子,那些杯盘都扭曲变形了。看上去他打算把这精致、贵重的金属绞成银条。

"Peste! what a man!" said Rastignac, as he watched Goriot's muscular arms; there was not a sound in the room while the old man, with the aid of the rope, was kneading the silver like dough.“哟,好家伙!”看着高老头健壮的胳膊,拉斯蒂涅想道。老人在绳子的帮助下,像捏面团一样扭着银器,房间里一点声音也没有。

"Was he then, indeed, a thief, or a receiver of stolen goods, who affected imbecility and decrepitude, and lived like a beggar that he might carry on his pursuits the more securely?"“莫非他其实是个贼,或是窝赃的人,在假装愚笨、老迈,故意过着叫花子的生活,那样也许就可以更安全地进行自己的勾当?”

Eugene stood for a moment revolving these questions, then he looked again through the keyhole.

欧仁站了一会,反复考虑着这些问题,然后他又从钥匙孔朝里面看去。

Father Goriot had unwound his coil of rope; he had covered the table with a blanket, and was now employed in rolling the flattened mass of silver into a bar, an operation which he performed with marvelous dexterity.

高老头解开了他的那卷绳子,又往桌上盖了条毯子,现在正滚动着一堆碾平的银器,非常利落地把它们搓成了长条状。

"Why, he must be as strong as Augustus, King of Poland!" said Eugene to himself when the bar was nearly finished.“哇,他一定和波兰国王奥古斯特一样强壮!”银条快完成的时候,欧仁自言自语道。

Father Goriot looked sadly at his handiwork, tears fell from his eyes, he blew out the dip which had served him for a light while he manipulated the silver, and Eugene heard him sigh as he lay down again.

高老头伤心地看着自己的作品,眼里流下了泪水,然后吹灭了做银条时照明用的蜡烛,躺到了床上。这时,欧仁听见了他的叹气声。

"He is mad," thought the student.“他疯了。”这个学生想。

"Poor child!" Father Goriot said aloud.“可怜的孩子!”高老头大声地说道。

Rastignac, hearing those words, concluded to keep silence; he would not hastily condemn his neighbor.

拉斯蒂涅听见这话,决定保持沉默。他不会草率地指责自己的邻居。

He was just in the doorway of his room when a strange sound from the staircase below reached his ears; it might have been made by two men coming up in list slippers.

他正要回房间,突然听见一个奇怪的声音从下面的楼梯传来。这也许是两个穿布底拖鞋的男人上楼梯的声音。

Eugene listened; two men there certainly were, he could hear their breathing.

欧仁听了听,果然有两个人在那里,他可以听见他们的呼吸声。

Yet there had been no sound of opening the street door, no footsteps in the passage.

但是,他并没有听见临街的那扇大门打开的声音,过道里也没有脚步声。

Suddenly, too, he saw a faint gleam of light on the second story; it came from M. Vautrin's room.

突然,他又看见三楼有微弱的光线从沃尔特兰先生的房里传出。

"There are a good many mysteries here for a lodging-house!" he said to himself.“这个旅馆里一定有一大堆秘密!”他暗自思忖道。

He went part of the way downstairs and listened again.

他往楼下走了走,又听了起来。

The rattle of gold reached his ears.

金子的撞击声传到了他的耳朵里。

In another moment the light was put out, and again he distinctly heard the breathing of two men, but no sound of a door being opened or shut.

转眼蜡烛就被吹灭了,他又清楚地听见了两个人的呼吸声,但是没有开关门的声音。

The two men went downstairs, the faint sounds growing fainter as they went.

那两个男人下了楼。他们越走越远,原本就微弱的声音变得更加微弱了。

"Who is there?" cried Mme. Vauquer out of her bedroom window.“谁在那里?”沃盖夫人在卧室的窗户大喊。

"I, Mme. Vauquer," answered Vautrin's deep bass voice.“是我,沃盖夫人。”沃尔特兰用低沉的声音答道,

"I am coming in."“我正要进来了。”

"That is odd! Christophe drew the bolts," said Eugene, going back to his room.“真奇怪!克里斯托夫明明插了门闩。”欧仁一边朝自己房间走,一边说道。

"You have to sit up at night, it seems, if you really mean to know all that is going on about you in Paris."“看来在巴黎,如果真想弄清楚周围所发生的一切,就得通宵不睡啊。”

These incidents turned his thought from his ambitious dreams; he betook himself to his work, but his thought wandered back to Father Goriot's suspicious occupation; Mme. de Restaud's face swam again and again before his eyes like a vision of a brilliant future; and at last he lay down and slept with clenched fists.

这些小事将他的思绪从野心勃勃的梦想转移开来。他重新开始用功了,但是思想又思绪了正轨,回到了高老头可疑的行为上;德雷斯多夫人的脸在他的眼前飘来飘去,就像一个美好未来的幻影。最后,他握着拳头躺到床上睡下了。

When a young man makes up his mind that he will work all night, the chances are that seven times out of ten he will sleep till morning.

当一个年轻人下定决心要彻夜学习的时候,十次中有七次会一觉睡到天亮的。

Such vigils do not begin before we are turned twenty.

二十岁之前没人会熬夜的。

The next morning Paris was wrapped in one of the dense fogs that throw the most punctual people out in their calculations as to the time; even the most business-like folk fail to keep their appointments in such weather, and ordinary mortals wake up at noon and fancy it is eight o'clock.

第二天早上,巴黎浓雾蔽天,让最守时的人都弄错了时间,甚至连最有条不紊的当地人在这样的天气也无法准时应约,一般人在中午起床后还以为才八点。

On this morning it was half-past nine, and Mme. Vauquer still lay abed.

这个早上,都九点半了,沃盖夫人还在睡觉。

Christophe was late, Sylvie was late, but the two sat comfortably taking their coffee as usual.

克里斯托夫起晚了,西尔维也起晚了,但是他们和平常一样舒舒服服地坐在那里喝咖啡。

It was Sylvie's custom to take the cream off the milk destined for the boarders' breakfast for her own, and to boil the remainder for some time, so that madame should not discover this illegal exaction.

西尔维习惯把牛奶上的乳脂撩起来自己吃。这乳脂本来是要给房客们作早餐的。她把剩下来的牛奶煮上一会儿,这样她的女主人就不会发现她不合规矩的行为了。

"Sylvie," said Christophe, as he dipped a piece of toast into the coffee, "M. Vautrin, who is not such a bad sort, all the same, had two people come to see him again last night.“西尔维,你知道吗,”克里斯托夫用一片面包蘸了蘸咖啡,说道,“沃尔特兰先生不是个坏人,可昨晚又有两个人来找他了。

If madame says anything, mind you say nothing about it.”

如果夫人问起什么,留神别说漏了嘴。”

"Has he given you something?"“他给了你什么好处吗?”

"He gave me a five-franc piece this month, which is as good as saying, 'Hold your tongue.'""Except him and Mme. Couture, who doesn't look twice at every penny, there's no one in the house that doesn't try to get back with the left hand all that they give with the right at New Year," said Sylvie.“他这个月给了我五法朗的赏钱,这就像是在说‘不要声张’一样。”“除了他和库蒂尔夫人,哪个不把一便士掰成两瓣花。过年的时候,这旅馆里其余的每一个人用右手打赏完后,都想用左手把所有的赏钱又拿回来。”西尔维说道。

"And, after all," said Christophe, "what do they give you?“哼!”克里斯托夫说,“他们到底给了你什么?

A miserable five-franc piece.

区区一个五法朗的硬币。

There is Father Goriot, who has cleaned his shoes himself these two years past.

那个高老头过去的两年都是自己擦鞋子的。

There is that old beggar Poiret, who goes without blacking altogether; he would sooner drink it than put it on his boots.

那个老乞丐普瓦雷从来都不用鞋油,他宁可喝掉它,也不愿把它涂在靴子上。

Then there is that whipper-snapper of a student, who gives me a couple of francs.

至于那个妄自尊大的学生,他只给了我两法郎。

Two francs will not pay for my brushes, and he sells his old clothes, and gets more for them than they are worth.

两法郎还不够我买刷子。他卖掉了自己的旧衣服,挣了不少钱,那些衣服才值不了那么多钱呢。

Oh! they're a shabby lot!"

哼!他们真是一群穷光蛋!”

"Pooh!" said Sylvie, sipping her coffee, "our places are the best in the Quarter, that I know.“呸!”西尔维喝了一小口咖啡,说,“我们的公寓是拉丁区最好的,这我是知道的。

But about that great big chap Vautrin, Christophe; has any one told you anything about him?”

但是,克里斯托夫,关于沃尔特兰那个大家伙,没人跟你说点什么吗?”

"Yes.“有啊。

I met a gentleman in the street a few days ago; he said to me, 'There's a gentleman in your place, isn't there? A tall man that dyes his whiskers?'

几天前我在街上碰到了一位先生,他问我:‘你们旅馆是不是住了一位绅士?一个高个子、染了胡子的先生。’

I told him, 'No, sir; they aren't dyed.

我告诉他,‘没有,先生,他们都没有染胡子。

A gay fellow like him hasn't the time to do it.'And when I told M. Vautrin about it afterwards, he said, 'Quite right, my boy.

像他一样寻快活的人才没有这个闲工夫呢。’事后,我告诉沃尔特兰先生这件事的时候,他说,‘伙计,做得对。

That is the way to answer them.

以后就这样回答吧。

There is nothing more unpleasant than to have your little weaknesses known; it might spoil many a match.'"Well, and for my part," said Sylvie, "a man tried to humbug me at the market wanting to know if I had seen him put on his shirt.

没有比让人知道自己的小缺点更烦心的事了。因为这样会满盘皆输。’”“嗯,我也碰到过。”西尔维说,“上次在菜市场,就有个男人骗我,想知道我有没有见过他穿衬衫。

Such bosh!

简直是胡说八道!

There," she cried, interrupting herself, "that's a quarter to ten striking at the Val-de-Grace, and not a soul stirring!”

哟!”她换了个话题,大叫,“那是恩典谷教堂的钟声,都九点四十五了,还没有一个人动弹!”

"Pooh! they are all gone out.“呸!他们都出去了。

Mme. Couture and the girl went out at eight o'clock to take the wafer at Saint-Etienne.

库蒂尔夫人和女孩八点就到圣艾蒂安教堂领圣体去了。

Father Goriot started off somewhere with a parcel, and the student won't be back from his lecture till ten o'clock.

高老头拿了只包裹不知道去哪里了,那个学生十点下课后才会回来。

I saw them go while I was sweeping the stairs; Father Goriot knocked up against me, and his parcel was as hard as iron.

我打扫楼梯时看见他们走的。我还被高老头撞了一下,他的包裹跟铁一样硬。

What is the old fellow up to, I wonder?

我还想,这老家伙干嘛去呢?

He is as good as a plaything for the rest of them; they can never let him alone; but he is a good man, all the same, and worth more than all of them put together.

其余的人把他当玩具一样,他们从来不会让他消停。但他倒是个好人,比他们所有人加起来都要好。

He doesn't give you much himself, but he sometimes sends you with a message to ladies who fork out famous tips; they are dressed grandly, too."

他自己给我的赏钱不多,但有时会让我去给夫人们送信,她们穿得光鲜、亮丽,会给我丰厚的小费。”

"His daughters, as he calls them, eh?“是他说的那些女儿吗,嗯?

There are a dozen of them.”

总共有一打吧。”

"I have never been to more than two—the two who came here.”“我只给两位夫人送过信——就是来过这里的那两位。”

"There is madame moving overhead; I shall have to go, or she will raise a fine racket.“楼上有动静,夫人醒了,我得走了,要不她又要大声嚷嚷了。

Just keep an eye on the milk, Christophe; don't let the cat get at it."

看着牛奶,克里斯托夫,别让猫够着它。”

Sylvie went up to her mistress' room.

西尔维上楼去了女主人的房里。

"Sylvie!“西尔维!

How is this?

怎么回事?

It's nearly ten o'clock, and you let me sleep like a dormouse!

都快十点了,你还让我睡得像个榛睡鼠似的!

Such a thing has never happened before.”

这样的事情从来没有发生过。”

"It's the fog; it is that thick, you could cut it with a knife."“全怪这大雾,浓得用刀也劈不开。”

"But how about breakfast?"“那早餐准备得怎么样?”

"Bah! the boarders are possessed, I'm sure.“哈!我确信,房客们都吃过了。

They all cleared out before there was a wink of daylight.”

他们一大早都出去了,那时一条阳光都还没有呢。”

"Do speak properly, Sylvie," Mme. Vauquer retorted; "say a blink of daylight."“别说错了,西尔维,”沃盖夫人反驳道,“要说一线太阳光。”

"Ah, well, madame, whichever you please.“哦,好,夫人,您说什么就是什么。

Anyhow, you can have breakfast at ten o'clock.

不管怎样,您十点可以吃早餐。

La Michonnette and Poiret have neither of them stirred.

那个米绍诺和普瓦雷还没动静。

There are only those two upstairs, and they are sleeping like the logs they are.”

楼上就只有他们俩,他们睡得像木头似的。”

"But, Sylvie, you put their names together as if—”"As if what?" said Sylvie, bursting into a guffaw.“可是,西尔维,你把他们的名字放在一起讲,好像——”“好像什么?”西尔维突然大笑着说道,

"The two of them make a pair."“好像这两人是一对。”

"It is a strange thing, isn't it, Sylvie, how M. Vautrin got in last night after Christophe had bolted the door?"“西尔维,你说奇不奇怪,昨晚克里斯托夫锁门后,沃尔特兰先生是怎么进门的呢?”

"Not at all, madame.“一点也不奇怪,夫人。

Christophe heard M. Vautrin, and went down and undid the door.

克里斯托夫听见沃尔特兰先生回来了,就下去给他开门了。

And here are you imagining that—?”

您是在想——?"

"Give me my bodice, and be quick and get breakfast ready.“把我的紧身胸衣给我,然后快去做好早饭。

Dish up the rest of the mutton with the potatoes, and you can put the stewed pears on the table, those at five a penny.”

在剩下的羊肉里加些土豆,饭后甜点可以做水煮梨,选那些一便士五个的梨。”

A few moments later Mme. Vauquer came down, just in time to see the cat knock down a plate that covered a bowl of milk, and begin to lap in all haste.

过了一会儿,沃盖夫人下来了,刚好看见猫掀翻了盖着牛奶碗的碟子,开始急匆匆地舔着里面的牛奶。

"Mistigris!" she cried.“你这只小丑!”她大叫起来。

The cat fled, but promptly returned to rub against her ankles.

猫逃走了,但马上又跑回来,在她的脚踝旁蹭来蹭去。

"Oh! yes, you can wheedle, you old hypocrite!" she said.“好!好,你会拍马屁,你这只老畜生,伪君子!”她说,

"Sylvie! Sylvie!"“西尔维!西尔维!”

"Yes, madame; what is it?"“是的,夫人,什么事啊?”

"Just see what the cat has done!"“看看猫做了什么!”

"It is all that stupid Christophe's fault.“这全怪蠢货克里斯托夫。

I told him to stop and lay the table.

我早叫他放下手中的活,先把桌子摆好了。

What has become of him?”

他到底去干嘛了?”

"Don't you worry, madame; Father Goriot shall have it.“别担心,夫人,这牛奶可以给高老头喝。

I will fill it up with water, and he won't know the difference; he never notices anything, not even what he eats."

我会在里面添点水,他不会觉察到差别的。他从不会注意到任何事情,连他吃的东西也不会注意的。”

"I wonder where the old heathen can have gone?" said Mme. Vauquer, setting the plates round the table.“我在想,这老怪物可以去哪里呢?”沃盖夫人一边把盘子摆到桌子上,一边问道。

"Who knows?“谁知道啊?

He is up to all sorts of tricks.”

他可是擅长各种各样骗人的把戏啊。”

"I have overslept myself," said Mme. Vauquer.“我睡过头了。”沃盖夫人说。

"But madame looks as fresh as a rose, all the same."“但是,夫人,您看起来仍然像玫瑰一样容光焕发啊。”

The door bell rang at that moment, and Vautrin came through the sitting-room, singing loudly:"'Tis the same old story everywhere, a roving heart and a roving glance. "Oh! Mamma Vauquer! good-morning!" he cried at the sight of his hostess, and he put his arm gaily round her waist.

就在这时,门铃响了,沃尔特兰大声地唱着歌,走进了客厅:“世界各地都流传着同一个古老的故事,四处流浪的心灵,飘忽不定的目光。”“哦!沃盖妈妈!早上好啊!”他一看见女房东,立刻大声喊起来,还高兴地用胳膊搂着她的腰。

"There! have done—”“'Impertinence!'Say it!" he answered. "Come, say it! Now, isn't that what you really mean? Stop a bit, I will help you to set the table. Ah! I am a nice man, am I not?""For the locks of brown and the golden hair a sighing lover...""Oh! I have just seen something so funny—…Led by chance.”“行了!快放手——”“快喊‘非礼啊!’”他回到道,“快啊,快喊啊!现在,您不就正是那个意思吗?歇一会儿吧,我来帮您摆桌子。啊哈!我是个好人,是吧?”“为了褐发和金发的姑娘啊,一个叹气的爱人啊……”“哦!我刚才看见了一件特别有趣的事——全是偶然看见的。”

"What?" asked the widow.“什么事?”这位寡妇问道。

"Father Goriot in the goldsmith's shop in the Rue Dauphine at half-past eight this morning.“今天早上八点半,我看见高老头在多菲内街的那家金铺里。

They buy old spoons and forks and gold lace there, and Goriot sold a piece of silver plate for a good round sum.

那里是收旧汤勺、旧叉子和旧金线花边的地方。高老头卖了一块银子,价钱很好。

It had been twisted out of shape very neatly for a man that's not used to the trade."

对于一个不擅长这门手艺的人来说,他绞出来的银条还真不错呢。”

"Really?“真的吗?

You don't say so?"

你该不会是编的吧?”

"Yes. One of my friends is expatriating himself; I had been to see him off on board the Royal Mail steamer, and was coming back here. I waited after that to see what Father Goriot would do; it is a comical affair.“是真的。我有一个朋友要移居国外,我去送他上了皇家邮轮后才回来。后来,我看见了高老头,就瞧了瞧他在干什么。这是一桩好笑的事。

He came back to this quarter of the world, to the Rue des Gres, and went into a money-lender's house; everybody knows him, Gobseck, a stuck-up rascal, that would make dominoes out of his father's bones, a Turk, a heathen, an old Jew, a Greek; it would be a difficult matter to rob him, for he puts all his coin into the Bank.”

他回到了拉丁区的格雷斯街上,进了一个放高利贷的人家。人人都知道戈布塞克,他是个自高自大的流氓,愿意用自己父亲的骨头做多米诺骨牌,简直是个土耳其人、异教徒、老犹太人、希腊人。从他手里抢钱是件难事,因为他把自己所有的钱都放进了银行。”

"Then what was Father Goriot doing there?"“那么,高老头到底在那里干什么?”

"Doing?" said Vautrin.“干什么?”沃尔特兰说,

"Nothing; he was bent on his own undoing.“能干什么,不就是吃尽自己的家当嘛!

He is a simpleton, stupid enough to ruin himself by running after—”"There he is!" cried Sylvie.

他就是个傻子,傻到倾家荡产去追——”“他来了!”西尔维叫道。

"Christophe," cried Father Goriot's voice, "come upstairs with me."“克里斯托夫,”高老头喊道,“跟我到楼上来。”

Christophe went up, and shortly afterwards came down again.

克里斯托夫上了楼,很快就又下来了。

"Where are you going?" Mme. Vauquer asked of her servant.“你要去哪里?”沃盖夫人问自己的仆人。

"Out on an errand for M. Goriot."“出去给高里奥先生送信。”

"What may that be?" said Vautrin, pouncing on a letter in Christophe's hand.“什么信啊?”沃尔特兰说着,一把夺过了克里斯托夫手中的信。

"Mme. la Comtesse Anastasie de Restaud," he read.“阿纳斯塔谢·德雷斯多伯爵夫人。”他念道。

"Where are you going with it?" he added, as he gave the letter back to Christophe.“你要把信送到哪里?”他把信还给了克里斯托夫,接着问道。

"To the Rue du Helder.“送到埃尔德街。

I have orders to give this into her hands myself.”

他吩咐我一定要把信亲手交到伯爵夫人的手里。”

"What is there inside it?" said Vautrin, holding the letter up to the light.“信里面有什么呢?”沃尔特兰把信举到灯下,说道。

"A banknote? No."He peered into the envelope.“一张钞票?不是的。”他凝视着信封。

"A receipted account!" he cried.“一张债务清讫的收条!”他大叫,

"My word! 'tis a gallant old dotard.“不错啊,这老糊涂是真讲义气啊!

Off with you, old chap," he said, bringing down a hand on Christophe's head, and spinning the man round like a thimble; "you will have a famous tip."

老伙计,你去送信吧。”他伸出手放到克里斯托夫的头上,把他的身体像顶针一样转了转说,“你又可以挣好多小费了。”

By this time the table was set.

这时,桌子摆好了。

Sylvie was boiling the milk, Mme. Vauquer was lighting a fire in the stove with some assistance from Vautrin, who kept humming to himself:"The same old story everywhere, a roving heart and a roving glance."

西尔维正在煮牛奶。沃盖夫人在给炉子点火,沃尔特兰在一旁帮忙,还不停地哼着:“世界各地都流传着同一个古老的故事,四处流浪的心灵,飘忽不定的目光。”

When everything was ready, Mme. Couture and Mlle. Taillefer came in.

当一切准备妥当,库蒂尔夫人和塔耶费小姐回来了。

"Where have you been this morning, fair lady?" said Mme. Vauquer, turning to Mme. Couture.“漂亮的女士,您今天早上去哪里了啊?”沃盖夫人转向库蒂尔夫人,问道。

"We have just been to say our prayers at Saint-Etienne du Mont.“我们刚刚去山上的圣艾蒂安教堂祷告去了。

To-day is the day when we must go to see M. Taillefer.

今天是我们必须去看塔耶费先生的日子。

Poor little thing!

可怜的小东西!

She is trembling like a leaf," Mme. Couture went on, as she seated herself before the fire and held the steaming soles of her boots to the blaze.

她正像树叶一样颤抖着呢。”库蒂尔夫人坐到火炉的前面,把湿热的靴底拿到火苗前,继续说着。

"Warm yourself, Victorine," said Mme. Vauquer.“维多琳,过来烤火吧。”沃盖夫人说道。

"It is quite right and proper, mademoiselle, to pray to Heaven to soften your father's heart," said Vautrin, as he drew a chair nearer to the orphan girl; "but that is not enough.“小姐,祈祷上帝让你父亲的心肠变软很正确、很恰当。”沃尔特兰拉了拉椅子,坐得离这个孤儿更近了些,说道,“但是那是不够的。

What you want is a friend who will give the monster a piece of his mind; a barbarian that has three millions (so they say), and will not give you a dowry; and a pretty girl needs a dowry nowadays.”

你需要的是一个可以让那个怪物清醒清醒的朋友。一个有三百万的野蛮人(他们是这么说的)居然不给你嫁妆。现在的漂亮女孩是需要嫁妆的。”

"Poor child!" said Mme. Vauquer.“可怜的孩子!”沃盖夫人说,

"Never mind, my pet, your wretch of a father is going just the way to bring trouble upon himself."“别担心,我的甜心,你那卑鄙可耻的父亲将来一定会自食其果、遭到报应的。”

Victorine's eyes filled with tears at the words, and the widow checked herself at a sign from Mme. Couture.

听了这一番话,维多琳的眼中含满了泪水。这位寡妇看见库蒂尔夫人对她摆了摆手,就不作声了。

"If we could only see him!" said the Commissary-General's widow; "if I could speak to him myself and give him his wife's last letter!“只要我们能见到他就行了!”这位总军需官的遗孀说道,“只要我能跟他说上话,能把他妻子的遗书交给他就行了!

I have never dared to run the risk of sending it by post; he knew my handwriting—”“'Oh woman, persecuted and injured innocent!'" exclaimed Vautrin, breaking in upon her.

我从来不敢冒险把信寄给他,他认得我的字迹——”“‘哦,女人,你们总是备受迫害、委屈而又无辜!’”沃尔特兰打断了她的话,大声嚷起来,

"So that is how you are, is it?“所以,你们现在就落得这般田地,是吗?

In a few days' time I will look into your affairs, and it will be all right, you shall see."

过几天我来处理你们的事情,这件事肯定会有一个完满的结局。你们等着瞧吧。”

"Oh! sir," said Victorine, with a tearful but eager glance at Vautrin, who showed no sign of being touched by it, "if you know of any way of communicating with my father, please be sure and tell him that his affection and my mother's honor are more to me than all the money in the world.“哦,先生,”维多琳含着泪水,热切地看了一眼沃尔特兰,但是沃尔特兰却没有表现出被她所感动的迹象,“如果您知道任何和我父亲联络的办法,请一定要告诉他,他的爱和我母亲的名誉对我而言比世上所有的财富都要珍贵。

If you can induce him to relent a little towards me, I will pray to God for you.

如果您能让他对我稍微好些,我会在上帝面前为您祷告的。

You may be sure of my gratitude—”"The same old story everywhere," sang Vautrin, with a satirical intonation.

您可以确信,我会对您感激不尽的——”“世界各地流传着同一个古老的故事。”沃尔特兰用讽刺的声调唱着。

At this juncture, Goriot, Mlle. Michonneau, and Poiret came downstairs together; possibly the scent of the gravy which Sylvie was making to serve with the mutton had announced breakfast.

就在这个时候,高老头、米绍诺小姐和普瓦雷一起下楼了。西尔维正在做肉汤,准备用它来配羊肉。也许是肉汤的味道宣告了早餐时间的到来。

The seven people thus assembled bade each other good-morning, and took their places at the table; the clock struck ten, and the student's footstep was heard outside.

七个人就这样聚到了一起,大家互相问早安,然后坐到了桌旁。时针指向了十点,学生的脚步声从外面传来。

"Ah! here you are, M. Eugene," said Sylvie; "every one is breakfasting at home to-day.”“啊,你回来了,欧仁先生。”西尔维说,“今天每个人都在家吃早饭啊。”

The student exchanged greetings with the lodgers, and sat down beside Goriot.

学生和其他房客互问了早上好,然后坐到了高老头的旁边。

"I have just met with a queer adventure," he said, as he helped himself abundantly to the mutton, and cut a slice of bread, which Mme. Vauquer's eyes gauged as usual.“我刚刚有了奇遇。”他说着夹了好多羊肉,还切了一片面包。沃盖夫人像往常一样目测着他吃了多少东西。

"An adventure?" queried Poiret.“奇遇?”普瓦雷质疑道。

"Well, and what is there to astonish you in that, old boy?"“哎!你大惊小怪干嘛,老家伙?”

Vautrin asked of Poiret.

沃尔特兰对普瓦雷说,

"M. Eugene is cut out for that kind of thing."“欧仁先生总会碰到那种事情。”

Mlle. Taillefer stole a timid glance at the young student.

塔耶费小姐怯生生地偷看了这个年轻学生一眼。

"Tell us about your adventure!" demanded M. Vautrin.“跟我们讲讲你的奇遇!”沃尔特兰先生要求道。

"Yesterday evening I went to a ball given by a cousin of mine, the Vicomtesse de Beauseant.“昨晚,我去参加我表姐德伯桑子爵夫人举办的舞会了。

She has a magnificent house; the rooms are hung with silk—in short, it was a splendid affair, and I was as happy as a king—”"Fisher," put in Vautrin, interrupting.

她有一所华丽的房子,房间里都挂满了绫罗绸缎——简而言之,昨晚的舞会太棒了,我特别开心,简直像个国王——”“像个翠鸟。”沃尔特兰打断了他。(注:英语中“国王”是king,而“翠鸟”是kingfisher;此处沃尔特兰故意在king之后接上fisher,把“国王”变成了“翠鸟”,是在开玩笑。)

"What do you mean, sir?" said Eugene sharply.“您这是什么意思,先生?”欧仁气恼地问。

"I said 'fisher,' because kingfishers see a good deal more fun than kings."“我说‘翠鸟’是因为翠鸟比国王要快活得多。”

"Quite true; I would much rather be the little careless bird than a king," said Poiret the ditto-ist, "because—”"In fact"—the law-student cut him short—"I danced with one of the handsomest women in the room, a charming countess, the most exquisite creature I have ever seen.“很正确,我宁愿当一只无忧无虑的小鸟,也不愿意当国王。”应声虫普瓦雷说,“因为——”“实际上,”这个法律系学生很快打断了他,“我和房里最美的女士跳了舞。她是一位迷人的伯爵夫人,是我见过的最高雅的人。

There was peach blossom in her hair, and she had the loveliest bouquet of flowers—real flowers, that scented the air—but there! it is no use trying to describe a woman glowing with the dance.

她头上戴着桃花编织的花环,那是最漂亮的花束——都是真花,空气中弥漫着花香——行了!无需费力去描述一个翩翩起舞、容光焕发的女士。

You ought to have seen her!

你们得亲眼看她才行!

Well, and this morning I met this divine countess about nine o'clock, on foot in the Rue de Gres.

嗯,今天早上大约九点钟的时候,我正在格雷斯街上走着,碰到了这位美丽脱俗的伯爵夫人。

Oh! how my heart beat!

哦!我的心跳得好快啊!

I began to think—”"That she was coming here," said Vautrin, with a keen look at the student.

我开始以为——”“以为她会来这里。”沃尔特兰热切地注视着这位学生说,

"I expect that she was going to call on old Gobseck, a money-lender.“我预计她是去拜访放高利贷的戈布塞克。

If ever you explore a Parisian woman's heart, you will find the money-lender first, and the lover afterwards.

如果你曾经研究过巴黎女人的内心,就会发现她们把放高利贷的人放在第一位,其后才是情人。

Your countess is called Anastasie de Restaud, and she lives in the Rue du Helder.”

你的伯爵夫人叫做阿纳斯塔谢·德雷斯多,住在埃尔德街。”

The student stared hard at Vautrin.

学生死死地盯着沃尔特兰。

Father Goriot raised his head at the words, and gave the two speakers a glance so full of intelligence and uneasiness that the lodgers beheld him with astonishment.

听到这些话,高老头抬起了头,瞟了他们俩一眼,眼神中充满了机智与不安,这让房客们都惊讶地看着他。

"Then Christophe was too late, and she must have gone to him!" cried Goriot, with anguish in his voice.“克里斯托夫去得太晚了,她一定是去他那里了!”高老头用痛苦的声音大叫。

"It is just as I guessed," said Vautrin, leaning over to whisper in Mme. Vauquer's ear.“果然不出我所料。”沃尔特兰凑到沃盖夫人的耳边小声说道。

Goriot went on with his breakfast, but seemed unconscious of what he was doing.

高老头继续吃早餐,但是早餐在他看来味如嚼蜡。

He had never looked more stupid nor more taken up with his own thoughts than he did at that moment.

他从来没有像当时看起来那么傻、那么心不在焉过。

"Who the devil could have told you her name, M. Vautrin?" asked Eugene.“沃尔特兰先生,到底是谁告诉你她的名字的?”欧仁问。

"Aha! there you are!" answered Vautrin.“啊哈!你终于问到这个问题了!”沃尔特兰答道,

"Old Father Goriot there knew it quite well!“坐在那里的高老头知道得非常清楚。

And why should I not know it too?”

为什么我就不应该知道呢?”

"M. Goriot?" the student cried.“高老头?”学生大叫。

"What is it?" asked the old man.“什么?”老人问,

"So she was very beautiful, was she, yesterday night?"“她昨晚非常漂亮,是吧?”

"Who?"“谁?”

"Mme. de Restaud."“德雷斯多夫人。”

"Look at the old wretch," said Mme. Vauquer, speaking to Vautrin; "how his eyes light up!"“瞧那老混蛋,”沃盖夫人对沃尔特兰说,“他的眼睛多亮啊!”

"Then does he really keep her?" said Mlle. Michonneau, in a whisper to the student.“他真的养着那个女人吗?”米绍诺小姐悄声对学生说。

"Oh! yes, she was tremendously pretty," Eugene answered.“哦,对,她非常漂亮。”欧仁答道。

Father Goriot watched him with eager eyes.

高老头用渴望的眼神看着他。

"If Mme. de Beauseant had not been there, my divine countess would have been the queen of the ball; none of the younger men had eyes for any one else.“如果德伯桑夫人不在那里,我神圣的伯爵夫人肯定是舞会皇后了。年轻人都只盯着她看。

I was the twelfth on her list, and she danced every quadrille.

我在她的舞伴名单上排第十二位,每次方阵舞她都跳。

The other women were furious.

其他的女人都气坏了。

She must have enjoyed herself, if ever creature did!

如果有女人高兴的话,那她一定是最高兴的!

It is a true saying that there is no more beautiful sight than a frigate in full sail, a galloping horse, or a woman dancing.”

常言道:天下之美,莫过于满帆前行的军舰、纵横驰骋的骏马或翩翩起舞的女郎。”

"So the wheel turns," said Vautrin; "yesterday night at a duchess' ball, this morning in a money-lender's office, on the lowest rung of the ladder—just like a Parisienne!“事情就是这样发展的。”沃尔特兰说,“昨晚还在公爵夫人的舞会上,今早就在放高利贷的人的办公室里,跑到了社会的最底层——真是个巴黎女人啊!

If their husbands cannot afford to pay for their frantic extravagance, they will sell themselves.

如果她们的丈夫不能负担她们的挥霍无度,她们就会出卖自己。

Or if they cannot do that, they will tear out their mothers' hearts to find something to pay for their splendor.

或者如果不能那样做,她们就会撕开自己母亲的心,去找出点什么来支付自己奢华的生活。

They will turn the world upside down.

她们会把世界颠倒过来的。

Just a Parisienne through and through!”

简直是个彻彻底底的巴黎女人!”

Father Goriot's face, which had shone at the student's words like the sun on a bright day, clouded over all at once at this cruel speech of Vautrin's.

听见学生的话,高老头的脸绽放出了光芒,就像晴天的太阳,但是听到沃尔特兰恶毒的评论,他的脸立刻阴了下来。

"Well," said Mme. Vauquer, "but where is your adventure?“喂,”沃盖夫人说,“你的奇遇是在哪里发生的啊?

Did you speak to her?

你有没有跟她讲过话?

Did you ask her if she wanted to study law?”

你有没有问她要不要学法律?”

"She did not see me," said Eugene.“她没有看见我,”欧仁说,

"But only think of meeting one of the prettiest women in Paris in the Rue des Gres at nine o'clock!“但是想想看,九点钟在格雷斯街碰到巴黎最美的女人之一!

She could not have reached home after the ball till two o'clock this morning.

可是她参加完舞会,回到家时最少也是凌晨两点了。

Wasn't it queer?

这不奇怪吗?

There is no place like Paris for this sort of adventures.”

只有在巴黎才能有这等奇遇啊。”

"Pshaw! much funnier things than that happen here!" exclaimed Vautrin.“哼!这里发生的事比那要有趣的多呢!”沃尔特兰大声嚷嚷道。

Mlle. Taillefer had scarcely heeded the talk, she was so absorbed by the thought of the new attempt that she was about to make.

塔耶费小姐几乎没有留意他们的谈话,她全神贯注地想着自己即将进行的新尝试。

Mme. Couture made a sign that it was time to go upstairs and dress; the two ladies went out, and Father Goriot followed their example.

库蒂尔夫人给她递了个眼神,示意她是时候上楼换衣服了。她俩一出门,高老头也跟着走了。

"Well, did you see?" said Mme. Vauquer, addressing Vautrin and the rest of the circle.“哎,你们瞧见没有?”沃盖夫人对沃尔特兰和桌子周围的其他人说,

"He is ruining himself for those women, that is plain."“多明显啊,他正为了那些婆娘要把自己弄得倾家荡产呢。”

"Nothing will ever make me believe that that beautiful Comtesse de Restaud is anything to Father Goriot," cried the student.“我绝不相信美丽的德雷斯多伯爵夫人是高老头的情妇。”学生大叫道。

"Well, and if you don't," broke in Vautrin, "we are not set on convincing you.“好吧,如果你不信,就不信吧。”沃尔特兰插话说,“我们也没说一定要你相信。

You are too young to know Paris thoroughly yet; later on you will find out that there are what we call men with a passion—”Mlle. Michonneau gave Vautrin a quick glance at these words.

你太年轻了,还不完全了解巴黎。以后你会发现自己就是我们所说的痴情汉了——”米绍诺小姐听见这些话,飞快地瞟了沃尔特兰一眼。

They seemed to be like the sound of a trumpet to a trooper's horse.

他们的反应看上去就像是骑兵的马听见了号角声一样。

"Aha!" said Vautrin, stopping in his speech to give her a searching glance, "so we have had our little experiences, have we?"“啊哈!”沃尔特兰停了下来,仔细地扫了她一眼说,“所以说我们都有些小小的经历,是吧?”

The old maid lowered her eyes like a nun who sees a statue.

这位老处女低下了眼睛,就像看见人体雕像的修女一样。

"Well," he went on, "when folk of that kind get a notion into their heads, they cannot drop it.“唔,”他继续说,“一旦那种人的脑袋里有了一种念头,他们就无法摒弃它了。

They must drink the water from some particular spring—it is stagnant as often as not; but they will sell their wives and families, they will sell their own souls to the devil to get it.

他们一定要从某个特定的泉眼汲水喝——那些泉眼一般都是死水一潭。但是,他们为了得到它,不惜出卖妻子和家人,或者把自己的灵魂出卖给魔鬼。

For some this spring is play, or the stock-exchange, or music, or a collection of pictures or insects; for others it is some woman who can give them the dainties they like.

对有的人来说,这口泉眼是玩乐,或是证交所,或是音乐,或是画集,或是昆虫标本集。对其他人来说,这口泉眼是某个做得一手令他们称心如意的好菜的女人。

You might offer these last all the women on earth—they would turn up their noses; they will have the only one who can gratify their passion.

就算你把世上所有的女人都给后一种人,他们也会不屑一顾。他们只会要那个能够满足自己欲望的女人。

It often happens that the woman does not care for them at all, and treats them cruelly; they buy their morsels of satisfaction very dear; but no matter, the fools are never tired of it; they will take their last blanket to the pawnbroker's to give their last five-franc piece to her.

女人常常会无视他们,残忍地对待他们。他们花大把的钱给自己买来一点点的满足。但是,无论如何,那些傻瓜都不会厌倦,他们会典当自己最后的一张毯子换回五法朗硬币给她。

Father Goriot here is one of that sort.

这里的高老头就是那种人。

He is discreet, so the Countess exploits him—just the way of the gay world.

他生活朴素,因此伯爵夫人能够从他身上榨取钱财——这正是玩乐世界的运转方式。

The poor old fellow thinks of her and of nothing else.

可怜的老家伙只想着她,别的什么都不想。

In all other respects you see he is a stupid animal; but get him on that subject, and his eyes sparkle like diamonds.

从其他各个方面来看,你会认为他是个愚蠢的畜生。但是,一跟他提到那个话题,他的眼睛就像钻石般闪亮。

That secret is not difficult to guess.

那个秘密不难猜到。

He took some plate himself this morning to the melting-pot, and I saw him at Daddy Gobseck's in the Rue des Gres.

今天早上,他带了些银器去匠铺熔掉了,然后我看见他去了格雷斯街上的戈布塞克老爹家。

And now, mark what follows—he came back here, and gave a letter for the Comtesse de Restaud to that noodle of a Christophe, who showed us the address; there was a receipted bill inside it.

现在,看看接下来发生了什么——他回到这里,叫克里斯托夫给德雷斯多伯爵夫人送了封信,那个笨蛋克里斯托夫给我们看了地址。信里面还有张债务清讫的收条。

It is clear that it was an urgent matter if the Countess also went herself to the old money lender.

如果伯爵夫人亲自去放高利贷人的家里,显而易见这是件紧急的事情。

Father Goriot has financed her handsomely.

高老头慷慨地资助她。

There is no need to tack a tale together; the thing is self-evident.

没有必要把事情串联起来,事情已经不证自明了。

So that shows you, sir student, that all the time your Countess was smiling, dancing, flirting, swaying her peach-flower crowned head, with her gown gathered into her hand, her slippers were pinching her, as they say; she was thinking of her protested bills, or her lover's protested bills."

所以,学生先生,这一切告诉你,当你的伯爵夫人提着裙角嬉笑、跳舞、卖弄风情、摇晃着她戴着桃花花环的脑袋时,她就像俗语说的那样,是大脚套在小鞋里,难受着呢,她正想着自己或者她的情人的到期偿还不了的借票该怎么办呢。”

"You have made me wild to know the truth," cried Eugene; "I will go to call on Mme. de Restaud to-morrow.”“你这么一说,我还非得把事实弄清楚不可。”欧仁大声说道,“我明天就去拜访德雷斯多夫人。”

"Yes," echoed Poiret; "you must go and call on Mme. de Restaud."“好啊,”普瓦雷应声道,“你是得去拜访德雷斯多夫人啊。”

"And perhaps you will find Father Goriot there, who will take payment for the assistance he politely rendered."“说不定你还能在那里碰到高老头呢,他客气地为她提供了帮助,肯定会有所回报的。”

Eugene looked disgusted.

欧仁不胜厌恶地说:

"Why, then, this Paris of yours is a slough."“那么你们的巴黎是个烂泥潭了哦。”

"And an uncommonly queer slough, too," replied Vautrin.“而且也是个不同寻常的古怪泥潭。”沃尔特兰答道,

"The mud splashes you as you drive through it in your carriage—you are a respectable person; you go afoot and are splashed—you are a scoundrel.“要是你驾着马车经过时溅上泥——你就是个备受尊敬的人;要是你步行时溅上泥——那么你就是个无赖。

You are so unlucky as to walk off with something or other belonging to somebody else, and they exhibit you as a curiosity in the Place du Palais-de-Justice; you steal a million, and you are pointed out in every salon as a model of virtue.

如果你不幸顺手拿走某件属于别人的东西,他们就会把你拉到法院广场去展览,让大家把你当戏看;如果你偷了一百万,你却会成为各个社交沙龙中谈论的道德楷模。

And you pay thirty millions for the police and the courts of justice, for the maintenance of law and order!

而你要付三千万给警察和法院来维持法律和秩序!

A pretty slate of things it is!”

这是多么妙的事啊!”

"What," cried Mme. Vauquer, "has Father Goriot really melted down his silver posset-dish?”“什么,”沃盖夫人大叫,“高老头有没有溶了他的银质牛乳酒盘子?”

"There were two turtle-doves on the lid, were there not?" asked Eugene.“盘罩上画着两只斑鸠,是吗?”欧仁问道。

"Yes, that there were."“是啊,是有。”

"Then, was he fond of it?" said Eugene.“他很喜欢它吗?”欧仁说,

"He cried while he was breaking up the cup and plate.“他打碎杯碟的时候哭了。

I happened to see him by accident.”

我碰巧看见了。”

"It was dear to him as his own life," answered the widow.“那只盘子对他而言和他自己的生命一样珍贵。”寡妇答道。

"There! you see how infatuated the old fellow is!" cried Vautrin.“现在,你们知道那老家伙有多痴迷了吧!”沃尔特兰大声说,

"The woman yonder can coax the soul out of him."The student went up to his room.“那个女人能叫人迷失心智,失去自我。”学生上楼去了自己的房间。

Vautrin went out, and a few moments later Mme. Couture and Victorine drove away in a cab which Sylvie had called for them.

沃尔特兰出去了,过了一会儿,库蒂尔夫人和维多琳也乘着西尔维替她们叫的出租马车离开了。

Poiret gave his arm to Mlle. Michonneau, and they went together to spend the two sunniest hours of the day in the Jardin des Plantes.

普瓦雷扶着米绍诺小姐,他们一起去植物园度过这一天中阳光最灿烂的两个小时。

"Well, those two are as good as married," was the portly Sylvie's comment.“哎呦,这两人就像结了婚似的。”胖子西尔维评价道,

"They are going out together to-day for the first time.“他们今天第一次一起出去。

They are such a couple of dry sticks that if they happen to strike against each other they will draw sparks like flint and steel.”

他们是两根干棍子,如果不小心碰到了一起,一定会擦出火花的,就像打火石碰到钢片似的。”

"Keep clear of Mlle. Michonneau's shawl, then," said Mme. Vauquer, laughing; "it would flare up like tinder."“米绍诺小姐得小心自己的披肩了。”沃盖夫人笑着说,“它可是像火绒一样很容易燃烧起来啊。”

At four o'clock that evening, when Goriot came in, he saw, by the light of two smoky lamps, that Victorine's eyes were red.

那天傍晚四点钟的时候,高老头回来了。借着两只冒烟的油灯发出的光,他看到维多琳的眼睛红红的。

Mme. Vauquer was listening to the history of the visit made that morning to M. Taillefer; it had been made in vain.

沃盖夫人正听她们讲着早上拜访塔耶费先生的情形。她们这次依然无功而返。

Taillefer was tired of the annual application made by his daughter and her elderly friend; he gave them a personal interview in order to arrive at an understanding with them.

塔耶费先生厌倦了女儿和他年长的朋友每年的拜访。他终于答应见她们,想要和她们说清楚。

"My dear lady," said Mme. Couture, addressing Mme. Vauquer, "just imagine it; he did not even ask Victorine to sit down, she was standing the whole time. he said to me quite coolly, without putting himself in a passion, that we might spare ourselves the trouble of going there; that the young lady (he would not call her his daughter) was injuring her cause by importuning him (importuning! once a year, the wretch!); that as Victorine's mother had nothing when he married her, Victorine ought not to expect anything from him; in fact, he said the most cruel things, that made the poor child burst out crying.“我亲爱的女士,”库蒂尔夫人对沃盖夫人说,“您想想看,他甚至没有要维多琳坐下,她一直从头站到尾。他非常冷酷、不带一丝感情地叫我们不要去那里自找麻烦。他还说这位年轻的女士(他不会称她为女儿)跑来纠缠他(纠缠!每年就一次,这个卑鄙小人!)只会适得其反,让他越来越讨厌她。因为维多琳的母亲嫁给他时一无所有,所以她也别指望从他这里得到任何东西。实际上,他说了最残酷的话,让这个可怜的孩子嚎啕大哭。

The little thing threw herself at her father's feet and spoke up bravely; she said that she only persevered in her visits for her mother's sake; that she would obey him without a murmur, but that she begged him to read her poor dead mother's farewell letter.

这小东西扑到父亲的脚下,勇敢地大声说道,她坚持拜访他只是为了自己的母亲。她愿意毫无怨言地顺从他,但是她乞求他读一读自己可怜的亡母的遗书。

She took it up and gave it to him, saying the most beautiful things in the world, most beautifully expressed; I do not know where she learned them; God must have put them into her head, for the poor child was inspired to speak so nicely that it made me cry like a fool to hear her talk.

她拿起信递给了他,用最美的方式说着世上最美的话。我不知道她是在哪里学会这些的,一定是上帝把它们放进她的脑海里的,因为这个可怜的孩子突发灵感,说出了如此优美的话。听了她的话,我像个傻瓜一样大哭起来。

And what do you think the monster was doing all the time?

可你知道那个怪物那时候在干什么吗?

Cutting his nails!

他在剪指甲!

He took the letter that poor Mme. Taillefer had soaked with tears, and flung it on to the chimney-piece.

他拿起那封浸透塔耶费夫人眼泪的信,扔到了壁炉架上。

'That is all right,' he said.‘好吧。’他说。

He held out his hands to raise his daughter, but she covered them with kisses, and he drew them away again.

他伸手想扶起自己的女儿,但是她亲吻起父亲的手来,于是他又把手缩回去了。

Scandalous, isn't it?

真可耻,不是吗?

And his great booby of a son came in and took no notice of his sister.”

他的傻儿子进来后,对他的妹妹理都不理。”

"What inhuman wretches they must be!" said Father Goriot.“他们是多么冷酷无情的卑鄙小人啊!”高老头说。

"And then they both went out of the room," Mme. Couture went on, without heeding the worthy vermicelli maker's exclamation; "father and son bowed to me, and asked me to excuse them on account of urgent business!

库蒂尔夫人没有注意到那位可敬的面条制造商的慨叹,接着说:“父子俩向我鞠躬,说他们有急事得离开,要我谅解他们!然后他们都走出了房间。

That is the history of our call.

这就是我们今天拜访的经过。

Well, he has seen his daughter at any rate.

嗯,他至少已经见过自己的女儿了。

How he can refuse to acknowledge her I cannot think, for they are as alike as two peas.”

我想不明白他怎么能拒绝承认自己的女儿,他们俩长得一模一样,就像两颗豌豆一样。”

The boarders dropped in one after another, interchanging greetings and empty jokes that certain classes of Parisians regard as humorous and witty.

房客们一个接一个地进来了,他们互相问好,说些无聊的笑话。在巴黎的某些阶层中,这些笑话被认为是幽默、诙谐的。

Dulness is their prevailing ingredient, and the whole point consists in mispronouncing a word or a gesture.

他们的笑话大部分内容都很枯燥,笑点就是故意说错一个单词或是打个特定的手势。

This kind of argot is always changing.

这种“行话”总是在变化。

The essence of the jest consists in some catchword suggested by a political event, an incident in the police courts, a street song, or a bit of burlesque at some theatre, and forgotten in a month.

笑话的精髓在于某个政治事件引发的流行语、一个发生在治安法庭的小事件、一首街头歌曲或一小段在某个剧院上演的滑稽戏,它们一个月后就会被忘得一干二净。

Anything and everything serves to keep up a game of battledore and shuttlecock with words and ideas.

一切事情的作用都是维持一场语言和思想的羽毛球赛。

The diorama, a recent invention, which carried an optical illusion a degree further than panoramas, had given rise to a mania among art students for ending every word with RAMA.

透视画是最近的发明,比起全景画来,它可以把视错觉使用得更为到位。透视画让艺术系的学生狂热地将每个词都以拉玛结尾(注:英语中“透视画”的词尾读音为“拉玛”)。

The Maison Vauquer had caught the infection from a young artist among the boarders.“沃盖之家”从房客中的一个年轻艺术家那里感染了这种思想。

"Well, Monsieur-r-r Poiret," said the employee from the Museum, "how is your health-orama?”“喂,普瓦雷先生儿,”博物馆员工说,“你的健康拉玛怎么样啊?”

Then, without waiting for an answer, he turned to Mme. Couture and Victorine with a "Ladies, you seem melancholy."

接着,没等对方回答,他又转向库蒂尔夫人和维多琳说:“女士们,你们看上去很忧郁啊。”

"Is dinner ready?" cried Horace Bianchon, a medical student, and a friend of Rastignac's; "my stomach is sinking usque ad talones.”“晚饭好了没有啊?”奥拉斯·比安卡肖恩大声喊道,他是一位医学院学生,是拉斯蒂涅的朋友,“我的胃都要掉到脚底下去了啊。”

"There is an uncommon frozerama outside," said Vautrin.“外面真是冻拉玛得出奇啊。”沃尔特兰说,

"Make room there, Father Goriot!“让点地方啊,高老头!

Confound it, your foot covers the whole front of the stove.”

真该死,你的脚把火炉的正面全占了。”

"Illustrious M. Vautrin," put in Bianchon, "why do you say frozerama?“大名鼎鼎的沃尔特兰先生,”比安卡肖恩插过话,“你为什么要说冻拉玛呢?

It is incorrect; it should be frozenrama.”

那是不对的,应该说冷拉玛。”

"No, it shouldn't," said the official from the Museum; "frozerama is right by the same rule that you say 'My feet are froze.'""Ah! ah!"“不,不应该说冷拉玛,”博物馆员工说,“冻拉玛是对的,和你说‘我的脚冻住了’是一样的道理。”“啊!啊!”

"Here is his Excellency the Marquis de Rastignac, Doctor of the Law of Contraries," cried Bianchon, seizing Eugene by the throat, and almost throttling him.“德拉斯蒂涅侯爵殿下,相反定律的博士生来了。”比安卡肖恩说着抓住欧仁的喉咙,几乎让他窒息,

"Hallo there! hallo!"Mlle. Michonneau came noiselessly in, bowed to the rest of the party, and took her place beside the three women without saying a word.“嗨,你好啊!你好!”米绍诺小姐轻轻地进来,对大家点点头,坐到了三位女士身边。

"That old bat always makes me shudder," said Bianchon in a low voice, indicating Mlle. Michonneau to Vautrin.“那个老蝙蝠总是让我打寒颤。”比安卡肖恩指着米绍诺小姐低声地对沃尔特兰说,

"I have studied Gall's system, and I am sure she has the bump of Judas."“我研究过加尔的骨相学,我确信她长着犹大的反骨。”

"Then you have seen a case before?" said Vautrin.“那么你以前见过这样的案例啦?”沃尔特兰说。

"Who has not?" answered Bianchon.“谁没见过?”比安卡肖恩答道。

"Upon my word, that ghastly old maid looks just like one of the long worms that will gnaw a beam through, give them time enough."“的确,那个苍白的老处女就像那些长长的虫子。只要时间足够长,它们就可以蛀空横梁。”

"That is the way, young man," returned he of the forty years and the dyed whiskers:"The rose has lived the life of a rose—A morning's space."“年轻人,就是这样的。”四十岁并且染了胡子的沃尔特兰答道,“那朵玫瑰像所有的玫瑰一样——一生只开了一个早晨。”

"Aha! here is a magnificent soupe-au-rama," cried Poiret as Christophe came in bearing the soup with cautious heed.“啊哈!美味的汤拉玛来了。”当克里斯托夫小心翼翼地端着汤进来时,普瓦雷大叫道。

"I beg your pardon, sir," said Mme. Vauquer; "it is soupe aux choux.”“不好意思,先生,”沃盖夫人说,“这是汤炖卷心菜。”

All the young men roared with laughter.

所有的年轻人都哄堂大笑。

"Had you there, Poiret!"“你说错了,普瓦雷!”

"Poir-r-r-rette! she had you there!”“普—瓦—瓦—雷!你栽在沃盖夫人手里了!”

"Score two points to Mamma Vauquer," said Vautrin.“沃盖妈妈得两分。”沃尔特兰说。

"Did any of you notice the fog this morning?" asked the official.“有人注意到了今天早晨的大雾吗?”博物馆员工问。

"It was a frantic fog," said Bianchon, "a fog unparalleled, doleful, melancholy, sea-green, asthmatical—a Goriot of a fog!”“真是场狂雾啊。”比安卡肖恩说,“一场空前的、悲伤的、忧郁的、海绿色的、令人无法呼吸的雾——一场高里奥式的雾!”

"A Goriorama," said the art student, "because you couldn't see a thing in it."“一场高里奥拉玛,”艺术系的学生说,“因为你无法在其中看见任何东西。”

"Hey! Milord Gaoriotte, they air talking about yoo-o-ou!”“嘿!高里奥大人,他们在谈论你哦!”

Father Goriot, seated at the lower end of the table, close to the door through which the servant entered, raised his face; he had smelt at a scrap of bread that lay under his table napkin, an old trick acquired in his commercial capacity, that still showed itself at times.

高老头坐在桌子的下首,靠近仆人进出的门。他抬起了头,闻了闻餐巾下面一小块面包的味道——他偶尔会使用做生意时学会的这种老窍门。

"Well," Madame Vauquer cried in sharp tones, that rang above the rattle of spoons and plates and the sound of other voices, "and is there anything the matter with the bread?"“喂,”沃盖女士尖叫道,她的声音盖过了汤勺、盘子的碰撞声和其他人的讲话声,“面包有问题吗?”

"Nothing whatever, madame," he answered; "on the contrary, it is made of the best quality of corn; flour from Etampes."“没有问题,夫人。”他答道,“恰恰相反,它是用最好的谷物做成的,用的是埃唐普镇的面粉。”

"How could you tell?" asked Eugene.“你怎么知道的?”欧仁问。

"By the color, by the flavor."“凭它的颜色,凭它的味道。”

"You knew the flavor by the smell, I suppose," said Mme. Vauquer.“我猜,你闻一闻就知道味道。”沃盖夫人说,

"You have grown so economical, you will find out how to live on the smell of cooking at last."“你变得太抠门了,再这么抠门,以后你不用吃饭,问问味道就能活了。”

"Take out a patent for it, then," cried the Museum official; "you would make a handsome fortune."“那不妨为它去领一张专利证书。”博物馆员工大叫,“那样倒也可以发笔横财呢。”

"Never mind him," said the artist; "he does that sort of thing to delude us into thinking that he was a vermicelli maker."“别管他,”艺术家说,“他做那种事情是为了迷惑我们,让我们认为他是面条制造商。”

"Your nose is a corn-sampler, it appears?" inquired the official.“看起来你的鼻子是个谷物分类器啊?”博物馆员工询问道。

"Corn what?" asked Bianchon.“分什么?”比安卡肖恩问。

"Corn-el.”"Corn-et.”"Corn-elian.”"Corn-ice.”"Corn-ucopia.”"Corn-crake.”"Corn-cockle.”"Corn-orama.”The eight responses came like a rolling fire from every part of the room, and the laughter that followed was the more uproarious because poor Father Goriot stared at the others with a puzzled look, like a foreigner trying to catch the meaning of words in a language which he does not understand.“分饼。”“分菜。”“分钱。”“分肉。”“分饭。”“分面包。”“分巧克力。”“分拉玛。”这八个答案像只滚动的火球一般从房间四面八方传来。看到高老头满脸疑惑地盯着别人,就像一个外国人在拼命想听懂他并不懂的外语,大家不禁乐得不可开交了。

"Corn?..." he said, turning to Vautrin, his next neighbor.“分什么?”他转向旁边的沃尔特兰说。

"Corn on your foot, old man!" said Vautrin, and he drove Father Goriot's cap down over his eyes by a blow on the crown.“分你的猪脚,老家伙!”沃尔特兰说着拍了下高老头帽顶,把帽子压下去,蒙住了他的眼睛。

The poor old man thus suddenly attacked was for a moment too bewildered to do anything.

可怜的老人就这样被突然袭击了,他不知所措,半晌都没动。

Christophe carried off his plate, thinking that he had finished his soup, so that when Goriot had pushed back his cap from his eyes his spoon encountered the table.

克里斯托夫以为高老头已经喝完了汤,就拿走了他的盘子。等到高老头把帽子从自己的眼睛前掀起来喝汤时,他的汤勺一下碰到了桌子。

Every one burst out laughing.

大家都笑了起来。

"You are a disagreeable joker, sir," said the old man, "and if you take any further liberties with me—”"Well, what then, old boy?" Vautrin interrupted.“先生,你开的玩笑很讨人厌。”老人说,“如果你再这样惹我——”“哦,老家伙,那又怎样?”沃尔特兰打断了他的话。

"Well, then, you shall pay dearly for it some day—”"Down below, eh?" said the artist, "in the little dark corner where they put naughty boys."“哼,那么,你总有一天会为此付出昂贵的代价的——”“哦,下地狱吗?”艺术家说,“还是进专门关淘气孩子的小黑房子。”

"Well, mademoiselle," Vautrin said, turning to Victorine, "you are eating nothing.“噢,小姐,”沃尔特兰转向维多琳说,“你什么也没吃。

So papa was refractory, was he?”

你爸爸很任性,是吧?”

"A monster!" said Mme. Couture.“简直是个怪物!”库蒂尔夫人说。

"Mademoiselle might make application for aliment pending her suit; she is not eating anything.“小姐也许会申请因病暂缓诉讼审理。她现在什么也没吃。

Eh! eh! just see how Father Goriot is staring at Mlle. Victorine.”

哎!哎!看高老头,看他盯着维多琳小姐的样子。”

The old man had forgotten his dinner, he was so absorbed in gazing at the poor girl; the sorrow in her face was unmistakable,—the slighted love of a child whose father would not recognize her.

老人忘了吃晚饭,他一心一意地盯着这个可怜的女孩,她脸上的悲伤表情显而易见——父亲不认她,对她的爱也不屑一顾。

"We are mistaken about Father Goriot, my dear boy," said Eugene in a low voice.“我们都误解高老头了,我亲爱的朋友。”欧仁低声地说,

"He is not an idiot, nor wanting in energy.“他不是个傻瓜,也不是个缺乏活力的人。

Try your Gall system on him, and let me know what you think.

在他身上试一下你的加尔骨相学吧,然后再告诉我你的想法。

I saw him crush a silver dish last night as if it had been made of wax; there seems to be something extraordinary going on in his mind just now, to judge by his face.

昨晚,我看见他用力扭一个银盘子,就像那盘子是用蜡做成的。从他的脸色判断,他刚刚似乎在想什么特别的事情。

His life is so mysterious that it must be worth studying.

他的生活太神秘了,一定值得研究。

Oh! you may laugh, Bianchon; I am not joking.”

噢!比安卡肖恩你也许会笑我,但我不是开玩笑的。”

"The man is a subject, is he?" said Bianchon; "all right! I will dissect him, if he will give me the chance.""No; feel his bumps.""Hm!—his stupidity might perhaps be contagious.”“这男人是个值得研究的对象,是吗?”比安卡肖恩说,“那好吧!如果他给我机会的话,我会把他解剖。”“不,只要检查一下他的脑袋就行。”“嗯!——就怕他的愚蠢会传染啊。”

CHAPTER 2

第二章

The next day Rastignac dressed himself very elegantly, and about three o'clock in the afternoon went to call on Mme. de Restaud.

第二天,拉斯蒂涅打扮得很雅致。下午三点左右,他出发去拜访德雷斯多夫人。

On the way thither he indulged in the wild intoxicating dreams which fill a young head so full of delicious excitement.

一路上,他都沉浸于狂野而醉人的幻想中。这些幻想填满了年轻人本来就满是激动之情的脑海。

Young men at his age take no account of obstacles nor of dangers; they see success in every direction; imagination has free play, and turns their lives into a romance; they are saddened or discouraged by the collapse of one of the visionary schemes that have no existence save in their heated fancy.

他这个岁数的年轻人从不顾及障碍或危险,眼里只有成功。他们肆意挥洒着想象力,让生活变得十分浪漫。可是一旦计划受挫,他们就会变得沮丧而气馁。实际上,所谓的计划都是虚幻的,都只存于他们狂热的幻想中。

If youth were not ignorant and timid, civilization would be impossible.

倘若没有青年的懵懂无知和畏缩不前,文明社会就永远难以实现。

Eugene took unheard-of pains to keep himself in a spotless condition, but on his way through the streets he began to think about Mme. de Restaud and what he should say to her.

欧仁竭尽全力不让一点泥土沾到身上。可是他还在街道里穿行的时候,他就开始想德雷斯多夫人了,还盘算着该对她说些什么。

He equipped himself with wit, rehearsed repartees in the course of an imaginary conversation, and prepared certain neat speeches a la Talleyrand, conjuring up a series of small events which should prepare the way for the declaration on which he had based his future; and during these musings the law student was bespattered with mud, and by the time he reached the Palais Royal he was obliged to have his boots blacked and his trousers brushed.

他用智慧武装自己,在脑海中预想着对话、排练着巧妙的应答,还仿照塔列朗的风格,精心准备了一小段演说,来唤起听者对一系列小事的回忆,这样他就可以为最后的表白铺路搭桥了。表白已经成了他奠定自己未来的基础。就这样想着想着,这个法律系的学生衣服上便溅满了泥污。于是,当他走到卢浮宫区的时候,只得叫人给他的靴子上油、把他的裤子刷干净。

"If I were rich," he said, as he changed the five-franc piece he had brought with him in case anything might happen, "I would take a cab, then I could think at my ease."“要是我有钱的话,”他一边将一枚带着以防万一的五法郎硬币破开,一边说道,“我就会坐辆马车,那样我就能自由自在地思考了。”

At last he reached the Rue du Helder, and asked for the Comtesse de Restaud.

他总算到了埃尔德街,对门口的仆人说要求见德雷斯多伯爵夫人。

He bore the contemptuous glances of the servants, who had seen him cross the court on foot, with the cold fury of a man who knows that he will succeed some day.

仆人们轻蔑地瞥着他徒步穿过庭院。他勉强按捺住心中的怒火,相信自己终将有一天会功成名就。

He understood the meaning of their glances at once, for he had felt his inferiority as soon as he entered the court, where a smart cab was waiting.

他立刻悟出了仆人眼中的蔑视,因为他一进院子,就看见那里等候着一辆华丽的马车。这让他觉得自己很卑微。

All the delights of life in Paris seemed to be implied by this visible and manifest sign of luxury and extravagance.

马车这种夺目的奢华标志似乎暗藏了巴黎生活的所有快乐。

A fine horse, in magnificent harness, was pawing the ground, and all at once the law student felt out of humor with himself.

那匹戴着精致马具的骏马正在用蹄子刨地。这个法律系学生的心情一下子陷入了低谷。

Every compartment in his brain which he had thought to find so full of wit was bolted fast; he grew positively stupid.

他刚才还觉得大脑中处处都是智慧,现在这些智慧却消失殆尽,这让他一下子傻了眼。

He sent up his name to the Countess, and waited in the ante-chamber, standing on one foot before a window that looked out upon the court; mechanically he leaned his elbow against the sash, and stared before him.

在等候仆人通报时,他站在前厅的一扇窗下,抬起一只脚,机械地将胳膊肘搭在窗框上,望着窗外的庭院。

The time seemed long; he would have left the house but for the southern tenacity of purpose which works miracles when it is single-minded.

时间过得很慢。要不是他有南方人的倔脾气,脑袋一根筋地认为只要心无旁骛就会有奇迹,他早就离开了。

"Madame is in her boudoir, and cannot see any one at present, sir," said the servant.“先生,夫人在卧室,没法接待任何人。”仆人出来说,

"She gave me no answer; but if you will go into the dining-room, there is some one already there.”“她也没给我回复。如果您不介意的话,可以先去餐厅,已经有人在那里了。”

Rastignac was impressed with a sense of the formidable power of the lackey who can accuse or condemn his masters by a word; he coolly opened the door by which the man had just entered the ante-chamber, meaning, no doubt, to show these insolent flunkeys that he was familiar with the house; but he found that he had thoughtlessly precipitated himself into a small room full of dressers, where lamps were standing, and hot-water pipes, on which towels were being dried; a dark passage and a back staircase lay beyond it.

拉斯蒂涅对仆人体现的强大力量印象十分深刻,那个仆人一句话就责备、指摘了他的主人。拉斯蒂涅冷静地推开了那个人刚才走进前厅时穿过的那扇门,无非是想让那些傲慢的奴才们看看,他其实很熟悉这个房子。但是,他却不小心进了一间小屋子。屋子里摆满了衣橱,衣橱上放着油灯和烘毛巾的热水管,屋子前面是一条黑暗的走廊和一座暗梯。

Stifled laughter from the ante-chamber added to his confusion.

前厅传来了偷笑声,这更是让他不知所措。

"This way to the drawing-room, sir," said the servant, with the exaggerated respect which seemed to be one more jest at his expense.“先生,要去客厅的话,请往这边走。”仆人过度的恭敬好像又是在拿他取乐。

Eugene turned so quickly that he stumbled against a bath.

欧仁猛然转过身来,一下子撞到了浴缸上。

By good luck, he managed to keep his hat on his head, and saved it from immersion in the water; but just as he turned, a door opened at the further end of the dark passage, dimly lighted by a small lamp.

他侥幸地把帽子摁在头上,没让它落入水中。而他刚一转身,黑暗走廊尽头的门打开了。走廊里只有一盏小灯在发出昏暗的光芒。

Rastignac heard voices and the sound of a kiss; one of the speakers was Mme. de Restaud, the other was Father Goriot.

拉斯蒂涅听到了说话声和亲吻声。他听出来其中一个是德雷斯多夫人,另一个是高老头。

Eugene followed the servant through the dining-room into the drawing-room; he went to a window that looked out into the courtyard, and stood there for a while.

欧仁跟着仆人穿过餐厅,来到了客厅。他走近一扇能看得见院子的窗户,在那里站了一会儿。

He meant to know whether this Goriot was really the Goriot that he knew.

他想知道,这个高里奥是不是他认识的那个高里奥。

His heart beat unwontedly fast; he remembered Vautrin's hideous insinuations.

他的心跳得不同寻常地快。他又想起了沃尔特兰可怕的暗示。

A well-dressed young man suddenly emerged from the room almost as Eugene entered it, saying impatiently to the servant who stood at the door:"I am going, Maurice.

几乎就在欧仁走进房间的时候,一个穿着入时的年轻人突然从房间里走出来,不耐烦地跟站在门边的仆人说:“我走了,莫里斯。

Tell Madame la Comtesse that I waited more than half an hour for her.”

告诉伯爵夫人我都等了半个多小时了。”

Whereupon this insolent being, who, doubtless, had a right to be insolent, sang an Italian trill, and went towards the window where Eugene was standing, moved thereto quite as much by a desire to see the student's face as by a wish to look out into the courtyard.

毋庸置疑,这个傲慢的男人有他傲慢的资本。他说话时带着意大利语的颤音,朝欧仁站着的窗户边走来。他既想看看这个法律系学生的脸,也想看窗外的院子。

"But M. le Comte had better wait a moment longer; madame is disengaged," said Maurice, as he returned to the ante-chamber.“不过还是请伯爵再等一会儿吧,夫人现在有空了。”莫里斯在退回前厅时说。

Just at that moment Father Goriot appeared close to the gate; he had emerged from a door at the foot of the back staircase.

就在这时高老头出现在门边,他从暗梯底部的门出来了。

The worthy soul was preparing to open his umbrella regardless of the fact that the great gate had opened to admit a tilbury, in which a young man with a ribbon at his button-hole was seated.

这位可敬的人正准备撑伞离开,却没留意一位纽扣孔上系着缎带、乘着轻便马车的年轻人正要从敞开的大门进来。

Father Goriot had scarcely time to start back and save himself.

高老头根本来不及退后,差点被撞。

The horse took fright at the umbrella, swerved, and dashed forward towards the flight of steps.

马碰到雨伞受了惊,转头就向台阶处撞了过去。

The young man looked round in annoyance, saw Father Goriot, and greeted him as he went out with constrained courtesy, such as people usually show to a money-lender so long as they require his services, or the sort of respect they feel it necessary to show for some one whose reputation has been blown upon, so that they blush to acknowledge his acquaintance.

年轻人怒气冲冲地环顾四周,看见了高老头,便强装礼貌,在他出去时点头示意。这就像人们见到放债人一样——只要人们还需要向他借钱,就总会对他点头哈腰——抑或是见到一个名声扫地的人——人们当面会对他毕恭毕敬,一转身就因为认识这样的人而脸红。

Father Goriot gave him a little friendly nod and a good-natured smile.

高老头回以友好的点头和亲切的微笑。

All this happened with lightning speed.

这一切都发生在电光火石之间。

Eugene was so deeply interested that he forgot that he was not alone till he suddenly heard the Countess' voice.

欧仁被这一幕深深吸引了。直到忽然听到伯爵夫人的声音,他才意识到自己身边还有人。

"Oh! Maxime, were you going away?" she said reproachfully, with a shade of pique in her manner.“哎!马克西姆,你要走啦?”伯爵夫人娇嗔地说道,话语中带着一丝埋怨。

The Countess had not seen the incident nor the entrance of the tilbury.

伯爵夫人没有留意到门口发生的事情,也没有看到进来了一辆轻便马车。

Rastignac turned abruptly and saw her standing before him, coquettishly dressed in a loose white cashmere gown with knots of rose-colored ribbon here and there; her hair was carelessly coiled about her head, as is the wont of Parisian women in the morning; there was a soft fragrance about her—doubtless she was fresh from a bath;—her graceful form seemed more flexible, her beauty more luxuriant.

拉斯蒂涅一下子转过身来,看到她就站在他面前。她好像在卖弄风情一样,穿着一件宽松的白色山羊绒睡裙,睡裙上缀满了玫瑰色的缎带蝴蝶结,头发随意地盘在头上——正是巴黎妇女早上一惯的装束。她四周散发着一股淡淡的清香——她一定是刚洗过澡——这让她优雅的身姿显得更加柔软,让她的美丽显得更为动人。

Her eyes glistened.

她的眼睛闪闪发光。

A young man can see everything at a glance; he feels the radiant influence of woman as a plant discerns and absorbs its nutriment from the air; he did not need to touch her hands to feel their cool freshness.

年轻人一眼就能看遍这一切。他感受到这个女人焕发的魅力。就像植物能从空气中找到并汲取养料一样,他不用摸她的手,就能感受到她的冰肌玉肤。

He saw faint rose tints through the cashmere of the dressing gown; it had fallen slightly open, giving glimpses of a bare throat, on which the student's eyes rested.

他透过山羊绒睡裙看到了她浅粉色的肌肤。通过微微散开的睡裙,他可以时不时地瞥见她光洁的脖子。这个学生就死死盯在那里。

The Countess had no need of the adventitious aid of corsets; her girdle defined the outlines of her slender waist; her throat was a challenge to love; her feet, thrust into slippers, were daintily small.

伯爵夫人根本不用穿束身衣,一条腰带就能勾勒出她纤细的腰身曲线。她的脖子惹人怜爱,套在拖鞋里的秀足小巧玲珑。

As Maxime took her hand and kissed it, Eugene became aware of Maxime's existence, and the Countess saw Eugene.

当马克西姆捧起她的手亲吻时,欧仁这才注意到了马克西姆的存在,而伯爵夫人这才注意到了欧仁。

"Oh! is that you M. de Rastignac?“哦!你就是德拉斯蒂涅先生吗?

I am very glad to see you," she said, but there was something in her manner that a shrewd observer would have taken as a hint to depart.

很高兴见到你。”但是看到她说话时的表情,识相的人都会走开的。

Maxime, as the Countess Anastasie had called the young man with the haughty insolence of bearing, looked from Eugene to the lady, and from the lady to Eugene; it was sufficiently evident that he wished to be rid of the latter.

在阿纳斯塔谢伯爵夫人以轻蔑的态度跟这个年轻人打招呼时,马克西姆看了看夫人,又看了看欧仁,他分明是想让后者离开。

An exact and faithful rendering of the glance might be given in the words:"Look here, my dear; I hope you intend to send this little whipper-snapper about his business.”

那种眼神明明白白地暗示着这些话:“听我说,亲爱的,快把这个自以为是的小子打发走吧。”

The Countess consulted the young man's face with an intent submissiveness that betrays all the secrets of a woman's heart, and Rastignac all at once began to hate him violently.

伯爵夫人看着年轻人的脸色,想要征求他的意见。她这种顺从的神情透露了一个女人的全部心事。就在那一刻,拉斯蒂涅开始极度憎恨这个青年。

To begin with, the sight of the fair carefully arranged curls on the other's comely head had convinced him that his own crop was hideous; Maxime's boots, moreover, were elegant and spotless, while his own, in spite of all his care, bore some traces of his recent walk; and, finally, Maxime's overcoat fitted the outline of his figure gracefully, he looked like a pretty woman, while Eugene was wearing a black coat at half-past two.

首先,马克西姆面容清秀,满头精心梳理出的漂亮卷发,这让他确信自己的短发丑陋不堪;另外,马克西姆的靴子十分精美、一尘不染,而自己的呢,尽管已经处处小心,还是沾上了一些泥土,这些痕迹会让人看出他是走来的;最后,马克西姆的外套穿在身上服服帖帖、优雅得体——他看上去就像一个俏丽的女人,而欧仁却在下午两点半穿着黑外套。

The quick-witted child of the Charente felt the disadvantage at which he was placed beside this tall, slender dandy, with the clear gaze and the pale face, one of those men who would ruin orphan children without scruple.

这位夏朗德省来的聪明孩子觉得自己在这个体格魁梧、身材修长、眼神清澈、面色白皙的花花公子面前处于劣势。他那种人可以肆无忌惮地断送孤儿们的前程。

Mme. de Restaud fled into the next room without waiting for Eugene to speak; shaking out the skirts of her dressing-gown in her flight, so that she looked like a white butterfly, and Maxime hurried after her.

没等欧仁说话,德雷斯多夫人就跑进了旁边那个房间。她边跑边用双手提起睡裙的裙摆,活像一只白色的蝴蝶,而马克西姆也跟着冲进房去。

Eugene, in a fury, followed Maxime and the Countess, and the three stood once more face to face by the hearth in the large drawing-room.

愤怒的欧仁跟着马克西姆和伯爵夫人。在大客厅的壁炉前,三个人又一次面面相对。

The law student felt quite sure that the odious Maxime found him in the way, and even at the risk of displeasing Mme. de Restaud, he meant to annoy the dandy.

这个法律系学生明知道讨厌的马克西姆觉得他碍手碍脚,但是他就是要让这个花花公子不好受,哪怕这样要冒着触怒德雷斯多夫人的风险,他也在所不惜。

It had struck him all at once that he had seen the young man before at Mme. de Beauseant's ball; he guessed the relation between Maxime and Mme. de Restaud; and with the youthful audacity that commits prodigious blunders or achieves signal success, he said to himself,"This is my rival; I mean to cut him out."

他突然想起自己在德伯桑夫人的舞会上见过这个年轻人。他猜出了马克西姆和德雷斯多夫人的关系。带着年轻人的无畏精神——要么就闯出大祸,要么就事业有成——他自言自语道:“这是我的情敌,我要干掉他。”

Rash resolve!

多么鲁莽的决定啊!

He did not know that M. le Comte Maxime de Trailles would wait till he was insulted, so as to fire first and kill his man.

他不了解这位马克西姆·德特拉尔伯爵先生。这人可是个专门挑拨人家侮辱他,找到理由先开枪把敌人打死的家伙。

Eugene was a sportsman and a good shot, but he had not yet hit the bulls' eye twenty times out of twenty-two.

欧仁虽然是一个运动健将和射击好手,但也没达到射二十二次就能击中靶心二十次的程度。

The young Count dropped into a low chair by the hearth, took up the tongs, and made up the fire so violently and so sulkily, that Anastasie's fair face suddenly clouded over.

年轻的伯爵坐到壁炉旁的一张矮腿椅子上,拿起火钳在火堆里愤怒地乱搅一通,阿纳斯塔谢精致的脸上立即乌云密布。

She turned to Eugene, with a cool, questioning glance that asked plainly, "Why do you not go?"

她转身面对欧仁,困惑地白他一眼。很明显她是在问:“你怎么还不走?”

A glance which well-bred people regard as a cue to make their exit.

教养好的人会把这样的眼神视为逐客令。

Eugene assumed an amiable expression.

欧仁强扮欢颜,

"Madame," he began, "I hastened to call upon you—”He stopped short.“夫人,”他说道,“我赶来拜见您——”他突然停了下来。

The door opened, and the owner of the tilbury suddenly appeared.

客厅门打开了,轻便马车的主人突然出现了。

He had left his hat outside, and did not greet the Countess; he looked meditatively at Rastignac, and held out his hand to Maxime with a cordial "Good morning," that astonished Eugene not a little.

他把帽子留在门外,也不跟伯爵夫人打招呼,而是若有所思地看了看拉斯蒂涅,然后跟马克西姆握了握手,还热情地说了句“早上好”。这让欧仁大吃一惊。

The young provincial did not understand the amenities of a triple alliance.

这个外省来的小伙子根本不明白三角关系带来的快乐。

"M. de Restaud," said the Countess, introducing her husband to the law student.“这是德雷斯多先生。”伯爵夫人向这个法律系学生介绍她的丈夫。

Eugene bowed profoundly.

欧仁深深鞠了一躬。

"This gentleman," she continued, presenting Eugene to her husband, "is M. de Rastignac; he is related to Mme. la Vicomtesse de Beauseant through the Marcillacs; I had the pleasure of meeting him at her last ball."“这位先生,”她接着将欧仁介绍给她丈夫,“是德拉斯蒂涅先生,因为马西亚克家的关系,和德伯桑子爵夫人是亲戚,我有幸在她家上次的舞会上认识了他。”

Related to Mme. la Vicomtesse de Beauseant through the Marcillacs! These words, on which the countess threw ever so slight an emphasis, by reason of the pride that the mistress of a house takes in showing that she only receives people of distinction as visitors in her house, produced a magical effect.

因为马西亚克家的关系,和德伯桑子爵夫人是亲戚!伯爵夫人想显示她的自豪感,表明她家里只接待重要人士,因此才稍微强调了这句话,而这句话却带来了意想不到的效果。

The Count's stiff manner relaxed at once as he returned the student's bow.

伯爵僵硬的表情立即松弛下来,还对这个大学生鞠躬回礼。

"Delighted to have an opportunity of making your acquaintance," he said.“非常庆幸能有机会认识您。”他说道。

Maxime de Trailles himself gave Eugene an uneasy glance, and suddenly dropped his insolent manner.

马克西姆·德特拉尔不安地看了欧仁一眼,也突然放下了他高傲的身段。

The mighty name had all the power of a fairy's wand; those closed compartments in the southern brain flew open again; Rastignac's carefully drilled faculties returned.

一个尊贵的姓氏和仙女的魔棒一样拥有神奇的力量。这个南方年轻人刚才闭塞的脑子终于豁然开朗。拉斯蒂涅精心准备的聪明才智也恢复正常了。

It was as if a sudden light had pierced the obscurity of this upper world of Paris, and he began to see, though everything was indistinct as yet.

就像一束突然出现的亮光射穿了覆盖在巴黎上流社会的阴霾一样,虽然一切还不是很明了,但他开始看清一些东西了。

Mme. Vauquer's lodging-house and Father Goriot were very far remote from his thoughts.

至于沃盖夫人的旅馆和高老头,早就被他抛到脑后了。

"I thought that the Marcillacs were extinct," the Comte de Restaud said, addressing Eugene.“我还以为马西亚克家已经没人了呢。”德雷斯多伯爵对欧仁说。

"Yes, they are extinct," answered the law student.“对啊,没人了。”这个法律系学生回答说,

"My great-uncle, the Chevalier de Rastignac, married the heiress of the Marcillac family.“我的伯祖父是德拉斯蒂涅骑士,他娶了马西亚克家族的女继承人。

They had only one daughter, who married the Marechal de Clarimbault, Mme. de Beauseant's grandfather on the mother's side.

他们只有一个女儿,嫁给了德克拉朗博元帅,就是德伯桑夫人的外祖父。

We are the younger branch of the family, and the younger branch is all the poorer because my great-uncle, the Vice-Admiral, lost all that he had in the King's service.

我们是这个家族的年轻一辈,可是我们年轻一辈都很落魄,因为我那位担任海军中将的伯祖父失去了他效忠国王时所拥有的一切。

The Government during the Revolution refused to admit our claims when the Compagnie des Indes was liquidated.”

大革命时的政府在清算东印度公司时,拒绝承认我们的索赔。”

"Was not your great-uncle in command of the Vengeur before 1789?”“您的伯祖父一七八九年以前是不是一直在指挥‘复仇号’?"

"Yes."“是的。”

"Then he would be acquainted with my grandfather, who commanded the Warwick.”“那么他应该认识我的祖父了,那时他是‘沃里克号’的舰长。”

Maxime looked at Mme. de Restaud and shrugged his shoulders, as who should say, "If he is going to discuss nautical matters with that fellow, it is all over with us."

马克西姆看着德雷斯多夫人,耸了耸肩,好像在说:“要是他再和那小子说海军那点事,咱俩就结束了。”

Anastasie understood the glance that M. de Trailles gave her.

阿纳斯塔谢立即明白了德特拉尔对她使的眼色。

With a woman's admirable tact, she began to smile and said:"Come with me, Maxime; I have something to say to you.

她使出女人绝妙的看家本领,笑着说:“跟我来,马克西姆,我有话跟你说。

We will leave you two gentlemen to sail in company on board the Warwick and the Vengeur.”

你们两个先生就尽管驾着‘沃里克号’和‘复仇号’一起出海吧。”

She rose to her feet and signed to Maxime to follow her, mirth and mischief in her whole attitude, and the two went in the direction of the boudoir.

她站起身来,既高兴又俏皮地示意马克西姆跟着她,之后二人就向她卧房的方向走去。

The morganatic couple (to use a convenient German expression which has no exact equivalent) had reached the door, when the Count interrupted himself in his talk with Eugene.

这对身份悬殊(因为在法语中找不到完全对应的词语,这里就从德语中借用了“身份悬殊”这个词)的人走到门边时,伯爵打断了自己与欧仁的谈话。

"Anastasie!" he cried pettishly, "just stay a moment, dear; you know very well that—”"I am coming back in a minute," she interrupted; "I have a commission for Maxime to execute, and I want to tell him about it."“阿纳斯塔谢!”他气冲冲地喊着,“就坐一会儿嘛,亲爱的,你明明知道——”“我马上回来。”她打断伯爵的话,“我有事拜托马克西姆去做,现在我要跟他说说这件事。”

She came back almost immediately.

她立刻回来了。

She had noticed the inflection in her husband's voice, and knew that it would not be safe to retire to the boudoir; like all women who are compelled to study their husbands' characters in order to have their own way, and whose business it is to know exactly how far they can go without endangering a good understanding, she was very careful to avoid petty collisions in domestic life.

她注意到了丈夫语气上的变化,也知道要是真进了卧房,事情就闹大了。和所有女人一样,她不得不摸清自己丈夫的性格,这样才能按自己的愿望行事。她深知让丈夫理解和信任的底线在哪里,所以她非常注意,在家庭生活中尽量避免小冲突。

It was Eugene who had brought about this untoward incident; so the Countess looked at Maxime and indicated the law student with an air of exasperation.

麻烦是欧仁惹的,所以伯爵夫人看着马克西姆时眼里带着对这个法律系学生极度的不满。

M. de Trailles addressed the Count, the Countess, and Eugene with the pointed remark, "You are busy, I do not want to interrupt you; good-day," and he went.

德特拉尔先生尖刻地对伯爵、伯爵夫人和欧仁说道,“你们都很忙,我不想打扰你们了,再见。”说完就走了出去。

"Just wait a moment, Maxime!" the Count called after him.“等一下,马克西姆!”伯爵在他背后喊道。

"Come and dine with us," said the Countess, leaving Eugene and her husband together once more.“吃个饭再走嘛。”伯爵夫人说着再一次丢下了她的丈夫和欧仁。

She followed Maxime into the little drawing-room, where they sat together sufficiently long to feel sure that Rastignac had taken his leave.

她跟着马克西姆走进小客厅,他们在那里坐了很长时间,一直等到他们都觉得拉斯蒂涅应该已经走了才起身。

The law student heard their laughter, and their voices, and the pauses in their talk; he grew malicious, exerted his conversational powers for M. de Restaud, flattered him, and drew him into discussions, to the end that he might see the Countess again and discover the nature of her relations with Father Goriot.

法律系学生听到他们一会儿笑,一会儿说话,一会儿又没声了,于是心里起了恶意。他在伯爵面前尽展自己的语言才华,又是恭维,又是和他讨论问题,想着最后还能再见到伯爵夫人,好弄明白她和高老头的真正关系。

This Countess with a husband and a lover, for Maxime clearly was her lover, was a mystery.

这位伯爵夫人简直是个谜。她有一个丈夫,一个情人——那个马克西姆明显就是她的情人。

What was the secret tie that bound her to the old tradesman?

维系她和那个老商人的秘密纽带到底是什么呢?

This mystery he meant to penetrate, hoping by its means to gain a sovereign ascendency over this fair typical Parisian.

他打算参透这个谜,希望借此抓住一个强有力的把柄,好让自己凌驾于这个美丽的典型巴黎女人之上。

"Anastasie!" the Count called again to his wife.“阿纳斯塔谢!”伯爵又叫起他的夫人。

"Poor Maxime!" she said, addressing the young man.“可怜的马克西姆!”她对那年轻人说,

"Come, we must resign ourselves.“快,我们得乖乖听话了。

This evening—”"I hope, Nasie," he said in her ear, "that you will give orders not to admit that youngster, whose eyes light up like live coals when he looks at you.

今晚——”“纳西,我希望,”他在她耳边说,“你下令不招待那个年轻人。他看你时眼睛放光,跟烧红的炭一样。

He will make you a declaration, and compromise you, and then you will compel me to kill him.”

他会向你求爱,败坏你的名誉,最后你会让我不得不杀了他。”

"Are you mad, Maxime?" she said.“你疯了吗,马克西姆?”她说,

"A young lad of a student is, on the contrary, a capital lightning-conductor; is not that so?“恰恰相反,像他们这样的年轻学生不正是绝妙的避雷针吗?

Of course, I mean to make Restaud furiously jealous of him.”

当然了,我是要让雷斯多疯狂地嫉妒他。”

Maxime burst out laughing, and went out, followed by the Countess, who stood at the window to watch him into his carriage; he shook his whip, and made his horse prance.

马克西姆哈哈大笑,走出门去。伯爵夫人跟着他,站在窗边看他上车。他扬起鞭子,马便一跃而起。

She only returned when the great gate had been closed after him.

一直等到他出门后大门关上,她才回来。

"What do you think, dear?" cried the Count, her husband, "this gentleman's family estate is not far from Verteuil, on the Charente; his great-uncle and my grandfather were acquainted.”“怎么样,亲爱的?”她的伯爵丈夫喊着,“这位先生家的祖产离韦尔特伊不远,就在夏朗德河畔,他的伯祖父跟我的祖父还很熟呢。”

"Delighted to find that we have acquaintances in common," said the Countess, with a preoccupied manner.“太好了,我们还有共同认识的人。”伯爵夫人心不在焉地回答。

"More than you think," said Eugene, in a low voice.“还不止呢。”欧仁低声说。

"What do you mean?" she asked quickly.“什么意思?”她立即问。

"Why, only just now," said the student, "I saw a gentleman go out at the gate, Father Goriot, my next door neighbor in the house where I am lodging."“因为,就在刚才,”大学生说,“我看见一位先生走出门口。他是高老头,和我住一个旅馆,还是隔壁邻居呢。”

At the sound of this name, and the prefix that embellished it, the Count, who was stirring the fire, let the tongs fall as though they had burned his fingers, and rose to his feet.

一听到这个名字和用来修饰这个名字的“老头”这个称谓,正在搅着炉火的伯爵仿佛被火钳烫到了手指似的,一把扔了火钳,站起身来。

"Sir," he cried, "you might have called him 'Monsieur Goriot'!"“先生,”他嚷道,“你或许应该称呼他‘高里奥先生’!"

The Countess turned pale at first at the sight of her husband's vexation, then she reddened; clearly she was embarrassed, her answer was made in a tone that she tried to make natural, and with an air of assumed carelessness:"You could not know any one who is dearer to us both..."

看到丈夫的恼怒之情,伯爵夫人的脸色起初变得煞白,之后又涨得通红。很明显,她感到很难堪。她强装出自然、随意的语调答道:“他是我们最亲近的人……”

She broke off, glanced at the piano as if some fancy had crossed her mind, and asked, "Are you fond of music, M. de Rastignac?"

她停了下来,看了一眼钢琴,好像想到了什么美好的事物,问道:“您喜欢音乐吗,德拉斯蒂涅先生?”

"Exceedingly," answered Eugene, flushing, and disconcerted by a dim suspicion that he had somehow been guilty of a clumsy piece of folly.“非常喜欢。”欧仁回答时,脸一下子就红了,还有些不安,隐约觉得自己不知怎么竟做了件不妥的蠢事。

"Do you sing?" she cried, going to the piano, and, sitting down before it, she swept her fingers over the keyboard from end to end.“您会唱歌吗?”她大声问道,同时走到钢琴前坐下,手指从琴键的一端滑到另一端。

R-r-r-rah!

啦—啦—啦!

"No, madame."“不会,夫人。”

The Comte de Restaud walked to and fro.

德雷斯多伯爵在屋子里走来走去。

"That is a pity; you are without one great means of success.—/Ca-ro, ca-a-ro, ca-a-a-ro, non du-bi-ta-re/," sang the Countess.“多可惜啊!你失去了一件重要的制胜法宝。‘亲—爱的,亲—爱—的,亲—爱—的,不要—怀—疑’。”伯爵夫人唱了起来。

Eugene had a second time waved a magic wand when he uttered Goriot's name, but the effect seemed to be entirely opposite to that produced by the formula "related to Mme. de Beauseant."

欧仁说出高里奥的名字时,好像又挥了一下魔术棒,但是效果却与那句“和德伯桑夫人是亲戚”截然相反。

His position was not unlike that of some visitor permitted as a favor to inspect a private collection of curiosities, when by inadvertence he comes into collision with a glass case full of sculptured figures, and three or four heads, imperfectly secured, fall at the shock.

他现在的境地就如同某位得到主人恩准的访客,在参观主人私人收集的奇珍异宝时,不小心撞到了摆满了人体雕塑的玻璃橱,里面三四个人头由于没有锁严,在撞击的作用下滚落出来。

He wished the earth would open and swallow him.

他恨不得能找一条地缝钻进去。

Mme. de Restaud's expression was reserved and chilly, her eyes had grown indifferent, and sedulously avoided meeting those of the unlucky student of law.

德雷斯多夫人的表情拘谨而冷漠,眼神也变得十分冷淡,一直在避免和这个倒霉的法律系学生双目对视。

"Madame," he said, "you wish to talk with M. de Restaud; permit me to wish you good-day—”The Countess interrupted him by a gesture, saying hastily, "Whenever you come to see us, both M. de Restaud and I shall be delighted to see you."“夫人,”他说,“如果您和德雷斯多先生还有事要谈,请允许我送上我的祝福——”伯爵夫人摆了摆手,打断了他,急忙说:“我和德雷斯多先生随时欢迎您再来。”

Eugene made a profound bow and took his leave, followed by M. de Restaud, who insisted, in spite of his remonstrances, on accompanying him into the hall.

欧仁深深地鞠了一躬后就转身离开。尽管他一再推辞,德雷斯多先生还是坚持要把他送到门厅。

"Neither your mistress nor I are at home to that gentleman when he calls," the Count said to Maurice.“以后他来,就说我们不在。”伯爵对莫里斯说。

As Eugene set foot on the steps, he saw that it was raining.

欧仁下楼梯时,发现外面正在下雨。

"Come," said he to himself, "somehow I have just made a mess of it, I do not know how.“天呀,”他自言自语道,“我刚刚全搞砸了,却还不知道是怎么搞砸的。

And now I am going to spoil my hat and coat into the bargain.

现在还得赔上我的帽子和大衣。

I ought to stop in my corner, grind away at law, and never look to be anything but a boorish country magistrate.

我应该躲在角落里啃法律书,以后安安稳稳地做个土里土气的地方法官,再也不期盼其他事了。

How can I go into society, when to manage properly you want a lot of cabs, varnished boots, gold watch chains, and all sorts of things; you have to wear white doeskin gloves that cost six francs in the morning, and primrose kid gloves every evening?

要想在这个社会上左右逢源,你得有许多马车、锃亮的靴子和金表链,还有好多其他各种各样的东西;你早上得戴六法郎的白色鹿皮手套,晚上又得戴淡黄色羔皮手套。我怎么有能力进入那样的社会呢?

A fig for that old humbug of a Goriot!”

高里奥这个老混账,去你的吧!”

When he reached the street door, the driver of a hackney coach, who had probably just deposited a wedding party at their door, and asked nothing better than a chance of making a little money for himself without his employer's knowledge, saw that Eugene had no umbrella, remarked his black coat, white waistcoat, yellow gloves, and varnished boots, and stopped and looked at him inquiringly.

他走到临街的大门时,一个马车夫正赶着辆出租马车——他也许刚把一对新婚夫妇送到家,就想背着老板赚几个外快——他看到欧仁没带伞,又注意到他的黑外套、白背心、黄手套和上过油的靴子,便停下来用询问的眼神看着他。

Eugene, in the blind desperation that drives a young man to plunge deeper and deeper into an abyss, as if he might hope to find a fortunate issue in its lowest depths, nodded in reply to the driver's signal, and stepped into the cab; a few stray petals of orange blossom and scraps of wire bore witness to its recent occupation by a wedding party.

欧仁感到一种莫名的绝望,这种感觉让他跌入深谷、越跌越深,就像他能在谷底找到一件幸运之事似的。他对马车夫点了点头,然后拾阶上马车。车厢里还散落着白色香橙花花瓣和扎花的铜丝。看来这驾车刚刚拉了一对新婚夫妇。

"Where am I to drive, sir?" demanded the man, who, by this time, had taken off his white gloves.“您去哪里,先生?”马车夫问道,这时,他已经脱掉了白手套。

"Confound it!" Eugene said to himself, "I am in for it now, and at least I will not spend cab-hire for nothing!—“该死的!”欧仁思忖道,“反正都坐上了,总不能花了钱什么都不做吧!——

Drive to the Hotel Beauseant," he said aloud.

去伯桑府。”他高声说。

"Which?" asked the man, a portentous word that reduced Eugene to confusion.“哪一个伯桑府?”马车夫问道,这句话出人意料,可把欧仁问倒了。

This young man of fashion, species incerta, did not know that there were two Hotels Beauseant; he was not aware how rich he was in relations who did not care about him.

这个打扮入时却涉世未深的年轻人可不知道巴黎有两个伯桑府,他还不知道自己的关系资源有多丰富,只是那些亲戚从不关心他。

"The Vicomte de Beauseant, Rue—”"De Grenelle," interrupted the driver, with a jerk of his head.“德伯桑子爵,那条街叫——”“格勒内勒,”马车夫猛一扭头接道。

"You see, there are the hotels of the Marquis and Comte de Beauseant in the Rue Saint-Dominique," he added, drawing up the step.“您看,还有圣多米尼克街的德伯桑伯爵府和德伯桑侯爵府。”他一边补充,一边收起踏板。

"I know all about that," said Eugene, severely.—"Everybody is laughing at me to-day, it seems!" he said to himself, as he deposited his hat on the opposite seat.“我都知道。”欧仁板着脸说。“今天好像每个人都在嘲笑我!”他自言自语着把帽子丢到了对面的座位上。

"This escapade will cost me a king's ransom, but, at any rate, I shall call on my so-called cousin in a thoroughly aristocratic fashion.“今天的冒失行为会花我一大笔钱,但不管怎样,我能以全副贵族行头去拜访我那个所谓的表姐了。

Goriot has cost me ten francs already, the old scoundrel.

高里奥已经花了我十法郎了,这个老不死的。

My word! I will tell Mme. de Beauseant about my adventure; perhaps it may amuse her.

哎呀!我要把今天的遭遇告诉德伯桑夫人,说不定还能取悦她呢。

Doubtless she will know the secret of the criminal relation between that handsome woman and the old rat without a tail.

她肯定知道那个标致的女人和那个没尾巴的老硕鼠之间有什么见不得光的关系。

It would be better to find favor in my cousin's eyes than to come in contact with that shameless woman, who seems to me to have very expensive tastes.

与其去取悦那个无耻女人,还不如来讨好我的表姐。依我看,那个无耻的女人奢侈得很呢。

Surely the beautiful Vicomtesse's personal interest would turn the scale for me, when the mere mention of her name produces such an effect.

光是提到子爵夫人的名字就能有如此影响力,要是美丽的子爵夫人自己对我产生了兴趣,就一定可以帮我扭转乾坤。

Let us look higher.

我们得把眼光放高点。

If you set yourself to carry the heights of heaven, you must face God.”

你若想达到天堂的高度,就必须直面上帝。”

The innumerable thoughts that surged through his brain might be summed up in these phrases.

他脑子里涌出的无数想法可以归结为以上几句话。

He grew calmer, and recovered something of his assurance as he watched the falling rain.

他平静了一些。看着外面的雨,他坚定的信念也开始恢复。

He told himself that though he was about to squander two of the precious five-franc pieces that remained to him, the money was well laid out in preserving his coat, boots, and hat; and his cabman's cry of "Gate, if you please," almost put him in spirits.

他告诉自己,虽然自己仅剩的两个宝贵的五法郎硬币就要被挥霍掉了,但是这些钱花得还挺值,因为这样保住了自己的衣帽和靴子。听到马车夫喊着:“麻烦您,开开门!”这使他兴奋不已。

A Swiss, in scarlet and gold, appeared, the great door groaned on its hinges, and Rastignac, with sweet satisfaction, beheld his equipage pass under the archway and stop before the flight of steps beneath the awning.

一个穿着鲜红色和金色衣服的瑞士人过来应门。大门拉动时,铰链发出闷响。拉斯蒂涅心满意足,看着他的马车穿过门洞,停在雨篷下的台阶前。

The driver, in a blue-and-red greatcoat, dismounted and let down the step.

穿着蓝红大衣的马车夫跳下马车,放下踏板。

As Eugene stepped out of the cab, he heard smothered laughter from the peristyle.

欧仁迈出马车时,听到柱子后面有人笑得喘不上气了。

Three or four lackeys were making merry over the festal appearance of the vehicle.

三四个仆人在拿这辆粉墨登场的马车找乐子。

In another moment the law student was enlightened as to the cause of their hilarity; he felt the full force of the contrast between his equipage and one of the smartest broughams in Paris; a coachman, with powdered hair, seemed to find it difficult to hold a pair of spirited horses, who stood chafing the bit.

这个法律系的学生立即明白他们笑的原因了。他感觉出自己的马车和巴黎最精美的有蓬马车之间存在着巨大反差。一个头上抹了粉的马车夫似乎费了好大劲才拉住两匹神采奕奕、烦躁不安的马。

In Mme. de Restaud's courtyard, in the Chaussee d'Antin, he had seen the neat turnout of a young man of six-and-twenty; in the Faubourg Saint-Germain he found the luxurious equipage of a man of rank; thirty thousand francs would not have purchased it.

在德安丁路上德雷斯多夫人的院子里,他看到过一个衣着整齐的二十六岁年轻人,而在圣日耳曼郊区他又看到一辆属于身居高位者的奢华的马车,那辆马车用三万法郎也买不下来。

"Who can be here?" said Eugene to himself.“有谁在这里呢?”欧仁想。

He began to understand, though somewhat tardily, that he must not expect to find many women in Paris who were not already appropriated, and that the capture of one of these queens would be likely to cost something more than bloodshed.

虽然反应慢了点,他也开始意识到,在巴黎很难找到一个没有伴侣的女人,而要征服一个王后般的女人,只是为她流血出力可不够。

"Confound it all!“真该死!

I expect my cousin also has her Maxime.”

我想我表姐也应该有自己的马克西姆了。”

He went up the steps, feeling that he was a blighted being.

他走上楼梯,感到万念俱灰。

The glass door was opened for him; the servants were as solemn as jackasses under the curry comb.

面前的玻璃门打开了,仆人们都严肃得像正在被马梳梳过的驴子似的。

So far, Eugene had only been in the ballroom on the ground floor of the Hotel Beauseant; the fete had followed so closely on the invitation, that he had not had time to call on his cousin, and had therefore never seen Mme. de Beauseant's apartments; he was about to behold for the first time a great lady among the wonderful and elegant surroundings that reveal her character and reflect her daily life.

欧仁目前只到过伯桑府一楼的舞厅。从接到邀请到出席舞会之间的时间太短,以至于他没来得及拜访表姐。所以他也从未见过德伯桑夫人的房间。今天他将第一次在这高贵、典雅的房间里观察这位伟大的女性,而这些绝佳的布置也展现了这位优雅贵妇的性格和生活方式。

He was the more curious, because Mme. de Restaud's drawing-room had provided him with a standard of comparison.

因为他有德雷斯多夫人的客厅作为参照,所以好奇心愈发强烈起来。

At half-past four the Vicomtesse de Beauseant was visible.

四点半时,德伯桑子爵夫人露面了。

Five minutes earlier she would not have received her cousin, but Eugene knew nothing of the recognized routine of various houses in Paris.

要是早五分钟,她就不会接待这个表弟了,但是欧仁对巴黎各府邸公认的规矩一窍不通。

He was conducted up the wide, white-painted, crimson-carpeted staircase, between the gilded balusters and masses of flowering plants, to Mme. de Beauseant's apartments.

他跟着仆人,走上了一座刷着白漆、铺着红地毯的宽敞楼梯。楼梯镀金的栏杆之间摆满了鲜花。他就这样被带进了德伯桑夫人的房间。

He did not know the rumor current about Mme. de Beauseant, one of the biographies told, with variations, in whispers, every evening in the salons of Paris.

他并不知道近来关于德伯桑夫人的流言蜚语。这些谣言版本不一,成为夜晚巴黎各个沙龙里人们交头接耳议论的话题之一。

For three years past her name had been spoken of in connection with that of one of the most wealthy and distinguished Portuguese nobles, the Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto.

三年以来,她的名字总是会和一个才大气粗、声名显赫的葡萄牙贵族——德阿尤达·平托侯爵联系在一起。

It was one of those innocent liaisons which possess so much charm for the two thus attached to each other that they find the presence of a third person intolerable.

这种纯洁的联系对这两个相互吸引的人而言,有着相当大的魔力,以至于他们容不得第三人的打扰。

The Vicomte de Beauseant, therefore, had himself set an example to the rest of the world by respecting, with as good a grace as might be, this morganatic union.

因此,德伯桑子爵也向世人树立了良好的榜样,尽量显得优雅得体,尊重这种地位悬殊的关系。

Any one who came to call on the Vicomtesse in the early days of this friendship was sure to find the Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto there.

这段友谊刚刚开始的时候,无论谁去拜访子爵夫人,总能在那里见到德阿尤达·平托侯爵。

As, under the circumstances, Mme. de Beauseant could not very well shut her door against these visitors, she gave them such a cold reception, and showed so much interest in the study of the ceiling, that no one could fail to understand how much he bored her; and when it became known in Paris that Mme. de Beauseant was bored by callers between two and four o'clock, she was left in perfect solitude during that interval.

因为在这种情形下,德伯桑夫人不可能闭门谢客。她只得冷淡地接待客人,总是看着天花板,好像对房顶更感兴趣似的。于是所有人都识趣地意识到自己严重地打扰到了她。到最后巴黎人人都知道,两点到四点去拜访德伯桑夫人都会打扰她,她也总算在这个时间段得享安宁。

She went to the Bouffons or to the Opera with M. de Beauseant and M. d'Ajuda-Pinto; and M. de Beauseant, like a well-bred man of the world, always left his wife and the Portuguese as soon as he had installed them.

她跟着德伯桑先生和德阿尤达·平托先生一起去看谐谑剧或歌剧。而德伯桑先生,像这世上修养极好的人一样,总是在安顿好妻子和这位葡萄牙人后就离开了。

But M. d'Ajuda-Pinto must marry, and a Mlle.de Rochefide was the young lady.

但是德阿尤达·平托先生总要结婚的,而德洛希斐特小姐正是合适人选。

In the whole fashionable world there was but one person who as yet knew nothing of the arrangement, and that was Mme. de Beauseant.

至今整个上流社会只有一个人对这场联姻一无所知,那个人就是德伯桑夫人。

Some of her friends had hinted at the possibility, and she had laughed at them, believing that envy had prompted those ladies to try to make mischief.

她的一些朋友曾向她暗示过这种可能性,但她却置之一笑,认为朋友妒忌她,想从中作梗。

And now, though the bans were about to be published, and although the handsome Portuguese had come that day to break the news to the Vicomtesse, he had not found courage as yet to say one word about his treachery.

如今,结婚告示马上就要张贴出来了。虽然那天这位葡萄牙美男子也来了,想把这件事婉转地告知子爵夫人,但是他至今也没勇气说他自己背叛了她。

How was it?

这是怎么一回事呢?

Nothing is doubtless more difficult than the notification of an ultimatum of this kind.

毫无疑问,没什么事比下这样一个最后通牒更难了。

There are men who feel more at their ease when they stand up before another man who threatens their lives with sword or pistol than in the presence of a woman who, after two hours of lamentations and reproaches, falls into a dead swoon and requires salts.

有的男人宁愿冒着生命危险,站在敌人面前被人用剑或手枪指着,也不愿对着一个女人又哭又骂两个小时,最后晕死过去,不得不对她施救。因为他们认为前一种情况让自己觉得更自在。

At this moment, therefore, M. d'Ajuda-Pinto was on thorns, and anxious to take his leave.

于是,这时的德阿尤达·平托先生如坐针毡、焦虑不安、急于开溜。

He told himself that in some way or other the news would reach Mme. de Beauseant; he would write, it would be much better to do it by letter, and not to utter the words that should stab her to the heart.

他告诉自己,消息总会通过其他什么渠道传到德伯桑夫人那里的。他准备写信给她,觉得写信比当面说出那些句句钻心的话要好。

So when the servant announced M. Eugene de Rastignac, the Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto trembled with joy.

于是当仆人通报欧仁·德拉斯蒂涅先生求见时,德阿尤达·平托侯爵开心得浑身一震。

To be sure, a loving woman shows even more ingenuity in inventing doubts of her lover than in varying the monotony of his happiness; and when she is about to be forsaken, she instinctively interprets every gesture as rapidly as Virgil's courser detected the presence of his companion by snuffing the breeze.

毋庸置疑,恋爱中的女人更擅长对情人百般猜忌,而不是用各种变化给对方的幸福带来新意。一旦要被抛弃时,她就会本能地诠释对方每一个姿势的含义。诠释的过程快得就像维吉尔(注:古罗马诗人)的马能透过微风嗅到主人的气息一样。

It was impossible, therefore, that Mme. de Beauseant should not detect that involuntary thrill of satisfaction; slight though it was, it was appalling in its artlessness.

因此,德伯桑夫人一眼就看穿了他不由自主地流露出的满足、兴奋之意。虽然变化细微,但是流露出的感情却真实得可怕。

Eugene had yet to learn that no one in Paris should present himself in any house without first making himself acquainted with the whole history of its owner, and of its owner's wife and family, so that he may avoid making any of the terrible blunders which in Poland draw forth the picturesque exclamation, "Harness five bullocks to your cart!"

欧仁还没搞明白一件事情,在巴黎,无论要拜访谁,首先都要把主人、女主人和他们的整个家族史都打听清楚,以避免弄出什么糟糕的差错。波兰人将这种差错说得惟妙惟肖:“在你的车上套五头牛!”

Probably because you will need them all to pull you out of the quagmire into which a false step has plunged you.

这样说可能是因为一旦你一步踏空就会陷入泥沼,这样就需要五头牛一齐用力才能将你拉出来。

If, down to the present day, our language has no name for these conversational disasters, it is probably because they are believed to be impossible, the publicity given in Paris to every scandal is so prodigious.

要是到今天我们法语中还没有相应的说法来描绘对话中出现的这般灾难,大概是因为人们相信这样的事情决计不可能发生。在巴黎,每一件丑闻都会被宣传得尽人皆知。

After the awkward incident at Mme. de Restaud's, no one but Eugene could have reappeared in his character of bullock-driver in Mme. de Beauseant's drawing-room.

在经历了德雷斯多夫人家里的尴尬后又出现在德伯桑夫人的客厅里,这也只有欧仁能做得出来,他的性格简直和赶牛车的车夫一样。

But if Mme. de Restaud and M. de Trailles had found him horribly in the way, M. d'Ajuda hailed his coming with relief.

换成是德雷斯多夫人和德特拉尔先生,他们就会觉得他非常碍事,但对于德阿尤达先生来说,他的到来却是在帮他解围。

"Good-bye," said the Portuguese, hurrying to the door, as Eugene made his entrance into a dainty little pink-and-gray drawing-room, where luxury seemed nothing more than good taste.“再见。”这位葡萄牙人说着急忙走向门口,此时欧仁进入了这间小巧别致、粉色与灰色交融的客厅,虽然奢华但独具品味。

"Until this evening," said Mme. de Beauseant, turning her head to give the Marquis a glance.“晚上见,”德伯桑夫人说着回头望了侯爵一眼,

"We are going to the Bouffons, are we not?"“我们晚上不是要去看戏吗?”

"I cannot go," he said, with his fingers on the door handle.“我去不了了。”他回答的时候手已经在门把手上了。

Mme. de Beauseant rose and beckoned to him to return.

德伯桑夫人站了起来,向他招手,让他回来。

She did not pay the slightest attention to Eugene, who stood there dazzled by the sparkling marvels around him; he began to think that this was some story out of the Arabian Nights made real, and did not know where to hide himself, when the woman before him seemed to be unconscious of his existence.

她根本就没有注意到欧仁。欧仁正站在那里,被身边这些耀眼的奇景弄得眼花缭乱。他在想着《一千零一夜》里面的故事成了现实,而他面前的女人却像根本没有意识到他的存在一样。

The Vicomtesse had raised the forefinger of her right hand, and gracefully signed to the Marquis to seat himself beside her.

子爵夫人举起了右手的食指,优雅地示意侯爵坐到她身旁。

The Marquis felt the imperious sway of passion in her gesture; he came back towards her.

侯爵感觉到了这手势中傲慢、忿怒之气,便转身走向她。

Eugene watched him, not without a feeling of envy.

欧仁看着他,不无妒忌之心。

"That is the owner of the brougham!" he said to himself.“他便是那辆马车的主人!”他暗自说,

"But is it necessary to have a pair of spirited horses, servants in livery, and torrents of gold to draw a glance from a woman here in Paris?"“但是必须要有一对神采奕奕的骏马、身穿制服的仆人和滚滚金流才能吸引巴黎女子的目光吗?”

The demon of luxury gnawed at his heart, greed burned in his veins, his throat was parched with the thirst of gold.

奢靡这个恶魔撕咬着他的心脏,贪婪灼烧着他的血管,连喉咙都因为对金子的渴望而燥热难忍。

He had a hundred and thirty francs every quarter.

他一个季度能拿一百三十法郎。

His father, mother, brothers, sisters, and aunt did not spend two hundred francs a month among them.

而他的父母、兄弟姐妹和姑妈一个月才花不到两百法郎。

This swift comparison between his present condition and the aims he had in view helped to benumb his faculties.

他将自己的实际境况和理想状况在心里快速比较了一下,得出的结果让他变得迟钝起来。

"Why not?" the Vicomtesse was saying, as she smiled at the Portuguese.“为什么去不了?”子爵夫人笑着问葡萄牙人,

"Why cannot you come to the Italiens?"“你为什么去不了意大利大街?”

"Affairs! I am to dine with the English Ambassador."“有正经事做!我要和英国大使共进晚餐。”

"Throw him over."“别理他啊。”

When a man once enters on a course of deception, he is compelled to add lie to lie.

男人一旦编出一句谎话,就不得不谎上加谎。

M. d'Ajuda therefore said, smiling, "Do you lay your commands on me?"

德阿尤达先生于是笑着说:“你这是在对我下命令吗?”

"Yes, certainly."“当然是。”

"That was what I wanted to have you say to me," he answered, dissembling his feelings in a glance which would have reassured any other woman.“我就是要你这句话。”他回答说。他带着能够让任何一个女人打消疑虑的眼神看了她一眼,好掩饰心中的真实想法。

He took the Vicomtesse's hand, kissed it, and went.

他捧起子爵夫人的手,吻了一下,然后离开了。

Eugene ran his fingers through his hair, and constrained himself to bow.

欧仁用手拨了拨头发,很不自在地鞠了一躬。

He thought that now Mme. de Beauseant would give him her attention; but suddenly she sprang forward, rushed to a window in the gallery, and watched M. d'Ajuda step into his carriage; she listened to the order that he gave, and heard the Swiss repeat it to the coachman:"To M. de Rochefide's house."

他想现在德伯桑夫人总该注意到他了。但是她突然猛冲出去,冲到了走廊的窗边,看着德阿尤达先生上了马车。她听着他下指令,然后听到瑞士仆人传令给马车夫说:“去德洛希斐特先生家。”

Those words, and the way in which M. d'Ajuda flung himself back in the carriage, were like a lightning flash and a thunderbolt for her; she walked back again with a deadly fear gnawing at her heart.

听到那些话,看到德阿尤达先生急忙冲上马车的动作,她简直就像被电闪雷击了一般。她走回客厅,极度的恐惧吞噬着她的心。

The most terrible catastrophes only happen among the heights.

这种最可怕的灾难只会发生在上流社会中。

The Vicomtesse went to her own room, sat down at a table, and took up a sheet of dainty notepaper.

子爵夫人回到自己的房间,坐在桌边,拿起一张精美的信纸。

"When, instead of dining with the English Ambassador," she wrote, "you go to the Rochefides, you owe me an explanation, which I am waiting to hear."“如果你没有和英国大使共进晚餐,”她写道,“而是去了洛希斐特家,那么你欠我个说法,我等着听你解释。”

She retraced several of the letters, for her hand was trembling so that they were indistinct; then she signed the note with an initial C for "Claire de Bourgogne," and rang the bell.

由于手不停发抖,字迹不是很清晰,于是她重新描了几个字母。接着她签上“克莱尔·德布戈涅”的首字母C,然后便按铃叫人。

"Jacques," she said to the servant, who appeared immediately, "take this note to M. de Rochefide's house at half-past seven and ask for the Marquis d'Ajuda.“雅克,”她对一位立即出现的仆人说,“拿上纸条,七点半去德洛希斐特府上,请德阿尤达侯爵收启。

If M. d'Ajuda is there, leave the note without waiting for an answer; if he is not there, bring the note back to me."

要是德阿尤达先生在那里,留下条子就走,不用等回信;要是他不在,就把纸条带回来给我。”

"Madame la Vicomtess, there is a visitor in the drawing-room.”“子爵夫人,客厅里还有客人呢。”

"Ah! yes, of course," she said, opening the door.“噢!对了,当然。”她说着便打开门。

Eugene was beginning to feel very uncomfortable, but at last the Vicomtesse appeared; she spoke to him, and the tremulous tones of her voice vibrated through his heart.

欧仁开始觉得非常不安,但是最终子爵夫人还是出来了。在他们交谈之时,子爵夫人战栗的声音又让他的心起了波澜。

"Pardon me, monsieur," she said; "I had a letter to write.“请原谅,先生,”她说,“我刚才要写封信。

Now I am quite at liberty.”

现在没事了。”

She scarcely knew what she was saying, for even as she spoke she thought, "Ah! he means to marry Mlle.de Rochefide?

她几乎不知道自己说了些什么,因为她说话时还在想着:“噢!莫非他想娶德洛希斐特小姐?

But is he still free?

但是他还是单身吗?

This evening the marriage shall be broken off, or else…But before to-morrow I shall know.”

今晚就得把这桩婚事搞砸,否则……但是明天之前我也应该知道结局了。”

"Cousin..." the student replied.“表姐……”那个学生说道。

"Eh?" said the Vicomtesse, with an insolent glance that sent a cold shudder through Eugene; he understood what that "Eh?" meant; he had learned a great deal in three hours, and his wits were on the alert.“嗯?”子爵夫人傲慢的眼神让欧仁打了个冷颤。他知道这一句“嗯?”代表什么。他在这三个小时里学到了很多,开始变得警觉起来。

He reddened: "Madame..." he began; he hesitated a moment, and then went on.

他脸红了,改口叫道:“夫人……”。之后犹豫了片刻,他继续说道,

"Pardon me; I am in such need of protection that the nearest scrap of relationship could do me no harm."“请原谅我,我急需的庇护,能扯上一丁点亲戚关系对我也没坏处。”

Mme. de Beauseant smiled but there was sadness in her smile; even now she felt forebodings of the coming pain, the air she breathed was heavy with the storm that was about to burst.

德伯桑夫人莞尔一笑,但笑得很苦涩。即使是现在她也感觉得到即将来临的痛苦,空气中弥漫着暴风雨爆发前的压抑气息。

"If you knew how my family are situated," he went on, "you would love to play the part of a beneficent fairy godmother who graciously clears the obstacles from the path of her protege."“要是您知道我家的处境,”他继续说,“您一定愿意做个乐善好施的美丽教母,慈祥地为您保护的人扫除障碍。”

"Well, cousin," she said, laughing, "and how can I be of service to you?"“哦,表弟,”她笑着说,“那我能帮上什么忙呢?”

"But do I know even that?“这我也说不好。

I am distantly related to you, and this obscure and remote relationship is even now a perfect godsend to me.

我跟您是远房亲戚,即使是远亲,关系也不甚明显,但对我来说这已经是完美的天赐之物了。

You have confused my ideas; I cannot remember the things that I meant to say to you.

您让我感到困惑,我都不记得要跟您说些什么了。

I know no one else here in Paris... Ah! if I could only ask you to counsel me, ask you to look upon me as a poor child who would fain cling to the hem of your dress, who would lay down his life for you.”

在巴黎我谁也不认识……哦,对了!只要您能给我点忠告,能把我看成一个乐意拜倒在您裙下、愿为您舍命的可怜孩子就行了。”

"Would you kill a man for me?"“你会为我杀人吗?”

"Two," said Eugene.“杀一双都成。”欧仁说。

"You, child.“你是个孩子。

Yes, you are a child," she said, keeping back the tears that came to her eyes; "you would love sincerely."

是的,你还是个孩子。”她强忍着泪水说,“你会爱得很真诚的。”

"Oh!" he cried, flinging up his head.“噢!”他抬头喊道。

The audacity of the student's answer interested the Vicomtesse in him.

这个学生大胆的回答勾起了子爵夫人对他的兴趣。

The southern brain was beginning to scheme for the first time.

这个南方傻小子第一次耍起了心眼。

Between Mme. de Restaud's blue boudoir and Mme. de Beauseant's rose-colored drawing-room he had made a three years' advance in a kind of law which is not a recognized study in Paris, although it is a sort of higher jurisprudence, and, when well understood, is a highroad to success of every kind.

在德雷斯多夫人的蓝色卧房和德伯桑夫人的玫瑰色客厅之间,他提前三年读完了一套在巴黎潜在的规则。那是一种高等法律,而且研习者要是对其融会贯通的话,就等于驶上了一条通向成功的康庄大道。

"Ah! that is what I meant to say!" said Eugene.“对了!这就是我要说的!”欧仁说,

"I met Mme. de Restaud at your ball, and this morning I went to see her."“我在您的舞会上见到过德雷斯多夫人,今天早上我去拜访了她。”

"You must have been very much in the way," said Mme. de Beauseant, smiling as she spoke.“你一定妨碍到德雷斯多夫人了。”德伯桑夫人笑着说。

"Yes, indeed.“确实是。

I am a novice, and my blunders will set every one against me, if you do not give me your counsel.

我初来乍到,要是没有您的忠告,我肯定会到处犯错,到处招人嫌。

I believe that in Paris it is very difficult to meet with a young, beautiful, and wealthy woman of fashion who would be willing to teach me, what you women can explain so well—life.

我觉得,在巴黎很难碰到一位年轻、貌美、富有、时尚的女性愿意教我为人处世的方法,而你们女性能将其诠释得非常好。

I shall find a M. de Trailles everywhere.

到处都是德特拉尔先生那样的人。

So I have come to you to ask you to give me a key to a puzzle, to entreat you to tell me what sort of blunder I made this morning.

所以我就来请教您,希望您帮我揭开谜底,求求您告诉我,早上我究竟错在哪里了。

I mentioned an old man—”"Madame la Duchess de Langeais," Jacques cut the student short; Eugene gave expression to his intense annoyance by a gesture.

我提到了一个老头——”“德朗热公爵夫人来了。”雅克打断了法律系学生的话。欧仁做出一个手势,说明他非常恼火。

"If you mean to succeed," said the Vicomtesse in a low voice, "in the first place you must not be so demonstrative."“如果你想要成功,”子爵夫人低声说,“首先不能喜怒形于色。”

"Ah! good morning, dear," she continued, and rising and crossing the room, she grasped the Duchess' hands as affectionately as if they had been sisters; the Duchess responded in the prettiest and most gracious way.“噢!早上好,亲爱的。”她继续说道,同时站起身来,穿过屋子拉起了公爵夫人的手。她们似乎亲如姐妹。公爵夫人则以最美丽、最优雅的方式给予回应。

"Two intimate friends!" said Rastignac to himself.“一对密友!”拉斯蒂涅自言自语道,

"Henceforward I shall have two protectresses; those two women are great friends, no doubt, and this newcomer will doubtless interest herself in her friend's cousin."“自此我就有两个庇护人啦。这两个女人是好朋友,不用说,那位新来的公爵夫人肯定会对她朋友的表弟感兴趣的。”

"To what happy inspiration do I owe this piece of good fortune, dear Antoinette?" asked Mme. de Beauseant.“我真是有幸能接待您这样的贵客,亲爱的安托瓦妮特!”德伯桑夫人招呼道。

"Well, I saw M. d'Ajuda-Pinto at M. de Rochefide's door, so I thought that if I came I should find you alone."“是这样的,我在德洛希斐特先生家门前看到了德阿尤达·平托先生,所以我想你应该是独自在家了。”

Mme. de Beauseant's mouth did not tighten, her color did not rise, her expression did not alter, or rather, her brow seemed to clear as the Duchess uttered those deadly words.

公爵夫人说出这些要人命的话时,德伯桑夫人没有闭紧双唇,脸色没有涨红,她的表情也没有变化。更准确地说,她紧锁的眉头都骤然松开了。

"If I had known that you were engaged—” the speaker added, glancing at Eugene.“要是我知道有客人在——”公爵夫人看了一眼欧仁,补充道。

"This gentleman is M. Eugene de Rastignac, one of my cousins," said the Vicomtesse.“这位是欧仁·德拉斯蒂涅先生,我的一个表弟。”子爵夫人介绍说。

"Have you any news of General de Montriveau?" she continued.“你有德蒙特里沃将军的消息吗?”她继续问道,

"Serizy told me yesterday that he never goes anywhere now; has he been to see you to-day?”“塞里奇昨天跟我说他现在哪里都不去,您今天见过他没?”

It was believed that the Duchess was desperately in love with M. de Montriveau, and that he was a faithless lover; she felt the question in her very heart, and her face flushed as she answered:"He was at the Elysee yesterday."

据说公爵夫人疯狂地爱着这位德蒙特里沃先生,但他却背信弃义。她的心被这句话狠狠地揪了一下,红着脸回答说:“他昨天在爱丽舍宫呢。”

"In attendance?"“去办公吗?”

"Claire," returned the Duchess, and hatred overflowed in the glances she threw at Mme. de Beauseant; "of course you know that M. d'Ajuda-Pinto is going to marry Mlle.de Rochefide; the bans will be published to-morrow.”“克莱尔,”公爵夫人再看德伯桑夫人时,眼神里饱含着怨恨之情,“你一定知道德阿尤达·平托先生要娶德洛希斐特小姐了,这桩婚事明天就要公布于众了。”

This thrust was too cruel; the Vicomtesse's face grew white, but she answered, laughing, "One of those rumors that fools amuse themselves with.

这句话深深地伤害了子爵夫人,她脸色煞白,不过还是笑着说:“这只不过是傻瓜们用来自娱自乐的一个谣言。

What should induce M. d'Ajuda to take one of the noblest names in Portugal to the Rochefides?

洛希斐特家配得起德阿尤达这个葡萄牙最高贵的姓氏吗?

The Rochefides were only ennobled yesterday.”

洛希斐特家被封为贵族好像还是昨天的事。”

"But Bertha will have two hundred thousand livres a year, they say."“但是据说伯莎每年能拿到二十万里弗赫呢。”

"M. d'Ajuda is too wealthy to marry for money."“德阿尤达先生那么有钱,不会为了钱而结婚的。”

"But, my dear, Mlle.de Rochefide is a charming girl."“但是,亲爱的,德洛希斐特小姐可是个可人儿啊。”

"Indeed?"“是吗?”

"And, as a matter of fact, he is dining with them to-day; the thing is settled.“实际上,他们今天还会共进晚餐,这事算是板上钉钉了。

It is very surprising to me that you should know so little about it.”

我就纳闷你怎么了解得那么少。”

Mme. de Beauseant turned to Rastignac.

德伯桑夫人回过头来面对拉斯蒂涅。

"What was the blunder that you made, monsieur?" she asked.“先生,你究竟做了什么错事?”她问,

"The poor boy is only just launched into the world, Antoinette, so that he understands nothing of all this that we are speaking of.“这可怜的孩子涉世未深,安托瓦妮特,我们说的话他一点也不明白。

Be merciful to him, and let us finish our talk to-morrow.

就算可怜可怜这孩子吧,我们的话明天再说。

Everything will be announced to-morrow, you know, and your kind informal communication can be accompanied by official confirmation.”

你知道,到了明天一切将会公布于众,到时候就知道你出于好心告诉我的小道消息准确与否了。”

The Duchess gave Eugene one of those insolent glances that measure a man from head to foot, and leave him crushed and annihilated.

公爵夫人从头到脚地打量着欧仁,那种傲慢的眼神简直要把他压碎,并将他彻底毁灭。

"Madame, I have unwittingly plunged a dagger into Mme. de Restaud's heart; unwittingly—therein lies my offence," said the student of law, whose keen brain had served him sufficiently well, for he had detected the biting epigrams that lurked beneath this friendly talk.“夫人,我不小心冒犯了德雷斯多夫人,我完全错在不小心上。”这位法律系学生说。他脑袋转得飞快,早就看穿了她们友好的谈话中暗藏着辛辣的讥讽。

"You continue to receive, possibly you fear, those who know the amount of pain that they deliberately inflict; but a clumsy blunderer who has no idea how deeply he wounds is looked upon as a fool who does not know how to make use of his opportunities, and every one despises him."“如果一个人故意伤害你,却知道他让你有多痛苦,你可能会继续接受他,也可能会惧怕他们。但是如果一个人伤害了你,却笨得不知道他伤人有多深的话,他就会被看成不会把握机会的傻瓜,会遭到大家的鄙视。”

Mme. de Beauseant gave the student a glance, one of those glances in which a great soul can mingle dignity and gratitude.

德伯桑夫人看了这个学生一眼,从她的眼神中可以看到她的心中交织着崇高与感恩。

It was like balm to the law student, who was still smarting under the Duchess' insolent scrutiny; she had looked at him as an auctioneer might look at some article to appraise its value.

德伯桑夫人的目光给了他极大的安慰。在公爵夫人傲慢地审视下,这位法律系学生的思维越来越敏捷。公爵夫人看他的样子,就像拍卖员为了给拍卖品估价而在仔细查看一般。

"Imagine, too, that I had just made some progress with the Comte de Restaud; for I should tell you, madame," he went on, turning to the Duchess with a mixture of humility and malice in his manner, "that as yet I am only a poor devil of a student, very much alone in the world, and very poor—”"You should not tell us that, M. de Rastignac.“再想想我刚才还和德雷斯多伯爵谈笑风生,夫人,我跟您说这些,是因为,”他谦恭而略带一丝狡黠地转向公爵夫人,继续说,“我只是一个可怜的大学生,在这世上又孤独又穷困——”“您别这样说,德拉斯蒂涅先生。

We women never care about anything that no one else will take.”

我们女人从不在意这些没人爱听的话。”

"Bah!" said Eugene.“噢!”欧仁说,

"I am only two-and-twenty, and I must make up my mind to the drawbacks of my time of life.“我只有二十二岁,我必须下决心弥补我这个年龄的劣势。

Besides, I am confessing my sins, and it would be impossible to kneel in a more charming confessional; you commit your sins in one drawing-room, and receive absolution for them in another.”

而且,我正在为我的过错忏悔,还有哪里能比这间迷人的忏悔室更好呢。您在这间客厅犯下罪孽,可以在别的客厅得到宽恕。”

The Duchess' expression grew colder, she did not like the flippant tone of these remarks, and showed that she considered them to be in bad taste by turning to the Vicomtesse with—"This gentleman has only just come—”Mme. de Beauseant began to laugh outright at her cousin and at the Duchess both.

公爵夫人的脸色变得越来越冷漠,她不喜欢学生说这些话时的无礼口吻。为了显出自己认为这些话品位低俗,她转向子爵夫人,说:“这位先生才来——”德伯桑夫人立即开始嘲笑她表弟和公爵夫人。

"He has only just come to Paris, dear, and is in search of some one who will give him lessons in good taste."“他才来到巴黎,亲爱的,正在找老师帮他提高品位呢。”

"Mme. la Duchesse," said Eugene, "is it not natural to wish to be initiated into the mysteries which charm us?"“公爵夫人,”欧仁说,“我们想了解我们所爱慕的人,知道他们的秘密,这不是很平常吗?”

("Come, now," he said to himself, "my language is superfinely elegant, I'm sure.")"But Mme. de Restaud is herself, I believe, M. de Trailles' pupil," said the Duchess.(“算了吧,”他暗自想,“我敢肯定我说的话已经很优雅了。”)“不过我相信德雷斯多夫人自己也是德特拉尔先生的‘学生’吧。”公爵夫人说。

"Of that I had no idea, madame," answered the law student, "so I rashly came between them.“这我就不清楚了,夫人。”这个法律系学生回答,“我还莽撞地冲到他们中间了。

In fact, I got on very well with the lady's husband, and his wife tolerated me for a time until I took it into my head to tell them that I knew some one of whom I had just caught a glimpse as he went out by a back staircase, a man who had given the Countess a kiss at the end of a passage."

其实我同这位女士的丈夫相处得很好,夫人一度对我也还算客气,直到我突然想到要和他们说,我认识一个人,之前我刚好瞧见他从后楼梯上下来,还在走廊尽头和伯爵夫人亲吻。”

"Who was it?" both women asked together.“他是谁?”两位女士异口同声地问。

"An old man who lives at the rate of two louis a month in the Faubourg Saint-Marceau, where I, a poor student, lodge likewise.“一个住在圣马尔索郊区(注:圣马塞尔郊区的别名),每月靠两个路易过活的老头,我这个穷学生也住在那里。

He is a truly unfortunate creature, everybody laughs at him—we all call him 'Father Goriot.'""Why, child that you are," cried the Vicomtesse, "Mme. de Restaud was a Mlle. Goriot!"

他真是个不幸的人,每个人都笑话他——我们都叫他‘高老头’。”“天啊,你真是个小孩。”子爵夫人叫道,“德雷斯多夫人过去就是高里奥小姐啊!”

"The daughter of a vermicelli manufacturer," the Duchess added; "and when the little creature went to Court, the daughter of a pastry-cook was presented on the same day.“面条制造商的女儿。”公爵夫人补充道,“那个小姑娘进宫时,一个糕点师傅的女儿正好也在场。

Do you remember, Claire?

你还记得吗,克莱尔?

The King began to laugh, and made some joke in Latin about flour.

国王发笑了,还用拉丁文说了几个关于面粉的笑话。

People—what was it?—People—”"Ejusdem farinae," said Eugene.

人——怎么说来着?人——”“都是一样的面粉。”欧仁说。

"Yes, that was it," said the Duchess.“对了,就是这句。”公爵夫人说。

"Oh! is that her father?" the law student continued, aghast.“哦!那是她父亲?”这个法律系学生大为吃惊,继续问道。

"Yes, certainly; the old man had two daughters; he dotes on them, so to speak, though they will scarcely acknowledge him."“当然了。这老头有两个女儿。可以这么说,他很宠爱两个女儿,但她们几乎都不认他了。”

"Didn't the second daughter marry a banker with a German name?" the Vicomtesse asked, turning to Mme. de Langeais, "a Baron de Nucingen?“那小女儿不是嫁给了一个有德国姓氏的银行家了吗?”子爵夫人转向德朗热夫人闻道,“是不是叫德纽沁根男爵?

And her name is Delphine, is it not?

她不是叫德尔菲娜吗?

Isn't she a fair-haired woman who has a side-box at the Opera?

是那个在歌剧院有个侧面包厢的金发女人吧?

She comes sometimes to the Bouffons, and laughs loudly to attract attention.”

她有时会去看谐谑剧,大声笑着来吸引别人的注意。”

The Duchess smiled and said:"I wonder at you, dear.

公爵夫人笑着说:“我真佩服你,亲爱的。

Why do you take so much interest in people of that kind?

你怎么会对那种人如此感兴趣呢?

One must have been as madly in love as Restaud was, to be infatuated with Mlle. Anastasie and her flour sacks.

肯定有人像德雷斯多以前那样,疯狂地爱上这位阿纳斯塔谢小姐和她的面粉袋。

Oh! he will not find her a good bargain!

哦!他以后会发现她不是一个好对象。

She is in M. de Trailles' hands, and he will ruin her."

她现在落在德特拉尔先生手上了,他会毁掉她的。”

"And they do not acknowledge their father!" Eugene repeated.“她们还不理睬她们的父亲!”欧仁重复道。

"Oh! well, yes, their father, the father, a father," replied the Vicomtesse, "a kind father who gave them each five or six hundred thousand francs, it is said, to secure their happiness by marrying them well; while he only kept eight or ten thousand livres a year for himself, thinking that his daughters would always be his daughters, thinking that in them he would live his life twice over again, that in their houses he should find two homes, where he would be loved and looked up to, and made much of.“对啊!她们的父亲,这个父亲真是个父亲。”子爵夫人回答说,“据说他是个慈祥的父亲,给了每个女儿五六十万法郎,帮她们嫁个好郎君,保证以后她们能过好日子。然而,他每年却只给自己留八千或一万里弗赫。他想着女儿终究是女儿,她们两个活好了,他等于活了两遍,她们两个成家了,他等于有了两个家,而且家里的人会爱戴他、尊敬他、重视他。

And in two years' time both his sons-in-law had turned him out of their houses as if he were one of the lowest outcasts.”

但两年时间里,两个女婿都把他赶出家门,就像他是社会最底层的流浪汉一样。”

Tears came into Eugene's eyes.

欧仁的眼里泛着泪光。

He was still under the spell of youthful beliefs, he had just left home, pure and sacred feelings had been stirred within him, and this was his first day on the battlefield of civilization in Paris.

他的心里仍保存着年轻人的信仰。他刚离家不久,心里还装着纯洁、高尚的亲情,这还是他在巴黎初次体验文明的战场。

Genuine feeling is so infectious that for a moment the three looked at each other in silence.

真挚的情感有多么强的感染力啊,有好一阵子三人都相顾无言。

"Eh, mon Dieu!" said Mme. de Langeais; "yes, it seems very horrible, and yet we see such things every day.“啊,我的上帝!”德朗热夫人说,“这件事情看起来的确很可怕,但我们天天见到这样的事情。

Is there not a reason for it?

难道就没有个原因吗?

Tell me, dear, have you ever really thought what a son-in-law is?

告诉我,亲爱的,你有没有真正想过什么才是女婿?

A son-in-law is the man for whom we bring up, you and I, a dear little one, bound to us very closely in innumerable ways; for seventeen years she will be the joy of her family, its 'white soul,' as Lamartine says, and suddenly she will become its scourge. When HE comes and takes her from us, his love from the very beginning is like an axe laid to the root of all the old affection in our darling's heart, and all the ties that bound her to her family are severed.

女婿就是这样一类人,我们为他养大与我们有着千丝万缕联系的小宝贝——十七岁前,她是家里快乐的源泉,正如拉马丁(注:拉马丁是法国十八世末到十九世纪中期著名的作家、诗人和政治家)所说的那样,她有“洁白的灵魂”,但十七岁之后,她就会突然变成家里痛苦的源泉。女婿过来把她从我们的手中夺走,他的爱从一开始就像一把斧子,从根上斩断了我们女儿过去所有的情谊,砍断了她和家里的所有联系。

But yesterday our little daughter thought of no one but her mother and father, as we had no thought that was not for her; by to-morrow she will have become a hostile stranger.

昨天,我们的女儿还只想着她的父母,就像我们只想着她一样;但是明天,她就会变成一个带着敌意的陌生人。

The tragedy is always going on under our eyes.

这样的悲剧总在我们眼皮底下上演。

On the one hand you see a father who has sacrificed himself to his son, and his daughter-in-law shows him the last degree of insolence.

这边你看见一位父亲为儿子牺牲自己,儿媳却对他蛮横无理到了极点。

On the other hand, it is the son-in-law who turns his wife's mother out of the house.

那边一个女婿又把他岳母赶出家门了。

I sometimes hear it said that there is nothing dramatic about society in these days; but the Drama of the Son-in-law is appalling, to say nothing of our marriages, which have come to be very poor farces.

我有时听人说,近来,世上已经没有什么令人吃惊的事了,但是女婿这台戏格外令人吃惊。且不说我们的婚姻,这台戏都变成一出拙劣的闹剧了。

I can explain how it all came about in the old vermicelli maker's case.

我可以把那个老面条商的遭遇解释得一清二楚。

I think I recollect that Foriot—”"Goriot, madame."

我想我记得那个弗里奥——”“高里奥,夫人。”

"Yes, that Moriot was once President of his Section during the Revolution.“是的,大革命时期,那个莫里奥曾是他们区的区长。

He was in the secret of the famous scarcity of grain, and laid the foundation of his fortune in those days by selling flour for ten times its cost.

他知道那次有名的粮食短缺的内幕。那时,他以成本价十倍的价钱出售面粉,靠着倒卖面粉积累了第一笔财富。

He had as much flour as he wanted.

他屯足了面粉。

My grandmother's steward sold him immense quantities.

我祖母的管家就卖给他很多。

No doubt Noriot shared the plunder with the Committee of Public Salvation, as that sort of person always did.

毫无疑问,诺里奥和救国委员会瓜分了那笔暴利,那些人过去一直都这样干。

I recollect the steward telling my grandmother that she might live at Grandvilliers in complete security, because her corn was as good as a certificate of civism.

我记起来那个管家还告诉我祖母,说她也许可以安安全全地住在格朗维莱尔,因为她的麦子就是一张很好的公民证。

Well, then, this Loriot, who sold corn to those butchers, has never had but one passion, they say—he idolizes his daughters.

后来他们说,那个把麦子卖给那些侩子手的洛里奥只钟情于一件事——溺爱女儿。

He settled one of them under Restaud's roof, and grafted the other into the Nucingen family tree, the Baron de Nucingen being a rich banker who had turned Royalist.

他把一个女儿安顿在雷斯多家,把另一个嫁到纽沁根家族。德纽沁根男爵是一个富有的银行家,他后来变成保皇党的人了。

You can quite understand that so long as Bonaparte was Emperor, the two sons-in-law could manage to put up with the old Ninety-three; but after the restoration of the Bourbons, M. de Restaud felt bored by the old man's society, and the banker was still more tired of it.

你明白当初波拿巴是皇帝,两个女婿还尽量忍受这个支持大革命的老家伙。但波旁王朝复辟之后,德雷斯多先生对老头的生活圈子感到厌烦了,那银行家就更厌恶他了。

His daughters were still fond of him; they wanted 'to keep the goat and the cabbage,' so they used to see Joriot whenever there was no one there, under pretence of affection.

他的女儿们依旧爱戴他,她们想‘羊与洋白菜兼得’。所以在没有访客的时候,她们会探望待乔里奥,假装非常爱慕父亲。

'Come to-day, papa, we shall have you all to ourselves, and that will be much nicer!' and all that sort of thing.‘今天来吧,爸爸,我们会全心全意服侍您,这样就更好了!’等等诸如此类的话。

As for me, dear, I believe that love has second-sight: poor Ninety-three; his heart must have bled.

至于我,亲爱的,我相信爱是有洞察力的,这个大革命时期的可怜老头的心肯定在滴血。

He saw that his daughters were ashamed of him, that if they loved their husbands his visits must make mischief.

他看出女儿们因为他而觉得羞愧,还看出如果她们真爱自己的丈夫,那么他的拜访就会离间他们的感情。

So he immolated himself.

所以他牺牲了自己。

He made the sacrifice because he was a father; he went into voluntary exile.

他做出牺牲是因为他是父亲,于是他自愿退出了。

His daughters were satisfied, so he thought that he had done the best thing he could; but it was a family crime, and father and daughters were accomplices.

他的女儿们心满意足了,所以他觉得这是他能做的最好事情了。但这却是一宗父亲和女儿合谋的家庭犯罪。

You see this sort of thing everywhere.

这样的情形随处可见。

What could this old Doriot have been but a splash of mud in his daughters' drawing-rooms?

这多里奥老头不过是女儿客厅里溅的一点泥,不然还能是什么呢?

He would only have been in the way, and bored other people, besides being bored himself.

他只是碍手碍脚、惹人厌烦的那个人,而且连他自己也讨厌自己。

And this that happened between father and daughters may happen to the prettiest woman in Paris and the man she loves the best; if her love grows tiresome, he will go; he will descend to the basest trickery to leave her.

父女三人之间发生的事也可能会发生在巴黎最漂亮的女人和她最爱的男人之间。如果她的爱使人厌倦,他会走开。他不惜使出最卑微的把戏来躲开她。

It is the same with all love and friendship.

爱和友谊,都是如此。

Our heart is a treasury; if you pour out all its wealth at once, you are bankrupt.

我们的心如同一座宝库,假使你一次倾尽所有财富,你就会破产。

We show no more mercy to the affection that reveals its utmost extent than we do to another kind of prodigal who has not a penny left.

这些将情感挥霍一空的人和那一类挥霍到身无分文的人一样,得不到人们的同情。

Their father had given them all he had.

她们父亲已经把他的全部给了女儿。

For twenty years he had given his whole heart to them; then, one day, he gave them all his fortune too.

二十年来,他对她们倾注了所有心血。之后的一天,他又把自己所有的家产都给了她们。

The lemon was squeezed; the girls left the rest in the gutter.”

女孩们榨干柠檬后,就把残余物扔进了排水沟。”

"The world is very base," said the Vicomtesse, plucking at the threads of her shawl.“这个社会真卑鄙。”子爵夫人边说边拔着披肩上的细线。

She did not raise her head as she spoke; the words that Mme. de Langeais had meant for her in the course of her story had cut her to the quick.

说话时,她没有抬头。德朗热夫人说这故事时,有些话是冲着她说的,这些话正中要害。

"Base?“卑鄙?

Oh, no," answered the Duchess; "the world goes its own way, that is all.

哦,不是的。”公爵夫人回答说,“世界就是这样运转的,没别的。

If I speak in this way, it is only to show that I am not duped by it.

如果我这样说,只是证明我没有被这个世道愚弄。

I think as you do," she said, pressing the Vicomtesse's hand.

我想的跟你一样。”她说着握紧了子爵夫人的手。

"The world is a slough; let us try to live on the heights above it."“这个世界就是一个大泥潭,我们要努力站在高处。”

She rose to her feet and kissed Mme. de Beauseant on the forehead as she said:"You look very charming to-day, dear. I have never seen such a lovely color in your cheeks before.”

她站起来亲吻了德伯桑夫人的额头,然后说:“你今天看起来非常迷人,亲爱的。我之前从来没见到你的脸色这么好过。”

Then she went out with a slight inclination of the head to the cousin.

接着她向这位表弟微微点头后便走出去了。

"Father Goriot is sublime!" said Eugene to himself, as he remembered how he had watched his neighbor work the silver vessel into a shapeless mass that night.“高老头真令人尊敬啊!”欧仁自言自语道,同时想起自己那晚看到他的邻居将一个银盘扭成奇形怪状的一团。

Mme. de Beauseant did not hear him; she was absorbed in her own thoughts.

德伯桑夫人没有听见他的话,她想得入神了。

For several minutes the silence remained unbroken till the law student became almost paralyzed with embarrassment, and was equally afraid to go or stay or speak a word.

这样的沉默维持了好几分钟都没有被打破。这位法律系学生几乎因为这种尴尬的气氛而手脚麻痹了,他既不敢离开,也不敢逗留,又不敢开口说话。

"The world is basely ungrateful and ill-natured," said the Vicomtesse at last.“这个世界真是卑贱、粗暴而且恶毒。”子爵夫人终于说道,

"No sooner does a trouble befall you than a friend is ready to bring the tidings and to probe your heart with the point of a dagger while calling on you to admire the handle.“只要你一碰上麻烦,就会有朋友来告诉你这个消息,用刀尖刺你的心脏,还让你欣赏刀柄。

Epigrams and sarcasms already!

讽刺、挖苦接踵而至!

Ah! I will defend myself!”

啊!我要保护自己!”

She raised her head like the great lady that she was, and lightnings flashed from her proud eyes.

她仰起头,那个姿势正好显出她贵妇人的气质,那种骄傲的眼神散发出闪电般的光芒。

"Ah!" she said, as she saw Eugene, "are you there?"“啊!”她一边转向欧仁一边问,“你还在吗?”

"Still," he said piteously.“是的,还在。”他可怜兮兮地回答。

"Well, then, M. de Rastignac, deal with the world as it deserves.“那么,德拉斯蒂涅先生,你该给这个社会它应得的惩罚。

You are determined to succeed?

你想要成功吗?

I will help you.

我会帮助你。

You shall sound the depths of corruption in woman; you shall measure the extent of man's pitiful vanity.

你会测出女人堕落得有多深,你也会衡量出男人虚荣得有多可悲。

Deeply as I am versed in such learning, there were pages in the book of life that I had not read.

虽然人生这部书我已经读得非常透彻了,但以前始终有几页没有读到。

Now I know all.

现在我都明白了。

The more cold-blooded your calculations, the further you will go.

你越是冷血、越会算计,就走得越远。

Strike ruthlessly; you will be feared.

如果你冷酷无情地打击了别人,别人就会怕了你。

Men and women for you must be nothing more than post-horses; take a fresh relay, and leave the last to drop by the roadside; in this way you will reach the goal of your ambition.

对你来说,世间男女只能是驿马,轮班上路,在用尽他们最后一丝力气后,就把他们丢在路边,这样你才能抵达自己远大抱负的目的地。

You will be nothing here, you see, unless a woman interests herself in you; and she must be young and wealthy, and a woman of the world.

你看,除非有女人对你感兴趣,你在这里什么都不是,而且她必须年轻、富有,经常出入交际场所。

Yet, if you have a heart, lock it carefully away like a treasure; do not let any one suspect it, or you will be lost; you would cease to be the executioner, you would take the victim's place.

然而,如果你还有真情,就把它当成宝贝一样好好锁起来,别让任何人起疑心,否则你会迷失自我,你将不再是行刑官,而会变成受害者。

And if ever you should love, never let your secret escape you!

如果你真的遇到你的真爱,要坚决保守秘密!

Trust no one until you are very sure of the heart to which you open your heart.

在你确定敞开心扉之前,不要相信任何人。

Learn to mistrust every one; take every precaution for the sake of the love which does not exist as yet.

要学会怀疑每一个人,为了你还未到来的真爱,要对每件事怀有戒心。

Listen, Miguel”—the name slipped from her so naturally that she did not notice her mistake—“there is something still more appalling than the ingratitude of daughters who have cast off their old father and wish that he were dead, and that is a rivalry between two sisters.

听着,米格尔,”——这个名字自然而然地从她口中说出来,她都没注意到自己叫错了——“还有比忘恩负义的女儿遗弃父亲、希望父亲早死这种丑闻更可怕的事情呢,这就是两姐妹之间的敌意。

Restaud comes of a good family, his wife has been received into their circle; she has been presented at court; and her sister, her wealthy sister, Mme. Delphine de Nucingen, the wife of a great capitalist, is consumed with envy, and ready to die of spleen.

雷斯多出身良好,他的夫人也被这个圈子接受了,而且她还进过宫;而她的妹妹呢,她有钱的妹妹德尔菲娜·德纽沁根——大资本家的老婆——被妒忌心折磨得快要忿怒而死了。

There is gulf set between the sisters—indeed, they are sisters no longer—the two women who refuse to acknowledge their father do not acknowledge each other.

这就是两姐妹之间的鸿沟——其实,她们再也不是姐妹了——这两个女人拒绝承认她们的父亲,也不承认彼此。

So Mme. de Nucingen would lap up all the mud that lies between the Rue Saint-Lazare and the Rue de Grenelle to gain admittance to my salon.

所以德纽沁根夫人为了能进我的沙龙,就算让她把从圣拉扎尔街到格勒内勒街的土舔干净,她都愿意。

She fancied that she should gain her end through de Marsay; she has made herself de Marsay's slave, and she bores him.

她幻想着能通过德马尔塞来达到自己的目的,她已经把自己变成德马尔塞的奴隶了,她却让他感到厌恶了。

De Marsay cares very little about her.

德马尔赛一点都不关心她。

If you will introduce her to me, you will be her darling, her Benjamin; she will idolize you.

如果你能把她引见给我,那么你会成为她的甜心,她的便雅悯(注:“便雅悯”为《圣经》人物,指受宠爱的幼子),她会崇拜你的。

If, after that, you can love her, do so; if not, make her useful.

如果在那之后,你能爱上她,就尽情地爱吧;要是没有爱上她,就好好利用她。

I will ask her to come once or twice to one of my great crushes, but I will never receive her here in the morning.

我会在人多的社交聚会中邀请她一两次,但是在早上这里绝不接待她。

I will bow to her when I see her, and that will be quite sufficient.

我看见她时,会点头打招呼,那也就足够了。

You have shut the Comtesse de Restaud's door against you by mentioning Father Goriot's name.

你说出高老头的名字时,德雷斯多伯爵夫人家的大门就对你关上了。

Yes, my good friend, you may call at her house twenty times, and every time out of the twenty you will find that she is not at home.

是的,我的好朋友,你可以去她家二十次,但你会发现二十次她都不在家。

The servants have their orders, and will not admit you.

他们的仆人都得到了命令,不会接待你了。

Very well, then, now let Father Goriot gain the right of entry into her sister's house for you.

很好,那么,就让高老头为你进入她姐姐的家门争取权利吧。

The beautiful Mme. de Nucingen will give the signal for a battle.

这位美丽的德纽沁根夫人会为你发出战争的信号。

As soon as she singles you out, other women will begin to lose their heads about you, and her enemies and rivals and intimate friends will all try to take you from her.

一旦她将你挑中,其他的女人都会为你疯狂,她的敌人、对手和密友都会想从她那里把你抢到手。

There are women who will fall in love with a man because another woman has chosen him; like the city madams, poor things, who copy our millinery, and hope thereby to acquire our manners.

有一些女人,她们爱上一个男人,仅仅因为其他女人看中了他。就像一些市井妇人一样,真是一群可怜虫。我们戴什么帽子,她们也跟着戴,希望由此学到我们的风度。

You will have a success, and in Paris success is everything; it is the key of power.

你会成功的,在巴黎拥有成功就是拥有一切,成功是开启权力之门的钥匙。

If the women credit you with wit and talent, the men will follow suit so long as you do not undeceive them yourself.

如果女人觉得你有智慧、有天赋,只要你自己不戳穿自己,男人也会跟着相信你的。

There will be nothing you may not aspire to; you will go everywhere, and you will find out what the world is—an assemblage of fools and knaves.

那时,你什么都想做,你会去很多地方,会看清这个世界的本质——这个世界只不过是笨蛋和无赖的聚居之地。

But you must be neither the one nor the other.

但是你既不要当笨蛋也不要当无赖。

I am giving you my name like Ariadne's clue of thread to take with you into the labyrinth; make no unworthy use of it," she said, with a queenly glance and curve of her throat; "give it back to me unsullied.

我会把我的姓氏给你,它就像阿里阿德涅的线索一样。你带着它进迷宫吧,别把它浪费了。”她说着看了拉斯蒂涅一眼。她的眼神和颈部曲线如王后般高雅,“将来干干净净地把它还给我。

And now, go; leave me.

好了,现在你走吧,让我清静一会儿。

We women also have our battles to fight.”

我们女人也有自己的仗要打。”

"And if you should ever need some one who would gladly set a match to a train for you—”"Well?" she asked.“不管什么时候,如果你需要一个忠心的人为你点燃导火线——”“怎么样?”她问。

He tapped his heart, smiled in answer to his cousin's smile, and went.

他拍拍胸口,与表姐相视一笑当作回答,然后就走了。

It was five o'clock, and Eugene was hungry; he was afraid lest he should not be in time for dinner, a misgiving which made him feel that it was pleasant to be borne so quickly across Paris.

已经五点了,欧仁觉得饿了,他害怕自己赶不上晚饭,这一忧虑使他感到了能在巴黎扶摇直上的快乐。

This sensation of physical comfort left his mind free to grapple with the thoughts that assailed him.

有了身体上的舒适,那么思想上就可以自由地与困扰他的想法作斗争了。

A mortification usually sends a young man of his age into a furious rage; he shakes his fist at society, and vows vengeance when his belief in himself is shaken.

耻辱感通常会使他这年纪的人狂怒不已。当这些人的信仰被动摇了,他们就会对社会挥舞起拳头,发誓要报仇。

Just then Rastignac was overwhelmed by the words, "You have shut the Countess' door against you."

刚才,拉斯蒂涅因为那句“德雷斯多伯爵夫人家的大门就对你关上了”而倍受打击。

"I shall call!" he said to himself, "and if Mme. de Beauseant is right, if I never find her at home—I...well, Mme. de Restaud shall meet me in every salon in Paris.“我要去她家!”他对自己说,“如果德伯桑夫人是对的,如果她永远不接待我——我……那么,德雷斯多夫人将会在巴黎的每一间沙龙里都碰到我。

I will learn to fence and have some pistol practice, and kill that Maxime of hers!”

我要学习剑术,再练习一下射击,然后杀了她的马克西姆!”

"And money?" cried an inward monitor.“但我有钱吗?”内心的一个声音喊道,

"How about money, where is that to come from?"“钱的问题怎么解决,我从哪里弄钱呢?”

And all at once the wealth displayed in the Countess de Restaud's drawing-room rose before his eyes.

突然,他眼前浮现出了德雷斯多伯爵夫人家的客厅和客厅里的奢华气派。

That was the luxury which Goriot's daughter had loved too well, the gilding, the ostentatious splendor, the unintelligent luxury of the parvenu, the riotous extravagance of a courtesan.

那是高老头之女曾梦寐以求的奢华:满屋金碧辉煌、外表光彩照人,像暴发户一样讲求庸俗的排场,像情妇一样放荡、铺张。

Then the attractive vision suddenly went under an eclipse as he remembered the stately grandeur of the Hotel de Beauseant.

但当他想起德伯桑公馆的庄严、高贵时,这一迷人的景象顿时黯然失色了。

As his fancy wandered among these lofty regions in the great world of Paris, innumerable dark thoughts gathered in his heart; his ideas widened, and his conscience grew more elastic.

他的幻想游走在巴黎这个宏大世界的上流社会,脑子里聚集了无数坏念头,他的眼界更宽了,良知也变得更加能屈能伸了。

He saw the world as it is; saw how the rich lived beyond the jurisdiction of law and public opinion, and found in success the ultima ratio mundi.

他看清了世界的本来面目,看到富人是怎样凌驾于法律体系和公众舆论之上,发现成功才是最终的决定因素。

"Vautrin is right, success is virtue!" he said to himself.“沃尔特兰说得没错,成功才是美德!”他对自己说。

Arrived in the Rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve, he rushed up to his room for ten francs wherewith to satisfy the demands of the cabman, and went in to dinner.

到了新圣热讷维耶沃街,他冲进房间拿出十法郎付给车夫,然后就去吃饭了。

He glanced round the squalid room, saw the eighteen poverty-stricken creatures about to feed like cattle in their stalls, and the sight filled him with loathing.

他环顾了一下肮脏的屋子,看到十八个穷困潦倒的家伙像马厩里的牲畜一样准备吃东西,这个场面让他非常厌恶。

The transition was too sudden, and the contrast was so violent that it could not but act as a powerful stimulant; his ambition developed and grew beyond all social bounds.

突如其来的转变和巨大的反差变成了一剂强有力的兴奋剂。他的野心不断膨胀,最后超出了所有的阶级限制。

On the one hand, he beheld a vision of social life in its most charming and refined forms, of quick-pulsed youth, of fair, impassioned faces invested with all the charm of poetry, framed in a marvelous setting of luxury or art; and, on the other hand, he saw a sombre picture, the miry verge beyond these faces, in which passion was extinct and nothing was left of the drama but the cords and pulleys and bare mechanism.

一方面,他看到了社会最迷人、最精致的一面,看到了激情澎湃的年轻人,看到了他们容貌姣好、热情洋溢的脸庞。他们被包围在奢侈品和艺术品装饰的美妙场景中;另一方面,他又看到了社会的昏暗面,看到每张脸上都沾着泥污,没有任何激情,用来装饰场景的只有绳索、滑车和没有遮盖的机械。

Mme. de Beauseant's counsels, the words uttered in anger by the forsaken lady, her petulant offer, came to his mind, and poverty was a ready expositor.

德伯桑夫人的忠告、那个弃妇愤怒时说的话、她盛怒之下的建议涌上欧仁的心头,贫穷是现成的解说者。

Rastignac determined to open two parallel trenches so as to insure success; he would be a learned doctor of law and a man of fashion.

拉斯蒂涅决定双管齐下,以保证成功,他会成为一个学识渊博的法律博士和一个时尚男性的。

Clearly he was still a child!

他显然还是个孩子!

Those two lines are asymptotes, and will never meet.

这两条路是渐近线,永远不可能有交点。

"You are very dull, my lord Marquis," said Vautrin, with one of the shrewd glances that seem to read the innermost secrets of another mind.“你太无精打采了,侯爵大人。”沃尔特兰说。他敏锐的目光似乎能看穿别人藏在内心最深处的秘密。

"I am not in the humor to stand jokes from people who call me 'my lord Marquis," answered Eugene.“别叫我‘侯爵大人’,我现在没心情听别人开这个玩笑。”欧仁回答说,

"A marquis here in Paris, if he is not the veriest sham, ought to have a hundred thousand livres a year at least; and a lodger in the Maison Vauquer is not exactly Fortune's favorite."“如果他不是十足的骗子,在巴黎,一位侯爵一年至少能拿到十万里弗赫,而一个在‘沃盖之家’的房客绝不会是命运的宠儿。”

Vautrin's glance at Rastignac was half-paternal, half-contemptuous.

沃尔特兰看拉斯蒂涅的眼神中一半是父亲般的温暖,一半是轻蔑。

"Puppy!" it seemed to say; "I should make one mouthful of him!"“傲慢的小子!”他似乎在说,“我一口就可以吞掉他!”

Then he answered:"You are in a bad humor; perhaps your visit to the beautiful Comtesse de Restaud was not a success."

之后他回答说:“你心情不好,或许是因为你刚才去拜访美丽的德雷斯多伯爵夫人时没有成功吧。”

"She has shut her door against me because I told her that her father dined at our table," cried Rastignac.“她以后不会再接待我了,因为我告诉她,她的父亲跟我们坐在一张桌子上吃饭。”拉斯蒂涅叫道。

Glances were exchanged all round the room; Father Goriot looked down.

房里的人都交换了一下眼色,高老头垂下了头。

"You have sent some snuff into my eye," he said to his neighbor, turning a little aside to rub his hand over his face.“你把鼻烟吹进我眼睛啦。”他一边对旁边的人说,一边稍稍转过去,用手擦着脸。

"Any one who molests Father Goriot will have henceforward to reckon with me," said Eugene, looking at the old man's neighbor; "he is worth all the rest of us put together.—I am not speaking of the ladies," he added, turning in the direction of Mlle. Taillefer.“从今往后,谁再欺负高老头,就是跟我过不去,”欧仁说着看了一眼老头旁边的人,“我们加起来都没他重要。——女士除外。”他冲着塔耶费小姐补充了一句。

Eugene's remarks produced a sensation, and his tone silenced the dinner-table.

欧仁的话引起了轰动,他的语气使整个饭桌上的人都安静了下来。

Vautrin alone spoke.

只有沃尔特兰一个人说话了,

"If you are going to champion Father Goriot, and set up for his responsible editor into the bargain, you had need be a crack shot and know how to handle the foils," he said, banteringly.“要是你想保护高老头,并且自认为是他的责任编辑,那么你得做个百发百中的狙击手,还要学会击剑。”他半开玩笑地说。

"So I intend," said Eugene.“我就打算这么做。”欧仁说。

"Then you are taking the field today?"“那么,你今天就正式披挂上阵了?”

"Perhaps," Rastignac answered.“也许吧。”拉斯蒂涅回答说,

"But I owe no account of myself to any one, especially as I do not try to find out what other people do of a night."“但是,我不需要向任何人解释,尤其是在我不想知道别人夜里都在做什么的时候。”

Vautrin looked askance at Rastignac.

沃尔特兰斜着眼看着拉斯蒂涅,

"If you do not mean to be deceived by the puppets, my boy, you must go behind and see the whole show, and not peep through holes in the curtain.“我的孩子,要是你不想被木偶欺骗,你必须走到后台去看这场演出。不要从幕布的缝隙里看。

That is enough," he added, seeing that Eugene was about to fly into a passion.

这就够了。”他看到欧仁快要发火了,就加了一句,

"We can have a little talk whenever you like."“只要你愿意,我们随时可以闲聊几句。”

There was a general feeling of gloom and constraint.

大家都感到了郁闷和压抑。

Father Goriot was so deeply dejected by the student's remark that he did not notice the change in the disposition of his fellow-lodgers, nor know that he had met with a champion capable of putting an end to the persecution.

高老头听了大学生这番话,深感沮丧,而没有注意到其他房客的内心起了变化,也没有意识到他遇见了一位保护人,能帮他从此免受迫害。

"Then, M. Goriot sitting there is the father of a countess," said Mme. Vauquer in a low voice.“那就是说,坐在这里的高里奥先生是一位伯爵夫人的父亲。”沃盖夫人小声说。

"And of a baroness," answered Rastignac.“还是一位男爵夫人的父亲。”拉斯蒂涅回答道。

"That is about all he is capable of," said Bianchon to Rastignac; "I have taken a look at his head; there is only one bump—the bump of Paternity; he must be an ETERNAL FATHER.”“这就是他的全部能力了。”比安卡肖恩对拉斯蒂涅说,“我看过他的脑袋,上面只有一处隆起的地方——装的全是父爱,他一定是位永远都会疼爱女儿的父亲。”

Eugene was too intent on his thoughts to laugh at Bianchon's joke.

欧仁太专注于想自己的事,听了比安卡肖恩的笑话后并没有发笑。

He determined to profit by Mme. de Beauseant's counsels, and was asking himself how he could obtain the necessary money.

他决定采纳德伯桑夫人的提议来获得利益,并想着怎样才能获取必要的资金。

He grew grave.

他变得非常严肃。

The wide savannas of the world stretched before his eyes; all things lay before him, nothing was his.

社会这一辽阔的热带稀树草原尽现于他眼前,一切都呈现在他面前,可是没有一件是他的。

Dinner came to an end, the others went, and he was left in the dining-room.

吃完晚饭,其他房客都走了,只有他独自留在餐厅。

"So you have seen my daughter?" Goriot spoke tremulously, and the sound of his voice broke in upon Eugene's dreams.“这样看来,你见到我女儿了?”高老头颤颤巍巍地问道。他的声音打断了欧仁的沉思。

The young man took the elder's hand, and looked at him with something like kindness in his eyes.

年轻人抓起老人的手,看着他,眼神中带着几分善意。

"You are a good and noble man," he said.“您是一位善良而高贵的人。”他说,

"We will have some talk about your daughters by and by."“我们以后再谈您的女儿。”

He rose without waiting for Goriot's answer, and went to his room.

不等高老头回答,他就站起身来,径自回房去了。

There he wrote the following letter to his mother:—"My Dear Mother,—Can you nourish your child from your breast again? I am in a position to make a rapid fortune, but I want twelve hundred francs—I must have them at all costs.

在房间里,他给母亲写了下面这封信:“我亲爱的母亲——您还能再哺育一次您的孩子吗?我马上就能飞黄腾达了,但是我需要一千两百法郎——无论如何,我都需要这笔钱。

Say nothing about this to my father; perhaps he might make objections, and unless I have the money, I may be led to put an end to myself, and so escape the clutches of despair.

不要把这件事告诉我父亲,他也许会反对。要是我得不到这笔钱,我也许会被带上一条不归路,以摆脱纠缠我的绝望。

I will tell you everything when I see you.

我见到你时,会告诉您事情的全部。

I will not begin to try to describe my present situation; it would take volumes to put the whole story clearly and fully.

关于我的近况,我就不多说了,要想把事情说得完整、清楚,得说好几十页呢。

I have not been gambling, my kind mother, I owe no one a penny; but if you would preserve the life that you gave me, you must send me the sum I mention.

我善良的母亲,我没有赌博,也不欠别人一分一毫,但是如果您想保住您给我的这条命,就一定要寄给我这笔钱。

As a matter of fact, I go to see the Vicomtesse de Beauseant; she is using her influence for me; I am obliged to go into society, and I have not a penny to lay out on clean gloves.

事实上,我去见了德伯桑子爵夫人,她答应以她的影响力来帮助我。我必须进入社交圈,却没钱买一双好看的手套。

I can manage to exist on bread and water, or go without food, if need be, but I cannot do without the tools with which they cultivate the vineyards in this country.

我可以只吃粗茶淡饭过活,必要时也可以什么都不吃,但是我不能不买他们在这块地方种植葡萄的工具。

I must resolutely make up my mind at once to make my way, or stick in the mire for the rest of my days.

我必须立刻下定决心,向目标进发,不然我的后半生就要陷入泥沼、不得翻身了。

I know that all your hopes are set on me, and I want to realize them quickly.

我知道您将所有希望都寄托在我的身上,我也想快点实现这些愿望。

Sell some of your old jewelry, my kind mother; I will give you other jewels very soon.

我善良的母亲,卖一点您的旧首饰吧,很快我就能送给您其他首饰了。

I know enough of our affairs at home to know all that such a sacrifice means, and you must not think that I would lightly ask you to make it; I should be a monster if I could.

我很清楚家里的状况,也知道这样的牺牲意味着什么,您别认为我轻易就说出了这些话。要是可以,我就成魔鬼了。

You must think of my entreaty as a cry forced from me by imperative necessity.

您一定得明白,我是急需这笔钱,迫不得已才哀求您的。

Our whole future lies in the subsidy with which I must begin my first campaign, for life in Paris is one continual battle.

我们的未来就全靠这些钱了,我要用这笔钱打响我的第一炮,因为巴黎的生活就是一场永无止息的战争。

If you cannot otherwise procure the whole of the money, and are forced to sell our aunt's lace, tell her that I will send her some still handsomer," and so forth.

如果您还是筹不齐这笔钱,因此不得不卖掉姑妈的项链,告诉她,我会寄给她更漂亮的项链。”信里还有其他类似的话。

He wrote to ask each of his sisters for their savings—would they despoil themselves for him, and keep the sacrifice a secret from the family?

他写信问妹妹们要她们的储蓄——她们会做出牺牲把钱给他,并向家人保守这个秘密吗?

To his request he knew that they would not fail to respond gladly, and he added to it an appeal to their delicacy by touching the chord of honor that vibrates so loudly in young and high-strung natures.

为了增加胜算,他又触碰了她们争强好胜的心弦——年轻、兴奋的心中总是猛烈跃动着争强好胜之情——让她们柔软的心产生同情。

Yet when he had written the letters, he could not help feeling misgivings in spite of his youthful ambition; his heart beat fast, and he trembled.

尽管他心怀大志,但他写完信后,不禁担心起来。他的心跳得很快,身体也在发抖。

He knew the spotless nobleness of the lives buried away in the lonely manor house; he knew what trouble and what joy his request would cause his sisters, and how happy they would be as they talked at the bottom of the orchard of that dear brother of theirs in Paris.

他知道妹妹们住在人迹罕至的庄园里,有着一尘不染的高贵心灵;他知道他的要求会带给妹妹怎样的烦恼和乐趣;他知道她们坐在果树下谈论自己正在巴黎的亲爱哥哥时,会是多么开心。

Visions rose before his eyes; a sudden strong light revealed his sisters secretly counting over their little store, devising some girlish stratagem by which the money could be sent to him incognito, essaying, for the first time in their lives, a piece of deceit that reached the sublime in its unselfishness.

他的眼前浮现出一幅幅画面。借着一束强烈的光芒,他仿佛看到他的妹妹们正偷偷数着自己小金库里的存款,使出一些小女生的伎俩,让钱以“匿名人”的名义寄到他手里。这是她们人生中第一次试图以一个谎言来表现她们慷慨、无私的高贵品格。

"A sister's heart is a diamond for purity, a deep sea of tenderness!" he said to himself.“妹妹的心如钻石般纯洁,它的温柔有如深海!”他自言自语道。

He felt ashamed of those letters.

他因为那些信而感到羞耻。

What power there must be in the petitions put up by such hearts; how pure the fervor that bears their souls to Heaven in prayer!

有这样的心灵,她们的许愿会是多么有力啊!她们诚心向上天祈祷,这股热情是多么纯洁啊!

What exquisite joy they would find in self-sacrifice!

她们从自我牺牲中得到的快乐是多么地强烈啊!

What a pang for his mother's heart if she could not send him all that he asked for!

要是母亲无法筹齐他所要的钱,她的内心会多么悲痛啊!

And this noble affection, these sacrifices made at such terrible cost, were to serve as the ladder by which he meant to climb to Delphine de Nucingen.

而这些高贵的情感,这些巨大的牺牲,会成为他用来接近德尔菲娜·德纽沁根的阶梯。

A few tears, like the last grains of incense flung upon the sacred altar fire of the hearth, fell from his eyes.

几滴眼泪从他眼里掉了下来,如同扔进壁炉里、投进神圣爱火中的几颗乳香。

He walked up and down, and despair mingled with his emotion.

他来来回回地走着,感动中夹杂着绝望。

Father Goriot saw him through the half-open door.

高老头透过半敞的门看着他。

"What is the matter, sir?" he asked from the threshold.“怎么了,先生?”他站在门边问。

"Ah! my good neighbor, I am as much a son and brother as you are a father.“啊!我的邻居,我是一个儿子和哥哥,就像您是一位父亲一样。

You do well to fear for the Comtesse Anastasie; there is one M. Maxime de Trailles, who will be her ruin.”

您对阿纳斯塔谢伯爵夫人的担心是对的,有一位马克西姆·德特拉尔先生,他会把她毁掉的。”

Father Goriot withdrew, stammering some words, but Eugene failed to catch their meaning.

高老头退了出去,同时嘴里还嘟囔了几句,但是欧仁没听清楚他在说什么。

The next morning Rastignac went out to post his letters.

第二天早上,拉斯蒂涅出去寄信了。

Up to the last moment he wavered and doubted, but he ended by flinging them into the box.

直到最后一刻他还是犹豫不决,但最后还是把信扔进了信箱。

"I shall succeed!" he said to himself.“我会成功的!”他对自己说。

So says the gambler; so says the great captain; but the three words that have been the salvation of some few, have been the ruin of many more.

赌徒也这样说,伟大的船长也这样说。这句话虽说拯救了一些人,但被它毁掉的人更多。

A few days after this Eugene called at Mme. de Restaud's house; she was not at home.

过了几天,欧仁去拜访德雷斯多夫人,她不在家。

Three times he tried the experiment, and three times he found her doors closed against him, though he was careful to choose an hour when M. de Trailles was not there.

他尝试过三次,三次都发现大门紧锁,即便他都是仔细挑选德特拉尔先生不在的时间去的。

The Vicomtesse was right.

子爵夫人没错。

The student studied no longer.

这个学生的学业已经荒废许久了。

He put in an appearance at lectures simply to answer to his name, and after thus attesting his presence, departed forthwith.

他在课堂上露面,只是为了应付点名,在答了到,证明自己出席之后,就立即离开。

He had been through a reasoning process familiar to most students.

他正经历一个论证推理的过程,而这一过程对大部分学生都不陌生。

He had seen the advisability of deferring his studies to the last moment before going up for his examinations; he made up his mind to cram his second and third years' work into the third year, when he meant to begin to work in earnest, and to complete his studies in law with one great effort.

他意识到将学习推迟到考试之前的最后一刻是明智的选择。他打定主意将第二年和第三年的课程全部挤在第三年完成,想着那时他会认真读书,尽全力完成自己法律专业的课程。

In the meantime he had fifteen months in which to navigate the ocean of Paris, to spread the nets and set the lines that would bring him a protectress and a fortune.

与此同时,他已经在巴黎这个海洋中航行十五个月了,期间他撒下渔网、设好鱼线,以此网罗一个女保护人和一笔财富。

Twice during that week he saw Mme. de Beauseant; he did not go to her house until he had seen the Marquis d'Ajuda drive away.

那个星期,他见过德伯桑夫人两次。他会看着德阿尤达侯爵驾车离开后再进屋。

Victory for yet a few more days was with the great lady, the most poetic figure in the Faubourg Saint-Germain; and the marriage of the Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto with Mlle.de Rochefide was postponed.

这位伟大的女性在之后的一些日子里依旧以胜利者的姿态出现,她是圣日耳曼郊区最有诗意的人。德阿尤达·平托侯爵和德洛希斐特小姐的婚事也延期了。

The dread of losing her happiness filled those days with a fever of joy unknown before, but the end was only so much the nearer.

因为害怕即将失去幸福,这些日子里她沉溺在从未体验过的狂喜之中。但是不管怎样,结局都是差不多的。

The Marquis d'Ajuda and the Rochefides agreed that this quarrel

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