【译点点】每日短篇NO.6_【译点点】

ABABYTRAMP...

Segmentally reference from 《101 Classic Short Stories》.

Let's begin:

A BABY TRAMP

小流浪汉

ByAmbrose Bierce

安布罗斯·贝尔士著

If you had seen littleJo standing at the street corner in the rain, you would hardly have admiredhim. It was apparently an ordinary autumn rainstorm, but the water which fellupon Jo (who was hardly old enough to be either just or unjust, and so perhapsdid not come under the law of impartial distribution) appeared to have someproperty peculiar to itself: one would have said it was dark andadhesive—sticky. But that could hardly be so, even in Blackburg, where thingscertainly did occur that were a good deal out of the common.

如果你见到了下雨天中，年幼的乔蜷缩在街角的样子，你会对他充满怜悯。在这时常的秋雨中，乔浑身湿透（没有人年长到可以判断公证与否，所以也许就算法律也没法分配公平），好像有些他特有的——应该说是如影随形的黯淡。但就算是在布莱克斯堡，确实发生过许多超出寻常的事情，这样的场景也许应该习以为常。

For example, ten ortwelve years before, a shower of small frogs had fallen, as is crediblyattested by a contemporaneous chronicle, the record concluding with a somewhatobscure statement to the effect that the chronicler considered it goodgrowing-weather for Frenchmen.

事情要从十数年前开始说起。那时天上下起了一阵青蛙雨，据同时期的编年史可靠记载，对这件事的最终描述多少有些晦涩。简单来说，那个记录人在深思熟虑以后，只有记载这是个好天象。

Some years later Blackburg had a fall of crimsonsnow; it is cold in Blackburg when winter is on, and the snows are frequent anddeep. There can be no doubt of it—the snow in thisinstance was of the colour of blood and melted into water of the same hue, ifwater it was, not blood. The phenomenon had attracted wide attention, andscience had as many explanations as there were scientists who knew nothingabout it. But the men of Blackburg—men who for many years had lived right therewhere the red snow fell, and might be supposed to know a good deal about thematter—shook their heads and said something would come of it.

若干年后，布莱克斯堡下起了猩红大雪；布莱克斯堡的冬天通常都很冷，经常下大雪。毫无疑问的是——雪花色如鲜血，融化后的雪水看起来和血水一样，尽管那根本不是血。这个奇异的景象引起了广泛的关注，也没有什么科学的解释。但住在布莱克斯堡的人——那些在降下猩红大雪的地区居住已久的人，或许对这件事了解更多——他们摇着头说其实这些皆事出有因。

And something did,for the next summer was made memorable by the prevalence of a mysteriousdisease—epidemic, endemic, or the Lord knows what, though the physiciansdidn’t—which carried away a full half of the population. Most of the other halfcarried themselves away and were slow to return, but finally came back, andwere now increasing and multiplying as before, but Blackburg had not since beenaltogether the same.

次年的夏天发生了一件更令人难忘的事情。这年流行了一场神秘的疾病——瘟疫、地方病，或者说是只有上帝才知道的东西，让内科医生束手无策——夺去了大半人的生命。绝大多数的幸存者逃离家乡，迟迟也没有归来，但最终还是回到家乡。从那时起人口像往常一样邹增，但布莱克斯堡再也没有回到过去的辉煌。

Of quite anotherkind, though equally “out of the common,” was the incident of Hetty Parlow’sghost. Hetty Parlow’s maiden name had been Brownon, andin Blackburg that meant more than one would think.

基于完全不同的性质，尽管都是“超乎寻常”的事情，“海蒂·帕洛的鬼魂”这件事才算得上是离奇。海蒂的娘家姓是布朗，在布莱克斯堡这姓氏拥有太多意义。

The Brownons hadfrom time immemorial—from the very earliest of the old colonial days—been theleading family of the town. It was the richest and it was the best, andBlackburg would have shed the last drop of its plebeian blood in defence of theBrownon fair fame. As few of the family’s members had ever been known to livepermanently away from Blackburg, although most of them were educated elsewhereand nearly all had travelled, there was quite a number of them. The men heldmost of the public offices, and the women were foremost in all good works. Ofthese latter, Hetty was most beloved by reason of the sweetness of herdisposition, the purity of her character and her singular personal beauty. Shemarried in Boston a young scapegrace named Parlow, and like a good Brownonbrought him to Blackburg forthwith and made a man and a town councillor of him.They had a child which they named Joseph and dearly loved, as was then thefashion among parents in all that region. Then they died of the mysteriousdisorder already mentioned, and at the age of one wholeyear Joseph set up as an orphan.

布朗家族可谓历史悠久——最早可以追溯到远古殖民时期——在那时就已经是城镇中的领导者。它是最好也最富有的家族，为了维护它的名望，布莱克斯堡甘愿让民众奋战到流尽最后一滴血。在当时，为数不多的家族成员因为永远都疏离布莱克斯堡而知名，尽管他们中的大多数都在别处得到了教育，并且几乎所有的人也都旅行过，这群人也是有相当的数量的。家族中的男人掌控着绝大多数的政府部门，而家族中的女性也都优先从事那些比较好的工作。在这些情形下，海蒂因她甜美的性格而深受宠爱。她内心纯洁，外表也异乎寻常的美丽。她嫁给了波斯顿一个叫帕洛的年轻的恶棍，并按照家族的优良传统，毫不犹豫的带他来到了布莱克斯堡，并且安排他成为了一个人物——一个镇议会议员。他们有一个深爱的孩子，约瑟夫，并成为了那个地方最时尚的父母。之后他们死于我之前提到的那场神秘的骚乱，在一年的时间里约瑟夫就变成了孤儿。

Unfortunately for Joseph the disease which had cut off his parents didnot stop at that; it went on and extirpated nearly the whole Brownon contingentand its allies by marriage; and those who fled did not return. The tradition was broken, the Brownon estates passed into alien hands,and the only Brownons remaining in that place were underground in Oak HillCemetery, where, indeed, was a colony of them powerful enough to resist theencroachment of surrounding tribes and hold the best part of the grounds. Butabout the ghost.

对约瑟夫来说，不幸的事是疾病夺去了双亲的生命，但事情并没有到此为止；持续肆虐的疾病几乎让布朗家族以及和它联姻的家族都遭到灭绝，而那些逃离的幸存者就再也没回来。传统被打破了，布朗家族的财产落入了他姓家族的手中，仅存的布朗家族的成员身居在橡树山的公墓的地下，在那里倒是真的聚集了拥有足够的力量来抵抗周围家族的侵蚀的群体，同时他们也掌控了适宜的训练场地。不过，他们是群鬼魂。

One night, aboutthree years after the death of Hetty Parlow, a number of the young people ofBlackburg were passing Oak Hill Cemetery in a wagon—if you have been there youwill remember that the road to Greenton runs alongsideit on the south. They had been attending a May Day festival at Greenton; andthat serves to fix the date. Altogether there may have been a dozen, and ajolly party they were, considering the legacy of gloom left by the town’srecent sombre experiences. As they passed the cemetery, the man drivingsuddenly reined in his team with an exclamation of surprise. It wassufficiently surprising, no doubt, for just ahead, and almost at the roadside,though inside the cemetery, stood the ghost of Hetty Parlow. There could be nodoubt of it, for she had been personally known to every youth and maiden in theparty. That established the thing’s identity; its character as ghost wassignified by all the customary signs—the shroud, the long, undone hair, the ‘far-away look’—everything. This disquietingapparition was stretching out its arms toward the west, as if in supplicationfor the evening star, which, certainly, was an alluring object, though obviouslyout of reach. As they all sat silent (so the story goes) every member of thatparty of merrymakers—they had merrymade on coffee and lemonade only—distinctlyheard that ghost call the name ‘Joey, Joey!’ A moment later nothing was there. Of course one does not have to believe all that.

在海蒂死后三年的一天晚上，布莱克斯堡的一群年轻人乘着马车经过橡树山公墓，如果你去过那里，你就会记起那条通往格林顿的路在它的南边。他们是要去格林顿参加五月节；这么说可以确定这件事发生的日期。总之，那里有足够多的愉快的聚会，用以驱散小镇近来沉痛经历遗留的阴暗。在他们经过公墓的时候，驾车人突然惊奇的喊了起来，并停下了马车。发生的事情足够让人震惊，毫无疑问的是，就在前方的路旁，不过也是在墓地里，海蒂·帕洛的鬼魂就漂浮在那里。在聚会上的每一个青少年都当面见过海蒂，这一点毫无疑问。对鬼魂的已知从同样的角度也确定了这件事；海蒂的鬼魂的特征，和通常的鬼魂别无二致——裹着下葬时穿的衣服，飘散着长发，带着逝去已久的面容——看起来都是鬼魂的样子。这个吓人的鬼怪向西伸出了手臂，好像在向那诱人而又遥不可及的晚星祈祷一样。当时那些人受到惊吓，只能安静的坐在那（据说如此），每个嬉戏者——那些只喝了咖啡和柠檬水的清醒者——显然都听到鬼魂在叫着“乔伊、乔伊！”不久之后一切恢复如常。当然，信不信由你。

Now, at that moment, as was afterwardascertained, Joey was wandering about in the sagebrush onthe opposite side of the continent, near Winnemucca, in the State ofNevada. He had been taken to that town by some goodpersons distantly related to his dead father, and by them adopted and tenderlycared for. But on that evening the poor child had strayed from home and waslost in the desert.

现在，在那一刻，正如后来查明的那样，乔伊正流浪在欧洲大陆对面的内华达州靠近温尼马卡的灌木丛中。有一些好心人带他回到了城镇里，这些人和他死去的父亲没什么关系，接受并温柔的照顾着他。但在一个晚上，这个可怜的孩子离开了家，迷失在了沙漠中。

His afterhistory is involved in obscurity and has gaps which conjecture alone can fill. It is known that he was found by a family of Piute Indians, who keptthe little wretch with them for a time and then sold him—actually sold him formoney to a woman on one of the east-bound trains, at a station a long way fromWinnemucca. The woman professed to have made all manner of inquiries, but allin vain: so, being childless and a widow, she adopted him herself. At thispoint of his career Jo seemed to be getting a long way from the condition oforphanage; the interposition of a multitude of parents between himself and thatwoeful state promised him a long immunity from its disadvantages.

他之后的经历有些阴暗，猜想其余的部分也被孤独填充。总所周知的是，后来他被一家派尤特人找到，收养这个小可怜一段时间，之后卖掉了他——事实上是在远离温尼马卡的一个车展上卖给了开往东方的某个列车上的一个女人。这女人声称她用尽办法帮这孩子询问，但都徒劳无功：因此，作为一个没有子女的寡妇，她收养了他。此时此刻，乔似乎已经不再是个孤儿了；而经历过的众多家庭和不幸让他拥有了对糟糕生活强大的免疫力。

Mrs. Darnell, hisnewest mother, lived in Cleveland, Ohio. But her adopted son did not longremain with her. He was seen one afternoon by a policeman, new to that beat,deliberately toddling away from her house, and being questioned answered thathe was “a doin’ home.” He must have travelled by rail,somehow, for three days later he was in the town of Whiteville, which, as youknow, is a long way from Blackburg. His clothing was in pretty fair condition, but he was sinfully dirty. Unable to give any account ofhimself he was arrested as a vagrant and sentenced to imprisonment in theInfants’ Sheltering Home—where he was washed.

乔最新的妈妈，达内尔太太，住在俄亥俄州的克里夫兰。但她的养子却没属于她太久。在一个下午，他被看到被一个新负责的警察，步履蹒跚的从房子里带走，笔录记载他是一个“不停在更换家庭的人。”他一定是从铁路经过，不由人而知，三天后他出现在了怀特维尔镇，正如你所知的，是个远离布莱克斯堡的地方。他的着装良好，但人却变得卑鄙。由于无法提供任何关于他的事情，他被以流浪汉的身份逮捕，并被判决关押在少管所——那个他想要去的地方。

Jo ran away fromthe Infants’ Sheltering Home at Whiteville—just took to the woods one day, andthe Home knew him no more for ever.

乔还是从少管所逃掉了——他花了一天时间逃入树林，少管所失去了他的踪迹。

We find him next,or rather get back to him, standing forlorn in the cold autumn rain at asuburban street corner in Blackburg; and it seems right toexplain now that the raindrops falling upon him there were really not dark andgummy; they only failed to make his face and hands less so. Jo was indeedfearfully and wonderfully besmirched, as by the hand of an artist. And theforlorn little tramp had no shoes; his feet were bare, red, and swollen, andwhen he walked he limped with both legs. As to clothing—ah, you would hardlyhave had the skill to name any single garment that he wore, or say by whatmagic he kept it upon him. That he was cold all over and all through did notadmit of a doubt; he knew it himself. Anyone would have been cold there thatevening; but, for that reason, no one else was there. How Jo came to be therehimself, he could not for the flickering little life of him have told, even ifgifted with a vocabulary exceeding a hundred words. From the way he staredabout him one could have seen that he had not the faintest notion of where (norwhy) he was.

随后我们找到了他，更准确地说是他自己回来的，他就站在布莱克斯堡郊区的一个街角，孤独的淋着寒冷的秋雨，在现在看来落在他身上的雨滴并不忧郁也不讨厌，但冲刷不掉他身上的阴沉。在艺术家的描绘下，乔确实充满恐惧，浑身污秽。这个被遗弃的小流浪汉连鞋子都没有；赤裸的脚已经红肿，在他走路的时候两条腿也都一瘸一拐的。提到他的衣服——啊，也许你找不到什么词汇来描述他的衣服，应该说他身上还有衣服已经很是不可思议。毫无怀疑他浑身发冷；他自己也觉得冻得不行。每个人在那样的晚上都会觉得冷，但并没有人也这样受苦。到底乔是怎么独自来这的，尽管他有词汇量上的天赋，可就是星星点点的事情他也都说不出来。凝视着他，你所能了解到他对于他在哪（或者为什么在这）一丁点的概念都没有。

Yet he wasnot altogether a fool in his day and generation; being cold and hungry, andstill able to walk a little by bending his knees very much indeed and puttinghis feet down toes first, he decided to enter one of the houses which flankedthe street at long intervals and looked so bright and warm. But when he attempted to act upon that verysensible decision a burly dog came browsing out and disputed his right. Inexpressiblyfrightened, and believing, no doubt (with some reason, too), that bruteswithout meant brutality within, he hobbled away from all the houses, and withgrey, wet fields to right of him and grey, wet fields to left ofhim—with the rain half blinding him and the night coming in mist and darkness,held his way along the road that leads to Greenton. That is to say, the roadleads those to Greenton who succeed in passing the Oak Hill Cemetery. A considerable number every year do not.

然而在同龄人里他还算是聪明的；尽管又饿又冷，他还是可以通过尽可能的弯曲膝盖再往前挪挪脚掌的方式来稍稍走一点点，他决定去在街侧面的那个，或者说是那个看起来既明亮又温暖的房子里去。但当他尝试去按这个非常明智计划行事的时候，一条强壮的狗狂吠着跑到了他的右边。他说不出的害怕，并确信，毫无疑问（原因与否已并不重要），放置野兽的人同样也住着一只野兽，于是他蹒跚着远离了这些房子，摇晃着在潮湿的路上渐行渐远——大雨让他视线模糊，伴随着迷雾与黑暗的夜晚随之降临，迫使他走上了去格林顿的道路。换句话说，通往格林顿的道路同样也都穿过橡树山公墓。只有这次是这样，因为许多年来路线并非如此，每一年都是。

Jo did not.

乔最终失败了。

They found himthere the next morning, very wet, very cold, but no longer hungry. He hadapparently entered the cemetery gate—hoping, perhaps, that it led to a housewhere there was no dog—and gone blundering about in the darkness, falling overmany a grave, no doubt, until he had tired of it all and given up. The littlebody lay upon one side, with one soiled cheek upon one soiled hand, the otherhand tucked away among the rags to make it warm, the other cheek washed cleanand white at last, as for a kiss from one of God’s great angels. It was observed—though nothing was thought of it at thetime, the body being as yet unidentified—that the little fellow was lying upon the grave of Hetty Parlow. The grave, however, had not opened to receive him. That is a circumstance which, without actual irreverence, one maywish had been ordered otherwise.

第二天早上人们发现了他，浑身湿透、冰凉，但再也感受不到饥饿。显然他走进了公墓——希望，或许，那里通往一间没有狗看守的屋子——在黑暗中笨拙的行走，摔倒在许多坟墓上，毫无疑问的是，他一直在挣扎可是最终放弃了。这个可怜的躯体倒向了一边，一侧的脸颊和手掌沾着土壤，他把另一只手蜷缩在破烂的衣服里维持温暖，最终另一侧的脸颊被洗刷的干净而洁白，仿佛被上帝最纯洁的天使亲吻过一样。可以看到——他再也不需要考虑什么，这具躯体最终被认为身份不明——那个可怜的小家伙正躺在海蒂·帕洛的坟墓上。然而那坟墓，并没有打开来迎接他。这种情况下，毫不掩饰的说，任何人都会希望他可以和他的家人在一起。