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在甲板的天棚下
"Can any man—a gentleman, I mean—call a woman a pig? "
“有哪个男人——我是指有头有脸的男人——能管一个女人叫猪？”
The little man flung this challenge forth to the whole group, then leaned back in his deck chair, sipping lemonade with an air commingled of certitude and watchful belligerence. Nobody made answer. They were used to the little man and his sudden passions and high elevations.
矮个子把这个问题抛给大家之后，就靠在折叠躺椅上，摆出一副自以为是和严阵以待的架势，啜起柠檬水来。没人回答他。人们都习惯了这个矮个子急躁莽撞、大呼小叫的风格。
"I repeat, it was in my presence that he said a certain lady, whom none of you knows, was a pig. He did not say swine. He grossly said that she was a pig. And I hold that no man who is a man could possibly make such a remark about any woman. "
“我再说一遍，那是我在场的情况下，他说有一位女士，一位你们都不认识的女士，是一头猪。他不是说像猪一样。他就是很粗鲁地说她是猪。我认为，只要是个男人，就绝不会用这样的词儿来称呼任何一个女人。”
Dr. Dawson puffed stolidly at his black pipe. Matthews, with knees hunched up and clasped by his arms, was absorbed in the flight of a gunie. Sweet, finishing his Scotch and soda, was questing about with his eyes for a deck steward.
道森医生漠然地抽着他的黑烟斗。马修斯用胳膊抱着屈起的膝盖，一心一意地观察一只飞翔的海鸥。斯威特喝完了加苏打水的威士忌，东张西望地找着甲板服务生。
"I ask you, Mr. Treloar, can any man call any woman a pig? "
“特雷洛尔先生，我来问你，哪个男人能把女人叫猪？”
Treloar, who happened to be sitting next to him, was startled by the abruptness of the attack, and wondered what grounds he had ever given the little man to believe that he could call a woman a pig.
特雷洛尔正好坐在他旁边，被突然这么一问，不由得吓了一跳。他很纳闷是否自己有什么地方表现得不对，让这个小矮子觉得他就有可能管一个女人叫猪。
"I should say, " he began his hesitant answer, "that it—er—depends on the—er—the lady. "
“依我看，” 他吞吞吐吐地开始回答， “这个，呃，得看，呃，那个女士怎样了。”
The little man was aghast.
矮个子大吃一惊。
"You mean? " he quavered.
“你的意思是” 他的声音都在颤抖。
"That I have seen female humans who were as bad as pigs—and worse. "
“就是说，我见过些跟猪一样糟的女人——甚至更糟的都有。”
There was a long pained silence. The little man seemed withered by the coarse brutality of the reply. In his face was unutterable hurt and woe.
接下来是好长一段时间让人难受的沉默。矮个子似乎让这个粗鲁无情的答复给打蔫了。他脸上写着无法言说的痛苦和悲伤。
"You have told of a man who made a not nice remark and you have classified him, " Treloar said in cold, even tones. "I shall now tell you about a woman—I beg your pardon—a lady, and when I have finished I shall ask you to classify her. Miss Caruthers I shall call her, principally for the reason that it is not her name. It was on a P.O. boat, and it occurred neither more nor less than several years ago.
“你讲了一个出言不逊的男人，还给他评了等级，” 特雷洛尔用冷静、平淡的口吻说道。 “现在我要讲一个女人——请原谅，是一位女士，我讲完之后，也请你给她评个等级。权且叫她卡拉瑟斯小姐吧，主要是因为她并不是这个姓。故事发生在一条东方公司的船上，离现在不多不少，就几年光景。”
"Miss Caruthers was charming. No; that is not the word. She was amazing. She was a young woman, and a lady. Her father was a certain high official whose name, if I mentioned it, would be immediately recognized by all of you. She was with her mother and two maids at the time, going out to join the old gentleman wherever you like to wish in the East.
“卡拉瑟斯小姐很迷人。不对，这个词儿不足以形容。她美得惊人。她很年轻，也很淑女。他的父亲是一名高级官员，名字只要我一说，你们马上就知道是谁。她当时正同母亲和两个女佣一道前往东方与她父亲会合，至于去哪儿，你们认为是哪儿都成。”
"She, and pardon me for repeating, was amazing. It is the one adequate word. Even the most minor adjectives applicable to her are bound to be sheer superlatives. There was nothing she could not do better than any woman and than most men. Sing, play—bah—! as some rhetorician once said of old Nap, competition fled from her. Swim! She could have made a fortune and a name as a public performer. She was one of those rare women who can strip off all the frills of dress, and in simple swimming suit be more satisfying beautiful. Dress! She was an artist.
“恕我多说一遍，她真是美得惊人。只有这个词才足以形容她。就是最平淡的字眼用到她身上，都必须加上一个极字。她做任何事情，都比任何女人，以及大多数的男人要更胜一筹。唱歌、游戏——噢，就像有个修辞学家描述拿破仑的一样：无人能与之争锋。说到游泳，她要是参加公开表演，一定名利双收。她属于这么一种不多见的女人：她们可以剥去所有衣装的伪饰，只消穿上简单的泳衣，就已经很美了。说到服装，她是一位衣饰上的艺术家。”
"But her swimming. Physically, she was the perfect woman—you know what I mean, not in the gross, muscular way of acrobats, but in all the delicacy of line and fragility of frame and texture. And combined with this, strength. How she could do it was the marvel. You know the wonder of a woman's arm—the fore arm, I mean; the sweet fading away from rounded biceps and hint of muscle, down through small elbow and firm soft swell to the wrist, small, unthinkably small and round and strong. This was hers. And yet, to see her swimming the sharp quick English overhand stroke, and getting somewhere with it, too, was—well, I understand anatomy and athletics and such things, and yet it was a mystery to me how she could do it.
“还是说游泳吧。她是个有着完美体型的女人——你们都懂我的意思；我不是说像杂技演员一样粗犷强壮，而是线条优美、身形窈窕、皮肤娇嫩。此外，她也并不是柔弱无力。这些条件她都具备，简直不可思议。你们知道女人的手臂有多么美妙——我指的是前臂；她的臂肉丰满，肌肉隐隐可见，那种柔酥酥的感觉是看不到的，直到小小的手肘和结实柔软的手腕。她的手腕很小，小得不可思议，却又圆润又有力。这就是她的手臂。你要看见她游泳的话，游那种飞快的英国自由式，游到某个地方，你一定想问她怎么能游成那样——好吧，尽管我也了解一些解剖、运动一类的知识，这对我来说仍然是一个谜。”
"She could stay under water for two minutes. I have timed her. No man on board, except Dennitson, could capture as many coins as she with a single dive. On the forward main—deck was a big canvas tank with six feet of sea—water. We used to toss small coins into it. I have seen her dive from the bridge deck—no mean feat in itself—into that six—feet of water, and fetch up no less than forty—seven coins, scattered willy—nilly over the whole bottom of the tank. Dennitson, a quiet young Englishman, never exceeded her in this, though he made it a point always to tie her score.
“她能在水下呆两分钟。我掐过表。整个船上的人，除了丹尼森，都不能像她一样，一个猛子扎下去，捡上来那么多的硬币。船头主甲板上有一个大帆布水池，里面是六英尺深的海水。我们常往里面扔硬币。我曾看见过她从舰桥上往下跳——单单这样就可称得上壮举了——跳进六英尺深的水里，把零星散落在池底的硬币，足足捞上来四十七枚。丹尼森这个少言寡语的英国青年，也只能努力跟她打个平手，从来也没赢过她。”
"She was a sea—woman, true. But she was a land—woman, a horsewoman—a—she was the universal woman. To see her, all softness of soft dress, surrounded by half a dozen eager men, languidly careless of them all or flashing brightness and wit on them and at them and through them, one would fancy she was good for nothing else in the world. At such moments I have compelled myself to remember her score of forty—seven coins from the bottom of the swimming tank. But that was she, the everlasting, wonder of a woman who did all things well.
“她是个水里的能手，这没错。但她也是个陆上的能手，马上的能手——啊，她简直就是全能的女人。当看到她换上温文的衣饰，露出柔美的模样，处在六七个热情男人的包围中，而她懒洋洋地全然不把他们放在心上，或是凭着她的机智聪颖驯服他们、捉弄他们甚至是贬损他们，你可能会认为，她除了这个什么也不会干了。这个时候我就不禁回忆起她创纪录地从游泳池底捞起四十七个硬币的情景。这就是她，一个永远奇迹般的女人，干什么都那么出色。”
"She fascinated every betrousered human around her. She had me—and I don't mind confessing it—she bad me to heel along with the rest. Young puppies and old gray dogs who ought to have known better—oh, they all came up and crawled around her skirts and whined and fawned when she whistled. They were all guilty, from young Ardmore, a pink cherub of nineteen outward bound for some clerkship in the Consular Service, to old Captain Bentley, grizzled and sea—worn, and as emotional, to look at, as a Chinese joss. There was a nice middle—aged chap, Perkins, I believe, who forgot his wife was on board until Miss Caruthers sent him to the right about and back where he belonged.
“她迷住了周围所有的男性。她也迷住了我——我不怕承认这一点——害得我跟其他人一样对她紧追不舍。不管是小年轻，还是理应见过些世面的老东西——哦，只要她招呼一声，他们就全涌到她裙子周围，极尽巴结讨好之能事。他们心里都在打着鬼主意，从年轻的阿德莫尔，那个只有十九岁、想去领事馆做文员的粉嘟嘟的娃娃脸，到头发斑白、历经风浪的老船长本特利，到她面前看起来都像中国佛像一样慈眉善目、温婉可亲。还有一个人挺好的中年人，叫珀金斯吧；我觉得，直到卡拉瑟斯小姐下了逐客令，叫他该去哪儿去哪儿时，他才能想起他老婆也在船上。”
"Men were wax in her hands. She melted them, or softly molded them, or incinerated them, as she pleased. There wasn't a steward, even, grand and remote as she was, who, at her bidding, would have hesitated to souse the Old Man himself with a plate of soup. You have all seen such women—a sort of world's desire to all men. As a man—conqueror she was supreme. She was a whip—lash, a sting and a flame, an electric spark. Oh, believe me, at times there were flashes of will that scorched through her beauty and seduction and smote a victim into blank and shivering idiocy and fear.
“男人在她手里都像蜡一样。只要她高兴，她要么把他们融化，要么轻柔地把他们捏成各种样子，要么干脆点燃。尽管她显得如此的高傲疏远，但即使是那些服务生，只要她吩咐一声，也会毫不犹豫地把一盆汤泼到老船长的身上。你们都见过这样的女人——一种所有男人都渴望拥有的女人。在征服男人上面，她已经登峰造极。她就像一根鞭子，一根钉刺，一团火焰，一道火花。噢，相信我，她在展现万种风情的时候也会由着性子乱发脾气，搞得拜倒在她脚下的男人们茫然无措，战栗不已。”
"And don't fail to mark, in the light of what is to come, that she was a prideful woman. Pride of race, pride of caste, pride of sex, pride of power—she had it all, a pride strange and wilful and terrible.
“你们也应该明白了，从以后的事情来看，她是一个高傲的女人。她为她的种族骄傲，为门第骄傲，为性别骄傲，为权力骄傲——她全都有，这种骄傲奇怪、任性而又可怕。”
"She ran the ship, she ran the voyage, she ran everything, and she ran Dennitson. That he had outdistanced the pack even the least wise of us admitted. That she liked him, and that this feeling was growing, there was not a doubt. I am certain that she looked on him with kinder eyes than she had ever looked with on man before. We still worshiped, and were always hanging about waiting to be whistled up, though we knew that Dennitson was laps and laps ahead of us. What might have happened we shall never know, for we came to Colombo and something else happened.
“她管全船，管航行，她管着所有事情，连丹尼森也管。丹尼森比我们都强，这一点，就算我们当中最蠢的人也都承认。她喜欢他，而且这份爱慕还在升温，这都毫无疑问。我可以肯定的是，她看丹尼森的目光，比她以往看任何男人都要亲切。虽然我们知道丹尼森已经把我们远远地抛在后面，我们仍然崇拜她，在她身边晃荡，让她可以随时召唤到我们。以后可能怎样，我们无从知道，因为我们去了科伦坡，发生了另一件事。”
"You know Colombo, and how the native boys dive for coins in the shark—infested bay. Of course, it is only among the ground sharks and fish sharks that they venture. It is almost uncanny the way they know sharks and can sense the presence of a real killer—a tiger shark, for instance, or a gray nurse strayed up from Australian waters. Let such a shark appear, and, long before the passengers can guess, every mother's son of them is out of the water in a wild scramble for safety.
“科伦坡，你们都知道的，当地的小男孩跳进鲨鱼横行的海湾里去捞硬币。当然，他们也只敢冒险跟蓝鲨和吃鱼的鲨鱼共舞。说起来难以置信，他们对鲨鱼很了解，能感知吃人的鲨鱼——比如虎鲨，或者从澳大利亚海域漂来的锥齿鲨。要是这样的鲨鱼一出现，他们早在乘客们发现之前，就赶紧浮出水面，乱哄哄地逃命去了。”
"It was after tiffin, and Miss Caruthers was holding her usual court under the deck—awnings. Old Captain Bentley had just been whistled up, and had granted her what he never granted beforenor since—permission for the boys to come up on the promenade deck. You see, Miss Caruthers was a swimmer, and she was interested. She took up a collection of all our small change, and herself tossed it overside, singly and in handfuls, arranging the terms of the contests, chiding a miss, giving extra rewards to clever wins, in short, managing the whole exhibition.
“事情发生在午餐过后。卡拉瑟斯小姐坐在甲板的天棚下面，照常接受众男膜拜。老船长本特利刚刚被召唤过去，答应了一件他从来没有答应过，自此以后也没有再答应过的事情——允许那些小男孩上到上层甲板上来。你们也知道，卡拉瑟斯小姐是一位游泳健将，她对这些孩子颇有兴趣。她把我们的零钱都要了过去，亲手把钱一个一个或是一把一把地扔进海里，并且定下比赛的条件，没捞到的孩子要挨骂，捞得巧的能得到额外的奖赏——总之，她就这么安排好了整个表演赛。”
"She was especially keen on their jumping. You know, jumping feet—first from a height, it is very difficult to hold the body perpendicularly while in the air. The center of gravity of the male body is high, and the tendency is to overtopple. But the little beggars employed a method which she declared was new to her and which she desired to learn. Leaping from the davits of the boat—deck above, they plunged downward, their faces and shoulders bowed forward, looking at the water. And only at the last moment did they abruptly straighten up and enter the water erect and true.
“她对这些孩子的跳水动作尤其感兴趣。你们知道，脚朝下从某一高度跳下，在空中很难保持身体垂直。男人的身体重心一般都很高，很容易翻跟斗。但是这些小叫花子用了一种方法，这种方法她说很新鲜，想学习一下。他们从吊着救生艇的柱子上纵身一跃，马上低下脑袋，肩膀前倾，盯着水面。等到即将入水的一刻才突然挺直身子，笔挺挺地扎进水里。”
"It was a pretty sight. Their diving was not so good, though there was one of them who was excellent at it, as he was in all the other stunts. Some white man must have taught him, for he made the proper swan dive and did it as beautifully as I have ever seen it. You know, headfirst into the water, from a great height, the problem is to enter the water at the perfect angle. Miss the angle and it means at the least a twisted back and injury for life. Also, it has meant death for many a bungler. But this boy could do it—seventy feet I know he cleared in one dive from the rigging—clenched hands on chest, head thrown back, sailing more like a bird, upward and out, and out and down, body flat on the air so that if it struck the surface in that position it would be split in half like a herring. But the moment before the water is reached, the head drops forward, the hands go out and lock the arms in an arch in advance of the head, and the body curves gracefully downward and enters the water just right.
“那场面相当好看。他们入水并不是很好，但是其中有一个孩子很在行，他在其他的特技上也很出色。一定有白人教过他，他能跳出标准的天鹅入水式，而且是我有生以来见过的跳得最美的。你们知道，要是从一个很高的地方跳下，头先入水，那么入水的角度要分毫不差，这是个难题。错过了正确的角度，那就至少会扭伤背部，残废一辈子。对许多菜鸟来说，还会有性命之虞。不过，这个孩子能办到——我见过他从七十英尺高的吊架上往下跳——他把手紧贴在胸前，头往后仰，像鸟一样，往上一蹿跳出去，然后向下落；他在空中放平身体，而如果他就以这种姿势砸到水面上，准会像青鱼一样摔成两截。但是在碰到水面前，他低下头，伸出两手，环抱双臂，在头前面做成一个拱形，同时身体很优美地向下弯曲，以刚好合适的角度入水。”
"This the boy did, again and again, to the delight of all of us, but particularly of Miss Caruthers. He could not have been a moment over twelve or thirteen, yet he was by far the cleverest of the gang. He was the favorite of his crowd, and its leader. Though there were a number older than he, they acknowledged his chieftaincy. He was a beautiful boy, a lithe young god in breathing bronze, eyes wide apart, intelligent and daring, a bubble, a mote, a beautiful flash and sparkle of life. You have seen. wonderful glorious creatures—animals, anything, a leopard, a horse—restless, eager, too much alive ever to be still, silken of muscle, each slightest movement a benediction of grace, every action wild, untrammeled, and over all spilling out that intense vitality, that sheen and luster of living light. The boy had it. Life poured out of him almost in an effulgence. His skin glowed with it. It burned in his eyes. I swear I could almost hear it crackle from him. Looking at him, it was as if a whiff of ozone came to one's nostrils—so fresh and young was he, so resplendent with health, so wildly wild.
“这个男孩跳了一遍又一遍，我们都很喜欢看，尤其是卡拉瑟斯小姐。他顶多不过十二三岁，但他在那群孩子里肯定是最聪明的。那群孩子都喜欢他，让他做头儿。好几个孩子虽然比他大，也甘愿俯首称臣。男孩长得很美，就像一尊材质柔软、会呼吸的青铜神像；聪明而大胆的两眼之间距离很宽，就像生活中的一汪水泡、一粒细尘、一道美丽的闪光和火花。你们都见过这种充满灵光的小生命——我是说动物，什么动物都可能，一头豹，一匹马——它们好动、急切，活泼得一刻也停不下来；肌肉像丝一般圆润光滑，每一个细小的动作都极具美感，每一个举动都那么奔放、无拘无束，处处涌动着满溢的生命力和璀璨的生命之光。这个孩子就具有这样的灵光。生命的光辉简直要从他身上流淌出来。生命在他皮肤上闪耀，在他眼睛里燃烧。我敢说，我几乎能听到生命在他体内烧得劈里啪啦的声音。看着他，就像有新鲜的空气涌进鼻孔——他是如此清新，如此年轻，如此奔放，焕发着健康的魅力。”
"This was the boy. And it was he who gave the alarm in the midst of the sport. The boys made a dash of it for the gangway platform, swimming the fastest strokes they knew, pellmell, floundering and splashing, fright in their faces, clambering out with jumps and surges, any way to get out, lending one another a hand to safety, till all were strung along the gangway and peering down into the water. "
“他就是这样一个孩子。也正是他，在比赛进行当中发出鲨鱼来了的警告。男孩们以他们所会的最快的划水姿势，拼命游向舷梯；他们乱糟糟地游着，手忙脚乱，水花四溅。他们脸上挂着恐惧的神色，一蹿一跳地，或者以任何其他办法爬出水面，然后拉一把后来的孩子爬上安全位置。直到所有孩子都爬上了舷梯，他们从那儿盯着下面的海水。”
'What is the matter? ' asked Miss Caruthers.
‘怎么了？’ 卡拉瑟斯小姐问道。
" 'A shark, I fancy, ' Captain Bentley answered. 'Lucky little beggars that he didn't get one of them. "
“ ‘有条鲨鱼，我觉得，’ 本特利船长答道。 ‘那些小叫花真走运，一个也没让鲨鱼咬到。’”
'Are they afraid of sharks? ' she asked.
‘他们怕鲨鱼？’ 她问道。
'Aren't you? ' he asked back.
‘你不怕？’ 船长反问道。
She shuddered, looked overside at the water, and made a moue.
她耸耸肩，向外看着海面，撇了撇嘴。
'Not for the world would I venture where a shark might be, ' she said, and shuddered again. 'They are horrible! Horrible! '
‘无论如何我也不去鲨鱼可能出没的地方冒险，’ 她说完，又耸了耸肩。 ‘鲨鱼太可怕了！太可怕了！’
"The boys came up on the promenade deck, clustering close to the rail and worshiping Miss Caruthers who had flung them such a wealth of backsheesh. The performance being over, Captain Bentley motioned to them to clear out. But she stopped him. "
“小男孩们都走上了上层甲板，聚在栏杆边上，崇敬地看着抛给他们那么多赏钱的卡拉瑟斯小姐。表演结束了，本特利船长就挥手示意他们下去。但是她拦住了他。”
'One moment, please, Captain. I have always understood that the natives are not afraid of sharks. '
‘等一下，船长。我一直觉得本地人都不怕鲨鱼。’
"She beckoned the boy of the swan dive nearer to her, and signed to him to dive over again. He shook his head, and along with all his crew behind him laughed as if it were a good joke. "
“她把那个会天鹅入水式的孩子叫到身边，打手势让他再跳一次。孩子摇摇头，他后面那帮孩子笑了起来，仿佛这是个很好笑的笑话。”
'Shark, ' he volunteered, pointing to the water.
‘鲨鱼，’ 他指着水面，主动解释说。
'No, ' she said. 'There is no shark. '
‘不，’ 她说， ‘没有鲨鱼。’
"But he nodded his head positively, and the boys behind him nodded with equal positiveness. "
“但是他很肯定地点了点头，他身后的孩子们也同样肯定地点了点头。”
'No, no, no, ' she cried. And then to us, 'Who'll lend me a half—crown and a sovereign! '
‘不，没有，没有鲨鱼，’ 她喊起来了。接着，她转向我们问道： ‘谁肯借我半个克朗和一个金镑？’
"Immediately the half dozen of us were presenting her with crowns and sovereigns, and she accepted the two coins from young Ardmore. "
“我们六个人马上呈给她许多克朗和金镑，但她只是从年轻的阿德莫尔手里一样拿了一枚。”
"She held up the half—crown for the boys to see. But there was no eager rush to the rail preparatory to leaping. They stood there grinning sheepishly. She offered the coin to each one individually, and each, as his turn came, rubbed his foot against his calf, shook his head, and grinned. Then she tossed the half—crown overboard. With wistful, regretful faces they watched its silver flight through the air, but not one moved to follow it. "
“她拿起那半个克朗给孩子们瞧。不过并没有人急着冲到栏杆前，准备跳下去。他们只是站着，羞怯地笑着。她把那枚硬币从每个孩子面前晃过，但无论轮到谁，他也只是拿脚磨着自己的小腿，摇摇头，咧嘴笑一笑。接着她把那半个克朗扔出了舷外。孩子们望着那枚银币划过空中，脸上都是既渴望又惋惜的神色，但是没人跟着银币跳下去。”
'Don't do it with the sovereign, ' Dennitson said to her in a low voice.
‘别拿那枚金镑来玩这个，’ 丹尼森小声对她说。
"She took no notice, but held up the gold coin before the eyes of the boy of the swan dive. "
“她没有理会，把那枚金币举到了那个会天鹅入水式的孩子眼前。”
'Don't, ' said Captain Bentley. 'I wouldn't throw a sick cat overside with a shark around. '
‘别，’ 船长本特利说， ‘附近有鲨鱼的时候，我连一只病猫都不会扔出去。’
"But she laughed, bent on her purpose, and continued to dazzle the boy. "
“但是她笑了起来，执意要做，又拿着金币在孩子面前晃来晃去。”
'Don't tempt him, ' Dennitson urged. 'It is a fortune to him, and he might go over after it. '
‘别引诱他，’ 丹尼森规劝她， ‘这对他是一大笔钱，他可能真的会跟着跳下去的。’
'Wouldn't YOU? ' she flared at him. 'If I threw it? '
‘换你就不愿跳了？’ 她冲他发起脾气来。 ‘如果是我扔出去的呢? '
This last more softly.
后一句听起来温和些。
Dennitson shook his head.
丹尼森摇摇头。
'Your price is high, ' she said. 'For how many sovereigns would you go? '
‘你要价太高了，’ 她说， ‘给多少金镑你才肯呢？’
'There are not enough coined to get me overside, ' was his answer.
‘全世界的钱加起来也不够。’ 这就是他的答复。
"She debated a moment, the boy forgotten in her tilt with Dennitson. "
“她争论了一会儿，在跟丹尼森争执的时候，就把小男孩忘在一边了。”
'For me? ' she said very softly.
‘要是为了我呢？’ 她轻声说。
'To save your life—yes. But not otherwise. '
‘要是救你的性命，我会。别的不行。’
"She turned back to the boy. Again she held the coin before his eyes, dazzling him with the vastness of its value. Then she made as to toss it out, and, involuntarily, he made a half—movement toward the rail, but was checked by sharp cries of reproof from his companions. There was anger in their voices as well. "
“她又转过去对着那个孩子了。她再一次把金镑举到他眼前，利用它巨大的价值来诱惑他。接着，她做了一个要把钱扔出去的动作，这个孩子不由自主地向栏杆跑去，但是被同伴们的高声责备拦住了。他们的声音里听得出愤怒。”
'I know it is only fooling, ' Dennitson said. 'Carry it as far as you like, but for heaven's sake don't throw it. '
‘我知道你不过是在戏耍他们，’ 丹尼森说道， ‘只要捏在手里，怎么玩都行，但是看在老天的份上，千万别扔出去。’
"Whether it was that strange wilfulness of hers, or whether she doubted the boy could be persuaded, there is no telling. It was unexpected to all of us. Out from the shade of the awning the coin flashed golden in the blaze of sunshine and fell toward the sea in a glittering arch. Before a hand could stay him, the boy was over the rail and curving beautifully downward after the coin. Both were in the air at the same time. It was a pretty sight. The sovereign cut the water sharply, and at the very spot, almost at the same instant, with scarcely a splash, the boy entered.
“不知道是出于古怪的任性，还是她觉得这个孩子终究不会上当，谁也不知道。反正出乎我们所有人的意料。硬币从天棚的阴影中飞进耀眼的阳光里，闪出金色的光芒；它在空中划了一道闪亮的弧线，掉进了海里。还没有谁来得及把那个孩子抓住，他就越过栏杆，一屈身跟着钱就跳下去了。人和钱都在半空中。那场景很美。金镑利落地掉进水里，而就在那个地方，几乎同时，那个孩子也钻进水里，几乎没有溅起一点水花。”
"From the quicker—eyed black boys watching, came an exclamation. We were all at the railing. Don't tell me it is necessary for a shark to turn on its back. That one did not. In the clear water, from the height we were above it, we saw everything. The shark was a big brute, and with one drive he cut the boy squarely in half.
“那些一直看着的眼尖的黑孩子，都惊叫起来。我们都到了栏杆边。别说什么鲨鱼吃人一定会翻身。那一条就没有。水很清，我们站在上面，看得一清二楚。这条巨大的鲨鱼一下子就把小孩咬成了两截。”
"There was a murmur or something from among us—who made it I did not know; it might have been I. And then there was silence. Miss Caruthers was the first to speak. Her face was deathly white. "
“我们之中有人嘟囔了两句——我不知道是谁，但或许就是我。接着谁也不说话了。第一个开口的是卡拉瑟斯小姐。她的脸色惨白，像个死人。”
'I never dreamed, ' she said, and laughed a short, hysterical laugh.
‘我做梦也不会想到’ 她说，接着发出一阵短促、歇斯底里般的笑声。
All her pride was at work to give her control. She turned weakly toward Dennitson, and then, on from one to another of us. In her eyes was a terrible sickness, and her lips were trembling. We were brutes—oh, I know it, now that I look back upon it. But we did nothing.
她全部的傲气支撑着她，使得她还没有失控。她有气无力地看了看丹尼森，又挨个看了看我们所有人。她的眼中透出一股极为难受的神情，她的嘴唇都在颤抖。我们都是禽兽——唉，现在回过去一想，才明白过来。但是我们其实什么也没做。
'Mr. Dennitson, ' she said, 'Tom, won't you take me below! '
‘丹尼森先生，’ 她叫道， ‘汤姆，你不能扶我下去么！’
"He never changed the direction of his gaze, which was the bleakest I have ever seen in a man's face, nor did he move an eyelid. He took a cigarette from his case and lighted it. Captain Bentley made a nasty sound in his throat and spat overboard. That was all; that and the silence. "
“他一点都没改变注视的方向，脸上的神情是我见过最冷漠的了，他连眼皮都没有动一下。他从烟盒里取出一根烟，点着了。本特利船长喉咙里发出一声令人恶心的声响，一口唾沫吐到船外去了。就这样了，接下来只有沉默。”
She turned away and started to walk firmly down the deck. Twenty feet away, she swayed and thrust a hand against the wall to save herself. And so she went on, supporting herself against the cabins and walking very slowly. "Treloar ceased. He turned his head and favored the little man with a look of cold inquiry.
她转过身去，准备镇定地走下甲板。走了不过二十英尺，她就摇摇晃晃了，她用手扶住墙，以免摔倒。她就这样用手扶着船舱，慢慢地走下去了。特雷洛尔停住了。他转过头，用一种冷冷的询问的眼光看着那个矮个子。
"Well, " he said finally. "Classify her. "
“好了，” 他终于说道， “你来给她评个等级。”
The little man gulped and swallowed.
那个矮个子只是咽了几大口唾沫。
"I have nothing to say, " he said. "I have nothing whatever to say. "
“我无话可说，” 他说， “实在无话可说。”