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作者：莫泊桑
by Guy de Maupassant
我们以前住在村外大街旁的一个小房子里。
We lived formerly in a little house beside the high road outside the village.
他和邻近一个农场主的女儿结婚后，从商当了车匠。因为他俩都很勤奋，他们成功地攒了一小笔钱。
He had set up in business as a wheelwright, after marrying the daughter of a farmer of the neighborhood, and as they were both industrious, they managed to save up a nice little fortune.
但是他们没有孩子，这让他们很伤心。
But they had no children, and this caused them great sorrow.
终于，他们生了个儿子，取名叫琼。
Finally a son was born, whom they named Jean.
他们都很爱他、宠他，他们的关爱包围着他，不愿让他离开他们的视线。
They both loved and petted him, enfolding him with their affection, and were unwilling to let him be out of their sight.
在他五岁的时候，一些江湖卖艺之士经过村子，并在市政厅的广场上架起了帐篷。
When he was five years old some mountebanks passed through the country and set up their tent in the town hall square.
琼看见他们经过，从家里逃了出来。他父亲找了他很久之后，在驯化过的山羊和耍特技的狗中找到了他，他正坐在一个年长的小丑的膝盖上，大声地笑着。
Jean, who had seen them pass by, made his escape from the house, and after his father had made a long search for him, he found him among the learned goats and trick dogs, uttering shouts of laughter and sitting on the knees of an old clown.
三天后，正当他们准备坐下吃饭的时候，车匠和他的妻子发现他们的儿子不在房里。
Three days later, just as they were sitting down to dinner, the wheelwright and his wife noticed that their son was not in the house.
他们去花园找他，没找到，于是他的父亲冲到路上，用他最大的声音喊道：“琼！”
They looked for him in the garden, and as they did not find him, his father went out into the road and shouted at the top of his voice, "Jean!"
夜幕降临了。
Night came on.
褐色的水汽使远处的事物看起来更远，给予了它们一种凄凉、神秘的外观。
A brown vapor arose making distant objects look still farther away and giving them a dismal, weird appearance.
附近三棵高高的松树看起来像在哭泣。
Three tall pines, close at hand, seemed to be weeping.
仍没有人回应，但这空气中像是充满了隐约的叹息声。
Still there was no reply, but the air appeared to be full of indistinct sighing.
父亲听了一会儿，觉得他先是听到一个方向有声音，接着是另一个方向，几乎在他自己旁边，于是他跑进了夜色中，不断地喊着“琼！琼！”
The father listened for some time, thinking he heard a sound first in one direction, then in another, and, almost beside himself, he ran, out into the night, calling incessantly "Jean! Jean!"
他就这样一直跑到了黎明，他的呼喊声填满了黑暗，吓跑了离群的动物，他饱受可怕的痛苦，担心自己发疯了。
He ran along thus until daybreak, filling the darkness with his shouts, terrifying stray animals, torn by a terrible anguish and fearing that he was losing his mind.
他的妻子坐在他们家的石阶上，一直抽泣到早上。
His wife, seated on the stone step of their home, sobbed until morning.
他们没有找到他们的儿子。
They did not find their son.
他们都在这极度的悲痛中迅速苍老。
They both aged rapidly in their inconsolable sorrow.
最后他们卖掉房子，启程一起去寻找。
Finally they sold their house and set out to search together.
他们询问了山坡上的牧羊人、路过的商人、村里的农民，还有镇上的当局。
They inquired of the shepherds on the hillsides, of the tradesmen passing by, of the peasants in the villages and of the authorities in the towns.
但是，他们的儿子失踪了太久，没有人知道任何关于他的事。
But their boy had been lost a long time and no one knew anything about him.
这时候，他也许已经忘记了自己的名字和村子的名字。他的父母默默地哭泣着，失去了希望。
He had probably forgotten his own name by this time and also the name of his village, and his parents wept in silence, having lost hope.
不久，他们的钱就花完了。于是他们白天外出在农场和酒馆工作，做些最卑贱的活儿，吃桌上剩下的饭，睡在地上，忍受着寒冷。
Before long their money came to an end, and they worked out by the day in the farms and inns, doing the most menial work, eating what was left from the tables, sleeping on the ground and suffering from cold.
后来，他们由于做苦工变得衰弱，没有人愿意再雇佣他们，他们被迫沿着马路乞讨。
Then as they became enfeebled by hard work no one would employ them any longer, and they were forced to beg along the high roads.
他们用乞求的声音，带着气馁的、悲伤的表情去向路人搭话。中午，他们向田间围着大树吃饭的收庄稼的人乞讨一点面包，然后他们就坐在沟边默默地吃着。
They accosted passers-by in an entreating voice and with sad, discouraged faces; they begged a morsel of bread from the harvesters who were dining around a tree in the fields at noon, and they ate in silence seated on the edge of a ditch.
有一天，他们把他们的故事告诉给一个旅馆的店主，店主对他们说道：
An innkeeper to whom they told their story said to them one day:
“我知道有个人的女儿也不见了，后来他们在巴黎找到了她。”
"I know some one who had lost their daughter, and they found her in Paris."
他们立刻启程去了巴黎。
They at once set out for Paris.
当他们到达这个大城市时，被它的规模和他们看见的人群吓得不知所措。
When they entered the great city they were bewildered by its size and by the crowds that they saw.
但他们知道，琼肯定在所有这些人中，尽管他们不知道该如何着手去找他。
But they knew that Jean must be in the midst of all these people, though they did not know how to set about looking for him.
他们还担心可能会认不出他，因为上一次看到他时，他只有五岁。
Then they feared that they might not recognize him, for he was only five years old when they last saw him.
他们走访了每个地方，走遍了所有的街道，无论他们在哪里看见一群人，都会停下来，期待着幸运的相遇、非凡的运气和被怜悯的命运。
They visited every place, went through all the streets, stopping whenever they saw a group of people, hoping for some providential meeting, some extraordinary luck, some compassionate fate.
他们常常就这么盲目地朝前走，互相依靠着，看起来如此悲伤，如此贫困潦倒，不用开口人们都会施舍给他们东西。
They frequently walked at haphazard straight ahead, leaning one against the other, looking so sad and poverty-stricken that people would give them alms without their asking.
他们每个礼拜日都在教堂门口，看着进进出出的人群，试图在其中辨认出那个可能熟悉的面孔。
They spent every Sunday at the doors of the churches, watching the crowds entering and leaving, trying to distinguish among the faces one that might be familiar.
有几次，他们以为认出了他，但总是发现他们认错了。
Several times they thought they recognized him, but always found they had made a mistake.
在他们最常去拜访的一个教堂的前厅，有一个洒圣水的老人成了他们的朋友。
In the vestibule of one of the churches which they visited the most frequently there was an old dispenser of holy Water who had become their friend.
他也有一个十分悲伤的故事，他们对他的同情使三人间建立起了一种亲密的友情。
He also had a very sad history, and their sympathy for him had established a bond of close friendship between them.
最后，他们三个一起住在了一座大房子顶楼的破旧的出租房里。房屋很偏僻，完全是在市郊。有时候，这个车匠会在他的新朋友病了的时候去教堂顶他的班。
It ended by them all three living together in a poor lodging on the top floor of a large house situated at some distance, quite on the outskirts of the city, and the wheelwright would sometimes take his new friend’s place at the church when the latter was ill.
冬天来了，一个十分严寒的冬天。
Winter came, a very severe winter.
这个可怜的洒圣水的人去世了，教区教士得知了车匠的不幸，委任他去顶替洒圣水的人。
The poor holy water sprinkler died and the parish priest appointed the wheelwright, whose misfortunes had come to his knowledge, to replace him.
车匠每天早上都去，坐在同一个地方、同一张椅子上，因为总是靠着一根旧石柱上，而把它磨出了痕迹。
He went every morning and sat in the same place, on the same chair, wearing away the old stone pillar by continually leaning against it.
他会目不转睛地盯着每个进到教堂里的人，并且会像男学生一样，急躁地盼着礼拜天的到来，因为那天教堂从早到晚会挤满了人。
He would gaze steadily at every man who entered the church and looked forward to Sunday with as much impatience as a schoolboy, for on that day the church was filled with people from morning till night.
他变得十分老了，由于每天在潮湿的教堂，他也越来越虚弱，他的希望也逐渐破灭。
He became very old, growing weaker each day from the dampness of the church, and his hope oozed away gradually.
他现在知道了所有来参加仪式的人的样子，他知道他们来的时间、他们的举止，可以辨认出他们在石板上的脚步声。
He now knew by sight all the people who came to the services; he knew their hours, their manners, could distinguish their step on the stone pavement.
他的兴趣范围变得如此狭窄，以至于一个陌生人走进教堂对他来说都是件大事。
His interests had become so contracted that the entrance of a stranger in the church was for him a great event.
一天，两位女士走了进来，一位年纪有些大，另一位年轻——也许是一对母女。
One day two ladies came in; one was old, the other young—a mother and daughter probably.
她们身后还跟着一位男士。
Behind them came a man who was following them.
当她们出来时，他向她们点头示意，在洒给她们一些圣水后，他搀扶着那位年纪大一点的女士的手臂。
He bowed to them as they came out, and after offering them some holy water, he took the arm of the elder lady.
“他一定是那位年轻小姐的未婚夫。”车匠想着。
"That must be the fiance of the younger one," thought the wheelwright.
直到晚上，他一直不停试着回想，他以前曾在哪里见过和这位年轻男人长得很像的一个人。
And until evening he kept trying to recall where he had formerly seen a young man who resembled this one.
但是，他想到的那个人，现在肯定已经是个老人了，因为好像他在家乡年轻的时候就认识那个人了。
But the one he was thinking of must be an old man by this time, for it seemed as if he had known him down home in his youth.
这个人后来常常来，陪女士回家。这模糊的、遥远又熟悉的相似，让他无法辨认。老人非常苦恼，于是他让他的妻子和他一起去，看看她是否对他衰退的记忆有所帮助。
The same man frequently came again to walk home with the ladies, and this vague, distant, familiar resemblance which he could not place worried the old man so much that he made his wife come with him to see if she could help his impaired memory.
一天晚上，天色慢慢变暗，那三个陌生人一起进来了。
One evening as it was growing dusk the three strangers entered together.
当他们经过老人时，老人说道：
When they had passed the old man said:
“喂，你认识他吗？”
"Well, do you know him?"
他的妻子急忙努力搜寻她的记忆。
His wife anxiously tried to ransack her memory.
突然，她用低沉的声音说道：
Suddenly she said in a low tone:
“是的——是的——但是他更黑一些、高一些、壮一些，并且打扮得得像一个绅士。但是，他爸，他的脸和你年轻的时候一模一样！”
"Yes—yes—but he is darker, taller, stouter and is dressed like a gentleman, but, father, all the same, it is your face when you were young!"
老人激动地跳了起来。
The old man started violently.
确实如此。
It was true.
这个人看起来像他自己，也像他死去的兄弟，还像他记忆中父亲年轻时的样子。
He looked like himself and also like his brother who was dead, and like his father, whom he remembered while he was yet young.
这对老夫妇激动得说不出话来。
The old couple were so affected that they could not speak.
这三个人出来了，正准备离开教堂。
The three persons came out and were about to leave the church.
他用手指碰了下洒圣水的机器。
The man touched his finger to the holy water sprinkler.
此时老人的手在发抖，以至于完全将圣水洒在了地上，他大声叫道：
Then the old man, whose hand was trembling so that he was fairly sprinkling the ground with holy water, exclaimed:
“琼！”
"Jean!"
年轻人停下来看着他。
The young man stopped and looked at him.
他用低沉的声音重复道：
He repeated in a lower tone:
“琼！”
"Jean!"
两位女士不解地看着他们。
The two women looked at them without understanding.
于是，他第三次像刚才那样哭泣着喊道：
He then said for the third time, sobbing as he did so:
“琼！”
"Jean!"
年轻人弯下了腰，把他的脸靠近老人的脸，当他逐渐想起童年的回忆时，他回答道：
The man stooped down, with his face close to the old man’s, and as a memory of his childhood dawned on him he replied:
“皮埃尔爸爸，珍妮妈妈！”
"Papa Pierre, Mamma Jeanne!"
他忘却了一切，他父亲的姓和家乡的名字，但是他一直都记得那两个他经常重复的词：“皮埃尔爸爸，珍妮妈妈。”
He had forgotten everything, his father’s surname and the name of his native place, but he always remembered those two words that he had so often repeated: "Papa Pierre, Mamma Jeanne."
他跪在地板上，脸靠在老人的膝盖上，他哭泣着，一会儿吻吻他的父亲，一会儿又吻吻他的母亲，而他们因为这巨大的欢喜几乎无法呼吸了。
He sank to the floor, his face on the old man’s knees, and he wept, kissing now his father and then his mother, while they were almost breathless from intense joy.
两位女士也哭了，因为弄明白了刚才发生的这巨大的喜悦。
The two ladies also wept, understanding as they did that some great happiness had come to pass.
然后，他们全都去了年轻人的家，他告诉了大家他的经历。
Then they all went to the young man’s house and he told them his history.
那些江湖卖艺的人把他拐走了。
The circus people had carried him off.
三年里，他跟着他们到了各个不同的国家。
For three years he traveled with them in various countries.
后来杂耍团解散了。有一天，一位住在城堡的老妇人因为喜欢他的模样，将他买来留在她身边。
Then the troupe disbanded, and one day an old lady in a chateau had paid to have him stay with her because she liked his appearance.
因为他很聪明，于是被送去学校读书，然后又上了大学。那个老妇人没有孩子，把所有的钱都留给了他。
As he was intelligent, he was sent to school, then to college, and the old lady having no children, had left him all her money.
至于他本人，一直在努力寻找他的父母，但因为他只记得两个名字，“皮埃尔爸爸，珍妮妈妈，”所以他一直没法找到。
He, for his part, had tried to find his parents, but as he could remember only the two names, "Papa Pierre, Mamma Jeanne," he had been unable to do so.
如今，他就要结婚了，于是他介绍了他优秀又漂亮的未婚妻。
Now he was about to be married, and he introduced his fiancee, who was very good and very pretty.
当轮到两位老人讲了他们的故事后，他又一次亲吻了他们。
When the two old people had told their story in their turn he kissed them once more.
那晚，他们一直熬到很晚，他们不敢去睡觉，唯恐这寻找如此之久的幸福，会在他们睡着的时候又跑掉。
They sat up very late that night, not daring to retire lest the happiness they had so long sought should escape them again while they were asleep.
但是，不幸已放弃了对他们的坚持，后来他们的余生都过得很开心。
But misfortune had lost its hold on them and they were happy for the rest of their lives.