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第二场
SCENE—Two days out.A section of the promenade deck.MILDRED DOUGLAS and her aunt are discovered reclining in deck chairs.The former is a girl of twenty,slender,delicate,with a pale,pretty face marred by a self—conscious expression of disdainful superiority.She looks fretful,nervous and discontented,bored by her own anemia.Her aunt is a pompous and proud—and fat—old lady.She is a type even to the point of a double chin and lorgnettes.She is dressed pretentiously,as if afraid her face alone would never indicate her position in life.MILDRED is dressed all in white.
景——船开出去两天之后。散步甲板的一个区域。米尔德丽德·道格拉斯和她的姑妈正斜躺在甲板的折叠躺椅上。前者是一个二十岁的姑娘，身材苗条，体质虚弱，有一张苍白、漂亮的脸，但故意流露出来的高高在上的神情却使这张脸显得不再那么漂亮。她看起来烦躁、紧张而不满，对自己的贫血症感到厌烦。她的姑妈是一个浮夸、自大——还很肥胖的——老太太。她是这么一种类型的人，甚至胖到有了双下巴的程度，浮夸到了用带柄眼镜的地步。她的衣着打扮很做作，好像担心仅靠她的脸孔不能显示出她的社会地位似的。米尔德丽德穿了一身白色的衣服。
The impression to be conveyed by this scene is one of the beautiful,vivid life of the sea all about—sunshine on the deck in a great flood,the fresh sea wind blowing across it.In the midst of this,these two incongruous,artificial figures,inert and disharmonious,the elder like a gray lump of dough touched up with rouge,the younger looking as if the vitality of her stock had been sapped before she was conceived,so that she is the expression not of its life energy but merely of the artificialities that energy had won for itself in the spending.
这场戏所要表达出来的印象是到处都是一片风光旖旎、生机勃勃的海上生活——一大片阳光倾泻在甲板上，清新的海风吹拂过甲板。就在这当中，这两位不合时宜、矫揉造作的人物看上去既缺乏活力又不相协调。年长一些的那位像是一块灰色的生面团，上面抹了胭脂，较年轻的那一位看上去就像她那个家族的生命力在孕育她之前就被逐渐消耗掉了，因此她表现的不是它的生命活力，而仅仅是在那种生命力消耗的过程中所换得的人造物。
MILDRED—（Looking up with affected dreaminess.）How the black smoke swirls back against the sky!Is it not beautiful?
米尔德丽德——（带着一股做作的恍惚神情抬头看）黑烟在天空中盘旋，多有意思啊！不是很美吗？
AUNT—（Without looking up.）I dislike smoke of any kind.
姑妈——（没有往上看）不管哪种烟，我都讨厌。
MILDRED—My great—grandmother smoked a pipe—a clay pipe.
米尔德丽德——我的曾祖母抽烟斗——一个陶土做成的烟斗。
AUNT—（Ruffling.）Vulgar!
姑妈——（发怒）俗气！
MILDRED—She was too distant a relative to be vulgar.
米尔德丽德——她过世已久，何来俗气。
Time mellows pipes.
时间会让烟斗变得甘美。
AUNT—（Pretending boredom but irritated.）Did the sociology you took up at college teach you that—to play the ghoul on every possible occasion,excavating old bones?Why not let your great—grandmother rest in her grave?
姑妈——（装作厌倦了，但实际上是生气了）你在大学里读的社会学就教了你这些东西——只要一有机会，就扮作食尸鬼，把那些老骨头给挖出来？为什么不让你的曾祖母在坟墓里头安息呢？
MILDRED—（Dreamily.）With her pipe beside her—puffing in Paradise.
米尔德丽德——（神情恍惚地）她的烟斗就放在她的身旁——在极乐世界里喷着烟。
AUNT—（With spite.）Yes,you are a natural born ghoul.You are even getting to look like one,my dear.
姑妈——（带着怨恨）得了，你就是一个天生的食尸鬼。你看上去甚至都像食尸鬼了，亲爱的。
MILDRED—（In a passionless tone.）I detest you,Aunt.
米尔德丽德——（语气冷淡）我讨厌你，姑妈。
（Looking at her critically.）Do you know what you remind me of?Of a cold pork pudding against a background of linoleum tablecloth in the kitchen of a—but the possibilities are wearisome.（She closes her eyes.）
（用批判的目光看着她）你知道你让我想起了什么吗？你让我想起了厨房油毡桌布上的冷猪肉布丁，至于可能是什么人的厨房就不一一列举了，那样令人厌烦。（她闭上了眼睛。）
AUNT—（With a bitter laugh.）Merci for your candor.But since I am and must be your chaperone—in appearance,at least—let us patch up some sort of armed truce.For my part you are quite free to indulge any pose of eccentricity that beguiles you—as long as you observe the amenities—
姑妈——（带着一丝苦笑）谢谢你的直率。但是我既然是，而且必须是你的监护人——至少样子还是得要的——那就让我们达成某种休战协议吧。对我而言，你想摆出什么让你高兴的古怪架势，你都可以摆出来——只要你注意一下社交礼仪——
MILDRED—（Drawling.）The inanities?
米尔德丽德——（慢吞吞地说）说的都是废话吧？
AUNT—（Going on as if she hadn't heard.）After exhausting the morbid thrills of social service work on New York's East Side—how they must have hated you,by the way,the poor that you made so much poorer in their own eyes!—you are now bent on making your slumming international.Well,I hope Whitechapel will provide the needed nerve tonic.Do not ask me to chaperone you there,however.I told your father I would not.I loathe deformity.We will hire an army of detectives and you may investigate everything—they allow you to see.
姑妈——（接着说下去，就好像她没有听见似的）你对纽约东区社会服务工作的病态的激情磨灭之后——捎带说一句，你所做的事情，让那些穷人在他们自己看来觉得更加穷了，他们该有多讨厌你啊！——现在你又打定主意要去其他国家的贫民窟。好吧，我希望怀特查佩尔（注：英国伦敦斯特普尼市区中的一区）能提供所需的神经强壮剂。不过，你可别叫我陪你去那里。我跟你爸爸说了我不会去的。我厌恶丑陋的东西。我们会雇佣一大群私人侦探，你也可以去调查任何东西——只要他们准许你去看。
MILDRED—（Protesting with a trace of genuine earnestness.）Please do not mock at my attempts to discover how the other half lives.Give me credit for some sort of groping sincerity in that at least.I would like to help them.I would like to be some use in the world.Is it my fault I don't know how?I would like to be sincere,to touch life somewhere.（With weary bitterness.）But I'm afraid I have neither the vitality nor integrity.All that was burnt out in our stock before I was born.Grandfather's blast furnaces,flaming to the sky,melting steel,making millions—then father keeping those home fires burning,making more millions—and little me at the tail—end of it all.I'm a waste product in the Bessemer process—like the millions.Or rather,I inherit the acquired trait of the by—product,wealth,but none of the energy,none of the strength of the steel that made it.I am sired by gold and darned by it,as they say at the race track—damned in more ways than one,（She laughs mirthlessly）.
米尔德丽德——（带着些许真诚在辩驳）请不要嘲笑我试图去了解另外一半人是怎么生活的。你应该认可我，至少在这种探索中，多少还是有些诚意的。我想要帮助他们。我想要成为这个世上有用的人。我不知道该怎么做，这难道是我的错？我想诚实做人，希望在某个地方能够接触到生活。（带着疲倦的痛苦感）但是我担心我既没有精力也没有正义感。在我出世之前，我们家族里面所有的那一切都已经燃烧殆尽了。祖父的鼓风炉火光直冲云霄，烧融钢铁，赚了几百万——随后，爸爸又让那些火炉接着烧下去，赚了上千万——小小的我就落到了所有这一切的尾端。我和成千上万的人一样，是贝塞麦炼钢法炼出的废品。更确切地说，我继承了财富这一副产品的特征，但是却没有继承创造财富的钢铁所具有的能量和力量。正如人们在赛马场上所说的那样，生之于良驹亦毁之于良驹——不止从一个方面毁掉了我。（她忧伤地笑了笑）
AUNT—（Unimpressed—superciliously.）You seem to be going in for sincerity to—day.It isn't becoming to you,really—except as an obvious pose.Be as artificial as you are,I advise.There's a sort of sincerity in that,you know.And,after all,you must confess you like that better.
姑妈——（丝毫未被打动——高傲地）你今天似乎和真诚干上了。这一点儿都不适合你，真的——只会让你显得装腔作势。我建议你还是保持矫揉造作的本性吧。你要知道，矫揉造作里面也稍带几分真诚。而且，你终究得承认，你更喜欢矫揉造作。
MILDRED—（Again affected and bored.）Yes,I suppose I do.Pardon me for my outburst.When a leopard complains of its spots,it must sound rather grotesque.（In a mocking tone.）Purr,little leopard.Purr,scratch,tear,kill,gorge yourself and be happy—only stay in the jungle where your spots are camouflage.In a cage they make you conspicuous.
米尔德丽德——（又做作和烦闷起来）是的，我想我是那样的。我刚刚大发了一通火，请原谅。一只花豹抱怨它身上的斑点，这听起来肯定很荒唐。（以一种嘲笑的口吻）咕噜咕噜叫吧，小花豹。咕噜叫吧、搔痒吧、撕扯吧、猎杀吧、把自己塞饱吧、快活吧——只不过要呆在丛林里面，在那里，你的斑点就是你的保护色。在笼子里面的话，你的斑点就会让你显得很扎眼。
AUNT—I don't know what you are talking about.
姑妈——我不知道你在说些什么。
MILDRED—It would be rude to talk about anything to you.Let's just talk.（She looks at her wrist watch.）Well,thank goodness,it's about time for them to come for me.That ought to give me a new thrill,Aunt.
米尔德丽德——不管和你谈论什么事情都是粗鲁无礼的。我们还是随便聊聊吧。（她看了看戴在手腕上的表）哎呀，感谢上帝！现在该是他们过来接我的时候了。姑妈，那应该会给我带来一种全新的兴奋感。
AUNT—（Affectedly troubled.）You don't mean to say you're really going?The dirt—the heat must be frightful—
姑妈——（假装感到忧虑）你不会是真的想去吧？那里肯定脏得要命——热得要死——
MILDRED—Grandfather started as a puddler.I should have inherited an immunity to heat that would make a salamander shiver.It will be fun to put it to the test.
米尔德丽德——祖父就是从搅炼工人做起的。我应当遗传了抗热能力，能抵抗足以让一条火蜥蜴都热得发抖的高温。试验一下倒也有趣。
AUNT—But don't you have to have the captain's—or someone's—permission to visit the stokehole?
姑妈——但是你总得取得船长——或者什么人的——许可才能去参观炉膛口吧？
MILDRED—（With a triumphant smile.）I have it—both his and the chief engineer's.Oh,they didn't want to at first,in spite of my social service credentials.They didn't seem a bit anxious that I should investigate how the other half lives and works on a ship.So I had to tell them that my father,the president of Nazareth Steel,chairman of the board of directors of this line,had told me it would be all right.
米尔德丽德——（面带得意洋洋的笑容）我得到允许了——船长和轮机长都同意了。哦，尽管我有社会服务证件，他们起先也并不同意我去。他们好像一点儿也不希望我去调查另外一半人在船上是如何生活和工作的。所以我只好告诉他们我爸爸，也就是拿撒勒钢铁公司的董事长、这个轮船公司的董事会主席，跟我说过我可以去参观的。
AUNT—He didn't.
姑妈——他并没有这样说过。
MILDRED—How naive age makes one!But I said he did,Aunt.I even said he had given me a letter to them—which I had lost.And they were afraid to take the chance that I might be lying.（Excitedly.）So it's ho!for the stokehole.The second engineer is to escort me.（Looking at her watch again.）It's time.And here he comes,I think.（The SECOND ENGINEER enters,He is a husky,fine—looking man of thirty—five or so.He stops before the two and tips his cap,visibly embarrassed and ill—at—ease.）
米尔德丽德——这个时代让人们变得多么容易轻信他人啊！但是我说他就是这么告诉我的，姑妈。我甚至还说，他给了我一封信，是写给他们的——但我把那封信丢了。而且他们不敢冒这个险来证明我可能是在说谎。（激动地）就这样搞定了！我要去炉膛口了。二管轮会护送我去的。（再一次看了看她的手表）是时候了。我想他已经来了。（二管轮上场了，他高大健壮、外表帅气，大约三十五岁左右。他走到那两个人跟前停了下来，然后举帽致敬，他显然很尴尬，浑身不自在。）
SECOND ENGINEER—Miss Douglas?
二管轮——是道格拉斯小姐吗？
MILDRED—Yes.（Throwing off her rugs and getting to her feet.）Are we all ready to start?
米尔德丽德——是的。（匆匆掀掉毛毯，然后站了起来）我们都准备出发了吗？
SECOND ENGINEER—In just a second,ma'am.I'm waiting for the Fourth.He's coming along.
二管轮——小姐，请稍等一会儿。我正在等四管轮。他正往过赶。
MILDRED—（With a scornful smile.）You don't care to shoulder this responsibility alone,is that it?
米尔德丽德——（面带轻蔑的笑容）你不愿意一个人承担这个责任，是不是？
SECOND ENGINEER—（Forcing a smile.）Two are better than one.（Disturbed by her eyes,glances out to sea—blurts out.）A fine day we're having.
二管轮——（勉强笑了笑）两个人总比一个人好。（她的眼神让他感到不安，于是他朝大海望去——不假思索地说出）今天是一个大晴天。
MILDRED—Is it?
米尔德丽德——是吗？
SECOND ENGINEER—A nice warm breeze—
二管轮——舒适而温暖的微风——
MILDRED—It feels cold to me.
米尔德丽德——这风让我感到寒冷。
SECOND ENGINEER—But it's hot enough in the sun—
二管轮——但是在太阳下够热的了——
MILDRED—Not hot enough for me.I don't like Nature.I was never athletic.
米尔德丽德——就我而言，这还不够热。我不喜欢大自然。我的身体一直都不强壮。
SECOND ENGINEER—（Forcing a smile.）Well,you'll find it hot enough where you're going.
二管轮——（勉强笑了笑）哦，你将发现你要去的那个地方热得很。
MILDRED—Do you mean hell?
米尔德丽德——你指的是地狱吗？
SECOND ENGINEER—（Flabbergasted,decides to laugh.）Ho—ho!No,I mean the stokehole.
二管轮——（哑然失色，于是大笑起来）哈——哈！不，我是指炉膛口。
MILDRED—My grandfather was a puddler.He played with boiling steel.
米尔德丽德——我的祖父曾经是位搅炼工人。他那时就以沸腾的钢铁水为乐。
SECOND ENGINEER—（All at sea—uneasily.）Is that so?Hum,you'll excuse me,ma'am,but are you intending to wear that dress.
二管轮——（茫然不知所措——不自在地）真是那样吗？嗯，对不起，小姐，不过你打算就穿着这身衣服去吗？
MILDRED—Why not?
米尔德丽德——有何不可？
SECOND ENGINEER—You'll likely rub against oil and dirt.It can't be helped.
二管轮——你很可能会蹭上油料和污垢。这是免不了的。
MILDRED—It doesn't matter.I have lots of white dresses.
米尔德丽德——没有关系。我有很多件白色的衣服。
SECOND ENGINEER—I have an old coat you might throw over—
二管轮——我有一件旧的外衣，你可以披上——
MILDRED—I have fifty dresses like this.I will throw this one into the sea when I come back.That ought to wash it clean,don't you think?
米尔德丽德——我有五十件这样的衣服。我回来之后，就会把这身衣服扔到海里去。那应该会把它清洗干净，你说是吧？
SECOND ENGINEER—（Doggedly.）There's ladders to climb down that are none too clean—and dark alleyways—
二管轮——（固执己见地）要爬楼梯下去，但台阶都不怎么干净——而且通道很昏暗——
MILDRED—I will wear this very dress and none other.
米尔德丽德——我就是要穿这这身衣服，不穿别的。
SECOND ENGINEER—No offence meant.It's none of my business.I was only warning you—
二管轮——我没有恶意。这与我不相干。我只是要警告你——
MILDRED—Warning?That sounds thrilling.
米尔德丽德——警告？那听起来真让人胆战心惊。
SECOND ENGINEER—（Looking down the deck—with a sigh of relief.）—There's the Fourth now.He's waiting for us.If you'll come—
二管轮——（向下看了看甲板——松了口气）四管轮来了。他正在等我们。如果你愿意走——
MILDRED—Go on.I'll follow you.（He goes.Mildred turns a mocking smile on her aunt.）An oaf—but a handsome,virile oaf.
米尔德丽德——往前走吧。我这就跟你去。（他动身了。米尔德丽德对着她的姑妈嘲讽地笑了笑）一个呆子——但是是一个长相英俊的、有男子汉气概的呆子。
AUNT—（Scornfully.）Poser!
姑妈——（嘲笑地）装模作样！
MILDRED—Take care.He said there were dark alleyways—
米尔德丽德——要小心。他说那里的通道很昏暗——
AUNT—（In the same tone.）Poser!
姑妈——（以同样的口吻）装模作样！
MILDRED—（Biting her lips angrily.）You are right.But would that my millions were not so anemically chaste!
米尔德丽德——（生气地咬着嘴唇）你说得对。不过，要是我的百万家产没有这么干净该有多好！
AUNT—Yes,for a fresh pose I have no doubt you would drag the name of Douglas in the gutter!
姑妈——是的，我确信你会为了这个别出心裁的造作，而把道格拉斯家族的名声拖到阴沟里去！
MILDRED—From which it sprang.Good—by,Aunt.Don't pray too hard that I may fall into the fiery furnace.
米尔德丽德——那名声也出自那里。再见，姑妈。别太苛刻地祷告要我掉进熊熊燃烧的火炉里。
AUNT—Poser!
姑妈——装腔作势！
MILDRED—（Viciously.）Old hag!（She slaps her aunt insultingly across the face and walks off,laughing gaily.）
米尔德丽德——（敌意地）老巫婆！（她侮辱性地掴了她的姑妈一记耳光，然后快乐地笑着离开了）
AUNT—（Screams after her.）I said poser!
姑妈——（在她后面放声大叫）我说你装模作样！
（Curtain）
（幕落）