【译习】黑猫 The Black Cat

作者：Edgar Allan Poe (published 1845) 译者：CaptainSnafu 未经允许，请勿转载 FOR the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not -- and very surely do I not dream. But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburthen my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events. In their consequences, these events have terrified -- have tortured -- have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to expound them. To me, they have presented little but Horror -- to many they will seem less terrible than barroques. Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place -- some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects. 对于我即将撰写的这个最为奇诡但也最为朴实的叙述，我既不期望也不祈求他人相信。在一个连我的理智都在排斥着自己得到的证据之情况下，我若是指望他人的信任，那才是真正的疯狂。然而，我并没有在发疯，也十分肯定我没有在做梦。但明日我将身死，今天便卸下我灵魂的负荷吧。我当前的目的是要将这一系列家常事件简明扼要、不加评判地展现于世人面前。作为结果，它们恐吓、折磨着并摧毁了我。但我不会试图去阐释它们。于我而言，这些事件给我带来的只有恐惧，但对许多人来说，它们似乎还不如巴洛克艺术令人害怕。或许在今后，某些智慧会被揭示，将我的幻想化为平常。这些智慧将比我的心智更为冷静、合理与从容，它们会在我心怀敬畏的详述之中，察觉到一切不过只是一连串非常自然的因果关系。 From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions. I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them. This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, and, in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure. To those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog, I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus derivable. There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man. 从襁褓中起，我便被认定是性情温顺而仁慈的。我昭显的温柔之心甚至使我成为同伴们的笑柄。我尤其喜爱动物，而我的父母也放任我眷养大量的宠物。我在它们身上花费了大部分的时光，也从未有其它时刻能比我在喂养和照料它们时更让我快活。这种性格特征也随着我的成长而逐渐成型，在我成年后，还从中衍生出了我首要的快乐源泉。对于那些珍爱忠诚而聪慧的狗的人而言，必自可推导，我也毋需麻烦去解释那种满足的本质及其之强烈了。牲畜怀有着某种无私且舍己为人的爱，能直达一个饱经微薄的友谊与脆弱的忠贞所考验的人类的心灵。 I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. Observing my partiality for domestic pets, she lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind. We had birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat. 我早早成婚，也很庆幸我的妻子并不与我志趣相左。她注意到我对家养宠物的偏爱，从不错过能获得这些讨人喜欢的家伙们的机会。我们养了鸟儿、金鱼、兔子、一只小猴和一条狗，还有一只猫。 This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree. In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise. Not that she was ever serious upon this point -- and I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it happens, just now, to be remembered. 这只猫不同寻常地硕大和漂亮，全身乌黑，聪慧惊人。说到他的聪明，我那不乏迷信的妻子时常会影射起那些认为黑猫都由女巫伪装而成的古老民俗观念。在这一点上她倒也不是非常地认真——我提起这事也没什么特别的缘由，只是突然地想起罢了。 Pluto -- this was the cat's name -- was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets. 普鲁托（Pluto）——这就是猫的名字，它是我最喜爱的宠物和玩伴。我独自喂养着他。在家宅附近时，无论我去哪，它都会伴随我。我甚至很难阻止它跟着我穿过街道。 Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, during which my general temperament and character -- through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance -- had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical alteration for the worse. I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence. My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition. I not only neglected, but ill-used them. For Pluto, however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him, as I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog, when by accident, or through affection, they came in my way. But my disease grew upon me -- for what disease is like Alcohol ! -- and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish -- even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper. 我们的友谊就以这种方式持续了好几年，也是在这段期间，即使我羞于忏悔，我的脾气和性情因为恶魔的手段——酗酒而经历了一次彻底的劣变。日复一日，我成长着，也愈发喜怒无常和暴躁，越来越不顾及他人的感受。我放纵了自己对妻子的恶言相向，而最终，我甚至对她施暴。当然，我的宠物们也被迫去体会我的性格转变。我不仅疏于照顾，甚至还虐待它们。无论如何，我对普鲁托仍保留了足够的尊重，克制着不去粗暴对待。但至于兔子、小猴、甚至是那条狗，我都毫不犹豫地虐待，尤其是当它们出于意外或对我的亲近而挡住我的道路时。我那名为酗酒的恶疾逐渐深重，最终，连日已年迈而变得易怒的普鲁托也开始尝到了我那坏脾气的恶果。 One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket ! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity. 一个晚上，我酩酊大醉地从镇子附近一个常顾之地回到家里，我怀疑那只猫在躲避着我。于是我抓住了他，他在我暴力之下大为惊恐，用牙齿在我的手上留下一道轻浅的伤口。来自恶魔一般的狂怒立即支配了我。我再也不认识这个自己了。我原本的灵魂似乎在顷刻间就出窍逃离。一种由酒精驱动的残忍恶意，使我这副躯壳中的每一根肌纤激动得颤抖。我从马甲口袋掏出一把折刀并将其展开，紧紧扼住那只可怜野兽的喉咙，从容专注地将他一只眼睛从眼窝中剜出！在我写下这笔可憎的罪行时，我羞愧难当，脸红得发烫，同时又不寒而栗。 When reason returned with the morning -- when I had slept off the fumes of the night's debauch -- I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched. I again plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed. 当睡眠消散了昨夜放肆的怒气，理智便在早晨回归。我对那犯下的罪行感到一种参半的恐惧与懊悔，但这种情绪充其量也只是微弱且含糊的，仍未能触动我的灵魂。我再次陷入了无度的酗酒，将对此事的所有记忆淹没在酒精之下。 In the meantime the cat slowly recovered. The socket of the lost eye presented, it is true, a frightful appearance, but he no longer appeared to suffer any pain. He went about the house as usual, but, as might be expected, fled in extreme terror at my approach. I had so much of my old heart left, as to be at first grieved by this evident dislike on the part of a creature which had once so loved me. But this feeling soon gave place to irritation. And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS. Of this spirit philosophy takes no account. Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart -- one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of Man. Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a silly action, for no other reason than because he knows he should not? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such? This spirit of perverseness, I say, came to my final overthrow. It was this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself -- to offer violence to its own nature -- to do wrong for the wrong's sake only -- that urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending brute. One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree; -- hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; -- hung it because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence; -- hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin -- a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it -- if such a thing were possible -- even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God. 在此期间，那只猫也渐渐恢复过来。他那失去了眼球的眼窝呈现着一种切实的可怕，但他似乎也不再经受痛苦的折磨了。他像往常一样游荡在家宅各处，但也意料之中地，会在我靠近时极度惶恐地逃开。我以往的那副好心肠已被遗失得太多，最初我还会为此感到悲伤——一只曾经亲爱我的动物如今却如此显然地厌恶着我，但这种感觉很快便被恼怒所取代。随后，有一种连哲学都未予思虑的乖谬意志降临在我身上，仿佛将我引向那无可换回的最后的背弃。比起确信我的灵魂尚存，我更确信那种乖谬是人类内心的原始冲动之一，它是一种不可分离的基础机能或情绪，引导着人的秉性。谁又何尝没试过上百次地发现自己正做出着低劣或愚蠢的行径——正是因为知其不该为，而又为之呢？我们不都拥有着一种永恒的意向，想去对抗我们最好的判断、去违反法律与守则，仅仅只是因为意识到了它逆反的本身吗？我认为，这种乖谬的意志，带来了我最终的背弃。正是这种灵魂内深不可测的渴望，这种对烦扰自我、蹂躏本性、只为错而错的渴望，怂恿着我继续并最终完成对一头无害牲畜的创伤。在一个早晨，我冷血地在他的脖颈套上绳索，并将他吊挂在树枝上，伴随着我眼中涌出的泪水和心中最痛苦的懊悔。吊死他，是因为我知道他曾爱我，也因为我感到他并未给予我去冒犯他的理由；吊死他，是因为我知道此般举动即是犯下罪行，而这条无恕之罪将危及我那不朽的灵魂——如果它真的存在，我这么做只为了将它安置到就连最仁慈也最可怕的上帝的无限慈悲也不能挽救之境地。 On the night of the day on which this cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed were in flames. The whole house was blazing. It was with great difficulty that my wife, a servant, and myself, made our escape from the conflagration. The destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up, and I resigned myself thenceforward to despair. 在我犯下这残忍恶行的当天晚上，我被火灾中的呼喊声从梦中惊醒。我床上的帷幔已经着火，整座房屋都在熊熊燃烧。我的妻子、一名仆从和我自己十分艰难地从大火中逃脱。毁灭是彻底的，我在世上的所有财产都被火焰吞噬，我从此服从于绝望。 I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity. But I am detailing a chain of facts -- and wish not to leave even a possible link imperfect. On the day succeeding the fire, I visited the ruins. The walls, with one exception, had fallen in. This exception was found in a compartment wall, not very thick, which stood about the middle of the house, and against which had rested the head of my bed. The plastering had here, in great measure, resisted the action of the fire -- a fact which I attributed to its having been recently spread. About this wall a dense crowd were collected, and many persons seemed to be examining a particular portion of it with very minute and eager attention. The words "strange!" "singular!" and other similar expressions, excited my curiosity. I approached and saw, as if graven in bas relief upon the white surface, the figure of a gigantic cat. The impression was given with an accuracy truly marvellous. There was a rope about the animal's neck. 我并没有那种试图在灾难和暴行之间建立因果关系的癖好。但我是在详述一连串的事实，我不希望会留有哪怕一个的环节不完整。火灾后的第二天，我到废墟视察。除了一处例外，所有墙壁都已坍塌。这个例外出现在一堵不厚的隔墙上，它立于房屋的中间，紧靠着我的床头。墙体的灰泥层在很大程度上抵挡住了火焰的灼烧——我认为这是它最近才被涂上灰泥的缘故。这堵墙周围簇拥着聚集的人群，而很多人似乎都在细致入微、求知若渴地检查着墙的某一部分。一声声“奇怪！”“奇特！”以及其他近义的言辞激起了我的好奇心。我靠近，看见白色的表面上仿佛浮雕着一只巨大的猫，惟妙惟肖，精细绝伦。而猫的脖颈上还套着一根绳子。 When I first beheld this apparition -- for I could scarcely regard it as less -- my wonder and my terror were extreme. But at length reflection came to my aid. The cat, I remembered, had been hung in a garden adjacent to the house. Upon the alarm of fire, this garden had been immediately filled by the crowd -- by some one of whom the animal must have been cut from the tree and thrown, through an open window, into my chamber. This had probably been done with the view of arousing me from sleep. The falling of other walls had compressed the victim of my cruelty into the substance of the freshly-spread plaster; the lime of which, with the flames, and the ammonia from the carcass, had then accomplished the portraiture as I saw it. 当我初次目睹这个离奇的形象时，我的惊讶和恐惧达到了极限，几乎不敢注视它。但最后，我的思绪拯救了局势。我记得，那只猫被挂在了毗连房屋的花园里。在火灾警报响起之际，花园里就立刻挤满了人群，一定是其中某人把那只动物从树上割下，从敞开的窗户扔进了我的房间。这大概是为了把我从睡梦中惊醒。其余墙壁的倒塌将我残暴之下的牺牲品压进了新近涂抹的灰泥里，其中的石灰遇上火焰和尸体的氨气，成就了我眼前的这幅肖像雕绘。 Although I thus readily accounted to my reason, if not altogether to my conscience, for the startling fact just detailed, it did not the less fail to make a deep impression upon my fancy. For months I could not rid myself of the phantasm of the cat; and, during this period, there came back into my spirit a half-sentiment that seemed, but was not, remorse. I went so far as to regret the loss of the animal, and to look about me, among the vile haunts which I now habitually frequented, for another pet of the same species, and of somewhat similar appearance, with which to supply its place. 尽管我迅速地用理智而非全凭良知地去作出了正当的解释，但刚才详述的惊人事实还是在我的想象中留下了深刻的印象。长连数月，我都无法摆脱那只猫的幽影。与其同时，一种隐约的伤感在我的神识深处复苏，它似是懊悔，却不然。我为失去了那只动物而深深惋惜，为此我在那些日常流连的卑劣之所中环顾四周，去寻找另一只同种的宠物以取替它的位置。 One night as I sat, half stupified, in a den of more than infamy, my attention was suddenly drawn to some black object, reposing upon the head of one of the immense hogsheads of Gin, or of Rum, which constituted the chief furniture of the apartment. I had been looking steadily at the top of this hogshead for some minutes, and what now caused me surprise was the fact that I had not sooner perceived the object thereupon. I approached it, and touched it with my hand. It was a black cat -- a very large one -- fully as large as Pluto, and closely resembling him in every respect but one. Pluto had not a white hair upon any portion of his body; but this cat had a large, although indefinite splotch of white, covering nearly the whole region of the breast. 一个晚上，我几近呆楞地坐在一个声名狼藉的窝点里，突然间，我的注意力被某个黑色的物件所吸引，它静息在组成了房间中首要装置的其中一个琴酒或朗姆酒大桶上。这几分钟里我一直都在目不转睛地看着这个酒桶，而如今我为自己未能更早地察觉到其上的物件而惊讶。我靠近，伸手抚摸它。那是一只猫，一只和普鲁托的体型完全相等的大猫，几乎在任何方面都与它精密地相似。除了一点，普鲁托的躯体上没有丝毫白毛，而这只猫则怀着一大片不甚分明的白色斑块，将近覆盖了整片胸膛。 Upon my touching him, he immediately arose, purred loudly, rubbed against my hand, and appeared delighted with my notice. This, then, was the very creature of which I was in search. I at once offered to purchase it of the landlord; but this person made no claim to it -- knew nothing of it -- had never seen it before. 当我触碰到他，他就顿时站起，大声呜叫，抵拭着我的手，我对他的关注似乎令他甚是欣喜。这便正是我所寻求之物。我立刻向房东发起购买的提议，可对方却否认了对其的所有权，并声称对其一无所知、从所未见。 I continued my caresses, and, when I prepared to go home, the animal evinced a disposition to accompany me. I permitted it to do so; occasionally stooping and patting it as I proceeded. When it reached the house it domesticated itself at once, and became immediately a great favorite with my wife. 我继续爱抚了他。当我准备回家时，这只动物表现出了陪伴我的意愿，我也对之默许，在行走的过程中偶尔弯腰轻拍他几下。到达屋宅后，他便随即安家，很快就成为了我妻子的挚爱。 For my own part, I soon found a dislike to it arising within me. This was just the reverse of what I had anticipated; but -- I know not how or why it was -- its evident fondness for myself rather disgusted and annoyed. By slow degrees, these feelings of disgust and annoyance rose into the bitterness of hatred. I avoided the creature; a certain sense of shame, and the remembrance of my former deed of cruelty, preventing me from physically abusing it. I did not, for some weeks, strike, or otherwise violently ill use it; but gradually -- very gradually -- I came to look upon it with unutterable loathing, and to flee silently from its odious presence, as from the breath of a pestilence. 至于我，我很快就察觉到一种源自内心的反感。这恰与我所期望的相反，不知怎的，他对我那不言而喻的喜爱令我有几分厌烦和气恼。而这些厌恶和恼怒的感觉逐步升级成苦涩的憎恨。我躲避着这只畜生，某种羞愧感和以往残忍恶行的记忆阻止着我去虐待它。持续了数周，我都没有击打或以别的方式虐待它。但渐渐地——十分缓进地——我开始以一种说不出的嫌恶鄙夷着它，像是逃避瘟疫一般悄无声息地从它那可憎的所在之处逃开。 What added, no doubt, to my hatred of the beast, was the discovery, on the morning after I brought it home, that, like Pluto, it also had been deprived of one of its eyes. This circumstance, however, only endeared it to my wife, who, as I have already said, possessed, in a high degree, that humanity of feeling which had once been my distinguishing trait, and the source of many of my simplest and purest pleasures. 令我更添恨意的是，在带它回家的次日早晨，我发现它也和普鲁托一样被剥去了一只眼睛。无论如何，它的此等际遇也只令我的妻子对它更加怜爱。我也已提到过，她怀有一颗充满同情的仁心，那也曾一度是我显著的特征，也是我许多简单且纯粹的快乐之来源。 With my aversion to this cat, however, its partiality for myself seemed to increase. It followed my footsteps with a pertinacity which it would be difficult to make the reader comprehend. Whenever I sat, it would crouch beneath my chair, or spring upon my knees, covering me with its loathsome caresses. If I arose to walk it would get between my feet and thus nearly throw me down, or, fastening its long and sharp claws in my dress, clamber, in this manner, to my breast. At such times, although I longed to destroy it with a blow, I was yet withheld from so doing, partly by a memory of my former crime, but chiefly -- let me confess it at once -- by absolute dread of the beast. 然而，随着我对这只猫的憎恶，它对我的偏爱似乎反而增加。它会以一种让人难以理解的执拗跟着我的脚步。而每当我坐下，它便蹲伏在我的椅子下，或跳上我的膝盖，可憎地摩挲着覆盖在我肢体上。我若起身行走，它就会挡在我两腿之间，几乎要将我绊倒。又或者，用它那长而锋利的爪子紧紧扣入我的衣裳，以此攀上我的胸膛。有那么好几次，尽管我很想将它一击灭杀，但都被抑制住了，一部分是因为我对以往罪行的回忆，但我现在就坦白吧，最主要的，是因为我对这头野兽绝对地畏惧。 This dread was not exactly a dread of physical evil -- and yet I should be at a loss how otherwise to define it. I am almost ashamed to own -- yes, even in this felon's cell, I am almost ashamed to own -- that the terror and horror with which the animal inspired me, had been heightened by one of the merest chimæras it would be possible to conceive. My wife had called my attention, more than once, to the character of the mark of white hair, of which I have spoken, and which constituted the sole visible difference between the strange beast and the one I had destroyed. The reader will remember that this mark, although large, had been originally very indefinite; but, by slow degrees -- degrees nearly imperceptible, and which for a long time my Reason struggled to reject as fanciful -- it had, at length, assumed a rigorous distinctness of outline. It was now the representation of an object that I shudder to name -- and for this, above all, I loathed, and dreaded, and would have rid myself of the monster had I dared -- it was now, I say, the image of a hideous -- of a ghastly thing -- of the GALLOWS ! -- oh, mournful and terrible engine of Horror and of Crime -- of Agony and of Death ! 这种恐惧并非完全是一种对有形邪恶的恐惧，而我仍惘惑着该如何去阐明。我几乎要为自己被那只动物所激发的惊恐和畏惧而羞耻，是的，即使被困在这重罪的牢笼里，我仍为怀有那种被人类所能构思出的最为虚缈的妄想之一所增幅的恐惧而感到羞耻。我的妻子不止一次地引起了我对曾提及的那块白毛印记的注意，它构成了这只陌生的野兽与我灭杀的那只之间唯一的视觉差异。读者们应该记得，这块印记尽管很大，但原本十分模糊。它以一种微不可察的缓慢变化着，并且在很长一段时间里，我的理智都在挣扎着抗拒这个变化，视之为臆想。终于，它呈现出了明晰的轮廓。现在，它成为了一件光是说出其名就让我战栗之物的象征。因此，我最首要的感受便是厌恶和恐惧，想要摆脱那个如今呈现出来可憎而阴森的绞架之形，摆脱那只承载着恐惧与罪恶、痛苦与死亡之刑具的怪物，悲哀而可怕的怪物！ And now was I indeed wretched beyond the wretchedness of mere Humanity. And a brute beast -- whose fellow I had contemptuously destroyed -- a brute beast to work out for me -- for me a man, fashioned in the image of the High God -- so much of insufferable wo! Alas! neither by day nor by night knew I the blessing of Rest any more! During the former the creature left me no moment alone; and, in the latter, I started, hourly, from dreams of unutterable fear, to find the hot breath of the thing upon my face, and its vast weight -- an incarnate Night-Mare that I had no power to shake off -- incumbent eternally upon my heart ! 现在，我的悲惨超越了人类所能承受的不幸。还有一只野兽般的畜生，我曾轻蔑地屠戮过它的同胞，而令人难以忍受的它，也正待着我——一个人类、以至高天神的形象塑造的人类去解决。吁！唉！无论日夜，我都再不可安憩！在白天，那只生物不留我片刻独处时光，而在夜晚，在不可言说的噩梦中，我开始察觉到脸庞上拂过一阵溽热的吐息，还感受到一股巨大的重量，它们来自一个我无力摆脱的梦魇化身——正永恒地盘踞在我的心脏之上！ Beneath the pressure of torments such as these, the feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed. Evil thoughts became my sole intimates -- the darkest and most evil of thoughts. The moodiness of my usual temper increased to hatred of all things and of all mankind; while, from the sudden, frequent, and ungovernable outbursts of a fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas! was the most usual and the most patient of sufferers. 在诸如此般的折磨压迫之下，我内心残余那脆弱的善良也随即垮塌。那些邪恶的思绪——最黑暗最恶毒的思绪，成为了我唯一的密友。我平时喜怒无常的脾性恶化成了对万物以及全人类的憎恨，与此同时，我会频繁地在突然间放纵自己，毫无缘由地对我那从无怨言的妻子爆发出不可抑制的狂怒。唉！她便是我最寻常、也是最为忍耐的受害者。 One day she accompanied me, upon some household errand, into the cellar of the old building which our poverty compelled us to inhabit. The cat followed me down the steep stairs, and, nearly throwing me headlong, exasperated me to madness. Uplifting an axe, and forgetting, in my wrath, the childish dread which had hitherto stayed my hand, I aimed a blow at the animal which, of course, would have proved instantly fatal had it descended as I wished. But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan. 有一天，她陪同我去处理一些家庭事务，进入了一幢我们因贫困而被迫入住的老房子的地窖里。那只猫跟随我走下陡峭的楼梯，差点把我头朝前地摔下去，我顿时恼怒若癫。我举起斧头，在愤怒中忘掉了至今仍留驻在我手上的微弱的恐惧，瞄准了那只动物。当然，如果斧头像我希望那般挥动下去，那它将会是当场毙命。这一击却被我妻子的手所阻挡。我被她的干涉激怒，在一阵远甚于着魔的暴怒之中，我把手臂从她的紧握里抽出并将斧头嵌入了她的大脑。她倒地身亡，没有一声呻吟。 This hideous murder accomplished, I set myself forthwith, and with entire deliberation, to the task of concealing the body. I knew that I could not remove it from the house, either by day or by night, without the risk of being observed by the neighbors. Many projects entered my mind. At one period I thought of cutting the corpse into minute fragments, and destroying them by fire. At another, I resolved to dig a grave for it in the floor of the cellar. Again, I deliberated about casting it in the well in the yard -- about packing it in a box, as if merchandize, with the usual arrangements, and so getting a porter to take it from the house. Finally I hit upon what I considered a far better expedient than either of these. I determined to wall it up in the cellar -- as the monks of the middle ages are recorded to have walled up their victims. 完成这桩可恶的谋杀后，我毫不犹豫并深思熟虑地着手隐藏尸体。我知道，不管是在白天还是黑夜，我都无法在不承担被邻居目击的风险下将它移出房屋。繁多的计划涌上心头。有一段时间里，我思考着要把尸体剁成极小的碎片，并用火焰焚毁。在另一会儿，我下定决心要在地窖的地板下挖掘一座墓穴。再然后，我又考虑抛尸于后院的水井。又或者，把它打包进一个箱子里，伪装成商品，普普通通地安排来一个搬运工，将它运出房舍。终于，我突然想到一个远妙于其它方案的权宜之计。我决定将它封在地窖的墙里，正如纪录里的中世纪僧侣将他们的受害者藏入墙内。 For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted. Its walls were loosely constructed, and had lately been plastered throughout with a rough plaster, which the dampness of the atmosphere had prevented from hardening. Moreover, in one of the walls was a projection, caused by a false chimney, or fireplace, that had been filled up, and made to resemble the rest of the cellar. I made no doubt that I could readily displace the bricks at this point, insert the corpse, and wall the whole up as before, so that no eye could detect any thing suspicious. 地窖跟这样的计划可谓十分适配。它的墙体筑构疏松，最近也被涂遍了粗糙的灰泥，而潮湿的空气阻止着灰泥硬化。此外，其中一堵墙中有一块是凸出的，大概由假烟囱或者壁炉造成，它被填平以看起来与其它部分的墙体相似。我毫不怀疑我此时此刻便能轻而易举地卸下砖块，把尸体嵌进去，再像之前一样把墙封上。这样一来，就不会有任何一只眼睛可以探查到丝毫可疑之处。 And in this calculation I was not deceived. By means of a crow-bar I easily dislodged the bricks, and, having carefully deposited the body against the inner wall, I propped it in that position, while, with little trouble, I re-laid the whole structure as it originally stood. Having procured mortar, sand, and hair, with every possible precaution, I prepared a plaster which could not be distinguished from the old, and with this I very carefully went over the new brick-work. When I had finished, I felt satisfied that all was right. The wall did not present the slightest appearance of having been disturbed. The rubbish on the floor was picked up with the minutest care. I looked around triumphantly, and said to myself -- "Here at least, then, my labor has not been in vain." 我的估算并未出错。凭借一根撬棍，我轻易地移除了那些砖块，小心翼翼地将尸体抵着内墙放置。我一边支撑着它，让它倚靠在那个位置上，一边不费劳烦地就将整个墙体结构重新铺砌回原本的模样。我买来了灰浆、沙子、动物毛发，在做好了所有能做的预防措施后，我制备了一些与先前的那种别无二致的灰泥，并一丝不苟地把它们覆抹在新砌的砖块上。当我完工后，我感到了一种万无一失般的心满意足。这堵墙没有展露出哪怕最细微的被移改过的痕迹。地板上的废料也都被我无微不及地拾起。我凯旋般地环顾四周，并对自己说道：“既然如此了，至少我的努力并没有白费。” My next step was to look for the beast which had been the cause of so much wretchedness; for I had, at length, firmly resolved to put it to death. Had I been able to meet with it, at the moment, there could have been no doubt of its fate; but it appeared that the crafty animal had been alarmed at the violence of my previous anger, and forbore to present itself in my present mood. It is impossible to describe, or to imagine, the deep, the blissful sense of relief which the absence of the detested creature occasioned in my bosom. It did not make its appearance during the night -- and thus for one night at least, since its introduction into the house, I soundly and tranquilly slept; aye, slept even with the burden of murder upon my soul! 我的下一步便是去寻找那只野兽——它一直就是诸多不幸的因由，而我终于坚定决心要置之死地。如果我当时能碰见它，它的命运就会毫无疑问地终结。但显然这只狡猾的动物一直在警惕着我先前那怒火喷薄的暴行，避免了在我当前的心境下现身。无法去描述或想象由于那只可憎生物的离场而在内心焕发的宽慰，那种深彻灵魂的极乐快感。在整个夜间，它也并未出现。也正因如此，从它进入家门算起，我至少能有一晚可以酣畅宁和地安睡了。哎，是的，我安睡着，即使谋杀的重荷仍压在我的灵魂上！ The second and the third day passed, and still my tormentor came not. Once again I breathed as a freeman. The monster, in terror, had fled the premises forever! I should behold it no more! My happiness was supreme! The guilt of my dark deed disturbed me but little. Some few inquiries had been made, but these had been readily answered. Even a search had been instituted -- but of course nothing was to be discovered. I looked upon my future felicity as secured. 第二和第三天过去了，而我的那只折磨者仍未到来。再一次地，我像一个自由民一般呼吸。那只怪物已在惊慌中永远地逃离了这幢房屋！我再也不用目视它！我的愉悦到达了无上之巅！对那些黑暗行径的罪恶感仍烦扰着我，但也只是微不足道。人们对我进行了几次讯问，但都被我轻易地答上了。他们甚至还发起一次搜查，不过当然也未能发现些什么。我展望未来，幸福已是既定。 Upon the fourth day of the assassination, a party of the police came, very unexpectedly, into the house, and proceeded again to make rigorous investigation of the premises. Secure, however, in the inscrutability of my place of concealment, I felt no embarrassment whatever. The officers bade me accompany them in their search. They left no nook or corner unexplored. At length, for the third or fourth time, they descended into the cellar. I quivered not in a muscle. My heart beat calmly as that of one who slumbers in innocence. I walked the cellar from end to end. I folded my arms upon my bosom, and roamed easily to and fro. The police were thoroughly satisfied and prepared to depart. The glee at my heart was too strong to be restrained. I burned to say if but one word, by way of triumph, and to render doubly sure their assurance of my guiltlessness. 在这起暗中谋杀的第四天，一队警察出乎意料地来到屋舍内，继续进行着缜密的调查。然而，在那藏密之处隐秘莫测的保护下，无论如何我都未觉窘迫。警员们要求我陪同搜索，他们没有落下一个角落和隐蔽点。最后，在第三或第四次地，他们下了地窖。我如同沉睡中的无辜者一般，心脏平稳地跳动着，也没有任何一丝肌肉在颤抖。我从地窖的一端走向另一端，双臂交叠在胸前，闲适地徘徊、漫步着。警察算是彻底地满意了，并准备离开。我心中的喜悦强烈得难以抑制。我热切地想要吐那么一个单词，能以胜利的姿态表达出我十足的把握——他们确信了我的无辜。 "Gentlemen," I said at last, as the party ascended the steps, "I delight to have allayed your suspicions. I wish you all health, and a little more courtesy. By the bye, gentlemen, this -- this is a very well constructed house." (In the rabid desire to say something easily, I scarcely knew what I uttered at all.) -- "I may say an excellently well constructed house. These walls -- are you going, gentlemen? -- these walls are solidly put together;" and here, through the mere phrenzy of bravado, I rapped heavily, with a cane which I held in my hand, upon that very portion of the brick-work behind which stood the corpse of the wife of my bosom. “先生们，”在最后，当警队登上阶梯的时候，我说道，“我很高兴能够减轻你们的怀疑。我希望你们全都身体健康，并再献上我微薄的恭维。顺带一提，这… 这可是一幢构筑优良的房子。”在急切地想要随意说些什么的渴望之下，我也不知道自己到底在说什么。“我甚至得说是一幢构筑绝佳的房子。你们看这些墙… 你们要走了吗，先生们？这些墙是可是坚实相契的。”也在此时，通过一种纯粹是疯狂的逞强与冒险的冲动，我用把握着的手杖重重地敲击在我胸前的那片墙砖上，而我妻子的尸体正恰恰地立于其后。 But may God shield and deliver me from the fangs of the Arch-Fiend ! No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, than I was answered by a voice from within the tomb! -- by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman -- a howl -- a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the damned in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation. 但愿上帝会从魔王的毒牙中保护和拯救我！我敲击的回响刚一沉寂，一道从坟墓里传出的声音便回应了我！是一声哭号，它最初沉闷而破碎，就像孩童的啜泣，随即很快就高涨成一声悠长、响亮并连续不断的尖啸，怪异反常，绝非人类所能发出。那是一声嗥叫，一声刺耳的哀鸣，一半是恐惧，一半是狂喜，如同只可能源自地狱的声音，从痛苦的受难者与在诅咒中欢舞的恶魔的喉咙齐声飙响。 Of my own thoughts it is folly to speak. Swooning, I staggered to the opposite wall. For one instant the party upon the stairs remained motionless, through extremity of terror and of awe. In the next, a dozen stout arms were toiling at the wall. It fell bodily. The corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of the spectators. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman. I had walled the monster up within the tomb! 谈论自己的想法是愚蠢的。在晕眩中，我蹒跚地走向对面的墙体。一时间，楼梯上那伙人出于极度的恐惧和敬畏而动弹不得。而接下来，十几只壮实的手臂就已在墙边劳苦地工作着。整面墙倒塌了下来。尸体已经重度腐烂，覆满凝结的血，僵直地立在众人眼前。在它的头上，蹲坐着那只可憎的野兽，正张着血红的大嘴和充满怒火的独眼。是它的诡计诱使我沦为凶手，是它的呼号告发了我，把我送到绞刑者的手中。我把那怪物封进了坟墓里！