自译 契诃夫短篇小说 白日风尘
A GENTLEMAN FRIEND 白日风尘
原作契诃夫 Translated by Constance Garnett 1886
THE charming Vanda, or, as she was described in her passport, the “Honourable Citizen Nastasya Kanavkin,” found herself, on leaving the hospital, in a position she had never been in before: without a home to go to or a farthing in her pocket. What was she to do?
走出医院，艺名花见羞、原名牛百花的这位姑娘发现自己来到了前所未有的境地：身上没钱，眼前无路。这可怎么办？
The first thing she did was to visit a pawn-broker’s and pawn her turquoise ring, her one piece of jewellery. They gave her a rouble for the ring... but what can you get for a rouble? You can’t buy for that sum a fashionable short jacket, nor a big hat, nor a pair of bronze shoes, and without those things she had a feeling of being, as it were, undressed. She felt as though the very horses and dogs were staring and laughing at the plainness of her dress. And clothes were all she thought about: the question what she should eat and where she should sleep did not trouble her in the least.
她首先去当铺把她的玉戒指当了，结果只当了一块钱……一块钱能干什么？这点钱买不了时髦的小夹克，买不了大檐帽，买不了铜光闪闪的舞鞋，没了这些东西，花见羞感觉跟光着似的，连街上的牲口都在嘲笑她那身便宜货。她满脑子都是衣服，至于吃饭睡觉的事一点没放在心上。
“If only I could meet a gentleman friend,” she thought to herself, “I could get some money.... There isn’t one who would refuse me, I know. . .”
“有男人就好办了，”她思忖道，“有男人就有钱……只要我一开口谁能不给呢……”
But no gentleman she knew came her way. It would be easy enough to meet them in the evening at the “Renaissance,” but they wouldn’t let her in at the “Renaissance “in that shabby dress and with no hat. What was she to do?
可大街上一个熟人也没有。男人每晚都在“夜未央”扎堆，但凭她这身打扮根本进不了门。这可如何是好？
After long hesitation, when she was sick of walking and sitting and thinking, Vanda made up her mind to fall back on her last resource: to go straight to the lodgings of some gentleman friend and ask for money.
想了很久，想到她走累了、坐够了、也想腻味了，花见羞决定拿出杀手锏：直接上门要。
She pondered which to go to. “Misha is out of the question; he’s a married man.... The old chap with the red hair will be at his office at this time. . .”
她琢磨着该找谁。“不行，姓刘的有媳妇…姓王的这会儿在上班……”
Vanda remembered a dentist, called Finkel, a converted Jew, who six months ago had given her a bracelet, and on whose head she had once emptied a glass of beer at the supper at the German Club. She was awfully pleased at the thought of Finkel.
花见羞想起一个牙医，那人姓冯，半年前送过她一只镯子，有天晚上她陪客的时候还浇了他一脑袋啤酒。一想起姓冯的她止不住地笑。
“He’ll be sure to give it me, if only I find him at home,” she thought, as she walked in his direction. “If he doesn’t, I’ll smash all the lamps in the house.”
“找他要吧，他要是在家的话肯定给我。”她朝诊所走去，心想着，“要是这孙子不给，我就把他家的灯全砸了。”
Before she reached the dentist’s door she thought out her plan of action: she would run laughing up the stairs, dash into the dentist’s room and demand twenty-five roubles. But as she touched the bell, this plan seemed to vanish from her mind of itself. Vanda began suddenly feeling frightened and nervous, which was not at all her way. She was bold and saucy enough at drinking parties, but now, dressed in everyday clothes, feeling herself in the position of an ordinary person asking a favour, who might be refused admittance, she felt suddenly timid and humiliated. She was ashamed and frightened.
一路上花见羞美滋滋地计划着：等会儿大笑着跑上楼，冲进屋里就管他要二百块钱。可一摸到门铃，先前的计划却打起了退堂鼓。花见羞突然害怕了，一反常态地紧张起来。宴乐玩闹的时候她泼辣放肆，可现在穿着平常的衣服、打着求情的算盘，自己只不过是个小百姓，能不能进得去还得看人家的脸色。她顿时泄了气，自觉得低人一等、战战兢兢。
“Perhaps he has forgotten me by now,” she thought, hardly daring to pull the bell. “And how can I go up to him in such a dress, looking like a beggar or some working girl?”
“也许他把我忘了。”花见羞的手在门铃上犹豫，“我穿得跟要饭的似的可怎么见人哪？”
And she rang the bell irresolutely.
她迟疑着摁响了铃。
She heard steps coming: it was the porter.
一阵脚步声响起：看门的来了。
“Is the doctor at home?” she asked.
“冯大夫在家吗？”她问道。
She would have been glad now if the porter had said “No,” but the latter, instead of answering ushered her into the hall, and helped her off with her coat. The staircase impressed her as luxurious, and magnificent, but of all its splendours what caught her eye most was an immense looking-glass, in which she saw a ragged figure without a fashionable jacket, without a big hat, and without bronze shoes. And it seemed strange to Vanda that, now that she was humbly dressed and looked like a laundress or sewing girl, she felt ashamed, and no trace of her usual boldness and sauciness remained, and in her own mind she no longer thought of herself as Vanda, but as the Nastasya Kanavkin she used to be in the old days....
她满心希望听到一句“不在”，谁知道看门的一句话没说就把她请了进去，还帮她脱了外套。楼梯装修得富丽堂皇，可最惹眼的还要属一面巨大的镜子，镜子里映照着一个邋邋遢遢的身影，没有时髦的小夹克，没有大檐帽，也没有铜光闪闪的鞋。说来奇怪，一换上普通人的衣服，花见羞一贯的泼辣和放肆全都没影了，就连花见羞这个名号也仿佛离她而去，她又变成了从前那个牛百花……
“Walk in, please,” said a maidservant, showing her into the consulting-room. “The doctor will be here in a minute. Sit down.”
“请进。”一个女佣把她领进了候诊室，“请坐。大夫马上就到。”
Vanda sank into a soft arm-chair.
花见羞坐进柔软的扶手椅。
“I’ll ask him to lend it me,” she thought; “that will be quite proper, for, after all, I do know him. If only that servant would go. I don’t like to ask before her. What does she want to stand there for?”
“还是让他借钱给我吧。”她想道，“本来也没什么交情，哪儿好意思白要人家的。那女的怎么还不走，我可不想在她面前求人。她老站在这儿干什么？”
Five minutes later the door opened and Finkel came in. He was a tall, dark Jew, with fat cheeks and bulging eyes. His cheeks, his eyes, his chest, his body, all of him was so well fed, so loathsome and repellent! At the “Renaissance” and the German Club he had usually been rather tipsy, and would spend his money freely on women, and be very long-suffering and patient with their pranks (when Vanda, for instance, poured the beer over his head, he simply smiled and shook his finger at her): now he had a cross, sleepy expression and looked solemn and frigid like a police captain, and he kept chewing something.
过了一会儿，门开了，冯大夫走了进来。他是个黑大个儿，脸肥得直颤悠，两只眼向外凸。他浑身上下肥的流油，活像个大肉坨，让人看了想吐。“夜未央”这种夜店他常去，每每要喝个酩酊大醉，他在女人身上特别舍得砸钱，脾气还挺好，小姐开多少玩笑也不追究（上次被花见羞浇了一脑袋啤酒之后，他只是笑了笑，朝她摆了摆手）：此时的他一脸的起床气，满脸严肃，颇有几分警察的气势，嘴里还嚼着东西。
“What can I do for you?” he asked, without looking at Vanda.
“什么事？”他问道，看都没看她一眼。
Vanda looked at the serious countenance of the maid and the smug figure of Finkel, who apparently did not recognize her, and she turned red.
花见羞看了看一脸严肃的女佣，又瞅了瞅盛气凌人的冯大夫，眼见他压根没认出自己是谁，她脸红了。
“What can I do for you?” repeated the dentist a little irritably.
“什么事？”牙医有点不耐烦了。
“I’ve got toothache,” murmured Vanda.
“牙疼。”花见羞嘀咕道。
“Aha!... Which is the tooth? Where?”
“牙疼……哪颗？”
Vanda remembered she had a hole in one of her teeth.
花见羞想起来有颗牙坏了。
“At the bottom... on the right . . .” she said.
“最里头那颗…右边……”她说道。
“Hm!... Open your mouth.”
“知道了。张嘴。”
Finkel frowned and, holding his breath, began examining the tooth.
冯大夫皱着眉，憋着气看了看那颗牙。
“Does it hurt?” he asked, digging into it with a steel instrument.
“疼吗？”他用一根钢棍拨拉着，问道。
“Yes,” Vanda replied, untruthfully.
“疼。”花见羞撒谎道。
“Shall I remind him?” she was wondering. “He would be sure to remember me. But that servant! Why will she stand there?”
“要不要提醒他一声？”她心想道，“他应该能想起来的。那女的怎么还在那儿！她有完没完？”
Finkel suddenly snorted like a steam-engine right into her mouth, and said:
冯大夫突然朝她嘴里吐了口气，说道：
“I don’t advise you to have it stopped. That tooth will never be worth keeping anyhow.”
“拔了吧。这颗牙留着也没用。”
After probing the tooth a little more and soiling Vanda’s lips and gums with his tobacco-stained fingers, he held his breath again, and put something cold into her mouth. Vanda suddenly felt a sharp pain, cried out, and clutched at Finkel’s hand.
冯大夫又仔细看了看那颗牙，满手的烟灰把花见羞的嘴唇和牙龈都染黑了，他又憋了一口气，把某件冰冷的工具伸进她嘴里。花见羞一阵剧痛，喊了出来，一把攥住冯大夫的手。
“It’s all right, it’s all right,” he muttered; “don’t you be frightened! That tooth would have been no use to you, anyway... you must be brave. . .”
“没事，没事，”他低声道，“怕什么！反正都是颗坏牙了，留着也没用…不用怕……”
And his tobacco-stained fingers, smeared with blood, held up the tooth to her eyes, while the maid approached and put a basin to her mouth.
他捏起那颗牙举到花见羞眼前，指头上沾满了烟灰和鲜血。女佣端着脸盆走了过来，在她嘴边接着。
“You wash out your mouth with cold water when you get home, and that will stop the bleeding,” said Finkel.
“回去拿凉水漱漱口就不流血了。”冯大夫说道。
He stood before her with the air of a man expecting her to go, waiting to be left in peace.
他站起身，摆出送客的姿势。
“Good-day,” she said, turning towards the door.
“再见。”花见羞转身要走。
“Hm!... and how about my fee?” enquired Finkel, in a jesting tone.
“我说…就这么走啦？”冯大夫打趣着提醒道。
“Oh, yes!” Vanda remembered, blushing, and she handed the Jew the rouble that had been given her for her ring.
“哦，对！”花见羞脸上一红，拿出当戒指的一块钱交了出去。
When she got out into the street she felt more overwhelmed with shame than before, but now it was not her poverty she was ashamed of. She was unconscious now of not having a big hat and a fashionable jacket. She walked along the street, spitting blood, and brooding on her life, her ugly, wretched life, and the insults she had endured, and would have to endure to-morrow, and next week, and all her life, up to the very day of her death.
走到街上，莫大的耻辱在花见羞心里翻腾。这次可不是愁钱、愁没有好衣服穿那么简单了。她边走边吐着血沫，回想着自己丑陋的人生、回想着自己受过的屈辱，这样的日子还有明天，还有下周，还有一辈子，直到她死为止。
“Oh! how awful it is! My God, how fearful!”
“我怎么这么命苦！这哪儿是人过的日子啊！”
Next day, however, she was back at the “Renaissance,” and dancing there. She had on an enormous new red hat, a new fashionable jacket, and bronze shoes. And she was taken out to supper by a young merchant up from Kazan.
第二天，她又回到了“夜未央”跳舞。她戴着崭新的红色大檐帽，穿着时髦的小夹克，踩着铜光闪闪的舞鞋。她还被一个做生意的小伙子带出去吃饭。
