From that moment Boxtel’s interest in tulips was no longer astimulus to his exertions, but a deadening anxiety.
从那一刻起，Boxtel对郁金香的兴趣不再是激励他工作的动力，而是一种令人沮丧的焦虑。

　　Henceforth all his thoughts ran only upon the injury whichhis neighbour would cause him, and thus his favouriteoccupation was changed into a constant source of misery to him.
因此，他所有的想法只会围绕着邻居会给他带来的损害，因此，他最喜爱的事业变成了给他带来不断痛苦的源泉。

Van Baerle, as may easily be imagined, had no sooner begunto apply his natural ingenuity to his new fancy, than hesucceeded in growing the finest tulips. —
可以想象，Van Baerle一旦开始将他的天赋才能运用到他的新爱好上，他就成功地培育出了最优美的郁金香。 —

Indeed; he knewbetter than any one else at Haarlem or Leyden – the twotowns which boast the best soil and the most congenialclimate – how to vary the colours, to modify the shape, andto produce new species.
事实上，他比Haarlem或Leyden的任何人都更了解如何变换颜色，调整形状，并且产生新的品种。

He belonged to that natural, humorous school who took fortheir motto in the seventeenth century the aphorism utteredby one of their number in 1653, – “To despise flowers is tooffend God.“From that premise the school of tulip-fanciers, the mostexclusive of all schools, worked out the following syllogismin the same year: —
他属于自然幽默的学派，在17世纪，他们以1653年一个人说的一句箴言作为座右铭：“鄙视花朵就是冒犯上帝。” 从这一前提出发，郁金香爱好者学校作出了以下的推论： —

–“To despise flowers is to offend God.
“鄙视花朵就是冒犯上帝。

　　”The more beautiful the flower is, the more does one offendGod in despising it.
花朵越美丽，一个人鄙视它就冒犯上帝越多。

　　”The tulip is the most beautiful of all flowers.
郁金香是所有花朵中最美丽的。

“Therefore, he who despises the tulip offends God beyondmeasure.” —
因此，鄙视郁金香的人冒犯上帝极度。” —

By reasoning of this kind, it can be seen that the four orfive thousand tulip-growers of Holland, France, andPortugal, leaving out those of Ceylon and China and theIndies, might, if so disposed, put the whole world under theban, and condemn as schismatics and heretics and deservingof death the several hundred millions of mankind whose hopesof salvation were not centred upon the tulip.
通过这种推理，我们可以看到荷兰、法国和葡萄牙的四、五千名郁金香种植者，如果愿意的话，可以将整个世界置于禁令之下，并谴责数亿人类，称他们为分裂主义者和异教徒，并宣判他们应该死刑，他们的救赎希望不集中在郁金香上。

　　We cannot doubt that in such a cause Boxtel, though he wasVan Baerle’s deadly foe, would have marched under the samebanner with him.
在这样的理念下，毫无疑问，Boxtel，尽管他是Van Baerle的死敌，也会和他一同并肩作战。

Mynheer van Baerle and his tulips, therefore, were in themouth of everybody; —
Myheer van Baerle和他的郁金香因此成为人人口中的谈资； —

so much so, that Boxtel’s namedisappeared for ever from the list of the notabletulip-growers in Holland, and those of Dort were nowrepresented by Cornelius van Baerle, the modest andinoffensive savant.
以至于，Boxtel的名字永远消失在荷兰著名郁金香种植者的名单之中，多特的那些则由谦逊无害的学者Cornelius van Baerle代表。

　　Engaging, heart and soul, in his pursuits of sowing,planting, and gathering, Van Baerle, caressed by the wholefraternity of tulip-growers in Europe, entertained nor theleast suspicion that there was at his very door a pretenderwhose throne he had usurped.
全身心投入于播种、种植和收获之中的Van Baerle，在整个欧洲的郁金香种植者兄弟会的拥护下，毫无怀疑地不知道在他家门口有一个假冒者，竟然霸占了他的王座。

He went on in his career, and consequently in his triumphs; —
他继续前进，因此也继续获得胜利； —

and in the course of two years he covered his borders withsuch marvellous productions as no mortal man, following inthe tracks of the Creator, except perhaps Shakespeare andRubens, have equalled in point of numbers.
在接下来的两年里，他用着令人惊叹的作品覆盖了他的边境，没有一个凡人，除了或许莎士比亚和鲁本斯，追随创造者的脚步，有与之相匹敌的数量。

And also, if Dante had wished for a new type to be added tohis characters of the Inferno, he might have chosen Boxtelduring the period of Van Baerle’s successes. —
如果但丁希望在深渊的人物中加入一个新类型，他可能会选择在范·贝尔勒取得成功时的巴克斯特。 —

WhilstCornelius was weeding, manuring, watering his beds, whilst,kneeling on the turf border, he analysed every vein of theflowering tulips, and meditated on the modifications whichmight be effected by crosses of colour or otherwise, Boxtel,concealed behind a small sycamore which he had trained atthe top of the partition wall in the shape of a fan,watched, with his eyes starting from their sockets and withfoaming mouth, every step and every gesture of hisneighbour; —
当科内利厄斯在除草、施肥、浇水自己的花坛时，当他跪在草地边缘，分析每一朵郁金香的每根细脉，思考通过颜色或其他方式交叉可能实现的修改时，躲在分隔墙顶部他自己栽培成扇形的小悬铃木后的巴克斯特，目不转睛地观察着他的每一步、每一个姿态； —

and whenever he thought he saw him look happy, ordescried a smile on his lips, or a flash of contentmentglistening in his eyes, he poured out towards him such avolley of maledictions and furious threats as to make itindeed a matter of wonder that this venomous breath of envyand hatred did not carry a blight on the innocent flowerswhich had excited it.
每当他觉得看到他神情愉快，嘴角带笑，眼里闪烁满足时，他就对着他倾泻出如洪水般的诅咒和狂怒的威胁，让人感到惊奇的是这毒舌的嫉妒和仇恨之风居然没有对激发它的那些无辜花朵造成毁灭。

When the evil spirit has once taken hold of the heart ofman, it urges him on, without letting him stop. —
当邪恶的心灵一旦牢牢占据了人心，就会驱使他不停地前进。 —

Thus Boxtelsoon was no longer content with seeing Van Baerle. He wantedto see his flowers, too; —
因此巴克斯特很快就不再满足于只看范·贝尔勒，他也想看他的花； —

he had the feelings of an artist,the master-piece of a rival engrossed his interest.
他有着艺术家的感受力，竞争对手的杰出作品吸引了他的注意。

　　He therefore bought a telescope, which enabled him to watchas accurately as did the owner himself every progressivedevelopment of the flower, from the moment when, in thefirst year, its pale seed-leaf begins to peep from theground, to that glorious one, when, after five years, itspetals at last reveal the hidden treasures of its chalice.
于是他买了一只望远镜，让他能像拥有者一样准确地观察花朵的每个进展，从第一年，它苍白的种子叶子开始冒出地面，到第五年，它的花瓣终于展示出它花蕊的隐藏宝藏。

　　How often had the miserable, jealous man to observe in VanBaerle’s beds tulips which dazzled him by their beauty, andalmost choked him by their perfection!
他多么频繁地在范·贝尔勒的花坛中看到了令他陶醉的郁金香，几乎被它们的完美所窒息！

And then, after the first blush of the admiration which hecould not help feeling, he began to be tortured by the pangsof envy, by that slow fever which creeps over the heart andchanges it into a nest of vipers, each devouring the otherand ever born anew. —
然后，在他无法抑制的钦佩之情过后，他开始被嫉妒之苦所折磨，羡慕之痛慢慢蔓延到心灵深处，将其变成一窝相互吞噬、不断重生的毒蛇。 —

How often did Boxtel, in the midst oftortures which no pen is able fully to describe, – howoften did he feel an inclination to jump down into thegarden during the night, to destroy the plants, to tear thebulbs with his teeth, and to sacrifice to his wrath theowner himself, if he should venture to stand up for thedefence of his tulips!
在无法充分描述的折磨中，多少次巴克斯特感觉到一股冲动，想在夜间跳进花园，毁掉植物，用牙齿撕裂球茎，如果主人敢为他的郁金香辩护，甚至牺牲他自己来释放他的怒火！

But to kill a tulip was a horrible crime in the eyes of agenuine tulip-fancier; —
但杀害郁金花在一个真正的郁金花爱好者眼中是可怕的罪行； —

as to killing a man, it would nothave mattered so very much.
而杀害一个人却不会有那么大的影响。

Yet Van Baerle made such progress in the noble science ofgrowing tulips, which he seemed to master with the trueinstinct of genius, that Boxtel at last was maddened to sucha degree as to think of throwing stones and sticks into theflower-stands of his neighbour. —
然而范·巴尔雷在栽培郁金香这一高尚科学方面取得了巨大进步，似乎以天赋的本能驾驭着这门科学，这让博克斯特尔最终变得疯狂，以至于想要朝着邻居的花坛扔石头和棍棒。 —

But, remembering that hewould be sure to be found out, and that he would not only bepunished by law, but also dishonoured for ever in the faceof all the tulip-growers of Europe, he had recourse tostratagem, and, to gratify his hatred, tried to devise aplan by means of which he might gain his ends without beingcompromised himself.

　　He considered a long time, and at last his meditations werecrowned with success.
但是，想到自己一旦被发现不仅会受到法律的惩罚，而且也会蒙受终身耻辱，因为欧洲所有郁金香栽培者都会看到，他便诡计多端，为了满足自己的仇恨，想出一套既能达到目的又不会牵扯自己的计划。

One evening he tied two cats together by their hind legswith a string about six feet in length, and threw them fromthe wall into the midst of that noble, that princely, thatroyal bed, which contained not only the “Cornelius de Witt,“but also the “Beauty of Brabant,” milk-white, edged withpurple and pink, the “Marble of Rotterdam,” colour of flax,blossoms feathered red and flesh colour, the “Wonder ofHaarlem,” the “Colombin obscur,” and the “Columbin clairterni.” —
他思考了很长时间，最终想出了一个成功的计划。 —

The frightened cats, having alighted on the ground, firsttried to fly each in a different direction, until the stringby which they were tied together was tightly stretchedacross the bed; —
有一个晚上，他用一根约六英尺长的绳子把两只猫的后腿绑在一起，然后从墙上将它们扔进那张高贵、王室般的床中，那张床上不仅盛有“康涅利斯·德·维特”和“布拉班特之美”，还有“鹅卵石”，白如牛奶，边缘呈紫色和粉色，“鹅卵石”，呈亚麻色，花瓣带红色和肉色， “哈勒姆的奇迹”，“哥伦宾·厚暗色”，“哥伦宾·晴朗天尼”。 —

then, however, feeling that they were notable to get off, they began to pull to and fro, and to wheelabout with hideous caterwaulings, mowing down with theirstring the flowers among which they were struggling, until,after a furious strife of about a quarter of an hour, thestring broke and the combatants vanished.
吓坏的猫落地后，首先试图朝不同方向飞去，直到将它们结在一起的绳子被紧紧地拉在床上；

Boxtel, hidden behind his sycamore, could not see anything,as it was pitch-dark; —
然后，感觉到自己无法摆脱，它们就开始来回拉扯，围着床转圈，发出可怕的尖叫声，在斗争中把它们挣扎在其中的花朵割倒，直到经过激烈约一刻钟的搏斗，绳子断裂，战斗者消失了。 —

but the piercing cries of the catstold the whole tale, and his heart overflowing with gall nowthrobbed with triumphant joy.
躲藏在悬铃木后面的博克斯特尔什么也看不到，因为天黑得厉害；

Boxtel was so eager to ascertain the extent of the injury,that he remained at his post until morning to feast his eyeson the sad state in which the two cats had left theflower-beds of his neighbour. —
但猫的刺耳叫声讲述了整个故事，他心中酝酿的荣耀之愤热烫着他的血液。 —

The mists of the morningchilled his frame, but he did not feel the cold, the hope ofrevenge keeping his blood at fever heat. —
博克斯特尔是如此渴望了解损坏程度，以至于他一直留守到早晨，目睹了两只猫留给邻居花坛的凄惨状态。 —

The chagrin of hisrival was to pay for all the inconvenience which he incurredhimself.
清晨的雾气冰冷他的身躯，但他却没有感到寒冷，因为复仇的希望使他的血液处在发热状态。

　　At the earliest dawn the door of the white house opened, andVan Baerle made his appearance, approaching the flower-bedswith the smile of a man who has passed the night comfortablyin his bed, and has had happy dreams.
他遭受的一切不便都要让他的对手感到痛苦来弥补。

　　All at once he perceived furrows and little mounds of earthon the beds which only the evening before had been as smoothas a mirror, all at once he perceived the symmetrical rowsof his tulips to be completely disordered, like the pikes ofa battalion in the midst of which a shell has fallen.
在天亮的时候，白色房子的门打开了，范·巴尔雷出现，微笑着走向花坛，好像一个在床上过了舒适一夜并做了愉快梦的人。

　　He ran up to them with blanched cheek.
他突然发现花坛上有了沟槽和一丘一丘的泥土，而昨晚还如镜面一般平滑，他也突然发现他整齐排列的郁金香像是被炮弹击中的营队中的纵队一样彻底混乱了。

Boxtel trembled with joy. Fifteen or twenty tulips, torn andcrushed, were lying about, some of them bent, otherscompletely broken and already withering, the sap oozing fromtheir bleeding bulbs: —
Boxtel由于喜悦而颤抖。周围散落着十五六朵郁金香，有些被撕裂，有些被踩毁，有些弯曲，有些完全破碎，已经开始凋零，鲜血从它们流淌的球茎上渗出来。 —

how gladly would Van Baerle haveredeemed that precious sap with his own blood!
Van Baerle多么愿意用自己的鲜血来换取这宝贵的汁液啊！

But what were his surprise and his delight! what was thedisappointment of his rival! —
但是他大感惊喜和愉悦！他的竞争对手的失望也是如此！ —

Not one of the four tulipswhich the latter had meant to destroy was injured at all.
竞争对手打算销毁的四朵郁金香一个也没有受伤。

They raised proudly their noble heads above the corpses oftheir slain companions. —
它们高傲地将高贵的头抬起，挺立在已经死去同伴的尸体之上。 —

This was enough to console VanBaerle, and enough to fan the rage of the horticulturalmurderer, who tore his hair at the sight of the effects ofthe crime which he had committed in vain.
这足以宽慰Van Baerle，也足以煽动园艺杀手的愤怒，他看到自己犯下的罪行竟然白费。

Van Baerle could not imagine the cause of the mishap, which,fortunately, was of far less consequence than it might havebeen. —
Van Baerle无法想象这场不幸的原因，幸好，这场不幸并没有造成太大的损失。 —

On making inquiries, he learned that the whole nighthad been disturbed by terrible caterwaulings. —
他得知整夜都被可怕的猫叫声吵醒。 —

He besidesfound traces of the cats, their footmarks and hairs leftbehind on the battle-field; —
他还在战场上发现了猫的踪迹，它们的足迹和毛发留在了那里； —

to guard, therefore, in futureagainst a similar outrage, he gave orders that henceforthone of the under gardeners should sleep in the garden in asentry-box near the flower-beds.
为了以后防止类似的侵害，他下令以后在花园里的花坛附近的哨兵箱中安排一个园丁值夜。

Boxtel heard him give the order, and saw the sentry-box putup that very day; —
Boxtel听到他下令，并且看到当天就建立了哨兵箱； —

but he deemed himself lucky in not havingbeen suspected, and, being more than ever incensed againstthe successful horticulturist, he resolved to bide his time.
但是他认为自己幸运，没有被怀疑，对成功的园艺家更加愤怒，他决定等待时机。

Just then the Tulip Society of Haarlem offered a prize forthe discovery (we dare not say the manufacture) of a largeblack tulip without a spot of colour, a thing which had notyet been accomplished, and was considered impossible, as atthat time there did not exist a flower of that speciesapproaching even to a dark nut brown. —
正好哈勒姆的郁金香协会提供了一个奖励，要发现（我们不敢说制造）一朵没有一点颜色斑点的大黑郁金香，这在当时是不可能的，因为当时甚至没有一朵这种颜色的花，接近深褐色。 —

It was, therefore,generally said that the founders of the prize might just aswell have offered two millions as a hundred thousandguilders, since no one would be able to gain it.
因此，人们普遍认为奖励的发起者或许还不如提供两百万元，因为没有人能够得到这个奖励。

The tulip-growing world, however, was thrown by it into astate of most active commotion. —
然而，郁金香种植界却被这个奖励搞得非常兴奋。 —

Some fanciers caught at theidea without believing it practicable, but such is the powerof imagination among florists, that although considering theundertaking as certain to fail, all their thoughts wereengrossed by that great black tulip, which was looked uponto be as chimerical as the black swan of Horace or the whiteraven of French tradition.
一些爱好者被这个想法吸引，尽管他们认为这是不可行的，但是园艺爱好者对想象力的力量如此之大，以至于尽管他们认为这个计划注定会失败，他们的思维却被那朵伟大的黑色郁金香吸引，这被视为与霍拉斯的黑天鹅或法国传统中的白乌鸦一样虚幻。

Van Baerle was one of the tulip-growers who were struck withthe idea; —
Van Baerle是那些被这个想法触动的郁金香种植者之一； —

Boxtel thought of it in the light of aspeculation. —
Boxtel把这看作是一项投机行为。 —

Van Baerle, as soon as the idea had once takenroot in his clear and ingenious mind, began slowly thenecessary planting and cross-breeding to reduce the tulipswhich he had grown already from red to brown, and from brownto dark brown.
Van Baerle一旦这个想法在他清晰而聪明的头脑中生根发芽，就开始慢慢进行必要的种植和杂交，将他已经培育的从红色到棕色，再从棕色到深棕色的郁金香。

　　By the next year he had obtained flowers of a perfectnut-brown, and Boxtel espied them in the border, whereas hehad himself as yet only succeeded in producing the lightbrown.
到了第二年，他已经取得了完美的栗色花朵，而Boxtel在花坛里发现了它们，而他自己却只成功地培育出浅栗色。

It might perhaps be interesting to explain to the gentlereader the beautiful chain of theories which go to provethat the tulip borrows its colors from the elements; —
对于温和的读者来说，或许解释一下美妙的理论链条会很有趣，这些理论证明了郁金香是从元素中借鉴其色彩的； —

perhapswe should give him pleasure if we were to maintain andestablish that nothing is impossible for a florist whoavails himself with judgment and discretion and patience ofthe sun’s heat; —
或许我们应该让他快乐，如果我们坚持并证明，对于一个园艺师来说，只要合理利用太阳的热量，什么都不是不可能的。 —

the clear water, the juices of the earth,and the cool breezes. —
清澈的水，大地的汁液和凉爽的微风。 —

But this is not a treatise upon tulipsin general; —
但这不是一篇关于郁金香的论述; —

it is the story of one particular tulip which wehave undertaken to write, and to that we limit ourselves,however alluring the subject which is so closely allied toours.
这是我们要写的一个特定郁金香的故事，我们将限制在这个范围内，尽管与我们息息相关的主题是多么诱人。

　　Boxtel, once more worsted by the superiority of his hatedrival, was now completely disgusted with tulip-growing, and,being driven half mad, devoted himself entirely toobservation.
Boxtel再次在他所憎恨的对手的优势下失败，现在完全对郁金香种植感到厌倦，被逼疯狂地全身心投入到观察中。

The house of his rival was quite open to view; a gardenexposed to the sun; —
对手的房子完全暴露在视野之内;一个受阳光照射的花园; —

cabinets with glass walls, shelves,cupboards, boxes, and ticketed pigeon-holes, which couldeasily be surveyed by the telescope. —
带玻璃墙、架子、柜子、盒子和贴着标签的小隔间，可以很容易地通过望远镜观察。 —

Boxtel allowed hisbulbs to rot in the pits, his seedlings to dry up in theircases, and his tulips to wither in the borders andhenceforward occupied himself with nothing else but thedoings at Van Baerle’s. —
Boxtel让他的鳞茎在坑中腐烂，让他的幼苗在箱子里干掉，让他的郁金香在边界中凋谢，他此后再也忙于别的事情而不再关心自己的郁金香。 —

He breathed through the stalks ofVan Baerle’s tulips, quenched his thirst with the water hesprinkled upon them, and feasted on the fine soft earthwhich his neighbour scattered upon his cherished bulbs.
他通过茎气喘着Van Baerle的郁金香，通过他撒上的水解渴，通过他邻居洒在心爱的鳞茎上的优质细软泥土享受。

　　But the most curious part of the operations was notperformed in the garden.
但最奇特的操作并不是在花园里进行。

It might be one o’clock in the morning when Van Baerle wentup to his laboratory, into the glazed cabinet whitherBoxtel’s telescope had such an easy access; —
可能已经是凌晨一点钟，当Van Baerle走进他的实验室，进入Boxtel的望远镜容易触及的带玻璃墙的盒子里; —

and here, assoon as the lamp illuminated the walls and windows, Boxtelsaw the inventive genius of his rival at work.
在这里，一旦灯照亮墙壁和窗户，Boxtel就看到他那位竞争对手的发明天才在忙碌。

He beheld him sifting his seeds, and soaking them in liquidswhich were destined to modify or to deepen their colours. —
他看到他在筛选种子，然后将它们浸泡在液体中，这些液体旨在改变或加深它们的颜色。 —

Heknew what Cornelius meant when heating certain grains, thenmoistening them, then combining them with others by a sortof grafting, – a minute and marvellously delicatemanipulation, – and when he shut up in darkness those whichwere expected to furnish the black colour, exposed to thesun or to the lamp those which were to produce red, andplaced between the endless reflections of two water-mirrorsthose intended for white, the pure representation of thelimpid element.
他知道当他加热某些颗粒，然后浸泡它们，然后通过某种嫁接将它们与其他种类结合时，Cornelius的意图是什么 – 一种微小而令人惊奇的精致操作， – 当他将期望产生黑色的颗粒置于黑暗中时，将期望产生红色的暴露在阳光或灯光下，将用于白色的放置在两个水镜之间的无尽反射中，那纯净的元素的真实表现。

　　This innocent magic, the fruit at the same time ofchild-like musings and of manly genius – this patientuntiring labour, of which Boxtel knew himself to beincapable – made him, gnawed as he was with envy, centreall his life, all his thoughts, and all his hopes in histelescope.
这种无辜的魔法，既是童稚的沉思，又是成熟的天才的果实 – 这种耐心不倦的劳作，Boxtel明知自己无法做到，却让他这颗被嫉妒蚕食的心，将全部生活、思想和希望都投入到他的望远镜里。

For, strange to say, the love and interest of horticulturehad not deadened in Isaac his fierce envy and thirst ofrevenge. —
而奇怪的是，对园艺的热爱和兴趣并没有让Isaac消音他那狂暴的嫉妒和复仇欲。 —

Sometimes, whilst covering Van Baerle with histelescope, he deluded himself into a belief that he waslevelling a never-failing musket at him; —
有时候，当他用望远镜瞄准范·巴尔勒的时候，他会自欺地认为自己正在瞄准一支永远不会失手的步枪; —

and then he wouldseek with his finger for the trigger to fire the shot whichwas to have killed his neighbour. —
然后他会用手指找寻扳机，准备开枪击倒他的邻居。 —

But it is time that weshould connect with this epoch of the operations of the one,and the espionage of the other, the visit which Cornelius deWitt came to pay to his native town.
但是现在是时候将这段时间的活动和监视联系起来，那就是康尼利斯·德·维特前来拜访他的故乡了。