That winter Robert Cohn went over to America with his novel, and it was accepted by a fairly good publisher. —
那年冬天，罗伯特·科恩带着他的小说去了美国，而且被一家相当不错的出版社接受了。 —

His going made an awful row I heard, and I think that was where Frances lost him, because several women were nice to him in New York, and when he came back he was quite changed. —
我听说他的离开引起了一场大骚动，我认为那就是弗朗西丝失去他的地方，因为在纽约有几个女人对他非常好，在他回来的时候他完全变了。 —

He was more enthusiastic about America than ever, and he was not so simple, and he was not so nice. —
他对美国更加热情了，变得不那么简单，也不那么友好了。 —

The publishers had praised his novel pretty highly and it rather went to his head. —
出版商对他的小说很赞扬，这让他有点得意忘形。 —

Then several women had put themselves out to be nice to him, and his horizons had all shifted. —
然后几个女人对他热情有加，他的视野也都改变了。 —

For four years his horizon had been absolutely limited to his wife. —
四年来他的视野完全只限于他的妻子。 —

For three years, or almost three years, he had never seen beyond Frances. I am sure he had never been in love in his life.
差不多三年来，他从来没看过远方。我敢肯定他一生中从未爱过。

He had married on the rebound from the rotten time he had in college, and Frances took him on the rebound from his discovery that he had not been everything to his first wife. —
他是因为大学时的糟糕经历匆忙结婚的，弗朗西丝又是因为他发现他对第一任妻子并不是全部而接受了他。 —

He was not in love yet but he realized that he was an attractive quantity to women, and that the fact of a woman caring for him and wanting to live with him was not simply a divine miracle. —
他还没有爱上任何人，但意识到自己在女人眼中很有魅力，一个女人关心他并想和他生活在一起并不仅仅是神迹。 —

This changed him so that he was not so pleasant to have around. —
这让他变得不那么好相处。 —

Also, playing for higher stakes than he could afford in some rather steep bridge games with his New York connections, he had held cards and won several hundred dollars. —
另外，他和纽约的联系人在一些高风险的桥牌游戏中打得高了，赢了几百美元。 —

It made him rather vain of his bridge game, and he talked several times of how a man could always make a living at bridge if he were ever forced to.
让他对自己的桥牌技术有点自负，他几次提到一个人如果被迫，总是可以靠桥牌谋生。

Then there was another thing. He had been reading W. H. Hudson. —
然后还有一件事。他一直在读W·H·哈德森的作品。 —

That sounds like an innocent occupation, but Cohn had read and reread “The Purple Land.” “The Purple Land” is a very sinister book if read too late in life. —
这听起来像是一项无辜的活动，但科恩已经读过并反复阅读了《紫色之地》。《紫色之地》是一本晚年读起来非常阴险的书。 —

It recounts splendid imaginary amorous adventures of a perfect English gentleman in an intensely romantic land, the scenery of which is very well described. —
这本书讲述了一个完美英国绅士在一个充满浪漫的土地上的绚丽想象的爱情冒险，景色被描绘得非常精彩。 —

For a man to take it at thirty-four as a guide-book to what life holds is about as safe as it would be for a man of the same age to enter Wall Street direct from a French convent, equipped with a complete set of the more practical Alger books. —
一个三十四岁的男人以这本书作为生活指南，就像一个同龄的男人直接从法国修道院来到华尔街，携带一套更实用的阿尔及尔书籍，是非常危险的。 —

Cohn, I believe, took every word of “The Purple Land” as literally as though it had been an R. G. Dun report. —
我相信，科恩认为《紫色之地》中的每个字都像是R·G·邓恩的报告一样字斟句酌。 —

You understand me, he made some reservations, but on the whole the book to him was sound. —
你明白我的意思，他做了一些保留，但总体上这本书对他来说是可靠的。 —

It was all that was needed to set him off. —
这就足以让他着迷了。 —

I did not realize the extent to which it had set him off until one day he came into my office.
直到有一天，他走进我的办公室，我才意识到它让他着迷的程度。

   "Hello, Robert," I said. "Did you come in to cheer me up?"

“你好，罗伯特，”我说。“你来给我打气吗？”

   "Would you like to go to South America, Jake?" he asked.

“杰克，你想去南美洲吗？”他问道。

   "No."

“不。”

   "Why not?"

“为什么不？”

“I don’t know. I never wanted to go. Too expensive. —
“我不知道。我从来不想去。太贵了。 —

You can see all the South Americans you want in Paris anyway.”
你在巴黎可以看到所有你想看的南美人。”

   "They're not the real South Americans."

“他们不是真正的南美人。”

   "They look awfully real to me."

“在我看来，他们看起来非常真实。”

   I had a boat train to catch with a week's mail stories, and only half of them written.

我有一班船车要赶，还有一周的邮件故事，只写了一半。

   "Do you know any dirt?" I asked.

“你知道有什么八卦吗？”我问。

   "No."

“没有。”

   "None of your exalted connections getting divorces?"

“你那些尊贵的关系里有人离婚吗？”

   "No; listen, Jake. If I handled both our expenses, would you go to South America with me?"

“没有；听着，杰克。如果我负担我们两个的费用，你会跟我去南美洲吗？”

   "Why me?"

“为什么是我？”

   "You can talk Spanish. And it would be more fun with two of us."

“你会说西班牙语。而且有两个人一起会更有趣。”

   "No," I said, "I like this town and I go to Spain in the summertime."

“不，”我说，”我喜欢这个城市，夏天会去西班牙。”

“All my life I’ve wanted to go on a trip like that,” Cohn said. —
“我这辈子一直想去那样的旅行，”科恩说。 —

He sat down. “I’ll be too old before I can ever do it.”
他坐了下来。“在我能够做到之前，我会太老了。”

   "Don't be a fool," I said. "You can go anywhere you want. You've got plenty of money."

“别傻了，”我说。“你可以去任何你想去的地方。你有很多钱。”

   "I know. But I can't get started."

“我知道。但我无法开始。”

   "Cheer up," I said. "All countries look just like the moving pictures."

“振作点，”我说。“所有国家看起来都像电影里的画面。”

   But I felt sorry for him. He had it badly.

但我为他感到难过。他的情况很糟糕。

   "I can't stand it to think my life is going so fast and I'm not really living it."

“我无法忍受想到我的生命如此迅速流逝，而我却并没有真正地去生活。”

   "Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bullfighters."

“除了斗牛士，没有人能够活出自己的生命全部的精彩。”

“I’m not interested in bull-fighters. That’s an abnormal life. —
“我对斗牛士不感兴趣。那是一种不正常的生活。” —

I want to go back in the country in South America. —
“我想回到南美洲的乡村去。” —

We could have a great trip.”
“我们可以有一次很棒的旅行。”

   "Did you ever think about going to British East Africa to shoot?"

“你有没有考虑过去英属东非狩猎？”

   "No, I wouldn't like that."

“没有，我不会喜欢那里。”

   "I'd go there with you."

“我会和你一起去。”

   "No; that doesn't interest me."

“不，我对那不感兴趣。”

“That’s because you never read a book about it. —
“那是因为你从来没有读过关于那的书。” —

Go on and read a book all full of love affairs with the beautiful shiny black princesses.”
去读一本充满爱情故事的书，讲述美丽闪亮的黑色公主们。

   "I want to go to South America."

“我想去南美洲。”

   He had a hard, Jewish, stubborn streak.

他有一股坚强的、顽固的犹太气质。

   "Come on down-stairs and have a drink."

“下楼来喝一杯。”

   "Aren't you working?"

“你不工作吗？”

“No,” I said. We went down the stairs to the café on the ground floor. —
“不，”我说。我们下楼来到底层的咖啡厅。 —

I had discovered that was the best way to get rid of friends. —
我发现这是摆脱朋友的最好方式。 —

Once you had a drink all you had to say was: —
一旦喝了一杯，你只需说: —

“Well, I’ve got to get back and get off some cables,” and it was done. —
“嗯，我得回去处理一些电报。”就搞定了。 —

It is very important to discover graceful exits like that in the newspaper business, where it is such an important part of the ethics that you should never seem to be working. —
在报业中，发现类似优雅离开的方式非常重要，尤其在这个职业中，你永远不能显得在工作。 —

Anyway, we went down-stairs to the bar and had a whiskey and soda. —
无论如何，我们下楼去酒吧喝了一杯威士忌苏打。 —

Cohn looked at the bottles in bins around the wall. —
Cohn看着壁架上的瓶瓶罐罐。 —

“This is a good place,” he said.
“这是个好地方，”他说。

   "There's a lot of liquor," I agreed.

“瓶瓶罐罐很多，”我赞同道。

“Listen, Jake,” he leaned forward on the bar. —
“听着，杰克，”他探身靠在吧台上说道。 —

“Don’t you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you’re not taking advantage of it? —
“你有没有过一种感觉，觉得自己的一生就这样慢慢溜走，却没有好好利用？” —

Do you realize you’ve lived nearly half the time you have to live already?”
“你意识到你已经度过了几乎一半的生命了吗？”

   "Yes, every once in a while."

“是的，偶尔会。”

   "Do you know that in about thirty-five years more we'll be dead?"

“你知道再过大约三十五年，我们就会死了？”

   "What the hell, Robert," I said. "What the hell."

“该死，Robert，”我说。“该死。”

   "I'm serious."

“我是认真的。”

   "It's one thing I don't worry about," I said.

“这是我唯一不担心的事，”我说。

   "You ought to."

“你应该担心。”

   "I've had plenty to worry about one time or other. I'm through worrying."

“我曾经有过很多事情需要担忧。我已经不再担心了。”

   "Well, I want to go to South America."

“嗯，我想去南美洲。”

“Listen, Robert, going to another country doesn’t make any difference. I’ve tried all that. —
“听着，Robert，去另一个国家并没有什么不同。我尝试过了。 —

You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. —
你不能通过从一个地方搬到另一个地方来逃避自己。 —

There’s nothing to that.”
那没什么用。”

   "But you've never been to South America."

“但是你从来没有去过南美洲。”

“South America hell! If you went there the way you feel now it would be exactly the same. —
“去南美洲！如果你现在这样跑去那儿，结果会一模一样。” —

This is a good town. Why don’t you start living your life in Paris?”
这是一个好镇。为什么不开始在巴黎过你的生活呢？

   "I'm sick of Paris, and I'm sick of the Quarter."

“我受够了巴黎，我也受够了那个区。”

   "Stay away from the Quarter. Cruise around by yourself and see what happens to you."

“远离那个区。一个人四处游荡，看看会发生什么事情。”

   "Nothing happens to me. I walked alone all one night and nothing happened except a bicycle cop stopped me and asked to see my papers."

“对我没什么影响。有一晚我独自走，什么事情也没发生，只是有个骑自行车的警察拦住我，要看我的证件。”

   "Wasn't the town nice at night?"

“晚上的城镇漂亮吗？”

   "I don't care for Paris."

“我不喜欢巴黎。”

So there you were. I was sorry for him, but it was not a thing you could do anything about, because right away you ran up against the two stubbornnesses: —
于是你就在那里。我为他感到难过，但这是你无法做出任何改变的事情，因为你立刻就碰到了两种固执： —

South America could fix it and he did not like Paris. He got the first idea out of a book, and I suppose the second came out of a book too.
南美洲可以解决这个问题，而他不喜欢巴黎。他的第一个注意到是从一本书中得到的，我想第二个也是从一本书中得到的。

   "Well," I said, "I've got to go up-stairs and get off some cables."

“嗯，”我说，“我得上楼去发一些电报。”

   "Do you really have to go?"

“你真的得走吗？”

   "Yes, I've got to get these cables off."

“是的，我得发这些电报。”

   "Do you mind if I come up and sit around the office?"

“你介意我上来在办公室里等吗？”

   "No, come on up."

“不介意，上来吧。”

He sat in the outer room and read the papers, and the Editor and Publisher and I worked hard for two hours. —
他坐在外间看报纸，而主编和出版商和我忙碌了两个小时。 —

Then I sorted out the carbons, stamped on a by-line, put the stuff in a couple of big manila envelopes and rang for a boy to take them to the Gare St. Lazare. —
然后我整理了复写稿，盖上签名，把东西放进两个大的棕色信封里，然后按铃叫了个男孩把它们送到圣拉扎尔车站。 —

I went out into the other room and there was Robert Cohn asleep in the big chair. —
我走进另一个房间，发现罗伯特·科恩正坐在大椅子里睡着了。 —

He was asleep with his head on his arms. —
他的头枕在双臂上。 —

I did not like to wake him up, but I wanted to lock the office and shove off. —
我不想吵醒他，但我想锁好办公室然后离开。 —

I put my hand on his shoulder. He shook his head. —
我轻轻地在他肩膀上拍了一下。他摇摇头。 —

“I can’t do it,” he said, and put his head deeper into his arms. —
“我做不到，”他说着，把头埋得更深了。 —

“I can’t do it. Nothing will make me do it.”
“我做不到。没有任何力量能让我做到。”

   "Robert," I said, and shook him by the shoulder. He looked up. He smiled and blinked.

“罗伯特，”我说着，然后摇了摇他的肩膀。他抬起头来，微笑着眨了眨眼睛。

   "Did I talk out loud just then?"

“我刚才是否大声说话了？”

   "Something. But it wasn't clear."

“有些声音。但不太清楚。”

   "God, what a rotten dream!"

“天啊，做了个糟糕的梦！”

   "Did the typewriter put you to sleep?"

“是打字机让你入睡的吗？”

   "Guess so. I didn't sleep all last night."

“可能吧。昨晚我一夜没睡。”

   "What was the matter?"

“怎么了？”

   "Talking," he said.

“交谈，”他说。

I could picture it. I have a rotten habit of picturing the bedroom scenes of my friends. —
我能想象出来。我有个很糟糕的习惯，喜欢幻想朋友们卧室里的场景。 —

We went out to the Café Napolitain to have an aperitif and watch the evening crowd on the Boulevard.
我们出去到咖啡店Napolitain喝一杯开胃酒，看着大道上的晚上人群。