We no longer groan and heap ashes upon our heads when the flames of Tophet are mentioned. —
当提到托费特的火焰时，我们不再呻吟和将灰烬堆在我们的头上。 —

For, even the preachers have begun to tell us that God is radium, or ether or some scientific compound, and that the worst we wicked ones may expect is a chemical reaction. —
因为，连传教士们也开始告诉我们上帝是镭或以太或某种科学化合物，我们这些恶人所能期待的最坏的结果只是化学反应。 —

This is a pleasing hypothesis; but there lingers yet some of the old, goodly terror of orthodoxy.
这是一个令人愉悦的假设；但正统教义中仍然残留着一些令人敬畏的恐惧。

There are but two subjects upon which one may discourse with a free imagination, and without the possibility of being controverted. —
只有两个主题可以随意地展开想象，并且不可能有争议。 —

You may talk of your dreams; and you may tell what you heard a parrot say. —
你可以谈谈你的梦想；你可以说出你听到鹦鹉说的话。 —

Both Morpheus and the bird are incompetent witnesses; —
梦神和鸟都是不可靠的证人； —

and your listener dare not attack your recital. —
你的听众不敢质疑你的叙述。 —

The baseless fabric of a vision, then, shall furnish my theme–chosen with apologies and regrets instead of the more limited field of pretty Polly’s small talk.
一个无根据的幻象构筑起我的话题——尽管选择它时带有歉意和遗憾，而不是局限于漂亮波利的闲谈。

I had a dream that was so far removed from the higher criticism that it had to do with the ancient, respectable, and lamented bar-of- judgment theory.
我做了一个与高深的批判无关的梦，它与古老、可尊敬和令人痛惜的审判台理论有关。

Gabriel had played his trump; and those of us who could not follow suit were arraigned for examination. —
加布里埃尔打出了他的王牌；那些不能跟进的人被传唤接受审问。 —

I noticed at one side a gathering of professional bondsmen in solemn black and collars that buttoned behind; —
我注意到一边聚集着穿着庄严的专业保释人，他们穿着黑色礼服，后面还有扣子。 —

but it seemed there was some trouble about their real estate titles; —
但似乎他们的房地产产权有些问题； —

and they did not appear to be getting any of us out.
而且他们似乎一个人都没有把我们放出来。

A fly cop–an angel policeman–flew over to me and took me by the left wing. —
一名蝇警察——一个天使般的警察——飞过来，用他的左翅膀拉住我。 —

Near at hand was a group of very prosperous-looking spirits arraigned for judgment.
旁边是一群看起来非常富裕的灵魂被传唤接受审判。

“Do you belong with that bunch?” the policeman asked.
“你是那帮人的一员吗？”警察问道。

“Who are they?” was my answer.
“他们是谁？”是我的答案。

“Why,” said he, “they are–”
“为什么，”他说，”他们是–”

But this irrelevant stuff is taking up space that the story should occupy.
但这个无关紧要的东西占据了故事应该占据的空间。

Dulcie worked in a department store. She sold Hamburg edging, or stuffed peppers, or automobiles, or other little trinkets such as they keep in department stores. —
达尔西在一家百货公司工作。她卖汉堡边角料，或者灌装辣椒，或者汽车，或者百货店里的其他小玩意。 —

Of what she earned, Dulcie received six dollars per week. —
达尔西每周收入的收入中，有6美元。 —

The remainder was credited to her and debited to somebody else’s account in the ledger kept by G– Oh, primal energy, you say, Reverend Doctor–Well then, in the Ledger of Primal Energy.
剩下的金额将记入她的名下，并记入G先生的账本中，哦，原初能量，你说的是吧， Reverend Doctor–呃，那么，就记在原初能量账本中吧。

During her first year in the store, Dulcie was paid five dollars per week. —
在她在店里的第一年，达尔西每周薪金是5美元。 —

It would be instructive to know how she lived on that amount. Don’t care? Very well; —
知道她如何在这个金额上生活会很有教益。你不关心？好吧； —

probably you are interested in larger amounts. Six dollars is a larger amount. —
可能你对较大的金额更感兴趣。六美元是一个较大的金额。 —

I will tell you how she lived on six dollars per week.
我会告诉你她如何在每周六美元的收入上生活的。

One afternoon at six, when Dulcie was sticking her hat-pin within an eighth of an inch of her medulla oblongata, she said to her chum, Sadie–the girl that waits on you with her left side:
一个下午六点的时候，当达尔西将帽针几乎插进她的延髓时，她对她的朋友莎迪说 – 那个用她的左半身为你服务的女孩子 -

“Say, Sade, I made a date for dinner this evening with Piggy.”
“你瞧，莎迪，我和皮吉今晚约了晚餐。”

“You never did!” exclaimed Sadie admiringly. “Well, ain’t you the lucky one? Piggy’s an awful swell; —
“你没说错吧！”莎迪仰慕地惊叹道。”哇，你真幸运！皮吉可是个很牛的人；他总是带女孩子去很拉风的地方。 —

and he always takes a girl to swell places. —
他曾经带布兰奇去霍夫曼大厦，那里有拉风的音乐，而且你还能看到很多拉风的人。 —

He took Blanche up to the Hoffman House one evening, where they have swell music, and you see a lot of swells. —
你一定会玩得很开心的，达尔西。” —

You’ll have a swell time, Dulce.”
达尔西匆匆忙忙地回家了。她的眼睛闪耀着，脸颊上显示出生活-真正生活-即将来临的柔和粉红色。

Dulcie hurried homeward. Her eyes were shining, and her cheeks showed the delicate pink of life’s–real life’s–approaching dawn. —
Please note that I’m an AI that uses English as my primary language. I apologize if the translation is not accurate or fluent. —

It was Friday; and she had fifty cents left of her last week’s wages.
星期五来了，她上周的工资只剩下五十美分。

The streets were filled with the rush-hour floods of people. —
街道上挤满了上班高峰期的人流。 —

The electric lights of Broadway were glowing–calling moths from miles, from leagues, from hundreds of leagues out of darkness around to come in and attend the singeing school. —
布罗德威街上的电灯闪烁着，吸引着距离的飞蛾前来参加这个炙烤学校。 —

Men in accurate clothes, with faces like those carved on cherry stones by the old salts in sailors’ homes, turned and stared at Dulcie as she sped, unheeding, past them. —
穿着整齐的男人们，他们的脸像老水手在海员之家雕刻在樱桃核上的脸一样，转过头看着杜尔茜，而她毫不在意地飞快地经过他们。 —

Manhattan, the night-blooming cereus, was beginning to unfold its dead-white, heavy-odoured petals.
曼哈顿，这朵夜间开放的铃兰花，开始展开它的死白色、浓烈芬芳的花瓣。

Dulcie stopped in a store where goods were cheap and bought an imitation lace collar with her fifty cents. —
杜尔茜在一家便宜货商店停下来，用她的五十美分买了一个仿真花边领子。 —

That money was to have been spent otherwise–fifteen cents for supper, ten cents for breakfast, ten cents for lunch. —
那笔钱本来是要用来买其他东西的 - 十五美分用来吃晚饭，十美分用来吃早饭，十美分用来吃午饭。 —

Another dime was to be added to her small store of savings; —
还有一枚十美分硬币要加入她微薄的存款之中； —

and five cents was to be squandered for licorice drops–the kind that made your cheek look like the toothache, and last as long. —
一块，并五个美分要花在甘草糖上–那种能让你的脸颊变得像牙痛的甜食，而且持续时间长。 —

The licorice was an extravagance– almost a carouse–but what is life without pleasures?
甘草糖是一种奢侈–几乎是一次放纵–但没有享受，生活又有何意义呢？

Dulcie lived in a furnished room. There is this difference between a furnished room and a boardinghouse. —
达尔希住在一间带家具的房间里。家具房间和寄宿舍之间有一个区别。 —

In a furnished room, other people do not know it when you go hungry.
在家具房间里，别人并不知道你挨饿。

Dulcie went up to her room–the third floor back in a West Side brownstone-front. —
达尔希上了她的房间–位于西区一栋棕石房屋正面的三楼后面。 —

She lit the gas. —
她点燃了煤气。 —

Scientists tell us that the diamond is the hardest substance known. Their mistake. —
科学家告诉我们，钻石是已知的最硬的物质。他们错了。 —

Landladies know of a compound beside which the diamond is as putty. —
房东知道一种比钻石还软的化合物。 —

They pack it in the tips of gas-burners; —
他们把它塞在燃气灯的尖端； —

and one may stand on a chair and dig at it in vain until one’s fingers are pink and bruised. —
你可以站在椅子上，徒劳地刮它，直到手指变红并擦伤。 —

A hairpin will not remove it; therefore let us call it immovable.
一根发夹不能将它取出；因此，我们可以称之为不可移动。

So Dulcie lit the gas. In its one-fourth-candlepower glow we will observe the room.
因此，达尔希点燃了煤气。在它四分之一烛光的照耀下，我们将观察这个房间。

Couch-bed, dresser, table, washstand, chair–of this much the landlady was guilty. —
沙发床，梳妆台，桌子，洗手台，椅子－这些都是房东的罪名。 —

The rest was Dulcie’s. On the dresser were her treasures–a gilt china vase presented to her by Sadie, a calendar issued by a pickle works, a book on the divination of dreams, some rice powder in a glass dish, and a cluster of artificial cherries tied with a pink ribbon.
其余的都是杜尔茜的。梳妆台上摆放着她的宝贝－一只由萨迪赠送的镀金瓷花瓶，一本腌菜工厂发行的日历，一本解梦的书，一个玻璃碟子里的散粉，还有一串用粉红色丝带扎着的人造樱桃。

Against the wrinkly mirror stood pictures of General Kitchener, William Muldoon, the Duchess of Marlborough, and Benvenuto Cellini. —
在皱褶的镜子旁边站着将军基琴纳，威廉·穆尔登，马尔伯勒公爵夫人，和本维努托·切利尼的照片。 —

Against one wall was a plaster of Paris plaque of an O’Callahan in a Roman helmet. —
靠墙放着一个穿着罗马头盔的奥卡拉汉的巴黎石膏浮雕。 —

Near it was a violent oleograph of a lemon-coloured child assaulting an inflammatory butterfly. —
在它旁边是一幅暴躁的霓虹画，画着一个柠檬色的小孩袭击一只发炎的蝴蝶。 —

This was Dulcie’s final judgment in art; but it had never been upset. —
这是杜尔茜对艺术的最终评判; 但从未被推翻过。 —

Her rest had never been disturbed by whispers of stolen copes; —
她的休息从未被盗走的金袍之声打扰过； —

no critic had elevated his eyebrows at her infantile entomologist.
没有评论家因为她的幼稚昆虫学家而挑起眉毛。

Piggy was to call for her at seven. While she swiftly makes ready, let us discreetly face the other way and gossip.
七点时，皮基会来接她。在她迅速准备好的时候，我们要谨慎地转过身来，闲谈一下。

For the room, Dulcie paid two dollars per week. On week-days her breakfast cost ten cents; —
对于房间，达尔西每周支付两美元。在工作日，她的早餐花费十美分； —

she made coffee and cooked an egg over the gaslight while she was dressing. —
她在着装时用煤气灯煮咖啡和煮鸡蛋。 —

On Sunday mornings she feasted royally on veal chops and pineapple fritters at “Billy’s” restaurant, at a cost of twenty-five cents–and tipped the waitress ten cents. —
星期天早上，她在“比利的”餐厅尽情享受牛排和菠萝油炸圈饼，花费25美分-并给女服务员小费10美分。 —

New York presents so many temptations for one to run into extravagance. —
纽约为人们提供了许多奢侈的诱惑。 —

She had her lunches in the department-store restaurant at a cost of sixty cents for the week; —
她在百货公司的餐厅吃午饭，一周花费60美分； —

dinners were $1.05. The evening papers–show me a New Yorker going without his daily paper! —
晚餐是1.05美元。晚间报纸-给我看一个没有每天都看报纸的纽约人！ —

–came to six cents; and two Sunday papers–one for the personal column and the other to read–were ten cents. —
-共计6美分；两份星期日报纸-一份用于个人栏目，另一份用来阅读-共花费10美分。 —

The total amounts to $4.76. Now, one has to buy clothes, and–
总计加起来是4.76美元。现在，人们还得买衣服，然后-

I give it up. I hear of wonderful bargains in fabrics, and of miracles performed with needle and thread; —
我放弃了。我听说面料有很划算的交易，还有用针线做出的奇迹。 —

but I am in doubt. I hold my pen poised in vain when I would add to Dulcie’s life some of those joys that belong to woman by virtue of all the unwritten, sacred, natural, inactive ordinances of the equity of heaven. —
但是我心里犹豫不决。当我试图给达尔西的生活增添一些属于女人的快乐时，我手握着笔，却无济于事。这些快乐是天堂的无形、神圣、自然、潜伏的法则所赋予的。 —

Twice she had been to Coney Island and had ridden the hobby-horses. —
她去过两次康尼岛，玩过木马。 —

‘Tis a weary thing to count your pleasures by summers instead of by hours.
用夏天的个数来计算快乐，是一件痛苦的事情，而不是按照小时计算。

Piggy needs but a word. When the girls named him, an undeserving stigma was cast upon the noble family of swine. —
小猪只需要一个字。当女孩们给他起名字时，对于高贵的猪家族施以不应得的耻辱。 —

The words-of-three- letters lesson in the old blue spelling book begins with Piggy’s biography. —
旧蓝色拼写书中的三个字母的单词课程从小猪的传记开始。 —

He was fat; he had the soul of a rat, the habits of a bat, and the magnanimity of a cat… —
他很胖，有着老鼠的灵魂，蝙蝠的习性，猫的宽容心…… —

He wore expensive clothes; and was a connoisseur in starvation. —
他穿着昂贵的衣服，是饥饿的鉴赏家。 —

He could look at a shop-girl and tell you to an hour how long it had been since she had eaten anything more nourishing than marshmallows and tea. —
他可以看着一个店员，告诉你她最后一次进食比棉花糖和茶更有营养的食物已经多久了。 —

He hung about the shopping districts, and prowled around in department stores with his invitations to dinner. —
他在购物区闲逛，并在百货商店里四处游荡，带着邀请他吃晚餐的邀请函。 —

Men who escort dogs upon the streets at the end of a string look down upon him. He is a type; —
带着牵引绳在街上遛狗的男人瞧不起他。他是一种类型； —

I can dwell upon him no longer; my pen is not the kind intended for him; I am no carpenter.
我不能再详细谈论他了；我的笔不是为他而准备的；我不是木匠。

At ten minutes to seven Dulcie was ready. She looked at herself in the wrinkly mirror. —
七点之前，杜尔茜准备好了。她在皱巴巴的镜子里看着自己。 —

The reflection was satisfactory. The dark blue dress, fitting without a wrinkle, the hat with its jaunty black feather, the but-slightly-soiled gloves–all representing self- denial, even of food itself–were vastly becoming.
镜子中的映像很满意。深蓝色的连衣裙没有一丝褶皱，带着漂亮的黑色羽毛的帽子，几乎没有脏的手套-这一切都代表着对自己的克制，甚至对食物的克制-都非常适合。

Dulcie forgot everything else for a moment except that she was beautiful, and that life was about to lift a corner of its mysterious veil for her to observe its wonders. —
杜尔茜一时忘记了其他一切，只觉得自己美丽，生活即将揭开神秘面纱，让她观察其中的奇迹。 —

No gentleman had ever asked her out before. —
以前从未有绅士邀请过她。 —

Now she was going for a brief moment into the glitter and exalted show.
现在她将进入一片光辉和崇高的场景。

The girls said that Piggy was a “spender.” There would be a grand dinner, and music, and splendidly dressed ladies to look at, and things to eat that strangely twisted the girls’ jaws when they tried to tell about them. —
女孩们说小猪是个“大手大脚的人。”那里将举行一场盛大的宴会，有音乐，有华丽的女士们可以欣赏，还有那些难以形容的美食。 —

No doubt she would be asked out again. There was a blue pongee suit in a window that she knew–by saving twenty cents a week instead of ten, in–let’s see–Oh, it would run into years! —
毫无疑问，她将再次受邀。有一件蓝色的通样套装在橱窗里，她知道——通过每周存20美分而不是10美分——嗯，这需要很多年！ —

But there was a second-hand store in Seventh Avenue where–
但在第七大道上有一家二手商店——

Somebody knocked at the door. Dulcie opened it. —
有人敲门。杜尔茜打开了门。 —

The landlady stood there with a spurious smile, sniffing for cooking by stolen gas.
房东笑容可掬地站在那儿，嗅着被偷来的煤气炉的烹饪气味。

“A gentleman’s downstairs to see you,” she said. “Name is Mr. Wiggins.”
“楼下有位先生找你，名叫威金斯先生。”她说。

By such epithet was Piggy known to unfortunate ones who had to take him seriously.
对于那些不得不认真对待他的不幸之人来说，Piggy就是这样的绰号。

Dulcie turned to the dresser to get her handkerchief; —
杜尔茜转向梳妆台取手帕； —

and then she stopped still, and bit her underlip hard. —
然后她停住了，用力咬住下唇。 —

While looking in her mirror she had seen fairyland and herself, a princess, just awakening from a long slumber. —
在照镜子的时候，她看到了童话世界和自己，是个从长久沉睡中醒来的公主。 —

She had forgotten one that was watching her with sad, beautiful, stern eyes–the only one there was to approve or condemn what she did. —
她忘记了一个注视着她的人，那人用悲伤、美丽、严厉的眼神看着她，他是唯一一个能够赞同或谴责她所做的人。 —

Straight and slender and tall, with a look of sorrowful reproach on his handsome, melancholy face, General Kitchener fixed his wonderful eyes on her out of his gilt photograph frame on the dresser.
基奇纳上将站得笔直、匀称而高大，帅气的忧郁脸上带着责备的神情，他的金色相框从梳妆台上望着她，目光如炬。

Dulcie turned like an automatic doll to the landlady.
达尔希像自动娃娃一样转身走向了房东太太。

“Tell him I can’t go,” she said dully. “Tell him I’m sick, or something. —
“告诉他我不能去，”她呆呆地说，“告诉他我生病了，或者什么其他的原因。 —

Tell him I’m not going out.”
“告诉他我不会出去。”

After the door was closed and locked, Dulcie fell upon her bed, crushing her black tip, and cried for ten minutes. —
门锁上后，达尔希倒在床上，扁平的帽檐被压扁，哭了十分钟。 —

General Kitchener was her only friend. He was Dulcie’s ideal of a gallant knight. —
基奇纳上将是她唯一的朋友。他是达尔希心目中最勇敢的骑士。 —

He looked as if he might have a secret sorrow, and his wonderful moustache was a dream, and she was a little afraid of that stern yet tender look in his eyes. —
他看上去好像有着一种秘密的悲伤，他那壮丽的小胡子如梦似幻，而她对他眼中的严厉而又温柔的表情有些恐惧。 —

She used to have little fancies that he would call at the house sometime, and ask for her, with his sword clanking against his high boots. —
她过去常常有这样一种幻想，他会有一天到她住的房子来，手中的剑重重地敲打着高筒靴，然后找她。 —

Once, when a boy was rattling a piece of chain against a lamp-post she had opened the window and looked out. —
有一次，一个男孩对着一根灯杆晃动一根链子，她打开窗户往外看。 —

But there was no use. She knew that General Kitchener was away over in Japan, leading his army against the savage Turks; —
但是没有用。她知道基奇纳将军正在远在日本，带领他的军队对抗野蛮的土耳其人； —

and he would never step out of his gilt frame for her. —
而他永远也不会从他的镀金画框中走出来为她做什么。 —

Yet one look from him had vanquished Piggy that night. —
然而，他的一个眼神就征服了那天晚上的皮奇。 —

Yes, for that night.
是的，就那天晚上。

When her cry was over Dulcie got up and took off her best dress, and put on her old blue kimono. —
哭声过后，达尔茜站起来脱下她那件最好的裙子，穿上了她那件旧的蓝色和服。 —

She wanted no dinner. She sang two verses of “Sammy.” Then she became intensely interested in a little red speck on the side of her nose. —
她不想吃晚饭。她唱了两段《山姆》。然后，她对着她鼻子一侧的一个小红点非常感兴趣。 —

And after that was attended to, she drew up a chair to the rickety table, and told her fortune with an old deck of cards.
在解决了那个问题之后，她拉起一把摇摇晃晃的椅子，用一副旧纸牌占卜自己的命运。

“The horrid, impudent thing!” she said aloud. —
“可恶、厚颜无耻的家伙！”她大声说道。 —

“And I never gave him a word or a look to make him think it!”
“我从来没有给他一句话或一瞥让他有这个想法！”

At nine o’clock Dulcie took a tin box of crackers and a little pot of raspberry jam out of her trunk, and had a feast. —
晚上九点，达尔茜从她的箱子里拿出一盒饼干和一小罐覆盆子酱，独自一人大吃一顿。 —

She offered General Kitchener some jam on a cracker; —
她给基钦纳将军开了张面包片，上面涂了点果酱； —

but he only looked at her as the sphinx would have looked at a butterfly–if there are butterflies in the desert.
但他只是像金字塔守望蝴蝶一般看着她——如果沙漠中有蝴蝶的话。

“Don’t eat it if you don’t want to,” said Dulcie. —
“如果你不想吃，就别吃。”达尔西说。 —

“And don’t put on so many airs and scold so with your eyes. —
“不要摆架子，别用眼神责备我。我倒想知道如果你每周只有六美元，你还会这样高高在上吗？” —

I wonder if you’d he so superior and snippy if you had to live on six dollars a week.”
对于达尔西来说，对基钦纳将军无礼是个不好的迹象。

It was not a good sign for Dulcie to be rude to General Kitchener. —
然后她用严厉的手势将本韦努托·切利尼的脸沉了下去。 —

And then she turned Benvenuto Cellini face downward with a severe gesture. —
但这并不令人难以原谅；因为她一直以为他是亨利八世，而她不赞成他。 —

But that was not inexcusable; for she had always thought he was Henry VIII, and she did not approve of him.
九点半时，达尔西最后看了一眼梳妆台上的画像，关掉了灯，跳上床。

At half-past nine Dulcie took a last look at the pictures on the dresser, turned out the light, and skipped into bed. —
带着晚安的祝福看着基钦纳将军、威廉·马尔登、马尔伯勒公爵夫人和本韦努托·切利尼上床睡觉真是太糟糕了。 —

It’s an awful thing to go to bed with a good-night look at General Kitchener, William Muldoon, the Duchess of Marlborough, and Benvenuto Cellini. —
这个故事实际上没有任何发展。 —

This story really doesn’t get anywhere at all. —
—

The rest of it comes later–sometime when Piggy asks Dulcie again to dine with him, and she is feeling lonelier than usual, and General Kitchener happens to be looking the other way; and then–
余下的事情稍后会发生- 当皮基再次邀请杜尔茜共进晚餐时，她比平时更感到孤独，而基钦勒将军碰巧正在看别处; 然后 -

As I said before, I dreamed that I was standing near a crowd of prosperous-looking angels, and a policeman took me by the wing and asked if I belonged with them.
就像我之前说的，我梦见我站在一群身着富裕衣饰的天使旁边，一个警察抓住了我的翅膀，问我是否属于他们。

“Who are they?” I asked.
“他们是谁？”我问道。

“Why,” said he, “they are the men who hired working-girls, and paid ‘em five or six dollars a week to live on. —
“哦，”他说，” 他们是雇用工作女孩并支付她们五六美元一周生活费的人。 —

Are you one of the bunch?”
你是那伙人之一吗?”

“Not on your immortality,” said I. “I’m only the fellow that set fire to an orphan asylum, and murdered a blind man for his pennies.”
“我才不是你那些不朽的人之一，”我说。 “我只是一个纵火烧了一所孤儿院，谋杀了一个盲人抢他的几个铜板的家伙。”