最温暖的圣诞故事:《麦琪的礼物》

“你要买我的头发吗？”德拉问。

"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take yer hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it."

“我买头发，”夫人说。“揭掉帽子，让我看看发样。”

Down rippled the brown cascade.

那褐色的瀑布泼撒了下来。

"Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.

“二十美元，”夫人一边说，一边内行似地抓起头发。

"Give it to me quick," said Della.

“快给我钱，”德拉说。

Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present.

呵，接着而至的两个小时犹如长了翅膀，愉快地飞掠而过。请不用理会这胡诌的比喻。她正在彻底搜寻各家店铺，为吉姆买礼物。

She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation--as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim's. It was like him. Quietness and value--the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 87 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain.

她终于找到了，那准是专为吉姆特制的，决非为别人。她找遍了各家商店，哪儿也没有这样的东西，一条朴素的白金表链，镂刻着花纹。正如一切优质东西那样，它只以货色论长短，不以装璜来炫耀。而且它正配得上那只金表。她一见这条表链，就知道一定属于吉姆所有。它就像吉姆本人，文静而有价值——这一形容对两者都恰如其份。她花去二十一美元买下了，匆匆赶回家，只剩下八角七分钱。金表匹配这条链子，无论在任何场合，吉姆都可以毫无愧色地看时间了。尽管这只表华丽珍贵，因为用的是旧皮带取代表链，他有时只偷偷地瞥上一眼。

When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends--a mammoth task.

德拉回家之后，她的狂喜有点儿变得审慎和理智了。她找出烫发铁钳，点燃煤气，着手修补因爱情加慷慨所造成的破坏，这永远是件极其艰巨的任务，亲爱的朋友们——简直是件了不起的任务呵。

Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically.

不出四十分钟，她的头上布满了紧贴头皮的一绺绺小卷发，使她活像个逃学的小男孩。她在镜子里老盯着自己瞧，小心地、苛刻地照来照去。