英语散文:小偷

 

Thief

小偷

　He is waiting for the airline ticket counter when he first notices the young woman. She has glossy black hair pulled tightly into a knot at the back of her bead-the man imagines it loosed and cascading to the small of her back-and carries over she shoulder of her leather coat a heavy black purse. She wears black boots of soft leather. He struggles to see her face-she is ahead of him in line-but it is not until she has bought her ticket and turns to walk away that he realizes her beauty, which is pale and dark-eyed and full-mouthed, and which quickens his heart beat. She seems aware that he is staring at her and lowers her gaze abruptly.

　　他第一次注意到那个年轻女人，是在他到航空公司售票处排队买票的时候。她的乌黑发亮的一头秀发在脑后紧紧地终成一个客。那人想象着那头秀发披散开来瀑布般落在腰间的情形，只见那女人穿着皮外套的肩上挎着一个沉甸甸的黑色坤包，脚上穿着一双黑色软皮靴。他竭力想看到她的容貌，她就排在他的前面。但是，一直到她买好票走开，他才睹她的芳容：雪白的皮肤，马里发亮的眼睛，丰满的嘴唇。他心族摇荡，狂跳不止。那年轻女人代乎察觉到他在注视着她，便突然垂下了眼睛。

　　 The airline clerk interrupts. The man gives up looking at the woman—he thinks she may be about twenty-five—and buys a round-trip, coach class ticket to an eastern city.

　　售票员一说话打断了他的想象。他不再看那女人——他想她可能有25岁左右——然后买了一张到东部一个城市的二等往返机票。

　　His flight leaves in an hour. To kill time, the man steps into one of the airport cocktail bars and orders a scotch and water. While he sips it he watches the flow of travelers through the terminal-including a remarkable number, he thinks, of an unattached pretty women dressed in fashion magazine clothes-until he catches sight of the black-haired girl in the leather coat. She is standing near a Travelers Aid counter, deep in conversation with a second girl, a blond in a cloth coat trimmed with gray fur. He wants somehow to attract the brunette’s attention, to invite her to have a drink with him before her own flight leaves for wherever she is traveling, but even though he believes for a moment she is looking his way he cannot catch her eye from out of the shadows of the bar. In another instant the two women separate; neither of their direction is toward him. He orders a second Scotch and water.

　　飞机过1个小时才起飞。为了消磨时间，他走进机场的一家鸡尾酒吧，要了一杯兑水的苏格兰威士忌、他一边慢慢地喝着酒，一边望着大厅里川流不息的乘客——他想，其中有好多一定都是未婚的漂亮女人，她们穿的是时装杂志上介绍的那种衣服——直到后来他又瞥见那个穿皮外套的黑发姑娘。她站在旅客服务台旁边，和另外一个姑娘眉飞色舞地聊着什么。另外那个姑娘金发碧眼，身穿一件镶着灰色猫皮的布外套。不知怎么的，他想引起黑发姑娘的注意，想趁这个姑娘要乘的飞往什么地方去的班机还没离开之前，请她喝上一杯。然而，尽管他认为她向他这边张望了一小会儿，但他在酒吧的阴暗处，吸引不了她的秋波。过了没多大一会儿，这两个女人就分手了，都没有朝这个方向走来。他又要了一杯兑水的苏格兰威士忌。

When next he sees her, he is buying a magazine to read during the flight and becomes aware that someone is jostling him. At first he is startled that anyone would be so close as to touch him, but when he sees who it is he musters a smile.

　　当他再次看见她的时候，他正在买一本杂志，以便在飞机上看。突然，他觉得有人挨近了他。他先是吃了一惊，怎么会有人靠得这么近碰到他的身体呢？但等看清是谁之后，他的脸上浮起了微笑。

　　“Busy place,” he says.

　　“这地方人可真多，”他说。

　　She looks up at him—is she blushing? —and an odd grimace crosses her mouth and vanishes. She moves away from him and joins the crowds in the terminal.

　　她抬眼看着他——她是害羞脸才红的吗？——她的嘴角掠过一丝奇怪的表情，转眼就消失了。她从他的身边走开，加入了大厅的人流之中。

　　The man is at the counter with his magazine, but when he reaches into his back pocket for his wallet the pocket is empty. Where could I have lost it? he thinks. His mind begins enumerating the credit cards, the currency, the membership and identification cards; his stomach churns with something very like fear. The girl who was so near to me, he thinks-and all at once he understands that she has picked his pocked.

　　他拿着杂志站在柜台边，但当他将手伸进后边的口袋拿钱夹的时候，发现里边什么也没有了。他在心里想着：我可能是在什么地方把它弄丢的呢？他开始在脑海里清点装在钱夹里的信用卡、钞票、会员证、身份证等东西。一种酷似恐惧的感觉使他的胃部剧烈地痉挛起来。那个姑娘挨我那样近，他想——他立马明白了，是她偷了他的钱夹。

　　What is he to do? He still has his ticket, safely tucked inside his suitcoat—he reaches into the jacket to feel the envelope, to make sure. He can take the flight, call someone to pick him up at his destination-since he cannot even afford bus fare-conduct his business and fly home. But in the meantime he will have to do something about the lost credit cards-call home, have his wife get the numbers out of the top desk drawer, phone the card companies-so difficult a process, the whole thing suffocating. What shall he do?

　　怎么办呢？飞机票还在，装在上衣内袋里是万无一失的——他将手伸到衣服里面，摸了摸装机票的纸袋，心才落了地。他可以乘这班飞机，到达目的地，叫人来接。他连坐公共汽车的钱都没有了。完事之后，再乘飞机回家。但是，在此期间要对那些信用卡失窃采取措施——要打电话，让妻子将放在写字台最上面抽屉里的信用卡号码取出来，和一家家信用卡公司通电话——真是麻烦死了，要全部办完，准会要命。怎么办呢？