The Cactus 仙人掌

文/欧·亨利 译/闻春国 By O. Henry

The Cactus 仙人掌

文/欧·亨利 译/闻春国1By O. Henry

The most notable thing about Time is that it is so purely relative. A large amount of reminiscence is, by common consent, conceded to the drowning man; and it is not past belief that one may review an entire courtship while removing one’s gloves.

[2] That is what Trysdale was doing,standing by a table in his bachelor apartments. On the table stood a singularlooking green plant in a red earthen jar.The plant was one of the species of cacti,and was provided with long, tentacular leaves that perpetually swayed with the slightest breeze with a peculiar beckoning motion.

[3] Trysdale’s friend, the brother of the bride, stood at a sideboard complaining at being allowed to drink alone. Both men were in evening dress. White favors like stars upon their coats shone through the gloom of the apartment.

时间最显著的特点就是其纯粹的相对性。一般而言，消沉的人最容易沉溺于对往事的回忆，而一个人能在脱手套这会儿工夫重温一下求婚的整个过程也不是什么难以置信的事情。

[2]特里斯戴尔伫立在他单身公寓的桌子旁，做的正是此事。桌子上放着一个红色的陶罐，里面栽着一株形状奇特的绿色植物。它属于仙人掌的一种，长长的叶子宛如触手一般，微风拂来，不停地摇曳，似乎在向人招手致意。

[3]特里斯戴尔的朋友，也是新娘的哥哥，站在餐具柜的旁边，抱怨没人陪着，只好一个人在那儿自斟自饮。两个人穿着晚礼服。礼服上佩戴的白色花结宛如天上的星星，在昏暗的房间里闪烁着光芒。

[4] As he slowly unbuttoned his gloves, there passed through Trysdale’s mind a swift, scarifying retrospect of the last few hours. It seemed that in his nostrils was still the scent of the flowers that had been banked in odorous masses about the church, and in his ears the low pitched hum of a thousand well-bred voices, the rustle of crisp garments, and,most insistently recurring, the drawling words of the minister irrevocably binding her to another.

[5] From this last hopeless point of view he still strove, as if it had become a habit of his mind, to reach some conjecture as to why and how he had lost her. Shaken rudely by the uncompromising fact, he had suddenly found himself confronted by a thing he had never before faced—his own innermost, unmitigated, arid unbedecked self. He saw all the garbs of pretence and egoism that he had worn now turn to rags of folly. He shuddered at the thought that to others, before now, the garments of his soul must have appeared sorry and threadbare. Vanity and conceit?These were the joints in his armor. And how free from either she had always been—But why—

[4]特里斯戴尔慢慢地脱着手套，几个小时前发生的那令人揪心的一幕仍在他的脑海里闪现。教堂四周，那一簇簇鲜花的芳香，丝丝缕缕，依稀可闻；宾客们彬彬有礼的低声交谈言犹在耳。他仿佛听到了礼服窸窸窣窣的响动，而牧师那拖长语调的话语一直萦绕在他的耳边，挥之不去。它宣告了一个无可挽回的事实，她与另一个男人结合了。

[5]这最后的一击让他陷入绝望，但他仍想弄清楚自己为什么会失去她，又是怎么失去的。这似乎已经成了他的一种习惯。眼前这个不可改变的事实强烈地震撼了他，他突然发现自己正面对着以前从未正视过的东西——一个潜藏在他内心深处，纯粹的、真实的自我。他看到，以前穿在他身上那虚伪自负的华丽外衣如今破烂不堪，贻笑大方。在别人眼里，自己灵魂的外衣想必已经一文不值。想到这，他不寒而栗。是虚荣与自负？这些正是他盔甲上的关节。而她却从来都不曾虚荣或自负。可这是为什么？

[6] As she had slowly moved up the aisle toward the altar he had felt an unworthy, sullen exultation that had served to support him. He had told himself that her paleness was from thoughts of another than the man to whom she was about to give herself.But even that poor consolation had been wrenched from him. For, when he saw that swift, limpid, upward look that she gave the man when he took her hand, he knew himself to be forgotten. Once that same look had been raised to him, and he had gauged its meaning. Indeed, his conceit had crumbled; its last prop was gone. Why had it ended thus? There had been no quarrel between them,nothing—

[6]当她缓缓走过教堂的过道，走向圣坛，他的心中突然涌出一丝不应有的窃喜。他告诉自己，她脸色的苍白是因为她心里想着另一个男人，而不是眼前这个即将托付终身的人。这个念头支撑着他。然而，这可怜的自我安慰随即便破灭了。因为他看到，当那个男人牵着她的手时，她很快抬起头来，凝望着他，目光里流露出的是幸福和安详。他知道自己很快就要被遗忘了。这种目光，他也曾领略过，其中的意味，他自然心领神会。的确，他的自负已经崩溃了，因为支撑它的那最后一根支柱已经不复存在。为什么会是这样的结局？他们之间从来没有发生过争吵，一次也没有……

[7] For the thousandth time he remarshalled in his mind the events of those last few days before the tide had so suddenly turned.

[8] She had always insisted upon placing him upon a pedestal, and he had accepted her homage with royal grandeur. It had been a very sweet incense that she had burned before him;so modest (he told himself); so childlike and worshipful, and (he would once have sworn) so sincere. She had invested him with an almost supernatural number of high attributes and excellencies and talents, and he had absorbed the oblation as a desert drinks the rain that can coax from it no promise of blossom or fruit.

[7]可是，局面突然变得不可收拾。前几天发生的事件又在他的脑海里一遍又一遍地回放起来。

[8]她一直把他当作偶像，而他每每带着高贵气派接受她的膜拜。她为他点燃香烛，香烟缭绕，沁人心脾。瞧，她是多么谦逊（他告诉自己），多么纯真，多么虔诚，多么纯洁（他曾经为此发誓）。她把他奉为天神，用很多溢美之词称赞他的品行和才华。他接受她的供奉，犹如沙漠吮吸雨露，却拿不出花朵和果实施以回报。

[9]特里斯戴尔恶狠狠地将最后一只手套的接缝扯开，他那愚昧透顶、随之又后悔莫及的狂妄表现再一次淋漓尽致地浮现在他的脑海中。那天晚上，他把她请到自己的住处，向她炫耀自己非凡的经历。如今，他痛苦不堪，简直不敢回忆那天晚上呈现在他面前那真真切切的美——她的秀发如波浪一般自然卷曲，她的美貌，她的言语温柔而清纯。此情此景，他不禁打破沉默，跟她攀谈起来。在交谈中，她问道：

“卡拉瑟斯船长告诉我，你会说一口地地道道的西班牙语。你怎么没跟我提起过？你怎么会懂得那么多？”

[9] As Trysdale grimly wrenched apart the seam of his last glove, the crowning instance of his fatuous and tardily mourned egoism came vividly back to him. The scene was the night when he had asked her to come up on his pedestal with him and share his greatness. He could not, now, for the pain of it, allow his mind to dwell upon the memory of her convincing beauty that night—the careless wave of her hair, the tenderness and virginal charm of her looks and words. But they had been enough, and they had brought him to speak. During their conversation she had said:

“And Captain Carruthers tells me that you speak the Spanish language like a native. Why have you hidden this accomplishment from me? Is there anything you do not know?”

[10] Now, Carruthers was an idiot.No doubt he (Trysdale) had been guilty(he sometimes did such things) of airing at the club some old, canting Castilian proverb dug from the hotchpotch at the back of dictionaries. Carruthers, who was one of his incontinent admirers,was the very man to have magnified this exhibition of doubtful erudition.

[10]唉，卡拉瑟斯真是个白痴。那是他（特里斯戴尔）从词典的旮旮旯旯里搜集的一些古老而隐晦的西班牙谚语，然后拿到俱乐部向人卖弄。毫无疑问，他为此感到过内疚（他偶尔也会如此）。卡拉瑟斯是他的一位崇拜者，可就是管不住自己的嘴巴。也正是这样的人，把特里斯戴尔所谓的博学多才传得神乎其神。

[11] But, alas! the incense of her admiration had been so sweet and flattering. He allowed the imputation to pass without denial. Without protest, he allowed her to twine about his brow this spurious bay of Spanish scholarship. He let it grace his conquering head, and,among its soft convolutions, he did not feel the prick of the thorn that was to pierce him later.

[11]哎呀，她的崇拜是多么令人愉快，多么令人舒畅。所以，对于她的赞美，他来者不拒，也不予辩解，任由她将虚妄的西班牙语学者的称号加封在自己头上。他满脑子装的都是溢美之词，其柔软的脑回沟并没有感觉到荆棘的存在，而这些荆棘后来深深地刺痛了他。

[12]当他放下高傲，跪在她的脚下，向她求婚时，她多么像一只掉进罗网的小鸟！瞧，她是多么快活，多么羞涩，多么紧张！无论是那时，还是现在，他都可以发誓，她的眼神中分明包含了毋庸置疑的允诺。可是，出于女孩的羞怯，她却没有给他一个明确的答复。“明天，我会给你答复的。”她说。于是，他，这位宽容而自信的胜利者，微笑地答应再等她一天。第二天，他在房间焦急地等待着她的回音。中午时分，她的仆人来到他的门口，送来了一盆奇特的栽在红色陶罐里的仙人掌。没有字条，也没有口信，只是在那株仙人掌里挂了一个标签，上面写着一个古怪的外国名字或植物学名。他一直等到了夜晚，却没有等到她的回音。他那膨胀的自傲和受伤的虚荣心不允许他去找她。两天后，他们在一个晚宴上碰面了。一阵寒暄过后，她注视着他，一脸的紧张、疑问和关切；而他却彬彬有礼，漠然相对，一心就等她开口解释。她以女人的敏感，从他的态度上得到了某种暗示，随即也变得冷若冰霜。就这样，他们开始疏远；最后，分道扬镳。他的过错在哪儿？该怪谁呢？此时此刻，谦卑的他在自负的废墟中寻找答案。假如……

[12] How glad, how shy, how tremulous she was! How she fluttered like a snared bird when he laid his mightiness at her feet! He could have sworn, and he could swear now, that unmistakable consent was in her eyes,but, coyly, she would give him no direct answer. “I will send you my answer tomorrow,” she said; and he, the indulgent,confident victor, smilingly granted the delay. The next day he waited, impatient,in his rooms for the word. At noon her groom came to the door and left the strange cactus in the red earthen jar.There was no note, no message, merely a tag upon the plant bearing a barbarous foreign or botanical name. He waited until night, but her answer did not come.His large pride and hurt vanity kept him from seeking her. Two evenings later they met at a dinner. Their greetings were conventional, but she looked at him, breathless, wondering, eager. He was courteous, adamant, waiting her explanation. With womanly swiftness she took her cue from his manner, and turned to snow and ice. Thus, and wider from this on, they had drifted apart.Where was his fault? Who had been to blame? Humbled now, he sought the answer amid the ruins of his self-conceit.If—

[13] The voice of the other man in the room, querulously intruding upon his thoughts, aroused him.

“I say, Trysdale, what the deuce is the matter with you? You look unhappy as if you yourself had been married instead of having acted merely as an accomplice.Look at me, another accessory, come two thousand miles on a garlicky, cockroachy banana steamer all the way from South America to connive at the sacrifice—please to observe how lightly my guilt rests upon my shoulders. Only little sister I had, too, and now she’s gone.Come now! take something to ease your conscience.”

“I don’t drink just now, thanks,” said Trysdale.

[13]房间里，另一个人的抱怨声打断了他的思绪，把他又拉回到现实之中。

“我说，特里斯戴尔，你究竟是怎么啦？看你这一副闷闷不乐的样子，好像是你结了婚似的。你不过是这桩婚姻的一个同谋而已；而我呢，是另外一个帮凶。你看我，乘坐了一艘满是大蒜和蟑螂气味的香蕉船，千里迢迢地从南美洲一路赶来，为的就是在这奉献仪式上当个帮凶——你说说，我心中的内疚会轻吗？我可只有这么一个妹妹啊。现在，她却嫁人了。来吧！喝点酒，浇浇愁。”

“谢谢，我现在不想喝酒。”特里斯戴尔说道。

[14]“你的白兰地可不怎么样。”另一位走到了他的身边，接着说道，“哪一天到蓬塔雷东达看我，尝尝老加西亚走私过来的那玩意儿。保证你不虚此行。嘿，这儿还有一位老相识呢！特里斯戴尔，你从哪儿弄来的这盆仙人掌？”

[14] “Your brandy,” resumed the other, coming over and joining him, “is abominable. Run down to see me some time at Punta Redonda, and try some of our stuff that old Garcia smuggles in.It’s worth the, trip. Hallo! here’s an old acquaintance. Wherever did you rake up this cactus, Trysdale?”

“A present,” said Trysdale, “from a friend. Know the species?”

“Very well. It’s a tropical concern.See hundreds of ’em around Punta every day. Here’s the name on this tag tied to it. Know any Spanish, Trysdale?”

“No,” said Trysdale, with the bitter wraith of a smile—“Is it Spanish?”

“Yes. The natives imagine the leaves are reaching out and beckoning to you.They call it by this name—Ventomarme.Name means in English, ‘Come and take me.’”

“一个朋友送的礼物。”特里斯戴尔说道，“知道是什么品种吗？”

“当然知道。这是一种热带仙人掌。在潘塔，每天见到的仙人掌有成百上千。嗨，挂在里面的标签上还有名字呢。特里斯戴尔，你会西班牙语吗？”

“不会。”特里斯戴尔苦涩地笑了笑，“标签上写的是西班牙语吗？”

“是的。当地人想象，这种仙人掌的叶子是在向人伸手召唤。所以，他们把它叫作‘唤人掌’，英语的意思就是‘请把我带走’。”

西南科技大学外国语学院外聘教授。

10 Fascinating Extinct Animals (II)

2. Pyrenean Ibex比利牛斯山羊

The Pyrenean ibex was a subspecies of the Iberian wild goat that went extinct in 2000.

Once found throughout the French,Spanish and Andorran Pyrenees, the population was severely thinned by hunting.

In 2009, scientists were able to clone a female Pyrenean ibex using DNA from preserved skin samples. Due to lung defects, the ibex died shortly after birth, according to The Telegraph.