翻译稿

Edgar Allan Poe

TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily --how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

真的！紧张，实在是太太太紧张了，不论是现在的我还是曾经的我；但你怎么能认为我疯了呢？这病虽令我精神紧张，但我还没被它摧毁，更没变的迟钝。首先是我极其敏锐的听觉。我倾听着天堂、地球上的所有事物，我还听见了从地狱传来的声音。怎么，于是我疯掉了么？听着，看我是怎么健健康康地，心平气和地，跟你说说这整件事的来龙去脉。

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees --very gradually --I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.

这主意一开始是怎么让我想出来的很难说得清；但这主意一经出现，就在我脑海里久久环绕，让我日不能思夜不能寐。没有实施的对象可就没有做事的激情了。我挺喜欢那个老人的。他从不欺负我，也没有骂过我。我对他的钱财可没有什么兴趣。我认为我感兴趣的是他的眼睛！对，就是那双眼睛！他的眼睛，像秃鹫的眼睛——淡蓝色，带着一个像电影般精彩的故事。每当它们落在我的身上，我的血液像是凝固了。于是渐渐地，慢慢地，我决定要搞懂这老人身上的故事，从而让这双眼睛永永远远从我眼里消失。

Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded—with what caution—with what foresight—with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it --oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly --very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this, And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously --cautiously (for the hinges creaked) --I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights --every night just at midnight --but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.

现在说到重点了。你想着我疯掉了。疯掉的人什么都不知道。那你应该看看我，看看我是怎么用我的智慧小心翼翼，瞻前顾后，掩饰性的继续去工作的！在杀了这个老人前的一个星期里，我变得史无前例的温柔。每个午夜，我扭开他的门闩，打开他的房门——哦，我的动作是多么的温柔啊！然后等门缝能塞得下我的脑袋的时候，我把一盏灭了的灯笼伸了进去，灭掉所有的灯光，让屋子陷入黑暗，然后我把脑袋伸了进去。噢，如果你看到了我是怎么巧妙地把头伸进去的，你一定会嘲笑我的。我慢慢地移动着，非常非常慢，这样，我才不会影响到这位老人的睡眠。我花了整整一个小时来把整个脑袋塞进开着的门缝里，然后我就看到了他正平躺在床上。啊！一个疯子能像我一样这么聪明吗？当我把脑袋完全伸进房间里了之后，我十分，十分，十分小心地把灯笼放到了地上（因为灯笼上结合的地方会吱吱作响）——我这么小心翼翼，那般秃鹫的眼神儿根本没有发现我。而这就是我在那七个漫长的晚上做的事情，每个午夜都做——但我发现那双眼睛总是闭着的，这让我不能进行我的工作，因为不是这个老人对我烦躁恼怒，而是他那双罪恶的眼睛。每天早上，天将将要亮的时候，我壮胆走到他的房间里，勇敢地跟他讲话，亲切地叫着他的名字，并询问他昨晚上过得怎么样。所以你知道了，他原先是一个知识多么渊博的人啊，哦当然，想想每天晚上的十二点，当他睡觉的时候我都在旁边看着他。

Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers --of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you may think that I drew back --but no. His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness, (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers,) and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily.

在第八个晚上，我开门的动作比平常更加小心。就连钟表的分针走的都比我的动作快。直到那天晚上我才强烈感觉到我的智慧的能力。我几乎不能抑制住即将胜利的心情了。想想我在那儿，慢慢地打开了门，而他做梦也想不到我秘密的行为还有我的想法。我简直要为我的主意笑出声来了，也许他听得到我的声音，因为他突然从床上动了一下，像是被吓了一跳。现在你可能会猜我得退出去了——但是不，他这房间在浓重的黑夜下跟沥青一样黑黝黝的，（因为为了防贼，窗户都紧紧地关着，）所以我知道他是看不到开着的门的，于是我缓慢而坚定地推开了门。

I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out --"Who's there?"

I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening; --just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.

我把头伸进去，正打算开个灯，当我的手指头正在锡制开关上滑动时，他霍然从床上起来，大叫道，“谁在那！”

我默默地站在那，什么都不说。整整一个小时我动都没动一下，而我也没有听见他躺下的声音。他还在床上坐着竖起耳朵听我的动静——听那墙上不转了的钟表，就像我每晚做的那样。

Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief --oh, no! --it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself --"It is nothing but the wind in the chimney --it is only a mouse crossing the floor," or "It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp." Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel --although he neither saw nor heard --to feel the presence of my head within the room.

接着我听到了一声低低的呻吟，我知道这呻吟里含着极度的恐惧。它不是因为痛苦或者悲伤，—哦，不！—这是一种从被极度恐惧死死压住的灵魂深处发出的低吟声。我实在太了解这样的声音了。无数个夜晚，深夜之时，万物沉寂，这声音从我心底深处涌起，带着可怕的回音，还有让我失去镇定的恐惧。我说过我太了解这样的声音了，我知道这老人的感受，并可怜着他，尽管我心底发出了阵阵嘲笑声。我知道，在听见第一声儿的时候，这老人就已经躺着睁开了眼，并翻了个身。这之后一阵恐惧就朝他袭去。他已经极尽所能想让自己认为没有什么，但是他失败了。他一度对着自己说，“那只是吹往烟囱里的风而已，那只是老鼠跑过的声响而已。”或者说着，“那仅仅是蟋蟀在喳喳叫而已。”对，他就是用这些假想来安慰自己，但他发现都是没用的，都没用！因为死亡的阴影在他身前蔓延着，然后包围了这个将死之人。虽然他看不见也听不到，伸手不见五指的黑夜让人感到阴冷肃穆，虽然他看不见也听不到，但在房间里他还是感受到了我的头颅的存在。

When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little --a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it --you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily --until, at length a simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.

我耐下性子等了很长时间，还是没有听见他躺下的声音，我决定把灯罩掀开非常非常小的一条缝。于是我就掀了——你一定想不到我是多么的小心翼翼——直到一条细的就像蜘蛛丝一般的光线从那条缝中照了出来，正好落在了那双秃鹫般的双眼上。

It was open --wide, wide open --and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness --all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man's face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot.

那眼睛是睁着的——睁得大大的，圆圆的——我盯着它，一股怒火升了起来。我清清楚楚地看到了——只是呆滞的蓝眼睛，蒙着一层让我冷到骨子里的东西；可我却看不到老人的脸或者身上其他任何地方：因为就像出自本能一般，我直直看向了那里，恰巧就是那该死的地方。

And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the sense? --now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.

我没跟你说过你错把感觉的灵敏当成了疯魔吗？——现在，我说，我听见了一声低沉、暗哑、短促的声音，就像一块表在棉花堆里发出的声音一样。我也很熟悉那声音。那是老人心脏跳动的声音。它愈加激起了我的怒火，就像战鼓激起士兵的勇气一般。

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eve. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! --do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me --the sound would be heard by a neighbour! The old man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once --once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eve would trouble me no more.

但尽管如此，我还是克制着怒火，屏住呼吸，拿着灯笼一动不动。我尽量让自己的视线保持平稳看着那双眼睛。这时，那心脏被地狱般的恐惧逐渐包围，它跳的越来越快,越来越响。老人一定怕死了！它越来越响，我是说，每时每刻都愈加大声！——你还记得吧，我跟你说过的，我很紧张：对，很紧张。现在还是半夜三更，这老房子里一片可怕的寂静，而这声音多奇怪啊，让我无法抑制地害怕了起来。我还是一动不动地站了一会儿。但那心跳更响了，更响了！我想他的心脏一定是要炸了。然后现在新的担忧又困住了我——那声音会被邻居听到！这老头的死期到了！我把灯笼掀开，大叫着跳进了房间。他尖叫了一声，只一声。我迅速把他拖到了地上，然后把沉重的床压到了他的身上。我发现我的行动完成了，于是欢快的笑了。但那心脏还是闷闷地跳了好几分钟。可这却没有惹到我；这声音隔着墙可是听不见的。最终它停止了跳动。这老人死了。我把床板移开，检查尸体。是的，他现在就像块石头，死得透透的。我把手放到他的心脏上放了好长时间。没有心跳了。他死透了。他的眼睛再也不会困扰到我了。

If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs. I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye --not even his --could have detected any thing wrong. There was nothing to wash out --no stain of any kind --no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all --ha! ha!

如果你还是坚持我疯了，那你在听完我是怎么聪慧而又谨慎地把尸体藏起来的之后，你就不会这么认为了。夜渐渐深了，我正急匆匆地忙着，当然是努力不发出一点儿声音。首先我把这尸体分了块。我把头还有四肢都切了下来。再撬了三块房子里的地板，把尸块放进夹层。然后我聪明地，狡猾地把木板放回原位，让所有人的眼睛——包括他那只眼——都看不出任何的不对。也没什么地方需要冲洗的——没有任何污渍——更没有血点斑斑。我做这事情的时候就是如此的谨慎。一个桶就足以盛下所有——哈！哈！

When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o'clock --still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door. I went down to open it with a light heart, --for what had I now to fear? There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of the police. A shriek had been heard by a neighbour during the night; suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office, and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the premises.

我干完这些活儿了之后，就已经四点了——天色还是如午夜一般的黑暗。正当报时声响起时，房门处响起了敲门声。我漫不经心地下去开了门——我还需要怕什么呢？三个人走了进来，温和地说自己是警察。有人晚上听见了一声惨叫；怀疑是有什么犯罪事件发生；就向警局说了情况，他们（警察们）就被委以探查之任。

I smiled, --for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search --search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.

我笑了——我需要怕什么呢？我欢迎这些先生们。那声尖叫，我说道，是我在做梦的时候发出的。那老人，我提及，他不在，回乡下去了。我带着我的拜访者们转了整间屋子。我让他们搜——好好地搜。最后，我带着他们到那老人的房间里。我给他们看了那老人的钱财，一点儿没少。怀着满满的自信，我拿了几把椅子放进房间，让他们坐下解解乏，而我因着自己完美的杰作大胆了起来，我就坐在那尸体上面的木板上。

The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct: --It continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definiteness --until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears.

警官们十分满意。我的所作所为已经说服了他们。我异常地轻松。他们坐着，谈论家中琐事，我愉快地作答。但没过多久，我觉得自己面色苍白，并希望他们离开。我的头开始疼，我的耳朵里像是有一阵阵的铃音：但他们仍然坐着仍然在谈论。那声音愈加地清晰——愈来愈清晰，根本不间断：我更肆意地说着话想让这感觉消失掉：但这声音依旧持续着并且更加清晰——直到最后，我发现这声音不在我的耳朵里。

No doubt I now grew very pale; --but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased --and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound --much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath --and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly --more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men --but the noise steadily increased. Oh, God! What could I do? I foamed --I raved --I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder --louder --louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! --no, no! They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now --again! --hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!"

毫无疑问我现在面色更加惨白——但我更顺畅，更大声地说着话。但那声音还是在逐渐增大——我该怎么办？低沉，暗哑，短促的声音，就像一块在棉花堆里的表发出的声音一样。我喘着气——到现在那些警官们都没有听见。我又快又激动地说着话；但那声音越来越大。我站了起来，为琐事而争吵，激烈且动作粗鲁；但那声音还是越来越大。为什么他们还不走？我重重地来回踱着步，就像被他们激怒了一般——但是那声音还是越来越大。哦，我的上帝啊！我该怎么办？我唾沫飞溅，我咆哮着，我发着毒誓！我使劲摇晃我坐的那张椅子，砸着那下面的地板，但是那声音盖过了一切而且依然持续不断。声音越来越大，越来越大，越来越大！而那些人还谈得高兴，笑得开心。也许他们没听到？万能的神啊！——不，不！——他们听见了！——他们猜到了！——他们早就知道了！——他们在笑话恐惧的我！——我当时这么想，现在也是这么想的。但是这才是最痛苦的！任何一切我都能容忍，只除了这嘲笑声！我再忍不下去这样虚伪的笑容了！我觉得我要喊出来，不然我会死掉！现在——又来了！——听啊！更响了！更响了！更响了！更响了！

“混蛋！”我尖叫着，“别再装了！我承认！——撬开这些地板！这儿，这儿！——这是那可怕的心脏跳动的声音啊！”