Miss Martha Meacham kept the little bakery on the corner (the one where you go up three steps, and the bell tinkles when you open the door). Miss Martha was forty, she had two false teeth and a sympathetic heart. Two or three times a week an interesting customer came in. He was a middle-aged man, wearing spectacles and a brown beard trimmed carefully. He spoke English with a strong German accent. His clothes were worn and darned in places, and wrinkled and baggy in others. But he looked neat, and had very good manners.
瑪莎·米查姆女士在街角開(kāi)著一家小面包店（就是那家門(mén)口有三階臺(tái)階，客戶(hù)進(jìn)門(mén)會(huì)有鈴鐺響起的小店）。瑪莎女士剛好四十歲，嘴里鑲著兩顆假牙，擁有一顆同情心。有一位非常有趣的顧客每周都會(huì)光顧瑪莎的小店三兩次。他是一位中年男子，戴著眼鏡，留著精心修剪過(guò)的棕色胡須，講著帶有很重德國(guó)口音的英語(yǔ)。他穿的衣服很舊，有幾處補(bǔ)丁，沒(méi)補(bǔ)丁的部位也是皺巴巴而且松松垮垮的。但他顯得很整潔，人也很有風(fēng)度。
He always bought two loaves of stale bread. Fresh bread was five cents a loaf. Stale ones were two for five. Never did he want anything else but stale bread. Once Miss Martha saw red and brown paint stains on his fingers. She was sure therefore that he was an artist and very poor. No doubt he lived in a garret, where he painted pictures and ate stale bread and dreamed of the good things to eat in her bakery.
他每次來(lái)店里都會(huì)買(mǎi)兩個(gè)陳面包。新鮮面包是5美分一個(gè)，陳面包則是5美分兩個(gè)。除了陳面包以外，他什么也沒(méi)在店里買(mǎi)過(guò)。一次，瑪莎看到他手指上有紅褐色的漆漬。于是，她確信他是一位窮困潦倒的畫(huà)家。他一定是住在一個(gè)閣樓里，在那里一邊畫(huà)畫(huà)，一邊啃著陳面包，夢(mèng)想著能夠在她的面包店里吃頓好的。
Often when Miss Martha sat down to her chops and light rolls and jam and tea she would sigh, and wish that the gentle-mannered artist would share her tasty meal instead of eating his dry crust in that draughty attic.
當(dāng)瑪莎坐下來(lái)喝著茶，吃著排骨、果醬卷時(shí)，經(jīng)常會(huì)發(fā)出嘆息聲，心里希望這位溫文爾雅的畫(huà)家能跟她共享美味佳肴，而不是回到那個(gè)四面漏風(fēng)的閣樓里吃難以下咽的干面包皮。
Often when he came in to buy his bread, he would chat for a while across the showcase with her. He seemed to like Miss Martha's cheerful words. She couldn’t help thinking about him all the time. How gentle and kindly his eyes shone behind his spectacles! What a broad brow he had! And poor thing, to only live on stale bread!
當(dāng)他來(lái)到店里買(mǎi)面包的時(shí)候，他經(jīng)常會(huì)隔著陳列柜與她閑聊幾句。他似乎很喜歡瑪莎女士令人愉快的談話方式。瑪莎總是會(huì)情不自禁地想到他。他的雙眼透過(guò)眼鏡的鏡片閃爍著的目光，是那么溫柔，那么和善！他的眉毛真寬啊，真可憐，他只能靠吃陳面包度日。
He kept on buying stale bread. Never a cake, never a pie. She thought he began to look thinner and discouraged. Her heart longed to add something good to eat to his meagre purchase, but she knew the pride of artists.
日子一天天過(guò)去，他每次來(lái)到店里仍然只買(mǎi)陳面包，從來(lái)沒(méi)買(mǎi)過(guò)蛋糕或餡餅。瑪莎覺(jué)得他開(kāi)始變得日益消瘦、日益消沉。她內(nèi)心渴望在他每次購(gòu)買(mǎi)陳面包時(shí)，額外給他一些好吃的東西，但她很清楚畫(huà)家驕傲的性格。
One day the customer came in as usual, laid his nickel on the showcase, and called for his stale loaves. While Miss Martha was reaching for them there was a great noise coming from outside. The customer hurried to the door to look what happened, as anyone would have done. Suddenly inspired, Miss Martha seized the opportunity. On the bottom shelf behind the counter was a pound of fresh butter. With a bread knife Miss Martha made a deep slash in each of the stale loaves, inserted a generous quantity of butter, and pressed the loaves tight again.
一天，這位顧客像往常一樣來(lái)到店里，把5美分硬幣放在陳列柜上，照常要買(mǎi)兩個(gè)陳面包。瑪莎正在為他找面包時(shí)，外面?zhèn)鱽?lái)一陣巨響。這位顧客像其他人一樣立刻跑到門(mén)口去看個(gè)究竟。此時(shí)此刻，一個(gè)念頭突然閃現(xiàn)在瑪莎的腦海中，于是她抓住了這次機(jī)會(huì)。柜臺(tái)后面的底架上放有一磅新鮮黃油。瑪莎用面包刀分別在這兩個(gè)陳面包上深深地斜切了一刀，然后在切口內(nèi)加入了好多黃油，最后重新將面包壓緊。
When the customer turned once more she was tying the paper around them. When he left, after an unusually pleasant little chat, Miss Martha smiled to herself, her heart pounding. For a long time that day her mind dwelt on the subject. She imagined the scene when he would discover her little deception.
當(dāng)這位顧客轉(zhuǎn)回身時(shí)，她正在用紙給面包打包。他們像往常一樣閑聊了一會(huì)兒，這次他們聊得比平時(shí)都要開(kāi)心。他離開(kāi)后，瑪莎暗自露出了會(huì)心的微笑，盡管心還在怦怦跳。那天，這件事縈繞在她腦海里很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間。她想象著當(dāng)他發(fā)現(xiàn)她善意的欺騙行為時(shí)的場(chǎng)景。
He would slice into a loaf and-- ah! Miss Martha blushed. Would he think of the hand that placed it there as he ate? Would he --The front door bell jangled viciously. Somebody wanted to come in, making a lot of noise. Miss Martha hurried to the door. Two men were there. One was a young man smoking a pipe -- a man she had never seen before. The other was her artist.
他會(huì)將面包切成一小塊一小塊的——啊，就是這樣的！瑪莎的臉紅了。他吃面包時(shí)會(huì)想到是誰(shuí)的手幫他放的黃油嗎？他真的會(huì)這么想嗎？——前門(mén)鈴聲拼命地響著。這嘈雜的聲音是因?yàn)橛腥艘M(jìn)到店里來(lái)。瑪莎趕緊跑到門(mén)口。店里來(lái)了兩個(gè)男子。其中一個(gè)年紀(jì)不大，嘴里叼著煙斗，她以前從未見(jiàn)過(guò)。另一個(gè)就是她滿腦子想的那位畫(huà)家。
His face was very red, his hat was on the back of his head, his hair was wildly rumpled. "Dummkopf!" he shouted with extreme loudness; and then "Tausendonfer!" or something like it in German. The young man tried to draw him away." I vill not go," he said angrily, "you haf ruined it!" he cried, his blue eyes blazing behind his spectacles. "I vill tell you. You vas von meddingsome old cat!"
他的臉很紅，帽子已經(jīng)戴到了后腦勺，頭發(fā)亂蓬蓬的。“Dummkopf（笨蛋）！”他歇斯底里地喊道。然后，又喊道：“Tausendonfer（簡(jiǎn)直是五雷轟頂）！”——諸如此類(lèi)的德語(yǔ)。那個(gè)年輕人試圖把他拉走。“我不走，”他憤怒地說(shuō)，“是你毀了它！”他嚷道，藍(lán)色的眼睛透過(guò)眼鏡釋放出憤怒的火焰。“我告訴你，你是個(gè)多管閑事的老巫婆！”
Miss Martha leaned weakly against the shelves. The young man took the other by the collar. "Come on," he said, "you've said enough." He dragged the angry customer out at the door to the sidewalk, and then came back. "Guess you ought to be told, ma'am," he said, "what this row is about. That's Blumberger. He's an architectural draftsman. I work in the same office with him.
瑪莎癱靠在貨架上。年輕人抓著畫(huà)家的衣領(lǐng)說(shuō)：“就這樣吧！你說(shuō)得夠多了。”他把這位憤怒的顧客拖到門(mén)外的人行道上，然后又回到了店里。“女士，我覺(jué)得我應(yīng)該讓您知道真相，”他說(shuō)，“關(guān)于為什么會(huì)發(fā)生這次吵鬧。那個(gè)人名叫布隆伯格。他是一名建筑繪圖員。我們?cè)谕粋€(gè)辦公室工作。”
"He's been working hard for three months drawing a plan for a new city hall. It was a prize competition. You know, a draftsman always makes his drawing in pencil first. When it's done he rubs out the pencil lines with handfuls of stale bread crumbs. That's better than India rubber."Blumberger's been buying the bread here. Well, to-day -- well, you know, ma'am, that butter isn't -- well, Blumberger's plan isn't good for anything now…"
“他為繪制新市政廳的平面圖已經(jīng)連續(xù)努力工作三個(gè)月了。這幅圖要參加大獎(jiǎng)評(píng)選。您知道，繪圖員總是先用鉛筆繪圖。圖紙完成后，再用一把陳面包的面包屑擦掉鉛筆線條。這樣做比用彈性橡皮效果好。“布隆伯格一直在這里買(mǎi)面包。呃，今天，呃，您知道，女士，面包里有黃油——布隆伯格的圖紙全毀了......”