1. "Do you really want it? Don't you think it's a bit, well, corny?", said her friend Norah. Dorothy walked around the gnome, admiring the red and white toadstool on which he sat and the mischievous expression on his face. "Yes," she said at last. "Yes, I really want him. Ted, when he was alive, never liked ornamental things in the garden, but now there's only myself to please.” After they bought the gnome and put it in Dorothy‘s garden, Norah went home. Dorothy was standing in the garden, admiring her new treasure.
“你真的想要這東西嗎？難道你不覺得它有點……呃……奇怪嗎？”她的朋友諾拉問道。多蘿西繞著這個花園精靈雕像走來走去，贊賞著它的紅白相間的蘑菇底座，以及它臉上淘氣的表情。“是的，”她說道。“是的，我真的很想要。特德活著的時候，從來不喜歡在花園里放任何裝飾物，但現在我只需要照顧自己的喜好。”于是，她們買下了這個花園精靈雕塑，把它放在多蘿西的花園里，然后諾拉回家了。多蘿西站在花園里，再一次贊賞著她的這個新寶貝。
2. "He sure looks cute, Mrs. Graham." Dorothy gave a start and turned around. It was only Norman, the mailman, standing there with his empty bag, but she felt her cheeks flush. "That's just what I thought," said Dorothy gratefully. “The spot seems made for him." Strangely enough, the gnome was gone the very next morning. Dorothy’s anger about it was mixed with other feelings. She was a little bit afraid, she realized. She looked up and down the empty street, but no curtain moved. Most of the people were at work. She went inside, wondering what could have happened. “
它看起來很可愛，格雷厄姆太太。”多蘿西被嚇了一跳，轉過身來發現郵遞員諾曼背著空背包正站在那里。她感覺自己的臉頰有些發紅。“我覺得也是，”多蘿西說，話音里流露著感激，“這個地方似乎就是為它準備的。” 第二天早上，奇怪的事情發生了——花園精靈不見了。多蘿西對這事的憤怒與其他情感交織在一起。她意識到，自己有點害怕。她來回看著空蕩蕩的街道，卻并沒有拉開窗簾。大部分人都在忙于工作。她卻走上大街，疑惑著昨晚到底發生了什么。
3. Her days without the gnome passed, and the first thing she'd do each day was to pull back the living-room curtains, half-expecting to see him back there. Darn it, she missed him, just as if he'd been a person. She'd shrug it off and after breakfast get out her gardening gloves and tools and busy herself with the weeding.
在失去花園精靈的日子里，她每天要做的第一件事就是拉回客廳的窗簾，半信半疑地期待著能夠看到它回來。該死，她開始想念它了，就好像“它”真的是一個人。她本應對此不屑一顧，然后在早餐后拿出園藝手套和工具，去忙著除草。
4. The first postcard arrived the following Wednesday. It had a photograph of the Rockies. It was postmarked Calgary, and the message, in a neat, round, almost childish hand, said, "Dear Dorothy, Having a great time. Saw a rodeo yesterday. Wild! Love, Mr. Gnome." She sat down on the chair in the hallway. Her heart was racing. A trick. It had to be a trick. Two days later there was another postcard in the box, this time from Vancouver. She didn't even bother looking at the picture. "Dearest Dorothy," said the message. "What a wonderful city! You really should see it. Just spectacular! See you soon, Mr. Gnome." The handwriting was the same. Angrily she tore it into pieces until her fingers hurt trying to reduce it to smaller and smaller scraps. She took them into the living room, put them in the fireplace and, lighting a match, watched the blue flame dance until the little heap was reduced to ashes.
接下來那個星期的星期三，她收到了第一張明信片。上面是一張落基山脈的照片。明信片上的郵戳是卡爾加里的，而且明信片上用工整、圓潤、幾乎像孩子般的字跡寫著：“親愛的多蘿西，祝您生活愉快！昨天看了一場牛仔競技表演。太奔放了！愛您的花園精靈先生。”她在走廊的椅子上坐了下來，心臟飛快地跳動著。這是一個惡作劇。這肯定是一個惡作劇。兩天后，信箱里又來了一張明信片，這次是從溫哥華寄來的。她甚至都沒看上面的照片，就開始急切地讀起了上面的文字： “親愛的多蘿西，這是一座多么美好的城市啊！你真的應該來看看。簡直引人入勝！希望盡快見到您，花園精靈先生。”字跡跟上次的一樣。一氣之下，她把明信片撕得粉碎，甚至因為試圖把它撕得更碎些而傷到了自己的手指。她把撕碎的明信片帶到了客廳，仍進了壁爐里，點燃了一根火柴，看著藍色的火焰翩翩起舞，直到那堆碎片化為灰燼。
5. That night Dorothy had a strange, mixed-up dream in which she looked outside and the gnome had come back. Only when she looked again it wasn't the gnome at all, but Ted who was sitting in the middle of the rockery in his pyjamas. "Come on inside, Ted. You'll catch your death," she called. "I can't, Dorothy," he replied. "I'm too ill. Help me, please!" Then he got smaller and smaller, and his voice became squeaky until she could no longer hear or see him.
那天晚上多蘿西做了一個非常奇怪而又混亂的夢。在夢中，她看向窗外，發現花園精靈回來了。只是，當她再次看過去時，發現那根本不是花園精靈，而是穿著睡衣坐在假山中間的特德。“回屋來吧，特德。不然，你會得重病而死的，”她喊道。“不行啊，多蘿西，”他回答說。“我病得太重了。快幫幫我吧，求你了！”然后，他變得越來越小，他的聲音也變成咯吱咯吱的，最后他的聲音和形象全都消失了。

6. Norman looked shamefaced when he brought another the postcard next day. "I've read it. I suppose I shouldn't have. But you mustn't get upset," he said handing it to her. "Would you like me to stay while you read it?" She shook her head. "I'll be okay. Thanks, Norman," she said, and took the card with her other mail into the kitchen. She sat down dully at the table and studied the picture of Sydney harbour for several moments before turning the card over. "Dorothy. Doc says operation my only hope. Pray for me. Feel so bad." The writing trailed off and this time there was no signature. She felt her eyes stinging. She took off her glasses, and put her head down on her arms. "Oh, please," she sobbed. "Leave me alone. Whoever you are."
第二天，諾曼又送來了一張明信片。此時的諾曼看起來非常害羞。“我看過這張明信片上的文字了。我想我不應該這樣做。但您一定不要生氣，”他邊說邊把明信片交給了她。“您是否允許我在您看它的時候暫時留下？”她搖了搖頭。“我不會有事的。謝謝你，諾曼，”她說，然后把這張明信片與其他郵件一起帶進了廚房。她沒精打采地在桌子旁坐下，盯著悉尼港的照片端詳了好一會兒后，才翻到明信片背面——“多蘿西，醫生說手術是我的唯一希望。請為我禱告。感覺很糟糕。”后面的字跡有些模糊不清，而且這次沒有留下簽名。她感到雙眼一陣刺痛。她摘下眼鏡，用雙臂抱住頭。“哦，拜托，”她抽泣著說，“請放過我吧！不管你是誰。”
7. That night, after she went to bed, it seemed as if she hadn't been asleep more than a few minutes when the phone rang. The red glow of the clock radio told her it was 5: 14 a.m. Dorothy grabbed her robe from the foot of the bed and, bumping her shoulder on the door, stumbled down the hallway to the phone table. "Yes, hello," she said. "Is that Mrs. Dorothy Graham?" It was a male voice, official sounding and faintly bored. "Yes, who's calling?" "This is CNCP Telecommunications. We have a telegram for you. Shall I read it to you?" “Yes, yes. But just a minute please while I turn the light on. I’ll get a pen.”
那天晚上，她上床睡覺后，似乎也就是她剛剛入睡幾分鐘后，電話鈴響了。收音機鬧鐘上泛著紅光的數字顯示此時的時間是早晨5點14分。多蘿西從床腳板上抓起睡袍，用一只肩膀撞開房門，跌跌撞撞地沿著走廊走到電話桌旁。“喂，您好，”她說。“您是多蘿西·格雷厄姆太太嗎？”電話那邊是一個男人的聲音。這聲音聽起來比較正式且稍稍有些無趣。“是的，您是哪位？”“這里是CNCP通訊公司。我們這里有一封您的電報。我能把它讀給您聽嗎？”“當然可以，當然可以。但您得稍等片刻，我先去把燈打開，順便拿支筆。”
8. It was unlike Dorothy not to be home at breakfast. Norah let the phone ring a few more times then put down the receiver. Perhaps Dorothy had taken ill. Norah went out to the garage to get her car, and go to see Dorothy. She passed the ambulance as it pulled out of Dorothy's street. It didn't seem to be rushing, and there was no siren. Probably dropping someone off, coming home from hospital, Norah thought.
早餐時間多蘿西不可能不在家。諾拉讓電話鈴響了很多聲才放下聽筒。也許多蘿西生病了。諾拉出門走到車庫，上了車，然后開車去看望多蘿西。一輛救護車從多蘿西家所在的街道駛出，從諾拉的身邊駛過。它似乎不太匆忙，也沒有開警笛。諾拉想：可能是從醫院送某人回家。
9. As she walked up the path she was surprised to see a young man in a mailman's uniform sitting on the steps with his head in his hands. "Where's Mrs. Graham?" she asked. He looked up startled. "They just took her away. Are you Mrs. Graham's friend?" Norah nodded. "She told me about you," he said. "I'm Norman." "Well, where on earth did they take her?" she said sharply. “What's the matter?" "It's terrible really," he said, almost as if he hadn't heard her. "I found her, see. Well, like, I looked in the window and I could see her lying there on the living-room floor, right in front of the big window. She wasn't moving, eh? So, well, went round the back and smashed open the window. She just looked sort of blue. I tried everything, but it wasn't no good. So I called the ambulance. She was gone."
當她走到多蘿西家門前的小路時，她驚訝地看到一個穿著郵遞員制服的年輕人坐在臺階上，雙手抱頭。“格雷厄姆太太在哪？”她問。他抬起頭來，被嚇了一跳。“他們剛剛把她帶走了。您是格雷厄姆太太的朋友嗎？”諾拉點點頭。“她跟我提起過您，”他說，“我是諾曼。”“嗯，他們到底把她帶去哪兒了？”她急切地問，“究竟怎么回事？”“真的很可怕，”他說，仿佛完全沒有聽到她在說什么。“是我發現的，嗯，我從窗口看進去，看到她躺在客廳的地板上，就在大窗前。她一動不動，呃？于是，嗯，我繞到后面，砸碎了窗戶。她只是看起來氣色不太好。我做了我能做的一切，但無濟于事。我就打電話叫來了救護車。但她已經死了。”
10. Norah steadied herself against the wall. "Gone”? She felt nauseous with the thought of it. "Look Norman," said Norah, making up her mind. "This is all pretty fishy. I think we should call the police. How do we know something didn't happen here last night? You carry on with your route, but I'll stay here and call the police.” Norman agreed, and off he went.
諾拉的身體倚在墻上。“死了”？想到這里，她感到有些惡心。“聽著，諾曼，”諾拉堅定地說， “這一切都很可疑。我覺得我們應該報警。我們怎么知道昨天晚上這里發生了什么？你繼續送你的郵件，我會留下來打電話報警。”諾曼同意了，隨即離開了。
11. Norah went into the hall of Dorothy’s house to phone the police. As she dialled her eye caught a message scribbled on the pad by the phone. "The gnome died today," it said. She put the receiver back. Her heart was pounding. She looked at the postcard next to the phone. "Beautiful spot," she read. Something tickled at the back of her brain. Two things trying to come together. She looked at the card again, at the round, childish handwriting.She got up and went to the front window. Norman, his bag slung over his shoulder, was walking down the street. She could hear him whistling. The tiny hairs on the back of her hands tingled. She knew someone was watching her. She didn't know how it was that she hadn't noticed before: the gnome was back in his old place. His smile had the same insolence she had noticed when she had first seen him.
諾拉走進多蘿西家的大廳，準備給警察打電話。撥打號碼時，她看到了電話機旁便箋薄上的一行潦草的字——“今天，花園精靈死了”。她放回了電話聽筒。她的心砰砰直跳。她看著電話機旁的明信片。“美麗的地方，”她讀道。她感到腦后發癢。兩件事情正試圖建立某種聯系。她再一次看了看那張明信片，注意到上面圓潤、孩子般的字跡。她起身走向前窗。諾曼正斜挎著背包順街而行。她能聽到他的口哨聲。她感到手背上汗毛發出陣陣刺痛。她知道有人正注視著她。但她搞不懂自己之前怎么會沒注意到——花園精靈已經回到了它原來的地方。它的臉上依舊掛著她第一次看到它時那小小傲慢的笑容。