評論
打印
The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen
視若無睹
Graham Greene
格雷厄姆·格林
There were eight Japanese gentlemen having a fish dinner at Bentley's. They spoke to each other rarely in their incomprehensible tongue, but always with a courteous smile and often with a small bow. All but one of them wore glasses. Sometimes the pretty girl who sat in the window beyond gave them a passing glance, but her own problem seemed too serious for her to pay real attention to anyone in the world except herself and her companion.
本特利餐廳里八個日本男人正在享用他們的魚。他們偶爾用一種難以理解的語言相互交談；但他們一直謙恭有禮，面帶微笑，還時不時地微微鞠躬。他們中只有一人沒戴眼鏡。離他們不遠處，靠窗坐著位漂亮女孩，她朝他們看了一眼；但她似乎已有更重要的事，而沒有心思去理會除自己和同伴以外的人。
She had thin blonde hair and her face was pretty and petite in a Regency way, oval like a miniature, though she had a harsh way of speaking—perhaps the accent of the school, Roedean or Cheltenham Ladies' College, which she had not long ago left. She wore a man's signet-ring on her engagement finger, and as I sat down at my table, with the Japanese gentlemen between us, she said, "So you see we could marry next week."
女孩有著一頭金黃的秀發，不是很濃密；瓜子臉精致小巧，漂亮可人，渾然一幀袖珍肖像。不過她說起話來卻粗聲粗氣，這可能是在學校時養成的腔調——也許她不久前剛從羅丁或切爾滕納姆女子學院畢業。她的中指上戴著一枚男式圖案戒指。我在自己的桌子旁坐了下來，中間隔著那八個日本男人。這時只聽她說道：“那下個星期我們就要結婚了。”
Yes?
“啊？”
Her companion appeared a little distraught. He refilled their glasses with Chablis and said, "Of course, but Mother..." I missed some of the conversation then, because the eldest Japanese gentleman leant across the table, with a smile and a little bow, and uttered a whole paragraph like the mutter from an aviary, while everyone bent towards him and smiled and listened, and I couldn't help attending to him myself.
她的同伴看著顯得有些心神恍惚。他又把酒杯倒滿了沙布利酒，說：“當然了，只是媽媽她……”后面的談話我沒有聽清楚。那個最年長的日本男人向前探了探身子，面帶笑意，微微鞠了一躬，說了一大段話，聲音很小，就像鳥舍傳來的鳥的低鳴聲。其他幾個日本人都探著身子迎向他，面帶笑容傾聽著。于是我也不由主地傾聽起來。
The girl's fiance resembled her physically. I could see them as two miniatures hanging side by side on white wood panels.
女孩和她的未婚夫很有夫妻相。我可以想象他倆就像兩幅微型畫似的并排掛在白木壁板上。
