The Last Leaf

                          最后一片叶子

美国著名短篇小说家欧·亨利的“最后一片叶子”结构巧妙、情节动人、语言精练，深刻地表现了人世间的真挚的感情。琼西患肺炎，认为墙上那最后一片叶子掉落之时，就是自己死亡之日。同样患肺炎的贝尔曼在风雨交加的夜晚，在墙上画了一片叶子，这片叶子成了琼西活下来的希望。。。。。。笔者将其重新翻译为汉语，供网友学习参考。

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At the top of a three-story brick house Sue and Johnsy had their studio.

  In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the place（1）. Mr. Pneumonia was not what you would call a chivalric old gentleman. He smote Johnsy; and she lay, scarcely moving, on her painted iron bedstead, looking through the small window-panes at the blank side of the next brick house.

苏和琼西的画室就在一栋三层楼砖房的顶楼上。

   11月，一位冷酷无情、肉眼看不到、医生称它为“肺炎”的怪客，在这个地方悄悄地游来荡去。肺炎先生不是你可能称为有侠客风度的老绅士。他袭击了琼西；她躺在那油漆过的铁床上，一动也不动，望着小玻璃窗外的隔壁砖屋的空墙。

One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway. “She has one chance in ten – let us say,” he said. “And that chance is for her to want to live. Has she anything on her mind?”

“She – she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples some day,” said Sue. “Paint? – bosh! Well, I will do all that science can accomplish.”

一天早晨，那位忙忙碌碌的医生，将苏邀到走廊里。“依我看，她只有十分之一的康复希望，”他说。“这希望就是：她要活下去的决心。她有什么心事吗？” “她 --- 她希望有一天能去画那不勒斯海湾。”苏说。 “画画？--- 胡扯！啊，我会尽科学所能办到的一切为她治病。”

After the doctor had gone Sue went into Johnsy’s room with her drawing board, whistling Jazz. Johnsy lay motionless in bed（2）, with her face toward the window. Sue stopped whistling, thinking she was asleep. Then she heard a low sound, several times repeated. She went quickly to the bedside.

医生走后，苏拿着画板，哼着爵士音乐，走进琼西的房间。琼西躺在床上，纹丝不动，脸朝向窗户。苏以为她睡着了，便停止哼音乐。然后，她听到一个很低的声音，重复了好几次。她迅速地走向床边。

Johnsy’s eyes were open wide. She was looking out the window and counting – counting backward.  “Twelve,” she said, and a little later “eleven”; and then “ten,” and “nine”; and then “eight” and “seven,” almost together.

琼西睁大着双眼。她望着窗外，在数数 --- 从大往小数。“十二，”她说。一会儿后，“十一”， 然后，“十”，“九”；然后，几乎同时数出“八”和“七”。

Sue looked solicitously out the window. What was there to count? There was only a bare, dreary yard to be seen, and the blank side of the brick house twenty feet away. An old, old ivy vine climbed half way up the brick wall. The cold breath of autumn had stricken its leaves from the vine until its skeleton branches clung, almost bare, to the crumbling bricks. 苏关心地望着窗外。那儿有什么可数的呢？那儿只看得见一个空荡荡的阴暗的院子，和二十英尺外的那栋砖屋的空墙。一株很老很老的常春藤爬到空墙的半腰处。萧瑟的秋风几乎吹光了藤叶，剩下的光枝秃条攀附在不断剥落的砖墙上。

“What is it, dear?” asked Sue. “Six,” said Johnsy, in almost a whisper. “They’re falling faster now. Three days ago there were almost a hundred. It made my head ache to count them. But now it’s easy. There goes another one. There are only five left now.”  “Five what, dear? ” asked Sue. “亲爱的，什么呀？”苏问道。“六，”琼西说，几乎是在耳语。“它们现在落得很快了。三天前，差不多有一百片。数起来令我头痛。但是现在容易多了。又掉了一片。现在只剩下五片。”“亲爱的，五片什么呀？”苏问道。

“Leaves. On the ivy vine. When the last one falls I must go, too. Didn’t the doctor tell you?” “Oh, I never heard of such nonsense,” complained Sue.    “叶子。常春藤上的叶子。当最后一片叶子落下时，我也得去了。难道医生没有告诉你？”“啊，我从未听过这样的胡言乱语，”苏抱怨道。

“There goes another.” Said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window. “Just only four. I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark. Then I’ll go, too.” 

   “又掉了一片。”琼西说道，双眼仍凝视着窗外。“仅仅只有四片了。我要在天黑之前，看见最后一片叶子掉下。然后，我也该去了。”

Sue bent over her, saying: “Will you promise me to keep your eyes closed, and not look out the window? I don’t want you to keep looking at those silly ivy leaves.” 苏俯身向她说：“你答应我闭上眼睛，不看窗外好吗？我不想让你一直望着那些无聊的常春藤叶子”

Johnsy closed her eyes, lying white and still as a fallen statue, “I want to see the last one fall. I’m tired of waiting. I’m tired of thinking. I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves.” 琼西闭上双眼，躺在那儿，脸色苍白，一动也不动，像一尊倒下的雕像。“我想看最后一片叶子掉下来。我想得不耐烦了。什么事我都不想管了，只想往下，往下飘，就像那可怜而疲惫的叶子一样。”

  “Try to sleep,” said Sue, “I must call Behrman up to be my model for the old miner. Don’t try to move till I come back.”  Sue pulled the shade down to the window-sill. “快睡吧，”苏说，“我得下楼去叫贝尔曼上来，给我当那个老矿工模特儿。我回来之前，不要动。”苏放下窗帘。

Old Behrman, over sixty, was a painter who lived on the ground floor beneath them. He was a failure in art. Sue found Behrman and told him of Johnsy’s fancy, and she feared she would, indeed, light and fragile as leaf herself, float away when her slight hold upon the world grew weaker. 老贝尔曼年过六旬，是一个画家，就住在她们楼下的一楼里。在画画方面，他是一个失败者。苏找到贝尔曼，把琼西的荒唐想法告诉了他，还说她怕瘦弱得叶子一样的琼西，在对这个人世间越来越不留连之际，会真的飘走了。

“Vass!” he cried. “Is there people in the world with the foolishness to die because leaves drop off from a confounded vine? Why do you allow that silly business to come into her brain? Ah, that poor little Miss Johnsy.” “She is very ill and weak,” said Sue, “ and the fever has left her mind morbid and full of strange fancies.”  “God! This is not any place in which one so good as Miss Johnsy shall lie sick. Some day I will paint a masterpiece.” “什么！”他吼道。“世界上会有人为那可恶的常春藤落叶而想去死？为什么你让她有那些糊涂的想法呢？啊，可怜的琼西小姐。”“她病重体弱，”苏说，“高烧使她昏昏沉沉，满脑袋离奇古怪的想法。”“老天啊！像琼西这么好的姑娘，真不该躺在这种地方生病。有朝一日，我要画一幅上乘佳作。”

   When Sue awoke the next morning she found Johnsy with dull, wide-open eyes staring at he drawn green shade. “Pull it up; I want to see,” she ordered, in a whisper. Wearily Sue obeyed. 第二天早上，苏醒来后，发现琼西无神的双眼睁得大大的，瞪着拉下的绿色窗帘。“把窗帘拉起来；我要看外面。”她耳语般地命令道。苏无奈地照办。

But, lo! After the beating rain and fierce gusts of wind that had endured through the livelong night, there yet stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf（3）. It was the last on the vine. It hung bravely from a branch some twenty feet above the ground. 然而，看呀！经过漫长一夜的风吹雨打，在砖墙上悬着一片常春藤叶子。这是藤上的最后一片叶子了。它无畏地挂在离地面大约20英尺高的一根藤枝上。

“It is the last one,” said Johnsy. “I thought it would surely fall during the night. I heard the wind. It will fall today, and I shall die at he same time.” “这是最后一片了，”琼西说，“我以为昨晚它一定会落掉的。我听见了风声。今天它会掉落，我也会同时死去。”

The lonesomest thing in all the world is a soul when it is making ready to go on its mysterious, far journey. The day wore away, and even through the twilight they could see the lone ivy leaf clinging to its stem against the wall. And then, with the coming of the night the north wind was again loosed, while the rain still beat against the windows and pattered down from the low eaves. 在这个人世间，最孤独的事就是一个人准备踏上神秘而遥远的最后旅程。白昼过去了，她们透过暮色，甚至还能看到紧紧攀附在墙上那枝条上的那片孤零零的常春藤叶子。后来，夜幕降临，刮起了北风。雨点还敲打着窗户，雨水从低矮的屋檐上流下来。

When it was light enough Johnsy mercilessly commanded that the shade be raised. The ivy leaf was still there. Johnsy lay for a long time looking at it. And then she called to Sue, “I’ve been a bad girl, Sudie. Something has made that last leas stay there to show me how wicked I was. It is a sin to want to die. You may bring me a little broth now, and bring me a hand-mirror , and then pack some pillows about me, and I will sit up and watch you cook. Sudie, some day I hope to paint the Bay of Naples.” 天刚亮，琼西毫不留情地命令把窗帘拉起来。那片常春藤叶子还在那儿。琼西躺着凝望了好一会儿。然后，她叫苏：“我一向是个坏女孩。某种不可思议的事物让那片叶子留在那儿，使我认识到：我有多坏。想死是一种罪过。现在，你可以端点汤给我喝，并且给我一面小镜子，然后，再用枕头把我垫高，我要坐起来，看你作饭。苏，我希望有一天能去画那不勒斯海弯。”

The next day the doctor came and said to Sue: “She’s out of danger. Nutrition and care now – that’s all.”     第二天，医生来了，对苏说：“她脱险了。你成功了。现在需要营养和护理 --- 就这些。”

And that afternoon Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay and said “I have something to tell you. Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia today in the hospital. The janitor found him on the morning in his room downstairs helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold. They found a lantern, still lighted, and a ladder and some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it, and – look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn’t you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it’s Behrman’s masterpiece – he painted it there the night that last leaf fell. 当天下午，苏走到琼西的床边，说：“我有事要告诉你。贝尔曼先生今天在医院里因肺炎去世。管理人员发现他在楼下自己的房间里痛苦无援。他的鞋子和衣服全都湿透了，冷冰冰的。他们找到一个还没有熄灭的提灯，一把梯子，一些画笔东一支西一支地丢在地上，还有一个调色板，上面涂抹着绿色和黄色颜料，--- 亲爱的，看看窗外，看看墙上那最后一片常春藤叶子。难道你没有想过，为什么刮风时，它从不晃动？啊，亲爱的，那是贝尔曼的杰作 ---  就在最后一片叶子掉落的晚上，他把它画在那儿。”

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Notes: 

(1)     …a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked…

句中的whom 是关系代词，引导一个非限定性从句，修饰前面的a cold, unseen stranger。

同时，这个关系代词在定语从句中作位于动词的宾语；而Pneumonia是宾语补足语。

(2)     Johnsy lay motionless in bed…

句中的形容词motionless可以被看成表语；而不及物动词lay则可被看成半联系动词。

(3)     …there yet stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf.

这是一个倒装句。主语是one ivy leaf；谓语是there…stood 。这个there stood是 there + be的变体。其他的例子如：Long, long ago, there lived an old man who had three daughters.（很久很久以前，有一位老人，他有三个女儿。）