双语·返老还童：菲茨杰拉德短篇小说选 钻石山 五
- 英文
- 中文
THE DIAMOND AS BIG AS THE RITZ V
After breakfast, John found his way out the great marble entrance, and looked curiously at the scene before him. The whole valley, from the diamond mountain to the steep granite cliff five miles away, still gave off a breath of golden haze which hovered idly above the fine sweep of lawns and lakes and gardens. Here and there clusters of elms made delicate groves of shade, contrasting strangely with the tough masses of pine forest that held the hills in a grip of dark-blue green. Even as John looked he saw three fawns in single file patter out from one clump about a half-mile away and disappear with awkward gaiety into the black-ribbed half-light of another. John would not have been surprised to see a goat-foot piping his way among the trees or to catch a glimpse of pink nymph-skin and flying yellow hair between the greenest of the green leaves.
In some such cool hope he descended the marble steps, disturbing faintly the sleep of two silky Russian wolfhounds at the bottom, and set off along a walk of white and blue brick that seemed to lead in no particular direction.
He was enjoying himself as much as he was able. It is youth's felicity as well as its insufficiency that it can never live in the present, but must always be measuring up the day against its own radiantly imagined future—flowers and gold, girls and stars, they are only prefigurations and prophecies of that incomparable, unattainable young dream.
John rounded a soft corner where the massed rosebushes filled the air with heavy scent, and struck off across a park toward a patch of moss under some trees. He had never lain upon moss, and he wanted to see whether it was really soft enough to justify the use of its name as an adjective. Then he saw a girl coming toward him over the grass. She was the most beautiful person he had ever seen.
She was dressed in a white little gown that came just below her knees, and a wreath of mignonettes clasped with blue slices of sapphire bound up her hair. Her pink bare feet scattered the dew before them as she came. She was younger than John—not more than sixteen.
“Hello,” she cried softly, “I'm Kismine.”
She was much more than that to John already. He advanced toward her, scarcely moving as he drew near lest he should tread on her bare toes.
“You haven't met me,” said her soft voice. Her blue eyes added, “Oh, but you've missed a great deal!” …“You met my sister, Jasmine, last night. I was sick with lettuce poisoning,” went on her soft voice, and her eye continued, “and when I'm sick I'm sweet—and when I'm well.”
“You have made an enormous impression on me,” said John's eyes, “and I'm not so slow myself”—“How do you do?” said his voice. “I hope you're better this morning.” —“You darling,” added his eyes tremulously.
John observed that they had been walking along the path. On her suggestion they sat down together upon the moss, the softness of which he failed to determine.
He was critical about women. A single defect—a thick ankle, a hoarse voice, a glass eye—was enough to make him utterly indifferent. And here for the first time in his life he was beside a girl who seemed to him the incarnation of physical perfection.
“Are you from the East?” asked Kismine with charming interest.
“No,” answered John simply. “I'm from Hades.”
Either she had never heard of Hades, or she could think of no pleasant comment to make upon it, for she did not discuss it further.
“I'm going East to school this fall,” she said. “D'you think I'll like it? I'm going to New York to Miss Bulge's. It's very strict, but you see over the weekends I'm going to live at home with the family in our New York house, because father heard that the girls had to go walking two by two.”
“Your father wants you to be proud,” observed John.
“We are,” she answered, her eyes shining with dignity. “None of us has ever been punished. Father said we never should be. Once when my sister Jasmine was a little girl she pushed him downstairs and he just got up and limped away.”
“Mother was—well, a little startled,” continued Kismine, “when she heard that you were from—from where you are from, you know. She said that when she was a young girl—but then, you see, she's a Spaniard and old-fashioned.”
“Do you spend much time out here?” asked John, to conceal the fact that he was somewhat hurt by this remark. It seemed an unkind allusion to his provincialism.
“Percy and Jasmine and I are here every summer, but next summer Jasmine is going to Newport. She's coming out in London a year from this fall. She'll be presented at court.”
“Do you know,” began John hesitantly, “you're much more sophisticated than I thought you were when I first saw you?”
“Oh, no, I'm not,” she exclaimed hurriedly. “Oh, I wouldn't think of being. I think that sophisticated young people are terribly common, don't you? I'm not all, really. If you say I am, I'm going to cry.”
She was so distressed that her lip was trembling. John was impelled to protest:
“I didn't mean that; I only said it to tease you.”
“Because I wouldn't mind if I were,” she persisted, “but I'm not. I'm very innocent and girlish. I never smoke, or drink, or read anything except poetry. I know scarcely any mathematics or chemistry. I dress very simply—in fact, I scarcely dress at all. I think sophisticated is the last thing you can say about me. I believe that girls ought to enjoy their youths in a wholesome way.”
“I do, too,” said John, heartily,
Kismine was cheerful again. She smiled at him, and a still-born tear dripped from the comer of one blue eye.
“I like you,” she whispered intimately. “Are you going to spend all your time with Percy while you're here, or will you be nice to me? Just think—I'm absolutely fresh ground. I've never had a boy in love with me in all my life. I've never been allowed even to see boys alone—except Percy. I came all the way out here into this grove hoping to run into you, where the family wouldn't be around.”
Deeply flattered, John bowed from the hips as he had been taught at dancing school in Hades.
“We'd better go now,” said Kismine sweetly. “I have to be with mother at eleven. You haven't asked me to kiss you once. I thought boys always did that nowadays.”
John drew himself up proudly.
“Some of them do,” he answered, “but not me. Girls don't do that sort of thing—in Hades.”
Side by side they walked back toward the house.
钻石山 五
吃过早饭，约翰走出雄伟的大理石大门，好奇地看着眼前的景色。整个山谷，从钻石山到五英里外怪石嶙峋的花岗岩峭壁，依然弥漫着一层淡淡的金色薄雾，悠然自得地飘荡在令人心旷神怡的草地上、湖泊上和花园上。随处点缀着一丛丛榆树，形成一片片优雅的小树林，和那将远山笼罩在墨绿色之中的大片浓密、挺拔的松树林形成了妙不可言的反差。约翰正在欣赏风景，只见三只小鹿，一只接着一只地从半英里外的树林里嗒嗒地跑出来，然后又笨拙而欢快地消失在另一片半明半暗、影影绰绰的树林里。在这片林子里即使看见一只山羊，或者在苍翠欲滴的叶子之间瞥见一个金发飘飘、面如桃花的仙女，约翰也不会觉得奇怪。
约翰一边这样美滋滋地想着，一边走下大理石台阶，稍稍惊扰了睡卧在台阶下面的两只毛皮丝滑的俄国猎狼犬。然后，他沿着一条蓝白相间的砖路向前走，这条路似乎并非特意要伸向哪个方向。
他玩得非常尽兴。这正是年轻的幸福之处，也是它的不足之处。年轻人从不活在当下，而往往一定要拿当下与寄寓着丰富想象的未来过不去——鲜花与金子、姑娘与星辰，这些只是无可比拟、无法企及的年轻梦想的预言和先兆而已。
约翰来到一个舒服的角落，这里有一大片玫瑰，散发着馥郁的芳香。他穿过一个公园，朝几棵树下的一片苔藓走去。他从未在苔藓上躺过，他想看看苔藓是不是真的很柔软，想验证一下人们把它作为形容词来使用是否有道理(7)。然后，他看见一个姑娘穿过草地朝他走来。他从来没有见过如此标致的姑娘。
她穿着洁白及膝的长裙，头上戴着一个木犀草编成的花环，花环上装饰着一片片晶莹的蓝宝石。她那粉红色的脚上露珠点点，这是她刚刚走过草地时沾上的。她比约翰小——最多十六岁。
“你好，”她柔声问候，“我叫吉斯敏。”
对约翰而言，她的意义已经远远超出这个名字本身了。他向她走去。走到她身边的时候，约翰几乎一动都不敢动了，因为他生怕踩到她那光溜溜的脚趾。
“你没见过我。”她轻柔地说。她那蓝汪汪的眼睛补充道：“哦，不过，你错过的真是太多了！”……“昨天晚上，你见过我姐姐佳斯敏。我因为对莴苣过敏，身体不舒服。”她继续轻柔地说。她的眼睛接着说：“我生病时很可爱——不生病时，也一样可爱。”
“你让我心动，”约翰的眼睛说，“我自己可没那么迟钝。”——“你好？”约翰用声音说，“希望你今天早上好多了。”——“我亲爱的。”约翰的眼睛颤抖着继续说。
约翰发现，他们已经沿着小径走起来。在她的提议下，他们一起坐到苔藓上，约翰心旌摇曳，已经无法判断苔藓有多柔软了。
他对女人很挑剔，哪怕有一点不足——脚踝粗啦，嗓子沙哑啦，眼睛无神啦——都足以使他失去兴趣。而此时此刻，他平生第一次和一位姑娘肩并肩坐在一起，而她在他看来简直是完美无瑕的典型化身。
“你来自东部吧？”吉斯敏饶有兴趣地问。
“不，”约翰直截了当地答道，“我来自哈德斯。”
也许是因为她没有听说过哈德斯，也许是因为她不知道如何赞美它，总之，她不再谈论这个问题。
“今年秋天，我要去东部上学。”她说，“你觉得我想去吗？我打算去纽约布尔琪女子学校。这所学校很严格。不过，你知道，我可以回到我们纽约的家，和那里的家人一起度周末。因为父亲听说，女孩走路时得有个人陪着。”
“你父亲希望你成为高贵的姑娘。”约翰说。
“我们的确高贵。”她答道，眼睛里闪着自豪的光芒，“我们没有任何人受过惩罚。父亲说，我们永远不该受到惩罚。我姐姐佳斯敏小时候曾经把他推到楼下，他只是爬起来，一瘸一拐地走开了。”
“当母亲听说你来自——来自你们的那个地方，你知道的。”吉斯敏接着说，“她——呃，有点吃惊。她说她还是个年轻姑娘的时候——不过，你知道，她是西班牙人，跟不上时代了。”
“你要在这儿待很久吗？”约翰问，他想掩饰吉斯敏的话对他的伤害。她的话似乎很不友好，在暗示他没见过世面。
“珀西、佳斯敏和我每年夏天都会来这儿，但是明年夏天佳斯敏要去纽波特。从今年秋天开始，她要去伦敦一年，她要进皇宫呢。”
“你知道吗，”约翰吞吞吐吐地说，“你和我第一眼看到的不一样，你挺老于世故的。”
“哦，不，不是这样的，”她吃了一惊，赶忙说道，“哦，我可不愿意这样。我想，老于世故的年轻人太平淡无奇了，是吗？我真的一点都不老于世故，真的。如果你这么认为，我会哭的。”
她伤心得嘴唇都在颤抖。约翰只得为自己辩解：
“我是开玩笑的，我只想逗逗你。”
“因为如果我真的老于世故，我反倒不介意，”她坚持说，“可我不是这样的。我很单纯，很孩子气。我从来不抽烟，不喝酒，除了诗歌别的书我都不看。我几乎不懂数学和化学。我的穿着很简单——实际上，我几乎不怎么讲究穿着打扮。我想，你说的老于世故根本和我不沾边。我认为，女孩们应该保持身心健康，尽情地享受她们的青春。”
“我也这么认为。”约翰真诚地说。
吉斯敏又快乐起来，她看着他笑了笑，一滴委屈的眼泪从她的眼角滚落下来。
“我喜欢你，”她亲昵地轻声说，“你在这儿的时候，打算一直和珀西在一起吗？或者，你会对我好吗？想想看——我一点恋爱经验都没有。这辈子连一个爱我的男孩都没有。父母甚至不让我单独和男孩子见面——除了珀西。我大老远跑出来，走进这片树林，是希望能碰见你，而且我的家人不会到这个地方来。”
约翰感到受宠若惊，他深深地鞠了一躬，腰弯得太低，屁股都翘起来了。这个动作是他在哈德斯的舞蹈学校里学来的。
“现在，我们该走了，”吉斯敏甜甜地说，“十一点的时候，我必须和母亲在一起。你还没有请求我吻你呢。我还以为，现在的男孩子通常都会这么做呢。”
约翰骄傲地挺直了身体。
“有些男孩子会这么做，”他答道，“不过，我不会。在哈德斯——女孩们不做这种事。”
他们肩并肩地回城堡去了。
