珍珠
Kino, a poor fisherman, has just found a very large and valuable pearl and is going to the nearest town to sell it. He needs money urgently to get medical help for his baby who has just been stung by a scorpion. Before Kino found the pearl, the only doctor available had refused to treat the baby because Kino could not afford to pay for the treatment.
奇諾是個窮漁夫，他剛發現一顆價值連城，碩大無比的珍珠。他準備在最近的的小鎮上賣個好價錢。他的孩子在幾天前被蠍子叮咬傷了，他急需錢去醫治孩子。在發現珍珠前，鎮上唯一能治病的醫生因為奇諾付不起醫療費而拒絕治療。
A town is a thing like a colonial animal．A town has a nervous system and a head and shoulders and feet. A town is a thing separate from all other towns, so that there are no two towns alike. And a town has a whole emotion. How news travels through a town is a mystery not easily to be solved. News seems to move faster than small boys can scramble and dart to tell it, faster than women can call it over the fences.
一個鎮就像群居的動物，它有神經系統、頭、肩膀、腳。每個鎮都是區別其他鎮而獨立存在的，因此並沒有兩個一模一樣的鎮。每個鎮也是充滿著喜怒哀樂的。很難知道消息是怎樣在鎮裏散佈開來。消息常常比奔走相告的小孩要快，比隔著柵欄七嘴八舌的婦女要快。
Before Kino and Juana and the other fishers had come to Kino’s brush house, the nerves of the town were pulsing and vibrating with the news—Kino had found the Pearl of the World．Before panting little boys could strangle out the words, their mothers knew it. The news swept on past the brush houses, and it washed in a foaming wave into the town of stone and plaster．It came to the priest walking in his garden, and it put a thoughtful look in his eyes and a memory of certain repairs necessary to the church. He wondered what the pearl would be worth. And he wondered whether he had baptized Kino’s baby, or married him for that matter．The news came to the shopkeepers and they looked at men’s clothes that had not sold so well.
在奇諾、喬安娜和其他漁夫回到奇諾的茅草屋前，奇諾發現了稀世珍珠的消息已在鎮上迅猛傳播開來。在男孩上氣不接下氣地擠出幾個字前，母親已經知道消息了。消息如同海潮般沖過茅草屋，泛著泡沫沖進鎮上的豪宅。消息傳到在花園裏散步的牧師，他富有深意的想著是時候修葺教堂了。他盤算著珍珠到底值多少錢。他在回憶到底給奇諾的孩子洗禮過還是為他主持過婚禮。消息傳到服裝店老板那兒，他充滿希望的望著那沒賣出去的男裝。
The news came to the doctor where he sat with a woman whose illness was age, though neither she nor the doctor would admit it. And when it was made plain who Kino was, the doctor grew stern and judicious at the same time. “He is a client of mine,” the doctor said. “I am treating his child for a scorpion sting.” And the doctor’s eyes rolled up a little in their fat hammocks and he thought of Paris. He remembered the room he had lived in there as a great and luxurious place. The doctor looked past his aged patient and saw himself sitting in a restaurant in Paris and a waiter was just opening a bottle of wine.
消息傳到了醫生那兒，他正為一位因衰老而一籌莫展的老婦人看病。但彼此都為這病不以為然。當弄清奇諾是何許人也時，醫生堅定而明智的說：“他是我的病人。我正在為他的孩子治療蠍子叮傷。”醫生翻滾著他那肥頭大耳般的眼睛，然後思緒飄飛到遙遠的巴黎去了。他記得他住在一個寬敞且豪華的房間裏。他的目光掠過老婦人看到自己正坐在巴黎的一家飯店內，一位侍者正為他開酒。
The news came early to the beggars in front of the church, and it made them giggle a little with pleasure, for they knew that there is no alms-giver in the world like a poor man who is suddenly lucky.
消息也早早的傳到了教堂前的乞討者那兒了，他們開心的咯咯笑著。他們知道暴富的窮人是天底下最大方的施舍者。
Kino has found the Pearl of the World. In the town, in little offices, sat the men who bought pearls from the fishers. They waited in their chairs until the pearls came in, and then they cackled and fought and shouted and threatened until they reached the lowest price the fisherman would stand. But there was a price below which they dared not go, for it had happened that a fisherman in despair had given his pearls to the church. And when the buying was over, these buyers sat alone and their fingers played restlessly with the pearls, and they wished they owned the pearls. For there were not many buyers really—there was only one, and he kept these agents in separate offices to give a semblance of competition. The news came to these men, and their eyes squinted and their finger-tips burned a little, and each one thought how the patron could not live forever and someone had to take his place. And each one thought how with some capital he could get a new start
奇諾發現了稀世珍珠啊！在小鎮辦公室裏，坐著專門從漁夫手中購買珍珠的人。他們坐在凳子上等待著珍珠送上門來。他們用威逼利誘的方法將價格壓到漁夫能承受的最低價。但是他們不敢再壓低這價格了，因為曾有漁夫就在絕望之下將珍珠捐給了教堂。當買賣結束後，買家們獨自坐著，手來回的擺弄著珍珠，他們多麼希望自己擁有這珍珠啊！因為實際上這兒並沒有很多買家，買家只有一個，他讓這些代理人分散在不同辦公室以給漁夫最低價錢。消息傳到他們這兒，他們斜視著并手不停的擺弄著。每個人都希望老闆早點死去，他們就有機會頂替他的位置。每個人也都在想他們有多少資本才能有一個開始。
All manner of people grew interested in Kino—people with things to sell and people with favors to ask. Kino had found the Pearl of the World. The essence of pearl mixed with essence of men and a curious dark residue was precipitated．Every man suddenly became related to Kino’s pearl, and Kino’s pearl went into the dreams, the speculations, the schemes, the plans, the futures, the wishes, the needs, the lusts, the hungers, of everyone, and only one person stood in the way and that was Kino, so that he became curiously every man’s enemy. The news stirred up something infinitely black and evil in the town; the black distillate was like the scorpion, or like hunger in the smell of food, or like loneliness when love is withheld. The poison sacs of the town began to manufacture venom, and the town swelled and puffed with the pressure of it.
所有人對奇諾都充滿了好奇——兜售商品的人，乞求恩惠的人。奇諾發現了稀世珍珠啊！珍珠的本質與人的本質混合在一起沉澱出詭異的黑色殘留物。每個人都與奇諾的珍珠有了聯繫，奇諾的珍珠也成為了他們的夢中情人。人們都各懷鬼胎，唯獨奇諾成為格格不入的人，進而變成了他們的公敵。消息挑撥了小鎮的罪惡，黑色殘留物就像蠍之毒，或美食勾起的食欲，或得不到回報的愛。毒在鎮上慢慢蔓延開來，而整個鎮沉浸于其中。
By John Steinbeck (an exerpt)
奇諾是個窮漁夫，他剛發現一顆價值連城，碩大無比的珍珠。他準備在最近的的小鎮上賣個好價錢。他的孩子在幾天前被蠍子叮咬傷了，他急需錢去醫治孩子。在發現珍珠前，鎮上唯一能治病的醫生因為奇諾付不起醫療費而拒絕治療。
A town is a thing like a colonial animal．A town has a nervous system and a head and shoulders and feet. A town is a thing separate from all other towns, so that there are no two towns alike. And a town has a whole emotion. How news travels through a town is a mystery not easily to be solved. News seems to move faster than small boys can scramble and dart to tell it, faster than women can call it over the fences.
一個鎮就像群居的動物，它有神經系統、頭、肩膀、腳。每個鎮都是區別其他鎮而獨立存在的，因此並沒有兩個一模一樣的鎮。每個鎮也是充滿著喜怒哀樂的。很難知道消息是怎樣在鎮裏散佈開來。消息常常比奔走相告的小孩要快，比隔著柵欄七嘴八舌的婦女要快。
Before Kino and Juana and the other fishers had come to Kino’s brush house, the nerves of the town were pulsing and vibrating with the news—Kino had found the Pearl of the World．Before panting little boys could strangle out the words, their mothers knew it. The news swept on past the brush houses, and it washed in a foaming wave into the town of stone and plaster．It came to the priest walking in his garden, and it put a thoughtful look in his eyes and a memory of certain repairs necessary to the church. He wondered what the pearl would be worth. And he wondered whether he had baptized Kino’s baby, or married him for that matter．The news came to the shopkeepers and they looked at men’s clothes that had not sold so well.
在奇諾、喬安娜和其他漁夫回到奇諾的茅草屋前，奇諾發現了稀世珍珠的消息已在鎮上迅猛傳播開來。在男孩上氣不接下氣地擠出幾個字前，母親已經知道消息了。消息如同海潮般沖過茅草屋，泛著泡沫沖進鎮上的豪宅。消息傳到在花園裏散步的牧師，他富有深意的想著是時候修葺教堂了。他盤算著珍珠到底值多少錢。他在回憶到底給奇諾的孩子洗禮過還是為他主持過婚禮。消息傳到服裝店老板那兒，他充滿希望的望著那沒賣出去的男裝。
The news came to the doctor where he sat with a woman whose illness was age, though neither she nor the doctor would admit it. And when it was made plain who Kino was, the doctor grew stern and judicious at the same time. “He is a client of mine,” the doctor said. “I am treating his child for a scorpion sting.” And the doctor’s eyes rolled up a little in their fat hammocks and he thought of Paris. He remembered the room he had lived in there as a great and luxurious place. The doctor looked past his aged patient and saw himself sitting in a restaurant in Paris and a waiter was just opening a bottle of wine.
消息傳到了醫生那兒，他正為一位因衰老而一籌莫展的老婦人看病。但彼此都為這病不以為然。當弄清奇諾是何許人也時，醫生堅定而明智的說：“他是我的病人。我正在為他的孩子治療蠍子叮傷。”醫生翻滾著他那肥頭大耳般的眼睛，然後思緒飄飛到遙遠的巴黎去了。他記得他住在一個寬敞且豪華的房間裏。他的目光掠過老婦人看到自己正坐在巴黎的一家飯店內，一位侍者正為他開酒。
The news came early to the beggars in front of the church, and it made them giggle a little with pleasure, for they knew that there is no alms-giver in the world like a poor man who is suddenly lucky.
消息也早早的傳到了教堂前的乞討者那兒了，他們開心的咯咯笑著。他們知道暴富的窮人是天底下最大方的施舍者。
Kino has found the Pearl of the World. In the town, in little offices, sat the men who bought pearls from the fishers. They waited in their chairs until the pearls came in, and then they cackled and fought and shouted and threatened until they reached the lowest price the fisherman would stand. But there was a price below which they dared not go, for it had happened that a fisherman in despair had given his pearls to the church. And when the buying was over, these buyers sat alone and their fingers played restlessly with the pearls, and they wished they owned the pearls. For there were not many buyers really—there was only one, and he kept these agents in separate offices to give a semblance of competition. The news came to these men, and their eyes squinted and their finger-tips burned a little, and each one thought how the patron could not live forever and someone had to take his place. And each one thought how with some capital he could get a new start
奇諾發現了稀世珍珠啊！在小鎮辦公室裏，坐著專門從漁夫手中購買珍珠的人。他們坐在凳子上等待著珍珠送上門來。他們用威逼利誘的方法將價格壓到漁夫能承受的最低價。但是他們不敢再壓低這價格了，因為曾有漁夫就在絕望之下將珍珠捐給了教堂。當買賣結束後，買家們獨自坐著，手來回的擺弄著珍珠，他們多麼希望自己擁有這珍珠啊！因為實際上這兒並沒有很多買家，買家只有一個，他讓這些代理人分散在不同辦公室以給漁夫最低價錢。消息傳到他們這兒，他們斜視著并手不停的擺弄著。每個人都希望老闆早點死去，他們就有機會頂替他的位置。每個人也都在想他們有多少資本才能有一個開始。
All manner of people grew interested in Kino—people with things to sell and people with favors to ask. Kino had found the Pearl of the World. The essence of pearl mixed with essence of men and a curious dark residue was precipitated．Every man suddenly became related to Kino’s pearl, and Kino’s pearl went into the dreams, the speculations, the schemes, the plans, the futures, the wishes, the needs, the lusts, the hungers, of everyone, and only one person stood in the way and that was Kino, so that he became curiously every man’s enemy. The news stirred up something infinitely black and evil in the town; the black distillate was like the scorpion, or like hunger in the smell of food, or like loneliness when love is withheld. The poison sacs of the town began to manufacture venom, and the town swelled and puffed with the pressure of it.
所有人對奇諾都充滿了好奇——兜售商品的人，乞求恩惠的人。奇諾發現了稀世珍珠啊！珍珠的本質與人的本質混合在一起沉澱出詭異的黑色殘留物。每個人都與奇諾的珍珠有了聯繫，奇諾的珍珠也成為了他們的夢中情人。人們都各懷鬼胎，唯獨奇諾成為格格不入的人，進而變成了他們的公敵。消息挑撥了小鎮的罪惡，黑色殘留物就像蠍之毒，或美食勾起的食欲，或得不到回報的愛。毒在鎮上慢慢蔓延開來，而整個鎮沉浸于其中。
By John Steinbeck (an exerpt)
