《亚瑟·萨维尔勋爵的罪行》 节选翻译

王尔德的短篇小说。

亚瑟勋爵在温德米尔夫人宴会上，遇到了手相师。温德米尔夫人很看重手相师，让他给每个人都看手相，自己也对手相师说的话深信不疑。手相师预言亚瑟勋爵身上会有命案，于是亚瑟勋爵推迟婚礼，希望实施犯罪之后再和未婚妻结婚，他相信只有这样他们将来才会幸福，他也认为他这么做是为了爱人，是一种牺牲。他尝试了两次谋杀，均失败了。最后无意中遇到手相师，推他下河把他淹死了。使命完成了，亚瑟勋爵结婚了，婚后生活美满。温德米尔夫人知道亚瑟勋爵居然真的相信手相师的预言，惊讶不已。

亚瑟勋爵的未婚妻叫Sybil。在翻译的时候才得知Sybil源自希腊语，寓意女预言家，女巫。

英译中节选

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

by Oscar Wilde

第一段：亚瑟勋爵听到手相师的预言之后的内心活动和行为。

Where he went he hardly knew. He had a dim memory of wandering through a labyrinth of sordid houses, of being lost in a giant web of sombre streets, and it was bright dawn when he found himself at last in Piccadilly Circus. As he strolled home towards Belgrave Square, he met the great waggons on their way to Covent Garden. The white-smocked carters, with their pleasant sunburnt faces and coarse curly hair, strode sturdily on, cracking their whips, and calling out now and then to each other; on the back of a huge grey horse, the leader of a jangling team, sat a chubby boy, with a bunch of primroses in his battered hat, keeping tight hold of the mane with his little hands, and laughing; and the great piles of vegetables looked like masses of jade against the morning sky, like masses of green jade against the pink petals of some marvellous rose. Lord Arthur felt curiously affected, he could not tell why. There was something in the dawn's delicate loveliness that seemed to him inexpressibly pathetic, and he thought of all the days that break in beauty, and that set in storm. These rustics, too, with their rough, good-humoured voices, and their nonchalant ways, what a strange London they saw! A London free from the sin of night and the smoke of day, a pallid, ghost-like city, a desolate town of tombs! He wondered what they thought of it, and whether they knew anything of its splendour and its shame, of its fierce, fiery-coloured joys, and its horrible hunger, of all it makes and mars from morn to eve. Probably it was to them merely a mart where they brought their fruits to sell, and where they tarried for a few hours at most, leaving the streets still silent, the houses still asleep. It gave him pleasure to watch them as they went by. Rude as they were, with their heavy, hobnailed shoes, and their awkward gait, they brought a little of Arcady with them. He felt that they had lived with Nature, and that she had taught them peace. He envied them all that they did not know.

他不知道自己到了什么地方。他隐约想起自己在一个满是破破烂烂房子的迷宫里游荡，迷失在阴暗街道织成的巨网里。最后他发现自己置身于皮卡迪利广场的时候，已经是佛晓时分了。他朝着贝尔格雷夫广场踱步回家，遇上了正赶去考文特花园的运货车队。

车夫穿着白色皱褶装，顶着一头粗糙的卷发，黝黑的脸上挂着愉悦。他们坚定前行，把马鞭挥得噼啪响，时而相互叫喊起来。在这支烦扰不安的队伍前头是一匹高大的灰马，一个胖乎乎的小孩子坐在马背上，破烂不堪的帽子里装着一束报春花。小男孩的小手紧紧抓着鬃毛，脸上挂着笑。那高高堆起来的蔬菜在黎明的映衬下就像是一大块玉，犹如堆在迷人的粉红玫瑰花瓣上的绿色玉石。

亚瑟勋爵被深深打动了，莫名其妙，他也说不上来为什么。柔和的晓光里有些东西看起来很可悲，他不知道如何形容。他想起了那些初时美好，最后狂风暴雨的日子。这些农民嗓音粗糙，幽默风趣，一副漠不关心的姿态。他们眼中的伦敦是多么不一样啊！没有黑夜的罪恶，没有白天的烟雾，苍白暗淡如同鬼城，荒凉孤独如同墓地。

亚瑟勋爵好奇他们如何看待伦敦。他们是否见识过伦敦的雄伟壮丽，耻辱遗憾，它的热烈，激情，可怕的饥荒，还有从早到晚的一切光景。对他们来说，伦敦大概只是一个卖蔬果的市场，他们至多逗留几个小时就离去，街道依然安静，城市还未苏醒。他看着他们经过，心生喜悦。他们穿着笨重的平头鞋，步态难看，粗鄙不堪，然而他们不失潇洒闲适。他能感觉到他们身上有大自然的气息，大自然让他们内心平静。他嫉妒他们无知天真。

第二段：亚瑟勋爵在得知第二个谋杀计划也失败之后

When he got upstairs, he flung himself on a sofa, and his eyes filled with tears. He had done his best to commit this murder, but on both occasions he had failed, and through no fault of his own. He had tried to do his duty, but it seemed as if Destiny herself had turned traitor. He was oppressed with the sense of the barrenness of good intentions, of the futility of trying to be fine. Perhaps, it would be better to break off the marriage altogether. Sybil would suffer, it is true, but suffering could not really mar a nature so noble as hers. As for himself, what did it matter? There is always some war in which a man can die, some cause to which a man can give his life, and as life had no pleasure for him, so death had no terror. Let Destiny work out his doom. He would not sitr to help her. 

他上楼，猛地扎进沙发里，眼里含着泪水。他已经竭尽所能去实施谋杀，但是两次尝试都失败了。他没有犯任何过失。他试图完成使命，命运却背叛了他。他感觉他的好意都是徒劳，这让他苦恼不已。或许，解除婚约是一件好事。没错，西比尔会痛苦，但是痛苦不会损害她与生俱来的高贵。至于他自己，又有什么关系呢？一个男人可以死于战争，可以为了事业牺牲性命。既然生命已无乐趣，死又何惧。就让命运摧毁他吧。他不会再掺和。

第三段：偶尔发现手相师，突然起意要杀了他

Lord Arthur stopped. A brilliant idea flashed across him, and he stole softly up behind. In a moment he had seized Mr Podgers by the legs, and flung him into the Thames. There was a coarse oath, a heavy splash, and all was still. Lord Arthur looked anxiously over, but could see nothing of the cheiromantist but a tall hat, pirouetting in an eddy of moonlit water. After a time it also sank, and no trace of Mr Podgers was visible. Once he thought that he caught sight of the bulky misshapen figure striking out for the staircase by the bridge, and a horrible feeling of failure came over him, but it turned out to be merely a reflection, and when the moon shone out from behind a cloud it passed away. At last he seemed to have realised the decree of destiny. He heaved a deep sigh of relief, and Sybil's name came to his lips. 

亚瑟勋爵停下脚步。他脑海中闪过一个绝佳的主意，他悄悄地来到波杰斯先生身后，一下子抓住他的腿，把他丢进泰晤士河里。只听一声粗哑的咒骂，沉重的扑通声，然后一切归于平静。亚瑟勋爵紧张地张望，看不见手相师，只有一顶高帽在洒满月光的河里，随着漩涡打转。过了一会，帽子也沉了下去，波杰斯先生完全消失无踪。有那么一刹，他以为看到了一个庞大畸形的身影出现在桥边台阶处。失败的痛苦吞噬了他。然而那只不过是一个影子，当月亮从云层后面出来，影子就消失了。终于，他得到了命运的裁决。他长舒一口气，嘴边呢喃着西比尔的名字。