It was too late to call up for a cab or anything, so I walked the whole way to the station. It wasn't too far, but it was cold as hell, and the snow made it hard for walking, and my Gladstones kept banging hell out of my legs.?

時間太晚，巳叫不到出租汽車，所以我就一直步行到車站。路并不遠，可是天冷得要命，一路上的積雪很不好走，那兩只手提箱還他媽的不住磕碰著我的大腿。

I sort of enjoyed the air and all, though. The only trouble was, the cold made my nose hurt, and right under my upper lip, where old Stradlater'd laid one on me.?

不過我倒很欣賞外面的新鮮空氣。唯一不好受的是，冷風吹得我鼻子疼痛，還有我上嘴唇底下也疼，那是斯特拉德萊塔打我一拳的地方。

He'd smacked my lip right on my teeth, and it was pretty sore. My ears were nice and warm, though. That hat I bought had earlaps in it, and I put them on--I didn't give a damn how I looked. Nobody was around anyway.

他打得我的嘴唇撞在牙齒上，所以那地方疼得厲害。我的耳朵倒挺暖和。我買的那頂帽子上面有耳罩，我把它放下了——我他媽的才不在乎好看不好看哩。可是路上沒一個人。

Everybody was in the sack.

人人都上床啦。

I was quite lucky when I got to the station, because I only had to wait about ten minutes for a train. While I waited, I got some snow in my hand and washed my face with it. I still had quite a bit of blood on.

到了車站，我發現自己的運氣還不錯，因為只消等約莫十分鐘就有火車。我等著的時候，就捧起一掬雪洗了下我的臉。我臉上還有不少血呢。

Usually I like riding on trains, especially at night, with the lights on and the windows so black, and one of those guys coming up the aisle selling coffee and sandwiches and magazines. I usually buy a ham sandwich and about four magazines.

通常我很喜歡坐火車，尤其是在夜里，車里點著燈，窗外一片漆黑，過道上不時有人賣咖啡、夾餡面包和雜志。我一般總是買一份火腿面包和四本雜志。

If I'm on a train at night, I can usually even read one of those dumb stories in a magazine without puking. You know. One of those stories with a lot of phony, lean-jawed guys named David in it, and a lot of phony girls named Linda or Marcia that are always lighting all the goddam Davids' pipes for them.?

我要是在晚上乘火車，通常還能看完雜志里某個無聊的故事而不至于作嘔。你知道那故事。有一大堆叫大衛的瘦下巴的假惺惺人物，還有一大堆叫林達或瑪莎的假惺惺姑娘，老是給大衛們點混帳的煙斗。

I can even read one of those lousy stories on a train at night, usually. But this time, it was different. I just didn't feel like it. I just sort of sat and not did anything. All I did was take off my hunting hat and put it in my pocket.

我晚上乘火車，通常都能把這類混帳故事看完一個。可這一次情況不同了。我沒那心情。我光是坐在那里，什么也不干。我光是脫下我那頂獵人帽，放在我的衣袋里。

All of a sudden, this lady got on at Trenton and sat down next to me. Practically the whole car was empty, because it was pretty late and all, but she sat down next to me, instead of an empty seat, because she had this big bag with her and I was sitting in the front seat.?

一霎時，有位太太從特蘭敦上來，坐在我身旁。幾乎整個車廂都空著，因為時間已經很晚，可她不去獨坐個空位置，卻一徑坐到我身旁，原因是她帶著一只大旅行袋，我又正好占著前面座位。

She stuck the bag right out in the middle of the aisle, where the conductor and everybody could trip?旅程，絆倒 over it. She had these orchids on, like she'd just been to a big party or something.?

她把那只旅行袋往過道中央一放，也不管列車員或者什么人走過都可能絆一交。她身上戴著蘭花，好象剛赴了什么重大宴會出來。

She was around forty or forty-five, I guess, but she was very good looking. Women kill me. They really do. I don't mean I'm oversexed or anything like that-although I am quite sexy. I just like them, I mean. They're always leaving their goddam bags out in the middle of the aisle.

她年紀約在四十到四十五左右，我揣摩，可她長得十分漂亮。女人能要我的命。她們的確能。我并不是說我這人有色情狂之類的毛病——雖然我倒是十分好色。我只是喜歡女人，我是說。她們老是把她們的混帳旅行袋放在過道中央。

Anyway, we were sitting there, and all of a sudden she said to me, "Excuse me, but isn't that a Pencey Prep sticker?" She was looking up at my suitcases, up on the rack架子.????

嗯，我們這么坐著，忽然她對我說：“對不起，這不是一張潘西中學的簽條嗎？”她正拿眼望著上面行李架上我的兩只手提箱。

"Yes, it is," I said. She was right. I did have a goddam Pencey sticker on one of my Gladstones. Very corny, I'll admit.

“不錯，”我說。她說得不錯。我有一只手提箱上面的確貼著潘西的簽條。看上去十分粗俗，我承認。

"Oh, do you go to Pencey?" she said. She had a nice voice. A nice telephone voice, mostly. She should've carried a goddam telephone around with her.

“哦，你在潘西念書嗎？”她說。她的聲音十分好聽，很象電話里的好聽聲音。她身上大概帶著一架混帳電話機呢。

"Yes, I do," I said.

“晤，不錯，”我說。

"Oh, how lovely! Perhaps you know my son, then, Ernest Morrow? He goes to?Pencey."

“哦，多好！你也許認得我兒子吧。歐納斯特.摩羅？他也在潘西念書。”

"Yes, I do. He's in my class."

“晤，我認識他。他跟我同班。”

Her son was doubtless the biggest bastard that ever went to Pencey, in the whole crumby history of the school. He was always going down the corridor, after he'd had a shower, snapping his soggy浸水的 old wet towel at people's asses. That's exactly the kind of a guy he was.

他兒子無疑是潘西有它那段混帳歷史以來所招收到的最最混帳的學生。他洗完淋浴以后，老是在走廊上拿他的濕毛巾獨別人的屁股。他完全是那樣一種人。

"Oh, how nice!" the lady said. But not corny. She was just nice and all. "I must tell Ernest we met," she said. "May I ask your name, dear?"

“哦，多好啊！”那太太說。并不粗俗，而是和藹可親。“我一定要告訴歐納斯特我遇見了你，”她說。“可以告訴我你的名字嗎，親愛的？”

?"Rudolf Schmidt," I told her. I didn't feel like giving her my whole life history.

“魯道爾夫.席密德，”我告訴她說。我并不想把我的一生經歷都講給她聽。

Rudolf Schmidt was the name of the janitor of our dorm.

魯道爾夫.席密德是我們宿舍看門人的名字。

"Do you like Pencey?" she asked me.

“你喜歡潘西嗎？”她問我。

"Pencey? It's not too bad. It's not paradise or anything, but it's as good as most schools. Some of the faculty?/?f?klti/?全體教員?are pretty conscientious?/?kɑ?n?i?en??s/?盡責的；."?

“潘西？不算太壞。不是什么天堂，可也不比大多數的學校壞。有些教職人員倒是很正直。”

"Ernest just adores it."

“歐納斯特簡直崇拜它。”

"I know he does," I said. Then I started shooting the old crap?廢話；around a little bit. "He adapts himself very well to things. He really does. I mean he really knows how to adapt himself."

“我知道他崇拜，”我說。接著我又信口開河了。“他很能適應環境。他真的能。我是說他真知道怎樣適應環境。”

"Do you think so?" she asked me. She sounded interested as hell.

“你這樣想嗎？”她問我。聽她的口氣好象感興趣極了。

?"Ernest? Sure," I said. Then I watched her take off her gloves. Boy, was she lousy?惡心差勁 with rocks.

“歐納斯特？當然啦，”我說。接著我看著她脫手套。嘿，她戴著一手的寶石哩。

"I just broke a nail, getting out of a cab," she said. She looked up at me and sort of smiled. She had a terrifically nice smile. She really did. Most people have hardly any smile at all, or a lousy one. "Ernest's father and I sometimes worry about him," she said.

“我打出租汽車里出來，不小心弄斷了一個指甲，”她說。她抬頭看了我一眼，微微一笑。她笑得漂亮極了。的確非常漂亮。有許多人簡直不會笑，或者笑得很不雅觀。“歐納斯特的父親和我有時很為他擔心，”她說。

"We sometimes feel he's not a terribly good mixer."

“我們有時候覺得他不是個很好的交際家。”

"How do you mean?"

“你這話什么意思？”

"Well. He's a very sensitive boy. He's really never been a terribly good mixer with other boys. Perhaps he takes things a little more seriously than he should at his age."????

“呃，這孩子十分敏感。他真的不會跟別的孩子相處。也許他看問題太嚴肅，不適于他的年齡。”

Sensitive. That killed me. That guy Morrow was about as sensitive as a goddam toilet seat.

敏感。簡直笑死了我。摩羅那家伙敏感得就跟一只混帳馬桶差不離。

I gave her a good look. She didn't look like any dope?笨蛋?to me. She looked like she might have a pretty damn good idea what a bastard she was the mother of.?

我仔細打量她一下。她看去不象是個傻瓜。看她樣子，似乎應該知道她自己兒子是什么樣的雜種。

But you can't always tell--with somebody's mother, I mean. Mothers are all slightly insane神經病. The thing is, though, I liked old Morrow's mother. She was all right. "Would you care for a cigarette?" I asked her.

可是也很難說——我是說拿那些當母親的來說。那些當母親的全都有點兒神經病。不過，我倒是挺喜歡老摩羅的母親。她看去挺不錯。“你要抽支煙嗎？”我問她。

She looked all around. "I don't believe this is a smoker, Rudolf," she said. Rudolf.

她往四下里望了望。“我不信這是節吸煙車廂，魯道爾夫，”她說。魯道爾夫。

That killed me.

真笑死了我。

"That's all right. We can smoke till they start screaming at us," I said. She took a cigarette off me, and I gave her a light.?

“沒關系。我們可以抽到他們開始向咱們嚷起來，”我說。她就從我手里拿了支香煙，我給她點了火。

She looked nice, smoking. She inhaled?/?n?he?ld/?吸入?and all, but she didn't wolf?狼，大吃 the smoke down, the way most women around her age do. She had a lot of charm魅力. She had?quite a lot of sex appeal呼吁，感染力, too, if you really want to know.

她抽煙的樣子很美。她把煙吸進去，可并不象她那年紀的大多數女人那樣咽下去。她有不少迷人之處。她還有不少富于性感的地方，你要是真想知道的話。

She was looking at me sort of funny. I may be wrong but I believe your nose is bleeding, dear, she said, all of a sudden.

她用一種異樣的眼光看著我。“也許我眼花了可我相信你的鼻子在流血呢，親愛的，”她突然說。

I nodded and took out my handkerchief. "I got hit with a snowball," I said. "One of those very icy ones." I probably would've told her what really happened, but it would've taken too long. I liked her, though. I was beginning to feel sort of sorry I'd told her my name was Rudolf Schmidt. "Old Ernie," I said.?

我點了點頭，掏出了我的手絹。“我中了個雪球，”我說。“一個硬得象冰一樣的雪球。”要不是說來話長，我也許會把真情實況全告訴她。不過我確實很喜歡她。我開始有點兒后悔不該告訴她我的名字叫魯道爾夫.席密德。“老歐尼，”我說。

"He's one of the most popular boys at Pencey. Did you know that?"

“他是潘西最有人緣的學生之一。你知道嗎？”

"No, I didn't."

“不，我不知道。”

I nodded. "It really took everybody quite a long time to get to know him. He's a funny guy. A strange guy, in lots of ways--know what I mean? Like when I first met him. When I first met him, I thought he was kind of a snobbish??/?snɑ?b??/勢力的?person. That's what I thought. But he isn't. He's just got this very original personality that takes you a little while to get to know him."

我點了點頭。“不管是誰，的確要過很久才了解。他是個怪人。許多方面都很怪——懂得我的意思嗎？就象我剛遇到他那樣。我剛遇到他的時候，還當他是個勢利小人哩。我當時是這樣想的。他其實不是。只是他的個性很特別，你得跟他相處久了才能了解他。”

Old Mrs. Morrow didn't say anything, but boy, you should've seen her. I had her glued??/ɡlu?d/?膠合的to her seat. You take somebody's mother, all they want to hear about is what a hotshot their son is.

摩羅太大什么話也沒說，可是，嘿，你真該見一下她當時的情景。我都把她膠住在位置上了。不管是誰家母親，她們想要知道的，總是自己的兒子是個多么了不起的人物。

Then I really started chucking?輕叩；丟棄；解雇?the old crap?廢話around. "Did he tell you about the elections?" I asked her. "The class elections?"

接著，我真正瞎扯起來。“他把選舉的事告訴你了沒有？”我問她。“班會選舉？”

She shook her head. I had her in a trance恍惚, like. I really did.

她搖了搖頭。我已經使她神魂顛倒了，好象是。她真有點神魂顛倒了。

"Well, a bunch of us wanted old Ernie to be president of the class. I mean he was the unanimous?/ju?n?n?m?s/?全體一致的；choice. I mean he was the only boy that could really handle the job," I said--boy, was I chucking it. "But this other boy--Harry Fencer--was elected. And the reason he was elected, the simple and obvious reason, was because Ernie wouldn't let us nominate him. Because he's so darn非常（同 damn）shy and modest?/?mɑ?d?st/謙虛的?and all. He refused. . . Boy, he's really shy. You oughta make him try to get over that." I looked at her. "Didn't he tell you about it?"

“呃，我們一大堆人全推選老歐尼當班長。我是說他是大家一致推選出來的。我是說只有他一個人才能真正擔任這個工作。”我說——嘿，我真是越說越遠啦。“可是另外那個學生——哈利.范里——當選了。他當選的原因是，那顯而易見的原因是，歐尼怎么也不肯讓我們給他提名。他真是靦腆謙虛得要命。他拒絕了……嘿，他真是靦腆。你應該幫助他克服這個缺點。”我瞅著她。“他告訴你這事沒有？”

"No, he didn't."

“不，他沒有。”

I nodded. "That's Ernie. He wouldn't. That's the one fault with him--he's too shy and modest. You really oughta get him to try to relax occasionally."

我點了點頭。“這就是歐尼的為人。他不肯告訴人。他就是有這么個缺點——他太靦腆、也太謙虛了。你真應該讓他隨便點兒才是。”

Right that minute, the conductor came around for old Mrs. Morrow's ticket, and it gave me a chance to quit shooting it. I'm glad I shot it for a while, though. You take a guy like Morrow that's always snapping their towel at people's asses--really trying to hurt somebody with it--they don't just stay a rat鼠；卑鄙小人?while they're a kid.?

就在這當兒，列車員過來查看摩羅太太的票，我趁機不再往下吹了。不過我很高興自己瞎吹了一通。象摩羅這樣老是用毛巾獨人屁股的家伙——他這樣做，是真要打疼別人——他們不僅在孩提時候下作。

They stay a rat their whole life. But I'll bet, after all the crap I shot, Mrs. Morrow'll keep thinking of him now as this very shy, modest guy that wouldn't let us nominate him for president. She might. You can't tell. Mothers aren't too sharp about that stuff.

他們一輩子都會下作。可我敢打賭，經我那么信口一吹，摩羅太太就會老以為他是個十分靦腆、十分謙虛的孩子，連我們提名選他做班長他都不肯。她大概會這樣想的。那很難說。那些當母親的對這類事情感覺都是不太靈敏的。

"Would you care for a cocktail?" I asked her. I was feeling in the mood for one myself. "We can go in the club car. All right?"

“你想喝杯雞尾酒嗎？”我問她。我自己心血來潮，很想喝一杯。“我們可以上餐車去。好不好？”

"Dear, are you allowed to order drinks?" she asked me. Not snotty下賤的, though. She was too charming and all to be snotty.

“親愛的，你可以要酒喝嗎？”她問我，不過問得并不卑鄙。她的一切都太迷人了，簡直很難用上卑鄙二字。

"Well, no, not exactly, but I can usually get them on account of my heighth," I said. "And I have quite a bit of gray hair." I turned sideways and showed her my gray hair.?

“呃，不，嚴格說來不可以，可我因為長得高，一般總可以要到，”我說。“再說我還有不少白頭發呢。”我把頭側向一邊，露出我的白頭發她看。

It fascinated hell out of her.?

她看了真樂得不可開交。

"C'mon, join me, why don't you?" I said. I'd've enjoyed having her.

“去吧，跟我一塊兒去，成不成？”我說。我真希望有她陪我去。

"I really don't think I'd better. Thank you so much, though, dear," she said. "Anyway, the club car's most likely closed. It's quite late, you know." She was right. I'd forgotten all about what time it was.

“我真的不想喝。可我還是非常感謝你，親愛的，”她說。“再說，餐車這會兒大概已停止營業。時間已經很晚了，你知道。”她說得不錯。我完全忘記這會兒已是什么時候啦。

Then she looked at me and asked me what I was afraid she was going to ask me.

接著她看著我，問了我一個我一直怕她問的問題。

"Ernest wrote that he'd be home on Wednesday, that Christmas vacation would start on Wednesday," she said. "I hope you weren't called home suddenly because of illness in the family." She really looked worried about it.?

“歐納斯特信上說他將在屋期三回家，圣誕假期從星期三開始，”她說。“我希望你不是家里人生病，把你突然叫回去的吧。”她看去真的很擔心。

She wasn't just being nosy?/?no?zi/?好管閑事,?you could tell.??????

她不象是好管閑事，你看得出來。

"No, everybody's fine at home," I said. "It's me. I have to have this operation."?????

“不，家里人都很好，”我說。“是我自己。我得去動一下手術。”

"Oh! I'm so sorry," she said. She really was, too. I was right away sorry I'd said it, but it was too late.

“哦！我真替你難受，”她說。她也確實如此。我也馬上后悔不該說這話，不過為時已經太晚。

"It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor/?tu?m?r/?腫瘤on the brain."

“情況不算嚴重。我腦子里長了個小小的瘤子。”

"Oh, no!" She put her hand up to her mouth and all.?

“哦，不會吧！”她舉起一只手來捂住了嘴。

"Oh, I'll be all right and everything! It's right near the outside. And it's a very tiny one. They can take it out in about two minutes."

“哦，沒什么危險！長得很靠外，而且非常小。要不了兩分鐘就能取出來。”

Then I started reading this timetable I had in my pocket. Just to stop lying. Once I get started, I can go on for hours if I feel like it. No kidding. Hours.

然后我從袋里掏出火車時刻表觀看。光是為了不讓自己再繼續撒謊。我一開口，只要情緒對頭，就能一連胡扯幾個小時。不開玩笑。幾個小時。

We didn't talk too much after that. She started reading this Vogue she had with her, and I looked out the window for a while. She got off at Newark. She wished me a lot of luck with the operation and all. She kept calling me Rudolf. Then she invited me to visit Ernie during the summer, at Gloucester, Massachusetts. She said their house was right on the beach, and they had a tennis court?法院；球場?and all, but I just thanked her and told her I was going to South America with my grandmother. Which was really a hot one, because my grandmother hardly ever even goes out of the house, except maybe to go to a goddam matinee or something. But I wouldn't visit that sonuvabitch Morrow for all the dough in the world, even if I was desperate?/?desp?r?t/?絕望?.

此后我們就不再怎么談話。她開始閱讀自己帶來的那本《時尚》雜志，我往窗外眺望一會兒。她在紐瓦克下了車。她祝我手術進行得順利。她不住地叫我魯道爾夫。接著她請我明年夏天到馬薩諸塞州的格洛斯特去看望歐尼。她說他們的別墅就在海濱，他們自己還有個網球場什么的，可我謝絕了，說我要跟我的祖母一塊兒到南美去。這實在是彌天大謊，因為我祖母簡直很少出屋子，除非出去看一場混帳日戲什么的。可是即使把全世界的錢都給我，我也不愿去看望那個婊子養的摩羅——哪怕是在我窮極潦倒的時候。