变形记

The Metamorphosis

II

直到薄暮时分格里高尔才从沉睡中苏醒过来, 这与其说是沉睡 还不如说是昏厥。其实再过一会儿他自己也会醒的, 因为他觉得睡 得很长久,已经睡够了, 可是他仍觉得仿佛有一阵疾走的脚步声和 轻轻关上通向前厅房门的声音惊醒了他。街上的电灯, 在天花板和 家具的上半部投下一重淡淡的光晕,可是在低处他躺着的地方, 却 是一片漆黑。他缓慢而笨拙地试了试他的触觉,只是到了这时, 他 才初次学会运用这个器官,接着便向门口爬去, 想知道那儿发生了 什么事。他觉得有一条长长的、绷得紧紧的不舒服的伤疤, 他的两 排腿事实上只能瘸着走了。 而且有一条细小的腿在早晨的事件里受 了重伤,现在是毫无用处地曳在身后--仅仅坏了一条腿, 这倒真 是个奇迹。

Gregor first woke up from his heavy swoon-like sleep in the evening twilight. He would certainly have woken up soon afterwards without any disturbance, for he felt himself sufficiently rested and wide awake, although it appeared to him as if a hurried step and a cautious closing of the door to the hall had aroused him. The shine of the electric streetlights lay pale here and there on the ceiling and on the higher parts of the furniture, but underneath around Gregor it was dark. He pushed himself slowly toward the door, still groping awkwardly with his feelers, which he now learned to value for the first time, to check what was happening there. His left side seemed one single long unpleasantly stretched scar, and he really had to hobble on his two rows of legs. In addition, one small leg had been seriously wounded in the course of the morning incident (it was almost a miracle that only one had been hurt) and dragged lifelessly behind.

他来到门边, 这才发现把他吸引过来的事实上是什么:食物的 香味。因为那儿放了一个盆子,盛满了甜牛奶, 上面还浮着切碎的 白面包。他险些儿要高兴得笑出声来, 因为他现在比早晨更加饿了 ,他立刻把头浸到牛奶里去,几乎把眼睛也浸没了。 可是很快又失 望地缩了回来;他发现不仅吃东西很困难, 因为柔软的左侧受了伤 --他要全身抽搐地配合着才能把食物吃到口中--而且也不喜欢 牛奶了,虽然牛奶一直是他喜爱的饮料, 他妹妹准是因此才给他准 备的;事实上,他几乎是怀着厌恶的心情把头从盆子边上扭开, 爬 回到房间中央去的。

By the door he first noticed what had really lured him there: it was the smell of something to eat. For there stood a bowl filled with sweetened milk, in which swam tiny pieces of white bread. He almost laughed with joy, for he now had a much greater hunger than in the morning, and he immediately dipped his head almost up to and over his eyes down into the milk. But he soon drew it back again in disappointment, not just because it was difficult for him to eat on account of his delicate left side (he could eat only if his entire panting body worked in a coordinated way), but also because the milk, which otherwise was his favorite drink and which his sister had certainly placed there for that reason, did not appeal to him at all. He turned away from the bowl almost with aversion and crept back into the middle of the room.

他从门缝里看到起坐室的煤气灯已经点亮了,在平日, 到这时 候,他父亲总要大声地把晚报读给母亲听,有时也读给妹妹听, 可 是现在却没有丝毫声息。 也许是父亲新近抛弃大声读报的习惯了吧 ,他妹妹在说话和写信中经常提到这件事。可是到处都那么寂静, 虽然家里显然不是没有人。“我们这一家子过得多么平静啊。 ”格 里高尔自言自语道,他一动不动地瞪视着黑暗,心里感到很自豪, 因为他能够让他的父母和妹妹在这样一套挺好的房间里过着满不错 的日子。可是如果这一切的平静、 舒适与满足都要恐怖地告一结束 ,那可怎么办呢?为了使自己不致陷入这样的思想, 格里高尔活动 起来了,他在房间里不断地爬来爬去。

In the living room, as Gregor saw through the crack in the door, the gas was lit, but where on other occasions at this time of day the father was accustomed to read the afternoon newspaper in a loud voice to his mother and sometimes also to his sister, at the moment not a sound was audible. Now, perhaps this reading aloud, about which his sister always spoken and written to him, had recently fallen out of their general routine. But it was so still all around, in spite of the fact that the apartment was certainly not empty. "What a quiet life the family leads", said Gregor to himself and, as he stared fixedly out in front of him into the darkness, he felt a great pride that he had been able to provide such a life in a beautiful apartment like this for his parents and his sister. But how would things go if now all tranquility, all prosperity, all contentment should come to a horrible end? In order not to lose himself in such thoughts, Gregor preferred to set himself moving and crawled up and down in his room.

在这个漫长的夜晚,有一次一边的门打开了一道缝, 但马上又 关上了,后来另一边的门上也发生了这样的事; 显然是有人打算进 来但是又犹豫不决。格里高尔现在紧紧地伏在起坐室的门边, 打算 劝那个踌躇的人进来,至少也想知道那人是谁; 可是门再也没有开 过,他白白地等待着。清晨那会儿,门锁着,他们全都想进来; 可 是如今他打开了一扇门,另一扇门显然白天也是开着的, 却又谁都 不进来了,而且连钥匙都插到外面去了。

Once during the long evening one side door and then the other door was opened just a tiny crack and quickly closed again. Someone presumably needed to come in but had then thought better of it. Gregor immediately took up a position by the living room door, determined to bring in the hesitant visitor somehow or other or at least to find out who it might be. But now the door was not opened any more, and Gregor waited in vain. Earlier, when the door had been barred, they had all wanted to come in to him; now, when he had opened one door and when the others had obviously been opened during the day, no one came any more, and the keys were stuck in the locks on the outside.

一直到深夜,起坐室的煤气灯才熄灭, 格里高尔很容易就推想 到,他的父母和妹妹久久清醒地坐在那儿, 因为他清晰地听见他们 蹑手蹑脚走开的声音。没有人会来看他了, 至少天亮以前是不会了 ,这是肯定的, 因此他有充裕的时间从容不迫地考虑他该怎样安排 生活。 可是他匍匐在地板上的这间高大空旷的房间使他充满了一种 不可言喻的恐惧, 虽然这就是他自己住了五年的房间--他自己还 不大清楚是怎么回事,就已经不无害臊地急急钻到沙发底下去了, 他马上就感到这儿非常舒服,虽然他的背稍有点儿被压住, 他的头 也抬不起来。他唯一感到遗憾的是身子太宽, 不能整个藏进沙发底 下。

The light in the living room was turned off only late at night, and now it was easy to establish that his parents and his sister had stayed awake all this time, for one could hear clearly as all three moved away on tiptoe. Now it was certain that no one would come into Gregor any more until the morning. Thus, he had a long time to think undisturbed about how he should reorganize his life from scratch. But the high, open room, in which he was compelled to lie flat on the floor, made him anxious, without his being able to figure out the reason, for he had lived in the room for five years. With a half unconscious turn and not without a slight shame he scurried under the couch, where, in spite of the fact that his back was a little cramped and he could no longer lift up his head, he felt very comfortable and was sorry only that his body was too wide to fit completely under it.

他在那里整整待了一夜,一部分的时间消磨在假寐上, 腹中的 饥饿时时刻刻使他惊醒,而另一部分时间里, 他一直沉浸在担忧和 渺茫的希望中,但他想来想去, 总是只有一个结论:那就是目前他 必须静静地躺着, 作忍耐和极度的体谅来协助家庭克服他在目前的 情况下必然会给他们造成的不方便。

There he remained the entire night, which he spent partly in a state of semi-sleep, out of which his hunger constantly woke him with a start, but partly in a state of worry and murky hopes, which all led to the conclusion that for the time being he would have to keep calm and with patience and the greatest consideration for his family tolerate the troubles which in his present condition he was now forced to cause them.

拂晓时分,其实还简直是夜里, 格里高尔就有机会考验他的新 决心是否坚定了, 因为他的妹妹衣服还没有完全穿好就打开了通往 客厅的门,表情紧张地向里张望,她没有立刻看见他, 可是一等她 看到他躲在沙发底下--说究竟,他总是待在什么地方, 他又不能 飞走,是不是?--她大吃一惊,不由自主就把门砰地重新关上。 可是仿佛是后悔自己方才的举动似的,她马上又打开了门, 踮起脚 走了进来,似乎她来看望的是一个重病人,甚至是陌生人。 格里高 尔把头探出沙发的边缘看着她。 她会不会注意到他并非因为不饿而 留着牛奶没喝,她会不会拿别的更合他的口味的东西来呢? 除非她 自动注意到这一层,他情愿挨饿也不愿唤起她的注意, 虽然他有一 股强烈的愿望,想从沙发底下冲出来,伏在她脚下, 求她拿点食物 来。可是妹妹马上就注意到了,她很惊讶, 发现除了泼了些出来以 外,盆子还是满满的,她立即把盆子端了起来, 虽然不是直接用手 ,而是用手里拿着的布,她把盆子端走了。格里高尔好奇地要命, 想知道她会换些什么来,而且还作了种种猜测。 然而心地善良的妹 妹实际上所做的却是他怎么也想像不到的。为了弄清楚他的嗜好, 她给他带来了许多种食物,全都放在一张旧报纸上。 这里有不新鲜 的一半腐烂的蔬菜,有昨天晚饭剩下来的肉骨头, 上面还蒙着已经 变稠硬结的白酱油;还有些葡萄干杏仁; 一块两天前格里高尔准会 说吃不得的乳酪;一块陈面包,一块抹了黄油的面包, 一块洒了盐 的黄油面包。除了这一切,她又放下了那只盆子, 往里倒了些清水 ,这盆子显然算是他专用的了。她考虑得非常周到, 生怕格里高尔 不愿当她的面吃东西,所以马上就退了出去,甚至还锁上了门, 让 他明白他可以安心地随意进食。 格里高尔所有的腿都嗖地向食物奔 过去。而他的伤口也准是已经完全愈合了, 因为他并没有感到不方 便,这使他颇为吃惊,也令他回忆起,一个月以前, 他用刀稍稍割 伤了一个手指,直到前天还觉得疼痛。

Already early in the morning (it was still almost night) Gregor had an opportunity to test the power of the decisions he had just made, for his sister, almost fully dressed, opened the door from the hall into his room and looked eagerly inside. She did not find him immediately, but when she noticed him under the couch (God, he had to be somewhere or other; for he could hardly fly away) she got such a shock that, without being able to control herself, she slammed the door shut once again from the outside. However, as if she was sorry for her behaviour, she immediately opened the door again and walked in on her tiptoes, as if she was in the presence of a serious invalid or a total stranger. Gregor had pushed his head forward just to the edge of the couch and was observing her. Would she really notice that he had left the milk standing, not indeed from any lack of hunger, and would she bring in something else to eat more suitable for him? If she did not do it on her own, he would sooner starve to death than call her attention to the fact, although he had a really powerful urge to move beyond the couch, throw himself at his sister's feet, and beg her for something or other good to eat. But his sister noticed right away with astonishment that the bowl was still full, with only a little milk spilled around it. She picked it up immediately (although not with her bare hands but with a rag), and took it out of the room. Gregor was extremely curious what she would bring as a substitute, and he pictured to himself different ideas about that. But he never could have guessed what his sister out of the goodness of her heart in fact did. She brought him, to test his taste, an entire selection, all spread out on an old newspaper. There were old half-rotten vegetables, bones from the evening meal, covered with a white sauce which had almost solidified, some raisins and almonds, cheese, which Gregor had declared inedible two days earlier, a slice of dry bread, a slice of salted bread smeared with butter. In addition to all this, she put down a bowl (probably designated once and for all as Gregor's) into which she had poured some water. And out of her delicacy of feeling, since she knew that Gregor would not eat in front of her, she went away very quickly and even turned the key in the lock, so that Gregor could now observe that he could make himself as comfortable as he wished. Gregor's small limbs buzzed as the time for eating had come. His wounds must, in any case, have already healed completely. He felt no handicap on that score. He was astonished at that and thought about it, how more than a month ago he had cut his finger slightly with a knife and how this wound had hurt enough even the day before yesterday.

“难道我现在感觉迟钝些了 ?”他想,紧接着便对乳酪狼吞虎咽起来,在所有的食物里, 这一 种立刻强烈地吸引了他。他眼中含着满意的泪水,逐一地把乳酪、 蔬菜和酱油都吃掉;可是新鲜的食物却一点儿也不给他以好感, 他 甚至都忍受不了那种气味, 事实上他是把可吃的东西都叼到远一点 的地方去吃的。他吃饱了,正懒洋洋地躺在原处, 这时他妹妹慢慢 地转动钥匙,仿佛是给他一个暗示,让他退走。 他立刻惊醒了过来 ,虽然他差不多睡着了,就急急地重新钻到沙发底下去。 可是藏在 沙发底下需要相当的自我克制力量, 即使只是妹妹在房间里这短短 的片刻,因为这顿饱餐使他的身子有些膨胀,他只觉得地方狭窄, 连呼吸也很困难。他因为透不过气,眼珠也略略鼓了起来, 他望着 没有察觉任何情况的妹妹在用扫帚扫去不光是他吃剩的食物, 甚至 也包括他根本没碰的那些,仿佛这些东西现在根本没人要了, 扫完 后又急匆匆地全都倒进了一只桶里,把木盖盖上就提走了。 她刚扭 过身去,格里高尔就打沙发底下爬出来舒展身子, 呼哧呼哧喘了几 口气。

"Am I now going to be less sensitive," he thought, already sucking greedily on the cheese, which had strongly attracted him right away, more than all the other foods. Quickly and with his eyes watering with satisfaction, he ate one after the other the cheese, the vegetables, and the sauce; the fresh food, by contrast, didn't taste good to him. He couldn't bear the smell and even carried the things he wanted to eat a little distance away. By the time his sister slowly turned the key as a sign that he should withdraw, he was long finished and now lay lazily in the same spot. The noise immediately startled him, in spite of the fact that he was already almost asleep, and he scurried back again under the couch. But it cost him great self-control to remain under the couch, even for the short time his sister was in the room, because his body had filled out somewhat on account of the rich meal and in the narrow space there he could scarcely breathe. In the midst of minor attacks of asphyxiation, he looked at her with somewhat protruding eyes, as his unsuspecting sister swept up with a broom, not just the remnants, but even the foods which Gregor had not touched at all, as if these were also now useless, and as she dumped everything quickly into a bucket, which she closed with a wooden lid, and then carried all of it out of the room. She had hardly turned around before Gregor had already dragged himself out from the couch, stretched out, and let his body expand.

格里高尔就是这样由他妹妹喂养着, 一次在清晨他父母和使女 还睡着的时候,另一次是在他们吃过午饭, 他父母睡午觉而妹妹把 使女打发出去随便干点杂事的时候。他们当然不会存心叫他挨饿, 不过也许是他们除了听妹妹说一声以外对于他吃东西的情形根本不 忍心知道吧,也许是他妹妹也想让他们尽量少操心吧, 因为眼下他 们心里已经够烦的了。

In this way Gregor got his food every day, once in the morning, when his parents and the servant girl were still asleep, and a second time after the common noon meal, for his parents were, as before, asleep then for a little while, and the servant girl was sent off by his sister on some errand or other. Certainly they would not have wanted Gregor to starve to death, but perhaps they could not have endured finding out what he ate other than by hearsay. Perhaps his sister wanted to spare them what was possibly only a small grief, for they were really suffering quite enough already.

至于第一天上午大夫和锁匠是用什么借口打发走的, 格里高尔 就永远不得而知了,因为他说的话人家既然听不懂, 他们--甚至 连妹妹在内--就不会想到他能听懂大家的话, 所以每逢妹妹来到 他的房间里,他听到她不时发出的几声叹息, 和向圣者作的喁喁祈 祷,也就满足了。后来,她对这种情形略为有点习惯了--当然, 完全习惯是绝对不可能的--这时, 她间或也会让格里高尔听到这 样好心的或者可以作这样理解的话。“ 他喜欢今天的饭食。 ” 要是格里高尔把东西吃得一干二净,她会这样说。 但是遇到相反的 情形,并且这种情形越来越多了, 她部是有点忧郁地说:“又是什 么都没有吃。”

What sorts of excuses people had used on that first morning to get the doctor and the locksmith out of the house Gregor was completely unable to ascertain. Since he was not comprehensible, no one, not even his sister, thought that he might be able to understand others, and thus, when his sister was in her room, he had to be content with listening now and then to her sighs and invocations to the saints. Only later, when she had grown somewhat accustomed to everything (naturally there could never be any talk of her growing completely accustomed to it) Gregor sometimes caught a comment which was intended to be friendly or could be interpreted as such. "Well, today it tasted good to him," she said, if Gregor had really cleaned up what he had to eat; whereas, in the reverse situation, which gradually repeated itself more and more frequently, she used to say sadly, "Now everything has stopped again."

虽然格里高尔无法直接得到任何消息, 他却从隔壁房间里偷听 到一些,只要听到一点点声音,他就急忙跑到那个房间的门后, 把 整个身子贴在门上。特别是在头几天, 几乎没有什么谈话不牵涉到 他,即使是悄悄话。整整两天,一到吃饭时候, 全家人就商量该怎 么办;就是不在吃饭时候,也老是谈这个题目, 那阵子家里至少总 有两个人,因为谁也不愿孤单单地留在家里, 至于全都出去那更是 不可想像的事。就在第一天, 女仆--她对这件事到底知道几分还 弄不太清楚--来到母亲跟前,跪下来哀求让她辞退工作, 当她一 刻钟之后离开时,居然眼泪盈眶感激不尽, 仿佛得到了什么大恩典 似的,而且谁也没有逼她,她就立下重誓, 说这件事她一个字也永 远不对外人说。

But while Gregor could get no new information directly, he did hear a good deal from the room next door, and as soon as he heard voices, he scurried right away to the relevant door and pressed his entire body against it. In the early days especially, there was no conversation which was not concerned with him in some way or other, even if only in secret. For two days at all meal times discussions on that subject could be heard on how people should now behave; but they also talked about the same subject in the times between meals, for there were always at least two family members at home, since no one really wanted to remain in the house alone and people could not under any circumstances leave the apartment completely empty. In addition, on the very first day the servant girl (it was not completely clear what and how much she knew about what had happened) on her knees had begged his mother to let her go immediately, and when she said good bye about fifteen minutes later, she thanked them for the dismissal with tears in her eyes, as if she was receiving the greatest favour which people had shown her there, and, without anyone demanding it from her, she swore a fearful oath not to betray anyone, not even the slightest bit.

女仆一走,妹妹就帮着母亲做饭了;其实这事也并不太麻烦, 因为事实上大家都简直不吃什么。 格里高尔常常听到家里一个人白 费力气地劝另一个人多吃一些,可是回答总不外是:“谢谢, 我吃 不下了。”或是诸如此类的话。现在似乎连酒也不喝了。 他妹妹总 是一次又一次地问父亲要不要喝啤酒, 并且好心好意地说要亲自去 买,她见父亲没有回答,便建议让看门的女人去买, 免得父亲觉得 过意不去,这时父亲断然地说一个“不”字, 大家就再也不提这事 了。

Now his sister had to team up with his mother to do the cooking, although that didn't create much trouble because people were eating almost nothing. Again and again Gregor listened as one of them vainly invited another one to eat and received no answer other than "Thank you. I have enough" or something like that. And perhaps they had stopped having anything to drink, too. His sister often asked his father whether he wanted to have a beer and gladly offered to fetch it herself, and when his father was silent, she said, in order to remove any reservations he might have, that she could send the caretaker's wife to get it. But then his father finally said a resounding "No," and nothing more would be spoken about it.

在头几天里, 格里高尔的父亲便向母亲和妹妹解释了家庭的经 济现状和远景。他常常从桌子旁边站起来,去取一些文件和帐目, 这都放在一个小小的保险箱里, 这是五年前他的公司破产时保存下 来的。他打开那把复杂的锁、悉悉苏苏(字库中无此二字, 先用同 音字代替)地取出纸张又重新锁上的声音都一一听得清清楚楚。 他 父亲的叙述是格里高尔幽禁以来听到的第一个愉快的消息。 他本来 还以为父亲的买卖什么也没有留下呢, 至少父亲没有说过相反的话 ;当然,他也没有直接问过。那时, 格里高尔唯一的愿望就是竭尽 全力, 让家里人尽快忘掉父亲事业崩溃使全家沦于绝望的那场大灾 难。所以,他以不寻常的热情投入工作, 很快就不再是个小办事员 ,而成为一个旅行推销员,赚钱的机会当然更多, 他的成功马上就 转化为亮晃晃圆滚滚的银币, 好让他当着惊诧而又快乐的一家人的 面放在桌上。那真是美好的时刻啊, 这种时刻以后就没有再出现过 ,至少是再也没有那种光荣感了, 虽然后来格里高尔挣的钱已经够 维持一家的生活,事实上家庭也的确是他在负担。大家都习惯了, 不论是家里人还是格里高尔,收钱的人固然很感激, 给的人也很乐 意,可是再也没有那种特殊的温暖感觉了。只有妹妹和他最亲近, 他心里有个秘密的计划,想让她明年进音乐学院,她跟他不一般, 爱好音乐,小提琴拉得很动人,进音乐学院费用当然不会小, 这笔 钱一定得另行设法筹措。他逗留在家的短暂时间, 音乐学院这一话 题在他和妹妹之间经常提起, 不过总是把它当作一个永远无法实现 的美梦;只要听到关于这件事的天真议论,他的父母就感到沮丧; 然而格里高尔已经痛下决心, 准备在圣诞节之夜隆重地宣布这件事。

Already during the first day his father laid out all the financial circumstances and prospects to his mother and to his sister as well. From time to time he stood up from the table and pulled out of the small lockbox salvaged from his business, which had collapsed five years previously, some document or other or some notebook. The sound was audible as he opened up the complicated lock and, after removing what he was looking for, locked it up again. These explanations by his father were, in part, the first enjoyable thing that Gregor had the chance to listen to since his imprisonment. He had thought that nothing at all was left over for his father from that business; at least his father had told him nothing to the contradict that view, and Gregor in any case hadn't asked him about it. At the time Gregor's only concern had been to devote everything he had in order to allow his family to forget as quickly as possible the business misfortune which had brought them all into a state of complete hopelessness. And so at that point he'd started to work with a special intensity and from an assistant had become, almost overnight, a traveling salesman, who naturally had entirely different possibilities for earning money and whose successes at work at once were converted into the form of cash commissions, which could be set out on the table at home in front of his astonished and delighted family. Those had been beautiful days, and they had never come back afterwards, at least not with the same splendour, in spite of the fact that Gregor later earned so much money that he was in a position to bear the expenses of the entire family, expenses which he, in fact, did bear. They had become quite accustomed to it, both the family and Gregor as well. They took the money with thanks, and he happily surrendered it, but the special warmth was no longer present. Only the sister had remained still close to Gregor, and it was his secret plan to send her (in contrast to Gregor she loved music very much and knew how to play the violin charmingly) next year to the conservatory, regardless of the great expense which that must necessitate and which would be made up in other ways. Now and then during Gregor's short stays in the city the conservatory was mentioned in conversations with his sister, but always only as a beautiful dream, whose realization was unimaginable, and their parents never listened to these innocent expectations with pleasure. But Gregor thought about them with scrupulous consideration and intended to explain the matter ceremoniously on Christmas Eve.

这就是他贴紧门站着倾听时涌进脑海的一些想法, 这在目前当 然都是毫无意义的空想了。有时他实在疲倦了,便不再倾听, 而是 懒懒地把头靠在门上,不过总是立即又得抬起来, 因为他弄出的最 轻微的声音隔壁都听得见,谈话也因此停顿下来。 “他现在又在干 什么呢?”片刻之后他父亲会这样问,而且显然把头转向了门, 这 以后,被打断的谈话才会逐渐恢复。

In his present situation, such futile ideas went through his head, while he pushed himself right up against the door and listened. Sometimes in his general exhaustion he couldn't listen any more and let his head bang listlessly against the door, but he immediately pulled himself together, for even the small sound which he made by this motion was heard near by and silenced everyone. " There he goes on again," said his father after a while, clearly turning towards the door, and only then would the interrupted conversation gradually be resumed again.

由于他父亲很久没有接触经济方面的事, 他母亲也总是不能一 下子就弄清楚,所以他父亲老是一遍又一遍地反复解释, 使格里高 尔了解得非常详细:他的家庭虽然破产, 却有一笔投资保存了下来 --款子当然很小--而且因为红利没动用,钱数还有些增加。 另 外, 格里高尔每个月给的家用--他自己只留下几个零用钱--没 有完全花掉,所以到如今也积成了一笔小数目。 格里高尔在门背后 拼命点头,为这种他没料到的节约和谨慎而高兴。当然, 本来他也 可以用这些多余的款子把父亲欠老板的债再还掉些, 使自己可以少 替老板卖几天命,可是无疑还是父亲的做法更为妥当。

Gregor found out clearly enough (for his father tended to repeat himself often in his explanations, partly because he had not personally concerned himself with these matters for a long time now, and partly also because his mother did not understand everything right away the first time) that, in spite all bad luck, a fortune, although a very small one, was available from the old times, which the interest (which had not been touched) had in the intervening time gradually allowed to increase a little. Furthermore, in addition to this, the money which Gregor had brought home every month (he had kept only a few florins for himself) had not been completely spent and had grown into a small capital amount. Gregor, behind his door, nodded eagerly, rejoicing over this unanticipated foresight and frugality. True, with this excess money, he could have paid off more of his father's debt to his employer and the day on which he could be rid of this position would have been a lot closer, but now things were doubtless better the way his father had arranged them.

不过,如果光是靠利息维持家用,这笔钱还远远不够; 这项款 子可以使他们生活一年,至多两年,不能再多了。 这笔钱根本就不 能动用,要留着以备不时之需;日常的生活费用得另行设法。 他父 亲身体虽然还算健壮,但已经老了,他已有五年没做事, 也很难期 望他能有什么作为了;在他劳累的却从未成功过的一生里, 他还是 第一次过安逸的日子,在这五年里,他发胖了, 连行动都不方便了 。而格里高尔的老母亲患有气喘病,在家里走动都很困难, 隔一天 就得躺在打开的窗户边的沙发上喘得气都透不过来, 又怎能叫她去 挣钱养家呢?妹妹还只是个十七岁的孩子, 她的生活直到现在为止 还是一片欢乐,关心的只是怎样穿得漂亮些,睡个懒觉, 在家务上 帮帮忙,出去找些不太花钱的娱乐,此外最重要的就是拉小提琴, 又怎能叫她去给自己挣面包呢?只要话题转到挣钱养家的问题, 最 初格里高尔总是放开了门,扑倒在门旁冰凉的皮沙发上, 羞愧与焦 虑得心中如焚。

At the moment, however, this money was nowhere near sufficient to permit the family to live on the interest payments. Perhaps it would be enough to maintain the family for one or at most two years, that's all. Thus it came only to an amount which one should not really take out and which must be set aside for an emergency. But the money to live on must be earned. Now, his father was a healthy man, although he was old, who had not worked at all for five years now and thus could not be counted on for very much. He had in these five years, the first holidays of his trouble-filled but unsuccessful life, put on a good deal of fat and thus had become really heavy. And should his old mother now maybe work for money, a woman who suffered from asthma, for whom wandering through the apartment even now was a great strain and who spent every second day on the sofa by the open window labouring for breath? Should his sister earn money, a girl who was still a seventeen-year-old child, whose earlier life style had been so very delightful that it had consisted of dressing herself nicely, sleeping in late, helping around the house, taking part in a few modest enjoyments and, above all, playing the violin? When it came to talking about this need to earn money, at first Gregor went away from the door and threw himself on the cool leather sofa beside the door, for he was quite hot from shame and sorrow.

他往往躺在沙发上,通夜不眠, 一连好几个小时在皮面子上蹭 来蹭去。他有时也集中全身力量,将扶手椅推到窗前, 然后爬上窗 台,身体靠着椅子,把头贴到玻璃窗上, 他显然是企图回忆过去临 窗眺望时所感到的那种自由。因为事实上,随着日子一天天过去, 稍稍远一些的东西他就看不清了;从前, 他常常诅咒街对面的医院 ,因为它老是逼近在他眼面前,可是如今他却看不见了, 倘若他不 知道自己住在虽然僻静,却完全是市区的夏洛蒂街, 他真要以为自 己的窗子外面是灰色的天空与灰色的土地常常浑然成为一体的荒漠 世界了。他那细心的妹妹只看见扶手椅两回都靠在窗前, 就明白了 ;此后她每次打扫房间总把椅子推回到窗前, 甚至还让里面那层窗 子开着。

Often he lay there all night long. He didn't sleep a moment and just scratched on the leather for hours at a time. He undertook the very difficult task of shoving a chair over to the window. Then he crept up on the window sill and, braced in the chair, leaned against the window to look out, obviously with some memory or other of the satisfaction which that used to bring him in earlier times. Actually from day to day he perceived things with less and less clarity, even those a short distance away: the hospital across the street, the all too frequent sight of which he had previously cursed, was not visible at all any more, and if he had not been precisely aware that he lived in the quiet but completely urban Charlotte Street, he could have believed that from his window he was peering out at a featureless wasteland, in which the gray heaven and the gray earth had merged and were indistinguishable. His attentive sister must have observed a couple of times that the chair stood by the window; then, after cleaning up the room, each time she pushed the chair back right against the window and from now on she even left the inner casement open.

如果他能开口说话,感激妹妹为他所作的一切, 他也许还能多 少忍受她的怜悯,可现在他却受不住。 她工作中不太愉快的那些方 面,她显然想尽量避免;日子一天天过去, 她的确逐渐达到了目的 ,可是格里高尔也渐渐地越来越明白了。 她走进房间的样子就使他 痛苦。她一进房间就冲到窗前,连房门也顾不上关, 虽然她往常总 是小心翼翼不让旁人看到格里高尔的房间。她仿佛快要窒息了, 用 双手匆匆推开窗子,甚至在严寒中也要当风站着作深呼吸。 她这种 吵闹急促的步子一天总有两次使得格里高尔心神不定; 在这整段时 间里,他都得蹲在沙发底下,打着哆嗦。他很清楚, 她和他待在一 起时,若是不打开窗子也还能忍受,她是绝对不会如此打扰他的。

If Gregor had only been able to speak to his sister and thank her for everything that she had to do for him, he would have tolerated her service more easily. As it was he suffered under it. The sister admittedly sought to cover up the awkwardness of everything as much as possible, and, as time went by, she naturally got more successful at it. But with the passing of time Gregor also came to understand everything more precisely. Even her entrance was terrible for him. As soon as she entered, she ran straight to the window, without taking the time to shut the door (in spite of the fact that she was otherwise very considerate in sparing anyone the sight of Gregor's room), and yanked the window open with eager hands, as if she was almost suffocating, and remained for a while by the window breathing deeply, even when it was still so cold. With this running and noise she frightened Gregor twice every day. The entire time he trembled under the couch, and yet he knew very well that she would certainly have spared him gladly if it had only been possible to remain with the window closed in a room where Gregor lived.

有一次,大概在格里高尔变形一个月以后, 其实这时她已经没 有理由见到他再吃惊了,她比平时进来得早了一些, 发现他正在一 动不动地向着窗外眺望,所以模样更像妖魔了。 要是她光是不进来 格里高尔倒也不会感到意外,因为既然他在窗口, 她当然不能立刻 开窗了,可是她不仅退出去,而且仿佛是大吃一惊似地跳了回去, 并且还砰地关上了门; 陌生人还以为他是故意等在那儿要扑过去咬 她呢。格里高尔当然立刻就躲到了沙发底下, 可是他一直等到中午 她才重新进来,看上去比平时更显得惴惴不安。这使他明白, 妹妹 看见他依旧那么恶心,而且以后也势必一直如此。 她看到他身体的 一小部分露出在沙发底下而不逃走,该是作出了多大的努力呀。 为 了使她不致如此,有一天他花了四个小时的劳动, 用背把一张背单 拖到沙发上,铺得使它可以完全遮住自己的身体,这样, 即使她弯 下身子也不会看到他了。如果她认为被单放在那儿根本没有必要, 她当然会把它拿走, 因为格里高尔这样把自己遮住又蒙上自然不会 舒服。可是她并没有拿走被单, 当格里高尔小心翼翼地用头把被单 拱起一些看她怎样对待新情况的时候, 他甚至仿佛看到妹妹眼睛里 闪出了一丝感激的光辉。

On one occasion (about one month had already gone by since Gregor's transformation, and there was now no particular reason any more for his sister to be startled at Gregor's appearance) she came a little earlier than usual and came upon Gregor as he was still looking out the window, immobile and well positioned to frighten someone. It would not have come as a surprise to Gregor if she had not come in, since his position was preventing her from opening the window immediately. But she not only did not step inside; she even retreated and shut the door. A stranger really could have concluded from this that Gregor had been lying in wait for her and wanted to bite her. Of course, Gregor immediately concealed himself under the couch, but he had to wait until the noon meal before his sister returned, and she seemed much less calm than usual. From this he realized that his appearance was still constantly intolerable to her and must remain intolerable in future, and that she really had to exert a lot of self-control not to run away from a glimpse of only the small part of his body which stuck out from under the couch. In order to spare her even this sight, one day he dragged the sheet on his back onto the couch (this task took him four hours) and arranged it in such a way that he was now completely concealed and his sister, even if she bent down, could not see him. If this sheet was not necessary as far as she was concerned, then she could remove it, for it was clear enough that Gregor could not derive any pleasure from isolating himself away so completely. But she left the sheet just as it was, and Gregor believed he even caught a look of gratitude when on one occasion he carefully lifted up the sheet a little with his head to check as his sister took stock of the new arrangement.

在最初的两个星期里,他的父母鼓不起勇气进他的房间, 他常 常听到他们对妹妹的行为表示感激,而以前他们是常常骂她, 说她 是个不中用的女儿。可是现在呢,在妹妹替他收拾房间的时候, 老 两口往往在门外等着,她一出来就问她房间里的情形, 格里高尔吃 了什么,他这一次行为怎么样,是否有些好转的迹象。 过了不多久 ,母亲想要来看他了,起先父亲和妹妹都用种种理由劝阻她, 格里 高尔留神地听着,暗暗也都同意。后来, 他们不得不用强力拖住她 了,而她却拼命嚷道:“让我进去瞧瞧格里高尔, 他是我可怜的儿 子!你们就不明白我非进去不可吗?”听到这里, 格里高尔想也许 还是让她进来的好,当然不是每天都来, 每星期一次也就差不多了 ;她毕竟比妹妹更周到些,妹妹虽然勇敢,总还是个孩子, 再说她 之所以担当这件苦差事恐怕还是因为年轻稚气,少不更事罢了。

In the first two weeks his parents could not bring themselves to visit him, and he often heard how they fully acknowledged his sister's present work; whereas, earlier they had often got annoyed at his sister because she had seemed to them a somewhat useless young woman. However, now both his father and his mother often waited in front of Gregor's door while his sister cleaned up inside, and as soon as she came out she had to explain in detail how things looked in the room, what Gregor had eaten, how he had behaved this time, and whether perhaps a slight improvement was perceptible. In any event, his mother comparatively soon wanted to visit Gregor, but his father and his sister restrained her, at first with reasons which Gregor listened to very attentively and which he completely endorsed. Later, however, they had to hold her back forcefully, and when she then cried "Let me go to Gregor. He's my unlucky son! Don't you understand that I have to go to him?" Gregor then thought that perhaps it would be a good thing if his mother came in, not every day, of course, but maybe once a week. She understood everything much better than his sister, who in spite of all her courage was still a child and, in the last analysis, had perhaps undertaken such a difficult task only out of childish recklessness.

格里高尔想见见他母亲的愿望很快就实现了。在大白天, 考虑 到父亲的脸面,他不愿趴在窗子上让人家看见, 可是他在几平方米 的地板上没什么好爬的, 漫漫的长夜里他也不能始终安静地躺着不 动,此外他很快就失去了对于食物的任何兴趣,因此, 为了锻炼身 体,他养成了在墙壁和天花板上纵横交错地爬来爬去的习惯。 他特 别喜欢倒挂在天花板上,这比躺在地板上强多了, 呼吸起来也轻松 多了,而且身体也可以轻轻地晃来晃去; 倒悬的滋味使他乐而忘形 ,他忘乎所以地松了腿,直挺挺地掉在地板上。 可是如今他对自己 身体的控制能力比以前大有进步,所以即使摔得这么重, 也没有受 到损害。 他的妹妹马上就注意到了格里高尔新发现的娱乐--他的 脚总要在爬过的地方留下一种粘液--于是她想到应该让他有更多 地方可以活动,得把碍路的家具搬出去, 首先要搬的是五斗橱和写 字台。

Gregor's wish to see his mother was soon realized. While during the day Gregor, out of consideration for his parents, did not want to show himself by the window, he couldn't crawl around very much on the few square metres of the floor. He found it difficult to bear lying quietly during the night, and soon eating no longer gave him the slightest pleasure. So for diversion he acquired the habit of crawling back and forth across the walls and ceiling. He was especially fond of hanging from the ceiling. The experience was quite different from lying on the floor. It was easier to breathe, a slight vibration went through his body, and in the midst of the almost happy amusement which Gregor found up there, it could happen that, to his own surprise, he let go and hit the floor. However, now he naturally controlled his body quite differently, and he did not injure himself in such a great fall. His sister noticed immediately the new amusement which Gregor had found for himself (for as he crept around he left behind here and there traces of his sticky stuff), and so she got the idea of making Gregor's creeping around as easy as possible and thus of removing the furniture which got in the way, especially the chest of drawers and the writing desk.

可是一个人干不了;她不敢叫父亲来帮忙; 家里的用人又只 有一个十六岁的使女,女仆走后她虽说有勇气留下来, 但是她求主 人赐给她一个特殊的恩惠,让她把厨房门锁着, 只有在人家特意叫 她时才打开,所以她也是不能帮忙的;这样, 除了趁父亲出去时求 母亲帮忙之外,也没有别的法子可想了。老太太真的来了, 一边还 兴奋地叫喊着, 可是这股劲头没等到她来到格里高尔房门口就烟消 云散了。格里高尔的妹妹当然先进房间, 她来看看是否一切都很稳 妥,然后再招呼母亲。格里高尔赶紧把被单拉低些, 并且把它弄得 皱褶更多些,让人看了以为这是随随便便扔在沙发上的。 这一回他 也不打沙发底下往外张望了;他放弃了见到母亲的快乐, 她终于来 了,这就已经使他喜出望外了。“进来吧,他躲起来了。 ”妹妹说 ,显然是搀着母亲的手在领她进来。此后, 格里高尔听到了两个荏 弱的女人使劲把那口旧柜子从原来的地方拖出来的声音, 他妹妹只 管挑重活儿干,根本不听母亲叫她当心累坏身子的劝告。 她们搬了 很久。在拖了至少一刻钟之后,母亲提出相反的意见, 说这口橱还 是放在原处的好,因为首先它太重了, 在父亲回来之前是绝对搬不 走的;而这样立在房间的中央当然只会更加妨碍格里高尔的行动, 况且把家具搬出去是否就合格里高尔的意,这可谁也说不上来。 她 甚至还觉得恰恰相反呢;她看到墙壁光秃秃,只觉得心里堵得慌, 为什么格里高尔就没有同感呢, 既然好久以来他就用惯了这些家具 ,一旦没有,当然会觉得很凄凉。

But she was in no position to do this by herself. She did not dare to ask her father to help, and the servant girl would certainly not have assisted her, for although this girl, about sixteen years old, had courageously remained since the dismissal of the previous cook, she had begged for the privilege of being allowed to stay permanently confined to the kitchen and of having to open the door only in answer to a special summons. Thus, his sister had no other choice but to involve his mother while his father was absent. His mother approached Gregor's room with cries of excited joy, but she fell silent at the door. Of course, his sister first checked whether everything in the room was in order. Only then did she let his mother walk in. In great haste Gregor had drawn the sheet down even further and wrinkled it more. The whole thing really looked just like a coverlet thrown carelessly over the couch. On this occasion, Gregor held back from spying out from under the sheet. Thus, he refrained from looking at his mother this time and was just happy that she had come. "Come on; he is not visible," said his sister, and evidently led his mother by the hand. Now Gregor listened as these two weak women shifted the still heavy old chest of drawers from its position, and as his sister constantly took on herself the greatest part of the work, without listening to the warnings of his mother who was afraid that she would strain herself. The work lasted a long time. After about a quarter of an hour had already gone by his mother said that it would be better if they left the chest of drawers where it was, because, in the first place, it was too heavy: they would not be finished before his father's arrival, and with the chest of drawers in the middle of the room it would block all Gregor's pathways, but, in the second place, it might not be certain that Gregor would be pleased with the removal of the furniture. To her the reverse seemed to be true; the sight of the empty walls pierced her right to the heart, and why should Gregor not feel the same, since he had been accustomed to the room furnishings for a long time and in an empty room would thus feel himself abandoned.

最后她又压低了声音说--事实 上自始至终她都几乎是用耳语在说话, 她仿佛连声音都不想让格里 高尔听到--他到底藏在哪儿她并不清楚--因为她相信他已经听 不懂她的话了--“再说,我们搬走家具,岂不等于向他表示, 我 们放弃了他好转的希望,硬着心肠由他去了吗? 我想还是让他房间 保持原状的好,这样,等格里高尔回到我们中间, 他就会发现一切 如故,也就能更容易忘掉这其间发生的事了。”

"And is it not the case," his mother concluded very quietly, almost whispering as if she wished to prevent Gregor, whose exact location she really didn't know, from hearing even the sound of her voice (for she was convinced that he did not understand her words), "and isn't it a fact that by removing the furniture we're showing that we're giving up all hope of an improvement and are leaving him to his own resources without any consideration? I think it would be best if we tried to keep the room exactly in the condition in which it was before, so that, when Gregor returns to us, he finds everything unchanged and can forget the intervening time all the more easily."

听到了母亲这番话, 格里高尔明白两个月不与人交谈以及单调 的家庭生活,已经把他的头脑弄糊涂了,否则他就无法解释, 他怎 么会认真希望把房间里的家具清出去。 难道他真的要把那么舒适地 放满祖传家具的温暖的房间变成光秃秃的洞窟, 好让自己不受阻碍 地往四面八方乱爬, 同时还要把做人的时候的回忆忘得干干净净作 为代价吗? 他的确已经濒于忘却一切, 只是靠了好久没有听到的母 亲的声音,才把他拉了回来。什么都不能从他的房间里搬出去; 一 切都得保持原状;他不能丧失这些家具对他精神状态的良好影响; 即使在他无意识地到处乱爬的时候家具的确挡住他的路, 这也绝不 是什么妨碍,而是大大的好事。

As he heard his mother's words Gregor realized that the lack of all immediate human contact, together with the monotonous life surrounded by the family over the course of these two months must have confused his understanding, because otherwise he couldn't explain to himself that he in all seriousness could've been so keen to have his room emptied. Was he really eager to let the warm room, comfortably furnished with pieces he had inherited, be turned into a cavern in which he would, of course, then be able to crawl about in all directions without disturbance, but at the same time with a quick and complete forgetting of his human past as well? Was he then at this point already on the verge of forgetting and was it only the voice of his mother, which he had not heard for along time, that had aroused him? Nothing was to be removed; everything must remain. In his condition he couldn't function without the beneficial influences of his furniture. And if the furniture prevented him from carrying out his senseless crawling about all over the place, then there was no harm in that, but rather a great benefit.

不幸的是,妹妹却有不同的看法; 她已经惯于把自己看成是格 里高尔事务的专家了,自然认为自己要比父母高明, 这当然也有点 道理,所以母亲的劝说只能使她决心不仅仅搬走柜子和书桌, 这只 是她的初步计划,而且还要搬走一切,只剩那张不可缺少的沙发。 她作出这个决定当然不仅仅是出于孩子气的倔强和她近来自己也没 料到的,花了艰苦代价而获得的自信心; 她的确觉得格里高尔需要 许多地方爬动,另一方面,他又根本用不着这些家具, 这也是不言 而喻的。另一个原因也可能是她这种年龄的少女的热烈气质, 她们 无论做什么事总要迷在里面, 这个原因使得葛蕾特夸大哥哥环境的 可怕,这样,她就能给他做更多的事了。 对于一间由格里高尔一个 人主宰的光有四堵空墙的房间, 除了葛蕾特是不会有别人敢于进去 的。

But his sister unfortunately thought otherwise. She had grown accustomed, certainly not without justification, so far as the discussion of matters concerning Gregor was concerned, to act as an special expert with respect to their parents, and so now the mother's advice was for his sister sufficient reason to insist on the removal, not only of the chest of drawers and the writing desk, which were the only items she had thought about at first, but also of all the furniture, with the exception of the indispensable couch. Of course, it was not only childish defiance and her recent very unexpected and hard won self-confidence which led her to this demand. She had also actually observed that Gregor needed a great deal of room to creep about; the furniture, on the other hand, as far as one could see, was not of the slightest use.

因此,她不因为母亲的一番话而动摇自己的决心, 母亲在格里 高尔的房间里越来越不舒服,所以也拿不稳主意,旋即不作声了, 只是竭力帮她女儿把柜子推出去。如果不得已, 格里高尔也可以不 要柜子,可是写字台是非留下不可的。 这两个女人哼哼着刚把柜子 推出房间,格里高尔就从沙发底下探出头来, 想看看该怎样尽可能 温和妥善地干预一下。可是真倒霉,是他母亲先回进房间来的, 她 让葛蕾特独自在隔壁房间攥住柜子摇晃着往外拖, 柜子当然是一动 也不动。母亲没有看惯他的模样;为了怕她看了吓出病来, 格里高 尔马上退到沙发另一头去,可是还是使被单在前面晃动了一下。 这 就已经使她大吃一惊了。她愣住了,站了一会儿, 这才往葛蕾特那 儿跑去。

But perhaps the enthusiastic sensibility of young women of her age also played a role. This feeling sought release at every opportunity, and with it Grete now felt tempted to want to make Gregor's situation even more terrifying, so that then she would be able to do even more for him than now. For surely no one except Grete would ever trust themselves to enter a room in which Gregor ruled the empty walls all by himself. And so she did not let herself be dissuaded from her decision by her mother, who in this room seemed uncertain of herself in her sheer agitation and soon kept quiet, helping his sister with all her energy to get the chest of drawers out of the room. Now, Gregor could still do without the chest of drawers if need be, but the writing desk really had to stay. And scarcely had the women left the room with the chest of drawers, groaning as they pushed it, when Gregor stuck his head out from under the sofa to take a look how he could intervene cautiously and with as much consideration as possible. But unfortunately it was his mother who came back into the room first, while Grete had her arms wrapped around the chest of drawers in the next room and was rocking it back and forth by herself, without moving it from its position. His mother was not used to the sight of Gregor; he could have made her ill, and so, frightened, Gregor scurried backwards right to the other end of the sofa, but he could no longer prevent the sheet from moving forward a little. That was enough to catch his mother's attention. She came to a halt, stood still for a moment, and then went back to Grete.

虽然格里高尔不断地安慰自己, 说根本没有出什么大不了的事 ,只是搬动了几件家具,但他很快就不得不承认, 这两个女人跑过 来跑过去,她们的轻声叫喊以及家具在地板上的拖动, 这一切给了 他很大影响,仿佛乱动从四面八方同时袭来, 尽管他拼命把头和腿 都蜷成一团贴紧在地板上,他也不得不承认他忍受不了多久了。 她 们在搬清他房间里的东西,把他所喜欢的一切都拿走; 安放他的钢 丝锯和各种工具的柜子已经给拖走了; 她们这会儿正在把几乎陷进 地板去的写字台抬起来, 他在商学院念书时所有的作业就是在这张 桌子上做的,更早的还有中学的作业,还有,对了, 小学的作业- -他再也顾不上体会这两个女人的良好动机了, 他几乎已经忘了她 们的存在,因为她们太累了,干活时连声音也发不出来, 除了她们 沉重的脚步声以外,旁的什么也听不见。

Although Gregor kept repeating to himself over and over that really nothing unusual was going on, that only a few pieces of furniture were being rearranged, he soon had to admit to himself that the movements of the women to and fro, their quiet conversations, the scratching of the furniture on the floor affected him like a great swollen commotion on all sides, and, so firmly was he pulling in his head and legs and pressing his body into the floor, he had to tell himself unequivocally that he wouldn't be able to endure all this much longer. They were cleaning out his room, taking away from him everything he cherished; they had already dragged out the chest of drawers in which the fret saw and other tools were kept, and they were now loosening the writing desk which was fixed tight to the floor, the desk on which he, as a business student, a school student, indeed even as an elementary school student, had written out his assignments. At that moment he really didn't have any more time to check the good intentions of the two women, whose existence he had in any case almost forgotten, because in their exhaustion they were working really silently, and the heavy stumbling of their feet was the only sound to be heard.

因此他冲出去了--两个女人在隔壁房间正靠着写字台略事休 息--他换了四次方向,因为他真的不知道应该先拯救什么; 接着 ,他看见了对面的那面墙,靠墙的东西已给搬得七零八落了, 墙上 那副穿皮大衣的女士的像吸引了他,格里高尔急忙爬上去, 紧紧地 贴在镜面玻璃上,这地方倒挺不错; 他那火热的肚子顿时觉得惬意 多了。至少,这张完全藏在他身子底下的画是谁也不许搬走的。 他 把头转向起坐室,以便两个女人重新进来的时候可以看到她们。

And so he scuttled out (the women were just propping themselves up on the writing desk in the next room in order to take a breather) changing the direction of his path four times. He really didn't know what he should rescue first. Then he saw hanging conspicuously on the wall, which was otherwise already empty, the picture of the woman dressed in nothing but fur. He quickly scurried up over it and pressed himself against the glass that held it in place and which made his hot abdomen feel good. At least this picture, which Gregor at the moment completely concealed, surely no one would now take away. He twisted his head towards the door of the living room to observe the women as they came back in.

她们休息了没多久就已经往里走来了; 葛蕾特用胳膊围住她母 亲,简直是在抱着她。“那么,我们现在再搬什么呢? ”葛蕾特说 ,向周围扫了一眼,她的眼睛遇上了格里高尔从墙上射来的眼光。 大概因为母亲也在场的缘故,她保持住了镇静, 她向母亲低下头去 ,免得母亲的眼睛抬起来,说道:“走吧, 我们要不要再回起坐室 待一会儿?”她的意图格里高尔非常清楚; 她是想把母亲安置到安 全的地方,然后再把他从墙上赶下来。好吧,让她来试试看吧! 他 抓紧了他的图片绝不退让。他还想对准葛蕾特的脸飞扑过去呢。

They had not allowed themselves very much rest and were coming back right away. Grete had placed her arm around her mother and held her tightly. "So what shall we take now?" said Grete and looked around her. Then her glance crossed with Gregor's from the wall. She kept her composure only because her mother was there. She bent her face towards her mother in order to prevent her from looking around, and said, although in a trembling voice and too quickly, "Come, wouldn't it be better to go back to the living room for just another moment?" Grete's purpose was clear to Gregor: she wanted to bring his mother to a safe place and then chase him down from the wall. Well, let her just attempt that! He squatted on his picture and did not hand it over. He would sooner spring into Grete's face.

可是葛蕾特的话却已经使母亲感到不安了, 她向旁边跨了一步 ,看到了印花墙纸上那一大团棕色的东西, 她还没有真的理会到她 看见的正是格里高尔,就用嘶哑的声音大叫起来:“啊,上帝, 啊 ,上帝!”接着就双手一摊倒在沙发上,仿佛听天由命似的, 一动 也不动了。“唉,格里高尔!”他妹妹喊道, 对他又是挥拳又是瞪 眼。自从变形以来这还是她第一次直接对他说话。 她跑到隔壁房间 去拿什么香精来使母亲从昏厥中苏醒过来。 格里高尔也想帮忙-- 要救那张图片以后还有时间--可是他已经紧紧地粘在玻璃上, 不 得不使点劲儿才能够让身子移动; 接着他就跟在妹妹后面奔进房间 ,好像他与过去一样。真能给她什么帮助似的; 可是他马上就发现 ,自己只能无可奈何地站在她后面; 妹妹正在许许多多小瓶子堆里 找来找去,等她回过身来一看到他,真的又吃了一惊; 一只瓶子掉 到地板上,打碎了;一块玻璃片划破了格里高尔的脸, 不知什么腐 蚀性的药水溅到了他身上;葛蕾特才愣住一小会儿, 就马上抱起所 有拿得了的瓶子跑到母亲那儿去了;她用脚砰地把门关上。 格里高 尔如今和母亲隔开了,她就是因为他,也许快要死了; 他不敢开门 ,生怕吓跑了不得不留下来照顾母亲的妹妹;目前,除了等待, 他 没有别的事可做;他被自我谴责和忧虑折磨着,就在墙壁、 家具和 天花板上到处乱爬起来,最后,在绝望中, 他觉得整个房间竟在他 四周旋转,就掉了下来,跌落在大桌子的正中央。

But Grete's words had immediately made the mother very uneasy. She walked to the side, caught sight of the enormous brown splotch on the flowered wallpaper, and, before she became truly aware that what she was looking at was Gregor, screamed out in a high pitched raw voice "Oh God, oh God" and fell with outstretched arms, as if she was surrendering everything, down onto the couch and lay there motionless. "Gregor, you. . .," cried out his sister with a raised fist and an urgent glare. Since his transformation those were the first words which she had directed right at him. She ran into the room next door to bring some spirits or other with which she could revive her mother from her fainting spell. Gregor wanted to help as well (there was time enough to save the picture), but he was stuck fast on the glass and had to tear himself loose forcefully. Then he also scurried into the next room, as if he could give his sister some advice, as in earlier times, but then he had to stand there idly behind her, while she rummaged about among various small bottles. Still, she was frightened when she turned around. A bottle fell onto the floor and shattered. A splinter of glass wounded Gregor in the face, some corrosive medicine or other dripped over him. Now, without lingering any longer, Grete took as many small bottles as she could hold and ran with them into her mother. She slammed the door shut with her foot. Gregor was now shut off from his mother, who was perhaps near death, thanks to him. He could not open the door, and he did not want to chase away his sister who had to remain with her mother. At this point he had nothing to do but wait, and overwhelmed with self-reproach and worry, he began to creep and crawl over everything: walls, furniture, and ceiling,. Finally, in his despair, as the entire room started to spin around him, he fell onto the middle of the large table.

过了一小会儿。格里高尔依旧软弱无力地躺着, 周围寂静无声 ;这也许是个吉兆吧。接着门铃响了。 使女当然是锁在她的厨房里 的,只能由葛蕾特去开门。进来的是他的父亲。“出了什么事? ” 他一开口就问;准是葛蕾特的神色把一切都告诉他了。 葛蕾特显然 把头埋在父亲胸口上, 因为他的回答听上去闷声闷气的:“妈妈刚 才晕过去了,不过这会儿已经好点了。格里高尔逃了出来。 ”-- “果然不出我的所料,”他父亲说,“我不是告诉过你们吗, 可是 你们这些女人根本不听。 ”

A short time elapsed. Gregor lay there limply. All around was still. Perhaps that was a good sign. Then there was ring at the door. The servant girl was naturally shut up in her kitchen, and Grete must therefore go to open the door. The father had arrived. "What's happened," were his first words. Grete's appearance had told him everything. Grete replied with a dull voice; evidently she was pressing her face into her father's chest: "Mother fainted, but she's getting better now. Gregor has broken loose." "Yes, I have expected that," said his father, "I always told you that, but you women don't want to listen."

格里高尔清楚地感觉到他父亲把葛蕾特 过于简单的解释想到最坏的方面去了, 他大概以为格里高尔作了什 么凶狠的事呢。格里高尔现在必须设法使父亲息怒, 因为他既来不 及也无法替自己解释。因此他赶忙爬到自己房间的门口, 蹲在门前 ,好让父亲从客厅里一进来便可以看见自己的儿子乖得很, 一心想 立即回自己房间,根本不需要赶,要是门开着, 他马上就会进去的 。

It was clear to Gregor that his father had badly misunderstood Grete's short message and was assuming that Gregor had committed some violent crime or other. Thus, Gregor now had to find his father to calm him down, for he had neither the time nor the opportunity to clarify things for him. And so he rushed away to the door of his room and pushed himself against it, so that his father could see right away as he entered from the hall that Gregor fully intended to return at once to his room, that it was not necessary to drive him back, but that one only needed to open the door and he would disappear immediately.

可是父亲目前的情绪完全无法体会他那细腻的感情。“啊! ” 他一露面就喊道,声音里既有狂怒,同时又包含了喜悦。 格里高尔 把头从门上缩回来,抬起来瞧他的父亲。啊, 这简直不是他想象中 的父亲了;显然,最近他太热衷于爬天花板这一新的消遣, 对家里 别的房间里的情形就不像以前那样感兴趣了, 他真应该预料到某些 新的变化才行。不过,不过,这难道真是他父亲吗?从前, 每逢格 里高尔动身出差,他父亲总是疲累不堪地躺在床上; 格里高尔回来 过夜总看见他穿着睡衣靠在一张长椅子里,他连站都站不起来, 把 手举一举就算是欢迎。一年里有那么一两个星期天, 还得是盛大的 节日,他也偶尔和家里人一起出去, 总是走在格里高尔和母亲的当 中,他们走得已经够慢的了,可是他还要慢, 他裹在那件旧大衣里 ,靠了那把弯柄的手杖的帮助艰难地向前移动, 每走一步都先要把 手杖小心翼翼地支好,逢到他想说句话,往往要停下脚步, 让护卫 的人靠拢来。难道那个人就是他吗?

But his father was not in the mood to observe such niceties. "Ah," he yelled as soon as he entered, with a tone as if he were all at once angry and pleased. Gregor pulled his head back from the door and raised it in the direction of his father. He had not really pictured his father as he now stood there. Of course, what with his new style of creeping all around, he had in the past while neglected to pay attention to what was going on in the rest of the apartment, as he had done before, and really should have grasped the fact that he would encounter different conditions. Nevertheless, nevertheless, was that still his father? Was that the same man who had lain exhausted and buried in bed in earlier days when Gregor was setting out on a business trip, who had received him on the evenings of his return in a sleeping gown and arm chair, totally incapable of standing up, who had only lifted his arm as a sign of happiness, and who in their rare strolls together a few Sundays a year and on the important holidays made his way slowly forwards between Gregor and his mother (who themselves moved slowly), always a bit more slowly than them, bundled up in his old coat, all the time setting down his walking stick carefully, and who, when he had wanted to say something, almost always stood still and gathered his entourage around him?

现在他身子笔直地站着, 穿一 件有金色钮扣的漂亮的蓝制服,这通常是银行的杂役穿的; 他那厚 实的双下巴鼓出在上衣坚硬的高领子外面;从他浓密的睫毛下面, 那双黑眼睛射出了神气十足咄咄逼人的光芒; 他那头本来乱蓬蓬的 头发如今从当中整整齐齐一丝不苟地分了开来, 两边都梳得又光又 平。 他把那顶绣有金字--肯定是哪家银行的标记--的帽子远远 地往房间那头的沙发上一扔,把大衣的下摆往后一甩, 双手插在裤 袋里,板着严峻的脸朝格里高尔冲来。

But now he was standing up really straight, dressed in a tight fitting blue uniform with gold buttons, like the ones servants wear in a banking company. Above the high stiff collar of his jacket his firm double chin stuck out prominently, beneath his bushy eyebrows the glance of his black eyes was freshly penetrating and alert, his otherwise disheveled white hair was combed down into a carefully exact shining part. He threw his cap, on which a gold monogram (apparently the symbol of the bank) was affixed, in an arc across the entire room onto the sofa and moved, throwing back the edge of the long coat of his uniform, with his hands in his trouser pockets and a grim face, right up to Gregor.

他大概自己也不清楚要干什 么;但是他却把脚举得老高, 格里高尔一看到他那大得惊人的鞋后 跟简直吓呆了。不过格里高尔不敢冒险听任父亲摆弄, 他知道从自 己新生活的第一天起,父亲就是主张对他采取严厉措施的。 因此他 就在父亲的前头跑了起来,父亲停住他也停住, 父亲稍稍一动他又 急急地奔跑。就这样,他们绕着房间转了好几圈, 并没有真出什么 事;事实上这简直都不太像是追逐,因为他们都走得很慢。 所以格 里高尔也没有离开地板, 生怕父亲把他的爬墙和上天花板看成是一 种特别恶劣的行为。可是,即使就这样跑他也支持不了多久, 因为 他父亲迈一步,他就得动好多下。他已经感到气喘不过来了, 他从 前做人的时候肺也不太强。他跌跌撞撞地向前冲, 因为要把精力全 部集中在奔走上,连眼睛都几乎不睁开来;在昏乱的状态中, 除了 向前冲以外,他根本没有想到还有别的出路; 他几乎忘记自己是可 以随便上墙的,但是在这个房间里放着凸凸凹凹精雕细镂的家具, 把墙挡住了--正在这时, 突然有一样扔得不太有力的东西飞了过 来,落在他紧后面,又滚到他前面去。这是一个苹果; 紧接着第二 个苹果又扔了过来;格里高尔惊慌地站住了;再跑也没有用了, 因 为他父亲决心要轰炸他了。

He really didn't know what he had in mind, but he raised his foot uncommonly high anyway, and Gregor was astonished at the gigantic size of his sole of his boot. However, he did not linger on that point. For he knew from the first day of his new life that as far as he was concerned his father considered the greatest force the only appropriate response. And so he scurried away from his father, stopped when his father remained standing, and scampered forward again when his father merely stirred. In this way they made their way around the room repeatedly, without anything decisive taking place; indeed because of the slow pace it didn't look like a chase. Gregor remained on the floor for the time being, especially as he was afraid that his father could take a flight up onto the wall or the ceiling as an act of real malice. At any event Gregor had to tell himself that he couldn't keep up this running around for a long time, because whenever his father took a single step, he had to go through an enormous number of movements. Already he was starting to suffer from a shortage of breath, just as in his earlier days his lungs had been quite unreliable. As he now staggered around in this way in order to gather all his energies for running, hardly keeping his eyes open, in his listlessness he had no notion at all of any escape other than by running and had almost already forgotten that the walls were available to him, although they were obstructed by carefully carved furniture full of sharp points and spikes--at that moment something or other thrown casually flew down close by and rolled in front of him. It was an apple; immediately a second one flew after it. Gregor stood still in fright. Further flight was useless, for his father had decided to bombard him.

他把碗橱上盘子里的水果装满了衣袋, 也没有好好地瞄准,只是把苹果一个接一个地扔出来。 这些小小的 红苹果在地板上滚来滚去,仿佛有吸引力似的,都在互相碰撞。 一 个扔得不太用力的苹果轻轻擦过格里高尔的背, 没有带给他什么损 害就飞走了。可是紧跟着马上飞来了另一个, 正好打中了他的背并 且还陷了进去;格里高尔掐扎着往前爬, 仿佛能把这种可惊的莫名 其妙的痛苦留在身后似的;可是他觉得自己好像被钉住在原处, 就 六神无主地瘫倒在地上。在清醒的最后一刹那, 他瞥见他的门猛 然打开,母亲抢在尖叫着的妹妹前头跑了过来,身上只穿着内衣, 她女儿为了让她呼吸舒畅好缓过气来,已经把她衣服都解开了, 格 里高尔看见母亲向父亲扑过去, 解松了的裙子一条接着一条都掉在 地板上,她绊着裙子径直向父亲奔去,抱住他,紧紧地搂住他, 双 手围在父亲的脖子上,求他别伤害儿子的生命--可是这时, 格里 高尔的眼光已经逐渐暗淡了。

From the fruit bowl on the sideboard his father had filled his pockets, and now, without for the moment taking accurate aim, was throwing apple after apple. These small red apples rolled as if electrified around on the floor and collided with each other. A weakly thrown apple grazed Gregor's back but skidded off harmlessly. However another thrown immediately after that one drove into Gregor's back really hard. Gregor wanted to drag himself off, as if the unexpected and incredible pain would go away if he changed his position. But he felt as if he was nailed in place and lay stretched out completely confused in all his senses. Only with his final glance did he notice how the door of his room was pulled open and how, right in front of his sister (who was yelling), his mother ran out in her undergarments, for his sister had undressed her in order to give her some freedom to breathe in her fainting spell, and how his mother then ran up to his father, on the way her tied up skirts one after the other slipped toward the floor, and how, tripping over her skirts, she hurled herself onto his father and, throwing her arms around him, in complete union with him--but at this moment Gregor's powers of sight gave way--as her hands reached to the back of his father's head and she begged him to spare Gregor's life.

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