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Now you will remember that everyone at the ball was wearing strange cloaks and masks, which belonged more to the world of dreams and wild imagination than to everyday life. So why, you may ask, this horror, and this fear? But even in the cruellest heart there are some fears too terrible to laugh at. The tall thin figure of the stranger was dressed from head to foot in the white clothes of the dead. And the mask over the face was frighteningly real-it was the face of a dead man. Worse still, the face and the body were covered with red, horrible blood! Here, in the middle of all that dancing and happiness was a living picture of the Red Death!
现在诸位会记起，参加舞会的每一个人都是穿戴着千奇百怪的斗篷和面具的，而这些装束在日常生活中并不常见，它们更多地属于一个梦幻与狂想的世界。那么，诸位会问了，又何必惊慌、何必害怕呢？话虽这么说，但即便是在最残忍无情的人心里，也埋藏着可怕得难以一笑置之的恐惧。那个身量又高又瘦的陌生人从头到脚穿着死人穿的白色寿袍，脸上戴的面具令人生畏地逼真——那是一张死人的脸。更糟糕的是，他的脸上和身体上布满了猩红、骇人的鲜血！眼下，在歌舞升平和欢声笑语中间竟然出了个红死魔的活生生的化身！
When Prince Prospero saw the masked stranger, his face became white with fear. Then his fear turned to anger and he shouted out, ‘Who is that? Who is mad enough to play games with us, and with death, in this way? Take hold of him, and pull off his mask. I want to see the face of the man who, tomorrow, will hang from the castle roof. ’
普洛斯佩罗亲王一看见那戴面具的不速之客，便吓得脸色惨白。接着，他的惊恐又变成了愤怒；他嚷道：“那是什么人？什么人竟然如此丧心病狂，拿死亡跟我们开这种玩笑？把他抓起来，撕掉他的面具。我要看看这家伙的脸，明天再把他吊死在城堡的顶上。”
The Prince was in the blue room as he said these words. They rang loudly and clearly through the seven rooms. Many of the Prince's friends started to run towards the masked figure, but they were all too frightened to touch him. With slow and silent steps, the stranger walked slowly towards the Prince, passing very near to him. Then he continued walking, and went from the blue room into the purple one, from the purple into the green, and then into the orange room, the white room and then the violet room. No one tried to stop him.
亲王说这番话的时候正站在蓝色的房间里，声音洪亮而清晰地响彻七个房间。亲王的好多朋友抬腿向那戴面具之人奔去，但他们都怕得厉害，不敢动他。那陌生人一言不发，迈着不慌不忙的步子朝亲王缓缓走去，紧挨着走过他身旁之后，又继续踱着步子从蓝色房间进了紫色房间，从紫色房间进了绿色房间，然后依次进了橙黄色房间、白色房间和紫罗兰色房间。没有人敢于阻止他。
