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Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs which his father had left him. He would borrow the rest.
骆塞尔本存着他父亲从前留给他的一万八千法郎。剩下的数目就得去借了。
He did borrow, asking a thousand francs of one, five hundred of another, five louis here, three louis there. He gave notes, took up ruinous obligations, dealt with usurers and all the race of lenders.
他动手借钱了，向这一个借一千法郎，向那个借五百，向这里借五枚鲁意金元，向另一处又借三枚。他签了许多借据，订了许多破产性的契约，和那些盘剥重利的人，各种不同国籍的放款人打交道。
He compromised all the rest of his life, risked signing a note without even knowing whether he could meet it; and, frightened by the trouble yet to come, by the black misery that was about to fall upon him, by the prospect of all the physical privations and moral tortures that he was to suffer, he went to get the new necklace, laying upon the jeweler's counter thirty-six thousand francs.
他赔上了自己后半生的前程，他不顾成败利钝冒险地签上了自己的名姓，并且，他总是感到害怕，当想到了将来的苦恼，想到了就会压在身上的黑暗贫穷，想到了整个物质上的匮乏和全部精神上的折磨造成的远景，终于走到那个珠宝商人的柜台边放下了三万六千法郎，取了那串新项链。
When madame Loisel took back the necklace madame Forestier said to her with a chilly manner: "You should have returned it sooner; I might have needed it."
在骆塞尔太太把首饰还给伏来士洁太太的时候，这一位用一种不高兴的神情向她说：“你应当早点儿还给我，因为我也许要用它。”
She did not open the case, as her friend had so much feared.
她当时并没有打开那只盒子，这正是她的女朋友担忧的事。
If she had detected the substitution, what would she have thought, what would she have said? Would she not have taken madame Loisel for a thief? Thereafter madame Loisel knew the horrible existence of the needy.
倘若看破了这件代替品，她将要怎样想？她难道不会把她当做一个贼？骆塞尔太太尝到了穷人的困窘生活了。
She bore her part, however, with sudden heroism. That dreadful debt must be paid. She would pay it. They dismissed their servant; they changed their lodgings; they rented a garret under the roof.
然而，她突然表现出了英雄气概。那笔骇人的债是必须偿还的。她会偿还它。他们辞退了女佣；搬了家；租了某处屋顶底下的一间阁楼下。
She came to know what heavy housework meant and the odious cares of the kitchen. She washed the dishes, using her dainty fingers and rosy nails on greasy pots and pans.
她开始做种种家务上的粗重工作了，厨房里厌烦的日常任务了。她清洗杯盘碗碟，在罐子锅子的油垢底子上磨坏了那些玫瑰色的指甲。
She washed the soiled linen, the shirts and the dishcloths, which she dried upon a line; she carried the slops down to the street every morning and carried up the water, stopping for breath at every landing.
内衣和抹布都由她亲自用肥皂洗净再晾到绳子上；每天早起，她搬运垃圾下楼，再把水提到楼上，每逢走完一层楼，就得坐在楼梯上喘口气。
And dressed like a woman of the people, she went to the fruiterer, the grocer, the butcher, a basket on her arm, bargaining, meeting with impertinence, defending her miserable money, sou by sou.
并且她穿得像是一个平民妇人了，她走到蔬菜店里、杂货店里和肉店里提着篮子去讲价钱，去挨骂，极力一个铜元一个铜元地去防护她那点儿可怜的零钱。
Every month they had to meet some notes, renew others, obtain more time. Her husband worked evenings, making up a tradesman's accounts, and late at night he often copied manuscript for five sous a page.
每月都要收回好些借据，一面另外立几张新的去展缓日期。她丈夫在傍晚的时候替一个商人誊清账目，时常到了深夜，他还得抄录那种五个铜元一面的书。
This life lasted ten years. At the end of ten years they had paid everything, everything, with the rates of usury and the accumulations of the compound interest.
末后，这种生活延长到十年之久。十年之末，他俩居然还清了全部债务，连同高利贷者的利钱以及由利上加利滚成的数目。
Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become the woman of impoverished households—strong and hard and rough.
骆塞尔太太像是老了。现在，她已经变成了贫苦人家吃苦耐劳的妇人了。
With frowsy hair, skirts askew and red hands, she talked loud while washing the floor with great swishes of water.
乱挽着头发，歪歪地系着裙子，露着一双发红的手，高声说话，大盆水洗地板。
But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat down near the window and she thought of that gay evening of long ago, of that ball where she had been so beautiful and so admired.
但是有时候她丈夫到办公室里去了，她独自坐在窗前，于是就回想从前的那个晚会，那个舞会，在那里，她当时是那样美貌，那样快活。
What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? Who knows? How strange and changeful is life! How small a thing is needed to make or ruin us!
倘若当时没有失掉那件首饰，她现在会走到什么样的境界？谁知道？谁知道？人生真是古怪，真是变化无常啊。无论是害您或者救您，只消一点点小事。
But one Sunday, having gone to take a walk in the Champs Elysees to refresh herself after the labors of the week, she suddenly perceived a woman who was leading a child.
然而，某一个星期日，她正走到香榭丽舍大街上兜个圈子，缓解一周之中的日常劳作，这时候忽然看见了一个带着孩子散步的妇人。
It was madame Forestier, still young, still beautiful, still charming. Madame Loisel felt moved. Should she speak to her? Yes, certainly.
那就是伏来士洁太太，她始终是年轻的，美貌的，迷人的。骆塞尔太太非常激动。要不要去和她攀谈？对的，当然。
And now that she had paid, she would tell her all about it. Why not? She went up." Good-day, Jeanne.”
并且自己现在已经还清了债务，可以彻底告诉她。为什么不？她走近前去了。“早安，约翰妮。”
The other, astonished to be familiarly addressed by this plain good-wife, did not recognize her at all and stammered: "But--madame! I do not know-- You must have mistaken.” "No. I am Mathilde Loisel."
那位竟一点儿也不认识她了，以为自己被这个平民妇人这样亲热地叫唤是件怪事，她支支吾吾地说：“不过……这位太太！……我不知道……大概应当是您弄错了。”“没有错。我是玛蒂尔蒂·骆塞尔呀。”
Her friend uttered a cry. "Oh, my poor Mathilde! How you are changed!" "Yes, I have had a pretty hard life, since I last saw you, and great poverty— and that because of you!” "Of me! How so?" "Do you remember that diamond necklace you lent me to wear at the ministerial ball?" "Yes. Well?" "Well, I lost it." "What do you mean? You brought it back." "I brought you back another exactly like it. And it has taken us ten years to pay for it. You can understand that it was not easy for us, for us who had nothing. At last it is ended, and I am very glad."
她那个女朋友狂叫了一声：“噢！可怜的玛蒂尔蒂，你真变了样子！”“对呀，我过了许多很艰苦的日子，自从我上一次见过你以后；并且种种苦楚都是为了你！”“为了我？这是怎样一回事？”“从前，你不是借了一串金刚钻项链给我到部里参加晚会，现在，你可还记得？”“记得，怎样呢？”“怎样，我丢了那串东西。”“哪儿的话，你早已还给我了。”“我从前还给你的是另外一串完全相同的。到现在，我们花了十年工夫才付清它的代价。
像我们什么也没有的人，你明白这件事是不容易的……现在算是还清了帐，我是结结实实的满意了。”
Madame Forestier had stopped. "You say that you bought a necklace of diamonds to replace mine?" "Yes. You never noticed it, then! They were very similar." And she smiled with a joy that was at once proud and ingenuous.
伏来士洁太太停住了脚步：“你可是说从前买了一串金刚钻项链来赔偿我的那一串？”“对呀，你从前简直没有看出来，是吗？那两串东西原是完全相同的。”说完，她用一阵自负而又天真的快乐神气微笑了。
Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took her hands. "Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste! It was worth at most only five hundred francs!"
伏来士洁太太很受感动了，抓住了她两只手，“唉。可怜的玛蒂尔蒂，不过我那一串本是假的，顶多值得五百法郎！”
