《黑珍珠》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

Heureux qui comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage.

幸福的人，像尤利西斯那样，做过美好的旅行。

Du Bellay.

杜贝莱。

A terrific noise makes me jump from my chair, a confused uproar of grating wheels, horse-hoofs, the barking of dogs and the cracking of whips.

一阵可怕的喧闹声把我从椅子上惊起，那是混杂在一起的嘈杂声响：车轮的摩擦声、马蹄声、狗吠声和鞭子的噼啪声。

“The coach, Jeanne, with your luggage,” says my uncle.

「是驿车，让娜，载着你的行李来了，」我叔叔说。

I run to the verandah to see this relic of bygone days.

我跑到游廊上去看这件往昔岁月的遗物。

A true Diligence like those in the engravings of the 18th century, painted in canary yellow and emerald green, picked out with black and red.

一辆真正的驿车，就像十八世纪版画里的那种，漆成金丝雀黄和翡翠绿，又用黑色和红色勾勒出线条。

This funny vehicle is bringing my boxes, containing all I possess in the world, my favourite books and the presents of my Parisian school-mates whom I left in tears at the idea of my departure for the antipodes—“a country of kangaroos and savages, where I would surely be eaten alive,” they sobbed.

这辆滑稽的马车运来了我的箱子，里面装着我在这世上拥有的一切，我心爱的书籍，还有巴黎同学们送我的礼物。当初他们听说我要去天涯海角，都哭着说：「那是个遍地袋鼠和野蛮人的地方，你肯定会被活活吃掉的。」

“What a contrast to the ‘Brasier’ motor in which you drove me here yesterday, uncle,” I exclaim.

「叔叔，这跟昨天你载我来的那辆布拉西耶汽车比起来，差别真大啊，」我感叹道。

“That is Australia, little one, the two extremes. Yesterday a motor, to-day the old coach which carries letters to far-off bush homes, among them probably some from the Old World by the Messageries Boat on which you were a passenger.”

「这就是澳大利亚，小丫头，两个极端。昨天是汽车，今天是老驿车，它把信件送到遥远的丛林人家，其中说不定就有旧大陆寄来的信，是你坐的那艘法国邮船运来的。」

By what strange circumstance does a little Parisienne find herself in the midst of the Australian bush?

一个巴黎小姑娘，怎么会阴差阳错地来到澳大利亚丛林深处呢？

For the very simple reason that my guardian, Mr. Deslandes, is the happy owner of a big station, Gwylata, on the banks of Lake Alexandrina, in South Australia. “L’oncle aux millions,” as my school-mates used to call him, whose arrival in Paris was the signal for a short but intoxicating whirl of pleasure when the head of the little orphan was somewhat turned with boxes at the “Opera,” at the “Comédie Française,” suppers in “chic restaurants,” visits to grands couturiers, where I found myself the delighted possessor of frocks very much too smart for a school girl, and one never-to-be-forgotten time—a delirious fortnight at Cannes and Monte-Carlo.

原因很简单：我的监护人德朗德先生，幸运地拥有南澳大利亚亚历山德里娜湖畔一座大牧场，名叫格维拉塔。我的同学们管他叫「百万富翁叔叔」。他每次到巴黎，都意味着一阵短暂却令人陶醉的欢乐旋风：这个小小孤女被弄得晕头转向，一会儿去歌剧院，一会儿去法兰西喜剧院，在时髦餐馆吃晚饭，拜访高级时装店，我在那里欢天喜地地拥有了对一个女学生来说过于漂亮的连衣裙，还有一次永生难忘的经历，在戛纳和蒙特卡洛度过了如痴如醉的两周。

“Come, come, little girl; breakfast will be quite cold,” calls my uncle. I glance at my precious luggage, piled up on the verandah, as the big lumbering vehicle starts noisily on its journey.

「快来，快来，小姑娘，早饭要凉透了，」叔叔喊道。那辆笨重的大车轰隆隆地重新上路，我瞥了一眼堆在游廊上的宝贝行李。

Unfortunately, in returning to my seat I indulge in a “pirouette,” to the intense astonishment of an old servant, who nearly lets fall a tray as she glares disapprovingly at me.

不幸的是，我回到座位时转了个圈，把一位老仆人惊得目瞪口呆，她瞪着我，一脸不以为然，差点把托盘掉在地上。

“Well, Meg, says my uncle; you have come for your mistress’ breakfast. Has she an appetite this morning?”

「喂，梅格，」叔叔说，「你是来给女主人端早饭的吧。她今天早上有胃口吗？」

Taking up the laden tray, the old woman throws me a spiteful glance, and mutters between her teeth, “French dancing girl!”

老妇人端起装满食物的托盘，恶狠狠地瞥了我一眼，从牙缝里嘟囔道：「法国跳舞丫头！」

Perhaps it is just as well that my uncle is a trifle deaf, the dear man, and does not hear the remark.

也许这样倒也好，我亲爱的叔叔有点耳背，没听见这句话。

“Now you have seen the real mistress of Gwylata, Jeannette, ‘Old Meg,’ who directs everything here and holds us in ‘the path of virtue’ with an iron hand—Meg, your aunt’s faithful maid for thirty years, and now the right hand of Molly, who has given the reins into her hands completely.”

「现在你见到格维拉塔真正的主人了，让内特，就是老梅格，这里一切都归她管，她用铁腕把我们管得规规矩矩。梅格在你姨妈身边忠心伺候了三十年，现在是莫莉的左右手，莫莉把大权完全交给了她。」

“She abuses the confidence”; I say it with conviction.

「她这是在滥用信任，」我深信不疑地说。

“Oh, no! Under a thorny exterior there beats a kind and devoted heart. She would suffer martyrdom herself and sacrifice everybody for Molly, and, above all, for Hector.”

「哦，不！在多刺的外表下，跳着一颗善良而忠诚的心。她愿意自己受难，为了莫莉，尤其是为了埃克托，她可以牺牲所有人。」

The Reverend Hector Armstrong is the son of my aunt by a former marriage, and inherits her religious feeling (for she is awfully pious, my dear Aunt Molly, I have heard). In charge of the Murray mission, he has established his headquarters at Gwylata and thrown himself into the heroic task of saving the souls of the benighted settlers scattered along the course of the great Australian waterway.

埃克托·阿姆斯特朗牧师是我姨妈前一次婚姻的儿子，继承了她的宗教情感，因为我亲爱的莫莉姨妈据说虔诚得不得了。他负责默里传教区，把总部设在格维拉塔，投身于拯救散布在这条澳大利亚大河沿岸那些蒙昧移民灵魂的英雄事业。

My eighteenth birthday! My aunt has just asked for me. I find her in the little morning room, where, reclining on a lounge, she passes the greater part of her days.

我十八岁生日！姨妈刚刚叫人来找我。我在小晨室里找到她，她正斜靠在躺椅上，一天大部分时间都是这样度过的。