《黑桃皇后及其他故事》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

There was a card party at the rooms of Narumoff, a lieutenant in the Horse Guards. A long winter night had passed unnoticed, and it was five o'clock in the morning when supper was served. The winners sat down to table with an excellent appetite; the losers let their plates remain empty before them. Little by little, however, with the assistance of the champagne, the conversation became animated, and was shared by all.

近卫骑兵团中尉纳鲁莫夫的住处正在举行牌局。漫长的冬夜不知不觉地过去了，到清晨五点钟才开晚饭。赢家们胃口极好地坐到餐桌前，输家们则让面前的盘子空着。然而，在香槟酒的助兴下，谈话渐渐活跃起来，人人都加入了。

"How did you get on this evening, Surin?" said the host to one of his friends.

「苏林，你今晚手气怎么样？」主人问一位朋友。

"Oh, I lost, as usual. I really have no luck. I play mirandole. You know that I keep cool. Nothing moves me; I never change my play, and yet I always lose."

「唉，跟平常一样，输了。我实在没有运气。我玩米兰多勒。你知道，我向来沉着。什么都打动不了我，我从不改变打法，可还是总输。」

"Do you mean to say that all the evening you did not once back the red? Your firmness of character surprises me."

「你是说，整整一晚上你一次也没押红？你这性格的坚定真叫我吃惊。」

"What do you think of Hermann?" said one of the party, pointing to a young Engineer officer.

「你们觉得赫尔曼怎么样？」在座的一位指着一位年轻的工兵军官说。

"That fellow never made a bet or touched a card in his life, and yet he watches us playing until five in the morning."

「那家伙一辈子没下过注，也没碰过牌，却看我们打牌看到凌晨五点。」

"It interests me," said Hermann; "but I am not disposed to risk the necessary in view of the superfluous."

「这让我感兴趣，」赫尔曼说，「不过我不打算为了多余的东西去冒险失去必需的东西。」

"Hermann is a German, and economical; that is the whole of the secret," cried Tomski. "But what is really astonishing is the Countess Anna Fedotovna!"

「赫尔曼是德国人，节俭，秘密全在这里，」托姆斯基大声说。「但真正叫人吃惊的是安娜·费多托夫娜伯爵夫人！」

"How so?" asked several voices.

「怎么回事？」几个人问道。

"Have you not remarked," said Tomski, "that she never plays?"

「你们没注意到吗，」托姆斯基说，「她从来不玩牌？」

"Yes," said Narumoff, "a woman of eighty, who never touches a card; that is indeed something extraordinary!"

「是啊，」纳鲁莫夫说，「一个八十岁的女人，从来不碰牌，这确实非同寻常！」

"You do not know why?"

「你们不知道原因？」

"No; is there a reason for it?"

「不知道，难道有什么原因吗？」

"Just listen. My grandmother, you know, some sixty years ago, went to Paris, and became the rage there. People ran after her in the streets, and called her the 'Muscovite Venus.' Richelieu made love to her, and my grandmother makes out that, by her rigorous demeanour, she almost drove him to suicide. In those days women used to play at faro. One evening at the court she lost, on parole, to the Duke of Orleans, a very considerable sum. When she got home, my grandmother removed her beauty spots, took off her hoops, and in this tragic costume went to my grandfather, told him of her misfortune, and asked him for the money she had to pay. My grandfather, now no more, was, so to say, his wife's steward. He feared her like fire; but the sum she named made him leap into the air. He flew into a rage, made a brief calculation, and proved to my grandmother that in six months she had got through half a million rubles. He told her plainly that he had no villages to sell in Paris, his domains being situated in the neighbourhood of Moscow and of Saratoff; and finally refused point blank. You may imagine the fury of my grandmother. She boxed his ears, and passed the night in another room.

「那就听我说。你们知道，我祖母大约六十年前去过巴黎，在那里红极一时。人们在大街上追着她跑，叫她『莫斯科维纳斯』。黎塞留追求过她，我祖母说，由于她举止严谨，几乎逼得他自杀。那时候女人都玩法罗。有一天晚上在宫廷里，她凭口头保证输给奥尔良公爵一笔相当大的数目。回到家后，我祖母卸下美人斑，脱下裙撑，穿着这身悲剧性的装束去找我祖父，把自己的不幸告诉他，并向他讨要该付的钱。我祖父如今已不在人世，可以说，他是他妻子的管家。他怕她像怕火一样，可她说的数目让他跳了起来。他勃然大怒，略一计算，就向我祖母证明，半年之内她已经花掉了五十万卢布。他直截了当地告诉她，他在巴黎没有村子可卖，他的领地在莫斯科和萨拉托夫附近，最后断然拒绝。你可以想象我祖母有多愤怒。她打了他一记耳光，然后到另一个房间过了一夜。

"THE OLD MAGICIAN CAME AT ONCE."

「老魔法师立刻来了。」

"The next day she returned to the charge. For the first time in her life, she condescended to arguments and explanations. In vain did she try to prove to her husband that there were debts and debts, and that she could not treat a prince of the blood like her coachmaker.

「第二天她又旧事重提。她平生第一次屈尊讲道理、作解释。她徒劳地向丈夫证明，债务和债务不同，她不能把一个王室血亲像对待她的马车匠那样对待。

"All this eloquence was lost. My grandfather was inflexible. My grandmother did not know where to turn. Happily she was acquainted with a man who was very celebrated at this time. You have heard of the Count of St. Germain, about whom so many marvellous stories were told. You know that he passed for a sort of Wandering Jew, and that he was said to possess an elixir of life and the philosopher's stone.

「所有这些雄辩都白费了。我祖父毫不动摇。我祖母不知该向谁求助。幸好她认识一个当时非常有名的人。你们听说过圣热尔曼伯爵，关于他流传着许多神奇的故事。你们知道，他被说成某种流浪的犹太人，据说他拥有长生不老药和哲人石。