《三十九级台阶》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

I returned from the City about three o’clock on that May afternoon pretty well disgusted with life. I had been three months in the Old Country, and was fed up with it. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would have been feeling like that I should have laughed at him; but there was the fact. The weather made me liverish, the talk of the ordinary Englishman made me sick. I couldn’t get enough exercise, and the amusements of London seemed as flat as soda-water that has been standing in the sun. “Richard Hannay,” I kept telling myself, “you have got into the wrong ditch, my friend, and you had better climb out.”

五月的那天下午，我大约三点钟从城里回来，心里对生活厌烦透了。我在老家待了三个月，已经受够了。要是一年前有人告诉我，我会有这种感觉，我准会笑话他。可事实就是如此。天气让我肝火旺，普通英国人的言谈让我恶心。我运动量不够，伦敦的娱乐像在太阳下放久了的苏打水一样寡淡无味。「理查德·汉内，」我不断对自己说，「你掉进了错误的沟里，朋友，最好赶紧爬出来。」

It made me bite my lips to think of the plans I had been building up those last years in Buluwayo. I had got my pile—not one of the big ones, but good enough for me; and I had figured out all kinds of ways of enjoying myself. My father had brought me out from Scotland at the age of six, and I had never been home since; so England was a sort of Arabian Nights to me, and I counted on stopping there for the rest of my days.

一想到过去那些年在布拉瓦约筹划的种种计划，我就忍不住咬嘴唇。我攒下了钱，不算大财，但对我来说够好了。我设想过各种享受生活的办法。父亲在我六岁时把我从苏格兰带出来，此后我再没回过家。所以英格兰对我来说就像天方夜谭，我指望着在那里度过余生。

But from the first I was disappointed with it. In about a week I was tired of seeing sights, and in less than a month I had had enough of restaurants and theatres and race-meetings. I had no real pal to go about with, which probably explains things. Plenty of people invited me to their houses, but they didn’t seem much interested in me. They would fling me a question or two about South Africa, and then get on to their own affairs. A lot of Imperialist ladies asked me to tea to meet schoolmasters from New Zealand and editors from Vancouver, and that was the dismalest business of all. Here was I, thirty-seven years old, sound in wind and limb, with enough money to have a good time, yawning my head off all day. I had just about settled to clear out and get back to the veld, for I was the best bored man in the United Kingdom.

可从一开始我就对它失望了。大约一周后，我就厌倦了观光。不到一个月，餐馆、剧院和赛马会我就受够了。我没有真正的朋友可以一起走动，这大概能说明问题。不少人邀请我去他们家，但他们似乎对我没多大兴趣。他们会问我几个关于南非的问题，然后就转到自己的事情上。许多帝国主义派的女士请我喝茶，让我见从新西兰来的校长和从温哥华来的编辑，那是最沉闷的事。我三十七岁，身体健全，钱够我好好玩乐，却整天打哈欠打得头都要掉下来。我几乎已经决定收拾行李回草原去，因为我是联合王国里最无聊的人。

That afternoon I had been worrying my brokers about investments to give my mind something to work on, and on my way home I turned into my club—rather a pot-house, which took in Colonial members. I had a long drink, and read the evening papers. They were full of the row in the Near East, and there was an article about Karolides, the Greek Premier. I rather fancied the chap. From all accounts he seemed the one big man in the show; and he played a straight game too, which was more than could be said for most of them. I gathered that they hated him pretty blackly in Berlin and Vienna, but that we were going to stick by him, and one paper said that he was the only barrier between Europe and Armageddon. I remember wondering if I could get a job in those parts. It struck me that Albania was the sort of place that might keep a man from yawning.

那天下午，我一直在为投资的事缠着我的经纪人，好让脑子有点事做。回家的路上，我拐进了我的俱乐部，那是个相当简陋的酒馆，也接纳殖民地来的会员。我喝了一大杯，读了晚报。报上全是近东的争吵，还有一篇关于希腊首相卡罗利迪斯的文章。我挺喜欢这家伙。从各种说法来看，他似乎是这场戏里唯一的大人物。而且他行事正派，这比大多数人都强。我了解到柏林和维也纳恨他恨得厉害，但我们要支持他。有份报纸说，他是欧洲和哈米吉多顿之间唯一的屏障。我记得自己当时在想，能不能在那些地方找份差事。我觉得阿尔巴尼亚是那种能让人不打哈欠的地方。