麦琪的礼物（三）
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So now Della’s beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It raeched below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her . And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.
这时德拉的美丽的头发披散在身上，像一股褐色的小瀑布一样，波浪起伏，金光闪闪。头发一直垂到膝盖下，仿佛给她披上一件衣服。她又神经质地很快地把头发梳起来。她踌躇了一会儿，静静地站在那里，有一两滴泪水溅落在破旧的红地毯上。
On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of shirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she flutteded out the door and down the stairs to the street.
她穿上她那褐色的旧外衣，戴上她那褐色的旧帽子。眼睛里还留着晶莹的泪光，裙子一套，她飘然走出房门。走下楼梯，来到街上。
Where she stoped the sign read:”Mme.Sofronie.Hair Goods of All Kind.”One flight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame,large,too white, chilly, hardly looked the “Sofronie.”
她走到一块招牌前停住了，招牌上面写着；“莎弗郎尼娅夫人——经营各种头发用品。”德拉跑上一楼，一面喘着气，一面定下神来。那位夫人身躯肥大，肤色白得过分，一副冷冰冰的样子，和“莎弗郎尼娅”这个名字大不相称。
“Will you buy my hair?” ashed Della .
“您想买我的头发吗？”德拉问道
“I buy hair,” said Madame.”Take your hat off and let’s have a sight at the looks of it.”
“我买头发，”夫人说，“把你的帽子脱下来，让我看看你的头发什么样儿！”
Down rippled the brown cascade.
那股褐色的小瀑布泻了下来。
“Twenty dollars,”said Madame, lifting the mass with a practise hand.
“20块钱。” 夫人用熟练的手法抓起头发说。
“Give me quick ,”said Della.
“赶快把钱给我。”德拉说。
Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim’s present.
啊！随后的两个钟头仿佛长了玫瑰色的翅膀似的飞掠过去了。请不要理会折中杂凑的比喻吧！总之，德拉为了给杰姆买礼物，搜索了所有的铺子。
She found it last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of then inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design , properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation——as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch .As soonas she saw it she knew that it must be Jim’s . It was like him. Quietness and value——the description applied to both . Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 87cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was ,he sometimes liiked at it on the sly on account of the old lesther strap that he used in place of a chain.
最后，她终于把它找到了。它确是专为杰姆，不为别人制造的。她把所有的商店都搅翻了一遍，各家都没有像样的东西。那是一条白金表链，式样简单朴素，只以货色来宣誓它的价值，不凭什么不可耐的装潢——一切好东西都应该是这样的。它还真配得上那只金表。她一看到着表链就认为非给杰姆买下来不可。它简直像他的为人。文静而有价值——这句话拿来形容表链和杰姆本人都恰到好处。店里以21块钱的价格卖给了她，她带着剩下的八角七分匆匆地赶回家。杰姆有了这条表链，在任何场合都可以毫无顾忌地看看钟点了。那只表虽然华贵，可是因为他用一根旧皮条来代替表链，他有时只是偷偷地看一眼。
When Della raeched home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and raeson. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generousity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends——amammoth task.
德拉回家以后，她稍稍用谨慎与理智来代替了陶醉。她 拿出海烫发铁钳，点起煤气，开始补救由于爱情加上慷慨而造成的灾害。那始终是一件艰巨的工作，亲爱的朋友们——简直是了不起的工作。
Within forty minutes her head was coveded with tiny, closelying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long , carefully, and critically.
不出40分钟，她头上不满紧帖头皮的小卷发，变得活像一个逃学的小学生。她仔细而苛刻地对着镜子照了又照。
“If Jim doesn’t kill me ,” she said to herself,”before he takes a second look at me, he’ll say I like a Coney Island chrus girl. But what could I do ——oh! What could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?”
“如果杰姆看了我一眼不把我杀死才怪呢，”她自言自语地说，“他会说我是康奈岛游戏场里的卖唱姑娘。但是我有什么办法呢？——唉！只有一块八角七分钱，叫我有什么办法呢？”
