麦琪的礼物（四）
At 7o’clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops.
七点钟时，咖啡煮好了，煎锅也方在炉子上热着，随时准备煎肉排。
Jim was never late. Della double the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then his step on the stair away down on the forst flight ,and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit for saying little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things,and now she whispered: “Please God ,make him think I am still pretty.”
杰姆一贯准时回家。德拉手里握着对折的表链，坐在门口节目进来时必经的桌角上。随后，她听到楼下梯级上响起了他啊的脚步声，她紧张得脸色发白。她习惯于为日常琐事祈祷。现在她低声念着：“上帝呀，求您让他认为我还是漂亮的吧！”
The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it .He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two——and to be burned with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.
门开了，杰姆迈步进来再随手关上。他看起来很消瘦，非常严肃。可怜的人，他只有22岁，却要承担一个家庭的重任！他该买一件新的大衣了，但他却连一副手套也没有啊！
Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable(稳定的，固定的) as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her . It was not anger,nor surprise,nor disapproval ,nor horror , nor any of the sentiments that she had been preparedfor. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.
杰姆站在门口，像一条猎犬闻到鹌鹑似地纹丝不动。他两眼盯着德拉，有一种她琢磨不透的表情，这使她大为惊慌。那既不是愤怒，也不是惊讶，又不是不满，更不是厌恶，不是她所预料的任何一种表情。他只是带着那种奇怪的神情死死地盯着她。
Della wriggled off the table and went for him.
德拉忐忑不安地从桌上跳下来，走到他身边。
“Jim ,daring,”she cried,”don’t look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present . It’ll grow out again——you won’t mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say ‘Marry Christmas !’ Jim ,and let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice——what a beautiful, nice gift I’ve got for you.”
“杰姆，亲爱的，” 她喊道，“别那样盯着我看。我把头发剪掉卖了，因为我不送你一件礼物，我过不了圣诞节。头发会再长起来的——你不会介意的，是不是？我实在没有办法才这么做的。我的头发长得非常非常快。说句 “圣诞快乐” 吧！杰姆，让我们高高兴兴的。你猜不到我给你买了一件多么好——多么美丽的礼物。”
“You’ve cut off you hair?”asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor.
“你把头发剪掉了？”杰姆吃力地问道，仿佛他绞尽脑汁之后，还没有把那个显而易见的事实弄明白似的。
“Cut it off and sold it .”said Della . “Don’t you like me just as well,anyhow? I’m me without my hair, am’t I? ”
“非但剪了，而且卖了，”德拉说，“不管怎么样，你还是一样的喜欢我，是不是？没有了头发的我还是我，不是吗？”
Jim looked about the room curiously.
杰姆好奇地向房里四下张望。
“You say you hair is gone?”he said,with an air almost of idiocy.
“你说你的头发没有了？”他带着近乎白痴的神情问道。
“You needn’t look for it ,” said Della . “It’s sold ,I tell you ——sold and gone,too. It’s Christmas Eve , boy .Be good to me , for it went for you .Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered,” she went on with sudden serious sweetness, “but nobody could ever count my love for you . Shall I put the chops on ,Jim ?”
“不用找了，”德拉说，“我告诉你，已经卖了——卖了，没有了。今天是圣诞节前夜，亲爱的，对我好一些，我剪掉头发为的是你呀。我的头发可能数得清。”她突然非常温柔的接下去说，“但是我对你的爱情谁也数不清。我把肉排烧上好吗？杰姆！”
Out o fhis trance Jim seemed quickly to wake .He enfolded his Della .For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential objecct in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year——what is the difference ? A mathenatician or a wot would give you the wrong answer. The magic brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminatd later on.
杰姆好像忽然从恍惚中醒过来。他把德拉搂在怀里。为了不致冒昧，让我们花十秒钟功夫瞧瞧另一方面无关紧要的东西吧。每周八元钱的房租，或者每年一百万块钱的房租——其中有什么区别？一个数学家或是一个滑稽家可能给你一个不正确的答复。麦琪带来了珍贵的礼物，但是其中没那样东西。这句晦涩的话，下文将有说明。
Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.
杰姆从大衣口袋里掏出一包东西，把它仍在桌上。
“Don’t make any mistake , Della ,” he said , “ aout me . I don’t think there’s anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that sould make me like my girl any less. But if you’ll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first.”
“不要对我的有任何误会，德儿。”他说，“不管是剪发、修脸、洗头，我对我的公主的爱情是绝对不会减低一分的。如果，你打开那个包，就会明白我刚才为什么愣住了。”
White fingers and nimble tore at the string and oaoer. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then , alas ! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.
白皙的手指轻巧地解开绳子、敏捷地撕开了包皮纸。接着是一声欣喜若狂的尖叫，哎呀！然后，突然转变成女性神经质的眼泪和哭泣，男主人只得千方百计地来安慰她。
For there lay The Combs ——the set of combs , said and back , that Della had worshipped for long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims——just the shade to wear in the beau tiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she know, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone.
因为摆放在眼前的是——一套梳子，一套梳子呀！两鬓用的，后面用的，应有尽有。那时很就以前德拉在百老汇的橱窗里见过并渴望已久的东西。纯玳瑁做的，边上镶着珠宝——配那已经失去的美发。颜色恰恰合适。她知道这套发梳是很贵重的，她心神向往了好久，却从未奢望过据为己有。现在，这一切居然属于自己了！可那对此渴望已久的秀发却已经不见踪影了。
But she hugged them to her bosm, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: “ My hair grows so fast, Jim!”
但是她还是把它紧紧地贴在胸前，好一会儿，她才抬起泪水迷蒙的双眼，微笑着说：“我的头发长得飞快，杰姆。”
And then Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried , “ Oh , oh !”
接着，德拉像一只被烫的小猫跳了起来，喊道：“噢，噢！”
Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present . She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to FLASH with a refection of her bright and ardent spirit.
杰姆还没看见他那精美的礼物呢。她急切地把手摊开伸向他。那没有知觉的贵重金属似乎也反射着她那欢快而炽热的心。
“Isn’t it a dandy , Jim ? I hunted all over town to find it. You’ll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch . I want to see how it looks on it,.”
“漂亮吗，杰姆？我跑遍了全城才找到它。现在你每天可以把表看上一百次了。快把手表给我，我要看看它们配在一起是什么样子。”
Instead of obeying , Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under back of his head and simled.
杰姆并没有照她的话去做，却倒在小榻上，头枕着双手，微笑着。
“Dell,”said he , “Let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep’em a whike. They’re too nice to use just at present . I sold the watch to get your combs . And now suppose you put the chops on .”
“德儿，”他说，“让我们把圣诞节的礼物搁在一边，暂时保存起来。它们实在太好了，现在用了未免可惜。我是卖了金表换了钱给你买发梳。现在请你煎肉排吧！”
The magi, as yo know , were wise men——wonderfully wise men——who brought gofts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art o fgiving Christmas presente. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for other the GREatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are . They are the magi.
那三位麦琪，读者都知道，全是有智慧的人——非常有智慧的人——他们带来的礼物，送给生在马槽里的圣婴耶稣。他们首创了圣诞节馈赠礼物的风俗。他们既然有智慧，他们的礼物无疑也是聪明的，可能还附带一种收到同样东西时可以交换的权利。我的拙笔在这里向读者记叙了一个没有曲折、不足为奇的故事；那两个住在一间公寓的笨孩子，极不聪明地为了牺牲了 他们家里最宝贵的东西。但是，让我对目前一般聪明人说一句最后的话，在所有馈赠礼物的人当中，他们两个是最聪明的。在一切接受礼物的人当中，像他们这样的人也是最聪明的。
The end
