带家具出租的房子
Restless， shifting， fugaciousfugacious adj.短暂的， 易逃逸的， 难捕捉的， 无常的 as time itself is a certain vast bulk of the population of the red brick district of the lower West Side. Homeless， they have a hundred homes. They flit from furnished room to furnished room， transientstransient adj.短暂的， 瞬时的 n.瞬时现象 forever—transients in abode， transients in heart and mind. They sing “Home， Sweet Home” in ragtimeragtime n.拉格泰姆音乐(1890—1915期间在美国流行的一种音乐) adj.使人发笑的， 滑稽的； they carry their largest penates in a bandbox； their vine is entwined about a picture hat； a rubber plant is their fig tree.
在纽约西区南部的红砖房那一带地方，绝大多数居民都如时光一样动荡不定、迁移不停、来去匆匆。正因为无家可归，他们也可以说有上百个家。他们不时从这间客房搬到另一间客房，永远都是那么变幻无常——在居家上如此，在情感和理智上也无二致。他们用爵士乐曲调唱着流行曲《家，甜美的家》；全部家当用硬纸盒一拎就走；缠缘于阔边帽上的装饰就是他们的葡萄藤；拐杖就是他们的无花果树。
Hence the houses of this district， having had a thousand dwellersdweller n.居住者， 居民， should have a thousand tales to tell， mostly dull ones， no doubt； but it would be strange if there could not be found a ghost or two in the wake of all these vagrantvagrant n.游民 adj.漂泊的 guests.
这一带有成百上千这种住客，这一带的房子可以述说的故事自然也是成百上千。当然，它们大多干瘪乏味；不过，要说在这么多漂泊过客掀起的余波中找不出一两个鬼魂，那才是怪事哩。
One evening after dark a young man prowled among these crumbling red mansionsmansion n.大厦， 官邸， 公寓(用复数，用于专有名词中)， ringing their bells. At the twelfth he rested his lean handbaggage upon the step and wiped the dust from his hatband and forehead. The bell sounded faint and far away in some remote， hollow depths.
一天傍晚擦黑以后，有个青年男子在这些崩塌失修的红砖大房中间转悠寻觅，挨门挨户按铃。在第十二家门前，他把空当当的手提行李放在台阶上，然后揩去帽檐和额头上的灰尘。门铃声很弱，好像传至遥远、空旷的房屋深处。
To the door of this， the twelfth house whose bell he had rung， came a housekeeper who made him think of an unwholesome， surfeited worm that had eaten its nut to a hollow shell and now sought to fill the vacancyvacancy n.空， 空白， 空缺， 空闲， 清闲， 空虚 with edibleedible adj.可食用的 lodgers.
这是他按响的第十二家门铃。铃声响过，女房东应声出来开门。她的模样使他想起一只讨厌的、吃得过多的蛆虫。它已经把果仁吃得只剩空壳，现在正想寻找可以充饥的房客来填充空间。
He asked if there was a room to let.
年轻人问有没有房间出租。
“Come in，” said the housekeeper. Her voice came from her throat； her throat seemed lined with fur. “I have the third floor back， vacant since a week back. Should you wish to look at it？”
“进来吧，”房东说。她的声音从喉头挤出，嘎声嘎气，好像喉咙上绷了层毛皮。“三楼还有个后间，空了一个星期。想看看吗？”
The young man followed her up the stairs. A faint light from no particular source mitigatedmitigate v.减轻 the shadows of the halls. They trod noiselessly upon a stair carpet that its own loom would have forsworn. It seemed to have become vegetable； to have degenerated in that rank， sunless air to lush lichen or spreading moss that grew in patches to the staircase and was viscid under the foot like organic matterorganic matter 有机物. At each turn of the stairs were vacant niches in the wall. Perhaps plants had once been set within them. If so they had died in that foul and tainted air. It may be that statues of the saints had stood there， but it was not difficult to conceive that imps and devils had dragged them forth in the darkness and down to the unholy depths of some furnished pit below.
年轻人跟她上楼。不知从什么地方来的一线微光缓和了过道上的阴影。他们不声不响地走着，脚下的地毯破烂不堪，可能连造出它的织布机都要诅咒说这不是自己的产物。它好像已经植物化了，已经在这恶臭、阴暗的空气中退化成茂盛滋润的地衣或满地蔓延的苔藓，东一块西一块，一直长到楼梯上，踩在脚下像有机物一样粘糊糊的。楼梯转角处墙上都有空着的壁龛。它们里面也许曾放过花花草草。果真如此的话，那些花草已经在污浊肮脏的空气中死去。壁龛里面也许曾放过圣像，但是不难想象，黑暗之中大大小小的魔鬼早就把圣人拖出来，一直拖到下面某间客房那邪恶的深渊之中去了。
“This is the room，” said the housekeeper， from her furry throat. “Its a nice room. It aint often vacant. I had some most elegant people in it last summer—no trouble at all， and paid in advance to the minute. The waters at the end of the hall. Sprowls and Mooney kept it three months. They done a vaudevillevaudeville n.歌舞杂耍 sketch. Miss Bretta Sprowls—you may have heard of her—Oh， that was just the stage names—right there over the dresser is where the marriage certificatecertificate n.证书， 证明书 vt.发给证明书，以证书形式授权给…… hung， framed. The gas is here， and you see there is plenty of closet room. Its a room everybody likes. It never stays idle long.”
“就是这间，”房东说，还是那副毛皮嗓子。“房间很不错，难得有空的时候。今年夏天这儿还住过一些特别讲究的人哩——从不找麻烦，按时提前付房租。自来水在过道尽头。斯普罗尔斯和穆尼住了三个月。她们演过轻松喜剧。布雷塔·斯普罗尔斯小姐——也许你听说过她吧——喔，那只是艺名儿——就在那张梳妆台上边，原来还挂着她的结婚证书哩，镶了框的。煤气开关在这儿，瞧这壁橱也很宽敞。这房间人人见了都喜欢，从来没长时间空过。”
“Do you have many theatricaltheatrical adj.戏剧性的 people rooming here？” asked the young man.
“你这儿住过很多演戏的？”年轻人问。
“They comes and goes. A good proportion of my lodgers is connected with the theatres. Yes， sir， this is the theatrical district. Actor people never stays long anywhere. I get my share. Yes， they comes and they goes.”
“他们这个来，那个去。我的房客中有很多人在演出界干事。对了，先生，这一带剧院集中，演戏的人从不在一个地方长住。到这儿来住过的也不少。他们这个来，那个去。”
He engaged the room， paying for a week in advance. He was tired， he said， and would take possessionpossession n.拥有， 占有， 所有， 着迷， 领土， 领地，财产(常用复数)， 自制 at once. He counted out the money. The room had been made ready， she said， even to towels and water. As the housekeeper moved away he put， for the thousandththousandth adj.第一千的， 千分之一的 time， the question that he carried at the end of his tongue.
他租下了房间，预付了一个星期的租金。他说他很累，想马上住下来。他点清了租金。她说房间早就准备规矩，连毛巾和水都是现成的。房东走开时，他又——已经是第一千次了——把挂在舌尖的问题提了出来。
“A young girl—Miss Vashner—Miss Eloise Vashner—do you remember such a one among your lodgers？ She would be singing on the stage， most likely. A fair girl， of medium height and slender， with reddishreddish adj.微红的， 略带红色的， gold hair and a dark mole near her left eyebrow.”
“有个姑娘——瓦西纳小姐——埃卢瓦丝·瓦西纳小姐——你记得房客中有过这人吗？她多半是在台上唱歌的。她皮肤白嫩，个子中等，身材苗条，金红色头发，左眼眉毛边长了颗黑痣。”
“No， I dont remember the name. Them stage people has names they change as often as their rooms. They comes and they goes. No， I dont call that one to mind.”
“不，我记不得这个名字。那些搞演出的，换名字跟换房间一样快，来来去去，谁也说不准。不，我想不起这个名字了。”
