[英中] The Yellow Wallpaper 黃色壁紙

[wtchen (沒有存在感的人)]

這是我很喜歡的短文, 翻譯來獻醜一下, 請版友們指教!
原文在此:
http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Charlotte_Perkins_Gilman/The_Yellow_Wallpaper
/The_Yellow_Wallpaper_p1.html

The Yellow Wallpaper
黃色壁紙

It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure
ancestral halls for the summer.
像約翰跟我這種再普通不過的人居然會在夏天守著祖傳宅第, 真是件難得的事。

A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and
reach the height of romantic felicity--but that would be asking too much of
fate!
這間殖民風格的宅第，或是該說那是祖傳的莊園，我會乾脆說那是鬼屋，而且是間羅曼蒂
克的鬼屋--羅曼蒂克到要付出所有代價！

Still I will proudly declare that there is something queer about it.
儘管如此，我還是相當自豪地告訴你他有什麼詭異的。

Else, why should it be let so cheaply? And why have stood so long untenanted?
還有，為何這個宅第這麼便宜？ 又是因為什麼所以久無人居？

John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.
約翰嘲笑著我的"愚蠢"，當然這在婚姻裡最常見不過了。

John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense
horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be
felt and seen and put down in figures.
約翰是極端實際的人。他沒耐心去探討所謂的信念，也極度厭惡迷信; 而且他對於任何
他沒法感受不能看見描繪不出形象的東西嗤之以鼻。

John is a physician, and PERHAPS--(I would not say it to a living soul, of
course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)--PERHAPS that
is one reason I do not get well faster.
約翰是個醫生，這也許(當然我不會跟別人說這個，不過我現在是寫在紙上發洩)也許這就
是讓我不舒服的地方。

You see he does not believe I am sick!
你看，他根本不認為我病了!

And what can one do?
所以我該怎麼辦？

If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and
relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary
nervous depression--a slight hysterical tendency--what is one to do?
如果你有個具有崇高地位的醫生，跟你的朋友親戚們擔保一切都沒事，不過就是個短暫的
精神憂鬱症 -- 有點歇斯底里的傾向 -- 你會怎麼做？

My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the
same thing.
我的哥哥也是個具有崇高地位的醫生，他也說了同樣的話。

So I take phosphates or phosphites--whichever it is, and tonics, and
journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to "work" until
I am well again.
所以我開始服用磷酸鹽(還是亞磷酸鹽? 管他是什麼)， 開始吃滋補藥品， 開始旅行，呼
吸新鮮空氣，做運動... 不過在我復原前他們絕對禁止我開始工作。

Personally, I disagree with their ideas.
就我個人來說，我並不同意他們的想法。

Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would
do me good.
But what is one to do?
就我個人來說，對我有益的是，能讓我興奮和改變的，我喜歡的工作 。
但是我能怎麼辦？

I did write for a while in spite of them; but it DOES exhaust me a good
deal--having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition.
不管他們怎麼做，我還是努力寫了一會兒，不過這花了我好大的精力 -- 我必須更心機一
點，不然我會面對強烈的反對。

I sometimes fancy that my condition if I had less opposition and more society
and stimulus--but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about
my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad.
有時候我會想像著: 如果我沒有遭遇這麼多反對，而且我有更多社交的機會和更多激勵，
我還會是這樣嗎? -- 不過約翰說那對我目前的狀況來說再糟糕不過了，我也得承認這讓
我感覺很糟。

So I will let it alone and talk about the house.
所以，我跳過這個不談，先說說這個房子吧。

The most beautiful place! It is quite alone, standing well back from the
road, quite three miles from the village. It makes me think of English places
that you read about, for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and
lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people.
這是我到過最美麗的地方! 沒有左鄰右舍，離主要道路有點距離，至少離最近的村落有三
喱吧. 這讓我開始聯想到曾經在書中聽聞到的英式莊園: 有著樹籬，圍牆和鎖住的大門，
附近還有許多供園丁和居民住的獨立小房子。

There is a DELICIOUS garden! I never saw such a garden--large and shady, full
of box-bordered paths, and lined with long grape-covered arbors with seats
under them.
這花園真是太有魅力了! 我從來沒看過這樣的花園 -- 廣大而且綠樹成蔭，到處都有黃楊
籬笆的小路，還有葡萄藤纏繞著的涼亭。

There were greenhouses, too, but they are all broken now.
本來這裡也有一些花房，不過全都毀壞了。

There was some legal trouble, I believe, something about the heirs and
coheirs; anyhow, the place has been empty for years.
因為一些法律上的問題，我想是跟這房子的繼承人還是共同繼承人有關，這個地方已經有
幾年沒人住了。

That spoils my ghostliness, I am afraid, but I don't care--there is something
strange about the house--I can feel it.
我想這讓我心裡的鬼靈精有點掃性，不過我不介意 -- 因為我能感覺到這房子有點古怪。

I even said so to John one moonlight evening, but he said what I felt was a
DRAUGHT, and shut the window.
曾經在一個有月光的傍晚，我告訴約翰我的感覺，但是他說那是因為通風太大的關係，然
後關上了窗戶。

I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I'm sure I never used to be so
sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition.
我有時會沒來由地對約翰發脾氣. 我很確定我以前從來沒這麼敏感. 我想這是因為我太緊
張了。

But John says if I feel so, I shall neglect proper self-control; so I take
pains to control myself--before him, at least, and that makes me very tired.
但是約翰說如果我真的感覺如此，那應該是我沒有好好控制我自己;  所以我想盡辦法試
著至少在他面前控制我自己，這真的讓我感覺很疲累。

I don't like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the
piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned
chintz hangings! but John would not hear of it.
我一點也不喜歡不喜歡我們的寢室，一個不但用美麗老式印花棉布裝飾著的房間，
而且位在樓下面對著廣場，這樣打開窗戶就能看到滿滿玫瑰 -- 不過約翰沒興趣
知道。

He said there was only one window and not room for two beds, and no near room
for him if he took another.
他說這裡只有一個窗戶，而且沒有任何房間能放下兩張床，他也找不到相鄰的房間。

He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special
direction.
他真的很細心而且很疼我，幾乎不會讓我失了方向。

I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care
from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more.
他幫我安排好了每天的每個小時，所以如果我不好好珍惜我便覺得自己忘恩負義。

"Your exercise depends on your strength, my dear," said he, "and your food
somewhat on your appetite; but air you can absorb all the time." So we took
the nursery at the top of the house.
他說: "親愛的，能不能好好復健跟你的體力有關，你的食物必須符合你的口味，最重要
的是讓你隨時有新鮮的空氣可以呼吸". 所以我們把看護房安排在頂樓。

It is a big, airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all
ways, and air and sunshine galore. It was nursery first and then playroom and
gymnasium, I should judge; for the windows are barred for little children,
and there are rings and things in the walls.
那是個既大又通風的房間，整個樓層跟窗戶看起來都一樣，充滿著空氣和燦爛的陽光。窗
戶被拴住用以保護小孩，並在牆壁上有吊環和別的東西。我判斷這本來是育兒房，然後改
裝為遊戲室和健身房。

The paint and paper look as if a boys' school had used it. It is stripped
off--the paper--in great patches all around the head of my bed, about as far
as I can reach, and in a great place on the other side of the room low down.
I never saw a worse paper in my life.
糟糕的粉刷和剝離的壁紙讓我有身處男子學校的錯覺，天花板的壁紙有一大片讓我伸手可
及補丁，就在我的床頭上方，而這張壁紙的在靠房間另一邊是整個垂下來的. 我從沒看過
這麼糟糕的壁紙。

One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin.
其中一個誇張華麗的圖案簡直就是在殘害藝術。

It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to
constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain
curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide--plunge off at
outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions.
這圖案無聊到讓你眼花繚亂，想表達的多到持續地刺激煽動你的思考，當你順著這畸形的
曲線走了一點距離會發現突然斷了 --  一下子改變到無法理解的角度，破壞自己聞所未
聞的矛盾。

The color is repelllent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow,
strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight.
顏色討厭到幾乎令人做嘔, 那是因日曬而凋零的，充滿壓抑感的不均勻黃色。

It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in
others.
帶有一點既沉悶而又刺眼的橙色，還有噁心的硫磺色。

No wonder the children hated it! I should hate it myself if I had to live in
this room long.
不要說小孩會討厭，如果我得長時間待在這房間我也會討厭。

There comes John, and I must put this away,--he hates to have me write a
word.
約翰來了， 我也必須停下來了，因為他討厭我亂寫一通。

We have been here two weeks, and I haven't felt like writing before, since
that first day.
我們已經在這邊待了兩個星期，而且從來到這裡的第一天起，我從來沒這麼愛寫作。

I am sitting by the window now, up in this atrocious nursery, and there is
nothing to hinder my writing as much as I please, save lack of strength.
我現在坐在窗邊，依舊在這個糟透了的看護室裡，這裡並沒有什麼能阻礙我的寫作, 目前
只是保存實力。

--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 86.200.129.46
推 lathelaurel:Charlotte Perkins Gilman!
→ Dogmeat:那故事還滿恐怖的...
推 l10nel:推努力練習。一開頭"祠堂"有點嚇人, ancestral+[建築形式]
→ l10nel:ancestral就是祖傳的,不是祭祖的,下一段就明說了: 祖傳宅第
推 l10nel:第二段felicity和ask too much of fate請細究意思再譯
→ l10nel:(跳過許多段) 有點不喜歡我們的寢室->一點也不喜歡
→ l10nel:intense horror of superstition不是很恐怖的迷信，而是他
→ l10nel:極厭惡迷信 （horror 的一個意思。）
※ 編輯: wtchen          來自: 86.209.100.13        (07/02 16:37)
→ wtchen:感謝指教，可以請問felicity和ask too much of fate
→ wtchen:在這裡的意思是？