Special-Duties译文-乔.docx

fortunately bombed into car parks或不幸中的万幸，被炸弹夷为平地，变成了停车场
moused in悄无声息地走了进来
Special Duties
Graham Greene
特别职责
格雷厄姆·格林
William Ferraro, of Ferraro & Smith, lived in a great house in Montagu Square. One wing was occupied by his wife who believed herself to be an invalid and obeyed strictly the dictate that one should live every day as if it were one’s last. For this reason her wing for the last ten years had invariably housed some Jesuit or Dominican priest with a taste for good wine and whisky and an emergency bell in his bedroom. Mr. Ferraro looked after his salvation in more independent fashion. He retained the firm grasp on practical affairs that had enabled his grandfather, who had been a fellow exile with Mazzini, to found the great business of Ferraro & Smith in a foreign land. God has made man in his image, and it was not unreasonable for Mr. Ferraro to return the compliment and to regard God as the director of some supreme business which yet depended for certain of its operations on Ferraro & Smith. The strength of a chain is in its weakest link, and Mr. Ferraro did not forget his responsibility.
费拉罗&史密斯公司的老板威廉·费拉罗住在蒙塔古广场伦敦富豪聚居区
蒙塔古广场（Montagu Square）：伦敦地名，位于伦敦西部，富人居住区之一。
的一座豪宅里。他的夫人居住在豪宅的一个侧翼Wing指豪宅的侧翼，不是普通住房，不能翻译成“一侧的厢房”或“一厢”等。
。她认为自己体弱多病Invalid: someone who is ill or injured and is unable to look after themselves.
，便恪守训诫，把每一天都当成生命中的最后一天来过译成“严格遵循‘……’的训诫”太生硬，太英语范儿。
此处出自宣扬禁欲主义和宿命论的罗马皇帝马可·奥勒利乌斯（Marcus Aurelius）。原句为："Live not one's life as though one had a thousand years, but live each day as the last.
。因此，过去十年来，她那侧总住着一个耶稣会会士Jesuit: a priest who belongs to a Christian religious organization called the Society of Jesus, that was started in 1534. Its members are known for teaching and studying Christianity.
或多明峨会修道士Dominican: a priest, monk or nun who belongs to a Christian religious group started by St. Dominic.
。耶稣会以反对宗教改革并在异教徒中传教为宗旨，向以繁缛的宗教仪式和善于诡辩著称。而创立于1215年的多明峨会则主张苦行，其教士往往以行乞化缘为主。这里两者居然呆了十年都没看出来到底是哪个教会的教士，可见连宗教人士的信仰都这么肤浅，充满讽刺意味。
这位教士喜喝上好的葡萄酒和威士忌暗含嗜酒成瘾耽误事的意思，但若译成嗜酒成瘾则过了。
，房间里装着一个应急铃以供紧急呼叫。费拉罗先生拯救自己灵魂的方式，就独立多了。他的祖父曾追随马志尼在意大利流亡，因其实干精神而在异乡创立了费拉罗&史密斯公司这个大公司；这种务实的风格如今便由费拉罗先生继承下来。Firm grasp on practical affairs表明注重实际的东西，对精神、信仰等不属于practical affairs的方面则不那么重视。这带来了他生意上的成功，却也使费拉罗先生对精神、宗教等方面不虔诚，连参加赦罪仪式都花钱雇人来做，并认为这样就可以获得赦罪的天数。
既然上帝按照自己的模样创造了人，上帝按自己的模样造人，是对人的一种赞美。
那么，费拉罗先生便合情合理地回馈了上帝的这份赞美，认为上帝是某个至高无上的公司的老板，其公司的运转在某些方面还得依靠费拉罗&史密斯公司。作为大公司老板的费拉罗以己之心来设想上帝是一家至高无上的公司的老板，可以说是回报了上帝按自己形象造人这种对人的赞美。依靠费拉罗&史密斯公司暗讽天主教曾借出售赎罪券来敛财。
链条费拉罗与上帝的联系
结实与否，取决于其中最薄弱的一环；费拉罗先生从不忘记自己应尽的责任自己应尽的责任也是他与上帝之间链条的一环，不能让其成为最薄弱的。所以从未忘记责任。
。
On this particular Monday morning it was also May the first. With his confidential secretary—a man called Hopkinson—he went through the schedule for the day. It was not very onerous, for Mr. Ferraro had the rare quality of being able to delegate responsibility. He did this the more readily because he was accustomed to making unexpected checks, and woe betide the employee who failed him.
这一天是星期一，也正好是5月1日。早晨，将这里的三层意思拆开来译。符合汉语习惯
费拉罗先生和机要秘书（一个叫哈普金斯的男人）过了一下当天的日程。事情不算多，因为费拉罗先生善于分派任务，这种本领可不多见。Delegate responsibility此处意为分派任务，rare quality指的是没有多少人具备的素质。但译成素质很拗口，也不符合语境。另外，拆开译是为了照顾汉语习惯。
在这方面他之所以能做得得心应手
，是因为他惯于突然检查
。手下的人如果令他失望了fail: If someone fails you, they do not do what they promised or what you trusted them to do.
，那就活该倒霉Woe betide sb: (often humorous) used for warning someone that they will be in trouble if they do a particular thing.
了！
Miss Saunders moused in. She gave the impression of moving close to the ground. She was about thirty years old with indeterminate hair and eyes of a startling clear blue which gave her otherwise anonymous face a resemblance to a holy statue. She was described in the firm’s books as “assistant confidential secretary” and her duties were “special ones”. Even her qualifications were special: she had been head girl at the Convent of Saint Latitudinaria, Woking, where she had won in three successive years the special prize for piety.
桑德斯小姐悄无声息地走了进来Mouse: n. (informal) someone who is quiet and prefers not to be noticed安静害羞之人
quiet as a mouse: very quiet非常安静的
，让人觉得她是在贴着地面移动。她约摸30岁，发色并不分明indeterminate: not known or clearly established.未知的；不明确的；模糊的 eg. A man of indeterminate age年纪不确定的男人。这里指的是发色不是明显的金黄、棕色或黑色等。若译成头发很不起眼或头发散乱等，则与下文的圣母形象不符。
，容貌也不出众，眼睛却出人意料地清澈湛蓝，调整anonymous的位置，使符合汉语习惯。
使她的脸看上去有点像圣洁的雕像。在公司的名册上，她被称为“助理机要秘书”，负有“特殊职责”。她的资历也很特殊：她曾是沃金 沃金（Woking）：英国地名，是萨里郡西部的一个市镇，位于伦敦西南约20英里处。
的圣拉提图迪那里亚修道院音译意译两难，选音译加注释。
此处修道院的名字St. Latitudinaria既不是英语专有名词，基督教圣徒中亦无此人。作者借用英文Latitudinarianism（意为“宗教上的自由主义或广教主义”）杜撰了这个名称，暗示了桑德斯小姐的实际信仰。
的女生代表Head girl:（学校中挑选出的）女生代表
，并连续三年获得该院清楚译出where从句，否则读者不明白该奖项级别
的虔诚特别奖。
She laid a typed list on Mr. Ferraro’s desk: in the first column the date, in the second the church or place of pilgrimage where the indulgence was to be gained, and in the third column in red ink the number of days saved from the temporal punishments of Purgatory. Mr. Ferraro read it carefully.
桑德斯小姐把一张打好的单子放在费拉罗先生的桌上：第一列是日期；第二列是取得赦罪的朝拜教堂或地点；第三列用红墨水写上免除炼狱之苦的天数天主教认为，世上之人有善恶，善者将进入天堂获得永生，恶者将被打入地狱永受煎熬。炼狱处于天堂和地狱之间，那些有罪但不必下地狱者在此受苦以赎罪，待灵魂净化后便可进入天堂。按照天主教教义，教会可通过一些宗教仪式，将基督以及历代圣人的善行和功德宝藏分施给信徒，称为赦罪。信徒藉此可以取得免受炼狱之苦的若干日子。
。费拉罗先生仔细看了一遍。
“I get the impression, Miss Saunders,” he said, “that you are spending too much time on the lower brackets. Sixty days here, fifty days there. Are you sure you are not wasting your time on these? One indulgence of 300 days will compensate for many such. I put a great deal of trust in you, Miss Saunders. If I were less occupied here, I could attend to some of these indulgences myself. You pay great attention, I hope, to the conditions.”
“Of course I do, Mr. Ferraro.”
“You are always careful to be in a State of Grace?”
Miss Saunders lowered her eyes. “That is not very difficult in my case, Mr. Ferraro.”
“What is your programme today?”
“You have it there, Mr. Ferraro.”
“Of course. St. Praxted’s, Canon Wood. That is rather a long way to go. You have to spend the whole afternoon on a mere sixty days’ indulgence?”
“It was all I could find for today. Of course there are always the plenary indulgences at the Cathedral. But I know how you feel about not repeating during the same month.”
“My only point of superstition,” Mr. Ferraro said. “It has no basis, of course, in the teaching of the Church.”
“You wouldn't like an occasional repetition for a member of your family, Mr. Ferraro, your wife ...?”
“We are taught, Miss Saunders , to pay first attention to our own souls. My wife should be looking after her own indulgences—she has an excellent Jesuit adviser—I employ you to look after mine.”
“You have no objection to Canon Wood?”
“If it is really the best you can do. So long as it does not involve overtime.”
“Oh no, Mr. Ferraro. A decade of the Rosary, that’s all.”
After an early lunch, a desire came to Mr. Ferraro to take a real holiday, and he nearly told his chauffeur to drive to Richmond Park. But he always preferred, if it were possible, to combine business with pleasure, and it occurred to him that if he drove out now to Canon Wood, Miss Saunders should be arriving about the same time, after her lunch interval, to start the afternoon’s work.
Canon Wood was one of those new suburbs built around an old estate. Mr. Ferraro told his driver to ask the way to the Roman Catholic church.
“There isn’t one here,” the policeman said.
“St. Praxted’s?”
“There’s no such place,” the policeman said.
Mr. Ferraro, like a Biblical character, felt a loosening of the bowels.
“St. Praxted’s, Canon Wood.”
“Doesn’t exist, sir,” the policeman said.
Mr. Ferraro drove slowly back toward the City. This was the first time he had checked on Miss Saunders —three prizes for piety had won his trust. Now on his homeward way he remembered that Hitler had been educated by the Jesuits, and yet hopelessly he hoped.
费拉罗先生让车子慢慢开回了伦敦。这是他头一回对桑德斯小姐进行检查——三次虔诚奖使她取得了他的信任。现在在回去下文看到他先回了办公室，所以这里的homeward不应直译为回家，而可以模糊译为回去。
的路上，他才原句将now on his homeward way放在句首，起到了一定的强调作用，表示此时他才恍然大悟。所以译文加上了“才”，这样更贴合原文意图。
想起来，希特勒还受过耶稣会的教诲呢希特勒接受过耶稣会的教诲，可他还是个举世皆认的恶魔。暗指桑德斯小姐的虔诚奖对她的人品也未必有多大的说服力。
。然而，他明知无望，却仍抱着一线希望一线希望比“希望”好，体现绝望之中仅存的希望
。
In his office he unlocked the drawer and took out the special file. Could he have mistaken Canonbury for Canon Wood? But he had not been mistaken, and suddenly a terrible doubt came to him how often in the last three years Miss Saunders had betrayed her trust. (It was after a severe attack of pneumonia three years ago that he had engaged her—the idea had come to him during the long insomnias of convalescence.) Was it possible that not one of these indulgences had been gained? He couldn’t believe that. Surely a few of that vast total of 36892 days must still be valid. But only Miss Saunders could tell him how many. And what had she been doing with her office time—those long hours of pilgrimage? She had once taken a whole weekend at Walsingham.
到了办公室，他打开抽屉的锁，取出那份特别文件。会不会是他把卡农贝利 卡农贝利（Canonbury）：伦敦地名，位于伦敦北部。
记成了卡农伍德？但是他没记错。突然之间，一阵恐惧和怀疑Terrible doubt若译成“恐惧的怀疑”，不符合汉语的搭配习惯，故将两层意思分开表达。
向他袭来：过去的三年里，桑德斯小姐到底有多少次辜负了他的信任？（三年前，他得了一场严重的肺炎。在治疗康复期，他经常长夜难眠Insomnia为“失眠”或“失眠症”，本是不可数名词。这里作者用long insomnias，将他的失眠症状具体化为一夜夜失眠的场景。
，于是想到了这个主意，雇佣了她。）这些赦罪的日子会不会连一个也未曾取得？这太令人难以置信了。36892天呢，这么多的天数里，总还有一些是有效的吧Must be表示较为肯定的猜测。
？这几句是费拉罗的暗自思量，承袭上文提到的“一阵怀疑和恐惧向他袭来”。要把暗自思量的语气译出来，就应避免用正式语体的长句子。故拆为较口语化的短句。
可是只有桑德斯小姐才能告诉他。还有，她在工作时间都干了些什么——那些漫长的朝拜时间？她曾经在沃辛汉姆 沃辛汉姆（Walsingham）：英国地名。
整整呆了一个周末。
Mr. Ferraro drove into the dreary waste of Bayswater: great family houses had been converted into private hotels or fortunately bombed into car parks. In the terraces behind dubious girls leant against the railings, and a street band blew harshly round a corner. Mr. Ferraro found the house, but he could not bring himself to ring the bell. He sat crouched in his Daimler waiting for something to happen. Was it the intensity of his gaze that brought Miss Saunders to an upper window, a coincidence, or retribution? Mr. Ferraro thought at first that it was the warmth of the day that had caused her to be so inefficiently clothed, as she slid the window a little wider open. But then an arm circled her waist, a young man’s face looked down into the street, a hand pulled a curtain across with the familiarity of habit. It became obvious to Mr. Ferraro that not even the conditions for an indulgence had been properly fulfilled.
费拉罗先生驱车来到沉闷Dreary译为“阴郁”不妥，阴郁常用来搭配天气，不搭配地方，根据原文含义，应译为沉闷。
、荒凉的Waste名词，意为大片的荒芜的地方。这里处理为形容词，符合汉语习惯，同时忠实传递原文意思。
贝斯沃特 贝斯沃特（Bayswater）：英国地名，位于伦敦西二区，当时已衰败。
。宏伟的私家宅第如今已改为私人旅店，或此处含义是：改为私人旅店有辱这些曾经的豪宅。
有幸被炸掉，变成了停车场。后面的房子里In the terraces behind这里应该指的是豪宅后面的房子（典型的英式排房，但不必译成排房，因为这里并不强调到底是哪种房子，“房子”一次就暗含了常见房子的意思，且“排房”一词对中文读者来说，要么是个陌生概念，要么会引起误解），而不是“露台”或其它建筑。露台的话，应用介词on。且桑德斯小姐的房子就在其中。后文暗示她也是暗娼。
，一些不正经的Dubious这里翻译成“可疑的”不够清楚，实际上指的是暗娼之类的。
年轻女孩倚在栏杆上，还有一个街头乐队在拐角那边刺耳地吹奏着什么乐曲。费拉罗先生找到了那栋房子，却无法挪动脚步去按下门铃要译出bring himself to 的含义。汉语的“挪”暗含了主体的恐惧、焦虑等情感因素。
。他蜷缩在他的戴姆勒轿车里，等待着即将发生的事情。是他一动不动的注视The intensity of his gaze
将桑德斯小姐引到了二楼的窗户旁吗？还是巧合，亦或是报应？她衣着暴露，费拉罗先生起初以为是天热的缘故调整顺序，符合汉语习惯。
，因为她把窗户开大了一点Slide the window a little wider open不是打开，而是开大一些。
。然而紧接着，一条胳膊搂住了她的腰，一张年轻男子的脸向下面的街道望了望，一只手非常熟练地拉上了窗帘。费拉罗先生现在明白了，原来连取得赦罪的蒙恩状态也没有达到这里的描写暗示桑德斯小姐是个暗娼，这是不被允许的，是一种罪恶。而费拉罗先生还以为她本身是无罪或已忏悔受赦的，因此雇她去替他取得赦罪。
根据天主教教义，若想获得赦罪，信徒需处于蒙受天恩状态，即处于无罪或已忏悔而受赦的状态。
。
If a friend could have seen Mr. Ferraro that evening mounting the steps of Montagu Square, he would have been surprised at the way he had aged. It was almost as though he had assumed during the long afternoon those 36892 days he had thought to have saved during the last three years from Purgatory.
如果有个朋友那天晚上正巧看到Could have done 虚拟语气，could指的是可能性
了费拉罗先生走上蒙塔古广场的台阶的话，准会为他的猝然变老而大吃一惊。那些他以为三年里已攒下的36892天免受的炼狱之苦，仿佛就在那个漫长的下午一下子加到了他的身上。意即仿佛一下子老了一百岁。