文/歐內斯特·海明威 譯介/盧偉

There were many ways of walking down to the river from the top of the rue Cardinal Lemoine.The shortest one was straight down the street but it was steep and it brought you out, after you hit the flat part and crossed the busy traffic of the beginning of the Boulevard St.-Germain, onto a dull part where there was a bleak, windy stretch of river bank with the Halle aux Vins on your right.This was not like any other Paris market but was a sort of bonded warehouse where wine was stored against the payment of taxes and was as cheerless from the outside as a military depot or a prison camp.

從勒穆瓦納紅衣主教路這頭出發(fā)，步行到河邊有很多路線。最短的路線就是沿著這條街一直往下走，不過路有點兒陡，到平地后穿過車水馬龍的圣日耳曼大道路口，就到了河邊。這片河岸沒什么看頭，風勁景蕭。右手邊是“酒庫”，跟巴黎其他的市場不同，這是一個保稅倉庫，存在這里的紅酒不用繳稅；從外面看上去，它就跟兵站或戰(zhàn)俘營似的沉悶無趣。

2Across the branch of the Seine was the ?le St.-Louis with the narrow streets and the old, tall, beautiful houses, and you could go over there or you could turn left and walk along the quais with the length of the ?le St.-Louis and then Notre-Dame and ?le de la Cité opposite as you walked.

2塞納河的支流對面是圣路易島。島上街道狹窄，房屋古老高大，非常漂亮。你可以過河去島上看看，也可以直接左轉，沿著濱河路走過與圣路易島平行的這段路，對面就是巴黎圣母院和西岱島了。

3In the bookstalls along the quais you could sometimes find American books that had just been published for sale very cheap.The Tour D’Argent restaurant had a few rooms above the restaurant that they rented in those days, giving the people who lived there a discount in the restaurant, and if the people who lived there left any books behind there was a bookstall not far along the quai where the valet de chambre sold them and you could buy them from the proprietress for a very few francs.She had no confidence in books written in English, paid almost nothing for them, and sold them for a small and quick profit.

3濱河路上有些小書攤，有時會賣新出版的美國書，價格很便宜。那時候，銀塔餐廳樓上的幾個房間往外出租，房客在餐廳吃飯給打折。房客走的時候，要是有書沒帶走，侍者就會拿去賣給附近濱河路上的一個書攤。只要幾個法郎，就能從女攤主那里買下這些書。她吃不準英語書能值多少錢，以幾乎白拿的價格收購，只想早點出手小賺一筆。

4“Are they any good?” she asked me after we had become friends.

“Sometimes one is.”

“How can anyone tell?”

“I can tell when I read them.”

“But still it is a form of gambling.And how many people can read English?”

4“這些書好嗎？”跟女攤主熟悉之后，她問我。

“偶爾能碰到一本好的。”“怎么知道好不好呢？”

“我一讀就知道了?！?/p>

“那還得碰運氣啊。再說，有幾個人看得懂英語??？”

“留著這些書，等我來翻翻。”

“那可不行，我不能老留著它們。你又不常來，有時候好長時間不來一次。我得盡早賣掉。沒人知道這些書到底好不好。要是最后發(fā)現(xiàn)不好，可就再也賣不掉了?！?/p>

“Save them for me and let me look them over.”

“No.I can’t save them.You don’t pass regularly.You stay away too long at a time.I have to sell them as soon as I can.No one can tell if they are worthless.If they turn out to be worthless, I would never sell them.”

“How do you tell a valuable French book?”

“First there are the pictures.Then it is a question of the quality of the pictures.Then it is the binding.If a book is good,the owner will have it bound properly.All books in English are bound, but bound badly.There is no way of judging them.”

“那你怎么知道一本法語書好還是不好呢？”

“先看有沒有插圖，再看插圖的質量，最后看裝訂。要是書好，原來的主人會好好裝訂一下?？捎⒄Z書都是裝訂了的，不過裝訂得不咋地，沒法判斷書好不好?！?/p>

5After that bookstall near the Tour D’Argent there were no others that sold American and English books until the quai des Grands Augustins.There were several from there on to beyond the quai Voltaire that sold books they bought from employees of the left bank hotels and especially the Hotel Voltaire which had a wealthier clientele than most.One day I asked another woman stall-keeper who was a friend of mine if the owners ever sold the books.

5過了銀塔餐廳附近的這個書攤，一直到大奧古斯丁濱河路，就沒有賣美國書或英國書的書攤了。從那里到伏爾泰濱河路還有幾個書攤，他們的書都是從左岸那些酒店的雇員那里收來的，尤其是伏爾泰酒店，房客最是有錢。有個女攤主也跟我很熟了。有一天，我問她這些書是不是被主人賣掉的。

6“No,” she said.“They are all thrown away.That is why one knows they have no value.”

“Friends give them to them to read on the boats.”

“Doubtless,” she said.“They must leave many on the boats.”

6“不是?！彼f，“都是原來的主人扔掉的?？梢娺@些書沒什么價值?！?/p>

“是朋友送給他們坐船的時候讀的吧?！?/p>

“很有可能?！彼f，“肯定扔了不少在船上?！?/p>

“是啊?！蔽艺f，“船運公司把它們收集起來，裝訂一下，就成了船上的藏書了?！?/p>

“They do,” I said.“The line keeps them and binds them and they become the ships’ libraries.”

“That’s intelligent,” she said.“At least they are properly bound then.Now a book like that would have value.” ■

“這辦法倒是聰明。”她說，“起碼那些書能裝訂得像個樣子。那樣的話，就能值點兒錢了?！?□