He had seen better days, despite his present misery and infirmities.
尽管他现在痛苦不堪和身体虚弱，但他曾经过得更好。

At the age of fifteen both his legs had been crushed by a carriage on the Varville highway.
十五岁时，他的双腿被Varville公路上的一辆马车碾碎。 —

From that time forth he begged, dragging himself along the roads and through the farmyards, supported by crutches which forced his shoulders up to his ears.
从那时起，他乞讨着，拖着残躯沿着道路和农田，依靠着把他的肩膀挤得与耳朵齐平的拐杖支撑着。 —

His head looked as if it were squeezed in between two mountains.
他的脑袋看起来好像被两座山峰夹着。

A foundling, picked up out of a ditch by the priest of Les Billettes on the eve of All Saints’ Day and baptized, for that reason, Nicholas Toussaint, reared by charity, utterly without education, crippled in consequence of having drunk several glasses of brandy given him by the baker (such a funny story!
他是一个被拾掇起来的弃婴，由Les Billettes的牧师在万圣节前夜给他取名为尼古拉·图桑，靠慈善机构养大，完全没有受过教育，因为曾经喝了面包师傅给他的几杯白兰地而导致残疾（真是个有趣的故事！） ，以后一直过着流浪的生活——他唯一会做的就是伸出手乞讨。 —

) and a vagabond all his life afterward—the only thing he knew how to do was to hold out his hand for alms.
他自己出生时没有头发，体重也很轻。

At one time the Baroness d’Avary allowed him to sleep in a kind of recess spread with straw, close to the poultry yard in the farm adjoining the chateau, and if he was in great need he was sure of getting a glass of cider and a crust of bread in the kitchen.
有一段时间，巴伦夫人允许他在一种铺着稻草的壁龛中睡觉，靠近庄园旁边的农场的饲禽场，如果他非常需要，他可以在厨房里得到一杯苹果酒和一块面包。 —

Moreover, the old lady often threw him a few pennies from her window.
此外，老太太经常从窗户里扔给他几个便士。 —

But she was dead now.
但是她现在已经去世了。

In the villages people gave him scarcely anything—he was too well known.
村里的人几乎没怎么给他东西——他太出名了。 —

Everybody had grown tired of seeing him, day after day for forty years, dragging his deformed and tattered person from door to door on his wooden crutches.
每天四十年，他以残缺不全、破烂不堪的形象拖着他的木拐杖从门口到门口，人们都厌倦了看到他。 —

But he could not make up his mind to go elsewhere, because he knew no place on earth but this particular corner of the country, these three or four villages where he had spent the whole of his miserable existence.
但他无法下决心去别的地方，因为他对世界上其他地方一无所知，只知道这个特定的乡村角落，他在这三四个村庄度过了他悲惨的一生。 —

He had limited his begging operations and would not for worlds have passed his accustomed bounds.
他限制了自己的乞讨范围，绝不愿超出自己的习惯范围。

He did not even know whether the world extended for any distance beyond the trees which had always bounded his vision.
他甚至不知道世界是否延伸到他一直以来能看到的树的远处。 —

He did not ask himself the question. And when the peasants, tired of constantly meeting him in their fields or along their lanes, exclaimed:
他没有问自己这个问题。当农民们厌倦了在田间或道路上经常遇到他时，他们会呼喊：“你为什么不去其他村庄，而总是在这里跛行呢？ —

“Why don’t you go to other villages instead of always limping about here?
他没有回答，而是灰溜溜地走开，被对未知的模糊恐惧所驱使 - 这是一个可怜之徒的恐惧，他模糊地害怕无数事物 - 新面孔、嘲弄、侮辱、陌生人的猜疑目光，以及成双结对在路上走的警察。 —

” he did not answer, but slunk away, possessed with a vague dread of the unknown—the dread of a poor wretch who fears confusedly a thousand things—new faces, taunts, insults, the suspicious glances of people who do not know him and the policemen walking in couples on the roads.
他总是本能地避开警察，当他看到他们走过来时，就躲进灌木丛或堆石头的后面。 —

These last he always instinctively avoided, taking refuge in the bushes or behind heaps of stones when he saw them coming.
当他在远处看到他们时，“阳光下闪耀的制服”使他突然拥有了异乎寻常的敏捷 - 一种野兽寻找巢穴的敏捷。

When he perceived them in the distance, ‘With uniforms gleaming in the sun, he was suddenly possessed with unwonted agility—the agility of a wild animal seeking its lair.
当他看到他们在远处时，会突然变得非常活跃，就像是一只野生动物寻找藏身之处。 —

He threw aside his crutches, fell to the ground like a limp rag, made himself as small as possible and crouched like a are under cover, his tattered vestments blending in hue with the earth on which he cowered.
他把拐杖丢到一边，像一块松弛的布一样倒在地上，尽可能缩小身躯，像一只害怕的兔子一样蹲在掩体下，他破烂的衣袍的颜色融合在他蜷缩的地面上。

He had never had any trouble with the police, but the instinct to avoid them was in his blood.
他从来没有与警察有过麻烦，但避免他们的本能流淌在他的血液中。 —

He seemed to have inherited it from the parents he had never known.
他仿佛从未见过的父母那里继承了这一本能。

He had no refuge, no roof for his head, no shelter of any kind.
他没有避风的地方，没有一个屋顶能给他遮风挡雨。 —

In summer he slept out of doors and in winter he showed remarkable skill in slipping unperceived into barns and stables.
夏天他露宿于户外，冬天他显示出了悄无声息地溜入谷仓和马厩的出色技巧。 —

He always decamped before his presence could be discovered.
他总是在被发现之前逃离。 —

He knew all the holes through which one could creep into farm buildings, and the handling of his crutches having made his arms surprisingly muscular he often hauled himself up through sheer strength of wrist into hay-lofts, where he sometimes remained for four or five days at a time, provided he had collected a sufficient store of food beforehand.
他熟知所有能穿过农舍的洞，而且经过拄拐杖的锻炼，他的手臂出奇地健美，他常常通过纯手腕力量抓住稻草堆里的东西，有时可连续待上四五天，前提是事先储备了足够的食物。

He lived like the beasts of the field.
他生活得像野兽一样。 —

He was in the midst of men, yet knew no one, loved no one, exciting in the breasts of the peasants only a sort of careless contempt and smoldering hostility.
他生活在人群中，但对任何人都不认识，不爱任何人，唯有引起农民们心中的漠视和患难之情。 —

They nicknamed him “Bell, ” because he hung between his two crutches like a church bell between its supports.
他们给他起了个绰号“钟”，因为他像一口教堂钟一样挂在两个拐杖之间。

For two days he had eaten nothing.
两天来他一无所吃。 —

No one gave him anything now.
现在没有人再给他什么了。 —

Every one’s patience was exhausted.
每个人的耐心已经被消磨殆尽。 —

Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:
当他走过时，女人们从门口对他大喊:

“Be off with you, you good-for-nothing vagabond! Why, I gave you a piece of bread only three days ago!”
“滚开，你这个无用的流浪汉！我才给过你一块面包，就三天前的事了！”

And he turned on his crutches to the next house, where he was received in the same fashion.
然后他用拐杖转向下一家，那儿的待遇也同样。

The women declared to one another as they stood at their doors:
女人们站在门口向彼此宣称:

“We can’t feed that lazy brute all the year round!”
“我们不能整年养活这个懒货！”

And yet the “lazy brute” needed food every day.
然而，这个“懒货”每天都需要食物。

He had exhausted Saint-Hilaire, Varville and Les Billettes without getting a single copper or so much as a dry crust.
在没有得到一分铜板或一片干面包的情况下，他已经耗尽了圣伊莱、瓦维尔和莱比埃特。 —

His only hope was in Tournolles, but to reach this place he would have to walk five miles along the highroad, and he felt so weary that he could hardly drag himself another yard.
他唯一的希望在于图尔诺勒，但要到达那个地方，他还得沿着公路走五英里，他感到非常疲倦，几乎无法再走下去。 —

His stomach and his pocket were equally empty, but he started on his way.
他的肚子和口袋都空荡荡的，但他还是上路了。

It was December and a cold wind blew over the fields and whistled through the bare branches of the trees;
当时正值十二月，一股冷风吹过田野，穿过光秃秃的树枝呼啸而过。 —

the clouds careered madly across the black, threatening sky.
乌云在那黑暗的威胁天空下疯狂地飞奔着。 —

The cripple dragged himself slowly along, raising one crutch after the other with a painful effort, propping himself on the one distorted leg which remained to him.
这个跛子艰难地拖着自己前行，用痛苦的努力抬起一只残留下来的变形的腿，依靠着这条腿支撑着自己。

Now and then he sat down beside a ditch for a few moments’ rest.
偶尔，他会在沟边坐下休息几分钟。 —

Hunger was gnawing his vitals, and in his confused, slow-working mind he had only one idea-to eat-but how this was to be accomplished he did not know.
饥饿折磨着他的内脏，他脑子混乱而迟钝，只有一个念头-吃东西-但他不知道该如何实现。 —

For three hours he continued his painful journey.
他继续痛苦地前行了三个小时。 —

Then at last the sight of the trees of the village inspired him with new energy.
最后，他看到村子里的树，这给了他新的能量。

The first peasant he met, and of whom he asked alms, replied:
他遇到的第一个农民，他向他乞讨，回答说：

“So it’s you again, is it, you old scamp?
“又是你，你这个老骗子？ —

Shall I never be rid of you?”
我什么时候能摆脱你？”

And “Bell” went on his way.
于是，“贝尔”继续往前走。 —

At every door he got nothing but hard words.
在每一扇门前，他听到的都是嘴硬的话语。 —

He made the round of the whole village, but received not a halfpenny for his pains.
他绕了整个村子，可是辛辛苦苦却一文不得。

Then he visited the neighboring farms, toiling through the muddy land, so exhausted that he could hardly raise his crutches from the ground.
然后他去了附近的农场，在泥泞的土地上劳累，他已经筋疲力尽，几乎无法把拐杖从地上提起。 —

He met with the same reception everywhere.
他到处遇到的都是同样的待遇。 —

It was one of those cold, bleak days, when the heart is frozen and the temper irritable, and hands do not open either to give money or food.
那是个寒冷凄凉的日子，心也冷，脾气暴躁，人们既不舍得给钱，也不舍得给食物。

When he had visited all the houses he knew, “Bell” sank down in the corner of a ditch running across Chiquet’s farmyard.
当他拜访完他所认识的所有房屋之后，“贝尔”倒在了希奎特农场的一个水沟角落里。 —

Letting his crutches slip to the ground, he remained motionless, tortured by hunger, but hardly intelligent enough to realize to the full his unutterable misery.
他让拐杖滑落到地上，一动不动，被饥饿折磨着，但几乎无法理解他无比悲惨的状况。

He awaited he knew not what, possessed with that vague hope which persists in the human heart in spite of everything.
他期待着他不知道的事物，拥有着那种无论如何都会存在于人类心中的模糊希望。 —

He awaited in the corner of the farmyard in the biting December wind, some mysterious aid from Heaven or from men, without the least idea whence it was to arrive.
他在农场角落里等待着，在刺骨的十二月寒风中，期待着来自天堂或人间的神秘援助，却毫无头绪从何而来。 —

A number of black hens ran hither and thither, seeking their food in the earth which supports all living things.
一群黑色的母鸡东奔西走，在支撑着一切生物的大地上寻找它们的食物。 —

Ever now and then they snapped up in their beaks a grain of corn or a tiny insect;
不时地它们用喙夹起一粒玉米粒或者一只微小的昆虫； —

then they continued their slow, sure search for nutriment.
然后它们继续缓慢而确定地寻找营养。

“Bell” watched them at first without thinking of anything.
“贝尔”一开始只是随意地看着它们，毫无思绪。 —

Then a thought occurred rather to his stomach than to his mind—the thought that one of those fowls would be good to eat if it were cooked over a fire of dead wood.
然后一个想法浮现在他的肚子里而不是头脑中——如果把其中一只鸡煮熟在一堆积木上的火上，那将会很好吃。

He did not reflect that he was going to commit a theft.
他没有想到自己将要犯下一次偷窃。 —

He took up a stone which lay within reach, and, being of skillful aim, killed at the first shot the fowl nearest to him.
他拾起近在咫尺的一块石头，由于他瞄得很准，第一枪就击中了离他最近的那只鸡。 —

The bird fell on its side, flapping its wings.
鸟摔倒在一边，拍打着它的翅膀。 —

The others fled wildly hither and thither, and “Bell, ” picking up his crutches, limped across to where his victim lay.
其他的鸟被吓得四处乱飞，而”贝尔”拿起他的拐杖，一瘸一拐地走到了受害者所在的地方。

Just as he reached the little black body with its crimsoned head he received a violent blow in his back which made him let go his hold of his crutches and sent him flying ten paces distant.
就在他走到那只小黑鸟身边，并触碰到它那带血的头时，他受到一记猛击，让他松开拐杖，被甩飞了十步远。 —

And Farmer Chiquet, beside himself with rage, cuffed and kicked the marauder with all the fury of a plundered peasant as “Bell” lay defenceless before him.
农夫希奎怒火中烧，连连拳打脚踢这个贼寇般的乞讨者，而”贝尔”则挨打得毫无还手之力。

The farm hands came up also and joined their master in cuffing the lame beggar.
农场的工人们也赶来加入他们的主人，对这个跛足乞丐非打不可。 —

Then when they were tired of beating him they carried him off and shut him up in the woodshed, while they went to fetch the police.
等他们打累了，就把他抬走关进了木屋里，而自己则去找警察。

“Bell,” half dead, bleeding and perishing with hunger, lay on the floor. Evening came—then night—then dawn.
“贝尔”半死不活，流血并饥饿交迫地躺在地板上。夜幕降临了，然后又是黎明。 —

And still he had not eaten.
而他还没有吃饭。

About midday the police arrived.
大约中午警察到达了。 —

They opened the door of the woodshed with the utmost precaution, fearing resistance on the beggar’s part, for Farmer Chiquet asserted that he had been attacked by him and had had great, difficulty in defending himself.
他们非常小心地打开了木棚的门，担心那个乞丐会进行抵抗，因为奇凯特农民声称他曾被乞丐袭击过，自己拼尽全力才成功保护自己。

The sergeant cried:
中士喊道：

“Come, get up!”
“快，起来！”

But “Bell” could not move.
“贝尔”却无法动弹。 —

He did his best to raise himself on his crutches, but without success.
他尽力用双拐撑起身体，但无济于事。 —

The police, thinking his weakness feigned, pulled him up by main force and set him between the crutches.
警察们以为他在装病，便用尽全力将他拽了起来，让他靠在双拐上。

Fear seized him—his native fear of a uniform, the fear of the game in presence of the sportsman, the fear of a mouse for a cat-and by the exercise of almost superhuman effort he succeeded in remaining upright.
恐惧笼罩着他，他对制服的本能恐惧心理，他面对猎人时的胆怯，他作为猫儿对待老鼠时的恐慌-凭借几乎超人的努力，他成功地保持了直立。

“Forward!” said the sergeant. He walked.
“前进！”中士说。他走了。 —

All the inmates of the farm watched his departure.
农场的所有人都看着他离去。 —

The women shook their fists at him the men scoffed at and insulted him.
女人们向他竖起了中指，男人们讥笑并辱骂他。他终于被抓住了！ —

He was taken at last! Good riddance!
终于解脱了！ —

He went off between his two guards.
他在两名警卫的护送下离开了。 —

He mustered sufficient energy—the energy of despair—to drag himself along until the evening, too dazed to know what was happening to him, too frightened to understand.
他汇集起足够的力量——绝望的力量，一直拖着自己走到晚上，太茫然无知以至于不知道正在发生什么，太害怕以至于无法理解。

People whom he met on the road stopped to watch him go by and peasants muttered:
路上遇到的人停下来看着他，农民们咕哝着说：

“It’s some thief or other.”
“这是个小偷。”

Toward evening he reached the country town.
傍晚时分，他来到了乡镇。 —

He had never been so far before.
他从未走得如此远。 —

He did not realize in the least what he was there for or what was to become of him.
他完全没有意识到自己来这里做什么，以及将来会发生什么。 —

All the terrible and unexpected events of the last two days, all these unfamiliar faces and houses struck dismay into his heart.
过去两天发生的所有可怕而突如其来的事件，所有这些陌生的面孔和房屋都让他惊慌不已。

He said not a word, having nothing to say because he understood nothing.
他一句话也没说，因为他什么也不懂。 —

Besides, he had spoken to no one for so many years past that he had almost lost the use of his tongue, and his thoughts were too indeterminate to be put into words.
此外，他多年来几乎没有和任何人说过话，以至于他几乎失去了口才，而且他的思想过于模糊，无法用语言表达出来。

He was shut up in the town jail.
他被关进了镇上的监狱。 —

It did not occur to the police that he might need food, and he was left alone until the following day.
警察没有想到他可能需要食物，所以他一直独自待到第二天。 —

But when in the early morning they came to examine him he was found dead on the floor.
但当在早晨他们来检查他时，发现他倒在地板上死了。 —

Such an astonishing thing!
这真是太令人惊讶了！