The gods, lying beside their nectar on ‘Lympus and peeping over the edge of the cliff, perceive a difference in cities. —
众神们躺在“林普斯”上，眺望峭壁边缘，察觉到城市之间的差异。 —

Although it would seem that to their vision towns must appear as large or small ant-hills without special characteristics, yet it is not so. —
虽然对于他们的视角来说，城市看起来可能只是大小不一、没有特色的蚂蚁丘，但事实并非如此。 —

Studying the habits of ants frm so great a height should be but a mild diversion when coupled with the soft drink that mythology tells us is their only solace. —
从如此高处观察蚂蚁的习性应该只是一种温和的娱乐，而神话告诉我们，他们唯一的慰藉是软饮料。 —

But doubtless they have amused themselves by the comparison of villages and towns; —
但毫无疑问，他们会通过比较村庄和城市来自娱自乐； —

and it will be no news to them (nor, perhaps, to many mortals), that in one particularity New York stands unique among the cities of the world. —
对于他们来说（或许对很多凡人来说），纽约在某个方面是世界上独一无二的。 —

This shall be the theme of a little story addressed to the man who sits smoking with his Sabbath-slippered feet on another chair, and to the woman who snatches the paper for a moment while boiling greens or a narcotized baby leaves her free. —
这将是一个小故事的主题，面向那些坐在椅子上抽烟的男人，以及在煮青菜或安眠中的婴儿让她暂时有空闲的女人。 —

With these I love to sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of Kings.
与这些人一起，我喜欢坐在地上讲述有关国王的悲伤故事。

New York City is inhabited by 4,000, 000 mysterious strangers; —
纽约市有400万神秘的陌生人居住，因此比鸟中心多出了300万零半打九。 —

thus beating Bird Centre by three millions and half a dozen nine’s. —
—

They came here in various ways and for many reasons - Hendrik Hudson, the art schools, green goods, the stork, the annual dressmakers’ convention, the Pennsylvania Railroad, love of money, the stage, cheap excursion rates, brains, personal column ads. —
他们以各种方式和出于各种原因来到这里——亨德里克·哈德逊，艺术学校，假冒货物，鹳鸟，每年的裁缝大会，宾夕法尼亚铁路，爱钱，舞台，廉价团票，智慧，个人栏广告。 —

, heavy walking shoes, ambition, freight trains - all these have had a hand in making up the population.
沉重的步行鞋、野心、货运列车——所有这些都对人口构成了一种影响。

But every man Jack when he first sets foot on the stones of Manhattan has got to fight. —
但是当每一个人首次踏上曼哈顿的街道时，他都必须战斗。 —

He has got to fight at once until either he or his adversary wins. —
他必须立即进行战斗，直到他或他的对手获胜。 —

There is no resting between rounds, for there are no rounds. —
没有回合之间的休息，因为没有回合。 —

It is slugging from the first. It is a fight to a finish.
这是从一开始就大干一场。这是一场决战。

Your opponent is the City. You must do battle with it from the time the ferry-boat lands you on the island until either it is yours or it has conquered you. —
你的对手是这个城市。你必须与它斗争，从渡船把你送上岛屿的那一刻起，直到要么你占领它，要么它征服你。 —

It is the same whether you have a million in your pocket or only the price of a week’s lodging.
无论你口袋里有一百万还是只有一周住宿费，都是一样的。

The battle is to decide whether you shall become a New Yorker or turn the rankest outlander and Philistine. —
这场战斗决定着你是成为纽约人还是最低级的外地人和庸俗之徒。 —

You must be one or the other. —
你必须二选一。 —

You cannot remain neutral. —
你不能保持中立。 —

You must be for or against - lover or enemy - bosom friend or outcast. —
你必须支持或反对—要么是情人或敌人—要么是知心朋友或被排斥者。 —

And, oh, the city is a general in the ring. —
哦，这座城市是一位拳台上的将军。 —

Not only by blows does it seek to subdue you. —
它不仅仅用攻击来征服你。 —

It woos you to its heart with the subtlety of a siren. —
它以海妖的狡诈风情赢取你的心。 —

It is a combination of Delilah, green Chartreuse, Beethoven, chloral and John L. in his best days.
它是得利拉、绿色得利拉酒、贝多芬、酒醉药和约翰·L的最佳时代的结合。

In other cities you may wander and abide as a stranger man as long as you please. —
在其他城市，你可以自由漫游、逗留，像一个陌生人一样久待。 —

You may live in Chicago until your hair whitens, and be a citizen and still prate of beans if Boston mothered you, and without rebuke. —
在芝加哥，你可以住到头发变白，成为一名市民，如果波士顿抚养了你，你仍然可以谈论豆子，而不会遭到指责。 —

You may become a civic pillar in any other town but Knickerbocker’s, and all the time publicly sneering at its buildings, comparing them with the architecture of Colonel Telfair’s residence in Jackson, Miss., whence you hail, and you will not be set upon. —
在尼克博克的城镇之外的任何城市，你都可以成为一个社会支柱，公开嘲笑这里的建筑，并将其与你所来自的密西西比州杰克逊市提尔菲尔上校的住宅相比较，但你不会受到攻击。 —

But in New York you must be either a New Yorker or an invader of a modern Troy, concealed in the wooden horse of your conceited provincialism. —
但在纽约，你必须成为一个纽约人，或者是一个隐藏在自负的乡下人自负心态的现代特洛伊入侵者。 —

And this dreary preamble is only to introduce to you the unimportant figures of William and Jack.
而这个沉闷的前言只是为了介绍给你一个无关紧要的人物——威廉和杰克。

They came out of the West together, where they had been friends. —
他们一起从西部来到这里，原本是朋友。 —

They came to dig their fortunes out of the big city.
他们来到这个大城市寻找财富。

Father Knickerbocker met them at the ferry, giving one a right-hander on the nose and the other an upper-cut with his left, just to let them know that the fight was on.
尼克博克尔父亲在渡船上见到他们，给了一个人一个右勾拳，另一个人一个左勾拳，只是为了让他们知道战斗打响了。

William was for business; —
威廉对生意感兴趣； —

Jack was for Art. Both were young and ambitious; —
杰克对艺术感兴趣。两个人都年轻且有抱负， —

so they countered and clinched. —
所以他们进行了对抗和拉锯。 —

I think they were from Nebraska or possibly Missouri or Minnesota. —
我觉得他们来自内布拉斯加州，或者可能是密苏里州或明尼苏达州。 —

Anyhow, they were out for success and scraps and scads, and they tackled the city like two Lochinvars with brass knucks and a pull at the City Hall.
不管怎样，他们为了成功和大量的碎屑奋力拼搏，就像两个戴着黄铜指虎的洛奇骑士一样，攻入市政厅。

Four years afterward William and Jack met at luncheon. —
四年后，威廉和杰克在午餐时见面了。 —

The business man blew in like a March wind, hurled his silk hat at a waiter, dropped into the chair that was pushed under him, seized the bill of fare, and had ordered as far as cheese before the artist had time to do more than nod. —
这位商人像三月的风一样迅猛地进来，把他的丝礼帽扔给一个侍者，坐到被推到他身下的椅子上，抓起菜单，在艺术家来得及打个招呼前就点到了芝士。 —

After the nod a humorous smile came into his eyes.
点头后，他眼中露出一丝幽默的笑意。

“Billy,” he said, “you’re done for. —
“比利，”他说，“你完蛋了。 —

The city has gobbled you up. —
这个城市吞噬了你。它接纳了你， —

It has taken you and cut you to its pattern and stamped you with its brand. —
把你按照它的模样塑造，并在你身上刻上了它的印记。 —

You are so nearly like ten thousand men I have seen to-day that you couldn’t be picked out from them if it weren’t for your laundry marks.”
你跟我今天见过的一万个男人几乎一模一样，如果不是你的洗衣标签，你就没法从他们中间被挑出来。”

“Camembert,” finished William. “What’s that? Oh, you’ve still got your hammer out for New York, have you? —
“卡门贝尔”，威廉说完，“那是什么？哦，你还在努力对抗纽约啊？ —

Well, little old Noisyville-on-the-Subway is good enough for me. —
哼，对我来说，这个喧嚣的小地方就已经够好了。 —

It’s giving me mine. —
它正在给我带来好处”。 —

And, say, I used to think the West was the whole round world - only slightly flattened at the poles whenever Bryan ran. —
而且，我曾经以为西方就是整个圆球地球 - 只是在布莱恩奔跑时在极地稍微变扁了一点。 —

I used to yell myself hoarse about the free expense, and hang my hat on the horizon, and say cutting things in the grocery to little soap drummers from the East. But I’d never seen New York, then, Jack. Me for it from the rathskellers up. —
我过去总是为免费的费用大声喊叫，把帽子挂在地平线上，对来自东方的小肥皂鼓手说刻薄的话。但那时候我从未见过纽约，杰克。我疯狂地爱着它。 —

Sixth Avenue is the West to me now. —
对我来说，第六大道就是西方。 —

Have you heard this fellow Crusoe sing? —
你听过这个叫做Crusoe的家伙唱歌吗？ —

The desert isle for him, I say, but my wife made me go. —
以他来说，沙漠岛是理想之地，但是我妻子逼我去了。 —

Give me May Irwin or E. S. Willard any time.”
给我梅·欧文或E·S·威拉德任何时候都可以。

“Poor Billy,” said the artist, delicately fingering a cigarette. —
“可怜的比利，” 艺术家轻柔地捻着一支香烟说道。 —

“You remember, when we were on our way to the East how we talked about this great, wonderful city, and how we meant to conquer it and never let it get the best of us? —
“你还记得我们去东方的路上我们如何谈论这座伟大、奇妙的城市，以及我们打算征服它，永远不让它占上风吗？ —

We were going to be just the same fellows we had always been, and never let it master us. —
我们要保持自己一直以来的样子，永远不让它打败我们。 —

It has downed you, old man. —
它击败了你，老兄。 —

You have changed from a maverick into a butterick.”
你已经从一个不按牌理出牌的人变成了一个道德高尚的人。

“Don’t see exactly what you are driving at,” said William. —
“我不明白你说的是什么，”威廉说。 —

“I don’t wear an alpaca coat with blue trousers and a seersucker vest on dress occasions, like I used to do at home. —
“在正式场合，我不会像在家里那样穿着羊驼外套、蓝色长裤和凉爽马甲。” —

You talk about being cut to a pattern - well, ain’t the pattern all right? —
你说得好像规定就是这样的一样 - 那规定不是挺好嘛？当你在罗马的时候， —

When you’re in Rome you’ve got to do as the Dagoes do. —
你得跟着意大利佬的样子来。 —

This town seems to me to have other alleged metropolises skinned to flag stations. —
我觉得这个城市比其他声称自己是大城市的地方有更高的水平。 —

According to the railroad schedule I’ve got in mind, Chicago and Saint Jo and Paris, France, are asterisk stops - which means you wave a red flag and get on every other Tuesday. —
根据我心中的火车时刻表，芝加哥、圣约和法国巴黎是星号站 - 这意味着每隔两周星期二你才能挥手示意停车。 —

I like this little suburb of Tarrytown-on-the-Hudson. —
我喜欢哈德逊河畔的这个小郊区塔里敦。 —

There’s something or somebody doing all the time. —
这里总是有事情或有人在活动。 —

I’m clearing $8,000 a year selling automatic pumps, and I’m living like kings-up. —
我每年靠着卖自动泵赚8000美元，过得像个国王一样。 —

Why, yesterday, I was introduced to John W. Gates. I took an auto ride with a wine agent’s sister. —
昨天，我和约翰·W·盖茨见了面。我还跟一位葡萄酒销售代理的姐姐一起坐了一次汽车。 —

I saw two men run over by a street car, and I seen Edna May play in the evening. —
我看到过两个人被电车压过，也看过艾德娜·梅的演出。 —

Talk about the West, why, the other night I woke everybody up in the hotel hollaring. —
谈谈西方，为什么呢，前几天晚上我在旅馆尖叫，把大家都吵醒了。 —

I dreamed I was walking on a board sidewalk in Oshkosh. —
我梦见我在奥什科什的木板人行道上走路。 —

What have you got against this town, Jack? —
杰克，你对这个城镇有什么意见吗？ —

There’s only one thing in it that I don’t care for, and that’s a ferryboat.”
除了渡船之外，我对这个城镇没什么兴趣。

The artist gazed dreamily at the cartridge paper on the wall. “This town,” said he, “is a leech. It drains the blood of the country. —
艺术家梦幻地凝视着墙上的素描本。“这个城镇，”他说，“就像一只水蛭一样。它吸干了整个国家的血液。” —

Whoever comes to it accepts a challenge to a duel. —
来到这个城镇的每个人都接受了一个决斗的挑战。 —

Abandoning the figure of the leech, it is a juggernaut, a Moloch, a monster to which the innocence, the genius, and the beauty of the land must pay tribute. —
放弃水蛭的形象，它是一辆无法阻挡的大车，是一个威严的神像，是一个必须向其纯真、天赋和美丽付出代价的怪兽。 —

Hand to hand every newcomer must struggle with the leviathan. You’ve lost, Billy. It shall never conquer me. —
每个新来者都必须与这个利维坦战斗。你输了，比利。它永远不会征服我。 —

I hate it as one hates sin or pestilence or - the color work in a ten-cent magazine. —
我恨它，就像恨罪恶、瘟疫或者——十分杂志里的彩色插图一样。 —

I despise its very vastness and power. —
我鄙视它的庞大和势力。 —

It has the poorest millionaires, the littlest great men, the lowest skyscrapers, the dolefulest pleasures of any town I ever saw. —
这个城镇拥有最贫穷的百万富翁，最小的伟人，最矮的摩天大楼，以及我见过的最悲哀的娱乐活动。 —

It has caught you, old man, but I will never run beside its chariot wheels. —
老人，它已经抓住了你，但我永远不会在它的双轮战车旁奔跑。 —

It glosses itself as the Chinaman glosses his collars. —
它把自己打扮得像中国人打理衣领一样。 —

Give me the domestic finish. —
给我一个家庭的结局吧。 —

I could stand a town ruled by wealth or one ruled by an aristocracy; —
我可以忍受由财富或贵族统治的城镇； —

but this is one controlled by its lowest ingredients. —
但这个城镇却被最底层的因素所控制。 —

Claiming culture, it is the crudest; —
它声称自己有文化，却是最粗鄙的； —

asseverating its pre-eminence, it is the basest; —
宣称自己卓越，却是最卑劣的； —

denying all outside values and virtue, it is the narrowest. —
否定一切外部的价值和美德，它是最狭隘的。 —

Give me the pure and the open heart of the West country. —
给我纯粹和开放的西部乡村的心态。 —

I would go back there to-morrow if I could.”
如果可以的话，我明天就会回去。”

“Don’t you like this filet mgnon?” said William. “Shucks, now, what’s the use to knock the town! —
“你不喜欢这个菲力牛排吗？”威廉说。“真没用啊，为什么还要去抨击这个城镇！ —

It’s the greatest ever. —
它是最棒的。 —

I couldn’t sell one automatic pump between Harrisburg and Tommy O’Keefe’s saloon, in Sacramento, where I sell twenty here. —
在哈里斯堡和汤米·奥基夫的酒吧萨克拉门托之间，我卖不出一个自动泵，但在这里我卖出了20个。 —

And have you seen Sara Bernardt in ‘Andrew Mack’ yet?”
你看过萨拉·贝尔纳在《安德鲁·麦克》中的表演吗？”

“The town’s got you, Billy,” said Jack.
“这个城镇让你输了，比利，”杰克说。

“All right,” said William. —
“好吧，”威廉说。 —

“I’m going to buy a cottage on Lake Ronkonkoma next summer.”
“明年夏天我打算在罗恩孔科马湖买一间小屋。”

At midnight Jack raised his window and sat close to it. —
午夜时分，杰克抬起窗户，靠近窗边坐下。 —

He caught his breath at what he saw, though he had seen and felt it a hundred times.
虽然他已经看过和感受过这一百次，但他还是为所看到的而惊叹。

Far below and around lay the city like a ragged purple dream. —
遥远的下方，整个城市宛如一场破碎的紫色梦境。 —

The irregular houses were like the broken exteriors of cliffs lining deep gulches and winding streams. —
那些不规则的房屋像是峭壁一般，沿着深深的峡谷和蜿蜒的小溪延伸。有些仿佛是山岳般高耸，有些则躺在无尽的沙漠峡谷之中。这就是这座美妙而残酷、迷人而令人困惑、命中注定的伟大城市的背景。 —

Some were mountainous; —
—

some lay in long, desert canons. —
然而，在这个背景之中， —

Such was the background of the wonderful, cruel, enchanting, bewildering, fatal, great city. —
被切割出一片片灿烂的平行四边形、圆圈和正方形，透过它们闪烁着各种颜色的光芒。 —

But into this background were cut myriads of brilliant parallelograms and circles and squares through which glowed many colored lights. —
而从紫色和深紫色的深处冉冉升起的，则是这座城市的灵魂，那些音响、气息和刺激组成了这座城市的社会本质。 —

And out of the violet and purple depths ascended like the city’s soul sounds and odors and thrills that make up the civic body. —
那里升腾出无拘无束的欢乐，沸腾着爱、恨，以及人类能够体验到的所有激情。 —

There arose the breath of gaiety unrestrained, of love, of hate, of all the passions that man can know. —
呼出的是慈爱的气息，是无法描述的、迷恋人心的，也是命中注定的巨大城市的灵魂。 —

There below him lay all things, good or bad, that can be brought from the four corners of the earth to instruct, please, thrill, enrich, despoil, elevate, cast down, nurture or kill. —
在他下方，摆放着一切可以从地球的四个角落带来的好坏事物，可以教导、取悦、兴奋、丰富、掠夺、提升、打击、培育或杀害。 —

Thus the flavor of it came up to him and went into his blood.
于是，它的风味升腾到他的骨髓里。

There was a knock on his door. A telegram had come for him. —
有人敲门了。一封电报送到了他手中。 —

It came from the West, and these were its words:
电报来自西方，上面写着：

“Come back and the answer will be yes. “DOLLY.”
“回来吧，答案将会是肯定的。” DOLLY。

He kept the boy waiting ten minutes, and then wrote the reply: —
他让那个男孩等了十分钟，然后写了回复：” —

“Impossible to leave here at present.” Then he sat at the window again and let the city put its cup of mandragora to his lips again.
目前无法离开这里。” 然后，他再次坐在窗前，让这座城市把他的嘴唇带上了麦角剂的杯子。

After all it isn’t a story; —
毕竟，这并不是一个故事； —

but I wanted to know which one of the heroes won the battle against the city. —
但我想知道哪位英雄最终在打败这座城市的战斗中获胜了。 —

So I went to a very learned friend and laid the case before him. —
于是我去找了一位非常博学的朋友，并向他陈述了这个案子。 —

What he said was: —
他的说法是： —

“Please don’t bother me; I have Christmas presents to buy.”
“请不要打扰我，我还要去买圣诞礼物。”

So there it rests; and you will have to decide for yourself.
所以就这样吧，你必须自己决定。