The other day I ran across my old friend Ferguson Pogue. Pogue is a conscientious grafter of the highest type. —
前几天我遇到了我的老朋友弗格森·波格。波格是最优秀的勤奋工作者之一。 —

His headquarters is the Western Hemisphere, and his line of business is anything from speculating in town lots on the Great Staked Plains to selling wooden toys in Connecticut, made by hydraulic pressure from nutmegs ground to a pulp.
他的总部在西半球，他的业务范围从在大草原上进行城镇地块投机到在康涅狄格州销售用挤压法从榧子磨成浆状的木制玩具。

Now and then when Pogue has made a good haul he comes to New York for a rest. —
每当波格做了一笔大的交易后，他就会来纽约休息。 —

He says the jug of wine and loaf of bread and Thou in the wilderness business is about as much rest and pleasure to him as sliding down the bumps at Coney would be to President Taft. “Give me,” says Pogue, “a big city for my vacation. —
他说在野外享受美酒佳肴和你的陪伴对他来说与塌塌米下降到康尼岛的乐趣一样多。“给我，”波格说，“一个大城市做我的假期。 —

Especially New York. I’m not much fond of New Yorkers, and Manhattan is about the only place on the globe where I don’t find any.”
尤其是纽约。我不太喜欢纽约人，曼哈顿几乎是地球上我找不到他们的地方。”

While in the metropolis Pogue can always be found at one of two places. —
在大都会期间，波格总是会在两个地方之一。 —

One is a little second-hand bookshop on Fourth Avenue, where he reads books about his hobbies, Mahometanism and taxidermy. —
其中一个是第四大道上的一个小二手书店，他在那里阅读有关他的爱好–穆斯林教和动物标本学的书籍。 —

I found him at the other - his hall bedroom in Eighteenth Street - where he sat in his stocking feet trying to pluck “The Banks of the Wabash” out of a small zither. —
我在另一边找到了他 - 他的卧室位于第十八街 - 他坐在那里光着脚试图弹奏一把小筝上的《瓦巴什河的岸边》。 —

Four years he has practised this tune without arriving near enough to cast the longest trout line to the water’s edge. —
四年来，他一直在练习这个曲子，却没有足够接近的进展，无法将最长的渔线抛到水边。 —

On the dresser lay a blued-steel Colt’s forty-five and a tight roll of tens and twenties large enough around to belong to the spring rattlesnake-story class. —
梳妆台上放着一把蓝钢巴雷特四十五口径手枪和一卷足够大的十元和二十元钞票，够用来讲述春天响尾蛇故事。 —

A chambermaid with a room-cleaning air fluttered nearby in the hall, unable to enter or to flee, scandalized by the stocking feet, aghast at the Colt’s, yet powerless, with her metropolitan instincts, to remove herself beyond the magic influence of the yellow-hued roll.
一个满脸房间清洁神气的女仆在走廊里飘来飘去，无法进入或逃离，被光着脚吓到，被手枪吓坏了，但是凭借她的大都会直觉，无法远离这卷黄色外观的卷子的神奇影响。

I sat on his trunk while Ferguson Pogue talked. —
我坐在他的行李箱上，而弗格森·波格谈话。 —

No one could be franker or more candid in his conversation. —
在他的谈话中，没有人能比他更坦率或更真诚。 —

Beside his expression the cry of Henry James for lacteal nourishment at the age of one month would have seemed like a Chaldean cryptogram. —
与他的表情相比，亨利·詹姆斯在一个月大时对乳汁食物的呼喊会显得像是一种迷失的文字。 —

He told me stories of his profession with pride, for he considered it an art. —
他以自己的职业为傲地给我讲述了故事，因为他认为这是一种艺术。 —

And I was curious enough to ask him whether he had known any women who followed it.
并且我很好奇地问他是否认识任何从事这个职业的女性。

“Ladies?” said Pogue, with Western chivalry. —
“女士们？” 帕格拍马西部骑士般地说道， —

“Well, not to any great extent. —
“嗯，并不是太多。 —

They don’t amount to much in special lines of graft, because they’re all so busy in general lines. —
在特殊行业中她们没什么作为，因为她们都在忙着从事一般业务。怎么？为什么呢？ —

What? Why, they have to. —
因为她们必须这么做。 —

Who’s got the money in the world? The men. —
世界上谁有钱呢？男人。 —

Did you ever know a man to give a woman a dollar without any consideration? —
你见过一个男人毫无考虑地给一个女人一美元吗？ —

A man will shell out his dust to another man free and easy and gratis. —
一个男人会随意地把他的财富交给另一个男人。 —

But if he drops a penny in one of the machines run by the Madam Eve’s Daughters’ Amalgamated Association and the pineapple chewing gum don’t fall out when he pulls the lever you can hear him kick to the superintendent four blocks away. —
但是，如果他在由伊芙夫人女儿工会经营的一个机器上投了一便士，拉动了手柄之后香槟味的口香糖却没有掉下来，你可以听到他在四个街区外向主管抱怨。 —

Man is the hardest proposition a woman has to go up against. —
男人是女人必须面对的最棘手的问题。 —

He’s the low-grade one, and she has to work overtime to make him pay. —
他是个庸俗的人，她不得不加班加点让他付出代价。 —

Two times out of five she’s salted. —
有五分之二的时间，她都是自作聪明。 —

She can’t put in crushers and costly machinery. —
她不能购买粉碎机和昂贵的机械。 —

He’d notice ‘em and be onto the game. —
他会察觉到并揭穿这个游戏。 —

They have to pan out what they get, and it hurts their tender hands. —
她们必须仔细筛选她们得到的东西，这会伤害她们娇嫩的手。 —

Some of ‘em are natural sluice troughs and can carry out $1, 000 to the ton. —
其中一些人天生就是水槽，每吨可以产出1000美元。 —

The dry-eyed ones have to depend on signed letters, false hair, sympathy, the kangaroo walk, cowhide whips, ability to cook, sentimental juries, conversational powers, silk underskirts, ancestry, rouge, anonymous letters, violet sachet powders, witnesses, revolvers, pneumatic forms, carbolic acid, moonlight, cold cream and the evening newspapers.”
眼睛干涩的人不得不依靠签署的信件、假发、同情、袋鼠般的步履、牛皮鞭、烹饪能力、感伤的陪审团、富于表达能力、丝质内裙、血统、胭脂、匿名信、紫罗兰香粉、证人、左轮手枪、气动形式、苯酸、月光、冷霜和晚间报纸。

“You are outrageous, Ferg,” I said. —
“你真是太过分了，费格，” —

“Surely there is none of this ‘graft’ as you call it, in a perfect and harmonious matrimonial union!”
我说。 “在完美和和谐的婚姻中，肯定没有你所说的这种’欺诈’！”

“Well,” said Pogue, “nothing that would justify you every time in calling Police Headquarters and ordering out the reserves and a vaudeville manager on a dead run. —
“好吧，” Pogue 说道，“没有任何事能彻底证明你每次都要打电话给警察总部并紧急通知储备部队和新锐经理。” —

But it’s this way: Suppose you’re a Fifth Avenue millionaire, soaring high, on the right side of copper and cappers.
但事情是这样的：假设你是一位飞亚大道的百万富翁，事业高飞，在铜矿和美术品上都逆风翻盘。

“You come home at night and bring a $9,000, 000 diamond brooch to the lady who’s staked your for a claim. You hand it over. —
“你晚上回家，带着一枚价值九百万美元的钻石胸针给那位支撑你的女士。你把它交给她。她说： —

She says, ‘Oh, George!’ and looks to see if it’s backed. —
‘哦，乔治！’然后她检查一下钻石是否有底座。 —

She comes up and kisses you. —
她上前来亲吻你。 —

You’ve waited for it. You get it. All right. It’s graft.
你一直在期待这一刻。你得到了。没错，这是利益输送。

“But I’m telling you about Artemisia Blye. She was from Kansas and she suggested corn in all of its phases. —
“但我要告诉你有关阿特米西亚·布莱的事。她来自堪萨斯州，对玉米的各个方面很感兴趣。 —

Her hair was as yellow as the silk; —
她的头发黄得像丝绸； —

her form was as tall and graceful as a stalk in the low grounds during a wet summer; —
她的身材高挑而优雅，像湿润夏季低地的麦秆一样； —

her eyes were as big and startling as bunions, and green was her favorite color.
她的眼睛大而惊艳，像拇趾节骨疼一样，绿色是她最喜欢的颜色。”

“On my last trip into the cool recesses of your sequestered city I met a human named Vaucross. —
“在我最近一次进入你那个隐秘城市的凉爽深处时，我遇见了一个叫Vaucross的人类。 —

He was worth - that is, he had a million. —
他身价不菲 - 也就是说，他有一百万。” —

He told me he was in business on the street. —
“他告诉我自己在街上做生意。 —

‘A sidewalk merchant?’ says I, sarcastic. —
‘卖人行道的商人？’我讽刺地说。” —

‘Exactly,’ says he, ‘Senior partner of a paving concern.’
“‘没错，’他说，‘是一家人行道公司的高级合伙人。’”

“I kind of took to him. For this reason, I met him on Broadway one night when I was out of heart, luck, tobacco and place. —
“出于某种原因，我对他有好感。因此，有一天晚上当我失望时，碰巧他在百老汇上遇见了我。那时我失去了信心、运气、烟草和地位。” —

He was all silk hat, diamonds and front. He was all front. —
“他全副武装着丝质礼帽、钻石和虚张声势。 —

If you had gone behind him you would have only looked yourself in the face. —
他完全就是做样子。如果你从他后面看，你只会看到自己的脸。” —

I looked like a cross between Count Tolstoy and a June lobster. —
“我看起来像托尔斯泰伯爵和一只六月份的龙虾的混合体。 —

I was out of luck. —
我真是倒霉到家了。” —

I had - but let me lay my eyes on that dealer again.
“我只剩下了 - 但是让我再次找到那个商贩吧。”

“Vaucross stopped and talked to me a few minutes and then he took me to a high-toned restaurant to eat dinner. —
“Vaucross停下来和我聊了几分钟，然后带我去一家高级餐厅吃晚餐。” —

There was music, and then some Beethoven, and Bordelaise sauce, and cussing in French, and frangipangi, and some hauteur and cigarettes. —
“那里有音乐，有一些贝多芬，还有波尔多酱，还有一些用法语诅咒，还有法国风味的甜点，还有一些自高自大和香烟。” —

When I am flush I know them places.
“当我有钱的时候，我常常去那些地方。”

“I declare, I must have looked as bad as a magazine artist sitting there without any money and my hair all rumpled like I was booked to read a chapter from ‘Elsie’s School Days’ at a Brooklyn Bohemian smoker. —
我真的觉得自己像个没钱的杂志艺术家，坐在那里，头发乱糟糟的，好像我被安排去布鲁克林的波西米亚酒会上读《埃尔希的学校日记》的一章。 —

But Vaucross treated me like a bear hunter’s guide. —
但是Vaucross对待我就像猎熊向导一样。 —

He wasn’t afraid of hurting the waiter’s feelings.
他不怕伤害侍者的感情。

”‘Mr. Pogue,’ he explains to me, ‘I am using you.’
”‘Pogue先生，’他向我解释道，‘我在利用你。’

”‘Go on,’ says I; ‘I hope you don’t wake up.’
”‘继续说，’我说，’我希望你不要醒来。’

“And then he tells me, you know, the kind of man he was. —
“然后他告诉我，他是什么样的人。 —

He was a New Yorker. His whole ambition was to be noticed. —
他是个纽约人。他的整个抱负就是要被人注意到。 —

He wanted to be conspicuous. —
他想要显眼。 —

He wanted people to point him out and bow to him, and tell others who he was. —
他希望别人指着他，向他鞠躬，告诉别人他是谁。 —

He said it had been the desire of his life always. —
他说这一直是他的梦想。 —

He didn’t have but a million, so he couldn’t attract attention by spending money. —
他只有一百万，所以不能通过花钱来吸引人们的注意。 —

He said he tried to get into public notice one time by planting a little public square on the east side with garlic for free use of the poor; —
他说他曾经试图通过在东区种植一小块蒜，供穷人免费使用，来赢得公众的关注； —

but Carnegie heard of it, and covered it over at once with a library in the Gaelic language. —
但是卡内基听说了这个事情， —

Three times he had jumped in the way of automibiles; —
立刻用一个盖尔语图书馆掩盖了它。 —

but the only result was five broken ribs and a notice in the papers that an unknown man, five feet ten, with four amalgam-filled teeth, supposed to be the last of the famous Red Leary gang had been run over.
但是唯一的结果是五根断肋骨和报纸上的一则通知：有一个身高五英尺十英寸，有四颗充填合金的牙齿，被认为是著名红色利里帮最后一名成员的无名男子被撞倒。

”‘Ever try the reporters,’ I asked him.
“‘去试试记者，’我问他。

”‘Last month,’ says Mr. Vaucross, ‘my expenditure for lunches to reporters was $124.80.’
“‘上个月，’沃克罗斯先生说，‘我给记者请的午餐花费了124.80美元。

”‘Get anything out of that?’ I asks.
“‘从中得到了什么？’我问。

”‘That reminds me,’ says he; —
“‘这提醒了我，’他说， —

‘add $8.50 for perpsin. Yes, I got indigestion.’
‘再加上8.50美元的消化酶。是的，我得了消化不良。

”‘How am I supposed to push along your scramble for prominence?’ I inquires. ‘Contrast?’
“‘我应该怎样推动你的声名显赫呢？’我问道。‘对比？’

”‘Something of that sort to-night,’ says Vaucross. —
“‘今晚有点这样的东西，’沃克罗斯说。 —

‘It grieves me; but I am forced to resort to eccentricity.’ And here he drops his napkin in his soup and rises up and bows to a gent who is devastating a potato under a palm across the room.
‘这让我痛心；但我不得不采取古怪的做法。就在这时，他的餐巾纸掉进了他的汤里，他站起身向房间对面一个正在一棵棕榈树下摧残土豆的人鞠躬。

”‘The Police Commissioner,’ says my climber, gratified. —
“‘警察局长’，我的攀岩者满意地说道。 —

‘Friend’, says I, in a hurry, ‘have ambitions but don’t kick a rung out of your ladder. —
‘朋友’，我匆匆地说道，‘有抱负但别踩空梯子。’” —

When you use me as a stepping stone to salute the police you spoil my appetite on the grounds that I may be degraded and incriminated. —
“当你以我作为踏脚石向警察敬礼时，你破坏了我的食欲，因为我可能会被贬低和牵连到。 —

Be thoughtful.’
请考虑一下。”

“At the Quaker City squab en casserole the idea about Artemisia Blye comes to me.
“在Quaker City的炖鸽子砂锅饭上，有了关于Artemisia Blye的想法。”

”‘Suppose I can manage to get you in the papers,’ says I - ‘a column or two every day in all of ‘em and your picture in most of ‘em for a week. —
“‘假设我能让你登上报纸，’我说道，‘每天都在所有的报纸上有一两列，而且有一周大部分报纸上都有你的照片。这对你而言价值多少？’” —

How much would it be worth to you?’
“‘一万美元，’Vaucross一分钟内热情地说道。‘但不能有谋杀，’他说，‘而且我不会在舞会上穿粉色裤子。’”

”‘Ten thousand dollars,’ says Vaucross, warm in a minute. —
“‘我不会要求你这么做，’我说道。‘这是光荣的，时尚的，不缺男子气概。 —

‘But no murder,’ says he; —
告诉侍者给我来一杯小咖啡和一些其他的豆子， —

‘and I won’t wear pink pants at a cotillon.’
我会向你透露掌握方法的。’”

”‘I wouldn’t ask you to,’ says I. ‘This is honorable, stylish and uneffiminate. —
“‘请把咖啡厅搞来一份美式咖啡以及一些其他的豆子，然后我将向你揭示适度手段。’” —

Tell the waiter to bring a demi tasse and some other beans, and I will disclose to you the opus moderandi.’
“‘在这份豆子还没烧好之前，’我对Vaucross说道，‘我需要你发表一个公开声明，对你戴过的绿帽子进行辩护。’”

“We closed the deal an hour later in the rococo rouge et noise room. —
“我们在一个小时后在洛可可色红和噪音的房间里完成了交易。那晚， —

I telegraphed that night to Miss Artemisia in Salina. —
我给塞利纳的阿尔忒弥斯小姐发了一个电报。 —

She took a couple of photographs and an autograph letter to an elder in the Fourth Presbyterian Church in the morning, and got some transportation and $80. —
第二天早上，她带了几张照片和一封签名信给第四议会教堂的一位长老，并得到了一些交通工具和80美元。 —

She stopped in Topeka long enough to trade a flashlight interior and a valentine to the vice-president of a trust company for a mileage book and a package of five-dollar notes with $250 scrawled on the band.
她在托皮卡停留了一会儿，用一个手电筒灯泡和一个情人节礼物交换了一本里程本和一捆绑着250美元标签的五美元纸币。

“The fifth evening after she got my wire she was waiting, all decolletee and dressed up, for me and Vaucross to take her to dinner in one of these New York feminine apartment houses where a man can’t get in unless he plays bezique and smokes depilatory powder cigarettes.
“她穿得很性感，打扮得漂漂亮亮。”第五个晚上，我和沃克罗斯一起等着带她去这个纽约女性公寓楼的一个晚宴。除非男人玩牌和抽掉毛粉末香烟，否则他是无法进入这里的。

”‘She’s a stunner,’ says Vaucross when he saw her. —
“她真是个美女。”沃克罗斯看到她时说道。 —

‘They’ll give her a two-column cut sure.’
“他们一定会给她一个两栏的剪辑。”

“This was the scheme the three of us concocted. —
这是我们三个人想出来的计划。 —

It was business straight through. —
这是纯商业。 —

Vaucross was to rush Miss Blye with all the style and display and emotion he could for a month. —
Vaucross要以他能展示的所有风格、情感和表达方式来追求Blye小姐一个月。 —

Of course, that amounted to nothing as far as his ambitions were concerned. —
当然，对他的雄心壮志来说，这一切都无济于事。 —

The sight of a man in a white tie and patent leather pumps pouring greenbacks through the large end of a cornucopia to purchase nutriment and heartsease for tall, willowy blondes in New York is as common a sight as blue turtles in delirium tremens. —
在纽约，一个穿着白领带和专利皮鞋的男人，通过一个象征着财富和幸福的玉果角，向高高瘦瘦的金发女郎洒钞票，为她们购买营养品和安宁，已经成为一幅司空见惯的景象，就像在疯狂的颤抖中出现蓝色海龟一样。 —

But he was to write her love letters - the worst kind of love letters, such as your wife publishes after you are dead - every day. —
但是他要给她写情书，那种最糟糕的情书，就像你死后你的妻子发布的那种情书-每天都写。 —

At the end of the month he was to drop her, and she would bring suit for $100, 000 for breach of promise.
一个月结束后他会离开她，然后她会提起100, 000美元的违约诉讼。

“Miss Artemisia was to get $10,000. —
“Artemisia小姐将获得10,000美元。如果她赢了官司，就只有这么多；如果她输了， —

If she won the suit that was all; —
她无论如何都将得到这笔钱。有一份签署的合同作为证明。 —

and if she lost she was to get it anyhow. —
有时他们会带上我，但不常见。 —

There was a signed contract to that effect.
我跟不上他们的风格。

“Sometimes they had me out with ‘em, but not often. —
她经常拿出他写的便签纸， —

I couldn’t keep up to their style. —
像装运单据一样批评它们。 —

She used to pull out his notes and criticize them like bills of lading.
”

”‘Say, you!’ she’d say. ‘What do you call this - letter to a Hardware Merchant from His Nephew on Learning that His Aunt Has Nettlerash? —
“‘喂，你！’她会说。‘你怎么称呼这个——给一位五金商的信，向他的侄子表示他的姑姑得了荨麻疹？’” —

You Eastern duffers know as much about writing love letters as a Kansas grasshopper does about tugboats. —
你这些东部的笨蛋对写情书一窍不通，就像堪萨斯州的蚱蜢对拖船一窍不通一样。 —

“My dear Miss Blye!” - wouldn’t that put pink icing and a little red sugar bird on your bridal cake? —
“亲爱的布莱小姐！”-那不就在你的婚礼蛋糕上加上粉色糖衣和一个小红糖果鸟吗？ —

How long do you expect to hold an audience in a court-room with that kind of stuff? —
你指望用那种东西在法庭上吸引观众多久？ —

You want to get down to business, and call me “Tweedlums Babe” and “Honeysuckle,” and sing yourself “Mama’s Own Big Bad Puggy Wuggy Boy” if you want any limelight to concentrate upon your sparse gray hairs. —
你想要认真对待，然后称呼我“小傻瓜”、“金银花”，自己唱“妈妈自己的大坏皮肤小坏男孩”，这样才能让你稀疏的灰发聚集光芒。变得多愚蠢有多愚蠢吧。 —

Get sappy.’
”

“After that Vaucross dipped his pen in the indelible tabasco. His notes read like something or other in the original. —
“之后，沃克罗斯把笔蘸进耐久的塔瓦斯科蘇发。他的笔记读起来就像原物一样。” —

I could see a jury sitting up, and women tearing one another’s hats to hear ‘em read. —
我能看到陪审团坐直了身子，女人们争相撕扯帽子以听他们读出来的内容。 —

And I could see piling up for Mr. Vaucross as much notoriousness as Archbishop Crammer or the Brooklyn Bridge or cheese-on-salad ever enjoyed. —
我可以看到Mr. Vaucross堆积起来的臭名胜过大主教Crammer或者布鲁克林大桥或者在沙拉上放奶酪。 —

He seemed mighty pleased at the prospects.
他似乎对前景感到非常高兴。

“They agreed on a night; and I stood on Fifth Avenue outside a solemn restaurant and watched ‘em. —
他们商定了一个晚上；我站在第五大道的一家庄重的餐厅外面看着他们。 —

A process-server walked in and handed Vaucross the papers at this table. —
一个法警走进来，在这张桌子上递给Vaucross文件。 —

Everybody looked at ‘em; —
大家都看着他们； —

and he looked as proud as Cicero. —
他看起来像西塞罗那样自豪。 —

I went back to my room and lit a five-cent cigar, for I knew the $10,000 was as good as ours.
我回到我的房间点燃了一支五美分的雪茄，因为我知道那1万美元肯定是我们的了。

“About two hours later somebody knocked at my door. —
大约两个小时后，有人敲了我的门。 —

There stood Vaucross and Miss Artemisia, and she was clinging - yes, sir, clinging - to his arm. —
站在那里的是Vaucross和阿尔忒弥斯，她紧紧地（是的，先生，紧紧地）贴在他的胳膊上。 —

And they tells me they’d been out and got married. —
他们告诉我他们出去结婚了。 —

And they articulated some trivial cadences about love and such. —
他们用一些琐碎的词句谈论着爱情之类的。 —

And they laid down a bundle on the table and said ‘Good night’ and left.
他们在桌子上放下了一捆东西，说了声“晚安”然后离开了。

“And that’s why I say,” concluded Ferguson Pogue, “that a woman is too busy occupied with her natural vocation and instinct of graft such as is given her for self-preservation and amusement to make any great success in special lines.”
“因此，我认为，”弗格森·波格总结道，“女性忙于她们天生的职责和本能，以获取自我保护和娱乐，因此在特定领域里很难取得什么巨大的成功。”

“What was in the bundle they left?” I asked, with my usual curiosity.
“他们离开时带了什么？”我按照我平常的好奇心问道。

“Why,” said Ferguson, “there was a scalper’s railroad ticket as far as Kansas City and two pairs of Mr. Vaucross’s old pants.”
“哦，”弗格森说道，“里面有一张剥夺权的火车票，可以到达堪萨斯城，还有两条沃克罗斯先生的旧裤子。”