IIn a little district west of Washington Square the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called “places.” These “places” make strange angles and curves. —
在华盛顿广场以西的一个小区中，街道们疯狂地纵横交错，形成了一些小角落，被称为“地方”。这些“地方”形成了奇特的角度和弯曲。 —

One Street crosses itself a time or two. —
一条街道甚至会与自己交叉一两次。 —

An artist once discovered a valuable possibility in this street. —
一位艺术家曾经在这条街道上发现了一个有价值的可能性。 —

Suppose a collector with a bill for paints, paper and canvas should, in traversing this route, suddenly meet himself coming back, without a cent having been paid on account!
假设一个买家手上拿着买油漆、纸和画布的账单，在走这条路的过程中突然遇到自己回来，而且一分钱都没有付！

So, to quaint old Greenwich Village the art people soon came prowling, hunting for north windows and eighteenth-century gables and Dutch attics and low rents. —
于是，对古雅的格林威治村艺术家们迅速涌入，寻找北向的窗户、18世纪的尖顶和荷兰阁楼以及低廉的租金。 —

Then they imported some pewter mugs and a chafing dish or two from Sixth Avenue, and became a “colony.”
然后，他们从第六大道进口了几个锡制的马克杯和几个煮菜器，成为了一个“殖民地”。

At the top of a squatty, three-story brick Sue and Johnsy had their studio. —
在一栋矮矮的三层砖房的顶楼，苏和琼希有自己的工作室。 —

“Johnsy” was familiar for Joanna. —
琼希是对乔安娜的亲昵称呼。 —

One was from Maine; —
其中一位是从缅因州来的。 —

the other from California. They had met at the table d’h? —
另一个来自加利福尼亚。 —

te of an Eighth Street “Delmonico’s,” and found their tastes in art, chicory salad and bishop sleeves so congenial that the joint studio resulted.
他们在第八大街的一家”德尔蒙尼科斯”餐厅的餐桌上相遇，发现他们在艺术、菊苣沙拉和主教袖子方面的品味如此相投，于是他们共同拥有了一个工作室。

That was in May. In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the colony, touching one here and there with his icy fingers.
那是在五月。十一月，一位寒冷而隐匿的陌生人，被医生们称为肺炎，闯入了这个群落，在这里悄悄触摸着某些人。

Over on the east side this ravager strode boldly, smiting his victims by scores, but his feet trod slowly through the maze of the narrow and moss-grown “places.”
在东区，这个破坏者肆意横行，一次又一次地袭击受害者，但他的脚步缓慢地穿越狭窄而长满苔藓的小巷。

Mr. Pneumonia was not what you would call a chivalric old gentleman. —
肺炎先生并不是你所说的一个有骑士风度的老绅士。 —

A mite of a little woman with blood thinned by California zephyrs was hardly fair game for the red-fisted, short-breathed old duffer. —
一个矮小的女人，因为加利福尼亚的和风使她的血液变稀，几乎是红拳头、呼吸短促老头子的公平猎物。 —

But Johnsy he smote; and she lay, scarcely moving, on her painted iron bedstead, looking through the small Dutch window-panes at the blank side of the next brick house.
但是，他把约翰西打倒了；她躺在涂着漆的铁床上，几乎不动，透过小荷兰窗玻璃望着下一个砖房的空白面墙。

One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a shaggy, grey eyebrow.
一天早上，忙碌的医生招呼着挂满灰色眉毛的休问苏到走廊里去。

“She has one chance in - let us say, ten,” he said, as he shook down the mercury in his clinical thermometer. —
“让我们说，她有十分之一的机会。”他说着，摇晃着他的临床温度计，使汞下沉。 —

” And that chance is for her to want to live. —
“而这个机会取决于她是否想活下去。 —

This way people have of lining-u on the side of the undertaker makes the entire pharmacopoeia look silly. —
人们都站在殡仪馆一边，整个药剂师职业看起来都很愚蠢。 —

Your little lady has made up her mind that she’s not going to get well.
你的小姐已经下定决心，她不打算康复。

Has she anything on her mind?”
她心里有事吗？”

“She - she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples some day.” said Sue.
“她——她想有一天能画出那不勒斯的海湾。”苏说。

“Paint? - bosh! Has she anything on her mind worth thinking twice - a man for instance?”
“画画？——胡说！她心里有什么值得再三考虑的事情吗？比如一个男人？”

“A man?” said Sue, with a jew’s-harp twang in her voice. —
“一个男人？”苏带着嘴里夹着口琴的声音说。 —

“Is a man worth - but, no, doctor; —
“一个男人值得吗——不过，不， —

there is nothing of the kind.”
医生；没有这种事。”

“Well, it is the weakness, then,” said the doctor. —
“那么，就是心理上的薄弱，”医生说。 —

“I will do all that science, so far as it may filter through my efforts, can accomplish. —
“我会尽我所能，运用科学，过滤出我努力所能达到的一切。 —

But whenever my patient begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession I subtract 50 per cent from the curative power of medicines. —
但是，每当我的病人开始数她的丧葬队伍时，我就会把药物的治愈力减去百分之五十。” —

If you will get her to ask one question about the new winter styles in cloak sleeves I will promise you a one-in-five chance for her, instead of one in ten.”
如果你能让她询问关于披风袖新冬季风格的一个问题，我会保证她有五分之一的机会，而不是十分之一的机会。

After the doctor had gone Sue went into the workroom and cried a Japanese napkin to a pulp. —
医生走后，Sue走进了工作室，把一块日本餐巾纸揉成了一团。 —

Then she swaggered into Johnsy’s room with her drawing board, whistling ragtime.
然后她摇摆着进入Johnsy的房间，手里拿着绘图板，吹着拉格泰姆曲调。

Johnsy lay, scarcely making a ripple under the bedclothes, with her face toward the window. —
Johnsy躺在床单下几乎没有动，脸朝向窗外。Sue停止吹口哨， —

Sue stopped whistling, thinking she was asleep.
以为她在睡觉。

She arranged her board and began a pen-and-ink drawing to illustrate a magazine story. —
她摆好绘图板，开始用钢笔画一幅插图，为一篇杂志故事做配图。 —

Young artists must pave their way to Art by drawing pictures for magazine stories that young authors write to pave their way to Literature.
年轻的艺术家必须通过为年轻作家写的故事画插图来铺就通向艺术的道路，这些年轻作家通过写作来铺就通向文学的道路。

As Sue was sketching a pair of elegant horseshow riding trousers and a monocle of the figure of the hero, an Idaho cowboy, she heard a low sound, several times repeated. —
当Sue正在为主人公（一位来自爱达荷州的牛仔）画出一副优雅的马术裤子和单片眼镜时，她听到了一声低沉的声音，多次重复。 —

She went quickly to the bedside.
她迅速走到床边。

Johnsy’s eyes were open wide. —
Johnsy睁大了眼睛， —

She was looking out the window and counting - counting backward.
望着窗外数数 - 反向数数。

“Twelve,” she said, and little later “eleven”; —
她说：“十二”，然后过了一会儿， —

and then “ten,” and “nine”; —
“十一”; 接着是“十”， —

and then “eight” and “seven”, almost together.
“九”; 然后“八”和“七”，几乎同时。

Sue look solicitously out of the window. —
苏热切地从窗户外望着。 —

What was there to count? —
有什么可数的东西吗？ —

There was only a bare, dreary yard to be seen, and the blank side of the brick house twenty feet away.
只能看到一个光秃秃、凄凉的院子，离这座砖房还有二十英尺远的一面空白墙壁。

An old, old ivy vine, gnarled and decayed at the roots, climbed half way up the brick wall. —
一根古老的常春藤藤蔓，根部生有皱纹并已腐朽，在砖墙上爬了一半。 —

The cold breath of autumn had stricken its leaves from the vine until its skeleton branches clung, almost bare, to the crumbling bricks.
秋天的寒风夺走了它的叶子，使得它的骨架般的枝条几乎裸露地依附在破碎的砖块上。

“What is it, dear?” asked Sue.
苏问道：“亲爱的，你在说什么？”

“Six,” said Johnsy, in almost a whisper. —
“六，”约翰西几乎低声说道。 —

“They’re falling faster now. —
“它们现在掉得更快了。 —

Three days ago there were almost a hundred. —
三天前还有将近一百片。 —

It made my head ache to count them. —
数起来让我头痛。 —

But now it’s easy.
但现在很容易。

There goes another one. There are only five left now.”
又掉了一片。现在只剩下五片了。”

“Five what, dear? Tell your Sudie.”
“亲爱的，剩下的五片是什么？告诉苏迪。”

“Leaves. On the ivy vine. When the last one falls I must go, too. I’ve known that for three days. —
“藤蔓上的叶子。当最后一片掉下来时，我也必须走了。我已经知道这三天了。 —

Didn’t the doctor tell you?”
医生没有告诉你吗？”

“Oh, I never heard of such nonsense,” complained Sue, with magnificent scorn. “What have old ivy leaves to do with your getting well? —
“哦，我从来没听过这种无聊的事情，”苏抱怨道，带着壮丽的蔑视。“老藤叶子和你康复有什么关系？ —

And you used to love that vine so, you naughty girl. Don’t be a goosey. —
“你以前是多么喜欢那棵蔓藤啊，你这个淘气的女孩。别傻乎乎的。” —

Why, the doctor told me this morning that your chances for getting well real soon were - let’s see exactly what he said - he said the chances were ten to one! —
“嗯，今天早上医生告诉我，你康复的机会是——让我想想他到底说了什么——他说机会是十之一！ —

Why, that’s almost as good a chance as we have in New York when we ride on the street cars or walk past a new building. —
“哎呀，那几乎和我们在纽约搭电车或者走过新楼房时的机会一样好呢。 —

Try to take some broth now, and let Sudie go back to her drawing, so she can sell the editor man with it, and buy port wine for her sick child, and pork chops for her greedy self.”
“现在试着喝点肉汤吧，然后让苏迪回去画画吧，这样她可以用画卖给编辑，为她生病的孩子买波尔图酒，给她贪心的自己买猪排。”

“You needn’t get any more wine,” said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window. —
“你不必再买酒了，”约翰西说着，目光还是盯着窗外。 —

“There goes another. —
“又有一个掉下来了。 —

No, I don’t want any broth. That leaves just four. —
“不，我不想喝肉汤。这样就只剩下四个了。 —

I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark. —
我想看到最后一个在天黑之前掉下来。 —

Then I’ll go, too.”
然后我也会走。”

“Johnsy, dear,” said Sue, bending over her, “will you promise me to keep your eyes closed, and not look out the window until I am done working? —
“约翰西，亲爱的，”苏小声地说道，弯下腰来，“你能保证闭上眼睛，在我做完工作之前不要往窗外看吗？ —

I must hand those drawings in by to-morrow. —
我明天必须交那些画稿。我需要光线， —

I need the light, or I would draw the shade down.”
要不然我就只能拉下窗帘了。”

“Couldn’t you draw in the other room?” asked Johnsy, coldly.
“你不能在另一个房间里画吗？”约翰西冷冷地问道。

“I’d rather be here by you,” said Sue. “Beside, I don’t want you to keep looking at those silly ivy leaves.”
苏说道：“我宁愿待在你这儿。而且，我不想让你一直看着那些愚蠢的常青藤叶子。”

“Tell me as soon as you have finished,” said Johnsy, closing her eyes, and lying white and still as fallen statue, “because I want to see the last one fall. —
“当你画完了就告诉我，”约翰西闭上眼睛，静静地躺着像一尊倒下的雕像，“因为我想看到最后一片叶子掉下来。 —

I’m tired of waiting. I’m tired of thinking. —
我等得够累了。我思考得够累了。 —

I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves.”
我想要放开一切，像那些可怜的疲惫的叶子一样随风飘下去。”

“Try to sleep,” said Sue. “I must call Behrman up to be my model for the old hermit miner. —
苏说道：“试着睡一会儿吧。我得叫贝尔曼上来做我那个老隐士矿工的模特儿。 —

I’ll not be gone a minute. —
我不会离开很久的。 —

Don’t try to move ‘til I come back.”
在我回来之前，不要试图动。”

Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor beneath them. —
老贝尔曼是住在他们楼下一楼的画家。 —

He was past sixty and had a Michael Angelo’s Moses beard curling down from the head of a satyr along with the body of an imp. —
他已经过了六十岁，长着米开朗基罗式的摩西胡须，从头发的中央直垂下来，身躯却像个顽皮的小鬼。 —

Behrman was a failure in art. —
贝尔曼在艺术上失败了。 —

Forty years he had wielded the brush without getting near enough to touch the hem of his Mistress’s robe.
四十年来，他挥动着画笔，却从未靠近过触摸女神长袍褶边的地方。

He had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun it. —
他一直希望能绘出一部杰作，但从未开始过。 —

For several years he had painted nothing except now and then a daub in the line of commerce or advertising. —
几年来，他只画过几幅商业和广告上的拙作。 —

He earned a little by serving as a model to those young artists in the colony who could not pay the price of a professional. —
他通过给那些无法支付专业模特费用的年轻艺术家做模特谋了点小利。 —

He drank gin to excess, and still talked of his coming masterpiece. —
他过度饮酒，但仍在谈论即将出现的杰作。 —

For the rest he was a fierce little old man, who scoffed terribly at softness in any one, and who regarded himself as especial mastiff-in-waiting to protect the two young artists in the studio above.
除此之外，他是个凶猛的老小人物，对任何软弱非常嘲讽，自认为是两位年轻艺术家楼上的特别守护犬。

Sue found Behrman smelling strongly of juniper berries in his dimly lighted den below. —
苏在他昏暗的地窖里闻到了贝尔曼浓烈的杜松子味道。 —

In one corner was a blank canvas on an easel that had been waiting there for twenty-five years to receive the first line of the masterpiece. —
在一个角落里，有一个放在画架上的白色画布，它已经等待了25年，等着接受杰作的第一笔。 —

She told him of Johnsy’s fancy, and how she feared she would, indeed, light and fragile as a leaf herself, float away, when her slight hold upon the world grew weaker.
她告诉他关于约翰西的幻想，以及她担心当她对世界的微弱依赖变得越来越弱时，她会像叶子一样轻盈脆弱地飘走。

Old Behrman, with his red eyes plainly streaming, shouted his contempt and derision for such idiotic imaginings.
老贝尔曼，红红的眼睛明显在流泪，对这种愚蠢的想象表示了他的蔑视和嘲笑。

“Vass!” he cried. “Is dere people in de world mit der foolishness to die because leafs dey drop off from a confounded vine? —
“瓦斯！”他喊道，“世界上有人因为该死的藤蔓上的叶子掉落而死吗？我从来没有听说过这样的事情。不，我不会为你这个愚蠢的隐士白痴担任模特儿。” —

I haf not heard of such a thing. No, I will not bose as a model for your fool hermit-dunderhead. —
你为什么要让她的脑子里充满这种愚蠢的想法？ —

Vy do you allow dot silly pusiness to come in der brain of her? —
啊，可怜的小约翰西。 —

Ach, dot poor leetle Miss Yohnsy.”
苏说：“她病得很重，非常虚弱，发烧使她的思想变得病态而充满奇怪的幻想。”

“She is very ill and weak,” said Sue, “and the fever has left her mind morbid and full of strange fancies. —
好吧，贝尔曼先生，如果你不愿意给我做模特，你就不用了。 —

Very well, Mr. Behrman, if you do not care to pose for me, you needn’t. —
但是我觉得你是个可怕的老……老胡扯。 —

But I think you are a horrid old - old flibbertigibbet.”
我想你是个可怕的老……老胡扯天才。

“You are just like a woman!” yelled Behrman. —
“你就像个女人一样！”贝尔曼大声喊道。 —

“Who said I will not bose? Go on. —
“谁说我不会模仿？走吧。 —

I come mit you. —
我和你一起来。” —

For half an hour I haf peen trying to say dot I am ready to bose. Gott! —
我已经努力说了半个小时，我已经准备好模仿了。天啊！ —

dis is not any blace in which one so goot as Miss Yohnsy shall lie sick. —
这不是任何一个像约翰斯这样好的人都可以生病的地方。 —

Some day I vill baint a masterpiece, and ve shall all go away. —
总有一天我会画出一幅杰作，我们都会离开。天啊！ —

Gott! yes.”
是的。

Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs. —
当他们上楼时，约翰斯正在睡觉。 —

Sue pulled the shade down to the window-sill, and motioned Behrman into the other room. —
苏把窗帘拉到窗台上，示意贝尔曼去另一个房间。 —

In there they peered out the window fearfully at the ivy vine. —
在那里，他们恐惧地朝着长满常春藤的窗外望去。 —

Then they looked at each other for a moment without speaking. —
然后他们相互看了一会儿，没有说话。 —

A persistent, cold rain was falling, mingled with snow. —
寒冷的雨夹着雪不停地下着。 —

Behrman, in his old blue shirt, took his seat as the hermit miner on an upturned kettle for a rock.
贝尔曼穿着他的旧蓝色衬衫，坐在一个颠倒的水壶上当作岩石的隐士矿工。

When Sue awoke from an hour’s sleep the next morning she found Johnsy with dull, wide-open eyes staring at the drawn green shade.
第二天早上苏从一个小时的睡眠中醒来，发现约翰斯呆呆地睁着眼睛盯着拉下的绿色窗帘。

“Pull it up; I want to see,” she ordered, in a whisper.
“拉开它，我想看看。”她用耳语命令道。

Wearily Sue obeyed.
苏疲惫地照做了。

But, lo! after the beating rain and fierce gusts of wind that had endured through the livelong night, there yet stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf. —
然而，噩梦般的雨水和猛烈的风暴持续了整整一夜，依然有一片常春藤叶勇敢地挂在砖墙上。 —

It was the last one on the vine. —
这是藤蔓上最后一片叶子。 —

Still dark green near its stem, with its serrated edges tinted with the yellow of dissolution and decay, it hung bravely from the branch some twenty feet above the ground.
在离地面约二十英尺的枝干上，它的靠近茎部的部分仍然深绿，而边缘则呈现出黄色的腐朽和消散。

“It is the last one,” said Johnsy. —
“这是最后一片了，”约翰西说道，” —

“I thought it would surely fall during the night. —
我本以为它会在夜间摧枯拉朽。 —

I heard the wind. It will fall to-day, and I shall die at the same time.”
我听到了风声。它会在今天落下，而我也将在同一时间离去。”

“Dear, dear!” said Sue, leaning her worn face down to the pillow, “think of me, if you won’t think of yourself. —
“亲爱的，亲爱的！”苏把她疲惫的面庞靠近枕头，” 如果你不为自己着想，那就为了我想一想。 —

What would I do?”
我该怎么办呢？”

But Johnsy did not answer. —
但约翰西没有回答。 —

The lonesomest thing in all the world is a soul when it is making ready to go on its mysterious, far journey. —
当一个灵魂准备踏上它神秘而遥远的旅程时，世界上最寂寞的事情就是它。 —

The fancy seemed to possess her more strongly as one by one the ties that bound her to friendship and to earth were loosed.
随着与友谊和尘世的纽带一个个解开，这个幻想似乎越发强烈地占据了她的心灵。

The day wore away, and even through the twilight they could see the lone ivy leaf clinging to its stem against the wall. —
天渐渐暗下来，即使在黄昏时分，他们仍能看到孤零零的常春藤叶子紧紧地依附在墙上的枝干上。 —

And then, with the coming of the night the north wind was again loosed, while the rain still beat against the windows and pattered down from the low Dutch eaves.
然后，随着夜晚的来临，北风再次肆意狂吹，雨水仍在窗户上敲打着，从荷兰式屋檐淅淅沥沥地下落。

When it was light enough Johnsy, the merciless, commanded that the shade be raised.
当天亮了，残忍无情的约翰西下令把窗帘拉起。

The ivy leaf was still there.
常春藤叶子依然在那里。

Johnsy lay for a long time looking at it. —
约翰西躺了很长时间盯着它看。 —

And then she called to Sue, who was stirring her chicken broth over the gas stove.
然后她呼唤着苏，苏正在煮炖鸡汤。

“I’ve been a bad girl, Sudie,” said Johnsy. —
“我是个坏孩子，苏迪，”约翰西说道。 —

“Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how wicked I was. —
“某种力量让那最后一片叶子停在那儿，来告诉我我多么邪恶。 —

It is a sin to want to die. —
渴望死去是一种罪孽。 —

You may bring a me a little broth now, and some milk with a little port in it, and - no; —
你现在可以给我带点儿汤，还有一些加了一点点波特酒的牛奶，还有 - 不; —

bring me a hand-mirror first, and then pack some pillows about me, and I will sit up and watch you cook.”
先给我拿一面手镜，然后给我围上几个枕头，我就可以坐起来看着你做饭了。

And hour later she said:
一个小时后，她说道：

“Sudie, some day I hope to paint the Bay of Naples.”
“苏蒂，我希望有一天能够画出那不勒斯的海湾。”

The doctor came in the afternoon, and Sue had an excuse to go into the hallway as he left.
医生在下午来了，苏蒂借机离开去了走廊。

“Even chances,” said the doctor, taking Sue’s thin, shaking hand in his. “With good nursing you’ll win.” And now I must see another case I have downstairs. Behrman, his name is - some kind of an artist, I believe. Pneumonia, too. —
“机会五五开”，医生握着苏蒂纤细发抖的手说道，“只要好好护理，你们就会赢。”“现在我得看看楼下还有一个病例。他叫贝尔曼，据说是个艺术家。他也得了肺炎。” —

He is an old, weak man, and the attack is acute. —
他是个年迈虚弱的人，情况很严重。 —

There is no hope for him; —
没有希望了。 —

but he goes to the hospital to-day to be made more comfortable.”
但他今天要去医院，为了多一些舒适。

The next day the doctor said to Sue: “She’s out of danger. —
第二天医生对苏蒂说：“她已经脱离危险了。 —

You won. Nutrition and care now - that’s all.”
你们赢了。现在只需要营养和照顾。”

And that afternoon Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay, contentedly knitting a very blue and very useless woollen shoulder scarf, and put one arm around her, pillows and all.
那天下午，苏蒂来到床前，约翰西正在满足地织着一条非常蓝色且毫无用处的羊毛肩巾，她伸出一只手臂抱住了约翰西，连同枕头在内。

“I have something to tell you, white mouse,” she said. —
“我有件事要告诉你，白老鼠。”她说， —

“Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia to-day in the hospital. —
“贝尔曼先生今天在医院里死于肺炎。 —

He was ill only two days. —
他只生病了两天。” —

The janitor found him the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain. —
门卫在第一天的早晨在他楼下的房间里发现他痛苦不堪。 —

His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold. —
他的鞋子和衣服湿透了，冰冷刺骨。 —

They couldn’t imagine where he had been on such a dreadful night. —
他们无法想象他在那样可怕的夜晚去了哪里。 —

And then they found a lantern, still lighted, and a ladder that had been dragged from its place, and some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colours mixed on it, and - look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. —
然后他们发现了一个还亮着的灯笼，一个被拖动出原位的梯子，一些散落的刷子，还有一个调了绿色和黄色颜料的调色板 - 亲爱的，看看窗外的最后一片常青藤叶子。 —

Didn’t you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? —
你没有想过为什么它在风吹的时候从来没有飘动或移动吗？ —

Ah, darling, it’s Behrman’s masterpiece - he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell.”
啊，亲爱的，那是贝尔曼的杰作 - 是他在最后一片叶子落下的那个夜晚画在那里的。