A HAUNTED HOUSE

By Virginia Woolf

Whatever hour you woke there was a door shutting. From room to room they went, hand in hand, lifting here, opening there, making sure—a ghostly couple.

[2] “Here we left it,” she said. And he added, “Oh, but here too!” “It’s upstairs,” she murmured. “And in the garden,” he whispered. “Quietly,” they said, “or we shall wake them.”

[3] But it wasn’t that you woke us.Oh, no. “They’re looking for it; they’re drawing the curtain,” one might say,and so read on a page or two. “Now they’ve found it,” one would be certain,stopping the pencil on the margin. And then, tired of reading, one might rise and see for oneself, the house all empty,the doors standing open, only the wood pigeons bubbling with content and the hum of the threshing2thresh脫粒；打（谷）。machine sounding from the farm. “What did I come in here for? What did I want to find?” My hands were empty. “Perhaps it’s upstairs then?” The apples were in the loft. And so down again, the garden still as ever,only the book had slipped into the grass.

無論你何時醒來，總能聽見關門的聲音。他們走過一個個房間，手牽著手，揭開這里看看，打開那里瞅瞅，生怕有所遺漏——一對幽靈夫婦。

[2]“我們把它留在這兒了。”她說道。他接著補充：“噢，但這兒也有！”“它在樓上。”她喃喃道。“還有花園里。”他悄聲說。“輕一點兒，”他們說，“別把他們吵醒了。”

[3]并不是你們吵醒了我們。不，不是的。“他們在找它；他們正拉開窗簾。”某人可能會說，于是繼續(xù)讀上一兩頁。“現(xiàn)在他們找著它了。”某人可以肯定，鉛筆在空白處停住。然后，某人讀累了，興許會站起身來親眼瞧瞧，屋子空空如也，門都敞開著，只聽到斑鳩滿足的咕咕聲和農(nóng)場傳來的打谷機的嗡嗡聲。“我為什么進來？我是想找什么？”我兩手空空。“那或許它在樓上吧？”蘋果在閣樓里。于是又下樓來，花園和往常一樣寂靜，只是書已滑落在了草叢里。

[4] But they had found it in the drawing room. Not that one could ever see them. The window panes reflected apples, reflected roses; all the leaves were green in the glass. If they moved in the drawing room, the apple only turned its yellow side. Yet, the moment after,if the door was opened, spread about the floor, hung upon the walls, pendant from the ceiling—what? My hands were empty. The shadow of a thrush3thrush鶇；畫眉。crossed the carpet; from the deepest wells of silence the wood pigeon drew its bubble of sound. “Safe, safe, safe,” the pulse of the house beat softly. “The treasure buried; the room…” the pulse stopped short. Oh, was that the buried treasure?

[5] A moment later the light had faded. Out in the garden then? But the trees spun darkness for a wandering beam of sun. So fine, so rare, coolly sunk beneath the surface the beam I sought always burnt behind the glass.Death was the glass; death was between us; coming to the woman first, hundreds of years ago, leaving the house, sealing all the windows; the rooms were darkened. He left it, left her, went North, went East, saw the stars turned in the Southern sky; sought the house,found it dropped beneath the Downs4北海南部靠近英吉利海峽肯特海岸的一片海域。.“Safe, safe, safe,” the pulse of the house beat gladly. “The Treasure yours.”

[4]但他們已經(jīng)在起居室里找到了它。倒不是說有人能看見他們。窗玻璃映照出了蘋果，映照出了玫瑰；玻璃中的樹葉都是綠色的。如果他們在起居室四處走動，只能看到蘋果黃色的一面。但是片刻之后，如果門被打開了，攤在地上的，掛在墻上的，懸在屋頂上的——是什么？我兩手空空。一只畫眉的影子從地毯上掠過；斑鳩由最幽深的靜默中發(fā)出咕咕的叫聲。“安，安，安。”屋子的脈搏輕柔地跳動著，“珍寶已被埋藏；這房間……”脈搏戛然而止。噢，這就是被埋藏的珍寶嗎？

[5]須臾，光線暗了下去。那就是在外面的花園里了？但樹葉編織的暗影遮住了散漫的陽光。我一直在追尋的那束光一直在玻璃后燃燒，多么細膩，多么珍貴，從容地沉落。死亡便是這玻璃；死亡橫亙在我們之間；幾百年前，死亡先降臨在女子頭上，離開這座房子時封印了所有窗戶；房間都陷入黑暗之中。他離開了它，離開了她，向北又向東而行，看著南方的天空斗轉(zhuǎn)星移；尋找這屋子，發(fā)現(xiàn)它沉在了唐斯的海水之下。“安，安，安。”屋子的脈搏愉快地跳動著，“你們的珍寶。”

[6] The wind roars up the avenue.Trees stoop and bend this way and that.Moonbeams splash and spill wildly in the rain. But the beam of the lamp falls straight from the window. The candle burns stiff and still. Wandering through the house, opening the windows,whispering not to wake us, the ghostly couple seek their joy.

[7] “Here we slept,” she says. And he adds, “Kisses without number.”“Waking in the morning—” “Silver between the trees—” “Upstairs—” “In the garden—” “When summer came—”“In winter snowtime—” The doors go shutting far in the distance, gently knocking like the pulse of a heart.

[8] Nearer they come; cease at the doorway. The wind falls, the rain slides silver down the glass. Our eyes darken;we hear no steps beside us; we see no lady spread her ghostly cloak. His hands shield the lantern. “Look,” he breathes.“Sound asleep. Love upon their lips.”

[6]風沿著道路呼嘯而上。樹木彎下腰左右搖擺。月光在雨中恣意飄灑。但臺燈的光亮直接從窗戶傾瀉下來。蠟燭直直地、靜靜地燃著。那對幽靈夫婦在屋子里游蕩，打開窗子，悄聲說著別將我們吵醒了，邊尋找著他們的快樂。

[7]“我們曾睡在這里。”她說道。他接著補充：“無數(shù)次親吻。”“早上醒來時——”“樹葉間的閃光——”“樓上——”“花園里——”“夏天到來的時候——”“冬天下雪的時候——”遠處的門一扇扇關上，輕柔的碰撞聲仿佛心臟在跳動。

[8]他們走得更近了；在門口停住。風勢減弱，晶亮的雨水順著草葉滑落。我們的眼睛暗了下來；聽不見身邊的腳步；看不見女子展開她幽靈般的斗篷。他用手遮住了燈罩。“看，”他低聲說，“睡得可熟了。雙唇帶著愛意。”

[9] Stooping, holding their silver lamp above us, long they look and deeply. Long they pause. The wind drives straightly; the flame stoops slightly. Wild beams of moonlight cross both floor and wall, and, meeting, stain the faces bent; the faces pondering; the faces that search the sleepers and seek their hidden joy.

[10] “Safe, safe, safe,” the heart of the house beats proudly. “Long years—” he sighs. “Again you found me.” “Here,”she murmurs, “sleeping; in the garden reading; laughing, rolling apples in the loft. Here we left our treasure—”Stooping, their light lifts the lids upon my eyes. “Safe! safe! safe!” the pulse of the house beats wildly. Waking, I cry“Oh, is this your buried treasure? The light in the heart.” ■

[9]他們彎著腰，把銀色的燈盞舉在我們上方，凝視了許久，沉默了許久。風徑直襲來；火苗搖曳了一下。月光肆意地穿過地板和墻壁，互相交會，斑駁了垂下的臉龐；臉龐的主人正在沉思，審視著熟睡的人，探尋他們隱秘的快樂。

[10]“安，安，安。”屋子的脈搏驕傲地跳動著。“好多年了——”他嘆息道，“你又找到了我。”“在這兒睡覺；”她喃喃說，“在花園里看書；在閣樓里邊笑邊滾著蘋果。我們在這兒留下了我們的珍寶——”他們彎下腰，手中的亮光掀開了我們的眼簾。“安！安！安！”屋子的脈搏瘋狂地跳動著。我醒過來，喊道：“啊，這就是你們埋藏的珍寶嗎？這心靈之光。” □

1（1882—1941），英國女作家、文學批評家和文學理論家，意識流文學流派代表人物，被譽為20世紀現(xiàn)代主義與女性主義的先鋒。兩次世界大戰(zhàn)期間，她是倫敦文學界的核心人物，同時也是布盧姆茨伯里派（Bloomsbury Group）的成員之一。最知名的小說包括《達洛維夫人》（Mrs. Dalloway）、《到燈塔去》（To the Lighthouse）等。