An Excerpt from The Hunchback of Notre-Dame1)
In an extensive space left open between the crowd and the fire there was a young girl dancing.
Whether this young girl was a human being,or a fairy,or an angel Gringoire,sceptical2) philosopher and satirical3) poet as he was,could not at the first moment decide,so completely was he fascinated by the dazzling vision.She was not tall,although she appeared to be so from the slenderness and elegance of her figure.Her complexion was dark,but it was easy to divine4) that by daylight her skin must have the beautiful golden tint of the Roman and Andalusian women.Her small feet too were Andalusian.She danced,whirled,turned round,on an old Persian carpet,carelessly spread on the pavement;and every time her radiant5) face passed before you as she turned,her large black eyes flashed lightning.
Every eye was fixed upon her,every mouth open;and in truth,while she was thus dancing,what with the sound of the tambourine6),which her two plump exquisitely shaped arms held above her head,her bodice of gold without folds,her spotted robe which swelled with the rapidity of her motions,her bare shoulders,her finely turned legs which her petticoat7) now and then discovered,her black hair,her eyes of flame,she was a supernatural creature.
“Verily,”thought Gringoire,“it is a salamander,a nymph8),a goddess,a bacchanal9) of Mount Mnalus.”At that moment one of the tresses of the salamander’s hair got loose,and a piece of brass which had been fastened to it dropped to the ground.“Ha.no,”he said,“'tis a gipsy.”The illusion was at an end.
She began dancing again.She picked up from the ground two swords,which she balanced on their points upon her forehead,and made them turn round one way,while she turned the other.She was in fact a gipsy,neither more nor less.
法蘭西文學(xué)巨人雨果
節(jié)選自《巴黎圣母院》
在人群與篝火之間的一大塊空地上,有一個姑娘在舞蹈。
懷疑論者和諷刺詩人甘果爾被這眼花繚亂的景象完全迷住了,竟然不能一眼看清這姑娘是人,是仙女,還是天使。她個兒不高,不過,她身段苗條而優(yōu)雅,看上去亭亭玉立。她面色黝黑,但可以想像在陽光下一定有著羅馬和安達(dá)盧西亞女子那美麗的金色。她那雙纖足也是安達(dá)盧西亞人的。在一條隨意鋪于地面的舊波斯地毯上,她翩翩起舞,旋轉(zhuǎn)著,轉(zhuǎn)動著;每當(dāng)她轉(zhuǎn)過身來,那燦爛的臉龐經(jīng)過你面前的時(shí)候,她那雙烏黑的大眼睛就忽地一閃。
大家都目不轉(zhuǎn)睛,大張著嘴。在她如此舞蹈之際,她那兩只豐滿好看的胳膊把一面小鼓高高舉過頭頂,在這動人的鼓聲中,她那平整無皺的金色胸衣,她那快速轉(zhuǎn)動時(shí)鼓脹起來的有斑點(diǎn)的裙子,她那裸露的雙肩,她那從裙子里偶爾露出的優(yōu)美轉(zhuǎn)動著的雙腿,她那烏黑的頭發(fā),她那閃著火焰的眸子---真的,她是一個超自然的造物。
“真的,”甘果爾想道,“這是一個火精,一個林中仙女,一位女神,梅納倫山上的一位女酒神!”這時(shí),“火精”的一條發(fā)辮松開了,別在上面的一根黃銅飾針掉在地上。“哈!不對,”他說道,“她是吉卜賽人!”幻覺消失了。
她又跳起舞來。她從地上拾起兩柄劍,兩個劍尖平衡地抵著額頭,然后把劍朝一邊旋轉(zhuǎn),她自己則朝另一邊旋轉(zhuǎn)。她的確是吉卜賽人,一點(diǎn)不錯。
NOTE 注釋:
1. Hunchback of Notre-Dame 《巴黎圣母院》,雨果名著
2. skeptical [5skeptikEl] adj. 懷疑論的, 懷疑的
3. satirical [sE5tIrIk(E)l] adj. 好諷刺的, 愛挖苦人的
4. divine [di5vain] vt. 想象
5. radiant [5reidjEnt] adj. 發(fā)光的, 容光煥發(fā)的
6. tambourine [7tAmbE5ri:n] n. 小手鼓
7. petticoat [5petikEut] n. 襯裙, 裙子
8. nymph [nimf] n. [希神][羅神]居于山林水澤的仙女, 美麗的少女
9. bacchanal [5bAkEnl] n. 酒神