A few moments later our poet found himself in a tiny arched chamber, very cosy, very warm, seated at a table which appeared to ask nothing better than to make some loans from a larder hanging near by, having a good bed in prospect, and alone with a pretty girl.
The adventure smacked of enchantment. He began seriously to take himself for a personage in a fairy tale; he cast his eyes about him from time to time to time, as though to see if the chariot of fire, harnessed to two-winged chimeras, which alone could have so rapidly transported him from Tartarus to Paradise, were still there. At times, also, he fixed his eyes obstinately upon the holes in his doublet, in order to cling to reality, and not lose the ground from under his feet completely. His reason, tossed about in imaginary space, now hung only by this thread.
The young girl did not appear to pay any attention to him; she went and came, displaced a stool, talked to her goat, and indulged in a pout now and then. At last she came and seated herself near the table, and Gringoire was able to scrutinize her at his ease.
You have been a child, reader, and you would, perhaps, be very happy to be one still. It is quite certain that you have not, more than once (and for my part, I have passed whole days, the best employed of my life, at it) followed from thicket to thicket, by the side of running water, on a sunny day, a beautiful green or blue dragon-fly, breaking its flight in abrupt angles, and kissing the tips of all the branches.
You recollect with what amorous curiosity your thought and your gaze were riveted upon this little whirlwind, hissing and humming with wings of purple and azure, in the midst of which floated an imperceptible body, veiled by the very rapidity of its movement. The aerial being which was dimly outlined amid this quivering of wings, appeared to you chimerical, imaginary, impossible to touch, impossible to see.
But when, at length, the dragon-fly alighted on the tip of a reed, and, holding your breath the while, you were able to examine the long, gauze wings, the long enamel robe, the two globes of crystal, what astonishment you felt, and what fear lest you should again behold the form disappear into a shade, and the creature into a chimera! Recall these impressions, and you will readily appreciate what Gringoire felt on contemplating, beneath her visible and palpable form, that Esmeralda of whom, up to that time, he had only caught a glimpse, amidst a whirlwind of dance, song, and tumult.
Sinking deeper and deeper into his revery: "So this," he said to himself, following her vaguely with his eyes, "is la Esmeralda! a celestial creature! a street dancer! so much, and so little! ’Twas she who dealt the death-blow to my mystery this morning, ’tis she who saves my life this evening! My evil genius! My good angel! A pretty woman, on my word! and who must needs love me madly to have taken me in that fashion. By the way," said he, rising suddenly, with that sentiment of the true which formed the foundation of his character and his philosophy, "I don’t know very well how it happens, but I am her husband!"
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8
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他心里和眼睛里装着这个念头,用十分庄严优美的姿态向那少女走过去,使她倒退了一步。
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With this idea in his head and in his eyes, he stepped up to the young girl in a manner so military and so gallant that she drew back.
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9
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“你要我做什么吗?”
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9
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"What do you want of me?" said she.
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10
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“你能这样问我吗,令人敬爱的拉·爱斯梅拉达?”甘果瓦用充满感情的声音说,连他自己听起来也觉得诧异。
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"Can you ask me, adorable Esmeralda?" replied Gringoire, with so passionate an accent that he was himself astonished at it on hearing himself speak.
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11
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那波希米亚姑娘睁大着眼睛说:“我不懂你的话是什么意思。”
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The gypsy opened her great eyes. "I don’t know what you mean."
"What!" resumed Gringoire, growing warmer and warmer, and supposing that, after all, he had to deal merely with a virtue of the Cour des Miracles; "am I not thine, sweet friend, art thou not mine?"
The gypsy’s corsage slipped through his hands like the skin of an eel. She bounded from one end of the tiny room to the other, stooped down, and raised herself again, with a little poniard in her hand, before Gringoire had even had time to see whence the poniard came; proud and angry, with swelling lips and inflated nostrils, her cheeks as red as an api apple,and her eyes darting lightnings. At the same time, the white goat placed itself in front of her, and presented to Gringoire a hostile front, bristling with two pretty horns, gilded and very sharp. All this took place in the twinkling of an eye.
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15
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那蜻蜓变成了黄蜂,她不想别的,只想螫人。
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15
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The dragon-fly had turned into a wasp, and asked nothing better than to sting.
Our philosopher was speechless, and turned his astonished eyes from the goat to the young girl. "Holy Virgin!" he said at last, when surprise permitted him to speak, "here are two hearty dames!"
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17
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波希米亚姑娘开口说话了。
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17
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The gypsy broke the silence on her side.
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18
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“你应该是个比较勇敢的人!”
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18
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"You must be a very bold knave!"
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19
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“请原谅,小姐,”甘果瓦微笑着说,“可是你为什么又要我当你的丈夫呢?”
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19
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"Pardon, mademoiselle," said Gringoire, with a smile. "But why did you take me for your husband?"
"Mademoiselle Esmeralda," said the poet, "let us come to terms. I am not a clerk of the court, and I shall not go to law with you for thus carrying a dagger in Paris, in the teeth of the ordinances and prohibitions of M. the Provost. Nevertheless, you are not ignorant of the fact that Noel Lescrivain was condemned, a week ago, to pay ten Parisian sous, for having carried a cutlass. But this is no affair of mine, and I will come to the point. I swear to you, upon my share of Paradise, not to approach you without your leave and permission, but do give me some supper."
The truth is, Gringoire was, like M. Despreaux, "not very voluptuous." He did not belong to that chevalier and musketeer species, who take young girls by assault. In the matter of love, as in all other affairs, he willingly assented to temporizing and adjusting terms; and a good supper, and an amiable tête-a-tête appeared to him, especially when he was hungry, an excellent interlude between the prologue and the catastrophe of a love adventure.
A moment later, there stood upon the table a loaf of rye bread, a slice of bacon, some wrinkled apples and a jug of beer. Gringoire began to eat eagerly. One would have said, to hear the furious clashing of his iron fork and his earthenware plate, that all his love had turned to appetite.
The young girl seated opposite him, watched him in silence, visibly preoccupied with another thought, at which she smiled from time to time, while her soft hand caressed the intelligent head of the goat, gently pressed between her knees.
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29
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一支带着黄色光晕的蜡烛照着这幅健啖和梦幻的景象。
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29
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A candle of yellow wax illuminated this scene of voracity and revery.
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30
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最初的食欲满足后,甘果瓦看见桌上只剩下了一个苹果,有点不好意思。
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30
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Meanwhile, the first cravings of his stomach having been stilled, Gringoire felt some false shame at perceiving that nothing remained but one apple.
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“你不吃吗,爱斯梅拉达小姐?”
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31
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"You do not eat, Mademoiselle Esmeralda?"
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32
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她摇摇头代替回答,若有所思的眼睛盯着房间的拱顶。
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32
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She replied by a negative sign of the head, and her pensive glance fixed itself upon the vault of the ceiling.
"What the deuce is she thinking of?" thought Gringoire, staring at what she was gazing at; "’tis impossible that it can be that stone dwarf carved in the keystone of that arch, which thus absorbs her attention. What the deuce! I can bear the comparison!"
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34
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他提高声音喊道:“小姐!”
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34
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He raised his voice, "Mademoiselle!"
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35
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她仿佛没有听见似的。
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35
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She seemed not to hear him.
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36
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他用更大的声音喊道:“拉·爱斯梅拉达小姐!”
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36
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He repeated, still more loudly, "Mademoiselle Esmeralda!"
Trouble wasted. The young girl’s mind was elsewhere, and Gringoire’s voice had not the power to recall it. Fortunately, the goat interfered. She began to pull her mistress gently by the sleeve.
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38
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“你要什么呀,加里?”爱斯梅拉达好象忽然从梦中惊醒,热情地问道。
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38
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"What dost thou want, Djali?" said the gypsy, hastily, as though suddenly awakened.
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39
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“它饿了,”甘果瓦说,很得意又理开了话头。爱斯梅拉达撕了一点面包,加里高兴地在她的掌心里吃起来。
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39
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"She is hungry," said Gringoire, charmed to enter into conversation. Esmeralda began to crumble some bread, which Djali ate gracefully from the hollow of her hand.
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40
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甘果瓦不再给她时间去做梦了,他提出了一个巧妙的问题。
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40
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Moreover, Gringoire did not give her time to resume her revery. He hazarded a delicate question.
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41
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“那么你并不愿意要我当你的丈夫了?”
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41
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"So you don’t want me for your husband?"
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42
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少女牢牢地盯着他说:“不愿意。”
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42
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The young girl looked at him intently, and said, "No."
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43
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“当你的情人呢?”
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43
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"For your lover?" went on Gringoire.
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44
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她扁了扁嘴答道:“不愿意。”
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44
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She pouted, and replied, "No."
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45
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“当你的朋友呢?”甘果瓦接着问。
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45
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"For your friend?" pursued Gringoire.
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46
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她依旧牢牢地盯着他,想了想说:“也许。”
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46
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She gazed fixedly at him again, and said, after a momentary reflection, "Perhaps."
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47
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在哲学家们听起来非常亲切的这个“也许”,给了甘果瓦一点勇气。
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47
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This "perhaps," so dear to philosophers, emboldened Gringoire.
"Oh! love!" said she, and her voice trembled, and her eye beamed. "That is to be two and to be but one. A man and a woman mingled into one angel. It is heaven."
The street dancer had a beauty as she spoke thus, that struck Gringoire singularly, and seemed to him in perfect keeping with the almost oriental exaltation of her words. Her pure, red lips half smiled; her serene and candid brow became troubled, at intervals, under her thoughts, like a mirror under the breath; and from beneath her long, drooping, black eyelashes, there escaped a sort of ineffable light, which gave to her profile that ideal serenity which Raphael found at the mystic point of intersection of virginity, maternity, and divinity.
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53
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甘果瓦继续盘问。“要怎样一个人才能使你喜欢呢?”
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53
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Nevertheless, Gringoire continued,--"What must one be then, in order to please you?"
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54
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“应该是个男子汉。”
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54
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"A man."
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55
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“我呢,”他问道,“那么我是个什么人呢?”
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55
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"And I--" said he, "what, then, am I?"
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56
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“应该是个头上戴着盔,手里握着剑,靴跟上有金马刺的男子汉。”
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56
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"A man has a hemlet on his head, a sword in his hand, and golden spurs on his heels."
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57
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“这样说来,”甘果瓦说,“没有马就不是男子汉了。你爱着什么人吧?”
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57
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"Good," said Gringoire, "without a horse, no man. Do you love any one?"
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58
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“爱情的爱吗?”
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58
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"As a lover?--"
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59
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“爱情的爱。”
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59
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"Yes."
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60
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她沉思了一会,带着奇特的表情说:“我很快就会弄明白的。”
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60
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She remained thoughtful for a moment, then said with a peculiar expression: "That I shall know soon."
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61
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“为什么不在今天晚上弄明白?”诗人柔声问道,“为什么那个男子汉不是我呢?”
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61
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"Why not this evening?" resumed the poet tenderly. "Why not me?"
Gringoire colored, and took the hint. It was evident that the young girl was alluding to the slight assistance which he had rendered her in the critical situation in which she had found herself two hours previously. This memory, effaced by his own adventures of the evening, now recurred to him. He smote his brow.
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64
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“提起这事呀,小姐,我本应该从这件事说起。请原谅我的疏忽大意,你是怎样逃出了伽西莫多的爪子的呢?”
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64
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"By the way, mademoiselle, I ought to have begun there. Pardon my foolish absence of mind. How did you contrive to escape from the claws of Quasimodo?"
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65
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这个问题使波希米亚姑娘战栗起来。
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65
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This question made the gypsyshudder.
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66
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“啊,可怕的驼背!”她用手捂着脸惊呼道,同时好象冷极了似的哆嗦起来。
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66
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"Oh! the horrible hunchback," said she, hiding her face in her hands. And she shuddered as though with violent cold.
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67
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“真是可怕!”仍然没放弃刚才的想法的甘果瓦说,“可是你怎样从他那里逃脱的呢?”
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67
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"Horrible, in truth," said Gringoire, who clung to his idea; "but how did you manage to escape him?"
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68
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爱斯梅拉达叹了一口气,笑了一笑,可还是不作声地瞧着他。
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68
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La Esmeralda smiled, sighed, and remained silent.
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69
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“你知道他为什么要跟踪你吗?”甘果瓦又说,试着绕个弯子重新提出他的问题。
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69
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"Do you know why he followed you?" began Gringoire again, seeking to return to his question by a circuitous route.
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70
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“我不知道。”少女回答。她又马上追问道:“可是你也跟踪我来着,你为什么跟踪我呢?”
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70
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"I don’t know," said the young girl, and she added hastily, "but you were following me also, why were you following me?"
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71
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“说老实话,”甘果瓦回答道,“我也不知道呀。”
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71
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"In good faith," responded Gringoire, "I don’t know either."
Silence ensued. Gringoire slashed the table with his knife. The young girl smiled and seemed to be gazing through the wall at something. All at once she began to sing in a barely articulate voice,--~Quando las pintadas aves, Mudas estan, y la tierra~--
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73
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她忽然停下来,抚摸着加里。
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73
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She broke off abruptly, and began to caress Djali.
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74
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“你有个美丽的小动物呢。”甘果瓦说。
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74
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"That’s a pretty animal of yours," said Gringoire.
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75
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“这是我的妹妹呀。”她答道。
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75
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"She is my sister," she answered.
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76
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“大伙为什么管你叫‘拉·爱斯梅拉达’呢?”诗人问道。
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76
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"Why are you called ’la Esmeralda?’" asked the poet.
She drew from her bosom a sort of little oblong bag, suspended from her neck by a string of adrézarach beads. This bag exhaled a strong odor of camphor. It was covered with green silk, and bore in its centre a large piece of green glass, in imitation of an emerald.
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80
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“也许是因为这件东西。”她说。
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80
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"Perhaps it is because of this," said she.
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81
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甘果瓦想去拿那只小荷包,她便缩回手去。
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81
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Gringoire was on the point of taking the bag in his hand. She drew back.
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82
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“别碰它,这是一个护身符。你会破坏它的法力的,要不它会使你着魔。”
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82
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"Don’t touch it! It is an amulet. You would injure the charm or the charm would injure you."
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83
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诗人的好奇心更加被激动起来。
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83
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The poet’s curiosity was more and more aroused.
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84
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“那是谁给你的呀?”
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84
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"Who gave it to you?"
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85
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她把一根手指头放在嘴上,把护身符藏在胸前。他又试着提出别的问题,可是她不怎么理睬。
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85
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She laid one finger on her mouth and concealed the amulet in her bosom. He tried a few more questions, but she hardly replied.
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86
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“‘拉·爱斯梅拉达’这个字是什么意思?”
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86
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"What is the meaning of the words, ’la Esmeralda?’"
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87
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“我不知道。”她说。
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87
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"I don’t know," said she.
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88
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“它是属于哪种语言?”
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88
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"To what language do they belong?"
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89
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“是埃及话吧,我想。”
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89
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"They are Egyptian, I think."
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90
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“我也这样想,”甘果瓦说,“你不是法国人吧?”
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90
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"I suspected as much," said Gringoire, "you are not a native of France?"
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91
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“我一点也不知道。”
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91
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"I don’t know."
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92
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“你有父母吗?”
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92
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"Are your parents alive?"
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93
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她唱起一支古老的歌曲:“父兮鸟中雄,母兮堪匹俦;我渡沧浪水,何需艇与舟;父兮鸟中雄,母兮堪匹俦。”
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93
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She began to sing, to an ancient air,-- ~Mon père est oiseau, Ma mère est oiselle. B Je passe l’eau sans nacelle, Je passe l’eau sans bateau, Ma mère est oiselle, Mon père est oiseau~.
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94
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“这支歌很好,”甘果瓦说,“你是几岁到法国来的?”
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94
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"Good," said Gringoire. "At what age did you come to France?"
"Last year. At the moment when we were entering the papal gate I saw a reed warblerflit through the air, that was at the end of August; I said, it will be a hard winter."
"Naughty girl!" retorted the poet. "Never mind, you shall not provoke me. Wait, perhaps you will love me more when you know me better; and then, you have told me your story with so much confidence, that I owe you a little of mine. You must know, then, that my name is Pierre Gringoire, and that I am a son of the farmer of the notary’s office of Gonesse. My father was hung by the Burgundians, and my mother disembowelled by the Picards, at the siege of Paris, twenty years ago.
At six years of age, therefore, I was an orphan, without a sole to my foot except the pavements of Paris. I do not know how I passed the interval from six to sixteen. A fruit dealer gave me a plum here, a baker flung me a crust there; in the evening I got myself taken up by the watch, who threw me into prison, and there I found a bundle of straw. All this did not prevent my growing up and growing thin, as you see.
In the winter I warmed myself in the sun, under the porch of the H?tel de Sens, and I thought it very ridiculous that the fire on Saint John’s Day was reserved for the dog days. At sixteen, I wished to choose a calling. I tried all in succession. I became a soldier; but I was not brave enough. I became a monk; but I was not sufficiently devout; and then I’m a bad hand at drinking. In despair, I became an apprentice of the woodcutters, but I was not strong enough; I had more of an inclination to become a schoolmaster; ’tis true that I did not know how to read, but that’s no reason.
I perceived at the end of a certain time, that I lacked something in every direction; and seeing that I was good for nothing, of my own free will I became a poet and rhymester. That is a trade which one can always adopt when one is a vagabond, and it’s better than stealing, as some young brigands of my acquaintance advised me to do. One day I met by luck, Dom Claude Frollo, the reverend archdeacon of Notre-Dame. He took an interest in me, and it is to him that I to-day owe it that I am a veritable man of letters, who knows Latin from the ~de Officiis~ of Cicero to the mortuology of the Celestine Fathers, and a barbarian neither in scholastics, nor in politics, nor in rhythmics, that sophism of sophisms.
I am the author of the Mystery which was presented to-day with great triumph and a great concourse of populace, in the grand hall of the Palais de Justice. I have also made a book which will contain six hundred pages, on the wonderful comet of 1465, which sent one man mad. I have enjoyed still other successes. Being somewhat of an artillery carpenter, I lent a hand to Jean Mangue’s great bombard, which burst, as you know, on the day when it was tested, on the Pont de Charenton, and killed four and twenty curious spectators.
You see that I am not a bad match in marriage. I know a great many sorts of very engaging tricks, which I will teach your goat; for example, to mimic the Bishop of Paris, that cursed Pharisee whose mill wheels splash passers-by the whole length of the Pont aux Meuniers. And then my mystery will bring me in a great deal of coined money, if they will only pay me. And finally, I am at your orders, I and my wits, and my science and my letters, ready to live with you, damsel, as it shall please you, chastely or joyously; husband and wife, if you see fit; brother and sister, if you think that better.”
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112
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甘果瓦不作声了,等待着他的表白在那少女身上引起的效果。她的眼睛盯在地上。
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112
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Gringoire ceased, awaiting the effect of his harangue on the young girl. Her eyes were fixed on the ground.
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113
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“‘弗比斯’,”她低声说道,接着就掉头问诗人:“‘弗比斯’这个词是什么意思呀?”
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113
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"’Phoebus,’" she said in a low voice. Then, turning towards the poet, "’Phoebus’,--what does that mean?"
Gringoire, without exactly understanding what the connection could be between his address and this question, was not sorry to display his erudition. Assuming an air of importance, he replied,--"It is a Latin word which means ’sun.’"
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115
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“太阳!”她重复道。
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115
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"Sun!" she repeated.
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116
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“这是一位非常漂亮的弓箭手——一位天神的名字。”
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116
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"It is the name of a handsome archer, who was a god," added Gringoire.
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117
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“一位天神!”那埃及姑娘重复着这个词,她的声调里带有某种若有所思和热情冲动的成分。
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117
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"A god!" repeated the gypsy, and there was something pensive and passionate in her tone.
At that moment, one of her bracelets became unfastened and fell. Gringoire stooped quickly to pick it up; when he straightened up, the young girl and the goat had disappeared. He heard the sound of a bolt. It was a little door, communicating, no doubt, with a neighboring cell, which was being fastened on the outside.
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119
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“至少她给我留下了一张床铺吧?”我们的哲学家说。
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119
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"Has she left me a bed, at least?" said our philosopher.
He made the tour of his cell. There was no piece of furniture adapted to sleeping purposes, except a tolerably long wooden coffer; and its cover was carved, to boot; which afforded Gringoire, when he stretched himself out upon it, a sensation somewhat similar to that which Micromégas would feel if he were to lie down on the Alps.
"Come!" said he, adjusting himself as well as possible, "I must resign myself. But here’s a strange nuptial night. ’Tis a pity. There was something innocent and antediluvian about that broken crock, which quite pleased me."