第三样配料
The （socalled） Vallambrosa ApartmentHouse is not an apartmenthouse.It is composed of two oldfashioned， brownstonefront residences welded into one. The parlor floor of one side is gay with the wraps and headgear of a modistemodiste n.经营女装或女帽店的人； the other is lugubrious with the sophisticalsophistical adj.诡辩的，强词夺理的 promises and grisly display of a painless dentist. You may have a room there for two dollars a week or you may have one for twenty dollars. Among the Vallambrosas roomers are stenographersstenographer n.速记员， musicians， brokers， shopgirls， spacerate writers， art students， wiretappers， and other people who lean far over the banisterrail when the doorbell rings.
瓦蓝布罗沙公寓虽然名为公寓，实际上并不是什么公寓房子，只不过是两幢合二为一的老式褐色面墙的住宅。底层一边开了一家女式服装店，花花绿绿的围巾和帽子挂得琳琅满目；另一边是个管保不痛的牙科诊所，张贴着一些似是而非的保证，陈列着一些吓人的标本。在这所公寓里，你可以借到租金每周两元的房间，也可以借到租金每月二十元的房间。瓦蓝布罗沙的房客中有速记员、音乐家、经纪人、女店员、卖文为生的作家、美术学生、电话接线员，以及一听到门铃响就扶着栏杆探身张望的好事者等。
This treatise shall have to do with but two of the Vallambrosians—though meaning no disrespectdisrespect n.失礼， 无礼 vt.不尊敬， 不尊重 to the others.
本文只谈瓦蓝布罗沙的两位房客——这并不是对别人有什么怠慢。
At six oclock one afternoon Hetty Pepper came back to her thirdfloor rear 3.50 room in the Vallambrosa with her nose and chin more sharply pointed than usual. To be discharged from the department store where you have been working four years， and with only fifteen cents in your purse， does have a tendencytendencyn.趋向， 倾向 to make your features appear more finely chiseled.
一天下午六点钟，赫蒂·佩浪回到瓦蓝布罗沙公寓三楼她那个租金每周三块五的后房，她那尖削的鼻子和下巴显得比平时更为冷峻。如果你在一家百货公司干了四年，突然被解雇，钱包里又只有一毛五分钱，嘴脸难免要有点儿悻悻然。
And now for Hettys thumbnail biography while she climbs the two flights of stairs.
现在，趁她爬上两层楼梯的工夫，我们简单介绍一下她的身世。
She walked into the Biggest Store one morning four years before with seventyfive other girls， applying for a job behind the waist department counter. The phalanx of wageearners formed a bewilderingbewilderingadj.令人困惑的， 使人混乱的 scene of beauty， carrying a total mass of blond hair sufficient to have justified the horseback gallops of a hundred Lady Godivas.
四年前一天早晨，她同七十五个别的姑娘一起走进那家大百货店，应征内衣部售货员的工作。这支靠工资为生的娘子军，摆成了一个使人眼花缭乱的美人阵。她们头上的金发足够让一百个戈迪瓦夫人骑马在街上奔驰。
The capable， cooleyed， impersonal， young， baldheaded man whose task it was to engage six of the contestants， was aware of a feeling of suffocationsuffocation n.窒息 as if he were drowning in a sea of frangipanni， while white clouds， handembroidered， floated about him. And then a sail hove in sight. Hetty Pepper， homely of countenance， with small， contemptuous， green eyes and chocolatecolored hair， dressed in a suit of plain burlap and a commonsense hat， stood before him with every one of her twentynine years of life unmistakably in sight.
那个精明强干，目光冷漠，不近人情的秃顶年轻人负责在这批应征者中挑选六名。他有一种窒息感，仿佛要在这片轻纱如云，散发鸡蛋花香的海洋里没顶了。正在这时候，一艘船驶入视线。赫蒂·佩浪站到了他面前，她貌不惊人，巧克力色的头发，绿色的小眼睛带着轻蔑，身穿一套朴素的粗麻布衣服，头上一顶实事求是的帽子，不折不扣地显示了她二十九岁的年华。
“Youre on！。” shouted the baldheaded young man， and was saved. And that is how Hetty came to be employed in the Biggest Store. The story of her rise to an eightdollaraweek salary is the combined stories of Hercules， Joan of Arc， Una， Job， and LittleRedRidingHood. You shall not learn from me the salary that was paid her as a beginner.There is a sentiment growing about such things， and I want no millionairemillionaire n.百万富翁， 大富豪 storeproprietors climbing the fireescape of my tenementhouse to throw dynamitedynamite n.炸药， <俚> 能产生不凡效果的人或物 vt.炸毁， 使失败 bombs into my skylight boudoir.
“你行！”秃顶年轻人嚷道，他自己也免遭没顶之灾。赫蒂就这样受雇于大百货店。至于她的工资怎么提升到每周八块钱，那就是赫拉克勒斯、圣女贞德、尤娜、约伯和小红帽的故事的总和我不能告诉你，她刚进去时公司给她多少工资。社会上反对这种现象的情绪正在高涨，我可不希望百万富翁的店主们从我所住的廉价公寓的防火梯爬上来，往我的阁楼房间里扔炸弹。
The story of Hettys discharge from the Biggest Store is so nearly a repetitionrepetition n.重复， 循环， 复制品， 副本 of her engagement as to be monotonous.
赫蒂被这家大百货店辞退的经过，几乎是她受雇经过的重演，所以也够单调乏味的。
In each department of the store there is an omniscientomniscient adj.全知的， 无所不知的 n.无所不知者， [宗］上帝， omnipresentomnipresent adj.无所不在的， 同时遍在的， and omnivorousomnivorous adj.杂食的， 什么都吃的， 什么都读的， 随手乱拿的 person carrying always a mileage book and a red necktie， and referred to as a “buyer”。 The destinies of the girls in his department who live on （see Bureau of Victual Statistics）—so much per week are in his hands.
店里的每个部门都有那么一位无所不知，无所不在，无所不馋的人物，他老是带着一个小本子，系着一条红领带，以“买主”的面目出现。他那个部门的每周靠着干工资（参照活命统计局公布的数字）活命的姑娘们的命运全捏在他手里。
This particular buyer was a capable， cooleyed， impersonal， young， baldheaded man. As he walked along the aisles of his department lie seemed to be sailing on a sea of frangipanni， while white clouds， machineembroidered， floated around him. Too many sweets bring surfeit. He looked upon Hetty Peppers homely countenance， emeraldemerald n.[矿］祖母绿， 翡翠， 绿宝石， 翠绿色adj.翡翠的， 翠绿色的 eyes， and chocolatecolored hair as a welcome oasis of green in a desert of cloying beauty. In a quiet angle of a counter he pinched her arm kindly， three inches above the elbow. She slapped him three feet away with one good blow of her muscularmuscular adj.肌肉的， 强健的 and not especially lilywhite right. So， now you know why Hetty Pepper came to leave the Biggest Store at thirty minutes notice， with one dime and a nickel in her purse.
我们说的这位买主是个精明能干，目光冷漠，不近人情的秃顶年轻人。他顺着他那部门的过道走去时，仿佛在轻纱如云，散发着鸡蛋花香的海洋上航行。甜食吃得太多也会腻得发慌。他把赫蒂·佩浪那平凡的容貌，翡翠色的眼睛和巧克力色的头发看作是腻人的美色沙漠中一块喜人的绿洲。在柜台旁边一个僻静的角落里，他在她胳臂肘上三英寸的地方亲热地捏了一把。她扬起并不特别白皙而有力的右手，一巴掌把他打出三英尺远。你现在该明白了，赫蒂·佩浪为什么被大百货店辞退，限三十分钟内走人，而钱包里只有一毛五分钱。
This mornings quotationsquotation n.引用语， 价格， 报价单， 行情表 list the price of rib beef at six cents per （butchers） pound. But on the day that Hetty was “released” by the B.S. the price was seven and onehalf cents. That fact is what makes this story possible. Otherwise， the extra four cents would have-
