The_Midnight_Visitor_深夜访客(中英对照)

The Midnight Visitor 深夜访客Ausable did not fit the description of any secret agent Fowler had ever read about . Following him down the corridor of the gloomy French hotel where Ausable had a room , Fowler felt disappointed . It was a small room on the sixth floor ,and hardly a setting for a romantic figure .

奥斯鲍根本不像书中见过的任何特工。跟着他走在这个法国小旅馆昏暗的走廊上，方罗感到很失望。奥斯鲍的房间在六楼，很狭小，一个浪漫的角色不应该是这样的背景。

Ausable was , for one thing , fat . Very fat . And then there was his accent . Though he spoke French and German passably , he had never altogether lost the New England accent he had brought to Paris from Boston twenty years ago .

首先，奥斯鲍很肥，非常肥，讲话还带有浓重的口音。他的法语和德语还说的过去，但二十年前从波斯顿带到巴黎的新英格兰口音还没舍得丢。

"You are disappointed ," Ausable said wheezily over his shoulder . "You were told that I was a secret agent , a spy , dealing in espionage and danger . You wished yo meet me because you are a writer , young and romantic . You thought you would have mysterious figures in the night , the crack of pistols , drugs in the wine ."

"你很失望吧，”奥斯鲍边走边气喘吁吁的说。“有人告诉你我是特工，间谍，经常身处险境。而你是作家，年轻，浪漫。你想着今晚会发掘出一个神秘的角色，感受刺激的午夜枪声和葡萄酒里的毒药。”

"Instead , you have spent a dull evening in a French music hall with a sloppy fat man who , instead of having messages slipped into his hand by dark-eyed beauties , gets only an ordinary telephone call making an appointment in his room . You have been bored !" The fat man chuckled to himself as he unlocked the door of his room and stood aside to let his frustrated guest enter .

“可是，相反，你只是与一个行动迟缓的胖子在法国音乐厅里度过一个乏味的晚上，这个胖子只是通过普通的电话定了个约会，而不是由一个大眼睛的美女把纸条秘密递到他手里。你感到烦了吧！”胖子边笑边打开房门，然后站到一边把他沮丧的客人让了进去。

"You are disillusioned," Ausable told him . "But take cheer , my young friend . Before long you will see a paper , a quite important paper for which several men and women have risked their lives , come to me in the next-to-last step of its journey into official hands . Some day soon that paper may well affect the course of history . There is drama in that thought , don't you think ?" As he spoke , Ausable closed the door behind him. Then he switched on the light .

“你的幻想破灭了，”奥斯鲍说道，“但我年轻的朋友，高兴起来吧。马上你就会看到一份文件，一份非常重要的文件，许多人已经为此付出了生命，到我这儿是最后一站了，然后就会交到上级手里。不久，那份文件也许会改写历史。这样想是不是很有戏剧性？”他边说边走了进来，关上门，打开了灯。

And as the light came on ,Fowler had his first real thrill of the day . For halfway across the room , a small automatic pistol in his hand , stood a man .

Ausable blinked a few times.

灯亮起的一刹那，方罗终于第一次感受到了这一天中真正的刺激。房间的中间站着一个人，手持一把小巧的自动手枪，正对准他们。

奥斯鲍眨了几下眼。

"Max," he wheezed , " you gave me quite a start . I thought you were in Berlin . What are you doing in my room ?"