THE GIFT OF THE MAGI 麥琪的禮物
by O. Henry［美］歐·亨利／著 潘明元／譯
小編按：很多同學看到英語小說可能就頭大了。的確，英文原版小說大多包含了很多生詞。尤其是年代久遠的名著，更是有許多現今已經用不到的冷僻字。不過小編覺得，我們在閱讀小說時大可拋開這些看不明白形容詞和名詞，多留意作者對動詞的使用、搭配，學習整體文章的行文方式。久而久之，你自己的寫作也會變得地道很多呢！所以，現在就跟小編一起來讀一讀這篇最聖誕的溫暖小說吧！
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty- seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
一元八角七。全都在這兒了，其中六角是一分一分的銅板。這些分分錢是雜貨店老闆、菜販子和肉店老闆那兒軟硬兼施地一分兩分地扣下來，直弄得自己羞愧難當，深感這種掂斤播兩的交易實在丟人現眼。德拉反覆數了三次，還是一元八角七，而第二天就是聖誕節了。
There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.
除了撲倒在那破舊的小睡椅上哭嚎之外，顯然別無他途。德拉這樣作了，可精神上的感慨油然而生，生活就是哭泣、抽噎和微笑，尤以抽噎佔統治地位。
While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.
當這位家庭主婦逐漸平靜下來之際，讓我們看看這個家吧。一套帶傢俱的公寓房子，每週房租八美元。儘管難以用筆墨形容，可它真真夠得上乞丐幫這個詞兒。
In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr. James Dillingham Young."
樓下的門道里有個信箱，可從來沒有裝過信，還有一個電鈕，也從沒有人的手指按響過電鈴。而且，那兒還有一張名片，上寫着“詹姆斯·迪林厄姆·楊先生”。
The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, though, they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.
“迪林厄姆”這個名號是主人先前春風得意之際，一時興起加上去的，那時候他每星期掙三十美元。現在，他的.收入縮減到二十美元，“迪林厄姆”的字母也顯得模糊不清，似乎它們正嚴肅地思忖着是否縮寫成謙遜而又講求實際的字母Ｄ。不過，每當詹姆斯·迪林厄姆·楊回家，走進樓上的房間時，詹姆斯·迪林厄姆·楊太太，就是剛介紹給諸位的德拉，總是把他稱作“吉姆”，而且熱烈地擁抱他。那當然是再好不過的了。
Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling--something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.
德拉哭完之後，往面頰上抹了抹粉，她站在窗前，癡癡地瞅着灰濛濛的後院裏一隻灰白色的貓正行走在灰白色的籬笆上。明天就是聖誕節，她只有一元八角七給吉姆買一份禮物。她花去好幾個月的時間，用了最大的努力一分一分地攢積下來，才得了這樣一個結果。一週二十美元實在經不起花，支出大於預算，總是如此。只有一元八角七給吉姆買禮物，她的吉姆啊。她花費了多少幸福的時日籌劃着要送他一件可心的禮物，一件精緻、珍奇、貴重的禮物——至少應有點兒配得上吉姆所有的東西才成啊。
