Thief
小偷
He is waiting for the airline ticket counter when he first notices the young woman. She has glossy black hair pulled tightly into a knot at the back of her bead-the man imagines it loosed and cascading to the small of her back-and carries over she shoulder of her leather coat a heavy black purse. She wears black boots of soft leather. He struggles to see her face-she is ahead of him in line-but it is not until she has bought her ticket and turns to walk away that he realizes her beauty, which is pale and dark-eyed and full-mouthed, and which quickens his heart beat. She seems aware that he is staring at her and lowers her gaze abruptly.
他第一次注意到那個年輕女人，是在他到航空公司售票處排隊買票的時候。她的烏黑發亮的一頭秀發在腦后緊緊地終成一個客。那人想象著那頭秀發披散開來瀑布般落在腰間的情形，只見那女人穿著皮外套的肩上挎著一個沉甸甸的黑色坤包，腳上穿著一雙黑色軟皮靴。他竭力想看到她的容貌，她就排在他的前面。但是，一直到她買好票走開，他才睹她的芳容：雪白的皮膚，馬里發亮的眼睛，豐滿的嘴唇。他心族搖蕩，狂跳不止。那年輕女人代乎察覺到他在注視著她，便突然垂下了眼睛。
The airline clerk interrupts. The man gives up looking at the woman—he thinks she may be about twenty-five—and buys a round-trip, coach class ticket to an eastern city.
售票員一說話打斷了他的想象。他不再看那女人——他想她可能有25歲左右——然后買了一張到東部一個城市的二等往返機票。
His flight leaves in an hour. To kill time, the man steps into one of the airport cocktail bars and orders a scotch and water. While he sips it he watches the flow of travelers through the terminal-including a remarkable number, he thinks, of an unattached pretty women dressed in fashion magazine clothes-until he catches sight of the black-haired girl in the leather coat. She is standing near a Travelers Aid counter, deep in conversation with a second girl, a blond in a cloth coat trimmed with gray fur. He wants somehow to attract the brunette’s attention, to invite her to have a drink with him before her own flight leaves for wherever she is traveling, but even though he believes for a moment she is looking his way he cannot catch her eye from out of the shadows of the bar. In another instant the two women separate; neither of their direction is toward him. He orders a second Scotch and water.
飛機過1個小時才起飛。為了消磨時間，他走進機場的一家雞尾酒吧，要了一杯兌水的蘇格蘭威士忌、他一邊慢慢地喝著酒，一邊望著大廳里川流不息的乘客 ——他想，其中有好多一定都是未婚的漂亮女人，她們穿的是時裝雜志上介紹的那種衣服——直到后來他又瞥見那個穿皮外套的黑發姑娘。她站在旅客服務臺旁邊，和另外一個姑娘眉飛色舞地聊著什么。另外那個姑娘金發碧眼，身穿一件鑲著灰色貓皮的布外套。不知怎么的，他想引起黑發姑娘的注意，想趁這個姑娘要乘的飛往什么地方去的班機還沒離開之前，請她喝上一杯。然而，盡管他認為她向他這邊張望了一小會兒，但他在酒吧的陰暗處，吸引不了她的秋波。過了沒多大一會兒，這兩個女人就分手了，都沒有朝這個方向走來。他又要了一杯兌水的蘇格蘭威士忌。
When next he sees her, he is buying a magazine to read during the flight and becomes aware that someone is jostling him. At first he is startled that anyone would be so close as to touch him, but when he sees who it is he musters a smile.
當他再次看見她的時候，他正在買一本雜志，以便在飛機上看。突然，他覺得有人挨近了他。他先是吃了一驚，怎么會有人靠得這么近碰到他的身體呢?但等看清是誰之后，他的臉上浮起了微笑。
“Busy place,” he says.
“這地方人可真多，”他說。
She looks up at him—is she blushing? —and an odd grimace crosses her mouth and vanishes. She moves away from him and joins the crowds in the terminal.
她抬眼看著他——她是害羞臉才紅的嗎?——她的嘴角掠過一絲奇怪的表情，轉眼就消失了。她從他的身邊走開，加入了大廳的人流之中。
The man is at the counter with his magazine, but when he reaches into his back pocket for his wallet the pocket is empty. Where could I have lost it? he thinks. His mind begins enumerating the credit cards, the currency, the membership and identification cards; his stomach churns with something very like fear. The girl who was so near to me, he thinks-and all at once he understands that she has picked his pocked.
他拿著雜志站在柜臺邊，但當他將手伸進后邊的口袋拿錢夾的時候，發現里邊什么也沒有了。他在心里想著：我可能是在什么地方把它弄丟的呢?他開始在腦海里清點裝在錢夾里的信用卡、鈔票、會員證、身份證等東西。一種酷似恐懼的感覺使他的胃部劇烈地痙攣起來。那個姑娘挨我那樣近，他想——他立馬明白了，是她偷了他的錢夾。
What is he to do? He still has his ticket, safely tucked inside his suitcoat—he reaches into the jacket to feel the envelope, to make sure. He can take the flight, call someone to pick him up at his destination-since he cannot even afford bus fare-conduct his business and fly home. But in the meantime he will have to do something about the lost credit cards-call home, have his wife get the numbers out of the top desk drawer, phone the card companies-so difficult a process, the whole thing suffocating. What shall he do?
怎么辦呢?飛機票還在，裝在上衣內袋里是萬無一失的——他將手伸到衣服里面，摸了摸裝機票的紙袋，心才落了地。他可以乘這班飛機，到達目的地，叫人來接。他連坐公共汽車的錢都沒有了。完事之后，再乘飛機回家。但是，在此期間要對那些信用卡失竊采取措施——要打電話，讓妻子將放在寫字臺最上面抽屜里的信用卡號碼取出來，和一家家信用卡公司通電話——真是麻煩死了，要全部辦完，準會要命。怎么辦呢?
