The Christmas Presents
圣诞礼物
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all.
一美元八十七美分。这就是全部了。
Every day, when she went to the shops, she spent very little money.
每天去商店时，她都花很少的钱。
She bought the cheapest meat, the cheapest vegetables.
她买最便宜的肉，最便宜的蔬菜。
And when she was tired, she still walked round and round the shops to find the cheapest food.
即使累了，她仍然在商店里转来转去，只为找到最便宜的食物。
She saved every cent possible.
她尽可能地省下每一分钱。
Della counted the money again. There was no mistake. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And the next day was Christmas.
德拉又数了一遍钱。没有错。一美元八十七美分。就这么多。而明天就是圣诞节了。
She couldn’t do anything about it. She could only sit down and cry. So she sat there, in the poor little room, and she cried.
她对此无能为力。她只能坐下来哭泣。于是她就坐在那间狭小破旧的房间里哭了起来。
Della lived in this poor little room, in New York, with her husband, James Dillingham Young.
德拉和她的丈夫詹姆斯·迪林厄姆·杨住在纽约这间狭小破旧的房间里。
They also had a bedroom, and a kitchen and a bathroom — all poor little rooms.
他们还有一间卧室、一间厨房和一间浴室——都是些狭小破旧的小房间。
James Dillingham Young was lucky, because he had a job, but it was not a good job. These rooms took most of his money.
詹姆斯·迪林厄姆·杨还算幸运，因为他有份工作，尽管不是什么好工作。这些房间的租金花去了他大部分的收入。
Della tried to find work, but times were bad, and there was no work for her.
德拉试图找工作，但世道艰难，没有人雇佣她。
But when Mr James Dillingham Young came home to his rooms, Mrs James Dillingham Young called him ‘Jim’ and put her arms round him. And that was good.
但当詹姆斯·迪林厄姆·杨先生回到家中时，詹姆斯·迪林厄姆·杨太太就会叫他“吉姆”，并张开双臂拥抱他。这感觉真好。
Della stopped crying and she washed her face. She stood by the window, and looked out at a grey cat on a grey wall in the grey road.
德拉停止了哭泣，洗了把脸。她站在窗边，望着灰蒙蒙的街道上一堵灰墙上的灰猫。
Tomorrow was Christmas Day, and she had only one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy Jim a Christmas present. Her Jim.
明天就是圣诞节了，而她只有一美元八十七美分给吉姆买圣诞礼物。她的吉姆啊。
She wanted very much to buy him something really fine, something to show how much she loved him.
她非常想给他买一件真正精美的东西，以此表达她对他深深的爱意。
Suddenly, Della turned round and ran over to look in the glass on the wall. Her eyes were bright.
突然，德拉转过身跑到墙上的镜子前照了起来。她的眼睛亮了起来。
Now, the James Dillingham Youngs had two very special things. One was Jim’s gold watch. It once belonged to his father, and, before that, to his grandfather. The other special thing was Della’s hair.
詹姆斯·迪林厄姆·杨夫妇有两样特别珍贵的东西。一样是吉姆的金表，它曾属于他的父亲，再之前属于他的祖父。另一样宝贝则是德拉的头发。
Quickly, Della let down her beautiful, long hair. It fell down her back, and it was almost like a coat around her. Then she put her hair up again, quickly. For a second or two she stood still, and cried a little.
德拉迅速地放下她那美丽的长发。头发垂落在背上，几乎像一件外套披在身上。然后她又迅速地把头发盘起来。她静静地站了一两秒钟，轻轻哭了一会儿。
Then she put on her old brown coat, and her old brown hat, turned, and left the room. She went downstairs and out into the road, and her eyes were bright.
接着，她穿上旧棕色外套，戴上旧棕色帽子，转身离开了房间。她下楼走到街上，眼中闪烁着光芒。
She walked along by the shops, and stopped when she came to a door with ‘Madame Eloise — Hair’ on it. Inside there was a fat woman. She did not look like an ‘Eloise’.
她沿着商店走着，在一扇写着“艾洛伊丝夫人——头发”的门前停了下来。里面有个胖女人，看起来一点也不像“艾洛伊丝”。
‘Will you buy my hair?’ Della asked.
“您买我的头发吗？”德拉问道。
‘I buy hair,’ Madame replied. ‘Take your hat off, then, and show me your hair.’
“我收头发，”夫人回答，“那就摘下帽子，让我看看你的头发吧。”
The beautiful brown hair fell down.
美丽的棕发垂落下来。
‘Twenty dollars,’ Madame said, and she touched the hair with her hand.
“二十美元，”夫人说着，用手摸了摸头发。
‘Quick! Cut it off! Give me the money!’ Della said. The next two hours went quickly. Della was happy because she was looking round the shops for Jim’s present.
“快！剪掉吧！把钱给我！”德拉说。接下来的两个小时过得很快。德拉很开心，因为她正在商店里为吉姆挑选礼物。
At last she found it. It was a gold chain for The Watch. Jim loved his watch, but it had no chain. When Della saw this gold chain, she knew immediately that it was right for Jim. She must have it.
终于，她找到了。那是一条配金表的表链。吉姆很珍爱他的手表，但却没有表链。当德拉看到这条金表链时，她立刻就知道它最适合吉姆了。她一定要买下它。
The shop took twenty-one dollars from her for it, and she hurried home with the eighty-seven cents.
商店收了她二十一美元，她带着剩下的八十七美分匆匆赶回家。
When she arrived there, she looked at her very short hair in the glass. ‘What can I do with it?’ she thought. For the next half an hour she was very busy.
到家后，她在镜子里看着自己极短的头发。“我该怎么打理呢？”她想。接下来的半小时里，她忙个不停。
Then she looked again in the glass. Her hair was now in very small curls all over her head. ‘Oh, dear. I look like a schoolgirl!’ she said to herself. ‘What’s Jim going to say when he sees me?’
然后她再次照镜子。现在她的头上布满了细密的小卷发。“天哪，我看起来像个女学生！”她自言自语道，“吉姆看到我时会说什么呢？”
At seven o’clock the dinner was nearly ready and Della was waiting. ‘Oh, I hope he thinks that I’m still beautiful!’ she thought.
七点钟时，晚饭差不多准备好了，德拉在等待着。“噢，希望他觉得我还是漂亮的！”她想。
The door opened and Jim came in and closed it. He looked very thin and he needed a new coat. His eyes were on Della. She could not understand the look on his face, and she was afraid. He was not angry or surprised. He just watched her, with that strange look on his face.
门开了，吉姆走进来关上门。他看起来很瘦，需要一件新大衣。他的目光落在德拉身上。她看不懂他脸上的表情，心里有些害怕。他既没有生气也没有惊讶。他只是盯着她看，脸上带着那种奇怪的表情。
Della ran to him.
德拉向他跑去。
‘Jim,’ she cried. ‘Don’t look at me like that. I sold my hair because I wanted to give you a present. It will soon be long again. I had to do it, Jim. Say “Happy Christmas”, please. I have a wonderful present for you!’
“吉姆，”她喊道，“别那样看着我。我卖掉头发是因为想给你买个礼物。头发很快就会长回来的。我必须这么做，吉姆。请说声‘圣诞快乐’吧。我给你准备了一件很棒的礼物！”
‘You’ve cut off your hair?’ asked Jim.
“你把头发剪了？”吉姆问。
‘Yes. I cut it off and sold it,’ Della said. ‘But don’t you love me any more, Jim? I’m still me.’
“是的。我剪掉并卖了它，”德拉说，“但你不再爱我了吗，吉姆？我还是我呀。”
Jim looked round the room.
吉姆环顾了一下房间。
‘You say your hair has gone?’ he said, almost stupidly.
“你说你的头发没了？”他近乎呆滞地说道。
‘Yes. I told you. Because I love you! Shall I get the dinner now, Jim?’
“是啊。我跟你说过了。因为我爱你！我现在去端晚饭好吗，吉姆？”
Suddenly Jim put his arms round his Della. Then he took something from his pocket and put it on the table.
突然，吉姆伸手拥抱了他的德拉。然后他从口袋里掏出一样东西放在桌上。
‘I love you, Della,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t matter if your hair is short or long. But if you open that, you’ll see why I was unhappy at first.’
“我爱你，德拉，”他说，“不管你的头发是长是短都没关系。但如果你打开那个包裹，你就会明白为什么我刚开始会不高兴了。”
Excited, Della pulled off the paper. Then she gave a little scream of happiness. But a second later there were cries of unhappiness.
德拉兴奋地撕开包装纸。随即发出一声惊喜的尖叫。但一秒钟后却变成了悲伤的哭声。
Because there were The Combs — the combs for her beautiful hair. When she first saw these combs in the shop window, she wanted them. They were beautiful combs, expensive combs, and now they were her combs. But she no longer had her hair!
因为那里放着一套发梳——那是用来梳理她美丽秀发的发梳。当她第一次在橱窗里看到这些发梳时，就渴望拥有它们。那是多么漂亮、昂贵的发梳啊，现在它们终于是她的了。可是她却再也没有长发了！
Della picked them up and held them. Her eyes were full of love.
德拉拿起发梳紧紧握着。她的眼里充满了爱意。
‘But my hair will soon be long again, Jim.’
“不过我的头发很快就会长回来的，吉姆。”
And then Della remembered. She jumped up and cried, ‘Oh! Oh!’ She ran to get Jim’s beautiful present, and she held it out to him.
这时德拉想起了什么。她跳起来叫道：“噢！噢！”她跑去拿来给吉姆买的精美礼物，举到他面前。
‘Isn’t it lovely, Jim? I looked everywhere for it. Now you’ll want to look at your watch a hundred times a day. Give it to me! Give me your watch, Jim! Let’s see it with its new chain.’
“它不是很漂亮吗，吉姆？我找遍了所有地方才找到它。现在你一天可以看上百次时间了。把它给我！把你的手表给我，吉姆！让我们看看配上新表链的样子。”
But Jim did not do this. He sat down, put his hands behind his head, and he smiled.
但吉姆并没有这样做。他坐下来，双手枕在脑后，微笑着。
‘Della,’ he said. ‘Let’s keep our presents for a time. They’re so nice. You see, I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now, let’s have dinner.’
“德拉，”他说，“让我们先把礼物收起来吧。它们太美好了。你知道吗，我卖掉了手表才换来钱给你买这套发梳。现在，让我们吃晚饭吧。”
And this was the story of two young people who were very much in love.
这就是两个深爱彼此的年轻人的故事。
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