Letters Live 丨英國版《見字如面》——Hermione Gingold to A. Friend

露易絲·布瑞莉 & 索菲亞·亨特 - Hermione Gingold to A. Friend

 

 

April,1950-1950

年4月

Dear Madam,

尊敬的女士，

Unless something is done at once about your disgusting exhibition in the filthy play you appear in every night,

如果你再不停止每晚那不知羞恥的表演的話，

I and several of my friends will do something very unpleasant about it.

我和一幫朋友們就要對你不客氣了

What you and your co-partner Hermione Baddeley do nightly in public is aslur on English womanhood.

你和你的搭檔赫敏·巴德利每晚的當眾表演簡直是對英國女性的侮辱，

“Fallen Angels”is disgusting as a play, but your performance in it makes it loathsome.

那個什么《墮落天使》就是一部十分惡心的戲劇，而你的表演更是令人作嘔

How the powers that be could permit such an exhibition is past the understanding

怎么會允許這樣的戲劇演出

of a God-fearing woman who supports the present Government—and thanks God for them.

作為一個敬畏上帝、支持政府的女性，我無法理解，謝天謝地還好有政府在

I give you fair warning to leave the play, or it will be the worse for you.

我鄭重警告你：不要再繼續(xù)表演了，否則會有嚴重后果

Our wrath will strike at you in your home, or maybe during a performance at the theatre.

把我們?nèi)菒懒?，指不定你在家或者在演出時會受到攻擊

A. Friend

一位朋友

Ambassadors Theatre W.C.2

大使劇院W.C.2

 

 

April 14th

四月14號

Dear Friend,

親愛的朋友

How clever and capricious you are, cloaking yourself in anonymity,

你是多么聰明和任性啊，用匿名來掩蓋你自己。

and I must confess I cannot for the life of me guess which of my many friends you can be.

而且，我必須承認，即使要我的命，我也猜不出你是我的哪個朋友。

You have sent my head spinning and my imagination whirling.

你讓我頭暈目眩，想象力高速運轉(zhuǎn)。

Could you be found among my dear friends, intimate friends, close friends, childhood friends, pen friends, family friends, friends of a friend,

你可能是我的親密朋友、親近朋友、親密的朋友、發(fā)小、筆友、家人親友、朋友的朋友、

friends in distress, friends who are closer than a brother, friends in need, or school friends.

落難的朋友、好哥們，需要幫助的朋友還是學校的朋友？

Your letter shows quite clearly that you are not illiterate,

從你會寫信看，你顯然不是文盲，

and therefore we can rule out my school friends.

所以你應該不是我學校的朋友

Your masterly command of the language banishes the thought that you could be found among my friends from overseas.

你熟練的語言運用可以排除你是我國外的朋友

Your witty criticism of my performance makes me think that I might find you among my nearest and dearest “bosom friends,”

你對我表演的詼諧的批評讓我覺得你可能是我的閨中蜜友。

that is, if you did not choose to address me as “Dear Madam"

如果你不稱呼我為“尊敬的女士”的話，

 

 

a clever move this,

不過，你用這個稱呼很聰明，

and one that reduces my last thought to mere stupidity and you to a "casual acquaintance.”

但這也讓我覺得我那個想法很愚蠢，我和你應該是點頭之交，但我又應該排除這點

For how many people are there in London today who realise that my “copartner”,as you wittily dub her, is none other than Hermione Baddeley,

倫敦現(xiàn)在還有多少人會意識到我的搭檔是赫敏·巴德利，恐怕也只有你知道了，用‘合作伙伴’這個詞你還真是幽默

and by the way ,she wants me to thank you for the facsimile letter you sent her,and say that she is getting on in years and feeble ,

另外她讓我感謝你寄給他復印版的信，她說她最近幾年身體不太好

and is not able to attend to her correspondence as she would wish ,and so she cannot answer your letter personally.

不能時常處理信件，所以不能親自給你回信，請見諒

An awful thought has dawned.

一個可怕的想法漸漸清晰起來

it is all a joke

這完全是一個笑話

and you aren’t really my friend at all.

你根本就不是我的朋友。

I must try to dismiss this thought.

我必須嘗試摒棄這個想法。

It depresses me..

這讓我很沮喪。

To lose a friend like you in a few words, oh no

因為三言兩語就失去一個像你這樣的朋友。哦，不。

So, dear anonymous friend,

所以，親愛的匿名的朋友，

if this should chance to meet your eye,

如果你有機會看到這封回信的話，

please keep your promise and come around one night—

請務必遵守諾言，晚上來看我們的演出

yes, and bring your friends, too,

還有，帶上你的朋友，

for I know intuitively that your friends will be my friends.

因為直覺告訴我，你的朋友也會成為我的朋友的。

 

 

Cordially yours,

謹上

Hermione Gingold

赫米奧妮·金戈爾德

P.S. If you wish to strike at me with your wrath in my home,

附筆：如果你要來我家怒抽我，

I am always in between ten-thirty and twelve in the morning,

我一般上午十點半到十二點之間在家，

excluding Tuesday, which is a bad day, as a lot of tiresome tradespeople call for the same reason.

除了周二，周二是糟糕的一天，因為有很多煩人的推銷電話

You will easily recognize my apartment,for,apart from the number 85 marked in plains figures on the door,

我家很好找的，門上有樸素的數(shù)字‘85’，

over the knocker there is a notice, “Strike twice and wait，bell out of order,”

門環(huán)上有個告示寫著：“敲兩次后等著，門鈴壞了。”