本文作者鲁迅，伟大的文学家、思想家、革命家，是中国文化革命的主将。鲁迅先生一生写作计有600万字，其中著作约500万字，辑校和书信约100万字。作品包括杂文、短篇小说、评论、散文、翻译作品。对于“五四运动”以后的中国文学产生了深刻的影响。本文摘选自《鲁迅全集》第二卷，由杨宪益和戴乃迭共同翻译，属于典型的文学作品，特别是在浙江官话的翻译上选词用句都恰到好处，属于经典之作，需要认真学习。

她不是鲁镇人。

She was not from Luzhen.

有一年的冬初，四叔家里要换女工，做中人的卫老婆子带她进来了，头上扎着白头绳，乌裙，蓝夹袄，月白背心。

Early one winter, when my uncle's family wanted a new maid, Old Mrs. Wei the go-between brought her along. She had a white mourning band round her hair and was wearing a black skirt, blue jacket, and pale green bodice.

年纪大约二十六七，脸色青黄，但两颊却还是红的。

Her age was about twenty-six, and though her face was sallow her cheeks were red.

卫老婆子叫她祥林嫂，说是自己母家的邻舍，死了当家人，所以出来做工了。

Old Mrs. Wei introduced her as Xianglin's Wife, a neighbour of her mother's family, who wanted to go out to work now that her husband had died.

四叔皱了皱眉，四婶已经知道了他的意思，是在讨厌她是一个寡妇。

My uncle frowned at this, and my aunt knew that he disapproved of taking on a widow.

但看她模样还周正，手脚都壮大，又只是顺着眼，不开一句口，很像一个安分耐劳的人，便不管四叔的皱眉，将她留下了。

She looked just the person for them, though, with her big strong hands and feet; and, judging by her downcast eyes and silence, she was a good worker who would know her place. So my aunt ignored my uncle's frown and kept her.

试工期内，她整天的做，似乎闲着就无聊，又有力，简直抵得过一个男子，所以第三天就定局，每月工资五百文。

During her trial period she worked from morning till night as if she found resting irksome, and proved strong enough to do the work of a man; so on the third day she was taken on for five hundred cash a month.

大家都叫她祥林嫂；没问她姓什么，但中人是卫家山人，既说是邻居，那大概也就姓卫了。

Everybody called her Xianglin's Wife and no one asked her own name, but since she had been introduced by someone from Wei Village as a neighbour, her surname was presumably also Wei.

她不很爱说话，别人问了才回答，答的也不多。

She said little, only answering briefly when asked a question.

直到十几天之后，这才陆续的知道她家里还有严厉的婆婆；一个小叔子，十多岁，能打柴了。

Thus it took them a dozen days or so to find out bit by bit that she had a strict mother-in-law at home and a brother-in-law of ten or so, old enough to cut wood.

她是春天没了丈夫的；他本来也打柴为生，比她小十岁：大家所知道的就只是这一点。

Her husband, who had died that spring, had been a woodcutter too, and had been ten years younger than she was. This little was all they could learn.

日子很快的过去了，她的做工却毫没有懈，食物不论，力气是不惜的。

Time passed quickly. She went on working as hard as ever, not caring what she ate, never sparing herself.

人们都说鲁四老爷里雇着了女工，实在比勤快的男人还勤快。

It was generally agreed that the Lu family's maid actually got through more work than a hard-working man.

到年底，扫尘，洗地，杀鸡，宰鹅，彻夜的煮福礼，全是一个人担当，竟没有添短工。

At the end of the year, she swept and mopped the floors, killed the chickens and geese, and sat up to boil the sacrificial meat, all single-hand, so that they did not need to hire extra help

然而她反满足，口角边渐渐的有了笑影，脸上也白胖了。

And she for her part was quite contented. Little by little the trace of a smile appeared at the corners of her mouth, while her face became whiter and plumper.

责任编辑：admin