大家可能对《麦琪的礼物》这篇小说并不陌生，它的中文译文被收录到了人教版的初中语文课本里。一直以来就有很多读者建议我添加公众号的有声版，虽然之前偶尔有添加，但是不成系列，所以我就有了一个做美音朗读和解析系列的想法，圣诞快要来临啦，那本系列就从这个圣诞主题的著名短篇小说开始吧。这里我会贴出原文并进行朗读，同时在文章里进行解析。请点击下面音频文件倾听。
作为美国作家欧亨利最著名的短篇小说之一，《麦琪的礼物》被认为是他的巅峰之作，讲述了一对生活窘迫的小夫妻在圣诞节前夕按照惯例互赠礼物的故事。为了给丈夫买金表链子的礼物，妻子变卖了自己珍贵的头发，却没有想到丈夫已经把心爱的金表卖掉，给她买了一把精美的梳子。虽然礼物交换有遗憾，但是他们却收获了最为宝贵的真挚感情。
这里需要提一个很重要的问题，小说的英文原标题是《The Gift of the Magi》，后面的那个定冠词“the” 是不能拿掉的。然而国内很多出版物都忽视了这个问题，比如上海社会科学院出版社出版的这个版本，那么大的一个英文标题，居然就生生地错了：
这里的"the"为什么不能丢呢？这是因为虽然中文翻译为《麦琪的礼物》，这里的麦琪不是一个人的名字，而是《圣经》马太福音第二章第一节和第七至第十三节里提到的三贤人（Three Wise Men，注意是大写的，因为是专有名词），他们在圣婴基督出生时从东方送来礼物，因此也被特指为“the biblical Magi”。Magi这个词本身来自拉丁语，是单数Magus的复数形式，后者又来自于希腊语μάγος（magos），而μάγος又来自于古波斯语的maguŝ，这是琐罗亚斯德教（Zoroastrianism，是世界上最古老的现存宗教之一）创始人琐罗亚斯德出生阶层的名字。这里说个题外话，因为琐罗亚斯德教关注星辰运转，所以他们因为星相学（astrology，在当时被认为是一门科学）而被广为人知，因此诞生了我们都非常熟悉和喜爱的一个英语单词：magic。以下是小说正文：
The Gift of the Magi
One dollar and eight-seven cents. That was all. She had put it aside, one cent and then another and then another, in her careful buying of meat and other food. Della counted it three times. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
put aside/by：1. to store up; save，这也是文中的意思；2. 也可以写作set aside，指的是“to put out of the way; place to one side” ，这其实是“put aside”的字面意思，比如：Put aside your books and come for a walk.There was nothing to do but fall on the bed and cry. So Della did it.
While the lady of the home is slowly growing quieter, we can look at the home. Furnished rooms at a cost of $8 a week. There is little more to say about it.
the lady of the home: 此处指女主人Della。In the hall below was a letter-box too small to hold a letter. There was an electric bell, but it could not make a sound. Also there was a name beside the door: “Mr. James Dillingham Young.”
When the name was placed there, Mr. James Dillingham Young was being paid $30 a week. Now, when he was being paid only $20 a week, the name seemed too long and important. It should perhaps have been “Mr. James D. Young.” But when Mr. James Dillingham Young entered the furnished rooms, his name became very short indeed. Mrs. James Dillingham Young put her arms warmly about him and called him “Jim.” You have already met her. She is Della.
about：此处=around。一个常用的表达是out and about，指的是“going out and doing things, especially after being unable to for a while”. 比如：Despite considerable pain she has been getting out and about almost as normal.Della finished her crying and cleaned the marks of it from her face. She stood by the window and looked out with no interest. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a gift. She had put aside as much as she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week is not much. Everything had cost more than she had expected. It always happened like that.
Only $1.87 to buy a gift for Jim. Her Jim. She had had many happy hours planning something nice for him. Something nearly good enough. Something almost worth the honor of belonging to Jim.
There was a looking-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen the kind of looking-glass that is placed in $8 furnished rooms. It was very narrow. A person could see only a little of himself at a time. However, if he was very thin and moved very quickly, he might be able to get a good view of himself. Della, being quite thin, had mastered this art.
Suddenly she turned from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining brightly, but her face had lost its color. Quickly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its complete length.
The James Dillingham Youngs were very proud of two things which they owned. One thing was Jim’s gold watch. It had once belonged to his father. And, long ago, it had belonged to his father’s father. The other thing was Della’s hair.
If a queen had lived in the rooms near theirs, Della would have washed and dried her hair where the queen could see it. Della knew her hair was more beautiful than any queen’s jewels and gifts.
If a king had lived in the same house, with all his riches, Jim would have looked at his watch every time they met. Jim knew that no king had anything so valuable.
作者在这里着重描述Della对自己的头发以及Jim对自己的怀表的珍爱，其手法颇有“欲把西湖比西子”的精髓。So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.
cascade：waterfall的高配版。do up: 指的是“to pin up or arrange (the hair)”，那么做好的头发叫什么呢？很简单，两个单词互换就可以了，updo。On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the street.
"on went..."是倒装句式，介词“on”首发，连续两个句子烘托出主人公Della动作的决然，所有中文翻译为“她猛地披上那件老旧的棕褐色夹克”是非常贴切的。
“with a whilrl of skirts”，是介词短语作为状语，然而在中文翻译的时侯译成动词，也就是“甩开裙子”或者“裙子一摆”更自然一些，可以想象Della收拾停当，猛然转身出门，裙子也随之一摆。
flutter在这里指的是“to move, especially downwards, with an irregular motion”，它原意为鸟儿快速扇动翅膀，从而引申出“激动，不安定”之意。所以这里flutter一方面描述了Della的动作，一方面又暗指她激动的心情，可谓用词之妙。out the door and down the stairs to the street：三个介词的巧妙运用生动再现了Della的三个动作，一气呵成（笔者将在下一篇文章里讨论介词——英语里“人小鬼大”的精灵们，敬请关注）。未完待续，敬请关注part 2。
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