A Tale of Two Smut Merchants
两个淫秽照片商的故事
In simpler times, there lived a self-employed photographer in Chicago who worked weddings, anniversaries, graduations and other family events. He also padded his income with goods he didn’t advertise in the neighborhood paper. He sold nude photos—the kind we used to call dirty pictures.
那年头比较纯朴，芝加哥有一名个体照相师，专营结婚照、周年纪念照、毕业照和其他家庭大事照。有的货色他并没在当地报纸上做广告，他也拿来凑数，添点收入。他出售裸体照——就是我们过去常说的下流照片。
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His model was usually his wife, an empty-faced woman who tended their second-floor flat and two small kids and did what her husband told her to do. Other than having a big chest, there wasn’t much to recommend her as a model, except that she was willing to pose in embarrassingly revealing positions.
他的模特儿通常是他的妻子——一个面孔毫无表情的妇女。她照管着他们在二楼的那套房间和两个小孩，凡事都听她丈夫的。她当模特儿，无非是有一个高高挺起的胸脯，旁的没什么好说的，不过她很乐意摆出各种露得叫人看不下去的姿势就是了。
The photographer would sell stacks of the wallet-size photos to guys he knew in factories and taverns, and they would sell them to guys they knew. That’s the way such things circulated in the days before porn stores and national smut magazines.
照相师把皮夹子大小的照片成批卖给他在工厂和酒馆里的熟人，这些人再卖给他们的熟人。那年头还没有卖淫秽东西的商店和全国性的黄色杂志，这类东西就是这么流传的。
The photographer’s neighbors didn’t know about his dirty-picture business because he sold them outside the neighborhood. But then he made the mistake of asking a teenage girl from the next block if she would be interested in making some money as a model.
照相师的街坊们对他卖下流画的勾当一无所知，因为他是在别的街区干的。但是后来出了纰漏：他竟问隔壁街区的一个十几岁的小女孩想不想当模特儿挣钱。
When he told her exactly what he had in mind, she told her mother. The mother told the father, who owned a corner tavern. And the father and his large son, carrying baseball bats, went to the photog’s home and banged on the door. Not being a dummy, he wouldn’t open the door. So the father yelled that if he ever came near the girl again, they’d kill him.
他把想法向小女孩原原本本说了，上女孩告诉了她的母亲。她母亲又告诉了她父亲，他在街角上开有一小酒馆。于是他父亲带上大个头儿子，提着棒球棍，跑到照相师家，把房门敲得砰砰响。照相师又不傻，哪能开门。做父亲的于是大喊大叫，说他要是再接近他的女儿，他们就宰了他。
A few weeks later the tavern keeper was at the local grammar school, attending the graduation of one of his other children. During the ceremony, he glanced around and saw the photographer with a camera in his hand. “What’s that creep doing here?” he shouted.
几个星期过后，酒馆老板到当地的初级中学，参加他另外一个孩子的毕业典礼。典礼正在进行，他四下瞅瞅，一眼看到那个照相师，手拿一架照相机。他喊到：“那混蛋来这儿干吗?”
It turned out that the creep was the official photographer of the graduation. “He ain’t taking my kid’s picture,” said the tavern keeper. He got up and bashed the creep in the jaw, and the photographer fled.
那混蛋原来是来拍毕业典礼的正式摄影师。“不许他给我的孩子照相。”酒馆老板说。他站起身来，朝那混蛋下巴上猛揍一拳，照相师一溜了事。
The tavern keeper then explained to parents and teachers that he had driven a degenerate from their midst, so someone else was called to take the class picture. Within two days, the photog had moved from the neighborhood and was never again seen.
接着，酒馆老板向家长和老师们说明，他是替大伙赶走了一个坏分子，于是另请了一个人给全班照相留念。不到两天，那个照相师就从这条街搬走了，再也没露面。
I thought of that incident while watching Bob Guccione, owner of Penthouse magazine, being interviewed some time ago on a network news show, and it occurred to me what remarkable changes have occurred in only a few decades.
不久前一家新闻电视网播放了采访《藏春阁》杂志的老板鲍勃·古西翁的实况，我看后不禁想起这件往事。我在想，时隔不过几十年，竟是世事沧桑啊。
The neighborhood pornographer was punched around and had to move away in disgrace. Guccione, a multimillionaire, wears gold chains, travels the world in jets and is invited to the best parties in New York City.
那个街道上的黄色贩子挨了揍，不得不夹起尾巴走人。古西翁却是腰缠万贯，穿金戴银，坐着喷气式飞机周游世界，应邀莅临纽约市首屈一指的集会。
If the photog tried to explain why he did what he did, nobody would have cared. They would have just punched him some more. But Guccione speaks with great seriousness about the journalistic necessity of publishing nude photos of a well-known woman. And there are people who take him seriously.
那个照相师要是想解释一下他的所作所为，没人会听他的。人们只会对他揍得更狠。古西翁却是在一本正经地谈论报章杂志有必要刊登什么名媛的裸照。而且还有一个一本正经地听信他。
Actually, there’s little difference between that neighborhood pornographer and Guccione, the magazine publisher, other than financial success. The only significant one is that the photog was born before his time.
其实，那位街道上的黄色贩子与杂志出版商古西翁之间并没有什么两样，他俩无非财运不同罢了。唯一值得注意的不同倒是那位照相师生不逢辰。
Maybe, I prefer to think that it was the tavern keeper, unfortunately, who was born before his time.
也许是吧。可我倒以为正是那位酒馆老板——说来可叹——他才生不逢辰呢。
口译： 翻译资格考试二级口译模拟题
笔译： 翻译资格考试二级笔译模拟题
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