【译】厄舍府的崩塌（下） The Fall of the House of Usher

作者：Edgar Allan Poe (published 1839)

译者：CaptainSnafu （未经允许，禁止转载）

Our books --the books which, for years, had formed no small portion of the mental existence of the invalid --were, as might be supposed, in strict keeping with this character of phantasm. We pored together over such works as the Ververt et Chartreuse of Gresset; the Belphegor of Machiavelli; the Heaven and Hell of Swedenborg; the Subterranean Voyage of Nicholas Klimm by Holberg; the Chiromancy of Robert Flud, of Jean D'Indagine, and of De la Chambre; the Journey into the Blue Distance of Tieck; and the City of the Sun of Campanella. One favourite volume was a small octavo edition of the Directorium Inquisitorum, by the Dominican Eymeric de Gironne; and there were passages in Pomponius Mela, about the old African Satyrs and Aegipans, over which Usher would sit dreaming for hours. His chief delight, however, was found in the perusal of an exceedingly rare and curious book in quarto Gothic --the manual of a forgotten church --the Vigilae Mortuorum secundum Chorum Ecclesiae Maguntinae.

我们的书——这些不出所料地充满幻想色彩的书，早已构成了这位病人的精神世界中不小的部分。我们一起研读杰作，诸如格雷塞的《绿》与《查尔特勒修会的教士》【注3】、马基雅弗利的《魔鬼》、 斯韦登伯格的《天堂与地狱》、霍尔贝尔的《尼可拉斯·克林姆的地下旅行》、罗伯特·弗鲁德与让·德因达吉内以及德·拉·尚布尔共著的《手相学》、蒂克的《蓝色远行》、坎帕内拉的《太阳之城》。其中最喜欢的，就有小巧的八开本《裁判准则》，由多明我会修士埃默里克·德·吉伦尼所著；还有庞波尼乌斯·梅拉关于非洲那些古老的半羊林牧之神【注4】的短文，而厄舍会为它们作上好几小时的白日梦。不过，他最大的乐趣便要数细阅一册极为稀奇的哥特文四开本——一座遗落教堂的礼仪书《美因茨教堂礼拜的守灵祷告》。

注3：Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset的诗作，Vert-Vert与La Chartreuse

注4：原文为Satyrs和Aegipans 均为希腊神话中的半羊身林神或牧神

I could not help thinking of the wild ritual of this work, and of its probable influence upon the hypochondriac, when, one evening, having informed me abruptly that the lady Madeline was no more, he stated his intention of preserving her corpse for a fortnight, (previously to its final interment,) in one of the numerous vaults within the main walls of the building. The worldly reason, however, assigned for this singular proceeding, was one which I did not feel at liberty to dispute. The brother had been led to his resolution (so he told me) by consideration of the unusual character of the malady of the deceased, of certain obtrusive and eager inquiries on the part of her medical men, and of the remote and exposed situation of the burial-ground of the family. I will not deny that when I called to mind the sinister countenance of the person whom I met upon the stair case, on the day of my arrival at the house, I had no desire to oppose what I regarded as at best but a harmless, and by no means an unnatural, precaution.

那晚，他突然告知我玛德琳女士已不在人世，并意图在最终葬礼之前，将她的遗体留存十四日于墙内众多地窖中的其中一个。我不由自己地想起那部著作中的诡异仪式，以及它可能会对这位疑病症患者施加的影响。不过，他为这奇特的举动提出了世俗上的理由，而我也不便随意质疑。这位兄长告诉我，这考虑到了死者所患疾病之反常，以及她的医师对其亡故那冒进而急切的问询，还有家族墓地的偏僻和空旷。我也不会否认，在我回忆起初临府邸的当晚在楼梯上遇见的那副阴险面容后，我便没有半点意愿去反对这个决定，这充其量只是一种不外乎常情的无害防范。【注5】

注5：当时盗掘尸体者甚多，用以解剖研究或制作标本。

At the request of Usher, I personally aided him in the arrangements for the temporary entombment. The body having been encoffined, we two alone bore it to its rest. The vault in which we placed it (and which had been so long unopened that our torches, half smothered in its oppressive atmosphere, gave us little opportunity for investigation) was small, damp, and entirely without means of admission for light; lying, at great depth, immediately beneath that portion of the building in which was my own sleeping apartment. It had been used, apparently, in remote feudal times, for the worst purposes of a donjon-keep, and, in later days, as a place of deposit for powder, or some other highly combustible substance, as a portion of its floor, and the whole interior of a long archway through which we reached it, were carefully sheathed with copper. The door, of massive iron, had been, also, similarly protected. Its immense weight caused an unusually sharp grating sound, as it moved upon its hinges.

应厄舍的请求，我亲手协助他安排了临时的殡葬事宜。遗体入殓完毕后，唯独我们二人抬棺，送她前往安息之所。我们安置尸体的地窖已久未开启，我们的火炬被其中沉闷的空气压得奄奄半熄，使得我们没有太多机会审视周围。它狭小，潮湿，全无透光之处，而且就紧接在我寝室所处建筑的下方深处。显然，它在遥远的封建时代，曾供身于城堡主楼中最为恶劣的用途【注6】，后来则被当作火药或其他高度易燃物的贮存点，故而地窖的部分地面以及我们走过的整条长拱道的内部都被谨慎地以铜皮覆盖。坚实的钢铁大门也被加上了同样的防护，当它在铰链上旋动时，它的沉重使之摩擦出一种异常刺耳的尖响。

注6：或指被用作地牢。

Having deposited our mournful burden upon tressels within this region of horror, we partially turned aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin, and looked upon the face of the tenant. A striking similitude between the brother and sister now first arrested my attention; and Usher, divining, perhaps, my thoughts, murmured out some few words from which I learned that the deceased and himself had been twins, and that sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature had always existed between them. Our glances, however, rested not long upon the dead --for we could not regard her unawed. The disease which had thus entombed the lady in the maturity of youth, had left, as usual in all maladies of a strictly cataleptical character, the mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip which is so terrible in death. We replaced and screwed down the lid, and, having secured the door of iron, made our way, with toll, into the scarcely less gloomy apartments of the upper portion of the house.

我们将那令人哀痛的重载卸放在这恐怖之域的栈架上。随后我们半推开那扇尚未钉上的棺盖，并瞻仰容身者的面容。此时，兄妹间惊人的相似首次地吸引住了我的注意。厄舍或许猜测到了我的想法，从他柔声道出的寥寥数语中，我认识到死者与他即为孪生双子，而一种难以理解的共性便持存于他们之间，交感共鸣。然而出于震惊，我们的凝视并未长久留驻于死者身上。葬送这位英年女士的疾病，如同所有全身僵硬症的常有症状，在她的胸前和脸上留下了微弱的红晕。可疑的笑意徘徊于唇间，而在死亡的浸染下，显得森然可怖，宛如讥笑。我们重置好棺盖，并将之钉紧，锁上铁门，伴随着钟声离开，回到宅邸地上部分那些几乎同样阴森的套间里。

And now, some days of bitter grief having elapsed, an observable change came over the features of the mental disorder of my friend. His ordinary manner had vanished. His ordinary occupations were neglected or forgotten. He roamed from chamber to chamber with hurried, unequal, and objectless step. The pallor of his countenance had assumed, if possible, a more ghastly hue --but the luminousness of his eye had utterly gone out. The once occasional huskiness of his tone was heard no more; and a tremulous quaver, as if of extreme terror, habitually characterized his utterance. There were times, indeed, when I thought his unceasingly agitated mind was labouring with some oppressive secret, to divulge which he struggled for the necessary courage. At times, again, I was obliged to resolve all into the mere inexplicable vagaries of madness, for I beheld him gazing upon vacancy for long hours, in an attitude of the profoundest attention, as if listening to some imaginary sound. It was no wonder that his condition terrified-that it infected me. I felt creeping upon me, by slow yet certain degrees, the wild influences of his own fantastic yet impressive superstitions.

在度过了几个痛苦悲伤的时日后，如今我朋友那精神错乱的病状已发生了显著的变化。他平常的行为举止均已不复存在，日常的事宜也被荒废和遗却。他只是迈着急促而紊乱的步子，漫无目的地从一个房间游荡到另一个。他本就苍白的面容，如果还能更甚的话，现在便仿佛是被蒙上了一层更森然之惨白，但他双眸中的亮光已是黯然无存。曾从他喉舌不时吐出的沉稳发声已不再被听闻，而一种似乎处于极端恐惧的颤音成为了他言语的常态特征。的确有那么几次，我感觉到他那颗焦躁不止的心灵正遭受着背负秘密的痛苦，而他也正苦苦挣扎着，尝试唤起透露隐情所必需的勇气。有时，我又被迫将这一切归结为无解的癫狂异举，因为我曾目睹他长时间专心致志地凝视着空处，仿佛正倾听着某种虚妄之声。毋庸置疑，他的状况感染了我，令我畏惧。我感觉他那怪诞荒谬却又摄人心魄的迷信，正缓慢而无疑地向我悄悄迫近，无可阻挡地侵染着我。

It was, especially, upon retiring to bed late in the night of the seventh or eighth day after the placing of the lady Madeline within the donjon, that I experienced the full power of such feelings. Sleep came not near my couch --while the hours waned and waned away. I struggled to reason off the nervousness which had dominion over me. I endeavoured to believe that much, if not all of what I felt, was due to the bewildering influence of the gloomy furniture of the room --of the dark and tattered draperies, which, tortured into motion by the breath of a rising tempest, swayed fitfully to and fro upon the walls, and rustled uneasily about the decorations of the bed. But my efforts were fruitless. An irrepressible tremour gradually pervaded my frame; and, at length, there sat upon my very heart an incubus of utterly causeless alarm. Shaking this off with a gasp and a struggle, I uplifted myself upon the pillows, and, peering earnestly within the intense darkness of the chamber, hearkened --I know not why, except that an instinctive spirit prompted me --to certain low and indefinite sounds which came, through the pauses of the storm, at long intervals, I knew not whence. Overpowered by an intense sentiment of horror, unaccountable yet unendurable, I threw on my clothes with haste (for I felt that I should sleep no more during the night), and endeavoured to arouse myself from the pitiable condition into which I had fallen, by pacing rapidly to and fro through the apartment.

尤其是在将玛德琳女士置入城堡主楼的地窖后的第七或第八个深夜里，当我回床休息时，便充分体验到了那等感受的影响力。时间流逝不休，而我也彻夜难眠。我努力地想要挣脱那支配着我的紧张不安，想让自己相信我的感受——即使并非全部，但大多也都归咎于房间内那些阴沉的家具，还有那些深暗破旧的帏帐，它们在暴雨将临之先风下曲卷飘扬，断断续续地在墙面上来回摇荡，拂弄着床边的装饰品，窸窣作响，乱人心神。但我的努力是徒劳无果的。一股抑制不住的战栗逐渐爬满全身，最后，则是一种沉重难堪的无端惶恐，压入我的心底。我倒吸一口凉气，奋力去摆脱这种惊惧。我撑起身子，仔细端详着房间里那稠密的黑暗。我不知为何，纯粹是一种本能的直觉在驱使着我，去倾听某种细微飘渺的声音。而间或，它们便不知从何处穿过风暴的间隙降临。我被一种无法解释却又强烈难耐的恐惧所笼罩。我顿觉今夜将安睡不再，便仓促地穿上衣服，在房间里焦急地来回踱步，试图将自己从身陷的可悲状况中唤醒。

I had taken but few turns in this manner, when a light step on an adjoining staircase arrested my attention. I presently recognised it as that of Usher. In an instant afterward he rapped, with a gentle touch, at my door, and entered, bearing a lamp. His countenance was, as usual, cadaverously wan --but, moreover, there was a species of mad hilarity in his eyes --an evidently restrained hysteria in his whole demeanour. His air appalled me --but anything was preferable to the solitude which I had so long endured, and I even welcomed his presence as a relief.

我如此往复了没几回，毗连房间的楼梯上一个轻盈的步履声就引起了我的注意。我立刻认出那是厄舍的脚步声。旋即，他轻柔地敲响我的房门，随后提灯而入。他的面容如往常般尸白——然而，他的眼神却闪出疯狂的喜悦，一举一动中都透着一种显然是在克制着的歇斯底里。他展露的气息令我胆寒，但什么都比那忍受已久的孤独要好，我甚至把他的出现视作一种解脱。

"And you have not seen it?" he said abruptly, after having stared about him for some moments in silence --"you have not then seen it? --but, stay! you shall." Thus speaking, and having carefully shaded his lamp, he hurried to one of the casements, and threw it freely open to the storm.

“你还没有看见吗？”他沉默地环顾四周一阵，随后突然问道——“那么，你没有看见？可是…等下！你会看见的。”他如此说着，并小心翼翼地遮蔽住灯盏，急步迈向其中一扇门式窗前，猛地将它向着风暴完全敞开。

The impetuous fury of the entering gust nearly lifted us from our feet. It was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one wildly singular in its terror and its beauty. A whirlwind had apparently collected its force in our vicinity; for there were frequent and violent alterations in the direction of the wind; and the exceeding density of the clouds (which hung so low as to press upon the turrets of the house) did not prevent our perceiving the life-like velocity with which they flew careering from all points against each other, without passing away into the distance. I say that even their exceeding density did not prevent our perceiving this --yet we had no glimpse of the moon or stars --nor was there any flashing forth of the lightning. But the under surfaces of the huge masses of agitated vapour, as well as all terrestrial objects immediately around us, were glowing in the unnatural light of a faintly luminous and distinctly visible gaseous exhalation which hung about and enshrouded the mansion.

闯入的狂风暴怒地冲撞着，几乎要将我们席卷离地。这诚然是一个狂暴却又壮丽得可怕的夜晚，它兼具着恐怖与美丽的特质，奇异非凡。显然，有一阵旋风在我们附近募集着它的威能，因为风向正频繁而剧烈地变换。乌云低垂着，直压宅邸的角楼。但即使是极厚的稠云，也未能阻挡我们对风流的感知。它们以充满生命力般的迅急，从四面八方飞驰而来，向着彼此冲撞、交汇，而非掠至远处并消散无踪。我之所以要强调连稠密的乌云也无法阻碍我们对此的察觉，是因它们的确浓得遮星蔽月，也令我们未能瞥见源自雷霆的任何闪光。可就在这些翻腾着的蒸汽巨团下，一股朦胧晶灿且分明可见的弥散之气笼罩着宅邸，萦绕于各处，连同地面上一切紧接在我们周围的物件，都在一种非自然的幽光中微微泛亮。

"You must not --you shall not behold this!" said I, shudderingly, to Usher, as I led him, with a gentle violence, from the window to a seat. "These appearances, which bewilder you, are merely electrical phenomena not uncommon --or it may be that they have their ghastly origin in the rank miasma of the tarn. Let us close this casement; --the air is chilling and dangerous to your frame. Here is one of your favourite romances. I will read, and you shall listen; --and so we will pass away this terrible night together."

“你不能…你不该瞩目于斯！”我稍加强硬地将厄舍从窗边领到座位上，同时颤抖着向厄舍说道，“这些迷惑你的表象，不过只是些算不上罕见的电磁现象——或者有着什么可怕的因由，也许源自那潭山湖死水所氤氲四溢的瘴气。让我们关上窗户吧，冰冷的空气有害于你的身体。我这有其中一篇你最爱的传奇故事，我读，你听。我们会一起熬过这个可怕的夜晚。”

The antique volume which I had taken up was the "Mad Trist" of Sir Launcelot Canning; but I had called it a favourite of Usher's more in sad jest than in earnest; for, in truth, there is little in its uncouth and unimaginative prolixity which could have had interest for the lofty and spiritual ideality of my friend. It was, however, the only book immediately at hand; and I indulged a vague hope that the excitement which now agitated the hypochondriac, might find relief (for the history of mental disorder is full of similar anomalies) even in the extremeness of the folly which I should read. Could I have judged, indeed, by the wild over-strained air of vivacity with which he hearkened, or apparently hearkened, to the words of the tale, I might well have congratulated myself upon the success of my design.

我拾起的这本古董书册是兰斯洛特·坎宁爵士的《疯狂的崔斯特》【注7】，不过我称它为厄舍的最爱之一，实是出自某种苦涩的戏谑而多于诚心。因为事实上，它那既粗俗又无趣的啰嗦长篇里，没多少内容能让我那高深且崇高的朋友感兴趣。无论如何，它都是目前在我手边的唯一书籍。而我也放任了一种茫然的希望，期盼着即使是在这本蠢书里那极致的荒唐中，也能找到一丝慰藉，以安抚那正煽起他疑病症的激亢（因为他那精神紊乱的病史中也充斥着类似的异象）。事实上，我要是仅凭他聆听——或者说表面上看起来是在聆听故事时那股满腔热情、专心致志的活泼神态来作出判断的话，我也许已经完全能为自己计划的成功而庆祝了。

注7： the "Mad Trist" of Sir Launcelot Canning 书与人均为爱伦坡杜撰。

I had arrived at that well-known portion of the story where Ethelred, the hero of the Trist, having sought in vain for peaceable admission into the dwelling of the hermit, proceeds to make good an entrance by force. Here, it will be remembered, the words of the narrative run thus:

我诵读到了故事中那个广为人知的部分。艾瑟雷德，崔斯特家族的英雄，在寻求和平进入隐士住所的准许无果后，便着手以武力进入。这里，我还记得，它的叙词如下：

"And Ethelred, who was by nature of a doughty heart, and who was now mighty withal, on account of the powerfulness of the wine which he had drunken, waited no longer to hold parley with the hermit, who, in sooth, was of an obstinate and maliceful turn, but, feeling the rain upon his shoulders, and fearing the rising of the tempest, uplifted his mace outright, and, with blows, made quickly room in the plankings of the door for his gauntleted hand; and now pulling there-with sturdily, he so cracked, and ripped, and tore all asunder, that the noise of the dry and hollow-sounding wood alarumed and reverberated throughout the forest.

“艾瑟雷德天性悍勇，现又在饮下之烈酒的驱使下愈加刚猛。他不再等待那名简直是顽固不化、恶意满怀的隐士，也不再打算与之谈判。但他感觉到雨水打在了肩头上，担忧着暴风雨的来袭，他高举锤杖，全力挥击，迅速地在门板上为他那覆铠的手凿出了撕扯的活动空间。他锲而不舍地猛砸、强拉、硬扯着，将整道门撕成碎屑。而木板发出那干涩而空洞的噪声，惊扰着整座森林，在其中荡响回鸣。”

At the termination of this sentence I started, and for a moment, paused; for it appeared to me (although I at once concluded that my excited fancy had deceived me) --it appeared to me that, from some very remote portion of the mansion, there came, indistinctly, to my ears, what might have been, in its exact similarity of character, the echo (but a stifled and dull one certainly) of the very cracking and ripping sound which Sir Launcelot had so particularly described. It was, beyond doubt, the coincidence alone which had arrested my attention; for, amid the rattling of the sashes of the casements, and the ordinary commingled noises of the still increasing storm, the sound, in itself, had nothing, surely, which should have interested or disturbed me. I continued the story:

在读完这个句子后，我稍作了停顿，因为似乎有一种破碎与撕裂声的回响，正自这座府邸一些十分偏远的部分，隐隐地传入我的耳中（尽管我一度得出了结论，是我那被激起的想象力误导了我）。这种回声与兰斯洛特爵士笔下描述的有着严密相似的特质，但它肯定是被什么抑制着且更为沉闷不清。毫无疑问，单单正是这个巧合吸引了我的注意。因为，在窗框发出的咔嗒声以及仍在愈演愈烈的风暴里那些寻常的嘈杂声之中，这种回声的本身诚然无以引起我的兴趣或焦虑。我继续念诵这个故事：

"But the good champion Ethelred, now entering within the door, was sore enraged and amazed to perceive no signal of the maliceful hermit; but, in the stead thereof, a dragon of a scaly and prodigious demeanour, and of a fiery tongue, which sate in guard before a palace of gold, with a floor of silver; and upon the wall there hung a shield of shining brass with this legend enwritten --

Who entereth herein, a conqueror hath bin;

Who slayeth the dragon, the shield he shall win.

And Ethelred uplifted his mace, and struck upon the head of the dragon, which fell before him, and gave up his pesty breath, with a shriek so horrid and harsh, and withal so piercing, that Ethelred had fain to close his ears with his hands against the dreadful noise of it, the like whereof was never before heard."

“但勇士艾瑟雷德，此时已破门而入，惊怒交加地发现此处并无那个歹毒隐士的踪迹。取而代之的却是一条覆鳞的庞然恶龙，吐着冒火的舌头，守卫在一座白银铺地的黄金宫殿前。而墙壁上挂着一面闪亮的黄铜盾牌，其上之铭文如下：

谁进入此处，即为征服者；

谁杀死恶龙，即赢得此盾。

艾瑟雷德举起锤杖，猛敲在龙头上。恶龙倒在他的面前，停止了那恼人的吐息，并发出一声恐怖、刺耳、直穿肺腑的嘶吼，迫得艾瑟雷德双手捂耳，以抵御这前所未闻的可怕噪响。”

Here again I paused abruptly, and now with a feeling of wild amazement --for there could be no doubt whatever that, in this instance, I did actually hear (although from what direction it proceeded I found it impossible to say) a low and apparently distant, but harsh, protracted, and most unusual screaming or grating sound --the exact counterpart of what my fancy had already conjured up for the dragon's unnatural shriek as described by the romancer.

读到此处，我再度骤然停止，而现在，我感到一种难以抑制的震惊——因为无论如何，这次我都确切无疑地听见了一阵微弱并且显然源自远处的尖叫或摩擦声（虽然我发现不可能搞清楚它来自何方），它既刺耳又被拖长，极度反常，精确地对应着我对故事里恶龙那怪异尖啸的幻想。

Oppressed, as I certainly was, upon the occurrence of the second and most extraordinary coincidence, by a thousand conflicting sensations, in which wonder and extreme terror were predominant, I still retained sufficient presence of mind to avoid exciting, by any observation, the sensitive nervousness of my companion. I was by no means certain that he had noticed the sounds in question; although, assuredly, a strange alteration had, during the last few minutes, taken place in his demeanour. From a position fronting my own, he had gradually brought round his chair, so as to sit with his face to the door of the chamber; and thus I could but partially perceive his features, although I saw that his lips trembled as if he were murmuring inaudibly. His head had dropped upon his breast --yet I knew that he was not asleep, from the wide and rigid opening of the eye as I caught a glance of it in profile. The motion of his body, too, was at variance with this idea --for he rocked from side to side with a gentle yet constant and uniform sway. Having rapidly taken notice of all this, I resumed the narrative of Sir Launcelot, which thus proceeded:

就在第二次——也是最为异乎寻常的巧合出现之际，千百种各互矛盾的知觉压上我的心头，而疑惑与极致的恐惧支配其上。不过，我仍保持了足够的理智去不作任何张望，以避免激起我同伴那敏感的精神紧张。我无法确定他是否注意到了这些可疑的声响，尽管可以肯定，他的举止在最后的几分钟里发生了一种陌异的转变。他逐渐地从一个面向我的位置挪转着他的座椅，以致他能面对着房门而坐。如此，我便只能察觉到他部分的面貌，尽管我能看到他的嘴唇颤抖着，仿佛正不闻其声地低语着什么。他的头低垂于胸，但我从他侧脸上那只僵硬地大睁着的眼睛里，捕捉到了闪动的目光，便知道他并没有睡去。还有他躯体的动作，也与他已入眠的猜想不相符——他左右晃动着，动作轻柔而持续，每次摇摆都始终如一。在迅速地察觉到这一切后，我重新续读起兰斯洛特爵士的故事，其文如下：

"And now, the champion, having escaped from the terrible fury of the dragon, bethinking himself of the brazen shield, and of the breaking up of the enchantment which was upon it, removed the carcass from out of the way before him, and approached valorously over the silver pavement of the castle to where the shield was upon the wall; which in sooth tarried not for his full coming, but fell down at his feet upon the silver floor, with a mighty great and terrible ringing sound."

“而现在，勇士已摆脱了恶龙骇人的怒吼，想起了那面黄铜盾牌，思量着要打破盾牌上的魔法。他移开挡在他身前的尸体，无畏地踏上通往城堡的白银之路。盾牌就挂在城堡墙上，然而还未等他完全到位，它已便掉落在他的脚边的白银地面上，发出强劲而可怖的巨响。”

No sooner had these syllables passed my lips, than --as if a shield of brass had indeed, at the moment, fallen heavily upon a floor of silver, became aware of a distinct, hollow, metallic, and clangorous, yet apparently muffled reverberation. Completely unnerved, I leaped to my feet; but the measured rocking movement of Usher was undisturbed. I rushed to the chair in which he sat. His eyes were bent fixedly before him, and throughout his whole countenance there reigned a stony rigidity. But, as I placed my hand upon his shoulder, there came a strong shudder over his whole person; a sickly smile quivered about his lips; and I saw that he spoke in a low, hurried, and gibbering murmur, as if unconscious of my presence. Bending closely over him, I at length drank in the hideous import of his words.

这些音节刚从我的唇间飘出，我便察觉到了一种遥远、沉闷空洞的金属铿锵声，显然是一种受到了掩盖的回响，仿佛有一面黄铜盾牌重重砸落在白银地面上。我跃然而起，完全陷入了不安之中。厄舍那缓慢而有节奏的晃动却未受到影响。我冲向他落座的椅子前。他的双眼死死地盯着前方，整副面孔都僵如磐石。但当我把手搭在他的肩膀上，一阵强烈的战栗遍布了他的全身，还有一种病态的微笑浮现在他的唇边。然后我看见他轻微而急促、口齿不清地低语着，仿佛意识不到我的存在。我俯身靠近他，全神贯注地探听着他言语中的可怕意味。

"Not hear it? --yes, I hear it, and have heard it. Long --long --long --many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it --yet I dared not --oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am! --I dared not --I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb! Said I not that my senses were acute? I now tell you that I heard her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard them --many, many days ago --yet I dared not --I dared not speak! And now --to-night --Ethelred --ha! ha! --the breaking of the hermit's door, and the death-cry of the dragon, and the clangour of the shield! --say, rather, the rending of her coffin, and the grating of the iron hinges of her prison, and her struggles within the coppered archway of the vault! Oh whither shall I fly? Will she not be here anon? Is she not hurrying to upbraid me for my haste? Have I not heard her footstep on the stair? Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart? MADMAN!" here he sprang furiously to his feet, and shrieked out his syllables, as if in the effort he were giving up his soul --"MADMAN! I TELL YOU THAT SHE NOW STANDS WITHOUT THE DOOR!"

“没听见？——是的，我听见了，并且早已听过了。在许多分钟、许多个小时、许多天里，我已经听见它很久很久很久了……但我不敢——噢，可怜我吧，可怜我这痛苦之人！——我不敢——我不敢说！我们将她活生生地放进了棺木里！你说我的感觉有误？现在我告诉你，她第一次在那空荡的棺材里衰弱地行动时我就听见了。我听见它们了，在许多许多天以前——可我不敢——我不敢讲！直到今晚——艾瑟雷德——哈哈！——隐士之门的破碎声、恶龙的垂死咆哮，还有盾牌的铿锵作响！——更确切地说，就是她棺材的破裂声、她囚房之门的铁铰链发出的擦响，以及她在地窖的镀铜拱廊里挣扎的声音！噢，我该逃往何处？难道她不会即刻来此吗？她不正赶着来责备我的草率吗？难道我没有听见她在楼梯上的脚步声吗？我没有认出她那沉重而可怕的心跳声吗？疯人！”说到这，他猛地跃起身来，仿佛为之祭出了灵魂一般尖声叫道“疯人！我告诉你，她此刻就立于门外！”

As if in the superhuman energy of his utterance there had been found the potency of a spell --the huge antique panels to which the speaker pointed, threw slowly back, upon the instant, ponderous and ebony jaws. It was the work of the rushing gust --but then without those doors there DID stand the lofty and enshrouded figure of the lady Madeline of Usher. There was blood upon her white robes, and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame. For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold, then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated.

他的言语中似乎蕴涵着某种如魔咒般超越人类的力量——发言者指向那道笨重的乌木门关，而其巨大而古老的门板便立即缓缓地向内敞开。这是狂风的杰作——然而，门外果真就伫立着玛德琳·厄舍女士那殓衣裹覆的颀长身影。她的白色长袍上沾染着血迹，而她那憔悴身躯上的每一部分都布满了她痛苦挣扎过的证据。她在门槛上颤抖着，来回摇晃了片刻。然后，伴随着一声微弱的哀嚎，她重重地栽倒在她兄长的心智上。她最终死亡的暴烈之苦难，将他压垮至地。他已倒成了一具尸体，成了他预料中的恐怖之祭品。

From that chamber, and from that mansion, I fled aghast. The storm was still abroad in all its wrath as I found myself crossing the old causeway. Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light, and I turned to see whence a gleam so unusual could have issued; for the vast house and its shadows were alone behind me. The radiance was that of the full, setting, and blood-red moon which now shone vividly through that once barely-discernible fissure of which I have before spoken as extending from the roof of the building, in a zig-zag direction, to the base. While I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened --there came a fierce breath of the whirlwind --the entire orb of the satellite burst at once upon my sight --my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder --there was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters --and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the "HOUSE OF USHER."

从那个房间，从那个府邸，我骇然出逃。当我意识到自己正穿行在那古旧的堤道上，风暴仍在屋外倾泻着它所有的愤怒。突然间，一道狂野的闪光沿着堤道急射而去。我旋即回头张望如此诡异的闪光究竟发自何处，因我身后只应有那高大的宅府及它的阴影。下落着的血红盈月正鲜活地洒照着光辉，将其透入先前所述那从屋顶延伸至地基、几乎不可目见的锯齿型裂缝之中。正当我凝视着这道罅隙，它迅速地扩展着——狂暴的旋风奔袭而来——圆月的炫光在我眼前炸开——我目睹那些厚实的墙体塌作齑粉，而我的大脑只觉地转天旋——我还听见一阵持久且喧嚣的呼喊，如同千流万水奔涌之浊响——我脚下那深幽而阴冷的山湖，黯然静谧地淹没了厄舍府的断壁颓垣。