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The Trial
Franz Kafka
Translation by David Wyllie
Chapter One Arrest - Conversation with Mrs. Grubach - Then Miss Bürstner
Someone must have been telling lies about Josef K., he knew he had done nothing wrong but, one morning, he was arrested. Every day at eight in the morning he was brought his breakfast by Mrs. Grubach's cook - Mrs. Grubach was his landlady - but today she didn't come. That had never happened before. K. waited a little while, looked from his pillow at the old woman who lived opposite and who was watching him with an inquisitiveness quite unusual for her, and finally, both hungry and disconcerted, rang the bell. There was immediately a knock at the door and a man entered. He had never seen the man in this house before. He was slim but firmly built, his clothes were black and close-fitting, with many folds and pockets, buckles and buttons and a belt, all of which gave the impression of being very practical but without making it very clear what they were actually for. "Who are you?" asked K., sitting half upright in his bed. The man, however, ignored the question as if his arrival simply had to be accepted, and merely replied, "You rang?" "Anna should have brought me my breakfast," said K. He tried to work out who the man actually was, first in silence, just through observation and by thinking about it, but the man didn't stay still to be looked at for very long. Instead he went over to the door, opened it slightly, and said to someone who was clearly standing immediately behind it, "He wants Anna to bring him his breakfast." There was a little laughter in the neighbouring room, it was not clear from the sound of it whether there were several people laughing. The strange man could not have learned anything from it that he hadn't known already, but now he said to K., as if making his report "It is not possible." "It would be the first time that's happened," said K., as he jumped out of bed and quickly pulled on his trousers. "I want to see who that is in the next room, and why it is that Mrs. Grubach has let me be disturbed in this way." It immediately occurred to him that he needn't have said this out loud, and that he must to some extent have acknowledged their authority by doing so, but that didn't seem important to him at the time. That, at least, is how the stranger took it, as he said, "Don't you think you'd better stay where you are?" "I want neither to stay here nor to be spoken to by you until you've introduced yourself." "I meant it for your own good," said the stranger and opened the door, this time without being asked. The next room, which K. entered more slowly than he had intended, looked at first glance exactly the same as it had the previous evening. It was Mrs. Grubach's living room, over-filled with furniture, tablecloths, porcelain and photographs. Perhaps there was a little more space in there than usual today, but if so it was not immediately obvious, especially as the main difference was the presence of a man sitting by the open window with a book from which he now looked up. "You should have stayed in your room! Didn't Franz tell you?" "And what is it you want, then?" said K., looking back and forth between this new acquaintance and the one named Franz, who had remained in the doorway. Through the open window he noticed the old woman again, who had come close to the window opposite so that she could continue to see everything. She was showing an inquisitiveness that really made it seem like she was going senile. "I want to see Mrs. Grubach …," said K., making a movement as if tearing himself away from the two men - even though they were standing well away from him - and wanted to go. "No," said the man at the window, who threw his book down on a coffee table and stood up. "You can't go away when you're under arrest." "That's how it seems," said K. "And why am I under arrest?" he then asked. "That's something we're not allowed to tell you. Go into your room and wait there. Proceedings are underway and you'll learn about everything all in good time. It's not really part of my job to be friendly towards you like this, but I hope no-one, apart from Franz, will hear about it, and he's been more friendly towards you than he should have been, under the rules, himself. If you carry on having as much good luck as you have been with your arresting officers then you can reckon on things going well with you." K. wanted to sit down, but then he saw that, apart from the chair by the window, there was nowhere anywhere in the room where he could sit. "You'll get the chance to see for yourself how true all this is," said Franz and both men then walked up to K. They were significantly bigger than him, especially the second man, who frequently slapped him on the shoulder. The two of them felt K.'s nightshirt, and said he would now have to wear one that was of much lower quality, but that they would keep the nightshirt along with his other underclothes and return them to him if his case turned out well. "It's better for you if you give us the things than if you leave them in the storeroom," they said. "Things have a tendency to go missing in the storeroom, and after a certain amount of time they sell things off, whether the case involved has come to an end or not. And cases like this can last a long time, especially the ones that have been coming up lately. They'd give you the money they got for them, but it wouldn't be very much as it's not what they're offered for them when they sell them that counts, it's how much they get slipped on the side, and things like that lose their value anyway when they get passed on from hand to hand, year after year." K. paid hardly any attention to what they were saying, he did not place much value on what he may have still possessed or on who decided what happened to them. It was much more important to him to get a clear understanding of his position, but he could not think clearly while these people were here, the second policeman's belly - and they could only be policemen - looked friendly enough, sticking out towards him, but when K. looked up and saw his dry, boney face it did not seem to fit with the body. His strong nose twisted to one side as if ignoring K. and sharing an understanding with the other policeman. What sort of people were these? What were they talking about? What office did they belong to? K. was living in a free country, after all, everywhere was at peace, all laws were decent and were upheld, who was it who dared accost him in his own home? He was always inclined to take life as lightly as he could, to cross bridges when he came to them, pay no heed for the future, even when everything seemed under threat. But here that did not seem the right thing to do. He could have taken it all as a joke, a big joke set up by his colleagues at the bank for some unknown reason, or also perhaps because today was his thirtieth birthday, it was all possible of course, maybe all he had to do was laugh in the policemen's face in some way and they would laugh with him, maybe they were tradesmen from the corner of the street, they looked like they might be - but he was nonetheless determined, ever since he first caught sight of the one called Franz, not to lose any slight advantage he might have had over these people. There was a very slight risk that people would later say he couldn't understand a joke, but - although he wasn't normally in the habit of learning from experience - he might also have had a few unimportant occasions in mind when, unlike his more cautious friends, he had acted with no thought at all for what might follow and had been made to suffer for it. He didn't want that to happen again, not this time at least; if they were play-acting he would act along with them.
准是有人诬陷了约瑟夫·Ｋ，因为在一个晴朗的早晨，他无缘无故地被捕了。每天八点钟，女房东的厨娘总会把早餐端来，可是这一天她却没有露面，这种事情以前从未发生过。Ｋ又等了一会儿，倚在枕头上，看着马路对面的一位老太太，她似乎正用一种对她来说也许是少有的好奇目光注视着他。Ｋ觉得又气又饿，便按了按铃。随即听见有敲门声，一个他从来没有在这幢房子里见过的人进了屋。此人身材瘦长，然而体格相当结实，穿着一套裁剪得非常合身的黑衣服，上面有各种褶线、口袋和钮扣，还有一条束带，其装束像是一个旅游者。因此，身上的一切似乎都有用，虽然人们不大清楚，他现在为什么要这样打扮。“你是谁？”Ｋ从床上欠起身子问道。但是，那人并不理睬Ｋ的问话，好像他的出现是用不着解释的；他只说了一句：“你按铃了吗？”“安娜该给我送早餐了，”Ｋ说。他随即默默地、聚精会神地琢磨起那人来，打算弄清楚到底来者何人。那人没让Ｋ琢磨多久，便转身朝门口走去，把门打开一条缝，以便向显然就站在门后的某人报告：“他说，安娜该给他送早餐了。”隔壁房间里传来一阵短暂的哄笑声，算是回答；这阵笑声听起来像是好几个人发出来的。虽然那个陌生人没从笑声中听出什么名堂来，自己心中也无数，可是他却像传达一个声明似地对Ｋ说：“这不行。”“这可真新鲜，”Ｋ大声说道。他从床上蹦起来，匆匆穿上裤子。“我得瞧瞧隔壁是些什么人，看看格鲁巴赫太太该怎么向我解释这件事。”然而，他立即意识到，他不应该大声说这句话；这么做就等于以某种方式承认，那个陌生人是有权关注他的行动的。然而，他觉得此事在目前无关紧要。但是，陌生人倒真是这么理解Ｋ的话的，因为他问道：“你不觉得你留在这里更好吗？”“如果你不说明你是谁，我就既不呆在这里，也不让你跟我说话。”“我已经说得够清楚了，”陌生人说。然后，他自作主张，猛地把门打开。Ｋ走进隔壁房间，脚步慢得出乎自己的意料；乍一看，房间里的所有东西似乎是头天晚上就摆好了的。这是格鲁巴赫太太的起居室；里面有各种家具和陈设，地毯、瓷器和照片摆得满屋子全是。也许起居室里的空间比往常大了一些，但是刚一进屋是不能发现这点的，尤其是因为屋里的主要变化是有一个男人坐在敞开的窗户跟前看书。那人抬起眼睛，瞧了Ｋ一眼。“你得呆在自己屋里！难道弗朗茨没对你说过吗？”“说过，但是，你在这里干什么？”Ｋ一面问，一面把他的目光从这个刚刚见到的人身上移向那个名叫弗朗茨的人——弗朗茨还站在门旁。接着Ｋ又把目光移回来。Ｋ透过敞开的窗户，又看了一眼对面的老太太；她怀着老年人特有的好奇心，走到正对面的窗户跟前，打算看看这儿发生的一切。“我还是去找格鲁巴赫太太吧……”Ｋ说。他好像想摆脱那两个人（虽然他们离他相当远），打算走出屋去。“不行，”坐在窗前的那个人说。他把书扔到桌上，站了起来，“你不能出去，你被捕了。”“原来是这么回事，”Ｋ说，“不过，为什么逮捕我呢？”他加了一句。“我们无权告诉你。回到你的屋里去，在那儿等着。已经给你立了案，以后会按程序把一切都讲给你听的。我这么随随便便地跟你讲话，已经超出了我得到的指示范围。但是，我希望除了弗朗茨以外，谁也没有听见我讲的话；弗朗茨刚才对你也太随便了，也违反了给他下达的明确的指示。在为你选择看守方面，你是幸运的；如果你继续这样走运，你就可以对最后结果感到放心了。”Ｋ觉得自己应该坐下来，可是他发现，整个屋子里除了窗前有把椅子外，没有地方可以坐。“你很快就会发现，我们告诉你的都是真话，”弗朗茨说。他和另外那个人同时朝Ｋ走来。那人比Ｋ高得多，不断拍着Ｋ的肩膀。他们俩人仔细看着Ｋ的睡衣说，他现在不应该再穿这么考究的衣服了，但他们将负责保管这件衣服和他的其它内衣；如果他的案子结果不错，他们以后就把这些衣服还给他。“把这些东西交给我们比交到仓库里去要好得多，”他们说，“因为仓库里经常失窃；另外，过一段时间以后，他们就把所有的东西都卖掉，而不管你的问题是不是已经解决。你则永远也不会知道这类案子会拖多久，尤其是近来这些日子。当然，到了最后，你也能从仓库中得到一些钱；但是，首先他们付给你的钱少得可怜，因为他们把你的东西卖给最老练的行贿者，而不是出价最高的顾客；其次，大家都知道得很清楚，钱每隔一年，每经过一个人的手，就要减少很多。”Ｋ对这种劝告毫不在意，他不认为别人有权支配他自己所有的东西；因此，对他来讲更重要的是必须清楚了解自己的处境；但是，有这两个人在身边，他甚至无法思索。第二个看守——他们准是看守，不会是别的人——的肚子老是相当友好地顶着他。只要他一抬眼，就会看见一副和看守胖乎乎的躯体毫不相称的面孔：这是一张干瘪、瘦削的面孔，上面长着一个向一边扭曲的大鼻子。他的目光好像正越过Ｋ的头和另外一个看守交换着看法。他们可能是些什么人呢？他们正在谈些什么？他们可能代表什么权力机关呢？Ｋ生活在一个有正式宪法的国家里，全国一片歌舞升平，所有的法律都在起作用。谁竟敢在他的寓所里抓他呢？他一直倾向于对事情采取无所谓的态度，只是当最坏的事情发生时，他才相信事情果真会这么坏；即便危险已迫在眉睫，他也不为明天担忧。但是，他觉得目前采取这种态度并非上策；他当然也完全可以把这一切当作是一个玩笑；一个他在银行里的同事由于某种不清楚的原因而策划的不甚高明的玩笑。也许因为今天是他三十岁生日，这当然是可能的。也许他只须朝着这两个人的脸会意地笑笑就行了，他们准会和他一起笑起来。也许他们只是在街角干活的搬运工——他们看起来很像搬运工；因此，他只看了那个名叫弗朗茨的人一眼，便决定暂时不放弃他可能在这两个人面前占有的优势。日后，他的朋友们可能会说，他居然不知道开玩笑；这种小小的危险是存在的。尽管他不习惯从经验中学习，但他也回忆起，在几个不太重要的场合中，他不顾所有朋友的劝告，丝毫不考虑会造成什么样的后果，一意孤行，最后不得不付出极高的代价。那种事决不能再发生了，至少这一次不能重演；如果这是一场喜剧，那他就要坚持演到底。
He still had time. "Allow me," he said, and hurried between the two policemen through into his room. "He seems sensible enough," he heard them say behind him. Once in his room, he quickly pulled open the drawer of his writing desk, everything in it was very tidy but in his agitation he was unable to find the identification documents he was looking for straight away. He finally found his bicycle permit and was about to go back to the policemen with it when it seemed to him too petty, so he carried on searching until he found his birth certificate. Just as he got back in the adjoining room the door on the other side opened and Mrs. Grubach was about to enter. He only saw her for an instant, for as soon as she recognised K. she was clearly embarrassed, asked for forgiveness and disappeared, closing the door behind her very carefully. "Do come in," K. could have said just then. But now he stood in the middle of the room with his papers in his hand and still looking at the door which did not open again. He stayed like that until he was startled out of it by the shout of the policeman who sat at the little table at the open window and, as K. now saw, was eating his breakfast. "Why didn't she come in?" he asked. "She's not allowed to," said the big policeman. "You're under arrest, aren't you." "But how can I be under arrest? And how come it's like this?" "Now you're starting again," said the policeman, dipping a piece of buttered bread in the honeypot. "We don't answer questions like that." "You will have to answer them," said K. "Here are my identification papers, now show me yours and I certainly want to see the arrest warrant." "Oh, my God!" said the policeman. "In a position like yours, and you think you can start giving orders, do you? It won't do you any good to get us on the wrong side, even if you think it will - we're probably more on your side that anyone else you know!" "That's true, you know, you'd better believe it," said Franz, holding a cup of coffee in his hand which he did not lift to his mouth but looked at K. in a way that was probably meant to be full of meaning but could not actually be understood. K. found himself, without intending it, in a mute dialogue with Franz, but then slapped his hand down on his papers and said, "Here are my identity documents." "And what do you want us to do about it?" replied the big policeman, loudly. "The way you're carrying on, it's worse than a child. What is it you want? Do you want to get this great, bloody trial of yours over with quickly by talking about ID and arrest warrants with us? We're just coppers, that's all we are. Junior officers like us hardly know one end of an ID card from another, all we've got to do with you is keep an eye on you for ten hours a day and get paid for it. That's all we are. Mind you, what we can do is make sure that the high officials we work for find out just what sort of person it is they're going to arrest, and why he should be arrested, before they issue the warrant. There's no mistake there. Our authorities as far as I know, and I only know the lowest grades, don't go out looking for guilt among the public; it's the guilt that draws them out, like it says in the law, and they have to send us police officers out. That's the law. Where d'you think there'd be any mistake there?" "I don't know this law," said K. "So much the worse for you, then," said the policeman. "It's probably exists only in your heads," said K., he wanted, in some way, to insinuate his way into the thoughts of the policemen, to re-shape those thoughts to his benefit or to make himself at home there. But the policeman just said dismissively, "You'll find out when it affects you." Franz joined in, and said, "Look at this, Willem, he admits he doesn't know the law and at the same time insists he's innocent." "You're quite right, but we can't get him to understand a thing," said the other. K. stopped talking with them; do I, he thought to himself, do I really have to carry on getting tangled up with the chattering of base functionaries like this? - and they admit themselves that they are of the lowest position. They're talking about things of which they don't have the slightest understanding, anyway. It's only because of their stupidity that they're able to be so sure of themselves. I just need few words with someone of the same social standing as myself and everything will be incomparably clearer, much clearer than a long conversation with these two can make it. He walked up and down the free space in the room a couple of times, across the street he could see the old woman who, now, had pulled an old man, much older than herself, up to the window and had her arms around him. K. had to put an end to this display, "Take me to your superior," he said. "As soon as he wants to see you. Not before," said the policeman, the one called Willem. "And now my advice to you," he added, "is to go into your room, stay calm, and wait and see what's to be done with you. If you take our advice, you won't tire yourself out thinking about things to no purpose, you need to pull yourself together as there's a lot that's going to required of you. You've not behaved towards us the way we deserve after being so good to you, you forget that we, whatever we are, we're still free men and you're not, and that's quite an advantage. But in spite of all that we're still willing, if you've got the money, to go and get you some breakfast from the café over the road."
他还是自由的。“请原谅，”他说，然后从两个看守中间穿过，疾步朝自己的屋子走去。“看来他是知趣的，”他听见他们中的一个在背后说道。他一进屋，就拉出写字台的抽屉：所有东西都放得整整齐齐；但是，由于激动，他一下子没有找到他想找的能表明自己身分的那几份证件。最后，他找到了自己的自行车执照；正想拿着它到看守那儿去的时候，突然觉得，这种执照什么用也没有。于是，他继续翻寻，直至找到出生证为止。他刚重新走进隔壁房间，对面那扇门开了，格鲁巴赫太太露了一下脸。他只看见她一会儿功夫，因为格鲁巴赫太太一瞧见他，显然感到十分尴尬，赶紧表示道歉，然后便退了出去，并小心翼翼地合上门。他完全有时间对她说：“进来，进来吧。”但是，他只是呆站在屋子中间，手上拿着证件，看着那扇再也没有打开的门。直到看守喊了一声，他才醒悟过来；他发现，两个看守正坐在窗旁的一张桌子边，狼吞虎咽地吃着应该是他吃的早点。“她为什么不进来？”“她不准进来，”高个子看守说，“因为你被捕了。”“什么，我被捕了？以这种可笑的方式被捕了？这是怎么回事？”“这么说、你现在又想从头开始啦？”看守说，同时把一片涂着黄油的面包放在蜂蜜罐里蘸了蘸，“我们不回答类似问题。”“你们应该回答，”Ｋ说，“这是我的证件，现在请让我看看你们的证件，首先是逮捕证。”“哎哟，我的老天爷，”看守说，“但愿你能了解自己的处境，但愿你不要再这样徒劳无益地来麻烦我们俩人啦，我们可能比世界上任何其他人对你都要好，我们对你的关心胜过其他人。”“确实是这样，你可以相信这点，”弗朗茨说。他手里端着咖啡杯，但是并没有举到嘴边，而是久久地、表面上看来意味深长地、然而又是令人不可思议地看着正。Ｋ发现自己正不由自主地和弗朗茨交换着含义深刻的目光。尽管如此，他却用手拍拍自己的证件又说道：“这是表明我身分的证件。”“你的证件关我们什么事？”高个子看守嚷道：“你现在的所作所为还不如一个小孩。你想要干什么？你以为用证件、逮捕证之类的东西为借口，和我们——看管你的人——吵闹，就能使你的这桩微妙的案子早点结束吗？我们只是地位卑微的低级职员，正式文件中很难找到我们的名字；我们和你的案子毫不相干，我们的任务只是每天看管你十个小时，并因此而领取工资。这些就是有关我们的全部情况。我们很清楚，我们为之服务的高级机关在下令逮捕一个人之前，一定很了解逮捕理由以及犯人的特征。在这方面是不会出错的。据我所知，我们的官员们——我只认识其中级别最低的官员——从来也不到民众间去寻找罪过，而是像法律中说的是被罪过吸引过去的，接着就把我们这些看守派去。这就是法律。怎么可能出错呢？”“我不了解这项法律，”Ｋ说。“这对你来说可糟透了，”看守回答道。“这项法律很可能只存在于他们自己的头脑中，”Ｋ说。他想通过某种方式掌握看守的想法，使自己在他们面前占上风，或者使自己去适应他们。可是，看守只是用令人扫兴的口吻说道：“你会触犯法律的。”弗朗茨打断了他的话：“你瞧，威廉，他承认他不懂得法律，可是他又声明他没罪。”“你说得很对，不过你永远也不能使一个像他这样的人变得理智起来，”另一个看守回答道。Ｋ没有再搭腔。“难道说，”他想，“我应该被这两个可怜虫的胡言乱语把头脑搞得更乱吗？他们自己承认，他们已经谈了有关自己的所有情况。然而，他们讲的事情连他们自己也不明白。十足的愚蠢才会使他们这么自信。只要和与我智力水平相同的人讲几句话，就能把所有事情搞得一清二楚；而跟这两个人即使啰嗦几个钟头也做不到这点。”他在屋子里来回踱了一阵；他又看见了马路对过的那个老太太：她正挽着一个年纪比她还要大的老汉的腰把他拽到窗前。Ｋ觉得应该让这出闹剧收场了。“把我带到你们的长官那儿去，”他说。“等他下命令时，我就带你去，现在不行，”那个叫威廉的看守回答道。“现在我劝你，”他接着说，“回到你的房间里去，在那儿安安静静地呆着，等到对你作出决定为止。我们对你的忠告是，别因为一些无谓的念头而想人非非。你要认真考虑，因为将要对你提出一系列重大问题。你对我们不像我们对你那么友好善良；你忘了，不管我们是什么人，至少和你相比，我们是自由的。这是一个不小的有利条件。尽管这样，如果你有钱的话，我们还是愿意到马路对面的咖啡馆里，为你买一些早点来的。”
Without giving any answer to this offer, K. stood still for some time. Perhaps, if he opened the door of the next room or even the front door, the two of them would not dare to stand in his way, perhaps that would be the simplest way to settle the whole thing, by bringing it to a head. But maybe they would grab him, and if he were thrown down on the ground he would lose all the advantage he, in a certain respect, had over them. So he decided on the more certain solution, the way things would go in the natural course of events, and went back in his room without another word either from him or from the policemen.
Ｋ在原地又站了一会儿，没有对看守的提议作出回答。如果他去打开隔壁房间的门，或者打开通向客厅的门，也许那两个人不会有胆量来制止他，也许这是解决整个事件，使其告终的最简单的办法。但是，他们也可能会抓住他；他只要一被抓住，就会失去在某种意义上仍然拥有的优势。因此，他屏弃了快速解决的办法，选择了一种稳妥方式，听凭这件事情自然发展；于是他走回自己的房间。他和看守都没有再说一句话。
He threw himself down on his bed, and from the dressing table he took the nice apple that he had put there the previous evening for his breakfast. Now it was all the breakfast he had and anyway, as he confirmed as soon as he took his first, big bite of it, it was far better than a breakfast he could have had through the good will of the policemen from the dirty café. He felt well and confident, he had failed to go into work at the bank this morning but that could easily be excused because of the relatively high position he held there. Should he really send in his explanation? He wondered about it. If nobody believed him, and in this case that would be understandable, he could bring Mrs. Grubach in as a witness, or even the old pair from across the street, who probably even now were on their way over to the window opposite. It puzzled K., at least it puzzled him looking at it from the policemen's point of view, that they had made him go into the room and left him alone there, where he had ten different ways of killing himself. At the same time, though, he asked himself, this time looking at it from his own point of view, what reason he could have to do so. Because those two were sitting there in the next room and had taken his breakfast, perhaps? It would have been so pointless to kill himself that, even if he had wanted to, the pointlessness would have made him unable. Maybe, if the policemen had not been so obviously limited in their mental abilities, it could have been supposed that they had come to the same conclusion and saw no danger in leaving him alone because of it. They could watch now, if they wanted, and see how he went over to the cupboard in the wall where he kept a bottle of good schnapps, how he first emptied a glass of it in place of his breakfast and how he then took a second glassful in order to give himself courage, the last one just as a precaution for the unlikely chance it would be needed.
他躺在床上，从脸盆架上取下一个挺好看的苹果；这是他头天夜里搁在那儿的，准备早餐时吃。现在，这个苹果便是他能吃到的全部早点了。他刚咬了几口便深信，不管怎么说，这个苹果要比那邋里邋遢的通宵营业的咖啡馆里所能买到的早点好吃得多。殷勤的看守答应可以到那儿去给他买点吃的来。他觉得很自在，充满了自信；不错，今天上午不能到银行里去上班了，但是，他的缺席很容易被宽容，因为他的职位比较高。他应该把缺席的真实原因讲出来吗？他认为应该这么做。如果他们不相信——这在当时的环境下是可以理解的——那他就让格鲁巴赫太太作证，或者甚至让马路对面的那两个陌生人作证，他们现在可能又走回到正对着他房间的那扇窗前了。Ｋ觉得奇怪，至少当他想到两个看守的做法时感到奇怪：他们居然让他回到自己屋里去，把他一人撂在那儿；他在屋内有很多机会可以自杀。不过，他同时也从自己的观点出发看问题，们心自问：在什么情况下，他才有可能去自杀？是因为两个看守坐在隔壁，攫取了他的早点吗？自杀是一种无意义的举动，即使他想自杀，他也不会让自己走上那条绝路，原因正在于这个举动是无意义的。如果这两个看守的愚蠢并不是这样显而易见，那他就会认为，他们两人也觉得让他一人呆着不会有危险，原因同上。他们现在完全有权监视他的举动。他走到食柜跟前，里面有一瓶上等白兰地；他斟满一杯，一饮而尽，弥补没吃早点的损失，然后又干了第二杯，为自己壮胆，最后又喝了一杯，用来垫底，以便应付不测事件。
Then he was so startled by a shout to him from the other room that he struck his teeth against the glass. "The supervisor wants to see you!" a voice said. It was only the shout that startled him, this curt, abrupt, military shout, that he would not have expected from the policeman called Franz. In itself, he found the order very welcome. "At last!" he called back, locked the cupboard and, without delay, hurried into the next room. The two policemen were standing there and chased him back into his bedroom as if that were a matter of course. "What d'you think you're doing?" they cried. "Think you're going to see the supervisor dressed in just your shirt, do you? He'd see to it you got a right thumping, and us and all!" "Let go of me for God's sake!" called K., who had already been pushed back as far as his wardrobe, "if you accost me when I'm still in bed you can't expect to find me in my evening dress." "That won't help you," said the policemen, who always became very quiet, almost sad, when K. began to shout, and in that way confused him or, to some extent, brought him to his senses. "Ridiculous formalities!" he grumbled, as he lifted his coat from the chair and kept it in both his hands for a little while, as if holding it out for the policemen's inspection. They shook their heads. "It's got to be a black coat," they said. At that, K. threw the coat to the floor and said - without knowing even himself what he meant by it - "Well it's not going to be the main trial, after all." The policemen laughed, but continued to insist, "It's got to be a black coat." "Well that's alright by me if it makes things go any faster," said K. He opened the wardrobe himself, spent a long time searching through all the clothes, and chose his best black suit which had a short jacket that had greatly surprised those who knew him, then he also pulled out a fresh shirt and began, carefully, to get dressed. He secretly told himself that he had succeeded in speeding things up by letting the policemen forget to make him have a bath. He watched them to see if they might remember after all, but of course it never occurred to them, although Willem did not forget to send Franz up to the supervisor with the message saying that K. was getting dressed.
隔壁房间里突然传来喊声，他大吃一惊，牙齿在杯子上磕得“格格”作响。“监察官让你去，”这是喊声的内容。但使他大吃一惊的是喊声所用的语调：粗暴，鲁莽，像是发布军令。他决不会相信这是看守弗朗茨发出来的声音。事实上，命令本身他是欢迎的。“总算有消息了，”他也喊了一声，以示回敬；然后关上食柜，匆匆走进隔壁房间。两个看守站在那儿，他们好像理所当然似地马上把Ｋ推回他的屋子里。“你想干什么？”他们嚷道，“你以为只穿件衬衫就能去见监察官吗？他会狠狠接你一顿，连我们也不能幸免。”“随我的便吧，该死的，”Ｋ大声说道；可是他这时已被推到衣柜前，“是你们把我从床上拽起来的，别指望我穿得整整齐齐，衣冠楚楚。”“不这样做不行，”看守说。只要Ｋ一提高嗓门，他们就变得和颜悦色，甚至还略带抑郁，想以此把他搞糊涂，或在某种程度上使他恢复理智。“无聊的形式！”他气愤地说。他从椅子上拿起一件外衣，两手撑着呆了一会儿，好像是让看守瞧瞧，穿上它是不是合适。他们摇摇头。“必须穿件黑衣服，”他们说。于是Ｋ把衣服扔到地板上，对他们说：“又不是判了死刑。”他自己也不清楚讲这些话是什么意思。两个看守笑了笑，还是坚持原先的说法：“必须穿件黑衣服。”“如果这样做是为了使我的案子处理得快些，那我也不在乎，”Ｋ回答说。他打开衣柜，在一大堆衣服中翻寻了半天，终于找出了他那件最漂亮的黑上衣。这是一件缝制考究的普通西装，熟人们见了赞不绝口。然后他又挑了一件衬衫，开始精心打扮起来。他暗自思忖道：不管怎么说，为了使诉讼过程赶快开始，他已经想了法子，让两个看守忘了叫他洗澡。他偷偷瞥了他们一眼，看看他们是不是想起来要他洗澡；当然，他们永远也不会想到这点。不过威廉倒没有忘记派弗朗茨去向监察官报告，Ｋ正在更衣。
Once he was properly dressed, K. had to pass by Willem as he went through the next room into the one beyond, the door of which was already wide open. K. knew very well that this room had recently been let to a typist called 'Miss Bürstner'. She was in the habit of going out to work very early and coming back home very late, and K. had never exchanged more than a few words of greeting with her. Now, her bedside table had been pulled into the middle of the room to be used as a desk for these proceedings, and the supervisor sat behind it. He had his legs crossed, and had thrown one arm over the backrest of the chair.
他全部穿戴完毕后，便出发上路；威廉紧紧跟在他后面。他穿过现在已经空无一人的隔壁房间，走进旁边的屋子：这间屋子的两扇门都开着。Ｋ知道得很清楚，最近一位名叫布尔斯特纳的打字员小姐租了这间房间。她每天很早就去上班，很晚才能回家，Ｋ只是在碰见她的时候和她讲过几句话。现在，她床边的小茶几被推到屋子正中当桌子用；监察官正坐在小茶几后面，交叉着双腿，一只胳臂搭在椅子背上。
In one corner of the room there were three young people looking at the photographs belonging to Miss Bürstner that had been put into a piece of fabric on the wall. Hung up on the handle of the open window was a white blouse. At the window across the street, there was the old pair again, although now their number had increased, as behind them, and far taller than they were, stood a man with an open shirt that showed his chest and a reddish goatee beard which he squeezed and twisted with his fingers. "Josef K.?" asked the supervisor, perhaps merely to attract K.'s attention as he looked round the room. K. nodded. "I daresay you were quite surprised by all that's been taking place this morning," said the supervisor as, with both hands, he pushed away the few items on the bedside table - the candle and box of matches, a book and a pin cushion which lay there as if they were things he would need for his own business. "Certainly," said K., and he began to feel relaxed now that, at last, he stood in front of someone with some sense, someone with whom he would be able to talk about his situation. "Certainly I'm surprised, but I'm not in any way very surprised." "You're not very surprised?" asked the supervisor, as he positioned the candle in the middle of the table and the other things in a group around it. "Perhaps you don't quite understand me," K. hurriedly pointed out. "What I mean is …" here K. broke off what he was saying and looked round for somewhere to sit. "I may sit down, mayn't I?" he asked. "That's not usual," the supervisor answered. "What I mean is…," said K. without delaying a second time, "that, yes, I am very surprised but when you've been in the world for thirty years already and had to make your own way through everything yourself, which has been my lot, then you become hardened to surprises and don't take them too hard. Especially not what's happened today." "Why especially not what's happened today?" "I wouldn't want to say that I see all of this as a joke, you seem to have gone to too much trouble making all these arrangements for that. Everyone in the house must be taking part in it as well as all of you, that would be going beyond what could be a joke. So I don't want to say that this is a joke." "Quite right," said the supervisor, looking to see how many matches were left in the box. "But on the other hand," K. went on, looking round at everyone there and even wishing he could get the attention of the three who were looking at the photographs, "on the other hand this really can't be all that important. That follows from the fact that I've been indicted, but can't think of the slightest offence for which I could be indicted. But even that is all beside the point, the main question is: Who is issuing the indictment? What office is conducting this affair? Are you officials? None of you is wearing a uniform, unless what you are wearing" - here he turned towards Franz - "is meant to be a uniform, it's actually more of a travelling suit. I require a clear answer to all these questions, and I'm quite sure that once things have been made clear we can take our leave of each other on the best of terms." The supervisor slammed the box of matches down on the table. "You're making a big mistake," he said. "These gentlemen and I have got nothing to do with your business, in fact we know almost nothing about you. We could be wearing uniforms as proper and exact as you like and your situation wouldn't be any the worse for it. As to whether you're on a charge, I can't give you any sort of clear answer to that, I don't even know whether you are or not. You're under arrest, you're quite right about that, but I don't know any more than that. Maybe these officers have been chit-chatting with you, well if they have that's all it is, chit- chat. I can't give you an answer to your questions, but I can give you a bit of advice: You'd better think less about us and what's going to happen to you, and think a bit more about yourself. And stop making all this fuss about your sense of innocence; you don't make such a bad impression, but with all this fuss you're damaging it. And you ought to do a bit less talking, too. Almost everything you've said so far has been things we could have taken from your behaviour, even if you'd said no more than a few words. And what you have said has not exactly been in your favour."
三个年轻人站在屋子的一个角落里，正在看着布尔斯特纳的几张照片；照片嵌在镜框中，挂在墙上。窗子开着，一件白色的女上衣挂在窗闩上，来回摇晃。马路对面的那扇窗子后面，又出现了那两个老人，不过他们的圈子扩大了，因为在他们身后还站着另一个人。这个人比他们高出一头一肩，衬衫领口敞着，手指头老在捋着他那微带红色的山羊胡子。“约瑟夫·Ｋ？”监察官问道，也许他只是想把Ｋ的心不在焉的目光引到自己身上来。Ｋ点点头。“你对今天上午发生的事大概觉得很奇怪吧？”监察官问，他的两只手在摆弄着小茶几上的几样东西：一支蜡烛，一个火柴盒，一本书和一个针扎，好像这些东西对他进行审讯是有用的。“当然，”Ｋ说；他为自己终于遇见了一个讲道理、可以就此事一起谈谈的人而感到甚为高兴。“当然，我觉得奇怪，不过，我并不觉得十分奇怪。”“不十分奇怪？”监察官问，他把蜡烛放在茶几中间，把其它东西摆在蜡烛周围。“也许你误解了我，”Ｋ赶紧补充道，“我是说……”说到这里，Ｋ住了嘴，朝四周看了一眼，想找把椅子。“我想我可以坐下吧？”他问。“这不符合习惯，”监察官回答道。“我是说，”Ｋ说，他不再拐弯抹角了，“我当然觉得很奇怪；不过，像我这样一个在世界上已经混了三十年、为了从中闯出一条路而搏斗过的人，对于奇怪的事情已经变得麻木不仁了，已经不怎么认真予以对待了，今天上午的事尤其是这样。”“为什么今天上午的事尤其是这样呢？”“我并不是说，我把今天上午的事当作是在开玩笑，因为，如果真是开玩笑的话，这一系列准备工作似乎做得太周全了。公寓里的所有人，以及你们全体，都介入了；这对于开玩笑来说，未免太过分了一点。因此我不认为这是开玩笑。”“很对，”监察官说，他似乎想搞清楚火柴盒里有多少根火柴。“可是，从另一方面来看，”Ｋ接着说，他把脸转向屋里的每个人，想把站在照片旁边的三个年轻人的注意力也吸引过来，“从另一方面来看，这也并不是一件什么不得了的大事。我这么说的事实根据是：虽然我被控告犯了什么罪，但我却回想不起我曾经有过什么过失，以至现在要受到指控。然而，即使这样也无关紧要，我只想问问：到底是谁控告了我？什么机构负责审讯？你们是法官吗？你们当中谁也没有穿制服，”他说到这里，对弗朗茨转过头去，“如果你的衣服也不能算作制服的话。不过，它更像是旅游者的行装。我要求你们对这些问题作出明确的答复。我相信，经过解释以后，我们就能十分友好地互道再见了。”监察官把火柴盒扔到茶几上。“你想人非非了，”他说，“这里的先生们和我本人在你的案子中都没有任何地位，我们实际上对这件案子一无所知。我们可以穿上最正规的制服，你的案子一点也不会变得更糟。我甚至不能肯定，你是否被控犯了罪；或者更确切地说，我不知道是否有人控告了你。你被捕了，这是千真万确的；更多的情况我就不知道了。看守可能给你留下了另一种印象，但他们只是不负责任地瞎议论。不过，虽然我不能回答你的问题，倒至少可以给你一个忠告：少捉摸我们，少考虑你会遇到什么事，还是多想想你自己吧。别这样大声嚷嚷，表示自己的清白。你在其它方面给人家留下的印象不错，这么一嚷嚷，反而会坏事。你还应该尽量少开口，你刚才讲的每句话几乎都可以添枝加叶，写进你的表现记录中；在任何情况下，这都不会对你有什么好处。”
K. stared at the supervisor. Was this man, probably younger than he was, lecturing him like a schoolmaster? Was he being punished for his honesty with a telling off? And was he to learn nothing about the reasons for his arrest or those who were arresting him? He became somewhat cross and began to walk up and down. No-one stopped him doing this and he pushed his sleeves back, felt his chest, straightened his hair, went over to the three men, said, "It makes no sense," at which these three turned round to face him and came towards him with serious expressions. He finally came again to a halt in front of the supervisor's desk. "State Attorney Hasterer is a good friend of mine," he said, "can I telephone him?" "Certainly," said the supervisor, "but I don't know what the point of that will be, I suppose you must have some private matter you want to discuss with him." "What the point is?" shouted K., more disconcerted that cross. "Who do you think you are? You want to see some point in it while you're carrying out something as pointless as it could be? It's enough to make you cry! These gentlemen first accost me, and now they sit or stand about in here and let me be hauled up in front of you. What point there would be, in telephoning a state attorney when I'm ostensibly under arrest? Very well, I won't make the telephone call." "You can call him if you want to," said the supervisor, stretching his hand out towards the outer room where the telephone was, "please, go on, do make your phone call." "No, I don't want to any more," said K., and went over to the window. Across the street, the people were still there at the window, and it was only now that K. had gone up to his window that they seemed to become uneasy about quietly watching what was going on. The old couple wanted to get up but the man behind them calmed them down. "We've got some kind of audience over there," called K. to the supervisor, quite loudly, as he pointed out with his forefinger. "Go away," he then called across to them. And the three of them did immediately retreat a few steps, the old pair even found themselves behind the man who then concealed them with the breadth of his body and seemed, going by the movements of his mouth, to be saying something incomprehensible into the distance. They did not disappear entirely, though, but seemed to be waiting for the moment when they could come back to the window without being noticed. "Intrusive, thoughtless people!" said K. as he turned back into the room. The supervisor may have agreed with him, at least K. thought that was what he saw from the corner of his eye. But it was just as possible that he had not even been listening as he had his hand pressed firmly down on the table and seemed to be comparing the length of his fingers. The two policemen were sitting on a chest covered with a coloured blanket, rubbing their knees. The three young people had put their hands on their hips and were looking round aimlessly. Everything was still, like in some office that has been forgotten about. "Now, gentlemen," called out K., and for a moment it seemed as if he was carrying all of them on his shoulders, "it looks like your business with me is over with. In my opinion, it's best now to stop wondering about whether you're proceeding correctly or incorrectly, and to bring the matter to a peaceful close with a mutual handshake. If you are of the same opinion, then please…" and he walked up to the supervisor's desk and held out his hand to him. The supervisor raised his eyes, bit his lip and looked at K.'s outstretched hand; K still believed the supervisor would do as he suggested. But instead, he stood up, picked up a hard round hat that was laying on Miss Bürstner's bed and put it carefully onto his head, using both hands as if trying on a new hat. "Everything seems so simple to you, doesn't it," he said to K. as he did so, "so you think we should bring the matter to a peaceful close, do you. No, no, that won't do. Mind you, on the other hand I certainly wouldn't want you to think there's no hope for you. No, why should you think that? You're simply under arrest, nothing more than that. That's what I had to tell you, that's what I've done and now I've seen how you've taken it. That's enough for one day and we can take our leave of each other, for the time being at least. I expect you'll want to go in to the bank now, won't you." "In to the bank?" asked K., "I thought I was under arrest." K. said this with a certain amount of defiance as, although his handshake had not been accepted, he was feeling more independent of all these people, especially since the supervisor had stood up. He was playing with them. If they left, he had decided he would run after them and offer to let them arrest him. That's why he even repeated, "How can I go in to the bank when I'm under arrest?" "I see you've misunderstood me," said the supervisor who was already at the door. "It's true that you're under arrest, but that shouldn't stop you from carrying out your job. And there shouldn't be anything to stop you carrying on with your usual life." "In that case it's not too bad, being under arrest," said K., and went up close to the supervisor. "I never meant it should be anything else," he replied. "It hardly seems to have been necessary to notify me of the arrest in that case," said K., and went even closer. The others had also come closer. All of them had gathered together into a narrow space by the door. "That was my duty," said the supervisor. "A silly duty," said K., unyielding. "Maybe so," replied the supervisor, "only don't let's waste our time talking on like this. I had assumed you'd be wanting to go to the bank. As you're paying close attention to every word I'll add this: I'm not forcing you to go to the bank, I'd just assumed you wanted to. And to make things easier for you, and to let you get to the bank with as little fuss as possible I've put these three gentlemen, colleagues of yours, at your disposal." "What's that?" exclaimed K., and looked at the three in astonishment. He could only remember seeing them in their group by the photographs, but these characterless, anaemic young people were indeed officials from his bank, not colleagues of his, that was putting it too high and it showed a gap in the omniscience of the supervisor, but they were nonetheless junior members of staff at the bank. How could K. have failed to see that? How occupied he must have been with the supervisor and the policemen not to have recognised these three! Rabensteiner, with his stiff demeanour and swinging hands, Kullich, with his blonde hair and deep-set eyes, and Kaminer, with his involuntary grin caused by chronic muscle spasms. "Good morning," said K. after a while, extending his hand to the gentlemen as they bowed correctly to him. "I didn't recognise you at all. So, we'll go into work now, shall we?" The gentlemen laughed and nodded enthusiastically, as if that was what they had been waiting for all the time, except that K. had left his hat in his room so they all dashed, one after another, into the room to fetch it, which caused a certain amount of embarrassment. K. stood where he was and watched them through the open double doorway, the last to go, of course, was the apathetic Rabensteiner who had broken into no more than an elegant trot. Kaminer got to the hat and K., as he often had to do at the bank, forcibly reminded himself that the grin was not deliberate, that he in fact wasn't able to grin deliberately. At that moment Mrs. Grubach opened the door from the hallway into the living room where all the people were. She did not seem to feel guilty about anything at all, and K., as often before, looked down at the belt of her apron which, for no reason, cut so deeply into her hefty body. Once downstairs, K., with his watch in his hand, decided to take a taxi - he had already been delayed by half an hour and there was no need to make the delay any longer. Kaminer ran to the corner to summon it, and the two others were making obvious efforts to keep K. diverted when Kullich pointed to the doorway of the house on the other side of the street where the large man with the blonde goatee beard appeared and, a little embarrassed at first at letting himself be seen in his full height, stepped back to the wall and leant against it. The old couple were probably still on the stairs. K. was cross with Kullich for pointing out this man whom he had already seen himself, in fact whom he had been expecting. "Don't look at him!" he snapped, without noticing how odd it was to speak to free men in this way. But there was no explanation needed anyway as just then the taxi arrived, they sat inside and set off. Inside the taxi, K. remembered that he had not noticed the supervisor and the policemen leaving - the supervisor had stopped him noticing the three bank staff and now the three bank staff had stopped him noticing the supervisor. This showed that K. was not very attentive, and he resolved to watch himself more carefully in this respect. Nonetheless, he gave it no thought as he twisted himself round and leant over onto the rear shelf of the car to catch sight of the supervisor and the policemen if he could. But he turned back round straight away and leant comfortably into the corner of the taxi without even having made the effort to see anyone. Although it did not seem like it, now was just the time when he needed some encouragement, but the gentlemen seemed tired just then, Rabensteiner looked out of the car to the right, Kullich to the left and only Kaminer was there with his grin at K.'s service. It would have been inhumane to make fun of that.
Ｋ目不转睛地瞧着监察官。难道他需要让一个可能比自己还年轻的人教训自己应该怎么为人处世吗？难道他会因为直言不讳而遭人指责，受到惩处吗？难道他确实打听不出为什么会被捕以及是谁派人来逮捕他的吗？ 他有点烦躁，开始来回踱步——谁也不阻止他。他挽起袖口，用手指触摸着衬衫的前襟，拨弄着头发。他从那三个年轻人身边走过时说：“纯粹是胡闹！”于是，他们转过身来，用同情。然而严肃的目光看着他；最后，他走到监察官的桌子前面。“哈斯特勒律师是我的私人朋友，”他说，“我可以给他打个电话吗？”“当然可以，”监察官回答道，“不过，我看不出给他打电话会有什么意义，除非你有什么私事要跟他商量。”“给他打电话会有什么意义？”Ｋ嚷道，与其说他发了火，倒不如说他感到很惊讶，“你到底是什么人？你要求我理智一些，而你的举动却无聊得只有你自己才想像得出！这足以使狗也讨厌。你们先是闯进我的家，然后在屋子里面晃荡；而我则要绞尽脑汁，徒劳无益地思索被捕的原因。既然我已经被捕，给一位律师打电话还有什么意义呢？好吧，我不打电话了。”“你想打就打吧，”监察官一面说，一面朝门厅方向摆摆手，那儿有电话，“请去打电话吧。”“不，我现在不想打了，”Ｋ说；他朝窗前走去。马路对面的那三个人还在看热闹，他们看得津津有味；Ｋ在窗前出现时，他们的乐趣第一次稍稍受了点影响。两个老人挪动着身子，好像要站起来，但是后面的那个男人却没事似地请他们放心。“还有不少看热闹的！”Ｋ用手指头指着那三个人，对监察官大声嚷道。“走开，”他朝马路对面喊着。那三个人立即往后退了几步；两个老人几乎躲到了年轻人的背后；年轻人用他那魁梧的身躯护着他们，根据他的唇部动作判断，他正在说着什么；但由于距离太远，他讲的话听不见。然而，他们并没有离开，好像在等待机会，悄悄回到窗前来。“多管闲事、不体谅别人的讨厌鬼！”Ｋ又转过身来，对着屋里说。他朝旁边瞥了一眼后，心想，监察官或许也是这么认为的。但是，也可能监察官根本没有听，因为他把一只手紧紧接在桌面上，好像在比较五个指头的长短。两个看守坐在一个木箱上，不停地晃着腿；木箱上蒙着一块绣花布。三个年轻人手按着臀部，漫无目的地环顾四周。屋里静悄悄的，像是在某个空无一人的办公室里。“来吧，先生们，”Ｋ大声说道；他一时认为自己是全体在场者的负责人，“从你们的眼神中可以看出，我的事情好像已经解决了。我的意见是，现在最好别再计较你们的行为到底合不合法了，大家握握手，以友好的方式把这件事情解决好吧。如果你们的意见也是这样，那么，为什么……”他朝监察官的桌子走去，伸出他的手。监察官抬起眼睛，咬着嘴唇，瞪着Ｋ朝他伸过来的那只手。Ｋ相信监察官会握住这只主动伸过来的手；然而恰恰相反，监察官站了起来，拿起放在布尔斯特纳小姐床上的那顶硬圆帽，用两只手把帽子仔仔细细地戴在头上，好像是第一次试戴似的。“你把一切看得太简单了！”他一面戴帽子，一面对Ｋ说，“你以为我们能以友好的方式解决这件事吗？不，完全不可能办到。不过，我并不是劝你放弃希望。你为什么要放弃希望呢？你只是被捕了，别的没什么。我奉命把这件事通知你。我这样做了，我也注意到了你的反映。今天就到这里为止吧，我们可以互道再见了，虽然只是暂时的再见而已，这是很自然的。我想，你现在该到银行里去了吧？”“到银行里去？”Ｋ问道，“我想，我刚才被捕了，不是吗？”Ｋ略带挑衅地问道。尽管他提出的握手的提议没有被理睬，他仍然觉得自己越来越和这些人不相干了，尤其是现在，当监察官起身要走时，他更觉得如此。他在和他们逗着玩。他真想在他们出门的时候跑步追上去，一直追到大门口，给他们将一军，让他们把自己当作囚徒带走。所以他又说了一遍：“既然我已经被捕了，那怎么能到银行里去呢？”“噢，我明白了，”已经走到门边的监察官说，“你误解了我的意思。你被捕了，这是确实的，但是并不禁止你去办事；也不阻碍你继续过正常的生活。”“这么说来，被捕并不是一件很坏的事情，”Ｋ走到监察官跟前说。“我从来也没有说过这是一件坏事，”监察官说。“既然如此，似乎没有什么特别必要告诉我说。我已经被捕了，”Ｋ说，他走得更近了。其他人也靠上前来。他们现在都聚集在门边的一。小块地方里。“这是我的责任，”监察官回答道。“一个愚蠢的责任，”Ｋ毫不客气地说。“也许是这样，”监察官说，“不过我们用不着在这种争论中浪费时间。刚才我觉得你会愿意到银行里去的。既然你在用词上这么吹毛求疵，那我就补充一句吧：我并不强迫你到银行里去，我只是猜想，你会愿意去的。为了给你提供方便，为了让你顺利地到达银行，尽可能不受阻碍，我把这三位先生留在这里，他们是你的同事，供你支配。”“什么？”Ｋ目瞪口呆地看着那三个人大声说。这三个一文不名的患贫血症的年轻人——他刚才看见他们站在照片旁边——确实是那家银行中的职员；但不是他的同事——监察官的这句话言过其实，暴露出他的无所不包的知识中的一个缺陷。不过，不管怎么说，他们确实是银行中的低级职员。Ｋ刚才怎么会没有发现这点呢？他可能只顾注意监察官和看守了，因此没有认出这三个年轻人来。严峻的拉本斯泰纳摇晃着双臂，潇洒英俊的库里希长着一双深凹的眼睛，卡米乃尔由于患了经久不愈的肌肉抽搐症，脸上挂着令人不可忍受的笑容。“你们好！”Ｋ停了一会儿说；他朝那三个人伸出手去，他们彬彬有礼地向他点头致意。“刚才我没认出你们来。好吧，现在咱们上班去，可以吗？”三个年轻人微笑着，迫不及待地点着头，好像他们就是为了这个目的才等这么久的。当Ｋ转过身，想回房间去取他搁在那儿的帽子时，三个年轻人争先恐后地去帮他取，这使他很过意不去。Ｋ站在原地，透过两扇开着的门看着他们；动作迟钝的拉本斯泰纳当然落在最后面，他以优美的姿势迈着小步向前走。卡米乃尔把帽子递了过来，Ｋ不得不提醒自己，卡米乃尔的笑容不是故意作出来的，他即使想露出个笑容，也办不到。Ｋ在银行里不得不常常以此提醒自己。还有格鲁巴赫太太，看来她并不特别感到内疚；她打开正门，让这几个人出去。Ｋ像往常那样，低下头看着她的围裙带；她腰圆体胖，围裙带掐在腰间，深深陷进肉里，深得令人不可思议。Ｋ到了楼下，掏出怀表看了一眼以后，决定叫出租汽车，以免继续延误去银行的时间，因为他已经迟到半个钟头了。卡米乃尔跑到街角要车，其他两人显然在竭力使Ｋ分心。突然库里希指指对面那家的大门：门口出现了那个蓄着一把略带红色的山羊胡子的高个子男人，他因为整个身子露了出来而有些难为情，因此立即缩回身子，靠墙斜倚着。两位老人可能正在下楼。Ｋ发现库里希还想让他去注意那个人，觉得很恼火，因为他早已认出那人来了，他刚才便一直盼着见到那人。“别朝马路对面张望，”他匆匆说道，没有在意自己用这种腔调对一个成年人说话，会使人觉得多么奇怪。不过，不必再解释了，因为这时出租汽车已经开来了；他们坐定后，车便起步了。这时，Ｋ想起他没有发现监察官和两个看守是怎么离开的；监察官当初吸引了他的全部注意力，以至他没有认出这三位职员来；而职员们后来又使他把监察官忘得一干二净。这说明他心不在焉，Ｋ决定在这方面要多加注意。他不由自主地转过身去，伸出脖子从车子后部往外张望，看看是不是有可能瞧见监察官和看守。但是他马上便转回身来，舒舒服服地靠在车角里，因为他根本不想见到他们中的任何一个。他和人们可能认为的相反，这时倒乐于听他的同伴们讲一两句话；但是他们好像突然累了，拉本斯泰纳透过车窗玻璃，瞧着右边，库里希看着左边，只有卡米乃尔正面对着他，脸上挂着那个令人害怕的笑容；可惜的是，基于人道主义的考虑，这种笑容不能作为谈论的话题。
That spring, whenever possible, K. usually spent his evenings after work - he usually stayed in the office until nine o'clock - with a short walk, either by himself or in the company of some of the bank officials, and then he would go into a pub where he would sit at the regulars' table with mostly older men until eleven. There were, however, also exceptions to this habit, times, for instance, when K. was invited by the bank's manager (whom he greatly respected for his industry and trustworthiness) to go with him for a ride in his car or to eat dinner with him at his large house. K. would also go, once a week, to see a girl called Elsa who worked as a waitress in a wine bar through the night until late in the morning. During the daytime she only received visitors while still in bed.
那年春天，Ｋ习惯于用这种方式消磨晚上的时光：下班以后——他一般在办公室里呆到九点——只要时间允许，便独自或者和几个同事一块散一会儿步，然后走进一家啤酒店，在一张大多数情况下由年长者付钱的桌边坐下，一直到十一点才离开。但是，这个惯例也有几个例外：当银行经理请他乘车出去逛逛，或者请他到乡间别墅中吃饭时便是这样。经理对他的勤快和可靠有很高的评价。另外Ｋ每星期要去看一次一位名叫艾尔莎的姑娘；她在一家酒吧间里当侍应女郎，每夜都要通宵达旦，白天则在床上接待来访者。
That evening, though, - the day had passed quickly with a lot of hard work and many respectful and friendly birthday greetings - K. wanted to go straight home. Each time he had any small break from the day's work he considered, without knowing exactly what he had in mind, that Mrs. Grubach's flat seemed to have been put into great disarray by the events of that morning, and that it was up to him to put it back into order. Once order had been restored, every trace of those events would have been erased and everything would take its previous course once more. In particular, there was nothing to fear from the three bank officials, they had immersed themselves back into their paperwork and there was no alteration to be seen in them. K. had called each of them, separately or all together, into his office that day for no other reason than to observe them; he was always satisfied and had always been able to let them go again.
但是这天晚上——白天工作很忙，许多人热情友好地向他祝贺生日，一天时间很快就过去了——Ｋ决定直接回家。白天上班时有几次短暂的休息时间，每次休息时他都在想着这件事；他也不大清楚是为什么，但他总觉得格鲁巴赫太太全家都被今天早晨发生的事情搅得一塌糊涂了，使这个家恢复正常是他一个人的任务。只要问题一解决，这些事情的痕迹将荡然无存，一切便会恢复常态。那三个职员本身没有任何东西值得害怕，他们重新被纳入银行的庞大行政机构中，在他们身上没有发生任何变化。Ｋ曾经好几次把他们单个或一起叫进办公室，目的仅仅是对他们进行一番观察：每次请他们退出办公室时，他心里都很平静。
At half past nine that evening, when he arrived back in front of the building where he lived, he met a young lad in the doorway who was standing there, his legs apart and smoking a pipe. "Who are you?" immediately asked K., bringing his face close to the lad's, as it was hard to see in the half light of the landing. "I'm the landlord's son, sir," answered the lad, taking the pipe from his mouth and stepping to one side. "The landlord's son?" asked K., and impatiently knocked on the ground with his stick. "Did you want anything, sir? Would you like me to fetch my father?" "No, no," said K., there was something forgiving in his voice, as if the boy had harmed him in some way and he was excusing him. "It's alright," he said then, and went on, but before going up the stairs he turned round once more.
当他九点半到达他住的那栋房子时，发现沿街的大门口站着一位年轻小伙子；小伙子两腿叉开，嘴里叨着烟斗。“你是谁？”Ｋ马上问道；他把自己的脸凑近小伙子的脸，因为门口较暗，看不大清楚。“我是看门人的儿子，先生，”小伙子说，他放下烟斗，走到一边去了。“看门人的儿子？”Ｋ问道，并不耐烦地用手杖敲敲地面。“你需要什么东西吗，先生？我是不是去把父亲叫来？”“不，不，”Ｋ说；他的语调令人宽慰，好像小伙子干了件错事，不过可以得到原谅。“没事，”他说完便走进门去，但是在登上楼梯之前，又回头看了一眼。
He could have gone directly to his room, but as he wanted to speak with Mrs. Grubach he went straight to her door and knocked. She was sat at the table with a knitted stocking and a pile of old stockings in front of her. K. apologised, a little embarrassed at coming so late, but Mrs. Grubach was very friendly and did not want to hear any apology, she was always ready to speak to him, he knew very well that he was her best and her favourite tenant. K. looked round the room, it looked exactly as it usually did, the breakfast dishes, which had been on the table by the window that morning, had already been cleared away. "A woman's hands will do many things when no-one's looking," he thought, he might himself have smashed all the dishes on the spot but certainly would not have been able to carry it all out. He looked at Mrs. Grubach with some gratitude. "Why are you working so late?" he asked. They were now both sitting at the table, and K. now and then sank his hands into the pile of stockings. "There's a lot of work to do," she said, "during the day I belong to the tenants; if I'm to sort out my own things there are only the evenings left to me." "I fear I may have caused you some exceptional work today." "How do you mean, Mr. K.?" she asked, becoming more interested and leaving her work in her lap. "I mean the men who were here this morning." "Oh, I see," she said, and went peacefully back to what she was doing, "that was no trouble, not especially." K. looked on in silence as she took up the knitted stocking once more. She seems surprised at my mentioning it, he thought, she seems to think it's improper for me to mention it. All the more important for me to do so. An old woman is the only person I can speak about it with. "But it must have caused some work for you," he said then, "but it won't happen again." "No, it can't happen again," she agreed, and smiled at K. in a way that was almost pained. "Do you mean that seriously?" asked K. "Yes," she said, more gently, "but the important thing is you mustn't take it too hard. There are so many awful things happening in the world! As you're being so honest with me, Mr. K., I can admit to you that I listened to a little of what was going on from behind the door, and that those two policemen told me one or two things as well. It's all to do with your happiness, and that's something that's quite close to my heart, perhaps more than it should be as I am, after all, only your landlady. Anyway, so I heard one or two things but I can't really say that it's about anything very serious. No. You have been arrested, but it's not in the same way as when they arrest a thief. If you're arrested in the same way as a thief, then it's bad, but an arrest like this … . It seems to me that it's something very complicated - forgive me if I'm saying something stupid - something very complicated that I don't understand, but something that you don't really need to understand anyway."
他本想直接到自己的房间里去，但是他又想和格鲁巴赫太太谈一谈，所以便在她门口停下敲了敲门。她正坐在桌边织补东西，桌上摆着一堆旧袜子。Ｋ局促不安地表示道歉，因为这么晚了还来敲门；不过，格鲁巴赫太太倒很客气，请他不必解释，她什么时候都愿意和他聊一聊。Ｋ知道得很清楚，自己是她最好的、最受尊重的房客。Ｋ环顾了屋子一眼：屋里已经完全恢复了老样子，早晨放在窗旁桌子上的那些盛早点的盘子好像已经拿走了。女人的手可真勤快，他想道。如果是他的话，很可能会当场把这些盘子全打碎，而决不会心平气和地把它们拿走。他怀着某种感激的心情看了格鲁巴赫太太一眼。“你为什么这么晚还干活？”他问。现在他们两个人都坐在桌边，Ｋ不时把自己的一只手伸进袜子堆里去。“活儿很多，”她说，“白天我的时间归房客所有；只有在晚上才能料理自己的事情。”“我担心今天给你增加了额外负担，我要对此负责。”“你说的是什么意思？”她问道，并把织补活搁在膝上，顿时变得紧张起来。“我指的是，今天早晨来了那几个人。”“噢，是那件事，”她说道，一会儿就恢复了镇静，“这没给我添多少麻烦。”她又拿起了织补活，Ｋ默默地瞧着她。（“当我提起这件事的时候，她似乎感到惊讶，”他想，“她好像觉得我不该提这件事。越是这样，我越要提这件事，因为我不能跟别人讲，只能跟这位老太太说一说。”）“这肯定给你增加了不少麻烦，”他最后说，“不过，以后再也不会发生了。”“对，不会再发生了。”她肯定地说，脸上露出了几乎是凄凉的微笑。“你这话当真？”Ｋ问。“对，”她轻松地说，“不过，首先你不必太多心。在这个世界上什么事情都会发生！Ｋ先生，既然你跟我讲话很坦率，那么我也可以向你承认，我在门背后听了一会儿，那两个看守还告诉了我几件事。这关系到你的幸福，我确实很关心，也许关心得过分了，因为我只不过是你的房东而已。好，我接着说吧，我听说了一些事情，不过，我不能说，这些事特别坏。不。你被捕了，这是事实，但你和被捕的小偷不一样。如果有人因为偷东西而被捕，这当然是坏事；但是你的被捕……我总觉得是因为某种很深奥的原因，请原谅，如果我讲了蠢话；我觉得是因为某种抽象的东西，我不理解这点，我也不必去弄明白。”
There's nothing stupid about what you've said, Mrs. Grubach, or at least I partly agree with you, only, the way I judge the whole thing is harsher than yours, and think it's not only not something complicated but simply a fuss about nothing. I was just caught unawares, that's what happened. If I had got up as soon as I was awake without letting myself get confused because Anna wasn't there, if I'd got up and paid no regard to anyone who might have been in my way and come straight to you, if I'd done something like having my breakfast in the kitchen as an exception, asked you to bring my clothes from my room, in short, if I had behaved sensibly then nothing more would have happened, everything that was waiting to happen would have been stifled. People are so often unprepared. In the bank, for example, I am well prepared, nothing of this sort could possibly happen to me there, I have my own assistant there, there are telephones for internal and external calls in front of me on the desk, I continually receive visits from people, representatives, officials, but besides that, and most importantly, I'm always occupied with my work, that's to say I'm always alert, it would even be a pleasure for me to find myself faced with something of that sort. But now it's over with, and I didn't really even want to talk about it any more, only I wanted to hear what you, as a sensible woman, thought about it all, and I'm very glad to hear that we're in agreement. But now you must give me your hand, an agreement of this sort needs to be confirmed with a handshake.
“你刚才讲的话一点也不蠢，格鲁巴赫太太，至少我也部分同意你的观点。不同的是，我认为这一切要更严重，对我的控告不仅抽象，而且完全是无中生有。真是出乎我的意料之外，这就是一切。如果我醒来后，不苦苦琢磨安娜为什么没有来，而是立即起床，并且不管有没有人阻拦，到你这儿来的话，我就可以换个地方，在厨房里吃早饭，并且可以让你到我房间里去把我的衣服拿来。总之，如果我的行为明智一点，后来的那些事就不至于发生了，一切就会被消灭在萌芽状态中。但是，我当时毫无准备。在银行里，我总是胸有成竹，类似的事情在那儿是不可能在我身上发生的；我有自己的侍从，直线电话和内部电话就摆在我面前的办公桌上，顾客、职员接踵而至；更重要的是，我总是全神贯注地投入工作，一直保持警觉。An果这种情况突然出现在银行里，我会着实感到愉快的。哎，事情已经过去了，我不想重提啦，只打算听听你的看法，听听一个明智的太太的看法。我很高兴，咱们的观点一致。现在请你伸出手来，咱们握握手，证明咱们的观点确实是吻合的。”
Will she shake hands with me? The supervisor didn't shake hands, he thought, and looked at the woman differently from before, examining her. She stood up, as he had also stood up, and was a little self- conscious, she hadn't been able to understand everything that K. said. As a result of this self consciousness she said something that she certainly did not intend and certainly was not appropriate. "Don't take it so hard, Mr. K.," she said, with tears in her voice and also, of course, forgetting the handshake. "I didn't know I was taking it hard," said K., feeling suddenly tired and seeing that if this woman did agree with him it was of very little value.
“她会同我握手吗？监察官是不会这样做的，”他想道，同时用一种审察性的异样目光打量着那女人。她站了起来，因为Ｋ已经站起来了；她有点困惑不解，因为没有完全听明白他说话的意思。由于困惑，她讲了一些违心的话，这些话说得很不是时候。“不必过虑，Ｋ先生，”她说，声音中好像包含着眼泪，她当然忘了握他的手。“我并不认为我为这件事过虑了，”Ｋ说；他突然疲倦了，发现她同意或者不同意自己的意见都无关紧要。
Before going out the door he asked, "Is Miss Bürstner home?" "No," said Mrs. Grubach, smiling as she gave this simple piece of information, saying something sensible at last. "She's at the theatre. Did you want to see her? Should I give her a message?" "I, er, I just wanted to have a few words with her." "I'm afraid I don't know when she's coming in; she usually gets back late when she's been to the theatre." "It really doesn't matter," said K. his head hanging as he turned to the door to leave, "I just wanted to give her my apology for taking over her room today." "There's no need for that, Mr. K., you're too conscientious, the young lady doesn't know anything about it, she hasn't been home since early this morning and everything's been tidied up again, you can see for yourself." And she opened the door to Miss Bürstner's room. "Thank you, I'll take your word for it," said K, but went nonetheless over to the open door. The moon shone quietly into the unlit room. As far as could be seen, everything was indeed in its place, not even the blouse was hanging on the window handle. The pillows on the bed looked remarkably plump as they lay half in the moonlight. "Miss Bürstner often comes home late," said K., looking at Mrs. Grubach as if that were her responsibility. "That's how young people are!" said Mrs. Grubach to excuse herself. "Of course, of course," said K., "but it can be taken too far." "Yes, it can be," said Mrs. Grubach, "you're so right, Mr. K. Perhaps it is in this case. I certainly wouldn't want to say anything nasty about Miss Bürstner, she is a good, sweet girl, friendly, tidy, punctual, works hard, I appreciate all that very much, but one thing is true, she ought to have more pride, be a bit less forthcoming. Twice this month already, in the street over the way, I've seen her with a different gentleman. I really don't like saying this, you're the only one I've said this to, Mr. K., I swear to God, but I'm going to have no choice but to have a few words with Miss Bürstner about it myself. And it's not the only thing about her that I'm worried about." "Mrs. Grubach, you are on quite the wrong track," said K., so angry that he was hardly able to hide it, "and you have moreover misunderstood what I was saying about Miss Bürstner, that is not what I meant. In fact I warn you quite directly not to say anything to her, you are quite mistaken, I know Miss Bürstner very well and there is no truth at all in what you say. And what's more, perhaps I'm going to far, I don't want to get in your way, say to her whatever you see fit. Good night." "Mr. K.," said Mrs. Grubach as if asking him for something and hurrying to his door which he had already opened, "I don't want to speak to Miss Bürstner at all, not yet, of course I'll continue to keep an eye on her but you're the only one I've told what I know. And it is, after all something that everyone who lets rooms has to do if she's to keep the house decent, that's all I'm trying to do." "Decent!" called out K. through the crack in the door, "if you want to keep the house decent you'll first have to give me notice." Then he slammed the door shut, there was a gentle knocking to which he paid no more attention.
他在门口问：“布尔斯特纳小姐在家吗？”“不在家，”格鲁巴赫太太回答道，她在作出这个干巴巴的回答时，诚恳地笑了一下，好像对此表示关切。“她去看戏了。你想问她点什么事吗？需要我给她留个口信吗？”“噢，我只想和她说一两句话。”“我怕不知道她什么时候才能回来；她去看戏时，一般回来得很晚。”“这没关系，”Ｋ说，他低垂着脑袋，转身朝门口走去。“我只想向她解释一下，今天借用了她的房间。”“这完全没有必要，Ｋ先生，你太认真了，小姐什么也不知道，她从今天早晨出去后，一直没有回来过，所有的东西都已放回原处，你可以自己去看看。”她打开布尔斯特纳小姐的房门。“谢谢，我相信你，”Ｋ说，但还是穿过打开的门走进屋内。柔和的月光洒进这间黑洞洞的房间。眼睛所能看见的每样东西确实已经放回原处，女上衣已经不在窗闩上摇晃了。床上的枕头看起来高得出奇，一部分被月光照着。“小姐常常很晚才回家，”Ｋ说，他看着格鲁巴赫太太，好像她应该为此受到嗔责。“年轻人都是这种样子，”格鲁巴赫太太用为小姐辩护的口气说。“当然，当然，”Ｋ说、“不过，也许会闹出事来。”“这是可能的，”格鲁巴赫太太说，“你说得多对呀，Ｋ先生！也许，在目前这种情况下更是如此。我不想说布尔斯特纳小姐的坏话，她是一个可爱的、心地善良的姑娘，文雅、正派、精明、能干，她身上的这些品质都使我甚为欣赏；但是有一点不可否认：她应该更有自尊心一点，少和男人来往。光是这个月里，我就已经在郊区的马路上碰见过她两口，每回跟她在一起的先生都不一样。我很担心，Ｋ先生，不过，除了你以外，我没有对任何人讲过，这是千真万确的，就像我现在站在这儿一样地千真万确。但是我担心不会有希望了，我得找小姐本人谈一谈。况且，使我对她产生怀疑的还不单单是这件事。”“你这样说不对头，”Ｋ说，他的话中带着怒气，他很难掩饰，“你显然误解了我对小姐的看法，我指的不是那种意思。事实上，我要坦率地提醒你别对小姐提任何事情；你大错特错了，我很了解小姐，你讲的话里没有一句是真的。但是，我可能管得太宽了。我不想干预这件事，你愿意对她讲什么都可以。晚安。”“Ｋ先生，”格鲁巴赫太太用恳求的口气说，并匆匆跟着他走到他门口。Ｋ已经打开了门。“我现在肯定不会对小姐讲任何事情，我没有这个意思，我当然还要等一段时间，看看会发生什么事，然后再决定怎么办。我只和你这么推心置腹地谈过。不管怎么说，我想保持我这栋房子的声誉，这只会对我的所有房客有好处，这就是我为这件事情操心的全部原因。”“声誉？”Ｋ透过门缝大声说道，“如果你想保持你这栋房子的声誉，你就必须先把我撵出去。”他接着“呼”的一声关上门，不再理睬门上传来的轻轻的敲门声。
He did not feel at all like going to bed, so he decided to stay up, and this would also give him the chance to find out when Miss Bürstner would arrive home. Perhaps it would also still be possible, even if a little inappropriate, to have a few words with her. As he lay there by the window, pressing his hands to his tired eyes, he even thought for a moment that he might punish Mrs. Grubach by persuading Miss Bürstner to give in her notice at the same time as he would. But he immediately realised that that would be shockingly excessive, and there would even be the suspicion that he was moving house because of the incidents of that morning. Nothing would have been more nonsensical and, above all, more pointless and contemptible.
但是，他毫无睡意，决定不上床，乘此机会看看布尔斯特纳小姐几点钟能回来。也许等她回家时，不管有多晚，他也可以和她聊几句。他闭上疲惫不堪的双眼，在窗前踱步，一时真想劝布尔斯特纳小姐和他一起搬走，以这种方式来教训教训格鲁巴赫太太。不过，他马上发现，这种行为太过分了。他开始怀疑，自己想搬家，是因为今天早晨发生了这些事情。没有别的举动会比这更不明智，更无聊和更卑鄙了。
When he had become tired of looking out onto the empty street he slightly opened the door to the living room so that he could see anyone who entered the flat from where he was and lay down on the couch. He lay there, quietly smoking a cigar, until about eleven o'clock. He wasn't able to hold out longer than that, and went a little way into the hallway as if in that way he could make Miss Bürstner arrive sooner. He had no particular desire for her, he could not even remember what she looked like, but now he wanted to speak to her and it irritated him that her late arrival home meant this day would be full of unease and disorder right to its very end. It was also her fault that he had not had any dinner that evening and that he had been unable to visit Elsa as he had intended. He could still make up for both of those things, though, if he went to the wine bar where Elsa worked. He wanted to do so even later, after the discussion with Miss Bürstner.
他看着外面空荡荡的街道，开始觉得不耐烦了，便把门厅的大门开了一条缝，然后躺在沙发上。这样，任何人只要一进门，他就能看见。他平心静气地躺在沙发上，吸着雪茄，一直到十一点左右。后来他无法再躺下去，便朝着门厅走了一两步，好像这样布尔斯特纳小姐就会早点回来似的。他觉得没有特别的兴趣要见她，他甚至记不太清楚小姐的长相了；不过他现在想跟她谈谈，他想到小姐的姗姗来迟可能会把这一天的最后一段时间搞得更加乱糟糟的，因此很恼火。她还应该受到斥责，因为她害得他没吃晚饭。他本来今晚要去看艾尔莎的，也因为小姐的缘故而推迟了。这两件事都有可能弥补，这是真的，只需直接到艾尔莎工作的那家酒馆里去就行了。他决定晚点去，和布尔斯特纳谈完话以后去。
It was already gone half past eleven when someone could be heard in the stairway. K., who had been lost in his thoughts in the hallway, walking up and down loudly as if it were his own room, fled behind his door. Miss Bürstner had arrived. Shivering, she pulled a silk shawl over her slender shoulders as she locked the door. The next moment she would certainly go into her room, where K. ought not to intrude in the middle of the night; that meant he would have to speak to her now, but, unfortunately, he had not put the electric light on in his room so that when he stepped out of the dark it would give the impression of being an attack and would certainly, at the very least, have been quite alarming. There was no time to lose, and in his helplessness he whispered through the crack of the door, "Miss Bürstner." It sounded like he was pleading with her, not calling to her. "Is there someone there?" asked Miss Bürstner, looking round with her eyes wide open. "It's me," said K. and came out. "Oh, Mr. K.!" said Miss Bürstner with a smile. "Good Evening," and offered him her hand. "I wanted to have a word with you, if you would allow me?" "Now?" asked Miss Bürstner, "does it have to be now? It is a little odd, isn't it?" "I've been waiting for you since nine o'clock." "Well, I was at the theatre, I didn't know anything about you waiting for me." "The reason I need to speak to you only came up today" "I see, well I don't see why not, I suppose, apart from being so tired I could drop. Come into my room for a few minutes then. We certainly can't talk out here, we'd wake everyone up and I think that would be more unpleasant for us than for them. Wait here till I've put the light on in my room, and then turn the light down out here." K. did as he was told, and then even waited until Miss Bürstner came out of her room and quietly invited him, once more, to come in. "Sit down," she said, indicating the ottoman, while she herself remained standing by the bedpost despite the tiredness she had spoken of; she did not even take off her hat, which was small but decorated with an abundance of flowers. "What is it you wanted, then? I'm really quite curious." She gently crossed her legs. "I expect you'll say," K. began, "that the matter really isn't all that urgent and we don't need to talk about it right now, but …" "I never listen to introductions," said Miss Bürstner. "That makes my job so much easier," said K. "This morning, to some extent through my fault, your room was made a little untidy, this happened because of people I did not know and against my will but, as I said, because of my fault; I wanted to apologise for it." "My room?" asked Miss Bürstner, and instead of looking round the room scrutinised K. "It is true," said K., and now, for the first time, they looked each other in the eyes, "there's no point in saying exactly how this came about." "But that's the interesting thing about it," said Miss Bürstner. "No," said K. "Well then," said Miss Bürstner, "I don't want to force my way into any secrets, if you insist that it's of no interest I won't insist. I'm quite happy to forgive you for it, as you ask, especially as I can't see anything at all that's been left untidy." With her hand laid flat on her lower hip, she made a tour around the room. At the mat where the photographs were she stopped. "Look at this!" she cried. "My photographs really have been put in the wrong places. Oh, that's horrible. Someone really has been in my room without permission." K. nodded, and quietly cursed Kaminer who worked at his bank and who was always active doing things that had neither use nor purpose. "It is odd," said Miss Bürstner, "that I'm forced to forbid you to do something that you ought to have forbidden yourself to do, namely to come into my room when I'm not here." "But I did explain to you," said K., and went over to join her by the photographs, "that it wasn't me who interfered with your photographs; but as you don't believe me I'll have to admit that the investigating committee brought along three bank employees with them, one of them must have touched your photographs and as soon as I get the chance I'll ask to have him dismissed from the bank. Yes, there was an investigating committee here," added K., as the young lady was looking at him enquiringly. "Because of you?" she asked. "Yes," answered K. "No!" the lady cried with a laugh. "Yes, they were," said K., "you believe that I'm innocent then, do you?" "Well now, innocent …" said the lady, "I don't want to start making any pronouncements that might have serious consequences, I don't really know you after all, it means they're dealing with a serious criminal if they send an investigating committee straight out to get him. But you're not in custody now - at least I take it you've not escaped from prison considering that you seem quite calm - so you can't have committed any crime of that sort." "Yes," said K., "but it might be that the investigating committee could see that I'm innocent, or not so guilty as had been supposed." "Yes, that's certainly a possibility," said Miss Bürstner, who seemed very interested. "Listen," said K., "you don't have much experience in legal matters." "No, that's true, I don't," said Miss Bürstner, "and I've often regretted it, as I'd like to know everything and I'm very interested in legal matters. There's something peculiarly attractive about the law, isn't there? But I'll certainly be perfecting my knowledge in this area, as next month I start work in a legal office." "That's very good," said K., "that means you'll be able to give me some help with my trial." "That could well be," said Miss Bürstner, "why not? I like to make use of what I know." "I mean it quite seriously," said K., "or at least, half seriously, as you do. This affair is too petty to call in a lawyer, but I could make good use of someone who could give me advice." "Yes, but if I'm to give you advice I'll have to know what it's all about," said Miss Bürstner. "That's exactly the problem," said K., "I don't know that myself." "So you have been making fun of me, then," said Miss Bürstner exceedingly disappointed, "you really ought not to try something like that on at this time of night." And she stepped away from the photographs where they had stood so long together. "Miss Bürstner, no," said K., "I'm not making fun of you. Please believe me! I've already told you everything I know. More than I know, in fact, as it actually wasn't even an investigating committee, that's just what I called them because I don't know what else to call them. There was no cross questioning at all, I was merely arrested, but by a committee." Miss Bürstner sat on the ottoman and laughed again. "What was it like then?" she asked. "It was terrible" said K., although his mind was no longer on the subject, he had become totally absorbed by Miss Bürstner's gaze who was supporting her chin on one hand - the elbow rested on the cushion of the ottoman - and slowly stroking her hip with the other. "That's too vague," said Miss Bürstner. "What's too vague?" asked K. Then he remembered himself and asked, "Would you like me to show you what it was like?" He wanted to move in some way but did not want to leave. "I'm already tired," said Miss Bürstner. "You arrived back so late," said K. "Now you've started telling me off. Well I suppose I deserve it as I shouldn't have let you in here in the first place, and it turns out there wasn't even any point." "Oh, there was a point, you'll see now how important a point it was," said K. "May I move this table away from your bedside and put it here?" "What do you think you're doing?" said Miss Bürstner. "Of course you can't!" "In that case I can't show you," said K., quite upset, as if Miss Bürstner had committed some incomprehensible offence against him. "Alright then, if you need it to show what you mean, just take the bedside table then," said Miss Bürstner, and after a short pause added in a weak voice, "I'm so tired I'm allowing more than I ought to." K. put the little table in the middle of the room and sat down behind it. "You have to get a proper idea of where the people were situated, it is very interesting. I'm the supervisor, sitting over there on the chest are two policemen, standing next to the photographs there are three young people. Hanging on the handle of the window is a white blouse - I just mention that by the way. And now it begins. Ah yes, I'm forgetting myself, the most important person of all, so I'm standing here in front of the table. The supervisor is sitting extremely comfortably with his legs crossed and his arm hanging over the backrest here like some layabout. And now it really does begin. The supervisor calls out as if he had to wake me up, in fact he shouts at me, I'm afraid, if I'm to make it clear to you, I'll have to shout as well, and it's nothing more than my name that he shouts out." Miss Bürstner, laughing as she listened to him, laid her forefinger on her mouth so that K. would not shout, but it was too late. K. was too engrossed in his role and slowly called out, "Josef K.!". It was not as loud as he had threatened, but nonetheless, once he had suddenly called it out, the cry seemed gradually to spread itself all round the room.
十一点半多一点，他听见有人上楼梯。刚才他沉浸在思索中，把前厅误作自己的房间了，还在里面来回踱了一阵步；现在他赶紧跑回自己的卧室，走到门背后。是布尔斯特纳小姐进来了。她关上正门，打了一个哆嗦，立即用披巾裹住自己瘦削的肩膀。一分钟之内，她就该走进自己的房间了；时间这么晚，Ｋ当然不能进她的屋；因此，他只能现在和她谈，但是糟糕的是，他忘了把自己房间里的灯打开。所以，如果他冒黑出去，小姐就会以为他想要拦路抢劫，或者至少会大吃一惊。不能再浪费时间了，他无可奈何地透过门缝低声叫道：“布尔斯特纳小姐。”他的声音听起来像是在哀求，而不是在叫人。“谁在那儿？”布尔斯特纳小姐问，她瞪大眼睛朝四周扫了一遍。“是我，”Ｋ走上前来说。“噢，Ｋ先生！”布尔斯特纳小姐微笑着说。“晚上好，”她朝Ｋ伸出手。“我得跟你讲一两句话，你允许我现在这么做吗？”“现在？”布尔斯特纳小姐问，“必须现在谈吗？有点不合适，对不对？”“我从九点钟开始，就一直等着你。”“噢，我在剧院里；你要知道，我不晓得你在等我。”“我只想跟你谈谈今天发生的事情。”“好，可以，我并不特别反对，只不过我实在太累了，连站也站不稳了。这样吧，你到我屋里来呆几分钟。我们不能在这儿谈话，会把大家都吵醒的，我讨厌这样做，不单单是为别人着想，更重要的是为我们自己着想。你在这儿等一会儿，我进屋把灯打开，然后你就可以把这儿的灯关掉了。”Ｋ熄掉灯，在原地等着，直到布尔斯特纳小姐在房间里低声请他进去为止。“请坐，”她指着沙发说，自己却在床脚边站着，虽然她刚才说已经累了；她甚至连头上那顶插着鲜花的高级小帽也没有脱掉。“到底是什么事，我真有点好奇了。”她的两脚交叉着。“你也许会说，”Ｋ开口道，“用不着那么着急，非得现在谈不可，但是……”“我从来不听开场白，”布尔斯特纳小姐说。“这对我来说就更方便了，”Ｋ说，“今天早晨，你的房间被人稍微弄乱了一点，从某种意义上说，是我的过错，这是几个陌生人违背我的意愿干的；不过，正像我刚才说的那样，还是我的错；我请你原谅。”“我的房间？”布尔斯特纳小姐问，她没有看着Ｋ，而是仔细看了一遍自己的房间。“是的，”Ｋ说，现在他俩的目光第一次相遇了，“到底是怎么发生的，就不必说了。”“不过，真正令人感兴趣的部分还是应该说一说，”布尔斯特纳小姐说。“不，”Ｋ说。“那好吧，”布尔斯特纳小姐说，“我不想刺探秘密；如果你坚持认为，谈这些没有意思，我不想为此与你争论。你请我原谅，我现在就爽爽快快地原谅你，尤其是因为我根本看不出来我的房间曾经被人弄乱过。”她张开双手，按在自己的髋骨上，在房间里走了一圈。她在嵌有照片的镜框跟前站住了。“你瞧这儿，”她高声说道，“我的照片全弄乱了！真讨厌。看来，确实有人进我的屋了，他是没有权利进来的。”Ｋ点点头。暗地里诅咒那个名叫卡米乃尔的职员：那个人从来也不能控制自己不去做毫无意义的傻事。“真有意思，”布尔斯特纳小姐说，“我现在只好禁止你去做你应该禁止自己做的事情了，也就是说，我不许你在我不在的时候走进我的房间。”“但是，我已经对你解释过了，小姐，”Ｋ一面说，一面走到照片跟前，“乱动这些照片的不是我；既然你不信，我不得不告诉你，审讯委员会带来了三个银行职员，其中的一个动了你的照片。只要一有机会，我就开除他。”小姐向他投来一瞥询问的眼光，他又说了一句，算是回答：“是的，今天审讯委员会到过这里。”“是为了你而来的？”小姐问。“是的，”Ｋ回答道。“不对！”姑娘笑着大声说道。“是的，是为了我而来的，”Ｋ说，“怎么，你以为我不会犯罪？”“噢，不会犯罪，”小姐说、“我只是刚才听你说了一句，不想作出什么定论，很可能会有许多伏笔。另外，说实在的，我并不很了解你。不过，不管怎么说，如果专门为某人成立了一个审讯委员会，这意味着他的罪行准是很严重。但是，你不可能犯了大罪，因为你仍然是自由的，至少从你的眼光中可以看出，你并不是刚刚从监狱里跑出来。”“你说得对，”Ｋ说，“审讯委员会有可能发现，我并不清白，只不过我犯的罪不像他们想像的那么重而已。”“当然，这是可能的，”布尔斯特纳小姐十分警觉地说。“瞧，”Ｋ说，“你在法律方面经验不多。”“对，我缺乏经验，”布尔斯特纳小姐说，“我常常为此而懊恼，因为我想了解一切应该了解的东西，法院尤其使我感兴趣。法院很吸引人，使人感到很好奇，对不对？不过，我在这方面的无知状态马上便要结束了，因为下星期我将到一位律师的办公室里去当职员。”“这太好啦，”Ｋ说，“这样你就可以在我的案子中助我一臂之力了。”“当然可以，”布尔斯特纳小姐说，“为什么不呢？我很愿意尽量利用我的知识。”“我说这话是认真的，”Ｋ说，“至少是半认真的，就像你一样。这桩案子无关紧要，用不着去请律师；不过，如果有个人给我出出主意，那就好办多了。”“我明白了；不过，要是让我给你出主意的话，我得先知道到底是怎么回事，”布尔斯特纳小姐说。“事情糟就糟在这儿，”Ｋ说，“连我自己也不知道是怎么回事。”“这么说来，你只不过是拿我开开玩笑而已，”布尔斯特纳小姐极为失望地说，“完全没有必要选择这么晚的一个时候来开这种玩笑。”她从照片跟前走开，他俩一块在这儿站了很长时间。“可是，小姐，”Ｋ说，“我并没有拿你开玩笑。你为什么不相信我的话呢？我已经把我知道的一切都告诉你了。不，我对你讲的，已经超过我所知道的，因为事实上它并不叫审讯委员会。我这么称呼它，是因为我不知道该怎么称呼它才好。并没有进行审讯，我只是被捕了；不过，它确实是个委员会。”布尔斯特纳小姐坐到沙发上，又笑了起来。“这个委员会是什么样的，能告诉我吗？”她问道。“很可怕，”Ｋ说，但是他不再考虑自己在说些什么了，因为他正全神贯注地看着布尔斯特纳小姐：她一只手托着脑袋，肘部支在沙发垫上，另一只手慢悠悠地摸着自己的髋骨。“说得太笼统了，”她说。“怎么大笼统了？”Ｋ问。他恢复了正常，问道：“我把事情经过跟你说说，好吗？”他想在屋里走动走动，不过还不想离开。“我累了，”布尔斯特纳小姐说。“你回来得太晚啦，”Ｋ说。“好，你倒责备起我来了，这是我自找的，因为我根本就不该让你进来。况且，显然没有任何必要让你进来。”“有必要，我马上就向你解释，”Ｋ说，“我可以把你床边的小茶几挪开吗？”“你在起什么怪念头！”布尔斯特纳小姐嚷道，“当然不行！”“那我就不能向你说明，事情是怎么发生的了，”Ｋ说；他很激动。好像受了莫大冤枉。“噢，如果你为了说明问题，必须挪茶几，那你就尽管挪好了，”布尔斯特纳小姐说；停顿了一会儿以后，她又轻声补充了一句：“我太累了，你爱怎么办就怎么办吧。”Ｋ把小茶几挪到屋子中间，自己坐到茶几后面。“你可以自己设想一下所有的人呆的准确位置，这会很有意思的。我是监察官，那边的箱子上坐着两个看守，照片跟前站着三个年轻人。窗闩上——我只不过附带提一句而已——挂着一件白上衣。现在我们可以开始了。噢，我把自己忘了，我是最重要的人物；喏，我就站在这儿——茶几前面。监察官逍遥自在地架起腿，一只胳臂搭在椅子背上。瞧，就是这个样子，活像一个乡巴佬。现在我们真的可以开始了。监察官喊叫着，好像要把我从梦中惊醒似的，他简直是在怒吼；我很害怕，为了让你相信，我得像他那样吼叫才行。不过，他只是吼叫着我的名字。”布尔斯特纳所得入了迷，她伸出一个手指，按在嘴唇上，请Ｋ别嚷嚷。但是已经太晚了，Ｋ完全进入了角色，他扯开嗓门高叫道：“约瑟夫·Ｋ。”他的喊声不像他刚才形容的那么可怕和那么响亮，然而却具有一种爆发性的力量，在空中滞留了一会儿以后，才慢慢在屋里散布开来。
There was a series of loud, curt and regular knocks at the door of the adjoining room. Miss Bürstner went pale and laid her hand on her heart. K. was especially startled, as for a moment he had been quite unable to think of anything other than the events of that morning and the girl for whom he was performing them. He had hardly pulled himself together when he jumped over to Miss Bürstner and took her hand. "Don't be afraid," he whispered, "I'll put everything right. But who can it be? It's only the living room next door, nobody sleeps in there." "Yes they do," whispered Miss Bürstner into K.'s ear, "a nephew of Mrs. Grubach's, an captain in the army, has been sleeping there since yesterday. There's no other room free. I'd forgotten about it too. Why did you have to shout like that? You've made me quite upset." "There is no reason for it," said K., and, now as she sank back onto the cushion, kissed her forehead. "Go away, go away," she said, hurriedly sitting back up, "get out of here, go, what is it you want, he's listening at the door he can hear everything. You're causing me so much trouble!" "I won't go," said K., "until you've calmed down a bit. Come over into the other corner of the room, he won't be able to hear us there." She let him lead her there. "Don't forget," he said, "although this might be unpleasant for you you're not in any real danger. You know how much esteem Mrs. Grubach has for me, she's the one who will make all the decisions in this, especially as the captain is her nephew, but she believes everything I say without question. What's more, she has borrowed a large sum of money from me and that makes her dependent on me. I will confirm whatever you say to explain our being here together, however inappropriate it might be, and I guarantee to make sure that Mrs. Grubach will not only say she believes the explanation in public but will believe it truly and sincerely. You will have no need to consider me in any way. If you wish to let it be known that I have attacked you then Mrs. Grubach will be informed of such and she will believe it without even losing her trust in me, that's how much respect she has for me." Miss Bürstner looked at the floor in front of her, quiet and a little sunk in on herself. "Why would Mrs. Grubach not believe that I've attacked you?" added K. He looked at her hair in front of him, parted, bunched down, reddish and firmly held in place. He thought she would look up at him, but without changing her manner she said, "Forgive me, but it was the suddenness of the knocking that startled me so much, not so much what the consequences of the captain being here might be. It was all so quiet after you'd shouted, and then there was the knocking, that's was made me so shocked, and I was sitting right by the door, the knocking was right next to me. Thank you for your suggestions, but I won't accept them. I can bear the responsibility for anything that happens in my room myself, and I can do so with anyone. I'm surprised you don't realise just how insulting your suggestions are and what they imply about me, although I certainly acknowledge your good intentions. But now, please go, leave me alone, I need you to go now even more than I did earlier. The couple of minutes you asked for have grown into half an hour, more than half an hour now." K. took hold of her hand, and then of her wrist, "You're not cross with me, though?" he said. She pulled her hand away and answered, "No, no, I'm never cross with anyone." He grasped her wrist once more, she tolerated it now and, in that way, lead him to the door. He had fully intended to leave. But when he reached the door he came to a halt as if he hadn't expected to find a door there, Miss Bürstner made use of that moment to get herself free, open the door, slip out into the hallway and gently say to K. from there, "Now, come along, please. Look," she pointed to the captain's door, from under which there was a light shining, "he's put a light on and he's laughing at us." "Alright, I'm coming," said K., moved forward, took hold of her, kissed her on the mouth and then over her whole face like a thirsty animal lapping with its tongue when it eventually finds water. He finally kissed her on her neck and her throat and left his lips pressed there for a long time. He did not look up until there was a noise from the captain's room. "I'll go now," he said, he wanted to address Miss Bürstner by her Christian name, but did not know it. She gave him a tired nod, offered him her hand to kiss as she turned away as if she did not know what she was doing, and went back into her room with her head bowed. A short while later, K. was lying in his bed. He very soon went to sleep, but before he did he thought a little while about his behaviour, he was satisfied with it but felt some surprise that he was not more satisfied; he was seriously worried about Miss Bürstner because of the captain.
突然，隔壁房间有谁在敲门，声音响亮、清脆、有规律。布尔斯特纳小姐脸色发白，用手捂着胸口。Ｋ大吃一惊，过了一阵子以后，他的思想才从早晨发生的那些事情中解脱出来；他不再在姑娘面前表演了。他刚恢复常态，便跑到布尔斯特纳小姐面前，抓住她的手。“别害怕，”他低声说，“我来应付一切。会是谁呢？门后只有一间起居室，谁也不在那儿睡。”“不，”布尔斯特纳小姐在他耳旁轻轻地说：“从昨天起，格鲁巴赫太太的侄子，一个上尉，在那儿睡。他没有别的房间。我刚才忘得一干二净了。你干吗要这么大声嚷嚷呢？我的心绪全乱了。”“确实没有必要，”他说。她坐到垫子上，Ｋ吻了吻她的前额。“走吧，走吧，”她说，同时很快坐直了身子，“快走，现在就走，你在想什么呢？他在门背后听着呢，他什么都听得见。你真会折磨人！”“我不走，”Ｋ说，“等你稍微平静一点以后，我再走。咱们到那个屋角里去吧，咱们在那儿讲话他听不见。”她听凭他把自己带到那儿去。“你忘了，”他说，“虽然这使你不愉快，但不会有任何危险。格鲁巴赫太太在这方面是有决定权的，特别因为上尉是她的侄子；你知道她对我是很尊重的，绝对相信我说的每一句话。我可以说，她也依靠我，因为她从我这儿借了一大笔钱。咱们为什么呆在一起，你可以编出各种理由来，我都可以证实，哪怕是最站不住脚的理由也没关系，我保证让格鲁巴赫太太不但表面上接受你的解释，而且内心里也确实相信这种解释。你丝毫不必为我操心。如果你想说是我侵犯了你，格鲁巴赫太太知道后会相信的，但她不会失去对我的信任，因为她对我十分信赖。”布尔斯特纳小姐一言不发，显得有点无精打采，她两眼瞧着地板。“格鲁巴赫太太怎么会相信，我会来冒犯你呢？”Ｋ补充道。他凝视着她的头发；她那头微微发红的头发梳得很整齐，中间分开，脑后束成一个堕云譬。他盼着她能抬起头来看他一眼，但是她却一动不动地说：“请原谅，我感到害怕的是突然传来的敲门声，而不是上尉在这儿可能造成的任何后果。你喊了一声以后，屋里立即鸦雀无声，不一会儿敲门声便猛地响起，这是把我吓成这个样子的原因，何况我正挨着门坐着，敲门声好像就是从我身边发出来的。谢谢你的建议，不过我不想采纳。我愿意为我房间里发生的任何事情负责，不管谁来询问都一样。你居然没有发现，你的建议中包含着对我的侮辱，这使我很惊讶；当然，你的意图是良善的，我对此甚为赏识。但是，现在请你走吧，让我一个人呆着吧，我现在比任何时候都更需要安静一会儿。你只恳求跟我谈几分钟，现在已经过去半个多钟头了。”Ｋ紧紧握住她的手，然后又捏住她的手腕。“可是，你没有生我的气吧？”他问，她甩脱他的手回答道：“不，不，我从来不生任何人的气。”他又抓住她的手腕，这回她听之任之，并且把他带到门口。他下定决心离开。但是到了门口他却又停了下来，好像他并没想到门会是在这儿；布尔斯特纳小姐乘机甩脱了他的手，打开门，走进前厅，在那儿轻声说：“现在请你出来吧！你瞧，”她指指上尉的门，门下透出了一道光亮，“他开着灯，正在欣赏我们的狼狈相呢。”“我这就来，”Ｋ说。他奔进前厅，抱住她，先吻了吻她的嘴，然后在她的脸上盖满了吻印，好像一头口燥舌干的野兽，在贪婪地喝着渴望已久的清冽泉水一样。最后他开始亲她的脖子，他的嘴唇贴在她的颈项上，过了很长时间才离开。上尉屋里传出的一个细微声响使他抬起头来望了一眼。“我现在要走了，”他说；他想直呼布尔斯特纳小姐的名字，但不知道她的名字是什么。她软绵绵地点了一下头，伸出手听凭他吻；她半侧着身子，好像她并不知道自己的所作所为，然后便低着头走进了自己的房间。此后不久Ｋ便上了床。他差不多马上便睡着了，不过在进入梦乡之前，他稍稍思考了一下自己的作为，他感到高兴；但他也为自己没有感到更高兴而奇怪；由于上尉的缘故，他很替布尔斯特纳小姐担心。