Chapter Ten End
十 结尾
The evening before K.'s thirty-first birthday - it was about nine o'clock in the evening, the time when the streets were quiet - two men came to where he lived. In frock coats, pale and fat, wearing top hats that looked like they could not be taken off their heads. After some brief formalities at the door of the flat when they first arrived, the same formalities were repeated at greater length at K.'s door. He had not been notified they would be coming, but K. sat in a chair near the door, dressed in black as they were, and slowly put on new gloves which stretched tightly over his fingers and behaved as if he were expecting visitors. He immediately stood up and looked at the gentlemen inquisitively. "You've come for me then, have you?" he asked. The gentlemen nodded, one of them indicated the other with the top hand now in his hand. K. told them he had been expecting a different visitor. He went to the window and looked once more down at the dark street. Most of the windows on the other side of the street were also dark already, many of them had the curtains closed. In one of the windows on the same floor where there was a light on, two small children could be seen playing with each other inside a playpen, unable to move from where they were, reaching out for each other with their little hands. "Some ancient, unimportant actors - that's what they've sent for me," said K. to himself, and looked round once again to confirm this to himself. "They want to sort me out as cheaply as they can." K. suddenly turned round to face the two men and asked, "What theatre do you play in?" "Theatre?" asked one of the gentlemen, turning to the other for assistance and pulling in the corners of his mouth. The other made a gesture like someone who was dumb, as if he were struggling with some organism causing him trouble. "You're not properly prepared to answer questions," said K. and went to fetch his hat.
Ｋ三十一岁生日的前一天晚上，约莫九点钟，街上寂静无声，两个男人来到他的住所。他们身穿礼服，脸色苍白，体态臃肿，头戴一顶好像脱不下来的大礼帽。他们在大门口彼此谦让一番后，又在Ｋ的房门前更客气地你推我让了一阵。Ｋ并不知道他们的来临，这时他正穿着一身黑衣服，坐在门边的扶手椅里，慢慢地戴上一副新手套；他的手指被紧紧箍着。他看上去像是在等客人。他站起身来，好奇地端详着出现在他眼前的两位先生。“那么，你们是来找我的？”他问。先生们鞠了一躬，各自用拿着大礼帽的那只手指了一下对方。Ｋ提醒自己，他要等的是别的客人。他走到窗口，再次望了一眼黑洞洞的街道。对面的窗户也几乎全是黑的，许多窗子垂下了窗帘。有间屋子的窗里亮着灯，几个孩子在栏杆后面玩耍，他们无法离开原地，只好互相朝对方伸出小手。“他们把最蹩脚的，老掉牙的角色派来对付我，”Ｋ自己嘀咕着，又看了一眼四周，以证实这个印象。“他们要把我随随便便地干掉。”他猛地转过身来，对着来的那两个人问道：“你们演的是什么戏？”“演戏？”其中一个人说，他的嘴角抽搐了一下，瞧着另一个人，似乎是向他求助。那个人的反应像是一个正在努力摆脱尴尬局面的哑巴。“他们不准备回答问题，”Ｋ心里想；他去取帽子。
As soon as they were on the stairs the gentlemen wanted to take K.'s arms, but K. said "Wait till we're in the street, I'm not ill." But they waited only until the front door before they took his arms in a way that K. had never experienced before. They kept their shoulders close behind his, did not turn their arms in but twisted them around the entire length of K.'s arms and took hold of his hands with a grasp that was formal, experienced and could not be resisted. K. was held stiff and upright between them, they formed now a single unit so that if any one of them had been knocked down all of them must have fallen. They formed a unit of the sort that normally can be formed only by matter that is lifeless.
当他们还在下楼的时候，这两个人就企图抓住Ｋ的双臂。Ｋ说：“等我们到了街上再说。我不是病人。”一出大门，他们就以一种他从未见过的样子抓住他。他们的肩膀紧紧顶着Ｋ的后肩，但并不弯起胳膊肘，而是伸直手臂，压住Ｋ的胳膊，以一种训练有素、灵巧熟练、使人无法反抗的方式将Ｋ的双手压得不能动弹。Ｋ挺直腰板，在他们中间走着；这三个人联成一个整体，只要有一个人被击倒，大家就会一齐倒下。只有无生命的东西才能组成这样一个整体。
Whenever they passed under a lamp K. tried to see his companions more clearly, as far as was possible when they were pressed so close together, as in the dim light of his room this had been hardly possible. "Maybe they're tenors," he thought as he saw their big double chins. The cleanliness of their faces disgusted him. He could see the hands that cleaned them, passing over the corners of their eyes, rubbing at their upper lips, scratching out the creases on those chins.
在街灯下，Ｋ一再试图看清他的同行者，现在尽管离得很近，但要做到这点却甚为困难；刚才在光线暗淡的屋子里，他也没能看清楚。“他们可能是男高音，”他看着他们鼓鼓的双下巴，心里想道；他们的脸过分干净，使Ｋ产生反感。人们简直可以认为，一双很清洁的手在他们的眼角下了工夫，按摩过他们的上唇，揉平了他们下巴上的皱纹。
When K. noticed that, he stopped, which meant the others had to stop too; they were at the edge of an open square, devoid of people but decorated with flower beds. "Why did they send you, of all people!" he cried out, more a shout than a question. The two gentleman clearly knew no answer to give, they waited, their free arms hanging down, like nurses when the patient needs to rest. "I will go no further," said K. as if to see what would happen. The gentlemen did not need to make any answer, it was enough that they did not loosen their grip on K. and tried to move him on, but K. resisted them. "I'll soon have no need of much strength, I'll use all of it now," he thought. He thought of the flies that tear their legs off struggling to get free of the flypaper. "These gentleman will have some hard work to do".
Ｋ想到这儿，便停了步，那两人也随着停了下来；他们站在一个空旷无人的广场边上，广场上装点着花坛。“为什么在那么多人里面，他们偏偏派你们来！”他说，与其说他是在发问，不如说是在叫喊。那两位先生显然无言以答，他们垂着空着的手臂，站在那儿等待，就像病房里的护理人员守候着在休息的病人一样。“我不想再往前走了，”Ｋ试着说。这句话并不需要答复。那两个人没有松手，而是想法子推着Ｋ走，这样就足够作为回答了，但Ｋ却进行反抗。“我需要用力气的时间不多了，现在就把所有的力气都用光吧！”他思忖着，脑中想起了苍蝇，它们千方百计从粘蝇纸上挣脱，直到扯断自己的细腿为止。“先生们会发现我不是那么容易对付的。”
Just then, Miss Bürstner came up into the square in front of them from the steps leading from a small street at a lower level. It was not certain that it was her, although the similarity was, of course, great. But it did not matter to K. whether it was certainly her anyway, he just became suddenly aware that there was no point in his resistance. There would be nothing heroic about it if he resisted, if he now caused trouble for these gentlemen, if in defending himself he sought to enjoy his last glimmer of life. He started walking, which pleased the gentlemen and some of their pleasure conveyed itself to him. Now they permitted him to decide which direction they took, and he decided to take the direction that followed the young woman in front of them, not so much because he wanted to catch up with her, nor even because he wanted to keep her in sight for as long as possible, but only so that he would not forget the reproach she represented for him. "The only thing I can do now," he said to himself, and his thought was confirmed by the equal length of his own steps with the steps of the two others, "the only thing I can do now is keep my common sense and do what's needed right till the end. I always wanted to go at the world and try and do too much, and even to do it for something that was not too cheap. That was wrong of me. Should I now show them I learned nothing from facing trial for a year? Should I go out like someone stupid? Should I let anyone say, after I'm gone, that at the start of the proceedings I wanted to end them, and that now that they've ended I want to start them again? I don't want anyone to say that. I'm grateful they sent these unspeaking, uncomprehending men to go with me on this journey, and that it's been left up to me to say what's necessary".
这时，布尔斯特纳小姐出现在他们的前面；她离开地势较低的一条次要街道，登上几级台阶，走进广场。不能完全肯定就是她，但是模样很像她。究竟是不是布尔斯特纳小姐，Ｋ并不在乎；重要的是他突然明白了，反抗是毫无用处的。他即使反抗，给他的同行者制造些困难，靠搏斗来夺取生命的最后一刻，也称不上是英雄。他开始挪动脚步，看守们着实舒了一口气，这种轻松感在某种程度上居然也传染到了他身上。现在他们让他带路，他便跟着走在前面的小姐，向前走去；他并不是想追上她或尽可能使她保持在自己的视野之内，而仅仅是为了不忘记她给自己的教训。“我现在惟一可以做的事，”他对自己说，他的脚步和那两个人的脚步一直十分合拍，这更坚定了他的想法，“我惟一可以接着做的事是，自始至终保持理智、镇静和富有分析能力。我总是想用二十只手来攫取世界，我的动机也并非十分值得称赞。难道我现在要让人认为，一年的审判过程居然没有教会我任何东西吗？难道我希望，当人们在我死后议论起我的时候将说，我在案子开始时想要它结束，而在案子结束时又想要它重新开始吗？我不愿意别人这样说。我很高兴派了这么两个半哑的傻瓜来陪我上路，我可以对自己说任何有必要说的话。”
Meanwhile, the young woman had turned off into a side street, but K. could do without her now and let his companions lead him. All three of them now, in complete agreement, went over a bridge in the light of the moon, the two gentlemen were willing to yield to each little movement made by K. as he moved slightly towards the edge and directed the group in that direction as a single unit. The moonlight glittered and quivered in the water, which divided itself around a small island covered in a densely-piled mass of foliage and trees and bushes. Beneath them, now invisible, there were gravel paths with comfortable benches where K. had stretched himself out on many summer's days. "I didn't actually want to stop here," he said to his companions, shamed by their compliance with his wishes. Behind K.'s back one of them seemed to quietly criticise the other for the misunderstanding about stopping, and then they went on. They went on up through several streets where policemen were walking or standing here and there; some in the distance and then some very close. One of them with a bushy moustache, his hand on the grip of his sword, seemed to have some purpose in approaching the group, which was hardly unsuspicious. The two gentlemen stopped, the policeman seemed about to open his mouth, and then K. drove his group forcefully forward. Several times he looked back cautiously to see if the policeman was following; but when they had a corner between themselves and the policeman K. began to run, and the two gentlemen, despite being seriously short of breath, had to run with him.
此刻，布尔斯特纳小姐已经拐进一条小马路，Ｋ这时已经用不着她了，他顺从地跟着押他的人走。月光下，三人步调完全一致；他们走上一座桥；不管Ｋ做什么动作，那两人就立即附和。当Ｋ稍稍侧身转向桥栏杆时，他们像是和他连成了一个整体似的，也随之转过身停下来。月色皎洁，波光粼粼，流水在小岛两边分开，岛上树木成林，枝叶茂密，就像缚在一起似的。树林中逶迤着几条砾石小径——现在看不见——，路边有几条舒适的长凳，夏天Ｋ曾多次躺在这些长凳上惬意地休息过。“我并不想停下，”他对同行者说，他们的彬彬有礼和依顺服从使他感到难为情。其中的一个好像在Ｋ的背后温和地责备另一个人不该停下来。于是他们三人继续往前走。
They went on up through several streets where policemen were walking or standing here and there; some in the distance and then some very close. One of them with a bushy moustache, his hand on the grip of his sword, seemed to have some purpose in approaching the group, which was hardly unsuspicious. The two gentlemen stopped, the policeman seemed about to open his mouth, and then K. drove his group forcefully forward. Several times he looked back cautiously to see if the policeman was following; but when they had a corner between themselves and the policeman K. began to run, and the two gentlemen, despite being seriously short of breath, had to run with him.
他们穿过几条很陡的上坡路，路上每隔一定距离就有几个警察站着，或者来回巡逻；有时离他们很远，有时就在他们身边。一个大胡子警察手握刀柄，似乎有意走近这一群看上去并不完全无害的人。两位先生停下脚步；警察好像就要开口讲话了，但是Ｋ却用力拽着两人继续朝前走。他一直小心翼翼地回头张望，看着警察是不是跟在后面。他拐了个弯，甩开警察后，马上就奔跑起来，两个同行者也只得气喘吁吁地在他身边跟着跑。
In this way they quickly left the built up area and found themselves in the fields which, in this part of town, began almost without any transition zone. There was a quarry, empty and abandoned, near a building which was still like those in the city. Here the men stopped, perhaps because this had always been their destination or perhaps because they were too exhausted to run any further. Here they released their hold on K., who just waited in silence, and took their top hats off while they looked round the quarry and wiped the sweat off their brows with their handkerchiefs. The moonlight lay everywhere with the natural peace that is granted to no other light.
他们就这样很快地出了城；在这个地方，城市几乎直接连着田野，中间没有什么过渡地带。在一座依然是纯城市式的房子旁边，有一个荒凉的，人迹稀罕的小采石场。那两个人在这儿站定，不知道是因为他们一开始就选中了这个地方，还是因为他们实在累得不能再往前走了。现在他们松开Ｋ的手；Ｋ一声不响，站在那儿等着；他们脱下大礼帽，用手帕擦干额上的汗珠，同时观察着采石场。月亮的光芒正以别的光线所没有的纯洁和宁静映照着万物。
After exchanging a few courtesies about who was to carry out the next tasks - the gentlemen did not seem to have been allocated specific functions - one of them went to K. and took his coat, his waistcoat, and finally his shirt off him. K. made an involuntary shiver, at which the gentleman gave him a gentle, reassuring tap on the back. Then he carefully folded the things up as if they would still be needed, even if not in the near future. He did not want to expose K. to the chilly night air without moving though, so he took him under the arm and walked up and down with him a little way while the other gentleman looked round the quarry for a suitable place. When he had found it he made a sign and the other gentleman escorted him there. It was near the rockface, there was a stone lying there that had broken loose. The gentlemen sat K. down on the ground, leant him against the stone and settled his head down on the top of it. Despite all the effort they went to, and despite all the co-operation shown by K., his demeanour seemed very forced and hard to believe. So one of the gentlemen asked the other to grant him a short time while he put K. in position by himself, but even that did nothing to make it better. In the end they left K. in a position that was far from the best of the ones they had tried so far. Then one of the gentlemen opened his frock coat and from a sheath hanging on a belt stretched across his waistcoat he withdrew a long, thin, double-edged butcher's knife which he held up in the light to test its sharpness. The repulsive courtesies began once again, one of them passed the knife over K. to the other, who then passed it back over K. to the first. K. now knew it would be his duty to take the knife as it passed from hand to hand above him and thrust it into himself. But he did not do it, instead he twisted his neck, which was still free, and looked around. He was not able to show his full worth, was not able to take all the work from the official bodies, he lacked the rest of the strength he needed and this final shortcoming was the fault of whoever had denied it to him. As he looked round, he saw the top floor of the building next to the quarry. He saw how a light flickered on and the two halves of a window opened out, somebody, made weak and thin by the height and the distance, leant suddenly far out from it and stretched his arms out even further. Who was that? A friend? A good person? Somebody who was taking part? Somebody who wanted to help? Was he alone? Was it everyone? Would anyone help? Were there objections that had been forgotten? There must have been some. The logic cannot be refuted, but someone who wants to live will not resist it. Where was the judge he'd never seen? Where was the high court he had never reached? He raised both hands and spread out all his fingers.
下一项任务中谁第一个动手？他俩又你推我让，客套一番——这两个奉命而为的人，在接受这项使命的时候，好像没有什么专门分工，他们中的一个走到Ｋ面前，脱下Ｋ的大衣和背心，最后又脱下他的衬衫。Ｋ不由自主地打了一个寒颤。那人在他背上轻轻拍了一下，让他放心，接着把Ｋ的衣服整整齐齐地叠在一起，好像它们什么时候还会用得上一样，当然不会马上就用。为了不让Ｋ在凉飕飕的夜风中呆站着，那人拉住Ｋ的手臂，带着他来回走了一阵；那人的同伴则在采石场上寻找一个合适的地点，找到地方后，便招呼他们过去；和Ｋ在一起的那人就把他带去了。这个地方位于悬崖边上，旁边有一块孤零零的大圆石头。那两个人让Ｋ坐在地上，背靠着大圆石，头枕在上面。但是不管他们怎么煞费苦心，也不管Ｋ多么惟命是听，他的姿势总是东倒西歪的，看上去很别扭。于是他们中间的一个就请求另一个让他来独自摆布Ｋ，但即便如此，也于事无补。最后他们就听凭Ｋ那么呆着了，这时的姿势甚至还不如刚才摆过的那些姿势好。一个人随即解开大衣，从挂在背心皮带上的刀鞘里抽出一把屠夫用的又长又薄的双刃刀，把刀举起，在月光下试了试刀锋。他们又可恨地谦让起来，第一个人从Ｋ头顶把刀递给第二个，第二个又从Ｋ头顶把刀还给第一个。Ｋ现在清楚地意识到，当刀在他头顶传来传去的时候，他应该把刀拿过来，插进自己的胸口。不过他没有这样做，只是转过头，向四周看了看——他的头部还可以自由转动。他无法完全越俎代庖，代替这两个人完成他们的所有任务。这次最后的失败应该归咎于他自己，因为他没有足够的力量来做这件事。他的目光落在采石场旁边的那座房子的顶层上。那儿亮光一闪，好像有人开了灯，一扇窗户蓦地打开了。一个人的身子突然探出窗口，他的双手远远伸出窗外；由于他离得远，站得高，所以他的形象模模糊糊，看不清楚。这个人是谁？一个朋友？一个好人？一个同情者？一个愿意提供帮助的人？仅仅是他一个人吗？还是整个人类？马上就会有人来帮忙吗？是不是以前被忽略的有利于他的论点又有人提出来了？当然，这样的论点应该有。逻辑无疑是不可动摇的，但它阻挡不了一个想活下去的人。他从未见过的法官在何处？他从来没能够进入的最高法院又在哪里？他举起双手，张开十指。
But the hands of one of the gentleman were laid on K.'s throat, while the other pushed the knife deep into his heart and twisted it there, twice. As his eyesight failed, K. saw the two gentlemen cheek by cheek, close in front of his face, watching the result. "Like a dog!" he said, it was as if the shame of it should outlive him.
但是，一个同行者的两手已经掐住Ｋ的喉头，另一个把刀深深插入他的心脏，并转了两下。Ｋ的目光渐渐模糊了，但是还能看到面前的这两个人；他们脸靠着脸，正在看着这最后的一幕。“像一条狗似的！”他说；他的意思似乎是：他死了，但这种耻辱将留存人间。
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Trial, by Franz Kafka