我在家里一直是个隐形人，谁也看不到我

II 第二章

It was not until it was getting dark that evening that Gregor awoke from his deep and coma-like sleep. He would have woken soon afterwards anyway even if he hadn't been disturbed, as he had had enough sleep and felt fully rested. But he had the impression that some hurried steps and the sound of the door leading into the front room being carefully shut had woken him. The light from the electric street lamps shone palely here and there onto the ceiling and tops of the furniture, but down below, where Gregor was, it was dark. He pushed himself over to the door, feeling his way clumsily with his antennae—of which he was now beginning to learn the value—in order to see what had been happening there. The whole of his left side seemed like one, painfully stretched scar, and he limped badly on his two rows of legs. One of the legs had been badly injured in the events of that morning—it was nearly a miracle that only one of them had been—and dragged along lifelessly.

直到黄昏时分，格雷戈尔才从深沉的昏睡中醒来。就算没有被打扰，他也会在不久后来醒来。由于他已经睡得足够多，感到了彻底的放松。但是他依稀记得将他吵醒的是那匆忙的脚步声以及通往大厅的门被小心翼翼关上的声音。街道上的电灯向四周散发出苍白的光，照射着天花板和家具的顶端，但是格雷戈尔所在的下面仍是一片黑暗。他用触角笨拙地探路，将自己推到门边——目前他才认识到触角的作用——好弄清楚那里究竟发生了什么事。他左侧的整个身体看起来像是一条长长的、恼人的疤痕，而他的两排腿也跛得很厉害。其中一条腿在上午的事故中严重受伤——居然只有一条腿受伤，这简直是一个奇迹——被毫无生气地拖曳着前进。

It was only when he had reached the door that he realized what it actually was that had drawn him over to it; it was the smell of something to eat. By the door there was a dish filled with sweetened milk with little pieces of white bread floating in it. He was so pleased he almost laughed, as he was even hungrier than he had been that morning, and immediately dipped his head into the milk, nearly covering his eyes with it. But he soon drew his head back again in disappointment; not only did the pain in his tender left side make it difficult to eat the food—he was only able to eat if his whole body worked together as a snuffling whole—but the milk did not taste at all nice. Milk like this was normally his favorite drink, and his sister had certainly left it there for him because of that, but he turned, almost against his own will, away from the dish and crawled back into the centre of the room.

直到门口，他才意识到的确 是有某样东西将他吸引至此，那是食物的香味。门边有一个碟子，碟子里装满了加糖的牛奶，牛奶上漂着几小片白面包。他高兴得几乎要大笑起来，由于他比早上时候更加饥饿。他立刻将头浸入牛奶中，眼睛几乎被牛奶给淹没了。但是，很快他又失望地将头缩了回来。不仅是由于他那脆弱的左侧超级疼痛，使得他吃起东西来很困难——除非整个身体像一个鼻孔出气那样合作，他才能吃东西——更何况牛奶味道也不是很好。一般来说，这种牛奶是他的最爱，肯定是妹妹特地为他留下的。可是，他极不情愿地转身离开了食物，爬回房间的中央。

Through the crack in the door, Gregor could see that the gas had been lit in the living room. His father at this time would normally be sat with his evening paper, reading it out in a loud voice to Gregor's mother, and sometimes to his sister, but there was now not a sound to be heard. Gregor's sister would often write and tell him about this reading, but maybe his father had lost the habit in recent times. It was so quiet all around too, even though there must have been somebody in the flat. “What a quiet life it is the family lead,” said Gregor to himself, and, gazing into the darkness, felt a great pride that he was able to provide a life like that in such a nice home for his sister and parents. But what now, if all this peace and wealth and comfort should come to a horrible and frightening end? That was something that Gregor did not want to think about too much, so he started to move about, crawling up and down the room.

透过门缝，格雷戈尔看到客厅里的煤气灯正亮着。一般，在这个时候，父亲会拿着晚报坐着，大声地读给母亲听，有时也给妹妹读。不过此刻却听不到这种声音。格雷戈尔的妹妹会常常写信告知他读报的事，不过也许父亲最近放弃了这种习惯。尽管四周也是如此寂静，但公寓里肯定有人。“全家过着多么平静的生活啊！”格雷戈尔心想。他凝视着黑暗，想到能让父母和妹妹拥有这么幸福的家庭，过上如此的生活，就感到超级自豪。但是，如果目前所有的平静、财富以及舒服都将走向糟糕的、令人恐惧的结局，那该怎么办呢？这是格雷戈尔不愿过多思考的事。于是，他在房间里爬上爬下,四处移动。

Once during that long evening, the door on one side of the room was opened very slightly and hurriedly closed again; later on the door on the other side did the same; it seemed that someone needed to enter the room but thought better of it. Gregor went and waited immediately by the door, resolved either to bring the timorous visitor into the room in some way or at least to find out who it was; but the door was opened no more that night and Gregor waited in vain. The previous morning while the doors were locked everyone had wanted to get in there to him, but now, now that he had opened up one of the doors and the other had clearly been unlocked some time during the day, no-one came, and the keys were in the other sides.

那个漫长的夜晚中，房间一边的门被轻轻地打开过一次，接着又被匆匆地关上，随后另一边的那扇门也如此。似乎有人要进房间，但是经过深思熟虑后打消了这种念头。格雷戈尔立刻到门边去守候，下定决心要么将这个胆怯的来访者领进房间，要么至少弄清究竟是谁。但是那天晚上门再也没打开过，格雷戈尔白等了。前一天早上门还锁着的时候，每个人都想进来看他。但是目前，他已经打开了一扇门，很明显另一扇门白天的某个时候也被打开了，但没人来，而开门的钥匙都在门的另一侧。

It was not until late at night that the gaslight in the living room was put out, and now it was easy to see that parents and sister had stayed awake all that time, as they all could be distinctly heard as they went away together on tip-toe. It was clear that no-one would come into Gregor's room any more until morning; that gave him plenty of time to think undisturbed about how he would have to re-arrange his life. For some reason, the tall, empty room where he was forced to remain made him feel uneasy as he lay there flat on the floor, even though he had been living in it for five years. Hardly aware of what he was doing other than a slight feeling of shame, he hurried under the couch. It pressed down on his back a little, and he was no longer able to lift his head, but he nonetheless felt immediately at ease and his only regret was that his body was too broad to get it all underneath.

客厅的煤气灯直到深夜才熄灭。此刻可以很容易地发现父母和妹妹一直都醒着，由于他们踮着脚一起离开的声音清晰可闻。很明显，除非到了早上，没人会去格雷戈尔的房间。这给了他充足的时间，能在不受任何干扰的情况下来思考如何重新安排后来的生活。不知为何，当他被迫留在屋里，平躺在地板上时，哪怕已经在这个高大而空旷的房间住了五年，他依旧感到很不自在。他慌慌张张地钻到睡椅下面，除了心底有一丝轻微的羞耻感外，根本不知道自己目前正在做什么。他感到背部被压下去了一点点，再也无法抬起头来。即便如此，他还是立刻感到很舒服，唯一遗憾的是身体太宽，无法完全钻进睡椅下面。

He spent the whole night there. Some of the time he passed in a light sleep, although he frequently woke from it in alarm because of his hunger, and some of the time was spent in worries and vague hopes which, however, always led to the same conclusion: for the time being he must remain calm, he must show patience and the greatest consideration so that his family could bear the unpleasantness that he, in his present condition, was forced to impose on them.

他整晚上都呆在那里。有时，他会浅浅地睡着，但是常常会因饥饿而惊醒。有时他陷入了担忧和飘渺的希望之中，不过，得出的结论都一样：此时此刻，他必须保持冷静，必须表现出耐心和极度的体贴，这样家人才可能承受住目前的不快，而这种不快是正是由他一手造成并强加在他们身上的。

Gregor soon had the opportunity to test the strength of his decisions, as early the next morning, almost before the night had ended, his sister, nearly fully dressed, opened the door from the front room and looked anxiously in. She did not see him straight away, but when she did notice him under the couch—he had to be somewhere, for God's sake, he couldn't have flown away—she was so shocked that she lost control of herself and slammed the door shut again from outside. But she seemed to regret her behavior, as she opened the door again straight away and came in on tip-toe as if entering the room of someone seriously ill or even of a stranger. Gregor had pushed his head forward, right to the edge of the couch, and watched her. Would she notice that he had left the milk as it was, realize that it was not from any lack of hunger and bring him in some other food that was more suitable? If she didn't do it herself he would rather go hungry than draw her attention to it, although he did feel a terrible urge to rush forward from under the couch, throw himself at his sister's feet and beg her for something good to eat. However, his sister noticed the full dish immediately and looked at it and the few drops of milk splashed around it with some surprise. She immediately picked it up—using a rag, not her bare hands—and carried it out. Gregor was extremely curious as to what she would bring in its place, imagining the wildest possibilities, but he never could have guessed what his sister, in her goodness, actually did bring. In order to test his taste, she brought him a whole selection of things, all spread out on an old newspaper. There were old, half-rotten vegetables; bones from the evening meal, covered in white sauce that had gone hard; a few raisins and almonds; some cheese that Gregor had declared inedible two days before; a dry roll and some bread spread with butter and salt. As well as all that she had poured some water into the dish, which had probably been permanently set aside for Gregor's use, and placed it beside them. Then, out of consideration for Gregor's feelings, as she knew that he would not eat in front of her, she hurried out again and even turned the key in the lock so that Gregor would know he could make things as comfortable for himself as he liked. Gregor's little legs whirred, at last he could eat. What's more, his injuries must already have completely healed as he found no difficulty in moving. This amazed him, as more than a month earlier he had cut his finger slightly with a knife, he thought of how his finger had still hurt the day before yesterday. “Am I less sensitive than I used to be, then?” he thought, and was already sucking greedily at the cheese which had immediately, almost compellingly, attracted him much more than the other foods on the newspaper. Quickly one after another, his eyes watering with pleasure, he consumed the cheese, the vegetables and the sauce; the fresh foods, on the other hand, he didn't like at all, and even dragged the things he did want to eat a little way away from them because he couldn't stand the smell. Long after he had finished eating and lay lethargic in the same place, his sister slowly turned the key in the lock as a sign to him that he should withdraw. He was immediately startled, although he had been half asleep, and he hurried back under the couch. But he needed great self-control to stay there even for the short time that his sister was in the room, as eating so much food had rounded out his body a little and he could hardly breathe in that narrow space. Half suffocating, he watched with bulging eyes as his sister unselfconsciously took a broom and swept up the left-overs, mixing them in with the food he had not even touched at all as if it could not be used any more. She quickly dropped it all into a bin, closed it with its wooden lid, and carried everything out. She had hardly turned her back before Gregor came out again from under the couch and stretched himself.

很快，格雷戈尔就有机会来检验已做好的决定的效果。第二天清早，大约是拂晓时分，妹妹差不多已经穿戴整齐，从客厅打开门，焦急地向里看。她没有立刻看见他，但是当她发现他在睡椅下面时——他必定在某个地方，发发慈悲吧，他不可能飞走——她感到如此震惊，以至于无法控制自己，“啪”的一声从外边将门再次关上。但是她似乎为自己的行为感到后悔，立刻又将门打开，踮起脚尖走进来，好像是进入一个身患重病的人，甚至是一个陌生人的房间。格雷戈尔将头部向前推，正好推到睡椅的一边，看着她。她有没有注意到牛奶就放在原地，原封未动，并意识到这并不是由于他不够饿？她有没有给他带来其他更适宜的食物？如果她没有亲自这么做，他宁愿挨饿也不会提醒她。尽管他目前有种巨大的冲动，想从睡椅下钻出来，冲到妹妹脚边，乞求她给点好吃的东西。但是，妹妹立刻发现碟子仍是满满的，并大吃一惊地看着碟子以及周围溅出的几点牛奶。她立刻捡起碟子——不是徒手捡起，而是用破布——将它带走。格雷戈尔极其好奇，想知道她将会拿什么东西来替代。他想象着各种各样的可能性，但是他绝对不可能猜到他那善良的妹妹究竟会给他带来什么。为了测试他的口味，她给他带来了大量可供挑选的食物，将它们全部摊在旧报纸上。有半腐烂的老蔬菜、晚餐吃剩的骨头（骨头上覆盖着已经变硬的白色汤汁）、少量的葡萄干和杏仁、一些奶酪（格雷戈尔两天前就说这些奶酪已经变质了）、一块干面包卷和一些撒了盐的黄油面包。除了这些，她还往碟子里倒了些水——那只碟子一直放在那边，是给格雷戈尔用的——并将碟子放在食物旁边。接着，思考到格雷戈尔的感受——她知道格雷格尔不愿当着她的面吃东西。就匆匆忙忙地离开房间，甚至用钥匙将门锁上，这样格雷戈尔就知道他可以随心所欲地尽情用餐了。格雷戈尔那些细小的腿手舞足蹈起来，他终于可以吃到东西了。不仅如此，他的伤口也应该已经完全愈合了，由于他发现自己可以不费吹灰之力地移动了。这令他感到很惊奇，由于一个多月前，他的手指被刀子轻微割伤了，前天他还在想为什么手指还会疼。“难道说是我没有以前敏感了？”他边想边贪婪地吸食着奶酪。与报纸上的其他食物相比，奶酪立刻对他产生了无法抗拒的吸引力。他的双眼因满足而噙满泪水，他迅速地依次吃完奶酪、蔬菜和果酱。但是，他根本就不喜爱新鲜食物。由于无法忍受它们的味道，他甚至将自己喜爱的食物拖走，在远点的地方吃。过了好久，他吃完东西，懒洋洋地躺在原来的地方。妹妹慢慢地拧钥匙，仿佛在暗示他该离席了。尽管已经处于半睡着的状态，他还是立刻被惊醒了，赶紧钻到睡椅下面。哪怕妹妹只进来一小会儿，他也需要极大的自制力让自己呆在那里。由于吃了太多东西，身体变得有些圆胖，窝在那么狭窄的空间里，他几乎无法呼吸。他感觉有些窒息，用肿胀的眼睛盯着妹妹。只见她很自然地拿起扫把，打扫剩菜，将它们与他压根没碰过的食物混合在一起，似乎那些不能用了似的。她快速将全部食物倒进垃圾篓，盖上木盖子，把东西全部拿走了。她刚转身，格雷戈尔就从睡椅下钻了出来，舒展身体。

This was how Gregor received his food each day now, once in the morning while his parents and the maid were still asleep, and the second time after everyone had eaten their meal at midday as his parents would sleep for a little while then as well, and Gregor's sister would send the maid away on some errand. Gregor's father and mother certainly did not want him to starve either, but perhaps it would have been more than they could stand to have any more experience of his feeding than being told about it, and perhaps his sister wanted to spare them what distress she could as they were indeed suffering enough.

每天，格雷戈尔就通过这种方式获得食物。第一次是早上，那时候父母和女仆还在睡梦中；第二次是中午所有人都吃完午饭后，父母要小睡一会儿，此时妹妹会让女仆做点差事，把她支开。当然，格雷戈尔的父母也不想让他挨饿，不过比起忍受亲自给他喂食，他们或许更愿意听妹妹讲述给他喂食的经历。也或许是由于他们的确 已经遭受了太多苦难，因而妹妹愿意尽可能地帮父母分担一些。

It was impossible for Gregor to find out what they had told the doctor and the locksmith that first morning to get them out of the flat. As nobody could understand him, nobody, not even his sister, thought that he could understand them, so he had to be content to hear his sister's sighs and appeals to the saints as she moved about his room. It was only later, when she had become a little more used to everything—there was, of course, no question of her ever becoming fully used to the situation—that Gregor would sometimes catch a friendly comment, or at least a comment that could be construed as friendly. “He's enjoyed his dinner today,” she might say when he had diligently cleared away all the food left for him, or if he left most of it, which slowly became more and more frequent, she would often say, sadly, “now everything's just been left there again.”

格雷戈尔不可能弄清楚第一天清晨父母对医生和锁匠说了些什么把他们打发走的。由于没人能听懂他的话，所以没有一个人，哪怕是妹妹也没想到他能听懂他们的话。因此每当妹妹走进他的房间时，他只能听妹妹的叹息和向圣徒的祷告。直到后来，她慢慢地对一切习以为常——当然，让她完全习惯这种局面是不可能的——格雷戈尔偶尔才能捕捉到几句好话，或是至少可以理解为友善的话语。当他勤勤恳恳地将留给他的所有食物一扫而光时，她可能会说：“今天的晚餐他吃得很欢。”但是如果大部分食物都剩下了，而且这种情况出现的频率逐渐变高时，她一般会伤心地说：“哎，所有食物都原封未动。”

Although Gregor wasn't able to hear any news directly he did listen too much of what was said in the next rooms, and whenever he heard anyone speaking he would scurry straight to the appropriate door and press his whole body against it. There was seldom any conversation, especially at first, that was not about him in some way, even if only in secret. For two whole days, all the talk at every mealtime was about what they should do now; but even between meals they spoke about the same subject as there were always at least two members of the family at home—nobody wanted to be at home by themselves and it was out of the question to leave the flat entirely empty. And on the very first day the maid had fallen to her knees and begged Gregor's mother to let her go without delay. It was not very clear how much she knew of what had happened but she left within a quarter of an hour, tearfully thanking Gregor's mother for her dismissal as if she had done her an enormous service. She even swore emphatically not to tell anyone the slightest about what had happened, even though no-one had asked that of her.

虽然格雷戈尔没有直接听到任何消息，但是他的确 偷听到许多隔壁房间的谈话。无论何时，他只要听到有人讲话，就会直接跑到相应的门边，整个身体贴着门。尤其是开始时，没哪次谈话与格雷戈尔无关，哪怕是私密会谈。整整两天，每次用餐时所有的交谈都围绕着他们目前该怎么办。甚至在两餐之间，他们依旧是谈论同一个话题，由于至少有两名家庭成员在家——没人想独自呆在家里，也不可能让公寓里完全没人。早在第一天，女仆就跪下来，乞求格雷戈尔的母亲让她立刻离开。并不清楚她对已经发生的事情知道多少。但是事发后不到一刻钟她就离开了，并为母亲批准她的辞职而感激流涕，仿佛母亲给了她极大的恩典。她再三发誓说绝不会透露半点消息，尽管没人要求她发誓。

Now Gregor's sister also had to help his mother with the cooking; although that was not so much bother as no-one ate very much. Gregor often heard how one of them would unsuccessfully urge another to eat, and receive no more answer than “no thanks, I've had enough” or something similar. No-one drank very much either. His sister would sometimes ask his father whether he would like a beer, hoping for the chance to go and fetch it herself. When his father then said nothing she would add, so that he would not feel selfish, that she could send the housekeeper for it, but then his father would close the matter with a big, loud “No,” and no more would be said.

目前，格雷戈尔的妹妹也得协助母亲做饭。但是那也不太麻烦，由于大家都吃得不多。格雷戈尔常常听到他们中的某个人催促其他人吃饭，但都以失败告终。除了“不，谢谢，我已经饱了”或是其他类似的话语，再也没有得到任何答复。也没有人喝许多酒。妹妹有时会问父亲是否想要点啤酒，希望有机会能亲自离开房间去取酒。如果父亲一言不发时，她就接着说可以让管家去取酒，这样父亲就不会感觉到孤独。但是，父亲接着会大声而响亮地说“不”，整件事情就此结束，彼此无话。

Even before the first day had come to an end, his father had explained to Gregor's mother and sister what their finances and prospects were. Now and then he stood up from the table and took some receipt or document from the little cash box he had saved from his business when it had collapsed five years earlier. Gregor heard how he opened the complicated lock and then closed it again after he had taken the item he wanted. What he heard his father say was some of the first good news that Gregor heard since he had first been incarcerated in his room. He had thought that nothing at all remained from his father's business, at least he had never told him anything different, and Gregor had never asked him about it anyway. Their business misfortune had reduced the family to a state of total despair, and Gregor's only concern at that time had been to arrange things so that they could all forget about it as quickly as possible. So then he started working especially hard, with a fiery vigor that raised him from a junior salesman to a travelling representative almost overnight, bringing with it the chance to earn money in quite different ways. Gregor converted his success at work straight into cash that he could lay on the table at home for the benefit of his astonished and delighted family. They had been good times and they had never come again, at least not with the same splendor, even though Gregor had later earned so much that he was in a position to bear the costs of the whole family, and did bear them. They had even got used to it, both Gregor and the family, they took the money with gratitude and he was glad to provide it, although there was no longer much warm affection given in return. Gregor only remained close to his sister now. Unlike him, she was very fond of music and a gifted and expressive violinist, it was his secret plan to send her to the conservatory next year even though it would cause great expense that would have to be made up for in some other way. During Gregor's short periods in town, conversation with his sister would often turn to the conservatory but it was only ever mentioned as a lovely dream that could never be realized. Their parents did not like to hear this innocent talk, but Gregor thought about it quite hard and decided he would let them know what he planned with a grand announcement of it on Christmas day.

甚至在第一天还没结束时，父亲就向母亲和妹妹解释了他们的财政状况和前景。他不时地从桌边起身，并从小钱箱里取出某些收据或是文件。五年前他的公司倒闭的时候，他保住了这个小钱箱。格雷戈尔能听见父亲是如何打开那个复杂的锁，拿出他需要的东西后，又将它锁上的。自从他首次被囚禁在自己的房间里以来，父亲所说的话是他听到的第一个好消息。他以前认为父亲的生意中什么都没留下，至少父亲从来都是这么告知他的。不管怎么说，格雷戈尔也从没向父亲询问过这件事。他们生意上的噩运让全家陷入了彻底的绝望之中。那时，格雷戈尔唯一关心的就是安排好所有事情，好让全家人能够尽快忘掉一切。因此从那后来，他激情似火，开始异常努力地工作，几乎在一夜之间就从初级推销员晋升为旅行推销员，同时也带来了通过不同方式挣钱的机会。格雷戈尔将工作上的成功直接转化为现金，回到家里，将这些钱摆在桌子上，赢得了全家人的惊奇和高兴。他们曾有过美好的时光，但是都已一去不返了，至少再也不会出现同样的辉煌。哪怕后来格雷戈尔挣了够多的钱足以承担全家的花销，而且他也承担了这些。格雷戈尔和家人都已对此习以为常。他们怀着感激之情拿钱，而他很乐意为他们提供钱，但是他们的回报中不再带有多少温情。格雷戈尔目前只有跟妹妹的关系依然亲密。与他不同，妹妹超级喜爱音乐，是一个很有天赋和表现力的小提琴手。他曾私下里盘算，明年送她去音乐学校，哪怕这会带来巨大的花销——这笔花销将会通过其他途径补足。在镇上短暂停留期间，格雷戈尔常常跟妹妹谈到音乐学校，但那从来只会被当做一个根本无法实现的美梦而提起。他们的父母不喜爱听这种幼稚的谈话，但是格雷戈尔超级认真地思考过，并决定在圣诞节那天郑重宣布他的计划，让他们都知道。

That was the sort of totally pointless thing that went through his mind in his present state, pressed upright against the door and listening. There were times when he simply became too tired to continue listening, when his head would fall wearily against the door and he would pull it up again with a start, as even the slightest noise he caused would be heard next door and they would all go silent. “What's that he's doing now,” his father would say after a while, clearly having gone over to the door, and only then would the interrupted conversation slowly be taken up again.

他直立着贴在门上偷听，他在眼下的这种状态下，满脑子都是这些杂乱无章的事情。有时，他真的累了，无法继续听下去。他的头会疲惫地垂下了来，抵着门。不过，他会猛地将头再次抬起。由于哪怕他引起的声响再轻微，隔壁也能听得一清二楚，他们就会全部沉默不语。“他目前到底在干嘛？”过了一会儿，父亲说道。很明显他已经走向房门。这时，被打断的对话才会被慢慢拾起。

When explaining things, his father repeated himself several times, partly because it was a long time since he had been occupied with these matters himself and partly because Gregor's mother did not understand everything first time. From these repeated explanations Gregor learned, to his pleasure, that despite all their misfortunes there was still some money available from the old days. It was not a lot, but it had not been touched in the meantime and some interest had accumulated. Besides that, they had not been using up all the money that Gregor had been bringing home every month, keeping only a little for himself, so that that, too, had been accumulating. Behind the door, Gregor nodded with enthusiasm in his pleasure at this unexpected thrift and caution. He could actually have used this surplus money to reduce his father's debt to his boss, and the day when he could have freed himself from that job would have come much closer, but now it was certainly better the way his father had done things.

在解释这些事情时，父亲多次重复自己的话。部分是由于他已经许久不思考这些事情了，还有部分缘由是格雷戈尔的母亲开始时并没有听懂。让格雷戈尔欣慰的是，他从父亲的重复解释中得知，尽管遭遇了这么多不幸，但是以前还是留下了些钱。虽然不是许多，但在此期间一直没动过，倒是积攒了一些利息。此外，格雷戈尔每个月都会给家里钱，自己只留一小部分。他们并没将钱全部花光，因此那也积攒了起来。格雷戈尔在门后面满心激动地点着头，为这种意想不到的节约和谨慎而高兴。实际上，他本可以用这些剩余的钱来减轻父亲欠老板的债务，这样他就可以早点摆脱这份工作。但是，目前看来，父亲处理事情的方式的确 更胜一筹。

This money, however, was certainly not enough to enable the family to live off the interest; it was enough to maintain them for, perhaps, one or two years, no more. That's to say, it was money that should not really be touched but set aside for emergencies; money to live on had to be earned. His father was healthy but old, and lacking in self confidence. During the five years that he had not been working—the first holiday in a life that had been full of strain and no success—he had put on a lot of weight and become very slow and clumsy. Would Gregor's elderly mother now have to go and earn money? She suffered from asthma and it was a strain for her just to move about the home, every other day would be spent struggling for breath on the sofa by the open window. Would his sister have to go and earn money? She was still a child of seventeen, her life up till then had been very enviable, consisting of wearing nice clothes, sleeping late, helping out in the business, joining in with a few modest pleasures and most of all playing the violin. Whenever they began to talk of the need to earn money, Gregor would always first let go of the door and then throw himself onto the cool, leather sofa next to it, as he became quite hot with shame and regret.

可是，全家肯定没法依靠这些钱生的利息来生活；这也许顶多够他们维持一两年，不会更久。也就是说，这钱的确 不能动，要存起来以备急用，养家的钱必须另外挣。父亲很健康，但是年事已高，而且缺乏自信。过去五年里，他一直没有工作过——他操劳一生，又没取得什么成就，这是他一生中的第一个假期——他长胖了不少，行动变得缓慢而笨拙。格雷戈尔上了年纪的母亲目前必须出去挣钱吗？她患有哮喘病，哪怕只是在家走来走去，对她而言也是一种负担。每隔一天，她就会在窗户边的沙发上因呼吸不畅而挣扎。妹妹必须出去挣钱吗？她还是一个十七岁的孩子，一直以来，她过着让人超级羡慕的生活，包括：穿美丽衣服，睡懒觉，去公司帮帮忙，参与一些体面的娱乐活动，最重大的是拉小提琴。不论何时，只要他们谈到必须要去挣钱，格雷戈尔就会立刻离开门边，扑到旁边凉凉的皮沙发上，因羞愧和懊悔而全身发烫。

He would often lie there the whole night through, not sleeping a wink but scratching at the leather for hours on end. Or he might go to all the effort of pushing a chair to the window, climbing up onto the sill and, propped up in the chair, leaning on the window to stare out of it. He had used to feel a great sense of freedom from doing this, but doing it now was obviously something more remembered than experienced, as what he actually saw in this way was becoming less distinct every day, even things that were quite near; he had used to curse the ever-present view of the hospital across the street, but now he could not see it at all, and if he had not known that he lived in Charlottenstrasse, which was a quiet street despite being in the middle of the city, he could have thought that he was looking out the window at a barren waste where the grey sky and the grey earth mingled inseparably. His observant sister only needed to notice the chair twice before she would always push it back to its exact position by the window after she had tidied up the room, and even left the inner pane of the window open from then on.

一般，他会通宵躺在那里，片刻也睡不着，只是一连几个小时不停地抓皮革。或者，他会使出浑身力气将椅子推到窗户边，爬上窗台，然后扶着椅子，靠在窗户边凝视窗外。以前这样做的时候，他总会有一种强烈的自由感，但是很明显，目前他这么做更多的是在回忆过去而非体验过去。由于他通过这种方式所能真正看到的景象正一天天地变得越来越模糊，哪怕这些事物离得相当近。以前，他总是咒骂街道对面的医院景色一成不变，但是目前他根本就看不见。要不是知道他所居住的夏洛腾施特拉斯大街是市中心的安静之所，他可能会觉得透过窗户所见到的是一片荒芜的废墟。在这里，灰蒙蒙的天和地混沌一体，无法辨认。妹妹的观察力很敏锐。她只观察了两次，就知道该在打扫完房间后将椅子推回窗边的原位，甚至从那后来，就把里面的窗玻璃一直打开了。

If Gregor had only been able to speak to his sister and thank her for all that she had to do for him it would have been easier for him to bear it; but as it was it caused him pain. His sister, naturally, tried as far as possible to pretend there was nothing burdensome about it, and the longer it went on, of course, the better she was able to do so, but as time went by Gregor was also able to see through it all so much better. It had even become very unpleasant for him, now, whenever she entered the room. No sooner had she come in than she would quickly close the door as a precaution so that no-one would have to suffer the view into Gregor's room, then she would go straight to the window and pull it hurriedly open almost as if she were suffocating. Even if it was cold, she would stay at the window breathing deeply for a little while. She would alarm Gregor twice a day with this running about and noise making; he would stay under the couch shivering the whole while, knowing full well that she would certainly have liked to spare him this ordeal, but it was impossible for her to be in the same room with him with the windows closed.

如果格雷戈尔能同妹妹说话来感谢她为他所做的一切，那样他就更容易忍受痛苦。但是他不能，为此他感到很不舒服。妹妹自不过然地尽力假想这并不是什么负担。这样时间越久，她自然越会这么想。可是随着时间的推移，格雷戈尔也能将一切看得更加透彻。目前，甚至只要她一进入房间，他就感到不悦。她一进来就赶快将门关上，生怕其他人看到格雷戈尔的房间而不舒服。接着，她就会径直走到窗户边，迅速打开窗户，仿佛她要窒息了。哪怕天气很冷，她也会呆在窗户边，深呼吸一小会儿。她每天会这么乱走两次，弄出许多噪音，使格雷格尔感到惊慌不安。他会躲到睡椅下，颤抖好半天。他超级清楚，妹妹当然是不想他受这份折磨的。但是，在窗户紧闭的情况下，她无法忍受跟他同处一室。

One day, about a month after Gregor's transformation when his sister no longer had any particular reason to be shocked at his appearance, she came into the room a little earlier than usual and found him still staring out the window, motionless, and just where he would be most horrible. In itself, his sister's not coming into the room would have been no surprise for Gregor as it would have been difficult for her to immediately open the window while he was still there, but not only did she not come in, she went straight back and closed the door behind her, a stranger would have thought he had threatened her and tried to bite her. Gregor went straight to hide himself under the couch, of course, but he had to wait until midday before his sister came back and she seemed much more uneasy than usual. It made him realize that she still found his appearance unbearable and would continue to do so, she probably even had to overcome the urge to flee when she saw the little bit of him that protruded from under the couch. One day, in order to spare her even this sight, he spent four hours carrying the bedsheet over to the couch on his back and arranged it so that he was completely covered and his sister would not be able to see him even if she bent down. If she did not think this sheet was necessary then all she had to do was take it off again, as it was clear enough that it was no pleasure for Gregor to cut himself off so completely. She left the sheet where it was. Gregor even thought he glimpsed a look of gratitude one time when he carefully looked out from under the sheet to see how his sister liked the new arrangement.

格雷戈尔变形之后差不多一个月后的一天，妹妹再也没有任何理由对他的相貌感到震惊了。她比以往稍微早了一点进房间，发现格雷戈尔一直盯着窗外，一动也不动，他呆在那里的样子看上去极其可怕。实则，妹妹不进房间，对格雷戈尔而言可能并不足为奇。如果格雷戈尔一直在房间里，妹妹想要立刻打开窗户可能就会有困难。但是目前她不仅没进来，还直接退了回去，关上她身后的门。外人肯定会觉得他威胁了她，企图咬她。毫无疑问，格雷戈尔马上躲到了睡椅下，但是一直等到中午妹妹才回来，她似乎比平常更加不安。这让他意识到，她依旧难以容忍他的容貌，今后也可能一直如此。当她看见他的身体在睡椅下突出的一小块时，她恐怕还要克制住想逃跑的冲动。一天，为了让她不看见这种情景，他花了四个小时把床单背到睡椅上整理好。这样他就完全被遮盖了，妹妹弯下腰也不可能看见他了。如果她觉得床单没必要，那么她需要做的就是再次把它拿走，由于格雷戈尔很明显并没有从这种彻底的隔离中享受到丝毫乐趣。她没有去动床单。一次，当格雷戈尔小心翼翼地从床单下向外看妹妹对这个新摆设有何见解时，他甚至觉得他瞥见了一丝感激之情。

For the first fourteen days, Gregor's parents could not bring themselves to come into the room to see him. He would often hear them say how they appreciated all the new work his sister was doing even though, before, they had seen her as a girl who was somewhat useless and frequently been annoyed with her. But now the two of them, father and mother, would often both wait outside the door of Gregor's room while his sister tidied up in there, and as soon as she went out again she would have to tell them exactly how everything looked, what Gregor had eaten, how he had behaved this time and whether, perhaps, any slight improvement could be seen. His mother also wanted to go in and visit Gregor relatively soon but his father and sister at first persuaded her against it. Gregor listened very closely to all this, and approved fully. Later, though, she had to be held back by force, which made her call out:”Let me go and see Gregor, he is my unfortunate son! Can't you understand I have to see him?” and Gregor would think to himself that maybe it would be better if his mother came in, not every day of course, but one day a week, perhaps; she could understand everything much better than his sister who, for all her courage, was still just a child after all, and really might not have had an adult's appreciation of the burdensome job she had taken on.

一连两个星期，格雷戈尔的父母都没有亲自来房间看他。他常听见他们说，虽然他们以前认为妹妹是个既没用又常常惹他们烦的小女孩，但是目前，他们是多么感激她所从事的新工作。可是目前，当妹妹打扫格雷戈尔的房间时，他们俩——父亲和母亲——常常会在门外等待。妹妹一离开就会准确地告知他们，一切看起来是如何，格雷戈尔吃了什么，这次他表现如何，或是有没有发现一丝改观。母亲也想进去，相对较快地看看格雷戈尔，但是父亲和妹妹一开始就劝阻她。格雷戈尔将这些话听得一清二楚，并对此完全赞同。可是，后来他们只能用蛮力才能阻止她，这让她大声叫喊道：“让我进去看看格雷戈尔，我那可怜的儿子！我必须见他，你们难道说不懂吗？”格雷戈尔思忖着，也许最好还是让母亲进来，当然也不是每天都来，一周一次就好了。也许她比妹妹看事情更透彻，毕竟妹妹只是孩子，就算她鼓足勇气，也无法像成人一样真正理解她所肩负的重任。

Gregor's wish to see his mother was soon realized. Out of consideration for his parents, Gregor wanted to avoid being seen at the window during the day, the few square meters of the floor did not give him much room to crawl about, it was hard to just lie quietly through the night, his food soon stopped giving him any pleasure at all, and so, to entertain himself, he got into the habit of crawling up and down the walls and ceiling. He was especially fond of hanging from the ceiling; it was quite different from lying on the floor; he could breathe more freely; his body had a light swing to it; and up there, relaxed and almost happy, it might happen that he would surprise even himself by letting go of the ceiling and landing on the floor with a crash. But now, of course, he had far better control of his body than before and, even with a fall as great as that, caused himself no damage. Very soon his sister noticed Gregor's new way of entertaining himself—he had, after all, left traces of the adhesive from his feet as he crawled about—and got it into her head to make it as easy as possible for him by removing the furniture that got in his way, especially the chest of drawers and the desk. Now, this was not something that she would be able to do by herself; she did not dare to ask for help from her father; the sixteen year old maid had carried on bravely since the cook had left but she certainly would not have helped in this, she had even asked to be allowed to keep the kitchen locked at all times and never to have to open the door unless it was especially important; so his sister had no choice but to choose some time when Gregor's father was not there and fetch his mother to help her. As she approached the room, Gregor could hear his mother express her joy, but once at the door she went silent. First, of course, his sister came in and looked round to see that everything in the room was alright; and only then did she let her mother enter. Gregor had hurriedly pulled the sheet down lower over the couch and put more folds into it so that everything really looked as if it had just been thrown down by chance. Gregor also refrained, this time, from spying out from under the sheet; he gave up the chance to see his mother until later and was simply glad that she had come. “You can come in, he can't be seen,” said his sister, obviously leading her in by the hand. The old chest of drawers was too heavy for a pair of feeble women to be heaving about, but Gregor listened as they pushed it from its place, his sister always taking on the heaviest part of the work for herself and ignoring her mother's warnings that she would strain herself. This lasted a very long time. After laboring at it for fifteen minutes or more his mother said it would be better to leave the chest where it was, for one thing it was too heavy for them to get the job finished before Gregor's father got home and leaving it in the middle of the room it would be in his way even more, and for another thing it wasn't even sure that taking the furniture away would really be any help to him. She thought just the opposite; the sight of the bare walls saddened her right to her heart; and why wouldn't Gregor feel the same way about it, he'd been used to this furniture in his room for a long time and it would make him feel abandoned to be in an empty room like that. Then, quietly, almost whispering as if wanting Gregor (whose whereabouts she did not know) to hear not even the tone of her voice, as she was convinced that he did not understand her words, she added “and by taking the furniture away, won't it seem like we're showing that we've given up all hope of improvement and we're abandoning him to cope for himself? I think it'd be best to leave the room exactly the way it was before so that when Gregor comes back to us again he'll find everything unchanged and he'll be able to forget the time in between all the easier”.

格雷戈尔想见母亲的愿望很快就实现了。思考到他的父母，他不想让他们看见他白天在窗户边的情形。区区几平米的空间根本不够他爬来爬去，而整晚静静地躺着对他来说太难了，很快食物也不能给他带来任何快乐。于是，为了自娱自乐，他养成了在墙壁和天花板上爬上爬下的习惯。他特别喜爱挂在天花板上，这与在躺在地板上感觉迥异。他能够更加自如地呼吸，身体在上面轻轻地摇晃。在那儿他感觉很放松，也很开心。也可能会发生令他自己都觉得震惊的事——没抓住天花板，“砰”的一声掉在地板上。当然，他目前比以前能更好地控制自己的身体，哪怕是那么沉重地跌落，也不会给他造成任何伤害。很快，妹妹就发现格雷戈尔的新娱乐方式——他四处爬动时脚下免不了会留下一些粘糊糊的印迹——于是她脑海里有了一个念头：将挡道的家具移开，特别是五斗橱和桌子，好让他尽可能容易地爬行。但是，以她个人之力无法完成这件事，她又不敢请父亲帮忙。自从厨师离开后，那个年仅十六岁的女仆勇敢地留了下来，但是，她肯定不会帮这个忙。她甚至申请把厨房一直锁着，除非有特别重大的事情才开门。因此，妹妹别无选择，只能趁父亲不在家时，请母亲过来帮她。母亲朝房间走来时，格雷戈尔听见她在抒发喜悦之情，但是一到门口她就沉默不语。当然，妹妹先进来，四处查看房间里是否一切正常，接着才让母亲进来。格雷戈尔急忙将睡椅上的床单拉得更低了，并弄出更多褶皱，好让它看上去上像是随意扔在那儿的。这次，格雷戈尔也控制住自己不从床单下往外看。他放弃了见母亲的机会，仅仅只为母亲的到来而感到高兴。“您可以进来,看不见他了。”每每说道，显然她正牵着母亲的手领她进来。对两个柔弱的女人而言，这个旧五斗橱太重了，根本举不起来。格雷戈尔听见她们将五斗橱从原来的位置推开。妹妹总是承担最重的那份活，母亲告诫说这样做会受伤，她却毫不顾忌。这样过了好久。大约这样劳碌了一刻钟左右，母亲提议最好还是把五斗橱放在原处。一来，要搬的东西对她们来说太重了，父亲回来之前根本完不了工，把它放在房间中央可能会更加挡道；再者，就算把它搬走了，依旧不能确定是否真的对他有什么协助。她的见解恰恰相反。看到光秃秃的墙壁，一阵悲伤就会直袭她的心脏。格雷戈尔会不会也有同感呢？长久以来，他已经习惯房间里的摆设，住在这样一个空荡荡的房间里，他可能会觉得自己被抛弃了。她笃信格雷戈尔听不懂自己的话。接着，她几乎是轻声耳语起来——仿佛连声调都不想被他（她不知道他在哪里）听见——接着说道：“搬走这些家具不像是再说，我们已经放弃了所有好转的希望，我们要抛弃他让他自生自灭吗？我认为最好还是让这个房间完全保持原样，这样等格雷戈尔恢复正常回到我们中间时，他将会发现一切都没变，将会更容易忘掉这段时间发生的一切。”

Hearing these words from his mother made Gregor realize that the lack of any direct human communication, along with the monotonous life led by the family during these two months, must have made him confused—he could think of no other way of explaining to himself why he had seriously wanted his room emptied out. Had he really wanted to transform his room into a cave, a warm room fitted out with the nice furniture he had inherited? That would have let him crawl around unimpeded in any direction, but it would also have let him quickly forget his past when he had still been human. He had come very close to forgetting, and it had only been the voice of his mother, unheard for so long, that had shaken him out of it. Nothing should be removed; everything had to stay; he could not do without the good influence the furniture had on his condition; and if the furniture made it difficult for him to crawl about mindlessly that was not a loss but a great advantage.

听了母亲的话,格雷戈尔意识到，这两个月来，自己缺乏与人类的直接交流,家人也都过着单调的生活，这些肯定让他变得糊涂了——否则他想不出别的理由来解释为何自己如此希望将房间腾空。这是一个温暖的房间，摆满了他继承下来的美丽家具，难道说他真想把这个房间变成一个洞穴？这样也许可以让他畅通无阻地四处爬动，但是也会让他很快忘掉过去，忘记他还是人的时候。他差不多已经淡忘了，只是当他再次听到母亲的声音——他好久都没听见了，才从遗忘中惊醒。什么都不必搬，一切必须保持原样。没了家具给他的状况带来的良好影响，他没法生存。就算在他漫无目的地四处爬行时，这些家具会给他造成困扰，那也是有百益而无一害。

His sister, unfortunately, did not agree; she had become used to the idea, not without reason, that she was Gregor's spokesman to his parents about the things that concerned him. This meant that his mother's advice now was sufficient reason for her to insist on removing not only the chest of drawers and the desk, as she had thought at first, but all the furniture apart from the all-important couch. It was more than childish perversity, of course, or the unexpected confidence she had recently acquired, that made her insist; she had indeed noticed that Gregor needed a lot of room to crawl about in, whereas the furniture, as far as anyone could see, was of no use to him at all. Girls of that age, though, do become enthusiastic about things and feel they must get their way whenever they can. Perhaps this was what tempted Grete to make Gregor's situation seem even more shocking than it was so that she could do even more for him. Grete would probably be the only one who would dare enter a room dominated by Gregor crawling about the bare walls by himself.

不幸的是，妹妹不同意。她已经打定了主意，并且有她的理由——她是格雷戈尔的代言人，一切有关他的事情由她向父母转告的。也就是说，母亲的提议为她坚持搬走家具提供了充分的理由，不仅按她最初所想的搬走五斗橱和桌子，还要搬走其他所有的家具，只有最重大的睡椅除外。当然，让她坚持己见的这不仅仅是一种孩子般的固执，或是她最近获得的一种意想不到的自信。实际上，她的确 注意到格雷戈尔四处爬动需要大量的空间，而且，正如大家所见，这些家具对他而言根本就没用。可是，那个年纪女孩们的确 对事物充满了热烈，总希望一切必须按照她们的意愿行事。也许正是这引诱着格蕾特将格雷戈尔推入比以前更加糟糕的处境，这样她就可以为他做更多事情。这个房间由格雷戈尔支配，他独自一人在光秃秃的墙壁上爬来爬去，而格蕾特可能是唯一一个敢进来的人。

So she refused to let her mother dissuade her. Gregor's mother already looked uneasy in his room, she soon stopped speaking and helped Gregor's sister to get the chest of drawers out with what strength she had. The chest of drawers was something that Gregor could do without if he had to, but the writing desk had to stay. Hardly had the two women pushed the chest of drawers, groaning, out of the room than Gregor poked his head out from under the couch to see what he could do about it. He meant to be as careful and considerate as he could, but, unfortunately, it was his mother who came back first while Grete in the next room had her arms round the chest, pushing and pulling at it from side to side by herself without, of course, moving it an inch. His mother was not used to the sight of Gregor, he might have made her ill, so Gregor hurried backwards to the far end of the couch. In his startlement, though, he was not able to prevent the sheet at its front from moving a little. It was enough to attract his mother's attention. She stood very still, remained there a moment, and then went back out to Grete.

因此，她拒绝听从母亲的劝告。格雷戈尔的母亲在房间里早已感到不安，她立刻停止说话，使出浑身力气帮妹妹将五斗橱弄出去。五斗橱并不是非有不可，格雷戈尔没它勉强也能过，但是写字台必须留下。这两个女人刚叫苦不迭地将五斗橱推出房间，格雷戈尔就立刻从睡椅下探出头来，看看他能做点什么。他尽可能地做到小心谨慎，可是很不幸，先回到房间的是他母亲。格蕾特一个人在隔壁双手环抱着五斗橱，从左右推拉着它，五斗橱自然纹丝不动。母亲还不习惯看见格雷戈尔的样子。格雷戈尔担心会让她感觉不舒服，他便匆匆退回睡椅较远的一端。不过，惊慌之余，他没能防止挂在睡椅前面的床单的轻微晃动。这足以吸引母亲的注意力。她静静地站着，在那里呆了一会儿，接着就跑出去找格蕾特。

Gregor kept trying to assure himself that nothing unusual was happening, it was just a few pieces of furniture being moved after all, but he soon had to admit that the women going to and fro, their little calls to each other, the scraping of the furniture on the floor, all these things made him feel as if he were being assailed from all sides. With his head and legs pulled in against him and his body pressed to the floor, he was forced to admit to himself that he could not stand all of this much longer. They were emptying his room out; taking away everything that was dear to him; they had already taken out the chest containing his fretsaw and other tools; now they threatened to remove the writing desk with its place clearly worn into the floor, the desk where he had done his homework as a business trainee, at high school, even while he had been at infant school—he really could not wait any longer to see whether the two women's intentions were good. He had nearly forgotten they were there anyway, as they were now too tired to say anything while they worked and he could only hear their feet as they stepped heavily on the floor.

格雷戈尔一再说服自己不会发生什么意外，只不过是搬动几件家具罢了。可是，那两个女人走来走去，轻声呼喊彼此，家具也在地板上蹭得直响，他很快就不得不承认这一切都让他觉得自己像是腹背受敌。他的头部和腿蜷缩在一起，身体贴着地板。他不得不承认，自己忍受不了多久了。她们正在清空他的房间，将格雷戈尔珍爱的东西都拿走。放圆锯和其他工具的橱柜早已被搬走。目前她们扬言要搬走写字台——写字台之下的地板早已清晰地凹了下去——以前在公司做实习生、上中学甚至是幼儿园时，他都在这个写字台上完成家庭作业——他真的再也等不下去了，迫切想弄清楚这两个女人到底是不是心怀好意。他几乎都忘了她们就在这里。由于太累，她们工作时一句话也没说，他只能听见她们双脚沉重地踩在地板上的声音。

So, while the women were leant against the desk in the other room catching their breath, he sallied out, changed direction four times not knowing what he should save first before his attention was suddenly caught by the picture on the wall—which was already denuded of everything else that had been on it—of the lady dressed in copious fur. He hurried up onto the picture and pressed himself against its glass, it held him firmly and felt good on his hot belly. This picture at least, now totally covered by Gregor, would certainly be taken away by no-one. He turned his head to face the door into the living room so that he could watch the women when they came back.

因此，当她们在隔壁靠着桌子喘气时，格雷戈尔突然爬了出来，改变了四次方向，由于他不知道第一该顾哪个方向。他突然看到了墙上的画——以前墙上挂的东西都已被取走——那张画着身穿裘皮大衣的贵妇的画作。他赶忙爬上照片，紧贴着玻璃。他牢牢地贴在玻璃上，滚烫的腹部在玻璃上感觉很舒服。此刻，这幅照片完全被格雷戈尔遮住，怎么说都不可能会有人将它拿走。他转过头正对着通往客厅的门，好在她们回来时能更好地观察她们。

They had not allowed themselves a long rest and came back quite soon; Grete had put her arm around her mother and was nearly carrying her. “What shall we take now, then?” said Grete and looked around. Her eyes met those of Gregor on the wall. Perhaps only because her mother was there, she remained calm, bent her face to her so that she would not look round and said, albeit hurriedly and with a tremor in her voice:”Come on, let's go back in the living room for a while?”Gregor could see what Grete had in mind, she wanted to take her mother somewhere safe and then chase him down from the wall. Well, she could certainly try it! He sat unyielding on his picture. He would rather jump at Grete's face.

她们并没让自己休憩多久，很快就回来了。格蕾特搂着母亲，几乎是在抬着她。“那么，我们目前该拿什么走呢？”格蕾特环顾四周，说道。她的目光与正在墙上的格雷戈尔的目光相遇了。也许是由于母亲在场，她还是很冷静，低下头对着母亲，这样她就不会四处张望。不过，她还是用颤抖的声音急忙说道：“走，我们回客厅片刻好吗？”格雷戈尔很清楚格蕾特在想什么，她想把母亲送到安全的地方，然后把他从墙上赶下来。是的，她肯定会那么做！他不屈不挠地坐在那幅画上。他宁愿跳到格蕾特的脸上去。

But Grete's words had made her mother quite worried, she stepped to one side, saw the enormous brown patch against the flowers of the wallpaper, and before she even realized it was Gregor that she saw screamed:”Oh God, oh God!”Arms outstretched, she fell onto the couch as if she had given up everything and stayed there immobile. “Gregor!” shouted his sister, glowering at him and shaking her fist. That was the first word she had spoken to him directly since his transformation. She ran into the other room to fetch some kind of smelling salts to bring her mother out of her faint; Gregor wanted to help too—he could save his picture later, although he stuck fast to the glass and had to pull himself off by force; then he, too, ran into the next room as if he could advise his sister like in the old days; but he had to just stand behind her doing nothing; she was looking into various bottles, he startled her when she turned round; a bottle fell to the ground and broke; a splinter cut Gregor's face, some kind of caustic medicine splashed all over him; now, without delaying any longer, Grete took hold of all the bottles she could and ran with them in to her mother; she slammed the door shut with her foot. So now Gregor was shut out from his mother, who, because of him, might be near to death; he could not open the door if he did not want to chase his sister away, and she had to stay with his mother; there was nothing for him to do but wait; and, oppressed with anxiety and self-reproach, he began to crawl about, he crawled over everything, walls, furniture, ceiling, and finally in his confusion as the whole room began to spin around him he fell down into the middle of the dinner table.

但是格蕾特的话语让母亲感到超级担忧，她走到一边，看见墙纸的花案上有一个巨大的棕色斑块。她甚至还没认出来那就是格雷戈尔，就大声尖叫起来：“哦，天啊！哦，天啊！”她张开双臂，跌倒在睡椅上，仿佛已经万念俱灰，一动不动地呆在那里。“格雷戈尔！”妹妹挥舞着拳头愤怒地瞪着他，大声吼道。这是他变形以来妹妹直接对他说的第一句话。她跑到隔壁房间去取嗅盐，好让母亲从昏迷中醒来。格雷戈尔也想去帮忙——他可以晚点再抢救那幅画，可是他在玻璃上粘得太紧，必须费点力气才能脱落。随后，他也跑进隔壁房间，好像他可以如往常一样给妹妹一些提议那样。但是他什么也不能做，只能站在她身后。格蕾特正在瓶瓶罐罐中寻找嗅盐，当她转过身时，被格雷戈尔吓了一跳。一只瓶子掉在地板上，摔碎了。一块碎片划伤了格雷戈尔的脸，某种腐蚀性的药物溅了他一身。格蕾特一刻也不耽搁，一把抱住所有能抱住的瓶子跑回母亲那儿。她用脚一蹬，“砰”的一声关上了门。目前，格雷戈尔被关在母亲的房间外面。正是由于他，母亲才被吓得半死。他不能打开门，否则妹妹会被他吓跑，而她必须和母亲呆在一起。除了等待，他什么也不能做。他因焦虑和自责而深受折磨，开始在墙上、家具上和天花板上四处爬动。最后，在混乱中，整个房间开始在他的四周旋转，他跌落在餐桌中央。

He lay there for a while, numb and immobile, all around him it was quiet, maybe that was a good sign. Then there was someone at the door. The maid, of course, had locked herself in her kitchen so that Grete would have to go and answer it. His father had arrived home. “What's happened?” were his first words; Grete's appearance must have made everything clear to him. She answered him with subdued voice, and openly pressed her face into his chest:”Mother's fainted, but she's better now. Gregor got out.””Just as I expected,” said his father, “just as I always said, but you women wouldn't listen, would you.”It was clear to Gregor that Grete had not said enough and that his father took it to mean that something bad had happened, that he was responsible for some act of violence. That meant Gregor would now have to try to calm his father, as he did not have the time to explain things to him even if that had been possible. So he fled to the door of his room and pressed himself against it so that his father, when he came in from the hall, could see straight away that Gregor had the best intentions and would go back into his room without delay, that it would not be necessary to drive him back but that they had only to open the door and he would disappear.

他静静地在那躺了一会儿，麻木，一动也不动，他的周围很安静，也许这是一个好兆头。接着，有人敲门。当然，女仆早已将自己锁在厨房里，因此格蕾特必须去开门。父亲已经到家了。“发生了什么事？”这是他的第一句话。从格蕾特的表情中，他已经知道了一切。她公然将脸贴着他的胸膛，轻声地回答：“母亲昏倒了，不过目前好了些。格雷戈尔出来了。”“正如我所料，”父亲说，“正如我一直所说，但是你们母女俩都不听，是吧！”格雷戈尔很清楚，格蕾特并没有详细说明整件事，而父亲以为事态很严重，他有义务采取暴力措施。也就是说，目前格雷戈尔必须设法让父亲冷静下来，可是即使有这个可能，他也没时间向父亲解释一切。因此，他逃向自己房间的门口，贴在那儿。这样当父亲从走廊进来时，就可以立刻清楚，格雷戈尔是心怀好意，会立刻回到自己的房间里。他们只消把门打开，不用驱赶，他就会消失。

His father, though, was not in the mood to notice subtleties like that; “Ah!” he shouted as he came in, sounding as if he were both angry and glad at the same time. Gregor drew his head back from the door and lifted it towards his father. He really had not imagined his father the way he stood there now; of late, with his new habit of crawling about, he had neglected to pay attention to what was going on the rest of the flat the way he had done before. He really ought to have expected things to have changed, but still, still, was that really his father? The same tired man as used to be laying there entombed in his bed when Gregor came back from his business trips, who would receive him sitting in the armchair in his nightgown when he came back in the evenings; who was hardly even able to stand up but, as a sign of his pleasure, would just raise his arms and who, on the couple of times a year when they went for a walk together on a Sunday or public holiday wrapped up tightly in his overcoat between Gregor and his mother, would always labor his way forward a little more slowly than them, who were already walking slowly for his sake; who would place his stick down carefully and, if he wanted to say something would invariably stop and gather his companions around him. He was standing up straight enough now; dressed in a smart blue uniform with gold buttons, the sort worn by the employees at the banking institute; above the high, stiff collar of the coat his strong double-chin emerged; under the bushy eyebrows, his piercing, dark eyes looked out fresh and alert; his normally unkempt white hair was combed down painfully close to his scalp. He took his cap, with its gold monogram from, probably, some bank, and threw it in an arc right across the room onto the sofa, put his hands in his trouser pockets, pushing back the bottom of his long uniform coat, and, with look of determination, walked towards Gregor. He probably did not even know himself what he had in mind, but nonetheless lifted his feet unusually high. Gregor was amazed at the enormous size of the soles of his boots, but wasted no time with that—he knew full well, right from the first day of his new life, that his father thought it necessary to always be extremely strict with him. And so he ran up to his father, stopped when his father stopped, scurried forwards again when he moved, even slightly. In this way they went round the room several times without anything decisive happening, without even giving the impression of a chase as everything went so slowly. Gregor remained all this time on the floor, largely because he feared his father might see it as especially provoking if he fled onto the wall or ceiling. Whatever he did, Gregor had to admit that he certainly would not be able to keep up this running about for long, as for each step his father took he had to carry out countless movements. He became noticeably short of breath, even in his earlier life his lungs had not been very reliable. Now, as he lurched about in his efforts to muster all the strength he could for running he could hardly keep his eyes open; his thoughts became too slow for him to think of any other way of saving himself than running; he almost forgot that the walls were there for him to use although, here, they were concealed behind carefully carved furniture full of notches and protrusions—then, right beside him, lightly tossed, something flew down and rolled in front of him. It was an apple; then another one immediately flew at him; Gregor froze in shock; there was no longer any point in running as his father had decided to bombard him. He had filled his pockets with fruit from the bowl on the sideboard and now, without even taking the time for careful aim, threw one apple after another. These little, red apples rolled about on the floor, knocking into each other as if they had electric motors. An apple thrown without much force glanced against Gregor's back and slid off without doing any harm. Another one however, immediately following it, hit squarely and lodged in his back; Gregor wanted to drag himself away, as if he could remove the surprising, the incredible pain by changing his position; but he felt as if nailed to the spot and spread himself out, all his senses in confusion. The last thing he saw was the door of his room being pulled open, his sister was screaming, his mother ran out in front of her in her blouse (as his sister had taken off some of her clothes after she had fainted to make it easier for her to breathe), she ran to his father, her skirts unfastened and sliding one after another to the ground, stumbling over the skirts she pushed herself to his father, her arms around him, uniting herself with him totally—now Gregor lost his ability to see anything—her hands behind his father's head begging him to spare Gregor's life.

不过，父亲没心情关心这些细节，他一进门就喊道：“啊！”听起来像是喜怒交加。格雷戈尔将头从门边缩回，抬起头面对父亲。他的确 从没想象过父亲站在这里的情形。最近，他养成了四处爬行的新习惯，不再像往常那样关注公寓其他地方发生了什么事情。的确，他应该早料到一切都已改变，但是，这真的还是，还是他的父亲吗？格雷戈尔结束商务旅行回家时，这个看起来疲惫不堪的男人总是躺着床上，将自己埋进被窝里。晚上，格雷戈尔回到家里，父亲会穿着睡衣坐在扶手椅上迎接他。即使没法站起来，他也会扬起手臂，表明他很高兴。每年总有几次，他们会在某个周末或是公共假日一起出去散步，父亲走在母亲和格雷戈尔中间，用大衣将自己紧紧地包裹着。他总会艰难地往前走，总是走得比他们稍微慢些——为了照顾他，他们已经走得相当慢。他小心翼翼地拄着拐杖，如果想要发言，他必定会停下来，将同伴召集到他的周围。目前，他正站得笔挺，穿着一套整齐的镶金纽扣的蓝色制服，这是金融机构员工穿的行头。他那结实的双下巴从又高又硬的外套衣领上露了出来。浓密的睫毛下面是一双敏锐的黑眼睛，看上去既神采奕奕又充满警惕。他的白发在平日里总是乱糟糟的，目前却梳到了后面，紧紧地贴着头皮。他脱下帽子，上面用金线绣着几个字母，那可能是某个银行的缩写。他将帽子抛了出去，扔到了房间对面的沙发上。他拉了拉长长的制服大衣的底部，将手插进裤子口袋里，带着坚毅的表情走向格雷戈尔。可能他连自己在想什么都不清楚，但是，他依旧将脚抬得相当之高。他靴子的尺码相当大，这让格雷戈尔感到震惊，但是不能由于这而浪费时间——从新生活开始的第一天起，他就很清楚父亲认为有必要一直对他极其严厉。于是，格雷戈尔跑向父亲。父亲停下来，他也停下来。只要父亲一移动，哪怕是稍微移动，他就马上向前急跑。就这样，他们在房间里兜了几次圈，但没有什么决定性的事情发生。一切进行得如此之慢，甚至都没人觉得这是一场追逐。格雷戈尔一直呆在地板上，这主要是由于他担心要是自己逃到墙上或天花板上，会让父亲觉得他在蓄意挑衅。格雷戈尔不得不承认，无论做什么，像这样跑下去，他肯定撑不了多久。父亲每走一步，他就得移动无数步。很明显，他的呼吸越来越急促。即使在变形之前的生活中，他的肺就不太顶用。目前，当他拼命蹒跚而行，用尽全身力气逃跑时，他很难让双眼一直睁开。他的思维变得太过迟钝，除了逃跑，再也想不出去其他方法自救。他几乎忘了还可以利用墙壁——虽然墙壁被表面坑坑洼洼的雕花家具所掩盖。这时，他旁边的某个东西被轻轻扔了起来，飞落下来，滚到他面前。那是个苹果，接着又一只苹果向他砸来。格雷戈尔惊呆了，既然父亲决定这样攻击他，继续逃跑也无济于事。父亲从餐具柜上的碗里取了些水果，将口袋全装满，根本没花时间仔细瞄准目标，就一个接一个地扔苹果。这些小小的红苹果在地板上滚来滚去，仿佛都装有电动机，彼此碰撞。一个没多大力道的苹果擦到了格雷戈尔的后背，滑落下来，但没有造成任何伤害。不过，紧接着又一只苹果扔了过来，正中他的后背。格雷戈尔想让自己移动，好像只要移动位置就能让这种出人意料的难以言表的疼痛消失一样。但是，他感觉自己像是被钉在了那里，趴在地上，思维完全陷入了混乱之中。他看到的最后一幕是，他房间的门被拉开了，妹妹正在尖叫，母亲从她面前穿着罩衫跑了出来（母亲晕倒后，妹妹给她脱了些衣服，这样呼吸起来就更加容易）。她跑向父亲，松开的裙子一件接一件滑落到地板上。她的脚被裙子绊住了，于是她扑向格雷戈尔的父亲，紧紧地搂着他——目前格雷戈尔什么也看不见——她的手环绕着父亲的头，乞求他饶了格雷戈尔的性命。