红死魔的面具

“红死魔”早已在这片国土上肆虐良久。从未有过任何瘟疫如此致命，如此骇人。鲜血是它的化身，也是它的印记——鲜血的殷红与恐怖。

The “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood.

病发时伴有剧痛与突如其来的眩晕，紧接着便是毛孔大量渗血，身体迅速溃烂瓦解。

There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution.

受害者身上，尤其是脸上的猩红斑块，犹如一道瘟疫的放逐令，彻底断绝了他从同胞那里获得救助与同情的可能。

The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men.

从发病、恶化到终结，整个过程不过半个时辰。

And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.

然而，普洛斯佩罗亲王依然快活、无畏且聪慧敏锐。

But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious.

当其领地内的人口折损过半时，他从朝臣中的骑士与贵妇里召来了一千名健壮且开朗的朋友，与他们一同隐退至他的一座城堡式修道院深处避世。

When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys.

那是一座宏伟壮丽的庞大建筑，出自亲王本人奇特而尊贵的品味。一道坚固高耸的围墙将其环绕，墙上设有铁门。

This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince’s own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron.

侍臣们进入后，搬来了熔炉与沉重的大锤，将门栓彻底焊死。他们决意封死一切出入之径，以防内部突发绝望或狂乱的冲动。修道院内物资充沛。

The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply provisioned.

有了这般防范，侍臣们大可对传染病嗤之以鼻。外面的世界自可听天由命。与此同时，悲伤或思虑皆是愚蠢之举。亲王备齐了享乐所需的一切物什。

With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure.

这里有小丑，有即兴诗人，有芭蕾舞者，有乐师，有佳人，有美酒。所有这些以及安全感都在门内。门外则是“红死魔”。

There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the “Red Death.”

大约在隐居生活的第五或第六个月末，正当外界瘟疫肆虐得最为猖獗之际，普洛斯佩罗亲王为他的一千名朋友举办了一场极度奢华非凡的化装舞会。

It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.

那场化装舞会实乃一派纸醉金迷的景象。但且容我先描述一下举办舞会的厅堂。总共有七间——一套极具皇家风范的套房。

It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. There were seven—an imperial suite.

然而，在许多宫殿中，此类套房通常构成一条笔直漫长的前景视野，两旁的折门几乎可以完全退缩贴墙，使得整片空间的景致一览无余。

In many palaces, however, such suites form a long and straight vista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded.

此地的情形却大相径庭；正如人们由大公对怪诞风格的癖好所预料的那样。各个房间的布局极其错落不规整，以至于视线一次仅能触及一间有余。

Here the case was very different; as might have been expected from the duke’s love of the bizarre. The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time.