她从他那里打听到每出戏的简洁扼要的情节。她把莎士比亚的《暴风雨》称为“讨厌的作品，因为它的布景太繁杂，而且头一场一开始就有水！”她的意思是说，汹涌的波浪这个布景在舞台上太突出了。相反，如果同样一个室内布景在五幕中都不变换一下，那么她就认为这个剧本写得很聪明和完整，是一出安静的戏，因为它不需要什么布景就可以自己演起来。
In earlier times，by which name our aunt used to designatedesignate vt.指明，指出，任命，指派v.指定，指派 thirty years ago，she and the beforementioned Herr Sivertsen had been younger. At that time he had already been connected with the machinery，and was，as she said，her benefactor. It used to be the custom in those days that in the evening performances in the only theatre the town possessed，spectators were admitted to the part called the “flies，” over the stage，and every machinist had one or two places to give away. Often the flies were quite full of good company，it was said that generals wives and privy councillors wives had been up there. It was quite interesting to look down behind the scenes，and to see how the people walked to and fro on the stage when the curtain was down.
在古时候——也就是姑妈所谓的三十多年以前——她和刚才所说的西凡尔生先生还很年轻。那时他已经在装置部里工作，并且正如她所说的，已经是她的一个“恩人”。在那个时候，城里只有一个独一无二的大戏院。在演晚场时，很多顾客总是坐在台顶上的布景间里。每一个后台的木匠都能自己处理一两个位子。这些位子经常坐满了客人，并且都是名流：据说不是将军的太太，就是市府参议员的夫人。从幕后看戏，而且当幕落以后，知道演员怎样站着和怎样动作——这都是很有意思的。
Our aunt had been there several times，as well when there was a tragedy as when there was a ballet，for the pieces in which there were the greatest number of characters on the stage were the most interesting to see from the flies. One sat pretty much in the dark up there，and most people took their supper up with them. Once three apples and a great piece of bread and butter and sausagesausage n.香肠，腊肠 fell down right into the dungeondungeon n.地牢 of Ugolino，where that unhappy man was to be starvedstarve vt.使饿死vi.饿得要死 to death； and there was great laughter among the audience. The sausage was one of the weightiest reasons why the worthy management refused in future to have any spectators up in the flies.
姑妈有好几次在这种位子上观看悲剧和芭蕾舞，因为需要大批演员上台的戏只有从台顶上的布景间里才看得最有味。你在黑暗中坐着，而且这儿大多数的人都随身携带着晚餐。有次三个苹果和一片夹着香肠的黄油面包掉到监狱里去了，而狱中的乌果里诺却在这时快要饿死了。这引起观众满堂大笑。后来戏院的经理不允许人坐在台顶的布景间里看戏，主要就是为了这香肠的缘故。
“But I was there sevenandthirty times，” said our aunt，“and I shall always remember Mr. Sivertsen for that.”
“不过我到那上面去过三十七次，”姑妈说，“西凡尔生先生，我永远也不能忘记这件事。” On the very last evening when the flies were still open to the public，the “Judgment of Solomon” was performed，as our aunt remembered very well. She had，through the influence of her benefactorbenefactor n.恩人，捐助者，赠送者，赞助人，Herr Sivertsen，procured a free admission for the Agent Fabs，although he did not deserve it in the least，for he was always cutting his jokes about the theatre and teasingtease vt.取笑，逗恼，奚落，欺负，嘲弄，取笑，强求n.揶揄，戏弄，逗惹 our aunt. but she had procured him a free admissionadmission n.允许进入，承认某事之陈述，供认 to the flies，for all that. He wanted to look at this playerstuff from the other side.
当布景间最后一次向观众开放的时候，《所罗门的审判》这出戏正在上演。姑妈记得清楚。她经过她的恩人西凡尔生先生为经纪人法布搞到了一张门票，虽然他不配得到一张，因为他老是跟戏院开玩笑，而且也常因此而讥讽她。但她总算为他弄到了一个位子。他要“倒看”舞台上的表演。
“Those were his own words，and they were just like him.” said our aunt.
姑妈说：“这个词儿是他亲嘴说出来的——真是能代表他的特性。” He looked down from above on the “Judgment of Solomon”，and fell asleep over it. One would have thought that he had come from a dinner where many toasts had been given. He went to sleep，and was locked in. And there he sat through the dark night in the flies，and when he woke，he told a story，but our aunt would not believe it.
因此他就从上面“倒看”《所罗门的审判》了，同时也就睡着了。你很可能认为他事先赴过宴会，喝了好多杯酒。他睡过去了，而且因此被关在里面。他在戏院里的这一觉，睡过了整个黑夜。睡醒以后，他把全部经过都讲了出来，可是姑妈却不相信他的话。
“The ‘Judgment of Solomon’ was over，” he said，“and all the people had gone away，up stairs and down stairs； but now the real play began，the afterpiece，which was the best of all.” said the agent. “Then life came into the affair. It was not the ‘Judgment of Solomon’ that was performed，no，a real court of judgment was held upon the stage.” And Agent Fabs had the impudenceimpudence n.轻率，厚颜无耻 to try and make our aunt believe all this. That was the thanks she got for having got him a place in the flies.
“《所罗门的审判》演完了，所有的灯都不亮了，楼上和楼下的人都走光了，可是真正的戏——所谓‘余兴’——还不过是刚刚开始呢。”经纪人说，“这才是最精彩的戏呢！道具全活起来了。它们不是在演《所罗门的审判》，不是的，它们是在演《戏院的审判日》。”这一套话，经纪人法布竟然胆敢叫姑妈相信！这就是她为他弄到一张台顶票所得到的报酬！
What did the agent say？ Why，it was curious enough to hear，but there was malicemalice n.恶意，怨恨，预谋，蓄意犯罪 and satiresatire n.讽刺文学，讽刺 in it.
经纪人所讲的话，听起来的确很滑稽，不过骨子里却是包含着恶意和讽刺。
“It looked dark enough up there，” said the agent，“but then the magic business began—a great performance，‘The Judgment in the Theatre.’ The boxkeepers were at their posts，and every spectator had to show his ghostlyghostly adj.可怕的 passbook，that it might be decided if he was to be admitted with hands loose or bound，and with or without a muzzle. Grand people who came too late，when the performance had begun，and young people，who could not always watch the time，were tied up outside，and had list slippers put on their feet，with which they were allowed to go in before the beginning of the next act，and they had muzzlesmuzzle n.动物之鼻口，（动物的）口套vt.戴口络于，上口罩 too. And then the ‘Judgment on the Stage’ began.”
“那上面真是漆黑一片，”经纪人说，“不过伟大的妖术演出只有在这种情景下，《戏院的审判日》才可以开始。收票人站在门口。每个看戏的人都要交出品行证明书，看他要不要戴着手铐，或是要不要戴着口罩走进去。在戏开演后当晚的上流社会中人，或者故意在外面浪费时间的年轻人，全被拴在外面。除了戴上口罩以外，他们的脚还得套上毡底鞋，等到下一幕开演时才能走进去。这样，《戏院的审判日》就上演了。”
“All malice，and not a bit of truth in it！” said our aunt.
“这几乎是我们上帝从来没有听过的胡说！”姑妈说。