托拉斯的破产
“A trust is its weakest point.” said Jeff Peters.
“托拉斯是它本身最大的弱点。”杰夫·彼得斯说。
“That.” said I， “sounds like one of those unintelligibleunintelligible adj.难解的， 无法了解的， 莫名其妙的 remarks such as， ‘Why is a policeman？’”
“你那句话简直莫名其妙，”我说，“就像是说‘为什么是警察？’一样。”
“It is not，” said Jeff. “There are no relations between a trust and a policeman. My remark was an epitogram—an axis—a kind of mulctem in parvo. What it means is that a trust is like an egg， and it is not like an egg. If you want to break an egg you have to do it from the outside. The only way to break up a trust is from the inside. Keep sitting on it until it hatches. Look at the brood of young colleges and libraries thats chirping and peeping all over the country. Yes， sir， every trust bears in its own bosombosom n.胸部， 胸， 胸怀， 内心， 内部， 中间， 任何温暖、舒适而熟悉的地方 vt.怀抱， 隐匿 the seeds of its destructiondestruction n.破坏， 毁灭 like a rooster that crows near a Georgia colored Methodist camp meeting， or a Republican announcing himself a candidatecandidate n.候选人， 投考者 for governor of Texas.”
“不见得。”杰夫说。“托拉斯和警察之间并没有联系。我的话是提纲挈领——是轴心——是一种实质。它的意思是说托拉斯既像一枚鸡蛋，又不像鸡蛋。打碎鸡蛋的时候，你得施加外力。要瓦解托拉斯，只能由里及外。像抱窝似的，等它孵出小鸡来。不妨看看在全国各地学院和图书馆里孵出来的那些叽叽喳喳、东张西望的毛头小伙子。不错，先生，每一个托拉斯本身就包含着毁灭的苗头，正如在佐治亚州卫理公会的黑人教徒举行野外布道会时，旁边一只腹腔啼叫的公鸡，或是在得克萨斯州竞选州长的一个共和党候选人。”
I asked Jeff， jestingly， if he had ever， during his checkeredcheckered adj.多变的 ， plaided， mottled， pied and dappled career， conducted an enterprise of the class to which the word “trust” had been applied. Somewhat to my surprise he acknowledged the corner.
我开玩笑似的问杰夫，在他那变化无常、纷繁复杂、纠缠紊乱的生涯里，他有没有经营过那种称之为“托拉斯”的事业。使我吃惊的是，他居然直言不讳地承认了。
“Once.” said he. “And the state seal of New Jersey never bit into a charter that opened up a solider and safer piece of legitimatelegitimate adj.合法的， 合理的， 正统的 v.合法 octopusing. We had everything in our favorwind， water， police， nerve， and a clean monopoly of an article indispensableindispensable n.不可缺少之物 adj.不可缺少的， 绝对必要的 to the public. There wasnt a trust buster on the globe that could have found a weak spot in our scheme. It made Rockefellers little kerosene speculationspeculation n.思索， 做投机买卖 look like a bucket shop. But we lost out.”
“干过一次。”他说。“即使是有由新泽西州颁发的执照的任何合法的垄断事业，都没有我们那次干得那样稳妥可靠。所有条件都对我们有利：风水、警察、胆量；再说，我们垄断的商品又是大众不可或缺的。世界上任何一个专和托拉斯过不去的人都挑不出我们的计划有什么毛病。相比之下，洛克菲勒的煤油小买卖简直像是没本钱的投机生意了。但结果我们是一败涂地。”
“Some unforeseenunforeseen adj.无法预料的 opposition came up， I suppose.” I said.
“大概是遇到了未曾预料的对手吧。”我说。
“No， sir， it was just as I said. We were selfcurbed. It was a case of autosuppression. There was a rift within the loot， as Albert Tennyson says.
“不，先生，只是由于我刚才说过的原因。我们是作茧自缚。是一个自我遏止的事例。正如艾伯特·丁尼生所说的，投机倒把里出现了裂路。
“You remember I told you that me and Andy Tucker was partners for some years. That man was the most talented conniverconnive vi.默许， 纵容， 暗中合作， 密谋策划 at stratagems I ever saw. Whenever he saw a dollar in another mans hands he took it as a personal grudge， if he couldnt take it any other way. Andy was educated， too， besides having a lot of useful information. He had acquired a big amount of experience out of books， and could talk for hours on any subject connected with ideas and discourse. He had been in every line of graft from lecturing on Palestine with a lot of magic lantern pictures of the annual Custom—made Clothiers Association convention at Atlantic City to flooding Connecticut with bogus wood alcoholalcohol n.酒精， 酒 distilled from nutmegsnutmeg n.肉豆蔻， 肉豆蔻种子中的核仁.
“你总记得，我对你说过，我和安迪·塔克是多年的老搭档了。那人是我生平所见过的最有天才的策略家。他只要看到人家手里有一块钱，如果不能把它弄过来，就认为是奇耻大辱。安迪除了具有许多实用的常识之外，还受过教育。他从书本上获得了大量的经验，在任何与思想推理有关的题目上，他都能如数家珍，一谈就是几个小时。各式各样的把戏他都玩过，上至在作介绍巴勒斯坦风光的报告时，放映大西洋城定制服装师联合会年会的幻灯片；下至在康涅狄格州倾销用肉豆蔻水蒸馏的冒牌烧酒民。
“One Spring me and Andy had been over in Mexico on a flying trip during which a Philadelphia capitalist had paid us 2，500 for a half interest in a silver mine in Chihuahua. Oh， yes， the mine was all right. The other half interest must have been worth two or three thousand. I often wondered who owned that mine.
“一年春天，我和安迪在墨西哥作一次短暂的旅行，在逗留期间，费城的一个资本家付给我们二千五百元，收买了奇瓦瓦州一个银矿的一半地股权。哎，银矿倒是确实存在。其余的一半地股权至少值二三十万元。不过我时常纳闷，不知那个银矿的主人是谁。
“In coming back to the United States me and Andy stubbed our toes against a little town in Texas on the bank of the Rio Grande. The name of it was Bird City， but it wasnt. The town had about 2，000 inhabitants， mostly men. I figured out that their principalprincipal n.负责人， 首长， 校长， 主犯， 本金 adj.主要的， 首要的 means of existence was in living close to tall chaparral. Some of em were stockmen and some gamblersgambler n.赌博的人， 赌徒 and some horse peculators and plenty were in the smuggling line. Me and Andy put up at a hotel that was built like something between a roofgarden and a sectional bookcase. It began to rain the day we got there. As the saying is， Juniper Aquarius was sure turning on the water plugs on Mount Amphibious.
“回美国时，我们在格朗德河畔得克萨斯州的一个小镇上歇歇脚。小镇的名字叫马协，其实不然。镇上有两千来个居民，大多数是男人。据我观察，他们的生活来源主要是靠同高标村打交道。有些是牧人，有些是赌棍，有些是盗马贼，还有不少是干走私买卖的。我和安迪在一家既像屋顶花园，又像分格书柜的旅店住下。我们到达那天下起雨来。雨势之大，正如俗话所说的，水刺柏在安菲比斯山上拧开了水龙头。
“Now， there were three saloonssaloon n.大会客室， 公共大厅， 酒吧间 in Bird City， though neither Andy nor me drank. But we could see the townspeople making a triangular processionprocession n.行列， 队伍 from one to another all day and half the night. Everybody seemed to know what to do with as much money as they had.
“且说乌镇有三家酒店。安迪和我虽然都不喝酒，但我们可以看到镇上的人整天在这几家酒店之间作三角形的穿梭运动，晚上半宿也是这样。大家仿佛都懂得该怎样去支配他们所有的钱。
“The third day of the rain it slacked up a while in the afternoon， so me and Andy walked out to the edge of town to view the mudscape. Bird City was built between the Rio Grande and a deep wide arroyoarroyo n.干枯的河床， 峡谷， 小河 that used to be the old bed of the river. The bank between the stream and its old bed was cracking and giving away， when we saw it， on account of the high water caused by the rain. Andy looks at it a long time. That mans intellects was never idle. And then he unfolds to me a instantaneousinstantaneous adj.瞬间的， 即刻的， 即时的 idea that has occurred to him. Right there was organized a trust， and we walked back into town and put it on the market.
“第三天下午，雨暂时停了一会儿，我和安迪便到镇边去看看泥景。鸟城坐落在格朗德河与它的伯河道之间，如今旧河道成了一条又宽又深的旱谷。大雨引起水位骤涨，河流和旱谷沿岸的土块开始松动坍塌。安迪看了很久。那个人的脑筋是永远不停的。接着，他把他灵机一动想出来的主意告诉了我。当场就组织了一个托拉斯，我们回到镇上，立即把它推到市场上。