林小姐这天从学校回来就噘起着小嘴唇。她掼下了书包，并不照例到镜台前梳头发搽粉，却倒在床上看着帐顶出神。Miss Lin came back from school that day with her little lips pouting. She dropped her school bag and instead of going to the dressing table to comb her hair and powder her face as usual, she lay on the bed staring at the canopy in a daze.
小花噗地也跳上床来，挨着林小姐的腰部摩擦，咪呜咪呜地叫了两声。林小姐本能地伸手到小花头上摸了一下，随即翻一个身，把脸埋在枕头里，就叫道：Xiaohua, the cat, leaped onto the bed and rubbed against Miss Lin's waist, meowing softly. Instinctively, Miss Lin reached out and touched the cat's head, then turned over, burying her face in the pillow, and cried out:
“妈呀！”"Mother!"
没有回答。妈的房就在间壁，妈素常疼爱这唯一的女儿，听得女儿回来就要摇摇摆摆走过来问她肚子饿不饿，妈留着好东西呢，——再不然，就差吴妈赶快去买一碗馄饨。There was no answer. Her mother's room was next door; usually, her mother, who doted on her only daughter, would waddle over to ask if she was hungry as soon as she heard her come home, mentioning that she had saved some good food—or else she would send Aunt Wu to quickly buy a bowl of wontons.
但今天却作怪，妈的房里明明有说话的声音，并且还听得妈在打呃，却是妈连回答也没有一声。But today, strangely, there were voices coming from her mother's room, and she could even hear her mother hiccupping, yet there was no response from her mother.
林小姐在床上又翻一个身，翘起了头，打算偷听妈和谁谈话，是那样悄悄地放低了声音。Miss Lin turned over in bed again, raised her head, and planned to eavesdrop on her mother's conversation, which was being conducted in such a hushed tone.
然而听不清，只有妈的连声打呃，间歇地飘到林小姐的耳朵。忽然妈的嗓音高了一些，似乎很生气，就有几个字听得很分明：However, she couldn't make out the words, only catching her mother's intermittent hiccups. Suddenly, her mother's voice rose, seemingly very angry, and a few words were clearly audible:
“——这也是东洋货，那也是东洋货，呃！……”"—This is also Japanese goods, that is also Japanese goods, hiccup!..."
林小姐猛一跳，就好像理发时候颈脖子上粘了许多短头发似的浑身都烦躁起来了。正也是为了这东洋货问题，她在学校里给人家笑骂，她回家来没好气。Miss Lin jumped as if her neck was covered in short hairs after a haircut, becoming irritable all over. It was also because of the issue of Japanese goods that she was ridiculed and scolded at school, and she came home in a bad mood.
她一手推开了又挨到她身边来的小花，跳起来就剥下那件新制的翠绿色假毛葛驼绒旗袍来，拎在手里抖了几下，叹一口气。据说这怪好看的假毛葛和驼绒都是东洋来的。She pushed away Xiaohua, who had come back to her side, stood up and stripped off her newly made emerald green fake velvet camel hair cheongsam, shook it a few times in her hand, and sighed. It was said that this rather good-looking fake velvet and camel hair were from Japan.
她撩开这件驼绒旗袍，从床下拖出那口小巧的牛皮箱来，赌气似的扭开了箱子盖，把箱子底朝天向床上一撒，花花绿绿的衣服和杂用品就滚满了一床。She lifted the cheongsam, dragged out the small leather trunk from under the bed, and petulantly twisted open the lid, upending it over the bed, causing a colorful array of clothes and sundries to spill across the bed.
小花吃了一惊，噗地跳下床去，转一个身，却又跳在一张椅子上蹲着望住它的女主人。Xiaohua was startled and leaped off the bed, turned around, and jumped onto a chair, squatting and watching its mistress.
林小姐的一双手在那堆衣服里抓捞了一会儿，就呆呆地站在床前出神。这许多衣服和杂用品越看越可爱，却又越看越像是东洋货呢！全都不能穿了吗？Miss Lin's hands rummaged through the pile of clothes for a while, then she stood in front of the bed, lost in thought. The more she looked at these clothes and sundries, the more lovely they seemed, yet the more they appeared to be Japanese goods! Could she not wear any of them anymore?
可是她——舍不得，而且她的父亲也未必肯另外再置新的！林小姐忍不住眼圈儿红了。她爱这些东洋货，她又恨那些东洋人；好好儿的发兵打东三省干吗呢？不然，穿了东洋货有谁来笑骂。But she—couldn't bear to, and her father might not be willing to buy new ones either! Miss Lin couldn't help but feel her eyes welling up with tears. She loved these Japanese goods, yet she hated the Japanese; why did they have to send troops to attack the three eastern provinces? Otherwise, no one would laugh or scold her for wearing Japanese goods.
“呃——”"Hiccup—"
忽然房门边来了这一声。接着就是林大娘的摇摇摆摆的瘦身形。Suddenly, this sound came from the door. Then Lin's mother, with her thin figure, wobbled in.
看见那乱丢了一床的衣服，又看见女儿只穿着一件绒线短衣站在床前出神，林大娘这一惊非同小可。心里愈是着急，她那个“呃”却愈是打得多，暂时竟说不出半句话。Seeing the clothes scattered all over the bed and her daughter standing in front of the bed wearing only a short woolen dress, Lin's mother was greatly shocked. The more anxious she felt, the more her hiccups increased, and she couldn't say a word for a moment.
林小姐飞跑到母亲身边，哭丧着脸说：Miss Lin rushed to her mother's side, her face full of sorrow, and said:
“妈呀！全是东洋货，明儿叫我穿什么衣服？”"Mother! They are all Japanese goods; what should I wear tomorrow?"
林大娘摇着头只是打呃，一手扶住了女儿的肩膀，一手揉摩自己的胸脯，过了一会儿，她方才挣扎出几句话来：Lin's mother just shook her head and hiccupped, holding her daughter's shoulder with one hand and rubbing her chest with the other. After a while, she managed to struggle out a few words:
“阿囡，呃，你干吗脱得——呃，光落落？留心冻——呃——我这毛病，呃，生你那年起了这个病痛，呃，近来越发凶了！呃——”"Ah Nan, hiccup, why are you undressed—hiccup, so bare? Be careful not to catch a cold—hiccup—this problem of mine, hiccup, started the year I gave birth to you, hiccup, and has gotten worse recently! Hiccup—"
“妈呀！你说明儿我穿什么衣服？我只好躲在家里不出去了，他们要笑我，骂我！”"Mother! What should I wear tomorrow? I can only stay at home and not go out; they will laugh at me, scold me!"
但是林大娘不回答。她一路打呃，走到床前拣出那件驼绒旗袍来，就替女儿披在身上，又拍拍床，要她坐下。But Lin's mother did not answer. She continued to hiccup, walked to the bed, picked out the camel hair cheongsam, draped it over her daughter, and patted the bed for her to sit down.
小花又挨到林小姐脚边，昂起了头，眯细着眼睛看看林大娘，又看看林小姐；Xiaohua again approached Miss Lin's feet, raised its head, squinted at Lin's mother, then at Miss Lin;
然后它懒懒地靠到林小姐的脚背上，就林小姐的鞋底来摩擦它的肚皮。林小姐一脚踢开了小花，就势身子一歪，躺在床上，把脸藏在她母亲的身后。Then it lazily leaned against Miss Lin's foot, and rubbed its belly against the sole of Miss Lin's shoe. Miss Lin kicked Xiaohua away, and leaning to one side, lay on the bed, hiding her face behind her mother.
暂时两个都没有话。母亲忙着打呃，女儿忙着盘算“明天怎样出去”；这东洋货问题不但影响到林小姐的所穿，还影响到她的所用；For a while, neither spoke. The mother was busy with her hiccups, and the daughter was preoccupied with planning "how to go out tomorrow"; the issue of Japanese goods not only affected what Miss Lin wore but also what she used;
据说她那只常为同学们艳羡的化妆皮夹以及自动铅笔之类，也都是东洋货，而她却又爱这些小玩意儿的！It was said that her makeup leather wallet, which was often envied by her classmates, and automatic pencils, were also Japanese goods, and she loved these little trinkets!
“阿囡，呃——肚子饿不饿？”"Ah Nan, hiccup—are you hungry?"
林大娘坐定了半晌以后，渐渐少打几个呃了，就又开始她日常的疼爱女儿的老功课。After sitting for a while, Lin's mother gradually had fewer hiccups and began her daily routine of doting on her daughter.
“不饿。哎，妈呀，怎么老是问我饿不饿呢，顶要紧是没有了衣服明天怎样去上学！”"Not hungry. Oh, mother, why do you always ask if I'm hungry? The most important thing is that without clothes, how can I go to school tomorrow!"
林小姐撒娇说，依然那样蜷曲着身体躺着，依然把脸藏在母亲背后。Miss Lin said coquettishly, still lying there with her body curled up, still hiding her face behind her mother.
自始就没弄明白为什么女儿尽嚷着没有衣服穿的林大娘现在第三次听得了这话儿，不能不再注意了，可是她那该死的打呃很不作美地又连连来了。Lin's mother, who had never understood why her daughter kept complaining about having no clothes, heard this for the third time and had to pay attention, but her damned hiccups came again.
恰在此时林先生走了进来，手里拿着一张字条，脸上乌霉霉的像是涂着一层灰。Just at that moment, Mr. Lin walked in, holding a note in his hand, his face gloomy as if covered with a layer of ash.
他看见林大娘不住地打呃，女儿躺在满床乱丢的衣服堆里，他就料到了几分，一双眉头就紧紧地皱起。他唤着女儿的名字说道：Seeing Lin's mother hiccupping incessantly and his daughter lying among the mess of clothes on the bed, he guessed what had happened, and his eyebrows furrowed tightly. He called his daughter's name and said:
“明秀，你的学校里有什么抗日会吗？刚送来了这封信。说是明天你再穿东洋货的衣服去，他们就要烧呢——无法无天的话语，咳……”"Mingxiu, is there an anti-Japanese association at your school? I just received this letter. It says that if you wear Japanese clothes tomorrow, they will burn them—lawless words, sigh..."
“呃——呃！”"Hiccup—hiccup!"
“真是岂有此理，哪一个人身上没有东洋货，却偏偏找定了我们家来生事！哪一家洋广货铺子里不是堆足了东洋货，偏是我的铺子犯法，一定要封存！咄！”"It's outrageous that everyone has Japanese goods, yet they single out our family to make trouble! Which foreign goods store doesn't have Japanese goods in stock, yet it's my store that's illegal and must be sealed! Pish!"
林先生气愤愤地又加了这几句，就颓然坐在床边的一张椅子里。Mr. Lin added these words indignantly, then slumped into a chair beside the bed.
“呃，呃，救苦救难观世音，呃——”"Hiccup, hiccup, save from sufferings and difficulties, Guanyin Bodhisattva, hiccup—"
“爸爸，我还有一件老式的棉袄，光景不是东洋货，可是穿出去人家又要笑我。”"Dad, I have an old-style cotton jacket, which probably isn't Japanese goods, but people will laugh at me if I wear it out."
过了一会儿，林小姐从床上坐起来说，她本来打算进一步要求父亲制一件不是东洋货的新衣，但瞧着父亲的脸色不对，便又不敢冒昧。After a while, Miss Lin sat up from the bed and said, she had intended to further ask her father to make a new set of clothes that were not Japanese goods, but seeing her father's face was not right, she did not dare to be presumptuous.
同时，她的想象中就展开了那件旧棉袄惹人讪笑的情形，她忍不住哭起来了。At the same time, her imagination unfolded the scene of the old cotton jacket causing ridicule, and she couldn't help but cry.
“呃，呃——啊哟！——呃，莫哭，——没有人笑你——呃，阿囡……”"Hiccup, hiccup—oh dear!—hiccup, don't cry,—no one will laugh at you—hiccup, Ah Nan..."
“阿秀，明天不用去读书了！饭快要没得吃了，还读什么书！”"Ah Xiu, you don't need to go to school tomorrow! We're about to have no food to eat, what's the point of studying!"
林先生懊恼地说，把手里那张字条扯得粉碎，一边走出房去，一边叹气跺脚。然而没多几时，林先生又匆匆地跑了回来，看着林大娘的面孔说道：Mr. Lin said in annoyance, tearing the note in his hand to pieces, sighing and stamping his feet as he walked out of the room. However, not long after, Mr. Lin rushed back in, looking at Lin's mother's face and said:
“橱门上的钥匙呢？给我！”"Where is the key to the wardrobe? Give it to me!"
林大娘的脸色立刻变成灰白，瞪出了眼睛望着她的丈夫，永远不放松她的打呃忽然静定了半晌。Lin's mother's face turned gray instantly, her eyes widened as she stared at her husband, and her constant hiccups suddenly stopped for a while.
“没有办法，只好去斋斋那些闲神野鬼了——”"There's no other way, we have to offer sacrifices to those idle spirits and wild ghosts—"
林先生顿住了，叹一口气，然后又接下去说：Mr. Lin stopped, sighed, and then continued:
“至多我花四百块。要是党部里还嫌少，我拼着不做生意，等他们来封！——我们对过的裕昌祥，进的东洋货比我多，足足有一万多块钱的码子呢，也只花了五百块，就太平无事了。"At most, I'll spend four hundred dollars. If the party department still thinks it's too little, I'd rather not do business and wait for them to seal it!—Our opposite Yu Changxiang, has more Japanese goods than me, with a value of more than ten thousand dollars, and only spent five hundred dollars, and then everything was fine.
——五百块！算是吃了几笔倒账吧！——钥匙！咳！那一个金项圈，总可以兑成三百块……”—Five hundred dollars! Consider it as a few bad debts!—Key! Sigh! That gold necklace should be worth three hundred dollars..."
“呃，呃，真——好比强盗！”"Hiccup, hiccup, it's really—like a bandit!"
林大娘摸出那钥匙来，手也颤抖了，眼泪扑簌簌地往下掉。Lin's mother took out the key, her hand trembled, and tears fell down her cheeks.
林小姐却反不哭了，瞪着一对泪眼，呆呆地出神，她恍惚看见那个曾经到她学校里来演说而且饿狗似的盯住看她的什么委员，一个怪叫人讨厌的黑麻子，捧住了她家的金项圈在半空里跳，张开了大嘴巴笑。Miss Lin, on the contrary, stopped crying. She stared with her teary eyes, lost in a daze. She seemed to see vaguely that committee member who had come to her school to give a speech and stared at her like a hungry dog. He was a disgustingly black-pockmarked man, holding her family's gold necklace in the air and jumping, laughing with his mouth wide open.
随后，她又恍惚看见这强盗似的黑麻子和她的父亲吵嘴，父亲被他打了……Then, she seemed to see vaguely that this bandit-like black-pockmarked man was quarreling with her father, and her father was beaten by him...
“啊哟！”"Ah!"
林小姐猛然一声惊叫，就扑在她妈的身上。林大娘慌得没有工夫尽打呃，挣扎着说：Miss Lin suddenly screamed and threw herself onto her mother. Lin's mother was so flustered that she didn't have time to keep hiccupping and struggled to say:
“阿囡，呃，不要哭，——过了年，你爸爸有钱，就给你制新衣服——呃，那些狠心的强盗！"Ah Nan, hiccup, don't cry—after the New Year, when your father has money, he will make new clothes for you—hiccup, those heartless bandits!
都咬定我们有钱，呃，一年一年亏空，你爸爸做做肥田粉生意又上当，呃——店里全是别人的钱了。They all insist that we have money, hiccup, year after year we are in debt, your father was deceived in the fertilizer business, hiccup—the store is full of other people's money now.
阿囡，呃，呃，我这病，活着也受罪，——呃，再过两年，你十九岁，招得个好女婿。呃，我死也放心了！——救苦救难观世音菩萨！呃——”Ah Nan, hiccup, hiccup, I suffer with this illness, hiccup, even living is a torment—hiccup, in another two years, when you are nineteen, if you can find a good husband. Hiccup, I can rest in peace even if I die!—Save from sufferings and difficulties, Guanyin Bodhisattva! Hiccup—"
