[2]次の英文を訳しなさい。

*I was out of work. But any day I expected to hear from up north. I lay on the sofa and listened to the rain. Now and then I'd lift up and look through the curtain for the mailman.
*There was no one on the street, nothing.
*I hadn't been down again five minutes when I heard someone walk onto the porch, wait, and then knock. I lay still. I knew it wasn't the mailman. I knew his steps. You can't be too careful if you're out of work and you get notices in the mail or else pushed under your door. They come around wanting to talk, too, especially if you don't have a telephone.
*The knock sounded again, louder, a bad sign. I eased up and tried to see onto the porch. But whoever was there was standing against the door, another bad sign. I knew the floor creaked, so there was no chance of slipping into the other room and looking out that window.
*Another knock, and I said, Who's there?
*This is Aubrey Bell, a man said, Are you Mr. Slater?
*What is it you want? I called from the sofa.
*I have something for Mrs. Slater. She's won something. Is Mrs. Slater home?
*Mrs. Slater doesn't live here, I said.
*Well, then, are you Mr. Slater? the man said. Mr. Slater ... and the man sneezed.








*I got off the sofa. I unlocked the door and opened it a little. He was an old guy, fat and bulky under his raincoat. Water ran off the coat and dripped onto the big suitcase contraption thing he carried.
*He grinned and set down the big case. He put out his hand.
*Aubrey Bell, he said.
*I don't know you, I said.
*Mrs. Slater, he began. Mrs. Slater filled out a card. He took cards from an inside pocket and shuffled them a minute. Mrs, Slater, he read. Two-fifty-five South Sixth East? Mrs. Slater is a winner.
*He took off his hat and nodded solemnly, slapped the hat against his coat as if that were it, everything had been settled, the drive finished, the railhead reached.
*He waited.
*Mrs. Slater doesn't live here, I said. What'd she win?
*I have to show you, he said. May I come in?
*I don't know. If it won't take long, I said. I'm pretty busy.
*Fine, he said. I'll just slide out of this coat first. And the galoshes. Wouldn't want to track up your carpet. I see you do have a carpet, Mr....
*His eyes had lighted and then dimmed at the sight of the carpet. He shuddered. Then he took off his coat. He shook it out and hung it by the collar over the doorknob. That's a good place for it, he said. Damn weather, anyway. He bent over and unfastened his galoshes. He set his case inside the room. He stepped out of the galoshes and into the room in a pair of slippers.








*I closed the door. He saw me staring at the slippers and said, W. H. Auden wore slippers all through China on his first visit there. Never took then off, Corns.
*I shrugged. I took one more look down the street for the mailman and shut the door again.
*Aubrey Bell stared at the carpet. He pulled his lips. Then he laughed. He laughed and shook his head.
*What's so funny? I said.
*Nothing. Lord, he said. He laughed again. I think I'm losing my mind. I think I have a fever. He reached a hand to his forehead. His hair was matted and there was a ring around his scalp where the hat had been.
*Do I feel hot to you? he said. I don't know, I think I might have a fever. He was still staring at the carpet. You have any aspirin?
*What's the matter with you? I said. I hope you're not getting sick on me. I got things I have to do.
*He shook his head. He sat down on the sofa. He stirred at the carpet with his slippered foot.
*I went to the kitchen, rinsed a cup, shook two aspirin out of a bottle.
*Here, I said. Then I think you ought to leave.
*Are you speaking for Mrs. Slater? he hissed. No, no, forget I said that, forget I said that. He wiped his face. He swallowed the aspirin. His eyes skipped around the bare room. Then he leaned forward with some effort and unsnapped the buckles on his case. The case flopped open, revealing compartments filled with an array of hoses, brushes, shiny pipes, and some kind of heavy-looking blue thing mounted on little wheels. He stared at these things as if surprised. Quietly, in a churchly voice, he said, Do you know what this is?
*I moved closer. I'd say it was a vacuum cleaner. I'm not in the market, I said. No way am I in the market for a vacuum cleaner.
*I want to show you something, he said. He took a card out of his jacket pocket. Look at this, he said. He handed me the card. Nobody said you were in the market. But look at the signature. Is that Mrs. Slater's signature or not?
*I looked at the card. I held it up to the light. I turned it over, but the other side was blank. So what? I said.
*Mrs. Slater's card was pulled at random out of a basket of cards. Hundreds of cards just like this little card. She has won a free vacuuming and carpet shampoo. Mrs. Slater is a winner. No strings. I am here even to do your mattress, Mr. ... You'll be surprised to see what can collect in a mattress over the months, over the years. Everyday, every night of our lives, we're leaving little bits of ourselves, flakes of this and that, behind. Where do they go, these bits and pieces of ourselves? Right through the sheets and into the mattress, that's where! Pillows, too. It's all the same.
*He had been removing lengths of the shiny pipe and joining the parts together. Now he inserted the fitted pipes into the hose. He was on his knees, grunting. He attached some sort of scoop to the hose and lifted out the blue thing with wheels.
*He let me examine the filter he intended to use.
*Do you have a car? he asked.
*No car, I said. I don't have a car. If I had a car I would drive you someplace.
*Too bad, he said. This little vacuum comes equipped with a sixty-foot extension cord. If you had a car, you could wheel this little vacuum right up to your car door and vacuum the plush carpeting and the luxurious reclining seats as well. You would be surprised how much of us gets lost, how much of us gathers, in those fine seats over the years.
*Mr. Bell, I said, I think you better pack up your things and go. I say this without any malice whatsoever.
*But he was looking around the room for a plug-in. He found one at the end of the sofa. The machine rattled as if there were a marble inside, anyway something loose inside, then settled to a hum.

(Raymond Carver: Collectors)

*僕は失業していた。しかし、いつ北部の方から知らせが来てもおかしくないと思っていた。僕はソファに横になり、雨の音を聞いていた。時々、体を起こしてカーテン越しに郵便配達人の姿を探し求めた。
*通りには誰もいなかった。がらんとしていた。
*もう一度横になって５分も経たないうちに、誰かが 入り口の方へ歩いてきて、少し間をおいて、それからノックするのが聞こえた。僕はそのまま横になっていた。それが郵便配達人ではないことが僕にはわかっていたからだ。僕には郵便配達人の足音を聞き分けることが出来た。失業中で、郵送で通知を受け取ったり、あるいはドアの下にそれらの通知が押し込まれたりする場合、いくら注意深くしても注意しすぎるということはないのだ。特に電話がない場合などには、直接話し合うことを求めて、家までやって来ることもあるのだ。
*もう一度ノックの音が、今度は前よりも大きな音で聞こえてきた。何か厄介なことになりそうだった。僕はゆっくりと体を起こしてドアの外の方を見ようとした。しかし、そこにいるのは誰であれ、その訪問者はドアに寄り添うように接近して立っていた。これもまた、厄介なことであった。床がよくきしむのはわかっていたので、隣の部屋に音を立てずにこっそりと移って、その窓から外の様子をうかがうということもできそうになかった。
*またノックの音がしたので、「どなたですか」と僕は言った。
*「Aubrey Bellというものです。Slaterさんですか。」という男の声が聞こえた。
*「どういうご用件ですか。」と、僕はソファから叫んだ。
*「あなたの奥さんに用があるんです。抽選に当たったのです。奥さんは家にはおられないのですか。」
*「彼女はもうここには住んでいないよ。」と僕は答えた。
*「それじゃあ、あなたはご主人ですか、Slaterさん...」と言って、その男はくしゃみをした。


*僕はソファから離れた。錠をはずして、ドアを少しだけ開けた。その男は年を取っていて、レインコートを身につけた体は、大きすぎて扱いにくく思われるほどに太っていた。雨水がレインコートから流れ落ち、彼が手に持っていた大きくて奇妙な仕掛けのあるスーツケースみたいなものの上にポタポタとしたたり落ちた。
*彼はにやっと笑い、その大きなスーツケースのようなものを下に置いて手を差し出した。
*「Aubrey Bellです。」と彼は言った。
*「聞いたこともない名前ですがね。」と僕は答えた。
*「奥さんが」と彼は喋り始めた。「奥さんがカードに書き込んだのですよ。」 その男は内ポケットから何枚かのカードを取り出して、しばらくの間パラパラとめくった。「Mrs. Slater. Two-fifty-five South Sixth Eastですか？」と彼は読み上げた。「奥さんが当選したんですよ。」
*彼は帽子を取って、もったいぶった感じでうなずいた。それから、一件落着という感じで、今までかぶっていた帽子をコートにピシャッとたたきつけた。まるで、すべて決着が付いた、ドライブは終わり、終点に到着という感じで。
*その男はじっと待っていた。
*「彼女はもうここにはいないですよ。」と僕は言った。「彼女は何に当選したのですか。」
「あなたに実演しなければなりません。お邪魔していいですか。」と彼は言った。
*「わからない。時間がかからないのなら。」と僕は答えた。「とても忙しいんだ。」
*「結構です。まず、このレインコートをそっと脱がせてください。それからこのオーバーシューズも。お宅のカーペットを泥など持ち込んで汚したくないんです。カーペット、敷かれてますよね。Slaterさ...」
*カーペットを見て、その男の目はぱっと輝き、それからその輝きを失って暗く曇ったものになった。彼は身震いした。そして、レインコートを脱いだ。彼はレインコートについた雨水を払い落とし、ドアノブにレインコートの襟の部分を掛けた。「レインコートを掛けるには、もってこいの場所ですね。とにかく、外はひどい天気です。」と、彼は言った。彼は屈み込んでオーバーシューズの紐をゆるめた。スーツケースのようなものを部屋の中に置いた。彼はオーバーシューズを脱いで部屋履きをはいて部屋の中に入ってきた。

*僕がドアを閉めた。僕がその男がはいている部屋履きをじっと見ているのに気がついて、彼は言った。「W. H. Audenは、中国を初めて訪れたとき、どこへ行っても部屋履きをはいていました。けっして脱がなかったそうですよ。魚の目だったんです。」
*僕は肩をすくめた。僕は郵便配達人の姿を求めて、もう一度通りの方を見てからドアを再び閉めた。
*Aubrey Bellというその男は、じっとカーペットを眺めていた。彼は口をすぼめて、それから声を立てて笑った。笑いながら首を振った。
*「何がそんなに可笑しいのですか。」と僕は言った。