1. It was a dark autumn night. The old banker was pacing from corner to corner of his study, recalling the party he gave in the autumn, fifteen years before. There were many clever people at that party. They talked, among other things, of capital punishment. Some of them thought that capital punishment should be replaced by life-imprisonment. "I don't agree with you," the banker said. "In my opinion capital punishment is more humane than imprisonment. Execution kills instantly, life-imprisonment kills slowly. “
这是一个漆黑的秋夜。这位老银行家正在他的书房里踱来踱去，回想着他在15年前的秋天里举办的那场派对。很多聪明人出席了那场派对。他们谈到了很多事情，其中包括死刑。他们中的一些人认为死刑应该被终身监禁取代。“我不同意你的看法，”这位银行家说道，“在我看来，死刑比监禁更加人性化。死刑能让服刑者立即死亡，终身监禁则会慢慢地杀掉他。”
2. Among them was a lawyer, a young man of about twenty-five. He said: "If I were offered the choice between them, I would certainly choose the second. It's better to live somehow than not to live at all." The banker, who was then younger and more nervous, suddenly banged his fist on the table, and cried out: "It's a lie. I bet you two million you wouldn't stick in a cell even for five years." "If you mean it seriously," replied the lawyer, "then I bet I'll stay not five, but fifteen." "Fifteen! Done!" cried the banker. "Gentlemen, I stake two million." "Agreed." said the lawyer.
他们中有一位律师，是一位大约25岁的年轻人。他说：“如果让我在它们之间做出选择，我肯定会选择后者。活着总比根本活不了强。”这位银行家（当时他比那个年轻人更加年轻，更加焦躁不安）突然用拳头猛地砸向桌子，大声喊道：“这是个谎言。我赌两百万元把你关在牢房里5年你都受不了。”“如果你是认真的，”律师回答说，“那我赌我可以在牢房里呆上15年，而不是5年。” “15年！好的，成交！”银行家喊道，“先生们，我的赌注是两百万元。”“同意，”律师说。
3. It was decided that the lawyer would be imprisoned in a garden wing of the banker's house. It was agreed that during the entire period he was permitted to have a musical instrument, to read books, to write letters, to drink wine and smoke tobacco. He could also communicate with the outside world through a little window through letters, in silence. The least attempt to escape, if only for two minutes before the fifteen years were over, would free the banker from the obligation to pay him the two million.
他们最终决定将律师关在银行家家的花园翼楼里。双方一致同意，在整个“服刑”期间，“服刑者”被允许拥有一件乐器、阅读书籍、写信、饮酒和吸烟。他还可以通过一个小窗口用文字的方式与外界沟通，但不能说话。如果在这15年结束前哪怕仅仅两分钟他有任何微小的逃跑企图，都将使银行家免于向他支付两百万元。
4. During the first year of imprisonment, the lawyer suffered terribly from loneliness and boredom. From his wing, day and night, came the sound of the piano. During the first year the lawyer was sent books of a light character; novels with a complicated love interest, stories of crime and fantasy, comedies, and so on.
在监禁的第一年里，律师吃尽了孤独和无聊的苦头。无论是白天还是黑夜，都会从关押他的翼楼里传来钢琴声。第一年里，银行家送给律师读的都一些轻松愉快的书——有着复杂爱情趣味的小说、犯罪与幻想的故事、喜剧等等。
5. In the second year the piano was heard no longer and the lawyer asked only for classics. In the fifth year, music was heard again, and the prisoner asked for wine. Books he did not read anymore. More than once he was heard to weep. In the second half of the sixth year, the prisoner began zealously to study languages, philosophy, and history. In the space of 7 years, about six hundred volumes were bought at his request. During the last two years of his confinement, the prisoner also read an extraordinary amount. He asks for books about everything: from chemistry, medicine, novels, philosophy to theology.
第二年里，钢琴声不再响起，而且律师只要了些经典名著读。第五年里，音乐再次响起，律师开始要酒喝。他不再读书了，而且不止一次从翼楼里传来他的哭泣声。第六年的下半年里，律师开始潜心研究语言、哲学和历史。第七年里，应他的要求，银行家给他买了大约600卷书籍。在被监禁的最后两年期间，他又做了大量的阅读。他开始博览群书——从化学、医学、小说、哲学到神学无所不及。

6. Only a few hours were now left of the 15-year period, and the banker thought: "Very soon he receives his freedom, and I shall have to pay him two million. I will be ruined for ever …" Fifteen years before he had too many millions to count, but now he was afraid to ask himself which he had more of: money or debts. "That cursed bet," murmured the old man "Why didn't the man die? He's only forty years old. He will take away my last money, marry, enjoy life, and I will look on like an envious beggar and hear the same words from him every day: 'I'm obliged to you for the happiness of my life. Let me help you.' No, it's too much! The only escape from bankruptcy and disgrace—is that the man should die.
现在离15年的期限只剩下几个小时了，银行家心想：“很快他就重获自由了，而我将不得不付给他两百万元。我这辈子算是毁了......”十五年前他还拥有数百万元的财富，而此时此刻他恐怕要问问自己哪个拥有的更多：金钱还是债务。“这场被诅咒的赌局，”老人低声抱怨道，“那家伙为什么不死？他只有四十岁。他要拿走我最后一笔钱，然后去结婚、享受生活；而我会像一个内心充满嫉妒的乞丐一样看着这一切发生，然后听着他每天说着同样的话——‘我为能够获得现在幸福的生活而对你感激不尽。让我来帮助你吧。’不，这太过分了！唯一可以让我逃脱破产和被羞辱命运的途径就是——这家伙得死。”
7. In the darkness of that night, trembling, the old banker went to the garden wing that served as the prison of the lawyer. The lawyer himself sat by the table. Only his back, the hair on his head and his hands were visible. The banker cautiously put the key into the lock. He expected instantly to hear a cry of surprise and the sound of steps. Three minutes passed, but it was as quiet inside as it had been before. He made up his mind to enter.
在那个漆黑的夜里，这位老银行家颤抖着走到了作为律师监狱的花园翼楼。律师正坐在桌旁。只能看到他的背部、他的头发以及他的双手。银行家小心翼翼地将钥匙插入锁中。他期待着能立刻听到惊喜的呼喊声和脚步声。三分钟过去了，但翼楼内却像以前一样安静。于是，他决定进去。
8. Before the table sat a man, unlike an ordinary human being. It was a skeleton, with tight-drawn skin, with long curly hair like a woman's, and a shaggy beard. His hair was already silvering with grey, and no one would have believed that he was only forty years old. On the table, before his bended head, lay a sheet of paper on which something was written in a tiny hand. "Poor devil," thought the banker, "he's asleep and probably seeing millions in his dreams. I only have to throw him on the bed, and smother him a moment with the pillow to kill him. But, first, let us read what he has written here."
桌子前坐着一个男人，看上去有些奇怪。那就是一副骨架，皮肤紧紧地贴在骨头上，留着像女人一样的长卷发，胡须乱蓬蓬的。他的头发已经包上了一层灰色，没有人会相信他只有40岁。桌子上，在他弯下的头部之前，他的一只小手拿着一张纸，上面写着些什么。“可怜的家伙，”银行家想，“他睡着了，可能在他的梦中看到了几百万元。我只需要把他扔在床上，用枕头让他窒息片刻便可以杀死他。不过，还是先看看他在这张纸上写了些什么吧。”
9. The banker took the sheet from the table and read: "Tomorrow at twelve o'clock midnight, I shall obtain my freedom and the right to mix with people. But before I leave this room and see the sun, I think it necessary to say a few words to you.” "For fifteen years I saw neither the earth nor the people, but in your books I drank fragrant wine, sang songs, hunted deer in the forests and loved many women. I saw green forests, fields, rivers, lakes, cities, I even conquered whole countries. Your books gave me wisdom. All human thought created over centuries is compressed to a little lump in my skull. I know that I am now cleverer than you all. I do not want to understand you. And I want to show you my contempt for that by which you live, so I waive the two million of which I once dreamed as of paradise, and which I now despise. Therefore, I shall escape five minutes before the end of my 15 years as a prisoner, and so violate the agreement."
银行家拿起桌子上的那张纸，读了上面的文字：“明天午夜十二点，我将重获自由，以及与他人交往的权力。但在我离开这个房间，看到阳光之前，我觉得有必要对你说几句话——十五年来，我既没有看到外面的世界，也没看到任何人，但在你给我的书中，我畅饮了美酒、唱过歌曲、在森林里逐鹿，还爱过很多女人。我看到了绿色的森林、田野、河流、湖泊、城市，甚至征服了所有国家。你的书给了我智慧。几个世纪以来形成的所有人类思想统统浓缩进了我的大脑。我知道我现在比你们所有人都聪明。我不想了解你。而且我想向你展示我对你所有赖以生存之物的蔑视，所以我要放弃曾经梦寐以求的，能够让我过上天堂般生活的，但现在已经让我不屑一顾的两百万元。因此，我会在作为囚犯的15年结束前的五分钟逃走，以此违反我们的协议。”
10. When he had read the letter, the banker put the sheet on the table, kissed the head of the strange man, and began to weep. He went out of the wing. Never at any other time, not even after his terrible financial losses, had he felt such contempt for himself as now. He had the hardest time sleeping that night. The next morning, the prisoner’s watchman came running to him and told him that the man who was locked in the wing had disappeared. To avoid unnecessary rumours, the banker took the letter of his ex-prisoner from the table and locked it in his safe.
读完这封信后，银行家把这张纸放回了桌子上，吻了一下那个陌生男子的头，开始哭泣。他走出了翼楼。他从来没有如此蔑视过自己，任何其他时刻都没有过，即便在他经历可怕的经济损失之后都没有过。那天夜里的他，无眠。第二天早上，看守囚犯的人跑到他面前告诉他，被锁在翼楼里的那个人消失不见了。为了避免不必要的谣言，银行家从桌子上拿走那封“逃犯”写给他的信，锁进了他的保险箱里。