The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o'clock; in some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 2th. but in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o'clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner. 

　　六月27日的早晨晴朗无云，有着盛夏时节新鲜的温暖；花儿开得繁茂，草儿长得绿油油。十点钟左右，村里的人们开始在邮局和银行间的广场上聚集；有些城镇因为人太多，摸彩不得不花上两天，而且要在六月2日开始，但是在这个村子里，只有三百来人，摸彩的全程至多不会超过两小时，所以可以在早晨十点钟开始，并且仍能够让村民们准时回家吃上午饭。

　　The children assembled first, of course. School was recently over for the summer, and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them; they tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play. and their talk was still of the classroom and the teacher, of books and reprimands. Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones; Bobby and Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix-- the villagers pronounced this name "Dellacroy"--eventually made a great pile of stones in one corner of the square and guarded it against the raids of the other boys. The girls stood aside, talking among themselves, looking over their shoulders at rolled in the dust or clung to the hands of their older brothers or sisters. 

　　首先集合来的当然是孩子们。最近学校在放暑假，自由感不安地降落在多数人身上；在他们疯玩起来之前，他们往往会安静地聚在一起一会儿。他们谈论的仍是学校和老师，书本和惩戒。博比·马丁已经在他的衣兜里塞满了石子，其他男孩子很快也学起他的样子，挑选了最圆滑的石头；博比和哈里·琼斯还有迪克·戴拉克罗莱——村里人都把这个姓读作“戴拉克罗利”——最后终于在广场一角堆出了一个大石堆，他们守护着石堆，不让其他男孩袭击它。女孩们站在一边，互相聊着，转过头看到哥哥姐姐们蜂拥而来或是偎依而行。

　　The lottery was conducted--as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program--by Mr. Summers. who had time and energy to devote to civic activities. He was a round-faced, jovial man and he ran the coal business, and people were sorry for him. because he had no children and his wife was a scold. When he arrived in the square, carrying the black wooden box, there was a murmur of conversation among the villagers, and he waved and called. "Little late today, folks." The postmaster, Mr. Graves, followed him, carrying a three-legged stool, and the stool was put in the center of the square and Mr. Summers set the black box down on it. The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool. and when Mr. Summers said, "Some of you fellows want to give me a hand?" there was a hesitation before two men. Mr. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter. came forward to hold the box steady on the stool while Mr. Summers stirred up the papers inside it.

　　这次摸彩——就像广场舞会、少年俱乐部、万圣节前夕的节目——由夏莫斯先生主持。他有时间和精力来投身于市民的活动。他是个圆脸、快活的男人，他经营煤炭生意，人们很可怜他，因为他没有孩子，妻子又是个那样的泼妇。当他带着黑木箱来到广场时，村民们窃窃私语起来，他挥挥手，喊道，“今天有点晚了，乡亲们。”邮政局局长格雷乌斯先生跟着他，拿着个三条腿的凳子，那凳子给放在广场中央，夏莫斯先生把黑箱放在上面。村民们保持距离，在自己与凳子间留了一些余地。当夏莫斯先生说：“你们这些人谁想来给我帮帮忙？”时，有两个人犹豫了。马丁先生和他的大儿子巴克斯特走上前来，牢牢地把住凳子上的箱子，同时夏莫斯先生搅动起里面的纸片。

　　The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born. Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box. There was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it, the one that had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a village here. Every year, after the lottery, Mr. Summers began talking again about a new box, but every year the subject was allowed to fade off without anything's being done. The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained.

　　真正用于摸彩的道具很久以前就丢了，现在放在凳子上的这个黑箱甚至是在华纳老人——镇中最老的人——出生前就已经投入使用了。夏莫斯先生常常对村民讲要做一个新箱子了，但是没人对此上心，甚至到用这黑箱代替都成为了传统。据说现在这个箱子是用它之前的一个箱子的碎片做成的，而那一个则是当第一批人来到这里定居时做的。每年，在摸彩之后，夏莫斯先生就会再度开始谈论新箱子的事，而每年这个问题都是不了了之。黑箱一年年变得越来越破旧了：到现在它都已经不再是纯黑的了，有一侧碎裂得很厉害，现出了木头本色，而在有些地方则不是褪色就是变色了。

　　Mr. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter, held the black box securely on the stool until Mr. Summers had stirred the papers thoroughly with his hand. Because so much of the ritual had been forgotten or discarded, Mr. Summers had been successful in having slips of paper substituted for the chips of wood that had been used for generations. Chips of wood, Mr. Summers had argued. had been all very well when the village was tiny, but now that the population was more than three hundred and likely to keep on growing, it was necessary to use something that would fit more easily into he black box. The night before the lottery, Mr. Summers and Mr. Graves made up the slips of paper and put them in the box, and it was then taken to the safe of Mr. Summers' coal company and locked up until Mr. Summers was ready to take it to the square next morning. The rest of the year, the box was put way, sometimes one place, sometimes another; it had spent one year in Mr. Graves's barn and another year underfoot in the post office. and sometimes it was set on a shelf in the Martin grocery and left there.

　　马丁先生和他的大儿子巴克斯特牢牢地把黑箱在凳子上把住，直到夏莫斯先生用手彻底地搅过纸片。因为许多仪式都已被忘记或是废弃，夏莫斯先生成功地用纸片取代了沿用多代的木块。使用木块，夏莫斯先生争辩说，在村子还小时是很好，但是现在人口超过了三百，还有可能继续增长，这时就务必要用某种更易放入黑箱中的材料了。摸彩前一天晚上，夏莫斯先生和格雷乌斯先生制作了纸片，把它们放入箱子，然后拿到夏莫斯先生的煤炭公司仓库去锁起来，直到第二天早晨夏莫斯先生准备好了，再带它去广场。在一年中的其他日子里，这个箱子被放到一边，时而这里，时而那里；它曾在格雷乌斯先生的谷仓里放过一年，而另一年它又落脚在了邮局。有时它被放到马丁杂货店的架子上，然后就一直放在那里了。