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。

　　Just as Mr. Summers finally left off talking and turned to the assembled villagers, Mrs. Hutchinson came hurriedly along the path to the square, her sweater thrown over her shoulders, and slid into place in the back of the crowd. "Clean forgot what day it was," she said to Mrs. Delacroix, who stood next to her, and they both laughed softly. "Thought my old man was out back stacking wood," Mrs. Hutchinson went on. "and then I looked out the window and the kids was gone, and then I remembered it was the twenty-seventh and came a-running." She dried her hands on her apron, and Mrs. Delacroix said, "You're in time, though. They're still talking away up there."

　　就在夏莫斯先生最终结束了讲话，并转过身来面对集合的村民时，赫群森太太慌忙地从小路那儿来到了广场，她的毛衣披在肩上，当来到人群后面时它滑落到了地上。“把日子整个儿给忘了，”她对站在她旁边的戴拉克罗莱太太说，她们俩都轻声笑了。“我以为我丈夫是出去堆木材去了，”赫群森太太继续说。“然后我往窗外一看，孩子们也都没了，然后我想起来今天是二十七号，于是就一溜小跑来了。”她在围裙上擦擦手，戴拉克罗莱太太说，“不过，你来得及时。他们还在那里滔滔不决地讲呢。”

　　Mrs. Hutchinson craned her neck to see through the crowd and found her husband and children standing near the front. She tapped Mrs. Delacroix on the arm as a farewell and began to make her way through the crowd. The people separated good-humoredly to let her through: two or three people said. in voices just loud enough to be heard across the crowd, "Here comes your, Missus, Hutchinson," and "Bill, she made it after all." Mrs. Hutchinson reached her husband, and Mr. Summers, who had been waiting, said cheerfully. "Thought we were going to have to get on without you, Tessie." Mrs. Hutchinson said. grinning, "Wouldn't have me leave m'dishes in the sink, now, would you. Joe?," and soft laughter ran through the crowd as the people stirred back into position after Mrs. Hutchinson's arrival.

　　赫群森太太伸长脖子望过去，发现她的丈夫和孩子们都站在前排。她轻拍了一下戴拉克罗莱太太的胳膊作为告别，然后开始穿过人群网前走。人们愉快地为她让路：有两三个人用在人群之中刚好听得见的声音说，“你，太太，来啦，赫群森，”“比尔，她终于来啦。”赫群森太太到了她丈夫身边，夏莫斯先生一直在等着她，这会儿高兴地说。“还以为我们接下去摸彩要不带你了呢，泰西。”赫群森太太开口笑起来，她说，“我总不能把那么些盘子扔在水池里不管吧，喂，你说是吧，乔？”一阵轻笑在人群中传开，人们在赫群森太太到来之后又都回了原位。

　　"Well, now." Mr. Summers said soberly, "guess we better get started, get this over with, so's we can go back to work. Anybody ain't here?"

　　“好了，好了。”夏莫斯先生严肃地说，“我想我们最好开始吧，把这事做完，然后我们好回去工作。有谁没来吗？”

　　"Dunbar." several people said. "Dunbar. Dunbar."

　　“邓巴。”几个人说。“邓巴。邓巴。”

　　Mr. Summers consulted his list. "Clyde Dunbar." he said. "That's right. He's broke his leg, hasn't he? Who's drawing for him?"

　　夏莫斯先生翻看了一下名单。“克莱德·邓巴。”他说。“对了。他折断了腿，是这样吧？谁来为他抽签？”

　　"Me. I guess," a woman said. and Mr. Summers turned to look at her. "Wife draws for her husband." Mr. Summers said. "Don't you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey?" Although Mr. Summers and everyone else in the village knew the answer perfectly well, it was the business of the official of the lottery to ask such questions formally. Mr. Summers waited with an expression of polite interest while Mrs. Dunbar answered.

　　“我想我来吧，”一个女人说。夏莫斯先生转过身来看她。“妻子为丈夫抽签。”夏莫斯先生说。“您没有一个成年儿子来为您做这件事吗，珍妮？”尽管夏莫斯先生和村中的所有人都非常清楚她的回答，但正式地问这样的问题是摸彩中的例行公事。夏莫斯先生等待着，当邓巴太太回答时，他表现出一种礼貌性的注意。

　　"Horace's not but sixteen vet." Mrs. Dunbar said regretfully. "Guess I gotta fill in for the old man this year."