Chapter 19 Metamorphosis (1)

When Gregor Samsa awoke from a restless dream, he found himself transformed into a giant flea in his bed.His back had become a steel shell, and when he looked up a little, he saw his arched brown belly.The belly is stiff, bow-shaped, and divided into many small pieces connected together.The high part of the belly formed an all-round downward trend, and the quilt could hardly cover it tightly.His many legs, wretchedly thin and tiny compared with the rest of its body, shimmered helplessly before him, under his eyelids. "What's the matter with me!" Gregor thought to himself, it was not a dream.His room was an ordinary man's room, only slightly smaller.The room is quiet, surrounded by familiar walls, the collected fabric samples are spread out on the table, and there is a picture hanging up, which he cut out from a pictorial not long ago.Set in a beautiful gilt frame, it is a portrait of a lady.The lady in the painting wears a wool cap on her head and a long and narrow wool scarf around her neck, in a sitting posture.The lower part of the arm is hidden in the fur warmer.This painting is high above the sky, showing a kind of down-to-earth style to the visitors.

Gregor looked out the window, it was a gloomy day - the rain could be heard beating on the panes - and it made him feel depressed. "What if I sleep now and forget about all the foolishness?" he thought to himself.But this is impossible at all, because he is used to sleeping on the right side, but now he sleeps on his back and cannot turn over to the right side. Although he has used a lot of strength, it still doesn't help.He tried a hundred times, closing his eyes so as not to see those flailing calves.He stopped trying to turn over when he began to feel a slight dull pain in one side that he had never experienced before.

"My God," he thought, "what a hard job I've chosen, I'm on the go day in and day out. There's so much more excitement out there in business than at home, in a company." In addition, you have to bear the fatigue of the journey, you have to consider the intermodal transport of the train, the meals are irregular, the food is poor, and the frequent traffic changes are impersonal and warm. Let this kind of travel work go to hell Go!" At this moment, he felt a little itchy in his belly, so he slowly moved his back near the bedpost so that he could lift his head.He saw the itchy spot, it was full of small white spots, he couldn't figure out what those things were, he tried to touch the spot with his leg, but he pulled back immediately, because while touching, he hit a chills.

So he slid back to his place again, "Early," he thought, "makes one dull, one sleeps, and other travelers live like boudoir women. For example, when I walk back to the anteroom during this part of the morning, remembering Gentlemen don't eat breakfast until after the tasks assigned to me, if you don't believe me, try it at my superiors, and I will fly out at once; but who knows, whether it will be of any benefit to me? I should have declared my resignation a long time ago because of my parents, and I should have gone to my superior to confide my heart and soul. He would definitely fall off the desk after hearing my words; It was talking condescendingly to the clerk, who had to be very close to him because of his hard of hearing. Now, hopefully, a little bit, I've saved up a little money to pay off my parents' debt to him—the debt I'm afraid it will take five or six years to pay it back—I will definitely pay it off; and then I will get a huge profit. At present, I am going to get up anyway, because I am traveling by five o'clock."

He looked over to the alarm clock, which was ticking away on a box. "My God!" he thought, "it's already half past five, and the pointer is still moving quietly. It's even past half past five, and it's almost a quarter past five. Hasn't the alarm clock gone off? From the bed, the clock stopped at four o’clock, that’s right, it must have rang. Yes, the alarm clock that shook the furniture actually stopped, is it possible? Now, Gregor is quiet, but he is not asleep Ya! But maybe he's sleeping more soundly, so what's he going to do now? The next bus is at seven, so hurry up and go. He's gotta pack something. He doesn't think he's special Alert and energetic. Even though he was catching the train, it was inevitable that his superiors would be furious, because the assistant was already waiting for Gregor at the station at five o'clock, and he must have reported his missed train to his superiors. Spineless and sane. It would be especially embarrassing and questionable if he reported that Gregor was ill, because Gregor hadn't had a single illness during his five-year tenure, and his superiors would definitely have to talk to the Medicare doctor Come together, and blame the parents for their son being lazy. Instruct the doctor to raise all kinds of objections: Is he fair in the case of saying that he is healthy and lazy at work? Overslept, or overslept. He himself was perfectly healthy, and even extraordinarily hungry.

After thinking about all this in a hurry, he had no time to make a decision, so he left the bed—the alarm clock rang, and it was exactly quarter to six.Then someone knocked on the door next to the bedside, "Gregor,"—this was the mother's voice, "it's a quarter past six, why haven't you started yet?" The voice was so soft that he Also answered.But he was startled when he heard his own voice speaking back, which was his old voice, which was unmistakable, but mixed with an unmuffled insect sound from below, which had only the beginning It was clear in an instant, but the dragging sound was blurred, which made people panic and wonder if they heard it correctly.Gregor wanted to answer his mother's questions in detail and explain all this, but because his voice changed, he could only return the following words: "Yes, yes, thank you mother, I have woken up." Sensing the change in the voice, he stepped on his slippers and left with peace of mind.However, through this conversation, other people in the family heard that Gregor had not gotten up as everyone expected, but remained in the room without action.

Father knocked lightly on one of the side doors, but with his fist.He called out: "Gregor, what's the matter?" After a while, he reminded again in a low voice: "Gregor, Gregor." I asked with concern: "Is Gregor? Are you uncomfortable? Do you need something?" Gregor replied to both sides: "I'm ready." Gregor pronounced very carefully this time, and it was He spit it out word by word so that people could hear him clearly, and my father went to eat too.But the younger sister was still whispering, "Grigor, open the door, I beg you." Gregor didn't want to open the door at all. Last night, he had carefully locked all the doors in the room.

First he had to be quiet, then get up and dress, and eat his breakfast before thinking about anything else.Because he noticed that thinking about things in bed did not lead to good results, he recalled that he used to feel some mild pain in bed, which may be caused by poor sleeping position.When I wake up, I feel that this pain is completely a hallucination.This time he also felt a little pain in bed, and his voice changed, but when he got up, he didn't have any hallucinations anymore, it was all real.He was very alert. This change in voice was nothing but a sign of a cold, a sign of a traveler's occupational disease, there was no doubt about it.

Lifting the quilt was a very simple matter, and the quilt fell off without any effort, but the next thing was very troublesome, especially when standing up, it seemed even more troublesome.For his body was already unusually broad, which required the help of arms and hands; he had neither of these now, only many tiny legs, and they kept moving around, and he couldn't control the fluttering of the lower legs.If one of the legs was to be bent, it had to be straightened first, which he finally did, and he used it to do whatever he wanted.At this time the other legs, as if liberated, began to work in the same way, in a state of high excitement and excruciating pain.Gregor thought to himself: "Can I leave the bed?"

First he left the bed with his lower body, but he hadn't seen his lower body since he turned into a big flea, he couldn't imagine what this lower body was like, but he moved very clumsily, walked very slowly, and when he finally went crazy Yes, when he walked forward desperately, he really tried his best; but the direction was wrong, and he hit the lower part of the bedpost hard, and he felt a burning pain.This made him realize that his lower body was perhaps the most sensitive part of his body. So he tried to leave the bed with his upper body first, and turned his head carefully to the edge of the bed. He did it easily, although his lower body was wide and heavy, but with the turning of the head, his body finally turned, but when he finally When he propped his head up outside the bed, he was taken aback and dared not proceed with this method.Because if you continue to make progress, you will inevitably fall in the end. Is it strange if your head doesn't get hurt?It wasn't worth going on like this, and he'd better stay in bed.

But as he struggled back to his original position lying on the bed, he sighed and watched even more angrily as his little legs bumped into each other and struggled.He couldn't think of a way to deal with the commotion of the calves, and he thought to himself that he couldn't lie on this bed either.Desperate release from bed, even if there is little hope of release, is worth it.But remembering the past is the teacher of the future. During this period, he also did not forget: quiet thinking is much more rewarding than rash decisions.At this time, he kept his eyes on the window as much as possible, but unfortunately he only saw the morning mist covering the opposite side of the narrow street, from which he did not gain much confidence and cheerfulness.The alarm clock went off again. "It's seven o'clock," he thought, "it's seven o'clock, and there's always this fog." He lay for a while on the bed, breathing peacefully and weakly, as if he was expecting to return from utter silence. True, natural state. Then he thought again: before 7:15, I must get out of bed unconditionally, then someone from the company will definitely come to ask me, because the company is open before 7:00.He began to shake his whole lanky, shapely body out of the bed, and if he did this he would have to hold his head high, and he probably wouldn't hurt his head.As for the back, it seems to be hard. Nothing abnormal will happen if it falls on the carpet. The biggest consideration is the noise. Although the noise will not cause intimidation, it must also alarm everyone outside the door.There must be noise, and the risk has to be taken. When Gregor emerged halfway out of the bed—this new method was more a game than a hardship, and he always had to rock back—it occurred to him that if someone came to help now How easy it is for him to wake up.More than enough for two people. —he thought of his father's cook—they had only to move their arms under his arched back so that they could get him out of the bed, and they had to bend over, patiently, carefully because of the weight of their bodies. Move; so that Gregor can roll over on the floor, hopefully with the shins on the floor, being careful not to hop around.Besides, the door is still locked!Should he really call for help?He desperately suppresses a smile when he thinks about it. It's not even close!He shook himself vigorously, but still felt unbalanced, and made a final decision at once, for it was only five minutes to eight o'clock.At this moment there was a knock on the door, and Gregor thought, "There's someone from the company," and he was almost dumbfounded.At this time, the calf danced more happily.For a while everything was quiet."You don't open the door," he thought, subconsciously.He thought this time it must be the maid as usual, and she went straight to the door with firm steps and opened it.Gregor was only waiting for the sound of someone entering the room to say hello, and already knew who was coming—it turned out to be the company plenipotentiary himself.well!Why was Gregor the only one destined to serve in this company?As long as there is a slight mistake here, it will be questioned. Are all the employees in the company useless?Is there not a loyal and reliable element among them?And this man was out of business for only a few hours one morning, and his conscience had become so nervous that he couldn't leave his bed, even so, it would have been enough to send an apprentice to interrogate— If there is a need to interrogate—you can’t do this, but the representative himself came to declare to his innocent family that the representative himself has the ability to pursue the matter. Is that really the case? ——Grigor became excited when he thought of this matter. Before the representative came, he decided to get up, partly out of excitement, and more out of his own correct decision.So he shook it as hard as he could and got out of bed.It did make a noise when it rolled to the ground, but it wasn't very loud. On the one hand, the carpet dampened the sound, and on the other hand, the elasticity of the back was better than Gregor had imagined, so the sound of falling to the ground was not that loud at all.There was only the head, which, to his chagrin and pain, received a little bump from not being careful enough to lift it high enough, so he turned it and stroked it on the rug. "Something must have been lost in this room; said the representative in the next room on the left. Gregor wondered if the representative had undergone a change similar to what happened to Gregor today? There was a possibility, and at this moment The representative plodded in the next room, in patent leather boots, as if to give a crude answer to the question; in the room to the right, the sister reported quietly: "Gregor, the representative is here," "I know. He answered in a low voice, too, but his sister might have heard it. Gregor dared not raise his voice. "Gregor," said the father from the room on the right, "the representative has arrived, and he wants to ask why you didn't take the early train. We don't know what to say to him. Besides, he wants to talk to you privately." You open the door, he doesn't care if the room is not cleared." "Good morning, Mr. Samsa," said the representative friendly. "He's not feeling well," said the mother, cutting in to the representative while the father was speaking at the door. "He's not feeling well. Believe me, Mr. Representative, otherwise how could he miss the train? The boy is preoccupied with business." , do nothing else, and I'm mad at him. He doesn't go anywhere at night, and he's been in town for eight days now. He's at home every night, and he eats with us, Ann. Quietly read the newspaper or study the train timetable. The joinery he does, that's a distraction. For example, he spent two nights making a little wooden frame. You'll be amazed, sir, that little wooden frame. How beautiful it is! It hangs in the room, and you can see it as soon as Gregor opens the door. Besides, Mr. Representative, I am honored that you have come to us. We asked him to open the door long ago, and he did not do so. , he is stubborn. He must be ill, but he said in the morning that he was fine." "I'll be right there," said Gregor slowly and cautiously.He didn't move when he said this, for fear of missing a word when he spoke, "Good lady, I can't give any other explanation, I hope the situation is not serious." The representative said, "On the other hand, if I want to What to say, I can only say that we businessmen——some say it is good, some people say it is bad, do whatever you want—we businessmen, due to business considerations, we often ask for some small physical discomforts. Hold on." The innocent father knocked on the door again and asked, "Can the representative come in?" "No!" Gregor said, and there was an awkward silence in the room on the left, and the sister in the room on the right began to whisper. burst into tears. Why doesn't my sister go to other people?Maybe she just woke up, not even dressed yet?But why is she crying?Because Gregor didn't let the representative into the room, because he was in danger and might lose his job; because the boss wanted to repeat the same old tune and recalculate the old account to his parents, did he cry because of these?This may be too much to worry about.Gregor was still here, and it never occurred to him to leave the house.He's lying on the floor at the moment, and no one in the know would be demanding that he let a representative into the room.But because of this small faux pas, it would be easy to find a suitable excuse to dismiss Gregor later, with no good results.For Gregor, it seemed best at the moment to keep him quiet and not to disturb him by crying or talking to him.But the current awkward standoff is troubling others, and their concern is understandable. "Mr. Samsa, what's going on?" the representative raised his voice. "You can fortify the room and just answer yes or no. You have caused your parents unnecessarily serious anxiety and delayed I have - and this I only mention in passing - delayed work in a way never heard of before, and I solemnly address you on behalf of your parents, on behalf of your superiors, and ask you to explain clearly now. I have always believed You are a law-abiding and rational person, but now you seem to have changed suddenly, and you are very willful. This morning you missed the car, and the boss has instructed me to ask you to recover the account you paid on credit not long ago. Many good things have been said and this instruction is inappropriate, but now that I see your obstinacy, I have no interest in serving you, your position is very precarious. I would have liked to speak to you privately , but because you are wasting my time here, I don't know, why even your parents don't know about your situation. Your work performance in the recent period is not satisfactory, of course, it is not a big business now Season, we admit, but it's not like a business can't be done. That's just not possible, Mr. Samsa, never." "But Mr. Delegate," cried Gregor, a little out of control, and lost everything in his agitation. "I'll open the door right away. I felt a little uncomfortable and had a headache, so I didn't get up, I got up right away, I was still lying on the bed, but now I feel better again, I'll get up, just a little while, please be patient! It’s not as beautiful as I imagined, but it’s already cured. I’m really sick! I was fine last night. My parents knew it. It’s true. It can even be said that they understood it better. I was sick last night. Wei Wei has a premonition. Knowing that someone will come to see me today, why didn’t I report to the company? Some people always think that if you are sick, you don’t have to stay at home to rest, and you will get over it. Mr. Representative! Please don’t embarrass my parents All your accusations against me are unreasonable. No one has ever accused me. Maybe you haven't read the order form I just sent. Besides, I take the car at 8 o'clock, and resting for a few hours can give people energy Sufficient, Mr. Representative, please don’t delay any longer. I will go to the company immediately, please convey it to my boss.” When Gregor finished speaking quickly, he hardly knew what he was talking about.Then he approached the box briskly, probably as a result of his practice on the bed, and tried to stand up against the box.He wants to open the door, to be seen, to speak to the representative.He was anxious to know what those who demanded of him would say when they saw him.If they were taken aback, Gregor would be relieved that he was no longer responsible; if they accepted the status quo with peace of mind, he would have no reason to be agitated.Hurry up, we will be at the station at eight o'clock.First he slid out of the plain looking box several times, and finally he made one swing and stood upright.He no longer pays attention to the pain in his lower body, even if it is pain, he doesn't care anymore.Now he sank toward the back of the nearby chair, and he clasped those little legs against the edge of the chair so that he was in jail, and he stayed there silently, because he had heard the representative speak. "Did you two understand even a word he said?" the representative asked Gregor's parents. "Isn't he playing tricks on us?" "My God!" cried the mother, who was already crying. . "He's probably very ill, and we've tortured him like this, Gretel! Gretel!" Then the mother cried. "Mother?" My sister also called from the other side.Their mother and daughter spoke to Gregor's room. "Go to the doctor quickly! Gregor is sick, come on, you must go to the doctor at once. Did you hear him talking?" "It's the sound of worms!" said the delegate. The voice is soft. "Anna! Anna!" my father shouted through the front room to the kitchen, clapping his hands. "Get the keys right away!" The rustling of skirts could be heard as the two girls ran across the front room. ——Why does my sister put on clothes so quickly? —the door was flung open by someone, but there was no sound of closing; they might have left it open, as they usually do at home.But a great misfortune happened. But Gregor has become much quieter, and people can no longer understand his words. Nevertheless, he finds their words clear, clearer than before, which may be the reason for getting used to it, but people still think he Not quite normal and ready to help him.On the one hand, for the sake of safety, and on the other hand, they also believed that they could help him. Starting from these two points, they took some preliminary measures, which were beneficial to him.He felt himself entering the human circle again, and hoped to greatly improve his voice through these two, that is, through the doctor and the fitter, not so carefully divided, in order to have a clear voice in the coming session .He coughed for a while, trying to cough up the insect noise.Because his cough might not sound exactly like a human cough, Gregor didn't dare to cough on his own.Then there was complete silence in the next room.Maybe the parents and reps are sitting at the table whispering, or maybe they're leaning in the door and eavesdropping. Gregor moved towards the door together with the armchair, and when he reached the door he flung himself straight for the door, standing upright. —a little stickiness in that ball of his calf—takes a break.Then he began to turn the key in the lock with his mouth.It's a pity he has no teeth at all - what does he use to hold the key? —of course, his jaw was powerful, with which he could actually turn the key, and Gregor did so recklessly, and no doubt he paid the price, for the brown liquid came out of his mouth , dripped onto the keys, dripped onto the floor. "Listen, you two!" said the representative from the next room, "he's turning the key." This was a great encouragement to Gregor, but in this way, everyone encouraged Gregor.Father and mother also joined in shouting: "Come on, Gregor," they all shouted. "Come closer, lean on the lock." You can imagine that everyone is watching Gregor's hardship and hard work nervously. He also tried his best, but he couldn't control it. He actually bit the key. Every time he turned the key, The lock wobbled too, and now only his mouth could straighten out, and he hung himself on the key as required by the turn, and the lock bounced back with a rather loud clang, which really woke Gregor up. .Panting, he thought, I might as well stop working on the lock.He rested his head on the doorknob, leaving it wide open. As he opened the door in this way, the gap was quite wide, but he was still out of sight, and he had to turn slowly around the leaf, fearing that he would fall clumsily to the ground when someone came in One foot is up in the air, so he is careful when turning.He was still struggling and had no time to pay attention to other things, but at this moment, he heard a loud "ah" from the representative and blurted out.The sound was like the rustling of the wind.Gregor also saw the representative, who was the second person at the door. He pressed his hand to his opened mouth, and slowly retracted it, like a kind of inconspicuous, uniform, and very stamina. The power is driving him.At this time, the mother also came.In spite of the presence of the representative, her hair was still undone and shaggy as it had been the night before, she first looked at her father who was clasping his hands, then took two steps towards Gregor, and knelt in the middle of her skirt that spread out all around, Her face drooped inconspicuously toward her chest.The father's expression was hostile, he clenched his fists as if to kick Gregor back into his room, and then he scanned the room uncomfortably, and then wept, covering his eyes with his hands, his strong chest shaking. Gregor didn't leave the room at all, but leaned against the door so that he could only see half of Gregor's body and the sideways head above it.He looked at the others in the same way.At this time, the inside and outside of the house were already much brighter, and across the street stood an endless, gray-black part of the house—it was a hospital—on which solid, opened doors were regularly arranged. Windows, it was still raining, and it was pouring heavily.Each raindrop, obviously, fell drop by drop to the ground.There are a lot of tableware for breakfast, which are placed on the table, because for my father, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. He reads various newspapers while eating, and the breakfast lasts for an hour. On the opposite wall Hanging is a photo of Gregor serving in the army. He was a second lieutenant at the time. In the photo, Gregor holds his sword in his hand and has a carefree smile on his face. His uniform and appearance are admirable, leading to The door of the front room is open, and from this, the door of the house is also open, and the front yard can be seen all the way, and the stairs in the front yard turn sideways. "Now," said Gregor, he too had the self-knowledge that he was the only one of these people who could keep quiet. "I'll dress right away, pack up the samples, and go. Will you, will you let me go? Now, Mr. Representative, you see, I'm not a stubborn person, I like to work. Traveling is very difficult. Easy, but I can't live without traveling. Where are you going, Mr. Rep? To the company? Right? Will you report all this truthfully? Someone can't work now, then he should remember and reflect on his past so that he can move forward lightly in the future and concentrate more on his work. I am very loyal to my boss, which you know very well. On the one hand, my parents and sister also need me to be filial. I am very embarrassed. I am Pay your debts with your work. Only work will lead you out. But please don't give me too much trouble. In the company, please speak up for me. Some people don't like us who travel, I know. They think that people who travel are outside Make a lot of money and live a good life. They have no particular reason to think deeply about this bias. But you, Mr. Representative, see this situation better than anyone else. To be honest, you are even better than the boss himself You need to see it more clearly. As an entrepreneur, the boss is prone to make mistakes in judging the employees, and always judges in a way that is not conducive to the employees. You also know that the person who is on a business trip is an adult outside the company, and he is easy to become a gossip, gossip, A victim of accidents and inexplicable ailments. He can't compete with them, because he mostly doesn't understand their situation, and once he is exhausted from business trips and seriously ill at home, he doesn't understand it himself. What kind of disease is it? In this case, he can only be a victim. Mr. Representative, if you don’t give me an explanation, don’t leave. At least a small part of me is always right.” But during the first few words of Gregor's words, the representative turned away, his mouth pursed, his shoulders trembling, and he turned to stare at Gregor; Gregor went on, and the representative stood there for not a moment. Quiet, but always staring at Gregor.He walked towards the door very slowly, as if somehow he had to leave the room, and in fact he had already reached the front room, and after a sudden movement, his foot had finally stepped out of the living room.It may be assumed that he is now eager to do something else.But in the front room, his right hand stretched far towards the stairs, as if there was a kind of spiritual relief. Gregor understood that he could not let the representative go under the circumstances, if his position in the company would not be particularly affected by it.The parents did not quite understand this, and over the years they had developed the idea that Gregor could support himself in the company.In addition, he only knew that he was going to help Gregor do the work of breaking the siege, so he lacked foresight.Gregor, on the other hand, thought that the representative might stay, be appeased, persuaded, and ultimately defeated.The future of Gregor and his family depended on it!My sister was here just now, how wonderful that is, she is very clever, and she cried when Gregor lay quietly on the ground.This representative, this womanizer, would certainly be under her control, she could close the door and say something threatening to him in the front room, but the sister was not here now, and Gregor had to deal with it himself.But he didn't expect that he didn't even have the ability to act now.He also didn't consider that it is impossible for people to understand what he is saying now, or maybe they cannot understand.He moved away from the door and moved through the exit, he was going towards the representative.The representative was smiling, already firmly grasping the railing of the vestibule with both hands.Gregor was about to fall, he stopped for a while, as if he was looking for something, and with a small cry, those many little legs fell to the ground.Almost nothing happened, and this morning he felt comfortable for the first time in his body. There was a solid floor under those many calves. Gregor noticed that the calves obeyed the command completely, and even tried to support him after falling to the floor. Go ahead, go wherever he wants to go.Gregor was very happy to see this situation, and he believed that all the ailments on his body had finally healed completely.His movements slowed down, and he swayed, not far from his mother, facing him who seemed to be meditating, where he lay.Then suddenly his mother stretched out her arms, sprang her fingers, jumped up, and cried, "Help, my God! Help!" She lowered her head as if to take a good look at Gregor, but unlike this Instead, subconsciously take a few steps back.Forgetting that the table was behind her, she sat down when she came up to him.She was so distracted that she didn't even notice that the coffee pot next to her had tipped over and spilled profusely onto the carpet. "Mother, mother," said Gregor softly, looking up at her.He forgot to walk towards the representative at this moment, he couldn't just leave the pot of dripping coffee alone, he bit the empty space with his jaw.At this the mother cried out again and quickly fled from the table, throwing herself into the arms of the father who was coming towards her, but Gregor now ignored his parents, the representative was already on the stairs, his chin resting on the railing, and was Looking back for one last look, Gregor picked up his pace in order to keep up with the delegate as much as possible.The representative had noticed something, so he took three steps and two steps, and he disappeared. "Ah!" He was still shouting, and the shout resounded throughout the building.Before this, my father had been very calm; unfortunately, the representative's escape made him confused.Not only does the father himself not pursue the delegate, but he also prevents Gregor from doing so.In his left hand he holds the representative's cane, by the way, the representative, wearing a hat and a coat, used to sit on the armchair and put the cane there, and the father held the cane in his left hand and took a newspaper from the table in his right hand.Stamping his feet, raising his cane and newspapers, he drove Gregor into his room.Gregor begged his father not to do this, but to no avail.His father didn't understand his request either. Gregor shook his head obediently, and his father pedaled harder and harder; over there, despite the cold weather, his mother opened the window, stretched her head out of the window, and covered her hands with her hands. Facingly, there was a gust of wind between the street and the building. The wind blew the curtains, and the newspapers on the table were blown loudly, and some newspapers were blown to the floor.Father hissed like a savage without mercy.Although Gregor was able to walk, he had not trained his hind legs. If he could turn a corner, he would have gone to his room immediately.But he was worried about turning the corner, it would take a lot of time, and it would make his father impatient.Every moment his father could beat him to death with the cane in his hand, either on the back or on the head.Gregor was finally cornered now, because to his surprise he couldn't even steer backwards, so he was timid.Started to keep looking sideways at his father, trying to turn the corner as fast as he could, but it was really slow.Maybe his father noticed his poor intentions, and didn't bother him, but used the tip of his stick to direct him from a distance, if there were no such unbearable hisses from his father, he would have How wonderful!His brain stopped working for a while, and he had almost completed the turning action. Because he kept hearing that hissing sound, he turned back for a while in a daze. When his head was finally lucky enough to be at the door, he found that his body It was too wide to pass through the entrance, and of course, in his father's current state of mind, it was impossible to think of opening another door to give him a feasible passage.Father, all he thought was that Gregor should get back to his room as quickly as possible.It hadn't even occurred to me to bother preparing for Gregor's needs so that he could stand upright and go straight in: more thought was of driving Gregor forward in such a noisy situation, when Gregor There was a sound behind Gao, it wasn't his father's voice, it wasn't a joke.Gregor hastened to move—as if something was about to happen—and quickly entered the door. He raised his body on one side and passed the entrance obliquely. His side was injured, and the white door was stained. He immediately brushed past the trace, and finally could no longer move.One leg was shaking in the air, and the other leg fell to the ground in pain. At this time, his father gave him a blow from behind that really relieved the pain. It was a heavy blow.With one violent leap he leaped far into the room, while his father was still knocking on the door with his cane, and at last all was silent. Gregor did not wake up from his deep lethargy until dusk.And it must have been late, he hadn't been disturbed, because he thought he was well rested and awake.But it seemed to him that when he awoke he heard impetuous footsteps outside and the sound of a door closing, the sound of a door leading to the front room being carefully closed.He thought he was awakened by these two sounds. The street lamps in the street were all electric, and their pale light reflected on the ceiling of the room and the tops of the furniture.But below where Gregor was, the light was still dim.He moved slowly, tentatively crawling towards the door with the tentacles, still so unskilled, but now he realized the value of this thing.He was walking towards the door, to see what was going on there, what appeared to be a long, uncomfortable, tight gash on the left side of his body, and he was literally limping on two legs, one calf in the Seriously injured in the morning's incident - it was a miracle that only one leg was injured - which trailed lifelessly behind. When he got to the door, he noticed that there was something that lured him towards the door. It was the smell of food.For there was a bowl of sweetened milk and slices of white bread floating there, and he was almost laughing with joy, for he was hungrier than in the morning.So he stuck his head into the bowl at once, and all but his eyes touched the milk.However, he withdrew quickly, because his awkward left side made it very inconvenient for him to eat, unless his whole body cooperated—milk is his favorite drink, it tastes so delicious, this must be his sister It was brought in, and then he thought it was not brought by his sister.Leaving the bowl almost against his will, he crawled back into the middle of the room. In the living room, as he could see through the crack of the door, the gas lamps had been lit.Normally at this time, my father always raised his voice to his mother, and occasionally read the afternoon newspaper to his sister, but now he did not read the newspaper.Perhaps such readings have become rarer lately.Usually, my sister would always narrate or record the contents of the newspaper reading to him.Not only are there no newspapers to be read, but the surroundings have become so silent, even so, the room is not empty. "What a quiet life this family leads!" thought he.As he gazed into the darkness, he felt a great sense of pride that his parents and sister lived this life in such a beautiful home that he had created for them.Was all this peace, happiness, and ease now coming to an astonishing end?In order to continue this train of thought, Gregor preferred to move himself, crawling around the room. During the long night, now this side door opened, now that side door opened a small crack, now it was closed again.Maybe someone wants to come in to solve the problem, but he has concerns, so Gregor simply waits at the door, determined to drag this person who wants to come in but has concerns no matter what, or at least to know who he is, but the door is closed again. is opened.Gregor's waiting was in vain. Before, when the doors were about to be locked, all the people had to come in to see him, but now he had opened one door, and the others had obviously been opened during the day.But no one came in.The key is inserted into the lock from the outside. The lights in the living room didn't go out until late at night.It's easy to judge: the parents and sister haven't slept for a long time, because if you listen carefully, you can tell that all three of them left the living room on tiptoe.Surely no one would come here again until tomorrow morning, so that he would have ample time to contemplate uninterruptedly how he might rearrange his life now.He was forced to lie on the floor of the room, which frightened him a little because it was so high and empty, and he couldn't figure out why, because it was the room he had lived in for five years—his own This deformation, which was subconscious, caused him to scurry shyly under the divan, and although he felt a slight pressure on his back which prevented him from raising his head, he felt quite comfortable.Unfortunately, his body is too wide to fully stretch.He stayed there all night, half asleep part of the time, and a hunger always kept him from sleeping well.Part of the time he was in apprehension and vague hope, and whether it was apprehension or hope, the conclusion was the same: he should be quiet for now.Be patient and fully understand the family, so that everyone can tolerate the unpleasant things that are happening now. In his current situation, this unpleasantness is caused by him, although it is forced, it is ultimately caused by him. When Gregor came to his conclusion, that is, when he made his decision, it was already dawn, and it was almost night, when the opportunity came.He could take advantage of this opportunity to test the strength of his decision, for the sister was opening Gregor's door from the front room, almost fully dressed, and looking in nervously.She didn't find him right away, until she found him under the couch—God!He really can settle down anywhere, but he can't fly away—the younger sister was taken aback and couldn't help herself, and immediately closed the door again from the outside, but she seemed to regret her loss, and immediately opened the door again and walked in, like entering a serious patient Entering the room on tiptoe, like coming to a stranger, Gregor moved his head just to the edge of the sofa to observe her.See if she notices that the milk is basically untouched and he is not hungry, see if she brings in new food that suits his taste, if she doesn't bring it herself, don't remind her, she would rather be hungry.Although he now had a great urge to get out from under the couch, to jump at his sister's feet, and beg him to be kind enough to get something to eat.After all, he didn't move, but the younger sister immediately noticed in surprise that the bowl of milk was still full, with only a little overflowing around, she picked it up immediately, but not directly, but used a piece of torn paper to hold the bowl Side, take it out.Gregor was anxious to know what she would bring in, and he had all sorts of ideas about it, but it never occurred to him that his sister's kindness would really do anything.In fact she had brought him a selection of food, laid out on an old newspaper.There were sauerkraut, spare ribs left over from dinner, surrounded by white aspic, some raisins, almonds, a portion of cheese, which Gregor had said two days ago was not good; In addition to the above food, she also provided a bowl of boiling water, which may be the mandatory drink for Gregor.The younger sister was very careful, and she knew that Gregor would not eat in her presence, so she left the room quickly and locked the door, so that he might be aware of it, and he could eat as he pleased.At this time, the calf shook wildly, as if it was time to eat.Also, the wound seemed to be all healed, and he was amazed, and thought of how he had cut his hand a little while using a knife more than a month ago, and how painful he had been from the day before yesterday. "Am I not too considerate of others now?" he thought.The first thing he eagerly eats is cheese, he licks it greedily, tears come to his eyes from a sense of satisfaction, he nibbles on cheese, sauerkraut, chews aspic, on the contrary fresh food does not taste good to him , even the taste of them was unbearable to him, and he even moved away the food he was supposed to eat.It took him a long time to finish the meal, when his sister slowly turned the key, which signaled to Gregor that it was time to withdraw.He hurried back under the sofa and lay lazily on the original place.But he was also greatly wronged lying under the sofa, albeit for a short time.At this time, my sister was already in the room, because he ate a lot of food, his body was a little swollen, and he was lying in the low space under the sofa, almost out of breath.In this case, he watched with puffy eyes how his unwitting sister used a broom to sweep up the scraps and even the untouched food of Gregor, as if these untouched foods were also inedible. Now, he saw how his sister shook all these hastily into the bucket, covered it with a wooden lid, and brought it out.Almost never turned around.At this moment Gregor crawled out from under the sofa, stretching himself, triumphantly. This is how his younger sister delivered meals to Gregor every day. Once in the morning, when the parents and the maid hadn’t woken up, and the second time after lunch, when the parents had to sleep for a while, the younger sister deliberately sent the maid away. , Of course, parents and maids are not willing to let him starve.But they just listened to his sister's report on his diet, and they didn't want to find out for themselves. Maybe they couldn't bear to see it.It was also possible that the sister had purposely withheld some uncomfortable details in her account of the situation.Because parents have suffered enough mentally. On the first morning they called in the doctor and the fitter, and then sent them away with some words.Gregor didn't know; everyone couldn't understand him, but it didn't occur to them, including his sister, that he could understand other people's speech, so whenever his sister came into the room, Gregor could hear clearly. She sighed and prayed to the gods from time to time, and the younger sister gradually got used to the delivery of food—of course it is impossible to get used to it completely—until the younger sister got used to it, Gregor sometimes caught it. To fragments of words, these words sometimes show a kind of brotherhood, or have a definite meaning.If Gregor ate all his food, she said: "He tasted really good today," and if it was the other way around, she said sadly: "It's the same again." But when Gregor could hear no new information from his sister's mouth, he would overhear some conversations in the next room. Run to the door leading to that room.He pressed himself against the door, and at first there was no conversation involving Gregor.Even if it was a private conversation, but then they discussed it over dinner and discussed how to deal with it.The same topic was discussed before and after the meal, and each discussion involved at least two or more family members. This kind of consultation lasted for two days.No one wanted to be left alone at home, and indeed it was impossible for them all to be at home, and on the first day of the maid—Gregor had no idea what and how much she knew about the emergency—she Tian knelt down in front of his mother and begged to resign.When she took leave of her hosts a quarter of an hour later, no one asked her anything, but she herself made an astonishing assurance that she would tell no one a thing of this kind. The mother and sister cook together, but it is not too much trouble, because they hardly eat much.Gregor always heard that this called that to eat, and the answer was nothing but: "Thank you, I'm not hungry" or something like that.The younger sister often asked my father if he had a beer, and rose sincerely to get it, and when the father was silent she persuaded him to have a drink, which she might send to the housekeeper; On the day of the incident, the father told the mother and daughter about the family property situation and their future. He got up from the table from time to time and took out the receipts and notepads from his cash box. In the past five years, the father's company was on the verge of collapse. This cash box saved the crisis at that time. Gregor heard how complicated the opening procedure was for his father, and locked it again after taking out the things.The part Gregor heard in the room was the happiest part of his father's account of the family's finances. He believed that his father had not received much from that company. At least his father did not say the opposite. Gregor Of course, he didn't ask him. What he thought about before was just trying to make the whole family forget that business failure, which shattered the hope of the whole family; so he began to work with great enthusiasm, and he was promoted from a boy to the company. Of course, there are other ways to make money in the field. In addition, his hard work turned the kickbacks into cash. The cash was placed on the table to make the whole family feel surprised and happy. It was a glorious era in the family.Although Gregor later earned a lot of money to support his family, he never saw such glory again.It has become a habit for both the family and Gregor to withdraw money with a sense of gratitude. He is happy to help the family spend money, but he no longer has a warm feeling; only his sister has a close relationship with him. , his sister is different from him, she likes music very much, and she plays the violin very movingly.Gregor has a secret plan. From next year, no matter how much he pays, the money can be earned back in other ways from this year onwards. From next year onwards, he will send his sister to music. Gregor often mentioned the conservatory to his sister during his short stay in the city, but he always thought it was just a beautiful dream whose realization was unthinkable; the parents were not interested, I don't even want to hear such nonsense.But Gregor had already thought about it and was going to announce it solemnly on Christmas Day. These thoughts, useless in the present situation, flooded into his mind as he eavesdropped, glued to the door.Sometimes, because he was too tired, his head accidentally hit the door, and he immediately re-glued the door.Because any slight noise he caused could be heard by the people outside the door, making everyone silent. "What's he doing again?" said his father, shortly after the sound, and turning to the door, resumed their interrupted conversation. Gregor already knew enough about the situation—because his father was used to repeating what he said in his narration, firstly, his father had not personally handled the family’s financial income and expenditure for a long time, and secondly, his mother always couldn’t understand at first, To ask questions - the father said it again, and it was repeated.But Gregor finally knew that despite all the misfortunes that had happened to the family, the small amount of property he had earned was still preserved.This property can generate a lot of interest according to the regulations during this period. In addition, except for a small amount of money left for himself every month, Gregor gave all other income to the family, and the family did not use up all of this part of the money.Gregor stuck behind the door and nodded hurriedly. He was very happy that his family could live within their means and save money. Originally, he could use the extra money to pay off his father’s debts to his boss. His dismissal was not far away, but now Come, as my father had arranged, no doubt it will be better. Relying on money to earn interest to support the family, the current amount of money in the family is definitely not enough. The money may be able to maintain the family for a year, at most two years, and no more.This money cannot be used. It must be saved for emergencies. If it is to meet daily expenses, it must be made.Although my father is in good health, he is already old, not to mention he has not worked for five years; his confidence is not very great, he has worked hard all his life, but he has not achieved much. These five years are the first long-term vacation in his life .In the past five years, he was fat, and he also became quite sluggish.Maybe the old mother can make money?She suffers from asthma and feels tired after walking around the house. Every other day, she also feels breathless when she sits on the sofa with the windows open. Can my sister make money?She is only a seventeen-year-old child, and she is really given her life now. She wants to dress nicely, sleep late, be a financial helper, and participate in some simple entertainment activities, especially pulling. Playing the violin constitutes her way of life. Can a person like her make money?At the thought of the necessity of making money, Gregor left the door and flung himself on the leather sofa by the door, for he was burning with shame and grief. He lay there all night, unable to sleep for a moment.Scrambling on the leather sofa for hours.Or he did not hesitate to spend hard work pushing the single sofa to the window, he climbed up the window wall, supported by the sofa, and leaned against the window to immerse himself in memories.He thought of the relief, which he had gained some time ago.He looked out the window, and in fact he could not always see the nearby things clearly. The opposite hospital, which he used to hate to see before, could not be seen clearly now either.Had it not been for his unmistakable knowledge that he lived on quiet, urban Charlotte Street, he would have thought it was the wilderness, where the sky was gray and the earth was gray One piece, gray, there is no difference between heaven and earth.Twice, his sister had already noticed that the sofa had moved to the window, and when she cleaned the room for the second time, she found that the sofa had not only moved to the window, but the window had even been opened. How nice it would be if Gregor talked to his sister!He will thank his sister for everything he has done for him, and he will be more accommodating to her sister's inadequacy in her service.Now he is struggling with it.Of course, my sister wanted to erase the pain caused by the whole incident as much as possible. As time went by, this pain really faded away.Her coming in to Gregor's service was astonishingly rare, almost seldom.She hurried to close the door, for fear that others would see Gregor's room.She went straight to the window and opened it quickly, as if afraid of suffocation.Although it was still cold, she stood at the window for a while, taking deep breaths.These movements of hers disturbed the room, and in this way she frightened Gregor twice a day, during which time he lay prostrate and trembling under the sofa.Gregor knew very well that in the room he was in, with the windows closed, if he could keep his sister here, she would forgive him.