Chapter 20 Metamorphosis (2)

It has been a month since Gregor turned into a big flea.The younger sister was no longer surprised by his appearance, and once she came earlier than usual, Gregor stood up and was looking out of the window. He looked terrible, and the younger sister saw this terrible appearance when he came in. Besides, his position prevented her from opening the window immediately, which Gregor had not expected, but at this moment she not only did not come in, but also retreated and locked the door.Outsiders may think that Gregor is going to ambush his sister and bite her.Of course Gregor immediately hid under the sofa, but he waited until noon, and his sister hadn't come in yet. She seemed more disturbed than usual. He knew that she still didn't like his appearance, and wouldn't like it in the future. A part of him, even the part that arches over the couch, so as not to escape, has to exercise great restraint.In order not to let her see his body, one day he had to fall asleep on his back—it took him four hours to turn over like this—he blocked the gap under the sofa with a piece of sackcloth, so that his whole body was covered And his sister couldn't see even if she bent down.If, according to her sister's opinion, the sackcloth was not necessary to hang there, she would take it off, and Gregor's self-isolation was not a recreational activity.However, it was clear that she did not touch the sackcloth, and at this moment Gregor gave him a thankful look.He carefully pushed his head away from the sackcloth to observe his sister's attitude towards Gregor's new facility.

When Gregor's appearance changed for two weeks, the parents still couldn't bear to go to him.He often eavesdropped carefully on whether they gave enough recognition to his sister's work, and they often lost their temper on her, saying that she was a useless girl, but when the sister was cleaning in Gregor's house and did not come out for a long time. , they, father and mother were waiting outside the door, and the younger sister had to report to them in detail after she came out, what the room looked like, what Gregor ate, how he behaved this time, and whether he was better.Mother wanted to go to see Gregor immediately, but her father and sister persuaded her, Gregor heard it clearly and agreed with them.But the mother wanted to go in, and she said: "Let me go to Gregor, he is my unfortunate child! I want to go to him, why don't you understand me?" Then Gregor thought: If the mother comes in, also good!Of course not every day, but once a week. After all, she knows more than her sister.Although the younger sister has courage, she is still a child, and she can only handle this heavy work with the carelessness of a child.

Gregor's wish to see his mother was soon realized.Considering the impact on his parents, he no longer shows up at the window during the day, and he no longer crawls around on the few square meters of floor, but it is difficult to lie down quietly at night.Eating and drinking no longer gave him one iota of pleasure.At night, he had to crawl around, crawling around on the walls and ceilings, taking it as a pastime, a habit.He especially liked hanging from the ceiling, which was completely different from lying on the floor, breathing freely and shaking his head slightly, which was almost a blissful diversion.Gregor was condescending, and when he was feeling happy, he fell to the floor with a "bang". Of course, this kind of gravity phenomenon is quite different from the violence that was imposed on him in the past few days. Although the ceiling is far from the ground, it is also Unhurt, the younger sister soon discovered this new pastime of Gregor's own invention. ——He also left trails of slime while crawling——these, my sister kept in mind.She wants to expand Gregor's crawling area as much as possible, remove the furniture that blocks the way, first of all, remove the box and the writing desk, but she can't do these tasks alone, and she dare not ask her father for help, maid Definitely not going to help.The former cook quit, but this sixteen-year-old girl bravely stayed on, but she requested that the kitchen should always be locked and opened only when called upon.Sometimes the father is not there, and the younger sister has no choice but to call for her mother.This time, the younger sister had no choice but to call her mother.Following the cheerful cry of the younger sister, the mother quietly came to Gregor's door, first of all, of course, to ask the younger sister.Seeing if the room was normal, my sister invited her in. Gregor hurriedly pulled down the linen and pulled out more folds, but it looked like it was thrown on the sofa casually. As before, Gregor stopped his snooping work under the sackcloth this time, and he also gave up taking this opportunity to see his mother.He was very happy that his mother finally came.

"Come here, you can't see him now," said the sister.It was obvious that he took his mother's hand to lead her in.Gregor was listening to how the two feeble women moved such a heavy box.How could the younger sister disobey her mother and take on most of the hard work of the job, and the mother was worried that she would not be able to complete it.In fact, it lasted for a long time, about fifteen minutes. My mother said that it is best not to move this cabinet, because first, it is too heavy, and my father can't finish it before he comes back. The box moved to the middle and blocked the grid. Second, it is hard to be sure that Gregor liked to move furniture.They seem to disagree.Gregor was very distressed at the sight of the empty walls.Why did Gregor think not to move the furniture?Because he has been used to the furnishings of the room for a long time, if he removes the furniture, he will feel lonely.The mother said a concluding sentence very lightly: "Isn't it so?" The mother almost whispered to her sister.

Mother didn't know where Gregor was hiding. Although mother believed that he could not understand her, she whispered so that Gregor would not recognize her voice. "When we move the furniture, it seems that we have given up hope that Gregor will get better. We are letting it go, aren't we? As for the furniture, we'd better leave it as it is, so that Gregor can come back to us." When he comes, the room is still the same, and he can forget the experience more easily." Hearing his mother's words, Gregor realized that during these two months, even in such a monotonous life at home, his understanding had become a little confused due to the lack of human conversation, because he could not explain what he was doing. Had ever seriously thought about vacating the room, but his room was warm and comfortably furnished with inherited furniture.If he is really interested in turning this room into a cave, in which he can crawl around freely and without restraint, doesn't that mean that he will quickly and completely forget his past life as a human being?It has been a long time since he heard his mother's voice, his mother's words made him sober, don't move anything, keep everything as it is, he can't lack the good effect that furniture has on him, the presence of furniture doesn't prevent him from crawling unconsciously, and it's beneficial of.

It's a pity that the younger sister held the opposite opinion. When it comes to the Gregor incident, the younger sister has become accustomed to opposing her parents' opinions in a special capacity, as an expert.Of course, it's not unreasonable from the perspective of my sister.She originally figured it out on her own, to remove the boxes and the desk, and later developed to remove all the furniture except the indispensable sofa.The sister's disagreement with her mother's reasons for not moving the furniture was, of course, not just a childlike obstinacy of the younger sister's, which was unexpected in recent times.Her objection to her mother's opinion also came from a kind of self-confidence, which is very rare.It confirmed to the sister that the furniture had to be moved out, and in fact she also saw that Gregor needed a large area to crawl on, and that the furniture, on the contrary, was useless as long as people saw it.In addition, girls of her age are often hot-headed, this fever, this impulse to seek gratification at every opportunity, sister Grete was dominated by this impulse to make Gregor's room even more beautiful. To be amazed, in order to do more for him than before, in this room Gregor alone ruled the walls, so that no one but Grete dared to enter at any time. .

The younger sister didn't want to change her mind because of her mother's opinion. The mother felt uneasy and hesitated in this room, and soon fell silent, helping the younger sister to move the box out. Gregor had to let them move it as a last resort. Let's go, but the desk is still there. The two women leaned over the box, panting, and then moved the box away with great difficulty.When Gregor poked his head out a little bit from under the sofa to see how he could intervene discreetly.But unfortunately, his mother just came back into the house at this time, and Grete was holding the box in the next room, shaking it from side to side, of course, to no avail.Gregor saw his mother coming in, worried that she might not like his son's appearance, which might make her sick, so Gregor hurried back in panic and retreated to the other end of the sofa.At this time, the sofa naturally moved slightly, which was enough to attract the mother's attention.She froze, stood silent for a moment, then ran back to Gretel.

Although Gregor kept thinking that nothing special was going to happen but the removal of the furniture, he had to admit quickly that this furniture move was like a great commotion to him.Two women walking up and down, their whispers yelling, the furniture scraping against the floor, his head and legs huddled, his whole body pressed against the floor, it was undeniable that he wouldn't last long.They vacated the room for him, removed all the things he liked, like the box with the saw and other tools in it, and are now loosening the desk, which was firmly embedded in the floor, on which he, as a business student, , middle school students and even elementary school students have done their homework here - Gregor really no longer has time to verify the good intentions of the mother and daughter, he has forgotten their existence, they are exhausted, working silently, Only the sound of heavy footsteps was heard.

The mother and daughter were resting against the desk in the next room, when he popped up and changed direction four times, he really didn't know what to do first, when he saw the conspicuous framed picture hanging on the empty wall, in which The one above is a portrait of a lady in a leather suit.He hastily climbed onto the frame and pressed himself against the glass panel, buttoning it tightly, comforting his warm belly, the frame now fully covering him, sure not to be taken away, and turning his head toward the room. The door was opened so that they could observe when the mother and daughter returned.

They did not rest for long, but when they returned, Grete put her arm around her mother's waist, almost supporting her. "What else do we have now?" said Grete, looking around.At this moment the eyes of mother and daughter met Gregor's.Maybe it was just because the mother was tired now, the younger sister kept restraint, she lowered her face and turned to her mother, in order to break the deadlock, she said without hesitation and with a trembling voice: "We'd better go back to the living room?" Gregor was very clear about Grete's intentions. She was afraid that her mother would not be able to bear it, so she sent her mother back to the living room first, and then drove him off the wall.That's what she's going to do after all!He sat on the picture frame and would not let it be taken away, he wanted to jump into Grete's face.My sister's words gave my mother quite a bit of comfort at the beginning, and my mother walked to the side, and saw a brown mass on the wallpaper with flowers and branches. She thought it was Gregor, and she yelled before she recovered. There was a hoarse, piercing cry, "O God! O God!" She threw her arms out on the sofa, and she fell, motionless. "You Gregor!" The younger sister held up her fist with anxious eyes. This was the first sentence the younger sister said directly to Gregor since his transformation.She ran to the next room to get the first aid medicine that would bring her mother out of a coma.Gregor also wanted to help. —It was too late to save the portrait—he was firmly stuck to the glass, and he broke away from it with force.Then he ran into the next room, as before, as if he wanted to give his sister some advice.He was standing right behind his sister, and Grete, who was looking among the various bottles, was taken aback when she turned; one fell to the floor and shattered, the fragments hurt Gregor's face, and one A corrosive drug splashed all over him.Grete didn't stop, took all the phials she could get, took them to her mother, and kicked the door shut with her foot.Gregor was locked in the room by his mother.Because of him, maybe his mother was dying, he couldn't open the door, and he didn't want to chase his sister who had to stay with his mother.He had nothing to do now but wait.Out of guilt and worry, he started crawling, crawling everywhere, on walls, furniture and ceilings.In doubt he finally dropped to the center of the large table when he felt the whole room swirl around him.

After a while, Gregor lay there wearily, surrounded by silence, which may be a good sign.The doorbell rang, and of course the cook was in the kitchen, so my sister had to answer it.Father is back. "What happened?" was the first sentence of my father, who probably knew everything from Grete's face.Grete answered in a low voice, evidently with her face on her father's chest. "Mother passed out, but she's better now. Gregor is very special." "I expected it," said the father, "I've been telling you, but you mother and daughter don't listen." Gregor understood very well. , Gretel's overly brief report caused trouble.Father thought that Gregor had used violence and made a mistake.So Gregor wanted to explain to his father and comfort him, but he had neither the time nor the possibility to explain it now, so he fled to the door and stuck there, so that when his father came in from the front room he would understand that Gregor Li Gao just wanted to go back to his room, there was no malice, and there was no need to drive him out, as long as he opened the door, he would disappear immediately. But my father was not in the mood to pay attention to these details. When he came in, he immediately called out. The voice sounded like he was about to have a seizure, and it was hard to tell whether he was happy or angry.Gregor turned his head back from the door, stood up towards his father, did not explain to his father why he was standing here now, Gregor did not consider how to crawl in other rooms, now he must deal with the changed situation carefully , despite this, is the father still the original father?Usually, when Gregor went out to do errands in the morning, his father was still wrapped up in bed tiredly. When he came back in the evening, his father was already in his pajamas sitting on the sofa with a backrest to greet him. Happy.Gregor, father and mother rarely go out for a walk together on certain Sundays or holidays a year, and the father always walks in the middle, and everyone walks slowly, but the father always goes slower, and always walks Wrapped in an old overcoat, with a walking stick, I moved forward cautiously.If he was going to say anything, he had to stand and muster his entourage.Is the father in front of him still like this?He was standing fairly upright now, and was wearing a flat blue uniform with gold buckles, like a business-school waiter might wear.The collar of the dress was high and stiff, revealing a strong chin clip.A pair of black eyes shone brightly under thick eyebrows, and his disheveled white hair was brushed down in a fine and shiny way.The sofa was far away from him, and he threw his hat on the sofa, and the hat flew in a parabola across the room.His hat was embroidered with monograms of gold thread, also made by a bank.At this moment the father, with his long uniform pulled back, his hands in his trouser pockets, and with a gloomy face, came towards Gregor, who probably didn't even know what he was going to do.At last he raised his feet in an unusual manner, and Gregor was amazed by the large soles of his boots, but he did not stop, knowing that his father had always treated him since the first day of his new life. is the most severe and takes it for granted.The father stood still for a while, hurried forward for a while, and stood still for a while. Gregor always ran away, and just like that, the two of them circled the room, but nothing serious happened, and nothing happened because of his speed. Slow and there is a situation of catching up, so Gregor stays on the floor for a while.Sometimes, he feared that his father's viciousness would prevent him from fleeing to the walls, to the ceiling, Gregor thought to himself that he would not last long in such a situation.Because every time my father takes a step, his legs have to move countless times.As before, Gregor didn't have much confidence in his lungs, and it was obvious that his breathing was becoming difficult.He staggered, concentrating his strength to prepare to crawl quickly. At this moment, he barely opened his eyes, and his thoughts were dull. He never thought of any way to save himself other than crawling and running away.He almost forgot that the walls are vast worlds, and of course, the furniture here are all equipped with many finely carved sharp corners - at this moment something flew over, just passed by, rolled a few times gently, and rolled to the ground. In front of him, there was an apple; immediately after, a second apple flew towards him. Gregor was so stunned that he stood still, and it was useless to continue running away.Because the father had decided to bombard him.The father took a bag full of apples from the fruit bowl on the sideboard. He didn't care about accuracy, but just threw apples at Gregor one by one. These small red apples rolled together on the ground as if electrified. , collided with each other again, and a lightly thrown apple grazed Gregor's back, but did not hurt him.The next one hit him in the back, and Gregor was about to crawl on, as if by changing the place this amazing, unbelievable pain could disappear, but his mind was completely confused, Feeling nailed to the floor, he lay down.He had only one last look before lying down when his mother appeared before the screaming sister.She was wearing a shirt because she was unconscious and her sister had undressed her so she could breathe.The mother knelt down to the father.Mother's skirt was originally rolled up, and when she ran, she fell to the ground in bunches, blocking the way, so she staggered on the skirt and ran to her father, hugging him so tightly—but With Gregor's eyesight, he couldn't see this scene.She put her hands on the back of her father's head and begged him to spare her son's life. It had been more than a month since Gregor had this severe deformity—the apple was still on the ground, because no one dared to take it away.The apple was left there as a memorial of abuse—it seemed to remind the father himself that Gregor, in spite of his pathetic and obnoxious appearance, was still a member of the family and should not be treated like an enemy.You should fulfill your family obligations to him.The family should swallow this bitter fruit and tolerate it. There should be nothing else but tolerance. Although due to Gregor's injury, he may have lost his mobility forever. Like a disabled person, it temporarily takes several minutes to cross the room-climbing to a high place is unimaginable, but according to his opinion, he also got a This was a sufficient compensation, and towards evening, when the drawing-room door was opened, he had become accustomed to observe keenly for an hour or two.Now he was lying in the dark, looking out of the living room, he couldn't see clearly, he was lying in his dark room watching, and the whole family was sitting at the table, all under the light, and he could look at them and hear Their conversation was completely different from before, and the family members let him go to a certain extent. Of course, the chatting and laughing in the past was gone, which reminded him a little fascinated of his previous business trips. He lived in a small hotel room, exhausted, and threw himself on the damp bedding.The living room became very quiet now. After dinner, the father sat on the single sofa and quickly fell asleep. The mother and daughter met to keep quiet.The mother, bent forward under the light, continued to sew high-end underwear for the modeling agency; the younger sister, who now had a job as a salesperson, was learning shorthand and French at night so she could land a better position.Sometimes my father would wake up, as if he didn't even know he was asleep, and say to his mother, "How long have you been sewing again today?" and immediately fall asleep again.The mother and sister looked at each other and smiled, but they looked tired. Father wore his waiter's uniform at home, too, and it must be said that it was a kind of obstinacy, and his nightgown was useless on a hook.He was dressed neatly, leaning on the sofa and taking a nap.It seemed that he was always ready to deal with the errand, waiting for the orders of his superiors; as a result, his uniform quickly lost its original color, although the mother and sister carefully washed it to no avail.Gregor used to spend the evening looking at his father's increasingly soiled clothes, though the gold-plated buttons of the uniform shone brightly from constant wiping, the old man was wearing such uncomfortable clothes, Sleep peacefully.It was almost ten o'clock, and my mother whispered something to my father, trying to wake him up and persuade him to go to bed, because he couldn't sleep well here, and he had to go to work at six o'clock tomorrow morning. Said it was necessary.But my father was very stubborn. This was a temper he had developed since he was a waiter. He insisted on sleeping by the table for a while. Although he fell asleep very regularly, it took a lot of time for him to move from the sofa to the bed. strength.At this time, his mother and younger sister wanted to persuade him to move in a low voice, but after a quarter of an hour, he still shook his head slowly, closed his eyes, and could not get up.His mother tugged on his cuff and whispered something softly in his ear.The younger sister also left her homework to help her mother, but none of that worked for the father, who slept more soundly on the couch.He didn't open his eyes until the mother and daughter grabbed his armpits, looked at his sister for a while, and said, "This is a kind of life, it's the peace of my old age." With the support of two women, he Getting up with difficulty, as if he had weight in himself, he was led to the door by two women, where he told them to go by himself.He continued to move forward in this way, the younger sister hurriedly put down the pen, and the mother also put down the sewing machine in her hand, and followed closely behind the father, ready to continue to help him. In a family where everyone was so busy working, who had time to care about Gregor unless absolutely necessary?The family budget is getting tighter and tighter, and the cook has already spent money. A tall, skinny old maid with white hair comes once in the morning and at the busiest time in the evening.Except for sewing, my mother did all the housework.Even the various jewelry that the mother and sister used to wear only for important events and holidays were sold, which Gregor heard when the mother and daughter mentioned the price of jewelry in their ordinary conversation.The biggest problem, however, was the impossibility of moving. The house was too large in its present condition, and it was impossible to move now because there was no way to find out how to move to Gregor.But Gregor saw clearly that it was not just about him, that the difficulty of relocating to Gregor did not prevent the move, because a suitable box could be found for Gregor, with a few holes drilled in it, and the transport could be easily transported. up.The main thing holding families back from changing houses is their utter desperation.They thought that no one in their circle of relatives and acquaintances at home had ever suffered so grave a misfortune as they had.Based on the situation, they also don't want to move.What the world asks of the poor, they have done, to the limit.The father had breakfast with the bank clerks, the mother made sacrifices to make underwear for outsiders, and the younger sister was busy inside the counter following the orders of customers. But the strength of the family can only go so far, and Gregor only felt the wound on his back open again.When the mother and daughter returned after sending their father to bed, they stopped working and sat together, looking at each other.Now the mother pointed to Gregor's room and said, "Grete, close the door there." Gregor was in the dark again, and the mother and daughter next to each other were crying, or staring at each other with dried tears. . Gregor could not sleep day and night, and sometimes he thought that the next time he opened the door he would be responsible for the affairs of the house as before, and his thoughts, after a long time, reappeared.The boss, company representatives, clerks, apprentices, and a number of unresponsive servants, and he thought of two or three friends from other companies, and a live-in girlfriend at a hotel in the province.He also had a fond, fleeting recollection of the cashier at the shoe and hat company, to whom he had seriously proposed marriage, but it was too late—so it was all mixed up with strangers or forgotten people. No, these memories can't help him, and they can't help his family. They are meaningless. He would be really happy if he disappeared.Then he was in no mood to care about his family.He was outraged that his family had poorly provided him.Although he could not imagine his own appetite, he had a plan, how to get into the dining room, and even if he was not hungry, he would go there anyway to find something suitable to eat, without imagining how much help he might be able to do.Before the younger sister went to work in the company at noon, she would always use her feet to kick some random food into Gregor's room, whether Gregor liked it or not—most of the time it was intact—at night my sister Shake the broom and all the food will be swept out.The cleaning of the room always takes place at night, but it is no longer done quickly.A pile of dust here, a pile of waste there, dirty lines left along the walls.When his sister entered the room, Gregor climbed into a specially painted corner in order to make his sister feel guilty through this position.He may have been lying there for a week, and his sister wouldn't clean it for him. She saw the dirty things just like him, but she was determined to drive him away.The younger sister had a new feeling that cleaning Gregor's room was only her job, and so did the whole family.Once, my mother carried out a general cleaning of this room.It took several buckets of water to clean it up—the dampness in the room affected Gregor's health, he stretched himself, and lay motionless on the sofa in agony—this cleaning caused the mother herself to suffer. Punishment, before it was night, the younger sister had already noticed the changes in Gregor's room. She seemed to be seriously hurt, and despite her mother raising her hand to beg her not to do this, she rushed to the living room, trembling with anger and crying.Of course, the father on the sofa was taken aback. He was shocked at first, and then looked helplessly. When they recovered, the father on the right of the mother blamed the mother for not letting the sister clean the room by herself, and the person on the left shouted at the sister. Yelling, my sister is not allowed to clean that room in the future.Father was overwhelmed with excitement.Mother dragged him to the bedroom.The younger sister was sobbing.Gregor inside made the slightest noise out of anger.No one thought of closing the door, allowing him to see the turmoil in the family. The younger sister was exhausted from work, but she continued to attend to Gregor as before, albeit impatiently.The mother never entered Gregor's room again for her sister, but he was not neglected.Because the old maid, the widow whose strength of strength she had gained in her long life, had taken up the burdensome work.Without any curiosity, she occasionally opened Gregor's door, and when she saw Gregor, she stood still with her hands crossed on her stomach in surprise.Gregor was also taken aback by being seen by strangers, and although no one chased him away, he started running here and there. Since then, she always opened the door a little in the morning or evening to see Gregor. Not delayed.At first she also called him over, and said something she thought was friendly, such as: "Come here, dung beetle!" or: "Look at this old dung beetle!" For such a greeting, Gregor He always refused to answer, but just stayed where he was, as if the door had never been opened.She didn't bother him arbitrarily, but cleaned his room every day!Once early in the morning, it was raining heavily outside, maybe it was a sign of the arrival of spring, the rain hit the glass window, at this time the maid began to call her what she thought was kind.Gregor was furious, and he turned slowly, staggeringly, towards the maid in an aggressive gesture, but the maid was not frightened, and simply lifted up a chair by the door and stood there with her mouth open. There, it seemed that her mouth closed only when the chair in her hand fell on Gregor's back.When Gregor turned the corner again, she said, "Ah! Don't come here anymore?" She said and put the chair back quietly in the corner. Gregor hardly eats anything now, and only occasionally when he passes by food, he tastes it as if it's fun, keeps it in his mouth for an hour, and then spits most of it out again.At first he thought it was the sadness of the state of his room, which overwhelmed him, but as the room changed, he was soon relieved.They are used to putting in food that other people don't eat.There are many such things.Because the family has rented a room to three people, the first tenants of this room. —Once Gregor saw through the crack of the door that all three were bearded—they were very neat.Because they rented a room, not only in their room, but also in the whole family, especially in the kitchen, were occupied by them.They cannot stand litter and waste.In addition, they brought with them some belongings of their own, and for these reasons there were many surpluses which were neither wanted nor willing to be thrown away.All these things have been moved to Gregor's room, and the ash box and waste box from the kitchen have also been moved here.The maid always moved all the things that were not in use now to Gregor's room.Gregor was always lucky enough to see the rubbish and the hand of the maid who was in his way, and the maid, perhaps thinking that there would be time or opportunity later, would take these things away, or clean them up altogether.But these things have remained intact since they were first moved in.At first he was compelled to give up crawling in the clearings among these rubbish, without which he could not crawl; then he wandered in these clearings for amusement, and then was too tired and sad to move. up.A break is a few hours.Because the tenants sometimes dined in the drawing room, the door leading to Gregor from the drawing room was often closed.But Gregor didn't care whether the door opened or not.Sometimes, the door was open, and he did not take advantage of the opportunity to observe, but hid in the darkest corners, and his family naturally did not notice it.Once the maid opened the door a little, and when the lodger entered the drawing-room at night and lit the lamp, it remained open.They sat high up at the table where father, mother and sister used to sit.The tenants unfurl their napkins, knives and forks in hand.Immediately through the door came the mother, carrying a bowl of meat, followed by her sister, carrying a bowl of potatoes, sliced ​​and stacked in many layers and high.The dishes were steaming hot, and the tenants bent over to inspect the dishes brought to them, as if to see what they were.The lodger in the middle actually cut a piece with a knife, as if to show the other two that he was an expert.He wanted to make sure if the meat was overcooked, and whether it still needed to be sent to the kitchen for processing. He was satisfied. After his mother and sister looked at each other nervously, they began to breathe a sigh of relief and smiled.The family eats in the kitchen.The father came back. Before he entered the kitchen, he took off his hat, went to the living room, made a graceful bowing gesture to the tenants to pay his respects, and circled around the table, all the tenants stood up.The bearded mouth murmured.When the father left, they all ate in silence.To Gregor's surprise, among the various eating sounds, the most prominent was the chewing sound. They seemed to show Gregor that if you want to eat, you must have teeth, and you can't eat anything with a beautiful toothless jaw. . "I want to eat," thought Gregor sadly, "but not these things, like the lodgers eat. I'm going to die!" Exactly this evening. — Gregor had no recollection of hearing music from the violin all night long — the music came from the kitchen, the tenants had finished their supper, and the middle-sized lodger took out a newspaper.He gave one to each of the other two lodgers, who were reclining in their chairs reading a newspaper and smoking.When the violin began to play, their attention was concentrated, and they rose and tiptoed to the front door, where they huddled together, and there they listened to the music from the kitchen.The father was shouting: "Will playing the violin affect the rest of the gentlemen? Don't play it!" "On the contrary," said the middle-sized man, "may I invite this lady to come to our house and play in the room? Is it more comfortable and pleasant?" "Ah! yes," cried the father, as if he were the violin player himself.The tenants retreated to their rooms to wait.Soon, the father was holding the music stand, the mother was holding the music, and the younger sister was holding the violin, and they came out together.The younger sister quietly made all preparations for the performance.Parents, who have never rented out a room before, dare not sit on the sofa in order to show politeness.The father was leaning against the door, with his right hand between the two buttons of his uniform, a lodger handed the mother a chair, and the mother put the chair where the lodger had occasionally left it, on the side, in a corner, where she sat down. The younger sister began to play, and the father and mother watched her hand movements from both sides. Gregor was attracted by the sound of the piano and dared to venture in. His head had already appeared in the living room. Recently, he seldom cared about whether he would be seen by others, and he no longer cared about this.He had paid attention to it before, and was proud of it; in fact, he should hide it all the more now.Because there is dust everywhere in his room, and small movements also attract dirt all over his body.Mucus, hair, and leftovers covered his back and stained his body. He used to be timid on the carpet several times during the day. Now he is covered in dirt and is still cleaning in the living room He is too careless to move around on the floor. Naturally no one noticed him, the family was completely occupied with the violin, the lodgers, on the contrary, began putting their hands in their trouser pockets and approaching the music stand from behind, so as to get a good view of the music, they noticed that there must be something interfering Sister, they immediately murmured, looking back at the window with their heads down, they noticed the situation, the tenants stopped at the window, and there was a clear scene: as if they were pretending to listen to a beautiful, light music-like violin Solo, but disappointed, they seem to have heard enough, just out of politeness, they are silently enduring, they smoke, the smoke comes out of their nostrils, they blow the smoke up into the air.Showed extreme impatience and seemed to ask to stop playing.But in fact, how well my sister played.She lowered her face to the side, looking at the score sadly and forensically.Gregor crawled forward again, keeping his head close to the floor so as to meet the eyes of the tenants.He thought, if he were a beetle, could the music feel him so?It seemed to him that crawling forward was crawling towards the food he had seen but didn't know.He decides to crawl up to his sister, tug at her skirt, imply that she should go back to his room, because she's not worth playing for them, and there's no one here who appreciates it as much as he does, he won't Let her out of his room again, as long as he lives, he will not let her out of his room again.For the first time his frightening appearance comes into play, as he appears at every door of his room and yells at tenants who are dissatisfied with his violin playing. The sister was not forced to stay with Gregor voluntarily, she would sit on the sofa next to him and listen to his opinions, and he was willing to offer her his own opinions, as he had unswervingly asked Send his sister to study at the Conservatory of Music.If it hadn't been for this unlucky thing, it must have been Christmas--has Christmas passed?Announces his decision to everyone, regardless of any opposing views.After the announcement, my sister must have burst into tears with excitement.I'm going to get up and kiss her neck, which has neither collar nor sash since she came to work. "Mr. Samsa," the middle-sized lodger called to his father, and without saying a word, pointed his index finger at Gregor, who was crawling slowly, and the violin fell silent.The middle-sized tenant shook his head and looked at his friends first, and then at Gregor. The father felt that the urgent thing to do now was not to drive Gregor away, but to appease the tenants first.Nevertheless, the tenants were no more eager to discuss Gregor's presence than to discuss the playing of the violin, and the father hurried up to them, trying to force the tenants back into their rooms with his This movement drew the eyes of the tenants to Gregor, which made the tenants a little annoyed.They didn't know in advance that there was a neighbor like Gregor. Were they angry about it, or because their father had a bad attitude?Unable to understand, they asked their father for an explanation, raised their arms, stroked their beards restlessly, and retreated slowly to their room, the sister in a daze from the sudden interruption of the violin, her hands dangling carelessly. Still holding the piano and bow, looking at the score, it seemed that she was still playing. It took her a while to recover, put the instrument on her mother's knees, and followed to the next room.Because of her asthma, the burden on her lungs was too heavy, so she still sat in her original position.The tenants were soon approaching the next room, pushed and pushed by their father.But just before they entered the room, they could see the quilt on the bed in this room. After the sister's skillful operation, it was lifted up, and it was quickly tidied up, and people slipped out. Because of the stubbornness, the father forgot to treat the bed. With due respect to the tenants, he continued to push and push them until he entered the door; the medium-sized tenant kept his father from going any further by throwing a fit of rage and stomping his feet.And he said: "I declare," and he raised his hands to look at his father, and at his mother and sister, "that in view of this dwelling, the existence of such an abominable condition in this family,"—he He spat firmly on the floor——“From now on, the rental agreement will be terminated. Of course, no matter how many days I live, I will never pay less. However, I still consider whether to propose to you—please Believe—an understandable request." He was silent, looking ahead as if he was waiting for something.In fact, two of his friends also interjected: "We also terminate the agreement from now on." Then the middle-sized tenant pulled the door handle and "slammed" the door shut. Father staggered, groping with his hands to the sofa, and sat down.He stretched out like he was about to take a nap on the couch as usual.But his nodding and wobbling showed that he wasn't asleep at all.All the time Gregor lay quietly in the spot where the tenants found him.Gregor was disappointed that his plan did not come true.He felt very weak again, probably caused by hunger, disappointment and weakness made it impossible for him to act, and he feared that a storm would break out against him below, and he waited, confident.He didn't even care if something happened to his violin playing.Mother's trembling fingers shook the violin out of her lap, and the violin fell with a snap. "Dear Mom and Dad," said the sister, opening with a slap on the table with her hand, "this cannot go on. If you haven't seen it, I have. In front of this monster, I won't say Name my brother. All I say is that we must try to get rid of it. We treat it as a human being and tolerate it. No one will blame us, I trust." "You are absolutely right," said the father.The mother was still not breathing well, and with a panicked look in her eyes, she began to cough suffocatingly at the hand supporting her in front of her. The younger sister hurried to her mother, holding her forehead, and the father seemed to have a certain idea because of what the younger sister said.He sat down and fiddled with his page's hat on the table, which had been placed on the table between two teacups since the lodgers dined. From time to time he looked at the quiet Gregor. The younger sister specifically said to her father: "We have to try and get rid of him." Because the mother was coughing, she didn't hear anything. "He's going to kill you both. I've seen the day, and it's coming. We all work so hard, and we can't bear this endless pain at home. I can't bear it anymore. "As she spoke, she wailed so loudly that her tears flowed onto her mother's face, and she mechanically wiped the tears away from her mother's face with her hands. "Son," the father said sympathetically, with an expression of obvious understanding. "So what do we do now?" The younger sister shrugged her shoulders, indicating that there was nothing she could do.When she was wailing just now, she seemed very confident that she could get rid of Gregor, but now, on the contrary, she seemed helpless. "If only he could understand us," said the father half-questioningly."That's unthinkable," the younger sister raised her hand vigorously in her sobs. "If only he could understand us," the father repeated.He closed his eyes, and although he accepted what his sister said in his heart, he still said: "Then we may reach an agreement with him, but in this way—" "He must go!" cried his sister, "This is the only way .Father, we can only find a way to get rid of him. For a long time we have thought that he is Gregor, and this perception is our misfortune. But how can he be Gregor? If he is Gregor, he will see It is impossible for man to live with such an animal, and he will go away voluntarily. We have no brothers, but we can go on living, and we will miss him with respect. But this monster stalks us, drives out the tenants, It is obvious that he wants to usurp the whole family and send us to spend the night in the street. Father, look!" She suddenly exclaimed: "He's started again!" At this moment she even moved away with a frightening gesture that Gregor could not understand. After leaving her mother and walking away from the sofa, as if she would rather let her sacrifice than sit next to Gregor, she hurried up behind her father, who was agitated by her behavior and stood up too. , raised his arm half way to protect his sister.Gregor had no intention of frightening anyone.He just started crawling back to his room, and the movements were conspicuous.Because he's in pain, the head has to help out when cornering.He raised his head several times and knocked it to the floor again, he stopped and looked around, everyone seemed to understand that he was crawling back to his room, it was a pathetic moment.Everyone looked at him silently and sadly.The mother was lying on the sofa, her eyes almost closed from exhaustion.Father and younger sister sat together, with the younger sister's hand resting on the father's neck. "Now I may turn the corner," thought Gregor, and began to turn back again.This movement made him out of breath, he had to rest here and there, and no one urged him, everything was arranged by himself.He wondered why the distance to his room was so far away. He couldn't figure out why he didn't notice the distance after climbing the same distance just now with such a weak body.He thought only of crawling quickly, and hardly noticed that the family was neither speaking nor shouting, and he could crawl undisturbed.He didn't turn his head until he climbed to the door, and he didn't turn around all the way, because his neck felt stiff.He was still watching to see if there was any change behind him, only his sister stood up.He took one last look at his mother, who had almost fallen asleep. Before he could enter the room, the door was closed, bolted, and locked.The series of movements behind him startled him, causing his calves to tighten inward.The person who closed the door so quickly was the younger sister.At this time she stood up straight, tiptoeed, and jumped forward. Gregor didn't hear her coming at all. When she turned the key in the lock, she shouted to her parents: "I'm finally in!" .” "What now?" Gregor asked himself, looking around.He realized right away that he was now unable to move at all, and he didn't think it was strange to crawl on those tiny legs before, which seemed unnatural to him now.In addition, he also felt very comfortable. He used to have pain all over his body, but now he feels that the pain is getting better and better, and finally disappeared.His back touched a rotten apple, and the apple's mildew spread around.He recalled his family with love and emotion, and with a conviction that he must disappear from it, no less than that of his sister.In this case, he fell into empty and quiet contemplation.The church bell rang the morning bell for the third time, dawn had begun, and he was experiencing the time of dawn outside the window, his head drooped unconsciously, and he was already dying. Early in the morning the maid came, and as usual, she knocked on the doors quickly and vigorously—someone had asked her not to do this before, and when she came, everyone could not sleep peacefully—the maid was like As usual, I went to Gregor's room to take a brief look first, and found nothing special.She thought that he deliberately lay there quietly, reminiscing about what happened to him.She believed that Gregor might have some understanding.She took the long broom in her hand and tried to use it to sweep Gregor from the door to the door, tickling him.She moved Gregor a little, but Gregor didn't respond at this time, he didn't resist, and he didn't move his position. Only then did the maid feel it.When she understood the truth, she opened her eyes wide and breathed a sigh of relief, but she didn't stay for long, and immediately slammed on the bedroom door, shouting loudly in the dark: "Come and see, he's dead, he's lying on the ground, completely dead .” The Samsa and his wife sat upright on the bed. Before they could figure out what the maid reported, they sat upright on the bed and tried to calm themselves down.Then they each hurried out of bed on their own side.Mr. Samsa walked into Gregor's room together in his quilt and his wife in her pajamas.Then the door opened to the living room, where Grete had been sleeping since the house had taken in a tenant.She was dressed as if she hadn't slept at all.Her pale face seemed to bear it out. "Dead?" said Mrs. Samsa, looking questioningly at the maid, though she had come to verify it herself, and in fact knew without it. "That's how I see it," said the maid, and to prove her point, she turned Gregor's body a long way aside with the broom, and Mrs. Samsa made a movement as if to lift it up. Back to the broom, but finally did not get it back. "Now," said Mr. Samsa, "now we thank God!" He crossed himself, and the three women crossed themselves.Gretel, her eyes were fixed on Gregor's body, she said: "Look, how thin he is! He hasn't eaten for a long time, and whatever food he takes in is returned untouched. In fact Gregor's body was quite flat and dry.It was only now known that he could no longer stretch his legs or move his eyes. Mrs. Samsa said with a sad smile: "Grete, come in." Grete looked at the body and went into the parents' bedroom.The maid closed the door, opened the window, and left the sashes all open. Although it was early in the morning, there was still a warm breath in the fresh air, and it was the end of March. Three lodgers came out of their rooms, and they looked around in surprise, looking for breakfast. "Where's breakfast?" asked the maid, who was of medium height, with a sad face.The maid put her finger to her mouth and quickly and silently indicated to them that there was an accident, that they wanted to enter Gregor's room, and did. They put their hands in the pockets of their frayed waistcoats, and the room was completely bright by now.They stood in the room, around Gregor. At this time, the door of the bedroom opened, and Mr. Samsa was wearing his waiter's suit. On the left was his wife, and on the right was his daughter. There were traces of crying on her face. The daughter's face was sometimes pressed against the father's arm. superior. "Please leave my house immediately!" Mr. Samsa said to the tenant, pointing to the door, while the mother and daughter were still standing on his left and right sides. "What do you mean?" said the middle-sized lodger, somewhat alarmed, smiling sweetly.The other two lodgers put their hands behind their backs and rubbed them against each other, as if expecting a great controversy which was sure to end in their favour. "As I said, my meaning is clear," replied Mr. Samsa.And form a line with the mother and daughter standing on the left and right, and walk towards the tenant together.The lodger first stood there quietly, then looked at the floor as if he were going to rearrange the whole thing in his head. "Let's go then," said the lodger, looking at Mr. Samsa as if in sudden humility he asked Mr. Samsa to make a new settlement for his decision, and Mr. Samsa's eyes widened , just nodding frequently.Immediately afterwards the lodger strode toward the front room.His two friends stopped moving their hands, listened for a while, and then followed the middle-sized lodger with a skip.Mr. Samsa was concerned, so he rushed into the front room before the two lodgers, thus cutting them off from the medium-sized lodger.In the front room, the three lodgers took their hats from the coat racks and their canes from their place, bowed silently, and left the house.An inexplicable sense of mistrust, as previously indicated, brought Mr. Samsa into the passage with the two women, and they leaned on the railing to watch the three lodgers descend, though slowly but in succession, the stairs, Watching them disappear around every corner and then reappear, the Samsa family loses interest in them the further down you go.At this time, facing the three tenants, a butcher's clerk, with a thing on his head, walked up the stairs proudly, and was on top of the tenants.Immediately Mr. Samsa and the women were off the railing, and everyone returned home with ease. They decided to rest and walk today, as they deserved today.It's even an absolute need.They sat at the table and wrote three letters, Mr. Samsa to the manager, the wife to the head of the household, and the daughter to the boss, and they all asked for leave.At this moment the maid came and told them that she was going away, for her morning work was over.At first, the three of them just nodded and didn't pay attention to anything.When the maid still didn't leave, everyone looked up angrily. "What's the matter?" asked Mr. Samsa.The maid stood at the door smiling, and if she wanted to ask what happened, it seemed that she had reported the good news to the family, and the matter was settled.A handful of chicken feathers on her hat dangled in all directions.Mr. Samsa hated the little chicken feathers on her hat the whole time she was helping, and Mrs. Samsa asked, "What the hell do you mean?" In front of Mrs. Samsa, the maid Generally speaking, it is still very self-respecting. "This," replied the maid, with a friendly smile on her face, and she could not go on at once.She finally said: "About this, you don't have to think about how to deal with the things next door. It's already packed." Grete and her mother bent down on the letter paper as if they wanted to continue writing.Mr. Samsa noticed.The maid was about to describe the whole process in detail, but Mr. Samsa stretched out his hand and insisted that she stop talking.Because she was not allowed to speak, she became anxious. This is her traditional character. She looked angry and shouted: "Goodbye, everyone!" Turned around and left.Slamming the door shut, she left the house. "Fire her tonight," Mr. Samsa said, but neither his wife nor daughter answered him.Mr. Samsa wanted to fire her because he felt that the maid was disturbing their rare peace again.Mother and daughter got up and went to the window and stayed there holding each other while Mr. Samsa sat on the sofa and turned towards them and watched them both for a while.Then he shouted: "Come here, the past, let it go, you have to take care of me a little bit now." The two women immediately walked up to him to comfort him, and quickly finished writing the letter.Then the three of them left the house, putting aside what they hadn't done for months, and took the tram to the city.Warm sunlight poured into the tram.They leaned back comfortably in their seats and talked.Their prospects, on close scrutiny, aren't bad at all, since all three have jobs.This is not a problem, and it is beneficial, especially for the future; the best way to improve the situation at present is of course to change the house. They want a smaller, cheaper house, and the location of the house is better. .And it was more practical than the present apartment that Gregor was looking for.As they chatted, the Samsas saw their daughter, who had become more lively, almost at the same time remembering that her cheeks had become pale from the torments she had suffered of late, but she had nevertheless become prettier and more beautiful. plump girl.The Samsa couple turned from talking to silence. Their eyes met and they understood each other. They thought it was time to find a good partner for her.For them it was a testament to their new dream.When reaching the destination, the daughter stood up first, showing her young figure.