The Magic Barrel
Bernard Malamud
《魔桶》是馬拉默德的短篇著名代表作之一，被廣泛列入文學教材，選家必選。作品描寫猶太老頭地沙茲曼，為了給他心愛的女兒物色丈夫，而挖空心思，以至不擇手段，表現了他貌似狡猾而又心地善良的本質，同時，也刻劃了沙茲曼的女兒和他中意的列奧的形象，在幽默與詼諧中給人以親切之感。
伯納德·馬拉默德(Bernard Malamud，1914一1986)，從俄國移居美國的猶太籍作家。他畢業于紐約市學院和哥倫比亞大學后，就在大學任教，同時從事文學創作。他的作品大多反映猶太下層人民的困苦生活，他們的精神面貌，他們的喜樂悲歡和強韌性格;風格幽默而含蓄，色彩濃重而明朗，筆端飽含著同情小人物的人道主義精神。他的主要代表作長篇小說《伙計》，描寫一個原先蔑視猶太人的流民弗蘭克，目賭猶太人身受的痛苦和舍己為人的慈悲心腸，靈魂從而得到“凈化”，以至于自己也成了 “猶太人”的故事，體現了作者所謂“人人都是猶太人”的理想。
Not long ago there lived in uptown New York, in a small, almost meager room, though crowded with books, Leo Finkle, a rabbinical student in the Yeshivah University. Finkle, after six years of study, was to be ordained in June and had been advised by an acquaintance that he might find it easier to win himself a congregation if he were married. Since he had no present prospects of marriage, after two tormented days of turning it over in his mind, he called in Pinye Salzman, a marriage broker whose two-line advertisement he had read in the Forward.
The matchmaker appeared one night out of the dark fourth-floor hallway of the graystone rooming house where Finkle lived, grasping a black, strapped portfolio that had been worn thin with use. Salzman, who had been long in the business, was of slight but dignified build, wearing an old hat, and an overcoat too short and tight for him. He smelled frankly of fish, which he loved to eat, and although he was missing a few teeth, his presence was not displeasing, because of an amiable manner curiously contrasted with mournful eyes. His voice, his lips, his wisp of beard, his bony fingers were animated, but give him a moment of repose and his mild blue eyes revealed a depth of sadness, a characteristic that put Leo a little at ease although the situation, for him, was inherently tense.
He at once informed Salzman why he had asked him to come, explaining that his home was in Cleveland, and that but for his parents, who had married comparatively late in life, he was alone in the world. He had for six years devoted himself almost entirely to his studies, as a result of which, understandably, he had found himself without time for a social life and the company of young women. Therefore he thought it the better part of trial and error--of embarrassing fumbling--to call in an experienced person to advise him on these matters. He remarked in passing that the function of the marriage broker was ancient and honorable, highly approved in the Jewish community, because it made practical the necessary without hindering joy. Moreover, his own parents had been brought together by a matchmaker. They had made, if not a financially profitable marriage--since neither had possessed any worldly goods to speak of--at least a successful one in the sense of their everlasting devotion to each other. Salzman listened in embarrassed surprise, sensing a sort of apology. Later, however, he experienced a glow of pride in his work, an emotion that had left him years ago, and he heartily approved of Finkle.
