He is waiting for the airline ticket counter when he first notices the young woman. She has glossy black hair pulled tightly into a knot at the back of her bead-the man imagines it loosed and cascading to the small of her back-and carries over she shoulder of her leather coat a heavy black purse. She wears black boots of soft leather. He struggles to see her face-she is ahead of him in line-but it is not until she has bought her ticket and turns to walk away that he realizes her beauty, which is pale and dark-eyed and full-mouthed, and which quickens his heart beat. She seems aware that he is staring at her and lowers her gaze abruptly.

他第一次注意到那个年轻女人，是在他到航空公司售票处排队买票的时候。她的乌黑发亮的一头秀发在脑后紧紧地终成一个客。那人想象着那头秀发披散开来瀑布般落在腰间的情形，只见那女人穿着皮外套的肩上挎着一个沉甸甸的黑色坤包，脚上穿着一双黑色软皮靴。他竭力想看到她的容貌，她就排在他的前面。但是，一直到她买好票走开，他才睹她的芳容：雪白的皮肤，马里发亮的眼睛，丰满的嘴唇。他心族摇荡，狂跳不止。那年轻女人代乎察觉到他在注视着她，便突然垂下了眼睛。

The airline clerk interrupts. The man gives up looking at the woman—he thinks she may be about twenty-five—and buys a round-trip, coach class ticket to an eastern city.

售票员一说话打断了他的想象。他不再看那女人——他想她可能有25岁左右——然后买了一张到东部一个城市的二等往返机票。

His flight leaves in an hour. To kill time, the man steps into one of the airport cocktail bars and orders a scotch and water. While he sips it he watches the flow of travelers through the terminal-including a remarkable number, he thinks, of an unattached pretty women dressed in fashion magazine clothes-until he catches sight of the black-haired girl in the leather coat. She is standing near a Travelers Aid counter, deep in conversation with a second girl, a blond in a cloth coat trimmed with gray fur. He wants somehow to attract the brunette’s attention, to invite her to have a drink with him before her own flight leaves for wherever she is traveling, but even though he believes for a moment she is looking his way he cannot catch her eye from out of the shadows of the bar. In another instant the two women separate; neither of their direction is toward him. He orders a second Scotch and water.

飞机过1个小时才起飞。为了消磨时间，他走进机场的一家鸡尾酒吧，要了一杯兑水的苏格兰威士忌、他一边慢慢地喝着酒，一边望着大厅里川流不息的乘客——他想，其中有好多一定都是未婚的漂亮女人，她们穿的是时装杂志上介绍的那种衣服——直到后来他又瞥见那个穿皮外套的黑发姑娘。她站在旅客服务台旁边，和另外一个姑娘眉飞色舞地聊着什么。另外那个姑娘金发碧眼，身穿一件镶着灰色猫皮的布外套。不知怎么的，他想引起黑发姑娘的注意，想趁这个姑娘要乘的飞往什么地方去的班机还没离开之前，请她喝上一杯。然而，尽管他认为她向他这边张望了一小会儿，但他在酒吧的阴暗处，吸引不了她的秋波。过了没多大一会儿，这两个女人就分手了，都没有朝这个方向走来。他又要了一杯兑水的苏格兰威士忌。