I was asked to a dinner party in Xiguan given by a friend of mine. There were seven of us going together，including the host.

一个朋友在西关宴客邀了我去。同去的连主人一共是七位。
As has long been known to me，Xiguan is a busy downtown area in Guangzhou — a place inhabited by many old-fashioned big families. The streets are wide，but there are quite a few narrow lanes and flagstones too. Hidden in the tightly packed dwellings were unfathomable mysteries of all sorts. Every afternoon many gaudily dressed young women will be seen parading through the streets，escorted by their maid servants. It is said that they are concubines of big families and that the maid servants have been hired by their masters specially to keep watch on the young women in case they should run away.

我早就听说西关是一个很热闹的地方。那里还是许多旧式大家庭的根据地。马路宽阔，但也有不少的窄巷和石板铺的小路。在那些密集的房屋里面隐藏着种种神秘的事情。每天下午马路上出现了许多服饰华丽的年轻女人，后面还跟着女佣。据说这些女人都是大家庭里的姨太太。她们的主人因为害怕她们逃走，专门雇了女佣来监视她们。

After parking our car by the side of a big street，we alighted and walked into a narrow flagged lane lined with small houses.

我们的汽车停在大马路上。我们下了车，走进一条窄巷，路是石板铺砌的，两旁是些矮小的房屋。
We came to a big restaurant after taking a turning. The gorgeous restaurant，standing in such a lowly place，struck us as unusual and fantastic.

我们转了一个弯，走到一座大酒楼的门前。这样漂亮的酒楼立在这条街上就像一个奇迹，实在叫人不能相信。
It was quite roomy inside. An old-style multi-storeyed building，with corridors，halls，courtyards and trees，it also looked like a VIP private mansion. After walking about for a while，we went upstairs and took our seats at table in a beautifully-named room.

酒楼里面很宽敞，是旧式的建筑，有楼，有阁，有廊，有厅，有天井，有树木，又像一个大公馆。我们在里面走了一转，就登楼，在一个名称很美的房间里坐了下来。
The host having ordered food，we sat chatting and cracking melon seeds. The room was quite spacious. The electric fan kept rotating. The balcony was decorated with potted flowers. A bamboo shade under the eaves kept off the sun. Birds were heard again and again singing outside. The whole place was nice and quiet.

主人点了菜。我们嗑着瓜子饮茶谈话。楼房很大，还开着电风扇。露台上摆了好几盆鲜花。檐下垂着竹帘，遮住了阳光。从外面不时送来鸟声。这个地方倒还清静。
A sallow-faced woman in her early fifties appeared at the door of our room，umbrella in hand. She paced about for a while before she came in and said a few words to all of us. I couldn't make out what she said. Then she left after exchanging a few words with one of us，who was a native of Guangzhou.

一个五十多岁的黄脸女人拿着一把伞在楼房门口出现了。她起先在门外徘徊了一阵，然后走进来，对我们说了几句话。我不懂她的意思。一个本地的客人和她问答了几句，她便走了。
My friends laughed and I thought I knew why they laughed. The woman reappeared shortly，with a young girl and a middle-aged woman following after her.

他们在笑，我想我懂得他们笑的原因。等一会儿那个女人又来了。在她后面跟着一个年轻姑娘和一个中年妇人。
The young girl，though nicely dressed，was plain-looking. She sat down without saying a word，and having her eyes dropped，kept waving a folding fan. She looked embarrassed with all eyes centered on her.

姑娘相貌平常，却打扮得很漂亮。她坐下来，并不说一句话。她垂下眼皮，手里拿着一把折扇不停地挥着。她在众人的陌生的眼光下有点害羞。
The silence among all made the host feel rather uncomfortable until the Guangzhou man and the old woman exchanged a few words which，however，I could understood a bit. He wanted to know what price she was asking and the answer was，“1,300 yuan.”It was not until then that I realized what it was all about. The young girl was a potential concubine，waiting for a prospective buyer.

没有人讲话，主人也显得不好意思了。后来还是那个本地的客人和那个老妇人问答了几句。他们的谈话我也懂得一点。他问她多少价钱，老妇人回答说，一千三百圆。我现在才知道这是怎么一回事情。姑娘不过是一个候补姨太太，等待合意的主顾来把她买去。

All kept silent. The old woman accepted a 20-cent silver coin and then left with the young girl. On leaving the room，the latter turned round to make a slight bow to us.

大家没有话说了。于是那个老妇人接了两毫银角，把姑娘带走了。走出房门，姑娘还回转身向我们微微鞠躬。
A moment later，while we were eating，the old woman came again，this time bringing with her two young girls. One，wearing a braid at the back of her head，was very young，said to be only 16. The other，with bobbed hair，was older and said to be only 18，but her real age was probably over 20.

过了一会儿，我们正在吃菜的时候，那个老妇人又来了。这次她带了两个姑娘进来。一个年纪很轻，据她说只有十六岁，颈后拖着一根辫子。一个年纪大一点，头发剪短了，据说只有十八岁，实际的年龄恐怕已经超过二十了。
The girls both sat down in a chair，waving a folding fan all the time，probably because they wanted to keep their idle hands occupied or because they were fidgety beneath the gaze of so many eyes. They kept quiet until the Guangzhou man asked them their names.

这两个姑娘就在旁边的靠背椅上坐下。两个人都不停地摇着折扇，大概因为手闲着没有事情做的缘故吧，或者是被人看得有些不好意思了。她们也不说话，只有那个本地客人直接问起她们的姓名时，她们才开了口。
The two girls were more nice-looking than the previous one，hence their higher selling prices. 1,300 and 1,800 yuan were the prices asked for the two girls respectively. When one of my friends said the old woman was asking too much，she replied complacently that the two girls had got some schooling and knew how to read and write. Then she fetched from outside the room two slips of paper and a pen and put them on a tea table. Thereupon，the older girl turned sideways to pick up the pen and write down her name，and then handed the pen to the girl with the braid，who also wrote down her name.

她们的相貌显然比先前的一个漂亮，身价也就贵了许多。年纪小的一个要价一千五百圆，年纪较大的索价到一千八百圆。一个朋友嫌身价太高，老妇人就得意地说她们两个都读过书认识字。她还到外面去找了纸笔来，放在茶几上。年纪较大的姑娘便侧着身子拿起笔写出自己的姓氏。她写完就把笔递给垂着辫子的姑娘，那个少女也写了自己的姓名。
The old woman brought the two slips of paper to our table and we took a look at them in turn. The three neatly written characters Huang Xu Zhen on one slip showed that the older girl wrote a slightly better hand. The other slip was written by the 16-year-old girl，whose name was Li Pan Hao.

老妇人把两张纸条都送到我们的席上来。我们依次传观。第一张纸上的字比较好一点，是“黄旭贞”三个端端正正的字。另一张是那个十六岁的姑娘写的，她的姓名是“李盼好”。
However，despite their ability to write their own names，the two girls were turned down and left after each receiving a 20-cent silver coin. They also turned about to bow to us.

虽然两个姑娘都会写自己的姓名，结果依旧是各人拿了两毫银角走了。走出楼房门口，她们也回转身给我们行礼。
My friends continued to chat and laugh. They said the reason why they had chosen to eat at Xiguan was to find me some materials for writing fiction. They may have told the truth. But，being students of natural science，they had little interest in literature. They knew I was a novelist，but they had never read any of my works，and even if they had，they probably wouldn't have appreciated them. Nevertheless I was grateful to them. But they didn't know how sorry I felt. What I had just seen seemed to weigh heavily on my mind like a solid stone. I couldn't imagine how the three girls had felt the moment they bowed to us on leaving the room. Had they accustomed themselves to such dealings？

客人们继续在谈笑。他们还说，他们选定在西关吃饭，是为了给我找小说材料。他们的话也许是真的。他们都是研究自然科学的人，对于文学并没有兴趣。他们只知道我会写小说，却不曾读过我的作品，即使有机会读到它们，也未必会赞美。我自然感激他们。但是他们完全不了解我。我的心里并不快乐。方才见到的一切似乎放了一块石头在我的心上。我不敢想象那三个少女离开房间时行礼的一瞬间的心情。难道她们已经习惯了这种事情？
Human trafficking is nothing new. I know it is one of the outcomes of our morbid social system. From day to day，a great many living things named“women”are being bought and sold across the land as commodities.

自然买卖人口并不是一件新奇的事情。我知道它也是我们的畸形的社会制度的一个产物。每天每天在各个地方都有许多这样的被称为“女人”的生物让人们当作商品来买卖。
My grandpa bought a concubine，so did my father's brother and my mother's brother. And some of my generation are going to follow the example of their elders. I know of just too many instances of concubinage. But it was the first time for me to see women openly offered for sale at a restaurant like they were commodities，and prices negotiated in their presence. It was said that after the bargain was struck and the deposit paid，the customer would go so far as to scrutinize the woman he had bought physically from top to toe. I could not help feeling most indignant about all that.

我的祖父买过姨太太，我的叔父买过姨太太，我的舅父也买过姨太太，我的一些同辈还准备学他们长辈的“榜样”。关于这件事我知道得很多，很多。但是公开地在茶馆酒楼把女人当一件商品来招揽主顾，当面讲价钱），这在我还是第一次看见。对这样的事情我不能没有愤怒！
《一千三百圆》是巴金1933年6月在广州写的一篇著名散文，选自他的散文集《旅途随笔》。文章记述了作者在广州目睹公开买卖妇女为人妾的情景，充满了对下层不幸妇女的同情以及对黑暗社会的憎恨。