In less than a minute he was back in the cab with the ring.

不到一分钟，他带着戒指回到了马车里。

But within that minute a crosstown car had stopped directly in front of the cab. The cabman tried to pass to the left,

可是就在那一分钟里，一辆市区汽车在马路的正前方停住了。马车夫想往左拐，

but a heavy express wagon cut him off. He tried the right, and had to back away from a furniture van that had no business to be there.

然而一辆笨重的快运货车挡住了他的去路。他向右面试试，又不得不退回来，避让一辆莫名其妙地出现在那儿的装载家具的马车。

He tried to back out, but dropped his reins and swore dutifully. He was blockaded in a tangled mess of vehicles and horses.

他企图倒退，但也不成，便只好扔下缰绳，聊尽本分地咒骂起来。他给封锁在一批纠缠不清的车辆和马匹中间了。

One of those street blockades had occurred that sometimes tie up commerce and movement quite suddenly in the big city.

交通阻塞在大城市并不稀罕，有时会相当突然地发生这种情况，阻隔车马往来。

"Why don't you drive on?" said Miss Lantry, impatiently. "We'll be late."

“为什么不赶路啊？”兰特里小姐心烦意乱地问。“我们要赶不上啦。”

Richard stood up in the cab and looked around.

理查德起身站在马车里，望了望四周，

He saw a congested flood of wagons, trucks, cabs, vans and street cars filling the vast space where Broadway, Sixth Avenue and Thirly-fourth street cross one another

看见百老汇街、第六大街和第三十四街的交叉口那大片地段给各式各样的货车、卡车、马车、搬运车和街车挤得水泄不通，

as a twenty-six inch maiden fills her twenty-two inch girdle.

有如一个二十六英寸腰围的姑娘硬要扎一根二十二英寸的腰带一样。

And still from all the cross streets they were hurrying and rattling toward the converging point at full speed,

而且在这几条街上还有车辆正飞速驶来，

and hurling thcmselves into the struggling mass, locking wheels and adding their drivers' imprecations to the clamour.

投入这一难分难解的车阵、马阵之中，在原有的喧嚣之中，又加进了新的咒骂声和吼叫声。

The entire traffic of Manhattan seemed to have jammed itself around them.

曼哈顿的全部车辆似乎都挤压在这儿了。