那些無法抗拒的名篇29:A Rose for Emily獻給愛米麗的玫瑰(節(jié)選)

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29 獻給愛米麗的玫瑰

So the next day we all said, "She will kill herself";and we said it would be the best thing. When she had first begun to be seen with Homer Barron，we had said，"She will marry him." Then we said，"She will persuade him yet," because Homer himself had remarked—he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elk's Club—that he was not a marrying man. Later we said, "Poor Emily," behind the jalousies as they passed on Sunday afternoon in the glittering buggy, Miss Emily with her head high and Homer Barron with his hat cocked and a cigar in his teeth, reins and whip in a yellow glove.

于是，第二天我們大家都說:“她要自殺了。”我們也都說這是再好不過的事了。我們第一次看到她和荷默·伯隆在一塊兒時，我們都說:“她要嫁給他了。”后來又說:“她還得說服他呢。”因為荷默自己說他喜歡和男人來往，大家都知道他和年輕人在糜鹿俱樂部一起喝酒，他本人也說過，他是無意于成家的人。以后每逢禮拜天下午他們乘著漂亮的輕便馬車路過時，愛米麗小姐昂著頭，荷默歪戴著帽子，嘴里叼著雪茄，戴著黃手套握著馬緩和馬鞭。我們在百葉窗后面不禁要說一點“可憐的愛米麗。”

Then some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people. The men did not want to interfere, but at last the ladies forced the Baptist minister—Miss Emily's people were Episcopal—to call upon her. He would never divulge what happened during that interview, but he refused to go back again. The next Sunday they again drove about the streets，and the following day the minister's wife wrote to Miss Emily's relations in Alabama.

后來有些婦女開始說，這是這個鎮(zhèn)子的恥辱，在年輕人間中造成了很壞的影響。男人們不想干涉，但婦女們終于迫使浸禮會牧師—愛米麗小姐一家人都是屬于圣公會的—去拜訪她。關(guān)于訪問經(jīng)過，他從未透露，但他再也不愿去第二趟了。第二個禮拜天他們又駕著馬車出現(xiàn)在了街上，于是牧師夫人在第二天就寫信告知愛米麗那在亞拉巴馬的親屬。

So she had blood—kin under her roof again and we sat back to watch developments. At first nothing happened. Then we were sure that they were to be married. We learned that Miss Emily had been to the jeweler's and ordered a man's toilet set in silver, with the letters H. B. on each piece.Two days later we learned that she had brought a complete outfit of men’s clothing, including a nightshirt, and we said, "They are married." We were really glad. We were glad because the two female cousins were even more Grierson than Miss Emily had ever been.

原來她家里還有近親，于是我們坐待事態(tài)的發(fā)展。起先沒有動靜，隨后我們確定，他們即將結(jié)婚。我們還聽說愛米麗小姐去過首飾店，訂購了一套銀質(zhì)男人漱洗用具，每件上面都刻著“荷·伯”。兩天之后人家又告訴我們她買了全套男人服裝，包括睡衣，因此我們說:“他們已經(jīng)結(jié)婚了。”我們著實高興。我們高興的是兩位堂姐妹跟愛米麗小姐比起來，更有格里爾生家族的風度。

So we were not surprised when Homer Barron—the streets had been finished some time since- was gone. We were a little disappointed that there was not a public blowing—off，but we believed that he had gone on to prepare for Miss Emily's coming, or to give her a chance to get rid of the cousins. (By that time it was a cabal, and we were all Miss Emily's allies to help circumvent the cousins.) Sure enough, after another week they departed. And, as we had expected all along, within three days Homer Barron was back in town. A neighbor saw the Negro man admit him at the kitchen door at dusk one evening.

因此當荷默·伯隆離開本城—街道鋪路工程已經(jīng)竣工好一陣子了—時，我們一點也不驚奇。倒是因為缺少一番送行告別的熱鬧，不無失望之感。不過我們都相信他此去是為了迎娶愛米麗小姐做一番準備，或者是讓她有個機會打發(fā)走兩個堂姐妹(這時已經(jīng)形成了一個秘密小集團，我們都站在愛米麗小姐一邊，幫她踢開這一對堂姐妹)。真是這樣的，一星期后她們就走了。而且，正如我們一直所期待的那樣。荷默·伯隆又回到鎮(zhèn)上來了。一位鄰居親眼看見那個黑人在一個黃昏時分打開廚房門讓他進去了。

And that was the last we saw of Homer Barron. And of Miss Emily for some time. The Negro man went in and out with the market basket, but the front door remained closed. Now and then we would see her at a window for a moment, as the men did that night when they sprinkled the lime, but for almost six months she did not appear on the streets. Then we knew that this was to be expected too; as if that quality of her father which had thwarted her woman’s life so many times had been too virulent and too furious to die.

這是我們最后一次看到荷默·伯隆。至于愛米麗小姐，我們則有一段時間沒有見過她。黑人拿著購貨籃進進出出，可是前門卻總關(guān)著。偶爾可以看到她的身影在窗口晃過，就像人們在撒石灰那天夜晚曾經(jīng)見過的那樣，但卻整整6個月，她沒有出現(xiàn)在大街上。我們明白這也并非出乎意料，她父親的性格給她那作為女性的一生平添了許多波折，而這種性格仿佛太惡毒，太狂暴，但卻消失不了。

When we next saw Miss Emily, she had grown fat and her hair was turning gray. During the next few years it grew grayer and grayer until it attained an even pepper-and-salt iron-gray, when it ceased turning. Up to the day of her death at seventy-four it was still the vigorous iron-gray, like the hair of an active man.

等到我們再見到愛米麗小蛆時，她已經(jīng)發(fā)胖了，頭發(fā)也灰白了。以后幾年中，頭發(fā)越來越灰，最后變成了像胡椒鹽似的鐵灰色。直到她74歲去世時，還保持著那旺盛的鐵灰色，像是一個活躍的男子的頭發(fā)。

From that time on her front door remained closed, save for a period of six or seven years，when she was about forty, during which she gave lessons in china-painting. She fitted up a studio in one of the downstairs rooms, where the daughters and grand-daughters of Colonel Sartoris' contemporaries were sent to her with the same regularity and in the same spirit that they were sent on Sundays with a twenty-five cent piece for the collection plate. Meanwhile her taxes had been remitted.

打那時起，她的前門就一直關(guān)著，除了在她40歲左右的六七年的時間之外。在那段時期，她開授瓷器彩繪課。在樓下的一個房間里，她臨時布置了一個畫室。沙多里斯上校的那一代人全都把女兒、孫女兒送到她那里學畫，那樣的守時，那樣的認真，簡直同禮拜天去教堂去，還給她們二角伍分錢的硬幣準備放在捐獻盆子里的情況是一模一樣的。這時，她的捐稅已經(jīng)被赦免了。

Then the newer generation became the backbone and the spirit of the town, and the painting pupils grew up and fell away and did not send their children to her with boxes of color and tedious brushes and pictures cut from the ladies' magazines. The front door closed upon the last one and remained closed for good. When the town got free postal delivery Miss Emily alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it. She would not listen to them.

后來，新的一代成了全鎮(zhèn)的骨干，學畫的學生們也長大成人，漸次離開了，他們沒有讓自己的孩子帶著顏色盒、令人生厭的畫筆和從婦女雜志上剪下來的圖片到愛米麗小姐那里去學畫。最后一個學生離開后，前門就關(guān)上了，而且是永遠地關(guān)上了。全鎮(zhèn)實行免費郵遞制度之后，只有愛米麗小姐一人拒絕在她門口釘上金屬門牌號，附設(shè)一個郵件箱。她對他們不理不睬。

Daily, monthly, yearly we watched the Negro grow grayer and more stooped, going in and out with the market basket. Each December we sent her a tax notice, which would be returned by the post office a week later, unclaimed. Now and then we would see her in one of the downstairs windows—she had evidently shut up the top floor of the house—like the careen torso of an idol in a niche, looking or not looking at us, we could never tell which. Thus she passed from generation to generation-dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.

日復(fù)一日，月復(fù)一月，年復(fù)一年，我們眼看著那黑人的頭發(fā)白了，背也駝了，還照舊提著購貨籃進進出出。每年12月我們都寄給她一張納稅通知單，但一星期后又被郵局退了回來，因為無人收信。不時我們在樓下的一個窗口—她顯然是把樓上封閉起來了—見到她的身影，像神盒中的一個偶像的雕塑軀干，我們說不上她是不是在看著我們。她就這樣度過了一年又一年—高貴，寧靜，無法逃避，無法接近，怪僻乖張。

And so she died. Fell ill in the house filled with dust and shadows, with only a doddering Negro man to wait on her. We did not even know she was sick, we had long since given up trying to get any information from the Negro. He talked to no one, probably not even to her, for his voice had grown harsh and rusty, as if from disuse.

她就這樣與世長辭了。在一棟塵埃遍地、鬼影幢幢的屋子里得了病，侍候她的只有一個老態(tài)龍鐘的黑人。我們甚至連她病了也不知道，也早已不想從黑人那里去打聽什么消息了。他跟誰也不說話，恐怕對她也是如此，他的嗓子似乎由于長久不用而變得嘶啞了。

She died in one of the downstairs rooms, in a heavy walnut bed with a curtain, her gray head propped on a pillow yellow and moldy with age and lack of sunlight.

她死在樓下的一間屋子里，笨重的胡桃木床上還掛著床帷。她的枕頭由于多年不見陽光，已經(jīng)黃得發(fā)霉了。

作者介紹:

美國作家威廉·?？思{(1897-1962)，出身名門望族，全名威廉·卡斯伯特·福克納。福克納其他重要作品還有《圣殿》、《標塔》、《沒有被征服的》、《野棕擱》、《墳?zāi)沟年J入者》、《修女安魂曲》、《寓言》、《掠奪者》等。斯諾普斯三部曲(《村子》、《小鎮(zhèn)》、《大宅》也很重要。1950年，?？思{獲得了諾貝爾文學獎。

故事發(fā)生在美國的內(nèi)戰(zhàn)時期，戰(zhàn)爭給南方人造成了致命的打擊。小鎮(zhèn)居民沉浸在對輝煌過去的回憶之中，他們迫切需要一座代表傳統(tǒng)的“偶像”給他們精神上的支撐和慰藉，于是，她永遠成為他們的“紀念碑”和夢想中的“南方淑女”。愛米麗的大院就成了“神龕”，愛米麗小姐既是全鎮(zhèn)人的偶像，也是全鎮(zhèn)人的玩物。因此，她必須是一個無欲的南方貴族，她必須要為保持自己高貴的身份舍棄超越了階級的愛情。