讀點(diǎn)好英文:A Rose for Emily 獻(xiàn)給愛米麗的玫瑰

A Rose for Emily 獻(xiàn)給愛米麗的玫瑰

[美]威廉·?？思{（William Faulkner）

故事發(fā)生在美國的內(nèi)戰(zhàn)時(shí)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(duì)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(yuǎn)成為他們的“紀(jì)念碑”和夢(mèng)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(gè)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(jí)的愛情。

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 carven 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.

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.

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.

于是，第二天我們大家都說：“她要自殺了?！蔽覀円捕颊f這是再好不過的事了。第一次看到她和荷默·伯隆在一塊兒時(shí)，我們都說：“她要嫁給他了?！焙髞碛终f：“她還得說服他呢?！币?yàn)楹赡约赫f他喜歡和男人來往，大家都知道他和年輕人在麋鹿俱樂部一起喝酒，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(shí)，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，握著馬韁和馬鞭。我們?cè)诎偃~窗后面不禁要說一聲：“可憐的愛米麗?！?/p>

后來有些婦女開始說，這是這個(gè)鎮(zhèn)子的恥辱，在年輕人中間造成了很壞的影響。男人們不想干涉，但婦女們終于迫使浸禮會(huì)牧師——愛米麗小姐一家人都是屬于圣公會(huì)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(gè)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。

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(dòng)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)男人盥洗用具，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?！蔽覀冎鴮?shí)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(fēng)度。

因此當(dāng)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(shí)，我們一點(diǎn)兒也不驚奇。倒是因?yàn)槿鄙僖环托懈鎰e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(zhǔn)備，或者是讓她有個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)打發(fā)走兩個(gè)堂姐妹（這時(shí)已經(jīng)形成了一個(gè)秘密小集團(tuán)，我們都站在愛米麗小姐一邊，幫她踢開這一對(duì)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(gè)黑人在一個(gè)黃昏時(shí)分打開廚房門讓他進(jìn)去了。

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(shí)間沒有見過她。黑人拿著購貨籃進(jìn)進(jìn)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?cè)谌鍪夷翘煲雇碓?jīng)見過的那樣，但有整整六個(gè)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。

等到我們?cè)僖姷綈勖愋〗銜r(shí)，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(shí)，還保持著那旺盛的鐵灰色，像是一個(gè)活躍的男子的頭發(fā)。

打那時(shí)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(shí)間之外。在那段時(shí)期，她開授瓷器彩繪課。在樓下的一個(gè)房間里，她臨時(shí)布置了一個(gè)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(xué)畫，那樣的守時(shí)，那樣的認(rèn)真，簡直同禮拜天到教堂去，還給她們二十五美分的硬幣準(zhǔn)備放在捐獻(xiàn)盆子里的情況是一模一樣的。這時(shí)，她的捐稅已經(jīng)被赦免了。

后來，新的一代成了全鎮(zhèn)的骨干，學(xué)畫的學(xué)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(xué)畫。最后一個(gè)學(xué)生離開后，前門就關(guān)上了，而且是永遠(yuǎn)地關(guān)上了。全鎮(zhèn)實(shí)行免費(fèi)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(hào)，附設(shè)一個(gè)郵件箱。她對(duì)他們不理不睬。

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(jìn)進(jìn)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?yàn)闊o人收信。不時(shí)我們?cè)跇窍碌囊粋€(gè)窗口——她顯然是把樓上封閉起來了——見到她的身影，像神龕中的一個(gè)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。

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(gè)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(duì)她也是如此，他的嗓子似乎由于長久不用而變得嘶啞了。

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。

實(shí)戰(zhàn)提升

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·?？思{。福克納其他重要作品還有《喧嘩和騷動(dòng)》《我彌留之際》《圣地》《八月之光》《村舍》《押沙龍，押沙龍！》等。斯諾普斯三部曲（《村子》《小鎮(zhèn)》《大宅》）也很重要。1949年，?？思{獲得了諾貝爾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)。

單詞注解

remark[ri5mB:k]n./v.談?wù)?；評(píng)論；說

outfit[5autfit]n.全套裝備；全套工具

sprinkle[5spriNkl]v.灑，噴，淋；撒；n.灑的動(dòng)作；少量

refuse[ri5fju:z]v.拒絕；拒受；拒給

moldy[5mEuldi]adj.發(fā)霉的；陳腐的；乏味的

名句大搜索

后來有些婦女開始說，這是這個(gè)鎮(zhèn)子的恥辱，在年輕人中間造成了很壞的影響。

全鎮(zhèn)實(shí)行免費(fèi)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(hào)，附設(shè)一個(gè)郵件箱。

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。