評論
打印
Do you like this place? I asked, after a while, intending to lead on from there into the question of forest lore.
你喜歡這兒嗎?過了一會兒，我便開口問道，想從這個問題慢慢引導到有關森林中的故事的問題上去。
Piquette shrugged. It's okay. Good as anywhere.
皮格特聳了聳肩。這地方不錯，比哪兒都不差。
I love it, 1 said. We come here every summer.
我很喜歡這地方，我說，我們每年夏天都到這兒來。
So what? Her voice was distant, and I glanced at her uncertainly, wondering what I could have said wrong.
那又怎么樣呢?她的聲音很冷淡，我疑惑地看著她，不知道我的哪句話得罪了她。
Do you want to come for a walk? I asked her. We wouldn't need to go far.
你想不想去散散步?我問她。我們不必走得太遠。
If you walk just around the point there, you come to a bay where great big reeds grow in the water, and all kinds of fish hang around there. Want to? Come on.
只要繞過那邊的那個湖岬，你就會看到一個淺水灣，那兒的水中長著高大的蘆葦，蘆葦叢中游動著各種各樣的魚兒。想去嗎?快來吧。
She shook her head.
她搖了搖頭。
Your dad said I ain't supposed to do no more walking than I got to. I tried another line.
你爸爸說過，我不能過多地走路。我試著改用另一種策略。
I bet you know a lot about the woods and all that, eh? I began respectfully.
我猜想你對森林中的故事一定知道得很多，是嗎?我畢恭畢敬地說道。
Piquette looked at me from her large dark unsmiling eyes.
皮格特瞪著那雙大大的、沒有一點笑意的黑眼睛望著我。
I don't know what in hell you're talkin' about, she replied. You nuts or somethin?
我不明白你在胡說些什么，她回答說。你是發神經還是怎么的?
If you mean where my old man, and me, and all them live, you better shut up, by Jesus, you hear?
假如你是想問我爹和我以及他們大家居住的地方的話，你最好閉住嘴，聽到了嗎?
I was startled and my feelings were hurt, but I had a kind of dogged perseverance. I ignored her rebuff.
我大感愕然，心里十分難受，但我生性固執。我不去計較她那冷漠的態度。
You know something, Piquette? There's loons here, on this lake. You can see their nests just up the shore there, behind those logs.
你知道嗎，皮格特?這個湖上有一些潛水鳥。它們的窩就在那邊的湖岸上，在那堆木材后邊。
At night, you can hear them even from the cottage, but it's better to listen from the beach.
夜晚，在別墅里就可以聽見它們的叫聲，但在這兒的沙灘上要聽得更清楚一些。
My dad says we should listen and try to remember how they sound, because in a few years when more cottages are built at Diamond Lake and more people come in, the loons will go away.
我爸爸要我們好好聽聽并記住它們的嗚叫聲，因為過幾年之后，當湖邊建起更多的別墅，來這兒的人也多起來的時候，潛水鳥便會飛離鉆石湖了。
