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But that is a mistake. I know even before I wake up.
可是，這是個錯誤，我還沒醒來之前就知道了。
Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue?
誰聽說約翰遜家的人士伶牙俐齒的？
Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye?
誰能想象我敢直視一個陌生的白人？
It seems to me I have talked to them always with one toot raised in flight, with my head turned in whichever way is farthest from them.
和他們講話時，我總是緊張不安，隨時準備溜走。我的頭總是轉到離他們最遠的方向。
Dee, though. She would always look anyone in the eye.
不過，迪伊就不這樣。她對任何人都不畏懼。
Hesitation was no part of her nature.
猶豫不決可不是她的本性。
"How do I look, Mama?" Maggie says, showing just enough of her thin body enveloped in pink skirt and red blouse for me to know she's there, almost hidden by the door.
"我看上去怎么樣啊，媽媽？"麥姬的聲音傳來。她那瘦小的身軀幾乎被一件粉紅色裙子和大紅罩衫全遮住了，人有躲在門背后，身子給門遮去一大半，我好容易才看出她來。
"Come out into the yard," I say.
"快出屋到院子里來，"我說。
Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind of him?
你有沒有見到過一個跛了腿的動物，比如說一只狗，被一個粗心莽撞的有錢買得起汽車的人壓傷后側著身子向一個愚昧的對它表示關切的人走去時的樣子？
That is the way my Maggie walks.
我的麥姬走路時就是那個樣子。
She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground.
自從那次大火燒跨房屋之事發生后，她一直是這個樣子，下巴貼近胸口，眼盯著地面，走路拖著腳。
Deeis lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure.
迪伊生的比麥姬白一些，頭發也好看一些，身材也豐滿一些。
She's a woman now, though sometimes I forget.
她現在已是一個成年女子了，不過我經常忘記這一事實。
How long ago was it that the other house burned?
那座房屋被火燒毀是多久以前的事？
Ten, twelve years? Sometimes I can still hear the flames and feel Maggie's arms sticking to me, her hair smoking and her dress falling off her in little black papery flakes.
十年？十二年？有時候我似乎還能聽見燃燒的火焰發出的呼呼的響聲，可以感覺到麥姬用手緊緊抓住我，看到她的頭發冒煙，她的衣服燒成黑灰一片片脫落的情景。
Her eyes seemed stretched open, blazed open by the flames reflect-ed in them. And Dee.
當時她的眼睛瞪得大大的，亮亮的，反射出閃爍著的火苗。還有迪伊。
