But he felt thirsty, and went into the kitchen to get himself some water. Here, too, was order. On a rack were the plates that she had used for dinner on the night of her quarrel with Strickland, and they had been carefully washed. The knives and forks were put away in a drawer. Under a cover were the remains of a piece of cheese, and in a tin box was a crust of bread. She had done her marketing from day to day, buying only what was strictly needful, so that nothing was left over from one day to the next. Stroeve knew from the enquiries made by the police that Strickland had walked out of the house immediately after dinner, and the fact that Blanche had washed up the things as usual gave him a little thrill of horror. Her methodicalness made her suicide more deliberate. Her self-possession was frightening. A sudden pang seized him, and his knees felt so weak that he almost fell. He went back into the bedroom and threw himself on the bed. He cried out her name.
他感到口渴，走進廚房去給自己弄一點水喝。廚房也整齊有序。她同思特里克蘭德吵嘴的那天晚上，晚飯使用的餐具已經擺好在碗架上，而且洗得干干凈凈。刀叉收好在一只抽屜里。吃剩的一塊干酪用一件什么器皿扣起來，一個洋鐵盒里放著一塊面包。她總是每天上街采購，只買當天最需要的東西，因此從來沒有什么東西留到第二天。從進行調查的警察那里施特略夫了解到，那天晚上思特里克蘭德一吃過晚飯就離開了這所房子，而勃朗什居然還象通常一樣洗碟子刷碗，這真叫人不寒而栗。勃朗什臨死以前還這樣有條有理地做家務活兒，這說明了她的自殺是周密計劃的。她的自制能力讓人覺得可怕。突然間，施特略夫感到心如刀絞，兩膝發軟，幾乎跌倒在地上。他回到臥室，一頭扎在床上，大聲地呼喚著她的名字：
"Blanche. Blanche."
“勃朗什！勃朗什！”
The thought of her suffering was intolerable. He had a sudden vision of her standing in the kitchen—it was hardly larger than a cupboard—washing the plates and glasses, the forks and spoons, giving the knives a rapid polish on the knife-board; and then putting everything away, giving the sink a scrub, and hanging the dish-cloth up to dry—it was there still, a gray torn rag; then looking round to see that everything was clean and nice. He saw her roll down her sleeves and remove her apron—the apron hung on a peg behind the door—and take the bottle of oxalic acid and go with it into the bedroom.
想到她受的那些罪孽，施特略夫簡直無法忍受。他的腦子里忽然閃現出她的幻影：她正站在廚房里——一間比柜櫥大不了多少的廚房——刷洗盤腕，擦拭刀叉，在刀架上把幾把刀子飛快地蹭了幾下，然后把餐具一一收拾起來。接著她把污水池擦洗了一下，把抹布掛起來——直到現在這塊已經磨破的灰色抹布還在那里掛著。她向四邊看了看，是否一切都已收拾整齊。他仿佛看見她把卷起的袖口放下來，摘下了圍裙——圍裙掛在門后邊一個木栓上——，然后拿起了裝草酸的瓶子，走進了臥室。
來源:可可英語 http://www.ccdyzl.cn/Article/201712/534618.shtml
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