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Still screaming, Pecola reached for Junior's hand. She heard her dress rip under her arm. Junior tried to push her away, but she grabbed the arm which was swinging the cat. They both fell, and in falling, Junior let go the cat, which, having been released in mid-motion, was thrown full force against the window. It slithered down and fell on the radiator behind the sofa. Except for a few shudders, it was still. There was onlythe slightest smell of singed fur.
佩科拉尖叫著去抓裘尼爾的手，她聽見自己的裙子從腋下部位撕裂的聲音。裘尼爾企圖把她推開。可她抓住了揮舞貓咪的手，兩人一起摔倒在地上。摔倒之時，裘尼爾松開了手。因是中途松手，慣性把貓咪摔在窗上。它搖晃著掉在沙發后面的電暖爐上，抽搐了幾下之后就沒動靜了。一陣貓毛的焦味散發了出來。
Geraldine opened the door.
杰蘿丹開門進來。
What is this? Her voice was mild, as though asking a perfectly reasonable question. "Who is this girl?"
“怎么回事？”她的嗓音柔和，好像在問一個極其平常的問題，“這個女孩是誰？”
She killed our cat, said Junior. "Look." He pointed to the radiator, where the cat lay, its blue eyes closed, leaving only an empty, black, and helpless face.
“她把我們家的貓給弄死了。”裘尼爾說，“看。”他指了指電暖爐上躺著的貓，藍色的雙眼緊閉著，只剩一張毫無生氣的黑臉。
Geraldine went to the radiator and picked up the cat. He was limp in her arms, but she rubbed her face in his fur. She looked at Pecola. Saw the dirty torn dress, the plaits sticking out on her head, hair matted where the plaits had come undone, the muddy shoes with the wad of gum peeping out from between the cheap soles, the soiled socks, one of which had been walked down into the heel of the shoe. She saw the safety pin holding the hem of the dress up. Up over the hump of the cat's back she looked at her. She had seen this little girl all of her life. Hanging out of windows over saloons in Mobile, crawling over the porches of shotgun houses on the edge of town, sitting in bus stations holding paper bags and crying to mothers who kept saying "Shet up!" Hair uncombed, dresses falling apart, shoes untied and caked with dirt. They had stared at her with great uncomprehending eyes. Eyes that questioned nothing and asked everything. Unblinking and unabashed, they stared up at her. The end of the world lay in their eyes, and the beginning, and all the waste in between.
杰蘿丹走到電暖爐前將貓抱起來，它全身癱軟地躺在她雙臂里，但她仍把臉貼在貓毛上。她朝佩科拉望去，看見的是撕破的臟裙子，頭頂上的翹辮子，辮子散了的地方頭發亂糟糟的一團，帶泥的廉價鞋底露出中間的鞋襯，襪子臟兮兮的，其中一只已脫落到腳后跟。她看見裙子邊開線的部位用別針別著。她從弓著的貓背上朝她望去。她這一輩子見的都是這類女孩兒。在莫比爾的沙龍窗前，在鎮子邊緣地帶的簡易房前。在汽車站里她們會手拿牛皮紙袋，不停地哭泣，而媽媽們則會不停地說“住嘴”。她們的頭發從不梳理整齊，裙子總是破破爛爛，帶泥的鞋子總是不系鞋帶。她們總是用不可理解、蠢鈍愚昧的目光瞧著她，既不眨眼，也不害臊。在她們的眼睛里可以看到世界末日，世界起源，以及末日與起源之間的荒蕪。
