評論
打印
"Just as if a man--any man--could keep a kitchen properly, " the ladies said; so they were not surprised when the smell developed. It was another link between the gross, teeming world and the high and mighty Griersons.
“好像，要是男人——不管什么樣的男人都可以把廚房收拾得井井有條的話，”女人們說道；那種氣味越來越濃時，她們也并不感到吃驚。這種氣味畢竟是蕓蕓眾生的平凡世界與大官貴族的格利爾遜家族之間的另外一種聯(lián)系方式。
A neighbor, a woman, complained to the mayor, Judge Stevens, eighty years old.
鄰家一婦人向年已八十的鎮(zhèn)長史蒂文斯法官投訴。
But what will you have me do about it, madam? he said.
可是，太太，這件事，你叫我怎么辦呢？”他說道。
Why, send her word to stop it, the woman said. "Isn't there a law?"
“嗯，那，通知她把氣味去掉唄，”女人說，“不是有法律嗎？”
"I'm sure that won't be necessary," Judge Stevens said. "It's probably just a snake or a rat that nigger of hers killed in the yard. I'll speak to him about it."
“絕對沒有必要，”史蒂文斯法官說。“也許是她家那個黑鬼在院子里打死了一條蛇或一只老鼠什么的。我去跟他說說這事兒。”
The next day he received two more complaints, one from a man who came in diffident deprecation. "We really must do something about it, Judge. I'd be the last one in the world to bother Miss Emily, but we've got to do something." That night the board of aldermen met--three greybeards and one younger man, a member of the rising generation.
第二天，鎮(zhèn)長又接到兩起投訴，一起是來自一個男的，語氣溫和。“法官，對這氣味，我們真的該采取措施了。可我又最不想打擾艾米莉小姐，但我們總得想想辦法呀。”那天晚上，全體參議員召開了一個會，參加會議的人有三位老人和一位較年輕的新興代成員。
"It's simple enough," he said. "Send her word to have her place cleaned up. Give her a certain time to do it in, and if she don't…"
“這事再簡單不過了，”年輕人說。“通知她叫人把屋子打掃干凈，限期搞好，否則……”
"Damn it, sir," Judge Stevens said, "will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?"
“滾蛋吧，你。先生……”薩特里斯法官說當(dāng)著一個貴婦的面，你怎么能說她家里有難聞的氣味呢？”
So the next night, after midnight, four men crossed Miss Emily's lawn and slunk about the house like burglars, sniffing along the base of the brickwork and at the cellar openings while one of them performed a regular sowing motion with his hand out of a sack slung from his shoulder. They broke open the cellar door and sprinkled lime there, and in all the outbuildings. As they recrossed the lawn, a window that had been dark was lighted and Miss Emily sat in it, the light behind her, and her upright torso motionless as that of an idol. They crept quietly across the lawn and into the shadow of the locusts that lined the street. After a week or two the smell went away.
接著，第二天子夜過后，有四個男人越過艾米莉小姐家的草坪，像盜賊一般在屋子周圍潛行，沿著墻角和在地窖通風(fēng)處吸氣聞嗅，其中一人還從肩上的麻袋中掏出東西，做著播種的樣子。他們打開地窖門，在地窖里和所有的裙樓外都撒上了石灰。當(dāng)他們再回頭穿過草坪時，原本黑暗的窗戶亮起了一扇燈光。燈光中艾米莉坐在那兒，燈在她的身后，挺立的身軀一動不動，活像一座雕像。他們鬼鬼祟祟地弓著腰，越過草地，進(jìn)入街道兩旁的洋槐樹影中。一兩周后，氣味消失了。
