評(píng)論
打印
Now we had both moved away from Vancouver. But Sunny had moved with husband and her children and her furniture, in the normal way and for the usual reason—her husband had got another job. And I had moved for the newfangled reason that was approved of only in some special circles—leaving husband and house and all the things acquired during the marriage (except, of course, the children, who were to be pareelled about), in the hope of making a life that could be lived without hypocrisy or deprivation or shame.
如今，我們都離開(kāi)了溫哥華。只不過(guò)賽妮是和丈夫、孩子、家居用品一起以一種正常的方式離開(kāi)的。原因也很正常一她的丈夫換了工作。而我卻是以一種新式的理由離開(kāi)的。這種理由只在某些特定的圈子里得到肯定。那就是離開(kāi)婚姻及婚姻生活中所獲取的所有東西（當(dāng)然孩子除外，他們會(huì)定期來(lái)到我身邊），希望過(guò)上一種沒(méi)有虛偽、不喪失自我、不感到羞辱的生活。
I lived now on the second floor of a house in Toronto. The people downstairs had come from Trinidad a dozen years earlier. All up and down the street, the old brick houses were occupied by olive—or brownish-skinned people who spoke English in a way that was unfamiliar to me and who filled the air day and night with the smell of their spicy-sweet cooking. I was happy with all this—it made me feel as if I had made a true change, a long necessary voyage from the house of marriage. But it was too much to expert of my daughters—who were ten and twelve years old—that they should feel the same way. They had come to me at the beginning of the summer holidays, supposedly to stay for the whole two months. They found the smells of the street sickening and the noise frightening.
我現(xiàn)在住在多倫多的一幢房子的二樓。樓下的住戶是在12年前從特立尼達(dá)拉島搬來(lái)的。整條街道上老式磚房里居住的都是微褐色皮膚的人。他們以一種我不熟悉的方式說(shuō)著英語(yǔ)，空氣中從早到晚彌漫著他們又辣又甜的烹飪氣味。我對(duì)這一切事物都很滿意。因?yàn)檫@一切讓我感覺(jué)自己真的改變了，這是為擺脫婚姻的禁錮而必須踏上的長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的旅途。但如果期望我的10歲和12歲的女兒同我有一樣的感受，那就有些過(guò)分了。她們?cè)谑罴俪鮼?lái)到我這里，本打算要待上整整兩個(gè)月，她們覺(jué)得這街道的氣味令人作嘔，這里的噪音令人發(fā)怵。
For a while they did not complain. The older one said to the younger one,"Let Mom think we're happy. Or she'll feel bad."
剛開(kāi)始，她們沒(méi)有抱怨。大女兒對(duì)小女兒說(shuō)：“讓媽媽覺(jué)得我們很快樂(lè)，不然她會(huì)不開(kāi)心的?！?/div>
At last a blowup. Accusations, confessions of misery, the younger wailing, "Why can't you just live at home?" and the older telling her bitterly, "Because she hates Dad."
后來(lái)終于爆發(fā)了。小女兒埋怨哭訴著：“為什么你不在家里??？”大女兒痛苦地告訴她說(shuō)：“因?yàn)閶寢尯薨职帧！?/div>
I phoned my husband—who asked me nearly the same question and provided, on his own, nearly the same answer. I changed the tickets and helped my children pack and took them to the airport. When I came back, alone, I gathered up all reminders of them and stuffed them into a garbage bag. And I did more or less the same thing every time I thought of them: I snapped my mind shut. There were miseries I could bear—those connected with men. And other miseries—those connected with children—that I could not.
我打電話給我的丈夫——他問(wèn)我近乎同樣的問(wèn)題，而他自己也給出了近乎一樣的答案。我給孩子們換了票，幫她們收拾東西，送她們到飛機(jī)場(chǎng)。當(dāng)我獨(dú)自回來(lái)的時(shí)候，我把所有與她們有關(guān)的、可能喚起對(duì)她們記憶的東西收集在一起塞進(jìn)垃圾袋里。而當(dāng)我想起她們的時(shí)候，幾乎也做同樣的事，將我的思緒完全封閉。與男人有關(guān)的苦痛我可以忍受，而與孩子有關(guān)的苦痛我不能忍受。
| 重點(diǎn)單詞 | 查看全部解釋 | |||
| deprivation | [.depri'veiʃən] |
想一想再看 n. 剝奪，免職，匱乏，喪失，奪去 |
聯(lián)想記憶 | |
| complain | [kəm'plein] |
想一想再看 vi. 抱怨，悲嘆，控訴 |
||
| except | [ik'sept] |
想一想再看 vt. 除，除外 |
聯(lián)想記憶 | |
| hypocrisy | [hi'pɔkrəsi] |
想一想再看 n. 偽善 |
||
| frightening | ['fraitniŋ] |
想一想再看 adj. 令人恐懼的，令人害怕的 動(dòng)詞frighten的 |
||
| unfamiliar | ['ʌnfə'miljə] |
想一想再看 adj. 不熟悉的 |
||
| occupied |
想一想再看 adj. 已占用的；使用中的；無(wú)空閑的 v. 占有（oc |
|||
| spoke | [spəuk] |
想一想再看 v. 說(shuō)，說(shuō)話，演說(shuō) |
||
| misery | ['mizəri] |
想一想再看 n. 痛苦，悲慘的境遇，苦難 |
