The scent of life
AHOME-COOKED Ethiopian meal is a sensual journey, which extends beyond the warm flavoursofgingerand cardamom that spice the languidly served stews.There is also the tactile joy of tearing and rolling injera,a spongy and bubbly flat bread, before using it to mop up sauces. Best of all is the whiff of green coffee beans roasted in a cast-iron skillet, which is carried around the table to give each guest a full measure of its aroma.
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一顿埃塞俄比亚餐就是一次超越了生姜和小豆蔻让人倦怠的温和味道的感官之旅。在用它来擦去酱汁之前，还有一种撕扯以及卷起画眉面包的触感的快乐，画眉面包是一种海绵状的、泡沫状的扁平面包。最妙的是，在铸铁平底锅里烘烤的绿色咖啡豆的味道，沿着桌边给每一位客人，让每位客人都能充分感受到它的香味。
To read Aida Edemariam’s “The Wife’s Tale” is to savour the life of her grandmother, Yetemegnu. It is a life scented with ginger and garlic, cardamom and basil, which spans emperors, revolutions, invasion, conquest and liberation. Rather than cataloguing Ethiopia’s turbulent modern history, Ms Edemariam stitches together the fragmentary memories and experiences of a single woman.
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阿依达•埃德米里姆的《妻子的故事》就是去品味她祖母Yetemegnu的一生。这是一个跨越了帝王、革命、侵略、征服和解放，充满了生姜、大蒜、豆蔻以及罗勒气味的一生。埃德米里姆没有将埃塞俄比亚动荡的现代历史编入目录，而是将一个单身女性的零碎记忆和经历缝合在一起。
As is the paradox of memory, some of the oldest are the mostvivid. Yetemegnu is married, aged just eight, to Tsega, a religious student more than 20 years older than her; she remembers the calls of children playing outside, and wishing she was with them. After the ceremony, atthe start of two weeks of feasting, when someone starts to beat a drum, the sound is quickly silenced. Yetemegnu aches to dance, but her mother says that would attract the evil eye. “She would always remember that no one danced at her wedding,” Ms Edemariam writes. “And for the rest of her life she would try to make up for it.”
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就像记忆的悖论一样，一些最古老的记忆往往是最生动的。Yetemegnu年仅8岁时嫁给了比她大20岁的宗教学生Tsega。她记得在外面玩耍的孩子们的欢呼声，并且期望能和他们一起玩耍。仪式结束后，在两周的宴会开始后，当有人开始敲鼓时，这个声音很快就停下了。Yetemegnu很想跳舞，但她的母亲说，这会吸引邪恶之眼。“她永远都会记得，没有人在她的婚礼上跳舞，”埃德玛里姆写道。“并且在她的余生中，她会努力弥补这一点。”
During Yetemegnu’s first years of marriage she is not altogether a child, but also not an adult. Bossed about by servants who refuse to play with her, she watches out of the windows as donkeys, slaves and nuns walk past. Hereducation, such as it is, consists of being taught to sing the alphabet, psalmsand set texts by a blind teacher. He advises Tsega that his wife should not be allowed to read, because she is too quick to learn and quotes the Bible in her own defence. So the lessons stop, and the physical abuse begins.
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Yetemegnu结婚的第一年里，她既不是一个孩子，也不是一个成年人。被那些拒绝和她玩的仆人们差来差去，她会在驴子、奴隶和修女走过的时候从窗户里望出去。尽管不怎么好，她的教育包括由一位盲人教师教授的吟唱字母表、赞美诗以及设置文本。他建议Tsega不要让他的妻子阅读，因为她学的太快了，还会引用《圣经》为她自己说话。因此，课程就结束了，并且，身体的虐待开始了。
Tsega—who later rose to high office in the church—first beats her when she runs to a neighbour to borrow a pot. After his anger passes he soothes her, comforting her in her grief after her mother dies by promisingto be a mother to her himself. By 14 she, too, has a child.
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随后升至教堂要务的Tsega第一次打她是当她跑到邻居家借一个壶子的时候。他的怒气消散后，他安慰她。在她的母亲去世后，他安慰处于悲伤中的她，承诺以后他会像母亲般对她。到了14岁，她也有了一个孩子。
As she endures pregnancies and labours perfumed by incense, Ethiopia changes around her. In 1930 Haile Selassie becomes emperor. Five years later he flees the Italian invaders. Yetemegnu is swept along by her husband and household as they move to the mountains and back to the cities, seeking sanctuary. Her tale is filled with sadness and loss. “When were you happy?” the author once asked her grandmother. “I’m never happy, came the answer…All of my life is painted in tears.”
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当她正忍受着充满熏香味的孕期和分娩的时候，埃塞俄比亚也在她周围发生改变。1930年海尔·塞拉西一世成为皇帝。五年后，他逃离了意大利侵略者。Yetemegnu被她的丈夫以及家人带着搬到山上并搬回城市寻找避难所。她的故事充满了悲伤和失败。作者曾经问她祖母，“你什么时候会快乐呢？她的祖母回答道，”我永远都不会快乐，我的一生都沉浸在泪水之中。”
Yet hers is also a life of fortitude and freedom. With motherhood and maturity, Yetemegnu grows in confidence. At about 20 she is preparing to visit a neighbour when Tsega tells her to stay. This time, after the beating, she gathers her children and leaves. She returns only after a deputation of village elders convinces her that he will not hurt her again. When, some time later, he raises a stick against her, she stares him in the eye until he lowers his arm. For all the violence in her marriage, it also contains love, courage and fealty. When Tsega is arrested and unjustly jailed, Yetemegnu petitions first the governor and then the emperor. After his death in prison, she mourns him as the man who had plaited her hair when she was a child: “my husband, who raised me”.
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但是这也是坚毅且自由的一生。有了母亲身份以及成熟，Yetemegnu自信地成长。大约20岁的时候，她准备去拜访一个邻居，但Tsega叫她待着。这一次，在被打之后，她带着孩子们离开了。在一位村里的老者代表让她相信他再也不会伤害她之后她才回来。一段时间后，当他对她举起一根棍子的时候，她盯着他直到他放下手臂。在她婚姻的所有暴力中，也包含着爱、勇气和忠诚。当Tsega被逮捕并受到不公正监禁的时候，Yetemegnu先向地方长官请愿，随后向国王请愿。他在监狱去世后，她哀悼他为一个在她年幼时为编头发的男人“我的丈夫，养育了我的人”。
Decades later, after the fall of the emperor, while retrieving banknotes she had hidden in the pages of a child’s book, she looks down at the letters and suddenly wordsleap outather. Awoman who until then could only painstakingly scratch out her name finds sentences unfolding. As for the child who was not allowed to dance at her own marriage ceremony? Attending the wedding of two of her brothers, she sees a circle of women clapping their hands. She joins it, hands on hips, shoulders down, and dances, faster and faster, until she can barely move.
来源 / TE 2018-03-24
志愿领译 / Elaine
期数 / 009
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