第八讲：天堂一瞥

原文

… Kezia stopped swinging. She slipped off the gate as if she was going to run away. Then she hesitated. The Kelveys came nearer, and beside them walked their shadows, very long, stretching right across the road with their heads in the buttercups. Kezia clambered back to the gate; she had made up her mind; she swung out.

‘Hullo,’ she said to the passing Kelveys.

They were so astounded that they stopped. Lil gave her silly smile. Our Else stared.

‘You can come and see our doll’s house if you want to,’ said Kezia, and she dragged one toe on the ground. But at that Lil turned red and shook her head quickly.

‘Why not ?’ asked Kezia.

Lil gasped. Then she said, ‘Your ma told our ma you wasn’t to speak to us. ’

‘Oh, well,’ said Kezia . She didn’t know what to reply. ‘It doesn’t matter. You can come and see our doll’s house all the same. Come on. Nobody’s looking.’

But Lil shook her head still harder.

‘Don’t you want to? ’asked Kezia.

Suddenly there was a twitch, a tug at Lil’s skirt. She turned round, Our Else was looking at her with big imploring eyes; She was frowning; she wanted to go. For a moment Lil looked at our Else very doubtfully. But then our Else twitched her skirt again. She started forward. Kezia led the way. Like two little stray cats they followed across the courtyard to where the doll’s house stood. ’

‘There it is,’ said Kezia.

There was a pause. Lil breathed loudly, almost snorted; our Else was still as a stone.

‘I’ll open it for you,’ said Kezia kindly. She undid the hook and they looked inside.

‘There’s the drawing-room and the dining-room, and that’s the —— ’

‘Kezia!’

‘Kezia!’

It was Aunt Beryl’s voice. They turned round. At the back door stood Aunt Beryl, staring as if she couldn’t believe what she saw.

‘How dare you ask the little Kelvey s into the courtyard?’ said her cold, furious voice. ’You know as well as I do you’re not allowed to talk to them. Run away, children, run away at once. And don’t come back again, ’ said Aunt Beryl. And she stepped into the yard and shooed them out as if they were chickens.

‘Off you go immediately!’ she called, cold and proud.

They did not need telling twice. Burning with shame, shrinking together, Lil huddling along like her mother, our Else dazed, somehow they crossed the big courtyard and squeezed through the white gate.

‘Wicked, disobedient little girl!’ said Aunt Beryl bitterly to Kezia, and she slammed the doll’s house to.

我的翻译

Kezia 停止了旋转，逃也似的从门口溜走了。接着，她犹豫了。 Kelveys 姐妹越走越近。她们的影子拉的很长——头部延伸到马路对面的金凤花从里。 Kezia 又退了回来，她想到了一个点子，然后继续在门上晃荡。

“你们好，”她对路过的 Kelveys 姐妹说，“你们看可以来观看我家的玩具屋，如果你们想看的话。” Kezia 边说边把一只脚放在了地面上。 Lil 听见这句话脸立刻变红了，迅速摇头。

“为什么不呢？” Kezia 问。

Lil 喘着气道： “ 你母亲告诉我们母亲不允许你和我们讲话。 ”

“哦，好吧。” Kezia 有些无奈。她不知道怎么回答。“没关系。你们照样可以来参观我家的玩具屋。来嘛。”

但 Lil 的头摇的更厉害了。

“你们难道不想看吗？” Kezia 十分诧异。

突然，有人在扯 Lil 的裙边——宝贝艾尔西正用祈求的大眼睛看着她。她想去，不同意姐姐的做法。 Lil 看着宝宝艾尔西，瞬间有些犹豫。艾尔西又拉在扯 Lil 的裙边。她往前走着， Kezia 在前面带路。 Kelvey 姐妹像两只流浪猫跟着 Kezia 后面，她们穿过庭院往放置玩具屋的地方走去。

“ 就在那儿。 ”Kezia 说。

就在这个时候， Lil 猛地吸气，像是大喷嚏一样。艾尔西任然像一块石头。

“我替你们打开。” Kezia 友善地讲。她打开钩锁，她们往里面看。

“那是画室和餐厅，那边是……”

“ Kezia ！”是 Beryl 阿姨的声音。她们一回头。 Beryl 阿姨站在门后，她简直不敢相信眼前看到的一幕。

“你竟敢让小 Kelvey 姐妹到庭院里来？”她的叫声冷酷又愤怒。“你知道你和我是不许和她们讲话的。你俩现在就走！不许再到这里来。” Beryl 阿姨踏进院子里，像赶小鸡一样把她们赶走了。

她们不需要被警告第二次。脸上火辣辣的，肌肉抽搐， Lil 双手抱在胸前，像她妈妈一样。宝贝艾尔西一脸茫然。她们怯生生地穿过庭院，蜷缩着离开了白色的大门。

“顽劣的，不懂规矩的小女孩！” Beryl 阿姨愤愤地对 Kezia 说。随手甩上了放置玩具屋的房间。

作者翻译

……姬采仪停止了晃荡，从大门上 5 下来，仿佛要逃开。但她犹豫了一下。凯尔维姐妹走得更靠近了，她们身边拖着长长的影子，一直横过马路，头部的影子落在金凤花丛里。姬采仪又攀上了大门；她已经打定主意，把门朝外荡去。

她对走过的凯尔维姐妹打招呼。

她们吃了一惊，停下了脚步。丽儿 2 傻笑，宝贝艾尔西

眼睁睁瞪着。

“ 你们想看，可以来我家看玩具屋。 ” 姬采仪说，她的一只脚尖在地上拖来拖去。但听了这话，丽儿却涨红了脸，赶紧摇了摇头。

“为什么不？”姬采仪问。

丽儿喘了口气，随着说：“你妈妈告诉我妈妈说，你不可以跟我们说话。”

“喔，那——”姬采仪说，她不知如何回答。“没关系，你们还是可以来看我们的玩具屋。来吧，现在没人看见。”

但丽儿的头摇的更厉害了。

“你们不想看吗？”姬采仪问。

丽儿的裙子突然被一扯，又是一扯。她转过身来，宝贝艾尔西用她的大眼睛哀求地望着她；她皱着眉头，很想进去看看。丽儿犹豫不决地望着宝贝艾尔西好一阵子。但那时宝贝艾尔西又拉了一下她的裙子。她开始往前走。姬采仪在前带路。她们

像两只流浪猫，跟着穿过庭院，来到架着玩具屋的地方。

“这就是。”姬采仪说。

一阵沉默。丽儿喘着粗气，简直像打鼾了；宝贝艾尔西一动不动像块石头。

“我帮你们打开。”姬采仪和蔼地说。她拨开了钩子，她们看见了屋内。

“这是客厅和餐厅，那是——”

“姬采仪！”

啊，真把她们吓了一跳。

“姬采仪！”

是贝莉尔阿姨的声音。她们转过身。贝莉尔阿姨站在后门口，瞪着她们看，似乎不相信她所看到的一切。

“你竟敢把凯尔维家的小孩带进院子来！”她以愤怒、冷酷的声调说。“你跟我一样清楚，你是不准和她们说话的。走开，孩子们，马上走开，再也不要来了。”贝莉尔阿姨说。她迈进院子，像赶小鸡似的把她们撵出去了。

“快走！”她冷酷且傲慢地喊叫。

她们不需要她再嚷第二遍。缩成一团，无地自容，丽儿像她妈妈一样弯身护着艾尔西走开了，艾希尔则茫然无措。她们也不知是如何穿过大院子，挤出白色大门的。

“你这个不听话的坏东西！”贝莉尔阿姨恶狠狠地对姬采仪说，并且砰地一声关上了玩具屋的门。

自评

文采之美：

• 作者写Kelvey姐妹俩影子、头影落在花丛里这两个意象（image）有何含义？“very long shadow” 写出了两人形单影只的孤寂感；头影落在花丛里是美化，也是神圣化——阳光照在花丛中的头影四周是发亮的锦瑟花环，类似于宗教中的圣人。

• 开头写Kezia动作的变化：摇荡--停止摇荡--继续摇荡。外在动作变化，折射出内在心理的变化。

逻辑之美：

• Kelvey小姐妹回答Kezia一句：Your ma told our ma you wasn’t to speak to us. 明显存在语法错误，不和逻辑。但却是真实的、劳工阶级的语言。

• “somehow they crossed the big courtyard and squeezed through the white gate.”一句中为什么是‘big’和‘squeezed’？用big既形容院子大，也有紧张到难以走完意思。为什么是挤出去？因为姐妹俩抱成一团，也描写出了两人造人驱逐的窘迫感。

故事之美：

• 文中，主人公——Kelvey姐妹俩仅看到玩具屋一眼就遭到驱逐。这一眼犹如天堂一撇。营造出了强烈的冲突感和张力。同时，这一眼也有多层次意义，既是“象征意义”。“文学之好与不好，往往在于多层次意义好不好。层面愈多，意义就愈丰富。”