01

When Miss Emily Grierson died, the whole town went to her funeral. The men went to show respect for her because she was like an old monument. The women went mostly because they were curious to see inside her house. No one had seen the inside of her house for at least ten years, except for her old servant, who was both a gardener and a cook.

Funeral 葬礼

Monument 纪念碑

Curious 好奇的

Servant 佣人

Her house was large and square, and it used to be white. It had decorations like small towers and fancy balconies. In the past, it was on the best street in town. But over time, garages and cotton factories were built nearby, and the fancy houses in that area disappeared. Only Miss Emily’s house was left, looking old and out of place. The house was now dirty and broken, surrounded by modern buildings and gas stations. It looked ugly among other ugly things. Now that Miss Emily had died, she would be buried in the cemetery with other important people, next to the graves of soldiers from a long-ago war.

Decorations 装饰

Garages 车库

Out of place 不协调的

When Miss Emily was alive, she was like a tradition for the town. She was part of the town’s history, and people felt responsible for taking care of her. This started back in 1894, when Colonel Sartoris, who was the mayor, decided that Miss Emily didn’t have to pay taxes. He made up a story that her father had loaned money to the town and that they were repaying her this way. Miss Emily never thought of it as charity. She believed Colonel Sartoris’ story. Only someone from Colonel Sartoris’ time would come up with such a story, and only a woman like Miss Emily would believe it.

Mayor 市长

Charity 慈善

Made up a story 编造了一个故事

When new leaders with modern ideas came to power, they were unhappy with this arrangement. They sent Miss Emily a letter asking her to pay her taxes. February came, and she still hadn’t replied. The town officials sent her another letter asking her to come to the sheriff's office. When she didn’t respond, the mayor wrote to her and offered to send a car for her. Miss Emily sent back a note in old-fashioned handwriting. She wrote that she no longer went out and returned the tax notice without saying anything else.

Came to power 执政/掌权

Officials 行政人员，官员

Sheriff 治安官，警长

The town leaders decided to visit her. They knocked on the door, which no one had entered for years. The old servant let them in. Inside, it was dark and smelled musty, like dust and things not used for a long time. The servant led them into the living room. The room had heavy, old furniture covered in cracked leather. When light came through the window, they saw dust rise up when they sat down.

Musty 发霉的

Cracked 有裂纹的

There was a picture of Miss Emily's father on a stand. When Miss Emily entered the room, she was a small, fat woman dressed in black. She wore a thin gold chain with a watch on it. She used a black cane with a gold handle. Her face was pale and bloated, and her eyes were small, like two pieces of coal pressed into dough. She looked at each of the men as they explained why they had come.

She did not invite them to sit. She just listened quietly. When they finished speaking, there was silence, except for the sound of her watch ticking.

Her voice was cold and dry. She said, “I don’t have to pay taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained this to me. You can check the city records.”

Cane 拐杖

Pale 苍白的

Bloated 肿胀的

Dough 生面团

Watch ticking 表的滴答声

One man replied, “We are the city authorities now, Miss Emily. Didn’t you get a letter from the sheriff?”

“Yes, I got a letter,” Miss Emily said. “Maybe he thinks he is the sheriff. But I have no taxes in Jefferson.”

“But we checked the records, and there’s nothing there about this agreement.”

“See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson.”

“But, Miss Emily—”

“See Colonel Sartoris.” (Colonel Sartoris had been dead for almost ten years.) “I have no taxes in Jefferson. Tobe!”

Her servant appeared. “Show these gentlemen out.”

Authorities 当局/当权

Show someone out 送某人出去

02

Miss Emily defeated the town officials, just like she had defeated their fathers thirty years before when they complained about a bad smell.

This happened two years after her father died and shortly after her boyfriend, who everyone thought would marry her, left her. After her father died, she rarely went out. After her boyfriend left, people hardly saw her at all. Some ladies tried to visit her, but she wouldn’t let them in. The only sign that someone lived in the house was her servant, a young Black man, who would go out with a basket to buy food.

The ladies in town said, “How can a man take care of a kitchen properly?” So they weren’t surprised when a bad smell appeared around the house. It seemed like a sign of the difference between the rich, proud Grierson family and the rest of the town.

One of the neighbors complained to Judge Stevens, the 80-year-old mayor.

“What do you want me to do about it, madam?” he asked.

“Send her a message to stop it,” she said. “Isn’t there a law for this?”

“I’m sure that won’t be necessary,” Judge Stevens replied. “It’s probably just a snake or rat that her servant killed in the yard. I’ll talk to him about it.”

Defeated 击败，挫败

Shortly 不久，很快

Rarely 很少，几乎不

Appeared 出现

The next day, Judge Stevens got two more complaints. One man, who didn’t want to complain, said, “We really have to do something, Judge. I don’t want to bother Miss Emily, but we have no choice.”

That night, the town leaders met — three older men and one young man with new ideas.

“It’s simple,” the young man said. “Tell her to clean up her house. Give her a deadline, and if she doesn’t…”

“Sir!” Judge Stevens shouted. “Are you going to tell a lady she smells bad?”

Instead, the next night, four men went to Miss Emily’s house quietly, like burglars. They walked around the house, smelling the air near the bricks and the basement windows. One of them carried a sack and spread lime (a chemical to remove smells) around the house and the yard. As they left, they saw a light in the window. Miss Emily was sitting there, still and straight like a statue. The men walked away quietly into the shadows of the trees.

After a week or two, the smell disappeared.

At that time, people started feeling sorry for Miss Emily. They remembered her great-aunt, who had gone crazy. The Grierson family always acted like they were better than everyone else. No man in town seemed good enough for Miss Emily. People often imagined Miss Emily standing in her house in a white dress, with her father in front of her holding a whip, pushing men away. When she turned thirty and was still not married, the town felt that they were right — maybe she wasn’t really as special as she thought.

Burglar 窃贼

Sack 麻布袋

Lime 石灰

Statue 雕像

Whip 鞭子

When her father died, people heard that the only thing left to her was the house. In some ways, they were glad. Now they could feel pity for her. Being alone and poor made her seem more human, like everyone else. She would finally understand what it felt like to worry about money.

The day after her father’s death, the ladies of the town wanted to visit Miss Emily to comfort her. But when they arrived, she met them at the door. She was dressed as usual and didn’t look sad. She told them her father was not dead. She did this for three days, even when ministers and doctors tried to convince her to let them take care of the body. Finally, just before the town was going to use the law to force her, she gave in. They quickly buried her father.

At the time, people didn’t think she was crazy. They understood why she acted that way. They remembered how her father had pushed away all the young men. Now, with nothing left, she held onto the memory of her father, even though he was the one who had made her life lonely.

Convince 说服，劝服

Give in 屈服，让步

Push away 推开，推远

艾米丽·格里森小姐去世后，全镇人都去参加了她的葬礼。男人们出于对她这座“古老纪念碑”般的尊重，女人们则出于对她房子内部的好奇。

她的房子曾是白色的，装饰着小塔楼和精致的阳台，位于镇上最好的街道。但随着时间的推移，周围的豪宅消失，取而代之的是车库和棉纺厂，只有艾米丽的房子孤零零地留在那里，显得陈旧而格格不入。

艾米丽生前像是小镇的传统，是历史的一部分，人们觉得有责任照顾她，当时的市长甚至决定免除她的税款。

新领导上任后，他们要求艾米丽正常缴税，但她拒绝，坚称根据萨托里斯上校的协议，她无需缴税。

小镇官员们亲自上门也无济于事。

艾米丽孤独地生活，她的父亲曾将所有追求者拒之门外，导致她一直单身。现如今，她的房子散发出恶臭，邻居们向市长投诉...艾米丽的孤独和固执使她与小镇居民的生活格格不入。