Brett married lovelessly and drank too much and drifted too much and had an irresponsible fling with a bullfighter. But she also had class—and her own morality. She set her bullfighter free—"I'd have lived with him if I hadn't seen it was bad for him." And even though she was broke, she lied and "told him I had scads of it... I couldn't take his money, you know."
布雷特结婚了,但却没有爱情,于是她便大量饮酒,随波逐流,并不负责任地投入了一位斗牛士的怀抱。但她还有阶级意识,也有自己的道德。她让斗牛士获得了自由——“如果不是意识到我们待在一起对他不好,我想我会和他住在一起的”。尽管她已破产,她还是说了谎,告诉他我有很多钱……我不能拿他的钱,你知道的。”
Brett's wasn't the kind of morality that my mother was teaching me in suburban New Jersey. But maybe I wasn't meant for suburban life. Maybe I'm meant for something more... emancipated.
布雷特的那种道德与我妈妈在新泽西郊区教给我的不一样。但是,也许我并不想过郊区的生活。也许我想追求更多的东西……获得自由。
I carried Brett's image with me when, after college, I lived for a while in Greenwich Village, in New York. But I couldn't achieve her desperate gallantry. And it struck me that Brett was too lonely and sad, and that Cathy had died too young, and that maybe I ought to forget about unconventionality if the price was going to be so painfully high. Although I enjoyed my Village fling, I had no wish to live anguishedly ever after. I needed a heroine who, like me, wanted just a small taste of the wild before settling down into happy domesticity.
大学毕业后,我在纽约的格林尼治村居住了一段时间。在那段时间里,布雷特的形象一直在我的心中。但我没有获得像她那样不顾一切的勇气。在我看来,布雷特非常孤独,也很悲伤;在我看来,凯茜死得太早了。如果代价如此高昂、令人如此痛苦,也许我应该忘记这些不合常规的行为。虽然我很喜欢居住在村庄里,但我并不希望从此以后要一直痛苦地生活下去。我需要一个女主人公,像我一样,在安心经营快乐的家庭生活之前,只希望浅尝一点野性的味道。
I found her in War and Peace. Her name was Natasha.
在《战争与和平》中,我找到了她。她的名字叫娜塔莎。
Natasha, the leading lady of this epic of Russian society during Napoleon's time, was "poetic... charming... overflowing with life," an enchanting girl whose sweet eagerness and passionate impulsivity were tempered by historic and private tragedies.
娜塔莎是拿破仑时代这部关于俄国社会的史诗般著作的女主角,她“充满诗情画意……可爱迷人……洋溢着生命的活力”。如此迷人的一位女孩,她甜蜜的梦想和热情的冲动与历史和个人的悲剧交织在一起。
Married to the handsome and excellent Prince Andrew, she fell in love with a heel named Anatole, and when she was warned that this foolish and dangerous passion would lead to her ruin, "I'll go to my ruin...," she said, "as soon as possible."
她嫁给了英俊潇洒、卓越不凡的安德鲁王子,却又爱上了一个名叫阿纳托尔的无赖。当她收到警告说这种愚蠢而危险的激情会毁掉她时,她说我要尽快地毁灭……”