评论
打印
"Just as if a man--any man--could keep a kitchen properly, " the ladies said; so they were not surprised when the smell developed. It was another link between the gross, teeming world and the high and mighty Griersons.
“好像，要是男人——不管什么样的男人都可以把厨房收拾得井井有条的话，”女人们说道；那种气味越来越浓时，她们也并不感到吃惊。这种气味毕竟是芸芸众生的平凡世界与大官贵族的格利尔逊家族之间的另外一种联系方式。
A neighbor, a woman, complained to the mayor, Judge Stevens, eighty years old.
邻家一妇人向年已八十的镇长史蒂文斯法官投诉。
But what will you have me do about it, madam? he said.
可是，太太，这件事，你叫我怎么办呢？”他说道。
Why, send her word to stop it, the woman said. "Isn't there a law?"
“嗯，那，通知她把气味去掉呗，”女人说，“不是有法律吗？”
"I'm sure that won't be necessary," Judge Stevens said. "It's probably just a snake or a rat that nigger of hers killed in the yard. I'll speak to him about it."
“绝对没有必要，”史蒂文斯法官说。“也许是她家那个黑鬼在院子里打死了一条蛇或一只老鼠什么的。我去跟他说说这事儿。”
The next day he received two more complaints, one from a man who came in diffident deprecation. "We really must do something about it, Judge. I'd be the last one in the world to bother Miss Emily, but we've got to do something." That night the board of aldermen met--three greybeards and one younger man, a member of the rising generation.
第二天，镇长又接到两起投诉，一起是来自一个男的，语气温和。“法官，对这气味，我们真的该采取措施了。可我又最不想打扰艾米莉小姐，但我们总得想想办法呀。”那天晚上，全体参议员召开了一个会，参加会议的人有三位老人和一位较年轻的新兴代成员。
"It's simple enough," he said. "Send her word to have her place cleaned up. Give her a certain time to do it in, and if she don't…"
“这事再简单不过了，”年轻人说。“通知她叫人把屋子打扫干净，限期搞好，否则……”
"Damn it, sir," Judge Stevens said, "will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?"
“滚蛋吧，你。先生……”萨特里斯法官说当着一个贵妇的面，你怎么能说她家里有难闻的气味呢？”
So the next night, after midnight, four men crossed Miss Emily's lawn and slunk about the house like burglars, sniffing along the base of the brickwork and at the cellar openings while one of them performed a regular sowing motion with his hand out of a sack slung from his shoulder. They broke open the cellar door and sprinkled lime there, and in all the outbuildings. As they recrossed the lawn, a window that had been dark was lighted and Miss Emily sat in it, the light behind her, and her upright torso motionless as that of an idol. They crept quietly across the lawn and into the shadow of the locusts that lined the street. After a week or two the smell went away.
接着，第二天子夜过后，有四个男人越过艾米莉小姐家的草坪，像盗贼一般在屋子周围潜行，沿着墙角和在地窖通风处吸气闻嗅，其中一人还从肩上的麻袋中掏出东西，做着播种的样子。他们打开地窖门，在地窖里和所有的裙楼外都撒上了石灰。当他们再回头穿过草坪时，原本黑暗的窗户亮起了一扇灯光。灯光中艾米莉坐在那儿，灯在她的身后，挺立的身躯一动不动，活像一座雕像。他们鬼鬼祟祟地弓着腰，越过草地，进入街道两旁的洋槐树影中。一两周后，气味消失了。
