Lesson Twelve The Everlasting Witness
永恒的证据
12-1 The three were eating breakfast on the terrace, a thousand and one felicitous birds in the garden trees.
三个人正在阳台上吃早餐,花园里的树上有千百只欢唱的鸟儿。
In unsullied damp brown circles of soft earth the roses bloomed serenely against the pink Mexican wall.
在未受污染的圆形花坛潮湿柔软的褐土上,映衬着粉的墨西哥墙,玫瑰花安详地开放。
Marian's brother-in-law read the English page, as dedicated(專注) as a nice little boy reading the funnies,
玛丽安的妹夫在读报纸的英文专页,就像听话的小男孩在看滑稽连环画时那么专注,
and Theresa, Marian's sister, chatted softly and merrily (愉快地)about their next week-end holiday.
玛丽安的妹妹特丽萨正在低声愉快地谈论下周末的假期。
Theresa's bright smile had always been her mark and now, childless and with a husband beyond war age, and a life both ordered and gay(快樂的), it looked as if that smile had justified itself.
特丽萨脸上欢快的笑容一直就是她的特征,现在她没有孩子,丈夫又已过了入伍的年龄,生活井井有条而且快乐,因此她的笑容看起来是有充分道理的。
12-2 Marian opened her mouth to tell them what she had done the night before and then she closed it on brioche, no words.
玛丽安张开嘴想告诉他们她前一天晚上做了什么,可是她咬了一口黄油点心把嘴闭上了,什么也没有说。
What she had done was to try and find the film again, the war newsreel in which she had seen Jerry, her son.
她前一天晚上做的就是试图重新到那部电影,那部战争新闻短片,她在里面看到过她的儿子杰里。
Or had she seen him? They ought to be told that the uncertainty had not been removed by this trip to Mexico.
可是她看到他了吗?应该告诉他们这次旅行并没有消除她心中的疑惑。
But her next and clearer thought was that this matter was all her own and had to be accomplished without help.
但接下来她有了更明确的想法,这件事是她自己的事,不需要别人来帮助她完成。
Evidence of that was her husband's letting her come down alone ;
丈夫让她独自一人到墨西哥就证明了这一点;
the trip to Mexico was for her to find herself, get back on her feet , return to him healed.
这次来墨西哥就是为了让她弄清自己的处境,重新站起,抚平心灵的创伤后回到他身边。
12-3 The night before the first night her sister and brother-in-law had left her alone she had gone to the dictionary and got the two words cine and guerra,
前一天晚上——她的妹妹和妹夫让她独自呆着的第一个晚上——她去查字典,到电影和战争两个词
and combining them with a question mark had asked them over and over on the phone, going down the movie houses in the yellow section of the book.
然后将他们与疑问语气组合在一起,按着黄页电话簿上列的电影院的电话,一家接一家地打电话。
At one of the box offices a golden Mexican voice told her in perfect English that the word she wanted was not cine but noticias.
在其中的一家电影院的售票处一个洪亮的墨西哥声音用完美的英语告诉她她想说的那个词不是电影而是新闻短片。
She now knew, whether correctly or not, that three places had newsreels about the war.
不管正确与否,她现在知道有三个地方放映有关战争的新闻短片。
12-4 The Olimpia, the del Prado, and the Cine Mexico. She found out exactly where
each one was on the map in her red guidebook.
奥林匹亚电影院、普拉多电影院和墨西哥电影院。在她的红旅游指南上的地图里她到了三个电影院的准确位置。
For that matter she would drive herself and keep the whole event within her control.
同样,她宁愿自己开车,将整个事情置于自己的控制中
Maybe this was why she had brought her car to Mexico.' She knew that her husband (wh
o was Jerry's stepfather and therefore involved multifoldly in her suffering, not singly as a real father would have been ) had let her go away from him only because her sister was in Mexico.
也许这就是为什么她将自己的车开到墨西哥来的缘故。她知道她丈夫(他是杰里的继父,因此是多方面地卷入她的痛苦之中,而不是像亲生父亲那样单一地牵连进来)之所以让她离开他到墨西哥来就是因为她的妹妹在这里。
He was also pretty sure she wouldn't be able to see the film there. But that part had not worked because she hadn't been able to let it work.
他也很有把握在墨西哥她看不到那部电影。但是这一问题上并未起作用,因为她没有让它起作用。
12-5 Five months ago she had the notice that Jerry was missing in action.
五个月前她接到通知,说杰里在战斗中失踪。
Twenty-and-a-half years old.
二十岁零六个月。
His father had died early in the other war.
他的父亲很早就死于另一场战争之中。
Jerry was seven then and she had had to manage him alone, had sometimes failed him , had sometimes been burdened too greatly, but she had always loved him.
杰里当时只有七岁,她不得不独自照顾他,她曾经让杰里失望过,也曾经觉得自己负担过重,但她一直很爱他。
She had married again when he was seventeen but this had not given him a retroactive father for the twelve-thirteen-fourteen-year-old times of crisis .
当杰里17岁时她再婚了,但这并没有为他带来一个能倒回去重新对他在12、13和14岁转折时刻给予影响的爸爸。
So he was not ready for the army when he had to go.
所以当不得不入伍时,他毫无准备。
普拉多怎么样He had been mixed up and scared .
他感到迷茫和恐惧
And in six months he was missing in action.
六个月后他在战斗中下落不明。
12-6 She could hardly remember now what happened to her right after the notification .
她几乎记不清在刚刚接到通知时她是怎么样的了。
Nightmares of looking for him over hills of the rubbled dying, finding the hand to give it warmth, reaching to the wrist; and then the sweat of terror which brought her back to what she supposed must be reality .