讀點(diǎn)好英文:Gone with the Wind 飄

Gone with the Wind 飄

[美]瑪格麗特·米切爾（Margaret Mitchell）

故事開(kāi)始于美國(guó)南北關(guān)系非常緊張的1861年。原本任性的思嘉隨著戰(zhàn)事的吃緊經(jīng)歷著人生的轉(zhuǎn)折。苦難的生活磨煉著思嘉，但也使她變得冷酷無(wú)情，不擇手段。當(dāng)她明白她的真愛(ài)就在她身邊時(shí)，為時(shí)已晚。瑞德已經(jīng)決定棄家出走，永遠(yuǎn)地離開(kāi)她。而此刻，對(duì)于思嘉來(lái)說(shuō)，生活中的一切光亮都消失了。她只有回到塔拉莊園這一條出路。她太累了，再也承受不了這些壓力了。

She sat down, the harsh gas light falling on her white bewildered face. She looked into the eyes she knew so well—and knew so little—listened to his quiet voice saying words which at first meant nothing.This was the first time he had ever talked to her in this manner, as one human being to another, talked as other people talked, without flippancy, mockery or riddles.

“Did it ever occur to you that I loved you as much as a man can love a woman?Loved you for years before I finally got you?During the war I'd go away and try to forget you, but I couldn't and I always had to come back. After the war I risked arrest, just to come back and find you.I cared so much I believe I would have killed Frank Kennedy if he hadn't died when he did.I loved you but I couldn't let you know it.You're so brutal to those who love you, Scarlett.You take their love and hold it over their heads like a whip.”

Out of it all only the fact that he loved her meant anything. At the faint echo of passion in his voice, pleasure and excitement crept back into her.She sat, hardly breathing, listening, waiting.

“I knew you didn't love me when I married you. I knew about Ashley, you see.But, fool that I was, I thought I could make you care.Laugh, if you like, but I wanted to take care of you, to pet you, to give you everything you wanted.I wanted to marry you and protect you and give you a free rein in anything that would make you happy—just as I did Bonnie.You'd had such a struggle, Scarlett.No one knew better than I what you'd gone through and I wanted you to stop fighting and let me fight for you.I wanted you to play, like a child—for you were a child, a brave, frightened, bull-headed child.I think you are still a child.No one but a child could be so headstrong and so insensitive.”His voice was calm and tired but there was something in the quality of it that raised a ghost of memory in Scarlett.

She had heard a voice like this once before and at some other crisis of her life. Where had it been?The voice of a man facing himself and his world without feeling, without flinching, without hope.

Why—why—it had been Ashley in the wintry, windswept orchard at Tara, talking of life and shadow shows with a tired calmness that had more finality in its timbre than any desperate bitterness could have revealed. Even as Ashley's voice then had turned her cold with dread of things he could not understand, so now Rhett's voice made her heart sink.His voice, his manner, more than the content of his words, disturbed her, made her realize that her pleasurable excitement of a few moments ago had been untimely.Something was wrong, badly wrong.

What it was she did not know but she listened desperately, her eyes on his brown face, hoping to hear words that would dissipate her fears.

“It was so obvious that we were meant for each other. So obvious that I was the only man of your acquaintance who could love you after knowing you as you really are—hard and greedy and unscrupulous, like me.I loved you and I took the chance.I thought Ashley would fade out of your mind.But,”he shrugged,“I tried everything I knew and nothing worked.And I loved you so, Scarlett.If you had only let me, I could have loved you as gently and as tenderly as ever a man loved a woman.But I couldn't let you know, for I knew you'd think me weak and try to use my love against me.And always—always there was Ashley.It drove me crazy.I couldn't sit across the table from you every night, knowing you wished Ashley was sitting there in my place.And I couldn't hold you in my arms at night and know that—well, it doesn't matter now.I wonder, now, why it hurt.That’s what drove me to Belle.There is a certain swinish comfort in being with a woman who loves you utterly and respects you for being a fine gentleman—even if she is an illiterate whore.It soothed my vanity.You’ve never been very soothing, my dear.”

“Oh, Rhett……”she began, miserable at the very mention of Belle's name, but he waved her to silence and went on.

“And then, that night when I carried you upstairs—I thought—I hoped—I hoped so much I was afraid to face you the next morning, for fear I'd been mistaken and you didn't love me. I was so afraid you'd laugh at me I went off and got drunk.And when I came back, I was shaking in my boots and if you had come even halfway to meet me, had given me some sign, I think I'd have kissed your feet.But you didn't.”

“Oh, but Rhett, I did want you then but you were so nast y!I did want yo u!I think—yes, that must have been when I first knew I cared about you. Ashley—I never was happy about Ashley after that, but you were so nasty that I—”

“Oh, well,”he said.“It seems we've been at cross purposes, doesn't it?But it doesn't matter now. I'm only telling you, so you won't ever wonder about it all.When you were sick and it was all my fault, I stood outside your door, hoping you’d call for me, but you didn’t, and then I knew what a fool I’d been and that it was all over.”

He stopped and looked through her and beyond her, even as Ashley had often done, seeing something he could not see. And she could only stare speechless at his brooding face.

“But then, there was Bonnie and I saw that everything wasn't over, after all. I liked to think that Bonnie was you, a little girl again, before the war and poverty had done things to you.She was so like you, so willful, so brave and gay and full of high spirits, and I could pet her and spoil her—just as I wanted to pet you.But she wasn't like you—she loved me.It was a blessing that I could take the love you didn't want and give it to her……When she went, she took everything.”

Suddenly she was sorry for him, sorry with a completeness that wiped out her own grief and her fear of what his words might mean. It was the first time in her life she had been sorry for anyone without feeling contemptuous as well, because it was the first time she had ever approached understanding any other human being.And she could understand his shrewd caginess, so like her own, his obstinate pride that kept him from admitting his love for fear of a rebuff.

“Ah, darling,”she said coming forward, hoping he would put out his arms and draw her to his knees.“Darling, I'm so sorry but I'll make it all up to yo u!We can be so happy, now that we know the truth and—Rhett—look at me, Rhet t!There—there can be other babies—not like Bonnie but—”

“Thank you, no,”said Rhett, as if he were refusing a piece of bread.

她坐下來(lái)，刺眼的燈光打在她那蒼白困惑的臉上。她望著他的眼睛，熟悉但卻讀不懂，她聽(tīng)著他平靜地說(shuō)著一些起初讓她聽(tīng)不懂的話。這是他第一次用這種方式和她談話，就像旁人一樣的談話，沒(méi)有了尖刻，沒(méi)有了嘲弄，也沒(méi)有了晦澀費(fèi)解的話。

“你有沒(méi)有想過(guò)，我是懷著一個(gè)男人對(duì)一個(gè)女人的愛(ài)所能達(dá)到的最高境界在愛(ài)你，愛(ài)了那么多年才擁有你。在戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)期間，我曾想要離開(kāi)，忘了你，但我做不到，只好常?；貋?lái)。戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)結(jié)束后，我冒著被捕的危險(xiǎn)跑回來(lái)，只是為了看看你。我非常嫉恨弗蘭克·肯尼迪，要不是他后來(lái)死了，我想我很可能已經(jīng)把他殺了。我愛(ài)你，但又不能讓你知道。思嘉，你對(duì)那些愛(ài)你的人總是那么殘酷。你得到了他們的愛(ài)，卻把它像鞭子一樣舉在他們頭上。”

然而所有的這些話，只有他愛(ài)她這一點(diǎn)是對(duì)她有意義的。她從他的話語(yǔ)中隱隱約約嗅到了一絲熱情，這讓她既開(kāi)心又興奮。她坐在那里，傾聽(tīng)著，等待著，幾乎不能呼吸了。

“在我們結(jié)婚的時(shí)候我就知道你并不愛(ài)我。我知道艾希禮的事，這點(diǎn)你也明白。但我那時(shí)很傻，滿以為能讓你愛(ài)上我。你就笑吧，但那時(shí)，如果你愿意，我是真想照顧你，寵愛(ài)你的，給你任何你想要的東西。我想跟你結(jié)婚，保護(hù)你，讓你可以隨心所欲地做事……就像我對(duì)邦妮那樣。思嘉，你確實(shí)經(jīng)歷了一段艱難的日子，我比誰(shuí)都清楚。所以，我要你好好休息一下，讓我為你奮斗。我要你去玩，像個(gè)孩子似的——何況你本來(lái)就是個(gè)孩子，一個(gè)勇敢、時(shí)常擔(dān)驚受怕、剛強(qiáng)的孩子。我想你至今仍然是個(gè)孩子，因?yàn)橹挥泻⒆硬艜?huì)這般任性，這么遲鈍。”他的聲音疲憊而平靜，但其中有些東西卻勾起了思嘉模模糊糊的回憶。

她覺(jué)得這種聲音好像在哪里聽(tīng)過(guò)，是在她面臨某個(gè)危機(jī)的時(shí)候。是哪里呢？這是一個(gè)男子面對(duì)自己，面對(duì)世界，毫無(wú)感情，沒(méi)有畏縮，沒(méi)有希望的聲音。

為什么……為什么……是艾希禮，在塔拉農(nóng)場(chǎng)寒風(fēng)凜冽的果園里，用一種疲憊而平靜的聲音談?wù)撊松陀白討?，那最后決判般的口氣比絕望還讓人痛苦。那時(shí)艾希禮的聲音曾使她對(duì)一些無(wú)法理解的事物懼怕得不寒而栗，而現(xiàn)在瑞德的聲音使她的心沉了下來(lái)。他的聲音，他的態(tài)度，比他說(shuō)話的內(nèi)容更令她不安，讓她明白她剛才那開(kāi)心興奮的心情是為時(shí)過(guò)早了。她覺(jué)得事情有些不妙，非常不妙。

這到底是怎么回事，她還不清楚，只能絕望地聽(tīng)著，凝望著他黝黑的面孔，但愿能聽(tīng)到使這擔(dān)憂最終消釋的下文。

“很明顯，我們倆真可謂是天生的一對(duì)。我是唯一一個(gè)在你相識(shí)的人中，既了解你的底細(xì)還可以愛(ài)你的人。我知道你殘酷、貪婪、無(wú)恥，這跟我一樣。我愛(ài)你，所以決定冒這個(gè)險(xiǎn)。我想艾希禮會(huì)從你心中慢慢消失的。但，”他聳了聳肩，“我用盡了所有我知道的辦法，但都毫無(wú)結(jié)果，而我依然那么愛(ài)你，思嘉。如果我有這個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)，我就會(huì)像一個(gè)男人愛(ài)一個(gè)女人那樣竭盡所能，親切而溫柔地愛(ài)著你。但我不能讓你知道，因?yàn)槟阒懒吮銜?huì)輕看我，會(huì)用我的愛(ài)來(lái)對(duì)付我。而且，一直……艾希禮一直都在那里。這逼得我快發(fā)瘋了。我不能每天晚上和你面對(duì)面坐著吃飯，因?yàn)橹滥阈睦锵Ｍ谖椅恢蒙系氖前６Y。同樣，在晚上我也無(wú)法抱著你睡覺(jué)，因?yàn)槲抑馈懔?，沒(méi)什么意義了?，F(xiàn)在我在想，為什么要自討苦吃呢。這樣一來(lái)，我就只好到貝爾那兒去了。在那里可以得到某種低賤的慰藉，因?yàn)榭倸w是跟一個(gè)女人在一起，而她又那樣死心塌地愛(ài)著我，尊敬我，把我當(dāng)作一位高貴的紳士……盡管她只是個(gè)沒(méi)有文化的妓女，可她大大滿足了我的虛榮心。而你卻從不會(huì)安慰人，親愛(ài)的?！?/p>

“哦，瑞德……”思嘉一聽(tīng)到貝爾的名字就惱怒了，忍不住插嘴，但瑞德擺擺手制止了她，自己繼續(xù)說(shuō)。

“然后，那天晚上，我把你抱上樓的時(shí)候……我想……我希望……我多么希望，但我害怕第二天早晨不敢面對(duì)你，害怕其實(shí)只是我自己弄錯(cuò)了，你并不愛(ài)我。我十分擔(dān)心你會(huì)笑話我，就跑到外面，喝醉了。我回來(lái)的時(shí)候，渾身都在顫抖，但那時(shí)如果你出來(lái)迎接一下，哪怕給我一點(diǎn)表示，我想我是會(huì)去吻你的腳的，但你沒(méi)有?！?/p>

“哦，但是，瑞德，我那時(shí)確實(shí)是需要你的，但你卻那么別扭！我真需要你！我想……是的，當(dāng)我第一次知道自己愛(ài)你的時(shí)候，這就是自然而然的事啊。至于艾希禮——從那以后我就再也不在意、不牽掛他了。可你真的很別扭，所以我……”

“哦，好了，”瑞德說(shuō)，“看來(lái)我們的看法是完全相反的，不是嗎？不過(guò)現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)不重要了。我只想告訴你，免得你胡思亂想。你生病的那次，我站在你的房門口，希望你可以叫我，但你沒(méi)有，這倒完全是我的錯(cuò)了，我覺(jué)得自己真像個(gè)傻瓜，但還好，現(xiàn)在一切都結(jié)束了?！?/p>

他停了停，眼神越過(guò)她，看著遠(yuǎn)方，就像艾希禮時(shí)常做的那樣，仿佛遠(yuǎn)處有他看不見(jiàn)的東西。而她只是望著他那憂郁沉默的臉，默不作聲。

“不過(guò)，那時(shí)，邦妮還在，我覺(jué)得事情畢竟還是有希望的。我喜歡把邦妮當(dāng)作你，好像你又成了那個(gè)沒(méi)有受過(guò)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)和貧困折磨的小姑娘。她很像你，任性，勇敢，快樂(lè)，對(duì)什么都興致盎然的樣子，我寵愛(ài)她，嬌慣她——就像我想寵你的那樣。但她跟你有一點(diǎn)不同——她愛(ài)我，所以我滿懷欣慰地把你不稀罕的愛(ài)都拿來(lái)給她……現(xiàn)在她走了，把我們的一切都帶走了?！?/p>

思嘉突然很難過(guò)，難過(guò)得連她自己的悲傷和因不明白他這席話的用意而產(chǎn)生的恐懼全都忘了。這是她生平第一次為別人感到難過(guò)，而不是輕視這個(gè)人，因?yàn)檫@是她第一次嘗試著去理解別人。她能夠看懂他的精明狡詐，這和她自己很像，還有他那因?yàn)樯屡霰诙豢铣姓J(rèn)自己的愛(ài)的一種頑固的自尊心。

“哦，親愛(ài)的?！彼呎f(shuō)邊走向前去。此刻，她多么希望他能伸出雙臂，把她拉過(guò)去抱在膝上。“親愛(ài)的，真的對(duì)不起，我一定會(huì)加倍愛(ài)你的！我們會(huì)很幸福的，因?yàn)槲覀円呀?jīng)彼此了解，而且，瑞德……看著我，瑞德！我們一定還會(huì)有其他孩子的……不像邦妮，而是……”

“不必了，謝謝。”瑞德說(shuō)著，像是拒絕一片面包一般。

A man is called selfish, not pursuing his own good, but neglecting his neighbour’s.

——Richard Whately

追求自身的利益，不是自私；只有忽視他人的利益，才是自私。

——美國(guó)牧師 惠特利

實(shí)戰(zhàn)提升

作者介紹

瑪格麗特·米切爾（1900—1949）出生于美國(guó)佐治亞州亞特蘭大市的一個(gè)律師家庭。米切爾一生只發(fā)表了《飄》這一部長(zhǎng)篇巨著?！讹h》從1926年開(kāi)始創(chuàng)作，歷經(jīng)十年終在1936年出版。該書在1937年獲普利策獎(jiǎng)；1938年拍成電影《亂世佳人》又獲奧斯卡獎(jiǎng)，電影和小說(shuō)都成為經(jīng)典作品，并傳遍全球。1949年8月11日，瑪格麗特·米切爾死于車禍。

單詞注解

harsh[hB:F]adj.粗糙的；刺耳的

flippancy[5flipEnsi]n.輕率，無(wú)禮

calmness[5ka:mnis]n.平靜；安寧

untimely[Qn5taimli]adj.過(guò)早的；不適時(shí)的

illiterate[i5litErit]adj.未受教育的

nasty[5nAsti]adj.齷齪的；卑鄙的；惡意的

contemptuous[kEn5temptjuEs]adj.輕蔑的；藐視的

名句大搜索

然而所有的這些話，只有他愛(ài)她這一點(diǎn)是對(duì)她有意義的。

我是唯一一個(gè)在你相識(shí)的人中，既了解你的底細(xì)還可以愛(ài)你的人。

“不必了，謝謝?！比鸬抡f(shuō)著，像是拒絕一片面包一般。