下载掌阅APP，畅读海量书库
立即打开
Elizabeth Willard the mother of George Willard, was tall and gaunt and her face was marked with smallpox scars. Although she was but forty—five, some obscure disease had taken the fire out of her figure. Listlessly she went about the disorderly old hotel looking at the faded wallpaper and the ragged carpets and, when she was able to be about, doing the work of a chambermaid among beds soiled by the slumbers of fat traveling men. Her husband, Tom Willard, a slender, graceful man with square shoulders, a quick military step, and a black mustache trained to turn sharply up at the ends, tried to put the wife out of his mind. The presence of the tall ghostly figure, moving slowly through the halls, he took as a reproach to himself. When he thought of her he grew angry and swore. The hotel was unprofitable and forever on the edge of failure and he wished himself out of it. He thought of the old house and the woman who lived there with him as things defeated and done for. The hotel in which he had begun life so hopefully was now a mere ghost of what a hotel should be. As he went spruce and business—like through the streets of Winesburg, he sometimes stopped and turned quickly about as though fearing that the spirit of the hotel and of the woman would follow him even into the streets. "Damn such a life, damn it! " he sputtered aimlessly.
伊丽莎白•威拉德是乔治•威拉德的母亲。她个子很高，看上去十分憔悴，脸上布满着天花留下的伤疤。虽然才四十五岁，可某种不知名的疾病已经熄灭了她的生命之火。她无精打采地在这个杂乱无章、又老又旧的旅馆里转悠，看着那些褪了色的墙纸和残破的地毯；而且，当她能够活动时，她会做些清扫女工干的活儿——收拾那些被肥胖的旅客们睡觉时弄脏的床。可她的丈夫，汤姆•威拉德，身材颀长、气质文雅，有着宽宽的肩膀；走路像军人似的迈着大步，黑色的胡子两头梳得翘了起来；他一心想要把妻子置诸脑后。当他看见她那高高的、幽灵似的身影慢慢地穿过大厅时，总是引以为耻。他一想到她，就会怒火攻心，开始咒骂。旅店也不赚钱，总是在破产的边缘挣扎。他一心想自己能摆脱这个负担。他把这座老房子以及和他一起生活的这个女人看成是否中失败的、没救的东西。他曾经满怀希望地想在这个旅馆里开始新生活，可现如今，这个旅馆形同幽灵。当他衣冠楚楚、煞有介事地在温斯堡大街上穿行的时候，他时常会停下来，迅速地转个身，就好像害怕那旅店和他妻子的幽灵会跟着他跑到街上来似的。这该死的日子，真该死！他漫无目的、气急败坏地说。
Tom Willard had a passion for village politics and for years had been the leading Democrat in a strongly Republican community. Some day, he told himself, the fide of things political will turn in my favor and the years of ineffectual service count big in the bestowal of rewards. He dreamed of going to Congress and even of becoming governor. Once when a younger member of the party arose at a political conference and began to boast of his faithful service, Tom Willard grew white with fury. "Shut up, you, " he roared, glaring about. "What do you know of service? What are you but a boy? Look at what I've done here! I was a Democrat here in Winesburg when it was a crime to be a Democrat. In the old days they fairly hunted us with guns.
汤姆•威拉德对乡村政治怀有极大的热情。多年来，在这个共和党占主导地位的社区，他一直是一名民主党的领军人物。他跟自己说，有朝一日，政治形势会变得有利于我；这么些年来毫无功效的努力，在论功行赏的时候必然会有巨大的回报。他还梦想着进入国会，甚至当上州长。一次，党内一个比他年轻的成员在一次政治会议上站出来，吹嘘自己忠贞不二的表现，汤姆•威拉德为此气得脸色发白，怒火中烧。你给我闭嘴！他咆哮着，怒目圆睁，你懂什么效劳？你不过是个毛头小子？瞧瞧我都做了什么！在温斯堡还没人敢做个民主党人的时候，我就是个民主党人了。过去，他们竟还用枪抓捕过民主党。
Between Elizabeth and her one son George there was a deep unexpressed bond of sympathy, based on a girlhood dream that had long ago died. In the son's presence she was timid and reserved, but sometimes while he hurried about town intent upon his duties as a reporter, she went into his room and closing the door knelt by a little desk, made of a kitchen table, that sat near a window. In the room by the desk she went through a ceremony that was half a prayer, half a demand, addressed to the skies. In the boyish figure she yearned to see something half forgotten that had once been a part of herself recreated. The prayer concerned that. "Even though I die, I will in some way keep defeat from you, " she cried, and so deep was her determination that her whole body shook. Her eyes glowed and she clenched her fists. "If I am dead and see him becoming a meaningless drab figure like myself, I will come back, " she declared. "I ask God now to give me that privilege. I demand it. I will pay for it. God may beat me with his fists. I will take any blow that may befall if but this my boy be allowed to express something for us both. " Pausing uncertainly, the woman stared about the boy's room. "And do not let him become smart and successful either, " she added vaguely.
伊丽莎白同她唯一的儿子乔治之间联结着一条深切的、难以言说的感情纽带——惺惺相惜之情，源于她少女时候的一个梦，那梦很久以前就泯灭了。同儿子在一起的时候，伊丽莎白是胆怯而保守的。可是，有时乔治在镇上忙忙碌碌、执行记者的公务的时候，她就会来到他的房间，关上门，跪在窗户旁一张小小的、用厨房餐桌改成的书桌旁。就在这个房间的书桌旁，她进行着某种仪式，对着天空念念有词，半是祷告，半是要求。在她儿子身上，她渴望见到某种东西再现，那东西曾经是她的一部分，却已经快被淡忘了。祈祷的内容就是如此。即使我死去，我也要使你远离失败，她叫道。她的决心非常强烈，以至于她全身颤抖。她的眼睛灼灼闪光，双拳紧握。假如我死了，看到我的儿子变成了一个像我一样的无用之辈，我就会回来。她发誓道，我恳请上帝现在给予我这种权利。我要求这个特权。我愿意为此付出代价。上帝可以予我以痛击。我情愿承受可能降临的任何打击，只要允许我的儿子能代表我们两个人而有所作为。她迟疑地停顿了一会儿，开始环顾儿子的房间。但也不要让他变得精明或者成功。她模模糊糊地加了一句。
The communion between George Willard and his mother was outwardly a formal thing without meaning. When she was ill and sat by the window in her room he sometimes went in the evening to make her a visit. They sat by a window that looked over the roof of a small frame building into Main Street. By turning their heads they could see through another window, along an alleyway that ran behind the Main Street stores and into the back door of Abner Groff's bakery. Sometimes as they sat thus a picture of village life presented itself to them. At the back door of his shop appeared Abner Groff with a stick or an empty milk bottle in his hand. For a long time there was a feud between the baker and a grey cat that belonged to Sylvester West, the druggist. The boy and his mother saw the cat creep into the door of the bakery and presently emerge followed by the baker, who swore and waved his arms about. The baker's eyes were small and red and his black hair and beard were filled with flour dust. Sometimes he was so angry that, although the cat had disappeared, he hurled sticks, bits of broken glass, and even some of the tools of his trade about. Once he broke a window at the back of Sinning's Hardware Store. In the alley the grey cat crouched behind barrels filled with torn paper and broken bottles above which flew a black swarm of flies. Once when she was alone, and after watching a prolonged and ineffectual outburst on the part of the baker, Elizabeth Willard put her head down on her long white hands and wept. After that she did not look along the alleyway any more, but tried to forget the contest between the bearded man and the cat. It seemed like a rehearsal of her own life, terrible in its vividness.
乔治•威拉德同他母亲的感情交流从表面上来看中规中矩、别无他意。当她生病，坐在自己房间的窗边时，他有时会在晚上去看望她。他们会靠着窗户坐着，从窗户望出去，目光可越过窗外一户低矮楼房的屋顶看到大街。转过头，他们可以从另一扇窗户看出去，沿着大街店面后的一条巷道，看到阿布纳•格罗夫面包店的后门。有的时候，他们就那么坐着，一副乡村生活的场景就会展现在他们眼前。阿布纳•格罗夫会手拿一根手杖或一个空牛奶瓶从店的后门出来。这位面包店老板同一只灰猫在很长一段时间里势同水火；那只猫的主人是药剂师西尔维斯特•韦斯特。母子俩看见猫偷偷溜进面包店的后门，又马上出来了，猫后面紧跟着面包店老板；他挥舞着胳膊，大声咒骂着。他小小的眼睛充着血，黑色的头发和胡子上都沾满了面粉。有时，他大发雷霆，尽管猫都跑得不见踪影了，他还在到处猛扔木棍、玻璃碎片，甚至是他做生意用的家伙。有一次，他甚至砸碎了思宁五金店的一扇后窗。那只灰猫经常蹲伏在小巷里的几个木桶后；桶里装满了碎纸片和破酒瓶，一大群黑压压的苍蝇在上面飞来飞去。有一次，伊丽莎白独自坐在那里，看到面包店老板徒劳地发了很久的脾气之后，她把头俯在自己纤长而白皙的手上，哭了起来。从那以后，她再也不往小巷里张望了，而且极力忘记这场面包师和灰猫之间的战争。那就像她自己生活的一场预演，活灵活现得可怕。
In the evening when the son sat in the room with his mother, the silence made them both feel awkward. Darkness came on and the evening train came in at the station. In the street below feet tramped up and down upon a board sidewalk. In the station yard, after the evening train had gone, there was a heavy silence. Perhaps Skinner Leason, the express agent, moved a truck the length of the station platform. Over on Main Street sounded a man's voice, laughing. The door of the express office banged. George Willard arose and crossing the room fumbled for the doorknob. Sometimes he knocked against a chair, making it scrape along the floor. By the window sat the sick woman, perfectly still, listless. Her long hands, white and bloodless, could be seen drooping over the ends of the arms of the chair. "I think you had better be out among the boys. You are too much indoors, " she said, striving to relieve the embarrassment of the departure. "I thought I would take a walk, " replied George Willard, who felt awkward and confused.
晚上，母子俩坐在房间里时，沉默的气氛让他们都感到尴尬难堪。夜幕降临，晚班车驶进车站。楼下街道上，沉重的脚步声在木板人行道上来来往往。夜班车开走后，车站里一片寂静。也许此时列车代理人斯金纳•利生正在移动一辆卡车，足有整个车站月台那么长。前面的大街上传来了一个男人的大笑声。列车办公室的门被人敲得砰砰响。乔治站起身来，穿过房间，在黑暗里摸索着找门把。有时他会撞在椅子上，椅子在地板上摩擦发出声响。母亲靠窗坐着，一动不动，无精打采。她那双纤长的、苍白而毫无血色的手，无力地垂在扶手的两边。我想你最好出门去找你的年轻朋友们。你呆在屋里的时间太多了。她说，竭力消除分别时的尴尬。我想我该去散会儿步。乔治回答，心里觉得尴尬又心烦。
One evening in July, when the transient guests who made the New Willard House their temporary home had become scarce, and the hallways, lighted only by kerosene lamps turned low, were plunged in gloom, Elizabeth Willard had an adventure. She had been ill in bed for several days and her son had not come to visit her. She was alarmed. The feeble blaze of life that remained in her body was blown into a flame by her anxiety and she crept out of bed, dressed and hurried along the hallway toward her son's room, shaking with exaggerated fears. As she went along she steadied herself with her hand, slipped along the papered walls of the hall and breathed with difficulty. The air whistled through her teeth. As she hurried forward she thought how foolish she was. "He is concerned with boyish affairs, " she told herself. "Perhaps he has now begun to walk about in the evening with girls. "
七月，在新威拉德旅店投宿的短期旅客数量减少了。一个夜晚，只点着煤油灯的走廊昏暗不明，显得低矮。伊丽莎白进行了一次难忘的探险。她已卧病在床了好几天，可乔治没有来看望她。她忧虑不安。因为焦虑，她体内微弱的生命余烬被煽动起来，变成了熊熊火焰。她爬下床，穿上衣服，沿着走廊急忙往儿子的房间走去，全身因为被放大的恐惧而簌簌发抖。她用手支撑自己走着，沿着大厅的墙纸悄然疾行，呼吸困难。气流从她的牙齿缝间呼呼吹过。就在她往前赶的时候，她又觉得自己非常愚蠢。他在忙男孩子该干的事情呢，她暗自想，也许他现在已经开始和姑娘们一起在夜里散步呢。
Elizabeth Willard had a dread of being seen by guests in the hotel that had once belonged to her father and the ownership of which still stood recorded in her name in the county courthouse. The hotel was continually losing patronage because of its shabbiness and she thought of herself as also shabby. Her own room was in an obscure corner and when she felt able to work she voluntarily worked among the beds, preferring the labor that could be done when the guests were abroad seeking trade among the merchants of Winesburg.
伊丽莎白害怕在旅店里被客人看见。这家旅店过去是她父亲的产业，现在在乡公所的记录里归在她的名下。旅店简陋，不断地失去主顾。现在，她觉得自己也是破旧不堪的了。她的房间在一个不起眼的角落里。当她觉得还能干些事情的时候，她会主动去整理床铺。客人们外出同温斯堡的商户做生意的时候，她愿意做些力所能及的事。
By the door of her son's room the mother knelt upon the floor and listened for some sound from within. When she heard the boy moving about and talking in low tones a smile came to her lips. George Willard had a habit of talking aloud to himself and to hear him doing so had always given his mother a peculiar pleasure. The habit in him, she felt, strengthened the secret bond that existed between them. A thousand times she had whispered to herself of the matter. "He is groping about, trying to find himself, " she thought. "He is not a dull clod, all words and smartness. Within him there is a secret something that is striving to grow. It is the thing I let be killed in myself. " In the darkness in the hallway by the door the sick woman arose and started again toward her own room. She was afraid that the door would open and the boy come upon her. When she had reached a safe distance and was about to turn a corner into a second hallway she stopped and bracing herself with her hands waited, thinking to shake off a trembling fit of weakness that had come upon her. The presence of the boy in the room had made her happy. In her bed, during the long hours alone, the little fears that had visited her had become giants. Now they were all gone. "When I get back to my room I shall sleep, " she murmured gratefully.
母亲跪在儿子房门外的地板上，听着屋里面传出来的响声。等她听见儿子走动和低声说话的时候，唇角浮现出了微笑。乔治有高声自言自语的习惯。每当听见他这样说话的时候，伊丽莎白都会感到特别愉快。在母亲看来，他的这个习惯强化了母子间的那层神秘的关系。她无数次跟自己悄声谈及这个问题。他正在努力探寻，发掘自我。她想道，他不是个迟钝的孩子，能言善道，而且机灵。他身上有种神秘的东西在努力壮大。那正是我曾拥有却被扼杀了的东西。生病的母亲从走廊门前的地板上直起身来，在黑暗里重新朝着自己的房间走回去。她怕儿子会打开门撞见她。当她到了一个安全的距离，马上要转个弯到另一条走廊上的时候，她才停下来。她用手撑着自己，等了一会儿，想着撑过这一阵因身体虚弱而引起的颤抖。儿子呆在房间里，这让她十分高兴。在她独自躺在床上的漫长时光里，拜访她的那些小小的担忧曾经变成了巨人。可现在都烟消云散了。回到房间我就该睡了。她心怀感激地喃喃说道。
But Elizabeth Willard was not to return to her bed and to sleep. As she stood trembling in the darkness the door of her son's room opened and the boy's father, Tom Willard, stepped out. In the light that steamed out at the door he stood with the knob in his hand and talked. What he said infuriated the woman.
但是，她不能回到床上睡觉了。当她在黑暗中颤抖着站起来的时候，儿子的门打开了，走出来的却是她的丈夫汤姆•威拉德。他站在门开着的亮光中，手扶着门把，说着话。他的话立刻激怒了这位母亲。
Tom Willard was ambitious for his son. He had always thought of himself as a successful man, although nothing he had ever done had turned out successfully. However, when he was out of sight of the New Willard House and had no fear of coming upon his wife, he swaggered and began to dramatize himself as one of the chief men of the town. He wanted his son to succeed. He it was who had secured for the boy the position on the Winesburg Eagle. Now, with a ring of earnestness in his voice, he was advising concerning some course of conduct. "I tell you what, George, you've got to wake up, " he said sharply. "Will Henderson has spoken to me three times concerning the matter. He says you go along for hours not hearing when you are spoken to and acting like a gawky girl. What ails you? " Tom Willard laughed good—naturedly. "Well, I guess you'll get over it, " he said. "I told Will that. You're not a fool and you're not a woman. You're Tom Willard's son and you'll wake up. I 'm not afraid. What you say clears things up. If being a newspaper man had put the notion of becoming a writer into your mind that's all right. Only I guess you'll have to wake up to do that too, eh?
汤姆•威拉德对儿子有很高的期望。他一直自认为是个成功的男人，尽管他从没做成过一件成功的事。但是，一旦他离开新威拉德旅店，而且不用担心会碰见自己的妻子的时候，他便大摇大摆地开始扮演这个城镇上的大人物。他想要他的儿子成功。是他为儿子在《温斯堡鹰报》谋得了一个职位。此时，他正用一种恳切的语气就为人之道对儿子进行说教。我告诉你，乔治，你得醒醒了。他严厉地说，就这个问题，威尔•亨德森已经对我说过三次了。他说你很长一段时间都对他说的话充耳不闻，行动起来像个傻里傻气的姑娘。你有什么烦心事吗？汤姆•威拉德和善地笑了起来。我想你会改掉这个毛病的。他说，我是这样告诉威尔的。你既不傻也不是个娘娘腔。你是我汤姆•威拉德的儿子，你会打起精神来的。我一点儿都不担心。你所说的证明了这一点。即使当记者使你产生了当作家的念头，那也是可以的。只不过我想你总得振作起来努把力吧，嗯？
Tom Willard went briskly along the hallway and down a flight of stairs to the office. The woman in the darkness could hear him laughing and talking with a guest who was striving to wear away a dull evening by dozing in a chair by the office door. She returned to the door of her son's room. The weakness had passed from her body as by a miracle and she stepped boldly along. A thousand ideas raced through her head. When she heard the scraping of a chair and the sound of a pen scratching upon paper, she again turned and went back along the hallway to her own room.
汤姆步履轻快地沿着走廊下了一段楼梯，进了自己的办公室。伊丽莎白在黑暗里能听见他大笑的声音，还有他同一个顾客的谈话声。那位客人坐在靠近办公室门边的椅子上，打着瞌睡，试图以此来消磨枯燥的夜晚。她返身往儿子的房门走去。身体虚弱奇迹般地消失了，她大胆自信地向前走着。她脑袋里飞快地闪过无数念头。当听到椅子摩擦地面的声音和笔落在纸上的沙沙声时，她重又转过身，沿着来时的走廊往自己的房间走去。
A definite determination had come into the mind of the defeated wife of the Winesburg hotel keeper. The determination was the result of long years of quiet and rather ineffectual thinking. "Now, " she told herself, "I will act. There is something threatening my boy and I will ward it off. " The fact that the conversation between Tom Willard and his son had been rather quiet and natural, as though an understanding existed between them, maddened her. Although for years she had hated her husband, her hatred had always before been a quite impersonal thing. He had been merely a part of something else that she hated. Now, and by the few words at the door, he had become the thing personified. In the darkness of her own room she clenched her fists and glared about. Going to a cloth bag that hung on a nail by the wall she took out a long pair of sewing scissors and held them in her hand like a dagger. "I will stab him, " she said aloud. "He has chosen to be the voice of evil and I will kill him. When I have killed him something will snap within myself and I will die also. It will be a release for all of us. "
这位失败的妻子——温斯堡旅店的老板娘——在心里做了一个不可动摇的决定。这个决定是长年累月思考的结果，尽管这种思考是无声而且毫无成效的。现在， 她对自己说，我得做点什么了。有件事情正在威胁着我的孩子，我不能让它发生。父子间刚才的谈话平静而自然，就好像他们之间相互理解一样。这样的事实使她抓狂。多年以来，尽管伊丽莎白恨自己的丈夫，她的憎恨之前一直是以一种置身事外的形式存在着。他不过是她所恨着的某件不相干的东西的一部分。可是现在，他在门边说的那几句话，使他变成了一个活生生的可恨之人。她站在自己黑暗的房间里，紧握着拳头，愤怒地环顾四周。她走到墙边，从挂在钉子上的布袋里取出一把长长的缝纫剪刀，像把匕首似的握在手里。我要捅死他。她大声地说，他自己选择了当魔鬼的代言人，我要杀了他。一旦我杀了他，我的生命也会中止，我也会死掉。这样我们就都解脱了。
In her girlhood and before her marriage with Tom Willard, Elizabeth had borne a somewhat shaky reputation in Winesburg. For years she had been what is called "stage—struck" and had paraded through the streets with traveling men guests at her father's hotel, wearing loud clothes and urging them to tell her of life in the cities out of which they had come. Once she startled the town by putting on men's clothes and riding a bicycle down Main Street.
在她的少女时代，在嫁给汤姆•威拉德之前，伊丽莎白在温斯堡的名声就不大好。多年来，她一直想做演员，曾经穿着花哨的衣服，跟她父亲旅店里的客人一起在街上招摇过市。那些人来自不同的城市，她总追着他们给她讲述那里的生活。有一次，她穿着男人的衣服，在大街上骑自行车，把全镇的人都吓了一跳。
In her own mind the tall dark girl had been in those days much confused. A great restlessness was in her and it expressed itself in two ways. First there was an uneasy desire for change, for some big definite movement to her life. It was this feeling that had turned her mind to the stage. She dreamed of joining some company and wandering over the world, seeing always new faces and giving something out of herself to all people. Sometimes at night she was quite beside herself with the thought, but when she tried to talk of the matter to the members of the theatrical companies that came to Winesburg and stopped at her father's hotel, she got nowhere. They did not seem to know what she meant, or if she did get something of her passion expressed, they only laughed. "It's not like that, " they said. "It's as dull and uninteresting as this here. Nothing comes of it.
在那段日子里，这个高个子、黑皮肤的姑娘心里很混乱。内心巨大的躁动通过两个途径被释放了出来。首先，她渴望变化，渴望生活能发生大而明确的变化，尽管这种渴望会使她感到焦虑不安。正是这种情感使得她将注意力转向了舞台。她梦想能加入某个剧团，然后周游世界，不停地结识新的人，将自己的某些东西展现给所有人看。有时，她在夜晚想得如痴如醉，不能自已。但是，当她试着同一些来温斯堡住在她父亲旅店的剧团谈这个问题的时候，她却一无所获。他们似乎弄不明白她在说什么，或者，当她确实表达出了自己强烈的感情时，他们却只是哈哈大笑。事情并非你想的样子。他们说，哪里都一样，和这里一样地乏味无趣。没什么结果的。
With the traveling men when she walked about with them, and later with Tom Willard, it was quite different. Always they seemed to understand and sympathize with her. On the side streets of the village, in the darkness under the trees, they took hold of her hand and she thought that something unexpressed in herself came forth and became a part of an unexpressed something in them.
同那些旅行的人一起四处散步及后来同汤姆•威拉德在一起，却是极为不同的。他们似乎总能理解她，并赞同她。在乡村的小路上，在树下的阴影里，他们握住她的手，她觉得体内某种未表达出的东西释放了出来，并化作了他们身上未表现出的某种东西的一部分。
And then there was the second expression of her restlessness. When that came she felt for a time released and happy. She did not blame the men who walked with her and later she did not blame Tom Willard. It was always the same, beginning with kisses and ending, after strange wild emotions, with peace and then sobbing repentance. When she sobbed she put her hand upon the face of the man and had always the same thought. Even though he were large and bearded she thought he had become suddenly a little boy. She wondered why he did not sob also.
这便是她释放躁动的第二种方式。每当那时，她都会一度感到放松和快乐。她既没有责备那些同她散步的人，后来，她也没有责备汤姆•威拉德。事情总是这样，从亲吻开始，经历了奇怪的激情之后，归于平静，最后是哭泣着忏悔。当她哭泣时，会把手放在那个男人的脸上，心里总有相同的想法。即使对方身材高大、满脸胡子，她也觉得他突然变成了小男孩。她奇怪为什么他不和她一样哭泣。
In her room, tucked away in a corner of the old Willard House, Elizabeth Willard lighted a lamp and put it on a dressing table that stood by the door. A thought had come into her mind and she went to a closet and brought out a small square box and set it on the table. The box contained material for make—up and had been left with other things by a theatrical company that had once been stranded in Winesburg. Elizabeth Willard had decided that she would be beautiful. Her hair was still black and there was a great mass of it braided and coiled about her head. The scene that was to take place in the office below began to grow in her mind. No ghostly worn—out figure should confront Tom Willard, but something quite unexpected and startling. figure Tall and with dusky cheeks and hair that fell in a mass from her shoulders, a figure should come striding down the stairway before the startled loungers in the hotel office. The figure would be silent—it would be swift and terrible. As a tigress whose cub had been threatened would she appear, coming out of the shadows, stealing noiselessly along and holding the long wicked scissors in her hand.
她的房间位于这间旅店的一个角落里。伊丽莎白•威拉德在她房里点了盏灯，并将灯放在门边的梳妆台上。她忽然想到了什么，走到壁橱前，拿出一个小的方盒子，放在桌子上。盒子里装着化妆用的材料，是一个剧团滞留在温斯堡镇的时候留下来的；他们还留了其他东西。伊丽莎白觉得她该弄得漂亮些。她的头发依旧乌黑，厚厚的头发编成发辫盘在头上。接下来在楼下办公室将要发生的情景开始在她脑海里预演。一个像幽灵一样憔悴的人影是无法同汤姆•威拉德对抗的，除非是某种很出人意料、令人吃惊的东西。一个高高的人影，双颊灰白，头发大片地垂过肩膀，会大步地走下楼梯，来到旅店办公室，站在目瞪口呆的闲人面前。这个人影将是沉默的——行动迅猛而可怕。她将会像护卫受到威胁的幼仔的母虎一样，无声无息地从阴暗的地方出现，潜行，手里紧握着长长的凶器。
With a little broken sob in her throat, Elizabeth Willard blew out the light that stood upon the table and stood weak and trembling in the darkness. The strength that had been as a miracle in her body left and she half reeled across the floor, clutching at the back of the chair in which she had spent so many long days staring out over the tin roofs into the main street of Winesburg. half reeled across the floor In the hallway there was the sound of footsteps and George Willard came in at the door. Sitting in a chair beside his mother he began to talk. "I 'm going to get out of here, " he said. I don't know where I shall go or what I shall do but I am going away.
伊丽莎白低低地发出一声伤心的呜咽，吹灭了桌上的灯，虚弱地站在黑暗中发抖。身体里那股奇迹般的力量已经消失，她几乎是踉踉跄跄地穿过地板，紧紧抓住椅背。在这张椅子上，她曾度过了漫长的岁月——坐在上面越过锡制的屋顶，望着温斯堡的大街。走廊里响起了脚步声，接着，乔治从门外走了进来。他坐在母亲身边的椅子上，开始说话。我打算离开这儿。他说，我不知道该去哪儿，也不知道该做什么，但我要离开了。
The woman in the chair waited and trembled. An impulse came to her. "I suppose you had better wake up, " she said. "You think that? You will go to the city and make money, eh? It will be better for you, you think, to be a business man, to be brisk and smart and alive? " She waited and trembled.
这位母亲坐在椅子上，等着，颤抖不已。她感到一阵冲动。我想你该醒醒了。她说，你在想什么？跑到城市里，然后赚些钱，是吗？你可能认为这对你比较适合——做个商人，自信、干练、精明，然后就这么活着？她等了等，不停地颤抖。
The son shook his head. "I suppose I can't make you understand, but oh, I wish I could, " he said earnestly. "I can't even talk to father about it. I don't try. There isn't any use. I don't know what I shall do. I just want to go away and look at people and think.
儿子摇了摇头。我想我无法让您明白，但是，我真希望我能做到啊。他恳切地说，我甚至不能和爸爸谈这个。我不会去试的。没什么意义。我真不知道该做什么。我只不过想出去走走，看看其他人，思考一下。
Silence fell upon the room where the boy and woman sat together. Again, as on the other evenings, they were embarrassed. After a time the boy tried again to talk. "I suppose it won't be for a year or two but I've been thinking about it, " he said, rising and going toward the door. "Something father said makes it sure that I shall have to go away. " He fumbled with the doorknob. In the room the silence became unbearable to the woman. She wanted to cry out with joy because of the words that had come from the lips of her son, but the expression of joy had become impossible to her. "I think you had better go out among the boys. You are too much indoors, " she said. "I thought I would go for a little walk, " replied the son stepping awkwardly out of the room and closing the door.
母子俩一起坐在那里，又一次沉默相对。于是，像无数个夜晚那样，他们感到尴尬。过了一会儿，儿子试着重新开口。我想这用不了一两年，可我一直想这么做。他站起来，向门走去，说道，爸爸说的话让我更加确信，是时候出去走走了。他摸索着门把。房间里，沉默变得让这位母亲难以忍受。儿子刚才所说的话使她欢喜得想要大叫出来，可是对她而言，欢乐的表情已变得不可能。我想你最好出去找伙伴们。你呆在屋里的时间太多了。她说。我想，我该出去走走。儿子回答，同时极不自然地大步走出了房间，关上了门。
CHAPTER 4 The Philosopher