第六講：階級(jí)歧視的升高

Now they hovered the edge; you couldn’t stop them listening. When the lillte girls turned round and sneered, Lil, as usual, gave her silly, shamefaced smile, but our Else only looked.
[And Isabel’s voice, so they very proud, went on telling. The carpet made a great sensation, but so did beds with real bedclothes, and the stove with an oven door.
When she finished , Kezia broke in. ’You’ve forgotten the lamp, Isabel.’]
‘Oh, yes,’ said Isabel, ‘snd there’s a teeny little lamp, all made of yellow glass, with a white globe that stands on the dining-room table. You could’t tell it from a real one.’
‘The lamp’s best of all,’ cried Kezia. She thought Isabel wasn’t making half enough of the little lamp. But nobody paid any attention. Isabel was choosing the two who were to come back with them that afternoon and see it. She chose Emmie Cole and Lena Logan. But when the others knew they were all to have a chance, they couldn’t be nice enough to Isabel. One by one they put their arms round Isabel’s waist and walked her off. They had something to whisper to her , a secret. ‘Isabel’s my friend. ’
Only the little Kelveys moved away forgotten; there was nothing more for them to hear.

Days passed, and as more children saw the doll’s house, the fame of it spread. It became the one subject, the rage. The one question was, ‘Have you seen Burnells’ doll’s house? Oh, ain’t it lovely!’ ‘Haven’t you seen it? Oh, I say!’
Even the dinner hour was given up to talking about it. The little girls sat under the pines eating their thick mutton sandwiches and big slabs of johnny cake spread with butter. While always, as near as they could get, sat the Kelveys, our Else holding on to Lil, listening too. While they chewed their jam sandwiches out of a newspaper soaked with large red blobs……
‘Mother,’ said Kezia, ‘can’t I ask the Kelveys just once?’
‘Certainly not, Kezia.’
‘Bit why not ?’
‘Run away, Kezia; you know quite well why not. ’ ]
At last everybody had seen it except them. On that day the subject rather flagged. It was the dinner hour. The children stood together under the pine trees, and suddenly, as they looked at the Kelveys eating out of their paper, always by themselves, always listening, they wanted to be horried to them. Emmic Cole started the whisper.
‘Lil Kelvey’s going to be a servant when she grows up.’
‘O-oh, how awful!’ said Isabel Burnell, and she made eyes at Emmie.
Emmie swallowed in a very meaning way and nodded to Isabel as she’d seen her mother do on those occasion.
'It's true--It's true--It's true,'She said.
Then Lena Logan’s little eyes snapped. ‘Shall I ask her?’ She whispered.
‘Bet you don’t,‘ said Jessie May.

作者翻譯

現(xiàn)在她們?cè)诖笕θ吘壟腔玻荒憧偛荒芙顾麄兏`聽。當(dāng)其他小女孩對(duì)他們冷笑時(shí)，麗兒跟往常一樣傻傻地、靦腆地笑著，寶貝艾爾西則只瞪著大眼睛瞧著。
伊莎貝爾繼續(xù)不斷地說著，她的聲音充滿了驕傲。那地毯引起了一陣轟動(dòng)，鋪著床單的床和帶有爐門的火爐，也讓大家激動(dòng)不已。
她剛一講完，姬采儀馬上插嘴：“你忘了那盞燈了，伊莎貝爾。”
“喔，對(duì)了，”伊莎貝爾說，“那盞放在餐桌上的小油燈，全是用黃色玻璃做的，還有白色燈罩。他們簡(jiǎn)直看不出它和真的油燈有什么兩樣。”
“那燈才是最棒的！”姬采儀大嚷。他認(rèn)為伊莎貝爾沒說出油燈的一半好來。可是誰也在意她的話。伊莎貝爾正在挑選兩個(gè)人，當(dāng)天下午跟她們一同回去參觀玩具屋。她選上了艾美·柯爾和倫娜·羅根。可是當(dāng)其他孩子們知道她們?nèi)加袡C(jī)會(huì)時(shí)，她們對(duì)伊莎貝爾親熱得無以復(fù)加了，一個(gè)一個(gè)地?fù)е辽悹柕难瑩碇唛_了。她們有些悄悄話，有個(gè)秘密要告訴她。“伊莎貝爾是我的朋友！”
只有小凱爾維姐妹倆沒人理會(huì)，自己走開了。再也沒什么可讓她們聽的了。

幾天之后，愈來愈多的孩子看過玩具屋了，它的名聲傳了開來，成了風(fēng)靡的話題。大家都問：“你看過伯內(nèi)爾家的玩具屋了嗎？啊，真是可愛喲！”“哎呀！你還沒看過嗎？”
甚至在午餐時(shí)，大家都在談這一件事。女孩子們坐在松樹下，吃著厚厚的羊肉三明治和涂著奶油的厚片玉米烤餅。而凱爾維姐妹總是盡可能地坐在離她們最近的地方，寶貝艾爾西緊挨著麗兒，她們從染著大片紅色油漬的報(bào)紙里咬食果醬三明治，一邊嚼著一邊側(cè)耳傾聽……
“媽媽，”姬采儀說，“我請(qǐng)凱爾維姐妹來一次行不行？”
“當(dāng)然不行，姬采儀。”
“為什么不行？”
“走開吧，姬采儀，你明明知道為什么不行。”
最后，除了她倆之外，所有人都看過玩具屋了。那一天，這個(gè)話題已經(jīng)淡了，正是午餐時(shí)刻，孩子們一塊兒站在松樹下，當(dāng)他們看著凱爾維姐妹吃著從報(bào)紙里取出來的東西時(shí)——總是倆人一起，總是在偷聽——她們突然想給她倆難堪。艾美·柯爾開始竊竊私語。
“麗兒·凱爾維長大后，就會(huì)去當(dāng)傭人！”
“哦——哦！多可怕呀！” 伊莎貝爾·伯內(nèi)爾說著，沖著艾美拋個(gè)眼色。
學(xué)著她母親在這種場(chǎng)合所做的模樣，艾美煞有介事地一邊吞咽，一邊朝伊莎貝爾點(diǎn)頭。
“沒錯(cuò)——沒錯(cuò)——沒錯(cuò)。”她說。
然后，倫娜·羅根眨了眨小眼睛，輕聲地說：“我去問她一聲怎么樣？”
“我包你不敢去。”杰西·梅依說。

我的翻譯

現(xiàn)在，她倆只能在人群外徘徊，只能遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地聽者。每次里面的女孩轉(zhuǎn)過身，嘲笑她倆時(shí)，Lil像往常一樣，露出傻乎乎，訕訕的笑容。而寶貝Else 只是看著。
Isabel繼續(xù)講著——她們?yōu)榇撕茏院溃靥旱挠|感和棒極了，并且，床鋪帶有真正的床單，火爐的門還可以打開呢。
Isabel講完后，Kezia插話：“你忘記講那盞臺(tái)燈了，Isabel。”
“哦，確實(shí)。”Isabel道，“還有一個(gè)迷你臺(tái)燈呢，它立在餐廳的桌子上，用黃色玻璃制成，燈罩是白色的。和真正的臺(tái)燈沒有區(qū)別。”
“臺(tái)燈是最精致的，” Kezia尖叫道，她覺得Isabel沒有把臺(tái)燈的特色講清楚。遺憾的是，沒有人理她。
午后，Isabel正在挑兩位朋友跟她一起觀看玩具屋。她選了Emmie Cole and Lena Logan。他們最初意識(shí)到有此機(jī)會(huì)時(shí)，都拼命向Isabel示好。她們爭(zhēng)先恐后地圍在Isabel周圍，甚至陪她散步。他們向Isabel低語——一個(gè)秘密：“Isabel是我的好朋友。”
只有小Kelvey姐妹默默走開了，她們沒用聽到任何消息。
日子一天天過去，越來越多的小孩參觀了玩具屋，它的名聲逐漸遠(yuǎn)揚(yáng)。它成了大家的談資。彼此見面，都會(huì)問：“你參觀Burnell家的玩具屋了嗎？它可愛極了！”“我知道了，你難道還沒看過？！”
甚至，大家吃飯時(shí)間都在談?wù)撍Ｃ看涡∨鷤冏谒蓸湎拢穱L薄肉松三明治和涂了黃油的厚蛋糕時(shí)，她們都盡量擠在一起，談?wù)揔elvey家的玩具屋。寶貝Else緊靠著Lil，在旁邊聽著。姑娘們嚼著三明治，下面的報(bào)紙浸透了大塊紅色 ……

“媽媽，”Kezia叫，“我能請(qǐng)求Kelvey去看她的玩具屋嗎？就一次。”
“當(dāng)然不能。”
“為什么呀？”
“想都別想，Kezia你很明白為什么。”
最后，所有人都看過玩具屋了，除了Kelvey姐妹。該來的總是會(huì)來。那是午飯時(shí)間，孩子們站在松樹下，一撇眼，他們看到Kelvey姐妹姐妹在用餐——和往常一樣，她們單獨(dú)用餐，在一旁傾聽。他們想去嚇唬她們。Emmic Cole悄聲說，“Lil Kelvey天生就是當(dāng)傭婦的料。”
“哦——哦，真是糟糕透了！” Isabel Burnell邊說邊望向Emmie。
Emmie 心領(lǐng)意會(huì)，點(diǎn)頭贊同。——這些場(chǎng)景她曾看過她媽媽的反應(yīng)。
Lena Logan眨著小眼睛，悄悄說：“我想去問問她。”
“打賭你不敢。” Jessie May說。

自評(píng)

文采之美：

• 遭到嘲笑的Kelvey 姐妹的反應(yīng)時(shí)什么？一個(gè)是'sneered'、'smile'， 一個(gè)是'looked'。寥寥數(shù)字，展現(xiàn)人物不同個(gè)性。'looked'后無副詞，放在末尾，恰到好處。因?yàn)閴|尾，故友千鈞之力。弱先寫妹妹，后寫姐姐，則豹尾之力瞬間消失。
• 午餐時(shí)間，Kelvey 姐妹孤立在一旁，卻仍在竊聽（always listening）。“仍在竊聽”既寫出了姐妹倆的卑微，又寫出了小孩們極度不耐煩，睥睨的心態(tài)。

故事之美：在小孩們欺負(fù)、虐待姐妹倆之前，作者是如何一步一步，有頭有尾地描寫兩者“矛盾”升級(jí)的？從最初的“耳語”，然后伊莎貝爾以‘O-oh’語氣表示同意，再到后來，三個(gè)小孩一起表現(xiàn)出虐待的傾向。歧視、虐待的氣氛越來越不可收。