IT'S BECAUSE he stays out there,right under the window, hammering and sawing on that goddamn box. Where she's got to see him. Where every breath she draws is full of his knocking and sawing where she can see him saying See?. See what a good one I am making for you.
就因他待在外面，緊挨窗下，既敲又鋸，做那口破棺材，老娘肯定能看到。一窗之隔，她呼吸的頻率，和他敲鋸的聲音，幾近同步；一窗之隔，她看著他說“瞧”那句話。既是“瞧，我為你做了多好的一副棺材”。
I told him to go somewhere else. I said Good God do you want to see her in it. It's like when he was a little boy and she says if she had some fertilizer she would try to raise some flowers and he taken the bread pan and brought it back from the barn full of dung?.
我告訴過他，去別處。我曾說：“老天也不愿看她躺在里面”。這就像他兒時一樣，那時的她說“要是有肥料，就試著種點花”，于是，卡什就拿了烤面包平底鍋，到馬棚去裝滿鍋的馬糞回來。
And now them others sitting there,like buzzards. Waiting,fanning themselves. Because I said If you wouldn't keep on sawing and nailing at it until a man cant sleep even and her hands laying on the quilt like two of them roots dug up and tried to wash and you couldn't get them clean. I can see the fan and Dewey Dell's arm.
這會兒，其他人都坐在那，像禿鷹，一邊等，一邊搖扇子。因為我說過，你能否別又鋸又釘，搞得別人睡不成，而她那兩只手攤在被上，就像兩條從土里挖出的樹根，想洗，可你們怎么也洗不凈。我能看見那扇子，以及杜威胳膊。
I said if you'd just let her alone. Sawing and knocking,and keeping the air always moving so fast on her face that when you're tired you cant breathe it,and that goddamn adze going One lick less. One lick less. One lick less until everybody that passes in the road will have to stop and see it and say what a fine carpenter he is.
我早就說過，你們還是讓她安靜一下。又鋸又敲，讓空氣在臉上迅速流動；因為倘若你很累，你都不能呼吸。還有那該死的錛子，總差一錘子。總差一錘子。差一錘子，就使得每一個過路人，都必須停下來看看那口棺材，并且，稱贊他是一個高明的木匠。
If it had just been me when Cash fell off of that church and if it had just been me when pa laid sick with that load of wood fell on him,it would not be happening with every bastard in the county? coming in to stare at her because if there is a God what the hell is He for.
要是從那教堂摔下的，不是卡什，而是我，那該多好；并且，要是讓那車木頭掉下來，壓趴下的不是孩子爹，而是我，那該多好。那樣，就不至于讓村里的每個渾蛋，都進來瞪著眼看她；因為如果世上有老天，他到底在干嘛。
It would just be me and her on a high hill and me rolling the rocks down the hill faces and teeth and all by God until she was quiet and not that goddamn adze going One lick less?. One lick less and we could be quiet.
老天若有眼，快把我和她送到一座山坡上，我來推動石塊，讓它們滾下山去砸那群家伙的臉、牙以及全身。要不是該死的錛子，總差那么一錘子，她就能耳根清凈。要不是總差一錘子，我們也能耳根清凈。
By William Faulkner威廉福克納著
黃思明譯
按：
?Where she's got to see him. Where every breath she draws is full of his knocking and sawing where she can see him saying See，譯為“一窗之隔，她呼吸的頻率，和他敲鋸的聲音，幾近同步；一窗之隔，她看著他說“瞧”那句話。”很顯然，我沒有直譯，原文用兩個“where”，我卻用了兩個“一窗之隔”，當然也可以譯作“在那里”，但是我“一窗之隔”來強調老婦人和兒子做棺材特別近，更能體現兒子的那種直率，兒子可不會考慮母親這種心情，將死之人，外面卻是給自己做官差的敲擊聲，自然就更加增加一種壓力。
最近在繼續閱讀米奇·阿爾博姆的《相約星期二》，同樣的面對死亡，《相約星期二》中的莫里教授能夠坦然面對死亡，可這里的老婦人不是莫里教授，自然是沒有教授的豁達與通透的智慧的。教授可是喊來記者采訪，喊來學生上最后一堂課，那種發光發熱到最后一刻，哪里是這篇小說中老婦人能夠想象的。
是故，這一篇小說，我們就把老婦人當做普通人理解，正常人都害怕死亡，恐懼未知。所以，作者福克納自然也就是要表現一種兒子直爽到不知道回避母親此刻的心理恐懼。
?It's like when he was a little boy and she says if she had some fertilizer she would try to raise some flowers and he taken the bread pan and brought it back from the barn full of dung.我暫時給它譯為“這就像他兒時一樣，那時的她說“要是有肥料，就試著種點花”，于是，柯什就拿了烤面包平底鍋，到馬棚去裝滿鍋的馬糞回來。”fertilizer是“肥料，化肥”，dung就是“動物糞便，糞肥”，兩種都是肥，卻被耿直boy的兒子捕捉到了，很有趣。這里描寫不正好就是承接上一段，兒子耿直到在老娘床頭下敲打制作棺材。
?If it had just been me when Cash fell off of that church and if it had just been me when pa laid sick with that load of wood fell on him,it would not be happening with every bastard in the county……，翻譯為“要是從那教堂摔下的，不是卡什，而偏是我，那該多好；并且，要是讓那車木頭掉下來，壓趴下的不是老爹，而偏是我，那該多好。那樣，就不至于讓村里的每個渾蛋，都進來瞪著眼看她”。這里的county一般翻譯為“縣”，但是美國人少，一個縣人口也就我們村鎮的數量，如果我們中國人同樣用縣來理解，會讓我們覺得很奇怪。所以我把它翻譯成了“村”，只有同村的人才會那么八卦。
?It would just be me and her on a high hill and me rolling the rocks down the hill faces and teeth and all by God until she was quiet and not that goddamn adze going One lick less.我講它翻譯為“老天若有眼，快把我和她送到一座山坡上，我來推動石塊，讓它們滾下山去砸那群家伙的臉、牙以及全身。要不是該死的錛子，總差那么一錘子，她就能耳根清凈。”
這一句話，承接上一句質疑有老天這回事because if there is a God what the hell is He for(因為如果有老天，他到底在干嘛)，但是實際上就是，八卦的村民都來看猴子一樣，所以作者才有這么一句“老天無眼”的感慨。中國人若是困難得到幫助，又或者渡過難關，總會說一句“真是蒼天有眼啊！”這個歐美人的“God bless me”實在是有著異曲同工之妙。
