"They turned out real nice," I say."But not like the cakes Addie used to bake." You can see that girl's washing and ironing in the pillow-slip,if ironed it ever was. Maybe it will reveal her blindness to her,laying there at the mercy and the ministration of four men? and a tom-boy girl?.
“蛋糕烤得不錯(cuò)。”我說。
“可是不如艾琳烤得好。”你從那只枕頭套可窺一二，那姑娘的洗熨本事究竟怎樣。也許，這正好反映她對(duì)閨女盲目信任。畢竟她只能躺在那，聽任四個(gè)男子和一個(gè)野姑娘來擺布。
"There's not a woman in this section could ever bake with Addie Bundren," I say."First thing we know she'll be up and baking again, and then we wont have any sale for ours at all?."
“街坊鄰居，沒有一個(gè)女人烤食物能比得過艾琳，”我說，“只要她能起床再做蛋糕，我們能吃得一個(gè)都不剩。”
Under the quilt? she makes no more of a hump than a rail would,and the only way you can tell she is breathing is by the sound of the mattress shucks?. Even the hair,at her cheek does not move,even with that girl standing right over her,fanning her with the fan. While we watch she swaps the fan to the other hand without stopping it.
她躺在床上，裹著被子，整個(gè)人骨瘦如柴，要不是聽到床墊聲，我們都不知道她是否還活著。她額旁頭發(fā)紋絲不動(dòng)，閨女站在身旁，用蒲扇給其扇風(fēng)。我們看過去，那姑娘把蒲扇換了一只手，一直搖晃停下。
"Is she sleeping?" Kate whispers.
"She's just watching Cash yonder," the girl says. We can hear the saw in the board. It sounds like snoring. Eula turns on the trunk? and looks out the window. Her necklace looks real nice with her red hat. You wouldn't think it only cost twenty-five cents.
"She ought to taken those cakes," Kate says.
“她睡著了嗎?”柯特悄聲問道。
“她在看窗外的卡什。”姑娘說。我們能聽見鋸木板的聲音。聽起來像是有人打鼾。尤拉轉(zhuǎn)過身子，望著窗外。配上那頂紅帽子，她的項(xiàng)鏈非常漂亮。實(shí)際上，項(xiàng)鏈只值兩毛五分錢。
“她應(yīng)該把那蛋糕買下來，”柯特說。
I could have used the money real well. But it's not like they cost me anything except the baking. I can tell him that anybody is likely to make a miscue?,but it's not all of them that can get out of it without loss,I can tell him. It's not everybody can eat their mistakes,I can tell him?.
這筆錢本有大用。不過，除了烘烤，蛋糕實(shí)在不費(fèi)多少錢。我可以跟他說，人無完人，金無足赤；出現(xiàn)失誤，難免受損。我也可以對(duì)他說，出了紕漏，還能吃到肚子里。
Someone comes through the hall. It is Darl. He does not look in as he passes the door. Eula watches him as he goes on and passes from sight again toward the back. Her hand rises and touches her beads lightly,and then her hair. When she finds me watching her,her eyes go blank.
代爾穿過大廳走進(jìn)來。他經(jīng)過房門時(shí)，并沒有朝里看。尤拉看著他走到后面去，從視野消失。她舉起手，先是輕輕摸珠子，然后，又摸了摸自己的頭發(fā)。當(dāng)她發(fā)現(xiàn)我看她時(shí)，眼睛變得空洞起來。
By William Faulkner
威廉福克納著
黃思明譯
按：
?the ministration of four men，如果我們通讀小說就知道，這里的“四個(gè)男人”應(yīng)該是指她三個(gè)兒子和丈夫安斯，所以我翻譯時(shí)候就沒有譯成“男人”，而用了“男子”。ministration是“服務(wù)；幫助；救濟(jì)”的意思，但此處為了顯示老婦人的無助，我們不防翻譯成“擺布”。
?a tom-boy girl，本意是男人婆似的女孩，這里當(dāng)然指老人那個(gè)閨女。tom-boy英語里面可以理解為“假小子，頑皮的女孩”等等，英文字典解釋為a girl who behaves in a boyish manner，一個(gè)女孩行為中有些男孩子的舉止，這就很明顯了。突然想起一首粵語歌《野孩子》，演唱楊千嬅，倘若翻譯成英語，不妨譯tom-boy girl，推薦這首歌給大家，非常有趣的歌詞，音律也很悅耳動(dòng)聽。
?we wont have any sale for ours at all，倘若直譯就是“所有蛋糕，我們都不用賣掉”，結(jié)合上下文意思，很顯然蛋糕都被吃光了，那就譯成“我們能吃得一個(gè)不剩。”
?Under the quilt，quilt是“被子;加襯芯床罩”意思，直譯就是“被子底下，被窩里”，直接寫被窩不是中國(guó)人的習(xí)慣，所以我委婉一點(diǎn)，給譯成“躺在床上，裹著被子”。下面的這句makes no more of a hump than a rail would,也不太好理解，hump是指“峰，土堆，隆起物”，這是形容老人太瘦弱了，被子看上去快平坦了一樣，也就是“沒有多少隆起”。rail指“欄桿;鐵路;軌道;扶手;鐵軌;橫桿”，我們常見的指鐵路鐵軌，但是這里用的本意“橫桿”，形容老人瘦得像竹竿一樣。所以這句話“no more……than……”一起理解，would不妨倒裝理解，she would makes no more of a hump than a rail，所以最終我把它譯成“骨瘦如柴”。
?the mattress shucks，shucks指“堅(jiān)果或牡蠣、蛤等的)殼;外皮;(植物的)莢”英文解釋是The shuck of something is its outer covering, for example, the leaves around an ear of corn, or the shell of a shellfish，這里當(dāng)然指床墊的外殼很堅(jiān)硬，以至于被壓都有聲音。mattress指“床墊”。
?Eula turns on the trunk，trunk指“樹干，主體，軀干;管道, 導(dǎo)管”，這里當(dāng)然指“軀干”，故譯為“艾拉轉(zhuǎn)過身子”。
?anybody is likely to make a miscue，miscue可以“mis+cue”，前綴mis-多表示一種失去的錯(cuò)誤的，本就是“miss”這個(gè)詞的所寫，例如mistake(錯(cuò)誤),miscarriage(失敗)，misspell(誤拼)，misunderstand(誤解)等等。任何人都會(huì)犯錯(cuò)，所以我用中國(guó)習(xí)語翻譯為“金無足赤，人無完人”。
?It's not everybody can eat their mistakes,I can tell him，這一句有種抽象擬人化的意味，直譯就是“不是每個(gè)人能夠吃掉他們的錯(cuò)誤，我可以這樣對(duì)他說。”錯(cuò)誤怎么能夠吃呢？這里當(dāng)然是指把蛋糕吃了。
