名著精讀《飄》第一章 第12節

When they had rounded the curve of the dusty road that hid them from Tara, Brent drew his horse to a stop under a clump of dogwood. Stuart halted, too, and the darky boy pulled up a few paces behind them. The horses, feeling slack reins, stretched down their necks to crop the tender spring grass, and the patient hounds lay down again in the soft red dust and looked up longingly at the chimney swallows circling in the gathering dusk. Brent’s wide ingenuous face was puzzled and mildly indignant.

他們在塵土飛揚的大道上拐過那個看不見塔拉農場的彎以後，布倫特勒住馬，在一叢山茱萸下站住了。斯圖爾特跟着停下來，黑小子也緊跑幾步跟上了他們。兩騎馬覺得繮繩鬆了，便伸長脖子去啃柔嫩的春草，獵犬們重新在灰土中躺下，貪饞地仰望着在愈來愈濃的暮色中迴旋飛舞的燕子。布倫特那張老實巴交的寬臉上呈現迷惑神情。

“Look,” he said. “Don’t it look to you like she would of asked us to stay for supper?”
“I thought she would,” said Stuart. I kept waiting for her to do it, but she didn’t. What do you make of it?”

“聽我說，”他說，"你不覺得她好像要請我們留下吃飯嗎？”“我本來以爲她會的，”斯圖爾特答道。"我一直等着她說出來，但是她沒有說。你想這是爲什麼？”

“I don’t make anything of it But it just looks to me like she might of. After all, it’s our first day home and she hasn’t seen us in quite a spell. And we had lots more things to tell her.”

“我一點也不明白。不過據我看，她應當留我們的。畢竟這是我們回家後的第一天，她跟我們又好久沒見面。何況我們還有許許多多的事情沒跟她說呢。”

“It looked to me like she was mighty glad to see us when we came.”
“I thought so, too.”

“據我看，我們剛來時她好像很高興見到我們。”“本來我也這樣想。”

“And then, about a half-hour ago, she got kind of quiet, like she had a headache.”

“可後來，大約半個鐘頭以前吧，她就不怎麼說話了，好像有點頭痛。”

“I noticed that but I didn’t pay it any mind then. What do you suppose ailed her?”
“I dunno. Do you suppose we said something that made her mad?”
They both thought for a minute.

“我看到這一點了，可我當時並不在意。你想她是哪兒不舒服了呢？”“我不知道。你認爲我們說了什麼讓她生氣的話嗎？”他們兩人思量了一會兒。

“I can’t think of anything. Besides, when Scarlett gets mad, everybody knows it. She don’t hold herself in like some girls do.”
　
“我什麼也想不起來。況且，思嘉一生氣，誰都看得出來。她可從不像那樣一聲不響的女孩子。”

“Yes, that’s what I like about her. She don’t go around being cold and hateful when she’s mad—she tells you about it. But it was something we did or said that made her shut up talking and look sort of sick. I could swear she was glad to see us when we came and was aiming to ask us to supper.”
　　
“對，這就是我喜歡她的地方。她生氣時那麼冷冷的抑制着性子走來走去，她會痛痛快快告訴你。不過，一定是我們說了或做了什麼事，使得她默不作聲，並裝出不舒服的樣子。我敢擔保，我們剛來時她是很高興並且有意要留我們吃晚飯的。”

“You don’t suppose it’s because we got expelled?”
“Hell, no! Don’t be a fool. She laughed like everything when we told her about it. And besides Scarlett don’t set any more store by book learning than we do.”
Brent turned in the saddle and called to the negro groom.
“Jeems!”
　“Suh?”

“你不認那是因爲我們被開除了嗎？”“決不會的！見鬼，別那麼傻。我們告訴她這消息時，她還若無其事地笑呢。再說，思嘉對讀書的事也不比我們重視呀。"布倫特在馬鞍上轉過身頭喚那個黑人馬伕：“吉姆斯！”“唔。”

vi. 跛行, 猶豫, 畏縮, 停止 vt. 使...停止

The soldiers halted for a rest.
士兵們停下來休息。

[rein] n. 繮繩, 統馭

The horse responds to the slightest pull on the rein.
只要繮繩稍稍一拉, 這匹馬就有反應。

low n. 燕子

There are many swallows flying in the sky.
天空中有許多燕子。

nuous adj. 坦白的, 正直的, 天真的

She is too ingenuous in believing what others say.
她太天真, 輕信別人的話。

l [iks'pel] vt. 驅逐, 逐出, 開除

He was expelled from the school.
他被學校開除了。

le ['sædl] n. 鞍, 車座, 山脊, 拖具

The saddle galled the horse's back.
馬鞍擦傷了馬背。