【荆棘鸟】第三章 10

“我不明白，你怎么早没想到呢。”他说。    

    “哦，我想到了。不过，直到最近我才想到我最不希望发生的事就是有许多贪婪的人急不可耐地等着我咽下最后一口气。只是在最近，我的寿终之日似乎比以往离我更近了，我才觉得……哦，我不知道。有自己的亲骨肉围在身边，也许是很愉快的事吧。”

 

    “怎么了？你觉得你病了吗？”他急忙问道，眼睛里流露出真心关切的神情。

 

    她耸了耸肩。“我很好。但是年过六十五，总会有些不祥之兆的。突然觉得衰老来到已经不是将来的事，而是已经发生的事啦。”

 

    “我明白你的意思了，你是对的。在这座房子里听到年轻人的声音，对你来说将是一件非常愉快的事情。”

 

    “哦，他们不会住在这里的，”她说。“他们可以住在小河边的牧场工头的房子里，离我还挺远呢。我不喜欢孩子和他们的声音。”

 

    “玛丽，就算你们年龄相差很大，这样对待你唯一的弟弟，不是太简慢了吗？”

 

    “他将继承财产——那就让他挣吧。”她不加掩饰地说道。

 

    梅吉在第九个生日的前六天，菲奥娜·克利里又生下了一个男孩子。在这之前的一段时间里，除了有过几次要流产之外，没发生别的事情，她就自认很幸运了。9岁的梅吉已经到了真正能帮上一把手的年龄了。菲奥娜自己40岁了，这把年纪再生孩子总免不了要经受大伤元气的痛苦。这个孩子取名叫哈罗德，是个身体娇弱的婴儿；医生定期列家里来，这在所有家人的记忆里还是第一次呢。

 

    然而烦恼不饶人，克利里的烦恼也有增无已。战争带来的后果许不是兴旺发达，而是农村的萧条。活计愈来愈难找了。

 

    一天，他们正在喝茶，老安格斯·麦克怀尔特送来了一封电报。帕迪双手打颤地将它撕开；电报从来不是报告好消息的。除了弗兰克以外，孩子们都围了过去，弗兰克拿起了自己的那杯茶，离开了桌子。菲的目光跟随着他，但当帕迪哼了一声时，她的目光又转了回来。

 

    “怎么啦？”她问道。

 

    帕迪正出神地望着那片纸，就像它带来了噩耗似的。“艾奇鲍尔德不要咱们了。”

 

    鲍勃用拳头狠狠地砸着桌子；他早就盼着能和父亲一起去当个剪羊毛的徒弟了，而艾奇鲍尔德的剪毛棚本来是他第一个要去的地方。“父亲，他干嘛要对咱们干这种狗屁事儿呢？我们本来明天就要动身了。”

 

    “他没说原因，鲍勃。我猜是哪个混帐王八蛋包工头挖了咱们的墙脚。”

 

    “哦，帕迪！”菲哀叹着。

 

    躺在火炉边上的大摇篮里的小东西哈尔哭了起来，可是菲还没来得及挪窝，

梅吉已经站起来了。弗兰克也返回了门里，站在那里，手里拿着茶杯，仔细地观察着他父亲。

 

    “唉，我想我得去见见艾奇鲍尔德，”帕迪终于说道。“现在不到他那儿去剪，另找一家已经太晚了，不过，我打心眼儿里觉得他得给我个比这更说得过去的解释。在七月里威洛比的羊圈开工以前，我们只好指望能找个挤奶的活儿了。” 

 

She shrugged¹. "I'm perfectly² all right. Yet there's something ominous³ about turning sixty-five. Suddenly old age is not a phenomenon which will occur; it has occurred."

  "I see what you mean, and you're right. It will be very pleasant for you, hearing young voices in the house."

  "Oh, they won't live here," she said. "They can live in the head stockman's house down by the creek⁴, well away from me. I'm not fond of children or their voices."

  "Isn't that a rather shabby way to treat your only brother, Mary? Even if your ages are so disparate?"

  "He'll inherit-let him earn it," she said crudely.

 

  Fiona Cleary was delivered of another boy six days before Meggie's ninth birthday, counting herself lucky nothing but a couple of miscarriages⁵ had happened in the interim⁶. At nine Meggie was old enough to be a real help. Fee herself was forty years old, too old to bear children without a great deal of strength-sapping pain. The child, named Harold, was a delicate baby; for the first time anyone could ever remember, the doctor came regularly to the house.

  And as troubles do, the Cleary troubles multiplied. The aftermath of the war was not a boom, but a rural depression. Work became increasingly harder to get.

 

  Old Angus MacWhirter delivered a telegram to the house one day just as they were finishing tea, and Paddy tore it open with trembling hands; telegrams never held good news. The boys gathered round, all save Frank, who took his cup of tea and left the table. Fee's eyes followed him, then turned back as Paddy groaned⁷. "What is it?" she asked.

  Paddy was staring at the piece of paper as if it held news of a death. "Archibald doesn't want us."

  Bob pounded his fist on the table savagely⁸; he had been so looking forward to going with his father as an apprentice⁹ shearer¹⁰, and Archibald's was to have been his first pen. "Why should he do a dirty thing like this to us, Daddy? We were due to start there tomorrow."

  "He doesn't say why, Bob. I suppose some scab contractor¹¹ undercut me." "Oh, Paddy!" Fee sighed.

  Baby Hal began to cry from the big bassinet by the stove, but before Fee could move Meggie was up; Frank had come back inside the door and was standing¹², tea in hand, watching his father narrowly. "Well, I suppose I'll have to go and see Archibald," Paddy said at last. "It's too late now to look for another shad to replace his, but I do think he owes me a better explanation than this. We'll just have to hope we can find work milking until Willoughby's shed starts in July."

1 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

3 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

4 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

5 miscarriages   

流产( miscarriage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Miscarriages are usually caused by abnormal chromosome patterns in the fetus. 流产通常是因为胎儿的染色体异常造成的。
• Criminals go unpunishedareconvicted and are miscarriages of justice. 罪犯会逍遥法外，法律会伤及无辜，审判不公时有发生。

6 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

7 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 savagely   

adv. 野蛮地，残酷地

参考例句：

• The roses had been pruned back savagely. 玫瑰被狠狠地修剪了一番。
• He snarled savagely at her. 他向她狂吼起来。

9 apprentice   

n.学徒，徒弟

参考例句：

• My son is an apprentice in a furniture maker's workshop.我的儿子在一家家具厂做学徒。
• The apprentice is not yet out of his time.这徒工还没有出徒。

10 shearer   

n.剪羊毛的人；剪切机

参考例句：

• A bad shearer never had a good sickle. 拙匠无利器。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Eventually, Shearer lost faith, dropping him to the bench. 最终，希勒不再信任他，把他换下场。 来自互联网

11 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

12 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。