二 菜圃 The Vegetable Garden

西The lonely, bright-red tomatoes in the vegetable garden had ripened red.滿The young girls were picking tomatoes—great red tomatoes that filled their baskets to the brim;others were pulling up green radishes and red carrots.

菜圃上寂寞的大红的西红柿,红著了。小姑娘们摘取著柿子,大红大红的柿子,盛满她们的筐篮;也有的在拔青萝卜、红萝卜。

Jinzhi heard the crack of a whip and the sound of whistling; she sprang to her feet, picked up her basket, and walked fearfully out of the vegetable garden.At the eastern edge of the vegetable plots, beside the willow-twig fence, she stopped and listened: the whistling was gradually receding!The crack of the whip was drawing away from her!She forced herself to wait a while; then the lilting whistle came drifting through from behind her.She would soon be close to him again!Some women in the vegetable plots saw her and called from afar:

金枝听著鞭子响,听著口哨响,她猛然站起来,提好她的筐子惊惊怕怕的走出菜圃。在菜田东边,柳条墙的那个地方停下,她听一听口笛渐渐远了!鞭子的响声与她隔离著了!她忍耐著等了一会,口笛婉转地从背后的方向透过来;她又将与他接近著了!菜田上一些女人望见她,远远的呼唤:

?』“Why are you standing over there instead of coming to pick tomatoes?”

『你不来摘柿子,干什么站到那儿?』

:『!』She shook her twin braids, waved her hand, and called loudly, “I’m going home!”

她摇一摇她成双的辫子,她大声摆著手说:『我要回家了!』

Pretending to go home, the girl circled around someone’s fence, slipped out of sight of every eye in the vegetable plots, and headed toward the river bend.The basket hung from her wrist, swinging loosely.彿The whistle kept urging her on from afar, as though she were a piece of iron drawn after a magnet.

姑娘假装著回家,绕过人家的篱墙,躲避一切菜田上的眼睛,朝向河湾去了。筐子挂在腕上,摇摇搭搭。口笛不住的在远方催逼她,彷佛她是一块被引的铁跟住了磁石。

The quiet river bend smelled of dampness; the man was waiting there.

静静的河湾有水湿的气味,男人等在那里。

A few hazy flower spikes trembled there, and the tall-stemmed grass behind them had been crushed flat!Not far away, an old man gathering firewood was cutting wild grass.They had been disturbed!。……The fully grown, sturdy young man led the girl away like a hunting dog carrying its quarry, and they descended once more into the sorghum field....

迷迷荡荡的一些花穗颤在那里,背后的长茎草倒折了!不远的地方打柴的老人在割野草。他们受著惊扰了!发育完强的青年的汉子,带著姑娘,像猎犬带著捕捉物似的,又走下高粱地去。……

※ ※ ※ ※※ ※ ※ ※

Whistling and cracking his whip, he felt that the human world was tender and joyful.His body and soul were utterly replete; his aunt saw him from afar, and when he came nearer, she said:

吹口哨,响著鞭子,他觉得人间是温存而愉快。他的灵魂和肉体完全充实著,婶婶远远的望见他,走近一点,婶婶说:

“Have you met that girl again?。……She really is a good girl....……Ah...!』Ah!”

『你和那个姑娘又遇见吗?她真是个好姑娘。……唉……唉!』

His aunt pressed herself tightly against the fence, as though overcome with agitation.Her nephew said to her:

婶婶像是烦躁一般紧紧靠住篱墙。侄儿向她说:

“Auntie, what are you sighing about?!』I’m going to marry her!”

『婶娘你唉唉什么呢?我要娶她哩!』

……“Ah...……』Ah...”

His aunt sank wholly into sorrow and said:

婶婶完全悲伤下去,她说:

“Once you marry her and bring her home, she will change; she will no longer be as she was, and her face will turn pale and wan.And you will stop caring about her; you will beat and curse her!!』Men keep women in their hearts only when they are about your age!”

『等你娶过来,她会变样,她不和原来一样,她的脸是青白色;你也再不把她放在心上,你会打骂她呀!男人们心上放著女人,也就是你这样的年纪吧!』

Showing her grief, his aunt pressed a hand to her chest, as if to keep something from happening to her heart, and continued:

婶婶表示出她的伤感,用手按住胸膛,她防止著心脏起什么变化,她又说:

“I suppose that girl must already be carrying a child?。』If you mean to marry her, marry her quickly.”

『那姑娘我想该有了孩子吧?你要娶她,就快些娶她。』

:『Her nephew answered, “Her mother still doesn’t know!。』We must find someone to act as matchmaker.”

侄儿回答:『她娘还不知道哩!要寻一个做媒的人。』

Fufa returned, leading an ox.When his wife saw him, she hurried back into the yard and pretended to be tidying the firewood pen.His uncle led the ox to the well for a drink, then took it away again!Like a little mouse, his aunt raised her head once more and resumed speaking to her nephew:

牵著一条牛,福发回来。婶婶望见了,她急旋著走回院中,假意收拾柴栏。叔叔到井边给牛喝水,他又拉著牛走了!婶婶好像小鼠一般又抬起头来,又和侄儿讲话:

“Chengye, let me tell you!沿When I was young, when I was still a girl, I too went fishing by the river; one September morning, with a fine drizzle falling, I sat on the riverbank in a straw rain cape. I never expected it, and I did not want it to happen that way;沿I knew that becoming a man’s wife was a bad thing, but your uncle dragged me from the riverbank into the stable, and there in the stable everything was over for me!Yet in my heart I was not afraid; I was glad to become your uncle’s wife.。』But look at me now: I am afraid of men. A man is as hard as stone, and I dare not even touch him.”

『成业,我对你告诉吧!年青的时候,姑娘的时候,我也到河边去钓鱼,九月里落著毛毛雨的早晨,我披著蓑衣坐在河沿,没有想到,我也不愿意那样;我知道给男人做老婆是坏事,可是你叔叔,他从河沿把我拉到马房去,在马房里,我什么都完啦!可是我心也不害怕,我欢喜给你叔叔做老婆。这时节你看,我怕男人,男人和石块一般硬,叫我不敢触一触他。』

……“You are always singing about the fine drizzle falling and going fishing in a straw rain cape....I never want to hear that song again. Nothing about young men can be trusted; your uncle used to sing that song too!Now he never thinks of the old days!。』They are like a dead tree that can never live again.”

『你总是唱什么落著毛毛雨,披蓑衣去打鱼……我再也不愿听这曲子,年青人什么也不可靠,你叔叔也唱这曲子哩!这时他再也不想从前了!那和死过的树一样不能再活。』

The young man did not want to listen to his aunt, so he turned and went indoors to drink a little wine.Emboldened by the wine, he told his uncle everything.At first Fufa merely shook his head; after a while, he slowly began to ask:

年青的男人不愿意听婶婶的话,转走到屋里,去喝一点酒。他为著酒,大胆把一切告诉了叔叔。福发起初只是摇头,后来慢慢的问著:

“Is that girl seventeen?廿You are twenty.?』When the little girl comes into our family, what work will she be able to do?”

『那姑娘是十七岁吗?你是廿岁。小姑娘到咱们家里,会做什么活计?』

As though arguing for possession of her, Chengye said:

争夺著一般的,成业说:

“She is pretty!She has a pair of glossy black braids.!』She can do any kind of work, and she is very strong!”

『她长得好看哩!她有一双亮油油的黑辫子。什么活计她也能做,很有气力呢!』

From the way Chengye talked, his uncle decided that he was drunk. He said nothing more, but sat there pondering for a while, then smiled at his woman.

成业的一些话,叔叔觉得他是喝醉了,往下叔叔没有说什么,坐在那里沉思过一会,他笑著望著他的女人。

……“Ah...We were like that once too!Have you forgotten?!……All those things—you have forgotten them, haven’t you?...……Ha...。』Ha, what fun it was! It is such fun to remember being young.”

『啊呀……我们从前也是这样哩!你忘记吗?那些事情,你忘记了吧!……哈……哈,有趣的呢,回想年青真有趣的哩。』

The woman went over, took Fufa by the arm, and tried to caress him.But he did not stir. She felt that the man’s smiling face was not the face that had smiled in the old days; her mind filled with the countless angry faces he had shown her. She did not move, and the instant she smiled, she hastily withdrew the smile.She was afraid that if she smiled too long, she would be cursed.The man told her to bring him the wine cup, and at his words she handed it to him as though obeying an order.Then the husband too fell into a drunken sleep on the kang.

女人过去拉著福发的臂,去抚媚他。但是没有动,她感到男人的笑脸不是从前的笑脸,她心中被他无数生气的面孔充塞住,她没有动,她笑一下赶忙又把笑脸收了回去。她怕笑得时间长,会要挨骂。男人叫把酒杯拿过去,女人听了这话,听了命令一般把杯子拿给他。于是丈夫也昏沉的睡在炕上。

The woman quietly tiptoed out and stopped beside the door. She heard the paper window rustling by her ear; all strength left her, and she faded utterly into grayness.In front of the threshing ground, dragonflies made a commotion among the sunflowers.But all this was utterly cut off from the young woman.

女人悄悄地蹑著脚走出了,停在门边,她听著纸窗在耳边鸣,她完全无力,完全灰色下去。场院前,蜻蜓们闹著向日葵的花。但这与年青的妇人绝对隔碍著。

※ ※ ※ ※※ ※ ※ ※

The paper window gradually whitened, and little by little its latticework could be made out!The girl who had gone into the sorghum field wept as she gave herself over to fantasies; her sobbing was so faint that it was quieter than the rustling window paper.

纸窗渐渐的发白,渐渐可以分辨出窗棂来了!进过高粱地的姑娘一边幻想著一边哭,她是那样的低声,还不如窗纸的鸣响。

Whenever her mother turned over, she groaned and sometimes ground her teeth audibly.Afraid she would be beaten, Jinzhi wiped away every tear, even in the darkness.All night long, like a mouse, she seemed to sleep beneath a cat’s tail.It went on this way through the night: whenever her mother stirred, she hurled a curse toward her daughter’s pillow as though she were bursting apart:

她的母亲翻转身时,哼著,有时也挫响牙齿。金枝怕要挨打,连在黑暗中把眼泪也拭得干净。老鼠一般地整夜好像睡在猫的尾巴下。通夜都是这样,每次母亲翻动时,像是爆裂一般地,向自己的女孩的枕头的地方骂了一句:

!』“Damn you!”

『该死的!』

便Then she would spit; it went on like this all night, but she did not spit onto the floor—she wished she could spit in her daughter’s face.This time, when she turned over, she neither spat nor cursed.

接著她便要吐痰,通夜是这样,她吐痰,可是她并不把痰吐到地上;她愿意把痰吐到女儿的脸上。这次转身她什么也没有吐,也没骂。

But early in the morning, when her daughter had braided her hair and was about to go to the fields, she snatched away her basket like a madwoman:

可是清早,当女儿梳好头辫,要走上田的时候,她疯著一般夺下她的筐子:

“Do you still think you’re going to pick tomatoes?Jinzhi, it doesn’t look to me as if you were picking tomatoes, does it?You even threw your basket away!You seem to have no sense at all. Luckily it was Old Zhu gathering firewood—if someone else had picked it up, could we ever have found it again?And if someone else had found that basket, it would have done your reputation no good!沿Wasn’t it by the riverbank that Fufa’s wife came to grief?The whole village—even the children—still tells the story.!……Ah!...What sort of person was she?Afterward, they could not find her a husband.。』She was carrying a child and had no way to become Fufa’s wife; her mother nearly died of shame over it and could not raise her head before anyone in the village.”

『你还想摘柿子吗?金枝,你不像摘柿子吧?你把筐子都丢啦!我看你好像一点心肠也没有,打柴的人幸好是朱大爷,若是别人拾去还能找出来吗?若是别人拾得了筐子,名声也不能好听哩!福发的媳妇,不就是在河沿坏的事吗?全村就连孩子们也是传说。唉!……那是怎样的人呀?以后婆家也找不出去。她有了孩子,没法做了福发的老婆,她娘为这事羞死了似的,在村子里见人,都不能抬起头来。』

The mother watched Jinzhi’s face suddenly turn pale, its expression becoming so terribly fragile.Her mother thought her daughter looked pitiable, but she did not know that beneath her clothes the girl was secretly pressing a hand to her belly, terrified that she might be carrying a child.Her mother said:

母亲看著金枝的脸色马上苍白起来,脸色变成那样脆弱。母亲以为女儿可怜了,但是她没晓得女儿的手从她自己的衣裳里边偷偷的按著肚子,金枝感到自己有了孩子一般恐怖。母亲说:

“Go on, then!沿。』But don’t go to the riverbank to play with the other girls again. Remember: you are not to go near the river.”

『你去吧!你可再别和小姑娘们到河沿去玩,记住,不许到河边去。』

Her mother stood outside the door watching the girl leave. She did not turn back at once, but remained there a long while, watching her daughter join the people in the fields. When she returned indoors, she sighed as she cooked, as though some illness had infected her body.

母亲在门外看著姑娘走,她没立刻转回去,她停住在门前许多时间,眼望著姑娘加入田间的人群,母亲回到屋中一边烧饭,一边叹气,她体内像染著什么病患似的。

Farm families could eat breakfast only after returning from the fields each day.When Jinzhi came back, her mother saw that she was holding her belly.

农家每天从田间回来才能吃早饭。金枝走回来时,母亲看见她手在按著肚子。

?』“Does your stomach hurt?”

『你肚子疼吗?』

:『。』Startled, she pulled her hand out from beneath her clothes and hurriedly shook her head. “My stomach doesn’t hurt.”

她被惊著了,手从衣裳里边抽出来,连忙摇著头:『肚子不疼。』

?』“Are you ill?”

『有病吗?』

。』“No.”

『没有病。』

Then they ate.Jinzhi could get nothing down; after taking only a little porridge, she left the table!Her mother cleared the table herself and said:

于是她们吃饭。金枝什么也没有吃下去,只吃过粥饭就离开饭桌了!母亲自己收拾了桌子说:

“You didn’t even eat a single cabbage leaf!?』You must be ill, aren’t you?”

『连一片白菜叶也没吃呢!你是病了吧?』

As Jinzhi was going out, her mother called after her:

等金枝出门时,母亲呼唤著:

穿。』"Come back, put on another lined jacket—you must have caught a chill, that's why your stomach aches."

『回来,再多穿一件裌袄,你一定是著了寒,才肚子疼。』

Mother added another garment for her, and said again:

母亲加一件衣服给她,并且又说:

"Maybe you shouldn't go to the field?!』Let me go instead!"

Jinzhi shook her head and walked off!The short jacket her mother had draped over her shoulders wasn't buttoned, and it fluttered in the wind.

金枝一面摇著头走了!披在肩上的母亲的小袄没有扣钮子,被风吹飘著。

Jinzhi's family had a plot of persimmon field, about the size of a courtyard.Walking into the persimmon field one caught a pungent smell, sharp and stinging, though it was hard to say just what kind of smell it was.The tallest of the persimmon saplings stood two feet high, with golden-red fruit hanging among the branches.Every single tree had many fruits hanging from it, and some green or half-green ones too.Except for another persimmon plot adjoining Jinzhi's family's, all around were vegetable fields!」;In August people were busy digging up potatoes;some were also cutting cabbages, loading up the carts to take into town to sell.

金枝家的一片柿地,和一个院宇那样大的一片。走进柿地嗅到辣的气味,刺人而说不定是什么气味。柿秧最高的有两尺高,在枝间挂著金红色的果实。每棵,每棵挂著许多,也挂著绿色或是半绿色的一些。除了另一块柿地和金枝家的柿地接连著,左近全是菜田了!八月里人们忙著扒「土豆」;也有的砍著白菜,装好车子进城去卖。

Erliban was one of those who farmed the vegetable fields.Pockmark Woman carried cabbages back and forth, delivering them to the cart at the edge of the field.Bowlegs likewise ran back and forth toward the edge of the field; sometimes he carried two large round cabbages in his arms, and as he walked his arms looked as though they were propping up two slabs of stone.

二里半就是种菜田的人。麻面婆来回的搬著大头菜,送到地端的车子上。罗圈腿也是来回向地端跑著,有时他抱了两棵大形的圆白菜,走起来两臂像是架著两块石头样。

Pockmark Woman noticed that a neighboring family's pumpkins nearby had turned ripe.She glanced around, saw no one nearby, and began picking all four of the large pumpkins growing along the edge of the vegetable field.西Two of them, about the size of small watermelons, she had the child carry in his arms.Bowlegs' face, flushed red with exhaustion, was as red as the pumpkins themselves—he couldn't carry them any farther!His arms felt as if they were about to be crushed off by the weight.Before he could reach the edge of the field, just as he passed by Jinzhi, he cried out as if calling for help:

麻面婆看见身旁别人家的倭瓜红了。她看一下,近处没有人,起始把靠菜地长著的四个大倭瓜都摘落下来了。两个和小西瓜一样大的,她叫孩子抱著。罗圈腿脸累得涨红和倭瓜一般红,他不能再抱动了!两臂像要被什么压掉一般。还没能到地端,刚走过金枝身旁,他大声求救似的:

西……"Papa, the wa—西!』—the watermelon is about to fall, it's about to smash!"

西In his fluster he called the pumpkin a watermelon.Many people in the vegetable field saw the boy and burst out laughing!Fengjie looked at Jinzhi and said:

他著忙把倭瓜叫西瓜。菜田许多人,看见这个孩子都笑了!凤姐望著金枝说:

西。』"Look at that child, calling a pumpkin a watermelon."

『你看这个孩子,把倭瓜叫成西瓜。』

Jinzhi glanced over and gave an absent-minded smile.Erliban walked over and kicked the boy;the two large fruits dropped to the ground!The boy didn't cry, just stood dazed off to the side.Erliban cursed at him:

金枝看了一下,用面孔无心的笑了一下。二里半走过来,踢了孩子一脚;两个大的果实坠地了!孩子没有哭,发愣地站到一边。二里半骂他:

?……』"You bastard, son of a bitch, I told you to carry cabbages—who told you to pick pumpkins?..."

『混蛋,狗娘养的,叫你抱白菜,谁叫你摘倭瓜啦?……』

Pockmark Woman was walking behind; seeing her son in trouble, she craftily bent down and tossed the two even bigger pumpkins into the persimmon saplings.Everyone saw her do it—only she herself thought it clever.Erliban asked her:

麻面婆在后面走著,她看到儿子遇了事,她巧妙的弯下身去,把两个更大的倭瓜丢进柿秧中。谁都看见她作这种事,只是她自己感到巧妙。二里半问她:

"Was this you?You muddlehead!……』If it wasn't you..."

『你干的吗?胡突虫!错非你……』

:『……Pockmark Woman gave a shudder, her speech even less clear than usual: "...……。』I didn't..."

麻面婆哆嗦了一下,口齿比平常更不清楚了:『……我没……。』

:『The boy standing to the side shrilled out: "Wasn't it you who picked them and told me to carry them to the cart?!』Now you won't own up to it!"

孩子站在一边尖锐地嚷著:『不是你摘下来叫我抱著送上车吗?不认账!』

使:『Pockmark Woman flashed a look with her eyes, and in her fluster the words burst right out of her: "I stole them!……Damn it...!』Stop shouting, we'll get caught!"

麻面婆她使著眼神,她急得要说出口来:『我是偷的呢!该死的……别嚷叫啦,要被人抓住啦!』

Even those who normally had no heart for watching a commotion, who stayed buried in their work no matter what happened in the fields, now came crowding around them!It was as if a martial opera were being performed here, with the three of them acting it out on stage.Erliban cursed at the boy:

平常最没有心肠看热闹的,不管田上发生了什么事,也沉埋在那里的人们,现在也来围住她们了!这里好像唱著武戏,戏台上耍著他们一家三人。二里半骂著孩子:

?』"Goddamn wretch, can't do a lick of work, only good for wrecking things—who told you to pick the pumpkins?"

『他妈的混账,不能干活,就能败坏,谁叫你摘倭瓜?』

Bowlegs' boy, not the least bit willing to accept the blame, ran over and rolled the pumpkins back out from among the persimmon saplings!Everyone laughed, the laughter rising above their heads.But Jinzhi, like a chick stricken with some contagious illness, crouched under the persimmon saplings blinking her eyes; she had no reason for it at all, she simply fled from the world before her.

罗圈腿那个孩子,一点也不服气的跑过去,从柿秧中把倭瓜滚弄出来了!大家都笑了,笑声超过人头。可是金枝好像患著传染病的小鸡一般,霎著眼睛蹲在柿秧下,她什么也没有理由,她逃出了眼前的世界。

Erliban was so furious he could hardly breathe; but once he explained that the pumpkins were ones he himself had planted, kept for seed, Pockmark Woman standing there finally let out a breath of relief—she felt there was nothing wrong in taking her own pumpkins.:『!』She raised her head and declared to everyone: "See, I didn't know—I truly didn't know the pumpkins were our own!"

二里半气愤得几乎不能呼吸,等他说出「倭瓜」是自家种的,为著留种子时候,麻面婆站在那里才松了一口气,她以为这没有什么过错,偷摘自己的倭瓜。她仰起头来向大家表白:『你们看,我不知道,实在不知道倭瓜是自家的呢!』

Pockmark Woman, not caring whether her words sounded ridiculous, pushed through the crowd and in the end carried the pumpkins over to the cart.Then the cart set off down the road into town, the bowlegged boy limping and stumbling along behind it.The horse, the cart, the people gradually vanished at the turn of the road!

麻面婆不管自己说话好笑不好笑,挤过人围,结果把倭瓜抱到车子那里。于是车子走向进城的大道,弯腿的孩子拐拐歪歪跑在后面。马,车,人渐渐消失在道口了!

In the fields, people kept talking about the vegetable-stealing affair.Rumors also arose about Jinzhi:

田间不断的讲著偷菜棵的事。关于金枝也起著流言:

!』"That girl's done for too!"

『那个丫头也算完啦!』

"I noticed long ago she'd taken up some wicked notion—watch how she takes half a day just to pick one persimmon;沿!』yesterday she even forgot her persimmon basket by the riverbank!"

『我早看她起了邪心,看她摘一个柿子要半天工夫;昨天把柿筐都忘在河沿!』

沿。』"The riverbank isn't a place decent people go."

Behind Fengjie, two middle-aged women sat there digging up carrots.使As they gossiped, they sometimes let slip a few coarse, obscene remarks, which left Fengjie rather puzzled.

凤姐身后,两个中年的妇人坐在那里扒胡萝卜。可是议论著,有时也说出一些淫污的话,使凤姐不大明白。

綿Jinzhi's heart kept fluttering; time stretched on and on, long as a spider spinning out its thread;her mood had sunk to its lowest.Jinzhi's face was pale and hazy, as though veiled by a piece of gauze.She listened for the whistle—it still hadn't sounded.Across the open expanse she could see Fufa's family's wall, but the young man in her heart never seemed to come out.She went on picking persimmons again, taking even the green ones down.滿She paid no attention to the color of the persimmons, and by now her basket was already full!滿She didn't carry the persimmons home; instead the mixed-colored persimmons lay scattered all over the ground where she'd strewn them.Over there, some women again deliberately talked about her loudly:

金枝的心总是悸动著,时间像蜘蛛缕著丝线那样绵长;心境坏到极点。金枝脸色脆弱朦胧得像罩著一块面纱。她听一听口哨还没有响。辽阔的可以看到福发家的围墙,可是她心中的哥儿却永不见出来。她又继续摘柿子,无论青色的柿子她也摘下。她没能注意到柿子的颜色,并且筐子也满著了!她不把柿子送回家去,一些杂色的柿子,被她散乱的铺了满地。那边又有女人故意大声议论她:

沿?……』"Off to the riverbank to meet a man, shameless—did the man pull open her trousers?..."

『上河沿去跟男人,没羞的,男人扯开她的裤子?……』

Jinzhi paid no heed to any of the sights and sounds around her;彿she pressed her belly so tightly, as if something inside it were throbbing!Suddenly the whistle sounded!She stood up, and a persimmon was crushed underfoot, giving off a watery sound like a squashed toad.She stumbled and fell, and along with it the whistle died away!Afterward, no matter how she listened, the whistle never sounded again.

金枝关于眼前的一切景物和声音,她忽略过去;她把肚子按得那样紧,彷佛肚子里面跳动了!忽然口哨传来了!她站起来,一个柿子被踏碎,像是被踏碎的蛤蟆一样,发出水声。她被跌倒了,口哨也跟著消灭了!以后无论她怎样听,口哨也不再响了。

Jinzhi had been with the man three times: the first time was two months earlier, but back then her mother knew nothing of it; only when the basket fell into the hands of a woodcutter yesterday did her mother begin, vaguely and uncertainly, to guess at something.

金枝和男人接触过三次:第一次还是在两个月以前,可是那时母亲什么也不知道,直到昨天筐子落到打柴人手里,母亲算是渺渺茫茫的猜度著一些。

Jinzhi was in such anguish that she felt her belly had turned into some dreadful monster; she felt there was a hard lump inside, and the harder she pressed with her hand, the more distinct the hard spot became.When she became certain there was a child in her belly, her heart instantly shuddered as though retching, and terror seized hold of her.Strangely, two butterflies came fluttering down, one atop the other, and settled on her knee.Jinzhi looked at this wicked pair of creatures and did not brush them away.彿Jinzhi seemed like a scarecrow standing in a rice paddy.

金枝过于痛苦了,觉得肚子变成个可怕的怪物,觉得里面有一块硬的地方,手按得紧些,硬的地方更明显。等她确信肚子有了孩子的时候,她的心立刻发呕一般颤索起来,她被恐怖把握著了。奇怪的,两个蝴蝶叠落著贴落在她的膝头。金枝看著这邪恶的一对虫子而不拂去牠。金枝彷佛是米田上的稻草人。

Her mother came; from far off her mother's heart was already fixed upon her daughter.Yet she walked up quietly; seen from a distance her body appeared almost a perfect square, and gradually one could make out her small pointed feet moving up and down beneath the sack-like hem of her garment.Among all the old women of the village, what was it that marked her out?When she grew angry it looked just like laughing—at the corners of her eyes gathered wrinkles of many shapes, full of merriment.The corners of her mouth, too, seemed entirely cheerful; only her upper lip differed—when she was truly happy, her upper lip grew a little shorter.When she was angry, her upper lip grew especially long, and the small part at its center came to a point, exactly like a bird's beak.

母亲来了,母亲的心远远就系在女儿的身上。可是她安静的走来,远看她的身体几乎呈出一个完整的方形,渐渐可以辨得出她尖形的脚在袋口一般的衣襟下起伏的动作。在全村的老妇人中什么是她的特征呢?她发怒和笑著一般,眼角集著愉悦的多形的纹皱。嘴角也完全愉快著,只是上唇有些差别,在她真正愉快的时候,她的上唇短了一些。在她生气的时候,上唇特别长,而且唇的中央那一小部分尖尖的,完全像鸟雀的嘴。

Her mother stopped.,──Her mouth was what revealed her true state—her whole face might be smiling, yet her mouth alone looked just like a bird's beak.For the countless green persimmons had enraged her!Jinzhi, sunk in the depths of her brooding, was kicked and beaten by her mother:

母亲停住了。她的嘴是显著她的特征,──全脸笑著,只是嘴和鸟雀的嘴一般。因为无数青色的柿子惹怒她了!金枝在沉想的深渊中被母亲踢打了:

"Have you gone soft in the head?……Ah—Have you lost your soul?……』I'll tear out your braid..."

『你发傻了吗?啊……你失掉了魂啦?我撕掉你的辫子……』

Jinzhi did not struggle, and fell down; her mother seized her own daughter the way a tiger seizes its prey.Blood immediately began to flow from Jinzhi's nose.

金枝没有挣扎,倒了下来:母亲和老虎一般捕住自己的女儿。金枝的鼻子立刻流血。

Her mother cursed her under her breath; in her towering rage her face seemed to laugh all the more freely, her pointed lip curling slowly upward, the lines at the corners of her eyes gathering thicker still.

她小声骂她,大怒的时候她的脸色更畅快笑著,慢慢的掀著尖唇,眼角的线条更加多的组织起来。

"You little slut, you really know how to ruin things.Picking green persimmons.?』I scolded you last night—still won't learn your lesson?"

『小老婆,你真能败毁。摘青柿子。昨夜我骂了你,不服气吗?』

便This was always how the mother was—she loved and cherished her daughter dearly, but the moment her daughter damaged the crops, the mother's care turned to the crops instead.To a farming family, even a vegetable plant or a single blade of thatch-grass counted for more than a human being's worth.

母亲一向是这样,很爱护女儿,可是当女儿败坏了菜棵,母亲便去爱护菜棵了。农家无论是菜棵,或是一株茅草也要超过人的价值。

It was time to sleep!The smoldering rope hung down from the wire by the door where the towels were hung, and inside the house not a single mosquito could be heard flying!On summer nights every household hung up a smoldering rope.綿That rope burned slowly and steadily, on and on.使As always, it was like the incense burning in a temple hall—everything grew heavy and still, so that nothing more could be heard, and little by little it lulled people to sleep.The scent of mugwort gradually wove itself into the weary, dreaming souls.The mosquitoes were driven off by the mugwort smoke.While Jinzhi and her mother had still not yet fallen asleep, someone came to the window outside and coughed, softly and carelessly.

该睡觉的时候了!火绳从门边挂手巾的铁线上倒垂下来,屋中听不著一个蚊虫飞了!夏夜每家挂著火绳。那绳子缓慢而绵长的燃著。惯常了,那像庙堂中燃著的香火,沉沉的一切使人无所听闻,渐渐催人入睡。艾蒿的气味渐渐织入一些疲乏的梦魂去。蚊虫被艾蒿烟驱走。金枝同母亲还没有睡的时候,有人来在窗外,轻慢的咳嗽著。

Her mother hurriedly lit the lamp, and the door creaked open!It was Erliban who had come.No matter what she did, the mother could not get the lamp lit; at the wick came the crackling hiss of water, and holding a match in her hand, the mother raised the little lamp level with her brow, and said:

母亲忙点灯火,门响开了!是二里半来了。无论怎样母亲不能把灯点著,灯心处爆著水的炸响,母亲手中举著一枝火柴,把小灯列得和眉头一般高,她说:

!』'There isn't even a drop of oil left!'

『一点点油也没有了呢!』

Jinzhi went to the outer room to pour oil.During this interval, they spoke of some sudden matter.Regarding this matter the mother, as if startled, resolute, as if feeling shamed, shook her head:

金枝到外房去倒油。这个时间,他们谈说一些突然的事情。母亲关于这事惊恐似的,坚决的,感到羞辱一般的荡著头:

。』'That won't do — my daughter cannot be matched to that family.'

『那是不行,我的女儿不能配到那家子人家。』

Erliban listened to the sound of the girl covering the oil jar in the outer room; he said nothing further.:『?』Jinzhi stood at the threshold and asked her mother: 'There's no more bean oil left — shall I put in a little water instead?'

二里半听著姑娘在外房盖好油罐子的声音,他往下没有说什么。金枝站在门限向妈妈问:『豆油没有了,装一点水吧?』

沿Jinzhi got the little lamp filled, set it on the edge of the kang, and lit it!But that the meaning of Erliban's coming to her house was for her sake — of this she knew nothing at all.Erliban, for his pipe, reached for a light from the fire-cord hanging upside down.

金枝把小灯装好,摆在炕沿,燃著了!可是二里半到她家来的意义是为著她,她一点不知道。二里半为著烟袋向倒悬的火绳取火。

The mother, her hand pressing down on the pillow, seemed to be thinking of something; her two straight eyebrows nearly joined together.The daughter, beside her, bowed her head toward the little lamp.便Each time Erliban drew on his pipe, the fire in it would glow red for a moment.使The smoke of mugwort mixed with the smell of tobacco leaf, making the little room as dark and heavy as an underground cellar!Erliban, as if embarrassed, coughed a few times.Jinzhi changed the cotton wadding on her bleeding nose for another piece.Because no one spoke, each person made small, unconscious movements.

母亲,手在按住枕头,她像是想什么,两条直眉几乎相连起来。女儿在她身边向著小灯垂下头。二里半的烟火每当他吸过了一口便红了一阵。艾蒿烟混加著烟叶的气味,使小屋变做地下的窖子一样黑重!二里半作窘一般的咳嗽了几声。金枝把流血的鼻子换上另一块棉花。因为没有言语,每个人起著微小的潜意识的动作。

Just sitting like this, the lamp flame crackled again.When the oil floating on the water had burned away, the little lamp was about to go out again, and Erliban, gloomily, left!Erliban, having gone as a matchmaker for someone and been refused, left as if disgraced.

就这样坐著,灯火又响了。水上的浮油烧尽的时候,小灯又要灭,二里半沉闷著走了!二里半为人说媒被拒绝,羞辱一般的走了。

※ ※ ※ ※※ ※ ※ ※

The Mid-Autumn Festival passed, and the fields turned into fields of decay and ruin;The sun's rays gradually descended from the high sky as if in melancholy, and a damp, gloomy air drifted everywhere through the fields.禿In the south the sorghum had all lain down flat asleep; looking on, stretch after stretch, the soybean seedlings lay tousled on the ground like rumpled hair, and in some places the ground looked as if it had been plucked completely bare.

中秋节过去,田间变成残败的田间;太阳的光线渐渐从高空忧郁下来,阴湿的气息在田间到处撩走。南部的高粱完全睡倒下来,接接连连的望去,黄豆秧和揉乱的头发一样蓬蓬在地面,也有的地面完全拔秃似的。

Morning and evening were both the same — the fields grew haggard.滿One saw only carts — ox-carts and horse-carts — their wheels rolling on one after another, loaded full with sorghum heads and soybean stalks.The oxen, drooling saliva that hung down stupidly and stubbornly, pulled the creaking, clattering carts forward.

早晨和晚间都是一样,田间憔悴起来。只见车子,牛车和马车轮轮滚滚的载满高粱的穗头,和大豆的杆秧。牛们流著口涎愚直的挂下著,发出响动的车子前进。

Fufa's nephew drove a dark-colored ox, hauling sorghum toward his own family's threshing yard.He deliberately took a roundabout, winding path — there was Jinzhi's family gate — her heart swelled as if about to burst with alarm, and then the whip cracked.

福发的侄子驱著一条青色的牛,向自家的场院载拖高粱。他故意绕走一条曲道,那里是金枝的家门,她心涨裂一般的惊慌,鞭子于是响来了。

Jinzhi put down the red peppers in her hand and said to her mother:

金枝放下手中红色的辣椒,向母亲说:

。』'I'm going to the outhouse for a moment.'

So the old woman strung the peppers by herself; she strung peppers as fast as if she were weaving.

于是老太太自己串辣椒,她串辣椒和纺织一般快。

Jinzhi's braid was disheveled, and her face was completely flushed with blood.But the symptoms of her illness had turned her into something like a paper figure, and as if blown by the wind she appeared by the wall behind the house.

金枝的辫子毛毛著,脸是完全充了血。但是她患著病的现象,把她变成和纸人似的,像被风飘著似的出现房后的围墙。

Are you sick?Then what was it for, after all?But Chengye was a child raised in the countryside, and he knew nothing of asking such things.He threw down his whip, and like a bird in flight came down over the wall, seizing the sick girl with the strength of his wrists;使He pressed her down onto the pile of ash in the corner of the wall — not because he wanted to kiss her, nor because he wanted to speak passionate words of love, but simply because he was driven by instinct to do everything at once.Jinzhi said, as though grappling with him:

你害病吗。倒是为什么呢?但是成业是乡村长大的孩子,他什么也不懂得问。他丢下鞭子,从围墙宛如飞鸟落过墙头,用腕力掳住病的姑娘;把她压在墙角的灰堆上,那样他不是想要接吻她,也不是想要热情的讲些情话,他只是被本能支使著想要动作一切。金枝打厮著一般的说:

'It won't do!?』Mother may already know — why hasn't the matchmaker come yet?'

『不行啦!娘也许知道啦,怎么媒人还不见来?』

The man answered:

'Hey, didn't Uncle Li already come by?You don't know a thing!He said your mother wasn't willing.。』Tomorrow he'll come together with my uncle.'

『嗳,李大叔不是来过吗?你一点不知道!他说你娘不愿意。明天他和我叔叔一道来。』

:『!……Jinzhi pressed her stomach to show him, shaking her head all the while: 'That's not it!......That's not it!!』Look at what state I'm in!'

金枝按著肚子给他看,一面摇头:『不是呀!……不是呀!你看到这个样子啦!』

:『!』The man paid no attention at all; he said in a low voice: 'To hell with it — whether she's willing or not, we're doing it anyway!'

男人完全不关心,他小声响起:『管他妈的,活该愿意不愿意,反正是干啦!』

His eyes went strange again — the man was still ceaselessly driven by instinct.

The mother's cough sounded faintly through the thin wall.Outside the wall, gossamer threads of the autumn sky hung on the horns of the dark ox.

母亲的咳嗽声,轻轻的从薄墙透出来。墙外青牛的角上挂著秋空的游丝。

※ ※ ※ ※※ ※ ※ ※

:『?』Mother and daughter were eating supper when Jinzhi began to vomit; the mother asked her: 'Did you swallow a fly?'

母亲和女儿在吃晚饭,金枝呕吐起来,母亲问她:『你吃了苍蝇吗?』

:『She shook her head, and the mother asked again: 'Then you must have caught a chill!Why is it you're always sick?You can't even swallow your food.!?』Don't tell me you have consumption!?'

她摇头,母亲又问:『是著了寒吧!怎么你总有病呢?你连饭都咽不下去。不是有痨病啦!?』

As she spoke the mother reached to press her daughter's belly, her hand feeling back and forth over the lined jacket for a while.Her fingers spread wide over the belly, feeling and pondering again and again:

母亲说著去按女儿的腹部,手在裌衣上来回的摸了阵。手指四张著在肚子上思索了又思索:

'You've got consumption, haven't you?There's a hard lump in your belly!。』Only the belly of a person with consumption is hard like this.'

『你有了痨病吧?肚子里有一块硬呢!有痨病人的肚子才是硬一块。』

The daughter's tears hung as if about to fall, clinging to the edge of her lashes.At last they rolled and dripped down from her lashes!Even at night Jinzhi would get up and go outside to vomit; the mother, half asleep, would hear the sound of her calling 'Mother.'The moonlight at the window was almost as bright as day; one could see clearly that half of Jinzhi's body trailed down off the kang, while the other half was bent over the pillow.Her hair completely buried her face.When the mother took hold of her hand, she began speaking with sobbing, twisting words:

女儿的眼泪要垂流一般的挂到眼毛的边缘。最后滚动著从眼毛滴下来了!就是在夜里,金枝也起来到外边去呕吐,母亲迷蒙中听著叫娘的声音。窗上的月光差不多和白昼一般明,看得清金枝的半身拖在炕下,另半身是弯在枕上。头发完全埋没著脸面。等母亲拉她手的时候,她抽扭著说起:

……'Mother......Marry your daughter off to Fufa's nephew!……What's in my belly isn't......……』an illness, it's......'

『娘……把女儿嫁给福发的侄子吧!我肚里不是……病,是……』

At such a moment, wouldn't the mother be all the more likely to beat and scold her daughter?But it was not so — the mother, as though she herself bore some guilt, went numb the instant she heard these words, and for a long while she seemed as if she did not exist.調After a moment the mother spoke in a gentle tone she had never used before:

到这样时节母亲更要打骂女儿了吧?可不是那样,母亲好像本身有了罪恶,听了这话,立刻麻木著了,很长的时间她像不存在一样。过了一刻母亲用她从不用过温和的声调说:

'You want to marry him??』That day when Erliban came to act as matchmaker, I drove him away outright — now what's to be done about this?'

『你要嫁过去吗?二里半那天来说媒,我是顶走他的,到如今这事怎么办呢?』

The mother seemed to calm herself for a moment, and wanted to speak again, but tears choked her throat, as if her daughter had smothered the life out of her, as if her daughter had shamed her to death!

母亲似乎是平息了一下,她又想说,但是泪水塞住了她的嗓子,像是女儿窒息了她的生命似的,好像女儿把她羞辱死了!

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What it’s about

In the vegetable garden, ordered rows of plants expose how little order governs the lives around them. The chapter moves among household work, gossip and small conflicts over food, sex and property. What grows in the soil is counted and guarded because a cabbage or melon has immediate value, while the people cultivating it receive far less protection. Xiao Hong keeps the garden sensuous—wet earth, leaves, insects and summer heat remain vivid—without allowing natural abundance to soften the poverty enclosing it.

The villagers observe one another with a mixture of dependence and suspicion. Private relations become public knowledge at once, and a woman's body is especially vulnerable to judgment by neighbours and kin. Humour comes from blunt speech and mismatched expectations, yet it repeatedly catches on humiliation. As in the wheat field, no single incident supplies a conventional climax. The accumulated scenes reveal a community bound closely enough to survive but not closely enough to prevent abuse. Cultivation becomes an ironic measure of care: plants are weeded, fenced and watered more reliably than many human beings are.

When it was written 背景

The early garden chapter belongs to the novel's pre-invasion sequence, which made 生死場 unusual among 1930s resistance literature. Xiao Hong does not begin with soldiers; she first establishes the material and patriarchal conditions into which war will enter. Her short sections and abrupt changes of focus reflect a manuscript assembled from remembered village scenes rather than a realist chronicle centered on one family. Readers can use recurring seasonal markers to orient themselves when names and speakers shift. The vocabulary of vegetables and tools is locally specific, but the chapter's larger contrast—care lavished on subsistence crops amid neglect of vulnerable people—provides a clear line through the details.

Words in this chapter 生词