雙語·面紗 第三十章

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Suddenly her bearers, long silent, began to speak and one of them, turning round, with words she could not understand and with a gesture, sought to attract her attention. She looked in the direction he pointed and there, on the top of a hill, saw an archway; she knew by now that it was a memorial in compliment of a fortunate scholar or a virtuous widow, she had passed many of them since they left the river; but this one, silhouetted against the westering sun, was more fantastic and beautiful than any she had seen. Yet, she knew not why, it made her uneasy; it had a significance which she felt but could not put into words: Was it a menace that she vaguely discerned or was it derision? She was passing a grove of bamboos and they leaned over the causeway strangely as if they would detain her; though the summer evening was windless their narrow green leaves shivered a little. It gave her the sensation that some one hidden among them was watching her as she passed. Now they came to the foot of the hill and the rice-fields ceased. The bearers took it with a swinging stride. The hill was covered close with little green mounds, close, close to one another, so that the ground was ribbed like the sea-sand when the tide has gone out; and this she knew too, for she had passed just such a spot as they approached each populous city and left it. It was the graveyard. Now she knew why the bearers had called her attention to the archway that stood on the crest of the hill: they had reached the end of their journey.

They passed through the archway and the chair bearers paused to change the pole from shoulder to shoulder. One of them wiped his sweating face with a dirty rag. The causeway wound down. There were bedraggled houses on each side. Now the night was falling. But the bearers on a sudden broke into excited talk and with a jump that shook her ranged themselves as near as they could to the wall. In a moment she knew what had startled them, for as they stood there, chattering to one another, four peasants passed, quick and silent, bearing a new coffin, unpainted, and its fresh wood gleamed white in the approaching darkness. Kitty felt her heart beat in terror against her ribs. The coffin passed, but the bearers stood still; it seemed as though they could not summon up the will to go on. But there was a shout from behind and they started. They did not speak now.

They walked for a few minutes longer and then turned sharply into an open gateway. The chair was set down. She had arrived.

第三十章

突然，轎夫們經(jīng)過很長一段時間的沉寂后開始嘰嘰喳喳說話了。其中一個轎夫轉(zhuǎn)過身來，用她聽不懂的話在說著什么，邊說邊打手勢，想引起她的注意。她順著他指的方向看去，在一個小山丘的山頂，聳立著一個拱門，她現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)知道它是某種紀(jì)念碑，為了表彰某位先賢雅士或者貞潔的寡婦而建。他們自從上了河岸，一路上見了不少這樣的牌坊。但是，這個牌坊在正在西下的太陽的映襯下，比她所見過的所有牌坊更為輝煌和漂亮?？刹恢獮槭裁?，它讓她覺得不安，它有一種讓她無法用言語描述的含義，是一種她隱約能察覺到的威脅嗎？或是某種嘲弄？他們走進(jìn)一片竹林，一根根竹子詭異地斜壓著堤道，好像是要阻擋她前行。雖然夏天的晚上沒有一絲微風(fēng)，但細(xì)長、翠綠的竹葉卻在微微顫動，給了她一種感覺，好像有人正躲在竹林里看著她經(jīng)過。這時，他們已經(jīng)走到山腳下，田埂路已經(jīng)走到頭了，轎夫們用搖擺的步伐沿著山路向上爬。小山丘上遍布著綠色的土堆，一個挨一個，密密匝匝，就像潮水退后，海灘上一排排的沙丘。她也知道這是什么，因為他們每進(jìn)出一個人口稠密的城鎮(zhèn)，都會經(jīng)過這樣的地方——墳場。現(xiàn)在她終于知道為什么轎夫們讓她注意矗立在山頂?shù)墓伴T了，他們已經(jīng)到了旅途的終點(diǎn)。

他們通過了拱門，轎夫們歇了一下腳，把轎杠從一個肩上換到另一個肩上，有的人也趁機(jī)用臟兮兮的毛巾擦了擦滿是汗水的臉。然后，堤道又向下蜿蜒了一小段路，道路的兩旁有一些臟兮兮的房子?，F(xiàn)在夜幕已經(jīng)降臨，但轎夫們又突然嘰嘰喳喳地說起話來，而且她感覺到轎椅一震，差點(diǎn)兒把她晃了下來，轎夫們緊緊貼著墻站立著。不一會兒，她就明白是什么驚嚇著他們了。他們站在那兒，嘀咕著什么。四個農(nóng)民悄無聲息地從他們身邊迅速通過，他們抬著一口嶄新的棺材，這口棺材還沒有刷油漆，在漸漸濃重的夜色中露出白花花的新木板的顏色。凱蒂覺得她的心被嚇得怦怦直跳，都快到嗓子眼兒了。抬棺材的隊伍已經(jīng)過去，但轎夫們還愣愣地站著，好像還無法鼓起勇氣繼續(xù)前進(jìn)。這時，不知誰在后面喊了一嗓子，他們又開始上路了，誰都沒有說話。

他們又走了好幾分鐘，然后拐了個急彎，來到一個院落開闊的入口處。轎椅被慢慢放到了地上，她終于到家了。