《外婆的日用家当》研究：新历史主义批评

附　录《外婆的日用家当》及汉译

Everyday Use for Your grandmama^[1]—Alice Walker

外婆的日用家当——艾丽斯·沃克

I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon.A yard like this is more comfortable than most people know.It is not just a yard.It is like an extended living room.When the hard clay is swept clean as a floor and the fine sand around the edges lined with tiny,irregular grooves,anyone can come and sit and look up into the elm tree and wait for the breezes that never come inside the house.Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes:she will stand hopelessly in corners,homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs,eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe.She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand,that “no”is a word the world never learned to say to her.

我将在这院子里等待她的到来。我和麦姬昨天下午把院子打扫得干干净净，草坪也修剪得起伏有致。这样的院子比一般人想象的要舒服，它不仅仅是一个院子，简直就是扩展出来的客厅。当院子里的泥土地面被打扫得像屋里的地板一样干净，周边的沙土上布满不规则的细纹时，任何人都想进来坐一下，抬头仰望一下院中的榆树，等着享受从来吹不进屋内的微风。麦姬在她姐姐离开之前将会一直心神不定：她会失落地站在角落里，为自己丑陋的面容以及臂上和腿上的灼痕而自惭形秽，她会怀着羡慕而敬畏的心情望着她姐姐。她觉得她姐姐真正地掌握了生活的命运，世界还没有学会对她说半个“不”字。

You've no doubt seen those TV shows where the child who has “made it”is confronted,as a surprise,by her own mother and father,tottering in weakly from backstage.(A Pleasant surprise,of course:What would they do if parent and child came on the show only to curse out and insult each other?)On TV mother and child embrace and smile into each other's face.Sometimes the mother and father weep,the child wraps them in her arms and leans across the table to tell how she would not have made it without their help.I have seen these programs.

你一定从电视上看到过这样的场面，“功成名就”的儿女突然看到父母颤颤巍巍地从后台走了出来。(当然，那一定是令人喜悦的场面：假如电视上的父母和儿女一见面就相互攻讦、相互羞辱，那会是怎样的情景呢？)在电视上，母亲和儿女见面总是相互拥抱和微笑。有时父母会泪流满面，而那成功了的孩子则会紧紧地拥抱他们，从桌子另一端俯身告诉他们说若没有他们的帮助，她自己就不会有今日的成就。我自己就看过这样的电视节目。

Sometimes I dream a dream in which Dee and I are suddenly brought together on a TV program of this sort.Out of a dark and soft-seated limousine I am ushered into a bright room filled with many people.There I meet a smiling,gray,sporty man like Johnny Carson who shakes my hand and tells me what a fine girl I have.Then we are on the stage and Dee is embracing me with tears in her eyes.She pins on my dress a large orchid,even though she has told me once that she thinks orchids are tacky flowers.

有时候我会做这样的梦，梦里迪伊和我突然成了这种电视节目的主角。我从一辆黑色带软坐垫的豪华轿车上一下来，被引进一间宽敞明亮的屋子，屋里有许多人。其中一个身材健硕，头发有些灰白，满面笑容的男子迎上来和我握手，并对我说我养育了个好女儿。这人有点像著名电视节目主持人约翰尼·卡森。然后，我们来到台前，迪伊热泪盈眶地拥抱着我，她把一朵大大的兰花别在我的衣服上，尽管她曾对我说过兰花很俗气。

In real life I am a large,big-boned woman with rough,man-working hands.In the winter I wear flannel nightgown to bed and overalls during the day.I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man.My fat keeps me hot in zero weather.I can work outside all day,breaking ice to get water for washing;I can eat pork liver cooked over the open tire minutes after it comes steaming from the hog.One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall.But of course all this does not show on television.I am the way my daughter would want me to be:a hundred pounds lighter,my skin like an uncooked barley pan-cake.My hair glistens in the hot bright lights.Johnny Carson has much to do to keep up with my quick and witty tongue.

在现实生活中，我是一个大块头、大骨架的妇女，有着干男人活儿的粗糙双手。冬天我穿法兰绒睡衣睡觉，白天则身穿工作装。我能像男人一样狠狠地屠宰生猪并收拾干净。我身上的脂肪使我能抵御冬季的严寒。我能整天在户外干活儿，破冰取水洗衣。我能把从刚宰杀的猪体内取出的热气腾腾猪肝在明火上烤着吃。有一年冬天，我用一把大铁锤击倒一头公牛，锤子正打在小牛两眼之间的脑门上。不到天黑，我就已经把牛肉挂起来晾着了。不过，这一切当然都没有在电视上出现过。在电视里我是以女儿希望的样子出镜的：体重减去了一百磅，皮肤像还没入锅的大麦面饼那样细腻，头发在灯光的照耀下闪闪发亮。我口齿利索，妙语连珠，就连约翰尼·卡森也望尘莫及。

But that is a mistake.I know even before I wake up.Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue? Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye? It seems to me I have talked to them always with one foot raised in flight,with my head turned in whichever way is farthest from them.Dee,though.She would always look anyone in the eye.Hesitation was no part of her nature.

“How do I look,Mama?”Maggie says,showing just enough of her thin body enveloped in pink skirt and red blouse for me to know she's there,almost hidden by the door.

“Come out into the yard,”I say.

Have you ever seen a lame animal,perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car,sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind of him? That is the way my Maggie walks.She has been like this,chin on chest,eyes on ground,feet in shuffle,ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground.

可是，这只是在梦境，我在醒来之前就知道了。谁听说过约翰逊家的人曾伶牙俐齿？谁能想象我敢正视一个陌生的白人？我跟他们搭话时，总是万分紧张，随时准备逃走。我的头总是转到离他们最远的方向。不过，迪伊就不这样。她总是直勾勾地盯着任何人。犹豫不决可不是她的个性。

“我看上去怎么样啊，妈妈？”这是麦姬的声音。她瘦小的身躯几乎被粉红色裙子和红色外衣完全裹住。她躲在门后，只露出一部分身子让我看。

“快出来，到院子里来。”我说。

你有没有见过瘸腿动物，比如说一条被莽撞而有钱人的汽车压伤后的狗，侧身向一个无知的好心人走去时的样子？我的麦姬走路时就是那个样子。自从那次大火烧毁房子之后，她一直是这个样子，含胸缩颈，目光不离地面，走路拖着脚。

Dee is lighter than Maggie,with nicer hair and a fuller figure.She's a woman now,though sometimes I forget.How long ago was it that the other house burned? Ten,twelve years? Sometimes I can still hear the flames and feel Maggie's arms sticking to me,her hair smoking and her dress falling off her in little black papery flakes.Her eyes seemed stretched open,blazed open by the flames reflected in them.And Dee.I see her standing off under the sweet gum tree she used to dig gum out of;a look at concentration on her face as she watched the last dingy gray board of the house fall in toward the red-hot brick chimney.Why don't you do a dance around the ashes? I'd wanted to ask her.She had hated the house that much.

迪伊的肤色比麦姬白一些，头发好一些，身材也略为丰满。她现在已是成年女子了，不过我经常忘记这一点。那座房屋被焚毁是多久以前的事？十年？十二年？有时我似乎还能听到火焰燃烧的呼呼响声，可以感到麦姬的手紧紧地抓住我，看到她的头发在冒烟，她的衣服在火中一片片脱落的情景。当时她的眼睛睁得大大的，亮亮地反射出闪烁着的火苗。还有迪伊，我见她远远地站在那棵她经常挖取香脂的枫香树底下观望。当房屋的最后一块焦黑的木板倒向烧红了的砖质烟囱时，她脸上呈现出一副非常专注的神色。你干吗不围着那堆废墟跳个舞？我当时想这样问她。她对那所房屋厌恶得要命。

I used to think she hated Maggie,too.But that was before we raised the money,the church and me,to send her to Augusta to school.She used to read to us without pity,forcing words,lies,other folks' habits,whole lives upon us two,sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice.She washed us in a river of make-believe,burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn't necessarily need to know.Pressed us to her with the serious way she read,to shove us away at just the moment,like dimwit,we seemed about to understand.

Dee wanted nice things.A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school;black pumps to match a green suit she'd made from an old suit somebody gave me.She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts.Her eyelids would not flicker for minutes at a time.Often I fought off the temptation to shake her.At sixteen she had a style of her own' and knew what style was.

过去我以为她也厌恶麦姬。但那是在教堂的人和我筹钱送她到奥古斯塔上学之前的事。那时她常向我们漫不经心地读点什么。她将别人的话、谎言、别人的习惯以及整个生活强加于我俩。在她朗朗的阅读声中，我和麦姬一无所知地呆坐在那里。她对我们灌输一大堆编造出来的事物以及我们根本不需要知道的知识。她强迫我们听她读那些乏味的书，把我们当成弱智者，当我们刚有点似懂非懂的时候，又把我们挥之而去。

迪伊好打扮。中学毕业时她要了一件黄色薄纱连衣裙去参加毕业典礼，她又要了一双黑色浅口皮鞋，为的是与绿色套服配着穿。那套服是她用别人送我的旧衣改制的。她索要什么东西时总是不达目的不罢休，她可以一连好几分钟不眨眼地死瞪着你，有时我真想过去摇摇她。到十六岁时她开始形成自己的风格，她知道什么叫时髦。

I never had an education myself.After second grade the school was closed down.Don't ask me why.in 1927 colored asked fewer questions than they do now.Sometimes Maggie reads to me.She stumbles along good-naturedly but can't see well.She knows she is not bright.Like good looks and money,quickness passed her by.She will marry John Thomas(who has mossy teeth in an earnest face)and then I'll be free to sit here and I guess just sing church songs to myself.Although I never was a good singer.Never could carry a tune.I was always better at a man's job.I used to love to milk till I was hooked in the side in '49.Cows are soothing and slow and don't bother you,unless you try to milk them the wrong way.

我自己从未受过教育。我上完小学二年级时，学校关门了。别问我为什么：在1927年时有色人种不像现在问这么多问题。有时麦姬也给我读点东西。她温厚地、结结巴巴地读着，因为她看不清楚。她知道自己不聪明。正如姣好的容貌和金钱一样，机敏也没有光顾她。不久她就要嫁给约翰·托马斯了(他诚实的面孔上长着一口发绿的牙齿)。麦姬结婚后，我将闲待在家里，也许只对自己唱唱教堂歌曲。尽管我从来唱不好，总是走调，我对于男人活儿却是更在行。我过去喜欢挤牛奶，直到1949年我的肋部被牛顶伤了为止。母牛生性恬静、行动缓慢，不会伤害人，除非你挤奶时动作不得法。

I have deliberately turned my back on the house.It is three rooms,just like the one that burned,except the roof is tin:they don't make shingle roofs any more.There are no real windows,just some holes cut in the sides,like the portholes in a ship,but not round and not square,with rawhide holding the shutters up on the outside.This house is in a pasture,too,like the other one.No doubt when Dee sees it she will want to tear it down.She wrote me once that no matter where we “choose”to live,she will manage to come see us.But she will never bring her friends.Maggie and I thought about this and Maggie asked me,“Mama,when did Dee ever have any friends?”

She had a few.Furtive boys in pink shirts hanging about on washday after school.Nervous girls who never laughed.Impressed with her they worshiped the well-turned phrase,the cute shape,the scalding humor that erupted like bubbles in lye.She read to them.

When she was courting Jimmy T she didn't have much time to pay to us,but turned all her faultfinding power on him.He flew to marry a cheap city girl from a family of ignorant flashy people.She hardly had time to recompose herself.

我故意背对着这房子。这房子有三个房间，屋顶是锡皮的，其他方面都与被烧掉的那所房屋一样。现在没有木瓦屋顶了。房子没有真正的窗户，只在墙上挖了几个不圆不方的洞，有点像船的舷窗。窗格子向外开，用生牛皮绳吊起来。这房子也像那所被烧的房子一样建在牧场上。毫无疑问，只要迪伊看见这所房屋，她定要毁掉它。她曾写信告诉我说，无论我们“选择”何处定居，她都会设法来看我们，但是她不会带她的朋友上门。麦姬和我对这话考虑了一会，麦姬问我：“妈妈，迪伊什么时候有过朋友的呀？”

她有过几个朋友的。洗衣日放学后有几个穿粉红衬衣的男孩曾在附近鬼鬼祟祟地逛游；还有几个紧张兮兮不苟言笑的女孩儿。他们为她所吸引，崇拜她得体的言语、她的漂亮身材以及她那像肥皂水里的泡泡那样尖酸的幽默。她也为他们读书。

她在追求吉米的那段日子里，没有时间来和我们瞎混。她把全部挑刺儿的本领都用在了他身上。可他却很快娶了个愚昧而庸俗的下等城市姑娘。当时她难过得很，冷静不下来。

When she comes I will meet—but there they are!

Maggie attempts to make a dash for the house,in her shuffling way,but I stay her with my hand.“Come back here,”I say.And she stops and tries to dig a well in the sand with her toe.

It is hard to see them clearly through the strong sun.But even the first glimpse of leg out of the car tells me it is Dee.Her feet were always neat-looking,as it God himself had shaped them with a certain style.From the other side of the car comes a short,stocky man.Hair is all over his head a foot long and hanging from his chin like a kinky mule tail.I hear Maggie suck in her breath.“Uhnnnh,”is what it sounds like.Like when you see the wriggling end of a snake just in front of your toot on the road.“Uhnnnh.”

她回到这儿时，我要去迎接她——这不，他们已经到了。

麦姬拔腿就一拐一拐地要往屋里跑去，被我拦住。“回来。”我说。麦姬停了下来，不住地用脚趾在地上挖穴。

在太阳的强光下很难看清东西，但我第一眼看见从车上伸出的那条腿就知道那是迪伊。她的腿看起来总是那么修长，好像上帝亲自为她定做的似的。从车的另一边走下来一个矮胖男人，一英尺多长的头发覆盖在头上，又从下巴边垂下，像鬈曲的骡子尾巴。我听见麦姬吸气的声音，听起来像是“呃”音，就像你在路上发现一条扭动着尾巴的蛇时发出的声音。“呃。”

Dee next.A dress down to the ground,in this hot weather.A dress so loud it hurts my eyes.There are yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun.I feel my whole face warming from the heat waves it throws out.Earrings gold,too,and hanging down to her shoulders.Bracelets dangling and making noises when she moves her arm up to shake the folds of the dress out of her armpits.The dress is loose and flows,and as she walks closer,I like it.I hear Maggie go “Uhnnnh”again.It is her sister's hair.It stands straight up like the wool on a sheep.It is black as night and around the edges are two long pigtails that rope about like small lizards disappearing behind her ears.

接着我看见了迪伊。在这样大热天里，她竟穿着一件拖地长裙。裙子色彩耀眼夺目，大块鲜亮的黄色和橙色的布料可以反射出太阳的光线。我感到我整个脸颊都被它烤得热烘烘的。黄金耳环垂到肩上。当她举起胳臂去抖动腋窝部衣服上的皱褶时，臂上手链叮当作响。她衣裙宽大，迎风飘荡。当她走近时，我觉得挺好看。我听见麦姬又发出“呃”的声音，这次是为她姐姐的发型发出的。她姐姐的头发向羊毛一样挺得直直的，像黑夜一样乌黑，边上两根长长的小辫，像两条蜥蜴，盘绕在耳后。

“Wa-su-zo-Tean-o!”she says,coming on in that gliding way the dress makes her move.The short stocky fellow with the hair to his navel is all grinning and he follows up with “Asalamalakim,my mother and sister!”He moves to hug Maggie but she falls back,right up against the back of my chair.I feel her trembling there and when I look up I see the perspiration falling off her chin.

“Don't get up,”says Dee.Since I am stout it takes something of a push.You can see me trying to move a second or two before I make it.She turns,showing white heels through her sandals,and goes back to the car.Out she peeks next with a Polaroid.She stoops down quickly and lines up picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cowering behind me.She never takes a shot without making sure the house is included.When a cow comes nibbling around the edge of the yard she snaps it and me and Maggie and the house.Then she puts the Polaroid in the back seat of the car,and comes up and kisses me on the forehead.

“瓦-苏-左-提-诺！ ”她一边说着，一边拖着长裙飘然而至。随着一句“阿萨拉马拉吉姆，我母亲和妹妹！ ”那位头发垂至肚脐眼的矮胖男人也笑着走上前来。他看来要拥抱麦姬，但麦姬却往后退，直到我的椅子挡住她的退路。我感觉她身子在发抖，抬头看时，只见汗水顺着她的下巴直往下滴。

“别站起来。”迪伊说道。因为我长得肥胖，站起来费点劲。你瞧，我身子要欠动几下才站得起来。她转身向汽车走回去，透过凉鞋可以看到她的发白的脚后跟。接着她拿起一架“拍立来”照相机。她很快蹲下去瞄准我们，拍摄了一张又一张的照片，选取的镜头都是我坐在屋前，而麦姬缩成一团躲在我背后。她每拍一张照片总要确定把屋子拍进去。当一头奶牛走过来在院子边啃青草时，她立即把牛、我、麦姬还有房子一起拍了进去。然后，她将照相机放在汽车的后排座位上，跑过来吻了我的前额。

Meanwhile Asalamalakim is going through motions with Maggie's hand.Maggie's hand is as limp as a fish,and probably as cold,despite the sweat,and she keeps trying to pull it back.It looks like Asalamalakim wants to shake hands but wants to do it fancy.Or maybe he doesn't know how people shake hands.Anyhow,he soon gives up on Maggie.

与此同时，阿萨拉马拉吉姆正在努力试着与麦姬进行握手礼。麦姬的手像鱼一样软弱无力，恐怕也像鱼一样冷冰冰的，尽管她身上正在出汗。她一个劲儿地把手往后缩。看起来阿萨拉马拉吉姆不但想同她握手，又想把握手的动作做得时髦花哨一点。也许他不晓得怎样握手。不管怎么说，他很快就放弃了同麦姬的周旋。

“Well,”I say,“Dee.”

“No,Mama,”she says.“Not ‘Dee',Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!”

“What happened to ‘Dee'?”I wanted to know.

“She's dead,”Wangero said.“I couldn't bear it any longer,being named after the people who oppress me.”

“You know as well as me you was named after your aunt Dicie,”I said.Dicie is my sister.She named Dee.We called her “Big Dee”after Dee was born.

“But who was she named after?”asked Wangero.

“I guess after Grandma Dee,”I said.

“And who was she named after?”asked Wangero.

“Her mother,”I said,and saw Wangero was getting tired.“That's about as far back as I can trace it,”I said.

Though,in fact,I probably could have carried it back beyond the Civil War through the branches.

“Well,”said Asalamalakim,“there you are.”

“Uhnnnh,”I heard Maggie say.

“There I was not,”I said,“before ‘Dicie' cropped up in our family,so why should I try to trace it that far back?”

He just stood there grinning,looking down on me like somebody inspecting a Model A car.Every once in a while he and Wangero sent eye signals over my head.

“How do you pronounce this name?”I asked.

“You don't have to call me by it if you don't want to,”said Wangero.

“Why shouldn't I?”I asked.“If that's what you want us to call you,we'll call you.”

“I know it might sound awkward at first,”said Wangero.

“I'll get used to it,”I said.“Ream it out again.”

“嗨，迪伊。”我开口道。

“不对，妈妈。”她说，“不是‘迪伊’，是‘万杰罗·李万里卡·克曼乔’！ ”

“那‘迪伊’呢？”我问道。

“她已经死了。”万杰罗说，“我无法忍受那些压迫我的人给我取的名字。”

“你同我一样清楚你的名字是照你迪茜姨妈的名字取得。”我说。迪茜是我的妹妹，她名叫迪伊。迪伊出生后我们就叫她“大迪伊”。

“但她的名字又是依照谁的名字取的呢？”万杰罗追问道。

“我猜想是照迪伊外婆的名字取的。”我说。

“她的名字又是照谁的名字取的呢？”万杰罗逼问道。

“她的妈妈。”我说。这时我注意到万杰罗已经有点厌烦了。“再远我就记不得了。”我说。其实，我大概可以把我们的家史追溯到南北战争以前。

“啊哈。”阿萨拉马拉吉姆说，“您只能说到这了。”

我听到麦姬又“呃”了一声。

“我还能说下去呢。”我说，“那是在‘迪茜’来到我们家之前的事，我为什么要追溯那么远呢？”

他只是站在那儿咧嘴笑，目光俯视着我，好像在检查一辆A型轿车。他和万杰罗还不时地在我的头顶上传递眼色。

“你这名字是怎么念的来着？”我问。

“您若不愿意，就不必一定用这个名字来叫我。”万杰罗说。

“我干吗不叫？”我问，“如果你喜欢别人这样称呼你，我们就用这个名字。”

“我知道这名字开始听起来有点别扭。”万杰罗说。(www.xing528.com)

“我会慢慢习惯的。”我说，“你再念一遍吧。”

Well,soon we got the name out of the way.Asalamalakim had a name twice as long and three times as hard.After I tripped over it two or three times he told me to just call him Hakim-a-barber.I wanted to ask him was he a barber,but I didn't really think he was,so I don't ask.

“You must belong to those beef-cattle peoples down the road,”I said.They said “Asalamalakirn”when they met you too,but they didn't shake hands.Always too busy feeding the cattle,fixing the fences,putting up salt-lick shelters,throwing down hay.When the white folks poisoned some of the herd the men stayed up all night with rifles in their hands.I walked a mile and a half just to see the sight.

就这样，我们很快就解决了这个名字的问题了。但是阿萨拉马拉吉姆的名字却有两倍那么长，三倍那么难念。我试着念了两三次都念错了，于是他就叫我干脆称呼他哈吉姆阿巴波就行了。我本想问他究竟是不是个巴波(理发师)，但我觉得他不像，所以就没有问。

“你一定属于马路那边的那些养牛部族。”我说。那些人见面打招呼也说“阿萨拉马拉吉姆”，但他们不同人握手。他们总是忙着喂牲口，修篱笆，搭建舔盐窝棚，堆积草料，等等。当白人毒死了一些牛以后，那些人便彻夜不眠地端着步枪进行防备。为了一睹这种情景，我走了一英里半的路。

Hakim-a-barber said,“I accept some of their doctrines,but farming and raising cattle is not my style.”(They didn't tell me,and I didn't ask,whether Wangero (Dee)had really gone and married him.)

哈吉姆阿巴波说，“我接受他们的一些理念，但种田和养牛却不是我干的事业。”(他们没有告诉我，我也没开口去问，万杰罗(迪伊)究竟是不是同他结婚了。)

We sat down to eat and right away he said he didn't eat collards and pork was unclean.Wangero,though,went on through the chitlins and corn bread,the greens and every-thing else.She talked a blue streak over the sweet potatoes.Everything delighted her.Even the fact that we still used the benches her daddy made for the table when we couldn't afford to buy chairs.

“Oh,Mama!”she cried.Then turned to Hakim-a-barber.“I never knew how lovely these benches are.You can feel the rump prints,”she said,running her hands underneath her and along the bench.Then she gave a sigh and her hand closed over Grandma Dee's butter dish.“That's it!”she said.“I knew there was something I wanted to ask you if I could have.”She jumped up from the table and went over in the corner where the churn stood,the milk in it clabber by now.She looked at the churn and looked at it.

我们开始坐下吃饭，他马上声明他不吃羽衣甘蓝，猪肉也不干净。万杰罗却是猪大肠、玉米面包、蔬菜，什么都吃。吃红薯时她更是谈笑风生。一切都令她高兴。就连我们仍在使用她爸爸过去因为买不起椅子而做的条凳这种事情也令她感兴趣。

“啊，妈妈! ”她惊叫道，接着转向哈吉姆阿巴波，“我以前从来不知道这些条凳有这么可爱，在上面还摸得出屁股印迹来。”一边说，她一边用手在屁股下的凳子上摸了一把。接着，她叹了口气，把一只手覆盖在迪伊外婆的黄油碟上。“对了! ”她说。“我想要点东西，早就想问您能不能给我。”她离开桌子，走到墙角，那儿放着一个搅乳器，里面的牛奶已经凝结。她看了看搅乳器，又望了望里面的结块。

“This churn top is what I need,”she said.“Didn't Uncle Buddy whittle it out of a tree you all used to have?”

“Yes,”I said.

“Uh huh,”she said happily.“And I want the dasher,too.”

“Uncle Buddy whittle that,too?”asked the barber.

Dee (Wangero)looked up at me.

“Aunt Dee”s first husband whittled the dash,”said Maggie so low you almost couldn't hear her.“His name was Henry,but they called him Stash.”

“Maggie's brain is like an elephant's,”Wangero said,laughing.“I can use the churn top as a center piece for the alcove table,”she said,sliding a plate over the churn,”and I'll think of something artistic to do with the dasher.”

When she finished wrapping the dasher the handle stuck out.I took it for a moment in my hands.You didn't even have to look close to see where hands pushing the dasher up and down to make butter had left a kind of sink in the wood.In fact,there were a lot of small sinks;you could see where thumbs and fingers had sunk into the wood.It was beautiful light yellow wood,from a tree that grew in the yard where Big Dee and Stash had lived.

“这个搅乳器的盖子我想要。”她说，“那不是巴迪叔叔用你们的一棵树做成的吗?”

“是的。”我说。

“啊哈。”她兴高采烈地说，“我还想要那根搅乳棒。”

“那也是巴迪叔叔做的吗?”巴波问道。

迪伊(万杰罗)仰头望着我。

“那是迪伊姨妈的第一个丈夫做的。”麦姬的声音很低，几乎听不见，“他的名字叫亨利，但人们总叫他史大西。”

“麦姬的脑袋像大象一样。”万杰罗笑着说，“我可以将这搅乳器盖子放在小餐厅桌子中央做装饰品。”她一边把一个盘子盖在搅乳器上，一边说道，“至于那搅乳棒，我也会想出一个艺术化的用途的。”

她将搅乳棒包裹起来，把柄还露在外头。我伸手将把柄握了一会儿。由于长年累月地使用，搅乳棒把柄上已留下凹陷的握痕，不用凑近细看也可以看出。那上面握痕很明显，你可以分辨出哪儿是拇指压出的印子，哪儿是其他手指压出的印子。搅乳棒的木料取自大迪伊和史大西住过的庭院中的一棵树，木色浅黄，非常好看。

After dinner Dee (Wangero)went to the trunk at the foot of my bed and started rifling through it.Maggie hung back in the kitchen over the dishpan.Out came Wangero with two quilts.They had been pieced by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and me had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them.One was in the Lone Star pattern.The other was Walk Around the Mountain.In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago.Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's Paisley shirts.And one teeny faded blue piece,about the size of a penny matchbox,that was from Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform that he wore in the Civil War.

晚饭后，迪伊(万杰罗)走到我床脚边的衣箱那儿，开始翻寻起来。麦姬呆在厨房里洗碗。万杰罗忽然从房里抱出两条被子。这两条被子是迪伊外婆用小布片拼起来，然后由迪伊姨妈和我两人在前厅的被架上缝制而成的。其中一条绘的是单星图案，另一条是踏遍群山图案。两条被子上都有从迪伊外婆五十多年前的衣服上拆下来的布片，还有杰雷尔爷爷的佩兹利衬衣上拆下来的碎布片。其中还有一小块褪了色的蓝布片，大小只相当于一个小火柴盒，那是从依兹拉曾祖父在南北战争时穿的军服上拆下来的。

“Mama,”Wangero said sweet as a bird.“Can I have these old quilts?”

I heard something fall in the kitchen,and a minute later the kitchen door slammed.

“Why don't you take one or two of the others?”I asked.“These old things was just done by me and Big Dee from some tops your grandma pieced before she died.”

“No,”said Wangero.“I don't want those.They are stitched around the borders by machine.”

“That'll make them last better,”I said.

“That's not the point,”said Wangero.“These are all pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear.She did all this stitching by hand.Imagine!”She held the quilts securely in her arms,stroking them.

“Some of the pieces,like those lavender ones,come from old clothes her mother handed down to her,”I said,moving up to touch the quilts.Dee(Wangero)moved back just enough so that I couldn't reach the quilts.They already belonged to her.“Imagine!”she breathed again,clutching them closely to her bosom.

“妈妈，”万杰罗用夜莺般的甜蜜声音问，“我可不可以把这两条老被子拿走?”我听到厨房里有东西掉落地上的声音，接着又听见厨房里砰的甩门声。“你怎么不拿另外一两条呢?”我问道。“这两条还是你外婆去世前用碎布拼起来，然后由大迪伊和我两人缝起来的旧被子。”

“不。”万杰罗说，“我不要那些被子。那些被子的边缘都是机器缝制的。”

“那样还耐用一些。”我说。

“这并不关键。”万杰罗说，“这两条被子都是用外婆的旧衣碎片拼成的，是她一针一线手工缝制的。多了不起! ”她生怕别人会抢去似的牢牢抱住被子，一边用手在上面抚摸。

“有些布片，比如那些淡紫色的布片，还是从她妈妈传给她的旧衣服上拆下来的。”我说着便伸手向前抚摸被子。而迪伊(万杰罗)则往后退缩，让我够不着被子。那两条被子已经属于她了。

“多了不起! ”她又低声赞叹了一句，把被子更紧地抱在怀里。

“The truth is,”I said,“I promised to give them quilts to Maggie,for when she marries John Thomas.”

She gasped like a bee had stung her.

“Maggie can't appreciate these quilts!”she said.“She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.”

“I reckon she would,”I said.“God knows I been savage 'em for long enough with nobody using 'em.I hope she will! ”I didn't want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero)a quilt when she went away to college.Then she had told me they were old-fashioned,out of style.

“But they're priceless!”she was saying now,furiously,for she has a temper.“Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they'd be in rags.Less than that!”“She can always make some more,”I said.“Maggie knows how to quilt.”

“问题是，”我说，“我已说好等麦姬和约翰·托马斯结婚时，这两条被子送给麦姬的。”

她像挨了蜂蜇似的惊叫了一声。

“麦姬可不懂这两条被子的价值! ”她说。“她可能会愚昧地将它们当成日常被子使用。”

“我也觉得她会这样做。”我说，“天知道这两条被子我留了多久，一直都没人使用它们。我希望她来用! ”我不想提起迪伊(万杰罗)上大学时我送给她一条被子的事。她当时对我说那被子土气，早就过时了。

“可这两条被子是无价之宝呀! ”她异常愤怒地说——她是很容易发脾气的。“麦姬将会在床上使用它们，那样的话，五年后，这两条被子就会变成破烂，用不了五年! ”“破了她会再重新缝。”我说，“麦姬知道怎样缝被子。”

Dee (Wangero)looked at me with hatred.“You just will not understand.The point is these quilts,these quilts!”

“Well,”I said,stumped.“What would you do with them?”

“Hang them,”she said.As it that was the only thing you could do with quilts.

Maggie by now was standing in the door.I could almost hear the sound her feet made as they scraped over each other.

“She can have them,Mama,”she said like somebody used to never winning anything,or having anything reserved for her.“I can ‘member Grandma Dee without the quilts.”

迪伊(万杰罗)愤怒地看着我。“你不懂，关键是这些被子，这些被子! ”

“那么说，”我有点迷惑不解，便问道，“你要这两条被子做什么呢？”

“把它们挂起来。”她说道。在她看来这是被子所能派上的唯一的用场。

麦姬这时正站在门口，我几乎能听见她的双脚互相摩擦发出的声音。

“让她拿去吧，妈妈。”她说，就像已经习惯于从来也得不到什么，或从来没有什么东西属于她一样，“没有那些被子我也能记得迪伊外婆。”

I looked at her hard.She had filled her bottom lip with checkerberry snuff and it gave her face a kind of dopey,hangdog look.It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt herself.She stood there with her scarred hands hidden in the folds of her skirt.She looked at her sister with something like fear but she wasn't mad at her.This was Maggie's portion.This was the way she knew God to work.

When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet.Just like when I'm in church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout.I did something I never had done before:hugged Maggie to me,then dragged her on into the room,snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero's hands and dumped them into Maggie's lap.Maggie just sat there on my bed with her mouth open.

“Take one or two of the others,”I said to Dee.

我紧紧地盯了她一眼。她的下嘴唇里塞着鹿蹄草牌的含烟，这使她看起来有一种迟钝而羞愧的神色。她能自己缝制被子是迪伊外婆和大迪伊教的。她站在那儿，将一双疤痕累累的手藏在裙子的褶缝里。她怯生生地望着她姐姐，但并没有生姐姐的气。这就是麦姬的命运，她知道这是上帝安排的。

我这样看着她时，突然产生了这样一种感觉：似乎受到一种灌顶的冲击，其力量自头顶直透脚心。这就像在教堂里受到神的启示后激动得狂呼时的那种感觉。于是，我做了一件以前从未做过的事：将麦姬一把搂过来，把她拉进卧室，然后一把从万杰罗小姐手中夺过被子堆放到麦姬的大腿上。麦姬只是这样坐在我的床上，一副目瞪口呆的样子。

“你拿两条别的被子吧，”我对迪伊说。

But she turned without a word and went out to Hakim-a-barber.

“You just don't understand,”she said,as Maggie and I came out to the car.

“What don't I understand?”I wanted to know.

“Your heritage,”she said.And then she turned to Maggie,kissed her,and said,“You ought to try to make some-thing of yourself,too,Maggie.It's really a new day for us.But from the way you and Mama still live you'd never know it.”

She put on some sunglasses that hid everything above the tip of her nose and her chin.

但她一声不吭就转身出了屋，往哈吉姆阿巴波身边走去。

“你完全不懂，”当我和麦姬来到汽车旁边时，她说。

“我不懂什么?”我问道。

“你的遗产，”她说。随后，她转向麦姬，与她吻别，并说，“麦姬，你也该做些有意义的事啊。现在我们所处的是新时代。但照你和妈妈现在过的这种生活来看，你是不会体会不到这一点的。”

她戴上一副太阳镜，把下巴和鼻尖以上整个面孔全都遮住了。

Maggie smiled;maybe at the sunglasses.But a real mile,not scared.After we watched the car dust settle I asked Maggie to bring me a dip of snuff.And then the two of us sat there just enjoying,until it was time to go in the house and go to bed.

麦姬笑起来了，大概是看到太阳镜发笑吧，但这是真正的喜悦，没有害怕的意思。目送汽车绝尘远去之后，我叫麦姬给我取来一撮含烟。然后我们娘儿俩便坐下来细细地品味着，直到天时已晚才进屋就寝。

【注释】

[1]Everyday Use for Your grand