诺贝尔文学经典:《宠儿》第3章Part 7

As small girl Sethe, she was unimpressed. As grownup woman Sethe she was angry, but not certainat what. A mighty wish for Baby Suggs broke over her like surf. In the quiet following its splash,Sethe looked at the two girls sitting by the stove: her sickly, shallowminded boarder, her irritable,lonely daughter. They seemed little and far away.
"Paul D be here in a minute," she said.
Denver sighed with relief. For a minute there, while her mother stood folding the wash lost inthought, she clamped her teeth and prayed it would stop. Denver hated the stories her mother toldthat did not concern herself, which is why Amy was all she ever asked about. The rest was agleaming, powerful world made more so by Denver's absence from it. Not being in it, she hated itand wanted Beloved to hate it too, although there was no chance of that at all. Beloved took everyopportunity to ask some funny question and get Sethe going. Denver noticed how greedy she wasto hear Sethe talk. Now she noticed something more. The questions Beloved asked: "Where yourdiamonds?" "Your woman she never fix up your hair?" And most perplexing: Tell me yourearrings.
How did she know?
WAS shining and Paul D didn't like it. Women did what strawberry plants did before they shot outtheir thin vines: the quality of the green changed. Then the vine threads came, then the buds. Bythe time the white petals died and the mintcolored berry poked out, the leaf shine was gilded fightand waxy. That's how Beloved looked — gilded and shining. Paul D took to having Sethe onwaking, so that later, when he went down the white stairs where she made bread under Beloved'sgaze, his head was clear.

作为小姑娘塞丝，她并没有什么感觉。作为成年女子塞丝，她感到愤怒，却说不清楚为了什么。贝比·萨格斯的强烈愿望仿佛海浪冲击着她。浪过之后的寂静中，塞丝看着坐在炉边的两个姑娘：她的有病的、思想肤浅的寄宿者，她的烦躁、孤独的女儿。她们看起来又小又远。
“保罗·D一会儿就回来了。”她说。
丹芙长长地舒了一口气。刚才，她妈妈站在那里出神地叠床单的时候，她咬紧牙关，祈盼着故事早点结束。丹芙讨厌她妈妈老讲那些与她无关的故事，因此她只问起爱弥。除此以外的世界是辉煌而强大的，没有了丹芙倒更是如此。她因自己不在其中而讨厌它，也想让宠儿讨厌它，尽管没有丝毫的可能。宠儿寻找一切可乘之机来问可笑的问题，让塞丝开讲。丹芙注意到了她是多么贪婪地想听塞丝说话。现在她又注意到了新的情况。是宠儿的问题：“你的钻石在哪儿？”“你的女人她从来不给你梳头吗？”而最令人困惑的是：给我讲讲你的耳环。
她是怎么知道的？
宠儿光彩照人，可保罗·D并不喜欢。女人开始成长时，活像抽芽前的草莓类植物：先是绿色的质地渐渐地发生变化，然后藤萝的细丝长出，再往后是花骨朵。等到白色的花瓣凋零，薄荷色的莓子钻出，叶片的光辉就有了镀金的致密和蜡制的润泽。那就是宠儿的模样———周身镶金，光彩照人。保罗·D开始在醒来后与塞丝做爱，这样，过一会儿，当他走下白楼梯，看见她在宠儿的凝视下做面包时，他的头脑会是清晰的。