薇拉·凱瑟 趙喜梅

【導讀】薇拉·凱瑟（1873—1947），美國小說家，普利策獎獲得者，以描寫美國中西部內(nèi)布拉斯加州的草原生活而聞名。薇拉幼時隨父母移居該州一個叫“紅云鎮(zhèn)”的地方，因該地地處邊疆，所以她有機會接觸到來自瑞典、波希米亞、俄羅斯、德國等歐洲移民，并了解他們的生活點滴，這成為其創(chuàng)作的重要素材。長篇小說《啊，拓荒者！》（O Pioneers！， 1913）和《我的安東尼婭》（My Antonia，1918）被公認為其最好的作品，它們生動再現(xiàn)了早期歐洲移民在美國艱苦奮斗的歷程——移民的開拓精神和生活勇氣可歌可泣，移民的自然淳樸亦可愛動人！

本文節(jié)選自《我的安東尼婭》第一部“雪默爾達一家”（The Shimerdas）第四章，敘述者“我”憶起自己初至小鎮(zhèn)時的那個金秋，寫景時似作畫，寫動物不全然寫動物，寫人時充滿人情味！一個無憂無慮、好奇心十足的“我”，或把動物界的不可思議冷峻地訴諸筆端，或?qū)z憫之情賦予樹木，或表現(xiàn)出對人的愛與懷戀。時而活潑，時而莊重！所有這一切，又難以名狀地關聯(lián)著。秋思無限！

On the afternoon of that same Sunday I took my first long ride on my pony， under Otto’s direction. After that Dude and I went twice a week to the post-office， six miles east of us， and I saved the men a good deal of time by riding on errands to our neighbours. When we had to borrow anything， or to send about word that there would be preaching at the sod schoolhouse， I was always the messenger. Formerly Fuchs attended to such things after working hours.

All the years that have passed have not dimmed my memory of that first glorious autumn. The new country1 lay open before me： there were no fences in those days， and I could choose my own way over the grass uplands， trusting the pony to get me home again. Sometimes I followed the sunflower-bordered roads. Fuchs told me that the sunflowers were introduced into that country by the Mormons; that at the time of the persecution， when they left Missouri and struck out into the wilderness to find a place where they could worship God in their own way， the members of the first exploring party， crossing the plains to Utah， scattered sunflower seed as they went. The next summer， when the long trains of wagons came through with all the women and children， they had the sunflower trail to follow. I believe that botanists do not confirm Fuchs’s story， but insist that the sunflower was native to those plains. Nevertheless， that legend has stuck in my mind， and sunflower-bordered roads always seem to me the roads to freedom.

I used to love to drift along the pale-yellow cornfields， looking for the damp spots one sometimes found at their edges， where the smartweed soon turned a rich copper colour and the narrow brown leaves hung curled like cocoons about the swollen joints of the stem. Sometimes I went south to visit our German neighbours and to admire their catalpa grove， or to see the big elm tree that grew up out of a deep crack in the earth and had a hawk’s nest in its branches. Trees were so rare in that country， and they had to make such a hard fight to grow， that we used to feel anxious about them， and visit them as if they were persons. It must have been the scarcity of detail in that tawny landscape that made detail so precious.

Sometimes I rode north to the big prairie-dog2 town to watch the brown earth-owls3 fly home in the late afternoon and go down to their nests underground with the dogs. Antonia Shimerda liked to go with me， and we used to wonder a great deal about these birds of subterranean habit. We had to be on our guard there， for rattlesnakes were always lurking about. They came to pick up an easy living among the dogs and owls， which were quite defenceless against them; took possession of their comfortable houses and ate the eggs and puppies. We felt sorry for the owls. It was always mournful to see them come flying home at sunset and disappear under the earth. But， after all， we felt， winged things who would live like that must be rather degraded creatures. The dog-town was a long way from any pond or creek. Otto Fuchs said he had seen populous dog-towns in the desert where there was no surface water for fifty miles; he insisted that some of the holes must go down to water—nearly two hundred feet， hereabouts. Antonia said she didn’t believe it; that the dogs probably lapped up the dew in the early morning， like the rabbits.

Antonia had opinions about everything， and she was soon able to make them known. Almost every day she came running across the prairie to have her reading lesson with me. Mrs. Shimerda grumbled， but realized it was important that one member of the family should learn English. When the lesson was over， we used to go up to the watermelon patch behind the garden. I split the melons with an old corn-knife， and we lifted out the hearts and ate them with the juice trickling through our fingers. The white Christmas melons we did not touch， but we watched them with curiosity. They were to be picked late， when the hard frosts had set in， and put away for winter use. After weeks on the ocean， the Shimerdas were famished for fruit. The two girls would wander for miles along the edge of the cornfields， hunting for ground-cherries.

Antonia loved to help grandmother in the kitchen and to learn about cooking and housekeeping. She would stand beside her， watching her every movement. We were willing to believe that Mrs. Shimerda was a good housewife in her own country， but she managed poorly under new conditions： the conditions were bad enough， certainly！

I remember how horrified we were at the sour， ashy-grey bread she gave her family to eat. She mixed her dough， we discovered， in an old tin peck-measure4 that Krajiek had used about the barn. When she took the paste out to bake it， she left smears of dough sticking to the sides of the measure， put the measure on the shelf behind the stove， and let this residue ferment. The next time she made bread， she scraped this sour stuff down into the fresh dough to serve as yeast.

During those first months the Shimerdas never went to town. Krajiek encouraged them in the belief that in Black Hawk5 they would somehow be mysteriously separated from their money. They hated Krajiek， but they clung to him because he was the only human being with whom they could talk or from whom they could get information. He slept with the old man and the two boys in the dugout barn， along with the oxen. They kept him in their hole and fed him for the same reason that the prairie-dogs and the brown owls house the rattlesnakes—because they did not know how to get rid of him.

就在那個周日下午，由奧托帶路，我第一次騎著我的矮馬遠行。此后，我和我的馬兒杜德每周往東邊六英里外的郵局走兩回，為鄰居跑腿，給大家伙兒省了不少時間。誰要借點兒什么，抑或通知大家草皮頂學校要布道了，我是當之無愧的使者。以往是?？怂故展ず笕プ鲞@些差使的。

許多年過去了，在這里度過的第一個金秋的光景依然歷歷在目。那時，初至該地，一切都向我敞開了懷抱：那會兒人們不圍柵欄，我可以隨意選一條路，沿草坡而上，馬兒總會載我平安歸家。有時，我會選那些邊上長滿向日葵的道走。福克斯對我講過，向日葵是摩門教徒帶來的。這些人慘遭宗教迫害時，逃離密蘇里，流離于荒野，想找個地方依自己的形式膜拜上帝。他們中最早的那批，穿過平原進入猶他州，一路播撒下向日葵種子。如此，當他們的女人孩子來年夏季成群結(jié)隊經(jīng)過這里時，就可沿著向日葵路追隨其后了。我并不認為植物學家會認同福克斯講的故事，他們定會說向日葵本就是該地產(chǎn)物。然而，這個傳說已銘刻我心;于我而言，向日葵路始終都是自由之路！

我常常沿著淺黃色的玉米地轉(zhuǎn)悠，專找些濕地，就是玉米地邊上的濕地，那里的蕁麻很快會變成深棕色，棕黃的細葉繭一般懸掛在根莖的粗節(jié)周圍。有時，我會一路南行，拜訪我們的德國鄰人，瞧上好一會兒他們那里的梓樹林，或是看看那株大榆樹，它的根部深扎于地縫之中，枝頭有老鷹搭了窩筑了巢。此地，樹木稀缺，得費好大勁兒才能生長成活，我們也老是替它們焦心，把它們當作人一般頻頻看顧。必是因為那幅黃褐色的景觀中缺乏動人的細節(jié)，才使得細節(jié)至為珍貴！

有時，我策馬向北，深入草原犬鼠鎮(zhèn)，去觀察棕黃的穴梟：它們傍晚時分飛回家，和犬鼠一同進入地下的巢穴。安東尼婭·雪默爾達喜歡和我一道，這些鳥類穴居的棲息習慣常常讓我們大為驚嘆。在這里，我們得分外小心，附近總是有響尾蛇出沒。犬鼠和穴梟毫無防衛(wèi)能力，蛇不費吹灰之力就能把它們吞掉，然后盤踞在它們舒適的窩巢中，把它們的蛋和小崽兒吃個精光。我們?yōu)檠n難過?？吹剿鼈兿﹃栁飨聲r歸巢，消失于地下，總讓人有些憂傷。我們終究覺得，長著翅膀，卻那般生活，這生物一定是極度退化了。犬鼠鎮(zhèn)附近沒有池塘或溪流。奧托·?？怂乖f，他在這一帶沙漠中看到過人煙稠密的犬鼠鎮(zhèn)，方圓50英里都沒有地表水。他認為，有些穴梟和犬鼠的窩洞再往下定然有水——大約200英尺深，就在那附近。安東尼婭卻不相信他說的，而是認為或許犬鼠像兔子那樣，晨起時舔飲露水而活。

安東尼婭對任何事都有自己的一套看法，而且能夠很快讓大家都知道。她幾乎每日都要穿過大草原，來和我上她的閱讀課。雪默爾達太太雖對此有些怨言，卻也意識到家中有人會英語，究竟不是壞事。課畢，我們總是會到花園后的西瓜地里去。我用一把舊砍刀將瓜劈成兩半，挖出瓜瓤，盡情享用，任由甜美的西瓜汁在指間流淌。我們是不會觸碰白色的圣誕甜瓜的，只會好奇地看著它們。待寒霜到來，人們方才摘下這些甜瓜，囤放起來以備過冬。海上漂泊了幾周，雪默爾達一家極其渴望吃上幾口水果。這兩個姑娘會不惜跋涉數(shù)英里，沿著玉米田尋找酸漿果。

安東尼婭喜歡做祖母的幫廚，學習烹煮方法和持家之道。每每此時，她總不離奶奶左右，注視奶奶的一舉一動。我們都愿意相信雪默爾達太太在自己的國家是一個出色的主婦，但換了新環(huán)境就力不從心了：新環(huán)境的確是夠糟糕的！

猶記得，吃她老人家做的灰白色酸面包時，我們是多么錯愕。我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，原來她是用柯拉吉克在谷倉用的舊錫制配克量杯和面的。她拿出面團去烘烤時，會在量杯壁上留些面團渣，把量杯擱到爐后的架子上，讓面團渣發(fā)酵。下次再做面包時，她就將這種發(fā)酸的東西刮下來，當作酵母，和到新鮮面團里。

頭幾個月，雪默爾達一家從不上鎮(zhèn)里?？吕斯膭铀麄?nèi)?，認為在黑鷹鎮(zhèn)他無論如何都能讓他們不清不楚地出點兒血。全家人都討厭這個家伙，但又不得不依賴著他，因為他不僅是他們唯一可以交談的人，也唯有他能為他們帶來消息。他和那個老人以及兩個小子同睡地下谷倉，牛也在那里。這一家人把他養(yǎng)在這里，供他吃喝，正如草原犬鼠和棕色穴梟將響尾蛇豢養(yǎng)在自己的窩里——因為他們不曉得怎么擺脫他！? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? □

（譯者單位：北京外國語大學）