As the hot noisy days of August were drawing to a close the bombardment abruptly ceased. —
当充满炎热喧嚣的八月日子接近尾声时，轰炸突然停止了。 —

The quiet that fell on the town was startling. —
降临在小镇上的宁静令人震惊。 —

Neighbors met on the streets and stared at one another, uncertain, uneasy, as to what might be impending. —
邻居们在街上相遇，彼此凝视，不确定，心里不安，不知道可能发生什么。 —

The stillness, after the screaming days, brought no surcease to strained nerves but, if possible, made the strain even worse. —
尖叫声过后的寂静对紧张的神经没有缓解，反而加剧了紧张。 —

No one knew why the Yankee batteries were silent; —
没有人知道为什么联邦军的炮火静默了； —

there was no news of the troops except that they had been withdrawn in large numbers from the breastworks about the town and had marched off toward the south to defend the railroad. —
关于军队的消息只有一条：他们已经从镇上的防御工事中大量撤出，向南方行军，去保卫铁路。 —

No one knew where the fighting was, if indeed there was any fighting, or how the battle was going if there was a battle.
没有人知道战斗发生在哪里，如果有战斗的话，也不知道战斗进行得如何。

Nowadays the only news was that which passed from mouth to mouth. —
如今，唯一的消息来源是口头传闻。 —

Short of paper, short of ink, short of men, the newspapers had suspended publication after the siege began, and the wildest rumors appeared from nowhere and swept through the town. —
由于纸张短缺，墨水短缺，人手不足，报纸自围困开始后就停止发行，最疯狂的谣言从无处涌现并席卷整个城镇。 —

Now, in the anxious quiet, crowds stormed General Hood’s headquarters demanding information, crowds massed about the telegraph office and the depot hoping for tidings, good tidings, for everyone hoped that the silence of Sherman’s cannon meant that the Yankees were in full retreat and the Confederates chasing them back up the road to Dalton. —
现在，在焦虑的宁静中，人群冲向胡德将军的总部，要求消息，人群聚集在电报局和车站，希望听到好消息，因为每个人都希望谢尔曼的炮声的沉默意味着联邦军全线撤退，而南方联邦军正在追赶他们回到道尔顿。 —

But no news came. The telegraph wires were still, no trains came in on the one remaining railroad from the south and the mail service was broken.
但没有消息传来。电报线路静悄悄的，没有火车从南方进站，邮件服务中断了。

Autumn with its dusty, breathless heat was slipping in to choke the suddenly quiet town, adding its dry, panting weight to tired, anxious hearts. —
秋天带着灰尘、喘不过气来的炎热悄然来临，给焦虑不安的心头增添了枯燥、喘吸的重量。 —

To Scarlett, mad to hear from Tara, yet trying to keep up a brave face, it seemed an eternity since the siege began, seemed as though she had always lived with the sound of cannon in her ears until this sinister quiet had fallen. —
对于渴望听到塔拉的消息，却试图保持勇敢面孔的斯嘉丽来说，自从围困开始以来仿佛过了一个世纪，仿佛她总是生活在耳边的炮声中，直到这段不祥的寂静降临。 —

And yet, it was only thirty days since the siege began. Thirty days of siege! —
然而，距离围困开始仅仅只有三十天。围困已经持续了三十天！ —

The city ringed with red-clay rifle pits, the monotonous booming of cannon that never rested, the long lines of ambulances and ox carts dripping blood down the dusty streets toward the hospitals, the overworked burial squads dragging out men when they were hardly cold and dumping them like so many logs in endless rows of shallow ditches. Only thirty days!
这座城市环绕着红土步枪坑，没有休息的远处有炮声隆隆，长长的救护车和装满血迹的牛车沿着尘土飞扬的街道向医院驶去，辛苦工作的掩埋小组一把把自己刚冷却下来的尸体拖出来，像堆木头一样扔进无尽的浅坑里。只有30天！

And it was only four months since the Yankees moved south from Dalton! Only four months! —
而距离派遣南下的联邦军队只有4个月！只有4个月！ —

Scarlett thought, looking back on that far day, that it had occurred in another life. Oh, no! —
回想起那一天，斯嘉丽觉得好像发生在另一个生命中。哦，不！ —

Surely not just four months. It had been a lifetime.
肯定不只是4个月。那已经是一辈子了。

Four months ago! Why, four months ago Dalton, Resaca, Kennesaw Mountain had been to her only names of places on the railroad. —
只有四个月前！噢，仅仅四个月前，道尔顿、雷萨卡、肯尼索山对她来说只是铁路上的地名。 —

Now they were battles, battles desperately, vainly fought as Johnston fell back toward Atlanta. —
现在它们是战斗，是约翰斯顿向亚特兰大撤退时拼命、徒劳的战斗。 —

And now, Peachtree Creek, Decatur, Ezra Church and Utoy Creek were no longer pleasant names of pleasant places. —
而如今，桃树溪、迪凯特、以斯拉教堂和河流不再是愉快的地方的愉快的名字。 —

Never again could she think of them as quiet villages full of welcoming friends, as green places where she picnicked with handsome officers on the soft banks of slow-moving streams. —
她再也无法将这些地方看作是宁静的村庄，充满热情友好的朋友们，她曾在慢慢流淌的河岸上与英俊的军官们野餐的绿色地方。 —

These names meant battles too, and the soft green grasses where she had sat were cut to bits by heavy cannon wheels, trampled by desperate feet when bayonet met bayonet and flattened where bodies threshed in agonies. —
这些地名也意味着战斗，她曾坐过的柔软河滩上的青草被沉重的炮轮砍得粉碎，被绝望的脚踏得稀烂，当刺刀相交，身体在极度痛苦中挣扎。 —

..And the lazy streams were redder now than ever Georgia clay could make them. —
..而这些慢慢流淌的河水比以往任何时候都更加红，比乔治亚州的红土更红。 —

Peachtree Creek was crimson, so they said, after the Yankees crossed it. —
传说中，亚特兰大市区以南的帕彻特里克溪被北军越过后变成了深红色。 —

Peachtree Creek, Decatur, Ezra Church, Utoy Creek. Never names of places any more. —
帕彻特里克溪，德卡特市，以斯拉教堂，尤腾溪。再也不是地名了。 —

Names of graves where friends lay buried, names of tangled underbrush and thick woods where bodies rotted unburied, names of the four sides of Atlanta where Sherman had tried to force his army in and Hood’s men had doggedly beaten him back.
是朋友们长眠的坟墓的名字，是密布的灌木丛和茂密的森林，尸体在那里无人收殓腐烂的名字，是亚特兰大四个方位的名字，谢尔曼曾试图迫使他的军队进入，而胡德的士兵却顽强地将其击退。

At last, news came from the south to the strained town and it was alarming news, especially to Scarlett. —
终于，南方传来了令这座紧张的城市惊慌的消息，尤其是对斯嘉丽来说。 —

General Sherman was trying the fourth side of the town again, striking again at the railroad at Jonesboro. —
将军谢尔曼再次试图攻打镇上的第四侧,再次袭击琼斯伯勒的铁路。 —

Yankees in large numbers were on that fourth side of the town now, no skirmishing units or cavalry detachments but the massed Yankee forces. —
现在有大批的北方士兵在镇的这一侧，没有游击队或骑兵分队，只有北方的大规模军队。 —

And thousands of Confederate troops had been withdrawn from the lines close about the city to hurl themselves against them. —
成千上万的南方军队已撤离离城市很近的阵线，准备奋力向他们进攻。 —

And that explained the sudden silence.
这也解释了突然的寂静。

“Why Jonesboro?” thought Scarlett, terror striking at her heart at the thought of Tara’s nearness. —
“为什么是琼斯伯勒？”思念着塔拉附近的恐怖使斯嘉丽的心紧紧收缩。 —

“Why must they always hit Jonesboro? Why can’t they find some other place to attack the railroad?”
“为什么他们总是选择进攻琼斯伯勒？为什么他们不能找其他地方攻击铁路呢？”

For a week she had not heard from Tara and the last brief note from Gerald had added to her fears. —
一周以来，她没有收到塔拉的任何消息，杰拉尔德最后一封简短的信使她的担心更加加剧了。 —

Carreen had taken a turn for the worse and was very, very sick. —
卡琳的情况恶化了，她病得非常非常严重。 —

Now it might be days before the mails came through, days before she heard whether Carreen was alive or dead. —
现在也许需要几天才能收到邮件，几天后她才能听到卡琳是活着还是死了。 —

Oh, if she had only gone home at the beginning of the siege, Melanie or no Melanie!
哦，如果早在围城开始时她就回家了，无论梅兰妮怎么样！

There was fighting at Jonesboro—that much Atlanta knew, but how the battle went no one could tell and the most insane rumors tortured the town. —
亚特兰大知道琼斯伯勒有战斗，但谁也不知道战斗的结果，城里充斥着疯狂的谣言。 —

Finally a courier came up from Jonesboro with the reassuring news that the Yankees had been beaten back. —
最后一名信使从琼斯伯勒带来了令人宽心的消息，说洋人被击退了。 —

But they had made a sortie into Jonesboro, burned the depot, cut the telegraph wires and torn up three miles of track before they retreated. —
但是他们在琼斯伯勒进行了一次突袭，烧毁了车站，切断了电报线，拆掉了三英里的铁轨后才撤退。 —

The engineering corps was working like mad, repairing the line, but it would take some time because the Yankees had torn up the crossties, made bonfires of them, laid the wrenched-up rails across them until they were red hot and then twisted them around telegraph poles until they looked like giant corkscrews. —
工兵队正在全力修复线路，但需要一些时间，因为洋人拆毁了枕木，点燃了篝火，把扭曲的铁轨铺在上面，直到它们发红，然后把它们缠绕在电线杆上，变成了巨大的螺旋形状。 —

These days it was so hard to replace iron rails, to replace anything made of iron.
这些日子里，替换铁轨，替换任何铁制品都很困难。

No, the Yankees hadn’t gotten to Tara. The same courier who brought the dispatches to General Hood assured Scarlett of that. —
不，洋人没有进攻塔拉庄园。给胡德将军带信的同一个信使向斯嘉丽保证了这一点。 —

He had met Gerald in Jonesboro after the battle, just as he was starting to Atlanta, and Gerald had begged him to bring a letter to her.
在战斗结束后，他在琼斯伯勒与杰拉尔德见面了，就在他刚要开始前往亚特兰大的时候，杰拉尔德请求他给她带封信去。

But what was Pa doing in Jonesboro? The young courier looked ill at ease as he made answer. —
但是，帕在琼斯伯勒做什么呢？年轻的信使看起来非常不自在地回答了这个问题。 —

Gerald was hunting for an army doctor to go to Tara with him.
杰拉尔德正在寻找一名军医和他一起去塔拉。

As she stood in the sunshine on the front porch, thanking the young man for his trouble, Scarlett felt her knees go weak. —
当她站在阳光下的门廊上，感谢这个年轻人的帮忙时，斯嘉丽感到双腿发软。 —

Carreen must be dying if she was so far beyond Ellen’s medical skill that Gerald was hunting a doctor! —
如果卡琳需要的医治超出了艾伦的医术范围，杰拉尔德还在找医生，那么她一定快要死了！ —

As the courier went off in a small whirlwind of red dust, Scarlett tore open Gerald’s letter with fingers that trembled. —
信使离开时，带起一股红色尘土的旋风，斯嘉丽颤抖着打开了杰拉尔德的信。 —

So great was the shortage of paper in the Confederacy now that Gerald’s note was written between the lines of her last letter to him and reading it was difficult.
由于南方邦联纸张极度短缺，杰拉尔德的信是写在她上封信的行间，所以阅读起来不容易。

“Dear Daughter, Your Mother and both girls have the typhoid. —
“亲爱的女儿，你妈妈和两个姑娘都得了伤寒症。 —

They are very ill but we must hope for the best. —
他们病得很重，但我们必须抱最好的希望。 —

When your mother took to her bed she bade me write you that under no condition were you to come home and expose yourself and Wade to the disease. —
当你母亲卧病不起时，她叫我给你写信，绝对不能回家暴露你和韦德接触这种病。 —

She sends her love and bids you pray for her.”
她向你问好，并要求你为她祈祷。

“Pray for her!” Scarlett flew up the stairs to her room and, dropping on her knees by the bed, prayed as she had never prayed before. —
“为她祈祷！” 斯佳丽飞奔上楼去，跪在床边，她像从未祈祷过一样祈祷。 —

No formal Rosaries now but the same words over and over: “Mother of God, don’t let her die! —
没有正式的玫瑰经，只是一遍又一遍地重复着同样的话：”圣母玛利亚，不要让她死！ —

I’ll be so good if you don’t let her die! —
如果你不让她死，我会变得非常好！ —

Please, don’t let her die!”
请不要让她死!”

For the next week Scarlett crept about the house like a stricken animal, waiting for news, starting at every sound of horses’ hooves, rushing down the dark stair at night when soldiers came tapping at the door, but no news came from Tara. The width of the continent might have spread between her and home instead of twenty- five miles of dusty road.
接下来的一周里，斯佳丽像受伤的动物一样在屋子里钻来钻去，等待着消息，每一声马步声都会让她惊起，深夜里当士兵敲门时她会冲下黑暗的楼梯，但是塔拉那边没有任何消息。仿佛整个大陆都隔开了她和家的距离，而不仅仅是25英里的尘土飞扬的道路。

The mails were still disrupted, no one knew where the Confederates were or what the Yankees were up to. —
邮件系统依然紊乱，没人知道邦联军队在哪里，联邦军队在搞什么鬼。 —

No one knew anything except that thousands of soldiers, gray and blue, were somewhere between Atlanta and Jonesboro. —
除了知道成千上万的士兵，穿着灰色和蓝色的，处于亚特兰大和琼斯伯勒之间的地方之外，没有人知道其他任何事情。 —

Not a word from Tara in a week.
一个星期没有从塔拉那里听到一句话。

Scarlett had seen enough typhoid in the Atlanta hospital to know what a week meant in that dread disease. —
斯嘉丽在亚特兰大医院见过足够多的伤寒病例，知道在那种可怖的疾病中，一个星期的意义。 —

Ellen was ill, perhaps dying, and here was Scarlett helpless in Atlanta with a pregnant woman on her hands and two armies between her and home. —
艾伦病了，也许快要死了。而此时斯嘉丽却无能为力地被困在亚特兰大，手上还要照顾一个怀孕的女人，而且两军之间还隔着她与家的距离。 —

Ellen was ill—perhaps dying. But Ellen couldn’t be ill! She had never been ill. —
艾伦病了，也许快要死了。但是艾伦怎么会病！她从来没有生过病。 —

The very thought was incredible and it struck at the very foundations of the security of Scarlett’s life. —
这个想法简直令人难以置信，并且它打击着斯嘉丽生活安全的根基。 —

Everyone else got sick, but never Ellen. Ellen looked after sick people and made them well again. —
其他人都生病过，只有艾伦没有。艾伦照顾病人，使他们康复。 —

She couldn’t be sick. Scarlett wanted to be home. —
她不可能病了。斯嘉丽渴望回家。 —

She wanted Tara with the desperate desire of a frightened child frantic for the only haven it had ever known.
她渴望着塔拉，急切地像一个受惊的孩子渴望着唯一熟悉的庇护所。

Home! The sprawling white house with fluttering white curtains at the windows, the thick clover on the lawn with the bees busy in it, the little black boy on the front steps shooing the ducks and turkeys from the flower beds, the serene red fields and the miles and miles of cotton turning white in the sun! Home!
家！那座宽敞的白色房子，窗户上飘动的白色窗帘，草坪上茂密的三叶草，蜜蜂在其中忙碌，前台阶上的小黑孩正在赶走花坛里的鸭子和火鸡，红色的田地宁静如画，无数白色的棉花在太阳下变白！家！

If she had only gone home at the beginning of the siege, when everyone else was refugeeing! —
如果她一开始围困的时候就回家了，就像其他人一样寻求避难！ —

She could have taken Melanie with her in safety with weeks to spare.
她本可以提前几周安全带着梅兰妮一起回去。

“Oh, damn Melanie!” she thought a thousand times. —
“该死的梅兰妮！”她想了一千遍。 —

“Why couldn’t she have gone to Macon with Aunt Pitty? —
“她为什么不去梅肯和培蒂姨妈一起去呢？ —

That’s where she belongs, with her own kinfolks, not with me. I’m none of her blood. —
“那里才是她应该去的地方，与属于她自己的亲人在一起，而不是和我在一起。我与她没有血缘关系。 —

Why does she hang onto me so hard? If she’d only gone to Macon, then I could have gone home to Mother. —
“为什么她如此紧紧地依附着我？如果她只是去了梅肯，然后我就可以回家找妈妈了。 —

Even now—even now, I’d take a chance on getting home in spite of the Yankees, if it wasn’t for this baby. —
“即使现在，即使现在，如果不是因为这个孩子，我也愿意冒险回家，尽管有南方联邦的人。 —

Maybe General Hood would give me an escort. —
“也许胡德将军会给我一个护送。” —

He’s a nice man, General Hood, and I know I could make him give me an escort and a flag of truce to get me through the lines. —
他是个好人，胡德将军，我相信他会给我派护卫和一面停战旗，让我穿过敌线。 —

But I have to wait for this baby!…Oh, Mother! Mother! Don’t die!…Why don’t this baby ever come? —
但是我必须等待这个孩子！…哦，妈妈！妈妈！不要死！…为什么这个孩子就是不来？ —

I’ll see Dr. Meade today and ask him if there’s any way to hurry babies up so I can go home—if I can get an escort. —
我今天要去见梅德医生，问问他是否有办法加快婴儿的出生，这样我就能回家了，只要我能找到一个护卫。 —

Dr. Meade said she’d have a bad time. Dear God! Suppose she should die! Melanie dead. Melanie dead. —
梅德医生说她会很艰难。亲爱的上帝！要是她死了怎么办！梅兰妮去世了。梅兰妮去世了。 —

And Ashley— No, I mustn’t think about that, it isn’t nice. —
还有阿什利—不，我不可以想那些了，那样不好。 —

But Ashley— No, I mustn’t think about that because he’s probably dead, anyway. —
但是阿什利—不，我不能想那个，因为他可能已经死了。 —

But he made me promise I’d take care of her. —
但是他让我答应照顾她。 —

But— if I didn’t take care of her and she died and Ashley is still alive— No, I mustn’t think about that. —
但是—如果我不照顾她，她死了，而阿什利还活着—不，我不可以想那个。 —

It’s sinful. And I promised God I’d be good if He would just not let Mother die. —
这是罪恶的。我向上帝答应过，如果他不让妈妈死，我会做个好孩子。 —

Oh, if the baby would only come. If I could only get away from here— get home—get anywhere but here.”
哦，如果孩子快点出生就好了。如果我能离开这里—回家—去任何地方但不是这里。

Scarlett hated the sight of the ominously still town now and once she had loved it. —
斯嘉丽讨厌看到这个静悄悄的城镇，曾经她是多么喜欢它。 —

Atlanta was no longer the gay, the desperately gay place she had loved. —
亚特兰大不再是她曾经热爱的那个欢快而绝望的地方。 —

It was a hideous place like a plague- stricken city so quiet, so dreadfully quiet after the din of the siege. —
这是一个可怕的地方，就像一座瘟疫肆虐的城市，安静得可怕，在经历过轰炸的喧嚣之后。 —

There had been stimulation in the noise and the danger of the shelling. —
噪音和炮击带来了刺激。 —

There was only horror in the quiet that followed. —
随后，只有恐怖的寂静。 —

The town seemed haunted, haunted with fear and uncertainty and memories. —
这座城市看起来像是被恐惧、不确定和回忆所困扰。 —

People’s faces looked pinched and the few soldiers Scarlett saw wore the exhausted look of racers forcing themselves on through the last lap of a race already lost.
人们的脸色变得紧绷，斯嘉丽看到的几个士兵都带着比赛已经输了的疲惫神态。

The last day of August came and with it convincing rumors that the fiercest fighting since the battle of Atlanta was taking place. —
八月的最后一天到来了，随之而来的是令人信服的传言，说自亚特兰大战役以来最激烈的战斗正在进行中。 —

Somewhere to the south. Atlanta, waiting for news of the turn of battle, stopped even trying to laugh and joke. —
在南方的某处。亚特兰大，等待战斗转机的消息，甚至停止了开玩笑和笑声。 —

Everyone knew now what the soldiers had known two weeks before—that Atlanta was in the last ditch, that if the Macon railroad fell, Atlanta would fall too.
两周前士兵们已经知道的事情，现在每个人都知道了——亚特兰大已经到了最后的关头，如果梅肯铁路被攻陷，亚特兰大也将会沦陷。

On the morning of the first of September, Scarlett awoke with a suffocating sense of dread upon her, a dread she had taken to her pillow the night before. —
九月一日的早晨，当斯卡莱特醒来时，她被一种窒息般的恐惧感笼罩着，这恐惧感她在前一天晚上就带入了睡梦。 —

She thought, dulled with sleep: “What was it I was worrying about when I went to bed last night? —
她迷迷糊糊地想着：“昨晚上睡觉之前我在担心什么来着？ —

Oh, yes, the fighting. There was a battle, somewhere, yesterday! Oh, who won?” —
噢，对了，战争。昨天发生了一场战斗！哦，谁赢了？” —

She sat up hastily, rubbing her eyes, and her worried heart took up yesterday’s load again.
她急忙坐了起来，揉着眼睛，她那忧心忡忡的心又承载起昨天的重担。

The air was oppressive even in the early morning hour, hot with the scorching promise of a noon of glaring blue sky and pitiless bronze sun. —
即使在清晨的时刻，空气也令人感到沉闷，酷热的空气中透着中午阳光的残酷和金黄色天空的灼热承诺。 —

The road outside lay silent. No wagons creaked by. —
外面的道路静悄悄的，没有车厢的嘎吱声。 —

No troops raised the red dust with their tramping feet. —
没有军队的踏步扬起红尘。 —

There were no sounds of negroes’ lazy voices in neighboring kitchens, no pleasant sounds of breakfasts being prepared, for all the near neighbors except Mrs. Meade and Mrs. Merriwether had refugeed to Macon. And she could hear nothing from their houses either. —
邻居厨房里没有黑人懒洋洋的声音，也没有愉快的早餐准备声音，除了米德夫人和梅里韦瑟夫人，所有附近的邻居都逃到梅肯去了。她也无法听到他们房子里的任何声音。 —

Farther down the street the business section was quiet and many of the stores and offices were locked and boarded up, while their occupants were somewhere about the countryside with rifles in their hands.
街道的尽头更加安静，许多商店和办公室都被锁上和封板，而他们的主人们则带着步枪在乡间出没。

The stillness that greeted her seemed even more sinister this morning than on any of the mornings of the queer quiet week preceding it. —
早上迎接她的寂静似乎比之前那个奇怪而安静的一周的任何早晨都更加邪恶。 —

She rose hastily, without her usual preliminary burrowings and stretchings, and went to the window, hoping to see some neighbor’s face, some heartening sight. —
她匆忙起床，没有像往常一样预先钻进被窝伸了个懒腰，走到窗户前，希望能看到邻居的脸，一些令人振奋的景象。 —

But the road was empty. She noted how the leaves on the trees were still dark green but dry and heavily coated with red dust, and how withered and sad the untended flowers in the front yard looked.
但是路上空无一人。她注意到树上的叶子仍然是深绿色的，但是干燥而且沾满了红色的尘土，还有前院里枯萎而悲伤的无人打理的花朵。

As she stood, looking out of the window, there came to her ears a far-off sound, faint and sullen as the first distant thunder of an approaching storm.
当她站在窗边向外望去时，她的耳朵传来了一个遥远的声音，微弱而沉闷，如初次远处雷声的来临。

“Rain,” she thought in the first moment, and her country-bred mind added, “we certainly need it.” —
“下雨了。”她在第一刹那想到，她那乡下生活的思维接着补充说，“我们当然需要雨水。” —

But, in a split instant: “Rain? No! Not rain! Cannon!”
但是，一瞬间，“下雨？不是下雨！是炮声！”

Her heart racing, she leaned from the window, her ear cocked to the far-off roaring, trying to discover from which direction it came. —
心脏急速跳动，她倚在窗边，耳朵朝着遥远轰鸣的方向伸出，试图确定声音是从哪个方向传来的。 —

But the dim thundering was so distant that, for a moment, she could not tell. —
但是那朦胧的雷声是如此遥远，以至于她一时无法分辨出来。 —

“Make it from Marietta, Lord!” she prayed. “Or Decatur. Or Peachtree Creek. But not from the south! —
“让它来自Marietta，主啊！”她祈祷道。“或者是Decatur。或者是Peachtree Creek。但是不要来自南方！ —

Not from the south!” She gripped the window still tighter and strained her ears and the far-away booming seemed louder. —
不要来自南方！”她紧紧抓住窗子，用力听着，那遥远的轰鸣似乎更响了。 —

And it was coming from the south.
而且它是来自南方的。

Cannon to the south! And to the south lay Jonesboro and Tara—and Ellen.
南方的炮声！而且南方就是Jonesboro和Tara的方向，还有Ellen。

Yankees perhaps at Tara, now, this minute! —
大概此刻，南方的塔拉那里有北军！ —

She listened again but the blood thudding in her ears all but blurred out the sound of far-off firing. —
她再次倾听，但耳朵里澎湃的血液几乎模糊了远处炮火的声音。 —

No, they couldn’t be at Jonesboro yet. If they were that far away, the sound would be fainter, more indistinct. —
不，他们不可能已经到达琼斯伯勒。如果他们离得那么远，声音会更微弱、更模糊。 —

But they must be at least ten miles down the road toward Jonesboro, probably near the little settlement of Rough and Ready. But Jonesboro was scarcely more than ten miles below Rough and Ready.
但他们一定至少在向琼斯伯勒的公路上走了十英里，很可能就在小村落Rough and Ready附近。但琼斯伯勒距离Rough and Ready几乎只有十英里。

Cannon to the south, and they might be tolling the knell of Atlanta’s fall. —
南边传来的炮声，可能是在哀悼亚特兰大的失陷。 —

But to Scarlett, sick for her mother’s safety, fighting to the south only meant fighting near Tara. She walked the floor and wrung her hands and for the first time the thought in all its implications came to her that the gray army might be defeated. —
但对于渴望母亲安全的斯佳丽来说，南边的战斗意味着只是在Tara附近战斗。她在房间里踱来踱去，捏着双手，第一次意识到，灰色军队可能会失败。 —

It was the thought of Sherman’s thousands so close to Tara that brought it all home to her, brought the full horror of the war to her as no sound of siege guns shattering windowpanes, no privations of food and clothing and no endless rows of dying men had done. —
对塔拉庄园附近有上千名谢尔曼士兵的想法，使她深切地感受到了战争的恐怖，这比任何攻城炮声、食品和衣物的匮乏、无穷无尽的丧生的士兵所能带给她的还要真实可怕。 —

Sherman’s army within a few miles of Tara! —
离塔拉庄园只有几英里远的谢尔曼军队！ —

And even if the Yankees should be defeated, they might fall back down the road to Tara. And Gerald couldn’t possibly refugee out of their way with three sick women.
即使北军被击败，他们可能会沿着道路退回塔拉庄园。而且，杰拉尔德不可能带着三个病重的妇女逃离战区。

Oh, if she were only there now, Yankees or not. —
哦，如果她现在能在那里，无论南北军如何。 —

She paced the floor in her bare feet, her nightgown clinging to her legs and the more she walked the stronger became her foreboding. —
她赤着脚在房间里踱步，睡袍紧贴在她的腿上，她走得越多，预感就越强烈。 —

She wanted to be at home. She wanted to be near Ellen.
她想回家。她想靠近艾伦。

From the kitchen below, she heard the rattle of china as Prissy prepared breakfast, but no sound of Mrs. Meade’s Betsy. The shrill, melancholy minor of Prissy was raised, “Jes’ a few mo’ days, ter tote de wee-ry load. —
从楼下的厨房里传来了瓷器的碰撞声，普里西准备早餐，但没有听到米德夫人的贝琪的声音。普里西尖尖地、忧郁地唱着：“再过几天，再背负沉重的负担。” —

..” The song grated on Scarlett, its sad implications frightening her, and slipping on a wrapper she pattered out into the hall and to the back stairs and shouted: —
“这首歌让斯嘉丽感到烦躁，其悲伤的暗示让她感到恐惧，她踩到一张包装纸，在走廊里拍着脚后跑到后楼梯上喊道：” —

“Shut up that singing, Prissy!”
“住口！别唱了，普里西！”

A sullen “Yas’m” drifted up to her and she drew a deep breath, feeling suddenly ashamed of herself.
她听到一个郁郁寡欢的“是，夫人”的声音漂到她耳朵里，她深吸了一口气，突然感到羞愧。

“Where’s Betsy?”
“贝琪在哪里？”

“Ah doan know. She ain’ came.”
“我不知道。她还没有来。”

Scarlett walked to Melanie’s door and opened it a crack, peering into the sunny room. —
斯嘉丽走到梅兰妮的门口，微微打开门，往阳光明媚的房间里瞥了一眼。 —

Melanie lay in bed in her nightgown, her eyes closed and circled with black, her heart-shaped face bloated, her slender body hideous and distorted. —
梅兰妮躺在床上，穿着睡衣，闭着眼睛，黑眼圈明显，她心形的脸肿胀，纤细的身体丑陋扭曲。 —

Scarlett wished viciously that Ashley could see her now. —
斯嘉丽恶毒地希望艾希利现在能看到她。 —

She looked worse than any pregnant woman she had ever seen. —
她看起来比她见过的任何一个怀孕的女人都要糟糕。 —

As she looked, Melanie’s eyes opened and a soft warm smile lit her face.
正当她看着的时候，梅兰妮的眼睛睁开了，脸上浮现出温柔的微笑。

“Come in,” she invited, turning awkwardly on her side. —
“进来吧。”她邀请道，笨拙地转身朝一侧。 —

“I’ve been awake since sun-up thinking, and, Scarlett, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“我一大早醒来就在思考，斯嘉丽，有件事我想问你。”

She entered the room and sat down on the bed that was glaring with harsh sunshine.
她走进房间，坐在被严厉阳光映照的床上。

Melanie reached out and took Scarlett’s hand in a gentle confiding clasp.
梅兰妮伸手握住斯嘉丽的手，表示温柔的信任。

“Dear,” she said, “I’m sorry about the cannon. It’s toward Jonesboro, isn’t it?”
“亲爱的，我很抱歉炮声引起了你的担忧。它是指向琼斯波罗的，对吗？”

Scarlett said “Um,” her heart beginning to beat faster as the thought recurred.
斯嘉丽嗯了一声，心开始加快跳动，这个念头一次又一次浮现。

“I know how worried you are. I know you’d have gone home last week when you heard about your mother, if it hadn’t been for me. Wouldn’t you?”
“我知道你有多么担心。我知道如果不是因为我，你会在上周听说你母亲的事情后就回家的。不是吗？”

“Yes,” said Scarlett ungraciously.
“是的，”斯嘉丽不客气地说。

“Scarlett, darling. You’ve been so good to me. —
“斯嘉丽，亲爱的。你一直对我这么好。 —

No sister could have been sweeter or braver. —
没有人能比你更甜蜜和勇敢了。 —

And I love you for it. I’m so sorry I’m in the way.”
并且我爱你。我很抱歉我在你们之间造成了困扰。”

Scarlett stared. Loved her, did she? The fool!
斯嘉丽盯着她看。她爱她，是吗？傻瓜！

“And Scarlett, I’ve been lying here thinking and I want to ask a very great favor of you.” Her clasp tightened. —
“斯嘉丽，我一直躺在这里思考，我想请求你一个非常重大的恩惠。”她的握紧了。 —

“If I should die, will you take my baby?”
“如果我去世了，你会照顾我的孩子吗？”

Melanie’s eyes were wide and bright with soft urgency.
梅兰妮的眼睛明亮而紧急地注视着。

“Will you?”
“你会吗？”

Scarlett jerked away her hand as fear swamped her. Fear roughened her voice as she spoke.
斯嘉丽抽回了手，恐惧淹没了她。她说话时声音变得沙哑。

“Oh, don’t be a goose, Melly. You aren’t going to die. —
“噢，别做个傻瓜，梅莉。你不会死的。” —

Every woman thinks she’s going to die with her first baby. I know I did.”
每个女人在生第一个孩子的时候都会觉得自己会死。我知道我当时是这么想的。”

“No, you didn’t. You’ve never been afraid of anything. —
“不，你没有那样想过。你从来就不怕任何事情。” —

You are just saying that to try to cheer me up. —
你只是说这话想让我开心一点。 —

I’m not afraid to die but I’m so afraid to leave the baby, if Ashley is— Scarlett, promise me that you’ll take my baby if I should die. —
我不害怕死，但是我很害怕离开孩子，如果阿什利……斯嘉丽，答应我，如果我死了，请你收养我的孩子。 —

Then I won’t be afraid. Aunt Pittypat is too old to raise a child and Honey and India are sweet but—I want you to have my baby. —
那样我就不会害怕了。皮蒂帕特姨妈太老无法抚养孩子，奇妮和印地亚人都很好，但是——我希望你收养我的孩子。 —

Promise me, Scarlett. And if it’s a boy, bring him up like Ashley, and if it’s a girl—dear, I’d like her to be like you.”
答应我，斯嘉丽。如果是个男孩，像阿什利那样抚养他，如果是个女孩——亲爱的，我希望她像你一样。”

“God’s nightgown!” cried Scarlett, leaping from the bed. —
“天哪！”斯嘉丽大叫道，从床上跳起来。 —

“Aren’t things bad enough without you talking about dying?”
“事情不够糟糕吗？你还在谈论死亡？”

“I’m sorry, dear. But promise me. I think it’ll be today. —
“对不起，亲爱的。但是答应我。我觉得今天会是那天。 —

I’m sure it’ll be today. Please promise me.”
很确定今天会是那天。请答应我。”

“Oh, all right, I promise,” said Scarlett, looking down at her in bewilderment.
“噢，好吧，我答应。”斯嘉丽迷惑地低头看着她。

Was Melanie such a fool she really didn’t know how she cared for Ashley? —
梅兰妮是个傻瓜吗？她真的不知道自己是怎么在关心阿什利吗？ —

Or did she know everything and feel that because of that love, Scarlett would take good care of Ashley’s child? —
还是她知道一切，并且因为那份爱，她相信斯嘉丽会好好照顾阿什利的孩子？ —

Scarlett had a wild impulse to cry out questions, but they died on her lips as Melanie took her hand and held it for an instant against her cheek. —
斯嘉丽有一种冲动想大声问出问题，但在梅兰妮抓住她的手并把它放在自己的脸颊上的瞬间，问题都消失在她的唇边。 —

Tranquillity had come back into her eyes.
安宁又回到了她的眼中。

“Why do you think it will be today, Melly?”
“你为什么觉得今天会是那天呢，梅尔？”

“I’ve been having pains since dawn—but not very bad ones.”
“我从黎明开始就有些疼痛，但不是很厉害。”

“You have? Well, why didn’t you call me? I’ll send Prissy for Dr. Meade.”
“是吗？嗯，为什么你不叫我？我会派普里西去请米德医生。”

“No, don’t do that yet, Scarlett. You know how busy he is, how busy they all are. —
“不，还别那样做，斯嘉丽。你知道他们有多忙，他们全部都很忙。” —

Just send word to him that we’ll need him some time today. —
“只需告诉他我们今天会需要他。请去找米德夫人，告诉她并请她过来陪我。” —

Send over to Mrs. Meade’s and tell her and ask her to come over and sit with me. —
“她会知道什么时候真正需要请他的。” —

She’ll know when to really send for him.”
“哦，别那么无私了。你知道你和医院里的任何人一样需要医生。”

“Oh, stop being so unselfish. You know you need a doctor as much as anybody in the hospital. —
“我会立刻去请他。” —

I’ll send for him right away.”
“不要那样做。”

“No, please don’t. Sometimes it takes all day having a baby and I just couldn’t let the doctor sit here for hours when all those poor boys need him so much. —
“不，请不要这样做。有时候生孩子要花上一整天时间，我不能让医生在这里坐上几个小时，而那些可怜的男孩们这么需要他。” —

Just send for Mrs. Meade. She’ll know.”
“只需派人去找梅德夫人，她会知道的。”

“Oh, all right,” said Scarlett.
“哦，好吧，” 斯嘉丽说。