In that warm summer after peace came, Tara suddenly lost its isolation. —
在和平到来的那个温暖夏日，塔拉突然失去了它的孤立。 —

And for months thereafter a stream of scarecrows, bearded, ragged, footsore and always hungry, toiled up the red hill to Tara and came to rest on the shady front steps, wanting food and a night’s lodging. —
在接下来的几个月里，一连串的稻草人，胡须蓬乱、衣衫褴褛、疲惫不堪、总是饥肠辘辘地艰难爬上红色的山坡来到了塔拉，他们想要食物和一宿的住处。 —

They were Confederate soldiers walking home. —
他们是南军的士兵，正在步行回家的路上。 —

The railroad had carried the remains of Johnston’s army from North Carolina to Atlanta and dumped them there, and from Atlanta they began their pilgrimages afoot. —
铁路把约翰斯顿的军队遗骸从北卡罗来纳州运到了亚特兰大，然后从亚特兰大出发，他们开始了徒步朝圣之旅。 —

When the wave of Johnston’s men had passed, the weary veterans from the Army of Virginia arrived and then men from the Western troops, beating their way south toward homes which might not exist and families which might be scattered or dead. —
当约翰斯顿的军队潮水般过去后，来自维吉尼亚军队的疲惫退伍军人到达了，然后是从西部部队挤出的士兵，他们朝着可能不存在的家园和可能已经四散或死亡的家人走去。 —

Most of them were walking, a few fortunate ones rode bony horses and mules which the terms of the surrender had permitted them to keep, gaunt animals which even an untrained eye could tell would never reach far-away Florida and south Georgia.
他们中大部分人都是步行，少数幸运的人骑着剩下的瘦马和瘦骡子，它们是根据投降条件被允许保留下来的，但即使外行人都能看出来，这些消瘦的动物绝对无法到达遥远的佛罗里达和南佐治亚。

Going home! Going home! That was the only thought in the soldiers’ minds. —
回家！回家！那是士兵们思绪中唯一的念头。 —

Some were sad and silent, others gay and contemptuous of hardships, but the thought that it was all over and they were going home was the one thing that sustained them. —
有些人忧伤而沉默，有些人快乐而轻视困苦，但他们唯一持续的念头就是一切都结束了，他们要回家了。 —

Few of them were bitter. They left bitterness to their women and their old people. —
他们中很少有人心存怨恨。他们把怨恨留给自己的妻子和年老的亲人。 —

They had fought a good fight, had been licked and were willing to settle down peaceably to plowing beneath the flag they had fought.
他们进行了一场艰苦的战斗，被击败了，他们愿意在自己曾经战斗过的国旗下平静地耕种土地。

Going home! Going home! They could talk of nothing else, neither battles nor wounds, nor imprisonment nor the future. —
回家！回家！他们无法讨论其他任何事情，无论是战斗、伤势、囚禁还是未来。 —

Later, they would refight battles and tell children and grandchildren of pranks and forays and charges, of hunger, forced marches and wounds, but not now. —
稍后，他们会重温战斗，告诉孩子和孙子们有关恶作剧、突袭和冲锋的故事，也会谈到饥饿、强迫行军和伤势，但现在不是时候。 —

Some of them lacked an arm or a leg or an eye, many had scars which would ache in rainy weather if they lived for seventy years but these seemed small matters now. —
他们中的一些人失去了一只手臂、一条腿或者一只眼睛，很多人一生中会因为伤疤在雨天感到疼痛，但现在这些都变得微不足道了。 —

Later it would be different.
稍后会有所不同。

Old and young, talkative and taciturn, rich planter and sallow Cracker, they all had two things in common, lice and dysentery. —
无论是老人还是年轻人，喜欢说话的还是沉默寡言的，富有的种植园主还是憔悴的穷光蛋，他们都有两个共同点，头虱和痢疾。 —

The Confederate soldier was so accustomed to his verminous state he did not give it a thought and scratched unconcernedly even in the presence of ladies. —
这个南方联邦士兵已经习惯了自己寄生虫的状态，他连此事都不会考虑，甚至在女士面前也毫不在意地抓着。 —

As for dysentery—the “bloody flux” as the ladies delicately called it—it seemed to have spared no one from private to general. —
至于痢疾——女士们婉转地称之为“带血的通病”——似乎没有一个私人到将军能逃脱。 —

Four years of half-starvation, four years of rations which were coarse or green or half-putrefied, had done its work with them and every soldier who stopped at Tara was either just recovering or was actively suffering from it.
四年的半饥饿，四年来的粗劣、未熟或半腐烂的口粮，已经对他们造成了伤害，每个停在塔拉的士兵要么是刚刚康复，要么就是正在积极地遭受着。

“Dey ain’ a soun’ set of bowels in de whole Confedrut ahmy,” observed Mammy darkly as she sweated over the fire, brewing a bitter concoction of blackberry roots which had been Ellen’s sovereign remedy for such afflictions. —
“鬼佬军队里没有一个人的肠胃是正常的，”Mammy 恶狠狠地说道，她在火堆旁边满头大汗地煮着一种苦涩的黑莓根药水，这是Ellen对这种病痛的治疗法宝。 —

“It’s mah notion dat ‘twarn’t de Yankees whut beat our gempmum. —
“我认为击败我们的绅士们不是洋鬼子。” —

‘Twuz dey own innards. Kain no gempmum fight wid his bowels tuhnin’ ter water.”
“那是他们自己的内脏问题。凯因害怕到肚子疼得出冷汗，哪有绅士会因为胆小害怕而屈服呢。”

One and all, Mammy dosed them, never waiting to ask foolish questions about the state of their organs and, one and all, they drank her doses meekly and with wry faces, remembering, perhaps, other stern black faces in far-off places and other inexorable black hands holding medicine spoons.
“妈咪给他们一一服药，从不愚蠢地询问他们的内脏状况，他们都顺从地喝下药，扭曲着脸，也许记得远方其他严厉的黑脸和其他无情的黑手拿着药勺。”

In the matter of “comp’ny” Mammy was equally adamant. —
“关于“招待客人”这件事，妈咪也坚决不让步。” —

No lice- ridden soldier should come into Tara. She marched them behind a clump of thick bushes, relieved them of their uniforms, gave them a basin of water and strong lye soap to wash with and provided them with quilts and blankets to cover their nakedness, while she boiled their clothing in her huge wash pot. —
“没有虱子满身的士兵能够进入塔拉。她把他们带到一丛浓密的灌木丛后面，脱掉他们的制服，给他们一盆水和强力烈性肥皂洗澡，还提供了被子和毛毯盖住他们的赤裸之躯，同时她在巨大的洗锅里煮沸他们的衣物。” —

It was useless for the girls to argue hotly that such conduct humiliated the soldiers. —
“女孩们争辩说这样的行为羞辱了士兵是没有用的。” —

Mammy replied that the girls would be a sight more humiliated if they found lice upon themselves.
“妈咪回答说如果她们自己发现了虱子，她们会更加羞辱。”

When the soldiers began arriving almost daily, Mammy protested against their being allowed to use the bedrooms. —
当士兵们几乎每天开始到达时，马米反对让他们使用卧室。 —

Always she feared lest some louse had escaped her. —
她总是担心有些虱子可能逃过了她的注意。 —

Rather than argue the matter, Scarlett turned the parlor with its deep velvet rug into a dormitory. —
为了避免争论这个问题，斯嘉丽把客厅和深红色天鹅绒地毯变成了一个集体宿舍。 —

Mammy cried out equally loudly at the sacrilege of soldiers being permitted to sleep on Miss Ellen’s rug but Scarlett was firm. —
马米对士兵们被允许在埃伦小姐的地毯上睡觉的亵渎大声抗议，但斯嘉丽坚决不听。 —

They had to sleep somewhere. And, in the months after the surrender, the deep soft nap began to show signs of wear and finally the heavy warp and woof showed through in spots where heels had worn it and spurs dug carelessly.
他们必须找个地方睡觉。在投降后的几个月里，这块深软的绒面开始显露磨损的迹象，最后那些脚跟磨破和马刺粗暴地插入的地方露出了厚厚的纱线和织物。

Of each soldier, they asked eagerly of Ashley. Suellen, bridling, always asked news of Mr. Kennedy. —
她们迫不及待地向每个士兵打听阿什利的消息。苏伦傲慢地总是问起肯尼迪先生。 —

But none of the soldiers had ever heard of them nor were they inclined to talk about the missing. —
但是没有一个士兵听说过他们的消息，也不愿谈论他们的下落。 —

It was enough that they themselves were alive, and they did not care to think of the thousands in unmarked graves who would never come home.
对他们来说，自己还活着已经足够了，他们不愿去想那些无名英勇士兵的成千上万个坟墓，他们永远无法回家。

The family tried to bolster Melanie’s courage after each of these disappointments. —
在每次失望后，家人都试图增强梅兰妮的勇气。 —

Of course, Ashley hadn’t died in prison. Some Yankee chaplain would have written if this were true. —
当然，艾什利没有在监狱里死。如果这是真的，一些北方牧师肯定会写信来通知我们的。 —

Of course, he was coming home but his prison was so far away. —
当然，他正在回家，但他的监狱离这里太远了。 —

Why, goodness, it took days riding on a train to make the trip and if Ashley was walking, like these men. —
天哪，乘火车旅行需要几天的时间，如果艾什利走路回来，就像这些人一样。 —

..Why hadn’t he written? Well, darling, you know what the mails are now—so uncertain and slipshod even where mail routes are re-established. —
为什么，亲爱的，他为什么不写信呢？你知道现在的邮件服务，即使在恢复了邮路的地方也不可靠而且随意。 —

But suppose—suppose he had died on the way home. —
但是，假如他在回家的路上去世了呢。 —

Now, Melanie, some Yankee woman would have surely written us about it!… Yankee women! Bah! —
如今，梅兰妮，有个北方妇女肯定会写信告诉我们的！北方妇女！呸！ —

…Melly, there ARE some nice Yankee women. Oh, yes, there are! —
梅莉，确实有些好的北方妇女。哦，是的，确实有！ —

God couldn’t make a whole nation without having some nice women in it! —
上帝不能让一个国家没有一些好的妇女在里面！ —

Scarlett, you remember we did meet a nice Yankee woman at Saratoga that time—Scarlett, tell Melly about her!
斯嘉丽，你还记得我们在萨拉托加那次遇到了一个好的北方妇女吗？斯嘉丽，给梅莉讲讲她！

“Nice, my foot!” replied Scarlert. “She asked me how many bloodhounds we kept to chase our darkies with! —
“好啊，别装好人了！” 斯嘉丽回答道。“她问我我们有多少猎血犬来追我们的黑人呢！ —

I agree with Melly. I never saw a nice Yankee, male or female. But don’t cry, Melly! —
我同意梅莉的观点。我从来没见过一个好的北方人，无论男女。但别哭，梅莉！ —

Ashley’ll come home. It’s a long walk and maybe—maybe he hasn’t got any boots.”
阿什利会回家的。路很远，也许—也许他没鞋子了。”

Then at the thought of Ashley barefooted, Scarlett could have cried. —
想到阿什利赤脚，斯嘉丽差点哭出来。 —

Let other soldiers limp by in rags with their feet tied up in sacks and strips of carpet, but not Ashley. —
让其他士兵一瘸一拐地穿着破烂衣服，用麻袋和地毯条捆着双脚吧，但是不包括阿什利。 —

He should come home on a prancing horse, dressed in fine clothes and shining boots, a plume in his hat. —
他应该骑着一匹腾跃的马回家，穿着华丽的衣服和亮晶晶的靴子，帽子上插着羽毛。 —

It was the final degradation for her to think of Ashley reduced to the state of these other soldiers.
对她来说，想到阿什利降至与这些其他士兵一样的境地是最后的屈辱。

One afternoon in June when everyone at Tara was assembled on the back porch eagerly watching Pork cut the first half-ripe watermelon of the season, they heard hooves on the gravel of the front drive. —
一个六月的下午，当塔拉庄园的每个人都聚集在后阳台上迫不及待地看着波克剖开这个季节的第一个半熟西瓜时，他们听到前院碎石路上响起了马蹄声。 —

Prissy started languidly toward the front door, while those left behind argued hotly as to whether they should hide the melon or keep it for supper, should the caller at the door prove to be a soldier.
普里西懒洋洋地朝前门走去，与此同时，其他人争论着是否应该将甜瓜藏起来，以防门外的访客是军人。

Melly and Carreen whispered that the soldier guest should have a share and Scarlett, backed by Suellen and Mammy, hissed to Pork to hide it quickly.
梅莉和卡琳低声说，士兵客人应该有份，而斯嘉丽，在苏伦和玛米的支持下，嘘嘘地吩咐波克赶快藏起来。

“Don’t be a goose, girls! There’s not enough for us as it is and if there are two or three famished soldiers out there, none of us will even get a taste,” said Scarlett.
“别傻了，姑娘们！我们已经不够吃了，如果外面有两三个饿得要死的士兵，我们连尝一口的机会都没有了”，斯嘉丽说。

While Pork stood with the little melon clutched to him, uncertain as to the final decision, they heard Prissy cry out.
当波克紧紧抱着那个小甜瓜，不知最终的决定是什么时，他们听到普里西叫了起来。

“Gawdlmighty! Miss Scarlett! Miss Melly! Come quick!”
“天哪！斯嘉丽小姐！梅莉小姐！快点过来！”

“Who is it?” cried Scarlett, leaping up from the steps and racing through the hall with Melly at her shoulder and the others streaming after her.
“是谁？”斯嘉丽大喊着，从台阶上跳了起来，梅莉跟在她肩膀后面，其他人纷纷跟上。

Ashley! she thought. Oh, perhaps—
阿什利！她想。哦，也许—

“It’s Uncle Peter! Miss Pittypat’s Uncle Peter!”
“是彼得大叔！皮蒂帕特小姐的彼得大叔！”

They all ran out to the front porch and saw the tall grizzled old despot of Aunt Pitty’s house climbing down from a rat-tailed nag on which a section of quilting had been strapped. —
他们都冲出前廊，看到了从Pitty阿姨的房子下来的高个子、满脸皱纹的老暴君，他骑着一匹系着一段背带褶边的老马。 —

On his wide black face, accustomed dignity strove with delight at seeing old friends, with the result that his brow was furrowed in a frown but his mouth was hanging open like a happy toothless old hound’s.
他宽阔的黑脸上，习以为常的威严与见到老朋友的喜悦在竞争，结果他的额头浮着愁容，嘴却张开像一条幸福的没牙的老猎犬。

Everyone ran down the steps to greet him, black and white shaking his hand and asking questions, but Melly’s voice rose above them all.
大家都跑下台阶迎接他，黑人和白人都和他握手，问问题，但梅莉的声音盖过了所有人。

“Auntie isn’t sick, is she?”
“阿姨不舒服，对吗？”

“No’m. She’s po’ly, thank God,” answered Peter, fastening a severe look first on Melly and then on Scarlett, so that they suddenly felt guilty but could think of no reason why. —
“不，她病了，谢天谢地，”彼得回答道，先严厉地瞪了梅莉一眼，然后又看了斯嘉丽一眼，结果她们突然觉得有罪，但又想不出原因。 —

“She’s po’ly but she is plum outdone wid you young Misses, an’ ef it come right down to it, Ah is too!”
“她病了，但是她都对你们这些小姐们感到极度失望了，而且说到底，我也是！”

“Why! Uncle Peter! What on earth—”
“为什么！彼得大叔！到底怎么了—”

“Y’all nee’n try ter ‘scuse you’seffs. Ain’ Miss Pitty writ you an’ writ you ter come home? —
“你们别试着为自己找借口。Pitty小姐不是给你们写信叫你们回家了吗？” —

Ain’ Ah seed her write an’ seed her a-cryin’ w’en y’all writ her back dat you got too much ter do on disyere ole farm ter come home?”
难道我没有看到她写信并在你们回信说你们在农场忙得不可开交，不能回家时她哭了起来吗？

“But, Uncle Peter—”
“但是，彼得叔叔——”

“Huccome you leave Miss Pitty by herseff lak dis w’en she so scary lak? —
“你为什么把庞庞一个人留在这里，她那么害怕的时候？ —

You know well’s Ah do Miss Pitty ain’ never live by herseff an’ she been shakin’ in her lil shoes ever since she come back frum Macom. She say fer me ter tell y’all plain as Ah knows how dat she jes’ kain unnerstan’ y’all desertin’ her in her hour of need.”
你们可知道庞庞从马孔回来后一直在抖着她的小鞋子，她都不敢自己住。她让我尽量说清楚，她不明白你们在她需要帮助的时候就离开她。”

“Now, hesh!” said Mammy tartly, for it sat ill upon her to hear Tara referred to as an “ole farm.” —
“嘘！”老姆妈妈生气地说，她不喜欢听到塔拉被称为“旧农场”。 —

Trust an ignorant city-bred darky not to know the difference between a farm and a plantation. —
信任一个无知的城里黑人不知道农场和种植园的区别。 —

“Ain’ us got no hours of need? Ain’ us needin’ Miss Scarlett an’ Miss Melly right hyah an’ needin’ dem bad? —
“我们没有需要帮助的时候吗？我们不需要斯嘉丽小姐和梅莉小姐吗？我们非常需要她们在这里，非常需要。” —

Huccome Miss Pitty doan ast her brudder fer ‘sistance, does she need any?”
“为什么庞庞不向她的弟弟求助，难道她不需要吗？”

Uncle Peter gave her a withering look.
彼得叔叔瞪了她一眼。

“Us ain’ had nuthin’ ter do wid Mist’ Henry fer y’ars, an’ us is too ole ter start now.” —
“我们多年来与亨利先生无关，我们已经太老了，不可能再从头开始。” —

He turned back to the girls, who were trying to suppress their smiles. —
他转身面对那些竭力忍住笑容的女孩们。 —

“You young Misses ought ter tek shame, leavin’ po’ Miss Pitty ‘lone, wid half her frens daid an’ de other half in Macom, an’ ‘Lanta full of Yankee sojers an’ trashy free issue niggers.”
“你们这些年轻小姐们真应该感到羞愧，把可怜的吝啬鬼孤立起来，她的朋友一半都死了，另一半在麦康，而’兰塔都是洋基兵和粗制滥造的解放黑奴。

The two girls had borne the castigation with straight faces as long as they could, but the thought of Aunt Pitty sending Peter to scold them and bring them back bodily to Atlanta was too much for their control. —
两个女孩一直坚持着一脸严肃的表情，直到想到Pitty姨妈竟然派彼得责骂她们，并身体力行地把她们带回了亚特兰大，她们都按捺不住笑了出来。 —

They burst into laughter and hung on each other’s shoulders for support. —
她们大笑起来，互相搂着肩膀互相支持。 —

Naturally, Pork and Dilcey and Mammy gave vent to loud guffaws at hearing the detractor of their beloved Tara set at naught. —
自然地，波克、迪尔茜和曼咪也释放出大声的笑声，因为他们听到了对他们心爱的塔拉进行攻击的人丧失了所有说服力。 —

Suellen and Carreen giggled and even Gerald’s face wore a vague smile. —
苏伦和卡伦咯咯地笑了起来，甚至杰拉尔德的脸上也浮现出模糊的微笑。 —

Everyone laughed except Peter, who shifted from one large splayed foot to the other in mounting indignation.
除了彼得之外，每个人都笑了起来，彼得则怒气冲冲地来回踱步。

“Whut’s wrong wid you, nigger?” inquired Mammy with a grin. —
“你怎么了，黑奴？”曼咪微笑着问道。 —

“Is you gittin’ too ole ter perteck yo’ own Missus?”
“你是不是太老了，无法保护自己的夫人了？”

Peter was outraged.
彼得感到非常愤怒。

“Too ole! Me too ole? No, Ma’m! Ah kin perteck Miss Pitty lak Ah allus done. —
“太老了！我太老了吗？不，夫人！我可以像以前一样保护Pitty小姐。” —

Ain’ Ah perteck her down ter Macom when us refugeed? —
“当我们在马科姆避难时，我不也是在保护她吗？” —

Ain’ Ah perteck her w’en de Yankees come ter Macom an’ she so sceered she faintin’ all de time? —
“当南方联邦士兵进驻马科姆，她又害怕得昏倒过去，我不也是在保护她吗？” —

An’ ain’ Ah ‘quire disyere nag ter bring her back ter ‘Lanta an’ perteck her an’ her pa’s silver all de way?” —
“还不是我找了这匹马回大特拉去保护她和她爸爸的银器？” —

Peter drew himself to his full height as he vindicated himself. —
彼得挺直腰杆，为自己的行为做出了辩解。 —

“Ah ain’ talkin’ about perteckin’. Ah’s talkin’ ‘bout how it LOOK.”
“我不是在谈论保护的问题，我在谈论的是别人的看法。”

“How who look?”
“别人怎么看？”

“Ah’m talkin’ ‘bout how it look ter folks, seein’ Miss Pitty livin’ ‘lone. —
“我在说的是别人看到Pitty小姐一个人住着会怎么想。” —

Folks talks scan’lous ‘bout maiden ladies dat lives by deyseff,” continued Peter, and it was obvious to his listeners that Pittypat, in his mind, was still a plump and charming miss of sixteen who must be sheltered against evil tongues. —
“人们总是会对那些独自生活的未婚女子散播流言蜚语。” 彼得接着说，很明显，在他心中，Pittypat仍然是一个饱满迷人的16岁少女，必须受到保护免受恶言恶语的伤害。 —

“An’ Ah ain’ figgerin’ on havin’ folks criticize her. No, ma’m. —
“我可不想让别人评论她。不，夫人。” —

..An’ Ah ain’ figgerin’ on her takin’ in no bo’ders, jes’ fer comp’ny needer. Ah done tole her dat. —
“我也不打算让她接待任何寄宿客，只是为了找个伴而已。我已经告诉她了。” —

‘Not w’ile you got yo’ flesh an’ blood dat belongs wid you,’ Ah says. —
‘只要你还有自己的血肉与你在一起，我就不会去。’我说道。 —

An’ now her flesh an’ blood denyin’ her. —
‘而她的血肉却否认了她。’ —

Miss Pitty ain’ nuthin’ but a chile an’—”
皮蒂小姐不过是个孩子而已——”

At this, Scarlett and Melly whooped louder and sank down to the steps. —
这时，斯嘉丽和梅莉更加大笑，倒在了台阶上。 —

Finally Melly wiped tears of mirth from her eyes.
最后，梅莉从眼睛中抹去了欢笑的泪水。

“Poor Uncle Peter! I’m sorry I laughed. Really and truly. There! Do forgive me. —
“可怜的彼得叔叔！我很抱歉我笑了，真心的。哎呀！请原谅我。 —

Miss Scarlett and I just can’t come home now. —
斯嘉丽小姐和我现在不能回家了。 —

Maybe I’ll come in September after the cotton is picked. —
也许我会在九月份回来，等棉花采摘完了再说。 —

Did Auntie send you all the way down here just to bring us back on that bag of bones?”
阿姨是派你来这儿只是为了把我们带回去坐这辆瘦马车吗？”

At this question, Peter’s jaw suddenly dropped and guilt and consternation swept over his wrinkled black face. —
听到这个问题，彼得的下巴突然松开，内心充满了愧疚和困惑，纹丝不动的黑脸上流露出来。 —

His protruding underlip retreated to normal as swiftly as a turtle withdraws its head beneath its shell.
他那凸出的下肺唇迅速恢复正常，就像一只乌龟把头缩回壳里一样。

“Miss Melly. Ah is gittin’ ole, Ah spec’, ‘cause Ah clean fergit fer de moment whut she sent me fer, an’ it’s important too. —
“梅莉小姐，我年纪大了，我想，所以刚才我真的把她叫我来办什么的给忘了，而且还很重要。 —

Ah got a letter fer you. Miss Pitty wouldn’ trust de mails or nobody but me ter bring it an’—”
啊，给您带来了一封信。皮蒂小姐不相信邮件，也不相信任何人，只信任我带给她——”

“A letter? For me? Who from?”
一封信？给我的？是谁写的？

“Well’m, it’s—Miss Pitty, she says ter me, ‘You, Peter, you brek it gen’ly ter Miss Melly,’ an’ Ah say—”
好吧，嗯，是—皮蒂小姐对我说，’你，彼得，温柔地交给梅莉小姐’，然后我说—”

Melly rose from the steps, her hand at her heart.
梅莉从台阶上站起来，一手捂着心口。

“Ashley! Ashley! He’s dead!”
阿什利！阿什利！他死了！

“No’m! No’m!” cried Peter, his voice rising to a shrill bawl, as he fumbled in the breast pocket of his ragged coat. —
不，小姐！不，小姐！Peter边说边在他破烂的外套口袋里乱摸。 —

“He’s ‘live! Disyere a letter frum him. He comin’ home. —
他还活着！这是他的信。他回家了。 —

He— Gawdlmighty! Ketch her, Mammy! Lemme—”
天啊！抓住她，Mammy！让我——”

“Doan you tech her, you ole fool!” thundered Mammy, struggling to keep Melanie’s sagging body from falling to the ground. —
别碰她，你这个死脑瓜！Mammy咆哮着，努力防止梅兰妮的身体倒在地上。 —

“You pious black ape! Brek it gen’ly! You, Poke, tek her feet. —
你这个假装虔诚的黑猿！温柔地给她！你们，Poke，抬住她的脚。 —

Miss Carreen, steady her haid. Lessus lay her on de sofa in de parlor.”
卡琳小姐，扶住她的头。我们把她放在客厅的沙发上。

There was a tumult of sound as everyone but Scarlett swarmed about the fainting Melanie, everyone crying out in alarm, scurrying into the house for water and pillows, and in a moment Scarlett and Uncle Peter were left standing alone on the walk. —
人群围绕着晕倒的梅兰妮发出一阵喧闹声，每个人都惊叫着，匆忙进屋拿水和枕头，一会儿，只剩下斯嘉丽和彼得大叔孤零零地站在人行道上。 —

She stood rooted, unable to move from the position to which she had leaped when she heard his words, staring at the old man who stood feebly waving a letter. —
她站在原地，无法动弹，听到他的话后跳起时的姿势没有改变，盯着一个虚弱地挥动信件的老人。 —

His old black face was as pitiful as a child’s under its mother’s disapproval, his dignity collapsed.
他苍老黑暗的脸庞在母亲的不满下显得可怜，他的尊严被击垮了。

For a moment she could not speak or move, and though her mind shouted: “He isn’t dead! —
一时间她无法说话或移动，尽管她的思绪在喊叫着：“他没死！他要回家了！”但这个消息既没有带来欢乐，也没有激动，只有一种惊讶的不动。 —

He’s coming home!” the knowledge brought neither joy nor excitement, only a stunned immobility. Uncle Peter’s voice came as from a far distance, plaintive, placating.
彼得大叔的声音传来好像从很远的地方，哀求般地劝慰着。

“Mist’ Willie Burr frum Macom whut is kin ter us, he brung it ter Miss Pitty. Mist’ Willie he in de same jail house wid Mist’ Ashley. —
“这是我们那个与我们家有亲戚关系的马康的威利伯先生带来的，他和阿什利先生在同一所监狱里。 —

Mist’ Willie he got a hawse an’ he got hyah soon. —
威利伯先生有一匹马，他很快就到了这里。 —

But Mist’ Ashley he a-walkin’ an’—”
但阿什利先生在步行中-”

Scarlett snatched the letter from his hand. —
斯嘉丽从他手中夺过那封信。 —

It was addressed to Melly in Miss Pitty’s writing but that did not make her hesitate a moment. —
信上写着梅丽的名字，是皮蒂小姐的笔迹，但这并没有使她犹豫一刻。 —

She ripped it open and Miss Pitty’s inclosed note fell to the ground. —
她撕开了信封，皮蒂小姐附在里面的便条掉落在地。 —

Within the envelope there was a piece of folded paper, grimy from the dirty pocket in which it had been carried, creased and ragged about the edges. —
信封里还有一张折叠的纸，因为被放在脏兮兮的口袋里而变得灰蒙蒙，边缘破烂不堪。 —

It bore the inscription in Ashley’s hand: —
上面写着阿什利的字迹: —

“Mrs. George Ashley Wilkes, Care Miss Sarah Jane Hamilton, Atlanta, or Twelve Oaks, Jonesboro, Ga.”
“乔治·阿什利·威尔克斯夫人，转萨拉·简·汉密尔顿小姐去，亚特兰大，或乔治斯堡，乔治亚州。”

With fingers that shook, she opened it and read:
她的手指颤抖着，打开信封并开始阅读：

“Beloved, I am coming home to you—”
“至爱的，我要回家了——”

Tears began to stream down her face so that she could not read and her heart swelled up until she felt she could not bear the joy of it. —
眼泪开始脸颊上流淌，让她无法继续阅读，她的心情激荡得几乎无法承受这份喜悦。 —

Clutching the letter to her, she raced up the porch steps and down the hall, past the parlor where all the inhabitants of Tara were getting in one another’s way as they worked over the unconscious Melanie, and into Ellen’s office. —
她紧紧抓住信，冲上门廊的台阶，穿过大厅，经过找不到方向地互相搅和在昏迷的梅拉妮身边忙活的塔拉庄园的人们，进入埃伦的办公室。 —

She shut the door and locked it and flung herself down on the sagging old sofa crying, laughing, kissing the letter.
她关上门，锁上，并跌坐在下垂的旧沙发上，哭着，笑着，亲吻着那封信。

“Beloved,” she whispered, “I am coming home to you.”
“心爱的，”她低声说，“我要回家来找你了。”

Common sense told them that unless Ashley developed wings, it would be weeks or even months before he could travel from Illinois to Georgia, but hearts nevertheless beat wildly whenever a soldier turned into the avenue at Tara. Each bearded scarecrow might be Ashley. —
尽管常识告诉他们，除非阿什利长了翅膀，否则从伊利诺伊州到乔治亚州的旅途将需要数周甚至数月，但每当一名士兵转入塔拉大道，他们的心还是会剧烈跳动。每个蓬头垢面的稻草人都有可能是阿什利。 —

And if it were not Ashley, perhaps the soldier would have news of him or a letter from Aunt Pitty about him. —
如果不是阿什利，士兵或许会有关于他的消息或者来自佩蒂姨妈的信。 —

Black and white, they rushed to the front porch every time they heard footsteps. —
只要他们听到脚步声，黑人和白人就会冲向门廊。 —

The sight of a uniform was enough to bring everyone flying from the woodpile, the pasture and the cotton patch. —
只需看到军装，大家就会从柴堆、牧场和棉田里飞快奔来。 —

For a month after the letter came, work was almost at a standstill. —
来信之后的一个月，工作几乎停滞了。 —

No one wanted to be out of the house when he arrived. Scarlett least of all. —
人们都不愿当他到达时不在家。斯嘉丽尤其如此。 —

And she could not insist on the others attending to their duties when she so neglected hers.
当她如此忽视自己的工作时，她不能要求其他人履行自己的职责。

But when the weeks crawled by and Ashley did not come or any news of him, Tara settled back into its old routine. —
然而，当几个星期过去了，艾希礼没有出现，也没有任何他的消息， 泰拉又重新适应了以前的日常生活。 —

Longing hearts could only stand so much of longing. —
渴望的心只能忍受那么多的渴望。 —

An uneasy fear crept into Scarlett’s mind that something had happened to him along the way. —
一种不安的恐惧悄然笼罩着斯嘉丽的心头，她担心他在途中发生了什么事情。 —

Rock Island was so far away and he might have been weak or sick when released from prison. —
罗克岛太远了，他可能在出狱时虚弱或生病。 —

And he had no money and was tramping through a country where Confederates were hated. —
而且他没有钱，在一个联邦分子被仇恨的乡村里流浪。 —

If only she knew where he was, she would send money to him, send every penny she had and let the family go hungry, so he could come home swiftly on the train.
如果她知道他在哪里，她会把所有的钱都寄给他，让家庭挨饿，只为了让他能够坐火车快速回家。

“Beloved, I am coming home to you.”
“心爱的，我要回家找你了。”

In the first rush of joy when her eyes met those words, they had meant only that Ashley was coming home to her. —
当她的眼睛看到那些字时，最初的喜悦涌上心头，她只是觉得艾希礼要回到她身边了。 —

Now, in the light of cooler reason, it was Melanie to whom he was returning, Melanie who went about the house these days singing with joy. —
现在，在冷静的理智之光下，他要回去的是梅兰妮，梅兰妮这些天在家里充满了欢乐的歌声。 —

Occasionally, Scarlett wondered bitterly why Melanie could not have died in childbirth in Atlanta. —
偶尔，斯嘉丽愤怒地想，为何梅拉妮不能在亚特兰大时就在分娩中去世。 —

That would have made things perfect. Then she could have married Ashley after a decent interval and made little Beau a good stepmother too. —
那样就万事如意了。然后她就可以在适度的时间后与艾希利结婚，并成为小博的好继母。 —

When such thoughts came she did not pray hastily to God, telling Him she did not mean it. —
当这样的想法出现时，她没有匆忙地向上帝祈福，告诉上帝她并不是认真的。 —

God did not frighten her any more.
上帝已经不再让她害怕了。

Soldiers came singly and in pairs and dozens and they were always hungry. —
士兵们一个个地、两个两个地、或成批地到来，而且他们总是饥肠辘辘。 —

Scarlett thought despairingly that a plague of locusts would be more welcome. —
斯嘉丽绝望地认为，蝗虫的灾害更受欢迎一些。 —

She cursed again the old custom of hospitality which had flowered in the era of plenty, the custom which would not permit any traveler, great or humble, to go on his journey without a night’s lodging, food for himself and his horse and the utmost courtesy the house could give. —
她再次咒骂起了好客的古老习俗，在富裕时代盛行，这种习俗是不能容许任何旅行者，不管他是伟大的还是卑微的，上路前没有过夜的住处、给他和他的马提供食物以及享有最大的礼遇。 —

She knew that era had passed forever, but the rest of the household did not, nor did the soldiers, and each soldier was welcomed as if he were a long- awaited guest.
她知道那个时代已经永远过去了，但其他家庭成员不知道，士兵们也不知道，每一个士兵都像是期盼已久的客人一样受到了热烈的欢迎。

As the never-ending line went by, her heart hardened. —
当无休止的队伍经过时，她的心变得冷酷了。 —

They were eating the food meant for the mouths of Tara, vegetables over whose long rows she had wearied her back, food she had driven endless miles to buy. —
他们正在吃掉本来是为塔拉准备的食物，这些蔬菜是她曾经为了它们的连绵长行而疲惫不堪的背所劳累的，是她开车数英里去买的食物。 —

Food was so hard to get and the money in the Yankee’s wallet would not last forever. —
食物很难得到，而这个洋鬼子的钱包里的钱也不会永远够用。 —

Only a few greenbacks and the two gold pieces were left now. —
现在只剩下几张美元和两枚金币。 —

Why should she feed this horde of hungry men? The war was over. —
她为什么要喂养这一群饥饿的男人呢？战争已经结束了。 —

They would never again stand between her and danger. —
他们再也不会站在她和危险之间了。 —

So, she gave orders to Pork that when soldiers were in the house, the table should be set sparely. —
于是，她命令波克，当士兵们在屋子里时，餐桌上的食物要摆得简单。 —

This order prevailed until she noticed that Melanie, who had never been strong since Beau was born, was inducing Pork to put only dabs of food on her plate and giving her share to the soldiers.
这个命令一直生效，直到她注意到梅兰妮，自从博出生后就一直不太健康，正在劝说波克只给她的盘子上放一点点食物，并把自己的份额给了士兵们。

“You’ll have to stop it, Melanie,” she scolded. —
“你必须停下来，梅兰妮，”她责备道。 —

“You’re half sick yourself and if you don’t eat more, you’ll be sick in bed and we’ll have to nurse you. —
“你自己已经半病不起了，如果你不多吃点东西，你就会病倒在床上，我们要照顾你。 —

Let these men go hungry. They can stand it. —
让这些男人挨饿吧。他们可以忍受的。 —

They’ve stood it for four years and it won’t hurt them to stand it a little while longer.”
“他们忍受了四年，再忍一段时间也不会伤害到他们。”

Melanie turned to her and on her face was the first expression of naked emotion Scarlett had ever seen in those serene eyes.
梅拉妮转身看着她，她那宁静双眸中出现了第一次赤裸的情感表达，这是斯嘉丽从未见过的。

“Oh, Scarlett, don’t scold me! Let me do it. You don’t know how it helps me. —
“哦，斯嘉丽，不要责备我！让我来做吧。你不知道这对我有多么有帮助。” —

Every time I give some poor man my share I think that maybe, somewhere on the road up north, some woman is giving my Ashley a share of her dinner and it’s helping him to get home to me!”
每次我把我该分的份给一个可怜的男人时，我就想，也许，在北方的路上，某个女人正在分一份晚餐给我的阿什利，帮助他回到我身边！”

“My Ashley.”
“我的阿什利。”

“Beloved, I am coming home to you.”
“心爱的人，我要回家找你了。”

Scarlett turned away, wordless. After that, Melanie noticed there was more food on the table when guests were present, even though Scarlett might grudge them every mouthful.
斯嘉丽默默转过身去。此后，梅拉妮注意到，在有客人在场时，桌子上有更多的食物，尽管斯嘉丽也许会对每一口嘴边的食物心存怨恨。

When the soldiers were too ill to go on, and there were many such, Scarlett put them to bed with none too good grace. —
当士兵们病得无法继续前进时，情况非常多，斯嘉丽带着不太友好的态度将他们安置在床上。 —

Each sick man meant another mouth to feed. —
每一个生病的人意味着要另外喂养一张嘴。 —

Someone had to nurse him and that meant one less worker at the business of fence building, hoeing, weeding and plowing. —
有人得照顾他，这就意味着生活围栏建设、锄草、除草和耕种的工人就少了一个。 —

One boy, on whose face a blond fuzz had just begun to sprout, was dumped on the front porch by a mounted soldier bound for Fayetteville. —
一个脸上刚开始长出金色绒毛的男孩，被一名骑兵放在前门旁边，他正朝着费耶特维尔赶去。 —

He had found him unconscious by the roadside and had brought him, across his saddle, to Tara, the nearest house. —
骑兵在路边发现他失去意识，把他横放在自己的马鞍上，带到了塔拉，那是最近的一座房子。 —

The girls thought he must be one of the little cadets who had been called out of military school when Sherman approached Milledgeville but they never knew, for he died without regaining consciousness and a search of his pockets yielded no information.
女孩们认为他一定是那些在谢尔曼接近米尔杰维尔时被召回军事学校的小学员之一，但他没有恢复意识就去世了，搜查他的口袋也没有找到任何信息。

A nice-looking boy, obviously a gentleman, and somewhere to the south, some woman was watching the roads, wondering where he was and when he was coming home, just as she and Melanie, with a wild hope in their hearts, watched every bearded figure that came up their walk. —
一个看起来很不错的男孩，显然是个绅士，在南方的某个地方，有个女人正在看着路，想知道他在哪里，何时回家，就像她和梅拉尼一样，心里满怀着野心，注视着来到他们门口的每一个有胡子的人。 —

They buried the cadet in the family burying ground, next to the three little O’Hara boys, and Melanie cried sharply as Pork filled in the grave, wondering in her heart if strangers were doing this same thing to the tall body of Ashley.
他们将军校生埋葬在家族墓地里，就在三个小奥哈拉男孩旁边，梅兰妮哭得很伤心，当猪肉填满坟墓时，她心里想着是否有陌生人也在为高大的阿什利做同样的事情。

Will Benteen was another soldier, like the nameless boy, who arrived unconscious across the saddle of a comrade. —
威尔·本汀是另一名士兵，像那个无名男孩一样，他也被同伴驮着，昏迷不醒地到达这里。 —

Will was acutely ill with pneumonia and when the girls put him to bed, they feared he would soon join the boy in the burying ground.
威尔患上了重症肺炎，当姑娘们把他送上床时，他们担心他很快就会和那个男孩一起入土为安。

He had the sallow malarial face of the south Georgia Cracker, pale pinkish hair and washed-out blue eyes which even in delirium were patient and mild. —
他有着南乔治亚州贫民窟佬（Cracker）那种病态苍白的面容，淡淡的粉红色头发和憔悴的蓝色眼睛，即使在精神错乱时也是忍耐而温和的眼神。 —

One of his legs was gone at the knee and to the stump was fitted a roughly whittled wooden peg. —
他的一条腿在膝盖处失去了，用一个粗糙地削尖的木头假肢代替。 —

He was obviously a Cracker, just as the boy they had buried so short a while ago was obviously a planter’s son. —
显然，他是一个佬，就像他们不久前葬下的那个男孩显然是一个种植园主的儿子一样。 —

Just how the girls knew this they could not say. —
姑娘们不知道是如何知道这个的。 —

Certainly Will was no dirtier, no more hairy, no more lice infested than many fine gentlemen who came to Tara. Certainly the language he used in his delirium was no less grammatical than that of the Tarleton twins. —
威尔当然不会比来到塔拉庄园的许多绅士更肮脏，也不会更多毛，更多虱子。当然，他发疯时所使用的语言也不会比塔尔顿兄弟的措辞不正确。 —

But they knew instinctively, as they knew thoroughbred horses from scrubs, that he was not of their class. —
但他们本能地明白，就像他们从草丛中辨认纯种马一样，他并不属于他们的阶级。 —

But this knowledge did not keep them from laboring to save him.
但这个认识并没有阻止他们努力去拯救他。

Emaciated from a year in a Yankee prison, exhausted by his long tramp on his ill-fitting wooden peg, he had little strength to combat pneumonia and for days he lay in the bed moaning, trying to get up, fighting battles over again. —
在被北方敌人囚禁一年后，由于长时间疲惫地踏着他不合适的假肢而导致消瘦，他几乎没有力气去对抗肺炎，几天来他一直躺在床上呻吟，试图站起来，一次又一次地战斗。 —

Never once did he call for mother, wife, sister or sweetheart and this omission worried Carreen.
他从未一次召唤过母亲、妻子、姐妹或者情人，这个遗漏让卡琳困惑不已。

“A man ought to have some folks,” she said. “And he sounds like he didn’t have a soul in the world.”
“一个人应该有亲人，”她说。“听上去他似乎世上没有一个魂灵。”

For all his lankiness he was tough, and good nursing pulled him through. —
尽管他瘦削，但好的护理使他度过了难关。 —

The day came when his pale blue eyes, perfectly cognizant of his surroundings, fell upon Carreen sitting beside him, telling her rosary beads, the morning sun shining through her fair hair.
在一个清晨阳光透过她金色的头发洒在身上，坐在他身旁默念玫瑰经的卡琳，他苍白的蓝眼睛完全意识到周围的环境。

“Then you warn’t a dream, after all,” he said, in his flat toneless voice. —
“那么你果然不是一个梦”，他用他那沉闷无情的声音说道。 —

“I hope I ain’t troubled you too much, Ma’m.”
“希望我没有给您添太多麻烦，夫人。”

His convalescence was a long one and he lay quietly looking out of the window at the magnolias and causing very little trouble to anyone. —
他的康复过程很漫长，他静静地看着窗外的木兰花，几乎没有给任何人添麻烦。 —

Carreen liked him because of his placid and unembarrassed silences. —
卡琳喜欢他，因为他平静而毫不尴尬的沉默。 —

She would sit beside him through the long hot afternoons, fanning him and saying nothing.
在漫长而炎热的下午，她会坐在他身边，给他扇风，一言不发。

Carreen had very little to say these days as she moved, delicate and wraithlike, about the tasks which were within her strength. —
最近这些日子，卡琳几乎没有什么可说的话，她轻盈无声地完成自己力所能及的任务。 —

She prayed a good deal, for when Scarlett came into her room without knocking, she always found her on her knees by her bed. —
她经常祈祷，因为每当斯嘉丽不敲门就走进她的房间时，她总会发现她跪在床边祈祷。 —

The sight never failed to annoy her, for Scarlett felt that the time for prayer had passed. —
这个情景始终让她恼火，因为斯嘉丽觉得祈祷的时机已经过去了。 —

If God had seen fit to punish them so, then God could very well do without prayers. —
如果上帝认为惩罚他们是合适的，那么上帝完全可以不需要祈祷。 —

Religion had always been a bargaining process with Scarlett. —
对斯嘉丽来说，宗教一直是一种交易过程。 —

She promised God good behavior in exchange for favors. —
她答应上帝会表现良好，以换取恩惠。 —

God had broken the bargain time and again, to her way of thinking, and she felt that she owed Him nothing at all now. —
按她的看法，上帝一次又一次地违背了协议，所以她觉得自己不欠他任何东西。 —

And whenever she found Carreen on her knees when she should have been taking an afternoon nap or doing the mending, she felt that Carreen was shirking her share of the burdens.
每当她发现卡琳应该在午后休息或做补衣时却跪在地上，她觉得卡琳在逃避自己应承担的责任。

She said as much to Will Benteen one afternoon when he was able to sit up in a chair and was startled when he said in his flat voice: —
一个下午，当威尔·本汀可以坐在椅子上的时候，她这样对他说时，他的声音平淡地回答道： —

“Let her be, Miss Scarlett. It comforts her.”
“让她继续吧，斯嘉丽小姐。这让她感到安慰。”

“Comforts her?”
“安慰她？”

“Yes, she’s prayin’ for your ma and him.”
“是的，她在为你妈妈和他祈祷。”

“Who is ‘him’?”
“‘他’是指谁？”

His faded blue eyes looked at her from under sandy lashes without surprise. —
他褪色的蓝眼睛从金色睫毛下注视着她，没有丝毫惊讶。 —

Nothing seemed to surprise or excite him. —
似乎没有什么能够使他惊讶或激动起来。 —

Perhaps he had seen too much of the unexpected ever to be startled again. —
也许他见过太多的意外，再也不会被吓到。 —

That Scarlett did not know what was in her sister’s heart did not seem odd to him. —
他觉得斯嘉丽不知道她妹妹心里想什么并不奇怪。 —

He took it as naturally as he did the fact that Carreen had found comfort in talking to him, a stranger.
他像接受卡琳向他倾诉的事实一样自然。

“Her beau, that boy Brent something-or-other who was killed at Gettysburg.”
“她的情郎，那个在葛底斯堡战役中被杀的布伦特什么的男孩。”

“Her beau?” said Scarlett shortly. “Her beau, nothing! He and his brother were my beaux.”
斯嘉丽不耐烦地说：“她的情郎？才不是呢！他和他的兄弟是我的情郎。”

“Yes, so she told me. Looks like most of the County was your beaux. —
是啊，她告诉我。看起来整个郡都是你的情郎呢。 —

But, all the same, he was her beau after you turned him down, because when he come home on his last furlough they got engaged. —
但是，在你拒绝他后，他确实成了她的情郎，因为他在最后的休假时他们订婚了。 —

She said he was the only boy she’d ever cared about and so it kind of comforts her to pray for him.”
她说他是她唯一在意的男孩，所以为他祈祷给了她一些安慰。

“Well, fiddle-dee-dee!” said Scarlett, a very small dart of jealousy entering her.
斯嘉丽嘟哝道：“呸！无聊！”心里涌上了一丝嫉妒之情。

She looked curiously at this lanky man with his bony stooped shoulders, his pinkish hair and calm unwavering eyes. —
她好奇地看着这个瘦长的男人，他那佝偻的骨瘦如柴的肩膀，粉红色的头发和平静而坚定的眼神。 —

So he knew things about her own family which she had not troubled to discover. —
所以他知道一些关于她家人的事情，而她却没有去探究。 —

So that was why Carreen mooned about, praying all the time. Well, she’d get over it. —
所以这就是为什么卡琳总是沉浸在悲伤中，一直在祈祷。好吧，她会好起来的。 —

Lots of girls got over dead sweethearts, yes, dead husbands, too. —
很多女孩都能从失去心爱的人中恢复过来，是的，失去丈夫也是一样。 —

She’d certainly gotten over Charles. And she knew one girl in Atlanta who had been widowed three times by the war and was still able to take notice of men. —
她肯定已经从查尔斯身上走出来了。她认识亚特兰大的一个女孩，她在战争中丈夫死了三次，但仍然能关注到男人。 —

She said as much to Will but he shook his head.
她对威尔说了这些话，但他摇了摇头。

“Not Miss Carreen,” he said with finality.
“卡琳小姐不一样，”他断然地说道。

Will was pleasant to talk to because he had so little to say and yet was so understanding a listener. She told him about her problems of weeding and hoeing and planting, of fattening the hogs and breeding the cow, and he gave good advice for he had owned a small farm in south Georgia and two negroes. —
与威尔交谈是很愉快的，因为他话很少，但是他是一个很善解人意的倾听者。她告诉他她在一些问题上的困扰，比如除草、锄地和种植，还有养肥猪和饲养牛，他给了很好的建议，因为他在乔治亚南部有一个小农场和两个黑奴。 —

He knew his slaves were free now and the farm gone to weeds and seedling pines. —
他知道他的奴隶现在是自由的，农场已经荒废了，长满了杂草和小松树。 —

His sister, his only relative, had moved to Texas with her husband years ago and he was alone in the world. —
他的姐妹，他唯一的亲戚，多年前和她的丈夫搬到了德克萨斯，他现在是孤身一人。 —

Yet, none of these things seemed to bother him any more than the leg he had left in Virginia.
然而，这些事情似乎对他没有任何困扰，就像他在弗吉尼亚时失去的腿一样。

Yes, Will was a comfort to Scarlett after hard days when the negroes muttered and Suellen nagged and cried and Gerald asked too frequently where Ellen was. —
是的，在经历了累人的一天后，威尔成为了斯嘉丽的安慰。当黑奴们咕哝不已、苏伦不断唠叨哭泣、杰拉尔德频繁询问埃伦去哪时，他给了斯嘉丽一些安慰。 —

She could tell Will anything. She even told him of killing the Yankee and glowed with pride when he commented briefly: “Good work!”
她可以向威尔倾诉一切。她甚至告诉他自己杀了那个北方佬，而当他简单地评论道：“做得好！”时，她感到非常自豪。

Eventually all the family found their way to Will’s room to air their troubles—even Mammy, who had at first been distant with him because he was not quality and had owned only two slaves.
最终，家庭中的每个人都找到了威尔谈心 - 即使是一开始对他保持距离的玛米，因为他并非上等人并且只拥有两个奴隶。

When he was able to totter about the house, he turned his hands to weaving baskets of split oak and mending the furniture ruined by the Yankees. —
当他能够摇摇晃晃地走进屋子时，他开始用分裂的橡木编制篮子和修补被北方人毁坏的家具。 —

He was clever at whittling and Wade was constantly by his side, for he whittled out toys for him, the only toys the little boy had. —
他很擅长削尖东西，韦德经常和他在一起，因为他给他雕刻了一些玩具，这是小男孩唯一的玩具。 —

With Will in the house, everyone felt safe in leaving Wade and the two babies while they went about their tasks, for he could care for them as deftly as Mammy and only Melly surpassed him at soothing the screaming black and white babies.
有了威尔在家，每个人都感到放心，可以离开韦德和两个婴儿去完成他们的任务，因为他能像玛米一样巧妙地照顾他们，只有梅莉胜过他在安抚那些尖叫的黑人和白人婴儿方面。

“You’ve been mighty good to me, Miss Scarlett,” he said, “and me a stranger and nothin’ to you all. —
“你对我非常好，斯嘉丽小姐，”他说，“我是个陌生人对你们来说毫无意义。” —

I’ve caused you a heap of trouble and worry and if it’s all the same to you, I’m goin’ to stay here and help you all with the work till I’ve paid you back some for your trouble. —
“我给你们带来了很多麻烦和担忧，如果你没意见的话，我打算留下来帮助你们做工，以还你们一些辛劳。” —

I can’t ever pay it all, ‘cause there ain’t no payment a man can give for his life.”
“我永远无法全额偿还，因为没有什么报酬可以抵消一个人的生命。”

So he stayed and, gradually, unobtrusively, a large part of the burden of Tara shifted from Scarlett’s shoulders to the bony shoulders of Will Benteen.
于是他留了下来，渐渐地，塔拉庄园的重担从斯嘉丽的肩膀上转移到了威尔·本廷瘦削的肩膀上。

It was September and time to pick the cotton. —
“现在是九月，该采棉花的时候了。” —

Will Benteen sat on the front steps at Scarlett’s feet in the pleasant sunshine of the early autumn afternoon and his flat voice went on and on languidly about the exorbitant costs of ginning the cotton at the new gin near Fayetteville. —
威尔·本廷坐在斯嘉丽脚前的大门阶梯上，享受着初秋时分宜人的阳光，他那低沉的声音懒洋洋地谈论着在费耶特维尔附近的新压棉机上昂贵的压棉费用。 —

However, he had learned that day in Fayetteville that he could cut this expense a fourth by lending the horse and wagon for two weeks to the gin owner. —
然而，他在费耶特维尔那天得知，如果把马和马车借给压棉机主人两个星期，就能将这笔开销降低四分之一。 —

He had delayed closing the bargain until he discussed it with Scarlett.
他推迟了达成交易的时间，直到与斯嘉丽讨论后再决定。

She looked at the lank figure leaning against the porch column, chewing a straw. —
她看着一个瘦高个子靠在门廊柱子上，嚼着一根稻草。 —

Undoubtedly, as Mammy frequently declared, Will was something the Lord had provided and Scarlett often wondered how Tara could have lived through the last few months without him. —
无疑地，就像麦米经常说的那样，威尔是上帝派来的，斯嘉丽常常想，如果没有他，塔拉怎么能度过最近几个月。 —

He never had much to say, never displayed any energy, never seemed to take much interest in anything that went on about him, but he knew everything about everybody at Tara. And he did things. —
他从不多说话，从不表现出任何活力，似乎对周围发生的事情也不太感兴趣，但他了解塔拉上的所有人。而且他会做事。 —

He did them silently, patiently and competently. —
他默默地、耐心地、胜任地去完成这些事情。 —

Though he had only one leg, he could work faster than Pork. And he could get work out of Pork, which was, to Scarlett, a marvelous thing. —
尽管他只有一条腿，但他比猪肉干更快。而且他能让猪肉干干活，对斯嘉丽来说，这是一件了不起的事情。 —

When the cow had the colic and the horse fell ill with a mysterious ailment which threatened to remove him permanently from them, Will sat up nights with them and saved them. —
当奶牛得了绞痛，马得了一种神秘的疾病威胁着它永远离开他们时，威尔整夜照料它们，拯救了它们。 —

That he was a shrewd trader brought him Scarlett’s respect, for he could ride out in the mornings with a bushel or two of apples, sweet potatoes and other vegetables and return with seeds, lengths of cloth, flour and other necessities which she knew she could never have acquired, good trader though she was.
由于他是一个精明的商人，他赢得了斯佳丽的尊重。每天早上，他都能带着一两蓬苹果、红薯和其他蔬菜出发，回来时带回种子、布料、面粉等她自己无法获得的必需品，尽管她也是个很会做生意的人。

He had gradually slipped into the status of a member of the family and slept on a cot in the little dressing room off Gerald’s room. —
他渐渐成为家人的一员，睡在杰拉尔德房间旁边的一个小化妆室的小床上。 —

He said nothing of leaving Tara, and Scarlett was careful not to question him, fearful that he might leave them. —
他没有提到离开塔拉的事情，斯佳丽小心翼翼地不敢问他，生怕他会离开他们。 —

Sometimes, she thought that if he were anybody and had any gumption he would go home, even if he no longer had a home. —
有时候，她想，如果他是个人，有些智慧的话，他会回家的，即使他已经没有家了。 —

But even with this thought, she would pray fervently that he would remain indefinitely. —
但即使有这样的想法，她仍然会虔诚地祈祷他能无限期地留下来。 —

It was so convenient to have a man about the house.
家里有个男人真是太方便了。

She thought, too, that if Carreen had the sense of a mouse she would see that Will cared for her. —
她还觉得如果卡莲有一点机智，就会看出威尔对她是真心的。 —

Scarlett would have been eternally grateful to Will, had he asked her for Carreen’s hand. —
如果威尔向她提亲，斯嘉丽会永远感激他。 —

Of course, before the war, Will would certainly not have been an eligible suitor. —
当然，在战争之前，威尔肯定不会是一个合适的求婚者。 —

He was not of the planter class at all, though he was not poor white. —
他根本不是种植园主的阶级，尽管他不算是穷白人。 —

He was just plain Cracker, a small farmer, half-educated, prone to grammatical errors and ignorant of some of the finer manners the O’Haras were accustomed to in gentlemen. —
他只是一个普通的乡下人，一个小农夫，半文盲，会犯语法错误，对奥哈拉家族中绅士的某些精细礼仪一无所知。 —

In fact, Scarlett wondered if he could be called a gentleman at all and decided that he couldn’t. —
事实上，斯嘉丽想知道他是否能算得上一个绅士，结果她认为他不是。 —

Melanie hotly defended him, saying that anyone who had Will’s kind heart and thoughtfulness of others was of gentle birth. —
梅兰妮热情地为威尔辩护，说任何一个有着威尔善良的心和对他人的体贴入微都是有高尚出身的人。 —

Scarlett knew that Ellen would have fainted at the thought of a daughter of hers marrying such a man, but now Scarlett had been by necessity forced too far away from Ellen’s teachings to let that worry her. —
斯嘉丽知道艾伦一定会晕倒在想到她的女儿嫁给这样的人时，但是现在斯嘉丽被迫远离艾伦的教课太久了，以至于这不会让她担心。 —

Men were scarce, girls had to marry someone and Tara had to have a man. —
男人稀缺，女孩得嫁给某人，而塔拉也得有个男人。 —

But Carreen, deeper and deeper immersed in her prayer book and every day losing more of her touch with the world of realities, treated Will as gently as a brother and took him as much for granted as she did Pork.
但是卡琳越陷越深地沉浸在祷告书中，每天都与现实世界失去更多联系，她对威尔的态度就像对弟弟一样温柔，并且像对波克一样视为理所当然。

“If Carreen had any sense of gratitude to me for what I’ve done for her, she’d marry him and not let him get away from here,” Scarlett thought indignantly. —
“如果卡琳对我为她做的事感到感激，她就会嫁给他，不会让他离开这里”，斯嘉丽愤愤地想。 —

“But no, she must spend her time mooning about a silly boy who probably never gave her a serious thought.”
“但是不，她却花时间念叨着一个或许从未认真对待过她的傻小子。”

So Will remained at Tara, for what reason she did not know and she found his businesslike man-to-man attitude with her both pleasant and helpful. —
所以威尔留在塔拉，她不知道是出于什么原因，她发现他与她之间的商业式的男人之间的态度既令人愉快又有帮助。 —

He was gravely deferential to the vague Gerald but it was to Scarlett that he turned as the real head of the house.
他对模糊不清的杰拉尔德庄重而恭敬，但真正把她当作家中的头头的却是斯嘉丽。

She gave her approval to the plan of hiring out the horse even though it meant the family would be without any means of transportation temporarily. —
尽管这意味着家人一时无法出行，但她赞同出租马匹的计划。 —

Suellen would be especially grieved at this. —
苏伦会因此感到特别伤心。 —

Her greatest joy lay in going to Jonesboro or Fayetteville with Will when he drove over on business. Adorned in the assembled best of the family, she called on old friends, heard all the gossip of the County and felt herself again Miss O’Hara of Tara. Suellen never missed the opportunity to leave the plantation and give herself airs among people who did not know she weeded the garden and made beds.
当威尔因公务开车去琼斯伯勒或费耶特维尔时，她最大的快乐就是陪同他。她穿着家族最好的装束，去拜访老朋友，听取县内的八卦消息，感觉自己又是塔拉的奥哈拉小姐了。苏伦从不错过离开庄园，到不认识她是务农和整理床铺的人当中，炫耀自己的机会。

Miss Fine Airs will just have to do without gadding for two weeks, thought Scarlett, and we’ll have to put up with her nagging and her bawling.
“扮作斯文的那位小姐就得忍两个星期无法外出了。”斯佳丽想着，“我们只能容忍她的唠叨和哭闹。”

Melanie joined them on the veranda, the baby in her arms, and spreading an old blanket on the floor, set little Beau down to crawl. —
梅兰妮带着孩子在致凉亭上加入了他们，抱着婴儿，在地上铺好一块旧毯子，让小博开始爬行。 —

Since Ashley’s letter Melanie had divided her time between glowing, singing happiness and anxious longing. —
自从阿什利的信来后，梅兰妮一直过着既幸福又忧虑的生活。 —

But happy or depressed, she was too thin, too white. —
无论快乐还是压抑，她都太瘦，太苍白。 —

She did her share of the work uncomplainingly but she was always ailing. —
她默默无怨地做着自己份内的工作，但总是身体欠佳。 —

Old Dr. Fontaine diagnosed her trouble as female complaint and concurred with Dr. Meade in saying she should never have had Beau. And he said frankly that another baby would kill her.
老Doctor Fontaine诊断她的问题是女性的问题，并赞同Meade医生的说法，她本不应该生Beau。他坦率地说，再生一个孩子会害死她。

“When I was over to Fayetteville today,” said Will, “I found somethin’ right cute that I thought would interest you ladies and I brought it home.” —
“今天我去了费耶特维尔,“威尔说道，”我找到了一件很可爱的东西，我觉得你们女士们会感兴趣，所以我带回家了。” —

He fumbled in his back pants pocket and brought out the wallet of calico, stiffened with bark, which Carreen had made him. —
他在后裤兜里摸索着，拿出了Carreen做给他的一张裹着树皮的卡利科钱夹。 —

From it, he drew a Confederate bill.
他从里面拿出了一张南军钞。

“If you think Confederate money is cute, Will, I certainly don’t,” said Scarlett shortly, for the very sight of Confederate money made her mad. —
“如果你觉得南军钞很可爱，威尔，我可完全不这么认为，”斯嘉丽不耐烦地说道，一看到南军钞就让她生气。 —

“We’ve got three thousand dollars of it in Pa’s trunk this minute, and Mammy’s after me to let her paste it over the holes in the attic walls so the draft won’t get her. —
“我们家里的积蓄现在有三千块钱，都在爸爸的箱子里，曼妮一直要我让她把它们贴在阁楼墙上的洞里，这样就不会有冷风吹进来了。 —

And I think I’ll do it. Then it’ll be good for something.”
我想我会这么做。这样它们就会有用了。”

”‘Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay,’” said Melanie with a sad smile. —
“盖奇死后变成尘土，”梅拉妮带着悲伤的微笑说道。 —

“Don’t do that, Scarlett. Keep it for Wade. He’ll be proud of it some day.”
“不要这样做，斯嘉丽。把它给韦德吧。他将来会为它感到自豪的。”

“Well, I don’t know nothin’ about imperious Caesar,” said Will, patiently, “but what I’ve got is in line with what you’ve just said about Wade, Miss Melly. It’s a poem, pasted on the back of this bill. —
“嗯，我对威严的凯撒一无所知。”威尔耐心地说，“但我手上的东西和你刚才说的关于韦德的话是一致的，梅莉小姐。这是一首贴在账单背面的诗。” —

I know Miss Scarlett ain’t much on poems but I thought this might interest her.”
“我知道斯嘉丽并不喜欢诗，但我觉得这可能会引起她的兴趣。”

He turned the bill over. On its back was pasted a strip of coarse brown wrapping paper, inscribed in pale homemade ink. —
他把账单翻了过来。背面贴着一条粗糙的褐色包装纸，上面用淡淡的自制墨水书写着。 —

Will cleared his throat and read slowly and with difficulty.
威尔清了清嗓子，费力地慢慢读起来。

“The name is ‘Lines on the Back of a Confederate Note,’” he said.
“这首诗的名字是《南联邦钞票背面的诗》。”他说。

“Representing nothing on God’s earth now And naught in the waters below it— As the pledge of nation that’s passed away Keep it, dear friend, and show it.
“如今在上帝的地球上什么也不代表，水下也是无物——作为一个逝去的国家的承诺，保留它吧，亲爱的朋友，展示出来。

Show it to those who will lend an ear To the tale this trifle will tell Of Liberty, born of patriots’ dream, Of a storm-cradled nation that fell.”
“展示给那些肯倾听这小玩意所讲述的故事的人们，这故事是关于自由，诞生于爱国者的梦想，关于一个经历暴风雨的国家的覆亡。”

“Oh, how beautiful! How touching!” cried Melanie. —
“哦，多么美丽！多么感人！”梅兰妮喊道。 —

“Scarlett, you mustn’t give the money to Mammy to paste in the attic. —
“斯嘉丽，你不应该把钱交给玛米去收藏在阁楼里。” —

It’s more than paper—just like this poem said: —
“这不仅仅是纸张——就像这首诗所说的那样：” —

‘The pledge of a nation that’s passed away!’”
“‘一个已经消逝的国家的誓言！’”

“Oh, Melly, don’t be sentimental! Paper is paper and we’ve got little enough of it and I’m tired of hearing Mammy grumble about the cracks in the attic. —
“哦，梅利，别那么感性！纸张就是纸张，而且我们没有多少了，我已经厌倦听玛米抱怨阁楼里的裂缝了。” —

I hope when Wade grows up I’ll have plenty of greenbacks to give him instead of Confederate trash.”
“我希望韦德长大后，我能给他足够的钞票，而不是那些废纸币。”

Will, who had been enticing little Beau across the blanket with the bill during this argument, looked up and, shading his eyes, glanced down the driveway.
威尔在这场争论中一边用钞票引诱着小博穿过毯子，一边抬起头，遮住眼睛，朝着车道望去。

“More company,” he said, squinting in the sun. “Another soldier.”
“又有人来了，”他眯着眼睛在阳光下说道，“又来了一个士兵。”

Scarlett followed his gaze and saw a familiar sight, a bearded man coming slowly up the avenue under the cedars, a man clad in a ragged mixture of blue and gray uniforms, head bowed tiredly, feet dragging slowly.
斯嘉丽顺着他的目光看去，看到了一个熟悉的景象，一个蓝色和灰色混合制服的胡须男子，在雪松树下沿着车道缓慢地走来，头低垂疲惫，脚步慢慢拖沓。

“I thought we were about through with soldiers,” she said. “I hope this one isn’t very hungry.”
“我以为我们已经不用再见到士兵了，”她说，“希望这位不是太饿。”

“He’ll be hungry,” said Will briefly.
“他会饿的，”威尔简单地说道。

Melanie rose.
梅兰妮·罗斯。

“I’d better tell Dilcey to set an extra plate,” she said, “and warn Mammy not to get the poor thing’s clothes off his back too abruptly and—”
“我最好告诉迪尔西多摆一副多余的碟子，”她说，“并且警告曼妮不要太突然地从他身上脱掉可怜人的衣服，还有——”

She stopped so suddenly that Scarlett turned to look at her. —
她突然停下来，让斯嘉丽转过头去看她。 —

Melanie’s thin hand was at her throat, clutching it as if it was torn with pain, and Scarlett could see the veins beneath the white skin throbbing swiftly. —
梅兰妮苍白的手抓住她的喉咙，仿佛被剧痛撕扯，斯嘉丽可以看到白皙的皮肤下脉络急速跳动。 —

Her face went whiter and her brown eyes dilated enormously.
她的脸变得更白了，褐色的眼睛瞪得大大的。

She’s going to faint, thought Scarlett, leaping to her feet and catching her arm.
她要晕倒了，斯嘉丽心想，一边跳起身握住她的胳膊。

But, in an instant, Melanie threw off her hand and was down the steps. —
但是，瞬间，梅兰妮甩开了她的手下了台阶。 —

Down the graveled path she flew, skimming lightly as a bird, her faded skirts streaming behind her, her arms outstretched. —
她沿着石子路飞奔而去，轻盈地如同一只鸟，那已经褪色的裙摆在她身后飘扬，她伸开双臂。 —

Then, Scarlett knew the truth, with the impact of a blow. —
这时，斯嘉丽像是受到了重击，顶在门廊的立柱上，当那个男人抬起一张满是脏蓬乱胡须的脸，停下来，眺望着这座房子，仿佛他太疲惫无力再迈出一步。 —

She reeled back against an upright of the porch as the man lifted a face covered with a dirty blond beard and stopped still, looking toward the house as if he was too weary to take another step. —
她知道真相了，就像是被一击打倒一样。 —

Her heart leaped and stopped and then began racing, as Melly with incoherent cries threw herself into the dirty soldier’s arms and his head bent down toward hers. —
她的心跳停止了,然后开始狂跳，Melly一边嘤嘤地喊着，一边扑向了脏兮兮的士兵的怀里，他的头低下，靠近她的头。 —

With rapture, Scarlett took two running steps forward but was checked when Will’s hand closed upon her skirt.
斯嘉丽欣喜若狂地跑了两步，但威尔的手紧紧抓住了她的裙摆，阻止了她。

“Don’t spoil it,” he said quietly.
“别破坏这一切”，他平静地说道。

“Turn me loose, you fool! Turn me loose! It’s Ashley!”
“放开我，你这个傻瓜！放开我！那是阿什利！”

He did not relax his grip.
他没有放松他的抓紧。

“After all, he’s HER husband, ain’t he?” Will asked calmly and, looking down at him in a confusion of joy and impotent fury, Scarlett saw in the quiet depths of his eyes understanding and pity.
“毕竟，他是她的丈夫，不是吗？” 威尔平静地问道，斯嘉丽一片欣喜和无能为力的愤怒中，透过他眼中平静的深处，看到了理解和怜悯。