Chapter 47

    Then she went on: what about this? what about that? Said she knew Halle was no trouble, but shewanted to know if schoolteacher was handling the Pauls all right and Sixo.

　　"Yes, ma'am," I said. "Look like it.""Do they do what he tells them?""They don't need telling.""Good. That's a mercy. I should be back downstairs in a day or two. I just need more rest. Doctor'sdue back. Tomorrow, is it?" "You said features, ma'am?""What?""Features?""Umm. Like, a feature of summer is heat. A characteristic is a feature. A thing that's natural to athing.""Can you have more than one?""You can have quite a few. You know. Say a baby sucks its thumb. That's one, but it has otherstoo. Keep Billy away from Red Corn. Mr. Garner¹ never let her calve every other year. Sethe, youhear me? Come away from that window and listen.""Yes, ma'am.""Ask my brother-in-law to come up after supper.""Yes, ma'am.""If you'd wash your hair you could get rid of that lice.""Ain't no lice in my head, ma'am.""Whatever it is, a good scrubbing² is what it needs, not scratching.

　　Don't tell me we're out of soap.""No, ma'am.""All right now. I'm through. Talking makes me tired.""Yes, ma'am.""And thank you, Sethe.""Yes, ma'am."You was too little to remember the quarters. Your brothers slept under the window. Me, you andyour daddy slept by the wall. The night after I heard why schoolteacher measured me, I had troublesleeping. When Halle came in I asked him what he thought about schoolteacher. He said therewasn't nothing to think about. Said, He's white, ain't he? I said, But I mean is he like Mr. Garner?

　　"What you want to know, Sethe?""Him and her," I said, "they ain't like the whites I seen before. The ones in the big place I wasbefore I came here.""How these different?" he asked me.

　　"Well," I said, "they talk soft for one thing.""It don't matter, Sethe. What they say is the same. Loud or soft.""Mr. Garner let you buy out your mother," I said.

　　"Yep. He did.""Well?""If he hadn't of, she would of dropped in his cooking stove.""Still, he did it. Let you work it off.""Uh huh.""Wake up, Halle.""I said, Uh huh.""He could of said no. He didn't tell you no.""No, he didn't tell me no. She worked here for ten years. If she worked another ten you think shewould've made it out? I pay him for her last years and in return he got you, me and three morecoming up. I got one more year of debt work; one more. Schoolteacher in there told me to quit it.

　　Said the reason for doing it don't hold. I should do the extra but here at Sweet Home.""Is he going to pay you for the extra?""Nope.""Then how you going to pay it off? How much is it?""$123.7o.""Don't he want it back?""He want something.""What?""I don't know. Something, But he don't want me off Sweet Home no more. Say it don't pay to havemy labor³ somewhere else while the boys is small.""What about the money you owe?""He must have another way of getting it.""What way?""I don't know, Sethe.""Then the only question is how? How he going get it?""No. That's one question. There's one more.""What's that?"He leaned up and turned over, touching⁴ my cheek with his knuckles⁵. "The question now is, Who'sgoing buy you out? Or me? Or her?" He pointed⁶ over to where you was laying.

　　"What?""If all my labor is Sweet Home, including the extra, what I got left to sell?"He turned over then and went back to sleep and I thought I wouldn't but I did too for a while.

1 garner   

v.收藏；取得

参考例句：

• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals.他的提议得到了广泛的支持。
• Squirrels garner nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬储存松果。

2 scrubbing   

v.用力擦洗，刷洗( scrub的现在分词 )；取消（原有安排）；对…不予考虑，取消；涤气

参考例句：

• I found him in the kitchen, scrubbing the floor. 我见他在厨房擦地板呢。
• Give them a thorough scrubbing and soaking in hot water. 好好洗洗，用热水烫一烫。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

5 knuckles   

n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝

参考例句：

• He gripped the wheel until his knuckles whitened. 他紧紧握住方向盘，握得指关节都变白了。
• Her thin hands were twisted by swollen knuckles. 她那双纤手因肿大的指关节而变了形。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。