Chapter 65

    "Well, nobody needs a reason to visit. Let me make us some tea." Lady Jones was mixed. Grayeyes and yellow woolly hair, every strand¹ of which she hated — though whether it was the color orthe texture² even she didn't know. She had married the blackest man she could find, had fiverainbow-colored children and sent them all to Wilberforce, after teaching them all she knew rightalong with the others who sat in her parlor³. Her light skin got her picked for a coloredgirls', normalschool in Pennsylvania and she paid it back by teaching the unpicked. The children who played indirt until they were old enough for chores, these she taught. The colored population of Cincinnatihad two graveyards⁴ and six churches, but since no school or hospital was obliged to serve them,they learned and died at home. She believed in her heart that, except for her husband, the wholeworld (including her children) despised her and her hair. She had been listening to "all that yellowgone to waste" and "white nigger" since she was a girl in a houseful of silt-black children, so shedisliked everybody a little bit because she believed they hated her hair as much as she did. Withthat education pat and firmly set, she dispensed⁵ with rancor⁶, was indiscriminately polite, saving herreal affection for the unpicked children of Cincinnati, one of whom sat before her in a dress so loud it embarrassed the needlepoint chair seat.

　　"Sugar?""Yes. Thank you." Denver drank it all down.

　　"More?""No, ma'am.""Here. Go ahead.""Yes, ma'am.""How's your family, honey?"Denver stopped in the middle of a swallow. There was no way to tell her how her family was, so she said what was at the top of her mind.

　　"I want work, Miss Lady.""Work?""Yes, ma'am. Anything."Lady Jones smiled. "What can you do?""I can't do anything, but I would learn it for you if you have a little extra.""Extra?""Food. My ma'am, she doesn't feel good.""Oh, baby," said Mrs. Jones. "Oh, baby."Denver looked up at her. She did not know it then, but it was the word "baby," said softly and withsuch kindness, that inaugurated her life in the world as a woman. The trail she followed to get tothat sweet thorny⁷ place was made up of paper scraps⁸ containing the handwritten names of others.

　　Lady Jones gave her some rice, four eggs and some tea. Denver said she couldn't be away fromhome long because of her mother's condition. Could she do chores in the morning? Lady Jonestold her that no one, not herself, not anyone she knew, could pay anybody anything for work theydid themselves. "But if you all need to eat until your mother is well, all you have to do is say so."She mentioned her church's committee invented so nobody had to go hungry. That agitated⁹ herguest who said, "No, no," as though asking for help from strangers was worse than hunger. Lady Jones said goodbye to her and asked her to come back anytime. "Anytime at all."Two days later Denver stood on the porch and noticed something lying on the tree stump¹⁰ at theedge of the yard. She went to look and found a sack of white beans. Another time a plate of coldrabbit meat. One morning a basket of eggs sat there. As she lifted it, a slip of paper fluttered down.

　　She picked it up and looked at it. "M. Lucille Williams" was written in big crooked¹¹ letters. On theback was a blob of flour-water paste. So Denver paid a second visit to the world outside the porch,although all she said when she returned the basket was "Thank you.""Welcome," said M. Lucille Williams.

　　Every now and then, all through the spring, names appeared near or in gifts of food. Obviously forthe return of the pan or plate or basket; but also to let the girl know, if she cared to, who the donorwas, because some of the parcels were wrapped in paper, and though there was nothing to return,the name was nevertheless there. Many had X's with designs about them, and Lady Jones tried toidentify the plate or pan or the covering towel. When she could only guess, Denver followed herdirections and went to say thank you anywaym whether she had the right benefactor¹² or not. Whenshe was wrong, when the person said, "No, darling. That's not my bowl. Mine's got a blue ring onit," a small conversation took place. All of them knew her grandmother and some had even dancedwith her in the Clearing. Others remembered the days when 124 was a way station, the place theyassembled to catch news, taste oxtail soup, leave their children, cut out a skirt. One rememberedthe tonic¹³ mixed there that cured a relative. One showed her the border of a pillowslip, the stamensof its pale blue flowers French-knotted in Baby Suggs' kitchen by the light of an oil lamp whilearguing the Settlement Fee. They remembered the party with twelve turkeys and tubs of strawberrysmash. One said she wrapped Denver when she was a single day old and cut shoes to fit hermother's blasted feet. Maybe they were sorry for her. Or for Sethe. Maybe they were sorry for theyears of their own disdain¹⁴. Maybe they were simply nice people who could hold meanness towardeach other for just so long and when trouble rode bareback among them, quickly, easily they didwhat they could to trip him up. In any case, the personal pride, the arrogant¹⁵ claim staked out at 124seemed to them to have run its course. They whispered, naturally, wondered, shook their heads.

　　Some even laughed outright¹⁶ at Denver's clothes of a hussy, but it didn't stop them caring whethershe ate and it didn't stop the pleasure they took in her soft "Thank you."

1 strand   

vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）

参考例句：

• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
• The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

2 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

3 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？

4 graveyards   

墓地( graveyard的名词复数 )； 垃圾场； 废物堆积处； 收容所

参考例句：

• He takes a macabre interest in graveyards. 他那么留意墓地，令人毛骨悚然。
• "And northward there lie, in five graveyards, Calm forever under dewy green grass," 五陵北原上，万古青蒙蒙。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

5 dispensed   

v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药）

参考例句：

• Not a single one of these conditions can be dispensed with. 这些条件缺一不可。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage. 他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 rancor   

n.深仇，积怨

参考例句：

• I have no rancor against him.我对他无怨无仇。
• Their rancor dated from a political dogfight between them.他们的积怨来自于他们之间在政治上的狗咬狗。

7 thorny   

adj.多刺的，棘手的

参考例句：

• The young captain is pondering over a thorny problem.年轻的上尉正在思考一个棘手的问题。
• The boys argued over the thorny points in the lesson.孩子们辩论功课中的难点。

8 scraps   

油渣

参考例句：

• Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
• A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。

9 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

10 stump   

n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走

参考例句：

• He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
• He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。

11 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

12 benefactor   

n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人

参考例句：

• The chieftain of that country is disguised as a benefactor this time. 那个国家的首领这一次伪装出一副施恩者的姿态。
• The first thing I did, was to recompense my original benefactor, my good old captain. 我所做的第一件事, 就是报答我那最初的恩人, 那位好心的老船长。

13 tonic   

n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的

参考例句：

• It will be marketed as a tonic for the elderly.这将作为老年人滋补品在市场上销售。
• Sea air is Nature's best tonic for mind and body.海上的空气是大自然赋予的对人们身心的最佳补品。

14 disdain   

n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑

参考例句：

• Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
• A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。

15 arrogant   

adj.傲慢的，自大的

参考例句：

• You've got to get rid of your arrogant ways.你这骄傲劲儿得好好改改。
• People are waking up that he is arrogant.人们开始认识到他很傲慢。

16 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。