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Chapter 71
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    Suddenly she leveled her eyes at his. "But who would know that better than you, Paul D? I mean,you sure 'nough knew her."He licked his lips. "Well, if you want my opinion — ""I don't," she said. "I have my own.""You grown," he said.

  "Yes, sir.""Well. Well, good luck with the job.""Thank you. And, Paul D, you don't have to stay 'way, but be careful how you talk to my ma'am,hear?""Don't worry," he said and left her then, or rather she left him because a young man was runningtoward her, saying, "Hey, Miss Denver. Wait up."She turned to him, her face looking like someone had turned up the gas jet.

  He left her unwillingly1 because he wanted to talk more, make sense out of the stories he had beenhearing: whiteman came to take Denver to work and Sethe cut him. Baby ghost came back evil andsent Sethe out to get the man who kept her from hanging. One point of agreement is: first they sawit and then they didn't. When they got Sethe down on the ground and the ice pick out of her handsand looked back to the house, it was gone. Later, a little boy put it out how he had been looking forbait back of 124, down by the stream, and saw, cutting through the woods, a naked woman withfish for hair.

  As a matter of fact, Paul D doesn't care how It went or even why. He cares about how he left andwhy. Then he looks at himself through Garner's eyes, he sees one thing. Through Sixo's, another.

  One makes him feel righteous. One makes him feel ashamed. Like the time he worked both sidesof the War. Running away from the Northpoint Bank and Railway to join the 44th ColoredRegiment in Tennessee, he thought he had made it, only to discover he had arrived at anothercolored regiment2 forming under a commander in New Jersey3. He stayed there four weeks. Theregiment fell apart before it got started on the question of whether the soldiers should haveweapons or not. Not, it was decided4, and the white commander had to figure out what to commandthem to do instead of kill other white men. Some of the ten thousand stayed there to clean, hauland build things; others drifted away to another regiment; most were abandoned, left to their owndevices with bitterness for pay. He was trying to make up his mind what to do when an agent fromNorthpoint Bank caught up with him and took him back to Delaware, where he slave-worked ayear. Then Northpoint took $300 in exchange for his services in Alabama, where he worked for theRebellers, first sorting the dead and then smelting5 iron. When he and his group combed the battlefields, their job was to pull the Confederate wounded away from the Confederate dead. Care,they told them. Take good care. Coloredmen and white, their faces wrapped to their eyes, pickedtheir way through the meadows with lamps, listening in the dark for groans6 of life in the indifferentsilence of the dead. Mostly young men, some children, and it shamed him a little to feel pity forwhat he imagined were the sons of the guards in Alfred, Georgia.

  In five tries he had not had one permanent success. Every one of his escapes (from Sweet Home,from Brandywine, from Alfred, Georgia, from Wilmington, from Northpoint) had been frustrated7.

  Alone, undisguised, with visible skin, memorable8 hair and no whiteman to protect him, he neverstayed uncaught. The longest had been when he ran with the convicts, stayed with the Cherokee,followed their advice and lived in hiding with the weaver9 woman in Wilmington, Delaware: threeyears. And in all those escapes he could not help being astonished by the beauty of this land thatwas not his. He hid in its breast, fingered its earth for food, clung to its banks to lap water and triednot to love it. On nights when the sky was personal, weak with the weight of its own stars, he madehimself not love it. Its graveyards10 and low-lying rivers. Or just a house — -solitary under achinaberry tree; maybe a mule11 tethered and the light hitting its hide just so. Anything could stirhim and he tried hard not to love it.

  After a few months on the battlefields of Alabama, he was impressed to a foundry in Selma alongwith three hundred captured, lent or taken coloredmen. That's where the War's end found him, andleaving Alabama when he had been declared free should have been a snap. He should have beenable to walk from the foundry in Selma straight to Philadelphia, taking the main roads, a train if hewanted to, or passage on a boat. But it wasn't like that. When he and two colored soldiers (who hadbeen captured from the 44th he had looked for) walked from Selma to Mobile, they saw twelvedead blacks in the first eighteen miles. Two were women, four were little boys. He thought this, forsure, would be the walk of his life.

  The Yankees in control left the Rebels out of control. They got to the outskirts12 of Mobile, whereblacks were putting down tracks for the Union that, earlier, they had torn up for the Rebels. One ofthe men with him, a private called Keane, had been with the Massachusetts 54th. He told Paul Dthey had been paid less than white soldiers. It was a sore point with him that, as a group, they hadrefused the offer Massachusetts made to make up the difference in pay. Paul D was so impressedby the idea of being paid money to fight he looked at the private with wonder and envy.

  Keane and his friend, a Sergeant13 Rossiter, confiscated14 a skiff and the three of them floated inMobile Bay. There the private hailed a Union gunboat, which took all three aboard. Keane andRossiter disembarked at Memphis to look for their commanders. The captain of the gunboat letPaul D stay aboard all the way to Wheeling, West Virginia. He made his own way to New Jersey.

  By the time he got to Mobile, he had seen more dead people than living ones, but when he got toTrenton the crowds of alive people, neither hunting nor hunted, gave him a measure of free life sotasty he never forgot it. Moving down a busy street full of whitepeople who needed no explanationfor his presence, the glances he got had to do with his disgusting clothes and unforgivable hair.

  Still, nobody raised an alarm. Then came the miracle. Standing15 in a street in front of a row of brickhouses, he heard a whiteman call him ("Say there! Yo!") to help unload two trunks from a coachcab. Afterward16 the whiteman gave him a coin. Paul D walked around with it for hours — not surewhat it could buy (a suit? a meal? a horse?) and if anybody would sell him anything. Finally hesaw a greengrocer selling vegetables from a wagon17. Paul D pointed18 to a bunch of turnips19. Thegrocer handed them to him, took his one coin and gave him several more. Stunned20, he backed away. Looking around, he saw that nobody seemed interested in the "mistake" or him, so hewalked along, happily chewing turnips. Only a few women looked vaguely21 repelled22 as they passed.

  His first earned purchase made him glow, never mind the turnips were withered23 dry. That waswhen he decided that to eat, walk and sleep anywhere was life as good as it got. And he did it forseven years till he found himself in southern Ohio, where an old woman and a girl he used to knowhad gone.

  Now his coming is the reverse of his going. First he stands in the back, near the cold house,amazed by the riot of late-summer flowers where vegetables should be growing. Sweet william,morning glory, chrysanthemums24. The odd placement of cans jammed with the rotting stems ofthings, the blossoms shriveled like sores. Dead ivy25 twines26 around bean poles and door handles.

  Faded newspaper pictures are nailed to the outhouse and on trees. A rope too short for anything butskip-jumping lies discarded near the washtub; and jars and jars of dead lightning bugs27. Like achild's house; the house of a very tall child.

  He walks to the front door and opens it. It is stone quiet. In the place where once a shaft28 of sad redlight had bathed him, locking him where he stood, is nothing. A bleak29 and minus nothing. Morelike absence, but an absence he had to get through with the same determination he had when hetrusted Sethe and stepped through the pulsing light. He glances quickly at the lightning-whitestairs. The entire railing is wound with ribbons, bows, bouquets30. Paul D steps inside. The outdoorbreeze he brings with him stirs the ribbons.

  Carefully, not quite in a hurry but losing no time, he climbs the luminous31 stairs. He enters Sethe'sroom. She isn't there and the bed looks so small he wonders how the two of them had lain there. Ithas no sheets, and because the roof windows do not open the room is stifling32. Brightly coloredclothes lie on the floor. Hanging from a wall peg33 is the dress Beloved wore when he first saw her.

  A pair of ice skates nestles in a basket in the corner. He turns his eyes back to the bed and keepslooking at it. It seems to him a place he is not.

  With an effort that makes him sweat he forces a picture of himself lying there, and when he sees it,it lifts his spirit. He goes to the other bedroom. Denver's is as neat as the other is messy. But stillno Sethe.

  Maybe she has gone back to work, gotten better in the days since he talked to Denver. He goesback down the stairs, leaving the image of himself firmly in place on the narrow bed. At thekitchen table he sits down. Something is missing from 124. Something larger than the people wholived there. Something more than Beloved or the red light. He can't put his finger on it, but itseems, for a moment, that just beyond his knowing is the glare of an outside thing that embraceswhile it accuses.

  To the right of him, where the door to the keeping room is ajar, he hears humming. Someone ishumming a tune34. Something soft and sweet, like a lullaby. Then a few words. Sounds like "highJohnny, wide Johnny. Sweet William bend down low." Of course, he thinks. That's where she is —and she is. Lying under a quilt of merry colors.

  Her hair, like the dark delicate roots of good plants, spreads and curves on the pillow. Her eyes,fixed on the window, are so expressionless he is not sure she will know who he is. There is toomuch light here in this room. Things look sold.

  "Jackweed raise up high," she sings. "Lambswool over my shoulder, buttercup and clover fly." Sheis fingering a long clump35 of her hair.

  Paul D clears his throat to interrupt her. "Sethe?"


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 unwillingly wjjwC     
adv.不情愿地
参考例句:
  • He submitted unwillingly to his mother. 他不情愿地屈服于他母亲。
  • Even when I call, he receives unwillingly. 即使我登门拜访,他也是很不情愿地接待我。
2 regiment JATzZ     
n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制
参考例句:
  • As he hated army life,he decide to desert his regiment.因为他嫌恶军队生活,所以他决心背弃自己所在的那个团。
  • They reformed a division into a regiment.他们将一个师整编成为一个团。
3 jersey Lp5zzo     
n.运动衫
参考例句:
  • He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
  • They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致,都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。
4 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
5 smelting da3aff64f83e01ef85af6da3b7d675d5     
n.熔炼v.熔炼,提炼(矿石)( smelt的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • a method of smelting iron 一种炼铁方法
  • Fire provided a means of smelting ores. 火提供了熔炼矿石的手段。 来自辞典例句
6 groans 41bd40c1aa6a00b4445e6420ff52b6ad     
n.呻吟,叹息( groan的名词复数 );呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦
参考例句:
  • There were loud groans when he started to sing. 他刚开始歌唱时有人发出了很大的嘘声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • It was a weird old house, full of creaks and groans. 这是所神秘而可怕的旧宅,到处嘎吱嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 frustrated ksWz5t     
adj.挫败的,失意的,泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧
参考例句:
  • It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
  • The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 memorable K2XyQ     
adj.值得回忆的,难忘的,特别的,显著的
参考例句:
  • This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
  • The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。
9 weaver LgWwd     
n.织布工;编织者
参考例句:
  • She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快,而且布的质量很好。
  • The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。
10 graveyards 8d612ae8a4fba40201eb72d0d76c2098     
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
11 mule G6RzI     
n.骡子,杂种,执拗的人
参考例句:
  • A mule is a cross between a mare and a donkey.骡子是母马和公驴的杂交后代。
  • He is an old mule.他是个老顽固。
12 outskirts gmDz7W     
n.郊外,郊区
参考例句:
  • Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
  • They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。
13 sergeant REQzz     
n.警官,中士
参考例句:
  • His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
  • How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹?
14 confiscated b8af45cb6ba964fa52504a6126c35855     
没收,充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Their land was confiscated after the war. 他们的土地在战后被没收。
  • The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。
15 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
16 afterward fK6y3     
adv.后来;以后
参考例句:
  • Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏,然后吃饭。
  • Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来,这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。
17 wagon XhUwP     
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车
参考例句:
  • We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
  • The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。
18 pointed Il8zB4     
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。
19 turnips 0a5b5892a51b9bd77b247285ad0b3f77     
芜青( turnip的名词复数 ); 芜菁块根; 芜菁甘蓝块根; 怀表
参考例句:
  • Well, I like turnips, tomatoes, eggplants, cauliflowers, onions and carrots. 噢,我喜欢大萝卜、西红柿、茄子、菜花、洋葱和胡萝卜。 来自魔法英语-口语突破(高中)
  • This is turnip soup, made from real turnips. 这是大头菜汤,用真正的大头菜做的。
20 stunned 735ec6d53723be15b1737edd89183ec2     
adj. 震惊的,惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
  • The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。
21 vaguely BfuzOy     
adv.含糊地,暖昧地
参考例句:
  • He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
  • He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面,对一切都视而不见。
22 repelled 1f6f5c5c87abe7bd26a5c5deddd88c92     
v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 );使厌恶;排斥;推开
参考例句:
  • They repelled the enemy. 他们击退了敌军。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The minister tremulously, but decidedly, repelled the old man's arm. 而丁梅斯代尔牧师却哆里哆嗦地断然推开了那老人的胳臂。 来自英汉文学 - 红字
23 withered 342a99154d999c47f1fc69d900097df9     
adj. 枯萎的,干瘪的,(人身体的部分器官)因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式
参考例句:
  • The grass had withered in the warm sun. 这些草在温暖的阳光下枯死了。
  • The leaves of this tree have become dry and withered. 这棵树下的叶子干枯了。
24 chrysanthemums 1ded1ec345ac322f70619ba28233b570     
n.菊花( chrysanthemum的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The cold weather had most deleterious consequences among the chrysanthemums. 寒冷的天气对菊花产生了极有害的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The chrysanthemums are in bloom; some are red and some yellow. 菊花开了, 有红的,有黄的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
25 ivy x31ys     
n.常青藤,常春藤
参考例句:
  • Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
  • The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。
26 twines af635617ae71a5ef270282ddb701a7ff     
n.盘绕( twine的名词复数 );麻线;捻;缠绕在一起的东西
参考例句:
  • The vine twines round the tree. 这藤盘绕在树干上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • A stream twines across the valley. 一条小溪蜿蜒流过山谷。 来自《简明英汉词典》
27 bugs e3255bae220613022d67e26d2e4fa689     
adj.疯狂的,发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 );病菌;虫子;[计算机](制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的)错误
参考例句:
  • All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞,都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
28 shaft YEtzp     
n.(工具的)柄,杆状物
参考例句:
  • He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
  • This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。
29 bleak gtWz5     
adj.(天气)阴冷的;凄凉的;暗淡的
参考例句:
  • They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
  • The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。
30 bouquets 81022f355e60321845cbfc3c8963628f     
n.花束( bouquet的名词复数 );(酒的)芳香
参考例句:
  • The welcoming crowd waved their bouquets. 欢迎的群众摇动着花束。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • As the hero stepped off the platform, he was surrounded by several children with bouquets. 当英雄走下讲台时,已被几名手持花束的儿童围住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
31 luminous 98ez5     
adj.发光的,发亮的;光明的;明白易懂的;有启发的
参考例句:
  • There are luminous knobs on all the doors in my house.我家所有门上都安有夜光把手。
  • Most clocks and watches in this shop are in luminous paint.这家商店出售的大多数钟表都涂了发光漆。
32 stifling dhxz7C     
a.令人窒息的
参考例句:
  • The weather is stifling. It looks like rain. 今天太闷热,光景是要下雨。
  • We were stifling in that hot room with all the windows closed. 我们在那间关着窗户的热屋子里,简直透不过气来。
33 peg p3Fzi     
n.木栓,木钉;vt.用木钉钉,用短桩固定
参考例句:
  • Hang your overcoat on the peg in the hall.把你的大衣挂在门厅的挂衣钩上。
  • He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。
34 tune NmnwW     
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整
参考例句:
  • He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子,并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
  • The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。
35 clump xXfzH     
n.树丛,草丛;vi.用沉重的脚步行走
参考例句:
  • A stream meandered gently through a clump of trees.一条小溪从树丛中蜿蜒穿过。
  • It was as if he had hacked with his thick boots at a clump of bluebells.仿佛他用自己的厚靴子无情地践踏了一丛野风信子。


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