玛格丽特·米切尔
1867
CHAPTER I
Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were.
斯佳丽·奥哈拉算不上美人，但男人们一旦像塔尔顿家那对孪生兄弟那样被她的魅力所迷住，便很少会意识到这一点。
In her face were too sharply blended the delicate features of her mother, a Coast aristocrat of French descent, and the heavy ones of her florid Irish father.
她的脸上，混合着两种截然不同的特征：一种是她母亲那精致的五官——母亲是法国血统的海滨贵族；另一种则是她那满面红光的爱尔兰父亲那粗犷的轮廓。
But it was an arresting face, pointed of chin, square of jaw.
但这是一张引人注目的脸，下巴尖尖的，下颌方方的。
Her eyes were pale green without a touch of hazel, starred with bristly black lashes and slightly tilted at the ends.
她的眼睛是淡淡的绿色，不掺一丝褐色，缀着浓密刚硬的黑色睫毛，眼角微微上翘。
Above them, her thick black brows slanted upward, cutting a startling oblique line in her magnolia-white skin—that skin so prized by Southern women and so carefully guarded with bonnets, veils and mittens against hot Georgia suns.
眼睛上方，浓黑的眉毛斜斜向上挑起，在她那玉兰花般洁白的肌肤上划出一道惊人的斜线——那肌肤正是南方女子所珍视的，她们小心翼翼地用软帽、面纱和手套护着，以防乔治亚州炎炎烈日的炙烤。
Seated with Stuart and Brent Tarleton in the cool shade of the porch of Tara, her father's plantation, that bright April afternoon of 1861, she made a pretty picture.
1861年4月那个明媚的午后，她和斯图尔特、布伦特·塔尔顿一起坐在她父亲的塔拉庄园门廊那阴凉处，构成了一幅美丽的画面。
Her new green flowered-muslin dress spread its twelve yards of billowing material over her hoops and exactly matched the flat-heeled green morocco slippers her father had recently brought her from Atlanta.
她那件新做的绿花细布连衣裙，十二码翻涌起伏的衣料铺展在裙撑上，与她父亲不久前从亚特兰大给她带回来的那双平跟绿色摩洛哥皮便鞋恰好相配。
The dress set off to perfection the seventeen-inch waist, the smallest in three counties, and the tightly fitting basque showed breasts well matured for her sixteen years.
这件衣裙将她那十七英寸的腰肢衬托得恰到好处——那是方圆三县最纤细的腰；而紧身的上衣则显出她那对在十六岁年纪已经发育得相当成熟的乳房。
But for all the modesty of her spreading skirts, the demureness of hair netted smoothly into a chignon and the quietness of small white hands folded in her lap, her true self was poorly concealed.
然而，尽管她那舒展的裙裾尽显端庄，那梳得光滑、挽成发髻的头发尽显娴静，那叠放在膝上的小巧白皙的双手尽显文静，她真实的自我却难以掩饰。
The green eyes in the carefully sweet face were turbulent, willful, lusty with life, distinctly at variance with her decorous demeanor.
那张精心装出甜美神情的脸上，一双绿眼睛却是骚动的、任性的、洋溢着勃勃生机的，与她那端庄的举止形成了鲜明的反差。
Her manners had been imposed upon her by her mother's gentle admonitions and the sterner discipline of her mammy; her eyes were her own.
她的举止是母亲温柔的告诫和黑妈妈更为严厉的管教强加给她的；唯有那双眼睛是她自己的。
On either side of her, the twins lounged easily in their chairs, squinting at the sunlight through tall mint-garnished glasses as they laughed and talked, their long legs, booted to the knee and thick with saddle muscles, crossed negligently.
在她两旁，孪生兄弟懒洋洋地靠在椅子上，眯着眼透过插着薄荷叶的高脚酒杯望向阳光，一边谈笑风生，他们那双长腿穿着齐膝的马靴，因常年骑马而肌肉粗壮，随意地交叠着。
Nineteen years old, six feet two inches tall, long of bone and hard of muscle, with sunburned faces and deep auburn hair, their eyes merry and arrogant, their bodies clothed in identical blue coats and mustard-colored breeches, they were as much alike as two bolls of cotton.
他们十九岁，身高六英尺二英寸，骨骼修长，肌肉结实，脸庞被太阳晒得黝黑，头发是浓郁的赤褐色，眼神里透着快活与傲慢，身上穿着一模一样的蓝色外套和芥末色马裤，两人活像两个棉桃，简直分不出彼此。
Outside, the late afternoon sun slanted down in the yard, throwing into gleaming brightness the dogwood trees that were solid masses of white blossoms against the background of new green.
屋外，午后将尽的阳光斜射进院子里，把那些山茱萸树照得熠熠生辉，满树洁白的花朵在新绿的背景映衬下宛如一片片素白的云团。
The twins' horses were hitched in the driveway, big animals, red as their masters' hair; and around the horses' legs quarreled the pack of lean, nervous possum hounds that accompanied Stuart and Brent wherever they went.
这对孪生兄弟的马拴在车道上，都是高大的牲口，毛色红得跟主人的头发一样；马腿周围，一群瘦削而神经质的猎负鼠犬正你争我夺地吵闹着，斯图尔特和布伦特无论走到哪儿，这群狗总是形影不离。
A little aloof, as became an aristocrat, lay a black-spotted carriage dog, muzzle on paws, patiently waiting for the boys to go home to supper.
稍稍离开一些，颇有几分贵族气派，一只身上带黑斑的马车犬卧在那里，把口鼻搁在爪子上，耐心地等着两个少年回家吃晚饭。
Between the hounds and the horses and the twins there was a kinship deeper than that of their constant companionship.
猎犬、马匹和这对孪生兄弟之间，有着一种比朝夕相处更为深厚的血缘般的亲近。
They were all healthy, thoughtless young animals, sleek, graceful, high-spirited, the boys as mettlesome as the horses they rode, mettlesome and dangerous but, withal, sweet-tempered to those who knew how to handle them.
他们都是些健康而无忧无虑的年轻生灵，皮毛光洁，姿态优雅，意气风发，这两个少年和他们所骑的马一样烈性十足，桀骜而危险，可对那些懂得驾驭他们的人，却又脾气温顺。
Although born to the ease of plantation life, waited on hand and foot since infancy, the faces of the three on the porch were neither slack nor soft.
尽管生来就过着种植园悠闲安逸的生活，从襁褓起便有人侍候得无微不至，但门廊上这三个人的脸上却既不显得松弛，也不带半点娇气。
They had the vigor and alertness of country people who have spent all their lives in the open and troubled their heads very little with dull things in books.
他们有着乡间人那种生气勃勃、机警敏锐的特质——这些人一辈子都在户外度过，极少为书本里那些枯燥乏味的东西去费脑筋。
Life in the north Georgia county of Clayton was still new and, according to the standards of Augusta, Savannah and Charleston, a little crude.
佐治亚州北部克莱顿县的生活仍是新近开拓的，按照奥古斯塔、萨凡纳和查尔斯顿的标准来看，还有点粗野。
The more sedate and older sections of the South looked down their noses at the up-country Georgians, but here in north Georgia, a lack of the niceties of classical education carried no shame, provided a man was smart in the things that mattered.
南方那些较为沉稳古老的地区对内陆的佐治亚人嗤之以鼻，但在佐治亚北部这里，只要一个人在要紧的事情上精明能干，缺乏古典教育的种种讲究也并不丢脸。
And raising good cotton, riding well, shooting straight, dancing lightly, squiring the ladies with elegance and carrying one's liquor like a gentleman were the things that mattered.
而种好棉花、骑术精湛、枪法准确、舞步轻盈、风度翩翩地陪伴女士、像个绅士般地喝酒，这些就是要紧的事情。
In these accomplishments the twins excelled, and they were equally outstanding in their notorious inability to learn anything contained between the covers of books.
在这些本领上，这对孪生兄弟出类拔萃，而他们在出了名地学不进书本里任何东西这一点上，同样也是格外突出。
Their family had more money, more horses, more slaves than any one else in the County, but the boys had less grammar than most of their poor Cracker neighbors.
他们家比县里其他任何人都有钱、有更多的马、更多的奴隶，可这两个小伙子的文化水平却比大多数贫穷的"乡巴佬"邻居还要差。
It was for this precise reason that Stuart and Brent were idling on the porch of Tara this April afternoon.
正是出于这个确切的原因，斯图尔特和布伦特才在这个四月的午后懒散地待在塔拉庄园的门廊上。
They had just been expelled from the University of Georgia, the fourth university that had thrown them out in two years; and their older brothers, Tom and Boyd, had come home with them, because they refused to remain at an institution where the twins were not welcome.
他们刚刚被佐治亚大学开除——这是两年里第四所把他们撵出来的大学；他们的两位哥哥汤姆和博伊德也跟着回了家，因为他们不愿留在一个不欢迎这对孪生兄弟的学校里。
Stuart and Brent considered their latest expulsion a fine joke, and Scarlett, who had not willingly opened a book since leaving the Fayetteville Female Academy the year before, thought it just as amusing as they did.
斯图尔特和布伦特把这次最新的开除当作一桩绝妙的玩笑，而思嘉自从一年前离开费耶特维尔女子学院后就没有心甘情愿地翻开过一本书，她觉得这件事和他们一样有趣。
"I know you two don't care about being expelled, or Tom either," she said.
"我知道你们俩不在乎被开除，汤姆也不在乎，"她说。
"But what about Boyd?
"可博伊德怎么办呢？
He's kind of set on getting an education, and you two have pulled him out of the University of Virginia and Alabama and South Carolina and now Georgia.
他一心想要受教育，可你们俩偏偏把他从弗吉尼亚大学、阿拉巴马大学、南卡罗来纳大学拉了出来，现在又是佐治亚大学。
He'll never get finished at this rate."
照这个速度，他永远也读不完书。”
"Oh, he can read law in Judge Parmalee's office over in Fayetteville," answered Brent carelessly.
“哦，他可以到费耶特维尔的帕马利法官事务所里去学法律嘛，”布伦特漫不经心地答道。
"Besides, it don't matter much.
“再说，这也没多大关系。
We'd have had to come home before the term was out anyway."
反正我们不等学期结束就得回家了。”
"Why?"
“为什么？”
"The war, goose!
“为了打仗呀，傻瓜！
The war's going to start any day, and you don't suppose any of us would stay in college with a war going on, do you?"
战争随时都会打起来，你不会以为我们这些人会在打仗的时候还待在大学里吧？”
"You know there isn't going to be any war," said Scarlett, bored.
“你明知道根本不会有什么战争，”思嘉厌烦地说。
"It's all just talk.
“这全都是些空谈罢了。
Why, Ashley Wilkes and his father told Pa just last week that our commissioners in Washington would come to—to—an—amicable agreement with Mr. Lincoln about the Confederacy.
怎么，就在上周艾希礼·威尔克斯和他父亲还跟爸爸说，我们派去华盛顿的专员会就联盟国的事跟林肯先生达成一个——一个——友好的协议呢。
And anyway, the Yankees are too scared of us to fight.
再说，北佬怕我们怕得要命，根本不敢打仗。
There won't be any war, and I'm tired of hearing about it."
不会有什么战争的，我都听腻了。”
"Not going to be any war!" cried the twins indignantly, as though they had been defrauded.
“不会有战争！”双胞胎气愤地叫嚷起来，仿佛上了什么大当似的。
"Why, honey, of course there's going to be a war," said Stuart.
“哎呀，亲爱的，当然会有战争啦，”斯图尔特说。
"The Yankees may be scared of us, but after the way General Beauregard shelled them out of Fort Sumter day before yesterday, they'll have to fight or stand branded as cowards before the whole world.
“北佬也许是怕我们，可前天博雷加德将军把他们从萨姆特堡轰出来之后，他们要么开战，要么就只能在全世界面前背上懦夫的骂名了。
Why, the Confederacy—"
哎呀，联盟国——”
Scarlett made a mouth of bored impatience.
思嘉做出一副厌烦不耐的表情。
"If you say 'war' just once more, I'll go in the house and shut the door.
“你要是再说一个‘战争’，我就进屋去把门关上。
I've never gotten so tired of any one word in my life as 'war,' unless it's 'secession.' Pa talks war morning, noon and night, and all the gentlemen who come to see him shout about Fort Sumter and States' Rights and Abe Lincoln till I get so bored I could scream!
我这辈子从没对哪个词像对‘战争’这么腻烦的，除非是‘脱离联邦’。爸爸从早到晚地说战争，所有来看他的先生们都扯着嗓子嚷什么萨姆特堡、州权、亚伯·林肯，吵得我烦死了，真想尖叫！
And that's all the boys talk about, too, that and their old Troop.
男孩子们也只谈论这个，谈这个还有他们那支老骑兵队。
There hasn't been any fun at any party this spring because the boys can't talk about anything else.
今年春天没有一场宴会是有趣的，因为男孩子们除了这个就不谈别的。
I'm mighty glad Georgia waited till after Christmas before it seceded or it would have ruined the Christmas parties, too.
我真高兴佐治亚州等到圣诞节过后才退出联邦，要不然连圣诞宴会也给毁了。
If you say 'war' again, I'll go in the house."
你要是再说一遍"战争"，我就回屋里去。"
She meant what she said, for she could never long endure any conversation of which she was not the chief subject.
她这话是当真的，因为凡是不以她为主角的谈话，她都无法忍受太久。
But she smiled when she spoke, consciously deepening her dimple and fluttering her bristly black lashes as swiftly as butterflies' wings.
可她说话时却面带微笑，有意加深了脸上的酒窝，浓密的黑睫毛像蝴蝶的翅膀般飞快地扇动着。
The boys were enchanted, as she had intended them to be, and they hastened to apologize for boring her.
男孩子们被迷住了，正如她所希望的那样，他们连忙为惹她厌烦而道歉。
They thought none the less of her for her lack of interest.
他们并不因她对此漠不关心而看轻她。
Indeed, they thought more.
实际上，他们反而更看重她了。
War was men's business, not ladies', and they took her attitude as evidence of her femininity.
战争是男人的事，不是女士们的事，他们把她的态度看作是她女性气质的明证。
Having maneuvered them away from the boring subject of war, she went back with interest to their immediate situation.
她巧妙地把他们从无聊的战争话题引开后，便兴致勃勃地回到了他们眼下的处境上来。
"What did your mother say about you two being expelled again?"
"你们俩又被开除了，你们母亲怎么说？"
The boys looked uncomfortable, recalling their mother's conduct three months ago when they had come home, by request, from the University of Virginia.
两个男孩显得很不自在，想起了三个月前他们应校方要求从弗吉尼亚大学回到家时母亲的表现。
"Well," said Stuart, "she hasn't had a chance to say anything yet.
"嗯，"斯图尔特说，"她还没来得及说什么呢。
Tom and us left home early this morning before she got up, and Tom's laying out over at the Fontaines' while we came over here."
今天一大早，趁她还没起床，汤姆和我们就早早出了门，汤姆现在待在方丹家，我们就到这儿来了。"
"Didn't she say anything when you got home last night?"
"你们昨晚到家的时候她没说什么吗？"
"We were in luck last night.
"我们昨晚运气好。
Just before we got home that new stallion Ma got in Kentucky last month was brought in, and the place was in a stew.
就在我们到家之前，妈上个月在肯塔基买的那匹新种马刚好运到了，整个庄园都乱成一团。
The big brute—he's a grand horse, Scarlett; you must tell your pa to come over and see him right away—he'd already bitten a hunk out of his groom on the way down here and he'd trampled two of Ma's darkies who met the train at Jonesboro.
那个大家伙——它是匹了不起的好马，斯佳丽，你一定要让你爸过来马上看看它——它在运来的路上就已经咬掉了马夫一大块肉，还把妈派去琼斯博罗火车站接它的两个黑奴给踩了。
And just before we got home, he'd about kicked the stable down and half-killed Strawberry, Ma's old stallion.
就在我们到家之前，它差点把马厩都踢塌了，还把妈那匹老种马草莓踢得半死。
When we got home, Ma was out in the stable with a sackful of sugar smoothing him down and doing it mighty well, too.
我们到家时，妈正在马厩里，拿着一袋糖给它顺毛，而且做得相当出色。
The darkies were hanging from the rafters, popeyed, they were so scared, but Ma was talking to the horse like he was folks and he was eating out of her hand.
那些黑奴吓得吊在椽子上，眼珠都鼓了出来，可妈却像跟人说话似的跟那匹马说着话，它还从她手里吃东西呢。
There ain't nobody like Ma with a horse.
论起摆弄马来，没人比得上妈。
And when she saw us she said: 'In Heaven's name, what are you four doing home again?
她一看见我们，就说：'老天爷啊，你们四个怎么又跑回家来了？
You're worse than the plagues of Egypt!' And then the horse began snorting and rearing and she said: 'Get out of here!
你们简直比埃及的瘟疫还要糟糕！'接着那马就喷着鼻息直立起来，她便说：'都给我滚出去！
Can't you see he's nervous, the big darling?
你们没看见它紧张了吗，这个大宝贝？
I'll tend to you four in the morning!' So we went to bed, and this morning we got away before she could catch us and left Boyd to handle her."
明天早上我再收拾你们四个！'于是我们就去睡觉了，今天早上我们趁她还没逮住我们之前溜了出来，把博伊德留下来对付她。"
"Do you suppose she'll hit Boyd?" Scarlett, like the rest of the County, could never get used to the way small Mrs. Tarleton bullied her grown sons and laid her riding crop on their backs if the occasion seemed to warrant it.
"你觉得她会揍博伊德吗？"斯嘉丽和县里其他人一样，怎么也看不惯小个子的塔尔顿太太欺负她那几个已经长大成人的儿子，要是觉得情况需要，还会拿马鞭抽他们的背。
Beatrice Tarleton was a busy woman, having on her hands not only a large cotton plantation, a hundred negroes and eight children, but the largest horse-breeding farm in the state as well.
比阿特丽斯·塔尔顿是个忙碌的女人，她手里不仅有一座大棉花种植园、一百个黑奴和八个孩子，还经营着全州最大的养马场。
She was hot-tempered and easily plagued by the frequent scrapes of her four sons, and while no one was permitted to whip a horse or a slave, she felt that a lick now and then didn't do the boys any harm.
她脾气火爆，常常被四个儿子频频闯下的祸事弄得心烦，虽说不准任何人鞭打马匹或奴隶，但她觉得时不时抽他们几下对这些男孩并没什么坏处。
"Of course she won't hit Boyd.
"她当然不会打博伊德。
She never did beat Boyd much because he's the oldest and besides he's the runt of the litter," said Stuart, proud of his six feet two.
她从来不怎么揍博伊德，因为他是最大的，再说他还是这一窝里最瘦小的，"斯图尔特说道，对自己六英尺二英寸的身高颇为自豪。
"That's why we left him at home to explain things to her.
"所以我们才把他留在家里，让他向她解释这事。
God'lmighty, Ma ought to stop licking us!
老天爷啊，妈应该别再揍我们了！
We're nineteen and Tom's twenty-one, and she acts like we're six years old."
我们都十九岁了，汤姆都二十一了，可她还把我们当成六岁的孩子看待。"
"Will your mother ride the new horse to the Wilkes barbecue tomorrow?"
"明天你母亲会骑那匹新马去威尔克斯家的烤肉野宴吗？"
"She wants to, but Pa says he's too dangerous.
"她想骑，可爸说那马太危险了。
And, anyway, the girls won't let her.
而且，反正姑娘们也不会让她骑。
They said they were going to have her go to one party at least like a lady, riding in the carriage."
她们说，至少要让她像个淑女似的去参加一次聚会，坐着马车去。"
"I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow," said Scarlett.
"但愿明天别下雨，"斯嘉丽说道。
"It's rained nearly every day for a week.
"都快下了一个礼拜的雨了，几乎天天下。
There's nothing worse than a barbecue turned into an indoor picnic."
没有什么比一场烧烤变成室内野餐更糟糕的了。"
"Oh, it'll be clear tomorrow and hot as June," said Stuart.
"哦，明天准会放晴，热得像六月天，"斯图尔特说。
"Look at that sunset.
"瞧那晚霞。
I never saw one redder.
我从没见过比这更红的。
You can always tell weather by sunsets."
看晚霞总能知道天气。"
They looked out across the endless acres of Gerald O'Hara's newly plowed cotton fields toward the red horizon.
他们眺望着杰拉尔德·奥哈拉那一望无际、新近翻耕过的棉花地，一直望向那红彤彤的天际。
Now that the sun was setting in a welter of crimson behind the hills across the Flint River, the warmth of the April day was ebbing into a faint but balmy chill.
此刻，太阳正在弗林特河对岸群山背后那一片殷红中渐渐沉落，四月白昼的暖意正消退为一丝淡淡而温润的凉意。
Spring had come early that year, with warm quick rains and sudden frothing of pink peach blossoms and dogwood dappling with white stars the dark river swamp and far-off hills.
那年春天来得早，伴着温暖急促的春雨，桃花忽然绽放出一片粉红的繁华，山茱萸用点点白星点缀着幽暗的河边沼泽和远处的山峦。
Already the plowing was nearly finished, and the bloody glory of the sunset colored the fresh-cut furrows of red Georgia clay to even redder hues.
耕地已经快要完工，落日那血红的辉煌把新翻开的佐治亚红土犁沟染成了更加殷红的色调。
The moist hungry earth, waiting upturned for the cotton seeds, showed pinkish on the sandy tops of furrows, vermilion and scarlet and maroon where shadows lay along the sides of the trenches.
潮湿而饥渴的土地，翻起身来等待着棉籽的播撒，垄沟那沙质的顶部泛着淡淡的粉红，而沟壑两侧阴影所及之处，则呈现出朱红、猩红与紫褐的色泽。
The whitewashed brick plantation house seemed an island set in a wild red sea, a sea of spiraling, curving, crescent billows petrified suddenly at the moment when the pink-tipped waves were breaking into surf.
那座粉刷成白色的砖砌庄园宅邸，宛如一座岛屿，矗立在一片狂野的红色海洋之中——那是一片由螺旋盘绕、曲折弯转、新月般的浪涛构成的海洋，仿佛在那粉色浪尖即将碎成浪花的一刹那骤然凝固了。
For here were no long, straight furrows, such as could be seen in the yellow clay fields of the flat middle Georgia country or in the lush black earth of the coastal plantations.
因为这里没有那种笔直绵长的垄沟，不像佐治亚中部平坦地带的黄色黏土田里所见的那样，也不像沿海庄园那肥沃的黑土地上那般。
The rolling foothill country of north Georgia was plowed in a million curves to keep the rich earth from washing down into the river bottoms.
佐治亚北部那起伏的丘陵地带，被犁出了千万道弯曲的垄线，为的是防止那肥沃的泥土被冲刷流入河谷底部。
It was a savagely red land, blood-colored after rains, brick dust in droughts, the best cotton land in the world.
这是一片野性十足的红色土地，雨后呈血红色，干旱时则化作砖屑般的粉末，是世上最好的棉花种植地。
It was a pleasant land of white houses, peaceful plowed fields and sluggish yellow rivers, but a land of contrasts, of brightest sun glare and densest shade.
这是一片宜人的土地，点缀着白色的房屋、宁静的耕田和缓缓流淌的黄色河流，但也是一片充满对比的土地——既有最耀眼的烈日强光，也有最浓密的幽深树荫。
The plantation clearings and miles of cotton fields smiled up to a warm sun, placid, complacent.
庄园里开垦出的空地与绵延数英里的棉田，平静而自得地向着温暖的阳光绽放笑颜。
At their edges rose the virgin forests, dark and cool even in the hottest noons, mysterious, a little sinister, the soughing pines seeming to wait with an age-old patience, to threaten with soft sighs: "Be careful!
在它们的边缘，原始森林拔地而起，即使在最炎热的正午也依旧幽暗清凉，神秘莫测，略带几分阴森；那飒飒作响的松树仿佛带着亘古的耐心在等待，用轻柔的叹息发出威胁：“当心！
Be careful!
当心！
We had you once.
我们曾经占有过你。
We can take you back again."
我们可以再带你回去。"
To the ears of the three on the porch came the sounds of hooves, the jingling of harness chains and the shrill careless laughter of negro voices, as the field hands and mules came in from the fields.
门廊上的三人听到了马蹄声、马具链条的叮当声，以及黑人粗野而无忧无虑的尖声笑语，那是田间的雇工和骡子从地里归来了。
From within the house floated the soft voice of Scarlett's mother, Ellen O'Hara, as she called to the little black girl who carried her basket of keys.
从屋子里飘来思嘉的母亲爱伦·奥哈拉柔和的嗓音，她正在呼唤那个为她拎着钥匙篮的黑人小姑娘。
The high-pitched, childish voice answered "Yas'm," and there were sounds of footsteps going out the back way toward the smokehouse where Ellen would ration out the food to the home-coming hands.
那尖细而稚气的声音回答道："来啦，太太。"接着便是脚步声向后院的熏肉房走去，爱伦要在那里给归来的雇工们分发食物。
There was the click of china and the rattle of silver as Pork, the valet-butler of Tara, laid the table for supper.
塔拉的贴身男仆兼管家波克正在摆放晚餐的餐桌，传来瓷器的碰撞声和银器的叮当声。
At these last sounds, the twins realized it was time they were starting home.
听到这最后的声响，孪生兄弟意识到他们该动身回家了。
But they were loath to face their mother and they lingered on the porch of Tara, momentarily expecting Scarlett to give them an invitation to supper.
可是他们不愿面对母亲，便在塔拉的门廊上磨蹭着，时刻盼着思嘉会邀请他们留下来吃晚饭。
"Look, Scarlett.
"听着，思嘉。
About tomorrow," said Brent.
关于明天的事，"布伦特说。
"Just because we've been away and didn't know about the barbecue and the ball, that's no reason why we shouldn't get plenty of dances tomorrow night.
"就因为我们一直在外面，不知道有烧烤会和舞会，可这并不意味着明天晚上我们就跳不成几支舞了。
You haven't promised them all, have you?"
你不会把每一支舞都答应给别人了吧？"
"Well, I have!
"嗯，我答应了！
How did I know you all would be home?
我怎么知道你们都会在家呢？
I couldn't risk being a wallflower just waiting on you two."
我可不能冒着当壁花的风险，光等着你们俩。"
"You a wallflower!" The boys laughed uproariously.
"你当壁花！"两个男孩哄堂大笑。
"Look, honey.
"听着，亲爱的。
You've got to give me the first waltz and Stu the last one and you've got to eat supper with us.
你得把第一支华尔兹给我，最后一支给斯图，还得跟我们一起吃晚饭。
We'll sit on the stair landing like we did at the last ball and get Mammy Jincy to come tell our fortunes again."
我们要像上次舞会那样坐在楼梯平台上，再让金茜嬷嬷来给我们算命。"
"I don't like Mammy Jincy's fortunes.
"我不喜欢金茜嬷嬷算的命。
You know she said I was going to marry a gentleman with jet-black hair and a long black mustache, and I don't like black-haired gentlemen."
你知道她说我会嫁给一个长着乌黑头发、留着长长黑胡子的绅士，可我不喜欢黑头发的绅士。"
"You like 'em red-headed, don't you, honey?" grinned Brent.
"你喜欢红头发的,是不是啊,宝贝?"布伦特咧嘴笑道。
"Now, come on, promise us all the waltzes and the supper."
"好啦,快答应我们,把所有的华尔兹和晚餐都留给我们。"
"If you'll promise, we'll tell you a secret," said Stuart.
"你要是答应了,我们就告诉你一个秘密。"斯图尔特说。
"What?" cried Scarlett, alert as a child at the word.
"什么秘密?"思嘉嚷道,一听到这个词,就像孩子一样竖起了耳朵。
"Is it what we heard yesterday in Atlanta, Stu?
"是不是我们昨天在亚特兰大听到的那件事,斯图?
If it is, you know we promised not to tell."
要是那件事,你知道我们答应过不告诉别人的。"
"Well, Miss Pitty told us."
"嗯,是皮蒂小姐告诉我们的。"
"Miss Who?"
"哪位小姐?"
"You know, Ashley Wilkes' cousin who lives in Atlanta, Miss Pittypat Hamilton—Charles and Melanie Hamilton's aunt."
"你知道的,就是艾希礼·威尔克斯住在亚特兰大的表姐,皮蒂帕特·汉密尔顿小姐——查尔斯和媚兰·汉密尔顿的姑妈。"
"I do, and a sillier old lady I never met in all my life."
"我知道,我这辈子从没见过比她更糊涂的老太太。"
"Well, when we were in Atlanta yesterday, waiting for the home train, her carriage went by the depot and she stopped and talked to us, and she told us there was going to be an engagement announced tomorrow night at the Wilkes ball."
"嗯，昨天我们在亚特兰大等回家的火车时，她的马车经过车站，她停下来跟我们聊了聊，她告诉我们明晚在威尔克斯家的舞会上要宣布一桩婚约。"
"Oh.
"哦。
I know about that," said Scarlett in disappointment.
这事我知道，"思嘉失望地说。
"That silly nephew of hers, Charlie Hamilton, and Honey Wilkes.
"她那个傻乎乎的侄子查理·汉密尔顿，跟霍妮·威尔克斯。
Everybody's known for years that they'd get married some time, even if he did seem kind of lukewarm about it."
大家好多年前就知道他们迟早会结婚的，尽管他对这事好像不冷不热的。"
"Do you think he's silly?" questioned Brent.
"你觉得他傻吗？"布伦特问道。
"Last Christmas you sure let him buzz round you plenty."
"去年圣诞节你可没少让他围着你转。"
"I couldn't help him buzzing," Scarlett shrugged negligently.
"他要围着我转，我也没办法呀，"思嘉满不在乎地耸耸肩。
"I think he's an awful sissy."
"我觉得他是个十足的娘娘腔。"
"Besides, it isn't his engagement that's going to be announced," said Stuart triumphantly.
"再说，要宣布的婚约可不是他的，"斯图尔特得意洋洋地说。
"It's Ashley's to Charlie's sister, Miss Melanie!"
"是阿希礼要娶查理的妹妹媚兰小姐啦！"
Scarlett's face did not change but her lips went white—like a person who has received a stunning blow without warning and who, in the first moments of shock, does not realize what has happened.
思嘉的脸色没有变，但她的嘴唇变得煞白——就像一个人毫无防备地遭受了沉重的打击，在最初的震惊中还没意识到究竟发生了什么。
So still was her face as she stared at Stuart that he, never analytic, took it for granted that she was merely surprised and very interested.
她盯着斯图尔特，脸上一动不动，而他从不善于分析，便理所当然地以为她只是感到惊讶，而且非常感兴趣。
"Miss Pitty told us they hadn't intended announcing it till next year, because Miss Melly hasn't been very well; but with all the war talk going around, everybody in both families thought it would be better to get married soon.
"皮蒂小姐告诉我们，他们本来打算明年才宣布的，因为媚兰小姐身体一直不太好；可是眼下到处都在议论打仗的事，两家人都觉得还是早点结婚的好。
So it's to be announced tomorrow night at the supper intermission.
所以明天晚上吃晚饭休息的时候就要正式宣布了。
Now, Scarlett, we've told you the secret, so you've got to promise to eat supper with us."
喏，思嘉，我们把这个秘密告诉你了，你可得答应跟我们一起吃晚饭。"
"Of course I will," Scarlett said automatically.
"我当然会的，"思嘉机械地说。
"And all the waltzes?"
"还有所有的华尔兹舞？"
"All."
"全部。"