(雙語)月亮和六便士 第52章(2)

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Here Strickland lived, coming seldom to Papeete, on the produce of the land. There was a little stream that ran not far away, in which he bathed, and down this on occasion would come a shoal of fish. Then the natives would assemble with spears, and with much shouting would transfix the great startled things as they hurried down to the sea. Sometimes Strickland would go down to the reef, and come back with a basket of small, coloured fish that Ata would fry in cocoa-nut oil, or with a lobster; and sometimes she would make a savoury dish of the great land-crabs that scuttled away under your feet. Up the mountain were wild-orange trees, and now and then Ata would go with two or three women from the village and return laden with the green, sweet, luscious fruit. Then the cocoa-nuts would be ripe for picking, and her cousins (like all the natives, Ata had a host of relatives) would swarm up the trees and throw down the big ripe nuts. They split them open and put them in the sun to dry. Then they cut out the copra and put it into sacks, and the women would carry it down to the trader at the village by the lagoon, and he would give in exchange for it rice and soap and tinned meat and a little money. Sometimes there would be a feast in the neighbourhood, and a pig would be killed. Then they would go and eat themselves sick, and dance, and sing hymns.

思特里克蘭德就靠著這塊地的出產(chǎn)過活，很少到帕皮提去。離他住的地方不遠有一條小河，他經(jīng)常在里面洗澡。有時候河水里有魚群出現(xiàn)，土人們便拿著長矛從各處走來，大吵大嚷地把正向海里游去的受驚的大魚叉上來。思特里克蘭德有時候也到海灘上去，回來的時候總帶來一筐各種顏色的小魚。愛塔用椰子油把魚炸了，有時還配上一只大海蝦，另外她還常常給他做一盤味道鮮美的螃蟹，這種螃蟹在腳底下爬來爬去，一伸手就可以捉住。山上面長著野桔子樹；愛塔偶然同村子里兩三個女伴上山去，總是滿載而歸，帶回許多芬芳甘美的綠色小桔子。不久以后，椰子成熟，就該到采摘的時候了。愛塔的表兄表弟、堂兄堂弟（象所有的土人一樣，她的親戚數(shù)也數(shù)不過來）成群結(jié)隊地爬到樹上去，把成熟的大椰子扔下來。他們把椰子剖開，放在太陽底下曬。曬干以后就把椰肉取出來，裝在口袋里。婦女們把一袋袋的椰肉運到咸水湖附近一個村落的貿(mào)易商人那里，換回來大米、肥皂、罐頭肉和一點點兒錢。有時候鄰村有什么慶賀宴會，就要殺豬。附近的人蜂擁到那里，又是跳舞，又是唱贊美詩，大吃大喝一頓，吃得人人都快要嘔吐了。

But the house was a long way from the village, and the Tahitians are lazy. They love to travel and they love to gossip, but they do not care to walk, and for weeks at a time Strickland and Ata lived alone. He painted and he read, and in the evening, when it was dark, they sat together on the verandah, smoking and looking at the night. Then Ata had a baby, and the old woman who came up to help her through her trouble stayed on. Presently the granddaughter of the old woman came to stay with her, and then a youth appeared—no one quite knew where from or to whom he belonged—but he settled down with them in a happy-go-lucky way, and they all lived together.

但是他們的房子離附近的村子很遠，塔希提的人是不喜歡活動的。他們喜歡旅行，喜歡閑聊天，就是不喜歡走路。有時候一連幾個星期也沒有人到思特里克蘭德同愛塔家里來。思特里克蘭德畫畫兒、看書，天黑了以后，就同愛塔一起坐在涼臺上，一邊抽煙一邊望著天空。后來愛塔給他生了一個孩子。生孩子的時候來服侍她的一個老婆婆待下來，一直也沒有走。不久，老婆婆的一個孫女也來同他們住在一起，后來又來了個小伙子——誰也不清楚這個人從哪兒來，同哪個人有親屬關(guān)系——，他也毫無牽掛地在這里落了戶。就這樣他們逐漸成了個大家庭。