A Walk in the Woods 林中漫步
A Walk in the Woods 林中漫步
◎ Tony Gathercole
I was puzzled! Why was this old woman making such a fuss about an old copse which was of no use to anybody? She had written letters to the local paper, even to a national, protesting about a projected by-pass to her village, and, looking at a map, the route was nowhere near where she lived and it wasn’t as if the area was attractive. I was more than puzzled, I was intrigued.
我被弄糊涂了！為什么這個老婦人會對一片毫無用處的老灌木林如此大驚小怪？她給當(dāng)?shù)貓蠹垖懥诵?，甚至給全國性的報紙也寫了信，抗議在她們村子里擬建小路的計劃方案。但從地圖上看，這條擬建的小路距離她家并不近，那一帶好像也并非風(fēng)景優(yōu)美。我豈止是納悶，我簡直是十分好奇。
The enquiry into the route of the new by-pass to the village was due to take place shortly, and I wanted to know what it was that motivated her. So it was that I found myself knocking on a cottage door, being received by Mary Smith and then being taken for a walk to the woods.
不久就要開展對新路徑的調(diào)查了，我想知道她反對究竟是出于什么原因。于是我敲響了小屋的門，一位叫瑪麗·史密斯的女士接待了我，然后帶我去樹林中走走。
“I’ve always loved this place,” she said, “It has a lot of memories for me, and for others. We all used it. They called it ‘Lover’s lane’. It’s not much of a lane, and it doesn’t go anywhere important, but that’s why we all came here. To be away from people, to be by ourselves.” she added.
“我一直深愛著這個地方。”她說，“這里珍藏了我和很多人的回憶。我們都曾在這個地方待過。人們稱它為‘情侶巷’。它其實并不能算是什么小巷，也不通往什么重要的地方，不過，這正是我們來這里的原因。遠離他人，只有我們自己。”她補充說道。
It was indeed pleasant that day and the songs of many birds could be heard. Squirrels gazed from the branches, quite bold in their movements, obviously few people passed this way and they had nothing to fear. I could imagine the noise of vehicles passing through these peaceful woods when the by-pass was built, so I felt that she probably had something there but as I hold strong opinions about the needs of the community over-riding the opinions of private individuals, I said nothing. The village was quite a dangerous place because of the traffic especially for old people and children, their safety was more important to me than an old woman’s whims.
那天的確是令人愉快的一天，小鳥唱著歌，松鼠在樹枝間張望，自由自在地跳躍，顯然這里人跡罕至，它們沒什么好怕的。我能想象得出，當(dāng)小路建成后，車輛通過這片寧靜的樹林將會多么喧鬧，所以，我猜這對她來說可能意味著些什么。但我堅持認(rèn)為社區(qū)的需要重于個人的意見，所以我沒說什么。村里目前的交通，特別是對于老人和小孩來說，尤其危險，所以對我來說，他們的安全比這個老年女士的怪念頭更重要。
“Take this tree,” she said pausing after a short while. “To you it is just that, a tree. Not unlike many others here.” She gently touched the bark. “Look here, under this branch, what can you see?”
“拿這棵樹來說吧，”她暫停片刻后說，“對你來說它只是一棵普通的樹，與這里與其他的樹沒什么區(qū)別。”她輕輕地摸著樹皮，“看這里，在這個枝條下面，你看見了什么？”
“It looks as if someone has done a bit of carving with a knife.” I said after a cursory inspection.
“好像有人用小刀在這里刻過什么東西。”我略略看了一下后說。
“Yes, that’s what it is!” she said softly. “There are letters and a lover’s heart.”
“是的，正是這樣！”她輕聲說 ，“是一些字母和一顆愛心。”
I looked again, this time more carefully. The heart was still there and there was a suggestion of an arrow through it. The letters on one side were indistinct, but on the other an “R” was clearly visible with what looked like an “I” after it. “Some budding romance?” I asked, “Did you know who they were?”
我又看了一下，這回看得更仔細了?？痰膼坌倪€在那兒，此外還依稀可見有支箭穿心而過。心一旁的字母已模糊了，但在另一邊，字母“R”清晰可見，后面還有個像是“I”的字母。“初戀羅曼史？”我問道，“你知道他們是誰嗎？”
“Oh yes, I knew them,” said Mary Smith, “it says RH loves MS.”
“噢，是的，我知道。”瑪麗·史密斯說，“寫的是‘RH愛MS’。”
I realized that I could be getting out of my depth, and longed to be in my office, away from here and this old lady, snug, and with a mug of tea in my hand.
我意識到我可能涉入太深了，真希望自己身在辦公室，遠離這個地方和這個老年女士，手里還端著杯茶，舒適又自在。
She went on... “He had a penknife with a spike for getting stones from a horse’s hoof, and I helped him to carve my initials. We were very much in love, but he was going away, and could not tell me what he was involved in the army. I had guessed of course. It was the last evening we ever spent together，because he went away the next day, back to his Unit.”
她繼續(xù)說著……“他拿著一把袖珍折刀，折刀上嵌有長釘，那種長釘可以用來挖出夾在馬蹄上的石塊，我們一起刻了我名字的第一個字母。我們深深相愛，但他就要離開了，而且不知道他將在軍隊里干什么。當(dāng)然我也曾猜想過。那是我們在一起的最后一個夜晚，因為第二天他就回部隊去了。”
Mary Smith was quiet for a while, and then she sobbed. “His mother showed me the telegram ‘Sergeant R Holmes... Killed in action in the invasion of France.’”
瑪麗·史密斯停了一會兒，然后抽泣起來。“他母親給我看了那封電報。‘R.荷爾姆斯軍士……在解放法國的戰(zhàn)役中犧牲。’
“‘I had hoped that you and Robin would one day get married,’ she said, ‘He was my only child, and I would have loved to be a Granny, they would have been such lovely babies’— she was like that!”
“‘我本來希望有一天你和羅賓結(jié)婚的。’她母親說，‘他是我唯一一個孩子，我本希望自己能做祖母，有非?？蓯鄣男殞?rsquo;——她真是那么說的！
“Two years later she too was dead. Pneumonia, following a chill on the chest was what the doctor said, but I think it was an old fashioned broken heart. A child would have helped both of us.”
“兩年后，她也去世了。醫(yī)生說是‘肺炎，胸部著涼所致’，但我認(rèn)為這是典型的傷心過度。如果有個孩子，那我們倆就都不會這樣了。”
There was a further pause. Mary Smith gently caressed the wounded tree, just as she would have caressed him. “And now they want to take our tree away from me.” Another quiet sob, then she turned to me. “I was young and pretty then, I could have had anybody, and I wasn’t always the old woman you see here now. I had everything I wanted in life, a lovely man, health and a future to look forwards to.”
瑪麗·史密斯又安靜了一會兒沒說話。她輕柔地?fù)崮χ强每踢^的樹，就像她曾經(jīng)撫摩他一樣。“現(xiàn)在，他們想把我們的樹從我身邊奪走。”她又輕聲抽泣一下，然后她轉(zhuǎn)向我，“當(dāng)時我年輕漂亮，我愛嫁給誰都可以，我當(dāng)時可不是像你現(xiàn)在看到的這么老。我擁有生命里我想要的一切，一個值得愛的男人、健康的身體和充滿夢想的未來。”
She paused again and looked around. The breeze gently moved through the leaves with a sighing sound. “There were others, of course, but not a patch on my Robin!” she said strongly. “And now I have nothing—except the memories this tree holds. If only I could get my hands on that awful man who writes in the paper about the value of the road they are going to build where we are standing now, I would tell him. Has he never loved, has he never lived, does he not know anything about memories? We were not the only ones, you know, I still meet some who came here as Robin and I did. Yes, I would tell him!”
再一次，她頓了頓，環(huán)顧四周看了看。微風(fēng)輕輕吹拂著樹葉，發(fā)出嘆息般的沙沙聲。“當(dāng)然，那時還有其他人，但他們一點也比不上我的羅賓！”她加強了語氣說，“現(xiàn)在我一無所有——除了殘留在這棵樹上的記憶。那個可惡的家伙竟建議把路修在我們站的這個地方，我真想用雙手掐死他，我會對他說：你從沒愛過嗎，你活過嗎，你從不知道什么叫記憶嗎？你知道，不僅僅是我們，現(xiàn)在我仍能看見有人像當(dāng)年的我和羅賓那樣到這兒來。是的，我一定要對他說！”
I turned away, sick at heart.
我轉(zhuǎn)過身去，心里感到很難過。
