第八章（第10/13页）

天又下起雨来。但一两天后，她冒雨出门，直奔树林深处。一踏入树林，她就往小屋走去。虽然雨尚未停歇，但气温并不低，在雨幕的掩映下，树林显得那样静默孤傲，那样遥不可及。

She came to the clearing. No one there! The hut was locked. But she sat on the log doorstep, under the rustic porch, and snuggled into her own warmth. So she sat, looking at the rain, listening to the many noiseless noises of it, and to the strange soughings of wind in upper branches, when there seemed to be no wind. Old oak-trees stood around, grey, powerful trunks, rain-blackened, round and vital, throwing off reckless limbs. The ground was fairly free of undergrowth, the anemones sprinkled, there was a bush or two, elder, or guelder-rose, and a purplish tangle of bramble: the old russet of bracken almost vanished under green anemone ruffs. Perhaps this was one of the unravished places. Unravished! The whole world was ravished.

她来到那片空地。没人！屋门紧锁。她在门前的圆木台阶上坐定，蜷缩起身体来取暖，粗木门廊遮住雨水。她就那样坐着，凝望着霏霏细雨，聆听着那似有却无的淅沥声，风儿掠过树梢发出的飒飒声，但却又感觉好像没有一丝风。四周为古老的橡树所环绕，那遒劲的灰色树干被雨水浸成黑色，浑圆而充满生命力，向四面八方生发出无数枝干。地面上几乎见不到灌木的影子，银莲花星星点点，还有一两株矮树，分辨不出是接骨木或者绣球花，以及一丛淡紫色的荆棘。在银莲花绿色皱领的遮蔽下，黄褐色的蕨草几乎看不到踪影。或许这里就是未被玷污的净土。未被玷污！整个世界都无法幸免。

Some things can't be ravished. You can't ravish a tin of sardines. And so many women are like that; and men. But the earth...!

有些东西无法被玷污。你总不能去玷污一听沙丁鱼罐头。还有许多好似沙丁鱼的男男女女们。但是大地却……！

The rain was abating. It was hardly making darkness among the oaks any more. Connie wanted to go; yet she sat on. But she was getting cold; yet the overwhelming inertia of her inner resentment kept her there as if paralysed.

雨势减缓。橡树林渐渐变得明亮起来。康妮想要回去，但却依然稳坐。但她觉得越来越冷，因内心的愤懑而产生的惰性压倒一切，让她坐在原地，动弹不得，好像瘫痪一般。

Ravished! How ravished one could be without ever being touched. Ravished by dead words become obscene, and dead ideas become obsessions.

被玷污！在未被触碰的情况下，如何能被玷污呢？罪魁祸首是那些猥亵不堪的陈词滥调，还有那些使人痴罔的迂腐观念。

A wet brown dog came running and did not bark, lifting a wet feather of a tail. The man followed in a wet black oilskin jacket, like a chauffeur, and face flushed a little. She felt him recoil in his quick walk, when he saw her. She stood up in the handbreadth of dryness under the rustic porch. He saluted without speaking, coming slowly near. She began to withdraw.

一只棕色的猎犬跑过来，全身湿淋淋的，它没叫，只是竖着湿尾巴。守林人跟在后面，身上的黑油布外衣沾满雨水，看上去像个司机，脸微微泛红。她发觉他看到自己时，快速的脚步略有放缓。她站起身，立在粗制门廊下那巴掌大小的干地方。他行了礼，但却没有做声，只是慢慢走近。她开始后退。

"I'm just going," she said.

“我正打算走。”她说。

"Was yer waitin' to get in?" he asked, looking at the hut, not at her.

“恁等着进屋呢？”他问道，视线投向小屋，而没有看她。

"No, I only sat a few minutes in the shelter," she said, with quiet dignity.

“不，我只是坐在这里避会儿雨。”她轻声说，语调沉稳，不卑不亢。