第十四章（第3/19页）

"Is that you?" Connie asked him.

“那是你吗？”康妮问。

He twisted and looked at the enlargement above his head.

他扭头看着头顶的大幅照片。

"Ay! Taken just afore we was married, when I was twenty-one.” He looked at it impassively.

“是呀！俺俩临结婚的时候照的，那阵子我21岁。”他望向结婚照的目光极其冷漠。

"Do you like it?" Connie asked him.

“你喜欢它吗？”康妮问。

"Like it? No! I never liked the thing. But she fixed it all up to have it done, like." He returned to pulling off his boots.

“喜欢？不！我从不会喜欢这劳什子。可她安排好一切，俺也只得随着去照。”他转过脸，继续脱靴子。

"If you don't like it, why do you keep it hanging there? Perhaps your wife would like to have it," she said.

“不喜欢的话，干嘛还挂在这儿？或许你妻子还想要呢。”她说。

He looked up at her with a sudden grin.

他霍得抬头看着她，咧嘴笑起来。

"She carted off iverything as was worth taking from th' 'ouse," he said. "But she left THAT!"

“她走的时候，把家里所有值钱的东西席卷一空。”他说。“可只留下了那张照片！”

"Then why do you keep it? For sentimental reasons?" "Nay, I niver look at it. I hardly knowed it wor theer. It's bin theer sin' we come to this place.” "Why don't you burn it?” She said.

“那你为什么还留着它呢？因为难以忘情？”“才不是呢，俺从不正眼瞧它。几乎都忘记它还挂在那儿。自打俺俩在这里住下，它就挂在那儿。”“干嘛不烧了它？”她提议道。

He twisted round again and looked at the enlarged photograph. It was framed in a brown-and-gilt frame, hideous. It showed a clean-shaven, alert, very young-looking man in a rather high collar, and a somewhat plump, bold young woman with hair fluffed out and crimped, and wearing a dark satin blouse.

他又转过头，盯着那副大照片。它镶嵌在褐金相间的相框里，看着就让人反胃。照片里的新郎胡子剃得溜光，目光机警，模样颇为年轻，领子竖得很高。而新娘则长相泼辣，体型稍显臃肿，满头卷发乱蓬蓬的，穿深色缎料上衣。

"It wouldn't be a bad idea, would it?” He said.

“是个好主意。”他说。

He had pulled off his boots, and put on a pair of slippers. He stood up on the chair, and lifted down the photograph. It left a big pale place on the greenish wall-paper.

他已经脱去长靴，蹬上拖鞋。他站到椅子上，取下照片。浅绿色的壁纸间，留下一大块空白。

"No use dusting it now," he said, setting the thing against the wall.

“现在省得掸灰尘了。”他说着，把相框倚墙放下。

He went to the scullery, and returned with hammer and pincers. Sitting where he had sat before, he started to tear off the back-paper from the big frame, and to pull out the sprigs that held the backboard in position, working with the immediate quiet absorption that was characteristic of him.

他去洗碗池那边，拿回锤子和钳子。他在先前的地方坐下，先把镜框背面的纸撕掉，然后将固定后挡板的图钉拔出，整个过程始终全神贯注，沉静安详，那是他所特有的神态。

He soon had the nails out: then he pulled out the backboards, then the enlargement itself, in its solid white mount. He looked at the photograph with amusement.

他很快将所有钉子拔完，然后取下后挡板，接着把照片从结实的白色衬纸中拿出来。他饶有兴致地看着自己的结婚照。

"Shows me for what I was, a young curate, and her for what she was, a bully," he said. "The prig and the bully!" "Let me look!" Said Connie.

“让我想起自己当年的模样，像个年轻有为的牧师，而她那时候就是个地道的悍妇。”他说。“圣徒与泼妇！”“让我看看！”康妮说。