My Antonia (Excerpt)《我的安东尼娅》（节选）

薇拉·凯瑟 赵喜梅

【导读】薇拉·凯瑟（1873—1947），美国小说家，普利策奖获得者，以描写美国中西部内布拉斯加州的草原生活而闻名。薇拉幼时随父母移居该州一个叫“红云镇”的地方，因該地地处边疆，所以她有机会接触到来自瑞典、波希米亚、俄罗斯、德国等欧洲移民，并了解他们的生活点滴，这成为其创作的重要素材。长篇小说《啊，拓荒者！》（O Pioneers！， 1913）和《我的安东尼娅》（My Antonia，1918）被公认为其最好的作品，它们生动再现了早期欧洲移民在美国艰苦奋斗的历程——移民的开拓精神和生活勇气可歌可泣，移民的自然淳朴亦可爱动人！

本文节选自《我的安东尼娅》第一部“雪默尔达一家”（The Shimerdas）第四章，叙述者“我”忆起自己初至小镇时的那个金秋，写景时似作画，写动物不全然写动物，写人时充满人情味！一个无忧无虑、好奇心十足的“我”，或把动物界的不可思议冷峻地诉诸笔端，或将怜悯之情赋予树木，或表现出对人的爱与怀恋。时而活泼，时而庄重！所有这一切，又难以名状地关联着。秋思无限！

On the afternoon of that same Sunday I took my first long ride on my pony， under Otto’s direction. After that Dude and I went twice a week to the post-office， six miles east of us， and I saved the men a good deal of time by riding on errands to our neighbours. When we had to borrow anything， or to send about word that there would be preaching at the sod schoolhouse， I was always the messenger. Formerly Fuchs attended to such things after working hours.

All the years that have passed have not dimmed my memory of that first glorious autumn. The new country1 lay open before me： there were no fences in those days， and I could choose my own way over the grass uplands， trusting the pony to get me home again. Sometimes I followed the sunflower-bordered roads. Fuchs told me that the sunflowers were introduced into that country by the Mormons; that at the time of the persecution， when they left Missouri and struck out into the wilderness to find a place where they could worship God in their own way， the members of the first exploring party， crossing the plains to Utah， scattered sunflower seed as they went. The next summer， when the long trains of wagons came through with all the women and children， they had the sunflower trail to follow. I believe that botanists do not confirm Fuchs’s story， but insist that the sunflower was native to those plains. Nevertheless， that legend has stuck in my mind， and sunflower-bordered roads always seem to me the roads to freedom.

I used to love to drift along the pale-yellow cornfields， looking for the damp spots one sometimes found at their edges， where the smartweed soon turned a rich copper colour and the narrow brown leaves hung curled like cocoons about the swollen joints of the stem. Sometimes I went south to visit our German neighbours and to admire their catalpa grove， or to see the big elm tree that grew up out of a deep crack in the earth and had a hawk’s nest in its branches. Trees were so rare in that country， and they had to make such a hard fight to grow， that we used to feel anxious about them， and visit them as if they were persons. It must have been the scarcity of detail in that tawny landscape that made detail so precious.

Sometimes I rode north to the big prairie-dog2 town to watch the brown earth-owls3 fly home in the late afternoon and go down to their nests underground with the dogs. Antonia Shimerda liked to go with me， and we used to wonder a great deal about these birds of subterranean habit. We had to be on our guard there， for rattlesnakes were always lurking about. They came to pick up an easy living among the dogs and owls， which were quite defenceless against them; took possession of their comfortable houses and ate the eggs and puppies. We felt sorry for the owls. It was always mournful to see them come flying home at sunset and disappear under the earth. But， after all， we felt， winged things who would live like that must be rather degraded creatures. The dog-town was a long way from any pond or creek. Otto Fuchs said he had seen populous dog-towns in the desert where there was no surface water for fifty miles; he insisted that some of the holes must go down to water—nearly two hundred feet， hereabouts. Antonia said she didn’t believe it; that the dogs probably lapped up the dew in the early morning， like the rabbits.

Antonia had opinions about everything， and she was soon able to make them known. Almost every day she came running across the prairie to have her reading lesson with me. Mrs. Shimerda grumbled， but realized it was important that one member of the family should learn English. When the lesson was over， we used to go up to the watermelon patch behind the garden. I split the melons with an old corn-knife， and we lifted out the hearts and ate them with the juice trickling through our fingers. The white Christmas melons we did not touch， but we watched them with curiosity. They were to be picked late， when the hard frosts had set in， and put away for winter use. After weeks on the ocean， the Shimerdas were famished for fruit. The two girls would wander for miles along the edge of the cornfields， hunting for ground-cherries.

Antonia loved to help grandmother in the kitchen and to learn about cooking and housekeeping. She would stand beside her， watching her every movement. We were willing to believe that Mrs. Shimerda was a good housewife in her own country， but she managed poorly under new conditions： the conditions were bad enough， certainly！

I remember how horrified we were at the sour， ashy-grey bread she gave her family to eat. She mixed her dough， we discovered， in an old tin peck-measure4 that Krajiek had used about the barn. When she took the paste out to bake it， she left smears of dough sticking to the sides of the measure， put the measure on the shelf behind the stove， and let this residue ferment. The next time she made bread， she scraped this sour stuff down into the fresh dough to serve as yeast.

During those first months the Shimerdas never went to town. Krajiek encouraged them in the belief that in Black Hawk5 they would somehow be mysteriously separated from their money. They hated Krajiek， but they clung to him because he was the only human being with whom they could talk or from whom they could get information. He slept with the old man and the two boys in the dugout barn， along with the oxen. They kept him in their hole and fed him for the same reason that the prairie-dogs and the brown owls house the rattlesnakes—because they did not know how to get rid of him.

就在那个周日下午，由奥托带路，我第一次骑着我的矮马远行。此后，我和我的马儿杜德每周往东边六英里外的邮局走两回，为邻居跑腿，给大家伙儿省了不少时间。谁要借点儿什么，抑或通知大家草皮顶学校要布道了，我是当之无愧的使者。以往是福克斯收工后去做这些差使的。

许多年过去了，在这里度过的第一个金秋的光景依然历历在目。那时，初至该地，一切都向我敞开了怀抱：那会儿人们不围栅栏，我可以随意选一条路，沿草坡而上，马儿总会载我平安归家。有时，我会选那些边上长满向日葵的道走。福克斯对我讲过，向日葵是摩门教徒带来的。这些人惨遭宗教迫害时，逃离密苏里，流离于荒野，想找个地方依自己的形式膜拜上帝。他们中最早的那批，穿过平原进入犹他州，一路播撒下向日葵种子。如此，当他们的女人孩子来年夏季成群结队经过这里时，就可沿着向日葵路追随其后了。我并不认为植物学家会认同福克斯讲的故事，他们定会说向日葵本就是该地产物。然而，这个传说已铭刻我心;于我而言，向日葵路始终都是自由之路！

我常常沿着浅黄色的玉米地转悠，专找些湿地，就是玉米地边上的湿地，那里的荨麻很快会变成深棕色，棕黄的细叶茧一般悬挂在根茎的粗节周围。有时，我会一路南行，拜访我们的德国邻人，瞧上好一会儿他们那里的梓树林，或是看看那株大榆树，它的根部深扎于地缝之中，枝头有老鹰搭了窝筑了巢。此地，树木稀缺，得费好大劲儿才能生长成活，我们也老是替它们焦心，把它们当作人一般频频看顾。必是因为那幅黄褐色的景观中缺乏动人的细节，才使得细节至为珍贵！

有时，我策马向北，深入草原犬鼠镇，去观察棕黄的穴枭：它们傍晚时分飞回家，和犬鼠一同进入地下的巢穴。安东尼娅·雪默尔达喜欢和我一道，这些鸟类穴居的栖息习惯常常让我们大为惊叹。在这里，我们得分外小心，附近总是有响尾蛇出没。犬鼠和穴枭毫无防卫能力，蛇不费吹灰之力就能把它们吞掉，然后盘踞在它们舒适的窝巢中，把它们的蛋和小崽儿吃个精光。我们为穴枭难过。看到它们夕阳西下时归巢，消失于地下，总让人有些忧伤。我们终究觉得，长着翅膀，却那般生活，这生物一定是极度退化了。犬鼠镇附近没有池塘或溪流。奥托·福克斯曾说，他在这一带沙漠中看到过人烟稠密的犬鼠镇，方圆50英里都没有地表水。他认为，有些穴枭和犬鼠的窝洞再往下定然有水——大约200英尺深，就在那附近。安东尼娅却不相信他说的，而是认为或许犬鼠像兔子那样，晨起时舔饮露水而活。

安东尼娅对任何事都有自己的一套看法，而且能够很快让大家都知道。她几乎每日都要穿过大草原，来和我上她的阅读课。雪默尔达太太虽对此有些怨言，却也意识到家中有人会英语，究竟不是坏事。课毕，我们总是会到花园后的西瓜地里去。我用一把旧砍刀将瓜劈成两半，挖出瓜瓤，尽情享用，任由甜美的西瓜汁在指间流淌。我们是不会触碰白色的圣诞甜瓜的，只会好奇地看着它们。待寒霜到来，人们方才摘下这些甜瓜，囤放起来以备过冬。海上漂泊了几周，雪默尔达一家极其渴望吃上几口水果。这两个姑娘会不惜跋涉数英里，沿着玉米田寻找酸浆果。

安东尼娅喜欢做祖母的帮厨，学习烹煮方法和持家之道。每每此时，她总不离奶奶左右，注视奶奶的一举一动。我们都愿意相信雪默尔达太太在自己的国家是一个出色的主妇，但换了新环境就力不从心了：新环境的确是够糟糕的！

犹记得，吃她老人家做的灰白色酸面包时，我们是多么错愕。我们发现，原来她是用柯拉吉克在谷仓用的旧锡制配克量杯和面的。她拿出面团去烘烤时，会在量杯壁上留些面团渣，把量杯擱到炉后的架子上，让面团渣发酵。下次再做面包时，她就将这种发酸的东西刮下来，当作酵母，和到新鲜面团里。

头几个月，雪默尔达一家从不上镇里。柯拉吉克鼓动他们去，认为在黑鹰镇他无论如何都能让他们不清不楚地出点儿血。全家人都讨厌这个家伙，但又不得不依赖着他，因为他不仅是他们唯一可以交谈的人，也唯有他能为他们带来消息。他和那个老人以及两个小子同睡地下谷仓，牛也在那里。这一家人把他养在这里，供他吃喝，正如草原犬鼠和棕色穴枭将响尾蛇豢养在自己的窝里——因为他们不晓得怎么摆脱他！                                      □

（译者单位：北京外国语大学）