中英文双语阅读4文学英语赏析.doc

　　Paper Pills
　　纸球
　　He was an old man with a white beard and huge nose and hands。 Long before the time during which we will know him, he was a doctor and drove a jaded white horse from house to house through the streets of Winesburg。 Later he married a girl who had money. She had been left a large fertile farm when her father died。 The girl was quiet, tall， and dark, and to many people she seemed very beautiful。 Everyone in Winesburg wondered why she married the doctor。 Within a year after the marriage she died。
　　The knuckles of the doctor’s hands were extraordinarily large。 When the hands were closed they looked like clusters of unpainted wooden balls as large as walnuts fastened together by steel rods。 He smoked a cob pipe and after his wife's death sat all day in his empty office close by a window that was covered with cobwebs。 He never opened the window. Once on a hot day in August he tried but found it stuck fast and after that he forgot all about it。
　　Winesburg had forgotten the old man, but in Doctor Reefy there were the seeds of something very fine。 Alone in his musty office in the Heffner Block above the Paris Dry Goods Company's store, he worked ceaselessly， building up something that he himself destroyed。 Little pyramids of truth he erected and after erecting knocked them down again that he might have the truths to erect other pyramids.
　　Doctor Reefy was a tall man who had worn one suit of clothes for ten years. It was frayed at the sleeves and little holes had appeared at the knees and elbows。 In the office he wore also a linen duster with huge pockets into which he continually stuffed scraps of paper。 After some weeks the scraps of paper became little hard round balls, and when the pockets were filled he dumped them out upon the floor。 For ten years he had but one friend， another old man named John Spaniard who owned a tree nursery。 Sometimes, in a playful mood， old Doctor Reefy took from his pockets a handful of the paper balls and threw them at the nursery man. "That is to confound you， you blithering old sentimentalist，” he cried， shaking with laughter.
　　The story of Doctor Reefy and his courtship of the tall dark girl who became his wife and left her money to him is a very curious story。 It is delicious, like the twisted little apples that grow in the orchards of Winesburg。 In the fall one walks in the orchards and the ground is hard with frost underfoot. The apples have been taken from the trees by the pickers. They have been put in barrels and shipped to the cities where they will be eaten in apartments that are filled with books， magazines， furniture， and people。 On the trees are only a few gnarled apples that the pickers have rejected。 They look like the knuckles of Doctor Reefy's hands. One nibbles at them and they are delicious。 Into a little round place at the side of the apple has been gathered all of its sweetness. One runs from tree to tree over the frosted ground picking the gnarled， twisted apples and filling his pockets with them。 Only the few know the sweetness of the twisted apples。
　　The girl and Doctor Reefy began their courtship on a summer afternoon。 He was forty-five then and already he had begun the practice of filling his pockets with the scraps of paper that became hard balls and were thrown away。 The habit had been formed as he sat in his buggy behind the jaded white horse and went slowly along country roads。 On the papers were written thoughts， ends of thoughts, beginnings of thoughts.
　　One by one the mind of Doctor Reefy had made the thoughts. Out of many of them he formed a truth that arose gigantic in his mind。 The truth clouded the world。 It became terrible and then faded away and the little thoughts began again.
　　The tall dark girl came to see Doctor Reefy because she was in the family way and had become frightened。 She was in that condition because of a series of circumstances also curious。
　　The death of her father and mother and the rich acres of land that had come down to her had set a train of suitors on her heels。 For two years she saw suitors almost every evening. Except two they were all alike. They talked to her of passion and there was a strained eager quality in their voices and in their eyes when they looked at her. The two who were different were much unlike each other. One of them， a slender young man with white hands, the son of a jeweler in Winesburg， talked continually of virginity. When he was with her he was never off the subject. The other, a black—haired boy with large ears, said nothing at all but always managed to get her into the darkness, where he began to kiss her.
　　For a time the tall dark girl thought she would marry the jeweler’s son. For hours she sat in silence listening as he talked to her and then she began to be afraid of something。 Beneath his talk of virginity she began to think there was a lust greater than in all the others. At times it seemed to her that as he talked he was holding her body in his hands。 She imagined him turning it slowly about in the white hands and staring at it. At night she dreamed that he had bitten into her body and that his jaws were dripping。 She had the dream three times, then she became in the family way to the one who said nothing at all but who in the moment of his passion actually did bite her shoulder so that for days the marks of his teeth showed.
　　After the tall dark girl came to know Doctor Reefy it seemed to her that she never wanted to leave him again。 She went into his office one morning and without her saying anything he seemed to know what had happened to her.
　　In the office of the doctor there was a woman， the wife of the man who kept the bookstore in Winesburg。 Like all old-fashioned country practitioners, Doctor Reefy pulled teeth， and the woman who waited held a handkerchief to her teeth and groaned. Her husband was with her and when the tooth was taken out they both screamed and blood ran down on the woman's white dress。 The tall dark girl did not pay any attention. When the woman and the man had gone the doctor smiled. "I will take you driving into the country with me，” he said.
　　For several weeks the tall dark girl and the doctor were together almost every day. The condition that had brought her to him passed in an illness, but she was like one who has discovered the sweetness of the twisted apples, she could not get her mind fixed again upon the round perfect fruit that is eaten in the city apartments. In the fall after the beginning of her acquaintanceship with him she married Doctor Reefy and in the following spring she died。 During the winter he read to her all of the odds and ends of thoughts he had scribbled on the bits of paper。 After he had read them he laughed and stuffed them away in his pockets to become round hard balls.
　　他是一个白胡子老人，鼻子和手都很大。早在我们认识他之前，他就是一个医生，经常骑一匹老白马,穿过温斯堡街边的一户户人家。后来，他跟一个有钱的姑娘结了婚。父亲死时留给她一个肥沃的大农场。姑娘安静、高挑，皮肤有些黑,在不少人眼力她很美。温斯堡人人都奇怪她为什么会嫁给医生.结婚不到一年，她就死了。
　　医生的指关节异乎寻常地大。他把手握起来时关节大得就像一簇用钢针串起来，未曾上过漆、像胡桃一般大的木球.他抽一种根雕的烟斗。妻子死后他就整天靠窗坐在空荡荡的办公室里，窗上布满了蜘蛛网。他从不开窗。有一次，在8月，天很热，他想打开窗户，却发现窗户已经纹丝不动.此后,他几乎忘了这回事.
　　温斯堡已经忘记了这位老人。但是里菲医生心中仍然酝酿着某些非常优美的事物。他海甫纳区巴黎绸缎公司的楼上，在那间充满霉味的办公室里，他孤独地无休止地工作着，构建某种东西，然后又亲手毁坏它.他在建立真理的小金字塔,建成后又把它们毁掉，这样就可以又拿这些真理去构建别的金字塔。
　　里菲医生身材高大，一套衣服可以穿上10年。袖子磨坏了,膝盖和肘儿都露出小洞。在诊室,他也穿一件亚麻的防尘外套，上面带着很大的口袋,他永不停息地往口袋里塞纸片.几星期后纸片变成坚硬的小圆球，等口袋满了，他就把它们全倒在地板上。10年来，他只有一个朋友,一个叫约翰·斯潘尼尔德的老头，他有一个苗圃。有时，处于好玩,老里菲医生从口袋里抓住一把纸球向苗圃主人扔去。“打昏你这个爱说话、多愁善感的老家伙.”他尖叫着，笑得浑身直颤抖。
　　里菲医生以及他向那位成为自己妻子、留给他一大笔钱、黑皮肤的高个姑娘求婚的故事非常有意思.它很有味道，就像温斯堡果园里产的那种形状怪异的小苹果。秋天的时候，如果你在果园里散步,脚下的土地已经结霜冻硬,这时苹果已经被人摘走。苹果装上箱后运到大城市,然后在那些充满了书籍、家具和人的房间被吃掉.树上仅剩下零星的几只采果人不想要的有结疤的苹果。它们的样子就像里菲医生的手指关节.轻轻地咬一口，苹果的味道很鲜嫩，它全部的甜味都集中在侧面那一小块圆滑的部位.有人在干硬的地上从这棵树跑到那棵树去摘那种带结疤的怪状苹果，装满衣袋.只有不多的几个人知道那怪状苹果有多甜。
　　姑娘和里菲医生的感情始于一个夏天的午后。那年他45岁，已经开始把纸片塞进口袋，等变成硬球时再倒掉-坐在那个老白马拉的马车里缓缓穿过乡间公路时,他养成了一个习惯.纸上写着思想,以这个思想终，以另一个思想始.
　　在里菲医生的头脑中，一个思想接着一个思想慢慢酝酿成形。他拿这么多的思想再去构造某一个真理，这个真理在他头脑中逐渐发展成一个庞然大物.真理庞大得笼罩住整个世界。它变得可怕，接着又渐渐消退淡化下去,接着小小的思想萌芽又开始在酝酿中了。
　　高挑的黑皮肤姑娘来找里菲医生，因为她怀孕了，很害怕。她处境变成这样是由一连串同样奇怪的事情造成的。
　　父母死了,肥田沃地突然落到她手里，于是求婚的人跟了一大堆。有两年时间他几乎天天晚上接见求婚的人。除了两个人外，他们全都一样.他们向她表白自己的激情时语气和凝视她的眼神中带着某种迫不及待的渴望。那两个与众不同的人彼此也很不一样。其中一个少年身材细长，手指白晰，是温斯堡一个珠宝商的儿子，不停地提到处女的贞洁.他跟她在一起时永远离不开这个话题。另一个是位黑发少年，耳朵很大,几乎什么话也不说,一心想做的就是设法把她弄到黑暗中来吻她。
　　有一段时间,高挑的黑皮肤姑娘觉得还是跟珠宝商的儿子结婚吧.她一连几个小时安静地坐在那里听他讲话，接着心里就怕起来了。她开始觉得，在他关于贞操的谈论之外,实质上潜藏着比其他所有的人都要厉害的情欲.有时她感觉他讲话时手正在抱着她的身体.她仿佛看到他把她的肉体在她那双白皙的手里慢慢地转动和玩弄，而且目不转睛地凝视着它晚上她梦见少年咬她的身体,下巴上滴着血。这个梦她做了三回。就这样她跟另外一个什么话也不讲的人怀孕了，而且这位在情欲迸发的刹那间真咬她的肩膀，牙齿印过了好多天都不退。
　　等高挑的黑皮肤姑娘逐渐对里菲医生有深入地了解后，似乎觉得再也不想离开他了.一天早晨，她走进医生的诊室，什么话也不用说,医生似乎已经明白是怎么回事了。
　　医生的诊所里有个女人，她是温斯堡书店老板的妻子。跟其他所有老式乡村医生一样，里菲医生也给人拔牙，那个候诊的女人用手帕捂住嘴呻吟着。丈夫陪她一起来，等牙齿拔出来后他们俩都尖叫起来，血流到这女人洁白的衣服上。黑皮肤高个姑娘对此完全无动于衷.那女人和丈夫走了后医生才笑来.“我带你坐上车到乡下去。”他说.
　　好几个星期，这个黑皮肤的高个姑娘几乎天天跟医生呆在一起。促使她去找医生的那事件在一种痛苦中过去了,但她就像发现了怪状苹果的甜味的人，再也无法留恋那在城市公寓里被吃掉的光滑完美的苹果了。就在他们开始相识的那年秋天,她嫁给了里菲医生，可是第二年春天，她就死了。冬天的时候，他把所有的记录在纸片上的那些不成系统的零星思想读给她听。他读完后大笑一阵，接着把纸片塞进衣服口袋里，让他们去变成圆圆的硬纸球.