世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第17章Part1

Chapter 17
URSULA HAD to make a great effort to fulfill her promise to die when it cleared. The waves of lucidity that were so scarce during the rains became more frequent after August, when an and wind began to blow and suffocated the rose bushes and petrified the piles of mud, and ended up scattering over Macondo the burning dust that covered the rusted zinc roofs and the age-old almond trees forever. ?rsula cried in lamentation when she discovered that for more than three years she had been a plaything for the children. She washed her painted face, took off the strips of brightly colored cloth, the dried lizards and frogs, and the rosaries and old Arab necklaces that they had hung all over her body, and for the first time since the death of Amaranta she got up out of bed without anybody’s help to join in the family life once more. The spirit of her invincible heart guided her through the shadows. Those who noticed her stumbling and who bumped into the archangelic arm she kept raised at head level thought that she was having trouble with her body, but they still did not think she was blind. She did not need to see to realize that the flower beds, cultivated with such care since the first rebuilding, had been destroyed by the rain and ruined by Aureliano Segundo’s excavations, and that the walls and the cement of the floors were cracked, the furniture mushy and discolored, the doors off their hinges, and the family menaced by a spirit of resignation and despair that was inconceivable in her time. Feeling her way along through the empty bedrooms she perceived the continuous rumble of the termites as they carved the wood, the snipping of the moths in the clothes closets, and the devastating noise of the enormous red ants that had prospered during the deluge and were undermining the foundations of the house. One day she opened the trunk with the saints and had to ask Santa Sofía de la Piedad to get off her body the cockroaches that jumped out and that had already turned the clothing to dust. “A person can’t live in neglect like this,?she said. “If we go on like this we’ll be devoured by animals.?From then on she did not have a moment of repose. Up before dawn, she would use anybody available, even the children. She put the few articles of clothing that were still usable out into the sun, she drove the cockroaches off with powerful insecticide attacks, she scratched out the veins that the termites had made on doors and windows and asphyxiated the ants in their anthills with quicklime. The fever of restoration finally brought her to the forgotten rooms. She cleared out the rubble and cobwebs in the room where Jos?Arcadio Buendía had lost his wits looking for the Philosopher’s stone, she put the silver shop which had been upset by the soldiers in order, and lastly she asked for the keys to Melquíades?room to see what state it was in. Faithful to the wishes of Jos?Arcadio Segundo, who had forbidden anyone to come in unless there was a clear indication that he had died, Santa Sofía de la Piedad tried all kinds of subterfuges to throw ?rsula off the track. But so inflexible was her determination not to surrender even the most remote corner of the house to the insects that she knocked down every obstacle in her path, and after three days of insistence she succeeded in getting them to open the door for her. She had to hold on to the doorjamb so that the stench would not knock her over, but she needed only two seconds to remember that the schoolgirls?seventy-two chamberpots were in there and that on one of the rainy nights a patrol of soldiers had searched the house looking for Jos?Arcadio Segundo and had been unable to find him.
“Lord save us!?she exclaimed, as if she could see everything. “So much trouble teaching you good manners and you end up living like a pig.?
Jos?Arcadio Segundo was still reading over the parchments. The only thing visible in the intricate tangle of hair was the teeth striped with green dime and his motionless eyes. When he recognized his great-grandmother’s voice he turned his head toward the door, tried to smile, and without knowing it repeated an old phrase of ?rsula’s.
“What did you expect??he murmured. “Time passes.?
“That’s how it goes, Ursula said, “but not so much.?

第十七章
八月裏開始颳起了熱風。這種熱風不但窒息了玫瑰花叢，使所有的沼澤都乾涸了，而且給馬孔多生鏽的鋅板屋頂和它那百年杏樹都撒上了一層灼熱的塵土。下雨的時候，烏蘇娜意識中突發的閃光是十分罕見的，但從八月開始，卻變得頻繁了。看來，烏蘇娜還要過不少日子才能實現自己的諾言，在雨停之後死去。她知道自己給孩子們當了三年多的玩偶，就無限自憐地哭泣起來。她拭淨臉上的污垢，脫掉身上的花布衣服，抖掉身上的幹蜥蜴和癩蛤蟆，扔掉頸上的念珠和項鍊，從阿瑪蘭塔去世以來，頭一次不用旁人攙扶，自己下了牀，準備重新投身到家庭生活中去。她那顆不屈服的心在黑暗中引導着她。無論誰看到她那顫巍巍的動作，或者突然瞧見她那總是伸得與頭一般高的天使似的手，都會對老太婆弱不禁鳳的身體產生惻隱之心，可是誰也不會想到烏蘇娜的眼睛完全瞎了。但這並沒有妨礙烏蘇娜發現，她從房子第一次改建以來那麼細心照料的花壇，已被雨水沖毀了，又讓奧雷連諾第二給掘過了，地板和牆壁裂開一道道縫，傢俱搖搖晃晃，全褪了色，房門也從鉸鏈上脫落下來。家中出現了從未有過的消沉和沮喪的氣氛。烏蘇娜摸着走過一間間空蕩蕩的臥室時，傳進她耳裏的只是螞蟻不停地啃蝕木頭的磁哦聲。蛀蟲在衣櫃裏的活動聲和雨天滋生的大紅螞蟻破壞房基的安全聲。有一次，她打開一隻衣箱，箱子裏突然爬出一羣蟑螂，裏面的衣服幾乎都被它們咬破了，她不得不求救似的把聖索菲婭。 德拉佩德叫來。“在這樣的廢墟上怎能生活呢？”她說。“到頭來這些畜生會把咱們也消滅的，”從這一天起，烏蘇娜心裏一刻也沒寧靜過。清早起來，她便把所有能召喚的人都叫來幫忙，小孩子也不例外。她在太陽下曬乾最後一件完好無損的外套和一些還可穿的內衣，用各種毒劑突然襲擊蟑螂，趕跑它們，堵死門縫和窗框上白螞蟻開闢的一條條通路，拿生石灰把螞蟻直接悶死在洞穴裏。由於懷着一種力圖恢復一切的狂熱願望，烏蘇娜甚至來到那些被遺忘的房間跟前。她先叫人清除了一個房間裏的垃圾和蜘蛛網，在這個房間裏，霍·阿。 布恩蒂亞曾絞盡腦汁，不遺餘力地尋找過點金石。接着，她又親自把士兵們翻得亂七八糟的首飾作坊整理一番；最後，她要了梅爾加德斯房間的鑰匙，打算看一下里面的情況，可是霍。 阿卡蒂奧第二在自己死亡之前是絕對禁止人們走進這個房間的。聖索菲婭。 德拉佩德尊重他的意願，試圖用一些妙計和藉口促使烏蘇娜放棄自己的打算。但是老太婆固執己見，決心消滅房中偏僻角落裏的蟲子，毅然決然地排除了她碰到的一切困難，三天之後便達到了目的——打開了梅爾加德斯的房間。房間裏發出沖鼻的臭氣，烏蘇娜抓住門框，才站穩了腳跟。然而她立即想起，這房間裏放着爲梅梅的女同學買的七十二隻便盆，想起最初的一個雨夜裏，士兵們爲了尋找霍·阿卡蒂奧第二，搜遍了整座房子，始終沒有找到。
“我的天啊！”她若看得見梅爾加德斯房間裏的一切，準會這樣驚叫一聲。“我花了那麼多力氣教你養成整潔的習慣，可你卻在這兒髒得象只豬。”
霍·阿卡蒂奧第二正在繼續考證羊皮紙手稿。他那凌亂不堪、又長又密的頭髮垂到了額上，透過頭髮只望得見微綠的牙齒和呆滯的眼睛。聽出曾祖母的聲音，他就朝房門掉過頭去，試圖微笑一下，可他自己也不知怎的重複了烏蘇娜從前講過的一句話。
“你在想什麼呢？”他叨咕道。“時光正在流逝嘛。”
“當然，”烏蘇娜說，“可畢竟是…”