諾貝爾文學經典:《寵兒》第1章Part 23

It began as a little girl's houseplay, but as her desires changed, so did the play. Quiet, primate andcompletely secret except for the noisome cologne signal that thrilled the rabbits before it confusedthem. First a playroom (where the silence was softer), then a refuge (from her brothers' fright),soon the place became the point. In that bower, closed off from the hurt of the hurt world, Denver'simagination produced its own hunger and its own food, which she badly needed because lonelinesswore her out. Wore her out. Veiled and protected by the live green walls, she felt ripe and clear,and salvation was as easy as a wish.
Once when she was in the boxwood, an autumn long before Paul D moved into the house with hermother, she was made suddenly cold by a combination of wind and the perfume on her skin. Shedressed herself, bent down to leave and stood up in snowfall: a thin and whipping snow very likethe picture her mother had painted as she described the circumstances of Denver's birth in a canoestraddled by a whitegirl for whom she was named.
Shivering, Denver approached the house, regarding it, as she always did, as a person rather than astructure. A person that wept, sighed, trembled and fell into fits. Her steps and her gaze were the cautious ones of a child approaching a nervous, idle relative (someone dependent but proud). Abreastplate of darkness hid all the windows except one. Its dim glow came from Baby Suggs'room. When Denver looked in, she saw her mother on her knees in prayer, which was not was unusual (even for a girl who had lived all her life in a house peopled by the livingactivity of the dead) was that a white dress knelt down next to her mother and had its sleeve aroundher mother's waist. And it was the tender embrace of the dress sleeve that made Denver rememberthe details of her birth — that and the thin, whipping snow she was standing in, like the fruit ofcommon flowers. The dress and her mother together looked like two friendly grown-up women —one (the dress) helping out the other. And the magic of her birth, is miracle in fact, testified to that friendliness as did her own name.

開頭只是一個小女孩的過家家，然而隨着她慾望的改變，遊戲也變了樣。又安靜、又幽僻，如果不是刺鼻的香水氣味先吸引、繼而又薰暈了那些兔子，那裏也是完全隱祕的。它先是一間遊戲室（那兒的寂靜比別處更柔和），然後是個避難所（爲了躲開哥哥們的恐懼），再過不久，那個地方 本身成了目的地。在那間涼亭裏，與受傷的世界的傷害徹底隔絕，丹芙的想象造出了它自己的飢餓和它自己的食物，她迫切地需要它們，因爲她被孤獨苦苦糾纏。苦苦糾纏。在生機勃勃的綠牆的遮蔽和保護下，她感到成熟、清醒，而拯救就如同願望一樣唾手可得。
保羅·D搬進來和媽媽同住了；在此之前很久的一個秋天，有一次，她正待在黃楊叢中間，突然，風和皮膚上的香水一齊使她感到冰冷。她穿上衣服，彎下身出去，再站起來時，已經下雪了：薄薄的雪花漫天飛舞，真像她媽媽說起她在獨木舟裏降生時描繪的那幅圖畫，丹芙就是因那個叉腿站在船上的白人姑娘而得名的。
丹芙戰慄着走近房子，像往常一樣把它當做一個人，而不是一座建築。一個哭泣、嘆息、顫抖，時常發作的人。她的步履和凝視都分外謹慎，樣子好像一個孩子在接近一個神經過敏、遊手好閒的親戚（寄人籬下卻又自尊自大）。黑夜的胸甲遮住了所有窗戶，只有一扇剩下。它昏暗的光來自貝比·薩格斯的房間。丹芙望進去，看見她媽媽正在跪着祈禱。這很尋常。然而不尋常的是（甚至對於一個一直在鬼魂活動頻繁的房子里居住的女孩來說），有一條白裙子跪在她媽媽身旁，一隻袖子擁着媽媽的腰。正是這隻裙袖的溫柔擁抱，使丹芙想起她出生的細節———想起了擁抱，還有她現在正立身其中的薄薄的、飄舞的雪花，它們就像尋常花朵結下的果實。那條裙子和她媽媽在一起，好像兩個友好的成年女子———一個（裙子）扶着另一個。還有她降生的傳奇，實際上是個奇蹟，和她自己的名字一樣，是那次友愛的見證。