名著精讀《飄》第二章 第5節
The dark cedars on either side of the graveled drive met in an arch overhead, turning the long avenue into a dim tunnel. As soon as she was beneath the gnarled arms of the cedars, she knew she was safe from observation from the house and she slowed her swift pace. She was panting, for her stays were laced too tightly to permit much running, but she walked on as rapidly as she could. Soon she was at the end of the driveway and out on the main road, but she did not stop until she had rounded a curve that put a large clump of trees between her and the house.
沿着碎石的車道兩邊，茂密的柏樹枝葉交錯，形成天然的拱頂，使那長長的林蔭路變成了一條陰暗的甬道。一跑進這甬道里，她便覺得自己已經安全了，家裏的人望不見了，這才放慢腳步，她氣喘吁吁，因爲她的胸衣箍得太緊，不容許她這樣飛跑，不過她還是儘可能迅速走去。她很快便到了車道盡頭，走上了大路，可是她並不停步，直到拐了個彎，那裏有一大叢樹遮掩着她，使家裏人再也不能看見了。
Flushed and breathing hard, she sat down on a stump to wait for her father. It was past time for him to come home, but she was glad that he was late. The delay would give her time to quiet her breathing and calm her face so that his suspicions would not be aroused. Every moment she expected to hear the pounding of his horse’s hooves and see him come charging up the hill at his usual breakneck speed. But the minutes slipped by and Gerald did not come. She looked down the road for him, the pain in her heart swelling up again.
她兩頰發紅，呼吸急促，坐在一個樹樁上等待父親。往常這時候，他已經回來了，不過她高興今天他晚一些，這樣她纔有時間喘過氣來，使臉色恢復平靜，不致引起父親的猜疑。她分分秒秒地期待着聽到得得的馬蹄聲，看到父親用他那嚇死人的速度馳上山岡。可是一分鐘又一分鐘過去了，傑拉爾德還是不見回來。順着大路望去，想找到他的影子，這時心裏的痛楚又膨脹起來了。
“Oh, it can’t be true!” she thought. “Why doesn’t he come?”
“唔，那不可能是真的！"她心想。"他爲什麼不來呢？"
Her eyes followed the winding road, blood-red now after the morning rain. In her thought she traced its course as it ran down the hill to the sluggish Flint River, through the tangled swampy bottoms and up the next hill to Twelve Oaks where Ashley lived. That was all the road meant now—a road to Ashley and the beautiful white-columned house that crowned the hill like a Greek Temple.
她的眼光沿着那條因早晨下過雨而變得血紅的大路沉思着，在心裏跟蹤着這段路程奔下山岡，到那懶洋洋的弗林特河畔，越過荊榛雜亂的沼澤谷底，再爬上下一個山岡到達“十二橡樹”村。艾希禮就住在那裏。此時，這條路的全部意義就在這裏----它是通向艾希禮和那幢美麗的像希臘神殿般高踞于山岡上的白圓柱房子。
“Oh, Ashley! Ashley!” she thought, and her heart beat faster.
“啊，艾希禮！艾希禮！"她心裏喊着，心臟跳得更快了。
Some of the cold sense of bewilderment and disaster that had weighted her down since the Tarleton boys told her their gossip was pushed into the background of her mind, and in its place crept the fever that had possessed her for two years.
自從塔爾頓家那對孿生子把他們的閒話告訴她以後，一種惶惑和災禍的冷酷感一直沉重地壓抑着她，可如今這種意識已被推到她心靈的後壁去，代之而的是兩年以來始終支配着她的那股狂熱之情。
el n. 碎石
The wheels crunched the gravel.
車輪碾在碎石上嘎吱嘎吱地響。
led[nɑ:ld] adj. 樹木多瘤節的，粗糙的
eway['draivwei] n. (住宅前的)車道
A blind driveway.
隱蔽的車道
ding n. 重擊聲，猛擊
kneck['] adj. 極快的，非常危險的
l[swel] vi. 漸增，膨脹，積聚，情感迸發
Her ankle swelled up after the fall.
她跌倒後腳踝腫了起來。
e[treis] vt. 追蹤，找出根源，描繪 vi. 追蹤
He traces his descent back to an old norman family.
他追蹤自己的世系上溯至一個古老的諾曼家族。
gish adj. 懶惰的，遲鈍的，無精打采的
There is a sluggish stream.
那有一條流速緩慢的溪流。
led adj. 糾纏的，紊亂的
He crouched down among the tangled foliage.
他蹲下把身子藏在紊亂的葉叢中。
lderment n. 困惑，迷亂
ess vt. 持有，支配
I don't know what possessed him to drive so fast down that busy street.
我不知道他着了什麼魔，在那條熱鬧的街上把車子開得這麼快。
