2019年经济学人 哭泣的白手帕(3)

哭泣的白手帕(3)

Yet she also feared the light. It was too hard to reveal this. She buried it deep in shame, and so did those closest to her. When she was reunited with her mother in the labour camp, lying tearful with relief in the hollow of her arms, and her mother stroked her bald head, bald because she had cut off her hair in a bid to make the officers avoid her, she briefly¹ told her. Her mother could not cope with it, and they said nothing more.

但是，奥赫恩也害怕灯光。吐露这样的事情太艰难了。她深感羞愧，将它埋藏在心里，她最亲近的人也是一样。奥赫恩和自己的母亲重聚时，躺在母亲的怀里，松了一口气，泪流满面。母亲抚摸着她的秃头，她简短地告诉母亲，为了让军官们不去找她，自己剃了秃头。奥赫恩的母亲没办法应对这件事情，他们没再多说什么。

She told a priest, since she still hoped to be a nun², but he deflected³ her as something sullied. When she met Tom Ruff, the British soldier who became her husband, she spoke⁴ of it once, then never again. She longed to scream out the details of what had been done to her, but instead she was expected to get on with life as though nothing had. In a way, she succeeded. She and Tom married and moved happily to Adelaide. She did not want sex, but bore it, and after surgery to mend her she had her daughters. Their house was full of music, and she sang in choirs⁵. When Tom became an invalid⁶, her faith helped her bear that. Outwardly she was smiling and serene⁷. Inside was another story.

她告诉一位牧师，她仍旧希望成为一名修女，但是牧师认为她已经被玷污了。当奥赫恩遇到后来成为她丈夫的英国士兵汤姆·拉夫时，她只说了一次，后来就再也没说过。她想要喊出自己遭遇的细节，但是她却被期望像什么也没有发生过一样继续过她的生活。在某种程度上，奥赫恩成功了。奥赫恩和汤姆结婚了，愉快地搬到阿德莱德。她不想做爱，她对此感到厌烦，手术后她又生了几个女儿。他们的家里充满音乐，而且奥赫恩在唱诗班唱歌。汤姆生病时，奥赫恩的信念帮她承受了这些。表面上她面带微笑，神态安详。在内心里又是另外一个故事。

All kinds of things reminded her, but especially the handkerchief in the drawer. A woman at the camp had passed it to her as she left for Semarang, and on the veranda⁸ of the brothelone evening, as they waited for that dreaded⁹ dark, she had asked the six other girls to sign it. Miep, Gerda, Els, Annie, Betty and Lies had written their names in pencil and she had sewn over them. Sometimes she would hold it to her face and cry.

所有这些东西都提醒着她，但是尤其是抽屉里的手帕。劳改营里的一个女人在她去三堡垄港市的时候把手帕给了她，那之前，他们在妓院的阳台上等待着那可怕的黑暗时，她让其他的六个女孩在手帕上签了名。梅普、格尔达、埃尔斯、安妮、贝蒂和利斯用铅笔写了他们的名字，她把它们缝了起来。有时她会用手帕捂着脸哭泣。

1 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

2 nun   

n.修女，尼姑

参考例句：

• I can't believe that the famous singer has become a nun.我无法相信那个著名的歌星已做了修女。
• She shaved her head and became a nun.她削发为尼。

3 deflected   

偏离的

参考例句：

• The ball deflected off Reid's body into the goal. 球打在里德身上反弹进球门。
• Most of its particles are deflected. 此物质的料子大多是偏斜的。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 choirs   

n.教堂的唱诗班( choir的名词复数 )；唱诗队；公开表演的合唱团；（教堂）唱经楼

参考例句：

• They ran the three churches to which they belonged, the clergy, the choirs and the parishioners. 她们管理着自己所属的那三家教堂、牧师、唱诗班和教区居民。 来自飘（部分）
• Since 1935, several village choirs skilled in this music have been created. 1935以来，数支熟练掌握这种音乐的乡村唱诗班相继建立起来。 来自互联网

6 invalid   

n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的

参考例句：

• He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
• A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。

7 serene   

adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的

参考例句：

• He has entered the serene autumn of his life.他已进入了美好的中年时期。
• He didn't speak much,he just smiled with that serene smile of his.他话不多，只是脸上露出他招牌式的淡定的微笑。

8 veranda   

n.走廊；阳台

参考例句：

• She sat in the shade on the veranda.她坐在阳台上的遮荫处。
• They were strolling up and down the veranda.他们在走廊上来回徜徉。

9 dreaded   

adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The dreaded moment had finally arrived. 可怕的时刻终于来到了。
• He dreaded having to spend Christmas in hospital. 他害怕非得在医院过圣诞节不可。 来自《用法词典》