【断背山】09

 They could hear the river mutteringand making a distant train sound a long way off. Twenty minutes on theysurprised a black bear on the bank above them rolling a log over for grubs andJack’s horse shied and reared, Jack¹ saying “Wo! Wo!” and Ennis’s baydancing and snorting but holding. Jack reached for the .30-.06 but there wasno need; the startled bear galloped² into the trees with the lumpish gait thatmade it seem it was falling apart.The tea-colored river ran fast with snowmelt, a scarf of bubbles at every highrock, pools and setbacks streaming. The ochre-branched willows³ swayedstiffly, pollened catkins like yellow thumbprints. The horses drank and Jackdismounted, scooped⁴ icy water up in his hand, crystalline drops falling fromhis fingers, his mouth and chin glistening⁵ with wet. 

     “Get beaver⁶ fever doin that,” said Ennis, then, “Good enough place,” lookingat the level bench above the river, two or three fire-rings from old huntingcamps. A sloping meadow rose behind the bench, protected by a stand oflodgepole. There was plenty of dry wood. They set up camp without sayingmuch, picketed⁷ the horses in the meadow. Jack broke the seal on a bottle ofwhiskey, took a long, hot swallow, exhaled⁸ forcefully, said, 

     “That’s one a thetwo things I need right now,” capped and tossed it to Ennis.On the third morning there were the clouds Ennis had expected, a grey racerout of the west, a bar of darkness driving wind before it and small flakes⁹. Itfaded after an hour into tender spring snow that heaped wet and heavy. Bynightfall it turned colder. Jack and Ennis passed a joint¹⁰ back and forth¹¹, thefire burning late, Jack restless and bitching about the cold, poking¹² the flameswith a stick, twisting the dial of the transistor¹³ radio until the batteries died. 

     Ennis said he’d been putting the blocks to a woman who worked part-time atthe Wolf Ears bar in Signal where he was working now for Stoutamire’s cowand calf¹⁴ outfit¹⁵, but it wasn’t going anywhere and she had some problems hedidn’t want. Jack said he’d had a thing going with the wife of a rancher downthe road in Childress and for the last few months he’d slank aroundexpecting to get shot by Lureen or the husband, one. Ennis laughed a littleand said he probably deserved it. Jack said he was doing all right but hemissed Ennis bad enough sometimes to make him whip babies.The horses nickered in the darkness beyond the fire’s circle of light. Ennis puthis arm around Jack, pulled him close, said he saw his girls about once amonth, Alma Jr. a shy seventeen-year-old with his beanpole length, Francinea little live wire. Jack slid his cold hand between Ennis’s legs, said he wasworried about his boy who was, no doubt about it, dyslexic or something,couldn’t get anything right, fifteen years old and couldn’t hardly read, hecould see it though goddamn Lureen wouldn’t admit to it and pretended thekid was o.k., refused to get any bitchin kind a help about it. He didn’t knowwhat the fuck the answer was. Lureen had the money and called the shots. 

     “I used a want a boy for a kid,” said Ennis, undoing¹⁶ buttons, 

     “but just gotlittle girls.” 

     “I didn’t want none a either kind,” said Jack. 

     “But fuck-all has worked theway I wanted. Nothin never come to my hand the right way.” Without gettingup he threw deadwood on the fire, the sparks flying up with their truths andlies, a few hot points of fire landing on their hands and faces, not for the firsttime, and they rolled down into the dirt. One thing never changed: thebrilliant charge of their infrequent couplings was darkened by the sense oftime flying, never enough time, never enough. 

     A day or two later in the trailhead parking lot, horses loaded into the trailer,Ennis was ready to head back to Signal, Jack up to Lightning Flat to see theold man. Ennis leaned into Jack’s window, said what he’d been putting offthe whole week, that likely he couldn’t get away again until November afterthey’d shipped stock and before winter feeding started. 

     “November. What in hell happened a August? Tell you what, we saidAugust, nine, ten days. Christ, Ennis! Whyn’t you tell me this before? Youhad a fuckin week to say some little word about it. And why’s it we’re alwaysin the friggin cold weather? We ought a do somethin. We ought a go south.We ought a go to Mexico one day.”                    “Mexico? Jack, you know me. All the travelin I ever done is goin around thecoffeepot lookin for the handle. And I’ll be runnin the baler all August, that’swhat’s the matter with August. Lighten up, Jack. We can hunt in November,kill a nice elk¹⁷. Try if I can get Don Wroe’s cabin again. We had a good timethat year.” 

     “You know, friend, this is a goddamn bitch of a unsatisfactory situation. Youused a come away easy. It’s like seein the pope now.” 

     “Jack, I got a work. Them earlier days I used a quit the jobs. You got a wifewith money, a good job. You forget how it is bein broke all the time. You everhear a child support? I been payin out for years and got more to go. Let me tellyou, I can’t quit this one. And I can’t get the time off. It was tough gettin thistime -- some a them late heifers is still calvin. You don’t leave then. You don’t.Stoutamire is a hell-raiser and he raised hell about me takin the week. I don’tblame him. He probly ain’t got a night’s sleep since I left. The trade-off wasAugust. You got a better idea?” 

     “I did once.” The tone was bitter and accusatory.Ennis said nothing, straightened up slowly, rubbed at his forehead; a horsestamped inside the trailer. He walked to his truck, put his hand on the trailer,said something that only the horses could hear, turned and walked back at adeliberate pace. 

     “You been a Mexico, Jack?” Mexico was the place. He’d heard. He wascutting fence now, trespassing¹⁸ in the shoot-em zone.

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 galloped   

（使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事

参考例句：

• Jo galloped across the field towards him. 乔骑马穿过田野向他奔去。
• The children galloped home as soon as the class was over. 孩子们一下课便飞奔回家了。

3 willows   

n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木

参考例句：

• The willows along the river bank look very beautiful. 河岸边的柳树很美。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Willows are planted on both sides of the streets. 街道两侧种着柳树。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 scooped   

v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 glistening   

adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼里闪着晶莹的泪花。
• Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼睛中的泪水闪着柔和的光。 来自《用法词典》

6 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。

7 picketed   

用尖桩围住（picket的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• They picketed the restaurant. 他们在饭馆外设置纠察。
• Humboldt riotously picketed Von Trenk but the play was a hit. 尽管洪堡肆意破坏《冯·特伦克》的上演，然而这个剧还是轰动一时。

8 exhaled   

v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气

参考例句：

• He sat back and exhaled deeply. 他仰坐着深深地呼气。
• He stamped his feet and exhaled a long, white breath. 跺了跺脚，他吐了口长气，很长很白。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

9 flakes   

小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人

参考例句：

• It's snowing in great flakes. 天下着鹅毛大雪。
• It is snowing in great flakes. 正值大雪纷飞。

10 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

11 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

12 poking   

n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
• He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。

13 transistor   

n.晶体管，晶体管收音机

参考例句：

• This make of transistor radio is small and beautifully designed.这半导体收音机小巧玲珑。
• Every transistor has at least three electrodes.每个晶体管至少有三个电极。

14 calf   

n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮

参考例句：

• The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
• The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。

15 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

16 undoing   

n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭

参考例句：

• That one mistake was his undoing. 他一失足即成千古恨。
• This hard attitude may have led to his undoing. 可能就是这种强硬的态度导致了他的垮台。

17 elk   

n.麋鹿

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing.我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。
• The refuge contains the largest wintering population of elk in the world.这座庇护所有着世界上数量最大的冬季麋鹿群。

18 trespassing   

[法]非法入侵

参考例句：

• He told me I was trespassing on private land. 他说我在擅闯私人土地。
• Don't come trespassing on my land again. 别再闯入我的地界了。