四

　　其中一只狗突然从别的狗中间跳了出来，开始咬老妇背上的包袱。这些狗的确曾经是狼。那一只狗可能是这一群狗中的头头，它做什么，其他的狗也做什么。他们把锋利的牙齿咬进老妇用麻绳拴牢在背上的米袋里去，还把老太婆拖到开阔的空地上。陈旧的衣服很快从她肩上撕开。一两天之后，在她被发现时，衣服已经从身上撕到臀部了。狗并没有直接接触他的身体，只是把腌肉从袋里拖出。她的身体已被冻僵了，她的肩膀多么窄，身体是那样的纤细，她死了以后看上去还像妩媚的少女。

　　One of the dogs sprang suddenly out from among he others and began worrying the pack on the old woman“s back. Had the dogs really been wolves that one would have been the leader of the pack .What he did all the others did.

　　All of them sank their teeth into the grain bag the old woman had fastened with ropes to her back.

　　They dragged the old woman“s body out into the open clearing. The worn-out dress was quickly torn from her shoulders. When she was found， a day or two later， the dress had been torn from her body clear to the hips， but the dogs had not touched her body. They had got the meat out of the grain bag， that was all. Her body was frozen stiff when it was found， and the shoulders were so narrow and the body so slight that in death it looked like the body of some charming young girl.

　　那时我还是个孩子，这个中西部的城镇附近的农场里发生这样的事：一个猎人在追逐野兔的时候，发现了这个老太婆，他没有去碰她。覆盖着雪的这块小小的空地上，小路周围被踏平的地方，也就是在这里，那些狗咬着老妇人想拖走或撕开那条米袋。为此使猎人大吃一惊，慌忙离开那雪地，回镇上去了。他来到城里的一个杂货店里，讲了他在雪地里所见到的情况，又去了五金商店，还到了一家食品店里。人们聚集到人行道上，而且动身去森林里的那个地方去了。殡仪馆的老板和警察局长也去了。警察局长是个大高个子，他的腿在南北战争中受过伤，他拿着一根大棒，敏捷的一瘸一拐地向前走去。我和我弟弟脚跟脚地尾随着他，跟着人群一同走去。猎人在前面领着这一队人。

　　Such things happened in towns of the Middle West， on farms near town， when I was a boy. A hunter out after rabbits found the old woman“s body and did not touch it. Something， the beaten round path in the little snow-covered clearing， the silence of the place， the place where the dogs had worried the body trying to pull the grain bag away or tear it open-something startled the man and he hurried off to town.

　　The hunter came into a grocery and told his story. Then he went to a hardware-shop and into a drugstore. Men began to gather on the sidewalks. Then they started out along the road to the place in the woods. The undertaker went and the town marshal. The town marshal was a large man whose leg had been injured in the Civil War. HE carried a heavy cane and limped rapidly along the road. My brother and I followed at his heels， and as we went other men and boys joined the crowed.

　　天渐渐暗下来，月亮也渐渐爬上来了。我们到了那个地方。老妇已被搬到路上来了。警察局长考虑可能是一起谋杀案，他追问猎人。

　　“我没有见到任何伤口，他是一个美丽的年轻姑娘，她的脸埋在雪里。我不认识她。”

　　事实上，猎人没有在近处认真看过这老妇，他感到恐惧。

　　我和我弟弟沉默不语。我的弟弟是个报童，肩上挎着一个挂包，里面装着一扎报纸。他

　　回城的时候，在回家吃饭以前，他必须去分发报纸。

　　It had grown dark by the time we got to where the old woman had left the road but the moon had come out. The marshal was thinking there might have been a murder. He kept asking the hunter questions.

　　“I didn”t see any wounds. She was a beautiful young girl. Her face was buried in the snow. No， I didn“t know her.” As a matter of fact， the hunter had not looked closely at the body. He had been frightened.

　　My brother and I were silent. He had his bundle of papers in a bag slung across his shoulder. When he got back to town he would have to go on distributing his papers before he went to home to supper.

　　冬天的傍晚，黑暗很快就到来了，但是一轮明月照耀得一切都很明亮。我和弟弟站在老妇曾经死去的那棵树附近。她看来还不老，在明亮的、冰冷的、寂静的夜晚，她静静地躺在哪儿。有一个人把她翻过来。这时候，我的身体由于畏惧而打颤，弟弟也和我一样。以前我们谁也没有见过女人的身体。可能是雪抱住这冻僵了的肉体，使她看上去如此雪白、可爱，多么像一尊大理石雕像。我们这一群从城里来的人中间没有妇女。一个铁匠脱下她的外套，铺开盖上老妇，然后把她抱在手臂里，离开森林回城去了。所有的人都默默的跟着走。那时候没有一个人知道她是谁。

　　Darkness comes quickly on such Winter nights， but the full moon made every thing clear. My brother and I stood near the tree， beneath which the old woman had died. She did not look old， lying there in that night， frozen and still. One of the men turned her over in the snow and I saw everything. My body trembled with some strange mystical feeling and so did my brother“s. It might have been the cold

　　Neither of us had ever seen a woman“s body before. It may have been the snow， clinging to the frozen flesh， that made it look so white and lovely， so lick marble. No woman had come with the party from town； but one of the men， he was the

　　Town blacksmith， took off his overcoat and spread it over her. Then he gathered her into his arms and started off to town， all the others following silently. At that time no one knew who she was.