【断背山】07

  Twist, you guys wasn’t gettin paid to leave the dogs baby-sit the sheep while you stemmed the rose, and declined to rehire him. He went on, 

     “Yeah, that little punch a yours surprised me. I never figured you to throw a dirty punch.” 

     “I come up under my brother K.E., three years older’n me, slugged me silly everday. Dad got tired a me come bawlin in the house and when I was about six he set me down and says, Ennis, you got a problem and you got a fix it or it’s gonna be with you until you’re ninety and K.E.’s ninety-three. Well, I says,he’s bigger’n me. Dad says, you got a take him unawares, don’t say nothin to him, make him feel some pain, get out fast and keep doin it until he takes themessage. Nothin like hurtin somebody to make him hear good. So I did. I gothim in the outhouse, jumped him on the stairs, come over to his pillow in the night while he was sleepin and pasted him damn good. Took about two days. Never had trouble with K.E. since. The lesson was, don’t say nothin and get it over with quick.” 

     A telephone rang in the next room, rang on and on, stopped abruptly¹ in mid-peal.          “You won’t catch me again,” said Jack². 

     “Listen. I’m thinkin, tell you what, if you and me had a little ranch³ together, little cow and calf⁴ operation, your horses, it’d be some sweet life. Like I said, I’m gettin out a rodeo. I ain’t nobroke-dick rider but I don’t got the bucks⁵ a ride out this slump⁶ I’m in and Idon’t got the bones a keep gettin wrecked⁷. I got it figured, got this plan, Ennis, how we can do it, you and me. Lureen’s old man, you bet he’d give me abunch if I’d get lost. Already more or less said it -- “ 

     “Whoa, whoa, whoa. It ain’t goin a be that way. We can’t. I’m stuck withwhat I got, caught in my own loop. Can’t get out of it. Jack, I don’t want a be like them guys you see around sometimes. And I don’t want a be dead. There was these two old guys ranched⁸ together down home, Earl and Rich -- Dad would pass a remark when he seen them. They was a joke even though they was pretty tough old birds. I was what, nine years old and they found Earldead in a irrigation ditch. They’d took a tire iron to him, spurred him up, drug him around by his dick until it pulled off, just bloody⁹ pulp¹⁰. What the tire iron done looked like pieces a burned tomatoes all over him, nose tore down from skiddin on gravel¹¹.” 

     “You seen that?” 

     “Dad made sure I seen it. Took me to see it. Me and K.E. Dad laughed about it.Hell, for all I know he done the job. If he was alive and was to put his head inthat door right now you bet he’d go get his tire iron. Two guys livin together? No. All I can see is we get together once in a while way the hell out in the backa nowhere -- “ 

     “How much is once in a while?” said Jack. 

     “Once in a while ever four fuckin years?” 

     “No,” said Ennis, forbearing to ask whose fault that was. 

     “I goddamn hate it that you’re goin a drive away in the mornin and I’m goin back to work. But ifyou can’t fix it you got a stand it,” he said. 

     “Shit. I been lookin at people onthe street. This happen a other people? What the hell do they do?” 

     “It don’t happen in Wyomin and if it does I don’t know what they do, maybego to Denver,” said Jack, sitting up, turning away from him, 

     “and I don’t givea flyin fuck. Son of a bitch, Ennis, take a couple days off. Right now. Get usout a here. Throw your stuff in the back a my truck and let’s get up in the mountains. Couple a days. Call Alma up and tell her you’re goin. Come on,Ennis, you just shot my airplane out a the sky -- give me somethin a go on.This ain’t no little thing that’s happenin here.”The hollow ringing began again in the next room, and as if he were answering it, Ennis picked up the phone on the bedside table, dialed his own number. 

     A slow corrosion¹² worked between Ennis and Alma, no real trouble, just widening water. She was working at a grocery store clerk job, saw she’dalways have to work to keep ahead of the bills on what Ennis made. Almaasked Ennis to use rubbers because she dreaded¹³ another pregnancy¹⁴. He saidno to that, said he would be happy to leave her alone if she didn’t want anymore of his kids. Under her breath she said, “I’d have em if you’d supportem.” And under that, thought, anyway, what you like to do don’t make toomany babies. 

     Her resentment¹⁵ opened out a little every year: the embrace she had glimpsed, Ennis’s fishing trips once or twice a year with Jack Twist and never avacation with her and the girls, his disinclination to step out and have any fun, his yearning¹⁶ for low paid, long-houred ranch work, his propensity¹⁷ to rollto the wall and sleep as soon as he hit the bed, his failure to look for a decent permanent job with the county or the power company, put her in a long, slowdive and when Alma Jr. was nine and Francine seven she said, what am Idoin hangin around with him, divorced Ennis and married the Rivertongrocer. 

1 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

2 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。

3 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

4 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。

5 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

7 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

8 ranched   

经营牧场（ranch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Three ago they came here and ranched the mountainous dry land. 他们三年前来到这里，在山区旱地经营农场。
• Many animals may be farmed or ranched to create a valuable legal trade. 许多动物都可以驯化或放养，从而形成合法产业。

9 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

10 pulp   

n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆

参考例句：

• The pulp of this watermelon is too spongy.这西瓜瓤儿太肉了。
• The company manufactures pulp and paper products.这个公司制造纸浆和纸产品。

11 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

12 corrosion   

n.腐蚀，侵蚀；渐渐毁坏，渐衰

参考例句：

• Corrosion is not covered by the warranty.腐蚀不在保修范围之内。
• Zinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.锌被用来保护其他金属不受腐蚀。

13 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》

14 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

15 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

16 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

17 propensity   

n.倾向；习性

参考例句：

• He has a propensity for drinking too much alcohol.他有酗酒的倾向。
• She hasn't reckoned on his propensity for violence.她不曾料到他有暴力倾向。