华老栓忽然坐起身,擦着火柴,点上遍身油腻的灯盏,茶馆的两间屋子里,便弥满了青白的光。
Hua Shuan suddenly sat up in bed.
Striking a match, he lit the oil lamp, its body slick with grease; a greenish-white light flickered through the two rooms of the teahouse.
“小栓的爹,你就去么?”
'Are you off, then?” '
是一个老女人的声音。
an old woman's voice asked.
里边的小屋子里,也发出一阵咳嗽。
From the little room behind the shop comes the sound of coughing.
老栓一面听,一面应,一面扣上衣服;伸手过去说,“你给我罢。”
Big-bolt listens, answers, buttons his clothes.
He thrusts out his hand: "Better let me have it now."
华大妈在枕头底下掏了半天,掏出一包洋钱⑵,交给老栓,老栓接了,抖抖的装入衣袋,又在外面按了两下;便点上灯笼,吹熄灯盏,走向里屋子去了。
After some fumbling under the pillow his wife produced a packet of silver dollars which she handed over.
Old Shuan pocketed it nervously, patted his pocket twice, then lighting a paper lantern and blowing out the lamp went into the inner room.
那屋子里面,正在窸窸窣窣的响,接着便是一通咳嗽。
There is a shish shish of bedclothes followed by a round of coughing.
老栓候他平静下去,才低低的叫道,“小栓……你不要起来。
Big-bolt waits until the coughing has subsided and then calls out in low tones, "Little-bolt, there's no need to get up.
……店么?
The shop?
你娘会安排的。”
Your mother will see to the shop.”
老栓听得儿子不再说话,料他安心睡了;便出了门,走到街上。
Guessing from his son's silence that he had fallen back into a deep sleep, Shuan opened the door.
街上黑沉沉的一无所有,只有一条灰白的路,看得分明。
The street is black and empty.
He can see nothing clearly save for the grey road that lies before him.
灯光照着他的两脚,一前一后的走。
The lantern cast its light over his feet, illuminating their progress - one step after another.
有时也遇到几只狗,可是一只也没有叫。
The occasional dog silently crossed his path.
天气比屋子里冷多了;老栓倒觉爽快,仿佛一旦变了少年,得了神通,有给人生命的本领似的,跨步格外高远。
It was much colder than indoors, yet Old Shuanis spirits rose, as if he had grown suddenly younger and possessed some miraculous life-giving power.
He had lengthened his stride.
而且路也愈走愈分明,天也愈走愈亮了。
The more he walks the more clearly he sees the road, and the lighter the sky becomes.
老栓正在专心走路,忽然吃了一惊,远远里看见一条丁字街,明明白白横着。
Single-mindedly going his way, Big-bolt is suddenly startled as he catches sight of another road in the distance that starkly crosses the one he is walking on, forming a T-shaped intersection with it.
他便退了几步,寻到一家关着门的铺子,蹩进檐下,靠门立住了。
He walked back a few steps to stand under the eaves of a shop, in front of its closed door.
好一会,身上觉得有些发冷。
After a while, the cold crept up on him.
“倒高兴……。”
'What's he so happy about...”
老栓又吃一惊,睁眼看时,几个人从他面前过去了。
Another shock: Shuan now noticed passers-by —
一个还回头看他,样子不甚分明,但很像久饿的人见了食物一般,眼里闪出一种攫取的光。
one of them turning to glance back at him.Though the lines of the man's face remained hazy in the fading darkness, Shuan caught a predatory, famished gleam in his eyes.
老栓看看灯笼,已经熄了。
Big-bolt glances at his lantern.
It is already out.
按一按衣袋,硬硬的还在。
He patted his pocket again, to check for the robust presence of the silver.