她知道这个老妇人是猜忌多心 的，外表最则对她还算大方，可是她底嫉妒的心是和侦探一样，监视 着秀才对她的一举一动。
Outwardly, the scholar's wife was kind to her, but she felt that, deep inside.
The elderly woman was jealous and suspicious and that, like a detective, she was always spying to see what was going on between the scholar and her.
有时，秀才从外面回来，先遇见了她而同她 说话，老妇人就疑心有什么特别的东西买给她了，非在当晚，将秀才 叫到她自己底房内去，狠狠地训斥一番不可。
Sometimes, if the wife caught her husband talking to the young woman on his return home, she would suspect that he had bought her something special.
这样以后，她望见秀才从外面回来而旁边没有她坐着的 时候，就非得急忙避开不可。
After that, whenever she saw the scholar return home, she always tried to avoid him if his wife was not present.
即使她在旁边，有时也该让开一些，但 这种动作，她要做的非常自然，而且不能让旁人看出，否则，她又要 向她发怒，说是她有意要在旁人的前面暴露她大娘底丑恶。
She had to do all this naturally SO that it would not be noticed by outsiders, for otherwise the wife would get angry and blame her for purposely discrediting her in public.
有 时老妇人底换下来的衣服放着，她也给她拿去洗了，虽然她说： "我底衣服怎么要你洗呢？
Once the young woman decided to wash the elderly woman's clothes. "You' re not supposed to wash my clothes," the scholar's wife said. "In fact you can have the kitchenmaid wash your own laundry." Yet the next moment she said, "Sister dear, you'd better 90 to the pigsty and have a look at the two pigs which have been grunting all the time.
" 八个月了，那年冬天，她底胃却起了变化：老是不想吃饭，想吃 新鲜的面，番薯等。
She had little appetite for regular meals and always felt like eating something different noodles, potatoes and so on.
但番薯或面吃了两餐，又不想吃，又想吃馄饨， 多吃又要呕。
But she soon got tired of noodles and potatoes, and asked for meat dumplings.
他镇 日地笑微微，能找到的东西，总忙着给她找来。
He kept smiling all day and gave her whatever was available.
他亲身给她到街上去 买橘子，又托便人买了金柑来，他在廊沿下走来走去，口里念念有词 的，不知说什么。
He went to town himself to get her tangerines and asked someone to buy her some oranges.
" 有时在夜里，人家谈着话，他却独自拿了一盏灯，在灯下，读起 《诗经》来了： 关关雎鸠， 在河之洲， 窈窕淑女， 君子好逑--- 这时长工向他问： "先生，你又不去考举人，还读它做什么呢？
We can let the farmhand do it, since everybody is going to eat the cakes." Sometimes in the evening, when the rest of the household were chatting, he would sit alone near an oil lamp, reading the Book of Songs: "Fai, fair," cry the ospreys On the island in the river.
他却摸一摸没有胡子的口边，怡悦地说道： "是呀，你也知道人生底快乐么？
You're not going to sit for a higher civil service examination, are you?" The scholar stroked his beardless chin and said in a gay tone, "Well, you know the joys of life, don't you?
可是我对于这两件事都过去了，我却还有比这两件更快乐的事呢！
As for me, I've already experienced both.
这些事，在老妇人眼睛里是看得非常气恼了。
To the scholar's wife all this was very annoying.
有一次，次年三月了，这妇人因为身体感觉不舒服，头有些 痛，睡了三天。
Once, the following spring, it happened that the young woman fell ill and was laid up for three days with a headache.
秀才呢，也愿她歇息歇息，更不时地问她要什么，而 老妇人却着实地发怒了。
The scholar was anxious that she take a rest and frequently asked what she needed.
她说她装娇，噜噜味味地也说了三天。
She grumbled for three whole days and said that the young woman was malingering. "She has been spoiled here and become stuck-up like a real concubine," she said, sneering maliciously, "always complaining about headaches or backaches.
" 当晚这妇人没有吃晚饭，这时她已经睡了，听了这一番婉转的冷 嘲与热骂，她鸣鸣咽咽地低声哭泣了。
It's really a bit too early for her to make such a fuss/ The young woman who had gone to bed without supper was awakened by this torrent of malicious abuse and burst into convulsive sobs.
他很想扣好衣服，重新走起来，去打她一 顿，抓住她底头发狠狠地打她一顿，泄泄他一肚皮的气。
He wanted to gO to his wife's room, grab her by the hair and give her a good beating so as to work off his feelings.
但不知怎样， 似乎没有力量，连指也颤动，臂也酸软了，一边轻轻地叹息着说： "唉，一向实在太对她好了。
But, somehow or other, he felt powerless to do so; his fingers trembled and his arms ached with weariness.
结婚了三十年，没有打过她一掌，简 直连指甲都没有弹到她底皮肤上过，所以今日，竟和娘娘一般地难惹 了。
In thirty years of married life, I've never slapped her face or given her a scratch.
" 同时，他爬过到床底那端，她底身边，向她耳语说： "不要哭罢，不要哭罢，随她吠去好了 ！
That's why she is so cocky." Then, crawling across the bed, he whispered to the young woman beside him, "Now, stop crying, stop crying, let her cackle!
假如你这一次真能养出一个男孩子来，我当 送你两样宝贝--我有一只青玉的戒指，一只白玉的••••" 他没有说完，可是他忍不住听下门外的他底大妻底喋喋的讥笑的 声音，他急忙地脱去了衣服，将头钻进被窝里去，凑向她底胸膛，一 边说： "我有白玉的⋯••" 肚子一天天地膨胀的如斗那么大，老妇人终究也将产婆雇定了， 而且在别人的面前，竟拿起花布来做婴儿用的衣服。
If you manage to have a baby boy this time, I'll give you two precious gifts -- a blue jade ring and a white jade...' leaving the last sentence unfinished, he turned to listen to his wife's jeering voice outside the room.
秋天始，凉风也拂拂地在乡镇上吹送。
The hot summer had ended and the cool autumn breeze was blowing over the village.
于是有一天，这全家的人们都 到了希望底最高潮，屋里底空气完全地强动起来。
The day finally came when the expectations of the whole household reached their climax and everybody was agog.