A Rose for Emily

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1、ARoseforEmilyIWhenMissEmilyGriersondied,ourwholetownwenttoherfuneral:thementhroughasortofrespectfulaffectionforafallenmonument,thewomenmostlyoutofcuriositytoseetheinsideofherhouse,whichnoonesaveanoldman-servant—acombinedgardenerandcook—hadseeninatleasttenyears.爱米丽·格利尔逊小姐走了，全镇的人都去送葬：男人们是出于

2、敬慕之情，因为一座丰碑倒塌了；女人们大多出于好奇之心，都想到爱米丽屋里看个究竟。除了一个园丁兼厨师的上了年纪的男仆外，至少已经十年都没有人进去看过了。Itwasabig,squarishframehousethathadoncebeenwhite,decoratedwithcupolasandspiresandscrolledbalconiesintheheavilylightsomestyleoftheseventies,setonwhathadoncebeenourmostselectstreet.Butgaragesandcottonginshadencroache

3、dandobliteratedeventheaugustnamesofthatneighborhood;onlyMissEmily’shousewasleft,liftingitsstubbornandcoquettishdecayabovethecottonwagonsandthegasolinepumps—aneyesoreamongeyesores.AndnowMissEmilyhadgonetojointherepresentativesofthoseaugustnameswheretheylayinthecedar-bemusedcemeteryamongthe

4、rankedandanonymousgravesofUnionandConfederatesoldierswhofellatthebattleofJefferson.那是一幢曾经漆成白色的方形大木屋，圆圆的顶阁，尖尖的塔顶，涡形花纹的阳台，尽显出浓浓的七十年代轻松愉快的风格。房屋所在的街道曾经是全镇最为繁华之地。但这里早已被附近的汽修厂和扎棉机侵占了，就连那些庄严的名字也被吞噬得一干二净；岿然不动的，只有爱米丽小姐的房子，虽有破败之势，却依然显得执拗不训，风韵犹存，与周围的四轮棉花车和汽油泵一样，太过碍眼了。如今爱米丽小姐也进入了那些具有代表性的庄严的名字行列之中，他们长

5、眠在雪松环拥的墓地里，那是南北战争时期杰斐逊战役中阵亡的军人之墓，有的是南方军人，有的是北方士兵；有的是高职位，有的是无名氏。Alive,MissEmilyhadbeenatradition,aduty,andacare;asortofhereditaryobligationuponthetown,datingfromthatdayin1894whenColonelSartoris,themayor—hewhofatheredtheedictthatnoNegrowomanshouldappearonthestreetswithoutanapron—remittedher

6、taxes,thedispensationdatingfromthedeathofherfatheronintoperpetuity.NotthatMissEmilywouldhaveacceptedcharity.ColonelSartorisinventedaninvolvedtaletotheeffectthatMissEmily’sfatherhadloanedmoneytothetown,whichthetown,asamatterofbusiness,preferredthiswayofrepaying.OnlyamanofColonelSartoris’ge

7、nerationandthoughtcouldhaveinventedit,andonlyawomancouldhavebelievedit.生前，爱米丽小姐代表着一个传统、一种职责；她既是人们关注的目标，也是全镇传承下来对她应尽的义务，这种义务是从一八九四年开始的，当时的镇长萨特里斯上校——还颁布了一道命令：严禁黑人妇女不系围裙上街——豁免了她各种税款；这种特惠政策从她父亲去世之日开始，一直到她不在人世之时为止。这并不是说爱米丽爱占人们的便宜，而是萨特里斯上校编造了一套不清不楚的瞎话，说什么爱米丽的父亲曾贷款给镇政府，而镇政