2.Say Yes(1366)

Passage Two

Tobias Wolff is a great American writer. He studied English Literature at Oxford University and got top honors. He is known for his short stories and novels, and has won many awards. Wolff also teaches at Stanford University. His story "Say Yes" was published in 1985.

托拜厄斯·沃尔夫是一位伟大的美国作家。他在牛津大学学习英国文学，并获得了最高荣誉。他以短篇小说和长篇小说而闻名，并获得了许多奖项。沃尔夫也在斯坦福大学任教。他的小说《说,好》于1985年出版。

Say Yes

Tobias Wolff

【1】They were doing the dishes, his wife washing while he dried. Unlike most men he knew, he really pitched in on the housework. A few months earlier, he'd overheard a friend of his wife's congratulating her on having such a considerate husband. They talked about different things, and somehow got onto the subject of whether white people should marry black people. He said that, all things considered, he thought it was a bad idea.

【2】"Why?" she asked. Sometimes his wife got this look where she pinched her brows together and bit her lower lip. When he saw her like this, he knew he should keep his mouth shut, but he never did. Actually, it made him talk more. She had that look now.

【3】"Why?" she asked again, and stood there with her hand inside a bowl, just holding it above the water.

"Listen," he said, "I went to school with blacks, and I've worked with blacks, and we've always gotten along just fine. I don't need you coming along now and implying that I'm a racist."

"I didn't imply anything," she said, "I just don't see what's wrong with a white person marrying a black person, that's all."

"But you wouldn't like to marry a black person, is that it?" she asked.

"But that's different. A person from their culture and a person of our culture could never really know each other."

【4】"Like you know me?" his wife asked.

"Yes. Like I know you."

"But if they love each other," she said.

Oh boy, he thought. He said, "Don't take my word for it. Look at the statistics. Most of those marriages break up."

"Statistics," she was piling dishes on the draining-board at a terrific rate. Many of them were still greasy.

【5】"All right," she said, "what about foreigners? I suppose you think the same thing about two foreigners getting married."

"Yes," he said, "as a matter of fact, I do. How can you understand someone who comes from a completely different background?"

"Different," said his wife. "Not the same, like us."

"Yes, different," he snapped, angry with her for resorting to this trick of repeating his words so that they sounded hypocritical. "These are dirty," he said, and threw all the silverware back into the sink.

【6】She stared down at it, her lips pressed tight together, then plunged her hands under the surface. "Oh!" she cried, and jumped back. She took her right hand by the wrist and held it up. Her thumb was bleeding.

【7】"Don't move," he said. "Stay right there." He ran upstairs to the bathroom and rummaged in the medicine chest for alcohol, cotton, and a Band-Aid. When he came back down, she was leaning against the refrigerator with her eyes closed, still holding her hand. He took her hand and dabbed at her thumb with the cotton. The bleeding had stopped. He squeezed it to see how deep the wound was.

【8】"It's shallow," he said. "Tomorrow you won't even know it's there." He hoped that she appreciated how quickly he had come to her aid. He'd acted out of concern for her, he thought that it would be a nice gesture on her part not to start up that conversation again, as he was tired of it.

【9】"I'll finish up here," he said. "You go and relax."

"That's okay," she said. "I'll dry."

He began to wash the silverware again.

"So," she said, "you wouldn't have married me if I'd been black."

"For Christ's sake, Ann!"

"Well, that's what you said, didn't you?"

【10】"No, I did not. The whole question is ridiculous. If you had been black, we probably wouldn't even have met. The only black girl I ever knew was my partner in the debating club."

"But if we had met, and I'd been black?"

"Then you probably would have been going out with a black guy." He picked up the rinsing nozzle and sprayed the silverware.

"Let's say I am black and unattached," she said, "and we meet and fall in love."

【11】He glanced over at her. She was watching him, and her eyes were bright. "Look," he said, taking a reasonable tone, "this is stupid. If you were black, you wouldn't be you."

【12】As he said this, he realized it was absolutely true. There was no possible way of arguing with the fact that she would not be herself if she were black.

"I know," she said, "but let's just say."

He took a deep breath. He had won the argument, but he still felt cornered. "Say what?"

"That I'm black, but still me, and we fall in love. Will you marry me?"

He thought about it.

"Well?" she said. Her eyes were even brighter. "Will you marry me?"

"I'm thinking," he said.

"You won't, I can tell."

【13】"Let's not move too fast on this," he said. "There are lots of things to consider. We don't want to do something we would regret for the rest of our lives."

"No more considering. Yes or no?"

"Since you put it that way," he said, "yes or no."

"Jesus, Ann. All right, no."

【14】She said, "Thank you," and walked from the kitchen into the living room. A moment later, he heard her turning the pages of a magazine. He knew that she was too angry to be actually reading it, but she didn't snap through the pages the way he would have done. She turned them slowly, as if she were studying every word. She was demonstrating her indifference to him, and it had the effect he knew she wanted it to have. It hurt him.

【15】He had no choice but to demonstrate his indifference to her. Quietly, thoroughly, he washed the rest of the dishes. Then he dried them and put them away. He wiped the counters and the stove. While he was at it, he decided, he might as well mop the floor. When he was done, the kitchen looked new, the way it looked when they were first shown the house.

【16】He picked up the garbage pail and went outside. The night was clear, and he could see a few stars to the west, where the lights of the town didn't blur them out. On El Camino, the traffic was steady and light, peaceful as a river. He felt ashamed that he had let his wife get him into a fight. In another thirty years or so, they would both be dead. What would all that stuff matter then? He thought of the years they had spent together, and how close they were, and how well they knew each other, and his throat tightened so that he could hardly breathe.

【17】The house was dark when he came back inside. She was in the bathroom. He stood outside the door and called her name. "Ann, I'm really sorry," he said. "I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"How?" she said.

He knew that he had to come up with the right answer. He leaned against the door. "I'll marry you," he whispered.

"We'll see," she said. "Go on to bed. I'll be out in a minute."

He undressed and got under the covers. Finally, he heard the bathroom door open and close.

"Turn off the light," she said from the hallway.

"What?" he said.

"Turn off the light."

【18】He reached over and pulled the chain on the bedside lamp. The room went dark. "All right," he said. He lay there, but nothing happened. "All right," he said again. Then he heard a movement across the room. He sat up, but he couldn't see a thing. The room was silent. His heart pounded the way it had on their first night together, the way it still did when he woke at a noise in the darkness and waited to hear again—the sound of someone moving through the house, a stranger.

第二课

说,是的

托拜厄斯·沃尔夫

【1】他们在洗碗，他的妻子在洗，而他在擦干。与他认识的大多数男人不同，他确实参与了家务劳动。几个月前，他无意中听到妻子的一个朋友祝贺她有一个如此体贴的丈夫。他们谈论着不同的事情，不知怎么的就谈到了白人是否应该和黑人结婚这个话题。他说，从各方面考虑，他认为这是个坏主意。

【2】“为什么?”她问。有时他的妻子会有这样的表情，她皱着眉头，咬着下唇。当他看到她这样时，他知道他应该闭嘴，但他从来没有这样做。事实上，这让他说得更多了。她现在有了那种表情。

【3】“为什么?”她又问了一遍，然后站在那里，把手伸进一只碗里，刚好举过水面。

“听着，”他说，“我和黑人一起上学，也和黑人一起工作，我们一直相处得很好。我不需要你现在来暗示我是种族主义者。”

“我没有任何暗示，”她说，“我只是不明白一个白人和一个黑人结婚有什么错，仅此而已。”

“但你不想嫁给一个黑人，是吗?”她问。

“但这是不同的。来自他们文化的人和来自我们文化的人永远不可能真正了解对方。”

【4】“好像你了解我似的?”他的妻子问道。

“是的。就像我了解你一样。”

“但如果他们彼此相爱，”她说。

哦，天哪，他想。他说:“不要相信我的话。看看统计数据。大多数这样的婚姻都破裂了。”

“统计，”她正在以惊人的速度把盘子堆在滴水板上。其中许多还很油腻。

【5】“好吧，”她说，“那外国人呢?我猜你对两个外国人结婚也有同样的看法。”

“是的，”他说，“事实上，我知道。你怎么能理解一个来自完全不同背景的人呢?”

“不一样，”他的妻子说。“和我们不一样。”

“是的，不一样，"他厉声说，对她老是重复他的话，使他的话听起来很虚伪，感到很生气。“这些是脏的，”他说，并把所有的银器扔回水槽。

【6】她低头盯着它，嘴唇紧紧地抿在一起，然后把手伸进水面。“噢!”她叫了一声，跳了回去。她抓住右手的手腕，举了起来。她的拇指在流血。

【7】“别动，”他说。“待在那儿别动。”他跑到楼上的浴室，在药箱里翻找酒精、棉花和创可贴。当他下来的时候，她正倚在冰箱上，闭着眼睛，仍然握着她的手。他拉着她的手，用棉花轻轻擦了擦她的拇指。血止住了。他捏了一下，看看伤口有多深。

【8】“它很浅，”他说。“明天你甚至都不知道它的存在。”他希望她能感激他这么快就来帮助她。他这么做是出于对她的关心，他认为她不要再提起这个话题是一个很好的姿态，因为他已经厌倦了。

【9】“我要在这里结束，”他说。“你去放松一下吧。”

“没关系，”她说。“我来擦干。”

他又开始洗银器。

“那么，”她说，“如果我是黑人，你就不会嫁给我了。”

“看在上帝的份上，安!”

“嗯，这就是你说的，不是吗?”

【10】“不，我没有。整个问题都很荒谬。如果你是黑人，我们可能根本不会认识。我认识的唯一一个黑人女孩是我在辩论社的搭档。”

“但如果我们相遇，而我是黑人呢?”

“那你可能会和一个黑人约会。”他拿起冲洗嘴，向银器喷水。

“假设我是单身黑人，”她说，“我们相遇并坠入爱河。”

【11】他瞥了她一眼。她看着他，眼睛里闪着光。“听着，”他说，用一种通情达理的语气，“这太愚蠢了。如果你是黑人，你就不是你了。”

【12】当他说这话时，他意识到这绝对是真的。如果她是黑人，她就不是她自己，这是无可争辩的事实。

“我知道，”她说，“但这么说吧。”

他深吸了一口气。他在辩论中获胜了，但他仍然感到无路可走。“你说什么?”

“我是黑人，但我还是我，我们相爱了。你愿意嫁给我吗?”

他想了想。

“怎么样?”她说。她的眼睛更亮了。“你愿意嫁给我吗?”

“我在想，”他说。

“你不会的，我敢说。”

【13】他说:“我们不要在这件事上走得太快。”“有很多事情需要考虑。我们不想做一些会让我们后悔一辈子的事情。”

“不用再考虑了。是还是不是?”

“既然你这么说了，”他说，“是或不是。”

“天哪，安。好吧，不。”

【14】她说了声“谢谢”，然后从厨房走进客厅。过了一会儿，他听到她在翻动一本杂志。他知道她太生气了，根本不会去读，但她没有像他那样一页页地读下去。她慢慢地翻着，好像在研究每一个字。她是在向他表示她的冷漠，而这也达到了他知道她想要的效果。这伤害了他。

【15】他别无选择，只能表示对她漠不关心。他轻轻地、彻底地洗完了剩下的盘子。然后他把它们擦干，收起来。他擦了擦柜台和炉子。他决定，既然干了，不如把地板拖一下。当他完成后，厨房看起来很新，就像他们第一次看到房子时的样子。

【16】他拿起垃圾桶走了出去。夜色晴朗，他可以看到西边有几颗星星，镇子上的灯光并没有把它们弄模糊。在埃尔卡米诺大街上，车流量平稳而清淡，像河流一样平静。他为自己让妻子把自己卷入一场争吵而感到羞愧。再过三十年左右，他们俩就都死了。那这些东西又有什么用呢?他想起他们在一起度过的岁月，想起他们是多么亲密，多么熟悉彼此，他的喉咙发紧，几乎无法呼吸。

【17】当他回到屋里时，屋里已经黑了。她在浴室里。他站在门外喊她的名字。“安，我真的很抱歉，”他说。“我会补偿你的。我保证。”

“怎么做?”她说。

他知道他必须想出正确的答案。他靠在门上。“我要嫁给你，”他低声说。

“等着瞧吧，”她说。“去睡觉吧。我马上就出来。”

他脱下衣服，钻进被窝。最后，他听到浴室的门开了又关。

“把灯关掉，”她在走廊里说。

“什么?”他说。

“把灯关上。”

【18】他伸手拉了拉床头灯上的链条。房间里一片漆黑。“好吧，”他说。他躺在那里，但什么也没发生。“好吧，”他又说。然后他听到房间那边有动静。他坐了起来，但什么也看不见。房间里一片寂静。他的心怦怦直跳，就像他们在一起的第一个晚上一样，现在他在黑暗中被一个声音惊醒，等着再听到声音，有人在屋子里走动的声音，一个陌生人。