Chapter ONE: In which Tom hears gunfire and meets Grace
第一章:汤姆在听见枪声的地方遇到了格蕾丝
1.Tom和Bill下完棋后,独自思考着讲道会的事情。
[Narrator]If Tom were to prove that the citizens of Dogville had a problem receiving in his lecture in the next day,he sorely lacked an illustration, a gift.
[旁白]如果汤姆想在明天向道格维尔的居民证明他们难以接受他的讲道的话,他的确缺少一个例子,一件礼物。
sorely 疼痛地,剧烈地,非常(加深程度)
Bill might have been right.
比尔也许是对的。
It hadn't exactly rained gifts on this particular township.
老天还没有给这个镇什么恩赐。
【评】看到后面,就会发现这一段旁白中指出的礼物,其实是与下面“Grace作为礼物的出现”相呼应的。
2.Tom听到了枪声之后。
He listened for more shots for ages. But they were not repeated.
他等了好久是否能听到更多的枪声,但是那没有发生。
A tad disappointed, Tom sat down on the old lady's bench to think,to hang onto the feeling of danger for a moment.
汤姆略微失望地在那老妇人的板凳上坐下来思考,沉浸在一种恐惧危险来临的气氛中。
tad 少量,小孩子,小男孩
hang onto 依附,继续保留,紧紧抓住
【评】这一段旁白中,这一处的枪声其实也是在引出“Grace的登场”。一开始看的时候有一个点,我不太明白。它说,在没有听到更多的枪声时,Tom略微有些失望。我想,为什么是失望的情绪呢?后来,我琢磨着,或许就是这一种不确定危险来自哪里的感觉,才会使人陷入更深的恐惧气氛中,那种潜在的危险才是最令人感到恐惧的吧。
3.继枪声之后,Moses的叫声。
It was Moses barking.
莫斯的叫声。
Oh, that wasn't unusual in itself, but it was the way he barked that was new.
哦,叫声本身并没有什么希奇,但是这次它叫的方式有所不同。
His barking was not loud, but more of a snarl,as if the danger was quite close at hand and not merely a passing raccoon or fox,as if the dog were standing face to face with a force to be taken seriously.
叫声并不响亮,更像是低沉的咆哮,就像是危险近在咫尺,而不是过路的狐狸或者浣熊,听上去那狗正和某种值得抖擞精神对待的力量对峙。
【评】这一段旁白初次看时并不会很在意,直到我第二次回看时,才发现,这里面其实隐含了很多的信息。这段描写也挺有意思的,用了两处“as if…”(就好像是…)来细致的刻画Moses的叫声。这是Grace和Moses的初次相逢,此处Moses的叫声与结尾处的叫声遥相呼应。
4.Tom觉得Grace就是上天赐予的那个礼物。
Tom:Shall I take the bone?
我可以拿走那骨头吗?
[Narrator] She could have kept her vulnerability to herself,but she had elected to give herself up to him at random.
她本可以保护起自己的弱点,但是她选择了把自己...
give sb up 把…送交;对…没有希望;不与某人来往
注意和give up区分开,give up 放弃,投降,认输
at random 随意地,任意地
As.. yes.. a gift.
当作..是的..一个礼物给了汤姆。
"Generous, very generous", thought Tom.
"慷慨,非常慷慨",汤姆想。
【评】这段旁白与上文中“Tom发愁的礼物”形成了呼应,是的,Grace就是那个礼物,是Tom为了证明他所说的“接受”是有意义的那个例证。对于Tom,她将她的弱点毫无保留地展现了出来,也展现给了所有小镇的人,这或许是后面悲剧一次次发生的源头,是使人心向恶的源头。
5.Tom和Grace第一次深入的对话。
Tom:You want to eat? You must be hungry?
你想吃点什么吗?你一定很饿了吧?
Grace:I can't.I don't deserve that bread!I stole that bone. I haven't stolen anything before.So now, now I have to punish myself.I was raised to be arrogant, so I had to teach myself these things.
我不能,那面包不是我应得的!我偷了那骨头我以前从来没有偷过东西,所以现在,我应当惩罚自己。我从小就在傲慢的家庭里长大,所以我要教会自己些东西。
Tom:Well, it may be best for your education...Grace, in this town in these times...it is very impolite not to eat what's set before you.
好吧,也许对你的教育来说那样做很好...但是格蕾丝,在这个镇上...如果拒绝吃放在你面前的食物是很不礼貌的行为。
Tom:Where's your family?
你的家人在哪里?
Grace:I don't have a family.All I had was a father...but those gangsters took him away from me.
我没有家人了,我只有个父亲...但那些暴徒把他从我这里夺走了。
【评】这一段对话同样潜藏了太多太多的信息,这是Tom和Grace第一次深入的对话。Grace在说到拒绝那块面包的理由时,她谈到了她傲慢的家庭,谈到了她的父亲,她说,我的父亲被那些暴徒夺走了。这一句话其实是有深意的。从这一段深入的对话也可以看出,这两个人有一个根本的不同——所处阶级的不同,这个不同或许也是导致最后人物走向完全转变的重要原因之一。
6.对Grace的出现大家的反应。
We mind our own business we don't ask nothin' from nobody.
我们只关心我自己的事,我们无求于人。
[Narrator] No more words were spoken at the town meeting in the mission house.
那天的讲道会没有人再说话。
mission (n)使命,任务,代表团,布道 (v)派遣,向…传教
But it had been decided, they all felt, that the fugitive would be given two weeks.And they would all be able to look at themselves in the mirror and know that they had done what they could, indeed, and perhaps more than most people would have done.
但就这样决定了,他们都认为应该给这逃亡者两个星期,并且他们都能够问心无愧地说他们已经尽力了,事实上,已经超过比大多数人会做的了。
【评】这是大家和Grace的第一次会面,大家对她的态度都有所保留。我印象最深的就是这句“我们只关心我自己的事,我们无求于人”。是啊,小镇里的每个人都自给自足,看似是不愿轻易接受,其实,从内心里传递出的是一种强烈的自我意识。换一个角度,对于Grace,的确,他们做得已经超过大多数人会做的了,毕竟这是一件拿生命作为赌注的事情。从此处,真的是可以感受到小镇人最初的善良、淳朴的。但恰恰是这种地位的不对等导致了最后的不幸结局。
7.Grace对小镇的第一印象。
So that very afternoon Tom took Grace on a stroll down Elm Street to introduce her to the town "he loved".
那个下午,汤姆带着格蕾丝在榆树街上漫步,为她介绍这个他热爱的地方。
Those awful figurines say more about the people in this town, than many words.
那些丑陋的小雕像来描述这镇上的居民恐怕比任何言语都强。
If this is the town that you love, then you really have a strange way of showing it.All I see, is a beautiful little town in the midst of magnificent mountains.A place where people have hopes and dreams even under the hardest conditions.And seven figurines that are not awful at all.
如果这是你爱的城镇,那么你表达喜爱之情的方式的确奇怪,我所看到的,只是一个坐落在雄伟山脉中得漂亮小镇,一个即使在最艰难的条件下人们仍然抱有希望和梦想的地方,并且那七个小雕像一点都不难看。
midst (n)中间,中部 (prep)在…中间
[Narrator] Calling Dogville beautiful was original at least.
把道格维尔称为美丽的地方是新颖的。
【评】当Tom讲述他热爱的小镇时,他的言语之间都是一种带有“贬低”的意味,他觉得小镇的人是丑陋的。但在Grace的眼中,一切却是那么美好,他们给了她希望,她甚至觉得那七个小雕像也很可爱。她爱上了这个小镇,真心想要为它献一份力。事情往往是这样,最初爱得越是深沉,最后的那种失望也就越强烈。这七个小雕像是Grace留下来的一个契机,也是毁灭她所有幻想的根源之一。
(未完待续……)
能看到这里的都是真爱哇。比心。
在这篇文章之前,还有个引子,感兴趣的可以到我的主页里找。