黑皮肤女人特有的像紫红色葡萄一样的丰满嘴唇使二奶奶恋儿魅力无穷。	FULL PURPLE LIPS, like ripe grapes, gave Second Grandma – Passion – her extraordinary appeal.
她的出身、来历已被岁月的沙尘深深掩埋。	The sands of time had long since interred her origins and background.
黄色的潮湿沙土埋住了她的弹性丰富的年轻肉体，埋住了她的豆荚一样饱满的脸庞和死不瞑目的瓦蓝色的眼睛，遮断了她愤怒的、癫狂的、无法无天的、向肮脏的世界挑战的、也眷恋美好世界的、洋溢着强烈性意识的目光。	Her rich, youthful, resilient flesh, her plump bean-pod face, and her deep-blue, seemingly deathless eyes were buried in the wet yellow earth, extinguishing for all time her angry, defiant gaze, which challenged the world of filth, adored the world of beauty, and brimmed over with an intense consciousness.
二奶奶其实是被埋葬在故乡的黑土地里的。	Second Grandma had been buried in the black earth of her hometown.
盛殓她的散发着血腥味尸体的是一具浅薄的柳木板棺材，棺材上涂着深一片浅一片的酱红颜色，颜色也遮没不了天牛幼虫在柳木板上钻出的洞眼。	Her body was enclosed in a coffin of thin willow covered with an uneven coat of reddish-brown varnish that failed to camouflage its wormy, beetle-holed surface.
但二奶奶乌黑发亮的肉体被金黄色沙土掩没住的景象，却牢牢地刻印在我的大脑的屏幕上，永远也不漶散地成象在我的意识的眼里。	The sight of her blackened, blood-shiny corpse being swallowed up by golden earth is etched forever on the screen of my mind.
我看到好象在温暖的红色阳光照耀着的厚重而沉痛的沙滩上，隆起了一道人形的丘陵。	In the warm red rays of the sun, I saw a mound in the shape of a human figure rising atop the heavy, deeply remorseful sandbar.
二奶奶的曲线流畅；二奶奶的双乳高耸；二奶奶的崎岖不平的额头上流动着细小的沙流；二奶奶性感的双唇从金沙中凸出来，好象在召唤着一种被华丽的衣裳遮住了的奔放的实事求是精神……	Second Grandma's shapely figure; Second Grandma's high-arching breasts; tiny grains of shifting sand on Second Grandma's furrowed brow; Second Grandma's sensual lips protruding through the golden-yellow sand . . .
我知道这一切都是幻象，我知道二奶奶是被故乡的黑土掩埋的。 在她的坟墓周围只有壁立的红色高粱，站在她的坟墓前——如果不是万木肃杀的冬天或熏风解愠的阳春——你连地平线也看不到，高密东北乡梦魇般的高粱遮挡着你，使你鼠目寸光。	I knew it was an illusion, that Second Grandma was buried beneath the black earth of her hometown, and that only red sorghum grew around her gravesite. Standing at the head of her grave – as long as it isn't during the winter, when the plants are dead and frozen, or on a spring day, when cool southerly breezes blow – you can't even see the horizon for the nightmarishly dense screen of Northeast Gaomi sorghum.
那么，你仰起你的葵花般的青黄脸盘，从高粱的缝隙里，去窥视蓝得令人心惊的天国光辉吧！	Then you raise your gaunt face, like a sunflower, and through the gaps in the sorghum you can see the stunning brilliance of the sun hanging in the kingdom of heaven.
你在墨水河永不欢乐的呜咽声中，去聆听天国传来的警悟执迷灵魂的音乐吧！	Amid the perennially mournful sobs of the Black Water River you listen for a lost soul drifting down from that kingdom.
那天早晨，天空是澄彻美丽的蔚蓝色，太阳尚未出头，初冬的混沌地平线被一线耀眼的深红镶着边。 老耿向一匹尾巴像火炬般的红毛狐狸开了一土枪。	THE SKY WAS a beautiful clear blue. The sun hadn't yet made an appearance, but the chaotic horizon on that early-winter morning was infused with a blinding red light when Old Geng shot at a red fox with a fiery torch of a tail.
老耿是咸水口子村独一无二的玩枪的人，他打雁、打野兔、打野鸭子、打黄鼠狼、打狐狸，万般无奈也打麻雀。	Old Geng had no peers among hunters in Saltwater Gap, where he bagged wild geese, hares, wild ducks, weasels, foxes, and, when there was nothing else around, sparrows.
初冬深秋，高密东北乡的麻雀都结成庞大的密集团体，成千只麻雀汇集成一团褐色的破云，贴着苍莽的大地疾速地翻滚。	In the late autumn and early winter, enormous flocks of sparrows flew over Northeast Gaomi Township, a shifting brown cloud that rolled and tumbled above the boundless land.
傍晚，它们飞回村，落在挂着孤单枯叶的柳树上，柳条青黄、赤裸裸下垂或上指，枝条上结满麻雀。	At dusk they returned to the village, where they settled on willows whose naked, yellowing limbs drooped earthward or arched skyward.
一抹夕阳烧红了天边云霞，树上涂满亮色，麻雀漆黑的眼睛像金色的火星一样满树闪烁。	As the dying red rays of the evening sun burned through the clouds, the branches lit up with sparrows' black eyes shining like thousands of golden sparks.
它们不停地跳动着，树冠上翅羽翻卷。	
老耿端起枪，眯缝起一只三角眼，一搂扳机响了枪，冰雹般的金麻雀劈哩啪啦往下落，铁砂子在柳枝间飞迸着，嚓嚓有声。	Old Geng picked up his shotgun, squinted, and pulled the trigger. Two sparrows crashed to the ground like hailstones as shotgun pellets tore noisily through the branches.
没受伤的麻雀思索片刻，看着自己的同伴们垂直落地后，才振翅逃窜——像弹片一样，射到暮气深沈的高天里去。	Uninjured sparrows saw their comrades hit the ground and flapped their wings, rising into the air like shrapnel sent flying high into a lethargic sky.
父亲幼年时吃过老耿的麻雀。	Father had eaten some of Old Geng's sparrows when he was young.
麻雀肉味鲜美，营养丰富。	They were delicious.
三十多年后，我跟着哥哥在杂种高粱试验田里，与狡猾的麻雀展开过激烈坚韧的斗争。	Three decades later, my older brother and I went into the sorghum field and engaged some crafty sparrows in a heated battle.
老耿那时已七十多岁，孤身一人，享受“五保”待遇，是村里德高望重的人物，每逢诉苦大会，都要他上台诉苦。 每次诉苦，他都要剥掉上衣，露出一片疤痕。	Old Geng, who was already over seventy by then and lived alone as a pensioner, was one of our most revered villagers. Asked to speak at meetings to air grievances against the old order, he invariably stripped to the waist onstage to show his scars.
他总是说：“日本鬼子捅了我十八刀、我全身泡在血里，没有死，为什么没有死呢？	'The Japs bayoneted me eighteen times,' he'd say, 'until you couldn't see my skin for all the blood. But I didn't die, and you know why?
全仗着狐仙搭救。	Because I was protected by a fox fairy.
我躺了不知道多久，一睁眼，满眼红光，那个大恩大德的狐仙，正伸着舌头，呱唧呱唧地舔着我的刀伤……”	I don't know how long I lay there, but when I opened my eyes all I could see was a bright-red light. The fox fairy was licking my wounds.'
老耿头——耿十八刀家里供着一个狐仙牌位，“文化大革命”初起，红卫兵去他家砸牌位，他握着一把切菜刀蹲在牌位前，红卫兵灰溜溜地退了。	In his home, Old Geng – Eighteen Stabs Geng – kept a fox-fairy memorial tablet, which some Red Guards decided to smash during the Cultural Revolution. They changed their minds and got out of there fast when they saw him kneel in front of the tablet wielding a cleaver.
老耿早就侦察好了那条红毛老狐的行动路线，但一直没舍得打它。	Old Geng drew a bead on the red fox, knowing exactly which way it would run; but he was reluctant to shoot.
他看着它长起了一身好皮毛，又厚又绒，非常漂亮，肯定能卖好价钱。	He knew he could sell the beautiful, bushy pelt for a good price.
他知道打它的时候倒了，它在生的世界上已经享受够了。 它每天夜里都要偷一只鸡吃。	If he was going to shoot, it had to be now. The fox had already enjoyed a full life, sneaking over nightly to steal a chicken.
村里人无论把鸡窝插得多牢，它都能捣古开；无论设置多少陷阱圈套，它都能避开。	No matter how strong the villagers made their chicken coops, the fox always found a way inside and no matter how many traps they set, it always got away.
村里人的鸡窝在那一年里，仿佛成了这只狐狸的食品储藏库。	That year the villagers' chicken coops seemed built solely to store its food.
老耿在鸡叫三遍时出了村，埋伏在村前洼地边沿一道低矮的土堰后，等待着它偷鸡归来。	Old Geng had walked out of the village as the roosters were crowing for the third time and gone straight to a low embankment alongside the swamp in front of the village, where he waited for the chicken thief to show up.
洼地里丛生着半人高的枯瘦芦苇，秋天潴留的死水结成一层勉可行人的白色薄冰，黄褐色的小芦苇缨子在凌晨时分寒冽的空气中颤栗着，遥远的东方天际上渐渐强烈的光明投在冰上，泛起鲤鱼鳞片般的润泽光彩。	Dried-up marsh weeds stood waist-high in the swamp, where a thin sheet of nearly transparent ice, possibly thick enough to bear a man's weight, covered the stagnant water that had accumulated during the autumn rains. Yellow tassels atop imprisoned reeds shivered in the freezing morning air, as powerful rays of light from far off in the eastern sky gradually illuminated the icy surface, which gave off a moist radiance, like the scales of a carp.
后来东天边辉煌起来，冰上、芦苇上都染上了寒冷的死血光辉。	Then the eastern sky turned bright, staining the ice and reeds the colour of mottled blood.
老耿闻到了它的气味，看到密集的芦苇棵子像舒缓的波浪一样慢慢漾动着，很快又合拢。	Old Geng picked up the odour and saw a tight cluster of reeds part slowly like an undulating wave, then close up quickly.
他把冻僵了的右手食指放到嘴边哈哈，按到沾满白色霜花的扳机上。	He stuck his nearly frozen index finger into his mouth and breathed on it, then wrapped it around the frost-covered trigger.
它从芦苇丛中跳出来，站在白色的冰上。 冰上通红一片，像着了火一样。	The fox bounded out of the clump of reeds and stood on the ice, turning it a bright red, as though it had gone up in flames.
它的瘦削的嘴巴上冻结着深红的鸡血，一片麻色的鸡羽沾在它嘴边的胡须上。	Congealed blood covered its pointy little snout; a chicken feather the colour of hemp was stuck in its whiskers.
它雍容大度地在冰上走。	It walked with stately grace across the ice.
老耿喝了一声，它立正站住，眯着眼睛看着土壤。	Old Geng cried out, and it froze on the spot, squinting to get a good look at the embankment.
老耿浑身打起颤来，狐狸眼里那种隐隐约约的愤怒神情使他心里发虚。 它大摇大摆地往冰那边的芦苇丛中走，它的巢穴就在那片芦苇里。 老耿闭着眼开了枪。	Old Geng shivered, closed his eyes, and fired.
枪托子猛力后座，震得他半个肩膀麻酥酥的。 狐狸像一团火，滚进了芦苇丛。 他站起来，提着枪，看着深绿的硝烟在清清的空气中扩散着。 他知道它正在芦苇丛里仇恨地盯着自己。 他的身体立在银子般的天光下，显得又长又大。	Old Geng, his shoulder numb from the recoil, stood up under a silvery sky, looking bigger and taller than usual.
狐狸像一团火，滚进了芦苇丛。	Like a little fireball, the fox rolled into the reeds.
他知道它正在芦苇丛里仇恨地盯着自己。	He knew the fox was hiding amid the reeds and staring at him with loathing.
一种类似愧疚的心情在他心里漾起，他后悔了。	Something suspiciously like a guilty conscience began to stir in Old Geng.
他想到一年来狐狸对他表示的信任，狐狸明知道他就伏在土堰后，却依旧缓慢地在冰上走，就好象对他的良心进行考验一样。	He thought back over the past year and the trust the fox had shown in him: it always knew he was hiding behind the embankment, yet it sauntered across the ice as though putting his conscience to the test.
	And Old Geng had always passed the test.
他开了枪，无疑是对这异类朋友的背叛。 他对着狐狸消遁的芦苇丛垂下了头，连身后响起杂沓的脚步声，他都没有回头。	But now he had betrayed this friendship, and he hung his head, gazing into the clump of reeds that had swallowed the fox, not even turning back to look when he heard the clatter of footsteps behind him.
后来，有一线扎人的寒冷从他的腰带上方刺进来，他身体往前一蹿，回转了身，土枪掉在冰上。	Suddenly he felt a stabbing pain, and stumbled forward, twisting his body, dropping his shotgun to the ice.
一股热流在棉裤腰间蠕动着。	Something hot squirmed under his pants at the belt line.
迎着他的面，逼过来十几个身穿土黄色服装的人。 他们手里托着大枪，枪刺明亮。	Running towards him were a dozen uniformed figures armed with rifles and glinting bayonets.
他不由自主地惊叫一声：“日本！”	Instinctively he yelled in fear, 'Japan!'
十几个日本士兵走上前去，在他的胸膛上、肚腹上，每人刺了一刀。	The Japanese soldiers pounced on him and bayoneted him in the chest and abdomen.
他发出一声狐狸求偶般的凄惨叫声，一头栽倒在冰上。	He screamed pitifully, like a fox howling for its mate.
额头撞得白冰开裂。	
他身上流出的血把身下的冰烫得坑坑洼洼。	The blood from his wounds pitted the ice beneath him with its heat.
在昏迷中，他感到上半身像被火苗子燎烤着一样灼热，双手用力撕扯着破烂的棉衣。	He ripped off his tattered shirt with both hands.
他在恍惚中，看到那只红毛狐狸从芦苇里走出来，围着他的身体转了一圈，然后蹲在他的身前，同情地看着他。	In his semiconscious state he saw the furry red fox emerge from the clump of reeds and circle round him once, then crouch down and gaze sympathetically.
狐狸的皮毛灿烂极了，狐狸的略微有点斜视的眼睛像两颗绿色的宝石。	Its fur glowed brilliantly and its slightly slanted eyes shone like emeralds.
后来他感到了狐狸的温暖的皮毛凑近了自己的身体，他等待着它的尖利牙齿的撕咬。	After a while, Old Geng felt warm fur rubbing against his body, and he lay there waiting for the razor-sharp teeth to begin ripping him apart.
他知道人一旦背叛信义连畜牲也不如，即使被它咬死他也死而无怨。	If he were torn to shreds, he'd die with no complaints, for he knew that a man who betrays a trust is lower than an animal.
狐狸伸出凉森森的舌头舔着他的伤口。	The fox began licking his wounds with its cold tongue.
老耿坚定地认为，是这条以德报怨的狐狸救了他的命，世界上恐怕难以找出第二个挨了十八刺刀还能活下来的人了。	Old Geng was adamant that the fox had repaid his betrayal by saving his life. Where else could you find another man who had sustained eighteen bayonet wounds yet lived to tell the tale?
狐狸的舌头上一定有灵丹妙药，凡是它舔到的地方，立即像涂了薄荷油一样舒服，老耿说。	The fox's tongue must have been coated with a miraculous substance since Old Geng's wounds were instantly soothed, as though treated with peppermint oil – or so he said.
村里有人进县城卖草鞋，回来说：日本人占了高密城，城头上插着太阳旗。	VILLAGERS WHO HAD gone to town to sell straw sandals announced upon their return: 'Gaomi has been occupied by the Japanese. There's a Rising Sun at the entrance!'
听到这消息，全村人几乎都坐卧不宁，等待着大祸降临。	The panic-stricken villagers could only wait for the calamity they knew was coming.
在众人惴惴不安、心惊肉跳的时候，却有两个人无忧无虑， 照旧干自己的营生。	But not all of them suffered from racing hearts and crawling flesh: two among them went about their business totally unconcerned, never varying their routine.
这两个人，一个是前面提到的自由猎手老耿；另一个是当过吹鼓手、喜欢唱京戏的成麻子。	Who were they? One was Old Geng, the other a onetime musician who loved to sing Peking opera – Pocky Cheng.
成麻子逢人便说：“你们怕什么？ 愁什么？	'What are you afraid of?' Pocky Cheng asked everyone he met.
谁当官咱也是为民。	'We're still common folk, no matter who's in charge.
咱一不抗皇粮，二不抗国税，让躺着就躺着，让跪着就跪着，谁好意思治咱的罪？	We don't refuse to give the government its grain, and we always pay our taxes. We lie down when we're told, and we kneel when they order us. So who'd dare punish us?
你说，谁好意思治咱的罪？”	Who, I ask you?'
成麻子的劝导使不少人镇静下来，大家又开始睡觉、吃饭、干活。	His advice calmed many of the people, who began sleeping, eating, and working again.
不久，日本人的暴行阴风般传来：杀人修炮楼，扒人心喂狼狗，奸淫六十岁的老太太，县城里的电线杆上挂着成串的人头。	But it didn't take long for the evil wind of Japanese savagery to blow their way: they fed human hearts to police dogs; they raped sixty-year-old women; they hung rows of human heads from electric poles in town.
虽有成麻子和老耿做着无忧无虑的表率、人们也想仿效他们，但教的曲儿唱不得，人们即使在睡梦中，也难以忘掉流言中描绘出的残酷画面。	Even with the unflappable examples of Pocky Cheng and Old Geng, rumours of brutality were hard for the people to put aside, especially in their dreams.
成麻子一直很高兴，日本人即将前来洗劫的消息使村里村外的狗屎大增，往常早起抢捡狗屎的庄稼汉仿佛都懒惰了，遍地的狗屎没人捡，好象单为成麻子准备的。	Pocky Cheng walked around happy all the time. News that the Japanese were on their way to sack the village created a glut in dogshit in and around the village. Apparently the farmers who normally fought over it had grown lazy, for now it lay there waiting for him to come and claim it.
他也是鸡叫三遍时出的村，在村前碰到了背着土枪的老耿，打了个招呼，就各走各的道。	He, too, walked out of the village as the roosters were crowing for the third time, running into Old Geng with his shotgun slung over his back. They greeted each other and parted ways.
东边一抹红时，成麻子的狗屎筐子起了尖。	By the time the eastern sky had turned red, the pile of dogshit in Pocky Cheng's basket was like a little mountain peak.
他把粪筐放下，提着铁铲，站在村南土围子上，呼吸着又甜又凉的空气，嗓子眼里痒痒的。	He laid it down, stood on the southern edge of the village wall, and breathed in the cool, sweet morning air, until his throat itched.
他清清嗓子，顿喉高唱，对着天边的红霞：“我好比久旱的禾苗逢了哪甘霖——”	He cleared it loudly, then raised his voice to the rosy morning clouds and began to sing: 'I am a thirsty grainstalk drinking up the morning dew –'
一声枪响。	A shot rang out.
成麻子头上的破毡帽不翼而飞，他脖子一缩，子弹般迅速地扎到围子沟里。 脑袋撞得坚硬的冻土砰砰响他不痛也不痒。	His battered, wingless felt hat sailed into the air. Tucking in his neck, he jumped into the ditch beneath the wall like a shot, bumping his head with a resounding thud against the frozen ground.
后来，他看到自己的嘴边是一堆煤灰渣子，一条磨秃了的苕帚疙瘩旁边躺着一只浑身煤灰的死耗子。	
他不知自己是死是活，活动了一下胳膊腿，能动弹，但似乎都不灵便。	Not sure if he was dead or alive, he tried moving his arms and legs. They were working, but barely.
裤裆里粘糊糊的。	His crotch was all sticky.
一阵恐怖涌上心头，毁了，挂彩了，他想。	Fear raced through his heart. I've been hit, he thought.
他试探着坐起来，把手伸进裤裆间一摸。	He sat up and stuck his hand down his pants.
他心惊胆战地等待着摸出一手红来，举到眼前一看，却是满手焦黄。 他的鼻子里充满了揉烂禾苗的味道。	With his heart in his mouth, he pulled out his hand, expecting it to be all red. But it was covered with something yellow, and his nostrils twitched from the odour of rotten seedlings.
他把手掌放到沟底上蹭着，蹭不掉，又拿起那个破苕帚疙瘩来擦，正擦得起劲，就听到沟外一声吼：“站起来！”	He tried to rub the stuff off on the side of the ditch, but it stuck to his skin. He heard a shout from beyond the ditch: 'Stand up!'
他抬头看到，吼叫的人三十岁出头，面孔像刀削的一样，皮肤焦黄，下巴漫长，头戴一顶香色呢礼帽，手里持着一只乌黑的短枪。	He looked up to see a man in his thirties with a flat, chiselled face, yellow skin, and a long, jutting chin. He was wearing a chestnut-coloured wool cap and brandishing a black pistol!
在他的身后，是几十条劈开站着的土黄色的腿，腿肚子上绑扎着十字盘花的宽布条子，沿着腿往上看，是奓出来的腰胯和几十张异国情调的脸，那些脸上都带着蹲坑大便般的幸福表情。	A forest of yellow-clad legs was aligned behind him, the calves wrapped in wide, crisscrossed cloth leggings. His eyes travelled slowly upward past protruding hips, stopping at dozens of alien faces, all adorned with the smug smile of a man taking a comfortable shit.
一面方方正正的太阳旗在通红的朝霞下耷拉着，一柄柄刺刀上汪着葱绿色的光彩。	A Rising Sun flag drooped under the bright-red sunrise; onion-green rays glinted off a line of bayonets.
成麻子肚腹里一阵骚动，战战兢兢的排泄愉悦在他的腔肠里呼噜噜滚动。	Pocky Cheng's stomach lurched, and his nervous guts relinquished their contents.
“上来！”	'Get up here!'
香色礼帽怒气冲冲地喊。	Chestnut Wool Cap barked out angrily.
成麻子扎好布腰带，哈着腰爬上沟堐，四肢拘谨得没处安放，大眼珠子灰白，不知说什么好，就直着劲点头哈腰。	Pocky Cheng climbed out of the ditch. Not knowing what to say, he just bowed repeatedly.
香色呢礼帽搐动着鼻子问：“村子里有国民党的队伍吗？”	Chestnut Wool Cap was twitching right under his nose. 'Are there Nationalist troops in the village?' he asked.
成麻子愣愣怔怔地望着他。	Pocky Cheng looked at him blankly.
一个日本兵端着滴血的刺刀，对着他的胸膛和他的脸晃动，刀尖上的寒气刺激着他的眼睛和肚腹，他听到自己的肚子里呼噜噜响着，肠子频频抽动，更加强烈的排泄快感使他手舞足蹈起来。	A Japanese soldier waved a bloodstained bayonet in front of Pocky Cheng's chest and face. He heard his stomach growl and felt his intestines writhe and twist slowly; at any other moment, he would have welcomed the intensely pleasant sensation of a bowel movement.
日本兵叫了一声，把刺刀往下一摆，他的棉衣哗然一声裂开，破烂棉絮绽出，沿着棉衣的破缝，他的胸肋间爆发了一阵肌肉破裂的痛苦。	The Japanese soldier shouted something and swung the bayonet, slicing Pocky Cheng's padded jacket down the middle and freeing the cotton wadding inside. The sharp pain of parted skin and sliced muscles leaped from his rib cage.
他把身体紧缩成一团，眼泪、鼻涕、大便、小便几乎是一齐冒出来。	He doubled over, all the foul liquids in his body seeming to pour out at once.
日本兵又呜噜了一句话，很长，吐噜吐噜的，像葡萄一样。	
他痛苦地祈望着日本人怒冲冲的脸，大声哭起来。	He looked imploringly into the enraged Japanese face and began to wail.
香色呢礼帽用手枪筒子戳了一下他的额头，说：“别哭！	Chestnut Wool Cap drove the barrel of his pistol into his forehead. 'Stop blubbering!
太君问你话呢！	The commander asked you a question!
这是什么村？	What village is this?
是咸水口子吗？”	Is it Saltwater Gap?'
他强忍住抽泣，点了点头。	He nodded, trying hard to control his sobs.
“这村里有编草鞋的吗？”	'Is there a man in the village who makes straw sandals?'
香色呢礼帽用稍微和善一点的口气问。	Chestnut Wool Cap softened his tone a little.
他顾不上伤痛，急忙地、讨好似的回答：“有，有，有。”	Ignoring his pain, he eagerly and ingratiatingly replied, 'Yes yes yes.'
“昨天高密大集，有去赶集卖草鞋的没有？”香色呢礼帽又问。	'Did he take his straw sandals to market day in Gaomi yesterday?'
“有有有”。他说。	'Yes yes yes,' he jabbered.
胸脯上流出的血已经热乎乎地淌到肚子上。	Warm blood had slithered down from his chest to his belly.
“有个叫咸菜疙瘩的吗？”	'How about pickles?'
“不知道…… 没有……”	'I don't know . . . don't think so. . . .'
香色呢礼帽熟练地搧了他一个耳光，叫道：“说！	Chestnut Wool Cap slapped him across the mouth and shouted: 'Tell me!
有没有咸菜疙瘩！”	I want to know about pickles!'
“有有有，长官。” 他又委屈地呜咽起来，“长官，家家都有咸菜疙瘩，家家户户的咸菜瓮里都有咸菜疙瘩。”	'Yes yes yes, your honour,' he muttered obsequiously. 'Commander, every family has pickles, you can find them in every pickle vat in the village.'
“他娘的，你装什么憨，问你有没有叫咸菜疙瘩的人！”	'Stop acting like a fucking idiot. I want to know if there's somebody called Pickles!'
呢礼帽劈劈啪啪地抽打着他的脸，骂着，“刁民，问你有没有叫咸菜疙瘩的人。”	Chestnut Wool Cap slapped him across the face, over and over.
“有…… 没有…… 有…… 没有……	'Yes . . . no . . . yes . . . no . . .
长官…… 别打我……	Your honour . . . don't hit me . . .
别打我，长官……” 他被大耳刮子搧昏了，颠三倒四地说。	Please don't hit me . . . your honour . . .' he mumbled, reeling from the slaps.
日本人说了一句什么，呢礼帽摘下礼帽，对鬼子鞠了一躬，转过身，他脸上的笑容急邃消失，搡了成麻子一把，横眉立目地说：“带路，进村，把编草鞋的都给我找出来。”	The Japanese said something. Chestnut Wool Cap swept the hat off his head and bowed, then turned back, the smile on his face gone in an instant. He shoved Pocky Cheng and said with a scowl, 'We want to see all the sandal makers in the village. You lead the way.'
他记挂着扔在围子上的粪筐和粪铲，不由自主地往后歪头，一柄雪亮的刺刀从他的腮帮子旁边欻啦顺过来。	Concerned about the dung basket he'd left on the wall, Pocky Cheng instinctively cocked his head in that direction. A bayonet that shone like snow flashed past his cheek.
他想明白了，命比粪筐和粪铲值钱多了，便再也不回头，罗圈着腿往村里走。	Quickly concluding that his life was worth more than a dung basket and spade, he turned his head back and set out for the village on his bandy legs.
几十个鬼子在他身后走着，大皮靴踩得沾霜枯草咯崩咯崩响。	Dozens of Japs fell in behind him, their leather boots crunching across the frost-covered grass.
几只灰溜溜的狗躺在墙犄角里小心翼翼地叫着。	A few grey dogs barked tentatively.
天空愈加晴朗，大半个太阳压着灰褐色的土地。	
村里的婴孩哭声衬出一个潜藏着巨大恐怖的宁静村庄。	
日本士兵整齐的踏步声像节奏分明的鼓声，震荡着他的耳膜，撞击着他的胸膛。	
他感到胸膛上的伤口像着火一样烫，裤子里的粪便又粘又冷。	
他想到自己倒霉透了，别人都不拣狗屎了，他偏要拣狗屎，于是撞上了狗屎运气。	I'm really in a fix this time, Pocky Cheng was thinking. No one else went out to collect dogshit, no one but me, and I ran into some real dogshit luck.
他为日本人不理解他的顺民态度感到委屈。	The fact that the Japanese didn't appreciate his good-citizen attitude frustrated him.
赶快把他们带到那几个草鞋窨子里去，谁是咸菜疙瘩谁倒霉。	He led them quickly to each of the sandal makers' cellars. Whoever Pickle was, he was sure in one now.
远远地望见家门口了，被夏季的暴雨抽打得坑坑洼洼的房顶上生着几蓬白色的草，孤零零的烟筒里冒着青蓝色的炊烟，他从来没有感到对家有如此强烈的眷恋，他想完了事快回家，换条干净裤子，让老婆往胸膛的刀口上洒点石灰，血大概快流光了，眼前迸发着一簇簇的绿星星，双腿已经发软，一阵阵的恶心从肚里往喉咙里爬。	Pocky Cheng looked off into the distance towards his house, where green smoke curled into the sky from the solitary kitchen chimney. It was the most intense longing for home he'd ever known. As soon as he was finished he'd go there, change into clean pants, and have his wife rub some lime into the bayonet wound on his chest.
他从来没这样狼狈过，高密东北乡吹唢吶的好手从来没这样狼狈过。	The great woodwind player of Northeast Gaomi Township had never been in such a mess.
他脚踩浮云，两汪冰冷的泪水盈满了眼泡。	
他思念着漂亮的、因为自己满脸麻子而抱屈、但也只好嫁鸡随鸡嫁狗随狗的妻子。	Oh, how he longed for his lovely wife, who had grumbled about his pocked face at first, but, resigned at last, had decided that if you marry a chicken you share the coop; marry a dog and you share the kennel.
凌晨时村外一声枪响，把正在梦中与我奶奶厮打的二奶奶惊醒了。	EARLY-MORNING GUNFIRE beyond the village startled Second Grandma out of a dream in which she was fighting Grandma tooth and nail.
她坐起来，心窝里噗噗通通乱跳一阵，想了好久，也没弄清楚是村外发生了什么事情了呢，还是梦中的幻觉。	She sat up, her heart thumping wildly, and, try as she might, she couldn't decide if the noise had just been part of the dream.
窗户上已布满淡薄的晨曦，那块巴掌大的窗玻璃上结着奇形怪状的霜花。	The window was coated with pale morning sunlight; a grotesque pattern of frost had formed on the pane.
二奶奶感到双肩冰凉，她斜了一下脸，看到躺在身侧的她的女儿、我的小姑姑正在鼾睡。	Shuddering from the cold, she tilted her head so she could see her daughter, my aunt, who was lying beside her, snoring peacefully.
五岁女孩甜蜜均匀的呼吸声把二奶奶心中的恐惧平息了。	The sweet, even breathing of the five-year-old girl soothed Second Grandma's fears.
二奶奶想，也许是老耿又在打什么山猫野兽吧，她不知道这个推测十分正确，更不知道当她又痴坐片刻，拉开被子重新钻进被窝时，日本人锋利的刺刀正在穿插着老耿坚韧的肉体。	Maybe it was only Old Geng shooting at wild game, a mountain lion or something, she consoled herself. She had no way of knowing how accurate her prediction was, nor could she have known that while she was sliding back under the covers the tips of Japanese bayonets were jabbing Old Geng's ribs.
小姑姑一翻身，滚进了二奶奶的怀里，二奶奶抱着她，感觉到女孩温暖的呼吸一缕缕地吹到自己的胸膛上。	Little Auntie rolled over and nestled up against Second Grandma, who wrapped her arms around her until she could feel the little girl's warm breath against her chest.
二奶奶被奶奶赶出家门已有八年，这期间爷爷曾被骗到济南府，险些送了性命。	Eight years had passed since Grandma had kicked her out of the house. During that time, Granddad had been tricked into going to the Jinan police station, where he nearly lost his life.
后来爷爷死里逃生，跑回家乡，奶奶那时带着父亲与铁板会头子黑眼住在一处。	But he managed to escape and make his way home, where Grandma had taken Father to live with Black Eye, the leader of the Iron Society.
爷爷与黑眼在盐水河边决斗，虽然被打翻在地，但却唤起了奶奶心中难以泯灭的深情。 奶奶追上爷爷，重返家乡，振兴烧酒买卖。	When Granddad fought Black Eye to a standstill at the Salty Water River, he touched Grandma so deeply she followed him home, where they ran the distillery with renewed vitality.
爷爷洗手插枪，不干土匪生涯，当了几年富贵农民。	Granddad put his rifle away, bringing his bandit days to an end, and began life as a wealthy peasant, at least for the next few years.
在这几年里，使爷爷长久烦恼的，是奶奶与二奶奶的争风吃醋。	They were troubling years, thanks to the rivalry between Grandma and Second Grandma.
争风吃醋的结果，是订了“三家条约”：爷爷在奶奶家住十天，就转移到二奶奶家住十天，不得逾约。	In the end, they reached a 'tripartite agreement' in which Granddad would spend ten days with Grandma, then ten days with Second Grandma – ten days was the absolute limit.
爷爷向来是严守法则，因为这两个女人，哪个也不是省油的灯。	He stuck to his bargain, since neither woman was an economy lantern, someone to be taken lightly.
二奶奶搂抱着小姑姑，心里泛滥着甜蜜忧愁。	Second Grandma was enjoying the sweetness of her sorrows as she hugged Little Auntie.
她又有了三个月的身孕。	She was three months pregnant.
怀孕后的女人一般都变得善良温和，但也软弱，需要照顾和保护。 二奶奶也不例外，她掐着指头数算日子，她盼望着爷爷，爷爷明天到来……	A period of increased tenderness, pregnancy is a time of weakness during which women need attention and protection, and Second Grandma was no exception. Counting the days on her fingers, she longed for Granddad. He would be there tomorrow.
村外又是一声尖锐的枪响。	Another crisp gunshot sounded outside the village,