成长的礼物——《小红马》片段选译及赏析

约翰·斯坦贝克（John Steinbeck，1902~1968），20世纪美国最具影响力的作家之一。他的许多作品都是以社会底层人物为主人公，展现他们善良、质朴的品格，创造出了“斯坦贝克式的英雄”形象，对后来的美国文学，尤其是西部文学的发展产生了重大影响。其代表作有中篇小说《小红马》（The Red Pony）、《人鼠之间》（Of Mice and Men）以及长篇小说《愤怒的葡萄》（The Grapes of Wrath）、《月亮下去了》（The Moon Is Down）等。

《小红马》是斯坦贝克的儿童文学名著，书中共包含了四个独立的故事，每个故事都围绕住在加利福尼亚农场的蒂福林一家（the Tiflins）展开。这四个故事分别讲述了小男孩乔迪·蒂福林（Jody Tiflin）与小红马、老人、母马以及外祖父之间发生的故事。

下文节选自本书第三个故事“The Promise”，主要讲述了蒂福林先生决定让乔迪再养一匹小马驹的故事。

“Ma'am, ma'am, there's a catalog^[1].”

Mrs. Tiflin was in the kitchen spooning clabbered milk^[2] into a cotton bag. She put down her work and rinsed^[3] her hands under the tap. “Here in the kitchen, Jody. Here I am.”

He ran in and clattered^[4] his lunch pail^[5] on the sink. “Here it is. Can I open the catalog, ma'am? ”

Mrs. Tiflin took up the spoon again and went back to her cottage cheese^[6]. “Don't lose it, Jody. Your father will want to see it.” She scraped^[7] the last of the milk into the bag. “Oh, Jody, your father wants to see you before you go to do your chores.”

The boy laid the catalog gently on the sink board. “Do you—is it something I did? ”

Mrs. Tiflin laughed. “Always a bad conscience^[8]. What did you do? ”

“Nothing, ma'am, ” he said lamely^[9].

His mother hung the full bag on a nail where it could drip into the sink. “He just said he wanted to see you when you got home. He's somewhere down by the barn.”

Jody turned and went out the back door. Hearing his mother open the lunch pail and then gasp with rage, a memory stabbed him and he trotted^[10] away toward the barn, conscientiously^[11] not hearing the angry voice that called him from the house.

Carl Tiflin and Billy Buck, the ranch-hand, stood against the lower pasture fence. They were talking slowly and aimlessly. In the pasture half a dozen horses nibbled^[12] contentedly at the sweet grass^[13]. The mare, Nellie, stood backed up against the gate, rubbing her buttocks^[14] on the heavy post.

Jody sidled^[15] uneasily near. He dragged one foot to give an impression of great innocence and nonchalance^[16].

The two men glanced sideways at him.

“I wanted to see you, ” Carl said in the stern tone he reserved for children and animals.

“Yes, sir, ” said Jody guiltily.

“Billy, here, says you took good care of the pony before it died.”

No punishment was in the air. Jody grew bolder. “Yes, sir, I did.”

“Billy says you have a good patient hand with horses.”

Jody felt a sudden warm friendliness for the ranch-hand.

Billy put in, “He trained that pony as good as anybody I ever seen.”

Then Carl Tiflin came gradually to the point.“If you could have another horse would you work for it? ”

Jody shivered. “Yes, sir.”

“Well, look here, then. Billy says the best way for you to be a good hand with horses is to raise a colt.”

“It's the only good way, ” Billy interrupted.

“Now, look here, Jody, ” continued Carl. “Jess Taylor, up to the ridge ranch, has a fair stallion, but it'll cost five dollars. I'll put up the money, but you'll have to work it out all summer. Will you do that? ”

Jody felt that his insides were shriveling. “Yes, sir, ” he said softly.

“And no complaining? And no forgetting when you're told to do something? ”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, all right, then. Tomorrow morning you take Nellie up to the ridge ranch and get her bred. You'll have to take care of her, too, till she throws the colt.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You better get to the chickens and the wood now.”

Jody slid away. His shoulders swayed a little with maturity and importance.

He went to his work with unprecedented seriousness. This night he did not dump the can of grain to the chickens so that they had to leap over each other and struggle to get it. No, he spread the wheat so far and so carefully that the hens couldn't find some of it at all. And in the house, after listening to his mother's despair over boys who filled their lunch pails with slimy, suffocated reptiles, and bugs, he promised never to do it again. Indeed, Jody felt that all such foolishness was lost in the past. He was far too grown up ever to put toads in his lunch pail any more. He carried in so much wood and built such a high structure with it that his mother walked in fear of an avalanche of oak. When he was done, when he had gathered eggs that had remained hidden for weeks, Jody walked down again past the cypress tree, and past the bunkhouse toward the pasture. A fat toad that looked out at him from under the watering trough had no emotional effect on him at all.

“妈，妈，有一本产品册子。”

厨房里，蒂福林太太将凝乳一勺勺舀进棉布袋。她放下手中的活儿，在水龙头下面洗了洗手。“在厨房这儿，乔迪。我在这里。”