我家住在镇上。附近的农场里住着一个老太婆。村里和镇上的人们常见这个老太婆赶着一匹瘦弱的老马或者背着一条口袋走来。可能有几只鸡或一些鸡蛋装在口袋里。她总是先走到杂货商那里，换回些腌肉和豆子，买一两磅糖和面粉，再走到屠户那里去要一点狗食。但往往当他真的要一点什么东西的时候，则可能要10美分或15美分。以前，屠户可以给任何一个需要肝的人拿走。在我们家里，常常总是有这些肝。有一次，我弟弟在我们镇的集市场附近屠宰场里得到过一卦牛肝。我们一直可以不花一分钱去拿来，一直到我们把它吃厌了。从那以后，我一直不喜欢吃猪肝。

　　She was an old woman and lived on a farm near the town in which I lived. All country and small-town people have seen such old woman， but no one knows much abut them. Such an old woman comes into town driving an old worn-out horse or she comes afoot carrying a basket. She may own a few hens and have eggs to sell. She brings them in a basket and takes them to a grocer. There she trades them in. she gets some salt pork and some beans. Then she gets a pound or two of sugar and some flour.

　　Afterwards she goes to the butcher“s and asks for some dog-meat. She may spend ten or fifteen cents， but when she does she asks for something. Formerly the butchers gave liver to any one who wanted to carry it away. In our family we were always having it. Once one of my brothers got a whole cow”s liver at the slaughter-house near the fairgrounds in our town. We had it until we were sick of it. It never cost a cent. I have hated the thought of it ever since.

　　这个老妇常得到一些肝和一副汤骨。她从来不去拜访任何人，当得到她需要的东西就溜回家了。没有一个人给她一点照顾。人们只顾赶路，从不会注意到那样一个老妇。

　　The old farm woman got some liver and a soup-bone. She never visited with any one， and as soon as she got what she wanted she lit out for home. It made quite a load for such an old body， no one gave her a lift. People drive right down a road and never notice an old woman like that.

　　当我还是一个小孩子的时候，在夏天和秋季里，就常见这个老妇经常进城，经过我们家门前。那时，我正身患一种易红肿的风湿病。不一会儿她就背着一大包东西回家了。她背后跟着两三只瘦狗。这老妇没有什么和别人不同的地方，她是几乎每个人都知道的默默无闻的老妇中的一个。但她却留在我的记忆中。经过多年之后，我突然回想起她以及她所发生的事情。她的名字叫格里姆斯。她和丈夫、孩子住在离城四里的一条小溪旁的一间没有油漆过的小屋里。

　　There was such an old woman who used to come into town past our house one Summer and Fall when I was a young boy and was sick with what was called inflammatory rheumatism. She went home later carrying a heavy pack on her back Two or three large gaunt-looking dogs followed at her heels.

　　The old woman was nothing special. She was one of the nameless ones that hardly any one knows， but she got into my thoughts. I have just suddenly now， after all these years， remembered her and what happened. It is a story. Her name was Grimes， and she lived with her husband and son in a small unpainted house on the bank of a small creek four miles from town.

　　她丈夫和儿子是凶恶的家伙。儿子虽然才21岁，但已经在狱中服刑有些年了。听说她丈夫偷了马以后把马放掉，跑外县去了。偶尔有一次，一匹马突然不见的时候，他也不见了，以后从来没有人看见过他。有一次，当我在汤姆。怀特赫德的马房闲逛时，见这个人也来那里，他坐在门前的条凳上，其它还有两三个人也在那儿。但是没有人和他谈话。他坐了一会儿就走开了。临走时，他围着这些人转，瞪眼看着他们，他眼中露出挑战的神色。他说道：“好了，我已经够朋友了。在这镇上我已经到过每个角落。如果某天你们的好马跑掉，那又怎么样呢？”他的话实际上等于什么也没有说。我一直记得他的眼睛中流露出使我发抖的神色。

　　The husband and son were a tough lot. Although the son was but twenty-one ，he had already served a term in jail. It was whispered about that the woman“s husband stole horses and ran them off to some other country. Now and then， when a horse turned up missing， the man had also disappeared. No one ever caught him. Once， when I was loafing at Tom Whitehead”s livery-barn， the man came there and sat on the bench in front. Two or three other men were there， but no one spoke to him. He sat for a few minutes and then got up and went away. When he was leaving he turned around and started at the men. There was a look of defiance in his eyes. “Well， I have tried to be friendly. You don”t want to talk to me. It has been so wherever I have gone in this town. If， some day， one of your fine horses turns up missing， well， then what？“ He did not say any thing actually. ”I“d like to bust one of you on the jaw，” was about what his eye said. I remember how the look in his eyes made me shiver.

　　他家曾经是一度有钱的人家。他的名字叫吉克 格里姆斯。他的父亲叫约翰 格里姆斯，拥有一座锯木厂，发了财，只知道喝酒和跟着女人转。死的时候没留下多少积存。吉克则在休息时就去吸毒。他的田地很快就几乎全部变卖了。那儿再也没有木材可砍了。他带着妻子离开了德国农场主。他曾在六月里小麦收获期替他干活。他妻子当时还是一个年轻的姑娘。农场主给她干些活。我想她是一个被束缚的姑娘。农场主的妻子对她抱有怀疑。农场主不在附近时她就不让这女孩干活。当他妻子进城去的时候，农场主又训斥她。而她则对年轻的吉克说没发生什么事。

　　The old man belonged to a family that had had money once. His name was Jake grimes. It all comes back clearly now. His father， John Grimes， had owned a sawmill when the country was new， and had made money. Then he got to drinking and running after woman. When he died there wasn“t much left.

　　Jake blew in the rest. Pretty soon there wasn“t any more lumber to cut and his land was nearly all gone.

　　He got his wife off a German farmer， for whom he went to work one June day in the wheat harvest. She was a young thing then and scared to death. You see， the farmer was up to something with the girl-she was， I think， a bound girl and his wife had her suspicions. She took it out on the girl when the man wasn“t around. Then， when the wife had to go off to town for supplies， the farmer got after her. She told young Jake that nothing really ever happened， but he didn”t know whether to believe it or not.

　　吉克第一次就很容易地把她带出去了。一天晚上，他带着她一起坐上马车到了打谷子的地方。下一个星期天的晚上他又来找她。在雇主没有看见她的时候，她设法从屋内出来，但是就在她进入马车的时候，他露面了，那是一个傍晚，他突然提起马头， 抓住马笼头，取出马鞭打向吉克的脸上和肩上，吉克不得不跳出马车来，马由于惊吓而跑起来，大约跑了一里，女孩终于让它停了下来。她把马栓在路边的树上。当德国人和吉克走到那儿时，她卷缩在马车座位上哭泣，怕的要死。

　　He got her pretty easy himself， the fist time he was out with her. He wouldn“t have married her if the German farmer hadn”t tried to tell him where to get off. He got her to go riding with him in his buggy one night when he was threshing on the place， and then he came for her the next Sunday night.

　　She managed to get out of the house without her employer“s seeing， but when she was getting into the buggy he showed up. It was almost dark，and he just popped up suddenly at the horse”s head. He grabbed the horse by the bridle and Jake got out his buggy-whip.

　　They had it out all right. The German was a tough one. Maybe he didn“t care whether his wife knew or not. Jake hit him over the face and shoulders with the buggy-whip， but the horse stared to run away and went nearly a mile down the road before the girl got him stopped. Then she managed to tie him to a tree beside the road. Jake found her there after he got through with the German. She was huddled up in the b8uggy seat， crying， scared to death.

　　她告诉了吉克很多事：这个德国人曾经企图占有她。有一次在谷仓里他竭力追求他；又有一次只有他们两人单独在一起的时候，他把她的衣服都撕开了，要不是听到他老婆开车到了门口，那一次他就已经占有他了。这个德国人在他老婆见不着时，偷偷的跑来地里跟她说，如果他讲出去那天的事，他要把她杀了。她能做什么呢？她在马厩里喂牲口时，他对撕开衣服这件事，撒了个谎。

　　She told Jake a lot of stuff， how the Germen had tried to get her， how he chased her once into the barn， how another time， when they happened to be alone in the house together， he tore her dress open clear down the front. The German， she said， might have got her that time if he hadn“t heard his old woman drive in at the gate. She had been off to down for supplies. Well， she would be putting the horse in the barn. The German managed to sneak off to the fields without his wife seeing. He told the girl he would kill her if she told. What could she do？ She told a lie about ripping her dress in the barn when she was feeding the stock.

　　现在我回想，她真是一个被束缚的女孩子，她不知道她的父母亲在那里。也可能他没有父亲，你知道我的意思了吧。

　　I remember now that she was a bound girl and did not know where her father and mother were. Maybe she did not have any father. You know what I mean.