〈接續〉
在這群獵狗、馬匹和孿生兄弟之間,有一種比他們的忠實夥伴關系更深層的內在密切聯系。人畜全都年輕體壯、頭腦簡單、毛發光滑、動作瀟灑、精神勃發,兄弟倆像他們的坐騎一樣精神飽滿,不僅精神飽滿,而且脾氣暴躁,不過,在懂得如何駕馭他們的人面前,他們都顯得溫和馴順。
坐在門廊裡的這三個年輕人生來就過著舒適的莊園生活,自幼就有人伺候得無微不至,不過,他們的臉色倒既不蒼白,也不嬌嫩。他們就像一輩子生活在天地間、很少在枯燥書本上費心的鄉下人一樣,精神勃勃,行動機敏。在佐治亞州北部的克萊頓縣,生活還是蠻新奇的,不過,按照奧古斯塔、薩凡納和查爾斯頓等地的標準衡量,就嫌有點兒粗俗。佐治亞南部比較矜持古板的人們十分瞧不起佐治亞內地人,但是在佐治亞北部,當地人覺得沒受過正規教育算不得失面子,要緊的事兒乾得漂亮就成。種好棉花,騎術精湛,射擊本領強,舞跳得輕盈,陪伴女士風度翩翩,飲酒多而不失態,這些才算是真正要緊的事。
the hounds and the horses and the twins there was a kinship deeper than that of their constant They were all healthy, thoughtless young animals, sleek, graceful, high-spirited, the boys as mettlesome as the horses they rode, mettlesome and dangerous but, withal, sweet-tempered to those who knew how to handle them.
Although born to the ease of life, waited on hand and foot since infancy, the faces of the three on the porch were neither nor soft. They had the vigor and alertness of country people who have spent all their lives in the open and troubled their heads very little with dull things in books. Life in the north county of was still new and, to the standards of Augusta, Savannah and Charleston, a little crude. The more sedate and older of the South looked down their noses at the up-country , but here in north , a lack of the niceties of carried no shame,
provided a man was smart in the things that mattered. And raising good cotton, riding well, shooting straight, dancing lightly, squiring the ladies with elegance and carrying one’s liquor like a gentleman were the things that mattered. 人與動物的關系, 和諧場景,訓服與被訓服。人與人的關系,習俗與追逐示好場景,駕馭與被駕馭,影響與被影響,由古到今,此類場景太多了,是客觀存在,由人之本性與動物本性決定。
所有這些,都在一定的社會大背景之下。摘錄文中涉SCARLETT及孿生雙胞胎三個人,所涉動物有孿生雙胞胎所騎之馬以及所隨出行的一群獵狗。
孿生雙胞胎兄弟與其所乘之馬,與其所帶之一群獵狗的關系,簡單。這裡沒有習俗,更沒有複雜的彎彎可轉圈子的意圖和想法,真正的直來直去。雙胞胎兄弟對於屬於自己的私人財產、並服務於自己、為自己賣命的座騎馬和獵狗們,是本能的愛護態度。而其座騎馬和獵狗們更加直來直去,對待給它們吃食的兄弟倆,當然是馴服溫順了。
孿生雙胞胎兄弟與SCARLETT的關系,是人與人的一種關系,那可就複雜得多了,其所涉的彎彎曲折想法、所涉人間習俗規范等,絕非人與動物的簡單關聯可比。
身處人間社會,一個人是啥形象,由與之相處的別人評判。一個人想成為什麽形象,這個有意識的想,構成了別人和環境的要求和規范,他(她)主動態和被動態地大受這些要求和規范的約束。
〈待續〉