【荆棘鸟】第一章 06

His nose was magnificent, a true Roman nose which must have puzzled his Irish confreres, but Ireland has ever been a shipwreck 1 coast. He still spoke 2 with the soft quick slur 3 of the Gal- way Irish, pronouncing his final t's as this's, but almost twenty years in the Antipodes had forced a quaint 4 overlay upon it, so that hisa's came out as i's and the speed of his speech had run down a little, like anold clock in need of a good winding 5. A happy man, he had managed to weather his hard and drudging existence better than most, and though he was a rigid 6 disciplinarian with a heavy swing to his boot, all but one of his children adored him. If there was not enough bread to go around, he went without; if it was a choice between new clothes for him or new clothes for one of his offspring, he went without. In its way, that was more reliable evidence of love than a million easy kisses. His temper was very fiery 7, and he had killed a man once. Luck had been with him; the man was english, and there was a ship in DunLaoghaire harbor bound for New Zealand on the tide.
  Fiona went to the back door and shouted,"Tea!" The boys trailed in gradually, Frank bringing up the rear withan arm load of wood, which he dumped in the big box beside the stove. Padraic put Meggie down and walked to the head of the non-company dining table at the far end of the kitchen, while the boys seated themselves around its sides and Meggie scrambled 8 up on top of the wooden box her father put on the chair nearest to him.
  Fee served the food directly onto dinner plates at her worktable, more quickly and efficiently 9 than a waiter; she carried them two at a time to her family, Paddy first, then Frank, and so on down to Meggie, with herself last. 
 

"Erckle! Stew 10!" said Stuart,pulling faces as he picked up his knife and fork. "Why did you have to name me after stew?" "Eat it," his father growled 11.
  The plates were big ones, and they were literally 12 heaped with food: boiled potatoes, lamb stew and beans cut that day from the garden, ladled in huge portions. 
  In spite of the muted groans 13 and sounds of disgust, everyone including Stu polished his plate clean with bread, and ate several slices more spread thickly with butter and native gooseberry jam. Fee sat down and bolted her meal, then got up at once to hurry to her worktable again, where into big soup plates she doled 14 out great quantities of biscuit made with plenty of sugar and laced all through with jam. A river of steaming hot custard sauce was poured over each, and again she plodded 15 to the dining table with the plates, two at a time. Finally she sat down with a sigh; this she could eat at her leisure.
  "Oh, goodie! Jam roly-poly!" Meggie exclaimed, slopping her spoon up and down in the custard until the jam seeped 16 through to make pink streaks 17 in the yellow.
  "Well, Meggie girl, it's your birthday, so Mum made your favorite pudding," her father said, smiling.
  There were no complaints this time; no matter what the pudding was, it was consumed with gusto. The Clearys all had a sweet tooth. No one carried a pound of superfluous 18 flesh, in spite of the vast quantities of starchy food. They expended 19 every ounce they ate in work or play. Vegetables and fruit were eaten because they were good for you, but it was the bread, potatoes, meat and hot floury puddings which staved off exhaustion 20.
 

他的鼻子很有气派，是一个地道的罗马人的鼻子，这一定叫他那些爱尔兰同行感到困惑不解，不过爱尔兰的海岸是有船只失事的地方。他说话的时候仍然带着柔和、快捷而含糊不清的高永韦①爱尔兰腔，把结尾处的“痴”音念成“咝”音。不过，在地球的另一面的近20年的生活经历，已经使他的口音变得有些南腔北调了。因此“氨音成了“唉”音，讲话的速度也稍微慢了些，就好像一台用旧的钟表需要好好上一上弦了。他是一个，乐观的人，他设法使自己比大多数人更愉快地来度过他那艰难沉闷的岁月，尽管他是一个动不动就用大皮靴踢人的严厉的循规蹈矩的人，但在他的孩子中除了一个孩子以外，都对他敬慕备至。如果面包分不过来，他自己就饿着不吃；如果可以在给自己添置就衣和给某个孩子做新衣之间进行选择的话，他自己就不要了。这比无数次廉价的亲吻更能可靠地表明他对他们的爱。他的脾气极为暴躁，曾经杀过一个人。那时他还算幸运；那人是个英国人，敦·劳海尔港泊着一条准备顺海潮开往新西兰的船。高尔韦，爱尔兰一地名。菲走到后门口，喊了一声：“吃茶点啦！”
 
    孩子们鱼贯而入。弗兰克走在最后，抱着一捆木柴，扔进了炉子边上的一只大箱子里。帕德里克放下梅吉，走到了放在厨房最里面的那张独一无二的餐桌的上首，孩子们围着两边坐了下来，梅吉爬到爸爸放在最靠近他的椅子上的木箱上面。
    菲奥娜直接把食物分到了那些放在圆桌上的餐盘里，她那股敏捷和利索劲儿比侍者有过之而无不及。她一次给他们端来两盘，第一盘给帕迪，接着是弗兰克，再往下是梅吉，最后才是她自己。
    “厄克尔！斯杜！”斯图尔特说道，他一面拿起刀叉，一面沉下脸来。“你干嘛非得叫我斯杜①？”①英语中斯杜（stew）有炖和煨的意思，与斯尔特的爱称斯图谐音。——译注“吃你的饭。”爸爸吼了一声。
    盘子都是大号的，里面着着实实地装满了食物。煮土豆、炖羊肉和当天从菜园里摘来的扁豆，都是满满的一大勺。所有的人，连斯图尔特在内。都无心去顾及那没有说出来的斥责和表示厌恶说话声，而是用面包把自己的盘子蹭了个一干二净，接着又吃了几张涂着厚厚的黄油和土产酷栗果酱的面包片。菲奥娜坐了下来，匆匆地吃完了饭，然后立刻站起身，又向厨桌奔去，往大汤盘里放了许多加糖饼干，上面涂满了果酱。每个盘子里都倒进了大量的、热气腾腾的牛奶蛋糊汁，又一次两盘地把它们慢慢地端到餐桌上。
    最后，她叹了口气坐下来，这一盘她可以安安稳稳地吃了。
    “啊，太好了！卷果酱布丁！”梅吉大声嚷着，用匙子在牛奶蛋糊里东舀西捅，直到黄色的蛋汁里涌出一条条的粉红色的果酱。
    “喂，梅吉姑娘，今天是你的生日，所以妈妈给你做了你喜欢吃的布叮”她爸爸微笑着说道。
    这次没有人埋怨：不管布丁做得如何，大家都吃得津津有味。克利里家的人都喜欢吃甜食。
    尽管他们淀粉类吃得很多很多，但是没有一个人身上多长一磅肉。在干活和玩耍中他们耗尽了吃进去的每一盎司食物。人们吃蔬菜和水果，因为它们是吃的东西而排除疲劳的却是面包、土豆、肉类和热面布叮。