【荆棘鸟】第三章 02

 Built of butter-yellow sandstone blocks hand hewn in quarries 1 five hundred miles eastward 2, the house had two stories and was constructed on austerely 3 Georgian lines, with large, many-paned windows and a wide, iron-pillared veranda 4 running all the way around its bottom story. Gracing the sides of every window were black wooden shutters 5, not merely ornamental 6 but useful; in the heat of summer they were pulled closed to keep the interior cool.
  Though it was autumn now and the spindling vine was green, in spring the wistaria which had been planted the day the house was finished fifty years before was a solid mass of lilac plumes 7, rioting all over the outer walls and the veranda roof. Several acres of meticulously 8 scythed 9 lawn surrounded the house, strewn with formal gardens even now full of color from roses, wall- flowers, dahlias and marigolds. A stand of magnificent ghost gums with pallid 10 white trunks and drifting thin leaves hanging seventy feet above the ground shaded the house from the pitiless sun, their branches wreathed in brilliant magenta 11 where bougainvillea vines grew intertwined with them. Even those indispensable Outback monstrosities the water tanks were thickly clothed in hardy 12 native vines, roses and wistaria, and thus managed to look more decorative 13 than functional 14. Thanks to the late Michael Carson's passion for Drogheda homestead, he had been lavish 15 in the matter of water tanks; rumor 16 had it Drogheda could afford to keep its lawns green and its flower beds blooming though no rain fell in ten years. As one approached down the Home Paddock the house and its ghost gums took the eye first, but then one was aware of many other yellow sandstone houses of one story behind it and to each side, interlocking with the main structure by means of roofed ramps 17 smothered 18 in creepers. A wide gravel 19 driveway succeeded the wheel ruts of the track, curving to a circular parking area at one side of the big house, but also continuing beyond it and out of sight down to where the real business of Drogheda lay: the stockyards, the shearing 20 shed, the barns. Privately 21 Father Ralph preferred the giant pepper trees which shaded all these outbuildings and their attendant activities to the ghost gums of the main house. Pepper trees were dense 22 with pale green fronds 23 and alive with the sound of bees, just the right lazy sort of foliage 24 for an Outback station.
 

即使是对于一位看惯了巨宅和大厦的爱尔兰人来说，这座澳大利亚的府邸依然
是令人赞叹不已的。德罗海达是这个地区最古老、最巨大的产业，它不久前的那位
老态龙钟的主人在这片产业上建了一座能与之相匹配的宅邸。这是一座两层楼的房
子，是用东边五百英里外的采石场运来的、人工凿成的米黄色沙岩建造的。它的建
筑结构是乔治王朝式的，质朴而又大方；它的底层有许多扇宽大的玻璃窗，以及带
铁柱子的宽阔的游廊。每一扇玻璃窗上都装着黑色的木百叶，这不仅仅是为了装饰，
也是为了实用。在炎热的夏天，把它们拉下来就可以使室内保持阴凉。
 
    虽然眼下已经是萧萧金秋，但细长的藤条却依然一派绿。春天的时候，那棵50
年前与这所房子竣工同日栽下的紫藤开满了密不透风的淡紫色的花簇，熙熙攘攘地
抓满了外墙和游廊的顶棚。房子的周围是几英亩用长柄镰极其精心地修整过的草坪，
草坪上点缀着一片片整整齐齐的花圃，即使是在眼下，它们也依然盛开着色彩缤纷
的玫瑰花、香罗兰、大丽花和金盖花。一排高大的魔鬼桉，树干浅白，拔地70
英尺，遮住了楼房，挡住了无情的阳光；这排桉树的一些枝杈有时和紫茉莉的藤蔓
缠绕在一起，露出了亮红的色彩。连那些不可或缺的内地怪物——贮水箱也厚厚地
长上了一层耐寒的、土生土长的藤蔓和紫藤，它们看上去与其说是实用的，倒不如
说是装饰性的。多亏了已故的迈克尔·卡森先生对这个邸宅一片热心，他在贮水箱
这类东西是是从不吝惜金钱的；据说，十年不雨，德罗海达邸内的草坪依然可以照
样绿色湛然，花坛里的鲜花也照样盛开不败。
 
    当你走这个围场府邸的时候，首先映入眼帘的是那幢房子和那些魔鬼桉，可接
着你使会发觉它的背后和两侧有许多一层楼的黄色砂岩砌成的房子；加顶的坡道把
它们和主体建筑连接在一起，坡道的顶上长满了抓山虎。满是辙印的小路的尽头是
一条宽阔的砾石东道，它在那座大房子的一侧拐进了一片圆形停车场，继续往下延
伸着，直到眼睛看不见的地方，那儿是德罗海达的真正的干活场所。与遮蔽那座主
楼的魔鬼桉树比起来，拉尔夫神父自己更喜欢那些巨大的花椒树，它们把附属建筑
物和有关的活动统统都掩盖起来了。花椒树上长着厚密的、浅绿色的叶子，蜜蜂在
嗡嗡飞舞着，这正是内地牧场里树叶懒洋洋地低垂着的景色。