1705000655

1705000656 ● poverty后跟着一个adjective clause。在这个子句里，作者就她写作的时候（故用现在式的辅助动词may），去猜想当时的情形（故用完成式不定词have bound和have left）。贫穷把他们老夫妻俩联系（bound是bind的过去分词）在一起，可能如同一个灾祸一样（同受灾者命运相同），灾祸太大了，用不着再去讨论它。但是贫穷使得他们俩仍旧是彼此分离的，而且是不希望别人来同情的。（separate和undesirous两个形容词都是objective complements。）

1705000657

1705000658 ● 末一句，作者猜想他们什么时候开始互相不交谈的。这个沉默的习惯可能很多年（years前面不必加many也可表示很多年）前就开始了。怎样开始的呢？可能有一次在生气的时候，两人不说话，以后就一直不说话了（passion=violent anger）。但是现在谁知道呢？

1705000659

1705000660 She was so tired of the cold! That was all it could do any more—make her tired. Year after year, she felt sure that she would die before the cold was over. Now, according to the Almanac, it was spring…. But year after year it was always the same. The plants would be set out in their frames, transplanted always too soon, and there was a freeze…. When was the last time they had grown tall and full, that the cold had held off and there was a crop?

1705000661

1705000662 ● 第二句的it代the cold。make是省去了to的不定式。

1705000663

1705000664 ● Almanac：历本。虽然交了春，天还是很冷。交了春，番茄苗要从苗圃里移植到田里去。但是年年总是如此，移植（transplanted）得太早了，一夜春寒，可能把番茄全冻死，辅助动词用would表示过去屡次发生的事。set out=planted（此解根据Thorndike-Barnhart: Comprehensive Desk Dictionary）。frames：番茄太重，番茄树枝支持不起，需搭架子来扶助。

1705000665

1705000666 ● 年年种的番茄，都在春天冻死，她已记不起哪一年的番茄是种活的。末一句是Sara自己问自己，上一回是什么时候，番茄苗（they）长得又高，结得又满；寒冷不来侵犯（hold off=keep at a distance）而有收获呢？

1705000667

1705000668 Like a vain dream, Sara began to have thoughts of the spring and summer. At first she thought only simply, of the colors of green and red, the smell of the sun on the ground, the touch of leaves and of warm ripening tomatoes. Then, all hidden as she was under the quilt, she began to imagine and remember the town of Dexter in the shipping season. There in her mind, dusty little Dexter became a theatre of almost legendary festivity, a place of pleasure. On every road leading in, smiling farmers were bringing in wagonloads of the most beautiful tomatoes. The packing sheds at Dexter Station were all decorated—no, it was simply that the May sun was shining. Mr. Perkins, the tall, gesturing figure, stood in the very centre of everything, buying, directing, waving yellow papers that must be telegrams, shouting with great impatience. And it was he, after all, that owned their farm now. Train after train of empty freight cars stretched away, waiting and then being filled. Was it possible to have saved out of the threat of the cold so many tomatoes in the world?

1705000669

1705000670 ● 这一段是回忆五月间收购番茄时的盛况（就是番茄有收成的那一年），运用视觉（colors）、嗅觉（smell）、触觉（touch）的描写，正同上文凄凉寒夜作一对照。

1705000671

1705000672 ● all hidden as she was under the quilt=though she was all hidden under the quilt。

1705000673

1705000674 ● Dexter在密苏里州。shipping season：装运的季节。注意：shipping只是“装运”，水路旱路均可，这里是指装火车。

1705000675

1705000676 ● theatre：场合。legendary festivity：如传说般的盛大庆祝。

1705000677

1705000678 ● leading in：通到Dexter城去的。a wagonload是装满一马车那么多，这里用的是复数。bring in的in是副词。

1705000679

1705000680 ● packing：（给番茄）装箱或装篓子。sheds：专作此用的帐棚。decorated：装饰起来，但是作者（或者可以说是Sara）又修正自己的话，并没有装饰，只是阳光照耀得灿烂夺目而已。

1705000681

1705000682 ● 下面接着描写Mr. Perkins：一个高大而装腔作势的人（figure：人的形状，Sara所记得的是这个人的形状）；directing：在指挥别人；waving yellow papers that must be telegrams：手里拿着一叠黄纸在舞，这叠黄纸，据Sara猜想起来，一定是电报。四个现在分词buying、directing、waving和shouting（叫喊），都是形容主语Mr. Perkins（with great impatience：很不耐烦地）。

1705000683

1705000684 ● after all=all things considered：总而言之。

1705000685

1705000686 ● Train：列车。freight cars：货车。stretched away：长长地延伸出去。

1705000687

1705000688 ● 末一句Sara还是很奇怪：怎么可能从寒冷的威胁下救出这许多番茄来？saved的宾语是tomatoes。

1705000689

1705000690 Sara, weightless under the quilt, could think of the celebrations of Dexter and see the vision of ripe tomatoes only in brief snatches, like the flare-up of the little fire. The rest of the time she thought only of cold, of cold going on before and after. She could not help but feel the chill of the here and now, which was not to think at all but was for her only a trembling in the dark.

1705000691

1705000692 ● weightless：觉得自己很轻（因此更冷）。vision：景象。

1705000693

1705000694 ● in brief snatches：短短的片刻之中。flare-up：突然发光。这一个譬喻把过去同现在，或者说，把回忆同当前的感觉联结了起来。又把读者带回到她屋子里来了。

1705000695

1705000696 ● could not help but feel：不能不感觉到。the here and now：此地此时。这种寒战的感觉不好算是思想（to think），对于她只算是黑暗中的一阵战栗（trembling）。

1705000697

1705000698 She coughed patiently and turned her head to one side. She peered over the quilt just a little and saw that the fire had at last gone out. There was left only a hulk of red log, a still, red, bent shape, like one of Jason’s socks thrown down to be darned somehow. With only this to comfort her, Sara closed her eyes and fell asleep.

1705000699

1705000700 ● coughed：咳嗽。patiently：有耐心地。

1705000701

1705000702 ● peered：窥视。at last：最后总算灭了——Sara一直期待着它会灭的。

1705000703

1705000704 ● a hulk of red log：木柴烧红成为炭。log这个字上文已经见过, 我们很可以猜想，炉子里就只有这么一块柴，这块柴烧完了，火也灭了。（hulk：原意是废船的空壳子。）

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