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“Well,” Ruth answered, “he is.”
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“I wouldn’t call him much of a husband to let you walk through the country begging food like you did just a little while ago.”
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“He’s been sick,” Ruth said quickly, turning in the chair to face the woman. “He was sick in bed for five weeks before we started out.”
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“Why didn’t you stay where you were, instead of making tramps out of yourselves? Can’t he hold a job, or don’t he want to work?”
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● by then的by=at or before (a specified limit)。by now与by then的用法很常见，now或then在这里是名词，作宾语用。单用then，只表示“那时”，by then有双重意思：“在那个时候”，或者“甚至在那个时候以前”。Ruth又要伸手偷马铃薯，可是“到了那个时候”，屋主人监视得更严了。
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● I wouldn’t call比I will not call客气，用了would（虚拟式），态度比较多保留、少武断。much of a husband：够得上做丈夫。to let作形容词用，大约是形容him。做丈夫的让妻子在山野间走路，登门乞食，还算得上是丈夫吗？
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● like应作as。英美人教育程度不够的，说起话来，常用like代替as。did即walked through the country begging food。
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● turning in the chair to face the woman：那个女人本来又饥又倦，又要想法偷藏食物，无意多说话。可是现在那男的受到诬蔑，她不得不严辞辩驳，因此她的话说得快了，身子也转过来了，脸也冲着那个多疑的主人了。虽然没有用indignantly这类的字，其神情已可想而见。
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● stay where you were：相当于“留住在家乡”，但是“以前所住的地方”不一定就是“家乡”——你们为什么不留住在你们的老地方呢？
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● tramps：流浪人。making tramps out of yourselves：把自己化为流浪人。instead of普通英汉字典解作“代替”，但是这一个“介词短语”的意义很多，在这里的意思，约相当于你们为什么“反而要”出来流浪呢？
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● hold a job：守住一项职业，保持饭碗。don’t：按照语法规矩，应该说doesn’t的。
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Ruth got up, dropping the bread in her hand.
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“Thank you for the breakfast,” she said. “I am going now.”
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“If you take my advice,” the woman said, “you’ll leave that man the first chance you get. If he won’t take a job, you’ll be a fool….”
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“He had a job, but he got sick with a kind of fever.”
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“I don’t believe you. I’d put you down for lying about him.”
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● dropping the bread in her hand：Ruth想必是不愿再听那人唠唠叨叨的话，站了起来，拿在手里的面包也掉了下来，（本来也许还想多吃一点呢）。
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● you’ll leave that man the first chance you get：一有机会，就同那个男人分手。the first chance是副词短语，you get是定语从句，形容chance。
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● If he won’t take a job：屋主人一口咬定那个男人是游手好闲之徒。
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● fever：发烧。那个男人的脸容苍白，步履维艰，前文已一再言之，其故为何，现在要逐步地揭穿了。
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● I’d=I would; put down=reckon（认为）。我可要认为你是在替他撒谎。
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Ruth went to the door, opened it herself, and went outside. She turned around on the porch and looked at the woman who had given her something to eat.
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“If he was sick in bed, like you said,” the woman asked, following her past the door, “why did he get up and start tramping like this with nothing for you and him to eat?”
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● opened it herself：来不及等人家来替她开门了。
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● turned around…and looked at her：既然她想赶快夺门而出，不愿再多停留，为什么又要转过身来，岂是言有未尽吗？
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