Chapter 52
第五十二章

I suppose the next three years were the happiest of Strickland's life. Ata's house stood about eight kilometres from the road that runs round the island, and you went to it along a winding pathway shaded by the luxuriant trees of the tropics. It was a bungalow of unpainted wood, consisting of two small rooms, and outside was a small shed that served as a kitchen. There was no furniture except the mats they used as beds, and a rocking-chair, which stood on the verandah. Bananas with their great ragged leaves, like the tattered habiliments of an empress in adversity, grew close up to the house. There was a tree just behind which bore alligator pears, and all about were the cocoa-nuts which gave the land its revenue. Ata's father had planted crotons round his property, and they grew in coloured profusion, gay and brilliant; they fenced the land with flame. A mango grew in front of the house, and at the edge of the clearing were two flamboyants, twin trees, that challenged the gold of the cocoa-nuts with their scarlet flowers.
我想，这以后的三年是思特里克兰德一生中最幸福的一段日子。爱塔的房子距离环岛公路有八公里远，要到那里去需要走过一条为热带丛林浓荫覆盖着的羊肠小道。这是一幢用本色木头盖成的带凉台的平房，一共有两间屋子，屋外还有一间用作厨房的小棚子。室内没有家具，地上铺着席子当床用。只有凉台上放着一把摇椅。芭蕉树一直长到房子的跟前；巨大的叶子破破烂烂，好象一位遭了厄运的女王的破烂衣衫。房子背后有一株梨树，房子四周到处种着能变钱花的椰子树。爱塔的父亲生前围着这片地产种了一圈巴豆；这些巴豆如今生得密密匝匝，开着绚烂的花朵，象一道火焰墙似地把椰林围绕起来。此外，正对着房子还有一棵芒果树，房前一块空地边上有两棵姊妹树，开着火红的花朵，同椰子树的金黄椰果竞相斗妍。