Do you like this place? I asked, after a while, intending to lead on from there into the question of forest lore.
你喜欢这儿吗?过了一会儿，我便开口问道，想从这个问题慢慢引导到有关森林中的故事的问题上去。
Piquette shrugged. It's okay. Good as anywhere.
皮格特耸了耸肩。这地方不错，比哪儿都不差。
I love it, 1 said. We come here every summer.
我很喜欢这地方，我说，我们每年夏天都到这儿来。
So what? Her voice was distant, and I glanced at her uncertainly, wondering what I could have said wrong.
那又怎么样呢?她的声音很冷淡，我疑惑地看着她，不知道我的哪句话得罪了她。
Do you want to come for a walk? I asked her. We wouldn't need to go far.
你想不想去散散步?我问她。我们不必走得太远。
If you walk just around the point there, you come to a bay where great big reeds grow in the water, and all kinds of fish hang around there. Want to? Come on.
只要绕过那边的那个湖岬，你就会看到一个浅水湾，那儿的水中长着高大的芦苇，芦苇丛中游动着各种各样的鱼儿。想去吗?快来吧。
She shook her head.
她摇了摇头。
Your dad said I ain't supposed to do no more walking than I got to. I tried another line.
你爸爸说过，我不能过多地走路。我试着改用另一种策略。
I bet you know a lot about the woods and all that, eh? I began respectfully.
我猜想你对森林中的故事一定知道得很多，是吗?我毕恭毕敬地说道。
Piquette looked at me from her large dark unsmiling eyes.
皮格特瞪着那双大大的、没有一点笑意的黑眼睛望着我。
I don't know what in hell you're talkin' about, she replied. You nuts or somethin?
我不明白你在胡说些什么，她回答说。你是发神经还是怎么的?
If you mean where my old man, and me, and all them live, you better shut up, by Jesus, you hear?
假如你是想问我爹和我以及他们大家居住的地方的话，你最好闭住嘴，听到了吗?
I was startled and my feelings were hurt, but I had a kind of dogged perseverance. I ignored her rebuff.
我大感愕然，心里十分难受，但我生性固执。我不去计较她那冷漠的态度。
You know something, Piquette? There's loons here, on this lake. You can see their nests just up the shore there, behind those logs.
你知道吗，皮格特?这个湖上有一些潜水鸟。它们的窝就在那边的湖岸上，在那堆木材后边。
At night, you can hear them even from the cottage, but it's better to listen from the beach.
夜晚，在别墅里就可以听见它们的叫声，但在这儿的沙滩上要听得更清楚一些。
My dad says we should listen and try to remember how they sound, because in a few years when more cottages are built at Diamond Lake and more people come in, the loons will go away.
我爸爸要我们好好听听并记住它们的呜叫声，因为过几年之后，当湖边建起更多的别墅，来这儿的人也多起来的时候，潜水鸟便会飞离钻石湖了。