For the merest instant, then I saw her. I really did see her, for the first and only time in all the years we had both lived in the same town.
她说这些话的那一瞬间，我算看清了她。虽然我们多年来同住在一个小镇上，这还是第一次，也是唯一的一次，我真正地看清她的本来面目。
Her defiant face, momentarily, became unguarded and unmasked, and in her eyes there was a terrifying hope.
此时此刻，她那揭下面具和保护罩的脸上露出的是一副坚强不屈、敢于挑战一切的神色，她的眼神里也透出一种强烈得令人害怕的渴望。
Gee, Piquette -- I burst out awkwardly, that's swell. That's really wonderful. Congratulations-good luck-I hope you'll be happy-
嗬，皮格特--我突然笨口拙腮地说，那太棒了，真是好极了。祝贺你--好运--祝愿你们生活幸福—
As l mouthed the conventional phrases, I could only guess how great her need must have been, that she had been forced to seek the very things she so bitterly rejected.
我从口中挤出这些套语的时候，心里就在想：她对她那么不屑一顾的东西却又要去竭力地追求，可见她心里的渴望是多么地强烈。
When I was eighteen, I left Manawaka and went away to college. At the end of my first year, I came back home for the summer.
十八岁时，我离开马纳瓦卡镇去外地上大学。大学第一学年结束的时候，我回家里过暑假。
I spent the first few days in talking non-stop with my mother, as we exchanged all the news that somehow had not found its way into letters-what had happened in my life and what had happened here in Manawaka while I was away.
刚回来的那几天，我一直不停地同我母亲谈家常，谈论着一些双方在书信中都没有谈及的事情--我在大学里的生活情况以及我上学期间马纳瓦卡镇上发生的一些事儿。
My mother searched her memory for events that concerned people I knew.
我母亲尽量从记忆中搜出一些有关我所熟识的人的情况对我讲。
Did I ever write you about Piquette Tonnerre, Vanessa? she asked one morning.
凡乃莎，我在信中对你讲过皮格特?坦纳瑞的情况了吗?有一天早上，她这样问我。
No, I don't think so, I replied. Last I heard of her, she was going to marry some guy in the city. Is she still there?
没有，我想是没有，我回答说。我所知道的有关她的最新消息，是她即将同城里的某个小伙子结婚。她还在城里吗?
My mother looked Hiroshima , and it was a moment before she spoke, as though she did not know how to express what she had to tell and wished she did not need to try.
我母亲脸上露出不安的神色，好半天没吭声，好像有什么话不好讲而又不大愿意讲出来的样子。