But that is a mistake. I know even before I wake up.
可是，这是个错误，我还没醒来之前就知道了。
Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue?
谁听说约翰逊家的人士伶牙俐齿的？
Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye?
谁能想象我敢直视一个陌生的白人？
It seems to me I have talked to them always with one toot raised in flight, with my head turned in whichever way is farthest from them.
和他们讲话时，我总是紧张不安，随时准备溜走。我的头总是转到离他们最远的方向。
Dee, though. She would always look anyone in the eye.
不过，迪伊就不这样。她对任何人都不畏惧。
Hesitation was no part of her nature.
犹豫不决可不是她的本性。
"How do I look, Mama?" Maggie says, showing just enough of her thin body enveloped in pink skirt and red blouse for me to know she's there, almost hidden by the door.
"我看上去怎么样啊，妈妈？"麦姬的声音传来。她那瘦小的身躯几乎被一件粉红色裙子和大红罩衫全遮住了，人有躲在门背后，身子给门遮去一大半，我好容易才看出她来。
"Come out into the yard," I say.
"快出屋到院子里来，"我说。
Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind of him?
你有没有见到过一个跛了腿的动物，比如说一只狗，被一个粗心莽撞的有钱买得起汽车的人压伤后侧着身子向一个愚昧的对它表示关切的人走去时的样子？
That is the way my Maggie walks.
我的麦姬走路时就是那个样子。
She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground.
自从那次大火烧跨房屋之事发生后，她一直是这个样子，下巴贴近胸口，眼盯着地面，走路拖着脚。
Deeis lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure.
迪伊生的比麦姬白一些，头发也好看一些，身材也丰满一些。
She's a woman now, though sometimes I forget.
她现在已是一个成年女子了，不过我经常忘记这一事实。
How long ago was it that the other house burned?
那座房屋被火烧毁是多久以前的事？
Ten, twelve years? Sometimes I can still hear the flames and feel Maggie's arms sticking to me, her hair smoking and her dress falling off her in little black papery flakes.
十年？十二年？有时候我似乎还能听见燃烧的火焰发出的呼呼的响声，可以感觉到麦姬用手紧紧抓住我，看到她的头发冒烟，她的衣服烧成黑灰一片片脱落的情景。
Her eyes seemed stretched open, blazed open by the flames reflect-ed in them. And Dee.
当时她的眼睛瞪得大大的，亮亮的，反射出闪烁着的火苗。还有迪伊。