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She stared down at it, her lips pressed tight together, then plunged her hands under the surface. "Oh!" she cried, and jumped back. She took her right hand by the wrist and held it up. Her thumb was bleeding.

"Don't move," he said. "Stay right there." He ran upstairs to the bathroom and rummaged in the medicine chest for alcohol, cotton, and a Band-Aid. When he came back down she was leaning against the refrigerator with her eyes closed, still holding her hand. He took the hand and dabbed at her thumb with the cotton. The bleeding had stopped. He squeezed it to see how deep the wound was. "It's shallow," he said. "Tomorrow you won't even know it's there." He hoped that she appreciated how quickly he had come to her aid. He'd acted out of concern for her, he thought that it would be a nice gesture on her part not to start up that conversation again, as he was tired of it. "I'll finish up here," he said. "You go and relax."

"That's okay," she said. "I'll dry."
He began to wash the silverware again.
"So," she said, "you wouldn't have married me if I'd been black."
"For Christ's sake, Ann!"
"Well, that's what you said, didn't you?"
"No, I did not. The whole question is ridiculous. If you had been black we probably wouldn't even have met. The only black girl I ever really knew was my partner in the debating club."
"But if we had met, and I'd been black?"

"Then you probably would have been going out with a black guy." He picked up the rinsing nozzle and sprayed the silverware.
"Let's say I am black and unattached," she said, "and we meet and fall in love."
He glanced over at her. She was watching him and her eyes were bright. "Look," he said, taking a reasonable tone, "this is stupid. If you were black you wouldn't be you." As he said this he realized it was absolutely true. There was no possible way of arguing with the fact that she would not be herself if she were black.

"I know," she said, "but let's just say."
He took a deep breath. He had won the argument but he still felt cornered. "Say what?" he asked.
"That I'm black, but still me, and we fall in love. Will you marry me?" He though! about it.
"Well?" she said. Her eyes were even brighter. "Will you marry me?"
"I'm thinking," he said.
"You won't, I can tell."

"Let's not move too fast on this," he said. "There are lots of things to consider. We don't want to do something we would regret for the rest of our lives."
"No more considering. Yes or no."
"Since you put it that way — "
"Yes or no."
"Jesus, Ann. All right. No."
She said, "Thank you," and walked from the kitchen into the living room. A moment later he heard her turning the pages of a magazine. He knew that she was too angry to be actually reading it, but she didn't snap through the pages the way he would have done. She turned them slowly, as if she were studying every word. She was demonstrating her indifference to him, and it had the effect he knew she wanted it to have. It hurt him.
He had no choice but to demonstrate his indifference to her. Quietly, thoroughly, he washed the rest of the dishes. Then he dried them and put them away. He wiped the counters and the stove.

While he was at it, he decided, he might as well mop the floor. When he was done the kitchen looked new, the way it looked when they were first shown the house.
He picked up the garbage pail and went outside. The night was clear and he could see a few stars to the west, where the lights of the town didn't blur them out. On El Camino the traffic was steady and light, peaceful as a river. He felt ashamed that he had let his wife get him into a fight. In another thirty years or so they would both be dead. What would all that stuff matter then? He thought of the years they had spent together, and how close they were, and how well they knew each other, and his throat tightened so that he could hardly breathe.
The house was dark when he came back inside. She was in the bathroom. He stood outside the door and called her name. "Ann, I'm really sorry," he said. "I'll make it up to you. I promise."
"How?" she said.

He knew that he had to come up with the right answer. He leaned against the door. "I'll marry you," he whispered.
"We'll see," she said. "Go on to bed. I'll be out in a minute."
He undressed and got under the covers. Finally he heard the bathroom door open and close.
"Turn off the light," she said from the hallway.
"What?"
"Turn off the light."
He reached over and pulled the chain on the bedside lamp. The room went dark. "All right," he said. He lay there, but nothing happened. "All right," he said again. Then he heard a movement across the room. He sat up, but he couldn't see a thing. The room was silent. His heart pounded the way it had on their first night together, the way it still did when he woke at a noise in the darkness and waited to hear it again — the sound of someone moving through the house, a stranger.

参考译文

她盯着水槽，双唇紧闭，然后把双手伸进水里，“啊！”她尖叫起来，向后跳了一下。她抓住右手腕并把它举了起来，大拇指在流血。

“别动，”他说，“就呆在那儿。”他跑到浴室，在药柜里翻找酒精、药棉和邦迪创可贴。他从楼上下来的时候，她正闭着眼倚在冰箱上，仍然举着那只受伤的右手。他拿过她的手，用药棉轻轻蘸了蘸大拇指受伤的地方。已经不流血了。他挤了挤伤口，看看伤口有多深。“不深，”他说，“明天就长好了。”他希望她会感激他这么迅速地来帮忙。他这么做是出于对她的关心，他想对于她来说这是个很好的暗示，让她别再继续刚才的话题，因为他不想再说什么了。“我来洗碗，”他说，“你去休息吧！”

“不碍事。”她说，“我来擦吧！”
他开始重洗这些餐具。
“所以，”她说，“如果我是黑人，你就不会娶我了。”
“看在基督的面子上，别再说了，安！”
“你刚才就是这样说的，对吧？”
“不，我没说。这个问题太可笑了。如果你是黑人，我们几乎不可能相遇。我真正了解的黑人女孩只有一个，她就是我在辩论俱乐部中的搭档。”
“但假如我是黑人，我们又相遇了呢？”

“那你很可能会跟一个黑人小伙子谈恋爱。”他拿起喷头冲洗餐具。
“假如说我是黑人，没有结婚，”她说，“我们相遇并且相爱了。”
他看了一眼妻子，她正看着他，双眼亮晶晶的。“你看，”他以一种理智的语调说，“这很愚蠢。如果你是黑人，你就不是你了。”当他说这句话的时候，他觉得这绝对正确。如果她是黑人，她就不是她自己了。这是一个事实，事实胜于雄辩。

“我知道，”她说，“但是我们只是假设。”
他深吸了一口气，他已经赢得了这场争辩，但是她仍然觉得他处境不妙。“假设什么？”他问。
“假设我是黑人，但仍然是我，而且我们相爱了。你会娶我吗？”
“我正想着呢。”他说。
“我能看出来你不会的。”

“不要这么快下结论。”他说，“许多事情都需要考虑。谁也不想做会让自己抱憾终生的事。”
“别再考虑了。会还是不会？”
“你要这么说的话...”
“会还是不会？”
“天啊，安，好吧，不会。”
她说，“谢谢你！”说完，离开厨房进了客厅。过了一会儿，他听见了她翻杂志的声音。他知道她太生气了，根本读不进杂志，但她不像他生气时那样把杂志翻得哗哗响。她慢慢地翻动书页，好像在研读里面的每一个字。她在对他表示冷漠。他知道这起到了她想要的效果。这伤害了他。
他别无选择，只好也对她冷漠。他静静地，彻底地洗完了剩下的盘子，然后把它们擦干。放好。他还擦了擦台面和灶台。

擦洗的时候，他决定把地也拖一拖。所有活都干完了，厨房里焕然一新，看起来和当初他们来看房子时一样。
他拿起垃圾桶走了出去。夜空晴朗，他可以看到西边有几颗星星，城市的灯火并没有掩盖它们的光芒。在厄卡米诺大街上，车辆不多，宁静得像条河。他觉得很羞愧，他居然和妻子吵了一架。再过三十来年，他们可能都不在人世了。那这些问题还有什么重要的呢？他想起了他们共同走过的日子，想起了那时的他们是多么亲密，多么了解对方啊！想到这儿，他感到喉咙发紧，几乎不能呼吸了。

当他回来时，家里一片漆黑。妻子在浴室里。他站在门口，叫了她的名字。“安，真对不起。”他说，“我会补偿你的，我保证。”
“怎么补偿？”她说。

他知道他得给出正确的答案。他倚在门上。“我愿意娶你的，”他低声说。
“一会儿就知道了。”她说。“你上床吧，我一会儿就出来。”
他脱了衣服，钻进被窝里。终于他听见浴室开了又关的声音。
“关灯。”门厅传来她的声音。
“什么？”
“关灯。”
他伸手拉了一下床边的灯绳，房间里伸手不见五指。“好了，”他说，他躺在那儿，但什么也没有发生。“好了。”他又说了一遍。然后听到有人穿过了房间。他坐了起来，但什么都看不见。房间里很安静。他的心剧烈地跳动着，像他们新婚初夜时的一样，也像在黑暗中被噪音惊醒时一样。他等着再听一听--有人在房间走动的声音，一个陌生人的声音。

词汇释义

1.rummage v. 到处翻寻,搜出,检查

例句：

I had a rummage in drawers.
我在抽屉翻找。

2.silverware n. 银器

例句：

They had much silverware at that time.
那时他们拥有很多银器。

3.indifference n. 不重视,无兴趣,漠不关心

例句：

Her apparent indifference made him even more nervous.
她表面上若无其事反而使他更加紧张.

4.pail n. 提桶

例句：

I want a pail of milk.
我想要一桶牛奶。

5.undress v. 脱掉,使脱衣服,暴露,使卸去装饰

例句：

She undressed her son.
她脱掉了儿子的衣服。

短语释义

1.dab at sth. 轻敷，轻擦，轻抚

例句：

She dabbed at the wound with a wet cloth.

她用湿布轻轻揩了揩伤口。

2.come to one's aid 帮助某人，援助某人

例句：

Whenever I was in trouble, she would come to my aid.

每当我有苦难时，她都会来帮助我。

3.do sth. out of concern for sb. 出于关心某人而做某事

例句：

The teacher did it out of concern for her students.

老师这么做是出于对学生的关心。

4.be going out (with sb.) 与异性（尤指经常性地）交往

例句：

They've been going out for two years.

他们交往已有两年了。

5.put sth. 表达或表述某事

例句：

His ideas were cleverly put.

他巧妙地表达了自己的想法。

6.or so 大约，至少

例句：

He had a glass or so of beer.

他大概喝了一杯啤酒。

7.make it up (to sb.)报答；回报

例句：

You've been so kind--I'll make it all up to you one day.

你一直都对我那么好，总有一天我会报答你的。

难句解析

1.He'd acted out of concern for her, he thought that it would be a nice gesture on her part not to start up that conversation again...

【难句释义】The man had shown his concern for his wife, and by doing so he hoped that his wife would understand that and stop this unpleasant conversation.

2.He had won the argument but he still felt cornered.

【难句释义】He had won the argument but he still felt that he was forced into a difficult situation.

【难句解析】corener在这里为动词，指“把人逼入困境”。

3.Let's not move too fast on this...

【难句释义】Don't let us come to a decision so quickly. I have to consider it carefully before I give you an answer.

4.Since you put it that way...

【难句释义】As you raise a question in this way.../As you ask your question so bluntly---

5.In another thirty years or so they would both be dead. What would all that stuff matter then?

【难句释义】In another thirty years or so they would both be dead. So what's the sense of arguing about these problem?

【难句解析】这里another暗示他们可能已经结婚大约30年了，假设他们20多岁结婚的话，再过30年他们两个都将80多岁了。这表明他们之间的争吵不是年轻夫妇之间彼此伤害的那种。对于安这样一个非常理想主义的女子来说，这是一个原则问题。