諾貝爾文學經典:《寵兒》第2章Part 14

Beloved looked at the sweet bread in Denver's hands and Denver held it out to her. She smiledthen and Denver's heart stopped bouncing and sat down — -relieved and easeful like a travelerwho had made it home.
From that moment and through everything that followed, sugar could always be counted on toplease her. It was as though sweet things were what she was born for. Honey as well as the wax itcame in, sugar sandwiches, the sludgy molasses gone hard and brutal in the can, lemonade, taffyand any type of dessert Sethe brought home from the restaurant. She gnawed a cane stick to flaxand kept the strings in her mouth long after the syrup had been sucked away. Denver laughed,Sethe smiled and Paul D said it made him sick to his stomach.
Sethe believed it was a recovering body's need — -after an illness — for quick strength. But it wasa need that went on and on into glowing health because Beloved didn't go anywhere. There didn'tseem anyplace for her to go. She didn't mention one, or have much of an idea of what she wasdoing in that part of the country or where she had been. They believed the fever had caused hermemory to fail just as it kept her slow-moving. A young woman, about nineteen or twenty, andslender, she moved like a heavier one or an older one, holding on to furniture, resting her head inthe palm of her hand as though it was too heavy for a neck alone.
"You just gonna feed her? From now on?" Paul D, feeling ungenerous, and surprised by it, heardthe irritability in his voice.
"Denver likes her. She's no real trouble. I thought we'd wait till herbreath was better. She still sounds a little lumbar to me."
"Something funny 'bout that gal," Paul Dsaid, mostly to himself.

寵兒看看丹芙手裏的甜麪包，丹芙遞了過去。她隨即笑了，丹芙的心也不再狂跳，落了下來———寬慰和輕鬆得如同遊子回了家。
從那一刻起，一直到後來，糖總是能用來滿足她。好像她天生就是爲了甜食活着似的。蜂蜜和蜂蠟都時興起來，還有白糖三明治、罐子裏已經乾硬的糖漿、檸檬汁、膠糖，以及任何一種塞絲從餐館帶回家來的甜點。她把甘蔗嚼成亞麻狀，糖汁吮淨後好長一段時間還把渣子含在嘴裏。丹芙哈哈大笑，塞絲抿嘴微笑，而保羅·D說這讓他難受得直反胃。
塞絲相信這是痊癒時———大病之後———爲了迅速地恢復體力而必需的。然而這個需求一直堅持了下去，儘管後來寵兒健康得紅光滿面，她仍然賴着不走。似乎沒有她去的地方。她沒提起過一個地方，也不大明白她在這裏幹什麼，或者她曾經在哪裏待過。他們認爲那次高燒造成了她的記憶喪失，同樣也造成了她的行動遲緩。一個年紀輕輕的女人，也就十九、二十歲，長得又苗條，可她行動起來卻像個更重、更老的人：扶着傢俱，用手掌託着腦袋休息，好像它對於脖子來說太沉了。
“你就這麼養活着她？從今往後？”保羅·D聽出自己聲音裏的不快，對自己的不夠大度非常吃驚。
“丹芙喜歡她。她並不真添麻煩。我覺得我們應該等她的呼吸更好些再說。我聽着她還有點毛病。”
“那姑娘有點怪。”保羅·D說道，更像是自言自語。