Reading 读书

For days，Tate didn't return for the reading lessons. Before the feather game，loneliness had become a natural appendage to Kya，like an arm. Now it grew roots inside her and pressed against her chest.

好几天过去了，泰特没有回来给基娅上课。在羽毛游戏之前，孤独已成为她的一部分，就像胳膊。现在，孤独扎根到她心里，压迫着她的胸膛。

Late one afternoon，badword是什么意思，she struck out in her boat. “I cain&39;round waitin'.”，

某个下午稍晚些的时候，她开船出去了。“我不能就坐着等。”

Instead of docking at Jumpin&39;d be seen，she stashed her rig in a small cove just south and，carrying a croker sack，walked down the shaded path toward Colored Town. A soft rain had fallen most of the day，and now as the sun neared the horizon，the forest formed its own fog that drifted through succulent glades. She&39; and Mabel's place once she got there.

她没有停靠在老跳那儿——不想被看到。她把船藏到南边的一个小湾里，带上麻袋，沿着荫蔽的小路走向黑人小镇。那天大部分时间都下着小雨，此时太阳接近地平线，林子里升起了雾气，飘过湿漉漉的空地。她从没去过黑人小镇，但知道它在哪里，想着到了那儿就能找到老跳和玛贝尔的家。

She wore jeans and a pink blouse from Mabel. In the croker sack were two pint jars of real runny blackberry jam she&39; and Mabel&39; wasn't home yet，maybe she could sit down with Mabel and visit a spell.

她穿着牛仔裤和粉色衬衫，都是玛贝尔给的。麻袋里装着两品脱自制罐装稀黑莓果酱，用来回报老跳和玛贝尔的好意。与人相处的需求，以及和一个女性朋友交谈的机会，驱使着她去找他们。如果老跳还没回家，或许她可以和玛贝尔坐下来聊一会儿。

Then，nearing a bend in the road，Kya heard voices coming toward her. She stopped，listened carefully. Quickly she stepped off the path into the woods and hid behind a myrtle thicket. A minute later，two white boys，dressed in raggedy bib overalls，came around the bend，toting fishing tackle and a string of catfish long as her arm. She froze behind the thicket and waited.

在路的一个转角附近，基娅听到有人正走过来。她停下来仔细听，然后迅速离开小路躲进林子里，藏到桃金娘灌木丛后面。一分钟后，两个白人男孩，穿着破破烂烂的工装裤，出现在转角处，手里提着渔具和一条有她胳膊那么长的鲇鱼。她僵在灌木丛后面，等待着。

One of the boys pointed down the lane. “Lookee up thar.”

一个男孩指着小径：“看那儿。”

你好 say a bad word about sb 说某人的坏话 例句："No one has a bad word to say about the guy," says a recent Dell hire."In fact, they think he's just a regular guy who has built a great 。

“Ain&39; to Nigger Town.” Kya looked down the path，and there，walking home for the evening，was Jumpin'. Quite close，he had surely heard the boys，but he simply dropped his head，stepped into the woods to give them a berth，and moved on.

“我们运气不错，有个黑鬼正要去黑鬼镇呢。”基娅看向小路，老跳正走过来，准备回家过夜。离得那么近，他肯定听到了那些男孩的话，但他低下头，走进林子给他们让路，然后接着往前走。

What&39;im，why don&39;m? Kya raged to herself. She knew nigger was a real bad word—she knew by the way Pa had used it like a cussword. Jumpin&39; heads together，taught them a lesson. But he walked on fast.

他怎么回事？为什么不做点什么？基娅非常生气。她知道黑鬼是个很过分的词——爸爸每次都用它来咒骂。老跳本可以拎起这些男孩，把他们的脑袋撞到一块，给他们点颜色看看。但他快步走开了。

“Jest an ol&39; to town. Watch out，nigger-boy，don&39;，who kept his eyes on his toes. One of the boys reached down，picked up a stone，and slung it at Jumpin's back. It hit just under his shoulder blade with a thud. He lurched over a bit，kept walking. The boys laughed as he disappeared around the bend，then they picked up more rocks and followed him.

“一个老黑鬼走去镇上。小心啊，黑鬼，别摔着了。”他们嘲弄老跳，而他只是低着头看自己的脚趾。一个男孩弯腰捡起一块石头，扔向老跳的后背。石头砰的一声砸中了老跳的肩胛骨下方，他踉跄了一下，继续向前走。看着老跳消失在转角处，男孩们哈哈大笑，捡起更多石头跟上。

Kya stalked through brush until she was ahead of them，her eyes glued on their caps bobbing above the branches. She crouched at a spot where thick bushes grew next to the lane，where in seconds they would pass within a foot of her. Jumpin' was up ahead，out of sight. She twisted the cloth bag with the jam so that it was wrung tight and knotted against the jars. As the boys drew even with the thicket，she swung the heavy bag and whacked the closest one hard across the back of his head. He pitched forward and fell on his face. Hollering and screeching，she rushed the other boy，ready to bash his head too，but he took off. She slipped about fifty yards into the trees and watched until the first boy stood，holding his head and cussing.

基娅在灌木丛里追他们，超过他们之后，紧盯着在灌木顶上跳动的帽子。有一丛厚实的灌木紧贴着小径，她埋伏下来，几秒之内他们就会经过这里，离她只有不到一英尺的距离。老跳在前面，已经看不见了。她把装果酱的口袋拧紧，包住果酱瓶。当男孩们来到跟前时，她抡起沉重的袋子，用力甩向最近的那个男孩的后脑勺。他向前扑倒，摔了个狗吃屎。基娅尖叫着，冲向另一个男孩，准备也给他的脑袋狠狠地来一下，但他逃跑了。她跑了大概五十码，进到树林里，看到第一个男孩站了起来，正扶着头骂骂咧咧。

Toting the bag of jam jars，she turned back toward her boat and motored home. Thought she&39; again.

她提着果酱走回小船，开船回家。她想，她可能再也不会去拜访他们了。

THE NEXT DAY，when the sound of Tate's motor chugged through the channel，Kya ran to the lagoon and stood in the bushes，watching him step out of his boat，holding a rucksack. Looking around，he called out to her，and she stepped slowly forward dressed in jeans that fit and a white blouse with mismatched buttons.

隔天，发动机的轧轧声从水道传来，基娅跑到潟湖边，站在灌木丛中，看着泰特走下船，手里拿着一个帆布包。他环顾四周，大声喊她，她慢慢走过去，穿着合身的牛仔裤和系错扣子的白衬衫。

“Hey，Kya. Sorry I couldn&39;ll get you reading in no time.”

“你好，基娅。对不起，我没法早点过来，我得帮我爸爸干活。不过我们很快就会让你学会阅读的。”

“Hey，Tate.”

“你好，泰特。”

“Let's sit here.” He pointed to an oak knee in deep shade of the lagoon. From the rucksack he pulled out a thin，faded book of the alphabet and a lined writing pad. With a careful slow hand，he formed the letters between the lines，a A，b B，asking her to do the same，patient with her tongue-between-lips effort. As she wrote，he said the letters out loud. Softly，slowly.

“咱们坐这儿吧。”他指着潟湖阴影深处的一处橡树根膝说。他从背包里拿出一本薄薄的、褪色的字母书和一本画线写字本。他小心地、慢慢地在线之间写下字母aA、bB，让基娅学着写，并在一旁耐心地纠正她发音时舌头的位置。她写的时候，他大声读出相应的字母。语调轻柔而缓慢。

She remembered some of the letters from Jodie and Ma but didn't know much at all about putting them into proper words.

她从乔迪和妈妈那里学到了一些字母，但完全不知道怎么把它们组成单词。

After only minutes，he said，“See，you can already write a word.”

几分钟后，他说：“看，你已经能写出一个单词了。”

“What d'ya mean?”

“什么意思？”

“C-a-b. You can write the word cab.”

“c-a-b。你现在可以写cab。”

“What's cab?” she asked. He knew not to laugh.

“什么是cab？”她问。他知道不能笑。

“Don&39;t know it. Let&39;ll write a word you know.”

“不知道也不用担心。让我们接着学，很快你就能写出一个你知道的单词了。”

是哪个网站系统？ps. 这种功能就是在阻碍人类文明进步！

Later he said，“You&39;ll take a little while to get it，but you can already read a bit. I&39;t have a grammar reader，so her first book was his dad&39;s ASand County Almanac. He pointed to the opening sentence and asked her to read it back to him. The first word was There and she had to go back to the alphabet and practice the sound of each letter，but he was patient，explaining the special sound of th，and when she finally said it，she threw her arms up and laughed. Beaming，he watched her.

后来他说：“你还需要下很多功夫学字母。记字母会花一点时间，但你已经能读一点了。咱们来看看。”他没有语法书，所以基娅的第一本书是他爸爸的《沙乡年鉴》，作者是奥尔多·利奥波德。他指着开篇第一句，让她念给他听。第一个单词是there，她不得不回看字母表，练习每一个字母的发音。但泰特很耐心，解释了th的特殊发音。基娅终于念出了这个单词，高兴得挥舞手臂，哈哈大笑。泰特微笑着看她。

不客气(informal)的场合可用Bad-mouth She bad-mouths her husband everywhere 她到处说她丈夫的坏话 楼上(下)的speak ill of..亦可，是较客气的说法 I refuse to speak ill of any of my friends. 我拒绝说我任何朋。

Slowly，she unraveled each word of the sentence: “‘There are some who can live without wild things，and some who cannot.’”

慢慢地，她解密了这句话的每一个单词：“There are some who can live without wild things，and some who cannot.（有些人可以远离荒野生活，而有些人不能。）”

“Oh，” she said. “Oh.”

“啊，”她说，“啊。”

“You can read，Kya. There will never be a time again when you can't read.”

“你会阅读啦，基娅，以后你再也不是文盲了。”

“It ain&39;t aware that words could hold so much. I didn't know a sentence could be so full.”

“不只这样，”她几乎是在耳语，“我不知道文字可以包含这么多。我不知道一个句子可以这么丰富。”

他笑了：“这是一个很好的句子。不是所有文字都包含这么多。”

OVER THE COMING DAYS，sitting on the oak knee in shade or the shore in sun，Tate taught her how to read the words，which sang of the geese and cranes，real all around them. “What if there be no more goose music?”

接下来几天，坐在阴凉的橡树下或是阳光下的海边，泰特教她读书上的文字，那些赞美鹅和鹤的文字，而他们四周正围着真正的鹅和鹤。“如果再也没有鹅叫了，会怎么样？”

In between helping his dad or pitching baseball with his friends，he came to Kya's place several times a week and，now，no matter what she was doing—weeding the garden，feeding the chickens，searching for shells—she listened for the sound of his boat humming up the channel.

趁帮爸爸干活和打棒球的间隙，他一周会来基娅这儿几次。现在，无论她在做什么——给园子除草，喂鸡，找贝壳——都会留神听泰特的船开上水道的声音。

On the beach one day，reading about what chickadees eat for lunch，she asked him，“You live with yo' family in Barkley Cove?”

有一天，在沙滩上，读着山雀午餐吃什么，她问：“你和家人一起住在巴克利小湾镇吗？”

“I live with my dad. Yes，in Barkley.”

“我和爸爸一起住。对，在巴克利。”

看语境，你给出的几个句子仔细体会就可以了。

Kya didn&39;t do it. Instead she memorized the bluish veins on the inside of his wrist，as intricate as those sketched on the wings of wasps.

基娅没有问他是不是以前有更多家人，但现在都走了。他的妈妈肯定也离开了他。她想触碰他的手，一种奇怪的渴望，但手指做不到。不过，她记住了他手腕内侧淡蓝色的血管，复杂如黄蜂翅膀上的纹路。

AT NIGHT，sitting at the kitchen table，she went over the lessons by kerosene lamp，its soft light seeping through the shack windows and touching the lower branches of the oaks. The only light for miles and miles of blackness except for the soft glow of fireflies.

晚上，她坐在餐桌旁，就着煤油灯复习学过的东西，柔和的灯光透过窗户落在橡树较低的枝丫上。这是数英里黑暗之中除了萤火虫之外唯一的光亮。

Carefully，she wrote and said each word over and over. Tate said long words were simply little ones strung together—so she wasn&39;d ever had. But she couldn&39; white trash like her，why he&39;t ask，afraid it might get him thinking on it，send him away.

她仔细地、一遍遍地读写每个单词。泰特说，长单词就是短单词串在一起，所以她并不怕长单词，直接一起学sat（坐）和pleistocene（更新世）。学习阅读是她做过的最有意思的事情。但她不明白泰特为什么要教她这样的穷白垃圾，为什么他最初会来呢，还带着精美的羽毛。但她没有问，她担心自己的问题会引发他的思考，把他赶走。

Now at last Kya could label all her precious specimens. She took each feather，insect，shell，or flower，looked up how to spell the name in Ma's books，and wrote it carefully on her brown-paper-bag painting.

终于，基娅可以标记她所有珍贵的标本了。她在妈妈的书里查阅怎么拼写那些羽毛、昆虫、贝壳和花朵的名字，然后小心翼翼地写到她画在棕色纸袋上的画旁边。

“WHAT COMES AFTER TWENTY-NINE?”

she asked Tate one day.“二十九之后怎么数？”有一天她问泰特。

He looked at her. She knew more about tides and snow geese，eagles and stars than most ever would，yet she couldn&39;t want to shame her，so didn't show surprise. She was awfully good at reading eyes.

他看着她。她了解潮汐、雪雁、鹰、星星，比大多数人这辈子所能了解的还要多，却数不到三十。他不想让她感到羞耻，所以没有流露出吃惊的神情。她太擅长读眼神了。

“Thirty，” he said simply. “Here，I&39;ll do some basic arithmetic. It&39;ll bring you some books about it.”

“三十，”他简单地说，“我来教你这些数字，然后做一些基本的算术。很简单的。我之后给你带些书来。”

She went around reading everything—the directions on the grits bag，Tate's notes，and the stories from her fairy-tale books she had pretended to read for years. Then one night she made a little oh sound，and took the old Bible from the shelf. Sitting at the table，she turned the thin pages carefully to the one with the family names. She found her own at the very bottom. There it was，her birthday: Miss Catherine Danielle Clark，October 10，1945. Then，going back up the list，she read the real names of her brothers and sisters:

她四处找东西来读——粗玉米粉袋子上的说明、泰特留的字条，还有她一直拿来装模作样看的童话书。一天晚上，她“哦”了一声，从书架上拿下那本旧《圣经》。她坐在桌旁，小心翼翼地把薄薄的书页翻到写着家人名字的那页，在最底下找到了自己的名字。就在那儿，她的生日：凯瑟琳·丹妮尔·克拉克小姐，一九四五年十月十日。沿着名单往上看，她看到了哥哥姐姐们真正的名字：

Master Jeremy Andrew Clark，January 2，1939. “Jeremy，” she said out loud. “Jodie，I sure never thought a' you as Master Jeremy.”

杰里米·安德鲁·克拉克少爷，一九三九年一月二日。“杰里米，”她大声说道，“乔迪，我从没想过你是杰里米少爷。”

Miss Amanda Margaret Clark，May 17，1937. Kya touched the name with her fingers. Repeated it several times.

阿曼达·玛格丽特·克拉克小姐，一九三七年五月十七日。基娅用手指触碰那个名字，重复了好几次。

She read on. Master Napier Murphy Clark，April 4，1936. Kya spoke softly，“Murph，ya name was Napier.”

她继续往下看。内皮尔·墨菲·克拉克少爷，一九三六年四月四日。基娅轻柔地说：“默夫，你的名字是内皮尔。”

At the top，the oldest，Miss Mary Helen Clark，September 19，1934. She rubbed her fingers over the names again，which brought faces before her eyes. They blurred，but she could see them all squeezed around the table eating stew，passing cornbread，even laughing some. She was ashamed that she had forgotten their names，but now that she'd found them，she would never let them go again.

名单最顶上是年纪最大的孩子，玛丽·海伦·克拉克，一九三四年九月十九日。她的手指又一次摩挲着这些名字，眼前浮现出他们已变得模糊的面容，但她能看见大家一起挤在桌旁喝炖汤、递玉米面包甚至大笑的情形。她很羞愧忘了他们的名字，但现在，她找回来了，永不再忘。

Above the list of children she read: Mister Jackson Henry Clark married Miss Julienne Maria Jacques，June 12，1933. Not until that moment had she known her parents' proper names.

在孩子的名单上方，她读到：杰克逊·亨利·克拉克娶朱丽安娜·玛丽亚·雅克为妻，一九三三年六月十二日。直到这一刻，她才知道爸爸妈妈的全名是什么。

She sat there for a few minutes with the Bible open on the table. Her family before her.

她坐了几分钟，《圣经》摊在桌上。她的家人就在眼前。

Time ensures children never know their parents young. Kya would never see the handsome Jake swagger into an Asheville soda fountain in early 1930，where he spotted Maria Jacques，a beauty with black curls and red lips，visiting from New Orleans. Over a milkshake he told her his family owned a plantation and that after high school he'd study to be a lawyer and live in a columned mansion.

时间让孩子永远无法认识年轻时的父母。基娅永远看不见，一九三〇年，英俊的杰克招摇地走进阿什维尔一家冷饮店，看到了来自新奥尔良的玛丽亚·雅克，一位鬈发黑亮、双唇红润的美人。他喝着奶昔告诉她，他们家拥有一座种植园，而他高中毕业后将学习法律，成为一名律师，住在有立柱的宅邸里。

But when the Depression deepened，the bank auctioned the land out from under the Clarks' feet，and his father took Jake from school. They moved down the road to a small pine cabin that once，not so long ago really，had been occupied by slaves. Jake worked the tobacco fields，stacking leaves with black men and women，babies strapped on their backs with colorful shawls.

One night two years later，without saying good-bye，Jake left before dawn，taking with him as many fine clothes and family treasures—including his great-grandfather&39;s diamond ring—as he could carry. He hitchhiked to New Orleans and found Maria living with her family in an elegant home near the waterfront. They were descendants of a French merchant，owners of a shoe factory.

两年后的一个晚上，没有道别，杰克在天亮前离开，尽可能多地带走了高档衣物和家族财宝——包括他曾爷爷的金怀表和奶奶的钻石戒指。他搭车去了新奥尔良，发现玛丽亚和家人一起住在海滨一座考究的房子里。他们是一位法国商人的后裔，拥有一家鞋厂。

Jake pawned the heirlooms and entertained her in fine restaurants hung with red velvet curtains，telling her that he would buy her that columned mansion. As he knelt under a magnolia tree，she agreed to marry him，and they wed in 1933 in a small church ceremony，her family standing silent.

杰克典当了传家宝，用换来的钱请玛丽亚去挂着红色天鹅绒窗帘的高级饭店吃饭，说会为她买下一栋带立柱的宅邸。当他在一棵木兰树下单膝跪地，她同意了他的求婚。一九三三年，他们举行了一场小型教堂婚礼，婚礼上，她的家人沉默不语。

By now，the money was gone，so he accepted a job from his father-in-law in the shoe factory. Jake assumed he would be made manager，but Mr. Jacques，a man not easily taken in，insisted Jake learn the business from the bottom up like any other employee. So Jake labored at cutting out soles.

至此，杰克的钱已经花完了，他接受了岳父鞋厂的一份工作。他认为自己会被任命为经理，但雅克先生，一个不容易被骗的人，坚持让杰克从底层学起，和其他员工一样。所以，杰克开始干切割鞋底的活儿。

He and Maria lived in a small garage apartment furnished with a few grand pieces from her dowry mixed with flea-market tables and chairs. He enrolled in night classes to finish high school but usually skipped out to play poker and，stinking of whiskey，came home late to his new wife. After only three weeks，the teacher dropped him from the classes.

他和玛丽亚住在一套车库改的小公寓里，屋里摆了几件她嫁过来时带的高档家具，还有在跳蚤市场买的桌椅。他报名读夜校，好完成高中课程，但常常逃课打牌，喝得醉醺醺的，半夜才回家陪新婚妻子。仅仅三周后，老师就把他除名了。

Maria begged him to stop drinking，to show enthusiasm for his job so that her father would promote him. But the babies started coming and the drinking never stopped. Between 1934 and 1940 they had four children，and Jake was promoted only once.

玛丽亚求他别再喝酒了，对工作多点热情，这样她父亲就可以提拔他。但是，孩子接二连三地来了，酗酒却不曾停止。一九三四年到一九四〇年之间，他们生了四个孩子，而杰克只被提拔了一次。

The war with Germany was an equalizer. Boiled down to the same uniform-hue as everyone else，he could hide his shame，once again play proud. But one night，sitting in a muddy foxhole in France，someone shouted that their sergeant was shot and sprawled bleeding twenty yards away. Mere boys，they should have been sitting in a dugout waiting to bat，nervous about some fastball. Still，they jumped at once，scrambling to save the wounded man—all but one.

Jake hunched in a corner，too scared to move，but a mortar exploded yellow-white just beyond the hole，shattering the bones of his left leg into fragments. When the soldiers tumbled back into the trench，dragging the sergeant，they assumed Jake had been hit while helping the others rescue their comrade. He was declared a hero. No one would ever know. Except Jake.

杰克缩在角落里，吓得动不了，但一颗迫击炮弹恰好在洞外爆炸了，冒出黄白的烟，击碎了他的左腿骨。当战友们拖着中士爬回战壕，他们以为杰克在协助营救战友时受伤了。他被宣布为英雄。永远不会有人知道真相，除了他自己。

With a medal and a medical discharge，he was sent home. Determined not to work again in the shoe factory，Jake stayed only a few nights in New Orleans. With Maria standing by silently，he sold all her fine furniture and silver，then packed his family onto the train and moved them to North Carolina. He discovered from an old friend that his mother and father had died，clearing the way for his plan.

他戴着奖章因伤退伍，被送回了家。杰克决定不再去鞋厂工作，只在新奥尔良待了几个晚上。玛丽亚沉默地站在一边，看着杰克卖了她所有的高档家具和银饰，然后把家人打包塞上火车，搬到了北卡罗来纳州。他从一个老朋友那里打听到他的父母都死了，这为他的计划扫清了道路。

He'd convinced Maria that living in a cabin his father had built as a fishing retreat on the coast of North Carolina would be a new start. There would be no rent and Jake could finish high school. He bought a small fishing boat in Barkley Cove and motored through miles of marsh waterways with his family and all their possessions piled around them—a few fine hatboxes perched on top. When they finally broke into the lagoon，where the ratty shack with rusted-out screens hunkered under the oaks，Maria clutched her youngest child，Jodie，fighting tears.

他说服玛丽亚，说住在他爸爸建的用来钓鱼度假的北卡罗来纳海滨小屋将会是一个全新的开始。不用交房租，他也可以读完高中。他在巴克利小湾镇买了一条小捕鱼船，驾船在湿地水路上开了几英里，家人们坐在船上，所有家当都堆在周围——几个高级帽盒放在最顶上。当他们终于驶进潟湖，看到的却是橡树底下一个破破烂烂的棚屋，装着锈透了的纱门。玛丽亚紧紧地抓着她最小的孩子乔迪，忍住没有落泪。

Pa assured her，“Don&39;ll get this fixed up in no time.”

爸爸向她保证：“什么都不用担心。我很快就会把这里弄好。”

你打错了不 没有

But Jake never improved the shack or finished high school. Soon after they arrived，he took up drinking and poker at the Swamp Guinea，trying to leave that foxhole in a shot glass.

但是，杰克从来没有修缮过棚屋，也没有读完高中。到了这里不久，他便开始去沼泽几内亚打牌喝酒，试图把散兵坑的耻辱淹没在酒杯里。

Maria did what she could to make a home. She bought sheets from rummage sales for the floor mattresses and a stand-alone tin bathtub; she washed the laundry under the yard spigot，and figured out on her own how to plant a garden，how to keep chickens.

玛丽亚尽力布置这个家。她在清仓特卖时为放在地板上的床垫买了床单，还买了独立的浴缸。她在院子里的水龙头下面洗衣服，还独自弄明白了怎么种菜，怎么养鸡。

Soon after they arrived，dressed in their best，she hiked the children to Barkley Cove to register them in school. Jake，however，scoffed at the notion of education，and more days than not，told Murph and Jodie to skip school and bring in squirrels or fish for supper.

到这里后不久，她给孩子们穿上最好的衣服，带他们去巴克利小湾镇注册入学。然而，杰克提到教育就嗤之以鼻，还常常让默夫和乔迪翘课去抓松鼠或者钓鱼当晚餐。

Jake took Maria for only one moonlit boat ride，the result of which was their last child，a daughter named Catherine Danielle; later nicknamed Kya because，when first asked，that's what she said her name was.

只有一次，杰克带玛丽亚月夜泛舟，结果是他们的最后一个孩子出生了，一个名叫凯瑟琳·丹妮尔的女儿，后来昵称为基娅，因为这孩子第一次被问叫什么的时候，她说出了“基娅”。

也不是什么坏的 就是说嘛出现问题了 需要感叹一下，就像god help me

Now and then，when sober，Jake dreamed again of completing school，making a better life for them all，but the shadow of the foxhole would move across his mind. Once sure and cocky，handsome and fit，he could no longer wear the man he had become and he'd take a swig from his poke. Blending in with the fighting，drinking，cussing renegades of the marsh was the easiest thing Jake ever did.

有时，头脑清醒的时候，杰克会梦想着完成学业，给家人提供更好的生活，但散兵坑的阴影在他心头挥之不去。他曾经自信骄傲、英俊强健，然而再也回不去了，只有借酒消愁。加入湿地逃亡者之列，斗殴、酗酒、谩骂，这是杰克干过的最简单的事情。