百年孤独是什么文学的代表作 世纪文学经典:《百年孤独》第16章Part2

世纪文学经典:《百年孤独》第16章Part2  

“Good-bye
Gerineldo
my son
?she shouted. “Say hello to my people and tell them I’ll see them when it stops raining.?
Aureliano Segundo helped her back to bed and with the same informality with which he always treated her
he asked her the meaning of her farewell.
“It’s true
?she said. “I’m only waiting for the rain to stop in order to die.?
The condition of the streets alarmed Aureliano Segundo. He finally became worried about the state of his animals and he threw an oilcloth over his head and sent to Petra Cotes’s house. He found her in the courtyard
in the water up to her waist
trying to float the corpse of a horse. Aureliano Segundo helped her with a lever
and the enormous swollen body gave a turn like a bell and was dragged away by the torrent of liquid mud. Since the rain began
all that Petra Cotes had done was to clear her courtyard of dead animals. During the first weeks she sent messages to Aureliano Segundo for him to take urgent measures and he had answered that there was no rush
that the situation was not alarming
that there would be plenty of time to think about something when it cleared. She sent him word that the horse pastures were being flooded
that the cattle were fleeing to high ground
where there was nothing to eat and where they were at the mercy of jaguars and sickness. “There’s nothing to be done
?Aureliano Segundo answered her. “Others will be born when it clears.?Petra Cates had seen them die in dusters and the was able to butcher only those stuck in the mud. She saw with quiet impotence how the deluge was pitilessly exterminating a fortune that at one time was considered the largest and most solid in Macondo
and of which nothing remained but pestilence. When Aureliano Segundo decided to go see what was going on
he found only the corpse of the horse and a squalid mule in the ruins of the stable. Petra Cotes watched him arrive without surprise
joy
or resentment
and she only allowed herself an ironic smile.
“It’s about time!?she said.
“That’s not true
?Aureliano Segundo interrupted her. “He was already beginning to smell when they brought him here.?
He had the patience to listen to her for a whole day until he caught her in a slip. Fernanda did not pay him any mind
but she lowered her voice. That night at dinner the exasperating buzzing of the singsong had conquered the sound of the rain. Aureliano
Segundo ate very little
with his head down
and he went to his room early. At breakfast on the following day Fernanda was trembling
with a look of not having slept well
and she seemed pletely exhausted by her rancor. Nevertheless
when her husband asked if it was not possible to have a soft-boiled egg
she did not answer simply that they had run out of eggs the week before
but she worked up a violent diatribe against men who spent their time contemplating their navels and then had the gall to ask for larks?livers at the table. Aureliano Segundo took the children to look at the encyclopedia
as always
and Fernanda pretended to straighten out Meme’s room just so that he could listen to her muttering
of course
that it certainly took cheek for him totell the poor innocents that there was a picture of Colonel Aureliano Buendía in the encyclopedia. During the afternoon
while the children were having their nap
Aureliano Segundo sat on the porch and Fernanda pursued him even there
provoking him
tormenting him
hovering about him with her implacable horsefly buzzing
saying that
of course
while there was nothing to eat except stones
her husband was sitting there like a sultan of Persia
watching it rain
because that was all he was
a slob
a sponge
a good-for-nothing
softer than cotton batting
used to living off women and convinced that he had married Jonah’s wife
who was so content with the story of the whale. Aureliano Segundo listened to her for more than o hours
impassive
as if he were deaf. He did not interrupt her until late in the afternoon
when he could no longer bear the echo of the bass drum that was tormenting his head.
“Please shut up
?he begged.