The Story of an Hour
大家都知道马兰德夫人的心脏有毛病，所以在把她丈夫的死讯告诉她时都是小心翼翼的，尽可能地温和委婉。
坏消息是由她姐姐约瑟芬告诉她的，连话都没说成句，只敢遮遮掩掩地向她暗示。她丈夫的朋友理查兹也在场，就在她的身旁。当火车事故的消息传来的时候，理查兹正好在报社里，遇难者名单上布兰特雷·马兰德的名字排在首位。他只等到紧接其后的第二份电报证明了消息的真实性后，就急忙赶在了那些不太心细也不太温柔的朋友之前先把这个不幸的消息带了回来。 她不像许多别的女人那样，只是带着麻木接受的神情听着这个故事，而是立刻疯狂而绝望地扑倒在姐姐的怀里泪如泉涌。当这暴风雨般的悲伤过去后，她独自回到了自己的房间里，不让任何人跟着她。
窗户是开着的，对面放着一把舒服的大扶手椅，她筋疲力尽地沉了进去。这种疲惫不仅折磨着她的身体，似乎也浸入了她的灵魂。
透过窗口，她可以看到屋前广场上的树梢在新春的气息中兴奋地颤抖着。空气中弥漫着芬芳的雨的气息。窗下的街道上，一个小贩正在叫卖他的器皿。远处依稀传来缥缈的歌声，数不清的麻雀也在屋檐下叽叽喳喳地唱个不停。
对着她窗口西边的天空上，云朵层层叠叠地堆积着，间或露出一绺绺蔚蓝的天空。
她把头靠在椅背上，非常地平静。除了偶尔会呜咽一两声，使她有点颤抖，就像小孩子哭着睡着了，但在梦中还会继续呜咽一样。
她还很年青，白皙而安详的脸上的线条，显示着一种压抑甚或说是一种力量。但是现在，她的目光有些阴郁，呆呆地凝望着远处白云间的绺绺蓝天。这并不是匆匆的一瞥，而是一种长久的深思熟虑。
有一种感觉正在向她靠近，那正是她带着恐惧等待的。是什么？她不知道。这种感觉太微妙，太难以捉摸，她说不清楚。但她感觉得到，它正在空中蔓延，穿过弥漫于空气中的声音、气味和颜色慢慢地向她靠近。
现在，她内心骚动不安。她开始认识到那种向她步步进逼并渐渐地控制她的感觉是什么了。她努力地想用自己的意志力把这种感觉打回去——可是她意志就像她那白皙纤弱的双手一样软弱无力。
当她稍稍放松了抵抗的时候，从她微微张开的双唇间喃喃地溢出一个词。她屏住呼吸一遍又一遍地重复着：“自由，自由，自由！”随着那种感觉而来的茫然的目光和恐惧的神色从她的眼里消失了。现在，她的目光透着机敏，炯炯有神。她的心跳加快，沸腾的热血温暖了身体的每一个部位，使她感到身心完全地放松了。
她没有停下来问问自己，是不是有一种邪恶的快感在控制着她。一种清清楚楚的、兴奋的感觉让她根本无暇去顾及那些个琐事。
她知道，当她见到丈夫那双温柔亲切的双手变得僵硬，那张从不会对她吝啬爱意的脸变得毫无表情、灰白如纸的时候，她肯定还会哭的。但在这痛苦之外，她看到了长远的未来，那些只属于她自己的未来岁月。而她张开双臂去迎接那些岁月。
在未来的岁月里，她不再为了别人而活着，而只为她自己。那时，她不必再盲目地屈从于任何专横的意志。人们总是相信他们有权把个人的意志强加于他人。无论其动机是善良的还是残酷的，她突然感到这种做法绝不亚于犯罪。
当然，她是爱过他的——有时候是爱他的。但经常是不爱他的。那又有什么关系呢！有了独立的意志——她突然意识到这是她身上最强烈的一种冲动，爱情这未有答案的神秘事物又算得了什么呢！
“自由了！身心都自由了！”她不住地悄悄低语着。
约瑟芬跪在紧闭的门外，嘴唇对着锁孔，苦苦地哀求着让她进去。“露易丝，开开门！求求你啦，开开门——你这样会得病的。你干什么哪，露易丝？看在上帝的份儿上，开开门吧！” “走开。我不会让自己生病的。”不会的，她正陶醉在窗外那不息的生命里。
她的想象像脱僵的野马一样狂奔着。她想象着未来的日子，春天的日子，夏天的日子，所有将属于她自己的日子。她快速地祈祷着生命能够更加长久，而就在昨天，一想到生命那么漫长她就瑟瑟发抖。
她终于站了起来，在她姐姐的强求下，打开了门。她眼睛里充满了胜利的激情，她的举止不知不觉竟像胜利女神一样。她紧搂着姐姐的腰，一起走下楼去。理查兹正站在下面等着她们。 有人正在用钥匙打开大门。进来的是布兰特雷·马兰德，虽略显旅途劳顿，但泰然自若地提着他的大旅行包和伞。事发当时他离现场很远，甚至根本就不知道发生了车祸。他愣在那儿，对约瑟芬的尖叫感到吃惊，对理查兹快速地把他挡在他妻子的视线外更感到吃惊。
但是理查兹还是太迟了。
医生来后，他们说她是死于心脏病——说她是死于嫉妒高兴。
一小时的故事（1894）
Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death. It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband's friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard's name leading the list of "killed." He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.
She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.
There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.
There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window. She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.
She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought. There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.
Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.
When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.
She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her.
A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial.
She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.
There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.
And yet she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!
"Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering.
Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission. "Louise, open the door! I beg, open the door--you will make yourself ill. What are you doing Louise? For heaven's sake open the door."
"Go away. I am not making myself ill." No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.
Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.
She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. She clasped her sister's waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom.
Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.
But Richards was too late.
When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-- of joy that kills.
---end
出国党们，当你们还在纠结假期做什么，或者给自己定一个什么样的“2017年计划”时，不妨考虑一下读读书吧。为了让大家度过一个充实的假期，傲娇君也是很拼地找来了美国高中各种推荐书目。这些书，大部分都是寓意深刻的小说，对于培养价值观，和最简单的学英语来说，都再合适不过了。哪些还不想颓过假期的同学们，还不快看过来？
美国文学（美国、加拿大）
1. Washington Irving (1783-1859)
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.1819-1820 见闻札记，包括Rip Van Winkle 和 The legend of the Sleepy Hollow睡谷的故事
2. James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)
The Last of the Mohicans 最后的莫西干人
3. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Ligeia The Fall of the House of Usher 鄂谢府的崩溃
Selected Tales 爱伦坡短篇小说选集
4. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
Young Goodman Brown 好青年布朗
The Scarlet Letter红字
The Minister’s Black Veil 教长的黑面纱
5. Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)
Uncle Tom's Cabin 汤姆叔叔的小屋
6. Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 一个美国黑奴的自传
7. Henry David Thoreau(1817-1862)
Walden 瓦尔登湖
8. Herman Melville (1819-1891)
Moby Dick 白鲸 Bartleby the Scrivener 巴托比文书
9. Mark Twain (1835-1910)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 哈克贝利·费恩历险记
10. Henry James (1843-1916)
Daisy Miller 黛西·米勒
The Portrait of a Lady 贵妇画像
The Turn of the Screw 螺丝在拧紧
11. Kate Chopin (1851-1904)
The Story of An Hour The Awakening 觉醒
12. Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909)A White Heron
13. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935)The Yellow Wall Paper
14. Stephen Crane (1871-1900)The Open Boat
15. Sherwood Anderson (1874-1946)Winesburg, Ohio 俄亥俄，温斯堡小镇
16. Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980)“He”
17. Mary Wilkins Freeman (1852-1930)The Revolt of “Mother” Old Woman Magoun
18. Theodore Dreiser （1871-1945）
An American Tragedy 美国悲剧
Sister Carrie 嘉莉妹妹
Jennie Gerhardt 珍妮姑娘
The Financier 金融家
19. Edith Wharton （1862-1937）
The Age of Innocence 纯真年代
The House of Mirth 欢乐之家
20. Jack London (1876-1916)
The Call of the Wild 野性的呼唤
To Build a Fire
21. Willa Cather (1873-1947)
Death Comes for the Archbishop 大主教之死
O! Pioneer 拓荒者
22. Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr. (1878–1968)屠场
23. Sinclair Lewis(1885-1951)巴比特
24. Eugene O'Neill （1888-1953）
Beyond the Horizon 天边外
Long Day's Journey into Night 长夜漫漫
The Emperor Jones 琼斯皇
The Hairy Ape 毛猿
25. F. Scott Fitzgerald （1896-1940）
The Great Gatsby 了不起的盖茨比
Tender is the Night 夜色温柔
Winter Dreams Babylon Revisited and Other Stories The Beautiful and Damned 美丽与毁灭
This Side of Paradise 人间天堂
26. William Faulkner (1897-1962)
A Rose for Emily 给艾米丽的玫瑰
That Evening Sun Barn Burning As I Lay Dying 在我弥留之际
The Sound and the Fury 喧哗与骚动
Light in August 八月之光
27. Ernest Hemmingway (1899-1961)
The Snows of Kilimanjaro 乞力马扎罗的雪
A Farewell to Arms 永别了，武器
The Old Man and the Sea老人与海
Soldier’s Home士兵之家
A Clean Well-Lighted Place 一个干净明亮的地方
The Sun Also Rises太阳照常升起
To Whom the Bell Rang丧钟为谁而鸣
Men without Women没有女人的男人们
A Day's Wait 一天的等待
28. John Steinbeck （1902-1968）
The Grapes of Wrath 愤怒的葡萄
29. Tennessee Williams （1911-1983）
The Glass Menagerie 玻璃动物园
A Streetcar Named Desire 欲望号街车
30. Ralph Ellison （1914-1994）
Invisible Man 隐身人
31. Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964)
A Goodman Is Hard to Find 好人难寻
Good Country People
32. Toni Morrison (1931- )
The Bluest Eye 最蓝的眼睛
Beloved 宠儿
The Song of Solomon所罗门之歌
33. Sylvia Plath (1933- )
The Bell Jar 瓶中美人
34. Joseph Heller（1923-1999）
Catch-22 第22条军规
35. Kurt Vonnegut Jr.（1922-2007）
Slaughterhouse-Five 第五屠宰场
36. William Golding (1911-1993)Lord of the Flies 蝇王
37. Eudora Welty（1909-2001)A Visit of Charity 爱心探望
38. Arthur Miller（1915-2005）
The Crucible 激情年代
Death of a Salesman 推销员之死
39. J.D.Salinger (1919-2010)
The Catcher in the Rye 麦田里的守望者
40. Harper Lee (1926-)
To Kill a Mockingbird 杀死一只知更鸟
41. Thomas Pynchon (1937-)
The Crying of Lot 49 拍卖第49号
The Gravity’s Rainbow 万有引力之虹
42. Donald Barthelme（1931-1989）
Snow White 白雪公主新编
43. Vladimir Nabokov （1899-1977）
Lolita 洛丽塔 Pale Fire 微暗的火
44. Maxine Hong Kingston (1940- )
The Woman Warrior女战士 China man
45. Alice Walker (1944- )
Everyday Use The Color Purple 紫色
46. Amy Tan (1952-)
The Joy Luck Club 喜福会
47. Alice Munro（1931-）
Runaway 逃离
48. Zedie Smith (1975-)
White Teeth 白牙
英国文学（英国、爱尔兰）
1.贝奥武甫 2. <Sir Gawain and the Green Knight>
3. Geoffrey Chaucer 1340(?)~1400坎特伯雷故事集
4. Shakespeare, William （1564~1616）
Hamlet 哈姆雷特
Macbeth 麦克白
A Midsummer Night's Dream 仲夏夜之梦
Romeo and Juliet 罗密欧与朱丽叶
Henry VI ;
Henry IV : Richard III ;
Henry V ；
Richard II；
Henry VIII皆大欢喜;
第十二夜;
暴风雨
5. Jonathan Swift （1667~1745）
Gulliver's Travels 格列佛游记
6. Daniel Defoe （1660~1731）
Robinson Crusoe 鲁宾逊漂流记
7. Henry Fielding（1707~1754）
弃婴汤姆?琼斯约瑟夫?安德鲁大诗人江奈生?威尔德爱米利亚一七三六年历史记事堂吉柯德在英国
8. Jane Austen （1775~1817）
理智与情感傲慢与偏见曼斯菲尔德庄园爱玛诺桑觉寺劝导
9. Walter Scott(1771~1832)
(历史小说之父”)罗伯?罗伊艾凡赫
<Rob Roy> 罗伯?罗伊
<Ivanhoe> 艾凡赫
10. Charles Lamb (1775~1834)
<Tales from the Shakespeare>
<Dream-Children: A Reverie>
<Old China>
11. Mary Shelley （1797-1851）Frankenstein 弗兰肯斯坦12. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865)Mary Barton 玛丽巴顿 North and South 北方与南方 Life of Charlotte Bronte 夏洛蒂勃朗特传13. William Thackeray (1811~1863)名利场14. Charles Dickens (1812~1870)
<The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club>匹克威克外传
<Oliver Twist>雾都孤儿
<The Old Curiosity Shop>老古玩店
<A Christmas Carol>圣诞颂歌
<Dombey and Son>董贝父子
<David Copperfield>大卫?科波菲尔
<Bleak House>荒凉山庄
<Hard Times>艰难时世
<A Tale of Two Cities>双城记
<Great Expectations>远大前程
15. Charlotte Bront? (1816~1855)
Jane Eyre 简·爱
Professor 教师
16. Emily Bront? (1818~1854)
Wuthering Heights 呼啸山庄
17. Anne Bront?(1820-1849)
<Agnes Grey>
<The Tenant of Wildfell Hall>
18. George Eliot (1819~1880)
弗洛斯河上的磨坊
< Adam Bede>亚当?比德
< Silas Marner>织工马南
< Middlemarch>米德尔马契
19. George Meredith (1828-1909)
<The Ordeal of Richard Feverel> 理查德·法夫尔的考验
<The Egoist> 利己主义者
20. Henrik Ibsen （1828-1906）
<A Doll's House> 玩偶之家
21. Thomas Hardy (1840~1928)
<Tess of the d'Urbervilles>苔丝
< Jude The Obscure>无名的裘德
< Far From The Madding Crowd>远离尘嚣
< The Return of the Native>还乡
22. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Treasure Island 金银岛
23. Oscar Wilde (1854~1900)
① 4 Comedies:
<The Importance Of Being Earnest>认真的重要性
<Lady Windermere’s Fan>温德米尔夫人的扇子
<A Woman Of No Importance>一个无足轻重的女人
<An Ideal Husband>理想的丈夫
② Novel:
<The Picture Of Dorian Gray>道林?格雷的画像
③ Fairy Stories:
<The Happy Prince And Other Tales>快乐王子故事集
24. George Bernard Shaw (1856~1950)
<Man And Superman>人与超人 <Pygmalion>皮格玛利翁/卖花女
<The Apple Cart>苹果车
<Saint Joan>圣女贞德
25. Joseph Concrad （1857-1924）
<Lord Jim>吉姆爷
<Heart Of Darkness>黑暗的心
26.Somerset Maugham （1874-1965）
<Of Human Bondage>人性的枷锁
<The Moon and Six Pence> 月亮和六便士
27. Edward Morgan Forster（1879-1970）
印度之行霍华兹别墅
28. James Joyce (1882~1941)
都柏林人
一个青年艺术家的肖像
尤利西斯
芬尼根的苏醒
29. Virgirnia Woolf (1882~1941)
达洛维夫人
墙上的斑点
飞蛾之死
到灯塔去
海浪
d到灯塔去
雅各布的房间
奥兰朵
幕间
30. David Herbert Lawrence 1885~1930
儿子与情人
虹
恋爱中的女人
查特莱夫人的情人
31. Agatha Christie (1890-1976)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 罗杰疑案
Murder on the Orient Express 东方快车谋杀案
The ABC Murders ABC谋杀案
The Labours of Hercules大侦探十二奇案
And Then There Were None 无人生还
Crooked House 怪屋
Endless Night 漫漫长夜
32. George Orwell (1903-1950)
动物庄园
<1984>
33. Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
美丽新世界
34. Flannery O'Connor (1903-1966)
A Good Man Is Hard to Find 好人难寻
An Only Son 独子
35. Samuel Beckett （1906-1989）等待戈多
36. Harold Pinter (1930-2008)沉默的侍者
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