To Kill a Mockingbird 杀死一只知更鸟 Chapter 11

When we were small, Jem and I confined our activities to the southern neighborhood,but when I was well into the second grade at school and tormenting ¹ Boo Radley becamepasse, the business section of Maycomb drew us frequently up the street past the realproperty of Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose. It was impossible to go to town withoutpassing her house unless we wished to walk a mile out of the way. Previous minorencounters with her left me with no desire for more, but Jem said I had to grow up sometime., ,Mrs. Dubose lived alone except for a Negro girl in constant attendance, two doors upthe street from us in a house with steep front steps and a dog-trot hall. She was veryold; she spent most of each day in bed and the rest of it in a wheelchair. It was rumoredthat she kept a CSA pistol concealed ² among her numerous shawls and wraps., ,Jem and I hated her. If she was on the porch when we passed, we would be raked byher wrathful gaze, subjected to ruthless interrogation regarding our behavior, and givena melancholy ³ prediction on what we would amount to when we grew up, which wasalways nothing. We had long ago given up the idea of walking past her house on theopposite side of the street; that only made her raise her voice and let the wholeneighborhood in on it., , ,I would receive for an answer, "Don't you say hey to me, you ugly girl! You say goodafternoon, Mrs. Dubose!", ,She was vicious. Once she heard Jem refer to our father as "Atticus" and her reactionwas apoplectic ⁴. Besides being the sassiest, most disrespectful mutts who ever passedher way, we were told that it was quite a pity our father had not remarried after ourmother's death. A lovelier lady than our mother never lived, she said, and it washeartbreaking the way Atticus Finch ⁵ let her children run wild. I did not remember ourmother, but Jem did -- he would tell me about her sometimes -- and he went livid whenMrs. Dubose shot us this message., ,The children were scolded for tormenting animals. 孩子们因折磨动物而受到责骂。,The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面 。