“That ain’t right, Miss Maudie. You’re the best lady I know.”

　　Miss Maudie grinned. “Thank you ma’am. Thing is, foot-washers think women are asin by definition. They take the Bible literally, you know.”

　　“太不合理了，莫迪小姐。您是我认识的最好的妇女。”

　　莫迪小姐露齿一笑。“谢谢你，姑娘。问题是那些礼拜前行洗脚礼的浸礼会教徒认为女人本身就是罪恶。他们按照字面上的意义理解《圣经》，你知道吗?”

　　“Is that why Mr. Arthur stays in the house, to keep away from women?”

　　“I’ve no idea.”

　　“亚瑟就是为这个呆在家里，为了躲开女人吗?”

　　“我不清楚。”

　　“It doesn’t make sense to me. Looks like if Mr. Arthur was hankerin‘ after heaven he’dcome out on the porch at least. Atticus says God’s loving folks like you love yourself-”

　　“我实在想不通。如果亚瑟想进天堂的话，他起码会走到前廊上。阿迪克斯说上帝爱世人，就象你爱你自己一样。”

　　Miss Maudie stopped rocking, and her voice hardened. “You are too young tounderstand it,” she said, “but sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse thana whiskey bottle in the hand of—oh, of your father.”

　　莫迪小姐停止了摇椅子，她的声音变得坚定了：“你太小了，还不懂。但是，有时候，某个人手中的《圣经》比……噢，比你父亲手中的……威士忌洒瓶还要糟糕。

　　I was shocked. “Atticus doesn’t drink whiskey,” I said. “He never drunk a drop in hislife—nome, yes he did. He said he drank some one time and didn’t like it.”

　　我大吃一惊。“阿迪克斯不喝威士忌酒，”我谎，“他一辈子一口酒都没喝过……不，他喝过，他说他喝过一一次，但他并不喜欢。。

　　Miss Maudie laughed. “Wasn’t talking about your father,” she said. “What I meant was,if Atticus Finch drank until he was drunk he wouldn’t be as hard as some men are attheir best. There are just some kind of men who—who’re so busy worrying about thenext world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the streetand see the results.”

　　莫迪小姐大笑起来。“我并没谈论你爸爸，”她说，“我的意思是即使阿迪克斯喝得酩酊大醉，也不会象那些最清醒的人那样凶暴。总有那么些人，他们时刻为来生的事情烦恼，却从没有学习过怎样在这个世界上生活。你可以朝街上看一看，看看结果。”

　　“Do you think they’re true, all those things they say about B—Mr. Arthur?”

　　“What things?”

　　“你认为那些事是真的吗?那些关于布……亚瑟先生的事?”

　　“什么事?”