The Radley Place jutted into a sharp curve beyond our house. Walking south, one faced its porch; the sidewalk turned and ran beside the lot. The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it. Rain-rotted shingles drooped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard - a “swept” yard that was never swept - where Johnson grass and rabbit-tobacco grew in abundance.

我家旁边是个急拐弯，拉德利家的房子就插在这个拐弯里。朝南走，你正好面对他家的走廊，人行道沿着他家的地界转了个弯。房子不高，很久以前，墙壁是白颜色，有纵深的前廊和绿色的百叶窗。不过，现在墙壁的颜色早已黯淡成和院子里的石板地一样的蓝灰色了。由于长期的风吹雨打，屋顶板在前廊的屋檐上耷拉着，几棵橡树遮住了阳光。一根木桩的残余部分没精打采地守卫着前院——一个从没有人打扫过的“打扫干净”的院子里面长满了石茅和鼠麴草。

Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work.

房子里住着个阴险恶毒的幽灵似的人物。人们说他活着，可我和杰姆从没见过他。人们还说月亮西沉后，他就会出来，在别人的窗子外向室内窥视。如果一次寒潮后杜鹃花冻死了，那一定是沾染了他呼出的毒气。梅科姆镇上的任何小偷小摸事件都被人认为是他干的。

Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated; although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their initial suspicions. A Negro would not pass the Radley Place at night, he would cut across to the sidewalk opposite and whistle as he walked. The Maycomb school grounds adjoined the back of the Radley lot; from the Radley chicken yard tall pecan trees shook their fruit into the schoolyard, but the nuts lay untouched by the children: Radley pecans would kill you. A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a lost ball and no questions asked.

有一向这个镇上夜间接二连三地出事，搅得全镇鸡犬不宁：人们喂养韵家禽和其他家畜常常被人弄得缺肢断腿。尽管后来发现罪犯是神经失常的艾第——这个人最后跳进巴克·埃迪河湾中淹死了，可是人们的眼睛还是老瞅着拉德利的房子，不愿放弃最初的怀疑。在黑夜，连黑人都不愿从拉德利家的房前经过，他们常常绕到对面的人行道上，一边走一边吹口哨壮鹏。梅科姆学校的球场与拉德利家的地界毗邻。拉德利家有个养鸡的院子，院子里高大的核桃树上的核桃常常掉进学校校园里，但这些核桃总在那儿，没有哪个孩子会去碰一碰：拉德利家的核桃会要你的命。棒球掉进他家的院子就等于丢失了，没有谁敢去问。

The misery of that house began many years before Jem and I were born. The Radleys, welcome anywhere in town, kept to themselves, a predilection unforgivable in Maycomb. They did not go to church, Maycomb’s principal recreation, but worshiped at home; Mrs. Radley seldom if ever crossed the street for a mid-morning coffee break with her neighbors, and certainly never joined a missionary circle. Mr. Radley walked to town at eleven-thirty every morning and came back promptly at twelve, sometimes carrying a brown paper bag that the neighborhood assumed contained the family groceries. I never knew how old Mr. Radley made his living - Jem said he “bought cotton”, a polite term for doing nothing - but Mr. Radley and his wife had lived there with their two sons as long as anybody could remember.

这所房子的不幸在我和杰姆出世以前就开始了。其实，那时在整个镇上，拉德利家的人不管到哪儿都会受欢迎。但他们从不与外界接触，这在梅科姆镇的人看来是一种不可原谅的怪癖。镇上的主要消遣活动是上教堂做礼拜，可是他们不去，只在家里做礼拜。拉德利太太难得在上午十时左右横过马路到对面的邻居家里和大家一道喝喝咖啡，休息休息，当然也从不参加任何宗教团体。拉德利先生每天上午十一点三十分步行到镇上去，十二点又很快回来。有时拿回一个棕色的纸袋，邻居们揣测里边一定装着这家人吃的和用的东西。我从不知道老拉德利先生靠什么谋生——杰姆说他“买棉花”，这是无所事事的委婉语。可是，就人们的记忆所及，拉德利先生和他的妻子带着两个儿子一直住在那儿。

The shutters and doors of the Radley house were closed on Sundays, another thing alien to Maycomb’s ways: closed doors meant illness and cold weather only. Of all days Sunday was the day for formal afternoon visiting: ladies wore corsets, men wore coats, children wore shoes. But to climb the Radley front steps and call, “He-y,” of a Sunday afternoon was something their neighbors never did. The Radley house had no screen doors. I once asked Atticus if it ever had any; Atticus said yes, but before I was born.

另一件与梅科姆镇的习惯格格不入的事情是，拉德利家的门和百叶窗在星期日总是关着的。在这个镇上，一般人只在家里有病人或者寒冷的冬天才把门窗关上。每周的七天里，这里的人总是在星期日下午进行正式的相互拜访：妇女穿上紧身胸衣，男人穿上外农，孩子们穿上鞋子。但是要在星期日下午爬上拉德利家的台阶叫一声“你好”，这却是左右邻居们从没做过的。他家没有纱门。有一次我问阿迪克斯他们以前是不是有过纱门，阿迪克斯说有过，不过是在我出生以前。

According to neighborhood legend, when the younger Radley boy was in his teens he became acquainted with some of the Cunninghams from Old Sarum, an enormous and confusing tribe domiciled in the northern part of the county, and they formed the nearest thing to a gang ever seen in Maycomb. They did little, but enough to be discussed by the town and publicly warned from three pulpits: they hung around the barbershop; they rode the bus to Abbottsville on Sundays and went to the picture show; they attended dances at the county’s riverside gambling hell, the Dew-Drop Inn & Fishing Camp; they experimented with stumphole whiskey. Nobody in Maycomb had nerve enough to tell Mr. Radley that his boy was in with the wrong crowd.

根据街坊中流传的说法，拉德利的小儿子十多岁的时候曾跟由萨勒姆来的一些坎宁安家族的人混在一起。这些人属于住在这个县的北部一个令人迷惑不解的很大的氏族。他们结成一伙，组成了一个梅科姆镇还是第一次见过的帮会一类的团体。虽然没干什么坏事，但是他们的所作所为引起了全镇的议论，他们在大庭广众之中受到三个布道坛的公开誉告。他们在理发店周围闲逛，星期日开着车子去阿波兹维尔看电影，他们去本县河边上的赌窟——“露珠小店和钓鱼营地“参加跳舞”他们还喝自制的威士忌。镇上没有人有足够的勇气告诉拉德利先生他的儿子结交了一些狐群狗党。

One night, in an excessive spurt of high spirits, the boys backed around the square in a borrowed flivver, resisted arrest by Maycomb’s ancient beadle, Mr. Conner, and locked him in the courthouse outhouse. The town decided something had to be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and hearing of a female. The judge asked Mr. Conner why he included the last charge; Mr. Conner said they cussed so loud he was sure every lady in Maycomb heard them. The judge decided to send the boys to the state industrial school, where boys were sometimes sent for no other reason than to provide them with food and decent shelter: it was no prison and it was no disgrace. Mr. Radley thought it was. If the judge released Arthur, Mr. Radley would see to it that Arthur gave no further trouble. Knowing that Mr. Radley’s word was his bond, the judge was glad to do so.

一天晚上，这伙人一时心血来潮，开着一辆借来的小汽车在广场上倒来倒去。梅科姆镇的老法院差役康纳先生企图逮捕他们，但他们拒捕，后来把康纳先生锁在法院的厕所里。镇上的人认为不惩办一下这帮人不行了。康纳先生说，他认识他们中的每一个人，他决心承担责任，决不让他们逍遥法外。因此这些青年人被带到法官面前，罪名是破坏秩序，扰乱治安，聚众斗殴，在女人面前或女人能听到的地方使用下流的语言。法官问康纳先生为什么控告里包括最后一条罪状，康纳先生回答说，他们叫骂的声音那么大，他敢肯定，镇上的每个女人都听到了。法官决定把他们送往州立工艺劳作学校’有时候；青年人被送到那儿纯粹是为了供给他们饭菜和舒适的住房：那儿根本不是监狱，呆在那儿一点也不丢脸。但是拉德利先生的看法完全相反。如果法官释放亚瑟的话，拉德利先生愿意保证亚瑟不再惹麻烦。法官知道拉德利先生会恪守诺言，便很高兴地把亚瑟放了。

精选赏析

1、According to neighborhood legend, when the younger Radley boy was in his teens he became acquainted with some of the Cunninghams from Old Sarum, an enormous and confusing tribe domiciled in the northern part of the county, and they formed the nearest thing to a gang ever seen in Maycomb.

根据街坊中流传的说法，拉德利的小儿子十多岁的时候曾跟由萨勒姆来的一些坎宁安家族的人混在一起。这些人属于住在这个县的北部一个令人迷惑不解的很大的氏族。

他们结成一伙，组成了一个梅科姆镇还是第一次见过的帮he became acquainted … and they formed … 是句子的主语，an enormous and confusing tribe是主句中的介词短语中Cunninghams的同位语，domiciled in the northern part of the county是过去分词短语作tribe的后置定语，ever seen in Maycomb 又是过去分词短语作gang的后置定语。According to neighborhood legend是整句话的状语。会一类的团体。

2、The town decided something had to be done; Mr. Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he was bound and determined they wouldn’t get away with it, so the boys came before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and hearing of a female.

小镇觉得到了必须要采取行动的时候了。康纳先生说，他认识他们中的每一个人，他觉得有义务也下了决心，不能让他们逍遥法外。因此这些青年人被带到法官面前，罪名是破坏秩序，扰乱治安，聚众斗殴，在女人面前或女人能听到的地方使用下流的语言。

“each and every”的意思是“used to emphasize that you are talking about every person or thing in a group”。注意这里的重点不是这个短语的意思，还是这个emphasize强调这个词，所以这个短语用在这里需要体会作者的语气，当然还有看那先生屈辱的心情和恨恨的决心。

句子主体是个并列句，主干是Mr. Conner said… so the boys came…；he knew…and he was bound and determined… 是 said 的宾语从句，而knew后面是who引导的宾语从句，bound and determined后面是省略that的宾语从句。

从disorderly conduct 到最后的几个小分句都是on charges of（起诉）的宾语，也是起诉的罪名，而on charges of 是the boys came before the probate judge 的状语。

3、The judge decided to send the boys to the state industrial school, where boys were sometimes sent for no other reason than to provide them with food and decent shelter: it was no prison and it was no disgrace.

法官决定把他们送往州立工艺劳作学校，有时候，青年人被送到那儿纯粹是为了提供他们还算不错的食宿：那儿根本不是监狱，呆在那儿一点也不丢脸。

where boys were sometimes sent for no other reason than to provide them with food and decent shelter是整个句子由where引导的非限定性定语从句。

当然这个从句里面含有other than 这个短语，这是个课本之外的拓展用法，结合翻译不难理解，主要是帮大家拓宽短语的用法种类，这种用法非常值得积累和使用，尤其是有志进入文科的同学。shelter本身有“庇护，庇护所”的色彩在里面，译成住所只是引申义，在阅读中遇到可以体会其含义。

非限定性定语从句和限定性定语从句除了形式上的不同（有无逗号）之外，其根本区别就是字面意思的区别，限定性定语从句是通过定语从句去限定先行词，限定性定语从句读者需要通过定语从句（其实就是先行词的定语）来认出先行词，没有了那个定语从句，先行词就失去了却别于其同类的特色而不能被读者认出。非限定性定语从句就没有这个属性，只不过是关于先行词的附加信息罢了。好吧，虽然拗口又难懂，但是这才是它们的根本区别。