世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第10章Part 4

For almost two months he shared the woman with his brother. He would watch him, mix up his plans, and when he was sure that José Arcadio Segun-do was not going to visit their common mistress that night, he would go and sleep with her. One morning he found that he was sick. Two days later he found his brother clinging to a beam in the bathroom, soaked in sweat and with tears pouring down, and then he understood. His brother confessed to him that the woman had sent him away because he had given her what she called a low-life sickness. He also told him how Pilar Ternera had tried to cure him. Aureli-ano Segun-do submitted secretly to the burning baths of permanganate and to diuretic waters, and both were cured separately after three months of secret suffering. José Arcadio Segun-do did not see the woman again. Aureli-ano Segun-do obtained her pardon and stayed with her until his death.
Her name was Petra Cotes. She had arrived in Macon-do in the middle of the war with a chalice husband who lived off raffles, and when the man died she kept up the business. She was a clean young mulatto woman with yellow almond-shaped eyes that gave her face the ferocity of a panther, but she had a generous heart and a magnificent vocation for love. When úrsula realized that José Arcadio Segun-do was a cockfight man and that Aureli-ano Segun-do played the accordion at his concubine's noisy parties, she thought she would go mad with the combination. It was as if the defects of the family and none of the virtues had been concentrated in both. Then she decided that no one again would be called Aureli-ano or José Arcadio. Yet when Aureli-ano Segun-do had his first son she did not dare go against his will.
"All right," úrsula said, "but on one condition: I will bring him up."
Although she was already a hundred years old and on the point of going blind from cataracts, she still had her physical dynamism, her integrity of character, and her mental balance intact. No one would be better able than she to shape the virtuous man who would restore the prestige of the family, a man who would never have heard talk of war, fighting cocks, bad women, or wild undertakings, four calamities that, according to what úrsula thought, had determined the downfall. of their line. "This one will be a priest," she promised solemnly. "And if God gives me life he'll be Pope someday." They all laughed when they heard her, not only in the bedroom but all through the house, where Aureli-ano Segun-do's rowdy friends were gathered. The war, relegated to the attic of bad memories, was momentarily recalled with the popping of champagne bottles.
"To the health of the Pope," Aureli-ano Segun-do toasted.

在兩個月中，奧雷連諾第二都跟他兄弟共同佔有這個女人。他注意兄弟的行蹤，攪亂兄弟的計劃，相信當天夜裏兄弟不會去找共同的情人，他纔到她那兒去。一天早晨，他發現自己得了病。過了兩天，他遇見兄弟站在浴室裏，腦袋靠在牆上，渾身出汗，熱淚盈眶；於是，奧雷連諾第二什麼都明白了。他的兄弟坦白說，他使那個女人染上了她所謂的花柳病，被她攆出來了。他還說皮拉·苔列娜打算給他醫治。奧雷連諾第二開始悄悄地用高錳酸鉀熱水洗澡，而且服用各種利尿劑。經過三個月隱祕的痛苦，兄弟倆都痊癒了。霍·阿卡蒂奧第二再也沒跟那個女人見面。奧雷連諾第二卻得到她的諒解，一直到死都跟她在一起。
她的名字叫佩特娜·柯特。她是戰爭時期跟一個萍水相逢的丈夫來到馬孔多的；丈夫靠賣彩票過活，丈夫死後，她繼續經營他的生意。這是個整潔、年輕的混血兒，有一對淡黃色的杏仁眼，這兩隻眼睛在她臉上增添了豹子似的兇猛神情，但她卻有寬厚的心腸和真正的情場本領。烏蘇娜知道霍·阿卡蒂奧第二正在飼養鬥雞的時候，奧雷連諾第二卻在情婦囂鬧的酒宴上拉手風琴，她羞愧得差點兒瘋了。這對孿生子似乎在自己身上集中了家旅的一切缺點，而沒繼承家族的一點美德。烏蘇娜拿定主意，在她的家族中，誰也不準再叫奧雷連諾和霍·阿卡蒂奧了。然而，奧雷連諾第二的頭生子出世時，她卻沒敢反對這個父親的意願。
“我同意。”烏蘇娜說，“但是有個條件：得由我來撫養他。”
儘管烏蘇娜已滿一百歲，她的眼睛由於白內障快要失明瞭，但她仍有充沛的精力、嚴謹的性格和清醒的頭腦。她相信，撫養孩子是誰也比不上她的，她能使孩子成爲一個有美德的人——這個人將恢復家族的威望，根本就不知道戰爭、鬥雞、壞女人和胡思亂想；照烏蘇娜看來，這是使她家族衰敗的四大禍害。“這會是個神父，”她莊嚴地說。“如果上帝延長我的壽命，我會看見他當上教皇。”她的話不僅在臥室裏引起笑聲，而且在整座宅子裏引起鬨堂大笑，因爲這一天宅子裏擠滿了奧雷連諾第二的一幫鬧喳喳的朋友。戰爭已經成爲悲慘的回憶，早已忘諸腦後，現在只有香檳酒瓶塞的噗噗聲使人偶然想到了它。
“爲教皇的健康乾杯！”奧雷連諾第二叫道。