英语翻译

主语是Alive,Miss Emily had been a tradition,a duty,and a care；a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town,
主语动词是 had been
dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris,the mayor--he who fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron-remitted her taxes,the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity.
这一大段都是定语,修饰a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town
描述这是怎样一种世袭的义务.
Alive,Miss Emily had been a tradition,a duty,and a care；（这里的分号把你忽悠了吧^^）a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town,dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris,the mayor--he who fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron-remitted her taxes,the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity.
我估计作者在这里打分号的原因是,如果打逗号,会产生歧义,后面那一大段有可能就会修饰a tradition,a duty,and a care,a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.这四个东西
打分号,就把作者的意图展现出来了,可能他是想强调,这里修饰的更多的是 the hereditary obligation
顺便多句嘴,语法是死的,语言是活的.大师写文章,不按语法出牌很正常.