爱丽丝 · 门罗《荨麻 》

为你读英语美文·第 318期：荨麻
 
主播：永清，Dreamer
坐标：北京大学

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Nettles《荨麻》
作者：爱丽丝·门罗（Alice Munro）
译者：李玉瑶


第一幕：女主人公8岁时，迈克跟随钻井人父亲穿梭于各个村庄靠给农户钻井营生。


In my feeling for Mike the localized demon was transformed into a diffuse excitement and tenderness, spread everywhere under the skin, a pleasure of the eyes and ears and a tingling contentment in the presence of the other person. I woke up every morning hungry for the sight of him, for the sound of the well driller's truck as it came bumping and rattling down the lane. I worshiped, without any show of it, the back of his neck and the shape of his head, the frown of his eyebrows, his long bare toes and his dirty elbows, his loud and confident voice, his smell. I accepted readily, even devoutly, the roles that did not have to be explained or worked out between us—that I would aid and admire him and he would direct and stand ready to protect me.
我对迈克的感觉，已经从淡淡的喜欢转变成了布满全身各处，令人感到刺激的兴奋和柔情，另一个人的存在让我赏心悦目，心满意足，激动不已。每天早上，一睁开眼，我就迫切渴望见到他，渴望听到钻井人的卡车在我家车道上颠簸而行的卡塔声。我爱慕他的后颈，他的头形，他紧蹙的双眉，他长长的光脚趾，他脏兮兮的胳膊肘，他洪亮自信的声音，还有他的气味，但我丝毫没有流露出来。我欣然甚至虔诚地，接受了我们之间形成的这种无需解释、不必强求的关系——我帮助他，仰慕他，而他指导我，时刻准备保护我。


One morning , the truck did not come. It turned out that this job was the last one that the well- driller had to do in our part of the country. Living as he did, in the hotel, he could just pack up and be gone. And that was what he had done. 
有一天早上，卡车没有来。原来在我家的这份工作，是钻井人在我们村接到的最后一份活儿。像他那样住在旅馆的人，只需要把行李打包，提包走人即可。他恰恰是这么做的。


I must have known that Mike would be leaving. Future absence I accepted—it was just that I had no idea, until Mike disappeared, of what absence could be like. How all my own territory would be altered, as if a landslide had gone through it and skimmed off all meaning except loss of Mike. 
我肯定早就明白迈克迟早有一天会离开。我可以接受未来的别离——只是直到迈克消失，我才真正明白别离的滋味。我的整个世界发生了怎样翻天覆地的变化啊！仿佛经历了一场山体滑坡，所有的一切都被冲刷掩埋，而我，只知道迈克离开了。


第二幕：多年后，女主人公已经离婚，并育有两个孩子。迈克也有了自己的家庭。一天，女主人公被友人（珊妮）邀请去家中时，惊奇的发现迈克就在友人家。


"It's you," we said, almost in the same breath. We laughed, I rushed toward him and he moved toward me. We shook hands. 
“是你。”我们几乎同时脱口而出。我们笑起来，我跑向他，他走向我。我们握了握手。


Mike was standing a little ahead of me and to one side. He was actually closer to Sunny than he was to me. Nobody was behind us, and I wanted to brush against him—just lightly and accidentally against his arm or shoulder. Then if he didn't stir away—out of courtesy, taking my touch for the genuine accident?—I wanted to lay a finger against his bare neck. Was that what he would have done, if he had been standing behind me? Was that what he would have been concentrating on, instead of the stars? I had the feeling, however, that he was a scrupulous man, he would refrain. 
迈克站在我前面一点，我们站在同一边。他其实离珊妮比离我近。我们后面没人了，我想碰他一下——只是假装无意识轻轻地碰一下他的胳膊或者肩膀。如果他没有闪开——出于礼貌，以为我真是不小心碰到的——我就会用一根手指摸一下他露在外面的脖子。如果我俩互换位置，他会不会也这么做？他会不会也像我一样专注于此而非星星？然而，我有种感觉，他是一个小心谨慎的人，他会自我克制。

....

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