10城市与符号二

Cities and Signs 2.

城市与符号2

Travelers return from the city ofZirma with distinct [dɪˈstɪŋkt] 清晰的 memories: a blind black manshouting in the crowd, a lunatic[ˈluːnətɪk] 疯子 teetering[ˈtiːtərɪŋ]踉跄 on a skyscraper's cornice[ˈkɔːrnɪs]飞檐, a girl walking with a puma[ˈpjuːmə]美洲狮 on a leash[liːʃ]皮带. Actually many of the blind men whotap[tæp]轻敲 their canes[keɪnz]手杖 on Zirma's cobblestones [ˈkɑːblstoʊnz]鹅卵石 are black; in every skyscraperthere is someone going mad; all lunatics spend hours on cornices; there is nopuma that some girl does not raise, as a whim. The city is redundant[rɪˈdʌndənt]冗余的: it repeats itself so thatsomething will stick in the mind.

从齐尔玛市回来的旅人都带着鲜明的记忆：一个在人群中大喊大叫的 盲眼黑人，一个在摩天大楼飞檐上摇摇欲坠的疯子，一个牵着美洲狮散步的女孩。事实上，在齐尔玛的鹅卵石上敲打手杖的盲人中有许多是黑人；在每座摩天大楼里都有人发疯；所有的疯子都会在飞檐上消磨几个钟头；没有哪只美洲狮不是某个女孩一时兴起养大的。这座城市是累赘的：他一直重复着自己，以便 被牢牢记住。

I too am returning from Zirma: mymemory includes dirigibles[ˈdɪrɪdʒəbl]飞艇 flying in all directions, at windowlevel; streets of shops where tattoos [tæˈtuːz] 文身 are drawn on sailors' skin; undergroundtrains crammed[kræmd]挤满的 with obese[oʊˈbiːs]肥胖的 women suffering from thehumidity[hjuːˈmɪdəti]湿热. My traveling companions, on theother hand, swear they saw only one dirigible hovering[ˈhʌvərɪŋ]盘旋 among the city's spires [spaɪrz]尖塔, only one tattoo artist arrangingneedles and inks and pierced[pɪrst]刺破 patterns on his bench, only one fatwoman fanning[ˈfænɪŋ]扇风 herself on a train's platform.Memory is redundant: it repeats signs so that the city can beginto exist.

我也从齐尔玛回来了：我的记忆中包括了与窗子同高，飞向四面八方的飞艇；给水手文身的店铺街；地铁里挤满了饱受闷热折磨的肥胖女性。可我的同伴们却发誓说，他们只看到一辆飞艇在城市的塔尖上盘旋，只见过一位纹身艺术家在他的长凳上整理针线、墨水和纹身图案，也只有一位胖女人在列车站台上扇风。记忆是累赘的：它重复着各种符号，使城市得以存在.