【时间旅行者的妻子】35
时间:2019-01-29 作者:英语课 分类:时间旅行者的妻子
英语课
Clare sits down at the edge of the clearing. “Etta says I shouldn’t talk to strangers.”
“That’s good advice.”
Silence.
“When are you going to disappear?”
“When I’m good and ready to. Are you bored with me?” Clare rolls her eyes. “What are you working on?”
“Penmanship.”
“May I see?”
Clare gets up carefully and collects a few pieces of stationery 1 while fixing me with her baleful stare. I lean forward slowly and extend my hand as though she is a Rottweiler, and she quickly shoves the papers at me and retreats. I look at them intently, as though she has just handed me a bunch of Bruce Rogers’ original drawings for Centaur 2 or the Book of Kells or something. She has printed, over and over, large and larger, “Clare Anne Abshire.” All the ascenders and descenders have swirling 3 curlicues and all the counters have smiley faces in them. It’s quite beautiful.
“This is lovely.”
Clare is pleased, as always when she receives homage 4 for her work. “I could make one for you.”
“I would like that. But I’m not allowed to take anything with me when I time travel, so maybe you could keep it for me and I could just enjoy it while I’m here.”
“Why can’t you take anything?”
“Well, think about it. If we time travelers started to move things around in time, pretty soon the world would be a big mess. Let’s say I brought some money with me into the past. I could look up all the winning lottery 5 numbers and football teams and make a ton of money. That doesn’t seem very fair, does it? Or if I was really dishonest, I could steal things and bring them to the future where nobody could find me.”
“You could be a pirate!” Clare seems so pleased with the idea of me as a pirate that she forgets that I am Stranger Danger. “You could bury the money and make a treasure map and dig it up in the future.” This is in fact more or less how Clare and I fund our rock-and-roll lifestyle. As an adult Clare finds this mildly immoral 6, although it does give us an edge in the stock market.
"圣诞老人有魔法的,你又不是圣诞老人。"
"你说我不会魔法?哈,路易丝小姐,你可真难伺候!"
"我不叫路易丝。"
"我知道,你叫克莱尔。克莱尔·安尼·阿布希尔,一九七一年五月二十四日出生。你的爸爸妈妈叫菲力浦·阿布希尔和露西尔·阿布希尔。你和他们俩,还有你外婆、你哥哥马克、你妹妹爱丽西亚住在一起,就在下面的那个大房子里。"
"你知道这些并不说明你是未来人。"
"如果你能在这儿多待一会,你可以亲眼看见我消失。"我把握很大,因为克莱尔和我说过,我们第一次见面最令她难忘的,就是我的突然消失。
沉默。克莱尔交替着在两脚之间移动重心,然后赶走了一只蚊子。"你认识圣诞老人吗?"
"他本人?呃,不认识。"血已经止住了,但我看上去一定还很糟,"嗨,克莱尔,你会碰巧带着纱布么?或者你有什么吃的?时间旅行让我好饿啊。"
她想了一会,把手伸进背心裙的口袋,拿出一块咬过一口的好时巧克力,扔给我。
"谢谢啦,我爱吃这个。"我咬得又整齐又快,我的血糖浓度低极了。然后我把巧克力包装纸放回她的购物袋。克莱尔被我逗乐了。
"你吃东西时像条狗。"
"我才不像呢!"真是极大的侮辱,"我有可相对拇指,你看看清楚。"
"什么是可相对拇指?"
"像这样,跟我做。"我做了个OK的手势。克莱尔也做了个OK的手势,"可相对拇指就是你能这样做,你能开罐子、系鞋带什么的,而动物不能。"
克莱尔听了有些不高兴,"卡梅利塔修女说动物是没有灵魂的。"
"动物当然有灵魂,她是听谁说的?"
"她说是教皇说的。"
"教皇是个小心眼,动物的灵魂比我们人类的高尚多了,它们从来不说谎,也不乱发脾气。"
"它们互相吃来吃去。"
"这个嘛,它们也是不得已嘛,它们总不可能去奶品皇后(Dairy
Queen),全球最大的冰激凌品牌,其连锁店遍布全球。买一大筒果仁香草冰激凌,对吧?"这是克莱尔小时候,在这个广阔世界上的最爱。(成年的她迷恋寿司,尤其是彼得逊大街上那家必胜寿司店的。)
"它们可以吃草啊。"
"我们也可以啊,可是我们不吃,我们吃汉堡。"
克莱尔在空地边缘坐下,"埃塔让我不要和陌生人说话的。"
"确实是个好忠告。"
沉默。
"你什么时候消失?"
"当我准备好了的时候。你和我在一起很无聊么?"克莱尔翻了翻眼睛,"你在忙什么?"
"练书法。"
"我能看看么?"
克莱尔小心翼翼地站起来,拾起一些文具,但还是充满敌意地盯着我。我略略向前倾身,小心地伸出手,仿佛她是只凶猛的狼狗。她把纸向我快速一递,便急忙抽身而退。我专注地看着她的作品,就像鉴赏凡·高的真迹《向日葵》、或是《凯尔圣经》真卷、或是其他什么文化瑰宝。她一遍又一遍,用逐渐放大的字体书写"克莱尔·安尼·阿布希尔",每个笔画上升和下降的转折处都是弯曲的螺旋,每个圆圈里都画着微笑的眉眼,确实相当美。
"真漂亮。"
克莱尔很满意,每次听到别人夸她的作品总是这样,"我可以专门写一张送给你。"
"那太好了。可惜我在时间旅行的时候,什么东西都带不走。不过,或许你可以帮我保管,我每次到你这儿就能欣赏了。"
"为什么你带不走东西?"
"嗯,你想想,如果我们时间旅行者能在时间隧道中任意搬运东西的话,整个世界很快就会一团糟了。假设我带了些钱来到从前,我可以事先查到所有的彩票中奖号码和获胜球队,然后狠狠地赚一大笔钱,那样就不公平了,对吧?还有,如果我不诚实,我从过去偷东西带到未来去,那样也没有人能抓到我,对吧?"
"你可以去做个海盗!"克莱尔似乎为她给我设计的职业很满意,甚至忘记了我是个危险的陌生人,"你可以把偷来的钱先藏在什么地方,画张藏宝图,然后再到未来世界里把它挖出来。"这个建议或多或少地让我和克莱尔以后过上了不羁随性的生活,成年的克莱尔觉得这有点不道德,不过这毕竟是我们在股市中常胜不败的秘诀。
“That’s good advice.”
Silence.
“When are you going to disappear?”
“When I’m good and ready to. Are you bored with me?” Clare rolls her eyes. “What are you working on?”
“Penmanship.”
“May I see?”
Clare gets up carefully and collects a few pieces of stationery 1 while fixing me with her baleful stare. I lean forward slowly and extend my hand as though she is a Rottweiler, and she quickly shoves the papers at me and retreats. I look at them intently, as though she has just handed me a bunch of Bruce Rogers’ original drawings for Centaur 2 or the Book of Kells or something. She has printed, over and over, large and larger, “Clare Anne Abshire.” All the ascenders and descenders have swirling 3 curlicues and all the counters have smiley faces in them. It’s quite beautiful.
“This is lovely.”
Clare is pleased, as always when she receives homage 4 for her work. “I could make one for you.”
“I would like that. But I’m not allowed to take anything with me when I time travel, so maybe you could keep it for me and I could just enjoy it while I’m here.”
“Why can’t you take anything?”
“Well, think about it. If we time travelers started to move things around in time, pretty soon the world would be a big mess. Let’s say I brought some money with me into the past. I could look up all the winning lottery 5 numbers and football teams and make a ton of money. That doesn’t seem very fair, does it? Or if I was really dishonest, I could steal things and bring them to the future where nobody could find me.”
“You could be a pirate!” Clare seems so pleased with the idea of me as a pirate that she forgets that I am Stranger Danger. “You could bury the money and make a treasure map and dig it up in the future.” This is in fact more or less how Clare and I fund our rock-and-roll lifestyle. As an adult Clare finds this mildly immoral 6, although it does give us an edge in the stock market.
"圣诞老人有魔法的,你又不是圣诞老人。"
"你说我不会魔法?哈,路易丝小姐,你可真难伺候!"
"我不叫路易丝。"
"我知道,你叫克莱尔。克莱尔·安尼·阿布希尔,一九七一年五月二十四日出生。你的爸爸妈妈叫菲力浦·阿布希尔和露西尔·阿布希尔。你和他们俩,还有你外婆、你哥哥马克、你妹妹爱丽西亚住在一起,就在下面的那个大房子里。"
"你知道这些并不说明你是未来人。"
"如果你能在这儿多待一会,你可以亲眼看见我消失。"我把握很大,因为克莱尔和我说过,我们第一次见面最令她难忘的,就是我的突然消失。
沉默。克莱尔交替着在两脚之间移动重心,然后赶走了一只蚊子。"你认识圣诞老人吗?"
"他本人?呃,不认识。"血已经止住了,但我看上去一定还很糟,"嗨,克莱尔,你会碰巧带着纱布么?或者你有什么吃的?时间旅行让我好饿啊。"
她想了一会,把手伸进背心裙的口袋,拿出一块咬过一口的好时巧克力,扔给我。
"谢谢啦,我爱吃这个。"我咬得又整齐又快,我的血糖浓度低极了。然后我把巧克力包装纸放回她的购物袋。克莱尔被我逗乐了。
"你吃东西时像条狗。"
"我才不像呢!"真是极大的侮辱,"我有可相对拇指,你看看清楚。"
"什么是可相对拇指?"
"像这样,跟我做。"我做了个OK的手势。克莱尔也做了个OK的手势,"可相对拇指就是你能这样做,你能开罐子、系鞋带什么的,而动物不能。"
克莱尔听了有些不高兴,"卡梅利塔修女说动物是没有灵魂的。"
"动物当然有灵魂,她是听谁说的?"
"她说是教皇说的。"
"教皇是个小心眼,动物的灵魂比我们人类的高尚多了,它们从来不说谎,也不乱发脾气。"
"它们互相吃来吃去。"
"这个嘛,它们也是不得已嘛,它们总不可能去奶品皇后(Dairy
Queen),全球最大的冰激凌品牌,其连锁店遍布全球。买一大筒果仁香草冰激凌,对吧?"这是克莱尔小时候,在这个广阔世界上的最爱。(成年的她迷恋寿司,尤其是彼得逊大街上那家必胜寿司店的。)
"它们可以吃草啊。"
"我们也可以啊,可是我们不吃,我们吃汉堡。"
克莱尔在空地边缘坐下,"埃塔让我不要和陌生人说话的。"
"确实是个好忠告。"
沉默。
"你什么时候消失?"
"当我准备好了的时候。你和我在一起很无聊么?"克莱尔翻了翻眼睛,"你在忙什么?"
"练书法。"
"我能看看么?"
克莱尔小心翼翼地站起来,拾起一些文具,但还是充满敌意地盯着我。我略略向前倾身,小心地伸出手,仿佛她是只凶猛的狼狗。她把纸向我快速一递,便急忙抽身而退。我专注地看着她的作品,就像鉴赏凡·高的真迹《向日葵》、或是《凯尔圣经》真卷、或是其他什么文化瑰宝。她一遍又一遍,用逐渐放大的字体书写"克莱尔·安尼·阿布希尔",每个笔画上升和下降的转折处都是弯曲的螺旋,每个圆圈里都画着微笑的眉眼,确实相当美。
"真漂亮。"
克莱尔很满意,每次听到别人夸她的作品总是这样,"我可以专门写一张送给你。"
"那太好了。可惜我在时间旅行的时候,什么东西都带不走。不过,或许你可以帮我保管,我每次到你这儿就能欣赏了。"
"为什么你带不走东西?"
"嗯,你想想,如果我们时间旅行者能在时间隧道中任意搬运东西的话,整个世界很快就会一团糟了。假设我带了些钱来到从前,我可以事先查到所有的彩票中奖号码和获胜球队,然后狠狠地赚一大笔钱,那样就不公平了,对吧?还有,如果我不诚实,我从过去偷东西带到未来去,那样也没有人能抓到我,对吧?"
"你可以去做个海盗!"克莱尔似乎为她给我设计的职业很满意,甚至忘记了我是个危险的陌生人,"你可以把偷来的钱先藏在什么地方,画张藏宝图,然后再到未来世界里把它挖出来。"这个建议或多或少地让我和克莱尔以后过上了不羁随性的生活,成年的克莱尔觉得这有点不道德,不过这毕竟是我们在股市中常胜不败的秘诀。
n.文具;(配套的)信笺信封
- She works in the stationery department of a big store.她在一家大商店的文具部工作。
- There was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.文具一多,心里自会觉得踏实。
n.人首马身的怪物
- His face reminded me somehow of a centaur.他的脸使我想起半人半马的怪物。
- No wonder he had soon been hustled away to centaur school.也难怪父母匆匆忙忙就把他送到了半人马学校。
v.旋转,打旋( swirl的现在分词 )
- Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着,旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句
n.尊敬,敬意,崇敬
- We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
- The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。
n.抽彩;碰运气的事,难于算计的事
- He won no less than £5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
- They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。