【惠兰的翻译】《我曾以为父亲是上帝》中英文对照两篇

惠兰的新浪博客地址：http://blog./huilan1991

I Thought My Father Was God
Editor: Paul Auster ( US)
Translator: Huilan (China/>/>) 

《我曾以为父亲是上帝》
编著：保罗·奥斯特（美国）
汉译：惠兰（中国） 

Blue Skies                                              

蓝色的天空 

In 1956, Phoenix/>, Arizona/>/> was a city with boundless blue skies. One day, as I walked around the house with my sister Kathy's new parakeet on my finger, I got it into my head to show Perky what the sky looked like. Maybe he could make a little bird friend out there. I took him into the backyard, and then, to my horror, Perky flew off. The enormous, relentless sky swallowed up my sister's blue treasure, and suddenly he was gone, clipped wings and all.  

一九五六年。亚利桑那州的凤凰城，一个有着无边无际蓝色天空的城市。有一天，我把姐姐凯瑟新买的宠物，一只名叫伯克的蓝色虎皮鹦鹉放在手上，在屋里走来走去。突然间我想到为什么不把伯克带到户外，让它看看美丽的蓝天。或许，伯克还会由此交上一个小鸟朋友呢。于是我把伯克带到后园，跟着，让我惊慌失措的事情发生了：伯克飞走了。那巨大而无情的蓝色天空，瞬间便吞没了姐姐心爱的蓝色珍宝。伯克在我没有反应过来的刹那消失，我只来得及看到它如剪刀般张合的翅膀。跟着，它的整个身影便消失得无影无踪。 

Kathy managed to forgive me. With fake optimism, she even tried to reassure me that Perky would find a new home. But I was far too canny to believe that such a thing was possible. I was inconsolable. Time passed. Eventually, my great remorse took a modest place among the larger things of life, and we all grew up.  

凯瑟好不容易才原谅了我。之后为了不让我过于难过，她甚至假装乐观地向我保证伯克一定会找到一个新家。可我心里清楚这种事情是不可能的。好长一段时间，没有人能够安慰我。时光流逝，我们渐渐长大成人，当时心里的巨大伤痛也慢慢被生活中其他更重要的事给冲淡了。 

Decades later, I watched my own children growing. We shared their activities，spending soccer Saturdays in folding chairs with the parents of the kids’ friends, the Kissells. The two families went camping around Arizona/>/> together. We piled into the van to go on outings to the theater. We became the best of friends. One evening, the game was to tell Great Pet Stories. One person claimed to have the oldest living goldfish. Someone else had a psychic dog. Then Barry, the father of the other family, took the floor and announced that the greatest pet of All Time was his blue parakeet Sweetie Pie. 

多年之后，我看着自己的孩子们逐渐长大。我们积极参与孩子们的各项活动，周六常与孩子们朋友的父母克索家，坐在一起看孩子们踢足球。我们两家逐渐成为很好的朋友，常一起在亚利桑那附近露营或是开着面包车上电影院。一天傍晚，几家朋友聚在一起玩游戏，内容是讲精彩的宠物故事。有人讲他活得最久的金鱼，有人讲一只通灵的狗。当轮到我们朋友家的父亲贝瑞时，他站在屋子中央，对大家讲他所有经历中最了不起的宠物：甜陷饼，一只蓝色的虎皮鹦鹉。 

 'The best thing about Sweetie Pie,' he said, 'was the way we got him. One day, when I was about eight, out of the clear blue sky, a little blue parakeet just floated down and landed on my finger,' 

“最有趣的事是我们得到甜陷饼的过程，”他说，“在我八岁的一天，从清澈湛蓝的天空，飞来一只蓝色的虎皮鹦鹉，它端端地落在我的手指上。”　 

When I was finally able to speak, we examined the amazing evidence. The dates and the locations and the pictures of the bird all matched up. It seems that our two families had been connected long before we ever met. Forty years later, I ran to my sister and said, 'You were right! Perky lived!!” 

当终于轮到我讲的时候，我和贝瑞相互核对了不可思议的细节。当时的时间、地点以及鸟的照片等等全都一一对上了号——那只鹦鹉正是当年从我手里飞走的伯克！看来，我们两家在认识之前，其实早就已经联系在一起了。四十年后，我跑到姐姐那里，告诉她，“你完全正确，伯克活下来了！”

                                          Corki Stewart
                                          Tempe/>,Arizona/>/>

 

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　考克．斯图尔特

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　于坦佩　亚利桑那　

The Yellow Butterfly             

黄蝴蝶 

In the Philippines/>/>, the tradition was to begin the rites of Holy Communion in the second grade. Every Saturday, we had to go to school to rehearse how to walk, how to carry the candle, where to sit, how to kneel, and how to tick out your tongue to accept the Body of Christ. 

按照菲律宾人的传统，孩子们从二年级开始就得学习教堂分享仪式。每个星期六，我们都必须到学校排练怎样走步，怎样拿蜡烛，在什么地方就坐，怎样下跪，以及伸出舌头接受圣饼等等。 

One Saturday my mother and uncle picked me up from practice in a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. As I slid into the back seat, my uncle attempted to start the car. It gave several dry coughs, and then the engine stopped turning over. My uncle sat in silent frustration, and my mother turned around and asked me what we should do. I was eight years old, and without hesitation I told her that we had to wait for a yellow butterfly to touch the car before it would again. I don’t know whether my mother believed me or not. She only smiled, and then she turned back to my uncle to discuss what to next. He got out of the car and told her that he was going to the nearest gas station for help. I fell in and out of sleep, but I was awake when my uncle returned from the gas station. I remember him carrying a container of gas, filling up the car, the car not starting, and him tinkering some more, and still the car wouldn’t start. My mother then got out of the car and hailed a cab. A yellow cab stopped. Instead of taking us home, the driver looked at our predicament and suggested that my uncle squirt some gas on the engine. This seemed to do the trick, and after thanking this good Samaritan, my uncle turned the ignition and the car started right away.

一个星期六我排练之后，妈妈和叔叔开着一辆黄色的大众“甲壳虫”到学校接我。我的屁股刚刚落在后座，叔叔就开始发动汽车。不幸的是，汽车在几声“干咳”之后，引擎就停止了转动。叔叔坐在那里一声不吭，十分沮丧，妈妈突然转过头问我该怎么办？那时我只有八岁，想都没想就对妈妈说，我们必须等一只黄蝴蝶落在车上，车才能动。不知妈妈是否相信我的话。她只微笑着转身和叔叔商量该怎么办。跟着，叔叔就下了车，对妈妈说他要到附近的加油站找人帮忙。我很快便陷入半睡半醒状态。不过当叔叔从加油站回来的时候，我是醒着的。记得他当时提着一个汽油桶，往车里加油，可车还是不动；他便补加更多，可同样毫无用处。妈妈只好下车去叫出租。很快，一辆黄色的车开过来，但司机并没有急于送我们回家，他了解情况后建议叔叔往引擎上喷点儿油。这一招果然灵。谢过这位厚道的好人之后，叔叔一打火，车立即就动了。 

    I began falling back to sleep. Half a block later, my mother woke me up. She was all excited, and her voice was full of wonder. When I opened my eyes, I turned to where she was pointing. Fluttering around the rearview mirror was a tiny yellow butterfly.  

不知不觉我又睡着了。汽车才走了半条街的样子，妈妈突然把我叫醒。她十分兴奋，声音里充满了惊奇。我睁开眼睛，顺着她手指的方向看去，只见一只小小的黄蝴蝶，正绕着汽车的后视镜翩翩起舞。                                     

                                      SIMONETTE JACKSON/>/>

                                      Canoga Park/>, California/>/>

西蒙内特．杰克逊
                于卡诺伽园，加利福尼亚

 

 

 

     

 

 

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