費利西婭的旅行
William Trevor
威廉·特雷弗
The sun is warm now, the water of the river undisturbed. Seagulls teeter on the parapet infront of her, boats go by. The line of trees that breaks the monotony of the pavement is ladenwith leaves in shades of russet. Figures stride purposefully on a distant bridge, figures inminiature, creatures that could be unreal. Somewhere a voice is loud on a megaphone.
陽光正暖,江面水波不興。海鷗在她面前的護墻上搖搖擺擺地走著,船只從她身邊駛過。一行樹木打破了人行道的單調,樹上長滿了深淺不一的黃褐色樹葉。遠方橋上的行人心無旁騖大踏步地向前走著,那些小人兒細細點點的,看上去影影綽綽的、似幻似真。遠處什么地方的擴音器里傳來響亮的聲音。
She is not hungry. It will be a few hours before she begins to feel hungry and then there will bethe throwaway stuff in the bins. The sky is azure, evenly blue, hardly faded at the edges at all.She moves a hand back and forth on a slat of the seat she is sitting on, her fingers caressingthe smooth timber, the texture different where the paint has worn away.
她一點也不餓,還要再過幾小時才會感到餓,那時候垃圾箱里自會有人家扔掉的東西。天空湛藍藍的,一絲云彩也沒有,連天邊的顏色都不見淡下去。她用手在座椅的一條橫木上來回摩挲著,手指愛撫地摸著光滑的木頭,油漆磨掉的地方木料的質感不同。
The gap left where a tooth was drawn a fortnight ago has lost its soreness. She feels it with hertongue, pressing the tip of her tongue into the cavity, recalling the aching there has been. Itwas the Welshman, Davo, who said that. They went along together because he knew the way, “Not many would bother with your toothache,” Davo said. Not many would think toothachewould occur in a derelict’s mouth.” You can always come back,” the woman dentist said. “Don’tbe in pain.”
兩周前拔牙后留下的那個豁口現(xiàn)在已經不痛了。她用舌頭舔著它,把舌尖伸進那個小洞里,同時回想著那曾經有過的痛楚。那話是那個威爾士人達沃說的,當時他們正搭伴一塊兒往前走,因為他認識路。“沒有多少人會為你的牙痛操心的。”他說。沒有多少人會想到無家可歸的人也會牙痛。“你什么時候都可以過來,”那個女牙醫(yī)說,“別強忍著痛。”
The woman dentist has dedicated her existence to the rotten teeth of derelicts, to derelicts’odour and filth. Her goodness is a great mystery.
女牙醫(yī)把自己獻給了無家可歸者的爛牙,獻給了無家可歸者身上的臭味和污穢。她的好心腸很是讓人費解。
She turns her hands so that the sun may catch them differently, and slightly lifts her head towarm the other side of her face.
她翻轉雙手,讓陽光從不同的角度照拂著它們,并且微微抬起頭,讓臉的另一側也能感受到陽光的溫暖。挲著,手指愛撫地摸著光滑的木頭,油漆磨掉的地方木料的質感不同。