CAT'S CRADLE 猫的摇篮 12/127

CAT'S CRADLE
猫的摇篮
by Kurt Vonnegut
科特 冯内古特 著
阿古 译ing


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Copyright 1963 by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Published by DELL PUBLISHING CO., INC., 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10017 All rights reserved.

ISBN: 0-440-11149-8

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The Day the World Ended 1
1 世界终结的那一天

Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.
叫我约拿,我爹妈差不多就是这么叫的,他们叫我约翰.
Jonah--John--if I had been a Sam, I would have been a Jonah still--not because I have been unlucky for others, but because somebody or something has compelled me to be certain places at certain times, without fail. Conveyances and motives, both conventional and bizarre, have been provided. And, according to plan, at each appointed second, at each appointed place this Jonah was there.
约翰---约翰拿---约拿------即使我曾经是一个山姆,我还是得成为一个约拿.倒不是因为我不够幸运够不上别的名号,而是冥冥之中,早已有某人某事把我的命运定格在某时某地,毫厘不爽.事实上,为了我的宿命能顺利到位,无论是正儿八经的交通工具,还是荒诞不经的动机巧合,一直以来都对我畅量供应.所以,按照预定计划,在某个预定的时刻,某个预定的地点,我这个约拿正在那儿杵着呢.
Listen:
When I was a younger man--two wives ago, 250,000 cigarettes ago, 3,000 quarts of booze ago.
听着,伙计
当我还是个年轻人的时候—-当然,在消受过两任老婆之前,在吸进25万支雪茄之前,在灌下3千夸脱烈酒之前.
When I was a much younger man, I began to collect material for a book to be called _The Day the World Ended_.
当我还是很年轻的年轻人的时候,我就开始搜集材料,准备写一本将被叫做<世界终结的那一天>的书.
The book was to be factual.
这将是一本真实的书.
The book was to be an account of what important Americans had done on the day when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.
这将是一本记录在世界上第一枚原子弹被投掷在日本广岛那一天,那些地位显赫的美国人所作所为的书.
It was to be a Christian book. I was a Christian then.
这将是一本信奉基督的书.当时我仍是个基督徒.
I am a Bokononist now.
而现在,我成了一个波寇诺分子.
I would have been a Bokononist then, if there had been anyone to teach me the bittersweet lies of Bokonon. But Bokononism was unknown beyond the gravel beaches and coral knives that ring this little island in the Caribbean Sea, the Republic of San Lorenzo.
我当时就该是个波寇诺分子,只要有人将波寇诺那些五味杂陈回味无穷的谎言对我稍稍灌输一下.但当时波寇诺的名头还只局限于加勒比海岛国圣洛伦佐共和国,环绕着该小岛的砾石海滩和珊瑚险礁似乎也紧紧地束缚住了他的大名.
We Bokononists believe that humanity is organized into teams, teams that do God's Will without ever discovering what they are doing. Such a team is called a _karass_ by Bokonon, and the instrument, the _kan-kan_, that brought me into my own particular _karass_ was the book I never finished, the book to be called _The Day the World Ended_.

我们波寇诺分子的信仰是,人类社会应当被组织成一个个小团体,这些小团体将忙于实现上帝的意愿,而不必费心去考虑他们到底在忙什么.波寇诺称这样的一个小团体为卡拉斯,卡拉斯里那些个忙个不停的懵人们则被称为坎-坎,而把我带进我所属的那个卡拉斯的,正是我那本从未完成的书,一本将被叫做<世界终结的那一天>的书.





Nice, Nice, Very Nice 2
2 棒,棒,棒!

"If you find your life tangled up with somebody else's life for no very logical reasons," writes Bokonon, "that person may be a member of your _karass_."
如果某人的生活总是毫无道理地和你自己的生活搅和在一起,那么这个人很可能就是你的卡拉斯中的一员.
At another point in _The Books of Bokonon_ he tells us, "Man created the checkerboard; God created the _karass_." By that he means that a _karass_ ignores national, institutional, occupational, familial, and class boundaries.
在<波寇诺之书>的另一处,他又写道：人类发明了西洋跳棋盘和检查委员会,上帝则创造了卡拉斯.他其实是在说,一个卡拉斯这样的组织将忽视所有国家的,机构的,职业的,家庭的,和阶级的界线.
It is as free-form as an amoeba.
换句话说,卡拉斯就像阿米巴虫那样无拘无束,随意变形.
In his "Fifty-third Calypso," Bokonon invites us to sing along with him:
在他的"卡利普索第五十三首"里, 波寇诺邀请我们和他一起唱：

Oh, a sleeping drunkard 一个是昏昏欲睡烂醉鬼
Up in Central Park, 中央公园乱晃荡
And a lion-hunter 一个是矫健敏捷猎狮人
In the jungle dark, 黑暗丛林潜行忙
And a Chinese dentist, 一个是中国小牙医
And a British queen-- 一个是英国老女王
All fit together 七拼又八凑
In the same machine. 世界运转忙
Nice, nice, very nice; 棒,棒,棒!
Nice, nice, very nice; 棒,棒,棒!
Nice, nice, very nice-- 棒,棒,棒!
So many different people 甭管啥乞丐君王
In the same device. 都是一样臭皮囊


Calypso 卡利普索
A type of music that originated in the West Indies, notably in Trinidad, and is characterized by improvised lyrics on topical or broadly humorous subjects.
卡力骚曲：一种起源于西印度的音乐，在特立尼达有影响，主要特征是根据主题或广泛的幽默体裁即席而作的音律

Folly 3
3 愚蠢

Nowhere does Bokonon warn against a person's trying to discover the limits of his _karass_ and the nature of the work God Almighty has had it do. Bokonon simply observes that such investigations are bound to be incomplete.
波寇诺从未大张旗鼓地做出训诫,警告人们不要去探究卡拉斯组织的局限性,或猜度全能上帝的意图.
他只是轻描淡写地表示,此类尝试从未成功过.
In the autobiographical section of _The Books of Bokanon_ he writes a parable on the folly of pretending to discover, to understand:
在<波寇诺之书>的自传部分,他写了一个寓言,来诫喻此类尝试者的愚蠢:

I once knew an Episcopalian lady in Newport, Rhode Island, who asked me to design and build a doghouse for her Great Dane. The lady claimed to understand God and His Ways of Working perfectly. She could not understand why anyone should be puzzled about what had been or about what was going to be.
我认识一个住在罗德岛纽波特的女士,她叫我帮她设计并建造一个狗窝,作为她的大丹狗的新居,这位女士是个圣公会会员,声称完全理解上帝及其行事之道,她简直不敢相信竟然会有人对过去未来之事迷惑不解.
And yet, when I showed her a blueprint of the doghouse I proposed to build, she said to me, "I'm sorry, but I never could read one of those things."
当我把设计好的狗窝蓝图给她过目时,她对我说道：“很抱歉,我是绝对不会看的.”
"Give it to your husband or your minister to pass on to God," I said, "and, when God finds a minute, I'm sure he'll explain this doghouse of mine in a way that even you can understand."
“那么把这图纸交给你的丈夫,或者您的御前大臣,由他们递交给上帝,”我回答说,“只要上帝能挤出点时间来,我想,他一定能把我的设计想法解释得一清二楚,即使像夫人您这样的人也会立马茅塞顿开.”
She fired me. I shall never forget her. She believed that God liked people in sailboats much better than He liked people in motorboats. She could not bear to look at a worm. When she saw a worm, she screamed.
这差事当场就告吹了,我永远不会忘记她.她相信上帝爱那些划划艇的人胜过爱那些开摩托艇的人.她最见不得虫子,一看到虫子,她就扯开嗓子尖叫.
She was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is Doing, [writes Bokonon].
“她是个傻瓜,我也是,所有那些认为自己能看穿上帝之道的人都是.”波寇诺郑重其事地如是写道




A Tentative Tangling of Tendrils 4
4 一次试探性的接触

Be that as it may, I intend in this book to include as many members of my _karass_ as possible, and I mean to examine all strong hints as to what on Earth we, collectively, have been up to.
无论如何,我都打算在这本书里,将我的卡拉斯里的成员尽可能多地囊括进来,而且我将整体地考察,到底是什么样的牵连把我们彼此的生活都搅和在一起的.
I do not intend that this book be a tract on behalf of Bokononism. I should like to offer a Bokononist warning about it, however. The first sentence in _The Books of Bokonon_ is this:
"All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies."
我不打算把这本书变成波寇诺主义的传道小册子,不仅如此,我还很乐意为此提供一个波寇诺主义式的警告.《波寇诺之书》的第一句话这样警告道：
“所有我将告诉你的所谓真话,其实都是无耻的谎言.”
My Bokononist warning is this:
Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either.
So be it.
而我的波寇诺主义式的警告是这样的：
一个人,如果不能理解其实任何一个有用的宗教都以谎言为基石,他也将不能理解本书.
但愿如此.

About my _karass_, then.
现在正式开始讲述我的卡拉斯.
It surely includes the three children of Dr. Felix Hoenikker, one of the so-called "Fathers" of the first atomic bomb. Dr. Hoenikker himself was no doubt a member of my _karass_, though he was dead before my _sinookas_, the tendrils of my life, began to tangle with those of his children.
毫无疑问,它囊括了菲利克斯•霍因涅克教授的三个孩子.该教授是所谓的“原子弹之父”之一.他也算得上是我的卡拉斯中的一员,尽管在我的卡拉斯键形成之前,他就已经过世了.但正因为他的缘故,我的生活的触须,开始和他的孩子们的缠绕在一起.
The first of his heirs to be touched by my sinookas was Newton Hoenikker, the youngest of his three children, the younger of his two sons. I learned from the publication of my fraternity, _The Delta Upsilon Quarterly_, that Newton Hoenikker, son of the Nobel Prize physicist, Felix Hoenikker, had been pledged by my chapter, the Cornell Chapter。
他的后代中第一位被我的卡拉斯键链接到的,是他的小儿子老三牛顿•霍因涅克,我从兄弟会的内部出版物《δ-γ季刊》中获悉,牛顿•霍因涅克,诺贝尔物理学奖得主菲利克斯•霍因涅克之子,宣誓加入兄弟会科内尔分会,而我正好是此分会的正式会员.
So I wrote this letter to Newt:
所以我写了下述信件给他:
"Dear Mr. Hoenikker:
"Or should I say, Dear _Brother_ Hoenikker?
“亲爱的霍因涅克先生:
“或者我应当称呼您,亲爱的霍因涅克兄弟?
"I am a Cornell DU now making my living as a freelance writer. I am gathering material for a book relating to the first atomic bomb. Its contents will be limited to events that took place on August 6, 1945, the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
“我是兄弟会康内尔分会的正式会员,职业是自由撰稿人.我正在收集素材,写一本关于第一枚原子弹的书.它的内容将局限于发生在1945年8月6日的相关事件,正是那一天第一枚原子弹被投掷在日本广岛.
"Since your late father is generally recognized as having been one of the chief creators of the bomb, I would very much appreciate any anecdotes you might care to give me of life in your father's house on the day the bomb was dropped.
“因为您的先父被公认为是原子弹的主要创造者之一,故原子弹爆炸那天发生在贵府内的任何趣闻轶事,如果您愿与我分享,我都将非常乐意与闻.
"I am sorry to say that I don't know as much about your illustrious family as I should, and so don't know whether you have brothers and sisters. If you do have brothers and sisters, I should like very much to have their addresses so that I can send similar requests to them.
“实在惭愧,我对于贵府知之甚少,所以不知道您是否有兄弟姐妹.如果有,我很希望您能告知其地址,以方便我向他们提出类似的咨询.
"I realize that you were very young when the bomb was dropped, which is all to the good. My book is going to emphasize the _human_ rather than the _technical_ side of the bomb, so recollections of the day through the eyes of a 'baby,' if you'll pardon the expression, would fit in perfectly.
“我意识到在原子弹被投掷的时候,您年纪还很小,这样反倒更好.我的书着重表现原子弹人性化而非技术化的一面,所以如果是一个孩子眼中的那一天的回忆---请原谅我的措辞---将更显贴切.
"You don't have to worry about style and form. Leave all that to me. Just give me the bare bones of your story.
“您不必担心文体或格式.编纂的技术活都交给我处理,把您最真实的故事告诉我就好.
"I will, of course, submit the final version to you for your approval prior to publication.
“当然,在付梓之前我会将故事稿寄给你,由您来定夺.
"Fraternally yours--"
“致以兄弟般的热忱----”

pledge
A person who has been accepted for membership in a fraternity or similar organization and has promised to join but has not yet been initiated.
立誓入会的人：已经被兄弟会或类似的组织接受为会员而且立誓加入，但仍尚未入会的人
《δ-γ季刊》




Letter from a Pre-med 5
5 一封医学预科生的来信

To which Newt replied:
牛顿回信道:
"I am sorry to be so long about answering your letter. That sounds like a very interesting book you are doing. I was so young when the bomb was dropped that I don't think I'm going to be much help. You should really ask my brother and sister, who are both older than I am. My sister is Mrs. Harrison C. Conners, 4918 North Meridian Street, Indianapolis, Indiana. That is my home address, too, now. I think she will be glad to help you. Nobody knows where my brother Frank is. He disappeared right after Father's funeral two years ago, and nobody has heard from him since. For all we know, he may be dead now.
“抱歉拖那么久才回信.你的书听起来挺有趣的.原子弹被投下那会儿,我还那么小,所以估计我帮不了你多大忙.你倒是该向我的哥哥和姐姐打听,他们都比我大.我的姐姐嫁给了哈里森•C•科纳斯,住在印第安纳州首府印第安纳波利斯,北子午线大街4918号.这也是我现在住的地方.我想她会很乐意帮助你.没人知道我的哥哥弗兰克在哪儿.他在两年前父亲的葬礼之后就消失得无影无踪.据我们悲观的推测,他也许已经不在人世了.
"I was only six years old when they dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, so anything I remember about that day other people have helped me to remember.
“他们往广岛投掷原子弹那天我还只有六岁大,所以关于那一天我所记得的,其实都是别人帮我回忆起来的.
"I remember I was playing on the living-room carpet outside my father's study door in Ilium, New York. The door was open, and I could see my father. He was wearing pajamas and a bathrobe. He was smoking a cigar. He was playing with a loop of string. Father was staying home from the laboratory in his pajamas all day that day. He stayed home whenever he wanted to.
“我记得那天我在客厅的地毯上玩,父亲在内厢的书房里,门开着,我能看见他.他身上裹着睡裤和浴袍,抽着雪茄,手里还心不在焉地摆弄着一圈细绳.那一整天父亲就这副打扮窝在家里,没去实验室.平时,他也是这样,在上班这件事上随心所欲.
"Father, as you probably know, spent practically his whole professional life working for the Research Laboratory of the General Forge and Foundry Company in Ilium. When the Manhattan Project came along, the bomb project, Father wouldn't leave Ilium to work on it. He said he wouldn't work on it at all unless they let him work where he wanted to work. A lot of the time that meant at home. The only place he liked to go, outside of Ilium, was our cottage on Cape Cod. Cape Cod was where he died. He died on a Christmas Eve. You probably know that, too.
“也许你已经了解到,我父亲的职业生涯,都是在纽约州伊利姆市的通用铸锻造公司的研究实验室中度过的.当曼哈顿计划进展到原子弹制造阶段,父亲不愿意离开伊利姆去阿拉莫斯特拉为之工作.他声称,任何任命和任务他都不接受,除非他们让他在自己喜欢的地方办公,而这意味着大多数时间他会选择待在家里.他唯一喜欢去的室外地方,就只有鳕鱼海角上的小别墅,他就是在那幢房子里过世的,在一个圣诞夜.这些也许你早就已经知道了.
"Anyway, I was playing on the carpet outside his study on the day of the bomb. My sister Angela tells me I used to play with little toy trucks for hours, making motor sounds, going 'burton, burton, burton' all the time. So I guess I was going 'burton, burton, burton,' on the day of the bomb; and Father was in his study, playing with a loop of string.
“总之,在原子弹之日我正在父亲书房外的地毯上玩.我的姐姐安吉拉告诉我,小时候我老爱玩玩具小卡车,一玩几个小时,不停地嘟嘟叭叭.所以估计在原子弹之日,我也正趴在地毯上嘟嘟叭叭.而父亲则在他的书房里,手里摆弄着一圈细绳.
"It so happens I know where the string he was playing with came from. Maybe you can use it somewhere in your book. Father took the string from around the manuscript of a novel that a man in prison had sent him. The novel was about the end of the world in the year 2000, and the name of the book was _2000 A.D._ It told about how mad scientists made a terrific bomb that wiped out the whole world. There was a big sex orgy when everybody knew that the world was going to end, and then Jesus Christ Himself appeared ten seconds before the bomb went off. The name of the author was Marvin Sharpe Holderness, and he told Father in a covering letter that he was in prison for killing his own brother. He sent the manuscript to Father because he couldn't figure out what kind of explosives to put in the bomb. He thought maybe Father could make suggestions.
“而我凑巧知道他摆弄的这条细绳是打哪儿来的,也许你可以把这个信息用在你的书里.一个囚犯寄给我父亲一本小说手稿,这条绳子正是用来捆这份手稿的.这本书讲的是世界将在2000年终结,名字就叫<公元2000年>,叙述了一帮疯狂科学家造出一颗能将整个世界轰上天的超级炸弹.当世界上每一个人都获知世界正无可救药地走向灭亡,一场纵欲狂欢上演了.然后,耶稣•基督在炸弹爆炸前10秒降临人间.小说的作者名叫马尔文•夏普•侯德尼斯,他在附信中提及他正因杀害自己的兄弟而身陷囹圄.他将手稿寄给父亲,因为他拿不定主意该在炸弹里放什么样的爆炸物,故事才听起来可信.他想也许父亲能给他出出点子.
"I don't mean to tell you I read the book when I was six. We had it around the house for years. My brother Frank made it his personal property, on account of the dirty parts. Frank kept it hidden in what he called his 'wall safe' in his bedroom. Actually, it wasn't a safe but just an old stove flue with a tin lid. Frank and I must have read the orgy part a thousand times when we were kids. We had it for years, and then my sister Angela found it. She read it and said it was nothing but a piece of dirty rotten filth. She burned it up, and the string with it. She was a mother to Frank and me, because our real mother died when I was born.
“我可不是在说我六岁那年就已读过这本小说了.这本小说在家里一摆就是好多年.因为里面的色情描写,我的哥哥弗兰克一直将之据为私人财产,他把它藏在他卧室里所谓的保险柜中.其实,那就是个带锡盖的废弃烟道.在孩提时代,弗兰克和我一定把里面的色情场面看过不下一千次.我们将它保存了很久,直到被我姐姐安杰拉发现.她读了读,判决说这是一本恶心吧啦的垃圾书.她马上把它烧了个一干二净,连那条细绳也没放过.安杰拉像母亲一样照顾着弗兰克和我,因为我们的母亲早在生我的时候就难产死了.
"My father never read the book, I'm pretty sure. I don't think he ever read a novel or even a short story in his whole life, or at least not since he was a little boy. He didn't read his mail or magazines or newspapers, either. I suppose he read a lot of technical journals, but to tell you the truth, I can't remember my father reading anything.
“我敢肯定,我的父亲从来没读过这本小说.我认为在他有生之年就从来没读过小说,甚至连个小故事都没碰过.他也从来不读杂志和报纸,别人寄给他的信他也不读.我猜他肯定得读很多技术刊物,但说实话,我从来不记得我的父亲阅读过任何东西.
"As I say, all he wanted from that manuscript was the string. That was the way he was. Nobody could predict what he was going to be interested in next. On the day of the bomb it was string.
“所以,他唯一对小说手稿感兴趣的地方就是那根细绳.他就是这么个人.谁也猜不透下一步他会对什么提起兴致来.
"Have you ever read the speech he made when he accepted the Nobel Prize? This is the whole speech: 'Ladies and Gentlemen. I stand before you now because I never stopped dawdling like an eight-year-old on a spring morning on his way to school. Anything can make me stop and look and wonder, and sometimes learn. I am a very happy man. Thank you.'
“你读过他的诺贝尔奖获奖演说吗?以下就是全文：‘先生们女士们,此刻我站到了你们面前,是因为我一直以来,都像个在上学路上游延浪荡的八岁小男孩那样,东瞧瞧,西看看,每一样东西都让我好奇和纳闷,时不时地学到点什么,我是个快乐的人,谢谢.’
"Anyway, Father looked at that loop of string for a while, and then his fingers started playing with it. His fingers made the string figure called a 'cat's cradle.' I don't know where Father learned how to do that. From _his_ father, maybe. His father was a tailor, you know, so there must have been thread and string around all the time when Father was a boy.
“总之,父亲先只是盯着绳圈看,然后手指开始摆弄它.一会儿的功夫,绳圈在他手指上挑成了一个挑线绷：'猫的摇篮',也不知道他是从哪儿学来的.也许是从他的父亲那里,他的父亲是个裁缝.当他还是个小男孩的时候,他的周围一定堆满了布头线脑.
"Making the cat's cradle was the closest I ever saw my father come to playing what anybody else would call a game. He had no use at all for tricks and games and rules that other people made up. In a scrapbook my sister Angela used to keep up, there was a clipping from _Time_ magazine where somebody asked Father what games he played for relaxation, and he said, 'Why should I bother with made-up games when there are so many real ones going on?'
“挑线绷'猫的摇篮'大概是父亲玩过的最算得上是个游戏的事儿了.在游戏,把戏,戏法乃至任何人为规则面前,他一窍不通.在我姐姐的一本剪贴本上,有一张《时代》杂志的剪报,有记者问父亲平时玩什么游戏来放松自己,他回答说,‘世界上有那么多真实的博弈,为什么我还要去玩那些人造的游戏呢?’
"He must have surprised himself when he made a cat's cradle out of the string, and maybe it reminded him of his own childhood. He all of a sudden came out of his study and did something he'd never done before. He tried to play with me. Not only had he never played with me before; he had hardly ever even spoken to me.
“所以,当他挑成那个挑线绷'猫的摇篮'时,估计连他自己也大吃一惊,也许这让他想起了自己小时候,他一溜烟从书房里冲出来,干了件他从没干过的事儿：他竟然想和我玩.不要说和我玩了,平时他几乎连话都不对我说.
"But he went down on his knees on the carpet next to me, and he showed me his teeth, and he waved that tangle of string in my face. 'See? See? See?' he asked. 'Cat's cradle. See the cat's cradle? See where the nice pussycat sleeps? Meow. Meow.'
“但这时他已经迫不及待地在我身边的地毯上跪下身,冲我露出牙齿,把绷在手指上的挑线绷在我眼前使劲晃.‘快看,快看,猫摇篮,看见这个猫摇篮了吗,是给柔柔软软的小猫咪睡的,喵,喵,喵.’
"His pores looked as big as craters on the moon. His ears and nostrils were stuffed with hair. Cigar smoke made him smell like the mouth of Hell. So close up, my father was the ugliest thing I had ever seen. I dream about it all the time.
他脸上的毛孔足有月亮上的环形山那么大,他的耳朵和鼻孔里黑毛竖戗戗,雪茄烟把他的呼吸变成了地狱般恶臭.靠得那么近,父亲的脸成了我见过的最丑陋的东西,以后每次做恶梦我都会梦到这副尊容.
"And then he sang. 'Rockabye catsy, in the tree top'; he sang, 'when the wind blows, the cray-dull will rock. If the bough breaks, the cray-dull will fall. Down will come craydull, catsy and all.'
“就在这当儿,他又唱了起来：‘小猫咪,快睡觉;风儿吹,摇篮摇;树枝断,摇篮掉;喵哇哇,猫儿嚎.’
"I burst into tears. I jumped up and I ran out of the house as fast as I could go.
“我被吓得放声大哭,蹦起身,一溜烟地跑出了房间.
"I have to sign off here. It's after two in the morning. My roommate just woke up and complained about the noise from the typewriter."
“我不得不在这里暂时打住,现在已经是凌晨两点.我的同室刚被吵醒并开始抱怨打字机的噪音.”



Bug Fights 6
6 斗虫

Newt resumed his letter the next morning. He resumed it as follows:
牛顿在第二天早晨继续他的信:
"Next morning. Here I go again, fresh as a daisy after eight hours of sleep. The fraternity house is very quiet now. Everybody is in class but me. I'm a very privileged character. I don't have to go to class any more. I was flunked out last week. I was a pre-med. They were right to flunk me out. I would have made a lousy doctor.
“现在已是第二天早晨,八小时的睡眠让我像朵雏菊般精神抖擞.此刻兄弟会会堂里非常宁静.除了我,每个人都去上课了.因为我特权独享：我已经被豁免了上课的麻烦.上星期我被勒令退学.我是个医学预科生.开除我是明智之举,因为即使我能顺利毕业,也将是个蹩脚医生.

"After I finish this letter, I think I'll go to a movie. Or if the sun comes out, maybe I'll go for a walk through one of the gorges. Aren't the gorges beautiful? This year, two girls jumped into one holding hands. They didn't get into the sorority they wanted. They wanted Tri-Delt.
“写完这封信,我也许会去看场电影.或者太阳出来的话,我就去附近的峡谷里散步.那些峡谷美不胜收,就在今年,还有两个女生手挽着手在那里跳了崖.因为她们没能如愿进入女学生联谊会.而女学生联谊会只接受三P组合.

"But back to August 6, 1945. My sister Angela has told me many times that I really hurt my father that day when I wouldn't admire the cat's cradle, when I wouldn't stay there on the carpet with my father and listen to him sing. Maybe I did hurt him, but I don't think I could have hurt him much. He was one of the best-protected human beings who ever lived. People couldn't get at him because he just wasn't interested in people. I remember one time, about a year before he died, I tried to get him to tell me something about my mother. He couldn't remember anything about her.
“但还是先把思绪拉回1945年8月6日.我的姐姐安杰拉无数次地对我叨叨,当我从他身边躲开,拒绝听他唱的摇篮曲,对那个挑线绷‘猫的摇篮’不屑一顾,我深深地伤害到了父亲.也许我是伤害了他,但估计伤害不了他多深.他是有史以来自我保护能力最强的家伙.别人触动不了他分毫,因为他对别人压根就不感兴趣.我曾经想让他告诉我一些关于母亲的事,他竟然一点都记不起来.
"Did you ever hear the famous story about breakfast on the day Mother and Father were leaving for Sweden to accept the Nobel Prize? It was in _The Saturday Evening Post_ one time. Mother cooked a big breakfast. And then, when she cleared off the table, she found a quarter and a dime and three pennies by Father's coffee cup. He'd tipped her.
“你可曾看过那个著名的关于早餐的故事,就登在《星期六晚邮报》的某期上,说的是父亲和母亲即将出行去瑞典接受诺贝尔奖的那天,母亲为父亲精心准备了早餐.之后,当她理桌子时,她发现在咖啡杯旁边有一堆硬币,一个两毛五的,一个一毛的,还有三个一分的.那是他付给她的小费.

"After wounding my father so terribly, if that's what I did, I ran out into the yard. I didn't know where I was going until I found my brother Frank under a big spiraea bush. Frank was twelve then, and I wasn't surprised to find him under there. He spent a lot of time under there on hot days. Just like a dog, he'd make a hollow in the cool earth all around the roots. And you never could tell what Frank would have under the bush with him. One time he had a dirty book. Another time he had a bottle of cooking sherry. On the day they dropped the bomb Frank had a tablespoon and a Mason jar. What he was doing was spooning different kinds of bugs into the jar and making them fight.
“在我如此惨烈地伤了父亲的心之后---就当有这么一回事儿吧---,我跑进了院子里.我一边百无聊赖地抽抽嗒嗒,一边在琢磨着该上哪儿去.这时,我发现弗兰克正趴在一丛绣线菊下面.在那里发现他,我一点也不奇怪.弗兰克那时12岁.他就像条小狗一样喜欢在树根边上的土里刨坑.而且你永远也料不到在刨坑作业时,他会把什么玩意儿带在身边.有时候是一本脏兮兮的书,有时候是一瓶雪利料酒.在他们往广岛扔原子弹那天,弗兰克带了一个大汤勺和一个玻璃瓶,躲进灌木丛的荫凉里.他正把各式各样的虫子勺进瓶子,让它们角斗.

"The bug fight was so interesting that I stopped crying right away--forgot all about the old man. I can't remember what all Frank had fighting in the jar that day, but I can remember other bug fights we staged later on: one stag beetle against a hundred red ants, one centipede against three spiders, red ants against black ants. They won't fight unless you keep shaking the jar. And that's what Frank was doing, shaking, shaking, the jar.
“斗虫是那么好玩,我立刻停止了干嚎,立马把那个可怜的老人忘在了脑后.我记不全那天弗兰克到底往斗虫瓶里扔了多少可怜虫,但我还记得几出最有看头的：一只鹿角甲虫抵御一百只红蚂蚁,一只蜈蚣对抗三只蜘蛛,红蚁帮大战黑蚁帮.你得不停地摇动瓶子来使它们磕磕碰碰起纷争,那天弗兰克就是把瓶子握在手里,不停地摇啊摇.

"After a while Angela came looking for me. She lifted up one side of the bush and said, 'So there you are!' She asked Frank what he thought he was doing, and he said, 'Experimenting.' That's what Frank always used to say when people asked him what he thought he was doing. He always said, 'Experimenting.'
“过了一会儿,安杰拉出来找我.她把一丛灌木撩开,叫道：‘原来你们躲在这儿.’她问弗兰克在干吗,他说：‘搞实验.’当人们问弗兰克在捣鼓些啥时,他总是这样理直气壮地回答：‘搞实验.’

"Angela was twenty-two then. She had been the real head of the family since she was sixteen, since Mother died, since I was born. She used to talk about how she had three children--me, Frank, and Father. She wasn't exaggerating, either. I can remember cold mornings when Frank, Father, and I would be all in a line in the front hail, and Angela would be bundling us up, treating us exactly the same. Only I was going to kindergarten; Frank was going to junior high; and Father.was going to work on the atom bomb. I remember one morning like that when the oil burner had quit, the pipes were frozen, and the car wouldn't start. We all sat there in the car while Angela kept pushing the starter until the battery was dead. And then Father spoke up. You know what he said? He said, 'I wonder about turtles.' 'What do you wonder about turtles? Angela asked him. 'When they pull in their heads,' he said, 'do their spines buckle or contract?'
“安杰拉那时候22岁,从16岁那年开始---我出生那年,妈妈难产身故那年---她就成了当家的.她总是说她有三个孩子---我,弗兰克,还有父亲.她并未夸张其辞.我清楚地记得,在冬天的早晨,我们大大小小三个男子汉齐刷刷站成一排,等着安杰拉挨个把我们裹个严严实实.穿戴完毕,我们全都要出门,我去上幼儿园,弗兰克去上初中,父亲去上实验室造原子弹.我记得有这样的一个冬天早晨,我们已经整装待发,在汽车里坐定.燃油器罢工,输油管冻住,车子发动不了了.我们坐在车里,看着安杰拉不停地摁启动钮,直到蓄电池耗尽.这时父亲发话了.你能猜到他说什么了吗?他说：“我在纳闷那些乌龟.”安杰拉显然没回过神来,她问道：‘纳闷乌龟什么?’‘当它们缩进脑袋时,它们的脊椎是弯曲还是收缩?’这就是他纳闷的细节.

"Angela was one of the unsung heroines of the atom bomb, incidentally, and I don't think the story has ever been told. Maybe you can use it. After the turtle incident, Father got so interested in turtles that he stopped working on the atom bomb. Some people from the Manhattan Project finally came out to the house to ask Angela what to do. She told them to take away Father's turtles. So one night they went into his laboratory and stole the turtles and the aquarium. Father never said a word about the disappearance of the turtles. He just came to work the next day and looked for things to play with and think about, and everything there was to play with and think about had something to do with the bomb.
“顺便说一句,安杰拉绝对算得上是原子弹事业的无名英雄之一,而我确信她的功绩一直被埋没着.你大可以在你的书里引用她的事迹.在那个早晨之后,父亲对乌龟着了迷,在实验室里养起了乌龟,把原子弹的工作撇在了一旁.曼哈顿工程的一些人找上门问安杰拉该怎么办,她指点他们只需把乌龟拿走就成.于是某天晚上他们进了他的实验室,把乌龟连带玻璃缸都偷走了.父亲对乌龟的失踪不置一词.第二天他照样去工作,继续找有趣的东西来摆弄和纳闷,而那里所有的东西都和原子弹的制造相关.

"When Angela got me out from under the bush, she asked me what had happened between Father and me. I just kept saying over and over again how ugly he was, how much I hated him. So she slapped me. 'How dare you say that about your father?' she said. 'He's one of the greatest men who ever lived! He won the war today! Do you realize that? He won the war!' She slapped me again.
“当安杰拉把我从灌木丛下面拖出来之后,她追问我和父亲之间到底发生了什么事.我语无伦次,一遍遍地说着他好丑我恨他.理所当然地她给了我一耳光.‘你怎么敢这么说你的父亲?’她说道,‘他是当今世界上最伟大的人之一,就在今天,他赢了一场战争.你明白吗?他打赢了第二次世界大战!’话说着,她又煽了我一耳光.
"I don't blame Angela for slapping me. Father was all she had. She didn't have any boy friends. She didn't have any friends at all. She had only one hobby. She played the clarinet.
“我并不抱怨安杰拉打我.父亲是她生活的全部,她几乎没有交际,更别提什么男朋友.她只有一个爱好：吹单簧管.
"I told her again how much I hated my father; she slapped me again; and then Frank came out from under the bush and punched her in the stomach. It hurt her something awful. She fell down and she rolled around. When she got her wind back, she cried and she yelled for Father.
“我依旧吵嚷着我是多么很父亲,她也不依不饶地再次打了我耳光.这时弗兰克从灌木丛下面钻出来,在她肚子上狠狠揍了一下.她一头栽倒,四下乱滚.当缓过气来,她哭出声来,大声呼唤父亲.
"'He won't come,' Frank said, and he laughed at her. Frank was right. Father stuck his head out a window, and he looked at Angela and me rolling on the ground, bawling, and Frank standing over us, laughing. The old man pulled his head indoors again, and never asked later what all the fuss had been about. People weren't his specialty.
“‘他不会来的,’弗兰克嘲笑着她的天真.弗兰克是对的.父亲把头探出窗口,看见了院子里正在上演的一幕：安杰拉和我在地上扭打成一团,声嘶力竭,弗兰克则像个没事儿人似的,站在一旁,哈哈大笑.他不动声色地扫视了一眼,又把头缩了回去.事后,他也从未发问当时到底出了什么乱子.人类行为不在他的关注范围之内.
"Will that do? Is that any help to your book? Of course, you've really tied me down, asking me to stick to the day of the bomb. There are lots of other good anecdotes about the bomb and Father, from other days. For instance, do you know the story about Father on the day they first tested a bomb out at Alamogordo? After the thing went off, after it was a sure thing that America could wipe out a city with just one bomb, a scientist turned to Father and said, 'Science has now known sin.' And do you know what Father said? He said, 'What is Sin?'
“我讲的这些事儿对你的书有参考价值吗?当然,是你自己要求我只讲述原子弹爆炸那一天发生的事儿,让我戴着日期的镣铐讲故事.其实还有很多父亲和原子弹之间的趣闻,不过都发生在别的日子.比如,在原子弹试爆那天,当那玩意儿轰隆作响惊天动地,当确信了美国可以用一颗炸弹就把一座城市夷为平地,一个科学家转向父亲,说道：‘从今往后,科学背负上了罪责.’ 父亲问道：‘什么是罪责?’他又开始纳闷了.
"All the best,
"Newton Hoenikker"
“祝万事如意
“牛顿•霍因涅克谨上




The Illustrious Hoenikkers 7
7 杰出的霍因涅克一家


Newt added these three postscripts to his letter:
牛顿在信后加了三个附言：
"P.S. I can't sign myself 'Fraternally yours' because they won't let me be your brother on account of my grades. I was only a pledge, and now they are going to take even that away from me.
“附言一：恐怕我还不能向您致以兄弟般的热忱,因为级别不够,他们不批准我成为兄弟会的一员.我只是个立誓入会者,而他们现在连我这个资格都想剥夺掉.
"P.P.S. You call our family 'illustrious,' and I think you would maybe be making a mistake if you called it that in your book. I am a midget, for instance--four feet tall. And the last we heard of my brother Frank, he was wanted by the Florida police, the F.B.I., and the Treasury Department for running stolen cars to Cuba on war-surplus L.S.T.'s. So I'm pretty sure 'illustrious' isn't quite the word you're after. 'Glamorous' is probably closer to the truth.
“附言二：你称我们家是个杰出的家庭.如果你在你的书中这样描述我们一家子,那你就犯了个大错.我其实是个侏儒,只有四英尺高.而上一次我们打听到弗兰克的消息时,他正被佛罗里达警方,联邦调查局,美国财政局三方通缉,因为他涉嫌借剩余军用物资流通化的幌子向古巴出口赃车.所以我敢肯定‘杰出的’这一词藻你不应当选用,‘引人注意的’一词也许更接近真实.
"P.P.P.S. Twenty-four hours later. I have reread this letter and I can see where somebody might get the impression that I don't do anything but sit around and remember sad things and pity myself. Actually, I am a very lucky person and I know it. I am about to marry a wonderful little girl. There is love enough in this world for everybody, if people will just look. I am proof of that."
“附言三：又过了二十四个小时,我重读了此信,也许会有人从中得到这样的印象：我从来不干什么正经事 整天懒趴趴的,就知道向别人倒苦水和自艾自怜.只有我知道自己是一个很幸运的人,因为我很快就要和一个了不起的姑娘结婚了.这世界上有足够的爱分配给每一个人,只要人们好好找一找.我就是活生生的证明.”





Newt's Thing with Zinka 8
8 牛顿和珍卡的不得不说的事儿

Newt did not tell me who his girl friend was. But about two weeks after he wrote to me everybody in the country knew that her name was Zinka--plain Zinka. Apparently she didn't have a last name.
牛顿没告诉我他的女朋友是谁,但在他写信给我的两个星期之后,整个美国都知道了她叫珍卡----相貌平平的珍卡.显然她连个姓氏都没有.
Zinka was a Ukrainian midget, a dancer with the Borzoi Dance Company. As it happened, Newt saw a performance by that company in Indianapolis, before he went to Cornell. And then the company danced at Cornell. When the Cornell performance was over, little Newt was outside the stage door with a dozen long-stemmed American Beauty roses.
珍卡是一个乌克兰侏儒,苏联波祖尔舞蹈公司的一个舞蹈演员.事情经过是这样的,在牛顿来科内尔市之前,他在印第安纳波利斯市看了该公司的一场演出.接着该公司又来科内尔献艺,当科内尔那场演出结束时,小牛顿正捧着一束长茎的红蔷薇,在后台入口处等候珍卡的出现.
The newspapers picked up the story when little Zinka asked for political asylum in the United States, and then she and little Newt disappeared.
报纸是在小珍卡寻求政治避难留在美国时,介入报道他们的故事的,紧接着她和小牛顿就双宿双飞了.
One week after that, little Zinka presented herself at the Russian Embassy. She said Americans were too materialistic. She said she wanted to go back home.
一个星期之后,小珍卡在俄国领事馆现身,她说美国人都太物质主义了,她还是想回到自己的祖国.
Newt took shelter in his sister's house in Indianapolis. He gave one brief statement to the press. "It was a private matter," he said. "It was an affair of the heart. I have no regrets. What happened is nobody's business but Zinka's and my own."
牛顿则躲在印第安纳波利斯他姐姐家中,他给媒体寄了如下的简短声明：“这是私人事件,是发生内心的爱,我一点也不后悔我的所作所为.所有发生的事情都是珍卡和我的个人隐私,与别人没有任何关系.”
One enterprising American reporter in Moscow, making inquiries about Zinka among dance people there, made the unkind discovery that Zinka was not, as she claimed, only twenty-three years old.
一个驻扎在莫斯科的颇有事业心的美国记者,在当地的舞蹈演员中调查珍卡,得到了一个不太雅观的发现,珍卡不是如她自己所称的是二十三岁.
She was forty-two--old enough to be Newt's mother.
她其实已经四十二岁—--都够当牛顿的妈了.




Vice-president in Charge of Volcanoes 9
9 火山管理委员会副主席

I loafed on my book about the day of the bomb.
我继续在那本未完成的书上写写弄弄.
About a year later, two days before Christmas, another story carried me through Ilium, New York, where Dr. Felix Hoenikker had done most of his work; where little Newt, Frank, and Angela had spent their formative years.
大约一年之后,在圣诞节之前两天,为了搜集另一个故事的素材,我凑巧路过伊利姆市,正是在这里,菲利克斯•霍因涅克教授度过了他的职业生涯；小牛顿,小弗兰克,小安杰拉度过了他们的青春期.
I stopped off in Ilium to see what I could see.
我在伊利姆市逗留了一下,看看是不是能找到点有趣的线索.
There were no live Hoenikkers left in Ilium, but there were plenty of people who claimed to have known well the old man and his three peculiar children.
霍因涅克家的人死的死,搬得搬,那里早就没有霍因涅克家的人,但那儿有很多人声称熟悉那个老人和他那三个与众不同的孩子.
I made an appointment with Dr. Asa Breed, Vice-president in charge of the Research Laboratory of the General Forge and Foundry Company. I suppose Dr. Breed was a member of my _karass_, too, though he took a dislike to me almost immediately.
我约见了阿萨•布利德教授,通用铸锻造公司研究实验室副主席.我琢磨布利德教授也是我的卡拉斯中的一员,尽管他从一开始就对我没好感.
"Likes and dislikes have nothing to do with it," says Bokonon--an easy warning to forget.
“好感与否,无关紧要.”波寇诺如是说.----这可是条容易被遗忘的教谕.
"I understand you were Dr. Hoenikker's supervisor during most of his professional life," I said to Dr. Breed on the telephone.
我在电话里对布利德教授说：“我了解到,在霍因涅克教授的大部分职业生涯中,您是他的主管.”
"On paper," he said.
“名义上如此, ”他口气冷淡.
"I don't understand," I said.
“呃,我不太明白.”
"If I actually supervised Felix," he said, "then I'm ready now to take charge of volcanoes, the tides, and the migrations of birds and lemmings. The man was a force of nature no mortal could possibly control."
“如果我真地曾主管过他,那我现在就该有足够能力去主管火山,潮汐,候鸟,甚至旅鼠了.这个男人身上有一股自然的力量,任何凡人都掌控不了他.”





Secret Agent X-9 10
10 秘密特工x-9

Dr. Breed made an appointment with me for early the next morning. He would pick me up at my hotel on his way to work, he said, thus simplifying my entry into the heavily-guarded Research Laboratory.
布利德先生约定在第二天清早和我碰面,从我住的宾馆捎上我,载我去他工作的地方.这样我就能很方便地进入安检森严的研究实验室.
So I had a night to kill in Ilium. I was already in the beginning and end of night life in Ilium, the Del Prado Hotel. Its bar, the Cape Cod Room, was a hangout for whores.
所以我在伊利姆有整整一个夜晚可以打发.而等挂上电话,我所就宿的伊利姆市德尔•普拉多酒店里的夜生活早已经开始,也即将结束.它的酒吧间,鳕鱼海岬小屋,是个妓女的巢穴.
As it happened--"as it was _meant_ to happen," Bokonon would say--the whore next to me at the bar and the bartender serving •me had both gone to high school with Franklin Hoenikker, the bug tormentor, the middle child, the missing son.
无意中很碰巧的是----换了是波寇诺,他就会说,有意间很凑巧的是----挨着我坐下的应召女郎,吧台里给我倒酒的服务生,都是已失踪的前虐虫者富兰克林•霍因涅克的高中同学.
The whore, who said her name was Sandra, offered me delights unobtainable outside of Place Pigalle and Port Said. I said I wasn't interested, and she was bright enough to say that she wasn't really interested either. As things turned out, we had both overestimated our apathies, but not by much.
那个女郎,她说她叫桑德拉,给我带来了除埃及艳后克里奥佩特拉本人之外难以给予的快感.一开始我说没兴趣,她开朗地声称她也没兴趣,事实证明,我们都有点高估了双方的冷淡程度.
Before we took the measure of each other's passions, however, we talked about Frank Hoenikker, and we talked about the old man, and we talked a little about Asa Breed, and we talked about the General Forge and Foundry Company, and we talked about the Pope and birth control, about Hitler and the Jews. We talked about phonies. We talked about truth. We talked about gangsters; we talked about business. We talked about the nice poor people who went to the electric chair; and we talked about the rich bastards who didn't. We talked about religious people who had perversions. We talked about a lot of things.
当然,在打量彼此的兴趣程度之前,我们先聊天,我们聊起了弗兰克•霍因涅克,聊起了他的老父亲,顺带聊了聊阿萨•布利德,接着茬聊起了通用锻铸造公司.我们还聊到了教皇与节育控制,希特勒和犹太人.我们聊到了骗子,也聊到了真理,我们聊到了黑社会,也聊到了工商业,我们聊到了那些被送上电椅的好穷人,也聊到了那些本该坐上去的阔佬.我们甚至聊起了宗教人士的性变态.我们聊多了.
We got drunk.
当然,我们也喝多了.
The bartender was very nice to Sandra. He liked her. He respected her. He told me that Sandra had been chairman of the Class Colors Committee at Ilium High. Every class, he explained, got to pick distinctive colors for itself in its junior year, and then it got to wear those colors with pride.
吧台服务生生对桑德拉很好,看得出来他喜欢她,很尊重她,他告诉我她曾经是班级色彩委员会主席.他解释说,每一个新入学的班级,都要选一两种特别的颜色作为自己的幸运色,在此后的三年中穿戴.
"What colors did you pick?" I asked.
“你给自己班级选的是什么颜色?”我问桑德拉.
"Orange and black."
“橘黄色和黑色.”
"Those are good colors."
“都是很棒的颜色”
"I thought so."
“我也这么想.”
"Was Franklin Hoenikker on the Class Colors Committee, too?"
“富兰克林•霍因涅克入选过班级色彩委员会吗?”
"He wasn't on anything," said Sandra scornfully. "He never got on any committee, never played any game, never took any girl out. I don't think he ever even talked to a girl. We used to call him Secret Agent X-9."
“他什么都没入选过,”桑德拉轻蔑地说道：“他从不参加校内竞选,从不打球,从不带女孩出去约会,我猜他大概就没和哪个女孩搭上过讪,我们都叫他秘密特工X-9来着.”
"X-9?"
“X-9?”
"You know--he was always acting like he was on his way between two secret places; couldn't ever talk to anybody."
“这么说吧,他总是鬼鬼祟祟的,一副身在执行秘密任务途中的样子,从来不和别人搭讪.”
"Maybe he really _did_ have a very rich secret life," I suggested.
“也许他真的是在过某种秘密而刺激的生活.”我小小地抗议了一下.
"Nah."
“才不是.”
"Nah," sneered the bartender. "He was just one of those kids who made model airplanes and jerked off all the time."
“才不会.” 酒吧招待轻蔑地插话进来,“反正他就是个怪胎,也许做做模型飞机,还不时打打飞机.”



Protein 11
11 蛋白质

"He was suppose to be our commencement speaker," said Sandra.
“他本该来做我们毕业典礼的演讲嘉宾的.”桑德拉说道.
"Who was?" I asked.
“谁?”我问道.
"Dr. Hoenikker--the old man."
“霍因涅克教授----那个老头.”
"What did he say?"
“他讲了些什么? ”
"He didn't show up."
“他连面都没露. ”
"So you didn't get a commencement address?"
“所以那一年你们没有毕业演讲? ”
"Oh, we got one. Dr. Breed, the one you're gonna see tomorrow, he showed up, all out of breath, and he gave some kind of talk."
“我们倒是有那么一个毕业演讲.布利德教授,他匆忙救场,上气不接下气跑来,说了一通话. ”
"What did he say?"
“他说了些啥? ”
"He said he hoped a lot of us would have careers in science," she said. She didn't see anything funny in that. She was remembering a lesson that had impressed her. She was repeating it gropingly, dutifully. "He said, the trouble with the world was . . ." She had to stop and think.
“他说他希望我们中有一些人去从事科学事业,”她说着,丝毫觉察不出自己说话腔调的可乐之处.她仿佛只是在尽力回忆昔日的一堂课,尽责尽力地复述着,摸索着记忆.
"The trouble with the world was," she continued hesitatingly, "that people were still superstitious instead of scientific. He said if everybody would study science more, there wouldn't be all the trouble there was."
“当今世界的麻烦,就在于很多人仍然迷信超自然的力量,他说如果每个人都多学一些科学知识,整个世界就不会像现在这样一团糟.”
"He said science was going to discover the basic secret of life someday," the bartender put in. He scratched his head and frowned. "Didn't I read in the paper the other day where they'd finally found out what it was?"
“他还说有一天科学将会发现生命的终极秘密.”那个吧台服务生又插话进来,可他抓了抓脑袋瓜,眉头皱起来.“我就在前几天的报纸上读到,那秘密他们已经发现了,可具体是什么东西来着?”
"I missed that," I murmured.
“瞧我都错过了什么,”我恍然若失地嘟哝了一句.
"I saw that," said Sandra. "About two days ago."
“我也看到了”桑德拉说道,“就在两天前的报纸上.”
"That's right," said the bartender.
“对,就是那张报纸.”服务生点头同意.
"What _is_ the secret of life?" I asked.
“那么,生命的终极秘密到底是什么?”我追问道.
"I forget," said Sandra.
“我忘了,”桑德拉摊了摊手,一脸无辜.
"Protein," the bartender declared. "They found out something about protein."
“蛋白质,”服务生大声宣告.“他们发现那秘密和蛋白质有关.”
"Yeah," said Sandra, "that's it."
“对,就是这个.”桑德拉松了口气.


End of the World Delight 12
12 世界欢乐的尽头

An older bartender came over to join in our conversation in the Cape Cod Room of the Del Prado. When he heard that I was writing a book about the day of the bomb, he told me what the day had been like for him, what the day had been like in the very bar in which we sat. He had a W. C. Fields twang and a nose like a prize strawberry.
另一个年纪稍大的服务生走过来掺和进我们的谈话.当他听说我正写一本原子弹之日的书时.他告诉了我在他看来那一天是怎样的,而那天他就站在我们现在所处的吧台里.他说话时,酒糟鼻子里溢着哝哝的鼻音.
"It wasn't the Cape Cod Room then," he said. "We didn't have all these fugging nets and seashells around. It was called the Navajo Tepee in those days. Had Indian blankets and cow skulls on the walls. Had little tom-toms on the tables. People were supposed to beat on the tom-toms when they wanted service. They tried to get me to wear a war bonnet, but I wouldn't do it. Real Navajo Indian came in here one day; told me Navajos didn't live in tepees. 'That's a fugging shame,' I told him.
那时候这地方还不叫鳕鱼海岬小屋,我们这里还没有他娘的四处披挂的这些乱七八糟的渔网啊贝壳之类的东西,那时候这鬼地方叫纳瓦霍帐篷营地,地上铺着印第安地毯,墙上挂在牛头骨,桌上面摆着小手鼓.如果客人要点东西,他们就敲手鼓,嗵嗵嗵.老板还指望把一顶烟囱帽扣在我脑袋上,我可不干.有一天一个货真价实的纳瓦霍印第安人光顾了这里,他告诉我纳瓦霍人压根就不住帐篷.鉴于冒牌把戏被当场戳穿,我不得不以诚恳的态度向真相提供者承认：‘真他娘的糗.’
Before that it was the Pompeii Room, with busted plaster all over the place; but no matter what they call the room, they never change the fugging light fixtures. Never changed the fugging people who come in or the fugging town outside, either.
之前的之前这里是庞培之屋,墙上天花板上四处往下掉灰泥.可不管他们管这鬼地方叫什么,他们却从来不换换那倒霉摧的照明设备.再说了,再怎么换来换去,在这里晃来晃去的还是这个鸟镇上的这么几号鸟人.
The day they dropped Hoenikker's fugging bomb on the Japanese a bum came in and tried to scrounge a drink. He wanted me to give him a drink on account of the world was coming to an end. So I mixed him an 'End of the World Delight.' I gave him about a half-pint of creme de menthe in a hollowed-out pineapple, with whipped cream and a cherry on top. 'There, you pitiful son of a bitch,' I said to him, 'don't ever say I never did anything for you.' Another guy came in, and he said he was quitting his job at the Research Laboratory; said anything a scientist worked on was sure to wind up as a weapon, one way or another. Said he didn't want to help politicians with their fugging wars anymore. Name was Breed. I asked him if he was any relation to the boss of the fugging Research Laboratory. He said he fugging well was. Said he was the boss of the Research Laboratory's fugging son."
在他们把霍因涅克造出来的的鸟炸弹扔在广岛那一天,一个废柴跑进来跟我讨酒喝,他说我得看在全世界快要整个儿玩完的份上,给他来一杯喝的.所以,我就大发慈悲给他调了杯‘世界欢乐的尽头’.当时,我往一个镂空了的菠萝里加了半品脱的薄荷精,再在表面抹上奶油,点上一个樱桃.‘给!你这狗娘养的可怜蛋,可别再在别人面前说我从没对你发过善心.’另一个家伙走了进来 他说他正要辞去在研究实验室的工作,说任何科学研究,到最后都会和武器制造挂上钩,他说他再也不想帮那帮子政客继续捣腾他妈的战争了.他说他叫布利德来着.我就问他是不是那个鸡巴研究实验室的老板的亲戚,他说他妈的正是,他就是那个研究实验室老板的屌儿子.”