My morning routine varies little from day to day. I walk the dog, eat breakfast at the kitchen counter with Katie and Matt, then settle in for a day at the computer. And because I work mostly from home, I have learned that little forays into the outside world are imperative for psychological well-being. So before I begin attempting to put sentences together, I stroll over to a quirky little coffee shop in my neighborhood, chat with the folks behind the counter, and get a large coffee to go. No sugar. No cream.
每天早上,我都要做這樣幾件事:遛一陣小狗,坐在廚房餐桌前陪妻子卡蒂和兒子馬特吃早餐,然后對著電腦,一頭扎進(jìn)寫作天地中。天天如是,無甚變化。由于主要在家里工作,我很明白時(shí)不時(shí)到外邊的世界“闖蕩”一下對自己保持良好的心態(tài)有多么重要。因此,在推敲詞句著筆成文之前,我會(huì)散步去附近一間風(fēng)格奇特的小咖啡店,和店里的伙計(jì)們聊聊天,然后帶回一大杯咖啡——不加糖、不加奶的那一種。
The coffee shop is on the other side of the historic Chesapeake & Ohio Canal from my house. In season, a mule-drawn barge is docked there, and tourists line up to take a slow boat, if not to China, at least into the 19th century. The men who work the boat wear what canal workers might have worn back then-broad-brimmed straw hats and suspenders that pull their scratchy-looking pants high above their boots.
離我家不遠(yuǎn)的地方就是歷史悠久的切薩皮克—俄亥俄運(yùn)河,那間小咖啡店就座落在運(yùn)河對岸。每逢旺季,便有一條用騾子拖拽的駁船停靠在河邊,游客們會(huì)排起長隊(duì)等著乘坐一艘慢悠悠的小船,即使不像駛往古老的中國,至少也像是要駛回19世紀(jì)的昔日時(shí)光。船上的工人穿著只有當(dāng)年運(yùn)河船工們才有的行頭:寬邊草帽和吊帶褲。那吊帶把他們那看起來粗糙的褲子高高吊起,露出他們的靴子。
One warm day last fall, I was on my morning outing when I turned the corner to see one of the men sitting alone on the boat, bathed in early-morning light. He was playing a tiny accordion, the kind such canal men squeezed as they floated down the inland waterways of a westward-expanding America. The sound was both melancholy and sweet. It was as if he were alone in the universe. The scene stopped me in my tracks. What I witnessed could only be described as a perfect moment. Ten seconds at most. But months later I still remember just standing there, watching, listening, taking it all in.
去年秋天里的一天,風(fēng)和日麗,我還和平常一樣一早外出溜達(dá)。剛轉(zhuǎn)過街口,我一眼就看見那條船。船上沒有別人,只有一個(gè)船工靜靜地坐著,沐浴著晨曦。他正在船上拉著小手風(fēng)琴。當(dāng)年的運(yùn)河船工正是這樣,撫琴駕舟,沿著這條古老的內(nèi)陸河道向美國西部航行。琴聲憂郁而甜美,仿佛整個(gè)宇宙只有他一人。此情此景,令我情不自禁停了下來。我所看到的這個(gè)情景只能用“完美時(shí)刻”來描述!不過十秒的時(shí)光。可數(shù)月后,我仍清楚地記得當(dāng)時(shí)自己就站在那里,注視著,傾聽著,把一切都刻印在腦海中。
We all have such moments put before us. Little surprises. Whether we’re wise enough to see them is another thing.
我們都曾經(jīng)歷過類似的時(shí)刻。小小的驚喜。不過,我們是否都具有發(fā)現(xiàn)這種瞬間之美的智慧,則是另外一回事。
I thought of the accordion man Sunday afternoon while reading the biographies of those killed in the Columbia tragedy. Mission specialist Laurel Clark, talking from the shuttle a few days before it was to land, said she was delighted by the simple unexpected wonders of space. Like a sunset. “There’s a flash; the whole payload bay turns this rosy pink,” she said. “It only lasts about 15 second and then it’s gone. It’s very ethereal and extremely beautiful.” A moment not lost on her.
一個(gè)周日的下午,當(dāng)我閱讀有關(guān)哥倫比亞號(hào)航天飛機(jī)事故中喪生的宇航員的傳記時(shí),我的腦海中又浮現(xiàn)出那個(gè)船工在演奏手風(fēng)琴的情景。執(zhí)行那次飛行任務(wù)的女專家勞雷爾•克拉克,在哥倫比亞號(hào)著陸前的幾天,曾從飛船上發(fā)回講話,她說能有幸看見太空中那些意想不到的自然奇觀令她非常開心。比如日落。“有一道閃光,整個(gè)有效載荷艙被暈染成了玫瑰紅,”她說,“這僅僅持續(xù)了15秒就消失了。過程神奇非凡且美艷絕倫。”她沒有錯(cuò)過這一瞬間。
In The Hour Meryl Streep and Ed Harris recall a moment they shared years before at a beach house on Cape Cod. It was nothing more than him watching her walk out into the early-morning light. But for that moment, everything was right with their world, everything was possible, everything aligned. They agreed it was the happiest they had ever been.
在電影《時(shí)時(shí)刻刻》里,梅麗爾•斯特里普和埃德•哈里斯回憶起多年前他們倆在科德角上的那間沙灘小屋里共度的時(shí)光。也就是他看著她走出小屋,走進(jìn)晨曦的一幕。就在那一刻,在他們的兩人世界里,一切都正好,一切都變得可能,處處是生機(jī)。他們都認(rèn)為,那是他們一生中最幸福的時(shí)刻。
And in last month’s issue of her magazine, Oprah Winfrey confessed to a “moment” she had last summer. It was a walk down a Santa Barbara lane, a hummingbird and the smell of orange blossoms. She said it was one of those rare times she could say she was truly happy.
奧普拉•溫弗瑞在她上個(gè)月出刊的雜志中提到,去年夏天她也有過一次美妙的“時(shí)刻”。那一刻她正走在圣巴巴拉市的一條小巷子里,猛然間看見一只蜂鳥,和著一陣撲面而來的橘子花香。她說,這是她一生中難得的幾次讓她真正感到幸福的時(shí)刻之一。
I once had a friend who had an odd habit that never ceased to amuse me, maybe because I never quite knew when she was going to spring it on me. It could be while sitting quietly at the end of a dock on Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks. Or it could come in the middle of a particularly lively dinner with old friends. Out of the blue, she’d say, “Stop! I want to remember this moment.”
我曾有一個(gè)朋友,她有個(gè)怪習(xí)慣,對此我總覺得很好笑,或許是因?yàn)槲沂冀K沒法料到她的怪癖會(huì)在什么時(shí)候發(fā)作。或許在我們靜靜地坐在阿迪朗達(dá)克山下舒?zhèn)惡叺拇a頭邊上之時(shí),或許在和老朋友那次尤其熱鬧的聚餐之時(shí)。每每在這樣的時(shí)刻,她會(huì)突然說道:“停一下!我要記住這一刻!”
I realize now, after her death, what wise advice that is.
她去世以后,我才明白到,那是多么明智的建議啊。
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