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Life Story by Tennessee Williams
生活的故事 田納西·威廉斯
After you've been to bed together for the first time,
這是你們第一次一床同眠，共剪西窗燭
without the advantage or disadvantage of any prior acquaintance,
而事先沒有相互之間帶有偏愛或偏見的相知相識
the other party very often says to you,
你們一中的一個伙伴總是會和你說
Tell me about yourself, I want to know all about you,
和我聊聊你自己吧，我對你的一切都有濃厚興趣
what's your story?
你的經歷是什么呢？
And you think maybe they really and truly do sincerely want to know your life story,
然后你覺得他們可能真的真的想要了解你的往事，既然他們這么真誠地想要了解你的生命歷程，
and so you light up a cigarette and begin to tell it to them,
所以你就點燃一支煙然后開始向他們講述你的故事
the two of you lying together in completely relaxed positions like a pair of rag dolls a bored child dropped on a bed.
你和你的伙伴翻身調整到了一個特別舒服的位置，你們就像一個身處無聊的小孩扔在床上的一對布娃娃
You tell them your story, or as much of your story as time or a fair degree of prudence allows,
你告訴他們你的往事，或者說你的整個過去，出于時間的流逝或者一種彬彬有禮，謹慎處事的教養，
and they say,Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
他們說嗯，嗯，嗯，嗯，嗯
each time a little more faintly, until the oh is just an audible breath, and then of course there's some interruption.
回應一次比一次漸微漸弱，直到這個“嗯”字，完全變成了聽得到的鼾聲，然后，理所當然地總會有些干擾突然出現。
Slow room service comes up with a bowl of melting ice cubes, or one of you rises to pee
比如說緩慢的客房服務送來了，一碗融化的糖漿，或者你們中的一個突然想要起夜
and gaze at himself with the mild astonishment in the bathroom mirror.
面對盥洗室的鏡子時，他略帶吃驚的凝視著自己的鏡像
And then, the first thing you know, before you've had time to pick up where you left off with your enthralling life story,
然后，你所知道的第一件事，在你有時間再去陳說你那沒有講完的迷人生命歷程前
they're telling you their life story, exactly as they'd intended to all along,
他們開始對你講說他們以前的故事，這是他們期待已久的傾訴
and you're saying, Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
你開始對他們的言語回應，嗯，嗯，嗯，嗯，嗯
each time a little more faintly, the vowel at last becoming no more than an audible sigh,
每一次聲量都減弱一分，最后這種應答成為了清晰可辨的鼾息
as the elevator, halfway down the corridor and a turn to the left,
這種鼾聲如同一臺出門需要左行卻早已卡在半層的電梯，
draws one last, long, deep breath of exhaustion and stops breathing forever.
讓某人呼盡最后的、精疲力竭的、長而深的氣息便再也沒有了呼吸。
Then?
然后呢？
Well, one of you falls asleep and the other one does likewise with a lighted cigarette in his mouth,
其實，當你們中的一個人進入了永恒的夢鄉，其他人則繼續叼著一支點燃的香煙，開始講述他們的故事，無可厚非地
and that's how people burn to death in hotel rooms.
這就是人們怎樣在一家旅館中，燃盡自己的生命
