評論
打印
19 Then came the stories saying: Nah, there is no baby boom, it's all anecdotal, there's no statistical evidence to back it up. And I believed that too. But I've been noticing something for weeks now. In my neighborhood there is a baby boom. There are babies all over in Brooklyn. It is full of newborns, of pink soft-limbed infants in cotton carriers on daddy's chest. It is full of strollers, not only regular strollers but the kind that carry two children -- double-wides. And triple-wides. I don't care what anyone says, there have got to be data that back up what I'm seeing: that after Sept. 11, there was at least a Brooklyn baby boom.
后來又有報道說，不對，沒有什么生育高峰，那完全是道聽途說，并沒有統計數據加以證實。我也相信這一報道的真實性。但好幾個星期以來我一直關注著一個情況。我家附近出現了生育高峰。布魯克林到處都是嬰兒。處處可見新生嬰兒，處處可見粉嘟嘟的、小手小腳軟軟的嬰兒，他們蜷伏在父親胸前的棉兜里。處處可見嬰兒小推車，不僅是普通的小推車，還有那種可放兩個嬰兒的小推車。甚至還有可放三個嬰兒的小推車。別人怎么說我不管，應該有數據證實我目睹的情況：9·11事件之后，至少在布魯克林出現了生育高峰。
20 A dream boom, too. The other day I spoke with a friend I hadn't seen since the world changed. He was two blocks away when the towers fell, and he saw everything. We have all seen the extraordinary footage of that day, seen it over and over, but few of us have seen what my friend described: how in the office buildings near the World Trade Center they stood at the windows and suddenly darkness enveloped them as the towers collapsed and the demonic cloud swept through. Did you see those forced to jump? I asked.
夜夢也激增。一天我跟事件發生后一直沒見過面的一位朋友交談。世貿大樓倒下時，他就在兩個街區之外，目睹了一切。我們都看過當日那令人震驚的電視鏡頭，看過一遍又一遍，但很少有人看到過我朋友所描述的情景：在世貿中心近旁的辦公大樓里，他們站在窗邊，突然黑暗將他們籠罩，那兩幢樓倒塌了，可怕的濃煙迅速蔓延。你有沒有看到那些被迫往下跳的人？我問。
21 "Yes," he said, and looked away.
“看到，”他說著移開了視線。
22 Have you had bad dreams?
你有沒有做噩夢？
23 "Yes," he said, and looked away.
“做的，”他說著，仍看著別處。
24 I thought about this for a few days. My friend is brilliant and by nature a describer of things felt and seen. But not this time. I spoke to a friend who is a therapist. Are your patients getting extraordinary dreams? I asked.
我好幾天都想著這事。我的這位朋友才華橫溢，天生擅長描述自己的感受與見聞。但這次卻例外。我跟一位當治療專家的朋友交談。你的病人是不是都做些稀奇古怪的夢？我問。
25 "Always," he laughs.
“總是做那樣的夢，”他笑了起來。
26 Sept.11-related?
都跟9·11事件有關？
27 "Yes," he says, "mostly among adolescents. "
“是的，”他說，“主要都是青少年。”
28 I asked if he was saving them, writing them down. He shook his head no.
我問他有沒有把這些夢收集好記下來。他搖了搖頭。
29 So: The Sept. 11 Dream Project. We should begin it. I want to, though I'm not sure why. I think maybe down the road I will try to write about them. Maybe not. I am certain, however, that dreams can be an expression of a nation's unconscious, if there can be said to be such a thing, and deserve respect. (Carl Jung thought so.)
是啊：9·11夢錄項目。我們應該著手進行了。本人有意去做，雖說我自己也不太清楚到底為什么。我想，以后也許我會試著把那些夢寫下來。也許不會。但我相信，夢可以反映國民的潛意識――如果真有所謂潛意識――而且值得把夢當一回事。（卡爾·榮格持肯定態度。）
30 To respect is to record. Send in your Sept. 11 related dream -- recurring, unusual, striking, whatever. I will read them, and appreciate them and possibly weave them into a piece on what Sept. 11 has done to our dream lives and to our imaginations, when our imaginations are operating on their own, unfettered, unstopped, spanning.
既然值得當回事就要記錄下來。請把你做的與9·11事件有關的夢寄給我――一再重復的，不同尋常的，驚人的，等等。我會閱讀你們的來函，會理解，可能的話會將它們編成一篇文章，反映9·11事件對我們的夢幻生活和想象力――即當我們的想象力獨立地、無拘無束地、毫無牽絆地持續發揮時――產生了什么影響。
