評(píng)論
打印
A young man finds that strolling along the streets without an obvious purpose can lead to trouble with the law. One misunderstanding leads to another until eventually he must appear in court……
一個(gè)青年發(fā)現(xiàn)，在大街上毫無(wú)明顯目的地游逛會(huì)招致警方的責(zé)罰。誤會(huì)一個(gè)接一個(gè)發(fā)生，最終他只得出庭受審……
A Brush with the Law
與警察的一場(chǎng)小沖突
I have only once been in trouble with the law. The whole process of being arrested and taken to court was a rather unpleasant experience at the time, but it makes a good story now. What makes it rather disturbing was the arbitrary circumstances both of my arrest and my subsequent fate in court.
我平生只有一次跟警方發(fā)生糾葛。被捕和出庭的整個(gè)過(guò)程在當(dāng)時(shí)是一件非常不愉快的事，但現(xiàn)在倒成了一篇很好的故事。這次經(jīng)歷令人可惱之處在于圍繞著我的被捕以及隨后庭上審訊而出現(xiàn)的種種武斷專橫的情況。
It happened in February about twelve years ago. I had left school a couple of months before that and was not due to go to university until the following October. I was still living at home at the time.
事情發(fā)生在大約12年前，其時(shí)正是2月。幾個(gè)月前我中學(xué)畢業(yè)了，但上大學(xué)要等到10月。當(dāng)時(shí)我還在家中居住。
One morning I was in Richmond, a suburb of London near where I lived. I was looking for a temporary job so that I could save up some money to go travelling. As it was a fine day and I was in no hurry, I was taking my time, looking in shop windows, strolling in the park, and sometimes just stopping and looking around me. It must have been this obvious aimlessness that led to my downfall.
一天早晨，我來(lái)到里士滿。這里是倫敦的一個(gè)郊區(qū)，離我住的地方不遠(yuǎn)。我在尋找一份臨時(shí)工作，以便積些錢去旅游。由于天氣晴朗，當(dāng)時(shí)又無(wú)急事，我便慢悠悠看看櫥窗，逛逛公園。有時(shí)干脆停下腳步，四處張望。現(xiàn)在看來(lái)，一定是這種明顯的毫無(wú)目的的游逛，使我倒了霉。
It was about half past eleven when it happened. I was just walking out of the local library, having unsuccessfully sought employment there, when I saw a man walking across the road with the obvious intention of talking to me. I thought he was going to ask me the time. Instead, he said he was a police officer and he was arresting me. At first I thought it was some kind of joke. But then another policeman appeared, this time in uniform, and I was left in no doubt.
事情發(fā)生在11點(diǎn)半鐘光景。我在當(dāng)?shù)貓D書館謀職未成，剛剛走出來(lái)，便看到一個(gè)人穿越馬路，顯然是要來(lái)跟我說(shuō)話。我以為他要問我時(shí)間，不料他說(shuō)他是警官，要逮捕我。起先我還以為這是在開玩笑，但又一個(gè)警察出現(xiàn)在我的面前，這次是位身著警服的，這一下使我確信無(wú)疑了。
