評論
打印
I sat down and opened the Pirate book and commenced to read, but I could see he was not following, so I stopped.
我坐下來，打開了《海盜故事》，開始讀給他聽，但我看得出來他不在聽，于是我停了下來。
“About what time do you think I'm going to die?” he asked.
“你看我大概什么時候會死？”他問道。
“What?”
“什么？”
“About how long will it be before I die?”
“到我死大概還有多少時間？”
“You aren't going die. What's the matter with you?”
“你不會死。你怎么啦？”
“Oh, yes, I am, I heard him say a hundred and two.”
“啊，不，我會死的。我聽到他說102度。”
“People don't die with a fever of one hundred and two. That's a silly way to talk.”
“人發燒發到102度是不會死的。你這是說傻話。”
“I know they do. At school in France the boys told me you can't live with forty-four degrees. I've got a hundred and two.”
“我知道會的。在法國上學的時候，同學告訴我說，燒發到44度就不能活了。我已經102度了。”
He had been waiting to die all day, ever since nine o'clock in the morning.
原來自上午9點起，整整一天他都在等死。
“You poor Schatz,” I said. “Poor old Schatz. It's like miles and kilometers. You aren't going to die. That's different thermometer. On that thermometer thirty-seven is normal. On this kind it's ninety-eight.”
“你這可憐的寶貝，”我說，“哦，可憐的寶貝，這就像英里和公里。你不會死的。那種溫度計不一樣。用那種溫度計量，37度是正常的體溫。用這種溫度計量，正常體溫是98度。”
“Are you sure?”
“你肯定？”
“Absolutely,” I said, “It's like miles and kilometers. You know, like how many kilometers we make when we do seventy miles in the car?”
“絕對沒錯，”我說。“這跟英里和公里的區別一樣。你知道，就好像我們車速開到70英里該折合成多少公里一樣。”
“Oh,” he said.
“啊，”他說。
But his gaze at the foot of the bed relaxed slowly. The hold over himself relaxed too, finally, and the next day it was very slack and he cried very easily at little things that were of no importance.
他那凝視著床的腳端的目光松弛了。他的緊張狀態也終于緩和了。第二天，越發輕松了。為了一點無關緊要的小事，他會動輒哭起來。
