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I wasn't feeling up to it, Simelane said mischievously to me. "My parents, and my wife's parents, and our priest, decided that I wasn't feeling up to it. And finally I decided so too. Of course Majosi and Sola and the others wanted me to go and get my prize personally, but I said, 'boys, I'm a sculptor, not a demonstrator."'
“我沒精力去領獎，”西梅拉內戲謔地對我說，“我的父母、岳父岳母，以及我們的牧師都認為我沒精力去領這個獎。最后，我也決定不去領獎了。當然，馬喬希和蘇拉及其他人都希望我親自去領獎，但我說：‘孩子們，我是一個雕塑師，而不是一個示威者。’”
This cognac is wonderful, he said, "especially in these big glasses. It's the first time I've had such a glass. It's also the first time I've drunk a brandy so slowly. In Orlando you develop a throat of iron, and you just put back your head and put it down, in case the police should arrive."
“這種干邑白蘭地非常棒，”他說，“尤其是用這種大玻璃杯喝，我還是第一次用這么大的玻璃杯來喝這種酒。這也是我第一次這么慢地喝白蘭地。在奧蘭多，你得練就一副鐵喉嚨。一仰頭就把酒倒進嘴里了，生怕被警察看見。”
He said to me, "This is the second cognac I've had in my life. Would you like to hear the story of how I had my first?"
他對我說這是我平生第二次喝干邑白蘭地。想不想聽我第一次喝白蘭地的故事？”
You know the Alabaster Bookshop in Von Brandis Street? Well, after the competition they asked me if they could exhibit my African Mother and Child. They gave a whole window to it, with a white velvet backdrop, if there is anything called white velvet, and some complimentary words.
你知道馮布蘭達斯大街上的埃勒巴斯特書店嗎？嗯，這次比賽之后，他們問我是否可以展出我的《非洲母子》。他們用一整個櫥窗擺放這尊雕像，后面襯著白色的天鵝絨——如果有白色天鵝絨這種東西的話，他們還為這尊雕塑配上了一些溢美之辭。
Well somehow I could never go and look in that window. On my way from the station to the Herald office, I sometimes went past there, and I felt good when I saw all the people standing there; but I would only squint at it out of the corner of my eye.
嗯，不知怎么地，我從未能走近櫥窗朝里看一看。從火車站到《先驅報》報社，我有時會從那里經過，當我看到人們站在那里駐足觀看時，我感覺不錯；但我只是用眼角的余光瞟它幾眼罷了。
Then one night I was working late at the Herald, and when I came out there was hardly anyone in the streets, so I thought I'd go and see the window, and indulge certain pleasurable human feelings. I must have got a little lost in the contemplation of my own genius, because suddenly there was a young white man standing next to me.
之后，有一天晚上我在《先驅報》報社工作到了很晚，當我從報社出來時，街上幾乎空無一人，于是，我想我要去那里看看那個櫥窗，來滿足一下某種愉快的人類情感。在凝視我自己的天才之作的時候，我一定是有點忘乎所以，因為我突然發現，一位白人青年站在我身旁。
