評論
打印
He said to me, "What do you think of that, mate?" And you know, one doesn't get called "mate" every day.
他對我說老兄，你覺得它怎么樣？”你也知道，一個黑人并不是每天都會有幸被稱作“老兄”的。
I'm looking at it, I said."
“我正在看呢，”我說。
I come and look at it nearly every night, he said. "You know it's by one of your own boys, don't you?"
“我幾乎每天晚上都來看它，”他說，“你知道，這是由你們的一位兄弟創作的，是吧？”
Yea, I know.
“是的，我知道。”
It's beautiful, he said. "Look at that mother's head. She's loving that child, but she's somehow watching too. Like someone guarding. She knows it won't be an easy life."
“太美了，”他說，“看那母親的臉，她深深地愛著那個孩子，但她也在以某種方式警惕著，像是一位守衛者。她知道生活并不容易。”
Then he said confidentially, "Mate, would you like a drink?"
然后，他套近乎似地說老兄，想喝一杯嗎？”
Well honestly I didn't feel like a drink at that time of night, with a white stranger and all, and a train still to catch to Orlando.
坦白地說，我不太想在晚上的這個時候喝酒，還是和一個陌生的白人，再說我還要趕火車回奧蘭多。
You know we black people must be out of the city by eleven, I said.
“你知道我們黑人必須在晚上十一點前出城我說。
It won't take long. My flat's just round the corner. Do you speak Afrikaans?
“不會耽誤你很長時間。我的公寓就在不遠處。你會說南非荷蘭語嗎？”
Since I was a child, I said in Afrikaans.
“從小就會說我用南非荷蘭語說道。
We'll speak Afrikaans then. My English isn't too wonderful. I'm van Rensburg. And you?
“那么我們就說南非荷蘭語吧。我的英語也不太好。我叫范蘭斯堡。你呢？”
I couldn't have told him my name. I said I was Vakalisa, living in Orlando.
我不能告訴他我的名字。因此我說我叫瓦卡利沙，住在奧蘭多。
By this time he had started off, and I was following, but not willingly. We didn't exactly walk abreast, but he didn't exactly walk in front of me. He didn't look constrained. He wasn't looking round to see if anyone might be watching.
這時他已走開了，我跟在他后面，但并不很情愿。我們沒有完全并肩而行，但他也不在我的正前方。他看起來并不拘謹，沒有環顧四周看看是否有人在注視我們。
He said to me, "Do you know what I wanted to do?"
他對我說：“你知道我以前想要做什么嗎？”
No, I said.
“不知道我說。
I wanted a bookshop, like that one there. I always wanted that, ever since I can remember. But I had bad luck. My parents died before I could finish school.
“我想要開家書店，就像那兒的那一家。自我記事起，我就一直有這樣的想法。但我運氣不好。我還沒有上完學我父母就去世了。”
