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In my new confidence I set out for the northern end of the Park.
隨著我的信心大增，我開始走向公園的北端。
Near the reservoir, a gang of kids on bicycles zoomed across the Eighty-fifth Street Transverse, hooting with a sense of ominous power.
在靠近水庫的地方，一幫孩子騎著自行車飛馳穿過第85街交匯處，他們喊叫著，顯示出一種令人感到不祥的力量。
A little later, there was another gang, this one on foot—about a dozen black kids, moving eastward, just by the running track.
稍后，又來了一伙，他們步行——大約有十幾個黑人孩子，只是沿著供人跑步的小路向東而行。
I kept my head down and picked up my pace, but my mind involuntarily called up the memory of the 1989 incident,
我始終低著頭，加快了腳步，但頭腦中不由自主地浮現出1989年所發生事件的場面，
in which a young investment banker was beaten and sexually assaulted by a group of kids on a rampage.
那次一位年輕的投資銀行家遭到一伙橫沖直撞的少年的毒打，并受到性侵犯。
Around Ninety-fifth Street, I found a bench and stopped.
在第95街附近，我發現一條長椅，便停了下來。
I had taken one of the trails that run alongside the Park's West Drive, and the more northern apartments of Central Park West were in view.
我是沿著一條在公園西路延伸的小道走來的，中央公園北側更多的公寓住宅便映入眼簾。
I sat as residents prepared for bed: someone watching television, a woman doing yoga, a man stepping into the shower.
我坐到長椅上，此時居民們在鋪床準備就寢：有人在看電視，一位婦女在練瑜珈,一個男人正要去淋浴。
Below me was the city, the top of the Empire State Building peeking over the skyline.
這座城市就在我的腳下，帝國大廈的頂端聳立在天際間。
George Templeton Strong discovered the beauty of Central Park at night on July 30, 1869, on a "starlit drive" with his wife.
喬治·坦普爾頓·斯特朗于1869年7月30日夜與妻子在“星光閃爍下驅車”途中發現了中央公園之美。
But tonight, even if it weren't clouding over, there'd be no stars.
不過今天夜里，即使沒有烏云密布，也不會有星辰了, 因為燈光太炫目了。
Too much glare. The Park is now framed, enveloped even, by the city,
這公園現在已被城市框在中間，甚至可以說被城市緊緊襄在里面了，
but there was no escaping the recognition that this city—contrived, man-made, glaringly obtrusive,
但無法否認這座城市——雖是經過雕琢、人工打造、燈火輝煌，
consuming wasteful and staggering quantities of electricity and water and energy—was very beautiful.
近乎浪費地消耗著數量驚人的電力、水力和能源，但它是異常美麗的。
I'm not sure why it should be so beautiful; I don't have the vocabulary to describe its appeal.
我不能確定它為什么這么美，我也難以找到恰當的詞來描繪它的迷人之處。
But there it was: the city at night, viewed from what was meant to be an escape from it, shimmering.
但現實就是這樣：從遠離城市的公園來看，這座城市的夜晚的確光焰四射、璀璨奪目。
