評(píng)論
打印
It did not take long for the whole village to assemble at Abu Raja's dikkan. Some of the rich villagers walked right into the store and stood at the elbows of the two important-looking men from the telephone company, who proceeded with utmost gravity, like priests at Communion, to wire up the telephone. The poorer villagers stood outside and listened carefully to the details relayed to them by the not-so-poor people who stood in the doorway and could see inside.
一會(huì)兒工夫全村的人都聚在了阿布·拉賈的小店前。小店里，從電話公司來的兩個(gè)人看上去像是很有身份的人，他們像圣餐儀式上的牧師一樣，在極其嚴(yán)肅地接通電話，一些富有的村民徑直走到店里，站在這兩人旁邊觀看。窮村民們站在店外邊，用心聽著不太窮的那些人傳出來的細(xì)節(jié)，這些村民站在過道里，能看到店內(nèi)的情況。
"The bald man is cutting the blue wire," someone said.
“那個(gè)禿頂?shù)娜苏诟钏{(lán)色電線。”有人說。
"He is sticking the wire into the hole in the bottom of the black box," someone else added.
“他正在把線插到黑色盒子底部的孔里。”又有人補(bǔ)充著。
"The telephone man with the mustache is connecting two pieces of wire. Now he is twisting the ends together," a third voice chimed in.
“留著胡子的裝電話的人正在連接兩根線。現(xiàn)在他把兩根線頭扭在一起。”又有一個(gè)人插話道。
Because I was small, I wriggled my way through the dense forest of legs to get a firsthand look at the action. Breathless, I watched as the men in blue put together a black machine that supposedly would make it possible to talk with uncles, aunts, and cousins who lived more than two days' ride away.
因?yàn)槟菚r(shí)我還很小，所以為了親眼看清整個(gè)過程，我穿過大人們密密麻麻的大腿，目睹了整個(gè)安裝過程。我屏住呼吸，看著那兩個(gè)穿藍(lán)色衣服的人把一個(gè)黑色機(jī)器裝配好，有了這個(gè)東西,我們大概就能和叔叔、舅舅、姑媽、姨媽和表兄妹講話了，他們住在騎牲口都要超過兩天才能到達(dá)的地方。
It was shortly after sunset when the man with the mustache announced that the telephone was ready to use. He explained that all Abu Raja had to do was lift the receiver, turn the crank on the black box a few times, and wait for an operator to take his call. Abu Raja grabbed the receiver and turned the crank forcefully. Within moments, he was talking with his brother in Beirut. He didn't even have to raise his voice or shout to be heard.
太陽剛下山，留胡子的那人就宣布，電話已經(jīng)安裝完畢。他解釋說，阿布·拉賈要做的只是拿起那個(gè)話筒，轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)幾圈黑盒子上面的搖柄，就可以等候話務(wù)員接通電話了。阿布·拉賈拿起話筒，用力地轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)搖柄。一會(huì)兒工夫，他就和在貝魯特的兄弟聊了起來。他甚至都不需要提高聲音或大喊對(duì)方就能聽得見。
