評論
打印
The Hour of Letdown
放松時刻
E.B.White
E.B.懷特
When the man came in, carrying the machine, most of us looked up from our drinks, because we had never seen anything like it before. The man set the thing down on top of the bar near the beerpulls. It took up an ungodly amount of room and you could see the bartender didn't like it any too well, having this big, ugly-looking gadget parked right there.
當那個人帶著機器進來時，我們大多數人都停止了喝酒，抬頭看去，因為我們以前從來沒有見過這種東西。那人把它放在酒吧柜臺上的啤酒泵旁邊。那機器占用了很大的空間，你可以看得出，酒吧招待不愿看到這個龐大的丑陋的裝賈放在那里。
"Two rye-and-water," the man said.
“兩杯黑麥威士忌和水。”那人說。
The bartender went on mixing an Old Fashioned that he was working on, but he was obviously turning over the request in his mind.
招待員繼續調著手頭的老式雞尾酒，但是顯而易見他已經在考慮那個人的要求了
"You want a double?" he asked, after a bit.
“你要雙份嗎？”過了一會兒，他問。
"No," said the man. "Two rye-and- water, please." He stared straight at the bartender, not exactly unfriendly but on the other hand not actually friendly.
“不，”那人說，“請來兩杯黑麥威士忌和水。”他直盯著招待員，既不失禮貌也不十分友好
Many years of catering to the kind of people that come into saloons had provided the bartender with an adjustable mind. Nevertheless, he did not adjust readily to this fellow, and he did not like the machine—that was sure. He picked up a live cigarette that was idling on the edge of the cash register, took a drag out of it, and returned it thoughtfiilly. Then he poured two shots of rye whiskey, drew two glasses of water, and shoved the drinks in front of the man. People were watching. When something a little out of the ordinary takes place at a bar, the sense of it spreads quickly all along the line and pulls the customers together.
由于多年來招待來酒吧的客人，這位招待員練就了一副隨機應變的頭腦。但是，他 卻不樂意遷就這家伙，他也不喜歡那臺機器，這是千真萬確他拿起放在收款機邊上的一支燃著的香煙，抽了一口，若有所思地把它放回原處。然后，他倒了兩杯黑麥威士忌又接了兩杯水，把他們推到那人面前。人們都在看著，每當酒吧里發生一點新奇事，人們很快就能感覺到。
