TED演讲:漫谈时光流逝(3)

 　　Encounter one: Ocean City, New Jersey¹, 1980.  遭遇一: 1980年,新泽西的欧欣城.

　　This was the summer when the special edition of  那是个夏天,正好赶上《第三类接触》的

　　"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was released.  特别版发布.

　　And I went on vacation with my parents to the Jersey shore.  我和父母一起去新泽西的滨海度假.

　　Within 12 hours, I was horribly sunburned,  我在12个小时内被严重的晒伤,

　　just like Richard Dreyfuss in the movie.  严重的就像电影里的Richard Dreyfuss.

　　And so I spent the rest of the vacation  所以我剩余的假期,

　　largely sitting outside our little rental² house at night,  基本上只能在晚上坐在我们租来的小房子外面,

　　the sidewalk still warm from the sun,  享受人行道残存的太阳余温,

　　watching the skies for UFOs.  寻找着天空的不明飞行物.

　　What did I see? Stars, satellites,  我都是看到了什么?星星,人造卫星,

　　blinking airplanes -- typical sky junk.  闪砾的飞机 --典型的天空垃圾.

　　Occasionally, kids would come and  小朋友们偶尔会过来,

　　join me and watch,  加入我一起观察,

　　but their necks soon got sore, and they would go off to the boardwalk  他们的脖子很快就酸了,所以他们离开人行道

　　to play video games and mingle³ with humans.  去玩游戏机或找别人玩.

　　I was pretty good at the video games. I was not very good at the other part,  我曾很擅长游戏机.但我不擅长别的,

　　so I stayed alone with the cosmos⁴.  所以我还是一个人跟宇宙呆着吧.

　　And that's when it happened.  就是在这时发生的,

　　An elderly couple came walking down the street.  一对老夫妇在街上溜达.

　　I would say they were in their late seventies,  我觉得他们有七十多了,

　　and I would say that they were on a date,  还觉得他们在约会,

　　because he was wearing a very neat little suit  因为他穿着很整洁的套装

　　with a yellow tie -- a brown suit.  棕色套装里还打着黄领带.

　　And she was wearing a cardigan, because it was now fully⁵ night  因为并不是深夜,女士穿了一件羊毛上衣,

　　and a chill was coming in off the ocean.  凉风从海面上吹过来.

　　I remember, for some reason,  我记得,出于某种原因,

　　that they were exactly the same height.  他们身高相同.

　　And then they stopped, and the man turned to me  然后他们停住了,这个男人转向身

　　and said,  问我,

　　"What are you looking for,  "你在看什么呢?"

　　flying saucers?"  "飞碟?"

　　You have to admit, that's a pretty boss piece of detective work  你不得不承认,这个老男人在约会时

　　for an old man on a date.  非常像一名侦探.

　　But what was stranger still --  但还有很奇怪的是 --

　　and even I realized it at the time,  我意识到了在那个时间,

　　as a nine-year-old child --  作为一个九岁的小孩 --

　　was that they stopped at all.  他们停下来

　　That this old man would interrupt his moonlight stroll  这个老男人在跟他女朋友在月光下停下来

　　with his sweetheart with the precise reason  用一个准确的问题

　　of making fun of a child.  去跟一个小孩看玩笑.

　　"Oh," he said, "哦." 他说,

　　"little green men."  "小绅士."

　　And then his girlfriend joined in, too.  这时,他女朋友也加入进来.

　　"There's no such thing as space men," she said.  "外星人根本不存在," 她说.

　　"There's no such thing."  "没那种东西."

　　And then they both laughed. "Ha, ha, ha."  然后他们同时哈哈一笑.

　　I looked around.  我环顾四周.

　　The street was entirely⁷ empty.  街道已经全空了.

　　I had stopped hearing the sound of the ocean.  我听不到大海的声音.

　　It was as though time had stopped.  仿佛时间停止了.

　　I did not know why they were teasing me.  我不知道他们为什么逗我.

　　I looked into their strangely angry faces,  我观察他们陌生的脸孔,

　　and I remember wondering,  并且我感觉很奇怪

　　are they wearing rubber masks?  他们是不是带的橡胶面具?

　　And what would be behind those rubber masks, if they were?  躲在面具后面的是什么?

　　Giant, almond-shaped, unblinking eyes?  他们是不是有一双巨大的,一眨不眨的杏仁一样的双眼?

　　Slits⁸ for mouths?  裂缝一样的嘴巴?

　　The old man crooked⁹ his finger as though he were firing a gun,  这个做了一个开枪的手势,

　　and then he made laser sounds.  并且他发出激光枪的声音,

　　"Kew, kew, kew --  咻,咻,咻--

　　watch out."  "小心!"

　　And they turned at once and walked away.  然后他们转身接着散步.

　　The old man reached out  那个老男人伸出

　　his knobbly claw  他年迈粗糙的手

　　for the woman's hand,  拉住女人的手,

　　and found it, and left me alone.  然后留下我一个人.

　　Now, you could describe this as a simple misunderstanding --  现在,你可以把这个当成一次简单的误会 --

　　a strange encounter among humans.  一个人类之间的奇怪的邂逅.

　　Maybe it was swamp gas, but --  也许它只是浮云,但是 --

　　I know what I saw.  我知道我看到了什么.Close encounter two: Brookline, Massachusetts, 1984.  遭遇二: 1984年马萨诸塞的布鲁克林

　　I went to see the movie "Dune¹⁰,"  我去那里看电影"沙丘"

　　and a girl talked to me. Now, on its face --  一个女孩跟我搭讪,从表面上看 --

　　this is impossible on its face, I realize --  我意识到,这从表面上看是不可能的 --

　　but it is absolutely true.  但它确实是真的.

　　It was opening night, naturally.  当时是首场演出.自然地.

　　I went with my friend Tim McGonigal, who sat on my left.  我跟我的朋友Tim McGonigal一起去看的,他坐我左边.

　　On my right was the girl in question.  我右边是问我问题的女孩儿.

　　She had long, curly black hair, a blue jean jacket.  她有长长的,卷曲的头发,蓝色的工服.

　　I remember, she had some sort of injury to her ankle,  我记得,她的脚有点受伤,

　　an Ace⁶ bandage, and she had crutches¹¹.  有绑带和拐杖.

　　She was very tall, I would say.  我认为她很高,

　　I was starting high school at the time. I would say she was a junior,  我那时是高年级学员.我觉得她应该是低年级的,

　　but I had never seen her before. She didn't go to my school.  但我从来没有见到过他.她也不去我们学校.

　　I didn't know her name, and I never will.  我不知道她的名字,知道也白搭.

　　She was sitting with someone who I presume was her mother,  她跟一个像她妈妈一样的人一起坐着,

　　and they were talking about the novel, "Dune."  她们正在讨论小说

　　They were both big fans, mother and daughter --  她们都是爱好者,妈妈和女儿 --

　　very unusual.  这不常见.

　　They were talking about how their favorite characters  她们正在讨论最喜欢的角色

　　were the giant sandworms.  是那个巨大的沙虫.

　　And then it got stranger.  这时,事情变的更怪了.

　　That's when she turned to me and said,  那时,她转向我并问道,

　　"Are you looking forward to seeing the movie?"  "你期待看这部电影吗?"

　　First of all, I was embarrassed  刚开始,我很尴尬

　　because I had not read the novel "Dune" at that time.  因为我从来没读过小说.

　　I was merely a connoisseur¹² of movies  我仅仅一个沙漠行星主演电影的

　　featuring desert planets, as I still am.  一个影片鉴赏家,现在也是.

　　But it was also the tone of how she asked the question:  但她还是问了很多的问题:

　　apropos¹³ of nothing, like she didn't even care about the answer,  没什么实质的东西,就像她根本不介意答案一样,

　　as though she just wanted to talk to me.  仿佛她只是想跟我聊天一样.

　　I did not know what to say. I said, "Yes."  我不知道要说什么.我只说"是的."

　　I did not even turn my head.  我甚至都不转过头来.

　　The movie began.  电影开始了.

　　I need not remind you that this was David Lynch's version of "Dune,"  我不需要提醒你那部电影是David Lynch版本,

　　in which all of the characters  在所有的角色里,

　　were sexy and deformed¹⁴ at the same time.  畸形和性感同时存在.

　　There was a character called the Third-Stage Guild¹⁵ Navigator,  有一个字符称为剧场版航海家,

　　which was a kind of giant, floating fetus-creature  这是一个巨大的池塘,她孕育着生命

　　that lived in a giant tank with this orange mist  这个巨大的池塘散发着香橙的

　　of psychedelic spice  迷幻味道

　　swirling¹⁶ around him,  环绕着他,

　　allowing him to bend space and time.  让他有能力扭曲时间与空间.

　　He could never leave the tank  并永远不能离开这个池塘

　　or interact with the outside world.  或者说与外界有任何联系.

　　He had become, in his isolation,  他认为,在他的世界,

　　so deformed and so sexy,  丑陋与性感是并存的,

　　that he had to talk through a kind of old-timey radio  他通过一种老式的电台

　　to the outside world, and could never touch them.  向外界传播,但是永远触及不到他们.

　　I mean, I liked him a lot better than the sandworms.  我是说,我喜欢他们胜过沙虫.

　　The sandworms were fine, but your favorite character?  沙虫固然好,但你认为它是我的菜?

　　Please.  不是吧.

　　When the movie ended,  当影片结束,

　　everyone seemed very happy  每个人洋溢着笑容

　　to get up and get out of the theatre as soon as possible.  都匆忙的走出了影院.

　　Except for the girl.  除了一个女孩.

　　As I walked out, her pace slowed.  当我走过她身边,她放缓步伐.

　　Perhaps it was the crutches,  也许她拄着拐杖,

　　but it seemed --  假装是这样--

　　it seemed as though she might want to talk to me again.  看来她还想和我搭讪.

　　When I say it out loud, it sounds so ridiculous,  当我说出来,听起来却很滑稽,

　　but I can only come to the conclusion  我只能得出这样的结论

　　that it was what, in the alien abductee community,  这是一个外星球社区

　　they call a "screen memory":  他们称之为"萤幕记忆."

　　a ridiculous false recollection designed by their brain  大脑给他们一个可笑错误的记忆

　　to cover up some trauma¹⁷ -- say, of being kidnapped  去掩盖一些创伤--被外星人绑架后

　　and flown off to a sex pyramid.  飞往金字塔发生性关系.

　　And so I sure am glad  我当然很高兴

　　I did not slow down to talk to her.  所以我并没有慢下脚步跟她说话.

　　I sure am glad I never saw her again.  我很高兴从那时起我再没见过她.

1 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

2 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

3 mingle   

vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往

参考例句：

• If we mingle with the crowd,we should not be noticed.如果我们混在人群中，就不会被注意到。
• Oil will not mingle with water.油和水不相融。

4 cosmos   

n.宇宙；秩序，和谐

参考例句：

• Our world is but a small part of the cosmos.我们的世界仅仅是宇宙的一小部分而已。
• Is there any other intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos?在宇宙的其他星球上还存在别的有智慧的生物吗？

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 ace   

n.A牌；发球得分；佼佼者；adj.杰出的

参考例句：

• A good negotiator always has more than one ace in the hole.谈判高手总有数张王牌在手。
• He is an ace mechanic.He can repair any cars.他是一流的机械师,什么车都会修。

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 slits   

n.狭长的口子，裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开，撕开( slit的第三人称单数 )；在…上开狭长口子

参考例句：

• He appears to have two slits for eyes. 他眯着两眼。
• "You go to--Halifax,'she said tensely, her green eyes slits of rage. "你给我滚----滚到远远的地方去！" 她恶狠狠地说，那双绿眼睛冒出了怒火。

9 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

10 dune   

n.(由风吹积而成的)沙丘

参考例句：

• The sand massed to form a dune.沙积集起来成了沙丘。
• Cute Jim sat on the dune eating a prune in June.可爱的吉姆在六月天坐在沙丘上吃着话梅。

11 crutches   

n.拐杖, 支柱 v.支撑

参考例句：

• After the accident I spent six months on crutches . 事故后我用了六个月的腋杖。
• When he broke his leg he had to walk on crutches. 他腿摔断了以后，不得不靠拐杖走路。

12 connoisseur   

n.鉴赏家，行家，内行

参考例句：

• Only the real connoisseur could tell the difference between these two wines.只有真正的内行才能指出这两种酒的区别。
• We are looking for a connoisseur of French champagne.我们想找一位法国香槟酒品酒专家。

13 apropos   

adv.恰好地；adj.恰当的；关于

参考例句：

• I thought he spoke very apropos.我认为他说得很中肯。
• He arrived very apropos.他来得很及时。

14 deformed   

adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的

参考例句：

• He was born with a deformed right leg.他出生时右腿畸形。
• His body was deformed by leprosy.他的身体因为麻风病变形了。

15 guild   

n.行会，同业公会，协会

参考例句：

• He used to be a member of the Writers' Guild of America.他曾是美国作家协会的一员。
• You had better incorporate the firm into your guild.你最好把这个公司并入你的行业协会。

16 swirling   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着，旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句

17 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。