英语名篇诵读 时间的气味、形象和声音

The Smell and Look and Sound of Time

时间的气味、形象和声音

It was a long road going into darkness and hills and he held to the wheel, now and again

reaching into his lunch bucket and taking out a piece of candy. He had been driving steadily¹ for an

hour, with no other car on the road, no light, just the road going under, the hum , the roar ,

and Mars² out there, so quiet. Mars was always quiet, but quieter tonight than any other. The

deserts and empty seas swung by him, and the mountains against the stars.

There was a smell of Time in the air tonight. He smiled and turned the fancy in his mind.

There was a thought. What did Time smell like? Like dust and clocks and people. And if you

wondered what Time sounded like? It sounded like water running in a dark cave and voices crying

and dirt dropping down upon hollow box lids , and rain. And going further, what did Time look

like? Time looked like snow dropping silently into a black room or it looked like a silent film in an

ancient theater, one hundred billion faces falling like those New Year balloons down and down

into nothing. That was how Time smelled and looked and sounded. And tonight — Tomas shoved³

a hand into the wind outside the truck — tonight you could almost touch the time.

路途漫漫，深入群山，四周一片漆黑，他握着方向盘，不时地把手伸进午餐桶里，取

出一块糖。他已经不间断地开了一个小时的车，途中不见车辆，不见灯光，只有长长的路

在车轮下向前延伸，唯闻发动机如吟如啸。窗外，天幕上火星闪耀，一片静寂。火星总是

静寂，但今夜分外静寂。车行进在荒漠沧海间，傍着衬着星空的群山。

今晚，空气中有种时间的气味。他微微一笑，顿生遐想。有意思。时间闻起来是什么

味道？如尘埃，如时钟，如众生。时间听起来什么样？时间的声音如黑洞流泉，如群声呼

号，如尘土洒在空箱盖上，如淅淅沥沥的雨。那么，再进一步，时间看上去是什么样？时

间的形象如白雪静悄悄地落进一间暗室中，或者，如一座古老影院中放的一部无声电影，

里面亿万人的脸如新年的气球纷纷坠落，落入虚无。时间的气味、形象和声音就是那样。

今夜——托马斯把一只手伸进卡车外面的风中——今夜，你几乎能够摸到时间。

1 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

2 Mars   

n.火星，战争

参考例句：

• As of now we don't know much about Mars.目前我们对火星还知之甚少。
• He contended that there must be life on Mars.他坚信火星上面一定有生物。

3 shoved   

推，猛推，乱推( shove的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱放； 随便放； 胡乱丢

参考例句：

• The people shoved to get on the bus. 人们你推我挤争着上公共汽车。
• He shoved me roughly aside. 他粗暴地把我推到了一边。