Portugal, 1991.  葡萄牙,1991.

　　Some years later, I and this woman --  许多年过后,我和这个女人--

　　we'll call her "Catherine Fletcher" --  我们将称她为“Catherine Fletcher”-

　　went traveling through the south of Portugal together.  我们穿越葡萄牙南部去旅行.

　　We stayed in old, crumbling, walled cities,  我们住在古老的摇摇欲坠的围城里.

　　in tiny little hotels,  在小旅馆里,

　　and we would climb up to the roof and drink Vinho Verde  我们爬到屋顶喝着葡萄牙清酒

　　and watch the sun set and play checkers.  看日落玩跳棋.

　　What? Did we do this? Really? Does anyone do this?  什么?我们做了这些么?真的么?有人会做这样的事情么?

　　We went to some topless beaches.  我们去了沙滩边.

　　Excuse me? No, not in my life.  醒醒?我不是在做梦吧.

　　For what it's worth, we went to Sagres,  不论真伪.我们去了葡萄牙,

　　which was considered, at the time, to be the end of the world.  这被认为是,世界末日.

　　And there I was chased by a pack of feral dogs on the dock,  在那里我被野狗追咬,

　　and the lead dog bit me on the ass,  最后领头的狗咬了我的屁股,

　　requiring me to go to a strange Portuguese clinic  他们带我去一个陌生的葡萄牙诊所

　　and receive an ass shot.  接受屁股的治疗.

　　Make of that what you will.  你可以合理的遐想一下.

　　Our last day in Portugal,  在葡萄牙的最后一天,

　　we were in the district capital of Faro,  我们在葡萄牙的首府,

　　and Catherine decided that she wanted to go to the beach  Catherine想去海滩转一圈

　　one last time.  最后一圈.

　　Now, Faro is a bustling little city,  Faro是个热闹的小城市,

　　and to get to the beach, she explained, you would have to take  她说去海边要乘公交车

　　a bus and then a boat.  再换乘个小船.

　　And did I want to come with?  你愿意跟我一起去么?

　　But I was exhausted and dog-bitten, and so I said, "No."  我摸着被咬坏的屁股已经筋疲力尽了,我说"我不去了."

　　I remember what she looked like before she left.  至今我还记得她黯然离开时失望的眼神.

　　The freckles had grown  这个雀斑女已经长大

　　and multiplied on her face and shoulders,  雀斑在她的脸庞和肩头上倍增,

　　clustering into a kind of a tan.  汇聚成一种巧克力色.

　　A tan, we were both tan --  结果我们皮肤都晒成了巧克力色.

　　is this true?  这是真的吗?

　　Her eyes were extra bright and extra blue, as a result.  她的眼睛是蓝色的格外的亮,最后.

　　She was smiling.  她笑了.

　　She was a single woman about to go alone into a country,  一个单身女人独自到一个陌生的国家,

　　not even speaking the language,  甚至没有相通的语言,

　　to travel alone by bus and boat  独自乘着公车和小船去旅行

　　to go to a beach she did not know  去一个连她自己都不知道在哪的海滩

　　or had never seen.  或者她从未见过.

　　I loved her, and then she went out  我爱她,当她走到那个奇怪的

　　into that strange, alien land.  外星人领域.

　　It took me some time to come to my senses.  我重新整理了我的思绪.

　　I had my own "lost time" moment,  我有属于我的"失忆时段",

　　where I woke up and suddenly realized  我突然醒了,意识到

　　it was very late in the day, almost dinnertime,  时间已经不早了,差不多到了晚饭时间,

　　and she had not come back.  但她还没回来

　　Nervous, I went down to the street to look for her.  我感到不安,于是上街去找她.

　　Now, I did not speak Portuguese.  现在,我不会葡萄牙语.

　　I did not know where the beach was.  我也不知道沙滩在哪?

　　I could not call her on a cell phone because this was 1991,  我同样不能打电话给她因为那是1991年,

　　and the aliens had not given us that technology yet.  那时外星人也没给我们这项技术.

　　I realized that the day would only have  我意识到这一天只有

　　two possible outcomes:  只有两种可能的结果:

　　either Catherine would come back to the hotel, Catherine  自己回到小旅馆

　　or she would never come back to the hotel.  或者她再也不回来了.

　　And so I sat down to wait.  我只能坐下来等.

　　I did not watch the skies, but the very end of the street  我没有注视着天空,而是盯着街道的尽头

　　where the buses and cars and pedestrians  那里的公车汽车和行人

　　and little scooters were moving along.  和小踏板车在前行着.

　　And I watched those constellations shift,  我看着那些星球的转变,

　　hoping that they would part and I would see her face.  多希望他们能让我看到你的脸.

　　It was at that moment,  就在那一刻,

　　in that very small town of 30,000 or so,  在一个容纳30000人的小镇上,

　　that I truly appreciated the vastness of the universe  我真正欣赏到宇宙的浩瀚

　　and the searching we might do in it.  搜寻我们想要的.

　　And that's when the Liberians came along.  那时利比里亚人走了过来.

　　Five young men -- all laughing, happy, traveling together,  5个年轻人--他们都开心的笑着同行,

　　coming back to this hotel where they were staying.  回到他们的住所.

　　One of them was named Joseph, and he asked me  其中一个名叫Joseph,他问我我来做什么,

　　what was I doing, and I explained.  我向他解释.

　　And he said, "Don't worry." He was sure that Catherine would be safe.  他说,"不要担心,"他确信Catherine是安全的.

　　But he did not seem so very sure,  但他看起来不太确信,

　　for he sat down to wait with me.  因为他跟我一起坐下来.

　　And for the next two hours, they all waited with me:  接下来的两个小时,他们和我一起等待.

　　taking turns, going up to their room, coming back,  他们轮流来我房间

　　telling me jokes, distracting me.  讲笑话安慰我,分散我的注意力.

　　Two hours, they gave me a message.  两小时后,他们给我捎口信.

　　We are not alone.  我们并不孤独.

　　And then, in the middle of a sentence, at the very birth of twilight,  这时,字里行间之中让人感到暮光的开始.

　　I turned and looked down the street.  我转过身来,看着街上.

　　The stars aligned, and she came back.  星星排成一排,她回来了.

　　She was smiling. She did not understand why I was so worried.  她笑着,她并不知道我为何而难过.

　　Neither did the Liberians,  利比里亚人也不理解,

　　although there was a huge amount of relief in their laughter  他们的笑声里有着很多的宽慰.

　　as they clapped us on the back, and went back up to their room  他们在心底为我们鼓掌,默默回到房间

　　and left us alone in the street, holding hands.  让我们独自在街上,手牵手.

　　An event like this leaves a scar on the memory,  这像记忆中的伤痛,

　　much like a piece of alien technology  被一个叫做"葡萄牙的医生"的人

　　that has been inserted into your buttocks  把一块外星人的高科技

　　by a "Portuguese doctor."  植入到你的臀部.

　　And even now, a decade and a half later,  即使到现在,15年以后,

　　even now that we are married,  我们结婚了,

　　I look for her still, whenever she is not in the room.  我随时找她时她仍不在房间.

　　And even though, I think you'll agree, it is probable  我认为你也同意,

　　that during the time she was away,  很可能是在她外出时,

　　she was kidnapped and replaced by an alien clone,  被外星人绑架甚至克隆,

　　I love her and wait for her still.  但我会一直爱她,等着她.

　　Thank you for your kind attention.  感谢您的关注.