【时间旅行者的妻子】63

 Sunday, September 23, 1984 (Henry is 35, Clare is 13)

　

HENRY: I am in the clearing, in the Meadow. It’s very early in the morning, just before dawn. It’s late summer, all the flowers and grasses are up to my chest. It’s chilly¹. I am alone.

I’ve never seen these clothes before, so I have no idea where I am in time. Clare has also left me a snack: there’s a peanut butter and jelly sandwich carefully wrapped in aluminum² foil, with an apple and a bag of lay’s potato chips. Maybe this is one of Clare’s school lunches. My expectations veer³ in the direction of the late seventies or early eighties. I sit down on the rock and eat the food, and then I feel much better. The sun is rising. 

 

The whole Meadow is blue, and then orange, and pink, the shadows are elongated⁴, and then it is day. There’s no sign of Clare. I crawl a few feet into the vegetation, curl up on the ground even though it is wet with dew, and sleep.

　When I wake up the sun is higher and Clare is sitting next to me reading a book. She smiles at me and says, “Daylight in the swamp. The birds are singing and the frogs are croaking⁵ and it’s time to get up!”

　I groan⁶ and rub my eyes. “Hi, Clare. What’s the date?”

　“Sunday, September 23, 1984.”

　Clare is thirteen. A strange and difficult age, but not as difficult as what we are going through in my present. I sit up, and yawn. “Clare, if I asked very nicely, would you go into your house and smuggle⁷ out a cup of coffee for me?”

　“Coffee?” Clare says this as though she has never heard of the substance. As an adult she is as much of an addict⁸ as I am. She considers the logistics.

 

清晨我来到了草场的空地，刚好是黎明前的十分，是夏天快结束的时候了，四周的花草都长到了我齐胸的高度。天气有些凉了，草场只有我独自一人。我涉过又深又密的草丛来到放衣服箱子的地方，打开箱子，我找到了蓝色的牛仔裤和白色的牛津大学T-shirt, 还有一双人字平底拖鞋。

 

我以前从未见过这些衣服，所以我不知道我是不是来对了时间。卡莱尔还给我留了一包零食，一包花生酱，一个锡箔纸小心包起来的果冻三明治，一个苹果一包薯片。可能这些本来是卡莱尔带到学校吃的的中餐。我期望时间指针转到了七十年代末八十年代初。我坐在一块石头上在吃了起来，之后感觉好了很多。

太阳升了起来。整个草场从一片蓝色变成橘色然后是粉红色，影子拉得老长。现在已经是白天了。草场还是没有卡莱尔出现的迹象。我匍匐行进前了几尺钻进植物丛里，倦起身子在被露水打湿的地上睡着了。醒来的时候，太阳升的更高了，克莱尔正坐在我对面读着一本书，微笑望着我 “喂，天亮了还躺在湿湿的地上，鸟儿在唱歌青蛙呱呱叫，该起床啦！”

 

我咕哝了一声，揉了揉眼睛：“嗨，克莱尔，你好！你知道今天几号了吗？”

“星期天，1984年9月23日。”

 

克莱尔13岁了，这是一个奇怪而不太容易渡过的年纪，但我们当下要一起经历的事更不容易。我坐了起来，打着哈欠，“克莱尔，行行好，你能进屋去悄悄弄杯咖啡来给我吗？” “咖啡？”卡莱尔问得像从来没听说过这种东西的似的。成年后的她和我一样狂爱咖啡。她一直在思考这件事的逻辑性。

1 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

2 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

3 veer   

vt.转向，顺时针转，改变；n.转向

参考例句：

• He is unlikely to veer from his boss's strongly held views.他不可能背离他老板的强硬立场。
• If you fall asleep while driving,you'll probably veer off the road.假如你开车时打瞌睡，可能会驶离道路。

4 elongated   

v.延长，加长( elongate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Modigliani's women have strangely elongated faces. 莫迪里阿尼画中的妇女都长着奇长无比的脸。
• A piece of rubber can be elongated by streching. 一块橡皮可以拉长。 来自《用法词典》

5 croaking   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• the croaking of frogs 蛙鸣
• I could hear croaking of the frogs. 我能听到青蛙呱呱的叫声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 groan   

vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音

参考例句：

• The wounded man uttered a groan.那个受伤的人发出呻吟。
• The people groan under the burden of taxes.人民在重税下痛苦呻吟。

7 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。

8 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。