VOA慢速英语2020 关于一个叫加布里埃尔的地方（在线收听）

Our story today is called "About a Place Called Gabrielle's". It was written by Robert Paul Smith. Here is Shep O'Neal with the story. There are a hundred places in New York like Gabriel's. Up front is a small bar, in back there are a few booths and a half of dozen tables, the husband is the cook, and the wife takes care of the bar. It has a name which is the first name of the husband or the wife or the town where they came from -- Lois, Tony's, Estelle's, or Maria's, or the Calaberian or the Belonia. To many people in New York, one of these places is the nearest thing to home they would never know. People in New York have two neighborhoods, the one where they work, and the one where they live. The way the city is one man's office is next to another man's home. And the street that is one man's place to make a dollar is also another man's place to make a life. So, each of these little restaurants has two complete and different groups of customers, the lunch people and the dinner people. The lunch people are the ones who work in the neighborhood, they appear during the middle of the day. The dinner people are the ones who live there; they appear at night after they finish work. They never meet although to both groups, the places home. Sometimes the place means so much to some people that they are neither lunch nor dinner people. They really live there. The city is their living room; the place is their dining room. One of the people who once felt that way about Gabrielle's is a man named Jeff Cobby.

我们今天要讲述的故事叫做《关于一个叫加布里埃尔的地方》，作者罗伯特·保罗·史密斯，讲述人谢普·欧·尼尔。在纽约，有一百个地方像加布里埃尔那样的地方，前面是一个小酒吧，后面有几个包厢和六张桌子，丈夫是厨师，妻子负责酒吧。它的名字，是丈夫或妻子的名字，或是他们来自的城镇的名字——露易丝、托尼、埃斯特勒、玛丽亚、卡拉贝里安或贝罗尼亚。对纽约的许多人来说，其中一个这样的地方是他们永远不知道的离家最近的地方。纽约客有两个聚集区，一个是他们工作的地方，另一个是他们居住的地方。在这座城市中，一个人的办公室紧挨着另一个人的家。一个人挣钱的地方就是另一个人谋生的地方。所以，每个小餐馆都有两个完全不同的顾客群体，午餐就餐者和晚餐就餐者。吃午餐的人是在附近工作的人，他们中午来。吃晚饭的人是住在那里的人；他们晚上下班后来。虽然对两个群体来说，这个地方算是他们的家，但他们从未谋面。有时，这个地方对某些人意义重大，他们既不是午餐者也不是晚餐者。他们是真的住在那里。城市是他们的客厅，这个地方是餐厅。一个曾经对加布里埃有过这种感觉的人，是一个叫杰夫·克比的人。

In a place like Gabrielle's the lunch people start coming into eat about twelve thirty. Gabrielle makes the drinks at the bar; she also takes the money. Every day about noon, she begins to worry. If the regular people are not regular, there will soon be no such place as Gabrielle's. It is good to have people coming in off the street, but it is the regulars those who come in everyday who are important. So Gabrielle worries until the six men from the office around the corner come in, and thank God, filled the corner table. These are the people she can depend on. Then in walks the man who comes alone. He eats whatever fish there is, reads the newspaper, and drinks a half bottle of wine everyday. And here is the young man and young woman who have been coming for two whole months now. They are in love Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They have a violent fight every Friday. Gabrielle wonders what they do on Tuesday.

在像加布里埃这样的地方，午餐者大约在12点半就餐。加布里埃在酒吧里制酒，她也收钱。每天中午左右，她开始担心起来。如果常客不常来，很快就不会有像加布里埃这样的地方了。街上有人进来是件好事，但每天都来的常客非常重要。所以，加布里埃一直担心，直到六个人从拐角处的办公楼进来。谢天谢地，他们坐在了角落的餐桌上。这些是她可以依靠的人。然后，有个人自己走了进来。他每天来吃鱼、看报纸、喝半瓶酒。还有来了整整两个月的一对男女青年。他们在周一、周三和周四相爱，周五则会激烈地争吵。加布里埃想知道他们周二在做什么。

There is in Gabrielle's as there is in every one of these places. One man who comes at lunchtime, sits down at the bar, and gets quietly drunk everyday. He comes to eat lunch. Each day he tells himself that he will have no more than two drinks, and then gets something to eat. But somehow, the two drinks always get to be three. And after that he stops counting. These are the regular ones. These are the lunch people. And from 12:30 to 3:00, many things happen to the lunch people. They fall in and out of love. They decide to live fully and enjoy it, to save money and spend it, to be nicer to people than ever before. Some promise themselves to eat less, and lose a little weight. Two men become business partners and have a drink to celebrate it. A man at the bar has been waiting for a girl, but she never comes, he decides never to see her again, no matter what, and he has a drink, to celebrate his decision. The man in the second booth is trying hard not to ask the other man in the same booth for the job. He puts his hand in his pocket, and discovers that he has spent all his money. These are the things that keep happening at Gabrielle's between twelve thirty and three. By three, most of the lunch people have gone back to their offices, their studios, their adding machines and business meetings. Except for Jeff Cobby who has not been in Gabrielle's for five years because he has not been in New York for five years.

这种事在加布里埃发生，也发生在其它这样的地方。一个男人午饭时间到来，坐在酒吧里，每天都静悄悄地把自己灌醉。他来吃午饭，每天他都告诉自己，只喝两杯，然后吃点东西。但不知怎么的，两杯总是变成三杯。在那之后，他就不再算了。这些都是常客，他们都是来吃午饭的人。从十二点半到三点，午餐者会发生很多事情。他们相恋继而失恋，他们决定过上充实的生活，享受生活，存钱、消费，比以往对别人更好。有些人承诺要少吃一点，减点肥。两个男人成为生意伙伴，喝一杯以示庆祝。酒吧里的一个男人一直在等一个女孩，但她从没来过，他决定不管怎么样，再也不见她了。他喝了一杯，庆祝自己做出的这个决定。第二个包厢里的人，正努力不向同一包厢中的另一个人要工作。他把手放进口袋里，发现他把钱都花光了。这些是加布里埃十二点半到三点间总会发生的事情。到三点时，大多数午餐者都回到他们的办公室或工作室，操纵机器、召开商务会议。除了杰夫·克比，他有五年没来过加布里埃了，因为他有五年没在纽约了。

When you come to a town for the first time, it is strange. But Jeff Cobby was at home as long as it was a new town. Since the United States is full of new towns, he did very well for five years. But then, what happened was that there were no more new towns. He wanted to come home. He came back to New York, and everything was strange. This was his hometown where everything was supposed to be in a certain place, and was not. All the corners looked like corners he used to know, but not exactly. There was supposed to be a movie theatre here, but it now was an automobile garage. This was where there was that bar and grill, but it now was a place to park cars. Everything was bigger, or smaller, or in the wrong place. Two days of this were twenty, then he was walking down the street, and he saw the sign-Gabrielle. Well, he thought, let me get this over with walk in, and find out that all that is left is the name.

你第一次来到一个城镇时，是很奇怪的。但杰夫·克比只要到新的城镇，都会感觉像在家里。由于美国到处都是新城镇，他五年来过得很好。但后来，不再有新的城镇了，他想回家。他回到纽约，一切都很奇怪，这是他的家乡，每样东西都该待在特定的地方，而它们却不是这样。所有的角落看起来都像他以前知道的角落，但又不完全是那些角落。这里本应该有一个电影院，但现在却是汽车修理厂。这里曾是酒吧烧烤店，但现在却是停车场。所有的东西都变大或变小了，或位置不对。两天的时间很漫长，然后他走到街上，看到了加布里埃的招牌。好吧，他想，我得了结这件事，我要进去，看看剩下的是否就只是这个名字了。

As he went down the steps, he remembered why he had forgotten Gabrielle's. He had remembered Helen, and when they were lunch people, and cocktail people, and dinner people, and clothing time people. It was a long time ago. He opened the door. No, it could not be the same one, but it was. The nice middle-aged lady who took care of people's hats and coats was still at Gabrielle's. She knew his name and kissed him. She took him into the kitchen where Gabrielle's husband was still the cook and still shy. Jeff came back and sat at the bar, and watched the people in the restaurant, he talked to Gabrielle when it became quiet, and not so busy. He sat down in a booth with Gabrielle and her husband, and had something to eat and to drink. He was home. New York was his hometown, some things did not change. He came back the next day for lunch, and the next, and that evening he came back for dinner. He had walked all over the city; he had seen too many movies. He had slept too much, and had drunk too much. Except for the small talk-the good mornings and good nights and isn't it a nice day. He had not really talked to anybody in three days.

他走下台阶的时候，想起了为什么他忘记了加布里埃。他记得海伦，那时他们一起进午餐、喝鸡尾酒、进晚餐、参加聚会，那是很久以前的事了。他打开门。不，不可能是同一个地方，但确实就是那里。那个照看人们帽子和外套的漂亮中年女士还在加布里埃，她知道他的名字并亲吻了他。她把他带进厨房，加布里埃的丈夫还是厨师，仍然很腼腆。杰夫回来胡坐到酒吧，看着餐厅里的人。餐厅安静下来，事不太多后，他和加布里埃说聊起来。他、加布里埃和她的丈夫坐在一个包厢里，吃着餐食，喝着酒。他到家了，纽约是他的家乡，有些事情没有改变。他第二天回来吃午饭，第三天也回来了，当天晚上还过来吃晚饭。他走遍了整个城市；他看了很多电影。他睡了很多觉，喝了很多酒。除了早上好、晚上好这种闲聊，今天难道不是美好的一天嘛。他已经三天没跟任何人说过话了。

The third evening he was sitting at the bar, telling Gabrielle what Santa Fe was like when he saw a girl, sitting at the far end of the room. She had just come in. While she leaned forward, she looked very closely at the man across the table. Then she took her short white gloves, one finger at a time, in the way some women do. It hardly seemed possible that after all these years a little thing like that could mean so much. For the time it took her to get off her gloves, everything stopped for Jeff. It was as if all these years, and all these towns had not happened, all because he saw a girl in Gabrielle's leaning forward, listening, taking off short gloves, one finger at a time. Gabrielle saw him watching, and she nodded her head, yes. It made no difference though, if it was Helen, or if it was a girl who leaned forward, listening like Helen. What made the difference was that he was still such a fool, that he was still in love with a girl who did not love him. It was something he could never tell anyone. They would think he was lying, or was insane, or both. But it was true. He wanted to get out fast, before he saw Helen and she saw him. Once they saw each other, he knew he would try once again to make her love him. And if there was one thing he knew, she did not and would not love him. Just as it was true that he had loved her, and always would. Just so it was true, that she never did and never would love him. He said goodbye to Gabrielle, and told her he did not feel like having dinner after all, He said he would be back. He went out into the street, and shivered. He would not come back; it was time to find a new town.

第三天晚上，他正坐在酒吧里，告诉加布里埃圣达菲的情况时，他看到有个女孩坐在房间尽头。她刚进来，在她身子向前倾时，非常仔细地看着桌子对面的那个人。然后，她脱掉白色的短手套，就像一些女人那样一次脱一个手指。这么多年过去了，像这样的小事几乎不可能有这么大的意义。她脱下手套，杰夫周遭的一切都停止了。似乎这些年来，所有这些城镇都没有发生过，只因为他看到一个女孩坐在加布里埃，身体前倾、认真倾听、脱下短手套，一次脱下一个手指。加布里埃看见他在看，她点了点头，没错。不过，如果那是海伦，或是一个像海伦一样俯身倾听的女孩，这也没什么区别。不同的是，他仍然是个傻瓜，仍然爱着一个不爱他的女孩。这是他永远不会告诉任何人的事，他们会认为他在撒谎，或是疯了，或者两者兼有。但这是真的，他想在他看见海伦，海伦也看见他之前快点出去。他们一见面，他就知道他会再次试图让她爱他。有一件事，他是知道的，那就是她不爱他，也不会爱上他。就像他真的爱她，而且永远爱她一样。她从来没有、也永远不会爱他，这也是真的。他跟加布里埃道别，告诉她自己不想吃晚饭，他说他会回来的。他走到街上，浑身发抖。他不会回来了，该寻找新的城镇了。