Diving Under —— 《Flipped》Chapter 1
下潜
All I've ever wanted is for Juli Baker to leave me alone For her to back off-you know, just give me some space.
我只有一个愿望,让Juli Baker离我远点,给我点空间让我自己待着。
It all started the summer before second grade when our moving van pulled into her neighborhood. And since we're now about done with the eighth grade, that, my friend, makes more than half a decade of strategic avoidance and social discomfort.
这一切都源于第二学期前的那个暑假,从我们的卡车停在了她家隔壁开始。而现在,我们都快上完8年级了,也就是说,我对她执行了超过五年的“战略性回避”,哪怕社交不便。
She didn't just barge into my life. She barged and shoved and wedged her way into my life. Did we invite her to get into our moving van and start climbing all over boxes? No! But that's exactly what she did, taking over and showing off like only Juli Baker can.
她不仅仅是闯入我的生活。她简直是用撞的推的钻的各种方式占据我的生活。我们有谁叫过她上我们的卡车吗?叫她上上下下爬我们的箱子吗?没有。但是她千真万确地就这么干了,好像这是她的家,是她Juli Baker的特权似的。
My dad tried to stop her. "Hey!" he says as she's catapulting herself on board. "What are you doing? You're getting mud everywhere!" So true, too. Her shoes were, like, caked with the stuff.
爸爸叫她停下。她一边说了声“嘿!”一边在车上弹来跳去。“你在干什么?你把泥巴弄得到处都是!”
真的是,她的鞋裹满了泥。
She didn't hop out, though. Instead, she planted her rear end on the floor and started pushing a big box with her feet. "Don't you want some help?" She glanced my Way. "It sure looks like you need it."
可她不但没走,还一屁股坐在了地上,然后开始用脚推一个大箱子。她朝我瞥了一眼:“要不要帮忙?你肯定需要帮忙的。“
I didn't like the implication. And even though my dad had been tossing me the same sort of look all week, I could tell-he didn't like this girl either.
我可不喜欢这种暗示。虽然我爸也一直用这种眼光看我,我敢肯定,我爸爸也不喜欢这姑娘。
"Hey! Don't do that," he warned her. "There are some really valuable things in that box."
“喂,别推了。”他警告她:“那盒子里有贵重物品。”
"Oh. Well, how about this one?" She scoots over to a box labeled LENox and looks my way again. "We should push it together!"
“啊,那这个箱子呢?”她挪开一个贴着”LENOX“的盒子,又朝我看着说”我们应该一起来推。“
"No, no, no!" my dad says, then pulls her up by the arm. "Why don't you run along home? Your mother's probably wondering where you are."
“别别别!”爸爸说道,然后一手拉开了她。"你怎么不回家?你妈妈说不定正担心你呢。“
This was the beginning of my soon-to-become-acute awareness that the girl cannot take a hint. Of any kind. Does she zip on home like a kid should when they've been invited to leave? No.
我第一次很快且深刻地认识到这姑娘有多不识趣。她不是应该像别的小孩一样,如果有人请她离开就赶快回家吗?但是她没有。
She says, "Oh, my mom knows where I am. She said it was fine." Then she points across the street and says, "We just live right over there."
她说“哦,妈妈知道我在这儿,她说了没关系。”然后她指着街对面说“我们就住在那边。”
My father looks to where she's pointing and mutters "Oh boy." Then he looks at me and winks as he says, "Bryce, isn't it time for you to go inside and help your mother?"
爸爸看了她指的方向,嘟囔了句“我的天。”他冲我边眨眼边说“Bryce,你该去屋里帮帮妈妈了吧?”
I knew right off that this was a ditch play. And I didn't think about it until later, but ditch wasn't a play I'd run with my dad before. Face it, pulling a ditch is not something discussed with dads. It's like, against parental law to tell your kid it's okay to ditch someone, no matter how annoying or muddy they might be.
我马上就明白了这是个甩掉她的小把戏。而且直到后来我也没想过这事儿,之前我可没跟爸爸排练过这出戏。这种怎么甩掉盯梢的事可不是可以跟父母们讨论的内容。就好像告诉孩子可以甩掉别人是违背父母准则的,不管这人是有多么烦人还是身上有多少泥巴。
But there he was, putting the play in motion, and man, he didn't have to wink twice. I smiled and said, "Sure thing!" then jumped off the liftgate and headed for my new front door.
但是爸爸这次就这么做了,而且他还不用反复冲我使眼色。我笑了,说“当然。”然后跳下车门,冲向我的新家。
I heard her coming after me but I couldn't believe it. Maybe it just sounded like she was chasing me; maybe she was really going the other way. But before I got up the nerve to look, she blasted right past me, grabbing my arm and yanking me along.
我听到她跟着我来了,但是我以为自己听错了。搞不好这只是听起来像在追我,搞不好她其实是往另一边跑。但是,在我鼓起勇气去验证这些想法时,她从我身边呼啸而过,抓着我的胳膊一直往前拖。
This was too much. I planted myself and was about to tell her to get lost when the weirdest thing happened. I was making this big windmill motion to break away from her, but somehow on the downswing my hand wound up tangling into hers. I couldn't believe it. There I was, holding the mud monkey's hand!
这太过份了。我停下来,刚要叫她哪儿凉快哪儿呆着去,最最诡异的事情发生了。我抡起胳膊想摆脱她,结果却变成了我的胳膊挽着她的胳膊。这简直不可思议,我竟然挽着这只泥猴的手。
I tried to shake her off, but she just clamped on tight and yanked me along, saying, "C'mon!"
我试着甩开她的手,她却抓得更紧,拖着我说“来吧。”
My mom came out of the house and immediately got the world's sappiest look on her face. "Well, hello," she says to Juli.“Hi!"
妈妈从屋里出来,看到这一幕脸上立马露出最意味深长的表情,她对Juli说“你好啊。”
I'm still trying to pull free, but the girl's got me in a death grip. My mom's grinning, looking at our hands and my fiery red face. "And what's your name, honey?"
我还在挣扎着摆脱他,但是这女孩还死死地抓住我。妈妈看着我们缠在一起的手和我红着的脸,笑着继续问“亲爱的,你叫什么名字?”
"Julianna Baker. I live right over there," she says, pointing with her unoccupied hand.
“Julianna Baker,我就住在那边。“她用另外一只没拽我的手指着方向。
"Well, I see you've met my son," she says, still grinning away.
妈妈还在笑,她说“哦,我看你已经见过我的儿子了。”
"Uh-huh!"
“啊哈。”
Finally I break free and do the only manly thing available when you're seven years old-I dive behind my mother.
我终于挣脱了,然后做了一件7岁孩子能做的最男子汉的事——我躲到了妈妈背后。
Mom puts her arm around me and says, "Bryce, honey, why don't you show Julianna around the house?"
妈妈用胳膊圈着我说“Bryce,亲爱的,你要不带Julianna在家里参观下?”
I flash her help and warning signals with every part of my body, but she's not receiving. Then she shakes me off and says, "Go on."
我拼命向妈妈求助,用各种动作发送警告信号,可是她没察觉到。她推着我说“去吧。”
Juli would've tramped right in if my mother hadn't noticed her shoes and told her to take them off. And after those were off, my mom told her that her dirty socks had to go, too. Juli wasn't embarrassed. Not a bit. She just peeled them off and left them in a crusty heap on our porch.
要不是妈妈注意到她的鞋子告诉她脱掉在进门,她估计直接就脏兮兮踏进来了。脱完鞋子,妈妈叫她把脏袜子也脱掉。Juli没尴尬,一点也没。她脱下脏袜子扔在我们的门廊里。
I didn't exactly give her a tour. I locked myself in the bathroom instead. And after about ten minutes of yelling back at her that no, I wasn't coming out anytime soon, things got quiet out in the hall. Another ten minutes went by before I got the nerve to peek out the door. No Juli.
我没有带她参观。我把自己锁在了卫生间里。我在里面朝她喊了十分钟我不会出去,绝不出去。客厅终于安静了。又过了10分钟,我才鼓起勇气从门缝里往外看。没看到Juli。
为了找到一个我能翻译出来的内容,还真不是很容易。翻翻找找,最后上面这一段。要说原因,我只是喜欢这个词,“flipped”,读起来就有一种轻盈、灵动的感觉。更别说,这本书中文名翻译成了《怦然心动》。
我最喜欢自己用的“姑娘”这个词,有的版本是“丫头”。相较而言,觉得那个“姑娘”,更能体现出Juli身上生机勃勃的蛮劲儿。
我从未试过这样去翻译一大段英文,虽然读书时总要做阅读理解甚至还要写英文作文。这次是一边尝试自己翻译,一边翻找各种中文译本对照,还一边让朋友帮忙给意见,才算完成。
翻译成好中文,可真不容易。
明明在读原文时,自己感觉能脑补出十分具体又充满朝气的两个孩子的生动画面,但是翻译成中文后就少点什么。不仅仅是自己翻译会出现这样的感觉,日常读翻译过的书常常也会如此。
所以,读到翻译得很舒服的书时,我常常会忍不住去看译者是谁,然后去找他/她还翻译了什么。(原谅我,还不知道怎么形容翻译得“好”。)
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