作者：唐纳德 翻译：提壶的胖子
Well, we had all these children out planting trees, see, because we figured that ... that was part of their education, to see how, you know, the root systems ... and also the sense of responsibility, taking care of things, being individually responsible. You know what I mean. And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I don't know why they died, they just died. Something wrong with the soil possibly or maybe the stuff we got from the nursery wasn't the best. We complained about it. So we've got thirty kids there, each kid had his or her own little tree to plant and we've got these thirty dead trees. All these kids looking at these little brown sticks, it was depressing.
没错，我们曾让所有孩子出去植树，因为我们认为，嗯，这是他们受教育的一部分，想想看，你知道根植于心的系统培养就比如责任心，对事情认真的态度，独自承担起自己的责任。你一定懂我的意思。只是这些树都死了，都是橘子树。它们不明不白地就死了。可能是土壤的肥力问题又或者我们全部人都没照顾好这些树苗。我们无可奈何。因此我们召集了三十个孩子到这来，每个人都有一棵自己亲手栽培的树，可它们全死了。孩子们看到光秃秃的小树干，心里很是沮丧。
It wouldn't have been so bad except that just a couple of weeks before the thing with the trees, the snakes all died. But I think that the snakes - well, the reason that the snakes kicked off（死了） was that ... you remember, the boiler（锅炉） was shut off for four days because of the strike, and that was explicable. It was something you could explain to the kids because of the strike. I mean, none of their parents would let them cross the picket line and they knew there was a strike going on and what it meant. So when things got started up again and we found the snakes they weren't too disturbed.
这还不是最糟糕的，更悲惨的是两个星期前所有树和蛇都死了。但我感觉这蛇，嗯……这蛇都死了，锅炉也罢工了四天，这原因显而易见。你可以和孩子们解释一下都是因为这场罢工。你知道的，没有家长让他们去穿越罢工警戒线，而且他们都明白这场罢工会发生什么。所以为了不重蹈覆辙，我们找到了捣鬼的人，还好他们不那么难缠。
With the herb （草本）gardens it was probably a case of overwatering, and at least now they know not to overwater. The children were very conscientious with the herb gardens and some of them probably ... you know, slipped（疏忽）them a little extra water when we weren't looking. Or maybe ... well, I don't like to think about sabotage（蓄意破坏）, although it did occur to us. I mean, it was something that crossed our minds. We were thinking that way probably because before that the gerbils had died, and the white mice had died, and the salamander（蝾螈） ... well, now they know not to carry them around in plastic bags.
对于一个草本园林而言这一切的发生大概都是因为浇灌过量，但现在他们并不清楚现状。孩子们都十分精心地照料着这篇园林而且或许他们中的一些人，嗯……一时疏忽没注意到他们，他们就会浇水过量。但也或许……嗯我不喜欢蓄意破坏，尽管不是什么好事情发生的前兆。我是想说，总有点儿出乎意料的事儿。我们预感到这些可能是因为沙鼠，白鼠，蝾螈的死亡。好吧，至少孩子们现在知道不能把这些放在塑料袋子里到处乱逛了不是么？
Of course we expected the tropical fish to die, that was no surprise. Those numbers, you look at them crooked and they're belly-up on the surface. But the lesson plan called for a tropical fish input at that point, there was nothing we could do, it happens every year, you just have to hurry past it.
当然了热带鱼的死亡也在预料之中，这一切都如此寻常。很多热带鱼都已经变形了而且都翻着白肚皮漂浮着。原本的课程计划是在那是放生热带鱼，可年复一年的计划落空，我们无济于事，只能让往事随风了。
We weren't even supposed to have a puppy.
我们并没想过养小奶狗。
We weren't even supposed to have one, it was just a puppy the Murdoch girl found under a Griselda’s truck one day and she was afraid the truck would run over it when the driver had finished making his delivery, so she stuck it in her knapsack（背包） and brought it to the school with her. So we had this puppy.
我们从没想过，它是那天一个莫道克女孩在一辆格丽泽尔达卡车下发现的，她怕司机在运送时从狗狗身上碾过，所以她把狗狗装进了包里带来了学校。就这样我们有了这只小奶狗。
As soon as I saw the puppy I thought, Oh Christ, I bet it will live for about two weeks and then... And that's what it did. It wasn't supposed to be in the classroom at all, there's some kind of regulation about it, but you can't tell them they can't have a puppy when the puppy is already there, right in front of them, running around on the floor and yap yap yapping.
当我看见那只小奶狗时，我想：我的天哪，我赌它要在这里活不过两周，可后来发生了什么，它的加入不能得到班级的支持，太多的条条框框不适用于它，可是这小奶狗已经在这里了，它就在他们面前，来回跑又叫个不停，可你就是没办法告诉孩子们它留下来不行。
They named it Edgar - that is, they named it after me. They had a lot of fun running after it and yelling, "Here, Edgar! Nice Edgar!" Then they'd laugh like hell. They enjoyed the ambiguity. I enjoyed it myself. I don't mind being kidded. They made a little house for it in the supply closet and all that. I don't know what it died of. Distemper, I guess. It probably hadn't had any shots. I got it out of there before the kids got to school. I checked the supply closet each morning, routinely, because I knew what was going to happen. I gave it to the custodian（看守者）.
孩子们管小狗叫埃德嘉，哈是根据我的名字取的。他们在追逐小狗的时候总是乐趣十足，他们呼唤它"快到这来埃德加！干得漂亮埃德加！"那时候他们都如同小鬼头一般哈哈大笑。他们享受着无厘头的快乐，而我也毫不介意“我自己”孩子气地乐在其中。他们还在供应柜里为小奶狗安排了住所。嗯，我不知道它怎么就死了。大概是疫病吧！它并没打过疫苗。那天我在孩子们来学校前把它送到了别处。我每天都会检查供应柜，因为我预料到了要发生的一切。最终我把它交给了保安。
And then there was this Korean orphan that the class adopted through the Help the Children program, all the kids brought in a quarter a month, that was the idea. It was an unfortunate thing, the kid's name was Kim and maybe we adopted him too late or something. The cause of death was not stated in the letter we got, they suggested we adopt another child instead and sent us some interesting case histories, but we didn't have the heart.
在那之后我们看到有一档关韩国的协助孤儿的领养计划栏目——援助之手，节目意思是希望这几天所有孩子被领养。可不幸的是，我们的领养可能迟了一步，那个叫金的男孩意外死亡了，可是心里并没有给我们明确的说明，他们只是建议我们领养别的孩子，可我们并没那份心思了。
The class took it pretty hard, they began to feel that maybe there was something wrong with the school. But I don't think there's anything wrong with the school, particularly, I've seen better and I've seen worse. It was just a run of bad luck. We had an extraordinary（反常的，异常的） number of parents passing away, for instance. There were I think two heart attacks and two suicides, one drowning, and four killed together in a car accident. One stroke. And we had the usual heavy mortality rate among the grandparents, or maybe it was heavier this year, it seemed so. And finally the tragedy.
一个班级的孩子都十分难受，他们开始感觉会不会是因为学校出了什么差错。但我觉得学校没什么不妥，更何况好的不好的我都见过。这就是倒霉而已。就好比，很多父母的意外离世一样。有，嗯让我想想，两个是因为心脏病突发，还有两个是自尽，一个溺水还有四个在车祸中意外丧生。简单说，我们的长辈年到而终，或许这是非常沉痛的一年没错。可到头来悲剧就是发生了。
The tragedy occurred when Matthew Wein and Tony Mavrogordo were playing over where they're excavating for the new federal office building. There were all these big wooden beams stacked, you know, at the edge of the excavation. There's a court case coming out of that, the parents are claiming that the beams were poorly stacked. I don't know what's true and what's not. It's been a strange year.
悲剧发生时，马太福音则和托尼正在新开发的联邦政府大楼那玩儿。你知道吧，刚被挖掘的坑地边缘堆砌着太多东西。案件发生之后，父母们痛斥现场的梁堆错杂。我不知道那案子怎么样。反正那是非比寻常的一年。
I forgot to mention Billy Brandt's father who was knifed fatally when he grappled with a masked intruder（入侵者） in his home.
我差点忘了还有比利的父亲被人刺杀的事情，他在家里被一个蒙着脸的凶手杀害了。
One day, we had a discussion in class. They asked me, where did they go? The trees, the salamander, the tropical fish, Edgar, the poppas and mommas, Matthew and Tony, where did they go? And I said, I don't know, I don't know. And they said, who knows? and I said, nobody knows. And they said, is death that which gives meaning to life? And I said no, life is that which gives meaning to life. Then they said, but isn't death, considered as a fundamental datum, the means by which the taken-for-granted mundanity of the everyday may be transcended in the direction of -I said, yes, maybe.
有天我们在班里讨论起来，他们问我他们以后会去哪里？那树,那蜥蜴,热带鱼,埃德加，爸爸还有妈妈，他们都要去到哪里？我回答说，我不知道，我怎么会知道。他们又问谁会知道呢？我说，没有人知道。他们接着问死亡就是生命的诠释么？我说不是，生活才是生命的最好诠释。他们说，如果不是死亡，那什么来作为衡量的标准呢，怎么会是每天琐碎繁杂的小事儿呢！我说，或许吧。
They said, we don't like it.
他们说并不喜欢那样。
I said, that's sound.
我说，其实不赖。
They said, it's a bloody（血腥的，残暴的） shame!
他们说，这是一种无法忍受的屈辱。
I said, it is.
我同意了那说法。
They said, will you make love now with Helen (our teaching assistant) so that we can see how it is done? We know you like Helen.
他们说，我应该和海伦摩擦出爱的火花让他们看看，他们觉得我喜欢海伦。
I do like Helen but I said that I would not.
We've heard so much about it, they said, but we've never seen it.
我确实喜欢海伦但是我不会那么做。他们说听说过太多风花雪月的浪漫，可谁也没见过那是怎样的情景。
I said I would be fired and that it was never, or almost never, done as a demonstration. Helen looked out the window.
我说，那么做我会被解雇的，那不是拿出来做示范的事儿。海伦在窗外静静观望一切。
They said, please, please make love with Helen, we require an assertion of value, we are frightened.
他们一再恳求我，让我惊慌失措，不知道说什么好。
I said that they shouldn't be frightened (although I am often frightened) and that there was value everywhere. Helen came and embraced me. I kissed her a few times on the brow. We held each other. The children were excited. Then there was a knock on the door, I opened the door, and the new gerbil walked in. The children cheered wildly.
我告诉他们，他们不该如此惊恐毕竟所有事物都有它存在的意义。海伦进来给了我个拥抱，我深深吻了她的额头。我们紧握双手，孩子们开始雀跃。突然传来了敲门声，我去开门看见了一直新的沙鼠进来。那一刻，孩子们格外高兴。
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