Because early morning is the most pleasant time of the day in this long, hot summer, I have developed a habit of getting up or going to bed at daybreak, which is around four-thirty, for sure.
今夏漫長(zhǎng)的炎熱里,凌晨那段時(shí)間大概最舒服。就養(yǎng)成習(xí)慣,天一亮,鐵定是早上四點(diǎn)半左右,就該我起床,或者入睡了。
That is the pattern of my life.
這是我的生活規(guī)律。
But last night, I went to bed earlier, at about eleven o'clock. When I wake up, it is still dark outside. I am about to go back to sleep when I suddenly become aware of the unusualness in the buzz of mosquitoes and the flow of the air. They don't seem to be happening during the thick darkness of midnight! Looking at my watch, I find it already five o'clock, as I have expected.
但是昨晚睡得早,十一點(diǎn)左右。醒來(lái)一看,天還沒(méi)亮,正想繼續(xù)睡去,突然覺(jué)得蚊子的嗡嗡和空氣的流動(dòng)有些特別,不像是濃釅的午夜,一看表,果不其然,已經(jīng)五點(diǎn)了。
After rolling out of bed and rushing through my morning routine, I walk out of my room, which is as hot and smoky as a kitchen. No sooner have I stepped out of the halfway thanI run head-on into autumn, almost to be knocked back!
爬起來(lái),把自個(gè)兒擼擼干凈了,走出我那煙熏火燎的房間,剛剛步出樓道,我就讓秋天狠狠撞了個(gè)斤斗。
First comes the wind, slowly, like a huge fluttering skirt, caressing me from head to toe. Like toothpaste being squeezed, I feel an immediate, thorough relief in my heart.
先是一陣風(fēng),施施然襲來(lái),像一幅碩大無(wú)朋的裙裾,不由分說(shuō)就把我從頭到腳擠了一遍,擠牙膏似的,立馬我的心情就暢快無(wú)比。
I am not as energetic in the summer as I am in the winter, mainly due to the lucidness of my mind. Now, an earlier autumn has come to resolve my problem. Why not go with it?
我在夏天總沒(méi)冬天那么活力洋溢,就是一個(gè)腦子清醒的問(wèn)題。秋天要先來(lái)給我解決一下,何樂(lè)不為。
The sky that has borne me down throughout the whole summer has suddenly lifted. Looking up, I see numerous small-sized clouds, as white as sterling silver, neatly lined up in the limpidly blue sky. The more I gaze at them, the more they look naughty and resemble my innate inspirations. How I wish I could bring them down and take a few bites at them!
壓迫整整一夏的天空突然變得很高,抬頭望去——無(wú)數(shù)爛銀似的小白云整整齊齊排列在純藍(lán)天幕上,越看越調(diào)皮,越看越像長(zhǎng)在我心中的那些可愛(ài)的靈氣,我恨不得把它們輕輕抱下來(lái)吃上兩口。
I now remember a song I wrote quite a while ago, <i>, but now my mood is quite different from what it was then, and I am also much older –am I? So I stand there looking at those clouds. I want to continue looking at them – until they slowly disappear and are firmly implanted in my mind.
《我在天空上看到一張臉》——想起這首很久以前寫(xiě)的歌,心境已經(jīng)大不相同了,人也已經(jīng)老了許多——人老了么?我就一直站在那里看,看個(gè)沒(méi)完沒(méi)了,我要看得它慢慢消失,慢慢而堅(jiān)固地存放在我這里。
There are more and more passers-by. Some of them look up into the sky, like me – those are romantic types and I bless them; some of them give me a weird look and then hurry away – those are people whom I bless too because they have a purpose to be busy.
來(lái)來(lái)往往的人開(kāi)始多了,有人像我一樣看,那是比較浪漫的,我祝福他們;有人奇怪地看我一眼,快步離去,我也祝福他們,因?yàn)樗麄冊(cè)跒榱耸裁疵β怠?br />
This is what life should be like: you have to do something or feel something. Each of these two choices is respectable and cannot be taken lightly. This is just like me at the moment: I now stand my ground. Like an old antelope, I have to be cool-headed inholding myself in my own territory, next to the earthenwares and the wire fences.
生命就是這樣,你總要做些什么,或者感受些什么,這兩種過(guò)程都值得尊敬,不能怠慢。就如同我,要堅(jiān)守陣地,如同一只蒼老的羚羊,冷靜地廝守在我的網(wǎng)絡(luò),那些壇子的鋼絲邊緣上。
Everything will be alright by six o'clock, when by the park gate, there will be vendors selling delicious and succulent minced pork dumplings, to go with jellied tofu soup thickly dressed with fresh green parsley over brightly red chili oil and loosely dotted with chopped, smoked turnips. And there will also be deep-fried dough sticks a shot-tempered as felines, soybean milk as demure as a lovely girlfriend, and crispy-crusted, tender-hearted, green-onion-flavored pancakes as intimate as a bosom friend.
六點(diǎn)鐘就很好了,園門(mén)口就有汁多味美的鮮肉大包子,厚厚一層紅亮辣油翠綠香菜,還星星般點(diǎn)綴著熏干大頭菜的豆腐腦,還有如同貓一樣熱情的油條,如同美麗嫻靜女友般的豆?jié){,還有知心好友一樣外焦里嫩熨貼心肺的大蔥燙面油餅。
Of all the houses tightly lined up here, every window has behind it a story that I have also experienced or that I am interested in hearing; every sleepwalking man cannot help fidgeting like me and every woman in pajamas has been loved or is now in love; every old man is rich with experiences and every child fresh; every dog is animated and every pigeon keen.
這里這些鱗次櫛比的房屋,每個(gè)窗戶后面都有故事,或者在我這里發(fā)生過(guò),或者是現(xiàn)在我想聽(tīng)的。每個(gè)夢(mèng)游的男人都和我一樣不肯消停,每個(gè)睡裙的女人都被愛(ài)過(guò)或者正在愛(ài)著,每個(gè)老人都很豐富,每個(gè)孩子都很新鮮。每條小狗都很生動(dòng),每只鴿子都很乖巧。
Every morning I do the same thing, although I am now different from before, always dreaming of unusual encounters and always wishing to inspire fervent passions, yet always being fooled by peevish reality and awakened from fanatical visions by such unusual weather, like today. I am now no longer lonely. Right?
每個(gè)早晨都要這樣,雖然我已經(jīng)不同以往,總是幻想奇遇,總是渴望付出烈火般的激情,又總是被乖戾的現(xiàn)實(shí)玩耍,被今天這難得的天氣從狂熱中喚醒。我已經(jīng)不孤單了,是吧。
This loneliness is like a padded cotton quilt, spread out high in the sky. It can be depressing, descending, entwining, or uplifting, depending on the change in the number of people who share my room. Beautiful, isn't it? Yes, but a little cruel, I know.
就是這個(gè)孤單,像一床棉被,蓋在很高的高空,隨著我房間人數(shù)的變化,或低落,或俯沖,或緊纏,或飄揚(yáng)。美倒是美,狠了點(diǎn)兒,我知道。
Wow, my Beijing, the one that just had a traffic control yesterday, the one that has had the highest temperature in the country this summer, the one that has revitalized my nerves with a fresh autumn, and the one that has thoroughly disordered my life, completely unfolded mystory, and carefully turned me into a new paper to write the story on!
噫吁戲,我的北京,昨天交通管制的北京,今年全國(guó)夏季氣溫最高的北京,用這樣清麗的秋天撞擊我神經(jīng)的北京,把我的生活徹底弄亂,把我的故事徹底展開(kāi),把我仔細(xì)地鋪成一張?jiān)僭彀准埖谋本┌ ?br />