新視野大學(xué)英語讀寫教程第四冊unit3-b Section B A Blind Man Helped Me See the Beautiful World
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- 參考譯文
A Blind Man Helped Me See the Beautiful World
It was late afternoon when the chairman of our Bangkok- based company gave me an assignment: I would leave the next day to accompany an important Chinese businessman to tourist sites in northern Thailand. Silently angry, I stared at my desk. The stacks of paper bore witness to a huge amount of work waiting to be done, even though I had been working seven days a week. How will I ever catch up? I wondered.
After a one-hour flight the next morning, we spent the day visiting attractions along with hundreds of other tourists, most of them loaded with cameras and small gifts. I remember feeling annoyed at this dense collection of humanity.
That evening my Chinese companion and I climbed into a chartered van to go to dinner and a show, one which I had attended many times before. While he chatted with other tourists, I exchanged polite conversation in the dark with a man seated in front of me, a Belgian who spoke fluent English. I wondered why he held his head motionless at an odd angle, as though he were in prayer. Then the truth struck me. He was blind.
Behind me someone switched on a light, and I could see his thick silvery hair and strong, square jaw. His eyes seemed to contain a white mist. "Could I please sit beside you at the dinner?" he asked. "And I'd love it if you'd describe a little of what you see."
"I'd be happy to," I replied.
My guest walked ahead toward the restaurant with newly found friends. The blind man and I followed. My hand held his elbow to steer him, but he stepped forward with no sign of hesitation or stoop, his shoulders squared, his head high, as though he were guiding me.
We found a table close to the stage. He ordered half a liter of beer and I ordered a grape soda. As we waited for our drinks, the blind man said, "The music seems out of tune to our Western ears, but it has charm. Please describe the musicians."
I hadn't noticed the five men performing at the side of the stage as an introduction to the show. "They're seated cross-legged on a rug, dressed in loose white cotton shirts and large black trousers, with fabric around their waists that has been dyed bright red. Three are young lads, one is middle-aged and one is elderly. One beats a small drum, another plays a wooden stringed instrument, and the other three have smaller, violin- like pieces they play with a bow."
As the lights dimmed, the blind man asked, "What do your fellow tourists look like?"
"All nationalities, colors, shapes and sizes, a gallery of human faces," I whispered.
As I lowered my voice further and spoke close to his ear, the blind man leaned his head eagerly toward me. I had never before been listened to with such intensity.
"Very close to us is an elderly Japanese woman," I said. "Just beyond her a yellow-haired Scandinavian boy of about five is leaning forward, his face just below hers. They're motionless, waiting for the performance to start. It's the perfect living portrait of childhood and old age, of Europe and Asia."
"Yes, yes, I see them," the blind man said quietly, smiling.
A curtain at the back of the stage opened. Six young girls appeared, and I described their violet- colored silk skirts, white blouses, and gold-colored hats like small crowns, with flexible points that moved in rhythm with the dance. "On the tips of their fingers are golden nails perhaps 8 centimeters long," I told the blind man. "The nails highlight each elegant movement of their hands. It's a delightful effect."
He smiled and nodded. "How wonderful — I would love to touch one of those golden nails."
The first performance ended just as we finished dessert, and I excused myself and went to talk to the theater manager. Upon returning, I told my companion, "You've been invited backstage."
A few minutes later he was standing next to one of the dancers, her little crowned head hardly reaching his chest. She shyly extended both hands toward him, the brass fingernails shining in the overhead light. His hands, four times as large, reached out slowly and held them as though they were holding up two tiny birds. As he felt the smooth, curving sharpness of the metal tips, the girl stood quite still, gazing up into his face with an expression of wonder. A lump formed in my throat.
After taking a cab back to the inn, with my Chinese guest still with the others, the blind man patted my shoulder, then pulled me toward him and embraced me tightly. "How beautifully you saw everything for me," he whispered. "I can never thank you enough."
Later I thought: I should have thanked him. I was the one who had been blind, my eyes merely skimming the surface of things. He had helped me lift the veil that grows so quickly over our eyes in this busy world, to see a whole new realm I'd failed to appreciate before.
About a week after our trip, the chairman told me the Chinese executive had called to express great satisfaction with the trip. "Well done," the chairman said, smiling. I knew you could do the magic."
I was not able to tell him that the magic had been done to me.
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盲人幫我看到了美妙的世界
已經(jīng)是下午很晚了，我們駐曼谷公司的主席分配給我一個任務(wù)： 我必須在第二天出發(fā)陪一位重要的中國商人到泰國北部的旅游點。 我眼睛瞪著桌子，心里直冒火。 桌上成堆的文件足以證明，盡管我一周七天都在工作，可還有大量的工作等著我去做。 我真不知道如何才能把這些活兒趕出來。
第二天早晨，坐了一個小時飛機(jī)后，我們當(dāng)天就與其他數(shù)以百計的游客一起，參觀了一些景點。 他們大多數(shù)都帶著相機(jī)，滿載著小禮物。 我仍記得那天擠在密集的人群中，心里很惱火。
當(dāng)天晚上我和這位中國伙伴一起坐上了旅游包車去吃晚飯、看表演。 那場表演我以前看過許多次了。 他跟其他游客聊著天，我則在黑暗中禮貌地跟一位坐在我前面的男士談話。他是位比利時人，講一口流利的英語。 當(dāng)時我感到奇怪，為什么他的頭一動不動地保持著一個古怪的角度，好像在禱告一樣。 后來我恍然大悟，他是個盲人。
我身后有人打開了燈，我看到了他濃密的銀發(fā)，還有方正有力的下巴。 他的雙眼里似乎有一層白膜。 "我吃飯時能坐在您的旁邊嗎？" 他問道。 "我很想您能把看到的向我略作介紹。"
"我很樂意，"我回答說。
我的客人與幾位新交的朋友徑直走進(jìn)了餐館，我和這位盲人跟了進(jìn)去。 我用手?jǐn)v著他的肘部給他領(lǐng)路，但他昂首挺胸地前行，沒有絲毫的猶豫或屈從，好像是他在給我?guī)贰?br />
我們找了一張靠近舞臺的桌子，他要了半升啤酒，我則要了一杯葡萄汽水。 我們正等著飲料時，盲人說： "我們西方人聽起來這首樂曲似乎變調(diào)了，但還是挺有魅力的， 您能描述一下奏樂的人嗎？"
我并沒注意到舞臺那頭的五個人，他們在奏著演出的開場樂曲。 "他們盤著腿坐在小地毯上，身著寬松的白色棉布襯衫和肥大的黑褲，腰系染成鮮紅色的布帶。 他們中三個是年輕小伙子，還有一位中年樂手和一位老年樂手。 他們中一個擊鼓，另一個奏著木制的弦樂器，另外三個用琴弓拉著一種類似小提琴的小小的樂器。"
光線又暗下來，盲人問： "您的那些游客們都長什么模樣？"
"他們各種國籍、各種膚色都有，體形、個子大小也都不同，簡直就是一個人種大聚會，"我低聲說。
我把聲音壓得更低，湊近他的耳朵說話，他也熱切地把頭靠過來。 從來沒有人如此強(qiáng)烈地想聽我講話。
"離我們很近的是一位日本老婦人，"我說。 "就在她旁邊，有一位黃頭發(fā)的斯堪的納維亞男孩，大約五歲，身體往前傾，他的臉剛好在婦人的臉下面。 他們一動不動，等著演出開始。 這真是一幅生動完美的畫像，有兒童也有老人，有亞洲也有歐洲。"
"是的，是的，我見到他們了，"盲人微笑著輕聲地說。
舞臺后部的帷幕打開了，走出六位年輕女孩子。 我向他描述她們身著紫羅蘭色絲裙，白色外套，頭戴形似小皇冠的金色帽子，帽上的飾物隨著舞蹈節(jié)奏有彈性地跳動著。 "她們的手指上有金黃色的指甲，有八厘米長吧，" 我告訴盲人。 "長指甲使手部的每一個動作都更顯得十分優(yōu)美，效果真好看。"
他微笑著點點頭： "太美妙了，我真想摸一下那些金黃色的指甲。"
第一個節(jié)目結(jié)束時，我們剛好吃完甜食，我找了個借口過去與戲院經(jīng)理搭話。 我一回來就告訴我的伙伴："有人請你到后臺去。"
幾分鐘后他站到了其中一位舞蹈演員的身旁，她帶著小皇冠的頭還不及他胸部那么高。 她害羞地將兩只手伸向他，黃銅指甲在頭頂射下的燈光下閃閃發(fā)光。 他慢慢地伸出雙手，那雙手足有女孩的手四倍大，握住了那雙小手，就好像捧著兩只小鳥一樣。 他撫摸著那些光滑、呈弧形彎曲的金屬尖指甲時，女孩靜靜地站著，驚奇地注視著他的臉。 我不禁哽咽了。
乘出租車回酒店后，我的中國客人仍然與別人在一起。盲人拍拍我的肩膀，把我拉向他，緊緊地?fù)肀е摇?"你幫我看到的一切太美了，"他低聲說，"真不知道怎么感謝你。"
后來我想，是我該謝謝他。 其實盲的人是我，我看事物只是在表面一掠而過。 在這忙碌的世界里，一層快速形成的面紗遮住了我們的雙眼，是他幫我揭開了這層面紗，見到了一個以前從未好好欣賞的嶄新世界。
此行之后的一周，主席告訴我，那位中國經(jīng)理來電話說他對旅程非常滿意。 "干得好，"主席笑著說，"我就知道你會有神奇的表現(xiàn)。"
我無法告訴他，是別人的神奇改變了我。
