TED演讲:漫谈时光流逝(2)

 　　Encounter one: Ocean City, New Jersey¹, 1980.  遭遇一: 1980年,新泽西的欧欣城.

　　This was the summer when the special edition of  那是个夏天,正好赶上《第三类接触》的

　　"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was released.  特别版发布.

　　And I went on vacation with my parents to the Jersey shore.  我和父母一起去新泽西的滨海度假.

　　Within 12 hours, I was horribly sunburned,  我在12个小时内被严重的晒伤,

　　just like Richard Dreyfuss in the movie.  严重的就像电影里的Richard Dreyfuss.

　　And so I spent the rest of the vacation  所以我剩余的假期,

　　largely sitting outside our little rental² house at night,  基本上只能在晚上坐在我们租来的小房子外面,

　　the sidewalk still warm from the sun,  享受人行道残存的太阳余温,

　　watching the skies for UFOs.  寻找着天空的不明飞行物.

　　What did I see? Stars, satellites,  我都是看到了什么?星星,人造卫星,

　　blinking airplanes -- typical sky junk.  闪砾的飞机 --典型的天空垃圾.

　　Occasionally, kids would come and  小朋友们偶尔会过来,

　　join me and watch,  加入我一起观察,

　　but their necks soon got sore, and they would go off to the boardwalk  他们的脖子很快就酸了,所以他们离开人行道

　　to play video games and mingle³ with humans.  去玩游戏机或找别人玩.

　　I was pretty good at the video games. I was not very good at the other part,  我曾很擅长游戏机.但我不擅长别的,

　　so I stayed alone with the cosmos⁴.  所以我还是一个人跟宇宙呆着吧.

　　And that's when it happened.  就是在这时发生的,

　　An elderly couple came walking down the street.  一对老夫妇在街上溜达.

　　I would say they were in their late seventies,  我觉得他们有七十多了,

　　and I would say that they were on a date,  还觉得他们在约会,

　　because he was wearing a very neat little suit  因为他穿着很整洁的套装

　　with a yellow tie -- a brown suit.  棕色套装里还打着黄领带.

　　And she was wearing a cardigan, because it was now fully⁵ night  因为并不是深夜,女士穿了一件羊毛上衣,

　　and a chill was coming in off the ocean.  凉风从海面上吹过来.

　　I remember, for some reason,  我记得,出于某种原因,

　　that they were exactly the same height.  他们身高相同.

　　And then they stopped, and the man turned to me  然后他们停住了,这个男人转向身

　　and said,  问我,

　　"What are you looking for,  "你在看什么呢?"

　　flying saucers?"  "飞碟?"

　　You have to admit, that's a pretty boss piece of detective work  你不得不承认,这个老男人在约会时

　　for an old man on a date.  非常像一名侦探.

　　But what was stranger still --  但还有很奇怪的是 --

　　and even I realized it at the time,  我意识到了在那个时间,

　　as a nine-year-old child --  作为一个九岁的小孩 --

　　was that they stopped at all.  他们停下来

　　That this old man would interrupt his moonlight stroll  这个老男人在跟他女朋友在月光下停下来

　　with his sweetheart with the precise reason  用一个准确的问题

　　of making fun of a child.  去跟一个小孩看玩笑.

　　"Oh," he said, "哦." 他说,

　　"little green men."  "小绅士."

　　And then his girlfriend joined in, too.  这时,他女朋友也加入进来.

　　"There's no such thing as space men," she said.  "外星人根本不存在," 她说.

　　"There's no such thing."  "没那种东西."

　　And then they both laughed. "Ha, ha, ha."  然后他们同时哈哈一笑.

　　I looked around.  我环顾四周.

　　The street was entirely⁶ empty.  街道已经全空了.

　　I had stopped hearing the sound of the ocean.  我听不到大海的声音.

　　It was as though time had stopped.  仿佛时间停止了.

　　I did not know why they were teasing me.  我不知道他们为什么逗我.

　　I looked into their strangely angry faces,  我观察他们陌生的脸孔,

　　and I remember wondering,  并且我感觉很奇怪

　　are they wearing rubber masks?  他们是不是带的橡胶面具?

　　And what would be behind those rubber masks, if they were?  躲在面具后面的是什么?

　　Giant, almond-shaped, unblinking eyes?  他们是不是有一双巨大的,一眨不眨的杏仁一样的双眼?

　　Slits⁷ for mouths?  裂缝一样的嘴巴?

　　The old man crooked⁸ his finger as though he were firing a gun,  这个做了一个开枪的手势,

　　and then he made laser sounds.  并且他发出激光枪的声音,

　　"Kew, kew, kew --  咻,咻,咻--

　　watch out."  "小心!"

　　And they turned at once and walked away.  然后他们转身接着散步.

　　The old man reached out  那个老男人伸出

　　his knobbly claw  他年迈粗糙的手

　　for the woman's hand,  拉住女人的手,

　　and found it, and left me alone.  然后留下我一个人.

　　Now, you could describe this as a simple misunderstanding --  现在,你可以把这个当成一次简单的误会 --

　　a strange encounter among humans.  一个人类之间的奇怪的邂逅.

　　Maybe it was swamp gas, but --  也许它只是浮云,但是 --

　　I know what I saw.  我知道我看到了什么.

1 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

2 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

3 mingle   

vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往

参考例句：

• If we mingle with the crowd,we should not be noticed.如果我们混在人群中，就不会被注意到。
• Oil will not mingle with water.油和水不相融。

4 cosmos   

n.宇宙；秩序，和谐

参考例句：

• Our world is but a small part of the cosmos.我们的世界仅仅是宇宙的一小部分而已。
• Is there any other intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos?在宇宙的其他星球上还存在别的有智慧的生物吗？

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 slits   

n.狭长的口子，裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开，撕开( slit的第三人称单数 )；在…上开狭长口子

参考例句：

• He appears to have two slits for eyes. 他眯着两眼。
• "You go to--Halifax,'she said tensely, her green eyes slits of rage. "你给我滚----滚到远远的地方去！" 她恶狠狠地说，那双绿眼睛冒出了怒火。

8 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。