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The last night of the world by Ray Bradbury
世界的最后一晚
"What would you do if you knew that this was the last night of the world?"
"What would I do? You mean seriously?"
“如果你知道今晚将是这世界的最后一晚，你想做什么？”
“我要做什么？你是认真的么？”
"Yes, seriously."
"I don't know. I hadn't thought."
“是的，认真的。”
“我不知道。我从没想过。”
He poured some coffee. In the background the two girls were playing blocks on the parlour rug in the light of the green hurricane lamps.
There was an easy, clean aroma of the brewed coffee in the evening air.
他倒了点咖啡。他身后，两个小女儿正在马灯下坐在客厅的地毯上玩积木。咖啡淡淡的清香弥漫在夜空中。
"Well, better start thinking about it", he said.
"You don't mean it!"
He nodded.
“嗯，你最好开始设想一下”，他说道。
“不会吧！”
他点了点头。
"A war?"
He shook his head.
“战争？”
他摇头。
"Not the hydrogen or atom bomb?"
"No."
“没有氢弹或者核弹什么的掉下来？”
“没有。”
"Or germ warfare?"
"None of those at all",
he said, stirring his coffee slowly.
"But just, let's say, the closing of a book."
“那是细菌战？”
“全都不是。”
他边说边慢慢搅动着他的咖啡。
“不过，可以说，这世界就是了账了。”
"I don't think I understand."
"No, nor do I, really; it's just a feeling. Sometimes it frightens me, sometimes I'm not frightened at all but at peace."
“我想我还是不明白。”
“实际上，我也不明白。这只是一种感觉。有时它让我害怕，有时却让我很平静，完全不怕它。”**
He glanced in at the girls and their yellow hair shining in the lamplight.
"I didn't say anything to you. It first happened about four nights ago."
"What?"
他看了看女儿们，她们的金发在灯光下闪闪发光。
“我没告诉你。四天前的晚上它就已经开始了。”
“什么？”
"A dream I had. I dreamed that it was all going to be over, and a voice said it was; not any kind of voice I can remember, but a voice anyway, and it said things would stop here on Earth. I didn't think too much about it the next day, but then I went to the office and caught Stan Willis looking out the window in the middle of the afternoon, and I said, A penny for your thoughts, Stan, and he said, I had a dream last night, and before he even told me the dream I knew what it was. I could have told him, but he told me and I listened to him."
“我作了个梦。我梦见一切都要结束了，有个声音这么说；我记不得那是怎样的一个声音了，但无所谓，它说地球上的一切都将停止。第二天我也没在意这个梦，但下午的时候我去办公室，发现斯坦·威利斯正看着窗外出神，然后我说：‘斯坦，我出一便士，你告诉我你在想什么。’他说：‘我昨晚作了个梦’在他继续说下去之前，我就知道他梦见什么了。我本想告诉他，不过我还是听他说下去了。”
"It was the same dream?"
“是同样的一个梦？”
"The same. I told Stan I had dreamed it too. He didn't seem surprised. He relaxed, in fact. Then we started walking through the office, for the hell of it. It wasn't planned. We didn't say, Let's walk around. We just walked on our own, and everywhere we saw people looking at their desks or their hands or out windows. I talked to a few. So did Stan."
“同一个。我告诉斯坦我也梦见那个了。他看上去并不惊讶。实际上，他松了一口气。然后我们移步穿过办公室，进了大厅。并没有什么目的。我们也没说：我们走走吧。我们自是自顾自的走，到处都看到有人在看着他们的桌子、手或者窗外发呆。我和几个人聊了聊，斯坦也是。”
"And they all had dreamed?"
"All of them. The same dream, with no difference."
“他们也作了同样的梦？”
“所有的人。同样的梦，没有一个不同的。”
"Do you believe in it?"
"Yes. I've never been more certain."
“你相信它？”
“当然。从没有这么相信过。”
"And when will it stop? The world, I mean."
"Sometime during the night for us, and then as the night goes on around the world, that'll go too. It'll take twenty-four hours for it all to go."
“那什么时候会终结呢？我是说这个世界。”
“对我们来说是晚上的某个时候，然后当夜晚降临到世界每一处的时候，末日也在各处降临。全部结束需要24个小时。”
They sat awhile not touching their coffee. Then they lifted it slowly and drank, looking at each other.
他们安静的坐了一会儿，谁也没有动自己的咖啡。然后他们对视着，慢慢端起咖啡，开始喝。
"Do we deserve this?" she said.
"It's not a matter of deserving; it's just that things didn't work out. I notice you didn't even argue about this. Why not?"
“这是我们的报应吗？”她说。
“这与报应无关；只是有些问题无法解决。我发现你甚至没有细问这个梦。为什么？”
"I guess I've a reason", she said.
"The same one everyone at the office had?"
She nodded slowly.
“我想我有个理由”，她说。
“你也作了和办公室里所有的人一样的梦？”
她慢慢点了点头。
"I didn't want to say anything. It happened last night. And the women on the block talked about it, among themselves, today. They dreamed. I thought it was only a coincidence."
“我什么都不想说。是昨晚的事了。而今天，社区里的女人们私下里都在谈论它。她们也梦到了。我想这只是个巧合。”
She picked up the evening paper.
"There's nothing in the paper about it."
她拿起晚报。
“报上对此什么也没提。”
They moved through the house and turned out the lights and went into the bedroom and stood in the night cool darkness undressing and pushing back the covers（这句译不好）.
"The sheets are so clean and nice."
"I'm tired."
"We're all tired."
他们起身，把房里的灯都关掉，然后进了卧室，在夜晚冰凉的黑暗中脱去衣服，整理床铺。
“被子真干净真舒服啊。”
“我累了。”
“我们都累了。”
They got into bed and lay back.
他们上床躺下。
"Just a moment", she said.
He heard her get out of bed and go into the kitchen. A moment later, she returned.
"I left the water running in the kitchen sink", she said.
“等一下”，她说道。
他听见她下了床，走进厨房。过了一会儿，她回来了。
“我忘了关洗碗槽的水龙头了”，她说。
Something about this was so very funny that he had to laugh.
She laughed with him, knowing that it was what she had done that was funny.
They stopped laughing at last and lay in their cool night bed, their hands clasped, their heads together.
这个举动很可笑，他忍不住笑起来。
她和他一起笑起来，她也发现自己做的事很可笑。
他们终于止住笑，躺在床上，在冰冷的夜里，他们手拉着手，脸挨着脸。
"Good night", he said, after a moment.
“晚安”，过了一会儿，他说道。
"Good night", she said.
“晚安”，她说。 |
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发表于 2009-2-20 22:08:49
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