When I left the skating rink I felt sort of hungry, so I went in this drugstore and had a Swiss cheese sandwich and a malted, and then I went in a phone booth. I thought maybe I might give old Jane another buzz and see if she was home yet. I mean I had the whole evening free, and I thought I'd give her a buzz and, if she was home yet, take her dancing or something somewhere. I never danced with her or anything the whole time I knew her. I saw her dancing once, though. She looked like a very good dancer. It was at this Fourth of July dance at the club. I didn't know her too well then, and I didn't think I ought to cut in on her date. She was dating this terrible guy, Al Pike, that went to Choate. I didn't know him too well, but he was always hanging around the swimming pool. He wore those white Lastex kind of swimming trunks, and he was always going off the high dive. He did the same lousy old half gainer all day long. It was the only dive he could do, but he thought he was very hot stuff. All muscles and no brains.
我從溜冰場出來，覺得有點(diǎn)兒餓，就到咖啡館里吃了一客干酪夾餡面包，喝了杯麥乳精，然后走進(jìn)電話間。我本來想再打個電話給琴，問問她有沒有回家。我是說我整個晚上沒事，所以想打個電話給她，她要是已經(jīng)回家了，就約她出來跳舞什么的。我認(rèn)識她已有那么長時間，可是從來沒跟她一塊兒跳過舞。我倒是看見她跳過一次舞，好象跳得很好。那次是在俱樂部里舉行的慶祝七月四日的舞會，我當(dāng)時跟她還不熟，覺得自己不應(yīng)該過去夾三。約她跳舞的是那個在喬埃特念書的可怕家伙亞爾.派克。我對他不怎么了解，可他整天泡在游泳池里。他穿了件永久脾之類的白色游泳褲，老是在最高的跳板上跳水。他整天跳的都是同一種鱉腳的倒栽蔥姿勢。他就只能跳這一種姿勢，可他自以為非常了不起。他這人全是肌肉，沒有腦子。
Anyway, that's who Jane dated that night. I couldn't understand it. I swear I couldn't. After we started going around together, I asked her how come she could date a showoff bastard like Al Pike. Jane said he wasn't a show-off. She said he had an inferiority complex. She acted like she felt sorry for him or something, and she wasn't just putting it on. She meant it. It's a funny thing about girls. Every time you mention some guy that's strictly a bastard--very mean, or very conceited and all--and when you mention it to the girl, she'll tell you he has an inferiority complex. Maybe he has, but that still doesn't keep him from being a bastard, in my opinion. Girls. You never know what they're going to think. I once got this girl Roberta Walsh's roommate a date with a friend of mine. His name was Bob Robinson and he really had an inferiority complex. You could tell he was very ashamed of his parents and all, because they said "he don't" and "she don't" and stuff like that and they weren't very wealthy. But he wasn't a bastard or anything. He was a very nice guy. But this Roberta Walsh's roommate didn't like him at all. She told Roberta he was too conceited--and the reason she thought he was conceited was because he happened to mention to her that he was captain of the debating team. A little thing like that, and she thought he was conceited! The trouble with girls is, if they like a boy, no matter how big a bastard he is, they'll say he has an inferiority complex, and if they don't like him, no matter how nice a guy he is, or how big an inferiority complex he has, they'll say he's conceited. Even smart girls do it.
嗯，那天晚上約琴出來的就是這么個人。我實(shí)在沒法理解，我發(fā)誓我沒法理解。我跟琴比較熟了以后，就問她怎么會跟亞爾．派克這種喜歡賣弄的雜種約會。琴說他并不喜歡賣弄。她說他有自卑感?？此臉幼雍孟笥悬c(diǎn)兒同情他，而她也決不是在裝模作樣。她真是這個意思。女孩子就是這點(diǎn)好笑。遇到那種地地道道的雜種——十分卑鄙，或者十分自高自大——你每次只要一跟姑娘們提起，她們就會說他有自卑感。也許他確有自卑感，可在我看來這也不能構(gòu)成他不成為雜種的理由。那種姑娘，你真不知道她們心里是什么想法。有一次我介紹羅蓓塔．華爾西的同房間姑娘跟我的一個朋友約會。他的名字叫鮑伯.魯濱孫，他倒真是有自卑感。你看得出他很為自己的父母難為情，因?yàn)樗麄冋f話土里士氣，而且并不怎么有錢?？伤皇莻€雜種。他是個挺不錯的家伙。不過跟羅德塔同屋的那位姑娘一點(diǎn)也不喜歡他。她對羅德塔說他十分自高自大——而她之所以認(rèn)為他自高自大腦理由，卻是他偶爾跟她提起自已是辯論會的負(fù)責(zé)人，就是那么件小事，可她就認(rèn)為他自高自大！姑娘們的問題是，她們要是喜歡什么人，不管他是個多下流的雜種，她們總要說他有自卑感；要是她們不喜歡他，那么不管他是個多好的家伙，或者他有多大的自卑感，她們都會說他自高自大。連聰明的姑娘也免不了。
Anyway, I gave old Jane a buzz again, but her phone didn't answer, so I had to hang up. Then I had to look through my address book to see who the hell might be available for the evening. The trouble was, though, my address book only has about three people in it. Jane, and this man, Mr. Antolini, that was my teacher at Elkton Hills, and my father's office number. I keep forgetting to put people's names in. So what I did finally, I gave old Carl Luce a buzz. He graduated from the Whooton School after I left. He was about three years older than I was, and I didn't like him too much, but he was one of these very intellectual guys-- he had the highest I.Q. of any boy at Whooton--and I thought he might want to have dinner with me somewhere and have a slightly intellectual conversation. He was very enlightening sometimes. So I gave him a buzz. He went to Columbia now, but he lived on 65th Street and all, and I knew he'd be home. When I got him on the phone, he said he couldn't make it for dinner but that he'd meet me for a drink at ten o'clock at the Wicker Bar, on 54th. I think he was pretty surprised to hear from me.?I once called him a fat-assed phony.
嗯，我又給琴打了個電話，可沒人來接，我只好把電話掛了。接著我不得不拿出筆記本來翻閱地址，看看他媽的今天晚上能找到什么人。不過問題是，我的筆記本里總共只有三個人的地址。一個是琴，一個是安多里尼先生，是我在愛爾克敦念書時教我的老師，還有個我父親辦公室的電話號碼。我老是忘掉把人們的名字記下，所以我最后只好打電話給老卡爾.路斯。他是胡敦中學(xué)的畢業(yè)生，是在我離開之后畢業(yè)的。他的年紀(jì)比我約莫大三歲，我不很喜歡他，可他為人十分聰明——是胡敦全校學(xué)生中智力商數(shù)最高的一個——我想他也許能跟我一塊兒在外面吃晚飯，談一些比較有意思的話．他有時候極能啟發(fā)人。因此我給他打了個電話。他現(xiàn)在進(jìn)了哥倫比亞大學(xué)，可他住在第六十五條街，我知道這會兒他大概在家。我跟他通話的時候，他說他不能跟我一塊兒吃晚飯，可他要我十點(diǎn)鐘在第五十四條街的維格酒吧間等他，一同喝一杯。我揣摩他聽—見我打電話給他大概很吃驚。我過去曾罵過他是胖屁股的偽君子。
I had quite a bit of time to kill till ten o'clock, so what I did, I went to the movies at Radio City. It was probably the worst thing I could've done, but it was near, and I couldn't think of anything else.
在十點(diǎn)以前還有不少時間要消磨，所以我就到無線電城去看電影。這大概是我當(dāng)時能做的最糟糕的事，可那地方近，我一時又想不出有別的什么事可做。
I came in when the goddam stage show was on. The Rockettes were kicking their heads off, the way they do when they're all in line with their arms around each other's waist. The audience applauded like mad, and some guy behind me kept saying to his wife, "You know what that is? That's precision." He killed me. Then, after the Rockettes, a guy came out in a tuxedo and roller skates on, and started skating under a bunch of little tables, and telling jokes while he did it. He was a very good skater and all, but I couldn't enjoy it much because I kept picturing him practicing to be a guy that roller-skates on the stage. It seemed so stupid. I guess I just wasn't in the right mood. Then, after him, they had this Christmas thing they have at Radio City every year. All these angels start coming out of the boxes and everywhere, guys carrying crucifixes and stuff all over the place, and the whole bunch of them--thousands of them--singing "Come All Ye Faithful!" like mad. Big deal. It's supposed to be religious as hell, I know, and very pretty and all, but I can't see anything religious or pretty, for God's sake, about a bunch of actors carrying crucifixes all over the stage. When they were all finished and started going out the boxes again, you could tell they could hardly wait to get a cigarette or something. I saw it with old Sally Hayes the year before, and she kept saying how beautiful it was, the costumes and all. I said old Jesus probably would've puked if He could see it--all those fancy costumes and all. Sally said I was a sacrilegious?褻瀆神明的atheist無神論者. I probably am. The thing Jesus really would've liked would be the guy that plays the kettle drums in the orchestra管弦樂隊(duì). I've watched that guy since I was about eight years old. My brother Allie and I, if we were with our parents and all, we used to move our seats and go way down so we could watch him. He's the best drummer I ever saw. He only gets a chance to bang them a couple of times during a whole piece, but he never looks bored when he isn't doing it. Then when he does bang them, he does it so nice and sweet, with this nervous expression on his face. One time when we went to Washington with my father, Allie sent him a postcard, but I'll bet he never got it. We weren't too sure how to address it.
我進(jìn)去的時候，正在表演混帳舞臺節(jié)目。羅凱特姐妹們正在擠命地跳，她們?nèi)寂懦梢恍?，彼此用胳膊互摟著腰。觀眾們象瘋子似的鼓著掌，我背后有個家伙不住地對他妻子說：“你知道這是什么嗎？這是精確?！蔽衣犃瞬铧c(diǎn)兒笑死。繼羅凱特姐妹之后，是一個穿著無尾禮服和一雙四輪溜冰鞋的家伙出來表演，他在一嘟嚕小桌子底下鉆來鉆去、一邊還說著笑話。他溜的倒是非常好，可我并不怎么欣賞，因?yàn)槲夷X子里老是想象著他怎樣日夜苦練，為了將來在舞臺上表演。這在我看來簡直使得要命。我揣摩我當(dāng)時的心情確實(shí)不對頭。他之后，是無線電城每年上演的圣誕節(jié)目。所有那些天使開始從包廂和其他各處出來，手里拿著十字架什么的，那么整整一大嘟?！泻脦浊€——全都象瘋子似的唱著“你們這些信徒，全都來吧！”真是了不起。干這玩藝兒的本來意思大概算是虔誠得要命，我知道，同時也好看得要命，可我實(shí)在看不出有什么虔誠或好看的地方，老天爺，象這樣讓一嘟嚕演員拿著十字架滿舞臺轉(zhuǎn)。等他們表演完畢重新走出包廂的時候，你都看得出他們已等不及回去抽煙了。去年我跟老薩麗．海斯也來看過一次，她不住口地稱贊，說服裝什么的都美極了。我說老耶酥要是能親眼看見，準(zhǔn)會作嘔——見了所有這些時髦服裝什么的。薩麗說我是褻瀆神明的無神論者。我大概是這么個人。耶穌可能真正喜歡的恐怕是樂隊(duì)里那個敲銅鼓的家伙。我從約莫八歲開始就看他表演。我弟弟艾里和我要是跟我們父母一塊兒出來，我們兩個往往特地?fù)Q了座位，到前面去看他敲鋼鼓。他是我生平見到過的最好的鼓手。整個演出中他只有機(jī)會敲一兩次鼓，可他沒事做的時候從來不露出膩煩的神色。等到他敲鼓的時候，他敲得那么好，那么動聽，臉上還露出緊張的表情。有一次我們跟父親一起到華盛頓去的時候，艾里還寄給他一張明信片，可我敢打賭他一直沒收到。我們那時都還不知道怎樣寫地址呢。
After the Christmas thing was over, the goddam picture started. It was so putrid I couldn't take my eyes off it. It was about this English guy, Alec something, that was in the war and loses his memory in the hospital and all. He comes out of the hospital carrying a cane and limping all over the place, all over London, not knowing who the hell he is. He's really a duke, but he doesn't know it. Then he meets this nice, homey, sincere girl getting on a bus.?
Her goddam hat blows off and he catches it, and then they go upstairs and sit down and start talking about Charles Dickens. He's both their favorite author and all. He's carrying this copy of Oliver Twist and so's she. I could've puked.
Anyway, they fell in love right away, on account of they're both so nuts about Charles?Dickens and all, and he helps her run her publishing business.
圣誕節(jié)目演完后，混帳電影開始了。那電影混帳到了那種程度，我倒真是舍不得不看。故事講的是個英國佬，叫艾力克什么的，參加了戰(zhàn)爭，在醫(yī)院里喪失了記憶力。他從醫(yī)院里出來，拄著根拐棍，一瘸一拐地在倫敦到處跑，不知道他媽的他自已是誰。他其實(shí)是個公爵，可他自己不知道。后來他遇到那個可愛、溫柔、真摯的姑娘上公共汽車。
她那頂混帳帽子給風(fēng)吹掉了，他去給她拾來，他們于是一塊兒到汽車頂層上坐下，談起查爾斯.狄更斯來。他們兩個都喜歡這個作家。他身邊帶著本《奧列弗.退斯特》，她正好也帶著一本。我差點(diǎn)兒都嘔了出來。
嗯，他們倆就這樣一見鐘情了，就因?yàn)楸舜硕际菬釔鄄闋査?狄更斯作品的瘋子。他還幫著她做出版生意。
She's a publisher, the girl. Only, she's not doing so hot, because her brother's a drunkard and he spends all their dough. He's a very bitter guy, the brother, because he was a doctor in the war and now he can't operate any more because his nerves are shot, so he boozes all the time, but he's pretty witty and all. Anyway, old Alec writes a book, and this girl publishes it, and they both make a hatful of dough on it. They're all set to get married when this other girl, old Marcia, shows up. Marcia was Alec's fiancée before he lost his memory, and she recognizes him when he's in this store autographing books. She tells old Alec he's really a duke and all, but he doesn't believe her and doesn't want to go with her to visit his mother and all. His mother's blind as a bat. But the other girl, the homey one, makes him go. She's very noble and all. So he goes. But he still doesn't get his memory back, even when his great Dane jumps all over him and his mother sticks her fingers all over his face and brings him this teddy bear he used to slobber around with when he was a kid. But then, one day, some kids are playing cricket on the lawn and he gets smacked in the head with a cricket ball. Then right away he gets his goddam memory back and he goes in and kisses his mother on the forehead and all. Then he starts being a regular duke again, and he forgets all about the homey babe that has the publishing business. I'd tell you the rest of the story, but I might puke if I did. It isn't that I'd spoil it for you or anything. There isn't anything to spoil for Chrissake. Anyway, it ends up with Alec and the homey babe getting married, and the brother that's a drunkard gets his nerves back and operates on Alec's mother so she can see again, and then the drunken brother and old Marcia go for each other. It ends up with everybody at this long dinner table laughing their asses off because the great Dane comes in with a bunch of puppies. Everybody thought it was a male, I suppose, or some goddam thing. All I can say is, don't see it if you don't want to puke all over yourself.
那姑娘是個出版商。只是她的生意并不怎么興隆，因?yàn)樗绺缡莻€酒鬼，把她掙的錢全給花了。他心里窩著一肚子火，她那個哥哥；因?yàn)閼?zhàn)時他是個軍醫(yī)，給震壞了神經(jīng)，不能再開刀動手術(shù)了，就一天到晚喝酒，可他為人倒是十分恢諧有趣。嗯，后來老艾力克寫了一本書，那姑娘把它出版了，兩個都嫌了不少錢。他們都準(zhǔn)備好要結(jié)婚了，那另一個姑娘，叫什么瑪霞的，突然出現(xiàn)了?，斚荚怯⒘耸ビ洃浿暗奈椿槠蓿嗽跁伬锿麜嫌H筆簽名的時候給她看見了。她認(rèn)出了他，就跟他說他原是個公爵什么的，可他不信她的話，也不愿跟著她回去看他母親什么的。他母親的眼睛瞎得都跟蝙蝠似的。可另外那個始娘，那個可愛溫柔的姑娘，卻要他回去。她的心地十分高尚。他于是回去了?？墒潜M管他的那只丹麥種大狗沖著他又跳又蹦，他母親用指頭在他臉上到處撫摸，還拿出他小時候愛玩的玩具熊給他看，可他仍舊沒恢復(fù)記憶。后來有一天幾個小孩在草地上打捧球，一球打在他腦袋上。他立刻恢復(fù)了他的混帳記憶，進(jìn)去吻他母親的前額什么的。他于是依舊當(dāng)起公爵來，把那個做出版生意的溫柔姑娘完全扔到腦后了。我倒愿意把底下的故事說完，可這樣一來我非真正嘔出來不可。倒不是我會給你把故事糟蹋掉，那故事根本沒什么可供你糟蹋的，我的老天爺。嗯，反正最后艾力克跟那個溫柔的姑娘結(jié)婚了，接著那酒鬼哥哥的神經(jīng)恢復(fù)了正常，給艾力克的母親動了手術(shù)，使她依舊看得見東西，接著那個酒鬼哥哥和老瑪霞成了眷屬。最后一幕是大家坐在長長的晚飯桌上，看見那只大丹麥狗帶著一嘟嚕小狗進(jìn)來，個個笑得命都不要了。或許大家都以為它是只雄狗呢，我揣摩，或者諸如此類的混帳玩藝兒。我能說的只有一句話：你要是不想把自己的腸子嘔出來，就別去看這電影。
The part that got me was, there was a lady sitting next to me that cried all through the goddam picture. The phonier it got, the more she cried. You'd have thought she did it because she was kindhearted as hell, but I was sitting right next to her, and she wasn't. She had this little kid with her that was bored as hell and had to go to the bathroom, but she wouldn't take him. She kept telling him to sit still and behave himself. She was about as kindhearted as a goddam wolf. You take somebody that cries their goddam eyes out over phony stuff in the movies, and nine times out of ten they're mean bastards at heart.?I'm not kidding.
最讓我受不了的是旁邊還坐著位太太，在整個混帳電影放映時哭個不停。越演到假模假式的地方她越哭得兇。你也許會以為她這樣做是因?yàn)樗哪c軟得要命，可我正好坐在她旁邊，看出她并不是軟心腸。她帶著個小孩子，他早已看不下去電影，一定要上廁所去。她不住地叫他規(guī)規(guī)矩的坐著。她的心腸軟得就跟他媽的狼差不離。那些在電影里看到什么假模假式的玩藝兒會把他們的混帳眼珠兒哭出來的人，他們十有九個在心底里都是卑鄙的雜種。我不開玩笑。
After the movie was over, I started walking down to the Wicker Bar, where I was supposed to meet old Carl Luce, and while I walked I sort of thought about war and all. Those war movies always do that to me. I don't think I could stand it if I had to go to war. I really couldn't. It wouldn't be too bad if they'd just take you out and shoot you or something, but you have to stay in the Army so goddam long. That's the whole trouble. My brother D.B. was in the Army for four goddam years. He was in the war, too--he landed on D-Day and all--but I really think he hated the Army worse than the war. I was practically a child at the time, but I remember when he used to come home on furlough and all, all he did was lie on his bed, practically. He hardly ever even came in the living room. Later, when he went overseas and was in the war and all, he didn't get wounded or anything and he didn't have to shoot anybody. All he had to do was drive some cowboy general around all day in a command car. He once told Allie and I that if he'd had to shoot anybody, he wouldn't've known which direction to shoot in. He said the Army was practically as full of bastards as the Nazis were. I remember Allie once asked him wasn't it sort of good that he was in the war because he was a writer and it gave him a lot to write about and all. He made Allie go get his baseball mitt and then he asked him who was the best war poet, Rupert Brooke or Emily Dickinson. Allie said Emily Dickinson. I don't know too much about it myself, because I don't read much poetry, but I do know it'd drive me crazy if I had to be in the Army and be with a bunch of guys like Ackley and Stradlater and old Maurice all the time, marching with them and all.?
看完電影，我就徒步向維格酒吧間走去，我跟老卡爾.路斯約好了在那兒會面。我一邊走，一邊卻想起戰(zhàn)爭來。那些戰(zhàn)爭片老引起我胡思亂想。我覺得自己要是被征去當(dāng)兵，恐怕會受不了。我真的會受不了。要是他們光是讓你去送死什么的，那倒也不太壞，問題是你得在軍隊(duì)里呆他媽的那么久。
這是最大的問題。我哥哥DB在軍隊(duì)里呆了他媽的四年。他也參加了戰(zhàn)爭——還參加了進(jìn)攻歐洲大陸什么的——可我真覺得他痛恨軍隊(duì)比痛恨戰(zhàn)爭還厲害。我那時年紀(jì)還很小，可我記得他每次休假回來，簡直是躺在床上不起來。他甚至連客廳都不進(jìn)去。后來他到海外參加戰(zhàn)爭，身上沒受過什么傷，也不用開槍打人。他光是駕駛著一輛指揮車載著一個牛仔將軍整天轉(zhuǎn)游。他有一次跟艾里和我說，他要是得開槍打人，都不知道應(yīng)該朝哪個方向打。他說他呆的軍隊(duì)簡直跟納粹軍隊(duì)一樣，全都是些雜種。
我記得艾里有一次問他參加戰(zhàn)爭對他有沒有好處，因?yàn)樗莻€作家，戰(zhàn)爭可以向他提供不少材料。他叫艾里去把那只壘球手套拿來，隨后他問艾里，誰是最好的戰(zhàn)爭詩人，是魯帕特.勃洛克還是艾米莉.狄更生？艾里說是艾米莉.狄更生。我自己讀詩不多，不太懂得他們的意思，可我卻清楚地懂得我自己要是被征去當(dāng)兵，一天到晚跟一嘟嚕象阿克萊、斯特拉德萊塔和老毛里斯之類的家伙一塊兒廝混，跟他們一塊兒行軍什么的，那我非發(fā)瘋不可。
I was in the Boy Scouts once, for about a week, and I couldn't even stand looking at the back of the guy's neck in front of me. They kept telling you to look at the back of the guy's neck in front of you. I swear if there's ever another war, they better just take me out and stick me in front of a firing squad. I wouldn't object. What gets me about D.B., though, he hated the war so much, and yet he got me to read this book A Farewell to Arms last summer. He said it was so terrific. That's what I can't understand. It had this guy in it named Lieutenant Henry that was supposed to be a nice guy and all.?
我有一次在童子軍里呆了那么一個星期，我甚至都沒法老望著我前面那個家伙的后腦勺。他們老是叫你望著你前面那個家伙的后腦勺，我實(shí)在受不了。
我發(fā)誓如果再發(fā)生一次戰(zhàn)爭，他們不如干脆把我送去放在行刑隊(duì)跟前槍決算了。我決不反對。我對DB有一點(diǎn)不很了解，他那么痛恨戰(zhàn)爭，卻在今年夏天讓我閱讀《永別了，武器》這樣的小說。他說這本書寫得好極了。就是這一點(diǎn)我不能理解。小說里有個叫作亨利少尉的家伙，大概算是個好人吧。
I don't see how D.B. could hate the?Army and war and all so much and still like a phony like that. I mean, for instance, I don't see how he could like a phony book like that and still like that one by Ring Lardner, or that other one he's so crazy about, The Great Gatsby. D.B. got sore when I said that, and said I was too young and all to appreciate it, but I don't think so. I told him I liked Ring Lardner and The Great Gatsby and all. I did, too. I was crazy about The Great Gatsby. Old Gatsby. Old sport. That killed me. Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented. If there's ever another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will.
我實(shí)在不了解DB一方面那么痛恨軍隊(duì)和戰(zhàn)爭，一方面卻能喜歡這樣一個假模假式的人。我的意思是，比方說，我不了解他怎么能一方面喜歡這樣一本假模假式的小說，一方面卻又能喜歡林.拉德納的那本小說，或者另外那本他最最喜歡的小說——《偉大的蓋茨比》。我這么一說，DB聽了很生氣，說我年紀(jì)太小，還欣賞不了那樣的書，可我不同意他的看法。我告訴他說我喜歡林.拉德納和《偉大的蓋茨比》這類書。我的確喜歡。我最最喜歡的是《偉大的蓋茨比》。老蓋茨比?？蓯鄣募一?。我喜歡他極了。嗯，不管怎樣，我們發(fā)明了原子彈這事倒讓我挺高興。要是再發(fā)生一次戰(zhàn)爭，我打算他媽的干脆坐在原子彈頂上。我愿意第一個報(bào)名，我可以對天發(fā)誓，我愿意這樣做。
