【专八阅读】唐纳德·巴塞尔姆《学校》原创译文 判辨
本文英语部分选自唐纳德·巴塞尔姆作品
The School
唐纳德·巴塞尔姆
（1）Well, we had all these children out planting trees, see, because we figured that ... that was part of their education, to see how, you know, the root systems ... and also the sense of responsibility, taking care of things, being individually responsible. You know what I mean. And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I don’t know why they died, they just died. Something wrong with the soil possibly or maybe the stuff we got from the nursery wasn’t the best. We complained about it. So we’ve got thirty kids there, each kid had his or her own little tree to plant and we’ve got these thirty dead trees. All these kids looking at these little brown sticks, it was depressing.
嗯，咱们让通盘这些孩子出去种树，看，因为咱们认为……这是他们教育的一部分，望望若何，你知谈，根系……还有职守感，眷注事情，承担个东谈主职守。你知谈我的兴味。树都死了。它们是橘子树。我不知谈他们为什么死，他们仅仅死了。泥土可能有问题，大要咱们从苗圃里获得的东西不是最佳的。咱们诉苦过。是以咱们在那里有三十个孩子，每个孩子都有我方的小树要种，咱们有三十棵死树。通盘这些孩子看着这些棕色的小棍子，都很不振。
（2）It wouldn’t have been so bad except that just a couple of weeks before the thing with the trees, the snakes all died. But I think that the snakes – well, the reason that the snakes kicked off was that ... you remember, the boiler was shut off for four days because of the strike, and that was explicable. It was something you could explain to the kids because of the strike. I mean, none of their parents would let them cross the picket line and they knew there was a strike going on and what it meant. So when things got started up again and we found the snakes they weren’t too disturbed.
淌若不是在树上的事情发生前几周，蛇都死了，情况就不会这样糟了。但我认为这些蛇——嗯，蛇运转的原因是……你谨记，汽锅因为歇工被关闭了四天，这是不错解说的。因为歇工，你不错向孩子们解说这件事。我的兴味是，他们的父母都不会让他们跳跃纠察线，他们知谈歇工正在进行，这意味着什么。是以当事情再交运转的时刻，咱们发现蛇并莫得受到太大的搅扰。
（3）With the herb gardens it was probably a case of overwatering, and at least now they know not to overwater. The children were very conscientious with the herb gardens and some of them probably ... you know, slipped them a little extra water when we weren’t looking. Or maybe ... well, I don’t like to think about sabotage, although it did occur to us. I mean, it was something that crossed our minds. We were thinking that way probably because before that the gerbils had died, and the white mice had died, and the salamander ... well, now they know not to carry them around in plastic bags.
关于草本植物园来说，这可能是过度浇水的情况，至少咫尺他们知谈不要过度浇水。孩子们对菜园很厚爱，其中一些可能……你知谈，当咱们不珍藏的时刻，给他们多浇了少量水。大要也许……嗯，我不心爱商量碎裂活动，尽管它如实发生在咱们身上。我的兴味是，这是咱们脑海中闪过的东西。咱们这样念念可能是因为在那之前沙鼠依然死了，白鼠也死了，蝾螈也死了……好吧，咫尺他们知谈不要用塑料袋佩带它们。
（4）Of course we expected the tropical fish to die, that was no surprise. Those numbers, you look at them crooked and they’re belly-up on the surface. But the lesson plan called for a tropical fish input at that point, there was nothing we could do, it happens every year, you just have to hurry past it.
固然，咱们预念念到热带鱼会死一火，这并不奇怪。那些数字，你看它们歪七扭八的，名义上都是肚子饱读起来的。但其时的课程遐想条件输入热带鱼，咱们窝囊为力，每年都会发生这样的情况，你只需要飞快往常。
（5）We weren’t even supposed to have a puppy.
咱们以致不应该养小狗。
（6）We weren’t even supposed to have one, it was just a puppy the Murdoch girl found under a Gristede’s truck one day and she was afraid the truck would run over it when the driver had finished making his delivery, so she stuck it in her knapsack and brought it to the school with her. So we had this puppy. As soon as I saw the puppy I thought, Oh Christ, I bet it will live for about two weeks and then... And that’s what it did. It wasn’t supposed to be in the classroom at all, there’s some kind of regulation about it, but you can’t tell them they can’t have a puppy when the puppy is already there, right in front of them, running around on the floor and yap yap yapping. They named it Edgar – that is, they named it after me. They had a lot of fun running after it and yelling, “Here, Edgar! Nice Edgar!” Then they’d laugh like hell. They enjoyed the ambiguity. I enjoyed it myself. I don’t mind being kidded. They made a little house for it in the supply closet and all that. I don’t know what it died of. Distemper, I guess. It probably hadn’t had any shots. I got it out of there before the kids got to school. I checked the supply closet each morning, routinely, because I knew what was going to happen. I gave it to the custodian.
咱们以致不应该有一只小狗，这仅仅一天默多克女孩在格里斯泰德的卡车下发现的小狗，她惦记司机送货实现后卡车会碾过它，是以她把它放在背包里，带到学校。是以咱们有了这只小狗。当我看到小狗时，我念念，哦，妈耶，我打赌它会活两周傍边，然后……它即是这样作念的。这根底就不应该在教室里，有一些规则，但你不可告诉他们，当小狗依然在那里，就在他们眼前，在地板上跑来跑去，“汪汪汪汪”地叫着的时刻，他们就不可养小狗了。他们给它取名为埃德加，也即是说，他们以我的名字定名。他们在背面追着它跑，喊着：“这里，埃德加！好埃德加！”然后他们会大笑不啻。他们心爱这种拖泥带水的嗅觉。我我方也很心爱。我不介怀被东谈主取笑。他们在保藏室等方位为它配置了一个斗室子。我不知谈它死于什么。我念念是夭厉。因为它可能莫得被任何枪击中。我在孩子们上学之前就把它弄出来了。我每天早上都会例行查验衣柜，因为我知谈会发生什么。我把它交给了撑捏东谈主。
（7）And then there was this Korean orphan that the class adopted through the Help the Children program, all the kids brought in a quarter a month, that was the idea. It was an unfortunate thing, the kid’s name was Kim and maybe we adopted him too late or something. The cause of death was not stated in the letter we got, they suggested we adopt another child instead and sent us some interesting case histories, but we didn’t have the heart. The class took it pretty hard, they began (I think, nobody ever said anything to me directly) to feel that maybe there was something wrong with the school. But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the school, particularly, I’ve seen better and I’ve seen worse. It was just a run of bad luck. We had an extraordinary number of parents passing away, for instance. There were I think two heart attacks and two suicides, one drowning, and four killed together in a car accident. One stroke. And we had the usual heavy mortality rate among the grandparents, or maybe it was heavier this year, it seemed so. And finally the tragedy.
还有一个韩国孤儿，这个班通过“匡助孩子”遐想收养了他，通盘的孩子每个月都会带来一个季度的收入，这即是咱们的念念法。这是一件不幸的事，孩子的名字是Kim，也许咱们收养他太晚了，大要什么的。咱们收到的信中莫得诠释死因，他们提出咱们改收养另一个孩子，并寄给咱们一些道理的病历，但咱们莫得勇气。全班都很难继承，他们运转（我念念，从来莫得东谈主径直对我说过话）以为学校可能有问题。但我不认为学校有什么问题，尤其是，我看到的更好，我看到了更糟。这仅仅一连串的横祸。举例，咱们有稀罕多的父母死字。我念念有两次腹黑病发作，两次自戕，一次溺水，四次一皆死于车祸。一次冲程。咱们的祖父母死一火率很高，大要本年似乎更高。临了是悲催。
（8）The tragedy occurred when Matthew Wein and Tony Mavrogordo were playing over where they’re excavating for the new federal office building. There were all these big wooden beams stacked, you know, at the edge of the excavation. There’s a court case coming out of that, the parents are claiming that the beams were poorly stacked. I don’t know what’s true and what’s not. It’s been a strange year.
悲催发生时，马修·韦恩和托尼·马夫罗戈多正在挖掘新的联邦办公大楼。你知谈，通盘这些大木梁都堆放在挖掘的旯旮。由此激发了一场讼事，家长们宣称横梁堆放不当。我不知谈什么是真的，什么不是。这是奇怪的一年。
（9）I forgot to mention Billy Brandt’s father who was knifed fatally when he grappled with a masked intruder in his home.
我忘了说起比利·勃兰特的父亲，他在家里与别称蒙面入侵者战斗时被刀刺死。
（10）One day, we had a discussion in class. They asked me, where did they go? The trees, the salamander, the tropical fish, Edgar, the poppas and mommas, Matthew and Tony, where did they go? And I said, I don’t know, I don’t know. And they said, who knows? and I said, nobody knows. And they said, is death that which gives meaning to life? And I said no, life is that which gives meaning to life. Then they said, but isn’t death, considered as a fundamental datum, the means by which the taken-for-granted mundanity of the everyday may be transcended in the direction of –
一天，咱们在课堂上进行了商榷。他们问我，他们去何处了？树、蝾螈、热带鱼、埃德加、罂粟和姆妈、马修和托尼，他们去了何处？我说，我不知谈，我也不知谈。他们说，谁知谈呢？我说，没东谈主知谈。他们说，死一火是赋予人命真谛的东西吗？我说不，人命是赋予人命真谛的东西。然后他们说，但不是死一火，死一火被视为一个基本的数据，日常糊口中被视为理所固然的正常不错被卓绝的模式——
（11）I said, yes, maybe.They said, we don’t like it.I said, that’s sound.They said, it’s a bloody shame!I said, it is.They said, will you make love now with Helen (our teaching assistant) so that we can see how it is done? We know you like Helen.I do like Helen but I said that I would not.We’ve heard so much about it, they said, but we’ve never seen it.I said I would be fired and that it was never, or almost never, done as a demonstration. Helen looked out the window.They said, please, please make love with Helen, we require an assertion of value, we are frightened.
我说，是的，也许吧。
他们说，咱们不心爱它。
我说，这很好。
他们说，确凿太缺憾了！
我说，是的。
他们说，你咫尺能和海伦（咱们的助教）作念中意的事吗？这样咱们就不错望望是奈何作念的了？咱们知谈你心爱海伦。
我如实心爱海伦，但我说过我不会。
他们说，咱们外传过许多，但咱们从未见过。
我说我会被除名，并且从来莫得，大要险些从来莫得，作念过请愿。海伦向窗外望去。
他们说，请，请和海伦作念中意的事，咱们需要一个价值的观念，咱们很发怵。
（12）I said that they shouldn’t be frightened (although I am often frightened) and that there was value everywhere. Helen came and embraced me. I kissed her a few times on the brow. We held each other. The children were excited. Then there was a knock on the door, I opened the door, and the new gerbil walked in. The children cheered wildly.
我说他们不应该发怵（尽管我频繁发怵），到处都有价值。海伦过来拥抱了我。我在她的额头上吻了几下。咱们彼此拥抱。孩子们很郁勃。然后有东谈主叩门，我掀开门，新沙鼠走了进来。孩子们豪恣地喜跃。
【判辨】
这个故事即是一段充满戏剧性的独白，展现了巴塞尔姆标记性的幽默和在体裁模样上的出色尝试。在这个看似乖僻的故事里，橘树、小动物、收养的孩子都接二连三死了，学校里的孩子们感到困惑，附近地追问赤诚，就此伸开对死一火、对糊口真谛的商榷等。
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