飞机上的胖女士

"Hi! How are you?" The woman smiled as she took the seat beside me. She had to lower herself slowly, squeezing①squeezing n. 压榨；推挤v. 挤压；硬塞进（squeeze的ing形式）her ample bottom into the seat,filling all available space. Her immensity saturated the space around us, shrinking②shrink 英 [ʃrɪŋk] 美 [ʃrɪŋk]n. 收缩；畏缩vt. 使缩小，使收缩me and my seat into insignificance.

I cringed③cringe 英 [krɪn(d)ʒ] 美 [krɪndʒ]vi. 畏缩；奉承；阿谀n. 畏缩；奉承and reclined towards the window.She repeated her greeting in an upbeat, friendly voice. "Hi," I replied with obvious loathing④loathing 英 ['ləʊðɪŋ] 美 ['loðɪŋ]n. 嫌恶 adj. 厌恶的. I turned away to stare out the window, sulking silently about the long hours of discomfort I was going to experience with this monster beside me.

She nudged me with her meaty arm. "My name is Laura. I’m from Britain. "Come on, if we're going to spend six hours side-by-side on this flight, we'd better be friends, don't you think?"

I only gave one-word answers to her questions about me. Unperturbed⑤unperturbed 英 [ʌnpə'tɜːbd] 美 [,ʌnpɚ'tɝbd]adj. 镇定的；平静的；未受到扰乱的by my coldness, she nodded as she made appreciative comments to them. She was particularly considerate and obliging⑥obliging 英 [ə'blaɪdʒɪŋ] 美 [ə'blaɪdʒɪŋ]adj. 乐于助人的；有礼貌的；体贴的when we were served drinks and meals, making sure that I had room to manoeuvre in my seat. "I don't want to clobber you with my elephant size!" she said with utmost sincerity.

After an hour or so, I couldn't help but let down my guard slowly. As much as she had repulsed me in the beginning, she was an interesting conversationalist⑦conversationalist英 [,kɒnvə'seɪʃənəlɪst] n. 健谈的人. She was well-read in many subjects, from philosophy to science. Her comments were humorous and inspirational.

"Have you ever thought about losing some weight?" I finally dared to ask after a while. "No. I've worked hard to get this way.Why would I want to give it up?" "You aren't worried about cardiovascular diseases that come with being overweight?"

"Not at all. You only get the diseases if you're worried about your weight all the time, but there is more in life than worrying about your weight. You always see advertisements from slimming centres that say: 'Liberate yourself from your extra baggage so that you are free to be yourself.' It's rubbish! You're liberated only if you're comfortable with who you are as a person and what you do.

"Folks often see me as a fat lady with big bosoms, big thighs and a big bottom. They see me as a slob. They think I'm lazy and have no willpower. They're wrong. I eat healthily and walk regularly⑧reɡularly['rɛɡjəlɚli] adv. 定期地；有规律地, and I'm actually a slim person on the inside. I'm just so full of energy that people won't be able to keep up with me if I wasn't this size."

Our enthralling conversations had turned my flight into something thoroughly enjoyable. At the arrival lounge of Indonesia Capital Airport, we said goodbye. I watched her walking towards a big group of adoring adults and kids. Cheers sounded. Then, she turned around and winked at me. I was stunned, as the realisation set in: Laura was the most beautiful woman I had ever met in my life.

“嗨，你好！”这个女士一边坐在我旁边一边微笑着说。她必须慢慢地沉下身去，将她宽大的臀部挤入座位中，填满可用的空间。她的宽大体形渗透到我们周围的空间，也使我和我的座位缩小到可以无视的状态。

我畏缩地靠向窗子。她用愉快的声音又问候了一遍。“嗨。”我以明显的厌恶的口气回答道。然后我转过头凝望着窗外，为将要和我旁边的这个怪兽度过一段漫长时间的折磨而生着闷气。

她用她肉肉的胳膊肘推了推我。“我名叫罗拉。我来自英国。”“来嘛，如果我们将在这个航班上一起度过六个小时的话，我们最好能成为朋友，你觉得呢？”

我对她的关于我的问题只用一个单词回答。她对我的冷漠泰然自若，一边对我的回答做出赞赏的表态一边点头。当被送上餐饮服务时她表现得尤其体贴和有礼貌，确保我在座位上有活动的空间。“我不想用我大象般的体形使你为难！”她说的时候带着极大的真诚。

大约过了一小时，我忍不住慢慢放松了我的戒备之心。就像她一开始用体形击溃了我一样，她也是一个很有趣的聊天伙伴。她在很多科目上都有所涉猎，如从哲学到科学。她的观点也幽默且鼓舞人心。

“你有想过减减体重吗？”过了一会儿我终于斗胆问了她。“不。我费很大劲儿才到这种程度。我为什么要放弃呢？”“你就不担心伴随肥胖而来的心血管疾病吗？”

“完全不用。如果你总是担心你的体重你才会得这种病， 但是生活中有比担心自己的体重更多的东西。你们总是从瘦身中心看到这样的广告：把你自己从额外的包袱中解放出来，你才能自由地做自己。这简直胡说！只有当你为自己的生活方式和所作所为感到舒服的时候自己才会真正地被解放。”

“人们常将我看作一个有大胸脯，大粗腿和大屁股的胖女人。他们把我看作懒人。 他们认为我懒惰且没有意志力。但他们错了。我饮食健康且经常散步， 其实我内心里是一个很苗条的人。 我就是浑身充满能量，如果我不是这种体形的话一般人不能追得上我。”

我们这段愉快的聊天使我的飞行变得十分令人开心。 在印度尼西亚首都机场的抵达大厅，我们相互道别。 我看着她走向一群敬慕的大人和孩子们。欢呼雀跃。然后，她转过身并向我眨了眨眼睛。 我被震惊了， 这才意识到：罗拉是我生命中见过的最美丽的女士。