My1)Bully and Me

⊙ By Alex Abramovich翻译：思苇

My1)Bully and Me

⊙ By Alex Abramovich翻译：思苇

你有过这样的经历吗—偶然遇到很久不见的儿时玩伴，一聊起来才发现彼此的童年回忆竟然有着巨大的偏差？专栏作家亚力克斯一直记得自己在小学时遭遇的校园霸凌，然而长大之后，他才发现事情和自己想的不太一样。这是一个你能猜到开头，却想不到结尾的另类友情故事……

Host: Tell us about your memories of Trevor Latham as a child.

Alex Abramovich (Writer): I remember Trevor as a large, angry boy, which is funny because when I went back and met him years later and saw photos of him, it turned out that he was a little boy—we were both pretty little kids. This was in the fourth grade and my dad and I had just moved to a new town. I’d only moved in with my dad the previous year. My mom had died that year, so I’d moved in with my father. And then towards the end of that year, we moved to Long Island, which is where I met Trevor. He was the bully I remembered out of all the bullies I’d known.

Host: So a lot of time goes by and you reconnect. How did that happen?

Alex: I remembered him and I remembered his name, but I’d never thought to Google him until one day I did. And a very short thing came up on the screen that said, “I moved toCalifornia, became a2)bouncer and started a motorcycle club.” I knew at that point that we would meet again. That was too good to3)pass up.

Host: Did you connect right away? I mean, what…how did he react to your getting in touch?

Alex: They have a website—old-fashioned website, but Trevor’s number is on it. It was a 510 number注, and I dialed it, and he was at the bar when I called him. And I said, “You don’t know me, but I used to know you in4)grade school. We used to know each other in grade school.” And he, without5)missing a beat, said, “Alex Abramovich?” It was very strange. And we started emailing late at night, sort of comparing memories, which turned out to be very different, his and mine. So there was a basis for communication by the time I got out to Oakland, and we6)got along well.

Host: When you reconnected as adults, what was his memory of your relationship as kids?

Alex: He remembers fighting. He remembers fighting in the classroom, teachers breaking us up. He remembers us getting sent down to the7)principal’s office. He remembered our fathers having to pick us up at school…much more specific memories than I had, actually. But,8)weirdly enough, he also remembers that I was bullying him as much as he was bullying me. And,9)moreover, he remembers that despite that we were good friends at the time. He remembers us playing chess, going to each other’s houses. I don’t remember any of this. Didn’t then, don’t now.

Host: What’s your best guess as to who’s right?

Alex: I think, in a way, we’re both right. You know, I was an angry, messed-up kid. But what’s also interesting about it is that our…the specific details of our memories10)line up, but that makes me think that Trevor’s a bully,11)whereas it leads him to think that because we were fighting all the time that meant we must’ve been friends.

Host: How well do you feel that you know him? I mean, are you good friends now? Do you feel like you understand him?

Alex: You know, he’s my oldest friend, I think. I’ve known him for—is that right—35 years now, and I’m only 43. And I’m his oldest friend. So, in a sense, there’s a very deep connection. And whenever we don’t see each other for a while, we12)pick up the thread very quickly.

1) bully ['bʊlɪ] n. 恶霸，欺负弱小者；v. 欺凌，欺侮，尤指校园霸凌

2) bouncer ['baʊnsə(r)] n. 保镖，保安

3) pass up <口>放弃，放过；错过，错失（机会）

4) grade school <美>小学

5) miss a beat 犹豫，踌躇

6) get along well 与……合得来

7) principal ['prɪnsɪp(ə)l] n. 中小学校长

8) weirdly ['wɪədlɪ] adv. 古怪地，奇怪地

9) moreover [mɔː'rəʊvə(r)] adv. 而且，此外

10) line up （使）排队，整队

11) whereas [weər'æz] conj. 但是，相反

12) pick up the thread （工作、关系等中断后）接续下去；（故事、谈话等中断后）再继续下去

注：510是美国加利福尼亚州其中一个电话区号，范围覆盖旧金山湾区的大部分城市。

句型：remember搭配小结

在讲述老朋友的童年印象时，作者用了一整段以“He remembers…”开头的句子，正好可以让我们总结一下remember的常用句式搭配。Remember在表示“记得，回想起”的意思时是一个及物动词，后面要跟名词性宾语，常用句型包括：remember sth./sb.、remember doing sth.、remember sb. doing sth.、remember + that引导的从句。同学们不妨将原文中的例句反复读几遍，从而巩固这些搭配用法。

注意：如果和动词不定式搭配，remember表达的意思则为“牢记，记住，不忘记”，如：Remember to go to the post offce. （别忘了去一趟邮局。）

主持人：跟我们讲讲你小时候对特雷弗·莱瑟姆的印象是怎样的吧。

亚力克斯·阿布拉莫维奇（作家）：我记得特雷弗是个大个子，老是气鼓鼓的，而这一点很有趣，因为我在多年以后回首过去，跟他见上面，看到那些老照片，才发现他以前其实是个小个子——我们俩那时的个头都不高。我当时读四年级，和爸爸刚搬到一个新的镇子上。我是前一年搬过去爸爸家的，那年妈妈去世了，我只好和爸爸一起住。快到年底的时候，我们又搬到了纽约长岛，就是在那儿，我遇到了特雷弗。在我所知道的校园小霸王当中，他是最霸道的一个。主持人：你们在多年之后再次见面，这是怎么回事呢？

亚力克斯：我一直记得他，也记得他的名字，但我从没想过用谷歌搜索他——直到有一天，我突然这么做了。然后就有一段短短的文字在屏幕上跳了出来，上面写着：“我搬去加利福尼亚了，当上了保镖，还搞了一家摩托车俱乐部。”我在那一刻就知道我们会再次碰头，这个机会不容错过。

主持人：你们马上联系上了吗？我的意思是，他有什么……他对你的接触有何反应？

亚力克斯：俱乐部有个网站，是那种很老派的网站，不过上面有特雷弗的电话号码，区号是510。我就打过去了，他接到电话时正在酒吧里。我说：“你不认识我，但我以前在小学认识你，我们在小学认识的。”他毫不迟疑地问道：“你是亚力克斯·阿布拉莫维奇？”这种感觉真奇妙。我们开始在夜里互发邮件，互相比对童年回忆，发现我们的印象差别还挺大的。在我去加州奥克兰找他之前，那是我们交流的主要内容，所以我们见面后处得很好。

主持人：成年之后再次碰头，他对你们俩的童年关系有着怎样的印象呢？

亚力克斯：他记得我们打过架，在教室里扭打成一团，老师只好将我们分开；他也记得我们被拎到校长办公室挨训，我们俩的爸爸只好来学校接我们走……事实上，他比我记得更多细节。不过，很奇怪的是，他记得我欺负他的次数和他欺负我的次数一样多。此外，他还记得尽管我们经常打架，但在当时一直是好朋友，会一起下国际象棋，还会去对方家里玩。我对这些事情一点印象都没有——当时没有，现在依然没有。

主持人：那你觉得谁的印象才是对的呢？

亚力克斯：我想，在某种意义上，我们俩都是对的。你知道，当时的我是个愤愤不平的小家伙，日子过得一团糟。但是这件事很有趣的一点在于，我们的……在我们的回忆中，各种具体细节都可以连在一起，对得上号，但这种回忆让我觉得特雷弗是个小恶霸——而在他看来，正因为我们整天打架，那就说明我们一定是朋友。

主持人：你觉得自己有多了解他？我的意思是，你们现在是好朋友吗？你觉得你懂他吗？

亚力克斯：你瞧，他是我交往最久的朋友了，我和他认识了——有那么久了吗——到现在已经35年了，而我才43岁。我也是他交往最久的朋友。所以，在某种层面上，我们之间确实有一种非常深厚的感情。只要有上一段时间没能见面，我们马上又会再次来往呢。