斯特兰德作品

董继平 译

日落时分的急诊室

退休的指挥官心烦意乱。他在城堡中的房间很冷，大厅对面的房间也如此，所有其他房间均如此。在有很多其他更便宜、更暖和的城堡抛售的时候，他决不该购买这个城堡。可是他喜欢这个城堡的外貌——它的石头塔堡高耸到冬天的空气之中，它的大门，甚至还有它那冻结的护城河，呈现出一种银白色的魅力，他认为自己有一天可能到河上去溜冰。他给自己斟上一杯白兰地，点上一支雪茄，试图聚精会神地思考其他事情——他的很多次胜利，他的手下的勇敢——可是他的念头形成小小的漩涡而旋转，最初落在这里，然后落在那里，犹如风吹拂，从一个空寂的镇子飘流到另一个空寂的镇子。

THE EMERGENCY ROOM AT SUNSET

The retired commander was upset.His room in the castle was cold， so was the room across the hall， and all the other rooms as well.He should never have bought this castle when there were so many other， cheaper， warmer castles for sale.But he liked the way this one looked—its stone turrets rising into the winter air， its main gate， even its frozen moat， on which he thought someday he might ice skate， had a silvery charm.He poured himself a brandy and lit a cigar， and tried to concentrate on other things—his many victories，the bravery of his men—but his thoughts swirled in tiny eddies，settling first here， then there， moving as the wind does from empty town to empty town.

无穷小事物的谜

你在黄昏见过他们，沿着海岸行走，见过他们站在门口，从窗口探出身去，或者跨骑着一个缓慢移动的影子边缘。中间的情侣，既不在这里也不在那里，既不在里面也不在外面。可怜的家伙，他们被驱使去体验那不可能的事情。即使在夜里，他们也闭着一只眼、睁着一只眼躺在床上，希望捕捉意识的最后一秒和睡眠的第一秒，栖居在无主之地，那个美丽的地方，仅仅像神祇可能凝视那样，去凝视虚无和万物的光明的结合。

THE ENIGMA OF THE INFINITESIMAL

You’ve seen them at dusk， walking along the shore， seen them standing in doorways， leaning from windows， or straddling the slow moving edge of a shadow.Lovers of the in-between， they are neither here nor there， neither in nor out.Poor souls， they are driven to experience the impossible.Even at night， they lie in bed with one eye closed and the other open， hoping to catch the last second of consciousness and the first of sleep， to inhabit that no man’s land， that beautiful place， to behold as only a god might，the luminous conjunction of nothing and all.

在托皮卡①的神秘与孤独

下午黯淡成黄昏。一个人越来越深沉地陷入睡眠那缓慢的螺旋之中，它的漂流之中，它的长度之中，穿过那摸起来如同雾霭，并最终来到如同一道敞开的门的东西——他不知为什么就穿了过去，然后又不知道为什么就走向一个房间，坐在那里等待，同时，那房间似乎在他的四周合拢，黑暗比他所了解的任何黑暗还要黑暗，他感到有他所不清楚是什么的东西在他体内形成，坚持在他身上立足生长，仿佛一个故事即将展开，故事中有两个人物——欢乐和痛苦，犯下同样的罪行，那是他的罪行，他将不得不一次次坦白，直到那毫无重要性可言。

注：

①美国堪萨斯州州府。

MYSTERY AND SOLITUDE IN TOPEDA

Afternoon darkens into evening.A man falls deeper and deeper into the slow spiral of sleep， into the drift of it， the length of it，through what feels like mist， and comes at last to an open door through which he passes without knowing why， then again without knowing why goes to a room where he sits and waits while the room seems to close around him and the dark is darker than any he has known， and he feels something forming within him without being sure what it is， its hold on him growing， as if a story were about to unfold， in which two characters， Pleasure and Pain， commit the same crime， the one that is his， that he will confess to again and again， until it means nothing.