張恒選譯

Heres Scarlett， in the garden of a friends house in London on a sunny summer morning. It is the kind of mornings that are unusual in England. Scarlett is twelve years old （“Thirteen in November，” she tells me）， and is trying to understand the world around her. She asks questions about everything， all the time.

這位是斯嘉麗，在陽(yáng)光明媚的夏日清晨，在倫敦一個(gè)朋友家的花園里，那是一個(gè)英格蘭不尋常的早晨。斯嘉麗今年十二歲（她告訴我：“十一月十三號(hào)就滿了。”），并試圖了解她周?chē)氖澜?，?duì)每件事她都要打破砂鍋問(wèn)到底。

I tell her that I want to ask her a question， and I ask her why shes called Scarlett， and what the name means， and if it comes from anywhere in particular1. She says， “No， its just a stupid2 name my parents chose3 because they liked it. It doesnt mean anything.”

我告訴她，我想問(wèn)她一個(gè)問(wèn)題，她為什么叫斯嘉麗，這個(gè)名字有什么意思，是不是來(lái)自某個(gè)特定的地方。她說(shuō)：“不是，這只是我父母選的一個(gè)蠢名字，因?yàn)樗麄兿矚g它，沒(méi)什么意思?！?/p>

I wonder if her parents named her after the heroine4 of a favourite film， but then again， I know her dad and this sounds impossible5. I think they maybe chose it just because they liked the sound of it.

我想知道，她的父母是不是用最喜歡的電影女主角的名字給她起名，但話又說(shuō)回來(lái)，我認(rèn)識(shí)她的父親，這聽(tīng)起來(lái)不太可能。我認(rèn)為他們選“斯嘉麗”的原因可能只是因?yàn)橄矚g它的發(fā)音。

Scarlett is worried about changing school after the summer. She worries that shes too short for her age. The other children at the school will make fun of her. She shows me some pictures of the school she is at now and her classmates. I look at the pictures and it shows all kinds of children. Some are tall， some are short， some are fat and some are thin. Some are black and some are white， and most of them are somewhere in between. Some have red hair and some have blond hair， some have long hair and some have short hair.

斯嘉麗擔(dān)心夏天過(guò)后轉(zhuǎn)校的事。她擔(dān)心就她的年齡來(lái)看個(gè)子太矮了，學(xué)校其他的孩子會(huì)取笑她。她給我看了一些她現(xiàn)在所在的學(xué)校和她同學(xué)的照片。我看著這些照片里面出現(xiàn)的各種各樣的孩子，有些很高，有些矮，有些胖，有些瘦，有些膚色黑，有些膚色白，其中大多數(shù)介于兩者之間。有的是紅頭發(fā)，有的是金發(fā)，有的是長(zhǎng)發(fā)，有的是短發(fā)。

I tell her not to worry about the new school， tell her that shell be OK， and ask her about the new subjects shell be studying. She tells me that shes worried about learning French， and I tell her not to worry， that it isnt a very difficult language. She tells me that she already knows five languages.

我告訴她不要擔(dān)心新學(xué)校的事，告訴她一切都會(huì)好的，并問(wèn)她要學(xué)哪些新科目。她告訴我她擔(dān)心法語(yǔ)的學(xué)習(xí)，我告訴她不用擔(dān)心，這不是一門(mén)非常難的語(yǔ)言，她說(shuō)她已經(jīng)會(huì)五種語(yǔ)言了。

“Five languages！” I shout. “Thats impossible！How do you already know five languages？”

“五種語(yǔ)言！”我喊道，“這不可能！你怎么會(huì)五種語(yǔ)言的呢？”

“Because Ive got five languages in my body，” she says.

她說(shuō)：“因?yàn)槲疑鷣?lái)就懂五種語(yǔ)言。”

I ask her what she means， and she starts to tell me the story of her family. Some of the story I already know. Ive already heard stories about her grandfather. He was from Scotland. He was a sailor， but not a very good sailor， so he only got as far as Portsmouth， a big navy6 town on the south coast of England， not very far from Scotland at all. When he got to Portsmouth， he stopped there， left the navy and became a boxer. He lost fights and drank a lot. However， he still managed7 to see the world by meeting a woman who came from Laos8. Nobody really knows how this woman had ended up in Portsmouth， but she still lives there. I tell Scarlett that she should try and find out her grandmothers story.

我問(wèn)她是什么意思，她開(kāi)始告訴我她家人的故事。我已經(jīng)知道了故事的一部分內(nèi)容，聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)有關(guān)她祖父的故事。他來(lái)自蘇格蘭，是一個(gè)水手，但不是一個(gè)很優(yōu)秀的水手，所以他最遠(yuǎn)只到達(dá)了樸茨茅斯，這是英格蘭南海岸的一個(gè)大海軍鎮(zhèn)，離蘇格蘭也不遠(yuǎn)。當(dāng)他到達(dá)樸次茅斯時(shí)，就停留在那里，離開(kāi)了海軍，成了一名拳擊手。他輸了比賽，就會(huì)喝很多酒。但是，他仍然想辦法通過(guò)認(rèn)識(shí)一位來(lái)自老撾的女人來(lái)了解世界。沒(méi)人真正知道這個(gè)女人是如何來(lái)到樸次茅斯的，但她還住在那兒。我告訴斯嘉麗她應(yīng)該設(shè)法查出祖母的故事。

“No， shes too old now，” says Scarlett， “and anyway， shes lived in Portsmouth nearly all her life.”

斯嘉麗說(shuō)：“不，她現(xiàn)在太老了，而且她幾乎一生都住在樸次茅斯?！?/p>

Scarletts grandparents had a son. They called him Bill， which is usually short for “William”， but his name was just “Bill”. Bill had his fathers personality9 and his mothers looks， so the only thing he thought he could do was becoming a rock star. He never really became a rock star， though. So now he works as a designer10.

斯嘉麗的祖父母生了一個(gè)兒子，他們叫他“Bill”，那通常是“William”的縮寫(xiě)，但他的名字就是“Bill”。比爾繼承了父親的個(gè)性和母親的容貌，所以他認(rèn)為自己唯一可以做的就是成為搖滾明星。不過(guò)，他從未真正成為搖滾明星，所以現(xiàn)在他是一名設(shè)計(jì)師。

I dont know Scarletts mum， so I ask her to tell me about her mum.

我不認(rèn)識(shí)斯嘉麗的媽媽?zhuān)晕艺?qǐng)她告訴我她媽媽的事。

“My mums Polish11，” she says. “Well， not really， because she was born in Brighton， but her mum and dad are from Poland. But theyve lived there， like， for always. I know that her mum was from somewhere that was Germany and then became Poland， so shes really German， I suppose12. So thats another language that Ive got in my body.”

“我媽媽是波蘭人，”她說(shuō)，“嗯，也不算，因?yàn)樗錾诓既R頓，但是她媽媽和爸爸來(lái)自波蘭。但他們大概一直都住在那兒。我知道她媽媽來(lái)自德國(guó)某地，后來(lái)去了波蘭，所以我想她真的是德國(guó)人。所以德語(yǔ)是我與生俱來(lái)就懂的另一種語(yǔ)言。

I ask Scarlett if she can actually speak all the languages， and she looks at me like Im stupid.

我問(wèn)斯嘉麗，她是不是真的能說(shuō)這幾種語(yǔ)言，她像看傻子一樣看著我。

“Of course not！” she says. “But Ive still got them in me！”

“當(dāng)然不行！”她說(shuō)，“但是我與生俱來(lái)就會(huì)！”

We count13 up her “l(fā)anguages”： Scottish， Laotian， German， Polish.

我們算了下她“會(huì)”的語(yǔ)言：蘇格蘭語(yǔ)、老撾語(yǔ)、德語(yǔ)、波蘭語(yǔ)。

“Thats only four！” I tell her.

“只有四個(gè)！”我告訴她。

“No， theres English， too！”

“不對(duì)，還有英語(yǔ)！”

“Of course there is，” I say. And then I ask her， “And you， Scarlett， where are you from？”

“沒(méi)錯(cuò)，還有英語(yǔ)，”我說(shuō)，然后問(wèn)她：“那你，斯嘉麗，你來(lái)自哪里？”

She thinks for a long time—such a long time that I think she hasnt heard my question. But then， before I can repeat14 it， she looks up and at me.

她思考了很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間——時(shí)間長(zhǎng)到讓我以為她沒(méi)有聽(tīng)到我的問(wèn)題。然而，在我重復(fù)那個(gè)問(wèn)題之前，她抬起了頭看著我。

“Im from here，” she says. “Im from London.”

“我來(lái)自這里，”她說(shuō)，“我來(lái)自倫敦?！?/p>

【Notes】

1. in particular尤其，特別

2. stupid ?adj. 愚蠢的

3. choose ?vt. 選擇，決定

4. heroine ?n. 女主角;女英雄;女主人公

5. impossible ?adj. 不可能的;不可能存在的

6. navy ?n. 海軍

7. manage ?vt. 設(shè)法

8. Laos ?n. 老撾

9. personality ?n. 個(gè)性;品格

10. designer ?n. 設(shè)計(jì)師

11. Polish ?n. 波蘭人;波蘭語(yǔ)

12. suppose ?vt. 推想

13. count ?v. 數(shù)數(shù);計(jì)算總數(shù)

14. repeat ?v. 重復(fù)說(shuō)（或?qū)懀?照著說(shuō);再說(shuō)一次