Such is Love, Plain like Water　如水一般的愛

Such is Love, Plain like Water　如水一般的愛

◎ Jason

Every once in a while I will dial the familiar number.

我每隔一段時間都要撥打一個熟悉的電話號碼。

It is usually he that picks up the phone. She will come up to him asking who the caller is. Knowing it’s me, she will grab the phone, say a few greeting words, and then start talking bad of him, complaints flooding out, all about chores and minor superficial details.

每次總是他接起電話。然后她問他，這是誰打來的。知道是我的電話時，她搶過電話，說幾句簡單的問候，然后就開始抱怨他的壞處。接著就開始投訴，例如地板被水淹之類的雞毛蒜皮的小事。

As always, he argues, and through the long-distance call I hear them quarreling seriously.

一如往常，通過長途電話，我能聽到他們很嚴肅地在爭吵著。

Quarreling seems to be bound with their life. He seems like a capricious boy, and she a little girl who cannot bear with even a small grievance. It is common that they fight each other half a day over minor issues. Over and over again, they will quarrel—they are born to disagree with each other.

爭吵似乎成了他們生活中不可缺少的一部分。他看起來像個反復無常的孩子，而她像一個不能忍受丁點委屈的小女孩。他們經(jīng)常為生活中的小問題吵上半天。他們一遍又一遍地爭吵——好像生來就是意見不和的。

Bored sometimes, I pretend to be very unhappy and yell, “Couldn’t you stop arguing and let my ears have a quiet moment?”

有時我覺得無聊了，就假裝很不高興，大喊道：“你們能不能停止爭論，讓我的耳朵安靜一小會嗎？”

She pauses two seconds, and mumbles, “He always bullies me.” I almost see her, pitiful as she is.

她停頓兩秒鐘，喃喃自語：“他總是欺負我?！蔽?guī)缀蹩梢韵胂蟮剿b可憐的樣子。

Then I turn soft, and try to find faults in him.

然后我的語氣就會變得輕柔，并想辦法找到他的錯誤。

“Why did you bully her?”

“你為什么要欺負她？”

He listens to me, irritated, “Who bullies her? It is she that bullies me!”

他聽到我的質(zhì)問，惱火道：“誰欺負她呢？這是她在欺負我！”

Just as the saying goes, a righteousjudge is never able to decide who is right and who is wrong in an argument between a couple. I tried to intervene, only to get them into more serious debate.

正如俗話所說，一個正直的法官也無法判決一對夫婦之間的矛盾，無法決定到底是誰對誰錯。我試圖干預他們，但只會使他們陷入更嚴肅的辯論中去。

Like an actor and an actress, they are indulged in acting. With me watching, they end up in more heated disagreements. So I don’t want to bother any more. I just stand by when they quarrel.

就像演員，他們沉迷于這樣的劇情。我看，結局只會是更加激烈的分歧。所以我不想打擾他們了。作為旁觀者的我，只是在爭吵的時候看著他們。

In the end, she will find her eyes red, and wipe tears off her cheeks. He gets upset and attempts to soothe her. He looks funny—staring at her like a mad frog with two eyes open wide, he yells with determination,

最后，她眼睛開始泛紅，去擦臉頰上流下的淚水。他開始不安，并試圖安慰她。他盯著她哭得紅腫的眼睛，就像是只生氣的青蛙。他妥協(xié)了。

“From now on I will wash all the dishes.” He seems to be swearing. And she weeps and smiling flowers bloom on her face.

“從現(xiàn)在開始，我會洗所有的盤子?！彼攀牡┑┑卣f。而她也相信他，抹掉眼淚，微笑，頓時她的臉上綻放出了花朵。

One day he got bit by a snake while working in the farmland, one leg swelling furiously. He was then rushed to hospital where he went through a series of torment—he got injected to let the contaminated blood out.

有一天，他在田里勞作時被蛇咬了，一條腿腫得厲害。他立即被送往醫(yī)院搶救，經(jīng)過及時的救治——他被注射了一針可以讓污血流出來的藥劑。

Seeing the blood, she was scared to big tears, crying loud.

看到血，她嚇得大哭起來，落下大滴的眼淚。

“Stop it. That’s enough. You are getting on my nerves. I am not gonna die.” He shouted, frowning.

“別哭了。夠了。讓我煩死了，放心好了，我不會死的。”他大叫著，皺著眉頭。

She got mad at the word “die” that he had mentioned.

她生氣了，不準他說“死”這個詞。

“Why did you say that?” She immediately quarreled hard with him, not to stop for a long while.

“你為什么這樣說？”她立即同他爭辯了很長一段時間。

Doctors were watching on, amused.

醫(yī)生們看他們斗嘴，笑了。

“Isn’t quarreling more effective than pain-killing pills?” The doctors teased.

“吵架不是比止痛藥更有效嗎？”醫(yī)生們?nèi)⌒Φ馈?

They looked at each other, embarrassed and laughing. That finally stopped their quarreling.

他們面面相覷，不好意思地笑了起來，終于停止了爭吵。

In order to save hospital expenses, he insisted on going home despite her mad disagreements.

為了節(jié)省住院費，他堅持要回家，盡管她極力反對。

Lying in bed, he was having an intravenous drip for a continuous period of 12 days. She was busy dealing with housework and everything else out of home. She was weak and thin, and too much work had made her even more skinny.

他躺在床上連續(xù)注射了十二天的點滴。這些天，都是她在處理家里家外的事情，本來身體單薄的她，愈發(fā)顯得骨瘦如柴。

Witnessing her change, he hurt in the heart. One night he wanted to drink water. He did not wake her up, pulled himself out of the bed, and fell over because his legs were too weak.

看她每天忙碌，他覺得心里很愧疚。有天夜里，他想要喝水。他沒有叫醒她，而是打算自己去喝水，當他下床的時候，因為腿上的傷痛，從床上跌了下來。

His fall actually woke her up. She rushed to support him to stand up. She scolded him for not having waken her up. He said that he could manage. A serious quarrel was about to burst out again.

她被驚醒了，趕緊起床沖過去扶著他。她責備他：“喝水怎么不叫我來倒！”“我自己可以！”一場激烈的爭吵又迸發(fā)了。

I called them from Zhuhai, the beautiful city of relaxation and exciting views. I wanted to depict to them how pretty a city Zhuhai is. He was surprised that I had travelled such a great distance, to where he and she had never been all their life. He then believed that I had accomplished a big success, and that I had significantly broadened my horizons. He went on talk in honor of me, voice trembling with pride; she was beside him, excited all the same. They did not mention anything about the family change and their suffering.

當我從珠海給他們打電話，向他們描繪這個美麗休閑而適合居住的城市時，他感到非常驚訝。我到了這么好的地方，而他和她從來沒有來過。他很高興，覺得我現(xiàn)在非常成功，又顯著地拓寬了自己的視野。然后，他用十分自豪的語氣夸獎我從小大到的榮耀，她也在他身邊跟他一起高興著。他們從來不提及任何關于家庭的變化和他們的困難。

I had not heard about his being bit by a snake until she told me her grievance.

如果她不告訴我，我還不知道他被蛇咬傷了。

“He treated me bad again. He could not get out of bed by himself, but he wanted to be strong, and so he fell. I was trying to pull him up on his feet, and I just told a few words of complaints when he got out of bed, yelling that I was clumsy.”

“你知道嗎，他對我可壞了。他不能從床上下來，還非要逞強，就跌倒了。我只是想去扶他，就說了幾句，他就開始罵我，對我大喊大叫?！?

“No, no, no, she was not telling the truth.”

“不，不，不是，事實不是這樣的。”

He was eager to tell me that she was really silly, that she did not know how to change the intravenous drip bottle. Then they started it over again quarreling. And this time I was listening to them in good patience, holding the telephone receiver.

他急切地想告訴我：“她真的很傻，也不知道拿著點滴瓶?！痹捯魟偮?，他們又開始斗嘴了。這一次，我就拿著聽筒，很耐心地聽他們爭吵。

Water was roaring in the sea out the window, waves climbing up and falling down, just like what I was feeling at the bottom of my heart.

看著窗戶外面，海水在大海里翻滾，海浪連綿起伏，就像我此刻心底最深處的感受一樣。

He suddenly realized that they should stop. He said that it was a long-distance call. She immediately stopped arguing.

他突然意識到，他們應該停止。他說，這是一個長途電話。她立即停止了爭吵。

“Why didn’t you remind me earlier? How much money have we wasted her?”

“你為什么不早一點提醒我？多少錢，我們浪費了她多少錢？”

She hangs up before I had a chance to talk. I know they would have a good fight again.

其實她掛斷電話之前，我就很想說——我知道他們又將開始另一個斗爭了。

They are my father and mother. He is 66, and she is 64.

他們是我的父親和母親。他66歲，她64歲。

超多雙語閱讀，盡在聽力課堂