Did he perhaps want a third? she asked. Some people liked more than two eggs. No, two would do, he replied, and, turning to my parents, added, “I know myself. If I have three, I’ll have a fourth, and more.” I had never heard someone his age say, I know myself. It intimidated me.
 
你想再吃一個嗎？有些人喜歡吃好幾個，瑪法爾達問他。不，兩顆就夠了，他回答，接著轉(zhuǎn)向我父母補充道：“我了解我自己。如果我吃三顆，我就會想要第四顆，或者更多。”我從來沒聽過他那個年紀的人說“我了解我自己”。這有點嚇到了我。
 
But she had been won over well before, on his third morning with us, when she asked him if he liked juice in the morning, and he’d said yes. He was probably expecting orange or grapefruit juice; what he got was a large glass filled to the rim with thick apricot juice. He had never had apricot juice in his life. She stood facing him with her salver flat against her apron, trying to make out his reaction as he quaffed it down. He said nothing at first. Then, probably without thinking, he smacked his lips. She was in heaven. My mother couldn’t believe that people who taught at world-famous universities smacked their lips after downing apricot juice. From that day on, a glass of the stuff was waiting for him every morning.
 
但他老早就贏得了瑪法爾達的好感，就在他抵達的第三天早晨，瑪法爾達問他早上要不要果汁而他說要的時候。他可能以為是橙汁或葡萄柚汁，結(jié)果拿到的卻是滿滿一大杯的濃稠杏汁。他從來沒喝過杏汁?，敺栠_手拿托盤貼著圍裙，站在他對面想看清他一飲而盡后的反應(yīng)。起初他沒說什么。接著，或許想都沒想，他順了順嘴?，敺栠_樂壞了。我母親不敢相信，一個在世界知名大學(xué)教書的人竟在大口喝光杏汁之后順嘴。從那天起，每天早上總有一杯那個東西等著他。
 
He was baffled to know that apricot trees existed in, of all places, our orchard. On late afternoons, when there was nothing to do in the house, Mafalda would ask him to climb a ladder with a basket and pick those fruits that were almost blushing with shame, she said. He would joke in Italian, pick one out, and ask, Is this one blushing with shame? No, she would say, this one is too young still, youth has no shame, shame comes with age.
 
他很疑惑在我家果園里竟然就長了一棵杏樹。黃昏之前，家里沒事可做的時候，瑪法爾達常要他帶著籃子爬上梯子，摘她所謂“幾乎羞紅了臉”的果子。他會用意大利語開玩笑，挑出一顆來問“這顆羞紅臉了嗎？”瑪法爾達會說：“還沒。這顆還太年輕。年輕的不害臊，上了年紀才知道害臊。”

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