"您認識卡倫家的人嗎?"我猶豫地問道。
"Dr. Cullen's family? Sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man."
"卡倫大夫的家人? 當然認識??▊惔蠓蚴莻€很了不起的人。"
"They… the kids… are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school."
"他們……他家的那些孩子……有點兒不一樣。他們在學校好像跟大家不太融洽。"
Charlie surprised me by looking angry.
查理顯得很生氣,令我大吃了一驚。
"People in this town," he muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world,make ten times the salary he gets here," he continued, getting louder. "We're lucky to have him — lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature — I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should — camping trips every other weekend… Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."
"這個鎮(zhèn)上的人啦,"他咕噥道,"卡倫大夫是個杰出的外科醫(yī)生,可以到世界上任何一家醫(yī)院去工作的,可以掙他在這兒拿的那點兒工資的十倍,"他繼續(xù)說道,聲音更大了,"有他這樣的大夫是我們的福氣,幸虧他太太想住在小城鎮(zhèn)。他是社會的寶貴財富,而且那些孩子個個都循規(guī)蹈矩,很懂禮貌。他們剛搬來的時候,我也像對所有那些被人收養(yǎng)的十幾歲的孩子一樣,對他們產(chǎn)生過種種懷疑,滿以為會給我們帶來不少麻煩的??墒撬麄兌挤浅3墒於?mdash;—我還沒看見他們中的任何一個惹過一點點麻煩。有些幾輩人都生活在這個鎮(zhèn)上的人家的孩子,跟他們簡直沒法比。而且他們很團結(jié),就像一家人應(yīng)該的那樣——每兩個周末就進行一次露營旅行。……就因為他們是新來的,所以人們免不了嚼舌頭。"
It was the longest speech I'd ever heard Charlie make. He must feel strongly about whatever people were saying.
這是我有生以來聽到查理一口氣說的最長的話了。他肯定是聽到了什么議論,反應(yīng)才這么強烈。
I backpedaled. "They seemed nice enough to me. I just noticed they kept to themselves. They're all very attractive," I added,trying to be more complimentary.
我馬上改了口。"他們在我眼里似乎夠不錯的了。我只是注意到他們就自己幾個人在一塊兒。他們都很有魅力。"我補了一句,想多夸他們一些。
"You should see the doctor," Charlie said, laughing. "It's a good thing he's happily married. A lot of the nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around."
"你應(yīng)該去見見那個大夫,"查理大笑著說,"好的是他已經(jīng)有了一個幸福的家庭啊。醫(yī)院里的許多護士,只要他在邊上,精力都很難集中啊。"
We lapsed back into silence as we finished eating. He cleared the table while I started on the dishes. He went back to the TV, and after I finished washing the dishes by hand — no dishwasher — I went upstairs unwillingly to work on my math homework.I could feel a tradition in the making.
吃過晚飯后,我們又陷入了沉默。我收拾碟子的時候,他擦完了桌子,接著又去看電視去了。我用手——沒有洗碗機——洗完了碟子后,不情愿地上了樓,去做數(shù)學家庭作業(yè)。我能感到一個傳統(tǒng)正在形成。
That night it was finally quiet. I fell asleep quickly, exhausted.
那天夜里,終于靜下來了。我很快就睡著了,實在是精疲力竭了。
The rest of the week was uneventful. I got used to the routine of my classes. By Friday I was able to recognize, if not name,almost all the students at school. In Gym, the kids on my team learned not to pass me the ball and to step quickly in front of me if the other team tried to take advantage of my weakness. I happily stayed out of their way.
這個星期其余的幾天都平平淡淡。我已經(jīng)習慣了上課的路線。到星期五的時候,我已經(jīng)差不多認識全校所有的學生了,甚至可能連名字都叫得上來了。上體育課時,我所在隊的同學已經(jīng)吸取了教訓(xùn),不給我傳球了,而且要是對方企圖利用我這個弱點占便宜的話,隊友會迅速跑位,搶到我的前面去。我會很高興地給他們讓出位置來,不擋他們的道。
Edward Cullen didn't come back to school.
愛德華·卡倫沒有回來上學。
Every day, I watched anxiously until the rest of the Cullens entered the cafeteria without him. Then I could relax and join in the lunchtime conversation. Mostly it centered around a trip to the La Push Ocean Park in two weeks that Mike was putting together. I was invited, and I had agreed to go, more out of politeness than desire. Beaches should be hot and dry.
每天,我都會焦慮不安地注視著,直到看到他沒跟他們其他幾個進自助餐廳為止。然后我才能放下心來,加入午飯時間的閑聊。多數(shù)情況下,聊天的中心內(nèi)容都是兩周后到拉普什海洋公園去旅游的事,這是邁克最近一直在張羅的一件事情。我受到了邀請,而且我也答應(yīng)去了,更多地是出于禮貌,而不是真心想去。海灘應(yīng)該很熱很干爽。
By Friday I was perfectly comfortable entering my Biology class, no longer worried that Edward would be there. For all I knew, he had dropped out of school. I tried not to think about him, but I couldn't totally suppress the worry that I was responsible for his continued absence,ridiculous as it seemed.
到星期五那天,走進生物學教室時,我已經(jīng)完全心安理得了,不再擔心愛德華會在里面了。因為據(jù)我所知,他已經(jīng)退學了。我竭力不去想他,可我還是不能完全抑制住內(nèi)心的擔心,擔心是因為我他才連續(xù)曠課的,雖然這聽起來似乎很可笑。