文字難度:★★★
My morning routine varies little from day to day. I walk the dog, eat breakfast at the kitchen 1)counter with Katie and Matt, then settle in for a day at the computer. And because I work mostly from home, I have learned that little 2)forays into the outside world are 3)imperative for psychological 4)well-being. So before I begin attempting to put sentences together, I stroll over to a quirky little coffee shop in my neighborhood, chat with the folks behind the counter, and get a large coffee to go. No sugar. No cream.
The coffee shop is on the other side of the historic 5)Chesapeake & Ohio Canal from my house. In 6)season, a mule-drawn 7)barge is8)docked there, and tourists line up to take a slow boat, if not to China, at least into the 19th century. The men who work the boat wear what canal workers might have worn back then—9)broad-brimmed straw hats and 10)suspenders that pull their 11)scratchy-looking pants high above their boots.
One warm day last fall, I was on my morning outing when I turned the corner to see one of the men sitting alone on the boat, bathed in early-morning light. He was playing a tiny 12)accordion, the kind such canal men 13)squeezed as they floated down the inland waterways of a westward-expanding America. The sound was both melancholy and sweet. It was as if he were alone in the universe. The scene stopped me in my tracks. What I witnessed could only be described as a perfect moment. Ten seconds at most. But months later I still remember just standing there, watching, listening, 14)taking it all in.
每天早上,我都要做這樣幾件事:遛一陣小狗,坐在廚房餐桌前陪妻子卡蒂和兒子馬特吃早餐,然后對(duì)著電腦,一頭扎進(jìn)寫作天地中。天天如是,無甚變化。由于主要在家里工作,我很明白時(shí)不時(shí)到外邊的世界“闖蕩”一下對(duì)自己保持良好的心態(tài)有多么重要。因此,在推敲詞句著筆成文之前,我會(huì)散步去附近一間風(fēng)格奇特的小咖啡店,和店里的伙計(jì)們聊聊天,然后帶回一大杯咖啡——不加糖、不加奶的那一種。
離我家不遠(yuǎn)的地方就是歷史悠久的切薩皮克—俄亥俄運(yùn)河,那間小咖啡店就座落在運(yùn)河對(duì)岸。每逢旺季,便有一條用騾子拖拽的駁船停靠在河邊,游客們會(huì)排起長隊(duì)等著乘坐一艘慢悠悠的小船,即使不像駛往古老的中國,至少也像是要駛回19世紀(jì)的昔日時(shí)光。船上的工人穿著只有當(dāng)年運(yùn)河船工們才有的行頭:寬邊草帽和吊帶褲。那吊帶把他們那看起來粗糙的褲子高高吊起,露出他們的靴子。
去年秋天里的一天,風(fēng)和日麗,我還和平常一樣一早外出溜達(dá)。剛轉(zhuǎn)過街口,我一眼就看見那條船。船上沒有別人,只有一個(gè)船工靜靜地坐著,沐浴著晨曦。他正在船上拉著小手風(fēng)琴。當(dāng)年的運(yùn)河船工正是這樣,撫琴駕舟,沿著這條古老的內(nèi)陸河道向美國西部航行。琴聲憂郁而甜美,仿佛整個(gè)宇宙只有他一人。此情此景,令我情不自禁停了下來。我所看到的這個(gè)情景只能用“完美時(shí)刻”來描述!不過十秒的時(shí)光??蓴?shù)月后,我仍清楚地記得當(dāng)時(shí)自己就站在那里,注視著,傾聽著,把一切都刻印在腦海中。
We all have such moments put before us. Little surprises. Whether we’re wise enough to see them is another thing.
I thought of the accordion man Sunday afternoon while reading the biographies of those killed in the 15)Columbia tragedy. Mission specialist Laurel Clark, talking from the shuttle a few days before it was to land, said she was delighted by the simple unexpected wonders of space. Like a sunset. “There’s a flash; the whole 16)payload bay turns this rosy pink,” she said. “It only lasts about 15 seconds, and then it’s gone. It’s very 17)ethereal and extremely beautiful.” A moment not lost on her.
In 18)The Hours, 19)Meryl Streep and 20)Ed Harris recall a moment they shared years before at a beach house on21)Cape Cod. It was nothing more than him watching her walk out into the early-morning light. But for that moment, everything was right with their world, everything was possible, everything 22) aligned. They agreed it was the happiest they had ever been.
And in last month’s issue of her magazine, 23)Oprah Winfrey confessed to a “moment” she had last summer. It was a walk down a 24)Santa Barbara lane, a 25)hummingbird and the smell of orange blossoms. She said it was one of those rare times she could say she was truly happy.
I once had a friend who had an odd habit that never ceased to amuse me, maybe because I never quite knew when she was going to 26)spring it on me. It could be while sitting quietly at the end of a dock on 27)Schroon Lake in the 28)Adirondacks. Or it could come in the middle of a particularly lively dinner with old friends. 29)Out of the blue, she’d say, “Stop! I want to remember this moment.”
I realize now, after her death, what wise advice that is.
我們都曾經(jīng)歷過類似的時(shí)刻。小小的驚喜。不過,我們是否都具有發(fā)現(xiàn)這種瞬間之美的智慧,則是另外一回事。
一個(gè)周日的下午,當(dāng)我閱讀有關(guān)哥倫比亞號(hào)航天飛機(jī)事故中喪生的宇航員的傳記時(shí),我的腦海中又浮現(xiàn)出那個(gè)船工在演奏手風(fēng)琴的情景。執(zhí)行那次飛行任務(wù)的女專家勞雷爾·克拉克,在哥倫比亞號(hào)著陸前的幾天,曾從飛船上發(fā)回講話,她說能有幸看見太空中那些意想不到的自然奇觀令她非常開心。比如日落?!坝幸坏篱W光,整個(gè)有效載荷艙被暈染成了玫瑰紅,”她說,“這僅僅持續(xù)了15秒就消失了。過程神奇非凡且美艷絕倫?!彼龥]有錯(cuò)過這一瞬間。
在電影《時(shí)時(shí)刻刻》里,梅麗爾·斯特里普和埃德·哈里斯回憶起多年前他們倆在科德角上的那間沙灘小屋里共度的時(shí)光。也就是他看著她走出小屋,走進(jìn)晨曦的一幕。就在那一刻,在他們的兩人世界里,一切都正好,一切都變得可能,處處是生機(jī)。他們都認(rèn)為,那是他們一生中最幸福的時(shí)刻。
奧普拉·溫弗瑞在她上個(gè)月出刊的雜志中提到,去年夏天她也有過一次美妙的“時(shí)刻”。那一刻她正走在圣巴巴拉市的一條小巷子里,猛然間看見一只蜂鳥,和著一陣撲面而來的橘子花香。她說,這是她一生中難得的幾次讓她真正感到幸福的時(shí)刻之一。
我曾有一個(gè)朋友,她有個(gè)怪習(xí)慣,對(duì)此我總覺得很好笑,或許是因?yàn)槲沂冀K沒法料到她的怪癖會(huì)在什么時(shí)候發(fā)作?;蛟S在我們靜靜地坐在阿迪朗達(dá)克山下舒?zhèn)惡叺拇a頭邊上之時(shí),或許在和老朋友那次尤其熱鬧的聚餐之時(shí)。每每在這樣的時(shí)刻,她會(huì)突然說道:“停一下!我要記住這一刻!”
她去世以后,我才明白到,那是多么明智的建議啊。