Night Watch

by Roy Popkin

Night Watch

by Roy Popkin

Track 8

有一種愛叫大愛，老吾老以及人之老；有一種謊言比真相更可貴，因為出于善意；有一種守護雖然短暫，卻因無私而偉大。

A nurse took the tired, anxious1：氧幕，置于病人頭上和肩上或整個身體上的一種氧氣帳篷，用來提供比正常情況下更高濃度的氧氣。)serviceman to the bedside.

“Your son is here,” she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient’s eyes opened.

Heavily2)sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he3)dimly saw the young uniformed4)Marine standing outside the oxygen tent1：氧幕，置于病人頭上和肩上或整個身體上的一種氧氣帳篷，用來提供比正常情況下更高濃度的氧氣。. He reached out his hand. The Marine5)wrapped his6)toughened fingers around the old man’s7)limp hand,8)squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lit9)ward, holding the old man’s hand and offering him words of love and strength. Now and then the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest10)awhile. He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was11)oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital—the12)clanking of the13)oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and14)moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine let go of the now lifeless hand he hadbeen holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

“Who was that man?” he asked.

The nurse was17)startled. “He was your father,”she answered.

“No, he wasn’t,” the Marine replied. “I never saw him before in my life.”

“Then why didn’t you say something when I took you to him?”

“I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn’t here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed. I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey. His son was killed in war today, and I was sent to inform him. What was this gentleman’s name?”

The nurse with tears in her eyes answered,“Mr. William Grey.”

1) serviceman ['sз?v?sm?n] n. 軍人

2) sedate [s?'de?t] v. 給……服用鎮靜劑

3) dimly [d?ml?] adv. 朦朧地

4) marine [m?'ri?n] n. 海軍陸戰隊的士兵或軍官

5) wrap [r?p] v. 緊抱，交疊，纏繞

6) toughened ['t?f?nd] adj. 頑強的，堅韌的

7) limp [l?mp] adj. 軟弱無力的

8) squeeze [skwi:z] v. 擠出，握緊

9) ward [w??d] n. 病房

10) awhile [?'wa?l] adv. 片刻，一會兒

11) oblivious [?'bl?v??s] adj. 不注意的，忘卻的

12) clank [kl??k] v. 發出鏗鏘聲

13) oxygen tank 氧氣罐

14) moan [m??n] n. 呻吟聲

15) sympathy ['s?mp?θ?] n. 吊慰，慰問

16) interrupt [?nt?'r?pt] v. 打斷，插嘴

17) startle ['stɑ?tl] v. 使震驚

一位護士把一位疲憊、焦急的軍人帶到了病床邊。

“您的兒子來了，”她對老人說。她把話重復了幾遍，老人才睜開眼睛。

為了緩解心臟病發作帶來的疼痛，醫生給老人用了大量的鎮靜劑，朦朧中他看見這位身著制服、站在氧幕外的年輕海軍陸戰隊士兵。老人伸出手，士兵用強有力的手指握住老人無力的手，用力度傳達出愛意和鼓勵。

護士搬來了一張椅子，好讓士兵能坐在床邊。整整一夜，年輕的士兵都坐在燈光昏暗的病房里，握著老人的手，訴說著傳遞愛意和力量的話語。護士時不時地建議士兵離開休息一會兒。他拒絕了。護士每次走進病房，士兵都沒有注意到她，也沒有注意到醫院夜里的嘈雜聲—氧氣罐的哐當聲、夜班工作人員互相打照面的笑聲，以及其他病人的哭聲、呻吟聲。

護士時不時地會聽見士兵溫柔的只言片語。奄奄一息的老人什么也沒說，只是整夜緊緊地抓住自己兒子的手。

黎明時分，老人去世了。士兵一直握著的手現在已毫無生氣，他松開手，前去告知護士老人的死訊。護士正在忙，于是他就靜候著。

等護士終于忙完回來，她說起安慰的話來，但士兵打斷了她。“剛才那位老人是誰？”他問道。

護士驚愕了。“他是你的父親啊，”她回答道。

“不，他不是，”士兵回答，“我以前從未見過他。”

“那為什么我帶你去見他時你什么都沒說？”

“我當即就意識到是弄錯了，但我也知道他需要自己的兒子，而他的兒子不在這兒。當我意識到他已經病得無法辨認我是不是他的兒子，又明白他有多需要我時，我就留下來了。我今晚來這兒是要找一位名叫威廉·格雷的先生。他的兒子今天在戰爭中陣亡了，我是被派來通知他的。剛才那位先生叫什么名字？”

護士眼里含著淚水，回答道：“威廉·格雷。”

守夜

翻譯：德孟

Finally, she . She started to offer words of15)sympathy, but the Marine16)interrupted her.