My1)Bully and Me

⊙ By Alex Abramovich翻譯：思葦

My1)Bully and Me

⊙ By Alex Abramovich翻譯：思葦

你有過這樣的經(jīng)歷嗎—偶然遇到很久不見的兒時玩伴，一聊起來才發(fā)現(xiàn)彼此的童年回憶竟然有著巨大的偏差？專欄作家亞力克斯一直記得自己在小學(xué)時遭遇的校園霸凌，然而長大之后，他才發(fā)現(xiàn)事情和自己想的不太一樣。這是一個你能猜到開頭，卻想不到結(jié)尾的另類友情故事……

Host: Tell us about your memories of Trevor Latham as a child.

Alex Abramovich (Writer): I remember Trevor as a large, angry boy, which is funny because when I went back and met him years later and saw photos of him, it turned out that he was a little boy—we were both pretty little kids. This was in the fourth grade and my dad and I had just moved to a new town. I’d only moved in with my dad the previous year. My mom had died that year, so I’d moved in with my father. And then towards the end of that year, we moved to Long Island, which is where I met Trevor. He was the bully I remembered out of all the bullies I’d known.

Host: So a lot of time goes by and you reconnect. How did that happen?

Alex: I remembered him and I remembered his name, but I’d never thought to Google him until one day I did. And a very short thing came up on the screen that said, “I moved toCalifornia, became a2)bouncer and started a motorcycle club.” I knew at that point that we would meet again. That was too good to3)pass up.

Host: Did you connect right away? I mean, what…h(huán)ow did he react to your getting in touch?

Alex: They have a website—old-fashioned website, but Trevor’s number is on it. It was a 510 number注, and I dialed it, and he was at the bar when I called him. And I said, “You don’t know me, but I used to know you in4)grade school. We used to know each other in grade school.” And he, without5)missing a beat, said, “Alex Abramovich?” It was very strange. And we started emailing late at night, sort of comparing memories, which turned out to be very different, his and mine. So there was a basis for communication by the time I got out to Oakland, and we6)got along well.

Host: When you reconnected as adults, what was his memory of your relationship as kids?

Alex: He remembers fighting. He remembers fighting in the classroom, teachers breaking us up. He remembers us getting sent down to the7)principal’s office. He remembered our fathers having to pick us up at school…much more specific memories than I had, actually. But,8)weirdly enough, he also remembers that I was bullying him as much as he was bullying me. And,9)moreover, he remembers that despite that we were good friends at the time. He remembers us playing chess, going to each other’s houses. I don’t remember any of this. Didn’t then, don’t now.

Host: What’s your best guess as to who’s right?

Alex: I think, in a way, we’re both right. You know, I was an angry, messed-up kid. But what’s also interesting about it is that our…the specific details of our memories10)line up, but that makes me think that Trevor’s a bully,11)whereas it leads him to think that because we were fighting all the time that meant we must’ve been friends.

Host: How well do you feel that you know him? I mean, are you good friends now? Do you feel like you understand him?

Alex: You know, he’s my oldest friend, I think. I’ve known him for—is that right—35 years now, and I’m only 43. And I’m his oldest friend. So, in a sense, there’s a very deep connection. And whenever we don’t see each other for a while, we12)pick up the thread very quickly.

1) bully ['b?l?] n. 惡霸，欺負弱小者；v. 欺凌，欺侮，尤指校園霸凌

2) bouncer ['ba?ns?(r)] n. 保鏢，保安

3) pass up <口>放棄，放過；錯過，錯失（機會）

4) grade school <美>小學(xué)

5) miss a beat 猶豫，躊躇

6) get along well 與……合得來

7) principal ['pr?ns?p(?)l] n. 中小學(xué)校長

8) weirdly ['w??dl?] adv. 古怪地，奇怪地

9) moreover [m??'r??v?(r)] adv. 而且，此外

10) line up （使）排隊，整隊

11) whereas [we?r'?z] conj. 但是，相反

12) pick up the thread （工作、關(guān)系等中斷后）接續(xù)下去；（故事、談話等中斷后）再繼續(xù)下去

注：510是美國加利福尼亞州其中一個電話區(qū)號，范圍覆蓋舊金山灣區(qū)的大部分城市。

句型：remember搭配小結(jié)

在講述老朋友的童年印象時，作者用了一整段以“He remembers…”開頭的句子，正好可以讓我們總結(jié)一下remember的常用句式搭配。Remember在表示“記得，回想起”的意思時是一個及物動詞，后面要跟名詞性賓語，常用句型包括：remember sth./sb.、remember doing sth.、remember sb. doing sth.、remember + that引導(dǎo)的從句。同學(xué)們不妨將原文中的例句反復(fù)讀幾遍，從而鞏固這些搭配用法。

注意：如果和動詞不定式搭配，remember表達的意思則為“牢記，記住，不忘記”，如：Remember to go to the post offce. （別忘了去一趟郵局。）

主持人：跟我們講講你小時候?qū)μ乩赘ァとR瑟姆的印象是怎樣的吧。

亞力克斯·阿布拉莫維奇（作家）：我記得特雷弗是個大個子，老是氣鼓鼓的，而這一點很有趣，因為我在多年以后回首過去，跟他見上面，看到那些老照片，才發(fā)現(xiàn)他以前其實是個小個子——我們倆那時的個頭都不高。我當時讀四年級，和爸爸剛搬到一個新的鎮(zhèn)子上。我是前一年搬過去爸爸家的，那年媽媽去世了，我只好和爸爸一起住。快到年底的時候，我們又搬到了紐約長島，就是在那兒，我遇到了特雷弗。在我所知道的校園小霸王當中，他是最霸道的一個。主持人：你們在多年之后再次見面，這是怎么回事呢？

亞力克斯：我一直記得他，也記得他的名字，但我從沒想過用谷歌搜索他——直到有一天，我突然這么做了。然后就有一段短短的文字在屏幕上跳了出來，上面寫著：“我搬去加利福尼亞了，當上了保鏢，還搞了一家摩托車俱樂部。”我在那一刻就知道我們會再次碰頭，這個機會不容錯過。

主持人：你們馬上聯(lián)系上了嗎？我的意思是，他有什么……他對你的接觸有何反應(yīng)？

亞力克斯：俱樂部有個網(wǎng)站，是那種很老派的網(wǎng)站，不過上面有特雷弗的電話號碼，區(qū)號是510。我就打過去了，他接到電話時正在酒吧里。我說：“你不認識我，但我以前在小學(xué)認識你，我們在小學(xué)認識的。”他毫不遲疑地問道：“你是亞力克斯·阿布拉莫維奇？”這種感覺真奇妙。我們開始在夜里互發(fā)郵件，互相比對童年回憶，發(fā)現(xiàn)我們的印象差別還挺大的。在我去加州奧克蘭找他之前，那是我們交流的主要內(nèi)容，所以我們見面后處得很好。

主持人：成年之后再次碰頭，他對你們倆的童年關(guān)系有著怎樣的印象呢？

亞力克斯：他記得我們打過架，在教室里扭打成一團，老師只好將我們分開；他也記得我們被拎到校長辦公室挨訓(xùn)，我們倆的爸爸只好來學(xué)校接我們走……事實上，他比我記得更多細節(jié)。不過，很奇怪的是，他記得我欺負他的次數(shù)和他欺負我的次數(shù)一樣多。此外，他還記得盡管我們經(jīng)常打架，但在當時一直是好朋友，會一起下國際象棋，還會去對方家里玩。我對這些事情一點印象都沒有——當時沒有，現(xiàn)在依然沒有。

主持人：那你覺得誰的印象才是對的呢？

亞力克斯：我想，在某種意義上，我們倆都是對的。你知道，當時的我是個憤憤不平的小家伙，日子過得一團糟。但是這件事很有趣的一點在于，我們的……在我們的回憶中，各種具體細節(jié)都可以連在一起，對得上號，但這種回憶讓我覺得特雷弗是個小惡霸——而在他看來，正因為我們整天打架，那就說明我們一定是朋友。

主持人：你覺得自己有多了解他？我的意思是，你們現(xiàn)在是好朋友嗎？你覺得你懂他嗎？

亞力克斯：你瞧，他是我交往最久的朋友了，我和他認識了——有那么久了嗎——到現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)35年了，而我才43歲。我也是他交往最久的朋友。所以，在某種層面上，我們之間確實有一種非常深厚的感情。只要有上一段時間沒能見面，我們馬上又會再次來往呢。