Heroes and Villains (I)

Author’s note：The point ofHeroes and Villainsis to not judge others by what they seem to be, for in life, there are no heroes or villains. Everyone has a reason behind their decisions and some people just take the wrong road. And so, people should always listen to both sides of the story before pointing fingers. The world would be a better place if people controlled their prejudices until after getting to know the person.導語：《英雄和壞蛋》這個故事的宗旨是不以表面現象對人下結論，因為生活中沒有絕對的英雄或壞蛋。每個人做決定都有內在原因，只是有些人誤入了歧途。所以判定指摘別人前應先聽取各方觀點 。如果人們都能控制個人偏見，先去了解別人，這個世界就會更美好。

The world would be much better off if people like Josh weren’t in this world. It was not that Josh was the only one. It probably was not even his fault that he ended up like this, but he did and the world suffered because of it. This was what Audric was thinking at that precise moment. A few seconds before this thought popped into his head, he had been drifting along to the beautiful tune of an orchestra in unison1unison（歌唱或演奏）齊聲，同音。. But that had passed and the conductor’s head had turned, and so followed the chatter.

如果世上沒有喬希這類人該多好！雖然他這樣的人還有很多，他成為現在這樣子甚至可能都不是他的錯，可他究竟就是這個樣子呀，而且好端端的世界還要跟著遭殃。奧德里克此時想的就是這個。這念頭鉆進他腦子里幾秒鐘前他還徜徉在樂隊優美的合奏聲中。但那好景不長；指揮把頭一轉過去，這邊嘰嘰喳喳的交談就開始了。

[2] While the violinists listened lethargically2lethargically無精打采，意興索然。to the conductor’s brisk notes, the cellists3cellist大提琴演奏者。had turned their heads and opened their mouths. And once their mouths were open, the antics4antics荒唐行為。began. Audric stared forward at the violinists, watching their eyes watching the conductor. Some nodded in agreement as he marked comments, while the rest just looked blank.

[3] “What are you looking at?” someone asked from behind Audric. He did not even bother to turn his head.

“Your face,” another person replied crudely. Audric frowned and stared ahead. His stand partner was looking behind him and shaking his head at another boy.

“You seriously got a B on that test?”he said. There was a response but Audric did not hear it. His mind was fi lled with notes, of all shapes and sizes, moving together to create harmonies and melodies the world had only dreamed of.

[4] “Audric. Hey, Audric,” a voice said. Audric’s frown deepened. He knew that voice too well. It bugged him every day at this particular time during this particular class period.

“What is it this time, Josh?” Audric asked turning his body around to look at the boy behind him. A con fi dent pair of brown irises5iris虹膜。stared back. There was bit of a sneer around his lips whenever he spoke.

[2]小提琴手們無精打采地聽著指揮興致勃勃的點撥，大提琴手們便扭頭開始說話，滑稽取笑接踵而來。奧德里克向前盯著那些小提琴手，他們一個個都看著指揮，有的點頭同意他的評語，其他的則面無表情。

[3]“你看什么呢？”奧德里克身后有人問他。他連頭都懶得回。

“你的臉。”另一個人粗魯地插嘴道。奧德里克皺了一下眉頭仍盯著前方。與他合用樂譜架的搭檔朝他身后看，朝另一個男孩搖頭。

“你考試真拿了個B嗎？”他問。對方答復了一聲，可奧德里克沒聽見。他腦子里滿是形狀各異、大小不一的音符，組成如夢如幻般的和聲旋律。

[4]“奧德里克，嘿，奧德里克！”一個聲音插進來。奧德里克的眉頭鎖得更緊了。這聲音太熟悉了，每天在這堂課上的這個特殊時間，都會聽到這個煩人的聲音。

“又怎么啦，喬希？”奧德里克轉身面對背后那位男孩。一對棕眼珠毫不示弱地與他對視，每吐一個字，嘴角都露出一絲嘲弄。

[5] “Do you want to switch seats?”Audric sighed slowly and turned back around.

“No, Josh. I don’t want to switch seats.”

“I’m going to challenge you again,”he threatened.

“I know, Josh,” Audric said.

[6] “I’m going to win this time,” Josh said smoothly6smoothly平靜地；自信地。.

“No, you’re not going to win, Josh,”Audric repeated, monotonously. In his mind he added,You’re never going to win if you don’t try harder, Josh.

“You watch and see,” Josh con fi dently said. “I’m going to be fi rst stand,” he stated. Audric ignored him and stared ahead.

Josh had challenged him at least fi ve times in a row though he had not realized yet that without practice, he would never get anywhere. He did not care though. All he wanted was the title and position of fi rst chair.

[7] “You know the reason you never are going to get that chair, Josh?” a girl said from the violas7violas〈樂〉中提琴。. “It’s because Audric is much better than you and always will be much better than you. He’ll always place fi rst and you, second.”

“Shut up Deidrah,” Josh retorted. It was a habit of his to tell someone to shut up if he could not think of a better response.

[5]“愿不愿意換座位？”奧德里克慢慢地嘆口氣，轉回身來。

“不愿意，喬希，我不愿意換位子。”

“我還會向你挑戰的。”喬希威脅說。

“我知道，喬希。”奧德里克答道。

[6]“我這次會贏的。”喬希平靜地說。

“你贏不了，喬希。”奧德里克重復了一遍，語調平淡。他在心里又添上一句：“你要不加把勁兒永遠也別想贏，喬希。”

“你等著瞧，我會坐上首席的。”喬希信心十足地宣布。奧德里克凝視前方不理他。

喬希連續挑戰過奧德里克不下五次，他還沒意識到不加以練習，他絕成不了首席。他不在意練琴，只一心追求第一大提琴手的頭銜和位置。

[7]“你明白為什么永遠也得不到那個位置嗎？”一個拉中提琴的女孩插話。“因為奧德里克比你強得多，永遠都會比你強得多。他總會是首席，你呢，就待在次席吧。”

“閉嘴，戴德拉。”喬希反擊道。在想不出更好的回復時他習慣喝令對方住口。

[8] The boys were not always like this though. At some point in their lives,they’d both been good, decent people.Audric had always been shy and aloof of the others and became much more mature than them because of it, though his distance was taken to be vanity and snobbishness. Josh always had been a bit needy8needy缺乏自信的；需要精神支持的。but he was loyal and could be intelligent if prodded.

[9] Both boys had grown up playing in the same orchestra. Neither had paid much attention to the other, until one fateful day when Josh’s father decided that in order to succeed in life, Josh had to be moved to the Fairview district, only ten minutes drive from his old school.And as life would have it, they moved,fi fteen blocks north, in order to avoid the burden of paying a yearly tuition.

[10] Josh had showed up, meek as a lamb on the fi rst day. Audric had rather taken a fancy to the curious boy who seemed so shy. He’d even prepared to say ‘hello’ to him the next day, until Josh showed up, gaudy9gaudy花哨的。in his bright neon shirt with a pack of friends trailing behind. Audric swallowed10swallow收回。the greeting and went back to his music.

[11] The next seating audition11audition（擬進行表演者的）試演，試唱，試音。the orchestra had placed Audric first chair with Josh as a close second. He’d sat right behind him, because of the practical, but not preferable seating the conductor arranged. Josh was always jabbing him in the back, complaining on how Audric was doing something wrong.

[8]不過，這兩個男孩可不老是這樣的，曾幾何時，他們都是正經的好孩子。奧德里克害羞孤傲，也因此變得比同齡人更成熟，但是他的超然離群被人誤解成虛榮勢利。喬希則總是缺乏自信，但待人忠厚，點撥一下悟性也還挺強的。

[9]兩個孩子從小到大都在同一個管弦樂隊里拉琴，但彼此沒有太多交往，直到有一天，好像命中注定，喬希的爸爸下決心要讓喬希到費爾維尤區去上學，為了將來能取得成功，費爾維尤區離他原來的學校開車僅需10分鐘。就這樣，喬希家北遷了15條街（就近入學），省了一年的學費。

[10]喬希第一天到校時馴順得像只羊羔。奧德里克對這個害臊的男孩蠻好奇，打算第二天結識他，誰想喬希再來時身著鮮亮的尼龍襯衫，后面還跟了一伙朋友，十分招搖。奧德里克便沒去理他，回去顧自己的音樂去了。

[11]下一次試演排座位時奧德里克被排在首席，喬希其次。他在奧德里克正后方落座是因為要上實踐課，不是指揮有意厚此薄彼安排的。喬希總用手去捅奧德里克的背，埋怨他這里或那里不對。

[12] “I can’t hear you, play louder.”“Can you give us a bigger nod?”

“Turn around, Audric and mind your own business.”

“That’s an F sharp not a natural12natural本位音，還原音。,Audric. Get it right. Gosh.”

[13] Audric was offended, but whenever he shot a remark, it boomeranged13boomerang像飛鏢似的返回;對自己的言行起反作用。and came back.

“That was you playing the F natural, Josh,” he’d said once.

“No one cares, Audric.Stop being so OCD14=obsessive-compulsive disorder強迫癥。,” Josh said, slouching his seat.

[14] Sadly, Audric shared a math class with the impertinent15impertinent粗魯無禮的。and ever so arrogant boy as well. He decided to ask a very unintelligent question one day.

“Is there such thing as a positive or a negative zero?”

Audric laughed, and Josh gave him a glaring look.

[15] Back in the orchestra room, the insults continued and increased.

[12]“大聲點兒， 我聽不見你拉琴呀。”

“朝我們點頭能不能明顯一點？”

“轉回去，奧德里克，管好你自己吧。”

“那是F高音，不是還原音，奧德里克。能不能拉得準點兒呀？”

[13]奧德里克氣惱得很，可他每次反駁都被喬希給嗆回來。

有一次他說：“是你在拉F還原音，喬希。”

“沒人在乎這個，奧德里克，別那么較真了。”喬希仰坐在椅子上說。

[14]倒霉的奧德里克也跟這個傲慢無禮的家伙同班學數學。一天，他決定問喬什一個愚蠢的問題。

“零有沒有正負之分？”

奧德里克大笑。喬希瞪他一眼。

[15]回到樂團排練室里，辱罵又開始了，而且漸漸升級。

“你的琴弦又悶了。”

〔〕〔〕

“Your strings are fl at, again.”

“It’s legato16legato〈樂〉〈意大利語〉連奏的樂曲。, not spiccato17spiccato〈弦樂器演奏術語〉跳弓演奏；須用跳弓演奏的段落。. What are you doing?”

“Hey, do us a favor and tune me?”

“Stop the screeching! You’re killing me back here.”

[16] Audric decided to bring a pair of earplugs for next practice. They were taken almost immediately after they entered Audric’s ears. He resolved to do his best to ignore Josh. ■

(To be continued)

“是悠揚而不是短促。你干什么呢？”

“喂，幫個忙，給我調調音行不行？”

“別拉得那么尖聲尖氣的！我受不了！”

[16]下次排練時奧德里克帶來一副耳塞，可是耳塞剛塞進耳朵就被沒收了。他決定盡最大努力不理睬喬希。 □

（未完待續）