斯特蘭德作品

董繼平 譯

日落時分的急診室

退休的指揮官心煩意亂。他在城堡中的房間很冷，大廳對面的房間也如此，所有其他房間均如此。在有很多其他更便宜、更暖和的城堡拋售的時候，他決不該購買這個城堡。可是他喜歡這個城堡的外貌——它的石頭塔堡高聳到冬天的空氣之中，它的大門，甚至還有它那凍結的護城河，呈現出一種銀白色的魅力，他認為自己有一天可能到河上去溜冰。他給自己斟上一杯白蘭地，點上一支雪茄，試圖聚精會神地思考其他事情——他的很多次勝利，他的手下的勇敢——可是他的念頭形成小小的漩渦而旋轉，最初落在這里，然后落在那里，猶如風吹拂，從一個空寂的鎮子飄流到另一個空寂的鎮子。

THE EMERGENCY ROOM AT SUNSET

The retired commander was upset.His room in the castle was cold， so was the room across the hall， and all the other rooms as well.He should never have bought this castle when there were so many other， cheaper， warmer castles for sale.But he liked the way this one looked—its stone turrets rising into the winter air， its main gate， even its frozen moat， on which he thought someday he might ice skate， had a silvery charm.He poured himself a brandy and lit a cigar， and tried to concentrate on other things—his many victories，the bravery of his men—but his thoughts swirled in tiny eddies，settling first here， then there， moving as the wind does from empty town to empty town.

無窮小事物的謎

你在黃昏見過他們，沿著海岸行走，見過他們站在門口，從窗口探出身去，或者跨騎著一個緩慢移動的影子邊緣。中間的情侶，既不在這里也不在那里，既不在里面也不在外面。可憐的家伙，他們被驅使去體驗那不可能的事情。即使在夜里，他們也閉著一只眼、睜著一只眼躺在床上，希望捕捉意識的最后一秒和睡眠的第一秒，棲居在無主之地，那個美麗的地方，僅僅像神祇可能凝視那樣，去凝視虛無和萬物的光明的結合。

THE ENIGMA OF THE INFINITESIMAL

You’ve seen them at dusk， walking along the shore， seen them standing in doorways， leaning from windows， or straddling the slow moving edge of a shadow.Lovers of the in-between， they are neither here nor there， neither in nor out.Poor souls， they are driven to experience the impossible.Even at night， they lie in bed with one eye closed and the other open， hoping to catch the last second of consciousness and the first of sleep， to inhabit that no man’s land， that beautiful place， to behold as only a god might，the luminous conjunction of nothing and all.

在托皮卡①的神秘與孤獨

下午黯淡成黃昏。一個人越來越深沉地陷入睡眠那緩慢的螺旋之中，它的漂流之中，它的長度之中，穿過那摸起來如同霧靄，并最終來到如同一道敞開的門的東西——他不知為什么就穿了過去，然后又不知道為什么就走向一個房間，坐在那里等待，同時，那房間似乎在他的四周合攏，黑暗比他所了解的任何黑暗還要黑暗，他感到有他所不清楚是什么的東西在他體內形成，堅持在他身上立足生長，仿佛一個故事即將展開，故事中有兩個人物——歡樂和痛苦，犯下同樣的罪行，那是他的罪行，他將不得不一次次坦白，直到那毫無重要性可言。

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MYSTERY AND SOLITUDE IN TOPEDA

Afternoon darkens into evening.A man falls deeper and deeper into the slow spiral of sleep， into the drift of it， the length of it，through what feels like mist， and comes at last to an open door through which he passes without knowing why， then again without knowing why goes to a room where he sits and waits while the room seems to close around him and the dark is darker than any he has known， and he feels something forming within him without being sure what it is， its hold on him growing， as if a story were about to unfold， in which two characters， Pleasure and Pain， commit the same crime， the one that is his， that he will confess to again and again， until it means nothing.