Fried Rice炒飯

高詩麗（音）/文　羅婕/譯

I came home to Dad yelling at our CookBot again. There was a wok of fried rice on the stove.

我回到家，聽見爸爸又在沖著家里的做飯機器人庫克嚷嚷。爐子上放著一鍋炒飯。

Dad said， “The damn machine can’t get it right. The garlic goes in when the oil is hot， not with the oil. And the ginger should be chopped fine. Really fine.”

爸爸說：“這該死的機器總做不對。大蒜要在油熱后才下鍋，而不是和油一起下鍋。生姜要切細，非常細。”

Cook said， “Please define ‘really fine’ quantitatively.”

庫克說：“請量化一下‘非常細’。”

“Fine means fine. Go look it up， you piece of junk.”

“細就是細。自己去查，你這沒用的東西！”

We’ve had Cook for a month now. Ever since Mom died， Dad’s been trading one obsession for another. After periods of relentless exercising， house cleaning， and cataloging of Mom’s books， he’s now fixated on perfecting Cook’s fried rice. We’ve had fried rice every day for two weeks.

庫克來我們家一個月了。媽媽去世以后，爸爸執著于一件又一件事。先是玩命鍛煉身體，打掃房間，接著是整理媽媽的書籍，現在是一門心思地要完善庫克的炒飯技術。連續兩周，我們天天吃炒飯。

I helped myself to a plate and started eating. “It’s good， Dad. Better than yesterday.”

我自己盛了一盤，開始吃起來。“不錯哦，老爸。比昨天的好。”

Cook said， “Thank you for your praise， Marta. Flavor profile is a 93% match versus original sample. This exceeds the average human detection of 85% minimum match for carbohydrate-based recipes.”

庫克說：“謝謝夸獎，瑪爾塔。根據風味剖面法，這份炒飯與原始樣本匹配度為93%。這超過了85%——人類對碳水食譜能有所察覺的平均最小匹配值。

Dad said， “It’s not just about the flavor. You have to cook it right. If you can’t make fried rice， how are we going to move on to other dishes？”

爸爸說：“這不只是味道的問題，炒的方法得對才行。如果連炒飯都做不對，還怎么去做其他菜？”

“Progression does not need to be linear，” said Cook.

“不一定非要循序漸進，”庫克說。

I said， “Shut down1， Cook. We’ll talk later.”

我說，“關機吧，庫克。我們等會再聊。”

Cook retracted his pneumatic2 arms and rolled to his charging station beside the fridge. The display screen on his chest went black but I had a feeling he was still listening.

庫克收回氣動手臂，滾輪將他帶到冰箱旁的充電站。他胸前的顯示屏變黑了，但我感覺他還在聽。

“Seriously， Dad， arguing with a bot？”

“你是認真的嗎，老爸，和機器人吵架？”

“Who else am I going to argue with？ You’re out all the time.”

“我還能和誰吵？你老不著家。”

If I could， I would just eat my way through Cook’s three hundred pre-loaded five-star recipes. The ones I had tried were all delicious although it had felt like a betrayal at first， missing Mom but not her food. The problem was Dad.

如果可以，我真想把庫克預裝在系統里的300種五星級菜品吃個遍。雖然這么想剛開始會有種背叛的感覺，仿佛在想念媽媽卻不想念她做的菜，但我嘗試過的菜品的確都很美味。是爸爸在找茬。

Mom had refused to stop cooking before she died. She filled our two fridges and chest freezer with labelled plastic containers of everything she could think of cooking. Dad chipped away at the frozen food like it was gold， feeding samples into Cook’s analyzer to deconstruct and reproduce. Every attempt was declared a failure despite the flavor profile matching. I was starting to think it’d been a mistake getting a Cookbot， that it’d given Dad an excuse for not moving on.

媽媽直到去世之前都不愿意停止做飯。家里兩個冰箱和冰柜塞滿了貼標簽的塑料盒，所有她能想到用來做飯的東西應有盡有。爸爸把這些冷凍食品一點點鑿開，就像鑿金子一樣，然后再把樣本輸入庫克的分析儀，讓它進行分解重制。盡管口味匹配，但他每次都說不成功。我開始覺得買做飯機器人是個錯誤，因為它給了爸爸拒絕重新開始生活的借口。

Later that night， I went into the kitchen. “Wake up， Cook.”

那天晚上晚些時候，我走進廚房。“庫克，醒醒。”

Cook’s screen came on. “Hello. Would you like a snack？”

庫克的屏幕亮了。“您好，您要點心嗎？”

“I wouldn’t mind a roti3 if you have some dal4 curry.”

“如果有木豆咖喱的話，我想吃烙餅。”

“Dal curry is available. Your meal will be ready in twelve minutes. Calorie count is three hundred and sixty.”

“木豆咖喱有。您的餐點將在十二分鐘內做好。熱量是360卡路里。”

“You didn’t need to tell me that.”

“你不用告訴我這個。”

“Instruction to provide calorie information for snacks was given on August first.”

“提供點心熱量信息的指令是8月1日下達的。”

Cook took a dough ball from the fridge. He stretched it into a thin， rubbery skin， flipped and twirled it in the air before folding and patting it into shape on the hot griddle with his tong hands.

庫克從冰箱拿出一個面團。他把面團抻成一層薄薄的、有彈力的面皮，然后在空中翻轉、旋轉面皮，最后用鉗手在滾燙的鐵板上折疊拍打成型。

I said， “How many fried rice recipes do you have， Cook？”

我問：“庫克，你有多少炒飯的菜譜？”

“Seven. One was dictated by your father.”

“七種。其中一種是您父親口述的。”

“Please add this to Dad’s recipe. Chop garlic and ginger into fine pieces of not more than one millimeter in size. Heat oil in wok until smoking. Add chopped garlic and ginger. Sauté5 until fragrant. Did you get that， Cook？ Can you tell when it’s fragrant？”

“請把我說的補充到老爸的菜譜里。將大蒜和生姜切成不超過一毫米的細末。鍋里放油加熱至冒煙。放入切好的蒜和姜，炒至出香味。明白了嗎，庫克？出香味時你能聞到嗎？”

“Yes. My olfactory6 sensors can detect increased concentrations of allicin and gingerol compounds in the air around the stove. That is what you define as fragrant.”

“清楚，我的嗅覺傳感器可以檢測火爐周圍空氣中大蒜素和姜酚化合物濃度的增加。那就是你所說的香味。”

“How do we solve this problem with Dad？ I don’t want to be eating fried rice for the rest of the year.”

“我們怎么解決老爸的問題？我可不想今年余下的日子都吃炒飯。”

“Please define the problem. I have made fried rice for sixteen consecutive days. The repetition is unacceptable according to my nutrition planning algorithm.”

“請明確一下問題。我已經連續做了16天炒飯。根據我的營養計劃算法，如此重復飲食并不可取。”

“OK， here’s the problem. Dad wants fried rice to taste like Mom’s. Flavor profile is matched， but Dad is not satisfied. He’s hurting. You are not Mom. You can’t cook like Mom.”

“好吧，是這樣的。老爸希望炒飯的味道和媽媽做的一樣。即使風味分析合格，但老爸就是不滿意。他很痛苦。你不是媽媽，你做的飯跟媽媽做的不一樣。

“Concise problem statement is ‘You are not Mom’. Please describe Mom.”

“簡單來說就是‘你不是媽媽’。請描述一下媽媽。”

Cook said that he would search his database of cooking styles. I couldn’t imagine it working， but I started telling him about Mom over my roti. I told him about the childhood foods she used to talk about; what she fed me when I was a child; the one-pot meals she cooked because she was always rushing between her two jobs; what she made with leftovers; the way she always ruined fish and overcooked steak; how her cakes were always damp at the bottom and burnt at the sides; and how， when her taste buds deteriorated， her cooking was either too bland or over-seasoned.

庫克說他會搜索烹飪風格數據庫。我不敢奢求這有什么用，但我還是邊吃烙餅邊開始講媽媽的故事。我給他講媽媽常常提起的孩童食物；小時候她喂我吃的東西；她做的“一鍋出”，那時她做兩份工作，總是匆忙奔波；她用剩菜做的餐飯；她總是把魚做糟，把牛排煎過頭；她做的蛋糕總是底部還沒烤好，四周卻已焦糊；還有味蕾退化后，她做的菜的味道要么太淡，要么太重。

Just talking about Mom was a relief and Cook was a good listener. The sound waves of my voice dancing on his screen gave shape to the void she had left behind.

就這樣聊著媽媽，對我是一種放松，庫克聽得很認真。我說話時的聲波在他的屏幕上跳動，襯托出媽媽走后留下的虛空。

The next day， I came home to fried rice again. Dad was eating quietly. Cook was silent in his corner.

第二天，我回到家，又是炒飯。爸爸一言不發地吃著，庫克安靜地待在角落。

This time， the fried rice looked carelessly cooked. It was lumpy with bits of charred garlic， the egg pieces were rubbery， and there was a heat in the rice that tasted of the wok. It needed extra soya sauce. It was， in fact， exactly like something Mom would have made when she was in a hurry.

這一次，炒飯看起來做的很隨意。飯是結團的，還有一片片燒焦的大蒜，碎雞蛋跟膠皮似的，米飯里還有炒鍋的熱氣，醬油也放得不夠。這簡直和媽媽匆忙時做的炒飯一模一樣。

I said， “How did you do it， Cook？”

我說：“你是怎么做的，庫克？”

Cook said， “You described Mom as a person with many distractions and unreliable taste buds. I modelled an imperfect two-star skill level chef who likes to cook on high heat with reduced time in wok.”

庫克說：“你描述的媽媽是一個要兼顧很多事且味覺不可靠的人。所以我就模擬了一個不完美的二星級廚師，喜歡用大火來節省炒菜時間。”

Dad smiled into his plate. He looked close to tears. “That sounds about right. That sounds like her.”

爸爸含笑埋頭吃飯，眼看就要流出淚來。“沒錯，她就是那樣。”

“Dad， I think we should let go of the fried rice now. We need to try something new. You ready for stir fry， Cook？”

“老爸，我覺得現在我們可以不再跟炒飯較勁了。我們需要試一下別的東西。你會炒菜嗎，庫克？”

“I have been ready since I left the factory.” His screen flickered and a menu with pictures of stir-fried dishes started scrolling.

“自出廠之日我就會。”他的屏幕一閃，一個印有各種炒菜圖片的菜單開始滾動起來。

Gently， Cook， I thought to myself. Gently does it.

別急，庫克，我暗想。慢慢來。

（譯者單位：江西師范大學外國語學院）

1 shut （sth） down關閉；（使）停止運轉。? 2 pneumatic由氣壓操作的；氣動的。

3 roti（南亞）烙餅，烤餅。? 4 dal豆泥糊（用扁豆或其他豆子做的印度菜肴）。? 5 sauté煎，煸，炒。? 6 olfactory嗅覺的。