Alice Munro: “Amundsen”

On the bench outside the station, I sat and waited.

我坐在车站外的长椅上等待。

The station had been open when the train arrived, but now it was locked.

火车到达时车站已经开放，但现在已锁上。

Another woman sat at the end of the bench, holding between her knees a string bag full of parcels wrapped in oiled paper.

另一个女人坐在长凳的一端，膝盖之间夹着一个网袋，里面装满了油纸包裹的包裹。

Meat—raw meat.

肉——生肉。

I could smell it.

我能闻到它的味道。

No other passengers showed up, and after a while the stationmaster stuck his head out the station window and called, “San.” At first I thought he was calling a man’s name, Sam.

没有其他乘客出现，过了一会儿，站长把头伸出站窗外，喊道：“三。”起初我以为他在喊一个男人的名字，萨姆。

And another man wearing some kind of official outfit did come around the end of the building.

另一个穿着某种官方服装的男子确实来到了大楼的尽头。

He crossed the tracks and boarded the electric car.

他穿过铁轨，登上了电动车。

The woman with the parcels stood up and followed him, so I did the same.

拿着包裹的女人站起来跟着他，我也跟着站起来。

There was a burst of shouting from across the street, and the doors of a dark-shingled flat-roofed building opened, letting loose several men, who were jamming caps on their heads and banging lunch buckets against their thighs.

街对面传来一阵叫喊声，一栋深色木瓦平顶建筑的门打开了，释放了几个男人，他们把帽子塞在头上，用午餐桶敲打大腿。

By the noise they were making, you’d have thought the car was going to run away from them at any minute.

从他们发出的噪音来看，你可能会认为汽车随时都会从他们身边逃跑。

But when they settled on board nothing happened.

但当他们在船上安顿下来时，什么也没发生。

The car sat while they counted one another and worked out who was missing and told the driver that he couldn’t go yet.

车停在那里，他们互相清点，找出失踪的人，并告诉司机他还不能走。

Then somebody remembered that the missing man hadn’t been around all day.

然后有人想起失踪的人一整天都没有出现。

The car started, though I couldn’t tell if the driver had been listening to any of this, or cared.

汽车启动了，但我不知道司机是否在听这些，或者在意什么。

The men got off at a sawmill in the bush—it wouldn’t have been more than ten minutes’ walk—and shortly after that the lake came into view, covered with snow.

他们在灌木丛中的一家锯木厂下车——步行不会超过十分钟——不久之后，覆盖着雪的湖泊映入眼帘。

A long, white, wooden building in front of it.

前面是一座长长的白色木质建筑。

The woman readjusted her packages and stood up, and I followed.

那位女士重新整理了一下包裹，站了起来，我也跟着站了起来。

The driver again called “San,” and the doors opened.

司机又叫了一声“桑”，车门打开了。

A couple of women were waiting to get on.

几个女人正等着上车。

They greeted the woman with the meat, and she said that it was a raw day.

他们拿着肉向那个女人打招呼，她说今天天气不好。

All avoided looking at me as I climbed down behind the meat woman.

当我爬到肉女人身后时，所有人都回避看我。

Then there was silence, the air like ice.

然后就是一片寂静，空气如冰。

Brittle-looking birch trees with black marks on their white bark, and some small, untidy evergreens, rolled up like sleepy bears.

看起来很脆弱的白桦树，白色的树皮上有黑色的痕迹，还有一些杂乱的小常青树，像睡熊一样卷起来。

The frozen lake not level but mounded along the shore, as if the waves had turned to ice in the act of falling.

结冰的湖水并不平坦，而是沿着岸边堆积起来，仿佛波浪在落下时变成了冰。

And the building, with its deliberate rows of windows and its glassed-in porches at either end.

还有这座建筑，特意设置了一排排窗户，两端都有玻璃门廊。

Everything austere and northerly, black-and-white under the high dome of clouds.

一切都简朴而偏北，在高高的云顶下黑白分明。

So still, so immense an enchantment.

如此静谧，如此巨大的魅力。

But the birch bark not white after all, as you got closer.

但当你走近时，白桦树皮毕竟不是白色的。

Grayish yellow, grayish blue, gray.

灰黄、灰蓝、灰色。

“Where you heading?” the meat woman called to me.

“你要去哪里？”肉女人叫我。

“Visiting hours are over at three.”

“探访时间三点就结束了。”

“Well, they won’t let you in the front door, anyway,” the woman said with some satisfaction.

“好吧，反正他们不会让你进前门的。”女人有些满意地说。

“You better come along with me.

“你最好跟我一起来。

Don’t you have a suitcase?”

你没有行李箱吗？”

“The way you were just standing there—looked like you were lost.”

“你站在那里的样子——看起来像是迷路了。”

“Some might think so.

“有些人可能会这么认为。

’Less they were too sick or too busy.”

“除非他们病得太重或太忙。”

Nothing more was said until we entered the kitchen, at the far end of the building.

我们什么也没说，直到我们走进大楼尽头的厨房。

I did not get a chance to look around me, because attention was drawn to my boots.

我没有机会环顾四周，因为人们的注意力都集中在我的靴子上。

I wrestled off the boots—there was no chair to sit down on—and set them on the mat where the woman had put hers.

我把靴子脱下来——没有椅子可以坐——然后把它们放在女人放她的靴子的地方。

“Pick them up and bring them with you.

“把它们捡起来并随身携带。

I don’t know where they’ll be putting you.

我不知道他们会把你安置在哪里。

You better keep your coat on, too.

你最好也穿上外套。

There’s no heating in the cloakroom.”

衣帽间没有暖气。”

No heat, no light, except what came through a little window I could not reach.

没有热量，没有光，除了从我够不到的小窗户透进来的东西。

It was like being punished at school.

就像在学校受到惩罚一样。

Sent to the cloakroom.

送到衣帽间。

Yes.

是的。

The same smell of winter clothing that never really dried out, of boots soaked through to dirty socks, unwashed feet.

同样的气味，是从未真正干燥过的冬衣的味道，是湿透了靴子、脏袜子的味道，还有没洗过的脚的味道。

I climbed up on the bench but still could not see out.

我爬上长凳，但还是看不见外面。

On the shelf where caps and scarves were thrown, I found a bag with some figs and dates in it.

在扔帽子和围巾的架子上，我发现了一个袋子，里面装着一些无花果和枣子。

Somebody must have stolen them and stashed them here to take home.

一定是有人偷了它们并把它们藏在这里带回家。

All of a sudden, I was hungry.

突然间，我饿了。

Nothing to eat since morning, except for a dry cheese sandwich on the Ontario Northland.

从早上起就没有吃任何东西，除了安大略北部的干酪三明治。

I considered the ethics of stealing from a thief.

我考虑过从小偷那里偷窃的道德。

But the figs would catch in my teeth and betray me.

但无花果会卡在我的牙齿里并背叛我。

I got myself down just in time.

我及时地趴了下来。

Somebody was entering the cloakroom.

有人进入衣帽间。

Not one of the kitchen help but a schoolgirl in a bulky winter coat, with a scarf over her hair.

厨房里没有人帮忙，只有一个穿着厚重冬衣、头发上围着围巾的女学生。

She came in with a rush—books dropped on the bench so that they scattered on the floor, scarf snatched off so that her hair sprang out in a tangle, and at the same time, it seemed, boots kicked loose and sent skittering across the floor.

她匆忙地进来了——书落在长凳上，散落在地板上，围巾被扯下来，头发乱成一团，同时，靴子似乎被踢松了，在地板上滑行。

Nobody had got hold of her, apparently, to make her take them off at the kitchen door.

显然，没有人抓住她，让她在厨房门口脱下它们。

“Oh, I wasn’t trying to hit you,” the girl said.

“噢，我不是想打你。”女孩说道。

“It’s so dark in here after outside, you don’t know what you’re doing.

“外面太黑了，你不知道自己在做什么。

Aren’t you freezing?

你不冻着吗？

Are you waiting for somebody to get off work?”

你在等人下班吗？”