517: Day At The Beach - This American Life

517：海滩的一天

517 · This American Life · 原文

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00:00 00:00 Transcript Share This American Life Life Partners How to Listen Episodes Recommended About Overview Staff Announcements Fellowships Jobs Music Make Radio On The Road FAQ Submissions Merch Contact Us Our Other Shows Merch Follow Us Life Partners Subscribe to our newsletter Full episode Toggle Audio and Transcript Sync Transcript | Episode #517 | January 31, 2014 517: Day At The Beach Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard.

00:00 00:00 文字记录分享此美国生活生活伙伴如何收听剧集推荐关于概述员工公告奖学金工作音乐在路上制作电台常见问题解答提交商品联系我们我们的其他节目商品关注我们生活伙伴订阅我们的时事通讯整集切换音频和文字记录同步文字记录 | 内容第 517 集 | 2014 年 1 月 31 日 517：海滩之日注意：《This American Life》是为耳朵而制作的，旨在让人们听到。

If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page.

如果可以的话，我们强烈建议您收听音频，其中包括页面上没有的情感和重点。

Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.

文字记录是使用语音识别软件和人工转录员结合生成的，可能包含错误。

Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.

请在印刷版引用前检查相应的音频。

Prologue Ira Glass You know how it's been.

序言 Ira Glass 你知道事情是怎样的。

In the Midwest, temperatures have been lower than at the South Pole.

中西部地区的气温低于南极。

In Alabama, kids slept in schools.

在阿拉巴马州，孩子们睡在学校里。

Highways shut down in Florida and Louisiana 'cause of ice.

佛罗里达州和路易斯安那州的高速公路因结冰而关闭。

Drivers in Atlanta ditched their cars and slept inside grocery stores.

亚特兰大的司机们抛弃了汽车，睡在杂货店里。

And in Southern California, it was just lovely.

在南加州，那真是太可爱了。

[OCEAN WAVES] Sharon Jacobucci Look at this!

[海浪] 莎朗·雅各布奇看看这个！

This is January!

这是一月！

It's like 80!

好像80了！

It's beautiful!

很美丽！

Sharon Jacobucci moved here from New York City years ago specifically to escape the cold.

莎朗·雅各布奇多年前专门从纽约搬到这里来躲避寒冷。

And she does not understand why the rest of us have not moved.

她不明白为什么我们其他人都没有动。

She has a job which puts her next to the beach all day long.

她的工作让她整天待在海滩边。

A job that frankly, does not sound like a fun job.

坦率地说，这份工作听起来并不有趣。

She gives out parking tickets.

她发出停车罚单。

She's a meter maid.

她是一名计米女仆。

But 'cause it's on the beach, it makes her very, very happy.

但因为是在海滩上，这让她非常非常高兴。

I work all of Venice Beach.

我在整个威尼斯海滩工作。

Villa Marina all the way to Navy Street.

Villa Marina 一直到海军街。

And I write tickets.

我也写票。

I impound vehicles.

我扣押车辆。

I hug people.

我拥抱人们。

I say hello.

I socialize.

我社交。

I write more tickets.

我写了更多的票。

I impound vehicles.

我扣押车辆。

I answer radio call, and hug people some more.

我接听无线电电话，并更多地拥抱人们。

I work at the beach and get paid to go to the beach!

我在海滩工作并获得报酬去海滩！

You can't beat it!

你无法击败它！

Sharon was saying all this to one of our producers, Ben Calhoun.

莎伦对我们的一位制片人本·卡尔霍恩说了这一切。

They were looking out onto the sand.

他们正在眺望外面的沙滩。

I like it.

我喜欢它。

And the water.

还有水。

Look at that water!

看看那水！

Look at the sand!

看沙子！

It's very therapeutic, especially when you're writing tickets.

这非常有治疗作用，尤其是当你写票时。

Sometimes you just go stand out there and you look and you go, God is good.

有时你只是站在那里，看看然后就走，上帝是良善的。

What do you feel when you look out that way?

当你往那个方向看时，你有什么感觉？

Out to the beach?

去海滩吗？

What cute guy is out there?

外面有什么可爱的家伙？

[LAUGHS] What cute guy is out there!

[笑] 外面有多么可爱的家伙啊！

What do you want me to say?

你想让我说什么？

I'm looking at the men!

我看的是男人们！

We're at the beach!

我们到了海滩！

What else would I be looking at at the beach?

我在海滩上还能看什么？

[LAUGHS]

[笑]

And right then, right on cue, maybe 10 feet away, a young surfer starts taking off his wetsuit.

就在这时，就在大约 10 英尺远的地方，一位年轻的冲浪者开始脱掉他的潜水衣。

Just look at that!

看看那个！

I get to watch the men strip!

我可以看男人脱衣！

Look at him over there!

看看他那边！

Come on, honey!

来吧，亲爱的！

This is a great gig!

这是一场很棒的演出！

[LAUGHS]

[笑]

Sharon lives five blocks from the beach.

莎伦住在距海滩五个街区的地方。

She told Ben that she knows everybody on Venice Beach.

她告诉本，她认识威尼斯海滩上的每个人。

And then he walked with her on her rounds and it was like total love fest, nonstop greetings, blowing kisses.

然后他陪着她巡视，这就像完全的爱情盛宴，不间断的问候，飞吻。

[KISSING SOUNDS] Man Don't listen to a word she says!

[接吻声] 男人别听她说的任何一句话！

Morning, baby!

Sharon Jacobucci Good morning, baby!

莎朗·雅各布奇早上好，宝贝！

How are you?

你好吗？

Fabulous.

太棒了。

How are you?

你好吗？

Sharon Jacobucci All right, darlin'.

莎朗·雅各布奇好吧，亲爱的。

You do know everybody.

你确实认识每个人。

Sharon Jacobucci I just told you that.

莎朗·雅各布奇我刚刚告诉过你了。

Have you been watching the weather the last month or so with what's been going on in the rest of the country?

您是否关注过上个月左右的天气以及该国其他地区发生的情况？

I think nothing of it, baby.

我觉得没什么，宝贝。

'Cause I'm enjoying my sunshiny view in Venice.

因为我正在欣赏威尼斯阳光明媚的景色。

I don't think anything about it.

我对此没有什么想法。

Could care less.

可以少关心一点。

That's why I moved here.

这就是我搬到这里的原因。

If they don't like that, move your butts to Venice.

如果他们不喜欢那样，那就搬到威尼斯去吧。

Come to California.

来加州吧。

Hell, even go to Florida!

天哪，甚至去佛罗里达！

That's your message to them?

这就是你给他们的信息？

Sharon Jacobucci Yes!

莎朗·雅各布奇是的！

Pack your bags and move!

收拾好行囊，出发吧！

Come to California!

来加州吧！

Come somewhere sunshiny beautiful!

来个阳光明媚、美丽的地方吧！

Well, there's a lot of sympathy for you.

嗯，人们对你非常同情。

Today on our radio show, we thought it would just be nice as we shiver, as we take our dogs for long walks in freezing temperatures, as we feel cold air leak in the windows and seep under our skins, we just thought it would be nice to get away from all that.

今天在我们的广播节目中，当我们颤抖时，当我们带着我们的狗在冰冷的温度下长时间散步时，当我们感到冷空气从窗户泄漏并渗透到我们的皮肤下时，我们只是认为摆脱这一切会很好。

For all of us who cannot take Sharon's advice and move to Venice Beach right this second, we can at least spend one hour thinking about places where it's warm.

对于我们所有不能接受莎伦建议并立即搬到威尼斯海滩的人来说，我们至少可以花一个小时思考温暖的地方。

We can use the power of the radio to have a midwinter beach visit.

And so today on our radio show, let's just get away.

所以今天在我们的广播节目中，让我们离开吧。

Let's all get away.

我们都走吧。

Let's go to the beach.

我们去海滩吧。

Friends, at Huntington and Malibu, they're shooting the pier.

朋友们，在亨廷顿和马里布，他们正在拍摄码头。

At Rincon, they're walking the nose.

在 Rincon，他们正在走人的路。

They're going on safari on the islands this year.

今年他们要去岛上探险。

So if you're coming, get ready to go.

所以，如果你来了，就做好出发的准备吧。

From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life, distributed by Public Radio International.

这是来自芝加哥 WBEZ 的《This American Life》，由国际公共广播电台发行。

David Sedaris later this hour.

大卫·塞达里斯（David Sedaris）这个小时晚些时候。

Stay with us.

留在我们身边。

Oh hello?

哦你好？

Yep, I'm here now.

是的，我现在就在这里。

Shane Dubow Hey, Alex.

肖恩·杜博嘿，亚历克斯。

[LAUGHS] Ira Glass This first story takes place on a very warm beach in Mexico.

[笑] Ira Glass 第一个故事发生在墨西哥一个非常温暖的海滩上。

Shane DuBow told it to our producer Alex Blumberg.

肖恩·杜鲍 (Shane DuBow) 将此事告诉了我们的制片人亚历克斯·布隆伯格 (Alex Blumberg)。

They're old friends.

他们是老朋友了。

And as we were putting together this week's program, Alex remembered this thing that happened to Shane decades ago when Shane was on a kayaking trip in Mexico down in Baja California.

当我们整理本周的节目时，亚历克斯想起了几十年前发生在谢恩身上的事情，当时谢恩正在下加利福尼亚州的墨西哥进行皮划艇之旅。

Shane and his friends took a month long vacation.

谢恩和他的朋友们休了一个月的长假。

And every day, they would head out into the Gulf of California and go sea kayaking.

每天，他们都会前往加利福尼亚湾，去海上划皮划艇。

They were really kind of in the middle of nowhere.

他们真的是在一个偏僻的地方。

There's little beach communities and some little tourist centers.

有一些小的海滩社区和一些小的旅游中心。

But mostly what we were doing was finding deserted open beaches and camping.

但我们所做的主要是寻找荒芜的开放海滩和露营。

So there was nobody around for most of the time.

Wow.

哇。

So it was just you--and there was how many of them was it you said?

所以只有你——你说有多少人？

Seven?

七？

Six, seven?

六、七？

There was six or seven.

And some people might go fishing, some people might play cards, some people might snorkel.

有些人可能会去钓鱼，有些人可能会打牌，有些人可能会浮潜。

I think we slept outside a lot.

我想我们在外面睡了很多次。

It felt like we were 12 years old pretending to be Robinson Crusoe, living off the land.

感觉就像我们12岁的时候假装是鲁宾逊漂流记，靠土地为生。

So we carried all our own water, all our own food, camping supplies, tents, sleeping bags, cooking supplies.

所以我们带着自己的水、食物、露营用品、帐篷、睡袋、烹饪用品。

Sunscreen, I hope.

Shane Dubow Sunscreen?

肖恩·杜博防晒霜？

No, we were young then.

We just figured it'd be fine.

我们只是觉得这样就好了。

[LAUGHING] Are you serious?

[笑]你是认真的吗？

You didn't bring any sunscreen?

你没带防晒霜吗？

I'm sure I didn't.

我确信我没有。

So we're in Baja.

We are on a layover, which means we are just camped somewhere.

We're not trying to kayak right now.

我们现在不打算划皮划艇。

And we've been clamming all day.

我们一整天都在蛤蜊。

And my neck locks up and I can't turn my head to one side.

我的脖子被锁住了，我无法将头转向一侧。

And this is bad for lots of reasons.

出于多种原因，这很糟糕。

But when you're kayaking, you have to be able to paddle.

但当你划皮划艇时，你必须能够划桨。

You have to be able to use both arms.

你必须能够使用双臂。

And this neck locking up, this is something that's happened to you periodically throughout your life.

脖子锁住了，这是你一生中周期性发生的事情。

Yeah.

是的。

This happens six to eight times a year.

这种情况每年会发生六到八次。

OK.

好的。

Shane Dubow It usually lasts three or four days.

Shane Dubow 通常持续三到四天。

Right.

正确的。

Shane Dubow But so no one wants to be stuck on the beach while I'm working out my neck for three or four days.

Shane Dubow 但是，没有人愿意在我锻炼脖子的时候被困在海滩上三四天。

So we had run into a little ex-pat community on a beach pretty close to where we were camping.

These folks were living in campers and had set up little cantinas, which were really just stakes with a tarp over them and they would serve beers.

这些人住在露营车里，搭建了小酒馆，实际上只是木桩，上面盖着防水布，他们会提供啤酒。

Or in our case, they showed us how to clam and then they made us a clam feast.

So we went back to the guy that had shown us how to do that, to his camper on the beach.

所以我们回到了向我们展示如何做到这一点的那个人，回到了他在海滩上的露营车。

And I said, there's not any chiropractors anywhere nearby?

我说，附近没有脊椎按摩师吗？

Which was just a ridiculous question, 'cause there was nothing nearby.

这真是个可笑的问题，因为附近什么也没有。

Right.

正确的。

Shane Dubow And I mean, this is where it kind of gets apocryphal, but is actually true.

'Cause he gets this wistful look in his eye, and he says, no, there's no chiropractor.

因为他眼中流露出渴望的神情，他说，不，没有脊椎按摩师。

But there is an amateur chiropractor who helps some of the local people.

但有一位业余脊椎按摩师帮助了一些当地人。

And his name is Johnny Tequila.

他的名字叫约翰尼龙舌兰酒。

[LAUGHING] Shane Dubow And he lives on a boat two coves over from where you're staying.

[笑] Shane Dubow 他住在一艘船上，距离你住的地方有两个海湾。

And if you go to this man, he may help you.

[LAUGHING] Shane Dubow It was very mystical.

[笑] Shane Dubow 这非常神秘。

Right.

正确的。

And you were like, well, you had me at amateur chiropractor.

[LAUGHING] Alex Blumberg But once I find out that his name is Dr. Johnny Tequila--

[笑] Alex Blumberg 但是一旦我发现他的名字是 Johnny Tequila 博士——

How do I get there?

我怎样才能到达那里？

I was like, I don't want to miss it.

And he's like, you won't miss it.

他说，你不会错过的。

I was like, well, tell me where it is.

And so he grabs a bar napkin and in black ballpoint pen I think, sketches me a rough outline of the coast, and puts an X.

于是他抓起一张餐巾纸，我想是用黑色圆珠笔，给我勾勒出了海岸的粗略轮廓，并画了一个“X”。

There's an X marks the spot.

有一个 X 标记该位置。

That's where Johnny Tequila is, two coves over.

那就是约翰尼龙舌兰酒所在的地方，相距两个小海湾。

No one wants to go with me.

没有人愿意和我一起去。

They're all gonna chill out, play cards.

他们都会放松一下，打牌。

I see.

我懂了。

Shane Dubow And my friends had taken to teasing me about my paddle stroke, which was at this point one-armed and half crippled.

And they were calling it the chicken wing.

'Cause of your neck?

Shane Dubow 'Cause of my neck.

Yeah.

是的。

Shane Dubow So I chicken wing for two coves worth.

Maybe a mile paddle.

And you're really close to the shore, and the beach is right on your right and the open ocean is on your left.

And you're chicken winging.

One cove, OK.

And I'm looking at my-- and my napkin gets wet, so my map gets all destroyed, comes apart.

[LAUGHING] 'Cause the water's running down your paddle handle?

So I chicken wing on over.

And there in the second cove, is a catamaran in the middle of an empty cove.

And I don't want you to get the idea that this is a harbor or a dock or anything man made.

我不想让你误以为这是一个港口或码头或任何人造的东西。

Nothing around.

周围什么也没有。

And it's docked in the water maybe 20 or 30 yards from shore.

And as I paddle closer, I don't see anyone.

Mm hmm.

嗯嗯。

Shane Dubow It's got a cabin.

But the mast is up, no sail is up.

And as I get closer and closer, I can see around the mast, lined up, are empty Cuervo Gold tequila bottles.

当我越来越近时，我可以看到桅杆周围排列着空的 Cuervo Gold 龙舌兰酒瓶。

[LAUGHING] Shane Dubow But kind of orderly.

That was the weird thing.

Usually you don't associate empty tequila bottles with order.

But these had been meticulously lined up.

Ringing the mast.

Shane Dubow Ringing the mast.

肖恩·杜博 (Shane Dubow) 敲响桅杆。

And again, I'm paddling up on a boat in the middle of nowhere with no one else around.

And I don't really know how to even start.

And from some deep place, the word that comes to me is ahoy.

从某个深处，我听到的一句话是“嘿”。

[LAUGHING] Shane Dubow [LAUGHING] Which I've certainly never used in normal conversation.

So I say, ahoy!

And from out of the cabin comes a completely naked woman.

从小屋里走出来一个全身赤裸的女人。

She looks American.

Blond hair, tanned so deeply, it's like the tan that goes to your liver.

金发，晒得很深，就像晒到你的肝脏一样。

It's just tan all the way through.

整个过程都是晒黑的。

Really muscly.

Her shoulders looked like she was probably a rafting guide in Colorado.

她的肩膀看起来很可能是科罗拉多州的漂流向导。

So she's completely naked and completely unphased about being completely naked.

所以她完全赤身裸体，而且完全不介意完全赤身裸体。

Just greets me and talks to me as if she wearing clothes.

只是跟我打招呼，跟我说话，就像她穿着衣服一样。

And she's above me, so I'm just looking up at her being naked from my kayak holding on to the side of their boat.

她在我上方，所以我只是抬头看着她赤身裸体地站在我的皮划艇上，紧握着他们的船边。

And I'm in my kayak and I said, is Johnny Tequila here?

And she's very nice, and she goes, no, he went to town for supplies.

But he'll be back shortly.

Why don't you wait until he comes back?

为什么不等他回来呢？

And then eventually Johnny Tequila, we see him on the beach near us.

最后，约翰尼龙舌兰酒，我们在我们附近的海滩上看到了他。

And he's got a little rowboat and he rows back to us.

他有一艘小划艇，他划回我们身边。

And he looks exactly like her.

而且他长得和她一模一样。

I mean, he's got on shorts, but he's got that tan.

He looks kind of muscly in his shoulders and chest, and they both have wild, bleached out blond hair and real scruffy.

他的肩膀和胸部看起来有点肌肉发达，而且他们都有狂野的、漂白的金发和真正的邋遢。

Maybe 30s?

也许30多岁？

Although the sun makes everyone look older, so who knows?

虽然阳光让每个人看起来都老了，但谁知道呢？

And I tell him my story and he's like, yeah of course I'll perform some amateur chiropractory on your neck.

He didn't say that.

他没有这么说。

He said just yeah, of course I'll help you.

他说是啊，我当然会帮你。

Follow me to shore.

So he rows and I chicken wing to the shore, and we pull our boats up.

And then he said, follow me.

然后他说，跟我来。

And now we are going-- I want to say jungle, but it was not jungle.

现在我们要去——我想说丛林，但那不是丛林。

But it's dense scrub.

I mean, there's bushes all around us, there's cacti.

Winding around in the middle of Mexico with no one else for miles, and I'm following him on this path, a really faint path.

And we come to a clearing.

我们来到一片空地。

And in the clearing, there is a table exactly like a massage table or a chiropractic table you'd see in a real chiropractor's office.

With the center part that's open and you could put your face down there.

And the neck part articulates and comes up.

颈部铰接并抬起。

You know, it's the real deal.

你知道，这是真正的交易。

And a life size human skeleton hanging from a tree.

Which I assume is a replica.

我认为这是一个复制品。

But it looks like it.

但看起来是这样。

A skeleton and the table in a clearing in the middle of the desert in Mexico.

And then has me lie on my back looking up at his face and his crazy hair.

And he's shirtless.

Did I tell you my chiropractor is shirtless?

我有没有告诉过你我的脊椎按摩师是赤裸上身的？

He's shirtless.

他赤裸上身。

And he puts his hands around my neck.

他把手放在我的脖子上。

In the middle of Mexico, in a clearing with a skeleton, my amateur chiropractor now has my neck in his hands.

And he gives me a chiropractic exam that resembles every other chiropractic exam I've received.

他给我做了一次脊椎按摩治疗检查，与我接受过的所有其他脊椎按摩治疗检查类似。

And then he does an adjustment that also passes as any other chiropractic adjustment I've received.

然后他做了一个调整，这也和我接受过的任何其他脊椎按摩疗法调整一样通过。

And I say, Johnny Tequila, thank you for adjusting my neck.

Can I pay you?

我可以付钱给你吗？

And he said, no. I just do this to help people.

他说，不。我这样做只是为了帮助人们。

There will be no payment.

不会有任何付款。

But if you ever see me in a bar, you can buy me a shot of tequila.

[LAUGHING] Then the next day, was in fact your neck better?

Well, it's possible I'm collapsing time.

嗯，可能是我时间崩溃了。

But the way I remember it, I chicken wing back and over the next few hours, I start to feel much, much better.

但据我记忆，我吃了鸡翅，在接下来的几个小时里，我开始感觉好多了。

And the neck is OK.

而且脖子还好。

Do you think that Johnny Tequila-- when you think of Johnny Tequila, is he an argument for chucking it all and moving to some quiet beach in some distant land or is he an argument against it?

你认为约翰尼龙舌兰酒——当你想到约翰尼龙舌兰酒时，他是一个放弃一切并搬到某个遥远国家的安静海滩的理由，还是他反对的理由？

He's 100% an argument for.

他100%有理由支持。

I can't believe you asked me that question.

我不敢相信你问了我这个问题。

A simpler life.

更简单的生活。

Just crack people's necks, drink tequila, sing in the cantina, and go home to my naked lady.

只要扭断人们的脖子，喝龙舌兰酒，在小酒馆唱歌，然后回家见我的裸体女士。

Did I not tell the story to make it seem good?

我讲这个故事不是为了让它看起来好看吗？

It seemed great!

看起来棒极了！

Shane DuBow talking to Alex Blumberg in Chicago.

肖恩·杜鲍 (Shane DuBow) 在芝加哥与亚历克斯·布隆伯格 (Alex Blumberg) 交谈。

Act Two, "Long Talk on a Short Pier." Sam Mullins' friend Stesha was born in same month as he was, in the same hospital.

第二幕，“短码头上的长谈”。萨姆·穆林斯的朋友斯特莎与他同月出生，在同一家医院。

Their moms were best friends.

他们的妈妈是最好的朋友。

So of course, when they were little kids, they became best friends.

所以，当然，当他们还是小孩子的时候，他们就成了最好的朋友。

You know those bathtub pictures that parents take of their kids?

你知道父母给孩子拍的那些浴缸照片吗？

There are bathtub shots of Sam and Stesha back when they were little toddlers growing up in this town called Vernon in Canada.

有一些萨姆和斯特莎在浴缸里的照片，当时他们还是个小孩子，在加拿大这个叫弗农的小镇长大。

Anyway, one day his best friend Stesha moves away.

不管怎样，有一天他最好的朋友斯特莎搬走了。

He's devastated, talks to her now and then.

他很沮丧，时不时地和她说话。

A couple of years pass, until one summer.

几年过去了，直到一个夏天。

Sam told what happened that summer on stage at a storytelling event called "The Flame." It was the summer before he started high school, before he turned 13.

萨姆在一个名为“火焰”的讲故事活动的舞台上讲述了那年夏天发生的事情。那是他上高中前的那个夏天，也就是他 13 岁之前。

Which is a really big summer.

这是一个非常大的夏天。

Because if you think about it, you need to prepare yourself to go from a building with finger paintings on the walls to go into a new building with anti-drug ads, and there's like condom dispensers in the bathrooms.

因为如果你想一想，你需要做好准备，从一栋墙上有手指画的大楼走进一栋有禁毒广告的新大楼，而且浴室里还有避孕套分配器。

And when you're sitting in the classroom looking out the window, instead of the familiar jungle gym with a slide, there's four guys wearing bandannas hot boxing in an Acura Integra.

当你坐在教室里看着窗外时，看到的不是熟悉的带滑梯的攀登架，而是四个戴着大手帕、开着 Acura Integra 的拳击手。

So my plan for the summer was pretty clear.

所以我的暑假计划非常明确。

I needed to get cool fast.

我需要尽快冷静下来。

I wanted to wear the right things, to think the right things, to do the right things.

我想穿正确的衣服，思考正确的事情，做正确的事情。

I wasn't even concerned about having my own unique style.

我什至不关心是否有自己独特的风格。

That first year, I just wanted to walk in already the epitome of what a high school boy was.

第一年，我只想走进一个高中生的缩影。

So I went out and I bought a skateboard.

所以我出去买了一块滑板。

And I was really bad at it, so I just carried it around with me everywhere.

我真的很不擅长，所以我只是随身携带它。

It was more of an accessory than anything.

它更像是一个配件。

And I started listening to some new music.

我开始听一些新音乐。

And I was doing push ups and sit ups and learning some guitar.

我正在做俯卧撑和仰卧起坐，并学习一些吉他。

And I was learning how to handle my voice cracking.

我正在学习如何处理我的声音破裂。

The secrets to not having your changing voice crack is to just not be excited or enthusiastic about anything, ever.

不让变幻的声音变得嘶哑的秘诀就是永远不要对任何事情感到兴奋或热情。

I needed to learn how to play it cool, so that I'd be ready to talk to girls.

我需要学习如何保持冷静，这样我才能准备好与女孩交谈。

Pardon me.

对不起。

To talk to women.

与女性交谈。

So it was in the middle of this get cool fast regimen when one day my mom burst in.

就在我正在快速降温的过程中，有一天我妈妈突然闯了进来。

And she's like, hey Stesha's on the phone!

Pick it up!

捡起来！

So I pick it up and Stesha's like, hey Sammy!

所以我拿起它，Stesha 说，嘿 Sammy！

Guess what?

你猜怎么着？

I'm coming to visit for a few weeks, and I'm actually going to be in town for my birthday!

我要去拜访几周，实际上我要在城里过生日！

And I was wondering, since I don't have a house in Vernon anymore, and since you live on the lake, I was thinking maybe I could have my birthday party at your house.

我想知道，既然我在弗农已经没有房子了，而且你住在湖边，我想也许我可以在你家举办生日聚会。

And my mind was reeling.

我的思绪摇摇欲坠。

This was perfect.

这太完美了。

Because the best part of having a girl for a best friend is the birthday parties.

因为有一个女孩作为最好的朋友最好的部分就是生日聚会。

At every one of Stesha's birthday parties growing up, I was always the only guy.

在斯特莎成长过程中的每一场生日聚会上，我总是唯一的一个人。

And I used to act like it was a drag, but it was the best.

我曾经表现得好像这是一个累赘，但这是最好的。

It was wonderful.

太棒了。

So now Stesha's asking me if I wouldn't mind if she brings her 20 beautiful friends over to my-- her beautiful French immersion friends.

所以现在 Stesha 问我是否介意她带她 20 个漂亮的朋友来见我——她美丽的法国沉浸式朋友。

Which in Vernon, that's as exotic as it gets.

So they're gonna come over and put on their bathing suits and swim at my house?

那么他们会过来穿上泳衣来我家游泳吗？

And I don't have to lift a finger?

而且我连一根手指头都不用动？

This was perfect to me.

这对我来说很完美。

And this whole birthday would serve as a test at the end of the summer where I can prove to myself that I am cool, and I am ready to talk to girls.

整个生日将作为夏末的一次测试，我可以向自己证明我很酷，并且我已经准备好与女孩交谈。

So it's the day of the party and all the pretty girls are showing up.

所以今天是聚会的日子，所有漂亮的女孩都出现了。

And everything's going great.

I'm playing them a burnt CD I just burnt on my new CD burner.

我正在给他们播放一张我刚刚在我的新 CD 刻录机上刻录的 CD。

It was all the coolest music I could think of.

It was mostly just Blink-182.

And we were all swimming in the lake and eating barbecue.

我们都在湖里游泳，吃烧烤。

And I was talking to the girls and catching up with Stesha.

我正在和女孩们聊天并赶上斯特莎。

And I was doing my best to sit in a semi-reclined position with the sun hitting me at the right angle to accentuate my abdominal muscles.

我尽力以半躺的姿势坐着，让阳光以正确的角度照射我，以突出我的腹部肌肉。

So it's a little bit later on, and all the girls are out on the dock and they're all laying in the sun.

过了一会儿，所有的女孩都到了码头上，躺在阳光下。

And two of them are at the end of the dock and they're hitting a volleyball back and forth and they hit the ball into the water.

其中两个人在码头的尽头，他们正在来回打排球，然后他们将球击入水中。

And they're all like, ugh, I don't want to go in the lake!

他们都说，呃，我不想去湖里！

I'm all warm and dry now!

And I'm like, oh my God, this is my chance!

Time to be a hero.

是时候成为英雄了。

So I stand up and I'm like, "I'll get that for you." And I dramatically take off my sunglasses.

所以我站起来说：“我去给你拿。” And I dramatically take off my sunglasses.

And my plan was not to merely just hop in the water and retrieve the ball.

我的计划不仅仅是跳进水里捡回球。

No, no, no. My plan was to run, to sprint as fast as I can and jump as far as I can.

不，不，不。我的计划是跑，尽可能快地冲刺并尽可能跳得远。

Because even at that age, I knew that that's what women really want is someone that can run and jump far.

因为即使在那个年纪，我也知道女人真正想要的是能跑能跳远的人。

Right, girls?

对吧，女孩们？

So I took off.

于是我起飞了。

And I'm running down the center of the dock and there's girls on both sides and everyone's watching me.

我沿着码头中央跑，两边都有女孩，每个人都在看着我。

And I might as well have had a cape on I felt like such a hero.

我还不如披上斗篷，感觉自己像个英雄。

I'm running down the dock, and with a few feet of dock left, trouble.

我正沿着码头跑，距离码头还有几英尺，麻烦了。

Because we were swimming for a couple of hours, so the surface of the dock was really wet and slippery.

因为我们游泳了几个小时，所以码头的表面非常湿滑。

And I slipped and I hit the deck, literally.

But I had enough momentum from my heroic sprint that I was now sliding on the surface of the dock.

但我从英勇的冲刺中获得了足够的动力，现在我正在码头的表面上滑行。

Now had I just slid off the edge and into the water, it would've been totally fine.

现在，如果我只是从边缘滑入水中，那就完全没问题了。

I would've been like, "Pshaw!

That didn't even hurt.

那甚至没有伤害。

I'm gonna go and get the ball now."

But that isn't what happened.

Because there was a nail up.

And the nail cut me.

然后指甲割伤了我。

From here to about here.

从这里到大约这里。

And about here, it caught on to my bathing suit.

Now had the bathing suit ripped and then I fell in, it would've been OK.

现在如果泳衣撕破了然后我掉进去了，那就没事了。

Or even if it fully caught my suit and it ejected me from the suit naked into the lake, I truly believe that I could've brought it back.

或者即使它完全抓住了我的宇航服并将我从宇航服中赤身裸体地弹出到湖里，我真的相信我可以把它带回来。

That would've been OK.

那就可以了。

I would've been like, "Wow, what a freak accident!

我会说，“哇，多么奇怪的事故啊！

Could you pass me my trunks?

你能把我的裤子递给我吗？

I'm gonna go and get the ball now."

But that isn't what happened.

但事实并非如此。

Because the good people at Quicksilver make too fine a product and my trunks didn't rip.

因为 Quicksilver 的优秀员工生产的产品太精细了，而我的内裤没有撕裂。

So what happened was I went over the edge and I swung and I hit my head on the pillar.

所以发生的事情是我越过了边缘，我摆动了一下，我的头撞到了柱子上。

And my legs were straight up in the air kicking like mad.

我的双腿伸直在空中，疯狂地踢动。

And I'm splashing around.

而我则四处泼水。

My head is half underwater, and my penis is out.

So I'm upside down and I think I'm drowning and I don't know what's happening.

所以我头朝下，我想我快被淹死了，但我不知道发生了什么。

I'm in fight or flight, I'm splashing.

我要么战斗，要么逃跑，我在溅水。

And what does one do when you're in what you perceive to be a life and death situation?

当你处于你认为生死攸关的境地时，一个人会做什么？

And what happened next I have to give to you second hand, because I was underwater.

接下来发生的事情我必须给你二手资料，因为我在水下。

But legend has it that my mom was inside making a potato salad.

但传说我妈妈正在里面做土豆沙拉。

And she heard me calling for help and she snapped into action and she knocked the screen sliding door off the track and she was hurdling over lawn furniture and weaving through girls.

她听到我呼救，她立即采取行动，把纱窗推拉门撞离轨道，她跨过草坪家具，在女孩们中间穿行。

And she got to me and she pulled me to safety in a matter of seconds.

她找到了我，几秒钟之内就把我拉到了安全的地方。

And I was so confused.

我很困惑。

I was like, what, what the [BLEEP]?

我当时想，什么，什么[BLEEP]？

[BLEEP].

[哔]。

What the [BLEEP]?

什么是[BLEEP]？

And I'll always remember, my mom whispered in my ear, "Honey, quit cursing."

我永远记得，妈妈在我耳边低声说：“亲爱的，别咒骂了。”

And I'm covered in blood and I'm shaking.

我浑身是血，浑身发抖。

And I remember I turned my attention to the girls halfheartedly trying to conceal their laughter.

我记得我半心半意地把注意力转向了女孩们，试图掩饰她们的笑声。

And I looked out at the lake and I could see the ball.

我向湖面望去，我可以看到球。

And it was long gone, it was floating away.

它早已消失了，飘走了。

Thank you.

谢谢。

Ira Glass Sam Mullins.

艾拉·格拉斯山姆·马林斯。

He's a comedian and comedy writer in Vancouver.

他是温哥华的喜剧演员和喜剧作家。

[MUSIC - "POOL PARTY" BY THE TWO MAN GENTLEMAN BAND]

[音乐 - 两人绅士乐队的“泳池派对”]

Act Three, "The Beachcomber." OK, so the absolute beachiest radio show I think maybe that has ever been made-- I believe, anyway-- was done by my first boss at NPR, this documentary producer named Keith Talbot.

第三幕，“海滩浪子”。好吧，我认为也许有史以来最海滩的广播节目——我相信，无论如何——是由我在 NPR 的第一任老板制作的，这位纪录片制片人名叫基思·塔尔博特 (Keith Talbot)。

He made this back in 1979.

他在 1979 年就做到了这一点。

It was called Ocean Hour.

它被称为“海洋时刻”。

And I love that show.

我喜欢那个节目。

Like I say, I think it's beachiest radio show mankind will ever produce, and here is one of my favorite parts.

就像我说的，我认为这是人类制作的最海滩的广播节目，这是我最喜欢的部分之一。

Just before I play this, I should say this is such a piece of 1970s era public radio that there's no narration on the show giving the name of the interviewee who you're about to hear or where he is.

在我播放此曲之前，我应该说，这是一段 20 世纪 70 年代公共广播的片段，节目中没有旁白给出您将要听到的受访者的名字或他在哪里。

That's how we rolled back then.

那时我们就是这样回滚的。

Anyway, I hope you like this.

不管怎样，我希望你喜欢这个。

Here is a scrounger's life.

这里是乞丐的生活。

Everything is like a beachcomber.

一切都像海滩上的浪子。

I have lived as poor as a man can live and still survive in United States of America in the 1970s.

20 世纪 70 年代，我在美国过着极其贫穷的生活，并且仍然生存着。

Because everything comes here somehow sooner or later.

因为一切迟早都会以某种方式来到这里。

Wood, oysters, the various other fish that you can get for the asking.

木头、牡蛎和其他各种鱼类，只要你提出要求就可以得到。

Mullet, which is the big, good eating fish around here, along with trout and catfish, which come from the rivers.

鲻鱼是这里的大鱼，味道鲜美，还有来自河流的鳟鱼和鲶鱼。

You have the river cat and the salt water cat.

你有河猫和咸水猫。

They seem to be cousins, but they taste a little different.

他们看起来是表兄弟，但味道有点不同。

And in addition to all of that, you get the kinds of things that the sea brings, which is from boats.

除此之外，你还可以从船上获得大海带来的各种东西。

There's always a certain amount of movement of cargo in boats as well as fish.

船上的货物和鱼类总是有一定量的移动。

And firewood around here is for the asking.

这里的柴火是可以要求的。

In a city like New York or Washington, firewood I'm sure costs $100 a truckload, $200.

在纽约或华盛顿这样的城市，木柴的价格我确信每卡车要 100 美元，200 美元。

Round here you can go out and fill it up for nothing.

在这里你可以免费出去加油。

There is a theory, for example, in archaeology that all of the early settlements were on the coast of man.

例如，考古学中有一种理论认为，所有早期定居点都位于人类的海岸上。

That that's where the easiest life has always been, where everything was for the taking and you had the sea and you had the land together and the various mutations between them.

那就是最简单的生活一直存在的地方，一切都是为了索取，你拥有海洋，你拥有陆地，以及它们之间的各种突变。

And that's where food chains likely start, where you have that melting land or that solidifying water.

这就是食物链可能开始的地方，那里有融化的土地或凝固的水。

That's where the organisms get their start, especially if you have the right climate.

这就是生物体开始生长的地方，特别是如果气候适宜的话。

As a poor man, it means that things are coming to me which don't happen very much on the prairie or in the big cities.

作为一个穷人，这意味着我会遇到一些在草原或大城市很少发生的事情。

Nothing comes to your door in a big city except a cop or a taxi driver or something.

在大城市，除了警察或出租车司机什么的，没有人会来找你。

But here things will actually come to your door.

但在这里，事情真的会找上门来。

I have a houseful of found objects, and they get more beautiful all the time.

我有一屋子发现的物品，而且它们一直变得越来越漂亮。

And every day I pick up something.

每天我都会捡起一些东西。

All kind of shells and driftwood, trees.

各种贝壳、浮木、树木。

There's an enormous number of things that nature presents to you.

大自然向您呈现了无数的事物。

This coast gives a way of life that is really almost-- this is like a myth to me.

这个海岸给了我一种生活方式，这对我来说就像是一个神话。

If you can imagine living like the 19th century, 18th century.

如果你能想象像19世纪、18世纪那样生活。

Thoreau could've lived here.

梭罗本来可以住在这里。

Thoreau could still live here.

梭罗仍然可以住在这里。

And yet most people in America think that that has gone.

然而大多数美国人认为这种情况已经过去了。

And yet we're in a time warp here.

然而我们却陷入了时间扭曲。

Temporarily, because as you see, it's going.

暂时的，因为正如你所看到的，它正在发生。

It's going hourly right now.

现在是每小时一班。

[OCEAN WAVES] Ira Glass An excerpt from Ocean Hour in 1979.

[海洋波浪] Ira Glass 1979 年《海洋时刻》的摘录。

A link to that entire program is at our website, ThisAmericanLife.org.

整个计划的链接位于我们的网站 ThisAmericanLife.org。

Coming up, David Sedaris and his family go to the beach.

大卫·塞达里斯 (David Sedaris) 和他的家人一起去海滩。

Except for one of them.

除了其中一位。

That's in a minute from Chicago Public Radio and Public Radio International, when our program continues.

一分钟后，芝加哥公共广播电台和国际公共广播电台将继续我们的节目。

It's This American Life.

这就是美国生活。

I'm Ira Glass.

我是艾拉·格拉斯。

Today after these awful weeks where we have all had to learn the phrase "polar vortex" to describe daily life in the United States, we have decided that we're going to spend an hour getting away from all that with stories of places where it is hot, with stories from the beach.

今天，在我们所有人都必须学习“极地涡旋”这个短语来描述美国日常生活的可怕的几周之后，我们决定花一个小时来远离这一切，听一些炎热地方的故事，一些来自海滩的故事。

We've arrived at Act Four of our show.

我们已经到了演出的第四幕了。

Act Four, "Now We Are Five."

第四幕，“现在我们五岁了”。

OK, if you're a beach family, you go to the beach every year, even bad years for your family.

好吧，如果你是一个海滩家庭，你每年都会去海滩，即使是对你的家人来说不好的年份。

That is just what you do.

这就是你所做的。

David Sedaris has a story about that happening in his family.

大卫·塞达里斯（David Sedaris）有一个发生在他家里的故事。

The story was recently published in The New Yorker .

这个故事最近发表在《纽约客》上。

I'm guessing that some of you may have read it.

我猜你们中的一些人可能已经读过它。

Here at our show, we really loved this story and know lots of you have not seen it, so here it is.

在我们的节目中，我们真的很喜欢这个故事，并且知道很多人还没有看过它，所以就在这里。

Here's David Sedaris.

请听大卫·塞达里斯的报道。

In late May of last year, a few weeks shy of her 50th birthday, my youngest sister Tiffany committed suicide.

去年五月下旬，距离我的 50 岁生日还有几周，我最小的妹妹蒂芙尼自杀了。

She was living in a room in a beat-up house on the hard side of Somerville, Massachusetts, and had been dead, the coroner guessed, for at least five days before her door was battered down.

她住在马萨诸塞州萨默维尔困难地区一栋破旧房子的一个房间里，验尸官猜测，在她的门被砸坏之前，她已经死了至少五天了。

I was given the news over a white courtesy phone while at the Dallas airport.

我在达拉斯机场时通过白色礼貌电话得知了这一消息。

Then, because my plane to Baton Rouge was boarding and I wasn't sure what else to do, I got on it.

然后，因为我飞往巴吞鲁日的飞机即将登机，而我不知道还能做什么，所以我就上了飞机。

The following morning, I boarded another plane, this one to Atlanta.

第二天早上，我登上了另一架飞机，这架飞机飞往亚特兰大。

And the day after that, I flew to Nashville, thinking all the while about my ever shrinking family.

第二天，我飞往纳什维尔，心里一直想着我日益萎缩的家庭。

A person expects his parents to die.

一个人期望他的父母死去。

But a sibling?

但兄弟姐妹？

I felt I'd lost the identity I'd enjoyed since 1968, when my brother was born.

我觉得我已经失去了自 1968 年我哥哥出生以来我一直享有的身份。

"Six kids?" people would say.

“六个孩子？”人们会说。

"How do your poor folks manage?"

“你们这些可怜的人是怎么过日子的？”

There were a lot of big families in the neighborhood I grew up in.

我长大的社区里有很多大家庭。

Every other house was a fiefdom, so I never gave it much thought until I became an adult and my friends started having children.

每一个房子都是一个封地，所以我从来没有考虑过这个问题，直到我成年并且我的朋友开始有了孩子。

One or two seemed reasonable, but anything beyond that struck me as outrageous.

一两个似乎是合理的，但除此之外的任何事情都让我觉得令人无法容忍。

A couple Hugh and I knew in Normandy would occasionally come together with their wrecking crew of three.

我和休在诺曼底认识的一对夫妇偶尔会与他们的三名失事人员聚集在一起。

When they'd leave several hours later, every last part of me would feel violated.

当他们几个小时后离开时，我的每一部分都会感到被侵犯。

Take those kids, double them, and subtract the cable TV.

把那些孩子加倍，然后减去有线电视。

That's what my parents had to deal with.

这就是我父母必须面对的事情。

Now though, there weren't six.

但现在，已经没有六个了。

Only five.

只有五个。

"And you can't really say there used to be six," I told my sister Lisa.

“你不能说以前有六个，”我告诉姐姐丽莎。

"It just makes people uncomfortable."

“这只会让人感到不舒服。”

I recalled a father and son I'd met in California a few years back.

我想起几年前在加利福尼亚州遇到的一对父子。

"So are there other children?" I asked.

“那还有其他孩子吗？”我问。

"There are," the man said.

“有的，”男人说。

"Three who are living, and a daughter-- Chloe-- who died before she was born 18 years ago."

“三个人还活着，还有一个女儿——克洛伊——在 18 年前出生前就去世了。”

That's not fair, I remember thinking.

我记得这样想，这不公平。

Because, I mean, what's a person supposed to do with that?

因为，我的意思是，一个人应该用它做什么？

Compared to most 49 year-olds, or even most 49 month-olds, Tiffany didn't have much.

与大多数 49 岁甚至大多数 49 个月大的人相比，蒂芙尼拥有的东西并不多。

She did leave a will though.

不过她确实留下了遗嘱。

In it she decreed that we, her family, could not have her body or attend her memorial service.

她在其中规定，我们，她的家人，不能拥有她的遗体或参加她的追悼会。

"So put that in your pipe and smoke it!" our mother would've said.

“所以把它放进你的烟斗里抽吧！”我们的母亲会说。

A few days after getting the news, my sister Amy drove to Somerville with a friend and collected two boxes of things from Tiffany's room.

得知消息几天后，我姐姐艾米和一位朋友开车去了萨默维尔，从蒂芙尼的房间里拿了两箱东西。

Family photos-- many of which had been ripped into pieces-- comment cards from a neighborhood grocery store, notebooks, receipts.

家庭照片——其中许多都被撕成碎片——附近杂货店的评论卡、笔记本、收据。

The bed, a mattress on the floor, had been taken away and a large industrial fan had been set up.

床和地板上的床垫都被拿走了，并安装了一台大型工业风扇。

Amy snapped some pictures while she was there.

艾米在那里拍了一些照片。

And individually and in groups, those of us left studied them for clues.

我们这些留下来的人单独或成组地研究它们以寻找线索。

A paper plate on a dresser that had several drawers missing.

梳妆台上有一个纸盘，几个抽屉不见了。

A phone number written on a wall.

墙上写着电话号码。

A collection of mop handles, each one a different color, arranged like cattails in a barrel painted green.

一系列拖把手柄，每个手柄都有不同的颜色，像香蒲一样排列在漆成绿色的桶中。

Six months before our sister killed herself, I'd made plans for us all to gather at a beach house on Emerald Isle, off the coast of North Carolina.

在我们姐姐自杀前六个月，我计划让我们所有人聚集在北卡罗来纳州海岸附近翡翠岛的一栋海滨别墅里。

My family used to vacation there every summer, but after my mother died we stopped going.

我的家人过去每年夏天都去那里度假，但在我母亲去世后我们就不再去了。

Not because we lost interest, but because it was she who always made the arrangements and more importantly, paid for it.

不是因为我们失去了兴趣，而是因为总是她做安排，更重要的是，她付钱。

The place I found, with the help of my sister-in-law Kathy, had six bedrooms and a small swimming pool.

我在嫂子凯西的帮助下找到的地方有六间卧室和一个小游泳池。

Our week long rental period began on Saturday, June 8th, and we arrived to find a delivery woman standing in the driveway with seven pounds of seafood, a sympathy gift sent by friends.

我们为期一周的租赁期从 6 月 8 日星期六开始，我们到达时发现一名送货员站在车道上，手里拿着七磅海鲜，这是朋友们送来的慰问礼物。

"They's slaw in there too," she said, handing over the bags.

“里面也有沙拉，”她边说边把袋子递了过去。

In the past, when my family rented a cottage, my sisters and I would crowd the door like puppies around a food dish.

过去，当我的家人租了一间小屋时，我和姐妹们会像小狗围着食物盘子一样挤在门口。

Our father would unlock it and we'd tear through the house claiming rooms.

我们的父亲会打开门锁，我们会撕毁房子，索取房间。

I always picked the biggest one facing the ocean.

我总是选最大的面向大海的。

And just as I'd start to unpack, my parents would enter and tell me that this was theirs.

当我开始打开行李时，我的父母会进来并告诉我这是他们的。

"I mean, just who the hell do you think you are?" my father would ask.

“我是说，你以为你到底是谁？”我父亲会问。

He and my mother would move in and I would get booted to what was called the maid's room.

他和我母亲会搬进来，而我会被赶到所谓的女佣房间。

It was always on the ground level, a kind of dank shed next to where the car was parked.

它总是在地面上，是汽车停放处旁边的一个潮湿的棚子。

There was never an interior stairway leading to the upper floor.

从来没有通往上层的内部楼梯。

Instead I had to take the outside steps, and more often than not, knock on the locked front door like a beggar hoping to be invited in.

相反，我不得不走到外面的台阶上，而且常常像乞丐一样敲锁着的前门，希望被邀请进来。

"What do you want?" my sisters would ask.

“你想要什么？”我的姐妹们会问。

"I want to come inside."

“我想进去。”

"That's funny," Lisa, the eldest, would say to the others who were gathered like disciples around her.

“这很有趣，”最大的丽莎会对其他像门徒一样聚集在她周围的人说。

"Did you hear something, a whining sound?

“你有没有听到什么声音，呜呜的声音？

What is it that makes a noise like that?

到底是什么东西发出这样的声音？

A hermit crab?

寄居蟹？

A little sea slug?"

小海蛞蝓吗？”

Normally there was a social divide between the three oldest and three youngest children in my family.

通常，我家里三个最大的孩子和三个最小的孩子之间存在社会鸿沟。

Lisa, Gretchen, and I treated the others like servants and did very well for ourselves.

丽莎、格雷琴和我对待其他人就像对待仆人一样，我们自己也做得很好。

At the beach though, all bets were off.

然而在海滩上，所有的赌注都落空了。

And it was just upstairs against downstairs, meaning everyone against me.

而且只是楼上反对楼下，这意味着每个人都反对我。

This time, because I was paying, I got to choose the best room.

这次，因为我付了钱，所以我必须选择最好的房间。

Amy moved in next door, and my brother Paul, his wife, and their 10-year-old daughter Maddie took the spot next to her.

艾米搬到了隔壁，我的兄弟保罗、他的妻子和他们 10 岁的女儿玛蒂占据了她旁边的位置。

That was it for oceanfront.

这就是海滨的情况。

The others arrived later and had to take the leftovers.

其他人后来到了，只好拿走剩菜。

Lisa's room faced the street, as did my father's.

丽莎的房间面向街道，我父亲的房间也是如此。

Gretchen's faced the street and was intended for someone who was paralyzed.

格雷琴的房间面向街道，是为瘫痪的人准备的。

Hanging from the ceiling were electric pulleys designed to lift a harnessed body into and out of bed.

天花板上悬挂着电动滑轮，旨在将佩戴安全带的人抬上床或抬下床。

Unlike the cottages of our youth, this one did not have a maid's room.

与我们年轻时的小屋不同，这里没有女仆房。

It was too new and fancy for that, as were the homes that surrounded it.

它太新太奇特了，周围的房子也是如此。

Traditionally, all the island houses were on stilts.

传统上，所有岛上的房屋都是高跷的。

But more and more often now, the ground floors are filled in.

但现在越来越多的情况是，底层已经被填满了。

They all have beachy names and are painted beachy colors.

它们都有海滩般的名字，并被涂上海滩般的颜色。

But most of those built after Hurricane Fran hit the coast in 1996 are three stories tall and look almost suburban.

但 1996 年弗兰飓风袭击海岸后建造的大部分建筑都是三层楼高，看起来几乎是郊区的。

This place was vast and airy.

这个地方广阔而通风。

The kitchen table sat 12.

厨房的桌子坐了12个人。

And there was not one, but two dishwashers.

而且洗碗机不是一台，而是两台。

All the pictures were ocean related.

所有的照片都与海洋有关。

Seascapes and lighthouses, all with the airborne Vs that are shorthand for seagull.

海景和灯塔，都带有空中的 V，这是海鸥的简写。

A sampler on the living room wall read "Old shellers never die, they simply conch out."

客厅墙上的一个样本上写着“老剥壳者永远不会死，他们只是用海螺挖出来。”

On the round clock beside it, the numbers lay in an indecipherable heap, as if they'd come unglued.

旁边的圆形钟上，数字堆成一堆，难以辨认，就好像它们已经脱开一样。

Just above them were printed the words "Who cares?" This was what we found ourselves saying whenever anyone asked the time.

就在它们的上方印着“谁在乎？”的字样。每当有人问起时间时，我们都会这么说。

"Who cares?"

“谁在乎？”

The day before we arrived at the beach, Tiffany's obituary ran in the Raleigh News & Observer.

在我们到达海滩的前一天，《罗利新闻与观察家》刊登了蒂芙尼的讣告。

It was submitted by Gretchen, who stated that our sister had passed away peacefully at her home.

它是由格雷琴提交的，她说我们的妹妹在家中安详地去世了。

This made it sound as if she were very old and had a house.

这听起来就好像她很老并且有房子一样。

But what else could you do?

但你还能做什么呢？

People were leaving responses on the paper's website, and one fellow wrote that Tiffany used to come into the video store where he worked in Somerville.

人们在该报的网站上留下回复，一位同事写道，蒂芙尼曾经去过他在萨默维尔工作的音像店。

When his glasses broke, she offered him a pair she had found while foraging for art supplies in somebody's trashcan.

当他的眼镜破碎时，她给了他一副她在某人的垃圾桶里寻找美术用品时找到的一副眼镜。

He said she also gave him a Playboy magazine from the 1960s that included a photo spread titled "The Ass Menagerie."

他说她还给了他一本 20 世纪 60 年代的《花花公子》杂志，其中包括一张题为“屁股动物园”的照片。

This was fascinating, as we didn't really know our sister very well.

这很有趣，因为我们不太了解我们的妹妹。

Each of us had pulled away from the family at some point in our lives.

我们每个人在生命中的某个时刻都曾远离过家庭。

We'd had to, in order to forge our own identities, to go from being a Sedaris to our own specific Sedaris.

为了塑造我们自己的身份，我们必须从一个 Sedaris 转变为我们自己特定的 Sedaris。

Tiffany though, stayed away.

但蒂芙尼却远离了。

She might promise to come home for Christmas, but at the last minute there'd always be some excuse.

她可能答应回家过圣诞节，但到了最后一刻总会有一些借口。

She missed her plane, she had to work.

她错过了飞机，她必须工作。

The same would happen with our summer vacations.

我们的暑假也会发生同样的情况。

"The rest of us managed to make it," I'd say, aware of how old and guilt trippy I sounded.

“我们其他人都成功了，”我会说，意识到自己听起来有多么苍老和内疚。

All of us would be disappointed by her absence, though for different reasons.

尽管出于不同的原因，我们所有人都会对她的缺席感到失望。

Even if you weren't getting along with Tiffany at the time, you couldn't deny the show she put on.

即使你当时和蒂芙尼相处得不好，你也不能否认她的表演。

The dramatic entrances, the nonstop professional grade insults, the chaos she'd inevitably leave in her wake.

戏剧性的入场，不间断的专业级侮辱，她身后不可避免地留下的混乱。

One day she'd throw a dish at you and the next she'd create a mosaic made of the shards.

有一天她会向你扔一个盘子，第二天她就会用碎片创造出一幅马赛克。

When allegiances with one brother or sister flamed out, she'd take up with someone else.

当对一个兄弟姐妹的忠诚消失时，她就会转向其他人。

At no time did she get along with everybody, but there was always someone she was in contact with.

她从来没有和每个人都相处融洽，但总有人和她有联系。

Toward the end, it was Lisa.

最后，是丽莎。

But before that, we'd all had our turn.

但在那之前，我们都轮到了。

The last time she joined us on Emerald Isle was 1986.

她最后一次来到翡翠岛和我们在一起是 1986 年。

"And even then, she left after three days," Gretchen reminded us.

“即便如此，三天后她还是离开了，”格雷琴提醒我们。

As kids, we spent our beach time swimming.

小时候，我们在海滩上游泳。

Then we became teenagers and devoted ourselves to tanning.

然后我们成为青少年并致力于晒黑。

There's a certain kind of talk that takes place when you're lying dazed in the sun, and I've always been partial to it.

当你躺在阳光下发呆时，就会发生某种谈话，我一直偏爱这种谈话。

On the first afternoon of our most recent trip, we laid out one of the bedspreads we'd had as children and arranged ourselves side by side on it, trading stories about Tiffany.

在我们最近一次旅行的第一个下午，我们铺开了小时候用过的床罩，并排坐在上面，交换着有关蒂芙尼的故事。

"What about the Halloween she spent on that Army base?

“她在那个陆军基地度过的万圣节怎么样？

And the time she showed up at Dad's birthday party with a black eye."

还有一次她出现在爸爸的生日聚会上，眼睛却是青肿的。”

"I remember this girl she met years ago at a party," I began when my turn came.

“我记得她几年前在一次聚会上认识的这个女孩，”轮到我时我开始说道。

"She'd been talking about facial scars and how terrible it would be to have one.

“她一直在谈论面部疤痕，以及如果有疤痕的话会有多可怕。

So Tiffany said, 'I have a little scar on my face and I don't think it's so awful.' 'Well,' the girl said, 'you would if you were pretty.'"

所以蒂芙尼说，“我脸上有一点伤疤，但我不觉得有那么可怕。” “好吧，”女孩说，“如果你漂亮的话，你就会的。”

Amy laughed and rolled over onto her stomach.

艾米笑了，翻了个身趴在地上。

"Oh, that's a good line."

“噢，这句话说得好。”

I rearranged the towel I was using as a pillow.

我重新整理了用作枕头的毛巾。

"Idn't it, though?"

“可不是吗？”

Coming from someone else, the story might have been upsetting.

这个故事来自别人，可能会令人不安。

But not being pretty was never one of Tiffany's problems, especially when she was in her 20s and 30s and men tumbled helpless before her.

但不漂亮从来都不是蒂芙尼的问题之一，尤其是当她20多岁和30多岁时，男人在她面前无助地倒下。

"Funny," I said, "but I don't remember a scar on her face."

“有趣，”我说，“但我不记得她脸上有伤疤。”

I stayed in the sun too long that day and got a burn on my forehead.

那天我在阳光下晒得太久了，额头被烫伤了。

That was basically it for me and the beach blanket.

我和沙滩毯基本上就是这样了。

I made brief appearances for the rest of the week, stopping to dry off after a swim.

这周剩下的时间里我短暂露面，游完泳后停下来擦干身子。

But mainly I spent my days on a bike, cycling up and down the coast and thinking about what had happened.

但我大部分时间都是骑自行车度过的，沿着海岸骑车，思考发生的事情。

While the rest of us seemed to get along effortlessly, with Tiffany it always felt like work.

虽然我们其他人似乎相处得毫不费力，但和蒂芙尼在一起总是感觉像是在工作。

She and I usually made up after arguing, but our last fight took it out of me.

我和她通常在争吵后和好，但我们上次的争吵让我彻底崩溃了。

And at the time of her death, we hadn't spoken in eight years.

当她去世时，我们已经八年没有说过话了。

During that period, I regularly found myself near Somerville.

在那段时间里，我经常去萨默维尔附近。

And though I'd always toy with the idea of contacting her, I never did, despite my father's encouragement.

尽管我一直有联系她的念头，但尽管父亲鼓励我，我却从未这样做过。

Meanwhile, I'd get reports from him and Lisa.

与此同时，我会收到他和丽莎的报告。

Tiffany had lost her apartment, had gone on disability, had moved into a room found for her by a social service agency.

蒂芙尼失去了她的公寓，变成了残疾，搬进了一家社会服务机构为她找到的房间。

Perhaps she was more forthcoming with her friends, but her family got things only in bits and pieces.

也许她对朋友比较坦诚，但她的家人得到的只是零碎的东西。

She didn't talk with us so much as at us.

她没有和我们说话，而是对我们说话。

Great blocks of speech that were in turns funny, astute, and so contradictory it was hard to connect the sentence you were hearing to the one that preceded it.

精彩的演讲片段既有趣又精明，而且自相矛盾，很难将你听到的句子与前面的句子联系起来。

Before we stopped speaking, I could always tell when she was on the phone.

在我们停止说话之前，我总能看出她什么时候在打电话。

I'd walk into the house and hear Hugh say, "Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh."

我走进房子，听到休说：“嗯嗯，嗯嗯，嗯嗯。”

In addition to the two boxes that Amy had filled in Somerville, she also brought down our sister's 1978 ninth grade yearbook.

除了艾米在萨默维尔填写的两个盒子外，她还带来了我们姐姐 1978 年九年级的年鉴。

Among the messages inscribed by her classmates was the following, written by someone who had drawn a marijuana leaf beside her name.

她的同学刻下的信息如下，是由一个在她名字旁边画了一片大麻叶的人写的。

"Tiffany, you are a one of a kind girl, so stay that way, you unique ass.

“蒂芙尼，你是一个非常善良的女孩，所以就保持这样吧，你这个独特的混蛋。

I'm only sorry we couldn't have partied more together.

我只是很遗憾我们不能一起参加更多的聚会。

This school sucks to hell.

这学校简直就是地狱。

Stay cool, stoned, drunk, [BLEEP] up.

保持冷静，喝醉了，喝醉了，[哔]起来。

Check your ass later."

稍后检查一下你的屁股。”

Then there's, "Tiffany, I'm looking forward to getting high with you this summer." And "Tiffany, call me some time this summer and we'll go out and get blitzed."

然后是，“蒂芙尼，我期待今年夏天和你一起狂欢。” “蒂芙尼，今年夏天找个时间给我打电话，我们就出去享受闪电战。”

A few weeks after these messages were written, Tiffany ran away and was subsequently sent to a disciplinary institution in Maine called Elan.

这些信息写完几周后，蒂芙尼逃跑了，随后被送往缅因州一所名为“Elan”的纪律机构。

According to what she told us later, it was a horrible place.

据她后来告诉我们，那是一个可怕的地方。

She returned home in 1980, having spent two years there.

她于 1980 年回国，在那里呆了两年。

And from that point on, none of us can recall a conversation in which she did not mention it.

从那时起，我们谁都记不起她没有提到过的谈话。

She blamed the family for sending her off.

她责怪家人送她走。

But we, her siblings, had nothing to do with it.

但我们，她的兄弟姐妹，与这件事无关。

Paul for instance.

以保罗为例。

Paul was 10 when she left.

她离开时保罗十岁。

I was 21.

那年我21岁。

For a year I sent her monthly letters.

有一年我每月给她寄信。

Then she wrote and told me to stop.

然后她写信叫我停下来。

As for my parents, there were only so many times they could apologize.

至于我的父母，他们只能道歉几次。

"We had other kids," they said in their defense.

“我们还有其他孩子，”他们为自己辩护说。

"You think we could let the world stop on account of any one of you?"

“你认为我们可以因为你们中的任何一个人而让世界停止运转吗？”

We were at the beach for three days before Lisa and our father-- who is now 90-- joined us.

我们在海滩呆了三天，然后丽莎和我们 90 岁的父亲加入了我们。

Being on the island meant missing the spinning classes he takes in Raleigh, so I found a fitness center not far from the rental cottage and every afternoon he and I would spend some time there.

在岛上意味着错过了他在罗利参加的动感单车课程，所以我在出租小屋附近找到了一个健身中心，每天下午我和他都会在那里度过一段时间。

On the way over, we'd talk to each other.

路上，我们互相交谈。

But as soon as we mounted our stationary bikes, we'd each retreat into our own thoughts.

但一旦我们骑上固定自行车，我们就会各自退回到自己的想法中。

It was a small place, not very lively.

那地方很小，不太热闹。

A mute television oversaw the room, tuned to the Weather Channel and reminding us that there's always a catastrophe somewhere or other, always someone flooded from his home, or running for his life from a funnel shaped cloud.

一台静音电视监视着整个房间，调到天气频道，提醒我们某处总会发生灾难，总会有人从家里被洪水淹没，或者从漏斗状的云中逃命。

Toward the end of the week, I came upon my father in Amy's room, sifting through the photos that Tiffany had destroyed.

临近周末时，我在艾米的房间里遇见了父亲，他正在翻阅蒂芙尼毁掉的照片。

In his hand was a fragment of my mother's head with a patch of blue sky behind her.

他手里拿着我母亲的头部碎片，她身后是一片蓝天。

Under what circumstances had this been ripped up, I wondered.

我想知道这是在什么情况下被撕掉的。

It seemed such a melodramatic gesture, like throwing a glass against a wall.

这似乎是一个戏剧性的举动，就像把玻璃扔到墙上一样。

Something someone in a movie would do.

电影中某人会做的事情。

"Just awful," my father whispered.

“太糟糕了，”我父亲低声说道。

"A person's life reduced to one lousy box."

“一个人的生命沦为一个糟糕的盒子。”

I put my hand on his shoulder.

我把手放在他的肩膀上。

[CLEARS THROAT] "Actually, there are two of them."

[清嗓子]“实际上，有两个。”

He corrected himself.

他纠正了自己。

"Two lousy boxes."

“两个破盒子。”

One afternoon on Emerald Isle, we all rode to the Food Lion for groceries.

在翡翠岛的一天下午，我们都骑着马去 Food Lion 买杂货。

I was in the produce department looking at red onions when my brother sneaked up from behind and let loose with a load "Achoo!" This while whipping a bouquet of wet parsley through the air.

当我在农产品部门看红洋葱时，我哥哥从后面偷偷地走了过来，“阿呼！”同时在空中搅打一束湿欧芹。

I felt the spray on the back of my neck and froze, thinking a very sick stranger had just sneezed on me.

我感觉到喷雾喷到了我的脖子后面，我愣住了，以为是一个病得很重的陌生人刚刚对我打了喷嚏。

It's a neat trick, but he also dowsed the Indian woman who was standing to my left.

这是一个巧妙的把戏，但他也对站在我左边的印度女人进行了试探。

She was wearing a blood-colored sari, so got it on her bare arm as well as her neck and the lower part of her back.

她穿着一件血色的纱丽，所以它被涂在她裸露的手臂上，还有她的脖子和她的后背下部。

"Sorry, man!" Paul said when she turned around, horrified.

“对不起，伙计！”当她转身时，保罗惊恐地说道。

"I was just playing a joke on my brother!"

“我只是跟哥哥开个玩笑而已！”

The woman had many thin bracelets on and they jangled as she brushed her hand against the back of her head.

那个女人戴着许多细细的手镯，当她用手抚过后脑勺时，手镯发出叮当作响的声音。

"You called her man," I said to him after she walked off.

“你叫她男人，”她走后我对他说。

"For real?" he asked.

“真正的？”他问道。

Amy mimicked him perfectly.

艾米完美地模仿了他。

"For real?"

“真正的？”

Over the phone, my brother, like me, is often mistaken for a woman.

在电话中，我的兄弟和我一样，经常被误认为是女性。

As we continued shopping, he told us that his van had recently broken down.

当我们继续购物时，他告诉我们他的货车最近坏了。

And that when he called for a tow truck, the dispatcher said, "We'll be right out, sweetie!"

当他呼叫拖车时，调度员说：“我们马上就出来，亲爱的！”

He lowered a watermelon into the cart and turned to his daughter.

他把一个西瓜放进车里，然后转向他的女儿。

"Maddie's got a daddy who talks like a lady, but she don't care, do she?" Giggling, she punched him in the stomach, and I was struck by how comfortable the two of them are with each other.

“麦迪有一个说话像淑女的爸爸，但她不在乎，不是吗？”她咯咯笑着，一拳打在了他的肚子上，我对他们两个相处得如此自在感到惊讶。

Our father was a figure of authority, but Paul is more of a playmate.

我们的父亲是一个权威人物，但保罗更多的是一个玩伴。

When we went to the beach as children, on or about the fourth day, our father would say, "Wouldn't it be nice to buy a cottage down here?" We'd get our hopes up and then he would bring practical concerns into it.

当我们小时候去海滩时，大约第四天，我们的父亲会说：“在这里买一间小屋不是很好吗？”我们会抱有希望，然后他会把实际的担忧带入其中。

They weren't petty.

他们并不小气。

Buying a house that will eventually get blown away by a hurricane probably isn't the best way to spend your money.

购买最终会被飓风吹走的房子可能不是花钱的最佳方式。

But still, we wanted one desperately.

但我们仍然非常想要一个。

I told myself when I was young that one day I would buy a beach house and then it would be everyone's.

当我年轻的时候，我告诉自己，有一天我会买一栋海滨别墅，然后它就会成为每个人的。

As long as they followed my draconian rules and never stopped thanking me for it.

只要他们遵守我的严厉规则，并且不断地感谢我。

Thus it was on Wednesday morning midway through our vacation Hugh and I contacted a real estate agent named Phyllis, who took us around to look at available properties.

因此，就在周三早上，休和我联系了一位名叫菲利斯的房地产经纪人，她带我们到处查看可用的房产。

On Friday afternoon, we made an offer on an oceanfront cottage not far from the one we were renting.

周五下午，我们对离我们租用的小屋不远的一间海滨小屋提出了报价。

And before sunset, our bid was accepted.

日落之前，我们的出价被接受了。

I made the announcement at the dinner table and got the reaction I had expected.

我在餐桌上宣布了这一消息，并得到了我预期的反应。

"Now wait a minute," my father said.

“现在等一下，”我父亲说。

"You need to think clearly here!"

“这里你要考虑清楚！”

"I already have," I told him.

“我已经有了，”我告诉他。

"OK then, how old is the roof?

“好吧，那么屋顶有多少年了？

How many times has it been replaced in the past 10 years?"

10年来更换了多少次？”

"When can we move in?" Gretchen asked.

“我们什么时候可以搬进去？”格雷琴问道。

Lisa wanted to know if she could bring her dogs, and Amy asked what the house was named.

丽莎想知道她是否可以带她的狗，艾米问房子叫什么名字。

"Right now, it's called Fantastic Place," I told her.

“现在，它被称为神奇之地，”我告诉她。

"But we're going to change it."

“但我们要改变它。”

I used to think the ideal name for a beach house was the Ship Shape.

我曾经认为海滨别墅的理想名称是“船形”。

Now though, I had a better idea.

但现在，我有了一个更好的主意。

"We're going to call it The Sea Section."

“我们将其称为“海洋部分”。”

My father put down his hamburger.

我父亲放下了他的汉堡。

"Oh no you're not!"

“噢，不，你不是！”

"But it's perfect!" I argued.

“但它很完美！”我争辩道。

"The name's supposed to be beachy, and if it's a pun, all the better." I brought up a cottage we'd seen earlier in the day called Dune Our Thing, and my father winced.

“这个名字应该是海滩式的，如果是双关语就更好了。”我提起当天早些时候我们见过的一座小屋，名叫“我们的沙丘”，我父亲皱起了眉头。

"What about naming it Tiffany?" he said.

“把它命名为蒂芙尼怎么样？”他说。

Our silence translated to let's pretend we didn't hear that.

我们的沉默意味着我们假装没有听到。

He picked his hamburger back up.

他又拿起了汉堡。

"I think it's a great idea.

“我认为这是一个好主意。

The perfect way to pay our respects."

这是表达我们敬意的完美方式。”

"If that's the case, we could name it after Mom," I told him.

“如果是这样的话，我们可以用妈妈的名字来命名它，”我告诉他。

"Or half after Mom and half after Tiffany.

“或者一半跟随妈妈，一半跟随蒂芙尼。

But it's a house, not a tombstone, and it wouldn't fit in with the names of the other houses."

但这是一栋房子，不是墓碑，它与其他房子的名字不相符。”

"Oh baloney!" my father said.

“噢，胡说八道！”我父亲说。

"Fitting in!

“适应了！

That's not who we are.

我们不是这样的人。

That's not what we're about."

那不是我们的目的。”

Paul interrupted to nominate the Conch Sucker.

保罗中断了提名海螺吸盘。

Amy's suggestion had the word seamen in it, and Gretchen's was even dirtier.

艾米的建议中含有“海员”一词，而格雷琴的建议则更肮脏。

"What's wrong with the name it already has?" Lisa asked.

“它已经有的名字有什么问题吗？”丽莎问道。

"No, no, no," my father said, forgetting I think, that this wasn't his decision.

“不，不，不，”我父亲说，忘记了我认为这不是他的决定。

A few days later, after the buyer's remorse had kicked in, I'd wonder if I hadn't bought the house as a way of saying, see, it's just that easy.

几天后，在买家开始悔恨之后，我想知道我买这栋房子是否不是为了表达，看，事情就是这么简单。

No hemming and hawing, no asking to look at the septic tank.

没有支支吾吾，也没有要求查看化粪池。

Rather you make your family happy and iron out the details later.

相反，你先让家人幸福，然后再解决细节。

The cottage we bought is two stories tall and was built in 1978.

我们买的小屋有两层楼高，建于1978年。

It's on proper stilts and has two rear decks, one above the other overlooking the ocean.

它有适当的高跷，有两个后甲板，一个在另一个之上，俯瞰着大海。

It was rented to vacationers until late September, but Phyllis allowed us to drop by and show it to the family the following morning after we'd checked out of the house we'd been staying in.

它一直租给度假者直到九月底，但菲利斯允许我们在我们退房后的第二天早上顺便过来给家人看。

A place always looks different-- worse, most often-- after you've made the commitment to buy it.

当你决定购买一个地方后，它看起来总是不一样——最糟糕的是，最常见的是。

So while the others raced up and down the stairs claiming their future bedrooms, I held my nose to a vent and caught a whiff of mildew.

因此，当其他人在楼梯上跑上跑下，争夺他们未来的卧室时，我把鼻子凑到通风口，闻到了一股霉味。

The sale included the furniture, so I also made an inventory of the Barcaloungers and massive TVs I would eventually be getting rid of, along with the shell patterned bedspreads and cushions with anchors on them.

这次销售包括家具，所以我还盘点了我最终要扔掉的酒吧沙发和大型电视，以及贝壳图案的床罩和带有锚的垫子。

"For our beach house, I want to have a train theme," I announced.

“对于我们的海滨别墅，我想要一个火车主题，”我宣布。

"Trains on the curtains, trains on the towels.

“窗帘上的裙裾，毛巾上的裙裾。

We're gonna go all out." "Oh brother," my father moaned.

我们要全力以赴。” “噢，兄弟，”我父亲呻吟道。

We sketched a plan to return for Thanksgiving.

我们制定了感恩节回来的计划。

And after saying goodbye to one another, my family splintered into groups and headed off to our respective homes.

互相告别后，我的家人分成几组，各自回家。

There'd been a breeze at the beach house, but once we left the island the air grew still.

海滨别墅里有微风吹过，但我们一离开小岛，空气就静止了。

As the heat intensified, so did the general feeling of depression.

随着炎热的加剧，抑郁的感觉也随之增强。

Throughout the '60s and '70s, the road back to Raleigh took us past Smithfield and a billboard on the outskirts of town that read "Welcome to Klan Country." This time we took a different route, one my brother recommend.

在整个 60 年代和 70 年代，返回罗利的路上我们经过史密斯菲尔德和镇郊的一块广告牌，上面写着“欢迎来到三K党国家”。这次我们走了一条不同的路线，是我哥哥推荐的。

Hugh drove and my father sat beside him.

休开车，我父亲坐在他旁边。

I slumped down in the back seat next to Amy and every time I raised my head, I'd see the same soybean field or low slung cinder block building we'd seemingly passed 20 minutes earlier.

我在艾米旁边的后座上坐下，每次我抬起头，我都会看到同样的大豆田或低矮的煤渣砖建筑，我们似乎在 20 分钟前经过了。

We'd been on the road for a little more than an hour when we stopped at a farmer's market.

我们在路上开了一个多小时，在一个农贸市场停了下来。

Inside an open air pavilion, a woman offered complimentary plates of hummus served with a corn and black bean salad, so we each accepted one and took seats on a bench.

在一个露天凉亭里，一位女士免费赠送了几盘鹰嘴豆泥，配上玉米和黑豆沙拉，所以我们每个人都接受了一份，并在长凳上坐下。

20 years earlier, the most a place like this might have offered was fried okra.

20 年前，这样的地方最多只能提供炸秋葵。

Now there was organic coffee, and artisanal goat cheese.

现在有了有机咖啡和手工山羊奶酪。

Above our heads hung a sign that read "Whispering Dove Ranch."

我们头顶上挂着一块牌子，上面写着“低语鸽子牧场”。

And just as I thought that we might be anywhere, I noticed that the music piped through the speakers was Christian.

正当我以为我们可能在任何地方时，我注意到扬声器中传出的是基督教音乐。

The new kind, which says that Jesus is awesome.

新的一种，说耶稣是伟大的。

Hugh brought my father a plastic cup of water.

休给我父亲带来了一杯塑料水。

"You OK, Lou?" "Fine, " my father answered.

“你还好吗，卢？” “好吧，”我父亲回答道。

"Why do you think she did it?" I asked as we stepped back into the sunlight, for that's all any of us were thinking, had been thinking since we got the news.

“你认为她为什么这么做？”当我们回到阳光下时，我问道，因为自从我们得到这个消息以来，我们所有人都在想这个问题。

Mustn't Tiffany have hoped that whatever pills she'd taken wouldn't be strong enough?

蒂芙尼难道不希望她服用的任何药物都不够有效吗？

And that her failed attempt would lead her back into our fold?

她的失败尝试会让她回到我们的怀抱吗？

How could anyone purposefully leave us, us of all people?

怎么会有人故意离开我们，离开我们所有人呢？

This is how I thought of it.

我是这样想的。

For though I've often lost faith in myself, I've never lost faith in my family.

因为虽然我经常对自己失去信心，但我从未对家人失去信心。

In my certainty that we are fundamentally better than everyone else.

我确信我们从根本上比其他人都好。

It's an archaic belief, one I haven't seriously reconsidered since my late teens, but still I hold it.

这是一种古老的信念，从十几岁起我就没有认真地重新考虑过这一信念，但我仍然坚持它。

Ours is the only club I'd ever wanted to be a member of, so I couldn't imagine quitting.

我们的俱乐部是我唯一想成为会员的俱乐部，所以我无法想象退出。

Backing off for a year or two was understandable.

退缩一两年是可以理解的。

But to want out so badly that you'd take your own life?

但你是如此渴望离开，以至于想要结束自己的生命吗？

"I don't know that it had anything to do with us," my father said.

“我不知道这和我们有什么关系，”我父亲说。

But how could it have not?

但怎么可能没有呢？

Doesn't the blood of every suicide splash back on our faces?

每一次自杀的血不都会溅回到我们的脸上吗？

At the far end of the parking lot was a stand selling reptiles.

停车场的尽头有一个卖爬行动物的摊位。

In giant tanks were two pythons, each as big around as a fire hose.

巨大的水箱里有两条蟒蛇，每条都有消防水龙带那么大。

The heat seemed to suit them, and I watched as they raised their heads, testing the screen ceilings.

炎热的天气似乎很适合他们，我看着他们抬起头，测试屏幕天花板。

Beside the snakes was a low pen corralling an alligator with its mouth banded shut.

蛇旁边有一个低矮的围栏，圈住了一条鳄鱼，鳄鱼的嘴被用胶带封住。

It wasn't full grown, but perhaps an adolescent, around three feet long and grumpy looking.

它还没有完全长大，但可能是一个青少年，大约三英尺长，看上去脾气暴躁。

A girl had stuck her arm through the wire and was stroking the thing's back while it glared, seething.

一个女孩把手臂伸进了金属丝，抚摸着那东西的背部，而那东西则怒目而视，沸腾着。

"I'd like to buy everything here, just so I could kill it," I said.

“我想买下这里的所有东西，这样我就可以杀死它，”我说。

My father mopped his forehead with Kleenex.

我父亲用面巾纸擦了擦额头。

"I'm with you, brother."

“我和你在一起，兄弟。”

When we were young and would set off for the beach, I'd look out the window at all the landmarks we drove by-- the Purina silo on the south side of Raleigh, the Klan billboard-- knowing that when we passed them a week later, I'd be miserable.

当我们年轻的时候，出发去海滩时，我会看着窗外我们开车经过的所有地标——罗利南侧的普里纳筒仓，三K党的广告牌——知道当我们一周后经过它们时，我会很痛苦。

Our vacation over, now there'd be nothing to live for until Christmas.

我们的假期结束了，圣诞节之前就没什么可活的了。

My life is much fuller than it was back then, yet this return felt no different.

我的生活比以前充实多了，但这次回归感觉并没有什么不同。

"What time is it?" I asked Amy.

“现在是几奌？”我问艾米。

And instead of saying "Who cares?" she said, "You tell me.

而不是说“谁在乎？”她说：“你告诉我。

You're the one with the watch on."

你就是那个戴着手表的人。”

At the airport a few hours later, I picked sand from my pockets and thought of our final moments at the beach house I'd bought.

几个小时后，在机场，我从口袋里掏出沙子，想起我们在我买的海滨别墅里的最后时刻。

I was on the front porch with Phyllis, who had just locked the door, and we turned to see the others in the driveway below us.

我和菲利斯一起在前廊，她刚刚锁上了门，我们转身看到下面车道上的其他人。

"So is that one of your sisters?" she asked, pointing at Gretchen.

“那她是你的妹妹吗？”她指着格雷琴问道。

"It is," I said.

“是的，”我说。

"And so are the two women standing on either side of her."

“站在她两侧的两个女人也是如此。”

"Then you've got your brother," she observed.

“那么你就有了你的兄弟，”她说。

"That makes five.

“这样就五个了。

Wow, now that's a big family."

哇，现在这是一个大家庭了。”

I looked at the sun-baked cars we would soon be climbing into, furnaces, every one of them, and said, "Yes.

我看着我们很快就要爬进的被太阳烤焦的汽车、熔炉，每一个，然后说：“是的。

It certainly is."

确实如此。”

David Sedaris is the author of many books, most recently, Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls .

David Sedaris 是多本书的作者，最近出版了《让我们与猫头鹰一起探索糖尿病》。

[MUSIC - "DAY AT THE BEACH" BY ATLANTIC THRILLS]

[音乐 - ATLANTIC THRILLS 的《海滩的一天》]

Our program was produced today by Robyn Semien, with Alex Blumberg, Ben Calhoun, Sarah Koenig, Miki Meek, Jonathan Menjivar, Brian Reed, Alissa Shipp, and Nancy Updike.

我们今天的节目由 Robyn Semien 与 Alex Blumberg、Ben Calhoun、Sarah Koenig、Miki Meek、Jonathan Menjivar、Brian Reed、Alissa Shipp 和 Nancy Updike 共同制作。

Our senior producer is Julie Snyder.

我们的高级制片人是朱莉·斯奈德。

Production help from Alison Davis.

艾莉森·戴维斯提供制作帮助。

Seth Lind is our operations director.

塞思·林德 (Seth Lind) 是我们的运营总监。

Emily Condon's our production manager.

艾米丽·康登是我们的生产经理。

Elise Bergerson's our administrative assistant.

埃莉斯·伯格森是我们的行政助理。

Adrianne Mathiowetz runs our website.

阿德琳娜·马修韦茨 (Adrianne Mathiowetz) 负责运营我们的网站。

Research help today from Michelle Harris.

米歇尔·哈里斯今天提供研究帮助。

Music help from Damian Graef and Rob Geddis.

Damian Graef 和 Rob Geddis 提供音乐帮助。

Special thanks today to Willow Yamauchi, Craig Desson and the Factory Theater in Toronto.

今天特别感谢 Willow Yamauchi、Craig Desson 和多伦多工厂剧院。

Our website, ThisAmericanLife.Org.

我们的网站 ThisAmericanLife.Org。

This American Life is distributed by Public Radio International.

《美国生活》由国际公共广播电台发行。

Thanks as always to our show's co-founder Torey Malatia, who remembers meeting Hillary Clinton-- incredible--at some crazy beach party back in the '70s.

一如既往地感谢我们节目的联合创始人托里·马拉蒂亚 (Torey Malatia)，他记得在 70 年代的某个疯狂的海滩派对上遇见了希拉里·克林顿 (Hillary Clinton)，这真是太不可思议了。

There she appeared--

在那里，她出现了——

A completely naked woman.

一个全身赤裸的女人。

Blond hair, really muscly.

金发，真的很有肌肉。

Her shoulders looked like she was probably a rafting guide in Colorado.

她的肩膀看起来很可能是科罗拉多州的漂流向导。

I'm Ira Glass.

我是艾拉·格拉斯。

Stay warm.

保持温暖。

Wear a hat.

戴帽子。

And I'll be back next week with more stories of This American Life .

下周我会带着更多《美国生活》的故事回来。

[MUSIC - "DAY AT THE BEACH" BY ATLANTIC THRILLS]

[音乐 - ATLANTIC THRILLS 的《海滩的一天》]

Announcer PRI, Public Radio International.

国际公共广播电台 PRI 播音员。

This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange.

《This American Life》与 WBEZ Chicago 合作制作，并由 PRX 公共广播电台传送到各电台。

中文为机器翻译，仅供参考。