788: Half-Baked Stories About My Dead Mom - This American Life
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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 #788 | January 6, 2023 788: Half-Baked Stories About My Dead Mom 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 788 集 | 2023 年 1 月 6 日 788：关于我死去的妈妈的半生不熟的故事 注：《美国生活》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 When my friend Etgar was a kid growing up in Israel, his mom would tell him a story every night before he went to sleep.
序言 Ira Glass 当我的朋友 Etgar 小时候在以色列长大时，他妈妈每天晚上睡觉前都会给他讲一个故事。
But it was almost always a story that she would invent, right then on the spot.
但这几乎总是她当场编造的故事。
Never read him any children's books.
永远不要给他读任何儿童读物。
And for my mom, the idea of telling us stories from children's books was very much like kind of ordering a pizza instead of making us a dinner.
对于我妈妈来说，给我们讲儿童读物中的故事就像是点披萨而不是给我们做晚餐。
It would mean that she doesn't love us enough.
这说明她还不够爱我们。
So almost every night, it was a custom-made story, with flying camels, or a room that people would walk into and lose the power of speech, and all sorts of other made-up things.
所以几乎每天晚上，这都是一个定制的故事，有飞翔的骆驼，或者人们走进一个房间并失去言语的能力，以及其他各种虚构的东西。
But always, Etgar says, the details and the feelings in the stories echoed whatever was going on in Etgar's life that particular day.
但埃特加说，故事中的细节和情感总是与埃特加那天生活中发生的事情相呼应。
Etgar's mom did this for Etgar, because her parents had done it for her when she was a little girl in Poland during World War II.
埃特加的妈妈为埃特加做了这件事，因为当她还是个小女孩的时候，她的父母在二战期间在波兰为她做了这件事。
During wartime, the greatest gifts that she got from her parents were the stories that they told her.
战争期间，她从父母那里得到的最好的礼物就是他们给她讲的故事。
Because they couldn't give her food.
因为他们不能给她食物。
They couldn't give her clothes.
他们不能给她衣服。
They could only tell her stories, and they would put all the love and knowledge and imagination in it.
他们只能给她讲故事，他们会把所有的爱、知识和想象力都投入其中。
So those stories would be amazing.
所以那些故事会很精彩。
And she would tell me that when they would begin the story, she would be afraid that she would fall asleep in the middle.
她会告诉我，当他们开始讲故事时，她会担心自己会在中间睡着。
And then if you fall asleep in the middle, they would never finish the story.
如果你中途睡着了，他们就永远无法完成这个故事。
So basically, nobody will know how the story ends.
所以基本上，没有人会知道故事的结局。
So my mom kind of grew up about this idea that a story was kind of a hug or a kiss, or it was just something that you give or share with somebody that you love a lot.
所以我妈妈从小就接受这样的观念：故事就是一个拥抱或一个亲吻，或者只是你给予或与你深爱的人分享的东西。
After all that, Etgar grew up to be a short story writer.
经过这一切，埃特加成长为一名短篇小说作家。
He's Etgar Keret, has lots of books.
他是 Etgar Keret，有很多书。
There were times that his mother would not invent a story but tell him some story from her past, and he loved those too.
有时他的母亲不会编造故事，而是告诉他一些她过去的故事，他也喜欢这些故事。
As a kid, Etgar had a favorite that he would ask her to retell more than any other story.
小时候，埃特加有一个最喜欢的故事，他会要求她重述这个故事，而不是其他任何故事。
And this story takes place in the very beginning of the war, escaping the little town they lived in.
这个故事发生在战争初期，他们逃离了居住的小镇。
Escaping right before the Germans arrived, they're Jews.
在德国人到来之前就逃走了，他们是犹太人。
In the story, Etgar's mom is just five years old.
故事中，埃特加的妈妈只有五岁。
She remembered her mother holding her hand and carrying her baby brother.
她记得母亲握着她的手，抱着她的小弟弟。
And they're running as fast as they can.
他们正在尽可能快地奔跑。
You know, they're running and running and running.
你知道，他们一直在跑、跑、跑。
And all the people of the village or the town are running in front of them.
全村或全镇的人都跑在他们前面。
And everybody is much faster than my mother, who's a little child, and her mother, who's carrying a baby.
每个人都比我的母亲（她是个小孩子）和她的母亲（怀着婴儿）快得多。
So basically, if it's a race, they are definitely in the last place.
所以基本上，如果这是一场比赛，他们肯定是最后一名。
Right.
正确的。
Etgar Keret But my mom kind of sees up ahead of them something that looks like a big grandfather clock that seems to be moving.
Etgar Keret 但我妈妈在他们前面看到了一个看起来像大老爷钟的东西，似乎在移动。
Wait, wait.
等等，等等。
Somebody's carrying a grandfather clock with them as they're fleeing?
有人在逃跑时带着落地钟？
Apparently, there was somebody who was carrying it on their back.
显然，有人背着它。
But for my mom, from a distance, it just looked like a cartoon.
但对我妈妈来说，从远处看，它就像一部动画片。
Cartoon, because from where they were behind, what she sees is this clock, right, with two feet sticking out underneath it, trudging along, and then an arm poking out on either side.
卡通，因为从他们身后的地方，她看到的是这个时钟，右边，两只脚伸出在它下面，艰难地前行，然后一只手臂从两侧伸出。
And it kind of amuses her, because, you know, she's a little child.
这让她觉得很有趣，因为，你知道，她还是个小孩子。
And even when she told me about that many, many years after that, I knew that when she would tell this bit, she would always laugh, you know?
即使很多很多年后她告诉我这件事时，我知道当她告诉我这一点时，她总是会笑，你知道吗？
And it also amused her that she was in the middle-- like, out of town, running, and she could tell what the time was every second, which is something that is amazing, you know, when you are a five-year-old out in the country to have a clock that will tell you exactly what the time, you don't have to ask, ask your mom.
这也让她觉得很有趣，因为她在中间，就像在城外跑步，她每秒都能知道时间，这是一件令人惊奇的事情，你知道，当你是一个五岁的孩子在乡下有一个可以准确告诉你时间的时钟时，你不必问，问你的妈妈。
You don't have to ask anybody.
你不必问任何人。
So for her it's fun.
所以对她来说这很有趣。
They're fleeing, and she's not feeling danger.
他们正在逃跑，而她并没有感到危险。
She's just like, this is kind of fun.
她只是想，这很有趣。
Yeah, but when they got closer to the clock, she could start hearing the man gasping, the man who carried this clock on his back.
是的，但是当他们靠近时钟时，她开始听到那个背着时钟的男人喘息的声音。
Because apparently the clock was too heavy.
因为显然时钟太重了。
And she said that just as they were about to reach him, she saw the man collapse flat on his face with the clock on top of him.
她说，就在他们即将接近他时，她看到那个男人面朝下倒在地上，时钟压在他身上。
Oh, my god.
我的天啊。
Etgar Keret And my mother wanted to stop to check what's with this guy, but her mother said, we have to run.
Etgar Keret 我妈妈想停下来看看这个家伙怎么样了，但她妈妈说，我们必须跑。
We have to run.
我们必须跑。
We don't have time.
我们没有时间。
And they ran a little bit more, and then her mother said, listen.
他们又跑了一点，然后她妈妈说，听着。
There's no way we're going to escape the Germans.
我们不可能逃脱德国人的追捕。
Our only chance is if we go into a cabbage field-- there was a cabbage field on the side of the road-- and hide there until they pass.
我们唯一的机会是进入一片卷心菜地——路边有一片卷心菜地——然后躲在那里直到他们经过。
And they went into the cabbage field and lie down, but as soon as they lie down in the field, her baby brother begins crying.
他们走进白菜地躺下，但他们一躺下，她的小弟弟就开始哭了。
And my grandmother, my mom's mother, is afraid that because of the sound, the Germans will come.
我的祖母，我妈妈的母亲，害怕因为声音，德国人会来。
So she started breastfeeding him.
于是她开始给他母乳喂养。
And my mother said that this moment where her mother breastfeeds her kid brother, she said that the sky were kind of blue.
我妈妈说，当她妈妈给她弟弟喂奶的那一刻，她说天空有点蓝。
And she was in the field, and she was lying on her back.
而她就在田野里，仰面躺着。
Everything seemed very normal for a second.
有那么一瞬间，一切都显得很正常。
That's a moment in the story Etgar always loved, even as a little boy, where time kind of stops.
这是埃特加小时候就一直喜欢的故事中的一个时刻，时间在这里停止了。
And the war stops, and it's his mom, and her mom, and her brother just there.
战争停止了，他的妈妈、她的妈妈和她的兄弟就在那里。
And then she saw a shadow.
然后她看到了一个影子。
And when she raised her eyes, she saw a German soldier with a rifle in the hand, looking at her and at her mother, who was breastfeeding a baby.
当她抬起眼睛时，她看到一名德国士兵手里拿着步枪，看着她，也看着她正在给婴儿喂奶的母亲。
And there was something, I guess this kind of strange scene, that affected the soldier.
我想有一些奇怪的场景影响了这名士兵。
And the soldier basically looked at them, but pretended as if he was looking through them, as if he wasn't seeing them, even though he was very close.
士兵基本上看着他们，但假装好像他正在看他们，就好像他没有看到他们，尽管他离他们很近。
And then after a few seconds, he just kind of turned his back and left, as if he was escaping.
几秒钟后，他就转身离开了，就像是要逃跑一样。
And I guess from a perspective of five years old, she really, really felt that her family, in this battle, was able to win against the Nazis.
我想从五岁的角度来看，她真的真的觉得她的家人在这场战斗中能够战胜纳粹。
You know, her baby brother was cute enough.
要知道，她的弟弟可是够可爱的。
Her mother was motherly enough.
她的母亲足够慈母。
She was sisterly enough, and the skies were blue enough that the soldier suddenly remembered that he had a human side, too, and he couldn't take it.
她够姐妹情谊，天空也够蓝，让士兵突然想起自己也有人性的一面，他无法接受。
She would talk about the soldier as if he was running away.
她谈论那个士兵就好像他正在逃跑一样。
It wasn't as if he decided to leave.
看来他并没有决定离开。
Recently, after all these years-- his mom's been dead a little while now-- Etgar has tried to write about her.
最近，在这么多年之后——他的母亲已经去世有一段时间了——埃特加试图写一些关于她的事情。
And when he got to writing this story about the cabbage patch, for the first time, he says, he realized just how close they all came to dying.
他说，当他开始写这个关于卷心菜地的故事时，他第一次意识到他们都离死亡有多近。
It really had never hit him before.
他以前确实从未受到过这样的打击。
The way his mother always told the story, it was so from a kid's point of view that there was no sense of danger in it.
他母亲总是从孩子的角度讲故事，没有任何危险的感觉。
Even hiding in the field, it seemed like kind of a children's game, like hide and seek.
即使躲在田野里，也像是一种儿童游戏，就像捉迷藏一样。
Don't make any noise.
不要发出任何声音。
When the soldier appears, he's just some man standing there.
当士兵出现时，他只是站在那里的一个人。
So it makes the stories tricky to figure out how to tell.
因此，如何讲述这些故事变得很棘手。
You kind of have to choose between describing the reality of the war-- the menacing reality-- and his mother's reality, when she often doesn't understand or notice any of that.
你必须在描述战争的现实——险恶的现实——和他母亲的现实之间做出选择，而她常常不理解或注意到这些。
Etgar, I should say, writes a lot about his family.
我应该说，埃特加写了很多关于他的家庭的文章。
He did a whole book about his dad.
他写了一本关于他父亲的书。
But he says he's always found it impossible to write about his mom, for a bunch of reasons, actually.
但他说，实际上，出于多种原因，他总是发现不可能写下他的母亲。
Including one big one that has nothing to do with the war at all, but with who she was.
其中包括一件与战争完全无关的大事，但与她是谁有关。
The thing about my mother is that it's like-- like, God has many names, right?
我母亲的特点是，上帝有很多名字，对吧？
He's a vengeful God and a merciful God.
他是一位复仇的神，也是一位仁慈的神。
Then I think that my mom had this kind of thing, that if life is a Hollywood movie, she is Maria in West Side Story.
然后我觉得我妈妈有这样的东西，如果生活是一部好莱坞电影，她就是《西区故事》中的玛丽亚。
But she's also a Thanos in the Avengers Marvel universe.
但她也是漫威复仇者联盟中的灭霸。
You know, she's--
你知道，她是——
And when you would meet her, it would be kind of, I don't know, super energy, super compassion, super aggression.
当你见到她时，我不知道，这会是一种超级能量、超级同情心、超级攻击性。
She had these kind of things.
她有这些东西。
If she wanted to say something, she really didn't care what anyone would say.
如果她想说点什么，她真的不在乎别人会说什么。
But, for example, when she wanted to listen to Wagner in the times when in Israel you were not supposed to listen to Wagner, who was known as an anti-Semite and who was loved by Nazis, then my mother said, it's my home and that's the music that I like.
但是，举例来说，当她想听瓦格纳的音乐时，在以色列，你不应该听瓦格纳的音乐，瓦格纳被称为反犹太主义者，深受纳粹分子的喜爱，然后我母亲说，这是我的家，这就是我喜欢的音乐。
And I don't care if Nazis like them.
我不在乎纳粹是否喜欢它们。
They liked apples, too, and I still eat apples.
他们也喜欢苹果，我也仍然吃苹果。
And she didn't care.
但她不在乎。
She just did her own thing.
她只是做了她自己的事。
She was capable of very extreme action.
她能够采取非常极端的行动。
And it was hard not to want to leave out some of the most aggressive parts of her.
很难不想忽略她身上一些最具攻击性的部分。
And it was hard for him to get her across in the way he saw her.
他很难用他看待她的方式来理解她。
And it felt very strange that, you know, he had these books, and he had this whole life as a writer, but he couldn't figure out how to write about his own mom.
这感觉很奇怪，你知道，他有这些书，他作为作家度过了一生，但他不知道如何写自己的母亲。
And then he started drafting these little fragments, short stories that were just like three or four paragraphs long-- tiny stories.
然后他开始起草这些小片段，短篇小说，就像三四段一样长——小故事。
And he wrote dozens of them for this museum in Berlin that wanted to collaborate with him.
他为柏林的这家想要与他合作的博物馆写了几十篇文章。
Most of the stories didn't amount to much.
大多数故事并没有多大意义。
They'd start and stop and go nowhere.
他们会走走停停，却无处可去。
And crumpled up copies of these incomplete, discarded stories ended up as part of the exhibit that they made.
这些不完整、被丢弃的故事的皱巴巴的副本最终成为他们制作的展览的一部分。
But the stories that worked, I read them a few months ago.
但那些有效的故事是我几个月前读过的。
And they just killed me, some of them-- sharp little shards of stories that together captures something complicated about his mom.
他们刚刚杀了我，其中一些——尖锐的小故事碎片，共同捕捉到了他母亲的一些复杂的事情。
And Etgar and I decided to try to adapt them here for the radio.
埃特加和我决定尝试将它们改编成广播。
So we've done it, and today on our show-- it's "This American Life," by the way, from WBEZ Chicago.
所以我们已经做到了，今天在我们的节目中——顺便说一下，这是来自芝加哥 WBEZ 的“This American Life”。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
What you're going to hear is this unusual kind of portrait of his mom, told in these quick little stories that Etgar is going to read.
你将听到的是他母亲的这种不同寻常的肖像，在埃特加将读到的这些简短的小故事中讲述。
It's eight stories in all, plus occasional bits of conversation between him and me.
总共有八个故事，再加上我和他之间偶尔的对话。
His mom-- Orna Keret was her name-- made it to Israel after World War II when she was 14.
他的母亲（她的名字是 Orna Keret）在二战后来到了以色列，当时她 14 岁。
That's where she lived her life and raised her kids.
那是她生活并抚养孩子的地方。
In the stories, Etgar has changed the name of one little boy who gets beaten up by another boy, because he didn't want to embarrass the guy today.
在故事中，埃特加给一个被另一个男孩殴打的小男孩改了名字，因为他今天不想让那个男孩难堪。
Etgar's wife, Shira, and his son, Lev, show up in a story.
埃特加的妻子希拉和他的儿子列夫出现在一个故事中。
And we'll start with this.
我们将从这个开始。
Story number one, "Bedtime Story." The very first time my mother told me about her father, I was in kindergarten.
第一个故事，“睡前故事”。我妈妈第一次告诉我她爸爸的事是在我上幼儿园的时候。
I remember lying under the covers in my pajamas, while Mom sat on the edge of my bed and relayed the story with pride.
我记得穿着睡衣躺在被子里，妈妈坐在我的床边，自豪地讲述这个故事。
Soon after the Germans occupied Poland, she told me, one of my mother's non-Jewish neighbors began collaborating with the Nazis.
她告诉我，德国人占领波兰后不久，我母亲的一位非犹太邻居开始与纳粹合作。
He was a short man with black hair and a large nose.
他是个矮个子，黑头发，大鼻子。
As my mother said, he looked like a caricature of a Jew.
正如我母亲所说，他看起来就像一个犹太人的漫画。
And he took advantage of this to pose as one, which allowed him to uncover the hiding places used by his Jewish neighbors and turn them in.
他利用这一点冒充犹太邻居，这使他能够发现犹太邻居的藏身之处并将他们告发。
After the Germans forced all the Jews to move to the Warsaw ghetto, Mom and their family no longer saw this neighbor, although they continued to hear horrific stories about his informing on people.
德国人强迫所有犹太人搬到华沙隔都后，妈妈和他们的家人就再也见不到这个邻居了，尽管他们继续听到有关他告密的可怕故事。
One morning, my mother and her father walked out of the ghetto with a simple plan.
一天早上，我的母亲和她的父亲带着一个简单的计划走出了贫民窟。
They would buy a loaf of bread on the black market, sell individual slices in the ghetto to cover the costs, and keep a couple of pieces for the family.
他们会在黑市上购买一条面包，在贫民窟出售单独的面包片以支付费用，并为家人保留几块。
They snuck out and walked down the streets of Warsaw without wearing the yellow stars that all Jews had to wear.
他们偷偷溜出来，走在华沙的街道上，没有佩戴所有犹太人都必须佩戴的黄色星星。
This was extremely dangerous, but since her father was blond with blue eyes, and she was fair haired, too, they hoped they wouldn't raise any suspicion.
这是极其危险的，但由于她的父亲是金发碧眼，而她也是金发，他们希望不要引起任何怀疑。
Unfortunately, in the crowded town square, they ran into their old neighbor, the informant, who didn't think twice before grabbing my grandfather by the shirt collar and yelling, "Jews!
不幸的是，在拥挤的城镇广场上，他们遇到了老邻居，线人，他想都没想就抓住我祖父的衬衫领子，大喊：“犹太人！
Jews!" My grandfather tried to break free, but he realized that even if he could, they would instantly be surrounded by passersby, who would never let them escape.
犹太人！”祖父试图挣脱，但他意识到即使他能挣脱，他们也会立刻被路人包围，路人永远不会让他们逃脱。
He looked at my mother and gave her a wink meant to reassure her, or at least to make sure she knew that, even in this terrifying moment, he was thinking only of her.
他看着我母亲，给她眨了眨眼，想让她放心，或者至少确保她知道，即使在这个可怕的时刻，他也只想着她。
Then he grabbed the neighbor by his collar and shouted, "Jew!
然后他抓住邻居的衣领，喊道：“犹太人！
Jew!
犹太人！
I caught a Jew."
我抓到了一个犹太人。”
The crowd looked on in confusion at the two men, my tall, fair-haired grandfather and the short, black-haired neighbor, who looked, according to my mother's description, a bit like me, clutching each other's clothes and screeching, "Jew!" Within seconds, a few people fell on the neighbor, pinned him to the ground, and kicked him in the head and body until he was dead.
人群困惑地看着这两个人，我的高个子、金发的祖父和那个矮小的、黑发的邻居，根据我母亲的描述，他们看起来有点像我，互相抓着对方的衣服，尖叫着：“犹太人！”几秒钟之内，几个人倒在邻居身上，将他按在地上，并踢他的头部和身体，直到他死亡。
And that was your grandfather, declared mom with a smile, and stood up.
那是你的祖父，妈妈微笑着宣布，然后站了起来。
Before leaving my room, she leaned over, kissed my forehead, and said, sweet dreams.
离开我的房间之前，她俯下身来，亲吻我的额头，说，好梦。
Story number two-- "Razor." When I was a child, my mother hugged me all the time.
第二个故事——“剃刀”。当我还是个孩子的时候，妈妈总是拥抱我。
All mothers hug their kids a lot, I know.
我知道，所有的母亲都会经常拥抱自己的孩子。
But my mother hugged me more than a lot.
但我妈妈拥抱了我很多次。
I liked it.
我喜欢它。
But over time, I began to notice that when she touched me, it was always with the back of her hand, never the palm.
但随着时间的推移，我开始注意到，当她碰我时，总是用她的手背，而不是手掌。
One evening at bedtime, my mom finished telling me a story, and then stroked my face with the back of her hand.
一天晚上睡觉前，妈妈给我讲完一个故事，然后用手背抚摸我的脸。
"Mom," I asked her, "how come all the other moms touch like this?" I demonstrated a caress with the palm of my hand.
“妈妈，”我问她，“为什么其他妈妈都这样抚摸？”我用手掌做了一个爱抚的动作。
"And you're the only one who touches like this." I demonstrated again with the back of my hand.
“而你是唯一一个这样触摸的人。”我又用手背示范了一遍。
My mother smiled and kissed me on the forehead.
妈妈微笑着在我的额头上吻了一下。
"When I was little," she said, "I didn't have a home like you do, only an orphanage.
“当我小的时候，”她说，“我没有像你一样的家，只有一个孤儿院。
And the people there, some of them, didn't always want to be good to me.
那里的人，其中一些人，并不总是想对我好。
So to be on the safe side, I stuck a piece of gum to the palm of my hand, and I lodged a razor blade in the gum."
所以为了安全起见，我把一块口香糖粘在手掌上，然后把剃须刀刀片插进口香糖里。”
She showed me how she stuck the gum to her hand, and then inserted an imaginary blade into that invisible gum.
她向我展示了她如何将口香糖粘在手上，然后将假想的刀片插入看不见的口香糖中。
When she finished, she held the back of her hand to my face and caressed me gently.
说完，她把手背贴在我脸上，轻轻地抚摸着我。
"This," she whispered, "is how I touch the people I liked.
“这，”她低声说，“这就是我接触我喜欢的人的方式。
And this--" she let the palm of her hand hover millimeters from my face without touching it-- "is how I touched the ones I didn't like so much."
而这个——”她让手掌悬停在离我脸几毫米的地方，但没有碰触——“这就是我触摸那些我不太喜欢的人的方式。”
The palm of mom's hand was so close to my face that I could feel its warmth.
妈妈的手掌离我的脸很近，我能感觉到它的温暖。
The blade didn't touch me, but I knew it was there.
刀片没有碰到我，但我知道它就在那里。
Palm of the hand, back of the hand-- until that evening, I never knew they were so different.
手掌，手背——直到那天晚上，我才知道它们有如此不同。
You've told me that one of the things you want to be careful about is you don't want to overemphasize your mom's experience in the war.
你告诉我，你要小心的一件事是你不想过分强调你妈妈在战争中的经历。
Explain that.
解释一下。
Explain why.
解释一下为什么。
Well, you know, I think that there was something about my parents that they felt at the moment that they were seen as Holocaust survivors.
嗯，你知道，我认为我的父母在被视为大屠杀幸存者的那一刻就有了某种感觉。
They were kind of losing something at this moment.
这一刻，他们似乎失去了一些东西。
They became less of an individual and more of, I don't know, a symbol.
我不知道，他们不再是一个个体，而更像是一个象征。
My parents really, really disliked that.
我的父母真的非常不喜欢这样。
I felt for my mom that the moment that she was seen as a Holocaust survivor, it would be a little bit like a wild horse, that it was as if the Nazis had branded her.
我觉得我妈妈一旦被视为大屠杀幸存者，就有点像一匹脱缰的野马，就好像纳粹给她打上了烙印。
She can't take this thing off her, you know?
她不能把这东西从她身上拿走，你知道吗？
But the moment that she could be this funny, redheaded woman who reads a lot, and loves to dance, and who had happened to be in the Holocaust, this was her victory.
但当她成为这个有趣的红发女人，她读书很多，喜欢跳舞，而且碰巧参加了大屠杀，这就是她的胜利。
OK.
好的。
So with that in mind, maybe we should still summarize very quickly what happened during the war, just to give listeners a general sense.
因此，考虑到这一点，也许我们仍然应该很快总结一下战争期间发生的事情，只是为了让听众有一个大概的了解。
I know her family died.
我知道她的家人都死了。
Did she end up in a concentration camp?
她最后进了集中营吗？
No. My mom was with her parents in the Warsaw ghetto.
不，我妈妈和她的父母一起住在华沙贫民窟。
And later, they were transferred to another ghetto.
后来，他们被转移到另一个贫民窟。
Coming to the end of the war, she was totally on her own, and kind of running from one hiding place to another, trying to get food from where she could.
战争即将结束时，她完全依靠自己，从一个藏身之处跑到另一个藏身之处，试图从她能找到的地方获取食物。
In hiding?
躲起来了？
Etgar Keret No. My mother was never in hiding.
Etgar Keret 不，我母亲从来没有躲藏过。
It's like the way that she survived was more kind of mingling with the Polish, pretending to be a non-Jew.
就像她幸存下来的方式更像是与波兰人混在一起，假装自己是非犹太人。
And my mom told me that during the war, it was much easier for children to move around and to smuggle things than grownups, because usually they wouldn't ask them for ID.
我妈妈告诉我，在战争期间，孩子们比大人更容易走动和走私东西，因为通常他们不会要求他们出示身份证。
And it would be more difficult to differentiate them, especially my mom, that they didn't look very Jewish.
区分他们会更困难，尤其是我妈妈，因为他们看起来不太像犹太人。
And she was not only fluent with Polish as a first language, and not with Yiddish like many other Jews.
她不仅能流利地讲波兰语作为第一语言，而且不像许多其他犹太人那样能讲意第绪语。
But she spoke fluent German.
但她能说一口流利的德语。
When the war started, the first thing her father did was to teach her German.
战争开始后，她父亲做的第一件事就是教她德语。
And he said to her that the moment you can communicate with people, it makes it more difficult for them to dehumanize you.
他对她说，当你能够与人交流的那一刻，他们就更难让你失去人性了。
He felt that this would be something that could save her life.
他觉得，这或许能救她一命。
Yeah, you told me a story about her on a bridge.
是的，你给我讲过她在桥上的故事。
Tell that story.
讲那个故事。
There is more than one, but I'll tell the one that I like, and if you don't like it, I'll tell another one, OK?
不止一个，但是我会告诉我喜欢的一个，如果你不喜欢，我会告诉另一个，好吗？
OK.
好的。
Etgar Keret So one day when she left the ghetto on some smuggling mission, she took her little backpack.
因此，有一天，当她离开贫民窟执行一项走私任务时，她带着她的小背包。
You know, she would usually get bread and then put it in the backpack.
要知道，她一般都会去拿面包，然后放进背包里。
And as she was walking in the streets of Warsaw, a German soldier grabbed her empty backpack.
当她走在华沙的街道上时，一名德国士兵抓住了她的空背包。
And when she came to take it from him, he just kind of threw it to another soldier.
当她过来从他手中接过它时，他只是把它扔给了另一个士兵。
And they started kind of taunting her, not giving her the bag back.
他们开始嘲笑她，不把包还给她。
And basically, my mom was about nine years old.
基本上，我妈妈大约九岁。
Outside of the ghetto, if somebody would catch her, she would be shot on sight as a Jew escaping the ghetto.
在贫民窟之外，如果有人抓住她，她就会像逃离贫民窟的犹太人一样被枪杀。
And as they were throwing the backpack from one to another, she saw an SS officer.
当他们把背包从一个扔到另一个时，她看到了一名党卫军军官。
So she ran to the officer and spoke to him politely in German.
于是她跑向警官，用德语礼貌地与他交谈。
She said, "Excuse me, Mr. Officer, but can you help me?
她说：“对不起，警官先生，你能帮我吗？
There are two soldiers here who are disrespect me.
这里有两个士兵不尊重我。
And they are not acting the way a soldier should act." And she brought the SS officer with them, and he shouted both those soldiers.
他们的行为不符合士兵应有的行为方式。”她带着党卫军军官一起来，他对那两个士兵大喊大叫。
And they gave her the backpack.
他们把背包给了她。
That's story's just amazing, that she had the presence of mind that young.
这个故事真是太神奇了，她那么年轻就有冷静的头脑。
Yeah, I think the way that she says it, it's kind of like my late grandfather.
是的，我认为她说话的方式有点像我已故的祖父。
He trained her.
他训练了她。
And she would quote all kinds of things that my grandfather would teach her when she was in the ghetto.
她会引用我祖父在贫民窟时教给她的各种东西。
So one of the things that she said, people can't look inside you.
所以她说的其中一件事是，人们无法看到你的内心。
So they can never know how hungry you are.
所以他们永远不知道你有多饿。
But if you're dirty, they'll see it in a second.
但如果你很脏，他们很快就会看到。
So, for example, she told me that part of her surviving outside of the ghetto was this idea that she made a point of being extremely clean, even when there were no means of being clean.
例如，她告诉我，她在贫民窟之外生存的部分原因是她强调要保持极其干净，即使没有办法保持干净。
And all her life, my mother looked like somebody on a Vogue magazine cover, always with makeup and everything in place.
在我母亲的一生中，她看起来就像《Vogue》杂志封面上的人物，总是化妆，一切都就位。
It's this idea that you can carry yourself and show your confidence.
正是有了这个想法，你才能展现自己并展现出你的自信。
And if you do that, then the chances that the world will trample you becomes lower.
如果你这样做了，那么被世界践踏的机会就会降低。
Story number three-- "Fabric." Before I was born, my mother worked in advertising.
第三个故事——“织物”。在我出生之前，我的母亲从事广告工作。
She invented slogans, produced commercials, and bargained with newspapers over the ad prices.
她发明口号，制作广告，并与报纸就广告价格讨价还价。
She really loved it, but it was a demanding job, and she wanted to devote as much time as possible to her kids.
她真的很喜欢这份工作，但这是一份要求很高的工作，她想把尽可能多的时间花在孩子身上。
So when I was a baby, she quit and opened a fabric store.
所以当我还是个婴儿的时候，她就辞职了，开了一家布料店。
It was called Fabric Basement, and it was in a basement with no windows.
它被称为“Fabric Basement”，位于一个没有窗户的地下室里。
She chose it because of the location, across the street and a few doors down from our apartment.
她选择它是因为它的位置，就在街对面，离我们的公寓只有几扇门。
It was damp, and dark, and a little musty, but everything inside the store was decorated in good taste.
里面又潮又暗，还有点霉味，不过店里的一切都装修得很有品味。
Mom used to take me with her to work every day and put me on the counter in a bassinet.
妈妈每天都带着我去上班，把我放在柜台上的摇篮里。
I grew up listening to her stern pronouncements on questions of cleavage and rivets, and closely watching the eager women who entered the dimly-lit basement to search for the perfect fabric and cut for the dress of their dreams.
我从小就听着她对乳沟和铆钉问题的严厉声明，并密切关注着那些热切地进入灯光昏暗的地下室寻找完美面料和剪裁的梦想服装的女性。
When I think about it now, I see my mother hoisting heavy rolls of fabric around in that narrow, dank space.
现在回想起来，我看到母亲在那个狭窄、潮湿的空间里吊起沉重的布料卷。
I know it was hard work and didn't pay much.
我知道这很辛苦，而且报酬并不多。
But when I was little, the Fabric Basement seemed to me like a sort of secret kingdom, where my mother reigned supreme.
但当我小的时候，织物地下室对我来说就像一个秘密王国，我母亲在那里拥有至高无上的统治权。
Her subjects came to her with their hopes and dreams, and she, the Queen Mother, proclaimed which options made them look thinner and which fatter, what was flattering, and what looked cheap.
她的臣民带着他们的希望和梦想来到她身边，而她，太后，宣布哪些选择让他们看起来更瘦，哪些更胖，什么是讨人喜欢的，什么是看起来廉价的。
She spoke with no hesitation or excessive politeness, just as a queen should.
她说话时毫不犹豫，也没有过度的礼貌，就像女王该有的样子。
And the women kept coming to her little side street in Ramat Gan from all over the country so that my mother could flip through the stacks of Burda Magazines that were piled neatly on the counter and select the patterns that would accentuate their advantages and conceal everything else.
妇女们不断地从全国各地来到她位于拉马特甘的小巷，这样我母亲就可以翻阅柜台上整齐堆放的布尔达杂志，选择能够突出自己优势并掩盖其他一切的图案。
Not everyone can be beautiful, Mom told me once.
妈妈曾经告诉我，不是每个人都能美丽。
But if you make an effort, and you don't give up, you can always be less ugly.
但如果你努力并且不放弃，你总是可以变得不那么难看。
Story number four-- "Rain Day." It happened 11 years ago.
第四个故事——“雨天”。事情发生在11年前。
My wife Shira, my son Lev, and I got up at 7:00 AM.
我的妻子 Shira、儿子 Lev 和我早上 7:00 起床。
Shira was making a tuna fish sandwich for Lev, who had just started first grade.
希拉正在为刚上一年级的列夫做金枪鱼三明治。
Lev and I stood by the window looking out at the rain.
我和列夫站在窗边看着外面的雨。
And I explained, in a fatherly tone, he would have to stay home and play with me and mom today instead of going to school, because it was raining.
我用父亲般的语气解释说，今天他必须呆在家里和我和妈妈一起玩，而不是去学校，因为正在下雨。
Lev received this news joyfully.
列夫收到这个消息欣喜不已。
Shira, not so much.
希拉，没那么多。
"What do you mean he's not going to school?" she asked sharply.
“你说他不去上学是什么意思？”她尖锐地问道。
"It's raining," I replied, pointing outside.
“下雨了。”我指着外面回答道。
"So?" Shira wanted to know.
“所以？”希拉想知道。
"So when it rains, you don't go to school," I explained.
“所以下雨的时候，你就不能去上学，”我解释道。
All she could do was repeat my words.
她所能做的就是重复我的话。
"When it rains, you don't go to school?" I nodded.
“下雨天你就不去上学吗？”我点点头。
"OK," she said.
“好吧，”她说。
"And who made that rule?"
“那这条规则是谁制定的呢？”
We had very few rules when I was growing up.
在我成长的过程中，我们几乎没有什么规则。
We had to be polite to our parents.
我们必须对父母有礼貌。
We had to give a coin to every homeless person we saw in the street.
我们必须给街上看到的每个无家可归的人一枚硬币。
If someone elderly got on the bus, we had to offer them our seat, and we couldn't go to school on rainy days.
如果有老人上车，我们就得给他们让座，下雨天我们就不能去学校了。
The reason, according to my mother, was that, with all due respect for school, they didn't teach anything important enough to be worth getting wet for.
据我母亲说，原因是，尽管对学校充满了应有的尊重，但他们没有教授任何重要到值得淋湿的东西。
My mother lost her parents at a very young age, which is why, as she explained to my siblings and me, she never learned how to be a mother.
我的母亲在很小的时候就失去了父母，这就是为什么，正如她向我和我的兄弟姐妹解释的那样，她从未学会如何成为一名母亲。
"Girls learn how to be mothers from their own mothers," she said.
“女孩从自己的母亲那里学习如何成为母亲，”她说。
"Every girl watches her mother to see how she raises children.
“每个女孩都会观察她的母亲，看看她如何抚养孩子。
But I didn't have a mother for long enough to learn everything, which is why I have to improvise now.
但我没有母亲足够长的时间来学习一切，这就是为什么我现在必须即兴发挥。
So if you see me doing something you don't think is that great, you should always tell me."
所以，如果你看到我做一些你认为不太好的事情，你应该告诉我。”
I was very pleased to hear my mother say that, and on the few occasions when she imposed a rule or a demand that I found unfair, I always told her, and she really did listen.
我很高兴听到妈妈这么说，有几次当她强加了我认为不公平的规则或要求时，我总是告诉她，而她确实听了。
But as for staying home from school when it rained, I was completely on board with that.
但至于下雨时呆在家里不上学，我完全同意。
Sadly, Shira's childhood wasn't as magical as mine, and Lev had to pay for that.
可悲的是，希拉的童年并不像我的那么神奇，列夫必须为此付出代价。
The poor kid grabbed an umbrella and went to school.
这个可怜的孩子抓起雨伞去上学了。
So I was just wondering.
所以我只是想知道。
This next story, if it's not-- it doesn't feel kind of a bit strange that you get, like, those short pieces, and then suddenly a very long one, and there is no something before it?
下一个故事，如果不是的话，你会不会觉得有点奇怪，比如，那些短篇，然后突然很长一篇，而且前面没有任何东西？
I don't know, like us talking or music or I don't know.
我不知道，就像我们说话或音乐一样，我也不知道。
Well, this could be the thing that goes before it, this thing that you're saying right now.
嗯，这可能是之前的事情，也就是你现在所说的事情。
Nah, I don't know.
不，我不知道。
You're the radio guy, if you think it will work.
如果你认为这可行的话，你就是广播员。
I do.
我愿意。
So here is that story.
这就是这个故事。
Etgar Keret Story number five-- "You Never Forget a Smell." At my elementary school, there were always fights, and that was just fine with me.
Etgar Keret 故事之五——“你永远不会忘记气味”。在我的小学里，总是有打架的事，但这对我来说没什么问题。
It was routine.
这是例行公事。
The fights always followed the same pattern-- first cursing, then pushing, then choking and kicking until one of the kids yelled uncle.
打架总是遵循同样的模式——先是咒骂，然后推搡，然后又掐又踢，直到其中一个孩子喊叔叔。
And then it was over.
然后就结束了。
Everyone would head to the corner store for a chocolate milk or a Popsicle like nothing had happened.
每个人都会去街角的商店买巧克力牛奶或冰棒，就像什么都没发生一样。
In other words, no one in school was ever afraid of a little fist fighting.
换句话说，学校里没有人害怕打架。
But everyone, even the strongest, meanest kids, was afraid to get in a fight with Tamir.
但每个人，甚至是最强壮、最卑鄙的孩子，都害怕与塔米尔打架。
Tamir was a year ahead of me.
塔米尔比我早一年。
He wasn't big, and he wasn't very muscular either.
他个子并不高大，肌肉也不是很发达。
But whenever he got into a fight with someone in the schoolyard, all the kids who gathered to watch were overcome by a terrible sense of despair, because they knew a fight with Tamir never ended with chocolate milk and a Popsicle at the corner store.
但每当他在校园里与某人打架时，所有聚集在一起观看的孩子都会感到一种可怕的绝望感，因为他们知道与塔米尔的打架永远不会因为街角商店的巧克力牛奶和冰棒而结束。
Best case scenario, Tamir won, and someone ended up in the emergency room.
最好的情况是，塔米尔赢了，有人最终被送进了急诊室。
Worst case, he lost, and the fight went on forever.
最坏的情况是，他输了，战斗将永远持续下去。
Not a single kid at school ever saw him surrender.
学校里没有一个孩子见过他投降。
Kids much taller than him, who were already shaving, could pin him to the ground for hours, hurt him, humiliate him, feed him sand, but Tamir would still be cursing and making threats.
比他高得多的孩子已经在刮胡子了，可以把他按在地上几个小时，伤害他，羞辱他，给他喂沙子，但塔米尔仍然会咒骂和威胁。
As the fight wore on, we all knew that no matter how plainly and painfully the other kid was winning, the second he let go, Tamir would be up in a shot and chasing him down with a rock, a metal rod, or whatever weapon he could find.
随着战斗的进行，我们都知道，无论另一个孩子赢得多么明显和痛苦，一旦他放手，塔米尔就会猛然站起来，用石头、金属棒或他能找到的任何武器追击他。
If a teacher or another grownup tried to intervene, they'd get clobbered, too.
如果老师或其他成年人试图干预，他们也会遭到打击。
Bottom line, if anyone had asked me when I was 10 years old what I was most afraid of in the world, I definitely would have said Tamir.
最重要的是，如果有人在我 10 岁时问我世界上最害怕的是什么，我肯定会说塔米尔。
Every Wednesday after school, I would meet my mother at the grocery store and help her carry the bags home.
每个星期三放学后，我都会去杂货店见妈妈，帮她把包搬回家。
She would wait outside the store dressed like a queen, in a dress or trendy suit.
她会打扮得像女王一样，穿着裙子或时髦的西装，在店外等候。
She always wore lipstick that matched the color of her dress or scarf, and a fashionable hat perched on her head like a crown.
她总是涂着与衣服或围巾颜色相配的口红，头上戴着一顶时髦的帽子，就像一顶王冠。
As I walked along a busy dirty Bialik Street beside her, loaded with grocery bags, I thought she looked like a stubborn Cinderella, one who insisted on remaining a princess, even after the clock struck midnight and everything turned back into a pumpkin.
当我在她旁边走在繁忙肮脏的拜力克街时，我觉得她看起来就像一个顽固的灰姑娘，即使在午夜钟声敲响、一切都变回了南瓜之后，她仍然坚持做一个公主。
Our apartment building was at the top of a hill, and I always got sweaty and out of breath on the way up with all the groceries.
我们的公寓楼位于山顶，我带着所有杂货上山的路上总是满头大汗、气喘吁吁。
Sometimes I asked for a rest stop, which mom would use to smoke a cigarette.
有时我会要求休息站，妈妈会在那里抽烟。
One day, on a break, we heard a strange howl.
有一天，休息时，我们听到一声奇怪的嚎叫。
It sounded like a cat's yelp mixed with a human sob.
听起来像是猫的叫声与人类的抽泣声混合在一起。
The second my mother heard this peculiar sound, she tossed her cigarette on the sidewalk, and started quickly marching uphill in the direction the noise was coming from.
我母亲一听到这种奇怪的声音，就把香烟扔在人行道上，然后开始朝声音传来的方向快步上山。
I picked up all the bags of groceries and tried to keep up with her.
我拿起所有的杂货袋，试图跟上她。
Before I'd even reached our building, I could see Tamir standing on the sidewalk, waving a stick over his head.
在我到达我们的大楼之前，我就看到塔米尔站在人行道上，在头上挥舞着一根棍子。
At his feet lay Yaki, a boy from my class who lived across the street from us.
他脚下躺着亚基，他是我们班的一个男孩，住在我们街对面。
And when Tamir thumped him on the back with the stick, Yaki whimpered.
当塔米尔用棍子敲打他的背时，亚基呜咽起来。
He barely moved.
他几乎没有动。
I was completely paralyzed, but not my mother.
我完全瘫痪了，但我妈妈却没有。
She marched over quickly on her stilettos.
她踩着高跟鞋快步走了过来。
Tamir ignored her and landed another blow on Yaki's back.
塔米尔不理睬她，又对雅基的后背打了一拳。
My mother grabbed Tamir's the arm with one hand and his hair with the other.
我母亲一只手抓住塔米尔的手臂，另一只手抓住他的头发。
Tamir tried to wriggle out of her grip, swearing and blustering.
塔米尔试图挣脱她的控制，咒骂着，咆哮着。
"Let me go," he screamed.
“放开我，”他尖叫道。
"Let me go right now.
“现在就让我走吧。
I'll fuck you up, you bitch."
我要操死你，你这个混蛋。”
Terrified, I looked at my mother.
我惊恐地看着妈妈。
She didn't seem to understand who she was dealing with.
她似乎不明白自己在和谁打交道。
I'd seen Tamir stab a teacher with a compass and throw a brick at the principal, and I knew exactly how this would end.
我亲眼看到塔米尔用指南针刺伤了一位老师，并向校长扔了一块砖头，我很清楚这会如何结束。
My mother would eventually have to let go, and then all hell would break loose.
我母亲最终不得不放手，然后一切都会崩溃。
I wanted to say something, to warn her.
我想说点什么，警告她。
But I didn't know exactly what to tell her.
但我不知道该告诉她什么。
The only good advice I could give her about Tamir was not to mess with him.
关于塔米尔，我能给她的唯一好建议就是不要惹他。
But it was too late for that.
但为时已晚。
Mom twisted Tamir's arm behind his back, which made him drop the stick.
妈妈把塔米尔的手臂扭到背后，导致他丢下了棍子。
Yaki was still on the ground.
亚基还躺在地上。
"Just wait, you bitch," Tamir hissed.
“等等，你这个混蛋，”塔米尔嘶嘶地说。
"I'll tear you a new one."
“我给你撕一张新的。”
My mother looked at him coldly, and signaled for me to come closer.
妈妈冷冷地看着他，示意我靠近点。
I moved towards him, dragging the grocery bags, and stopped the few steps away.
我拖着购物袋走向他，在几步之外停了下来。
That seemed close enough.
这看起来已经足够接近了。
But Mom beckoned me to come closer.
但妈妈示意我靠近点。
"It's all right," she said in a reassuring voice.
“没关系，”她用令人放心的声音说道。
"Don't be afraid.
“别害怕。
He won't bite." I took a few more steps, until I was standing within spitting distance of Tamir's sweaty face.
他不会咬人的。”我又走了几步，直到站在塔米尔满是汗水的脸上。
"Leave me alone," he screeched.
“别管我，”他尖叫道。
"Let me go or I'll whack you." "Shh," Mom said, still using a soothing voice.
“放开我，不然我就打你。” “嘘，”妈妈说道，声音仍然是安抚的。
"In a minute, as soon as you listen to what I have to say."
“一会儿，等你听完我要说的话。”
Tamir stopped talking and turned to my mother with an expectant look.
塔米尔停止说话，满脸期待地转向我母亲。
"Do you see this boy?" my mother asked, and she held Tamir's face close to mine.
“你看到这个男孩了吗？”母亲问道，她把塔米尔的脸凑近我的脸。
"This is my son.
“这是我的儿子。
Now, take a deep sniff.
现在，深深地闻一闻。
Good.
很好。
You never forget a smell."
你永远不会忘记一种气味。”
Tamir's face was barely an inch away from mine.
塔米尔的脸离我的脸只有一英寸远。
I was so close that I could see the blood vessels in the whites of his eyes as he gave me a menacing look.
我离他很近，我能看到他眼白里的血管，他用一种威胁的眼神看着我。
"And this," Mom said, turning Tamir's head towards Yaki, who managed to sit up on his knees, "is his friend, Yaki.
“而这个，”妈妈一边说，一边把塔米尔的头转向亚基，亚基设法在膝盖上坐了起来，“是他的朋友，亚基。
As far as I'm concerned, this whole neighborhood is yours, except these two.
就我而言，除了这两个街区之外，整个街区都是你的。
You can hit, bite, stab, steal-- anything you like.
你可以打、咬、刺、偷——任何你喜欢的东西。
But if you so much as touch them--"
但如果你碰触它们——”
"If I touch them, then what?" Tamir said with a chilling smile.
“如果我碰它们，那又怎样？”塔米尔带着令人不寒而栗的笑容说道。
"You'll call the cops?
“你会报警吗？
I've had the cops called on me 10 times." "Oh, the police, God forbid," Mom said.
我已经被警察传唤过十次了。” “噢，警察，上帝保佑，”妈妈说。
"They have more important things to worry about." She dragged Tamir over to the big dumpster next to our building.
“他们有更重要的事情要担心。”她把塔米尔拖到我们大楼旁边的大垃圾箱里。
"If you touch my son or Yaki, I'll kill you, and then I'll throw your body into this trash can." She was pulling Tamir's hair now, making him look right into the dumpster.
“如果你碰我儿子或者Yaki，我就会杀了你，然后把你的尸体扔进这个垃圾桶。”她现在拉着塔米尔的头发，让他直视垃圾箱。
"And the next morning, a truck will come and remove your body with the trash, and bury it far, far away.
“第二天早上，一辆卡车会过来，把你的尸体和垃圾一起运走，然后埋到很远很远的地方。
And no one will even come looking for you or try to find out what happened, because no one will miss you."
甚至没有人会来找你或试图找出发生了什么事，因为没有人会想念你。”
As a child, you quickly learn to identify when your parents are making empty threats and when they mean what they say.
作为一个孩子，你很快就能学会辨别父母何时发出空洞的威胁以及他们何时言出必行。
Mom's tone-- detached, almost bored-- was her ordinary voice, the one I recognized from conversations with the ladies at her fabric shop, or people she ran into on the street.
妈妈的语气——超然，近乎无聊——是她平常的声音，是我在与她布料店里的女士们或她在街上遇到的人交谈时认出的。
And so within seconds, I stopped being scared that Tamir would break free and beat us up and started being scared that he'd die.
几秒钟之内，我不再害怕塔米尔会挣脱束缚并殴打我们，而是开始害怕他会死。
My mom put her face right up to Tamir's, and he looked at her, wide-eyed.
我妈妈把脸凑到塔米尔的面前，他睁大眼睛看着她。
"You might be a bully, Tamir, but you're not stupid.
“你可能是个恶霸，塔米尔，但你并不愚蠢。
Now, I want you to look at me very closely, and tell me whether I'm lying or if it's really going to happen."
现在，我希望你仔细地看着我，告诉我我是否在撒谎，或者这是否真的会发生。”
Tamir kept staring at my mother as if he were hypnotized.
塔米尔一直盯着我母亲，好像被催眠了一样。
And after a pause, he said, almost in a whisper, "I promise you, Mrs. Keret.
停顿了一下，他几乎是低声说道，“我向你保证，凯雷特夫人。
I'll never touch them." "Very good," said Mom, and let go of him.
我永远不会碰它们。” “很好，”妈妈说，然后放开了他。
"I knew you were a smart boy."
“我就知道你是个聪明的孩子。”
They stood facing each other for some time, a 12-year-old boy in a school uniform and a little woman in a red dress and high heels.
他们面对面站了一会儿，一个穿着校服的十二岁男孩和一个穿着红色连衣裙和高跟鞋的小女人。
Mom slowly lifted her hand and caressed Tamir's sweaty hair.
妈妈慢慢举起手，抚摸塔米尔汗湿的头发。
"Very good," she repeated softly.
“很好，”她轻声重复道。
"Now that we're clear on everything, you should go home.
“现在一切都清楚了，你也该回家了。
It will be dark soon, and it's getting cold."
天快黑了，天气也变冷了。”
I think all the stories that you've told so far, your mom is the hero.
我认为到目前为止你所讲的所有故事，你的妈妈都是英雄。
And I wonder, are there stories where you felt embarrassed for her, or she embarrassed you, or she isn't the hero in that way?
我想知道，是否有一些故事让你为她感到尴尬，或者她让你感到尴尬，或者她不是那样的英雄？
Well, first of all, I think that she was inherently the hero in fighting for things.
嗯，首先，我认为她天生就是为事物而奋斗的英雄。
But I can say that sometimes she would protect her loved ones a little bit too much.
但我可以说，有时候她会保护自己所爱的人有点过分了。
I remember that when my father was dying from cancer, he had a room all alone in the hospital.
我记得当我父亲因癌症去世时，他在医院里有一个单独的房间。
And my dad was a heavy smoker.
我父亲是个烟鬼。
He died from smoker's cancer.
他死于吸烟者癌症。
And he used to smoke in this room.
他过去常常在这个房间里抽烟。
And you're not allowed to smoke in the hospital.
而且医院里不准抽烟。
And I remember one time that a woman kind of entered the room, and she said, "Is somebody smoking here?
我记得有一次，一位女士走进了房间，她说：“这里有人抽烟吗？
Because I can smell smoke." And my mom said, "No. I can't smell anything." And the woman left the room and returned after five minutes.
因为我能闻到烟味。”我妈妈说：“不。我闻不到任何味道。”这名女子离开了房间，五分钟后又回来了。
And she said, "I'm sure that somebody is smoking here." And my mom said, "I don't know, I don't see anybody smoking.
她说：“我确信有人在这里抽烟。”我妈妈说：“我不知道，我没有看到有人抽烟。
How are you so sure?"
你怎么这么确定？”
And the woman left.
然后那个女人就离开了。
And then she returned a third time, and she said, "Don't lie to me.
然后她第三次回来，她说：“别对我撒谎。
I know that there is somebody smoking in this room." And my mom looked at her with ice-cold eyes and said to her, in English, "Go to hell," and kind of slammed the door in her face.
我知道这个房间里有人抽烟。”我妈妈用冰冷的眼睛看着她，用英语对她说，“见鬼去吧”，然后当着她的面关上了门。
And you know, I was there, and it was very embarrassing.
你知道，我当时就在场，这非常尴尬。
The woman never opened the door again.
女人再也没有开门。
But it was embarrassing.
但这很尴尬。
Etgar Keret It was very embarrassing, you know?
Etgar Keret 这非常尴尬，你知道吗？
I mean, I think that my mom many times overreacted.
我的意思是，我认为我妈妈很多时候反应过度了。
I get that.
我明白了。
But I'll just point out that I asked you for a story where she's not the hero.
但我只想指出，我要求你提供一个她不是英雄的故事。
And in this story, she's still the hero.
在这个故事中，她仍然是英雄。
Yeah, you're right.
是的，你是对的。
You're right.
你说得对。
But I think that also, it's something that had to do with her charisma.
但我认为这也与她的魅力有关。
I mean, hero, villain, we can argue about it.
我的意思是，英雄，恶棍，我们可以争论。
But she was the main character.
但她是主角。
She was smack there in the center.
她就在正中央。
Let's say if we would wait for a doctor, and there would be like 20 people in the hall, then I would say 4 out of 5 times, before we'd get to the doctor, they would kind of gather around my mother.
假设我们要等医生，大厅里大约有 20 个人，那么我会说五分之四，在我们去看医生之前，他们会聚集在我母亲周围。
And she would tell them, I'll tell you what you should tell your wife.
她会告诉他们，我会告诉你应该告诉你妻子什么。
Come here, sit next to me.
过来，坐在我旁边。
I'll explain to you, oh, what they shouldn't eat for dinner.
我会向你解释，哦，他们晚餐不应该吃什么。
But she would become this instant guru.
但她很快就会成为大师。
Guru, yeah.
大师，是啊。
Etgar Keret She kind of projected this feeling that if you follow her, you get somewhere good.
Etgar Keret 她给人一种感觉，如果你跟着她，你就会得到一些好的东西。
OK, so Etgar, we have to get to the station break-- the ID break now.
好的，Etgar，我们现在必须去车站突破口——ID 突破口。
What do you do on ID breaks?
身份证失效时你会做什么？
Ira Glass Well, it's like a minute that we give to the radio stations to do their local stuff.
艾拉·格拉斯（Ira Glass）：嗯，这就像我们给广播电台做当地事情的一分钟。
Oh, we just hang out here for one minute.
哦，我们只是在这里闲逛一分钟。
Cool.
凉爽的。
Ira Glass OK.
艾拉·格拉斯 好的。
OK, and then do you want to read the wording that gets us into the ID break?
好的，那么你想读一下让我们陷入 ID 中断的措辞吗？
Yes, now.
是的，现在。
Etgar Keret I thought you were going to say something.
Etgar Keret 我以为你要说点什么。
OK, sorry.
好吧，抱歉。
Sorry.
对不起。
I'm doing it.
我正在做。
That's in a minute, from Chicago Public Radio when our program continues.
稍后，芝加哥公共广播电台将继续我们的节目。
It's "This American Life." I'm Ira Glass.
这就是《美国生活》。我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Today's program is this thing that Etgar Keret and I concocted, that we're calling "Half-Baked Stories About My Dead Mom," where Etgar is trying to create a picture of his mother, Orna, through these fragments of memory-- eight very short stories that he's written about her, plus some conversations.
今天的节目是我和埃特加·凯雷特炮制的，我们称之为“关于我死去的妈妈的半生不熟的故事”，埃特加试图通过这些记忆碎片——他写的关于她的八个非常短的故事，加上一些对话——来塑造他母亲奥娜的形象。
Some basic facts about his mom's life, before we go any further in this hour.
在我们进一步讨论之前，先介绍一些有关他母亲生活的基本事实。
After her time in a Polish orphanage and some time in Czechoslovakia and France, she arrived in Israel as a teenager on a ship whose Hebrew name roughly translates to "don't mess with us," or "you will not threaten us," which Etgar says is the perfect name for the boat that his mother would arrive on.
在波兰孤儿院度过一段时光，并在捷克斯洛伐克和法国呆了一段时间后，十几岁的她乘坐一艘船抵达以色列，这艘船的希伯来语名字大致翻译为“别惹我们”或“你不会威胁我们”，埃特加说这是他母亲将要乘坐的船的完美名字。
At 18 or so, she married a professional soccer player and divorced him a few months later.
18 岁左右的时候，她嫁给了一名职业足球运动员，几个月后就离婚了。
Went to live in France for a year or so.
去法国生活了一年左右。
She was an incredible dancer, won dance competitions.
她是一位令人难以置信的舞者，赢得了舞蹈比赛。
Danced once with the singer Jacques Brel.
曾与歌手雅克·布雷尔共舞一次。
The way she met Etgar's dad, he was drunk and peed on the French embassy, not knowing it was the French embassy.
她遇见埃特加父亲的方式是，他喝醉了，在法国大使馆撒尿，却不知道那是法国大使馆。
Cops thought it was a political statement, threw him in a squad car and ran off to get the guys he was with.
警察认为这是一份政治声明，把他扔进一辆警车里，然后跑去找和他在一起的人。
Etgar's dad saw his mom walking down the street, just walking by at that moment, and wanted to meet her.
埃特加的爸爸看到他妈妈走在街上，当时正好路过，他想见见她。
So he stepped out of the police car and introduced himself as Inspector Keret.
于是他走出警车，介绍自己是凯雷特督察。
And he asked her if she saw anything that happened.
他问她是否看到发生了什么。
She said, no, I just got here.
她说，没有，我刚到。
So he said, I need to get your details anyway.
所以他说，无论如何我都需要了解你的详细信息。
And he took her address and the phone number.
他记下了她的地址和电话号码。
And then the police came back, and they handcuffed my father and got him back in the police car.
然后警察回来了，他们给我父亲戴上手铐，把他带回警车里。
And my mom went back to a flatmate, and she said, "That's just my luck.
我妈妈回到室友那里，她说：“这只是我的运气。
I gave my phone number to a serial killer."
我把我的电话号码给了一个连环杀手。”
When Etgar's dad sobered up, he had a hard time actually convincing her that he was not a criminal of some sort.
当埃特加的父亲清醒过来时，他很难真正让她相信他不是某种罪犯。
They were a good match.
他们很般配。
Both had been children in Poland during the war so, Etgar says, neither of them had any idea what a normal childhood or a normal home would be.
埃特加说，战争期间两人都是波兰的孩子，所以他们都不知道正常的童年或正常的家庭会是什么样子。
So there was something in their friendship that it was half like a married couple, but it was also half like kindergarten children playing together.
所以他们的友谊有一半像夫妻，但也有一半像幼儿园的孩子一起玩耍。
And I think that the kindergarten part seemed much more powerful than the grownup part.
我认为幼儿园的部分似乎比成人的部分更有力量。
After his mom died, Etgar found that she had kept all the little notes that his father had written her over the years, going back a half century.
母亲去世后，埃特加发现她保留了父亲多年来写给她的所有小纸条，可以追溯到半个世纪前。
Most of them were things like, "We're out of milk.
他们中的大多数人都是这样说的：“我们没有牛奶了。
Can you pick some up?" Or "I'll be home at 9:00, not 8:00." She seemed to have saved every one.
你能摘一些吗？”或者“我会在 9:00 回家，而不是 8:00。”她似乎拯救了所有人。
Story number six-- "The Stuff." For my fifth birthday, my father took me to see Bambi.
第六个故事——“The Stuff”。在我五岁生日那天，父亲带我去看小鹿斑比。
The movie was a lot more real than anything I'd seen.
这部电影比我见过的任何电影都真实得多。
And when the hunters shot and killed Bambi's mom, I stood up on my seat in the movie theater and started shouting tearfully about how wrong this turn of events was, and demanded they stop showing the film immediately.
当猎人射杀斑比的妈妈时，我在电影院的座位上站起来，开始含泪大喊，说这件事是多么错误，并要求他们立即停止放映这部电影。
My father was slightly embarrassed by my display.
我的父亲对我的表现感到有点尴尬。
"Why are you crying?" my dad asked.
“你为什么哭？”我爸爸问。
"What's wrong?" "They killed Bambi's mom for no reason," I cried.
“怎么了？” “他们无缘无故地杀了斑比的妈妈，”我哭道。
Desperate to calm me down, my dad replied, "No, no. There is a reason.
为了让我平静下来，爸爸回答说：“不，不，这是有原因的。
They're going to make a yummy schnitzel out of her." And just like that, on the day I turned five, I became a vegetarian.
他们要把她做成美味的炸肉排。”就这样，在我五岁那一天，我成为了一名素食主义者。
Israel in the early '70s wasn't exactly a nation of vegans.
七十年代初期的以色列并不是一个纯素食国家。
When my mom realized that her pint-sized boy was losing weight, she swung into action.
当我妈妈意识到她的小男孩正在减肥时，她立即采取了行动。
"You hardly eat anything," she sighed after dinner one night.
“你几乎不吃任何东西，”一天晚上吃完晚饭后她叹了口气。
"But that's fine.
“但没关系。
If you don't like the food you've tried, I'll just have to invent something new for you." And that was how The Stuff was born.
如果你不喜欢你尝试过的食物，我就只能为你发明一些新的东西了。” The Stuff 就这样诞生了。
The Stuff was made of dried, shriveled up soybean flakes that looked a bit like pet kibble.
这些东西是由干燥、皱缩的大豆片制成的，看起来有点像宠物粗粮。
My mom got ahold of the soy flakes from a vegan rabbi in Jerusalem, to whom she was introduced by the American sales clerk at a natural food store on the outskirts of Ramat Gan.
我妈妈从耶路撒冷的一位素食拉比那里得到了大豆片，她是在拉马特甘郊区一家天然食品商店的美国销售员的介绍下认识的。
The soy flakes had the texture of pigeon droppings and no flavor whatsoever.
大豆片有鸽子粪便的质地，没有任何味道。
But when mixed with my mother's culinary charisma, as well as tomato paste, garlic, carrots, a secret ingredient or two, and lots of water, they were transformed into the legendary Stuff, the ambrosia from which my mom could make meatballs, hamburgers, and even no-lognese, a delicious vegetarian substitute for Bolognese sauce.
但当与我母亲的烹饪魅力以及番茄酱、大蒜、胡萝卜、一两种秘密配料和大量的水混合时，它们就变成了传说中的东西，我妈妈可以用它制作肉丸、汉堡包，甚至 no-lognese，一种美味的素食肉酱替代品。
Rumor traveled fast about The Stuff.
关于 The Stuff 的谣言传播得很快。
One day, a boy I didn't know, who was at least a year older than me, introduced himself and asked if what they said about my mother was true.
有一天，一个我不认识的男孩，至少比我大一岁，做了自我介绍，并询问他们所说的关于我母亲的事情是否属实。
Could she really make food that tasted like hamburger, pizza, and rubber, all at the same time?
她真的能同时制作出汉堡、披萨和橡胶味道的食物吗？
I nodded yes.
我点头称是。
"If you can set me up with some, I'll give you five liras," the kid said.
“如果你能给我一些，我就给你五里拉，”孩子说。
To make sure I understood this was a serious offer, he pulled out the appropriate bill-- green with a portrait of Albert Einstein.
为了确保我明白这是一个严肃的提议，他拿出了相应的钞票——绿色，上面有阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦的肖像。
It was a bizarre situation, and I wasn't really sure what to say.
这是一个奇怪的情况，我真的不知道该说什么。
"I'll come over some day," the kid suggested.
“有一天我会过来。”孩子建议道。
"Tell your mom we're friends or something, or that I'm helping you with your homework.
“告诉你妈妈我们是朋友什么的，或者我在帮你做作业。
And then I'll stay for dinner." I still said nothing.
然后我会留下来吃晚饭。”我还是什么也没说。
"Come on," he nudged me.
“来吧，”他推了推我。
"Help me out, seriously.
“帮帮我吧，说真的。
Pizza, hamburger, and rubber together?
披萨、汉堡包和橡胶在一起？
I have to try."
我必须尝试一下。”
Of course he felt that way.
他当然有这样的感觉。
It's not every day you have a chance to eat something extraordinary, something that only one unique woman could invent.
您不是每天都有机会吃到一些非凡的东西，一些只有一位独特的女性才能发明的东西。
The Walter White of our neighborhood, my mother.
我们邻居的沃尔特·怀特，我的母亲。
I have this story I've got to tell you.
我有这个故事必须告诉你。
It has nothing to do with it, but it's just that I want to tell you the story.
与此无关，只是我想告诉你这个故事。
So I'm-- OK.
所以我——好吧。
OK.
好的。
Etgar Keret It's like I tried to write down this story.
Etgar Keret 就好像我试图写下这个故事。
And the story is that about a year before my mother died, I came to visit her.
故事是，大约在我母亲去世前一年，我去看望她。
And she was in her bed in the bedroom.
而她正躺在卧室的床上。
And I was sitting next to her.
我坐在她旁边。
And then she said, "Could you please close the door?
然后她说：“你能把门关上吗？
I want to say something private." And it was very weird, because it was only the two of us in the apartment.
我想说一些私事。”这很奇怪，因为公寓里只有我们两个人。
So I said, "It must be something very, very secretive if you need to close the door."
所以我说：“如果你需要关门，那一定是非常非常秘密的事情。”
And I closed the door, and I sat down.
我关上门，坐下来。
And she said, "Look, I want to ask you a favor.
她说：“听着，我想请你帮个忙。
You know, now that Dad, Father is gone, and I see that I'm kind of beginning to lose my lucidity a little-- so if you see that you know that I'm totally not lucid, and if you have some kinds of sensations that are not happy, then you just wait until I'm asleep.
你知道，现在爸爸、爸爸走了，我发现我开始有点失去清醒了——所以如果你发现我完全不清醒，如果你有某种不快乐的感觉，那么你就等着我睡着吧。
And then you take a pillow, and put it on my face.
然后你拿一个枕头，放在我脸上。
And, you know, just kind of gently wait a little bit.
而且，你知道，只需轻轻等待一下即可。
In one minute, I'm gone with all my smoking and stuff.
一分钟之内，我就烟消云散了。
So I just want to ask you if-- I hope it's OK."
所以我只想问你是否——我希望没问题。”
And I was kind of shaken.
我有点动摇了。
I was a little bit frozen.
我有点被冻住了。
And then she looked at me.
然后她看着我。
And she said, "Look." It's as if she-- like, "I didn't want to bother you, but, you know, your sister is ultra-Orthodox.
她说：“看。”就好像她——就像，“我不想打扰你，但是，你知道，你姐姐是极端正统派。
She can't do that.
她不能那样做。
And your brother, he has such a big heart.
还有你的兄弟，他的心真大。
He's soft.
他很软。
You're the strongest.
你是最强的。
You're the strong guy."
你是那个坚强的人。”
And I said to her, "Mom, I'm not that strong." And then she looked at me, and she smiled.
我对她说：“妈妈，我没那么坚强。”然后她看着我，笑了。
And she said, "You are, but it doesn't matter.
她说：“你是的，但这并不重要。
You want to have a cake?" And then we got up, and she gave me cake, and we drank tea, and we talked.
你想吃蛋糕吗？”然后我们起身，她给了我蛋糕，我们喝了茶，我们聊天。
And she smiled.
她笑了。
And we had the nicest conversation, and we hugged.
我们进行了最愉快的交谈，我们拥抱了。
And basically, when I wrote this story down, I remember this story as kind of a very close moment with my mother.
基本上，当我写下这个故事时，我记得这个故事是与我母亲非常亲密的时刻。
But it wasn't filed under my mother asking me to murder her, you know?
但它并不是在我母亲要求我谋杀她的情况下提交的，你知道吗？
It was basically my mom, a little bit afraid, wants me to do something.
基本上是我妈妈有点害怕，想让我做点什么。
Then she sees I'm unhappy about it, and in a second, she doesn't care anymore what's good for her.
然后她发现我对此不高兴，转眼间，她就不再关心什么对她有好处了。
She'll die demented, and she did die demented.
她会疯狂地死去，她也确实疯狂地死去。
But she will not put me in a position.
但她不会让我处于一个位置。
She said to me, "I wouldn't want you to do something that you feel uncomfortable about."
她对我说：“我不想让你做一些让你感到不舒服的事情。”
She said that to you in that conversation.
她在那次谈话中对你说了这句话。
Yeah, she said-- when I said to her, "I can't put a pillow on your head." And she said, "Why?" And I said, "I can't." And she said, "Look, I don't want you to do anything that you are uncomfortable about."
是的，当我对她说：“我不能把枕头放在你头上时，她说。”她说：“为什么？”我说：“我不能。”她说：“听着，我不想让你做任何让你感到不舒服的事情。”
And this idea was really that reality could be harsh, violent.
这个想法实际上是现实可能是残酷的、暴力的。
I could kill my mom.
我可以杀了我妈妈。
I could not kill my mom.
我不能杀我妈妈。
But there is another level, and this is a level of two human beings who are close to each other, who can ask each other for everything, who can say no to everything, who doesn't feel uncomfortable.
但还有另一个层次，这是两个人彼此亲近的层次，谁可以向对方提出一切要求，谁可以对一切说不，谁不会感到不舒服。
There is no egos there.
那里没有自我。
So it was, for me, some kind of a mirror of a healthy relationship.
所以，对我来说，这是健康关系的一面镜子。
Story number seven-- "The First Angel You See." I only ever heard this story once.
第七个故事——“你看到的第一个天使”。这个故事我只听过一次。
My parents had just come home from a wedding, and my mother was completely drunk.
我的父母刚刚参加完婚礼回家，我的母亲已经喝醉了。
If she'd had one less drink that night, I probably wouldn't be able to share this story with you.
如果那天晚上她少喝一杯，我可能就无法与你分享这个故事了。
It's a little hazy in my imagination, but in the story, my mom is little.
在我的想象中有点朦胧，但在故事里，我的妈妈是个小人物。
It's during the war, and her mother, my grandmother, is holding her hand while carrying mom's baby brother.
那是在战争期间，她的母亲，也就是我的祖母，握着她的手，抱着妈妈的小弟弟。
And the three of them race up the stairs in some building.
他们三人跑上某栋大楼的楼梯。
Mom can hear the footsteps of the people chasing them.
妈妈可以听到人们追赶他们的脚步声。
When they get to the rooftop, my grandmother tells Mom to run as fast as she can and jump down to the roof of the next building, which is slightly lower.
当他们到达屋顶时，祖母告诉妈妈尽可能快地跑，然后跳到下一栋楼的屋顶上，那栋楼稍低一些。
"Don't be scared," she says.
“别害怕，”她说。
"You can do it."
“你能做到的。”
Mom waits, expecting her mother to say, "And I'll be right behind you." But she just stands there out of breath from the run.
妈妈等待着，期待她妈妈说：“我就在你身后。”但她只是站在那里气喘吁吁。
"When will I see you again?" my mother asks.
“我什么时候才能再见到你？”我妈妈问。
And her mother bends over so their faces are very close, and says, "You're going to run as fast as you can, and then jump as far as you can.
她妈妈弯下腰，让他们的脸靠得很近，说道：“你要尽可能快地跑，然后跳得尽可能远。
And as soon as you land, you're going to keep running and not stop until you get to Daddy.
一旦你落地，你就会继续奔跑，直到到达爸爸身边为止。
After that, you grow up into a woman, and will meet a man and fall in love, and start a family with him.
之后，你长大成为一个女人，会遇到一个男人并坠入爱河，并与他组建家庭。
And in the end, you grow old and die.
最终，你会变老并死去。
And right after you die, go up to the first angel you see, and tell him, 'I'm going to see my mom.' And he'll know, because I'll talk to him before you get there.
在你死后，立即走到你看到的第一个天使面前，告诉他，“我要去见我的妈妈。”他会知道的，因为在你到达那里之前我会和他谈谈。
And he'll bring you to me."
他会把你带到我身边。”
This is not where the story ends.
故事到这里还没有结束。
After my mom jumped onto the other roof, she didn't run as fast as she could, the way her mother had instructed her.
当我妈妈跳到另一个屋顶上后，她并没有按照她妈妈指示的那样跑得尽可能快。
Instead, she hid and watched the Nazi soldiers kill her mother and smash her little brother's head against a brick wall.
相反，她躲了起来，看着纳粹士兵杀死了她的母亲，并将她弟弟的头撞到了砖墙上。
When she told me this, I could feel her guilt, but I also sensed how proud she was of her mother, who, even in the last moments of her life, refused to lie to her daughter.
当她告诉我这些时，我能感觉到她的愧疚，但我也感觉到她为她的母亲感到多么自豪，即使在她生命的最后时刻，她也拒绝对女儿撒谎。
47 years after she told me this story, my mother died.
在她告诉我这个故事 47 年后，我母亲去世了。
And the last words she said to me were, "I'm going to see my mom."
她对我说的最后一句话是：“我要去见我妈妈。”
Story number eight-- "A Good Day." When I was a kid, I absolutely loved eating at restaurants.
第八个故事——“美好的一天”。当我还是个孩子的时候，我非常喜欢去餐馆吃饭。
In those days, in socialist Israel of the 1970s, going out for dinner was such a rare and decadent event that it was impossible not to get excited about it.
那时，在 20 世纪 70 年代的社会主义以色列，出去吃饭是一件罕见而颓废的事情，不可能不感到兴奋。
Once every few months, we'd drive to Victor's Place, a Tel Aviv eatery located next to a junkyard.
每隔几个月，我们就会开车去 Victor's Place，这是一家特拉维夫的餐馆，位于垃圾场旁边。
After dinner, while Mom and Dad sipped Turkish coffee and smoked a cigarette, my brother would take my sister and me on an exciting tour of the junkyard, which we called the car cemetery.
晚饭后，爸爸妈妈一边喝着土耳其咖啡，一边抽着烟，我哥哥会带着我和妹妹去参观令人兴奋的垃圾场，我们称之为汽车墓地。
We'd stop at each crumpled vehicle and try to guess how it had ended up there-- trampled by an elephant, shot out of a cannon, or just driven too quickly and rammed into a stoplight.
我们会在每辆被撞坏的车辆前停下来，试图猜测它是如何在那里结束的——被大象践踏，被大炮射中，或者只是开得太快而撞上了红绿灯。
One Saturday, when I was about six, we went to Victor's Place for my mother's birthday.
一个星期六，当我六岁的时候，我们去维克多家庆祝我母亲的生日。
The waiter was an older man with a mustache, and he informed us apologetically that, due to a kitchen malfunction, the restaurant would not be serving fries.
服务员是一位留着小胡子的老人，他抱歉地告诉我们，由于厨房出现故障，餐厅将不再提供薯条。
The rest of the family received this news with indifference, but I took it really hard.
家里的其他人听到这个消息都是冷漠的，但我却很难接受。
Instead of a big pile of delicious, greasy fries, the waiter put a dish of white rice on the table-- white rice.
服务员上桌的不是一大堆美味油腻的薯条，而是一盘白米饭——白米饭。
And within seconds, the lavish feast I'd been looking forward to for weeks turned into just another family dinner.
几秒钟之内，我期待了数周的丰盛盛宴变成了另一顿家庭晚餐。
My mother, sensing my frustration, asked me if everything was all right.
我的母亲感觉到了我的沮丧，问我是否一切都好。
"Nothing was all right," I snapped.
“一切都不好，”我厉声说道。
If I couldn't have fries, the whole meal was a waste of time.
如果我不能吃薯条，整顿饭就浪费了时间。
And this birthday, which was supposed to be fun, was now the worst day of my life.
这个本来应该很有趣的生日，现在成了我一生中最糟糕的一天。
Mom listened patiently to my complaints.
妈妈耐心地听我诉苦。
And when I was done, she put the back of her warm hand on my neck, and asked me, in half a whisper, to tell her how many people were sitting in the restaurant.
当我吃完后，她把温暖的手背放在我的脖子上，小声地问我餐厅里有多少人。
Being a good boy, I methodically counted them all.
作为一个好孩子，我有条不紊地数着。
Saturday afternoon was one of the busiest times at Victor's.
星期六下午是维克多家最忙的时间之一。
And besides our table, there were 26 diners.
除了我们这桌之外，还有 26 名食客。
"26!" my mom exclaimed with a whistle.
“26！”妈妈吹着口哨喊道。
"That's a lot.
“很多。
Now, could you please tell me what all these people are holding in their hands?" "Oh, come on," I said with a grin.
现在，你能告诉我这些人手里拿着的是什么吗？” “哦，来吧，”我笑着说。
"That's easy.
“这很容易。
It's a restaurant.
这是一家餐厅。
They're holding knives and forks."
他们拿着刀子和叉子。”
Mom was impressed.
妈妈很感动。
"26 people-- 26 hungry human beings sitting at their tables, each eating only what's on their own plate.
“26个人——26个饥饿的人坐在他们的桌子旁，每个人只吃自己盘子里的东西。
26 people holding knives, and yet not a single one of them is stabbing anyone else." She leaned over, planted a soft kiss on my forehead, and said, "Let's agree that this is a pretty good day."
26个人持刀，但没有一个人刺伤别人。”她倾身过来，在我的额头上轻轻一吻，说道：“我们都同意，今天真是美好的一天。”
Etgar Keret.
埃特加·凯雷特。
Most of the stories today about his mom were originally written for an exhibit about her, called "Inside Out," at the Jewish Museum in Berlin.
今天关于他母亲的大多数故事最初都是为柏林犹太博物馆举办的一场名为“头脑特工队”的展览而写的。
It runs till March 19.
一直持续到3月19日。
If you liked these stories today, one of Etgar's books is a book of memoirs, essays like these, called Seven Good Years.
如果你喜欢今天的这些故事，埃特加的一本书是一本回忆录和类似的散文集，名叫《美好的七年》。
And he also sends out a weekly short story in a free Substack newsletter called "Alphabet Soup."
他还在免费的 Substack 时事通讯中每周发布一篇名为“Alphabet Soup”的短篇故事。
Jacques Brel.
雅克·布雷尔.
Etgar says this song was one of his mom's favorites, and she would sing it to him when he was a kid.
埃特加说这首歌是他妈妈最喜欢的歌曲之一，当他还是个孩子的时候，她就会唱给他听。
Well, our program was produced today by me and Elna Baker.
嗯，我们今天的节目是我和埃尔娜·贝克制作的。
The people who put together today's show include Sean Cole, Michael Comite, Chana Joffe-Walt, Valerie Kipnis, Stowe Nelson, Katherine Rae Mondo, Nadia Reiman, Ryan Rumery, Charlotte Sleeper, Frances Swanson, Christopher Swetala, Matt Tierney, Julie Whitaker, and Diane Wu.
今天节目的制作人包括 Sean Cole、Michael Comite、Chana Joffe-Walt、Valerie Kipnis、Stowe Nelson、Katherine Rae Mondo、Nadia Reiman、Ryan Rumery、Charlotte Sleeper、Frances Swanson、Christopher Swetala、Matt Tierney、Julie Whitaker 和 Diane Wu。
Our Managing Editor is Sarah Abdurrahman.
我们的总编辑是萨拉·阿卜杜拉赫曼 (Sarah Abdurrahman)。
Our Senior Editor is David Kestenbaum.
我们的高级编辑是大卫·凯斯滕鲍姆。
Our Executive Editor is Emanuele Berry.
我们的执行编辑是埃马努埃莱·贝里。
Jessica Cohen translated Etgar's stories into English.
杰西卡·科恩将埃特加的故事翻译成英文。
Special thanks today to Gal Ber, Nimrod Keret, Lev Keret for technical help, and Chris Crawford.
今天特别感谢 Gal Ber、Nimrod Keret、Lev Keret 的技术帮助，以及 Chris Crawford。
Our website, ThisAmericanLife.org, where you can stream our archive of over 750 episodes for absolutely free.
我们的网站 ThisAmericanLife.org，您可以在其中完全免费地观看我们的 750 多集档案。
Also, there's videos.
另外，还有视频。
There's lists of favorite programs, there's tons of other stuff.
有最喜欢的节目列表，还有大量其他内容。
Again, ThisAmericanLife.org.
再次，ThisAmericanLife.org。
"This American Life" is delivered to public radio stations by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.
《This American Life》由公共广播电台 PRX 向公共广播电台播出。
Thanks, as always, to our program's co-founder, Mr. Torey Malatia.
一如既往地感谢我们项目的联合创始人 Torey Malatia 先生。
His New Year's resolution this year?
他今年的新年决心是什么？
Come up with more zingers.
想出更多的奇葩。
I told him I was having a hard time coming up with my resolution.
我告诉他我很难做出决定。
He piped up right away.
他立刻就开口了。
You can always be less ugly.
你总是可以变得不那么丑。
Ira Glass I'm Ira Glass.
艾拉·格拉斯 我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Back next week with more stories of "This American Life."
下周将带来更多“美国生活”的故事。
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。