瓦尔德罗普作品

为了理解语言的本质

为了理解语言的本质，你开始绘画，认为一旦你能解决点、线和色彩的冲突，参考的逻辑就会显而易见。从那沿着意义的刻度而滑行的词语中，我被我的气息边缘的烟雾分心。我等待火焰，那从眼睛前往世界的通道。黎明时分，你精疲力尽地爬上床，告诫我当心在盲目的画布上画下推论。我冒昧地说，一根线条可以代表一座直插云天的塔，或者在另一方面，代表飘落的雨。你回答说，世界已经占据了太多的空间。

IN ORDER UNDERSTAND

In order to understand the nature of language you began to paint，thinking that the logic of reference would become evident once youcould settle the quarrels of point， line， and color. I was distractedfrom sliding words along the scales of significance by smoke on mymargin of breath. I waited for the flame， the passage from eye toworld. At dawn， you crawled into bed， exhausted， warning meagainst drawing inferences across blind canvas. I ventured that a linemight represent a tower that would reach the sky， or， on the otherhand， rain falling. You replied that the world was already taking uptoo much space.

当街道在清晨空空荡荡

当街道在清晨空空荡荡，我在词语之间开辟空间，那些空间宽阔得足以容纳能够反射塔楼上的珐琅钟的笑容。迟到是我的基本特性之一。无法想象我不该拥有它，我甚至在度假时也没剥夺自己身上的长处。尽管如此，我想不起有什么日寸候，我没有试图通过改变我嘴巴的外形，并显得毫无气息，从而隐藏这一点。天空正把色彩的明暗从柔和渐变到刺眼，不一定得呼应任何一种色彩或生动的场面。气候多雨，这一点无疑，准备好把它的窗帘拉到我的从句和连词上面。然而，如果我把空间开辟得太宽而无法抵达下一个词语和沉默，那又会怎样呢。

AS THE STREETS WERE EMPTY

As the streets were empty in the early morning， I had made thespaces between words broad enough for a smile which could reflect offthe enamel tower clock. Being late is one of my essential properties.Unthinkable that I should not possess it， and not even on vacation doI deprive myself of its advantages. Nevertheless I cannot recall a timewhen I did not try to hide this by changing the shape of my mouthand appearing breathless. The sky was shading from hesitant to harsh，which was not bound to correspond to any one color or tableau vivant.The climate is rainy， no doubt about it， and ready to draw its curtainover my clauses and conjunctions. But what if I had made the spacestoo wide to reach the next word and the silence.

你告诉我

你告诉我，如果某种东西不使用，它就毫无意义，你给我量体温，我认为我的体温是为一个更难熬的日子而节省的。每天夜里，镜中出现的是同一张脸，又多了一点老旧，一件磨损太久的衣裙。月亮在外面的寒意中，与那不安、不满的风在一起，那风好像要改变悬铃木的位置。我预料会有责备，因为我提到了“爱”一词，但你仅仅指责我偷走了你的铅笔，悲伤随着意义而消失。你用双手抱着脑袋，举行一种仪式，因为你说，它不能被包含在其自身中。

YOU TOLD ME

You told me， if something is not used it is meaningless， andtook my temperature which I had thought to save for a more difficultday. In the mirror， every night， the same face， a bit morethreadbare， a dress worn too long. The moon was out in the cold，along with the restless， dissatisfied wind that seemed to change thelocation of the sycamores. I expected reproaches because I hadmentioned the word love， but you only accused me of stealing yourpencil， and sadness disappeared with sense. You made a ceremonyout of holding your head in your hands because， you said， it couldnot be contained in itself.

乍一看来

乍一看来，那并不像一幅画着你躯体的图画。最多是从大海上滚进来的雾霭，遮盖又露出河流的表面，好像是一种极端。我借口你犹豫不决，因为，我觉得你想包含未受到拼写错误所伤害的一切。然后，我看见你试图倚靠在失踪的词语的重量上，世界尽头的一道墙。尽管想象一小段距离甚至也让我厌倦，但我知道，它至少在继续，远及一个人能逃离危险，那里有两个女人被延迟着冲了上来。你说，词语或句子的严密都无法阻止往昔稳定加速。

AT FIRST SIGHT

At first sight， it did not look like a picture of your body. Anymore than the fog rolling in from the sea， covering and uncoveringthe surface of the river， seemed an extreme. I made excuses for yourhesitation because I thought you wanted to contain everything，unimpaired by spelling errors. Then I saw you were trying to leanagainst the weight of missing words， a wall at the end of the world.But I knew， though it tired me to imagine even a fraction of thedistance， that it continued at least as far as one can run from danger，where two women had been washed up on a delay. Neither words northe rigor of sentences， you said， could stem the steady accelerationof the past.