My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie.I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.
In newspaper photos of missing girls from the seventies, most looked like me: white girls with mousy brown hair.
This was before kids of all races and genders started appearing on milk cartons or in the daily mail.
It was still back when people believed things like that didn't happen.
我姓沙蒙，念起來就像英文的「鮭魚」，名叫蘇西。我在一九七三年十二月六日被殺了，那時我才14歲
在七○年代報上刊登的失蹤女孩照片中，大部分看起來都和我一個模樣：白種女孩，一頭灰褐色頭髮
在那個年代，各種種族及不同性別的小孩照片，還沒有出現在牛奶盒或是每天的廣告郵件上
在那個年代，大家還不認為會發生小孩遭到謀殺之類的事情
In my junior high yearbook I had a quto from a Spanish poet mt sister hadturned me on to, Juan Ramon Jimenez.
It went like this: " If they give you ruled paper, write the other way. "
I chose it both because it expressed my contempt for my structured surroundings a la the classroom and because,
not being some dopey quote from a rock group, I thought it maked me as literary.
I was a member of the Chess Club and Chem Club and burned everything I tried to make in Mrs.Delminico's home-ec class.
My favorite teacher was Mr.Botte,
who taught biology and liked to animate the frogs and crawfish we had to dissect by making them dance in their waxed pans.
妹妹讓我迷上了一個名叫希梅聶茲的西班牙詩人，我在初中畢業紀念冊上特別選題他的一句話：
「如果有人給你一張畫了格線的紙，你就不要按著格線書寫」
這句話表達了我對四周中規中矩的一切、諸如對教室之類建築物的輕藐
聽來深得我心，所以我選擇了這句話
更何況，我覺得選用一句名詩人的話，而不是某個搖滾歌手說的蠢話，讓自己感覺上比較有書卷氣
我是西洋棋社及化學社的社員，在戴敏尼柯太太的家政課上，我每次試著燒菜，結果一定把菜燒焦
我最喜歡的老師是伯特先生
伯特先生教生物，他喜歡抓起我們要解剖的青蛙、小蝦，假裝讓牠們在上蠟的鐵盤上跳舞
I wasn't killed by Mr.Botte, by the way. Don't think every person you're going to meet in here is suspect.
That's the problem. You never know. Mr.Botte came to my memorial
( as, may I add, did almost the entire junior high school ─ I was never so popular ) and cried quite a bit.
He had a sick kid. We all knew this, so when he laughed at his own jokes, which were rusty way before I had him,
we laughed too, forcing is sometimes just to make him happy
His daughter died a year and a half after I did.She had leukemia, but I never saw her in my heaven.
順帶一提，兇手不是伯特先生，請你別把接下來每個即將出現的人當成兇手
但這正是問題所在：你永遠料不到誰會出手殺人。伯特先生參加了我的喪禮，而且哭得很傷心
(請容我插一句：全校師生幾乎都出席了喪禮，其實我在學校從來不是個萬人迷)
他的小孩病很嚴重，我們都知道這件事，因此，當他說了笑話，自己笑個不停時
雖然這些笑話早在我們選修他的課之前就已過時
我們依然大笑著，我們有時還強迫自己跟著笑，只為了讓他高興一點
她的女兒在我去世一年半後也離開了人間，她得了血癌，但我在我的天堂裡從未見過她
My murderer was a man from our neighborhood.
My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertilizer.
My murderer believed in old-fashioned things like eggshells and coffee grounds, which he said his own mother had used.
My father came home smiling,
making jokes about how the man's garden might be beautiful but it would stink to high heaven once a heat wave hit.
兇手是我們鄰居
媽媽喜歡他花壇裡的花，爸爸有次還向他請教如何施肥
兇手先生認為蛋殼、咖啡渣等傳統肥料比較有效，他說他媽媽都用這種傳統方式施肥
爸爸回家之後笑個不停
他開玩笑說這人的花緣或許很漂亮，但熱浪一來襲，八成臭氣沖天
But on December 6, 1973, it was snowing, and I took a shortcut through the cornfield back from the hunior high.
It was dark out because the days were shorter in winter,and I remember how the broken cornstalks made my walk more difficult.
The snow was falling lightly, like a flurry of small hands,
and I was breathing through my nose until it was running so much that I had to open my month.
Six feet from where Mr.Harvey stood, I stuck my tongue out to taste a snowflake.
但一九七三年十二月六日可沒有熱浪，那天飄著雪，我從學校後面的玉米田抄近路回家
冬天天黑得早，那時天色已晚，我記得甜裡的玉蜀黍梗被人踩得亂七八糟，田間小徑也變得更不好走
細雪有如一雙雙小手，輕飄飄地覆蓋大地
我用鼻子呼吸，直到冷得不斷流鼻涕才張嘴吸氣
我停下來、伸出舌頭嚐嚐雪花的味道，哈維先生就站在離我六英呎之處
" Don't let me startle you, " Mr.Harver said.
Of course, in a cornfield, in the dark, I was started.
After I was dead I thought about how there had been the light scent of cologne in the air but that I had not been paying attention,
or thought it was coming from one of the houses up ahead.
「別讓我嚇著妳」哈維先生說
在灰暗的玉米田裡，他當然嚇了我一跳
離開人間之後，我想起當時空氣中似乎飄來淡淡的古龍水氣味，但我卻沒有多加注意
或許那時我以為氣味來自前面的房子
" Mr.Havey, " I said.
" You're the old Dalmon girl, right？"
" Yes "
" How are your folks？"
Although the eldest in my family and good at acing a science quiz, I had never felt comfortable with adults.
" Fine, " I said.I was cold,
but the natural authority of his agem and the added fact that he was a neighbor and had talked to my father about fertilizer,
rooted me to the spot.
" I've built something back here, " he said. " Would you like to see？"
" I'm sort of cold, Mr.Harvey, " I said, " and my mom likes me home before dark."
" It's after dark, Susie," he said.
I wish now that I had known this was weird. I had never told him my name.
「哈維先生」我打了招呼
「妳是沙蒙家的大女兒，對吧？」
「是的」
「妳爸媽還好嗎？」
雖然身為長女，在機智問答中也時常占上風，但我在大人面前依然覺得不自在
「他們很好」我說
雖然覺得很冷，但他是個大人，在加上他是鄰居，又和我爸爸談過肥料等事情，所以我還是站在原地不動
「我在附近蓋了些東西，」他說：「妳要不要過來看看？」
「哈維先生，我覺得有點冷，」我說：「況且我媽媽希望我在天黑前回家」
「現在已經天黑了，蘇西」他說
我當時若察覺出異狀就好了，我從未告訴他我叫什麼名字
字彙
01. mousy [ˋmausɪ] adj. 灰褐色的
02. gender [ˋdʒɛndɚ] n. 性別
03. contempt [kənˋtɛmpt] n. 輕藐
04. dopey [ˋdopɪ] adj. 遲鈍的；愚蠢的
05. home-ec [homˋɛk] n. 家政 (為 home economics [͵ikəˋnɑmɪks] 的簡稱 )
06. animate [ˋænə͵met] v. 使活動；賦予生命
07. crawfish [ˋkrɔ͵fɪʃ] n. 小龍蝦
08. dissect [dɪˋsɛkt] v. 解剖；剖開
09. leukemia [luˋkimɪə] n. 白血病 (俗稱血癌)
10. fertilizer [ˋfɝtl͵aɪzɚ] n. 肥料
11. eggshell [ˋɛg͵ʃɛl] n. 蛋殼
12. ground [graund] n. 渣滓；沉澱物
13. stink [stɪŋk] v. 發臭
14. shortcut [ˋʃɔrt͵kʌt] n. 捷徑
15. cornfield [ˋkɔrn͵fild] n. 玉蜀黍田
16. cornstalk [ˋkɔrn͵stɔk] n. 玉蜀黍梗
17. flurry [ˋflɝɪ] n. 小陣雪
18. snowflake [ˋsno͵flek] n. 雪花
19. startle [ˋstɑrt!] v. 使驚嚇
20. scent [sɛnt] n. 氣味
21. cologne [kəˋlon] n. 古龍水
22. ace [es] v. 獲勝
23. mike carton 指牛奶盒，1980年起，美國將失蹤兒童資訊印在牛奶盒上，以便更多人得知並協尋
24. Juan Ramon Jimenez 西班牙詩人「希梅聶茲」，1956年的諾貝爾文學獎得主
25. ruled paper 為「橫格紙」
26. a la，源自法文，意為「以....的方式」，文中的意思是「以教室這種風格的中規中矩建築物」
關鍵解析
1. turn sb on to sb/sth 使某人對某人事物感興趣
‧My father truned me on to baseball cards when I was very young.
當我很年輕時，我的父親讓我對棒球卡感興趣
反義片語 turn sb off 則有「使某人不悅，喪失興趣」的意思
‧Deven's bad attitude trun me off, so I don't like spending time with him.
戴文糟糕的態度令我不悅，所以我不想花時間跟他相處
2. S1 + be 動詞 / V.，as be 動詞 / 助動詞 + S2 S1.....，S2也一樣
此句型可用來表示第二個的主詞和第一個子句的主詞做了相同的事，此用法只能用在肯定句
當前面子句使用 be 動詞時，as 後面也使用 be 動詞
‧Tyler is sleeping right now, as is everyone else who went to the late moives last night.
泰勒現在正在睡覺，其他昨晚去看電影的人也一樣
‧I got sunburned at the water park, as did my friend Carrie.
我在水上樂園曬傷，我的朋友凱莉也一樣
3. believe in 信仰；信任
‧My parents always tell me that they believe in me, and I get a lot of strength from their.
我的父母總是告訴我他們信任我，我從他們的鼓勵中得到了許多力量
‧Beatrice doesn't believe in hitting children to punish them for bad behavior.
碧翠斯不相信小孩不乖時用打的處罰他們會有用 |
住戶編號:1463468
檢舉原因
心情: 
