Powers of Speed and Mind 足底生風，心懷高遠

By Aaron A. Vessup 黃湘淇/注

Running. Running. Running！ In my youth running was an absolute freedom I knew. Feeling the fresh early morning air rushing against my churning legs， arms， and speeding head.1 Sometimes I would close my eyes for a few seconds and pretend to be flying. My feet would barely touch the ground， and my body seemed to float on a breeze.2 This was my childhood delight growing up in southern California. Running on bare feet， my toes digging into the thick turf of a parks green grass， running to the nearby store on errands for my mother， wearing out my cheap shoes， or running to the school in fear of being late， this was a way of life.3 Jessie Owens， a Black man， had been called the fastest man on earth in the 50s during the Olympics. Later world-class speed demons were Bob Hayes， and then Carl Lewis.4 These were all Black men， and because of their speed feats5， I dreamed that perhaps one day I could not only run but fly.

For some reason it was impossible to catch the school bus on most mornings. To arrive at school after the last bell rang would mean trouble. I had to run most mornings. If not， the teachers red mark indicating tardiness6 would be placed beside my name. A sufficient number of these red marks allowed the teacher to lower my term grade from “Excellent” to “Good”，7 or from “Satisfactory” to “Unsatisfactory”. Even to arrive home from an errand taking over 15 minutes would warrant a wooden switch whipping for meandering.8 School grades lower than “Above Average” or “Outstanding” definitely meant a beating would be coming. However， running through the park was on my own time， and my choice. I felt free and unencumbered， my reward was the feeling of pleasing myself with the speed and quiet friendly caresses of natures invisible hands.9 But this exercise did come with much sweat and physical exertion10. There were many mornings when I sat in classrooms drenched in perspiration， my clothes wringing wet， while my classmates started their days fresh， clean， and dry.11

Sometimes I dreamed to have wings on my feet. If this were possible perhaps I would not need to sweat so much. There also were times when floating between strides I felt as light as a feather， my small， thin body unable to keep contact with the earth beneath my feet.12 When sleeping I could maintain flight for long spans of13 time and distances. I could soar high effortless like a bird， swooping down to stop anyplace at any time.14 This was my freedom when I was asleep dreaming. Awake and laying on my back watching the clouds drift overhead， I tried thinking of ways that would allow me to join these nebulous images of vanishing figures.15

In school I discovered strange stories. There was Icarus16， the man with wings who flew too close to the sun. Then， Orville and Wilbur Wright， brothers whose invention of the airplane caused me to dream of flying my own solo plane.17 However， after the tragedy of Amelia Earharts solo flight over the Pacific Ocean， such fantasy flying seemed impractical.18 Besides， I was informed that all air pilots were required to have perfect 20/20 vision.19 By then I was near-sighted， wearing thick lenses for eye glasses.20 My dreams of piloting my own airplane were dashed21.

But this did not mean that I could not be a passenger and still fly anywhere around the globe. My first flight came when I was 16 years of age and purchased my own air tickets for flights from SB to LAX， and from LAX airport to San Francisco.22 Perhaps an added bonus to this excitement was the Helicopter ride from the nearby Orange Show grounds in San Bernardino to the airport in Los Angeles.23 After those minutes and short hours in flight， I was hooked on24 flying anywhere and everywhere， day or night. In flight I could cross mountains， and great bodies of water， see people， places， and worlds that I never knew to exist， or had only read about.25 There was no stopping me. I discovered being above the clouds the world is serene and splendiferous.26 The dark quietude， the glitter of millions of stars， the glorious light of sunrays， illuminates the soul unlike any other phenomenon.27 The smooth sailing in the jet-stream air currents， only at times interrupted by invisible ripples of cross-currents or “bad” weather.28

Because of these things， the exciting prospect29 of adventures with speed and flight has stayed with me over the years. I have flown literally around the globe countless times from continents and countries.30 This all started with running and dreaming. Thanks to technological advances， I can now sit back and rest my feet， still arriving anywhere in the world without perspiring. “Up， up， and away！”All in my own personal beautiful balloon of dreams！ No need to run， only flying with or against invisible winds.

1. churning： 攪動的；speeding： 快速移動的。

2. float： 浮，飄；breeze： 微風。

3. 赤腳奔跑的我，腳趾踩入公園綠地厚厚的草皮里，要么是替媽媽到附近的商店跑腿而磨壞了腳上的廉價鞋子，要么就是因害怕遲到而一路奔到學校，這是我那時候的一種生活方式。bare feet： 光腳；dig into： 觸到，把……插入；turf： 草皮；on errands： 跑腿，辦雜事；wear out： 磨損，穿破。

4. world-class： 世界級的；speed demon： 原指亂開快車的人，這里比喻跑得快的人；Bob Hayes： 鮑勃·海耶斯（1942—2002），原奧林匹克短跑選手，后改行為橄欖球外接手，曾經打破多項短距跑步的世界紀錄；Carl Lewis： 卡爾·劉易斯（1961— ），美國田徑選手，主攻100米和跳遠，曾獲10塊奧運獎牌和10塊世界錦標賽獎牌。

5. feat： 功績，壯舉。

6. tardiness： 遲到。

7. sufficient： 足夠的；term grade： 學期成績。

8. warrant： 保證；wooden switch： 木鞭；whipping： 鞭打；meander： 漫步，閑逛。

9. 我感到自由自在，無拘無束，從中體驗到了一種因速度和自然無形之手那無聲而友好的愛撫所帶來的自身幸福感。unencumbered： 沒有阻礙的，沒有負擔的；caress： 愛撫；invisible： 看不見的。

10. physical exertion： 強體力活動。

11. 很多個早上，我坐在教室里滿身是汗，衣服濕得能擰出水來，而我的同班同學卻干干凈凈，清清爽爽地開始他們的一天。drench in： 浸透在……；perspiration： 汗水，其動詞原形為perspire（流汗）；wring： 擰，扭。

12. stride： 大步，步幅；beneath： 在……之下 。

13. long span of： 長跨度的。

14. soar： 翱翔；effortless： 容易的，不費力氣的； swoop down： 猛撲下來。

15. drift： 漂移；nebulous： 朦朧的，模糊的；vanishing： 消逝的。

16. Icarus： 伊卡洛斯，是希臘神話中代達羅斯的兒子，與代達羅斯使用蠟造的翼逃離克里特島時，因飛得太高，雙翼被太陽融化而跌落水中喪生。

17. Orville and Wilbur Wright： 萊特兄弟，奧維爾（1871—1948）與威爾伯（1867—1912），這對美國兄弟是世界上第一架飛機的建造者和試飛員；solo plane： 單人駕駛飛機。

18. Amelia Earhart： 阿米莉亞·埃爾哈特（1897—1937），美國飛行先鋒、作家，她是第一個單人飛越大西洋的女性飛行員，1937年7月2日在太平洋中部航行時失蹤；fantasy： 幻想，白日夢；impractical： 不切實際的，不現實的。

19. inform： 告知；air pilot： 飛機駕駛員；20/20 vision： 指正常視力。20/20指站在20英尺（約6米）的距離外能正常看清東西的視力，也被稱作6/6視力。往后依次為20/25、20/30、20/40等，指的是正常視力在25、30、40英尺等距離外應該看清的東西，你要在20英尺處才能看到。一般認為視力低于20/200為失明。

20. near-sighted： 近視的；lens： 鏡片。

21. dash： 使沮喪，使落空。

22. SB： 圣貝納迪諾（San Bernardino）的縮寫，美國加州一城市；LAX： 洛杉磯國際機場的代碼；San Francisco： 舊金山。

23. added bonus： 額外的獎勵；helicopter： 直升機。

24. be hooked on： 迷上。

25. 在飛行中，我可以翻山越嶺，橫渡江河湖海，飽覽各地人情風物——探索那些我聞所未聞，或者僅僅在書中讀到過的種種。

26. serene： 平靜的，安詳的；splendiferous： 壯麗的，極好的。

27. quietude： 平靜，寧靜；glitter： 閃爍，燦爛；glorious： 壯麗的，光輝燦爛的；sunray： 太陽光線；illuminate： 照亮，使燦爛。

28. smooth： 平穩的；sailing： 航行；jet-stream air current： 噴氣氣流；ripple： 波紋，漣漪；cross-current： 逆流。

29. prospect： 前景，展望。

30. literally： 確實地，不夸張地；countless： 數不清的；continent： 大洲。