瓦爾德羅普作品

為了理解語言的本質

為了理解語言的本質，你開始繪畫，認為一旦你能解決點、線和色彩的沖突，參考的邏輯就會顯而易見。從那沿著意義的刻度而滑行的詞語中，我被我的氣息邊緣的煙霧分心。我等待火焰，那從眼睛前往世界的通道。黎明時分，你精疲力盡地爬上床，告誡我當心在盲目的畫布上畫下推論。我冒昧地說，一根線條可以代表一座直插云天的塔，或者在另一方面，代表飄落的雨。你回答說，世界已經占據了太多的空間。

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.

當街道在清晨空空蕩蕩

當街道在清晨空空蕩蕩，我在詞語之間開辟空間，那些空間寬闊得足以容納能夠反射塔樓上的琺瑯鐘的笑容。遲到是我的基本特性之一。無法想象我不該擁有它，我甚至在度假時也沒剝奪自己身上的長處。盡管如此，我想不起有什么日寸候，我沒有試圖通過改變我嘴巴的外形，并顯得毫無氣息，從而隱藏這一點。天空正把色彩的明暗從柔和漸變到刺眼，不一定得呼應任何一種色彩或生動的場面。氣候多雨，這一點無疑，準備好把它的窗簾拉到我的從句和連詞上面。然而，如果我把空間開辟得太寬而無法抵達下一個詞語和沉默，那又會怎樣呢。

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.

你告訴我

你告訴我，如果某種東西不使用，它就毫無意義，你給我量體溫，我認為我的體溫是為一個更難熬的日子而節省的。每天夜里，鏡中出現的是同一張臉，又多了一點老舊，一件磨損太久的衣裙。月亮在外面的寒意中，與那不安、不滿的風在一起，那風好像要改變懸鈴木的位置。我預料會有責備，因為我提到了“愛”一詞，但你僅僅指責我偷走了你的鉛筆，悲傷隨著意義而消失。你用雙手抱著腦袋，舉行一種儀式，因為你說，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.

乍一看來

乍一看來，那并不像一幅畫著你軀體的圖畫。最多是從大海上滾進來的霧靄，遮蓋又露出河流的表面，好像是一種極端。我借口你猶豫不決，因為，我覺得你想包含未受到拼寫錯誤所傷害的一切。然后，我看見你試圖倚靠在失蹤的詞語的重量上，世界盡頭的一道墻。盡管想象一小段距離甚至也讓我厭倦，但我知道，它至少在繼續，遠及一個人能逃離危險，那里有兩個女人被延遲著沖了上來。你說，詞語或句子的嚴密都無法阻止往昔穩定加速。

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.