The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
《伤心咖啡馆之歌》-摘录
By Carson McCullers
What sort of thing, then, was this love？
爱到底是什么？
First of all, love is a joint experience between two persons.
它是发生在两个人之间的情感交织的体验。
But the fact that it is a joint experience does not mean that it is a similar experience to the two people involved.
虽说爱是两人情感交织的体验，但这并不意味着两个人对这份爱的感受是相同的。
There are the lover and the beloved, but these two come from different countries.
一段感情里，有爱得更多的那一个，也有被爱的那个。这两个人，对于这段感情有着截然不同的体验。
The lover feels in his soul that his love is a solitary thing.
爱得更深的那一个，在灵魂深处感受到自己的爱是一种孤独的付出。
He comes to know a new, strange loneliness and it is this knowledge which makes him suffer.
他逐渐体会到一种新的、陌生的孤寂，正是这种体会使他痛苦无比。
So there is only one thing for the lover to do.
因此，他能做的只有一件事。
He must house his love within himself as best he can, he must create for himself a whole new inward world.
他必须尽可能深地把自己的爱禁锢在心中，他必须在心底为这份爱构筑一个全新的世界。
A world intense and strange, complete in himself.
这个世界里的情感强烈、疏离、自我成全。
This lover can be man, woman, child, or indeed any human creature on this earth.
这个付出爱的一方可以是男人、女人、孩子，可以是世界上任何一个人。
Now, the beloved can also be of any description.
至于被爱者，也可以是任何一类人。
The most outlandish people can be the stimulus for love.
再迥异的人，也可能成为爱情的触发剂。
A man may be a doddering great grandfather and still love only a strange girl he saw in the streets of Cheehaw one afternoon two decades past.
一个颤巍巍的老爷子可能仍然钟情于二十年前某日下午他在奇霍街头所见到的陌生姑娘。
The preacher may love a fallen woman.
牧师也许会爱上一个风尘女子。
The beloved may be treacherous, greasy headed, and given to evil habits.
被爱的人可能人品很坏，油头滑脑，染有不良恶习。
Yes, and the lover may see this as dearly as anyone else.
是的，那个爱着他的人，心底深知这些。
But that does not affect the evolution of his love one whit.
可是这丝毫也不影响他的感情的发展。
Therefore, the value and quality of any love is determined solely by the lover himself.
因此，任何一次恋爱的价值与质量纯粹取决于恋爱者本身。
It is for this reason that most of us would rather love than be loved.
正因如此，我们大多数人宁愿选择去爱一个不爱自己的人，而不愿被一个自己不爱的人爱上。
And the curt truth is that, in a deep secret way, the state of being beloved is intolerable to many.
一个非常简单却不易被察觉的事实是，被人爱，对于许多人来说，是无法忍受的。
The beloved fears and hates the lover, and with the best of reasons.
被爱者惧怕而且憎恨爱者，这也是有充分理由的。
For the lover is forever trying to strip bare his beloved.
因为付出爱的那一方总是想把他所爱的人，剥得连灵魂都裸露出来。
The lover craves any possible relation with the beloved, even if this experience can cause him only pain.
爱者疯狂地渴求与被爱者发生任何一种可能的关系，纵使这样做只能给自己带来痛苦。
--
