魯本·豐塞卡　巫和雄

I arrived home with my briefcase bulging with papers， reports， studies， research， proposals， contracts. My wife， who was playing solitaire3 in bed， a glass of whiskey on the nightstand， said， without looking up from the cards， ‘You look tired.’ The usual house sounds： my daughter in her room practicing voice modulation4， quadraphonic music5 from my son’s room. ‘Why don’t you put down that suitcase？’ my wife asked. ‘Take off those clothes， have a nice glass of whiskey. You’ve got to learn to relax.’

I went to the library， the place in the house I enjoy being by myself， and as usual did nothing. I opened the research volume on the desk but didn’t see the letters and numbers. I was merely waiting.

‘You never stop working. I’ll bet your partners don’t work half as hard and they earn the same.’ My wife came into the room， a glass in her hand. ‘Can I tell her to serve dinner？’

The maid served the meal French style6. My children had grown up， my wife and I were fat. ‘It’s that wine you like，’ she said， clicking her tongue with pleasure. My son asked for money during the coffee course， my daughter asked for money during the liqueur7. My wife didn’t ask for anything; we have a joint checking account8.

‘Shall we go for a drive？’ I asked her. I knew she wouldn’t go—it was time for her soap opera.

‘I don’t see what you get out of going for a drive every night， but the car cost a fortune， it has to be used. I’m just less and less attracted to material things，’ she replied.

The children’s cars were blocking the garage door， preventing me from removing my car. I moved both cars and parked them in the street， removed my car and parked it in the street， put the other two cars back in the garage， and closed the door. All this maneuvering9 left me slightly irritated， but when I saw my car’s jutting bumpers10， the special chrome-plated double reinforcement11， I felt my heart race with euphoria12.

I turned the ignition key. It was a powerful motor that generated its strength silently beneath the aerodynamic hood. As always， I left without knowing where I would go. It had to be a deserted street， in this city with more people than flies. Not the Avenida Brasil13—too busy.

I came to a poorly lighted street， heavy with dark trees， the perfect spot. A man or a woman？ It made little difference， really， but no one with the right characteristics appeared. I began to get tense. It always happened that way， and I even liked it—the sense of relief was greater. Then I saw the woman. It could be her， even though a woman was less exciting because she was easier. She was walking quickly， carrying a package wrapped in cheap paper—something from a bakery or the market. She was wearing a skirt and blouse.

There were trees every twenty yards along the sidewalk， an interesting problem demanding a great deal of expertise. I turned off the headlights and accelerated. She only realized I was going for her when she heard the sound of the tires hitting the curb14. The motor would go from zero to sixty in eight seconds15. I could see that the woman’s broken body had come to rest， covered with blood， on top of the low wall in front of a house.

Back in the garage， I took a good look at the car. With pride I ran my hand lightly over the unmarked fenders16 and bumper. Few people in the world could match my skill driving such a car.

The family was watching television. ‘Do you feel better after your spin？’ my wife asked， lying on the sofa， staring fixedly at the TV screen.

‘I’m going to bed，’ I answered， ‘good night everybody. Tomorrow’s going to be a rough day at the office.’

我回到家，鼓鼓囊囊的手提箱里塞滿了論文報(bào)告、研究資料和提案合同，等等。妻子正在床上玩著紙牌接龍，床頭柜上還放著杯威士忌。她看著牌，頭也沒(méi)抬地說(shuō)道：“你好像很累啊。”屋里的動(dòng)靜一如往常：女兒在房間里吊著嗓子，兒子房里也傳出立體聲音樂(lè)。“你怎么不把包放下？”妻子說(shuō)道，“衣服脫了吧，來(lái)喝杯好酒，你得學(xué)著放松放松?！?/p>

走進(jìn)書房，我像往常一樣，什么也不做，享受著獨(dú)處。我把研究卷冊(cè)攤開(kāi)在桌上，上面的字母和數(shù)字卻一個(gè)也沒(méi)看進(jìn)去。我只是在等。

“你就知道工作。我敢說(shuō)，你那些同事肯定連你一半的努力都沒(méi)有，人家卻掙得跟你一樣多。”妻子走進(jìn)房間，手上還拿著杯子，“我讓她開(kāi)飯啦？”

女仆準(zhǔn)備的是法式晚餐。孩子們都長(zhǎng)大了，我和妻子也發(fā)福了?！斑@是你喜歡的那種酒?！逼拮訚M意地咂著嘴。喝咖啡的時(shí)候，兒子向我要零花錢，女兒則是在喝餐后酒時(shí)開(kāi)的口。妻子什么都沒(méi)要，因?yàn)槲覀儌z有一個(gè)聯(lián)名支票賬戶。

“要不要一起去兜風(fēng)？”我問(wèn)她。我知道她不會(huì)去的，這可是她看肥皂劇的時(shí)間。

“我真搞不懂，你天天晚上都出去兜風(fēng)，有什么意思。不過(guò)買車也花了不少錢，是得多開(kāi)開(kāi)。對(duì)這些物質(zhì)上的東西，我是越來(lái)越?jīng)]興趣了。”她回應(yīng)道。

孩子們的車堵在車庫(kù)門口，我的車沒(méi)法動(dòng)。我把那兩輛車挪到路上，將自己的車開(kāi)出來(lái)停好，再把那兩輛車開(kāi)回車庫(kù)，關(guān)上了門。這一番折騰讓我有點(diǎn)惱火，可看見(jiàn)車前那凸出的雙層鍍鉻加固保險(xiǎn)杠，我的情緒一下子又高漲了起來(lái)。

我轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)鑰匙點(diǎn)火，強(qiáng)勁的發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)在流線型引擎蓋下沉穩(wěn)地輸出澎湃的動(dòng)力。和往常一樣，我開(kāi)出去的時(shí)候還不知道要去哪兒。在這個(gè)人比蒼蠅都多的城市里，我得去條偏僻的街道。巴西大道可不行——那兒太繁華了。

我來(lái)到一條光線昏暗的街道，路邊都是黑壓壓的樹——一個(gè)完美的地點(diǎn)。男人還是女人呢？其實(shí)沒(méi)什么區(qū)別，但是還沒(méi)有合適的人選出現(xiàn)。我開(kāi)始緊張起來(lái)。我總是這樣，現(xiàn)在甚至都喜歡上這種感覺(jué)了：越緊張就越能得到釋放的快感。就在這時(shí)，我看見(jiàn)了那個(gè)女人。就她吧，雖然女人更容易對(duì)付，刺激感也會(huì)少一點(diǎn)。她行色匆匆，手上拎著不知是從面包店還是超市買的東西，用廉價(jià)的紙包著，身上穿著短裙和襯衫。

路邊每隔20碼就有棵樹。這倒是個(gè)有趣的問(wèn)題，得有足夠的技巧才行。我關(guān)掉車頭燈，開(kāi)始加速。直到聽(tīng)見(jiàn)輪胎撞上路牙的聲音，她才意識(shí)到我是沖著她去的。車子從0到60邁加速只用了8秒。我能看見(jiàn)那女人被撞爛的驅(qū)體沾滿鮮血，委頓在一幢房子前的矮墻上。

回到車庫(kù)，我細(xì)細(xì)打量著車子，自豪地用手輕撫那毫發(fā)無(wú)損的擋泥板和保險(xiǎn)杠。要論開(kāi)這種車的技術(shù)，世上沒(méi)多少人能跟我相提并論。

家里人還在看電視?！岸颠^(guò)風(fēng)感覺(jué)好點(diǎn)了吧？”妻子問(wèn)道。她躺在沙發(fā)上，目不轉(zhuǎn)睛地盯著電視屏幕。

“我睡覺(jué)去了?！蔽掖鸬溃按蠹彝戆?。明天辦公室還有得煩呢?！?/p>

（譯者單位：南京航空航天大學(xué)）

1巴西小說(shuō)家，劇作家。一生創(chuàng)作類型多樣，包括短篇小說(shuō)、長(zhǎng)篇小說(shuō)、電影劇本等，其中尤以短篇小說(shuō)見(jiàn)長(zhǎng)。其簡(jiǎn)潔有力的筆觸、冷酷尖刻的語(yǔ)言，直指巴西社會(huì)最黑暗的一面。2003年獲得葡語(yǔ)文學(xué)的最高榮譽(yù)卡蒙斯獎(jiǎng)，同年在墨西哥獲得胡安·魯爾福文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)。Night Drive是豐塞卡的一篇代表性短篇小說(shuō)。原文為葡語(yǔ)，經(jīng)克利福德·E.蘭德斯（Clifford E. Landers）翻譯成英文，收錄在他編著的《文學(xué)翻譯指南》（Literary Translation—A Practical Guide， 2001）一書中。? 2英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)言文學(xué)博士，副教授。中國(guó)譯協(xié)專家會(huì)員、對(duì)外話語(yǔ)體系研究委員會(huì)委員、中國(guó)英漢語(yǔ)比較研究會(huì)會(huì)員、江蘇省司法廳法規(guī)規(guī)章翻譯特聘專家、天津外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué)中央文獻(xiàn)翻譯研究基地兼職研究員。? 3 solitaire紙牌接龍，一種單人紙牌游戲。? 4 modulation轉(zhuǎn)調(diào)，變音，此處指練嗓子。? 5 quadraphonic music四聲道音樂(lè)。

6 French style法國(guó)風(fēng)格的（晚餐）。? 7 liqueur利口酒，一種甜味酒精飲料，通常在飯后少量飲用。? 8 joint checking account聯(lián)名支票賬戶，可用支票從存款中支付款項(xiàng)。? 9 maneuver機(jī)動(dòng)，移動(dòng)。? 10 jutting bumpers凸出的保險(xiǎn)杠。

11 chrome-plated double reinforcement雙層鍍鉻進(jìn)行加固。? 12 euphoria特別愉快的情緒。? 13 Avenida Brasil巴西大道，位于巴西圣保羅的一條街道。? 14 curb路牙。

15 from zero to sixty in eight seconds汽車在8秒內(nèi)從靜止加速到時(shí)速60英里。? 16 fender汽車擋泥板。