試譯：〈夜校〉（部分）【Night School－Raymond Carver】 江離

試譯：〈夜校〉（部分）－瑞蒙·卡佛　　　江離　
 
我的婚姻剛剛破裂。我一份工作也找不到。我有了另一個女友，但她眼下不在城裏。故此我去了一間酒吧，點了杯啤酒。兩個女人坐在數張凳子開外，而其中一個開始跟我搭話。

「你有車嗎？」
 
「有，但不在這兒。」我說。
 
車在妻子那裏。我住在父母家，有時也會用他們的車。但今晚我是走路過來的。
 
另一個女人看着我。她倆約略四十歲左右吧，也許實際上還老一點。
 
「你問了他甚麼？」那女人對第一個女人說。
 
「我問他有沒有車子。」
 
「那你有車子嗎？」那女人問我。
 
「我說過了。有，但不在身邊。」我說。
 
「那可不是無濟於事嗎？」她說。
 
第一個女人笑了起來。「我們剛有了個想法，但需要輛車子才能成事。也太不巧了。」她轉過頭，向酒保要多了兩杯啤酒。
 
我本是一直在小口啜着啤酒的，這時將它一口乾掉，想著她倆或會請我一輪。但她們沒有。
 
「你是幹啥的？」第一個女人問我。
 
「目前嘛，啥都沒在幹，」我說。「有時候，當我能夠時，我會上學。」
 
「他會上學，」她對另一個女人說，「他是個學生。你在哪裏上學？」
 
「附近，」我說。
 
「早說了吧，」那女人說，「他不就像個學生嗎？」
 
「他們在教你什麼？」第二個女人說。
 
「什麼也教。」我說。
 
「我意思是，」她說，「你是打算做甚麼的？你的人生大目標是什麼？人人都有那麼一兩個人生大目標。」
 
我向酒保舉了舉空杯子。他拿了過去又給我斟了一杯。我數出一些零錢——若干小時前我還有兩塊的，現在就只剩三毛了。她還在等著答案。
 
「教書。到學校教書，」我說。
 
「他想當一個老師，」她說。
 
我呷着我的啤酒。有人給點唱機投了幣，一首我妻子以前挺喜歡的歌開始播放。我環視四周，店門旁有兩個男人在打沙狐球。門是敞開的，而外面已經天黑了。

7/4/2020

原文：

Night School by Raymond Carver
 
My marriage had just fallen apart. I couldn't find a job. I had another girl. But she wasn't in town. So I was at a bar having a glass of beer, and two women were sitting a few stools down, and one of them began to talk to me.
 
“You have a car?"
 
“I do, but it's not here," I said.
 
My wife had the car. I was staying at my parent’s place. I used their car sometimes. But tonight I was walking.
 
The other woman looked at me. They were both about forty, maybe older.
 
"What’d you ask him?" the other woman said to the first woman.
 
“I said did he have a car."
 
“So do you have a car?" the second woman said to me.
 
“I was telling her. I have a car. But I don’t have it with me," I said.
 
“That doesn't do us much good, does it?" she said.
 
The first woman laughed. "We had a brainstorm and we need a car to go through with it. Too bad." She turned to the bartender and asked for two more beers.
 
I'd been nursing my beer along, and now I drank it off and thought they might buy me a round. They didn't.
 
"What do you do?" the first woman asked me.
 
"Right now, nothing," I said. "Sometimes, when I can, I go to school."
 
“He goes to school," she said to the other woman. "He's a student. Where do you go to school?"
 
"Around," I said.
 
"I told you," the woman said. "Doesn't he look like a student?”
 
"What are they teaching you?" the second woman said.
 
"Everything,” I said.
 
"I mean," she said, "what do you plan to do? What’s your big goal in life? Everybody has a big goal in life."
 
I raised my empty glass to the bartender. He took it and drew me another beer. I counted out some change, which left me with thirty cents from the two dollars I'd started out with a couple of hours ago. She was waiting.
 
"Teach. Teach school," I said.
 
"He wants to be a teacher," she said.
 
I sipped my beer. Someone put a coin in the jukebox and a song that my wife liked began to play. I looked around. Two men near the front were at the shuffleboard. The door was open and it was dark outside.