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1 "You’re Beautiful" because you’re classically trained. I’m ugly because I associate piano wire with strangulation. You’re beautiful because you stop to read the cards in newsagents’ windows about lost cats and missing dogs. I’m ugly because of what I did to that jellyfish with a lolly stick and a big stone. You’re beautiful because for you, politeness is instinctive, not a marketing campaign. I’m ugly because desperation is impossible to hide. Ugly like he is, Beautiful like hers, Beautiful like Venus, Ugly like his, Beautiful like she is, Ugly like Mars. You’re beautiful because you believe in coincidence and the power of thought. I’m ugly because I proved God to be a mathematical impossibility. You’re beautiful because you prefer home-made soup to the packet stuff. I’m ugly because once, at a dinner party, I defended the aristocracy and wasn’t even drunk. You’re beautiful because you can’t work the remote control. I’m ugly because of satellite television and twenty-four-hour rolling news. Ugly like he is, Beautiful like hers, Beautiful like Venus, Ugly like his, Beautiful like she is, Ugly like Mars. You’re beautiful because you cry at weddings as well as funerals. I’m ugly because I think of children as another species from a different world. You’re beautiful because you look great in any colour including red. I’m ugly because I think shopping is strictly for the acquisition of material goods. You’re beautiful because when you were born, undiscovered planets lined up to peep over the rim of your cradle and lay gifts of gravity and light at your miniature feet. I’m ugly for saying 'love at first sight’ is another form of mistaken identity, and that the most human of all responses is to gloat. Ugly like he is, Beautiful like hers, Beautiful like Venus, Ugly like his, Beautiful like she is, Ugly like Mars. You’re beautiful because you’ve never seen the inside of a car-wash. I’m ugly because I always ask for a receipt. You’re beautiful for sending a box of shoes to the third world. I’m ugly because I remember the telephone numbers of ex-girlfriends and the year Schubert was born. You’re beautiful because you sponsored a parrot in zoo. I’m ugly because when I sigh it’s like the slow collapse of a circus tent. Ugly like he is, Beautiful like hers, Beautiful like Venus, Ugly like his, Beautiful like she is, Ugly like Mars. You’re beautiful because you can point at a man in a uniform and laugh. I’m ugly because I was a police informer in a previous life. You’re beautiful because you drink a litre of water and eat three pieces of fruit a day. I’m ugly for taking the line that a meal without meat is a beautiful woman with one eye. You’re beautiful because you don’t see love as a competition and you know how to lose. I’m ugly because I kissed the FA Cup then held it up to the crowd. You’re beautiful because of a single buttercup in the top buttonhole of your cardigan. I’m ugly because I said the World’s Strongest Woman was a muscleman in a dress. You’re beautiful because you couldn’t live in a lighthouse. I’m ugly for making hand-shadows in front of the giant bulb, so when they look up, the captains of vessels in distress see the ears of a rabbit, or the eye of a fox, or the legs of a galloping black horse. Ugly like he is, Beautiful like hers, Beautiful like Venus, Ugly like his, Beautiful like she is, Ugly like Mars. Ugly like he is, Beautiful like hers, Beautiful like Venus, Ugly like his, Beautiful like she is, Ugly like Mars. 《你是美的》 舒丹丹/譯 因為你得益于古典訓練。 我是丑的因為我把鋼琴弦和勒殺聯(lián)系在一起。 你是美的因為你停下來看報刊亭窗上關(guān)于貓狗走失的啟事。 我是丑的因為我用棒棒糖棍和石塊對付那只水母。 你是美的因為對你來說，優(yōu)雅是天性，不是營銷術(shù)。 我是丑的因為絕望無法隱藏。 像他那樣丑， 像她那樣美， 美如維納斯， 像他那樣丑， 像她那樣美， 丑如馬爾斯。 你是美的因為你信任巧合和思想的力量。 我是丑的因為我證明上帝是一種數(shù)學上的不可能。 你是美的因為你愛自家做的湯勝過包裝的食物。 我是丑的因為在晚宴上，我曾捍衛(wèi)貴族，甚至還沒有喝醉。 你是美的因為你不會使用遙控器。 我是丑的因為衛(wèi)星電視和二十四小時滾動新聞。 像他那樣丑， 像她那樣美， 美如維納斯， 像他那樣丑， 像她那樣美， 丑如馬爾斯。 你是美的因為你在婚禮和葬禮上哭泣。 我是丑的因為我認為孩子是來自不同世界的另一個物種。 你是美的因為你穿什么顏色都好看，包括紅色。 我是丑的因為我認為購物完全是為了 對物質(zhì)產(chǎn)品的占有。 你是美的因為你出生時，未知的星球排成行，在搖籃邊上窺看你，將重力與光的禮物放在你小小的腳邊。 我是丑的因為我說“一見鐘情”是錯誤辨識的另一種形式，而所有反應(yīng)中最顯露人性的是幸災(zāi)樂禍。 像他那樣丑， 像她那樣美， 美如維納斯， 像他那樣丑， 像她那樣美， 丑如馬爾斯。 你是美的因為你從未看過洗車店的里面。 我是丑的因為我總是索要收據(jù)。 你是美的因為送了一箱鞋子給第三世界。 我是丑的因為我記得前女友們的電話號碼 和舒伯特誕生的那一年。 你是美的因為你助養(yǎng)了動物園的一只鸚鵡。 我是丑的因為我嘆氣時就像馬戲團的帳篷緩緩倒塌。 像他那樣丑， 像她那樣美， 美如維納斯， 像他那樣丑， 像她那樣美， 丑如馬爾斯。 你是美的因為你可以指著一個穿制服的男人大笑。 我是丑的因為從前我曾是向警察告密的人。 你是美的因為你每天喝一升水吃三份水果。 我是丑的因為我說過沒有肉的餐食就像只有一只眼的美女。 你是美的因為你不會視愛情為競爭并懂得如何失去。 我是丑的因為我親吻足總杯然后向人群高舉。 你是美的因為你羊毛衫頂端的鈕孔上只別著一朵毛茛花。 我是丑的因為我說世界上最強壯的女人是一個穿著裙子的肌肉男。 你是美的因為你不可能住在燈塔里。 我是丑的因為在那巨型燈泡前擺弄手影，所以當他們仰望，那些憂慮的船長就會看見一只兔子的耳朵，一只狐貍的眼睛，或一匹飛馳的黑馬的腿。 像他那樣丑， 像她那樣美， 美如維納斯， 像他那樣丑， 像她那樣美， 丑如馬爾斯。 像他那樣丑， 像她那樣美， 美如維納斯， 像他那樣丑， 像她那樣美， 丑如馬爾斯。 2 "The Shout" We went out into the school yard together, me and the boy whose name and face I don’t remember. We were testing the range of the human voice: he had to shout for all he was worth, I had to raise an arm from across the divide to signal back that the sound had carried. He called from over the park – I lifted an arm. Out of bounds, He yelled from the end of the road, from the foot of the hill, from beyond the look-out post of Fretwell’s Farm - I lifted an arm. He left town, went on to be twenty years dead with a gunshot hole in the roof of his mouth, in Western Australia. Boy with the name and face I don’t remember, you can stop shouting now, I can still hear you. 《呼喊》 舒丹丹/譯 我們走出去， 一同走到學校操場，我和那個男孩， 他的名字和臉 我已經(jīng)記不得了。我們在測試 人類聲音的幅度： 他必須拼命呼喊， 我必須舉起一只手臂， 從分隔線對面示意 聲音已經(jīng)接收。 他呼喊，從公園對面——我舉起一只手臂。 飛越邊際， 他呼喊，從路的盡頭， 從山的腳下， 從弗瑞特維爾農(nóng)場的瞭望崗?fù)狻?br>我舉起一只手臂。 他離開小鎮(zhèn)，繼續(xù)走，直到死去二十年， 嘴巴上顎 有個彈孔，在西澳大利亞。 名字和臉我已記不得的男孩， 現(xiàn)在你可以停止呼喊，我仍能聽到你。 3 "The Clown Punk" Driving home through the shonky side of town, three times out of ten you’ll see the town clown, like a basket of washing that got up and walked, towing a dog on a rope. But don’t laugh: every pixel of that man’s skin is shot through with indelible ink; as he steps out at the traffic lights, think what he’ll look like in thirty years’ time – the deflated face and shrunken scalp still daubed with the sad tattoos of high punk. You kids in the back seat who wince and scream when he slathers his daft mush on the windscreen, remember the clown punk with his dyed brain, then picture windscreen wipers, and let it rain. 《小丑朋克》 舒丹丹/譯 開車回家，穿過小鎮(zhèn)破敗的一邊， 十回有三回你會看見鎮(zhèn)上的小丑， 像一籃子臟衣服站起身來 在走動，繩子上拖著一條狗。但是 別笑：那個男人皮膚的每個像素 都滲透著永不褪色的墨水； 當他在交通燈旁甩開大步， 想想三十年后他會是怎樣—— 那沮喪的臉和干癟的頭皮 仍涂抹著興奮的朋克悲傷的紋身。 當他把玉米糊瘋狂地抹在擋風玻璃上， 你們這些嚇得尖叫的后座上的孩子 會記得這腦袋染了色的小丑朋克， 然后打開雨刷，讓它下雨。 4 "An Accommodation" —and I both agreed that something had to change, but I was still stunned and not a little hurt when I staggered home one evening to find she’d draped a net curtain slap bang down the middle of our home. She said, 'I’m over here and you’re over there, and from now on that’s how it’s going to be. It was a small house, not much more than a single room, which made for one or two practical problems. Like the fridge was on my side and the oven was on hers. And she had the bed while I slept fully clothed in the inflatable chair. Also there was a Hüsker Dü CD on her half of the border which I wouldn’t have minded hearing again for old times’ sake, and her winter coat stayed hanging on the door in my domain. But the net was the net, and we didn’t so much as pass a single word through its sacred veil, let alone send a hand crawling beneath it, or, God forbid, yank it aside and go marching across the line. Some nights she’d bring men back, deadbeats, incompatible, not fit to kiss the heel of her shoe. But it couldn’t have been easy for her either, watching me mooch about like a ghost, seeing me crashing around in the empty bottles and cans. And there were good times too, sitting side by side on the old settee, the curtain between us, the T V in her sector but angled towards me, taking me into account. Over the years the moths moved in, got a taste for the net, so it came to resemble a giant web, like a thing made of actual holes strung together by fine, nervous threads. But there it remained, and remains to this day, this tattered shroud , this ravaged lace suspended between our lives, keeping us inseparable and betrothed. 《蝸居》 舒丹丹/譯 ——我同意有些事不得不改變，但我仍感到震驚，傷害不是一點點，有天晚上當我搖搖晃晃回到家，發(fā)現(xiàn)她居然從我們家正中央垂下一面網(wǎng)簾。她說，“我在這邊，你在那邊，從現(xiàn)在開始，就這么定了?！边@是個小房子，比單人房大不了多少，這導(dǎo)致了一兩個實際問題。比如說冰箱在我這邊，烤箱在她那邊。她那邊有床而我只能和衣睡在充氣椅上。胡克斯·杜的唱片也在界線的那一半，念及舊日情分，這個我倒不介意再次聽到，而她的冬裝大衣還掛在我的領(lǐng)地的門上。但網(wǎng)就是網(wǎng)，我們甚至沒有透過那神圣的簾幕交流過只言片語，更不用說伸出一只手在它下方摸索，或者，把它猛地拉到一邊，索性越過界線。但愿上帝不容許這樣的事發(fā)生！有些晚上她會帶男人回來，一些游手好閑的人，與她完全不搭調(diào)，連吻她的鞋后跟都不配。但對她來說也肯定不容易，看著我像個幽靈一樣徘徊不安，看著我不時碰倒了空瓶空罐。但也有好時光，并肩坐在舊靠椅上，簾幕垂在我們中間，電視在她那邊，但斜著朝向我這邊，還是考慮到了我。 這些年來，飛蛾進來了，對這張網(wǎng)饒有興致，所以漸漸地它看起來像是一張巨大的網(wǎng)，像是由精美而緊繃的絲線編織而成的布滿真實洞眼的某樣東西。但它一直保存在那兒，保存至今，這已變得破爛的網(wǎng)簾，這已毀損的蕾絲花邊，懸掛在我們的生活之間，使我們形影不離，直至訂婚。 |
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