lolamarrazzo 发表于 2015-1-5 23:49:21

第十五期杂志选文——《那一天,小罗伯特唐尼救了我的...

at the height of an emergency, the actor turned into a real-life superhero危机情况下,男演员成为现实版的超级英雄The Day Robert Downey JR. Saved My Grandma那一天,小罗伯特唐尼救了我的祖母 I’m willing to go out on a limb here and guess that most stories of kindness do not begin with formerly drug-addicted celebrity bad boys. Mine does. You may or may not be a fan, but I am: His name is Robert Downey Jr., and it was the early ’90s (I was barely 20 years old) when this story took place.我愿意在这里打包票并猜测大多数温馨的故事并不是以吸毒的名流坏小子开始的。但我的故事正是如此。你也许是他的影迷,也许不是,但我很喜欢他:他的名字是小罗伯特唐尼,这是一个发生在90年代初期(我当时只有20岁)的故事。
It was at a garden party for the ACLU of Southern California—my stepmother was the executive director of the organization. I was escorting my grandmother to the event. 事情发生在在南加州美国公民自由协会的游园会上——我的继母是该组织的执行理事。当时我正陪同我的祖母参加这次活动。
There isn’t enough room in this story to explain to you everything my grandmother was—I would need volumes. So for the sake of brevity, I will tell you that she was beautiful even in her 80s, vain as the day is long, and whip smart, though her type of intelligence did not include recognizing young celebrities.由于篇章有限,我无法向你们交代关于我祖母的每一件事情——除非有更多的空间。所以为了使故事简洁明了,我只想告诉你虽然她已经80多岁了,但依然美丽,时光奈何不了她,她才智过人,但她不认识那些年轻明星。
I pointed out Robert Downey Jr. to her when he arrived, in a gorgeous cream-colored linen suit, with Sarah Jessica Parker on his arm. My grandmother shrugged, far more interested in piling her paper plate with cheese. He wasn’t Cary Grant or Gregory Peck. What did she care?当小罗伯特唐尼赶到后,我把他指给我的祖母看,他穿了一身华丽的奶油色的亚麻套装,挽着莎拉·杰西卡·帕克的手臂。我的祖母耸了耸肩,对向她的纸盘子里堆积的奶酪显得更感兴趣。他又不是加里格兰特或格里高利派克。她为什么要关心呢?
The afternoon’s main honoree was Ron Kovic, whose time in the Vietnam War left him in a wheelchair and whose story had recently been immortalized in the Oliver Stone film Born on the Fourth of July. I mention the wheelchair because it played a role in what happened next.下午的主宾是罗恩·科维克,由于在越南战争时负伤,他的剩余人生只能在轮椅上度过,他的故事通过奥利弗斯通的电影《生于七月四日》被人们铭记。我提到了轮椅是因为它在接下来发生的事情中起到了作用。
After the speeches concluded, we stood up in our front-row seats to make our exit. But as she rose, my grandmother tripped and fell smack into the wheelchair ramp that provided Ron Kovic with access to the stage. I didn’t know that wheelchair ramps have sharp edges, but they do—at least this one did, and it sliced her shin right open. The blood was staggering.致辞结束后,我们从第一排的席位站了起来准备退场。但是当我的祖母起来时,她绊了一下并且摔倒在了专门为罗恩·科维克上台而提供的轮椅坡道上。我并不知道轮椅坡道有锋利的边缘,但事情就是如此——至少这条坡道是这样的,坡道边缘正好切开了她的小腿。流出的血液令人吃惊。
I’d like to be able to tell you that I whipped into action—that I quickly took control of the situation, tending to my grandmother and calling for the ambulance that was so obviously needed—but I didn’t. I sat down and put my head between my knees because I thought I was going to faint. Did I mention the blood? Luckily, somebody did take control of the situation. That person was Robert Downey Jr.我应该要告诉你们的是我急忙行动了起来——我迅速地控制住了局面,照看我的祖母 叫一辆救护车,这些都是显然需要做的事——但是我没有。我坐了下来,把我的头夹在双膝之间,因为我认为我几乎就要晕过去了。我提到血了吗?幸好,有人确实控制住了局面。那个人就是小罗伯特唐尼。
He ordered someone to call an ambulance, another to bring a glass of water, and another to fetch a blanket. He took off his gorgeous linen jacket, he rolled up his sleeves, and he grabbed hold of my grandmother’s leg. Then he took the jacket, which I’d assumed he’d taken off only to get it out of the way, and he tied it around her wound. I watched the cream-colored linen turn scarlet with her blood. He told her not to worry and that everything would be all right. He knew, instinctively, how to speak to her, distract her, and—most critically—play to her vanity. He held on to her calf, and he whistled. He told her how stunning her legs were. She said to him, to my humiliation, “My granddaughter tells me you’re a famous actor, but I’ve never heard of you.”他命令某个人去叫一辆救护车,一个人去拿一杯水,另一个人去拿一块毯子。他脱下了他那华丽的亚麻夹克,卷起袖子,抓住我祖母的腿。然后他拿起夹克(起初我以为他脱掉夹克只是觉得夹克碍手碍脚),把它系在我祖母的伤口上。我看到了这件奶油色的亚麻夹克被祖母的血染成了鲜红色。他告诉她不要担心,一切都会好的。他本能地知道怎么跟她去说话来转移她的注意力,最重要的一点——他顺应着她的虚荣心。他紧紧抓住她的小腿,并吹着口哨。他告诉她她的腿是多么的迷人。让我感到惭愧的是,她对他说,“我的孙女跟我说你是个有名的演员,但我从未听说过你。”
He stayed with her until the ambulance came, and then he walked alongside the stretcher holding her hand and telling her she was breaking his heart by leaving the party so early, just as they were getting to know each other. He waved to her as they closed the doors. “Don’t forget to call me, Silvia,” he said. “We’ll do lunch.” 他一直陪她到救护车赶来,然后他走在担架旁边握着她的手并告诉她,她这么早离开这场聚会让他心碎,就像他们彼此互相了解一样。当他们准备关上门时,他向她挥了挥手。“不要忘了给我打电话,西尔维娅,”他说道,“我们要共进晚餐。”
He was a movie star, after all.毕竟,他是一个电影明星。
Believe it or not, I hurried into the ambulance without a word. I was too embarrassed and way too shy to thank him.不管你信不信,我一声不响地急忙进入救护车。我非常尴尬,羞得一声道谢的话也没说。
We all have things we wish we’d said, moments we’d like to revisit and reenact. Rarely do we get that chance to make up for those times when words utterly failed us. But I did—many years later.我们都有非常希望说出口的事情,我们时刻想要重新审视,重新制定。我们难得有机会去弥补那些我们曾经失语的时刻。但是在多年之后,我弥补了那时的遗憾。
I should mention that, later, when Robert Downey Jr. was in prison for possession of heroin, cocaine, and an unloaded .357 Magnum handgun found in his car, I thought of writing to him. I wanted to remind him of that day when he was humanity personified, when he was the best of what we each can be. On that day, he was the kindest of strangers.随后,我该提的是,当小罗伯特唐尼因私藏海洛因、可卡因并在他的车里发现未装载的357马格南手枪而入狱时,我想写信给他。我想让他想起那天他出于人道主义的表现,他是最棒的一个,我们都可以成为那样的人。那一天,他是最善良的陌生人。
But I didn’t.但我没有。
Some 15 years after that garden party, ten years after my grandmother had died, and five since he’d been released from prison, I saw him in a restaurant. I grew up in Los Angeles, where celebrity sightings are commonplace and where I was raised to respect people’s privacy and never bother someone while he’s out having a meal. But on this day, I decided to abandon the code of the native Angeleno and my own shyness, and I approached his table.游园会过去15年后,我的祖母去世10年后,也是他被监狱豁免5年后,我在一个餐馆里看到了他。我在洛杉矶长大,在这里,看见名人是司空见惯的事,在这里,我被教导要尊重人们的隐私,当某人在外吃饭时,不要打扰他。但在这一天,我决定舍弃洛杉矶当地人的这些约定俗成的规则和我自己的羞怯感,我走向了他的桌子。
I said, “I don’t have any idea if you remember this …,” and I told him the story.我说,“我不知道你是否记得这些……”我把这个故事告诉了他。
He remembered.他记得这件事。
“I just wanted to thank you,” I said. “And I wanted to tell you that it was simply the kindest act I’ve ever witnessed.”“我只是想谢谢你,”我说。“我想对你说那是我曾经目击到的最仁慈的行为。”
He stood up and he took both of my hands in his and he looked into my eyes and he said, “You have absolutely no idea how much I needed to hear that today.”他站了起来,用他的双手握住了我的两只手,直视着我的眼睛,他说,“你绝对不知道我多么需要在今天听到这些话。”


翻译:Urban校对:小潮总监 : 小潮副总监 :攸宁树屋字幕组-文翻组翻译仅供学习交流,严禁用于商业用途
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