“Well, Signora Milani needs the money,” he said, coming downstairs, billowy blue shirt, espadrilles, red trunks, sunglasses, and the red Loeb edition17 of Lucretius18 that never left his side. “I’m okay with her,” he said as he rubbed some lotion on his shoulders.
“I’m okay with her,” Chiara said, tittering. “I’m okay with you, you’re okay with me, she’s okay with him—”
“Stop clowning and let’s go swimming,” said Chiara’s sister.
“嗯,米拉尼太太需要這筆錢。”奧利弗邊說邊走下樓,又是那件寬松藍襯衫、布面平底涼鞋、紅色泳褲、太陽鏡,還有一本隨身攜帶的紅色洛布版《盧克萊修》。“我對她還算滿意。”他邊說邊在肩膀上抹防曬乳。
奇亞拉哧哧笑著說:“我對她還算滿意。我對你還算滿意,你對我還算滿意,他對她還算滿意……”
“別開玩笑了,我們?nèi)ビ斡玖恕?rdquo;奇亞拉的妹妹說。
He had, it took me a while to realize, four personalities depending on which bathing suit he was wearing. Knowing which to expect gave me the illusion of a slight advantage. Red: bold, set in his ways, very grown-up, almost gruff and ill-tempered—stay away. Yellow: sprightly, buoyant, funny, not without barbs—don’t give in too easily; might turn to red in no time. Green, which he seldom wore: acquiescent, eager to learn, eager to speak, sunny—why wasn’t he always like this? Blue: the afternoon he stepped into my room from the balcony, the day he massaged my shoulder, or when he picked up my glass and placed it right next to me.
我花了一段時間才了解,根據(jù)他當天身上的泳褲不同,他有四重人格。知道可能出現(xiàn)的是哪一種,讓我有占了點優(yōu)勢的錯覺。紅色:大膽、固執(zhí)、非常成熟、近乎粗暴的壞脾氣——最好離他遠一點。黃色:活潑、愉快、風趣、但并非沒有芒刺——別太輕易讓步??赡芰ⅠR變成紅色。他很少穿的綠色:默許、積極學習、積極發(fā)言、陽光開朗——為什么他不能一直是這樣?藍色:他從陽臺走進我房間的那個下午,他為我按摩肩膀的那一天,或者他幫我撿起玻璃杯放在我旁邊的時候。
Today was red: he was hasty, determined, snappy.
On his way out, he grabbed an apple from a large bowl of fruit, uttered a cheerful “Later, Mrs. P.” to my mother, who was sitting with two friends in the shade, all three of them in bathing suits, and, rather than open the gate to the narrow stairway leading to the rocks, jumped over it. None of our summer guests had ever been as freewheeling. But everyone loved him for it, the way everyone grew to love Later!
今天是紅色:他倉促、堅決、急躁。
往外走的時候,他從大水果盤里抓起一個蘋果,對母親興高采烈地說了一聲“回頭見,教授太太!”當時母親正和兩名好友坐在陰涼處,三個人都穿著泳衣。奧利弗沒打開通往礁石那道狹窄階梯的門,而是從上面跳過去。我們從沒遇到過這樣無拘無束的夏季住客,但人人都因此喜歡上他,也逐漸愛上他那句“回頭再說”。
《請以你的名字呼喚我》