雙語讀電影 《飛屋環(huán)游記》第02章 :他已不再年輕，變成了一個老人
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CHAPTER 2
From that moment on, Carl and Ellie were best friends. When they were nineteen, they got married. They moved into Ellie’s clubhouse and had fun fixing it up. Ellie hammered shingles onto the roof. Carl put up a new weather vane. Ellie pulled out her old adventure book, and Carl painted the house so that it looked exactly like the clubhouse in Ellie’s drawing.One day, Carl leaned against the mailbox, admiring Ellie’s work as she painted their names on the side. But when he pulled back, he gasped. He’d left a handprint in the paint! Ellie smiled and put her hand in the paint, too. When she pulled it away, it looked as if their prints were holding hands.
They worked on the house every day, and the days turned into weeks. Sometimes they took a break. They would sit in two comfy chairs that were placed side by side in the living room. Other times they would climb to the top of their favorite hill and have a picnic. They liked to lie in the grass, stare up at the sky, and watch the clouds transform into different shapes, like turtles and elephants.
Ellie got a job at the local zoo, taking care of the animals in the South America House. Carl worked at the zoo, too. He sold balloons from a cart. Sometimes Carl had so many balloons, the cart would rise right off the ground!
The weeks turned into months. Ellie and Carl looked through her adventure book and dreamed of traveling to Paradise Falls. Ellie painted a lovely picture of their house atop the tepui. They hung the picture over the fireplace. Carl added a poster of South America. Ellie put up a hand-woven rug, a piece of pottery, and a figurine of a tropical bird.
For the finishing touch, Carl placed a toy blimp on the mantel and a glass jar on the table. A label on the jar read PARADISE FALLS. Carl and Ellie tossed their spare change into the jar whenever they could.
But they never had much money. And they always seemed to need to spend the money they had—a new tire for the car, a cast for Carl’s broken leg, a new roof for the house. But Carl and Ellie didn’t worry. They knew they would get to South America someday.
The months turned into years.
Carl sold his balloons, and Ellie cared for the zoo animals. At night, they danced in the living room. They always had fun together.
One day, when they had been married more than thirty years, Carl realized that they had been waiting long enough. He decided to surprise Ellie. He bought two plane tickets to South America and tucked them into a picnic basket. But when they were on the way up their favorite hill, Ellie fell down.
Ellie went to the hospital, and for a while it looked as if she might get better. But she didn’t. Instead, Carl went to her funeral with a bouquet of blue balloons.
Then he went home. For the first time since he was eight years old, Carl was completely alone.
The alarm clock buzzed, and Carl searched for his glasses. He sat up in bed, rubbing his face. He was an old man now. Waking up isn’t as easy as it used to be, he thought as he stretched. His bones creaked and cracked. He grabbed his cane, which had tennis balls stuck to the bottom prongs for traction, and rode his elderly-assistance chair down the staircase. It took Carl a long, long time to get downstairs.
Carl ate breakfast, then puttered around the house. He dusted the mantel above the fireplace, where he and Ellie had collected all their special adventure items. Carl made sure to carefully replace the tropical-bird figurine next to the pair of binoculars and a framed photo of Ellie as a young girl. Then he slowly walked to the front door, put on his hat, and adjusted the grape-soda pin on his lapel. He paused to check his reflection in the mirror before he unlocked all the locks on the front door and walked out to the porch.
The neighborhood had changed over the years. In fact, it wasn’t much of a neighborhood anymore. Every other house on the block had been torn down. A construction crew was building new high-rise apartments.
“Quite a sight, huh, Ellie?” Carl said as he watched the bulldozers crawl over the dirt. Carl knew that Ellie was no longer there to hear him. But he still liked to talk to her sometimes. After all, the house was filled with things they had made together. Everything about it reminded him of her.
Carl’s eyes fell on the mailbox. It hadn’t changed since the day Ellie had painted it. It still had both their names—and their handprints. A few letters poked from its door.
“Mail’s here!” Carl announced. He tottered to the box and pulled out a brochure. Good-looking elderly people smiled up at him from the bright pamphlet. “Shady Oaks Retirement. Oh, brother.” Carl noticed that the mailbox was covered with dust. Frowning, he picked up a leaf blower and blew the dust away.
“Hey! Morning, Mr. Fredricksen!” a construction worker named Tom called over to him. “Need any help there?”
“Yes. Tell your boss over there that you boys are ruining our house,” Carl growled , glancing over at a businessman talking on his cell phone. “Well, just to let you know, my boss would be happy to take this old place off your hands, and for double his last offer,” Tom replied. “What do you say to that?”
In answer, Carl blasted Tom with the leaf blower.
“Uh, I’ll take that as a no, then,” Tom said.
“I believe I made my position to your boss quite clear,” Carl said.
“You poured prune juice in his gas tank,” Tom replied.
Carl chuckled. “Oh, yeah, that was good.”
“This is serious,” Tom said, frowning. “He’s out to get your house.”
Carl turned and went back up his front steps.“Tell your boss he can have our house,” he called back over his shoulder. “When I’m dead!” He slammed the door.
Tom raised his eyebrows. “I’ll take that as a maybe.”
Inside the house, Carl sat down in his chair and turned on the television.
“If you order right now,” said the man on the screen, “you’re gonna get the camera. You’re gonna get the printer. You’re gonna get the …”
Carl’s eyelids felt heavy. His head started to nod.
Just then, someone knocked at the door. Carl got up and shuffled over to answer it.
A boy in a Junior Wilderness Explorer uniform was standing on Carl’s porch. He wore a sash covered in badges, and he was holding a Wilderness Explorer handbook. “Good afternoon,” the boy read from his handbook, “my name is Russell, and I am a Wilderness Explorer in Tribe Fifty-four, Sweat Lodge Twelve. Are you in need of any assistance today, sir?”
“No,” Carl said.
“I could help you cross the street,” Russell suggested.
“No.”
“I could help you cross your yard.”
“No.”
“I could help you cross your porch.”
“No.”
“Well, I’ve got to help you cross something,” Russell insisted.
“Uh, no,” Carl said. “I’m doing fine.” He shut the door in Russell’s face.
Carl stood in the hallway, listening. But he didn’t hear Russell’s footsteps walking away. After a moment, he yanked open the door.
“Good afternoon, my name is Russell,” Russell repeated, “and I am a Wilderness Explorer in Tribe Fifty-four, Sweat Lodge Twelve. Are you in need of any assistance today, sir?”
“Thank you, but I don’t need any help.” Carl tried to shut the door, but Russell jammed his hiking boot into the doorframe, blocking it.
“Ow!” Russell winced.
With a sigh, Carl opened the door. Clearly, this kid wasn’t going to give up. “Proceed.”
“Good afternoon,” said Russell, starting over.
“But skip to the end!” Carl snapped.
Russell pointed to his sash. Many colorful patches had been sewn onto it. There was only one space left on the whole sash. “See these?” he asked. “They are my Wilderness Explorer badges. You may notice, one is missing. It’s my Assisting the Elderly badge. If I get it, I will become a Senior Wilderness Explorer. The wilderness must be explored!” Russell made his hands into a W. He flapped his hands and squawked like a bird. “Caw-caw!” Then Russell’s hands became claws as he growled like a bear. “Rarr!”
Carl’s hearing aid shrieked in his ear.
“It’s going to be great,” Russell went on. “There’s a big ceremony, and all the dads come, and they pin on our badges.”
“So you want to assist an old person?” Carl asked.
“Yep! Then I will be a Senior Wilderness Explorer!” Russell grinned.
Carl looked left, then right. Then he leaned in to whisper, “You ever heard of a snipe?”
“Snipe?” Russell shook his head.
“Bird. Beady eyes. Every night, it sneaks into my yard and gobbles my poor azaleas. I’m elderly and infirm; I can’t catch it. If only someone could help me.”
“Me!” Russell bounced up and down with excitement. “Me! I’ll do it!”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Carl said doubtfully, “it’s awfully crafty. You’d have to clap your hands three times to lure it in.”
“I’ll find it, Mr. Fredricksen!” Russell promised.
“I think its burrow is two blocks down. If you go past—”
But Russell was already on the case. “Two blocks down! Got it!” He hurried away, clapping and calling, “Sni-i-i-pe. Here, snipey, snipey!”
“Bring it back here when you find it!” Carl shouted.
That should keep him busy for a while, Carl thought. He knew something that Russell didn’t: There was no snipe. He’d made it up.
Carl started to close his door, but the beeping sound of a large truck backing up caught his attention. One of the construction workers was directing the truck—and it was headed right toward Carl’s mailbox!
Crunch!
“Hey!” Moving faster than he had in years, Carl picked up his cane and hurried toward the mailbox. “Hey, you!” he hollered at the construction worker. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I am so sorry, sir.” The worker really did look sorry. He bent over to try to fix the mailbox.
“Don’t touch that!” Carl barked, reaching for it.
“No, no, no,” the worker said. “Let me take care of that for you.”
Carl struggled to keep his grip on the box.The construction worker didn’t understand. To him, it was just a mailbox. But to Carl, it was Ellie’s mailbox. The one she had painted. The one with their handprints. “Get away from our mailbox!” Carl warned.
“Hey, sir, I—”
“I don’t want you to touch it!” Carl cried. He batted at the construction worker with his cane.
“Ow!” The worker fell to the ground, holding his head.
Carl cradled the mailbox in his arms and retreated to the house. His heart was thudding in his chest. He hadn’t realized that he was still strong enough to hurt another person. People had gathered around to make sure the construction worker was okay. A few glanced nervously at Carl.
Quickly, Carl went inside the house and shut the front door. He also closed the curtains, but kept one open a little so he could peek out. He saw a police car roll up beside the crowd of people. The real estate boss was there, too, and he was staring right at Carl. Scared, Carl pulled away from the window. He knew he’d made a mistake. A big mistake.
第 2 章
從那以后，卡爾和艾莉就成了最親密的朋友。在他們19歲那年，兩人邁入了婚姻的殿堂。他們一起搬進了艾莉的俱樂部里。兩人滿心歡喜，快樂地對俱樂部的房子進行修修補補。艾莉修理房頂上的木板，卡爾搭建起新的風向標。艾莉拿出自己珍藏已久的探險書，卡爾為房子涂上亮麗的色彩，使其看起來就和艾莉所描繪的俱樂部一模一樣。一天，卡爾倚靠著信箱，欣喜地看到艾莉把他倆的名字涂寫到信箱的一側。但當他起身時，不由得倒吸一口涼氣——他竟然不小心把自己的手印印到了信箱上！艾莉笑了笑，也把自己的手印印了上去。待她把手拿開，兩人的手印連在了一起，就像手拉著手一樣。
卡爾和艾莉日復一日地對房子進行著改造、翻新工作，一干就是好幾個星期。偶爾，他們也會忙里偷閑，休息一下。有時，他們會坐在客廳里并排的舒適扶手椅上。有時，他們會爬上兩人最喜愛的小山坡去野餐。卡爾和艾莉喜歡躺在草坪上，望著天空，看著云朵變幻，形狀萬千，一會兒像海龜，一會兒像大象。
艾莉在當?shù)氐膭游飯@里找了份工作，負責照料南美洲館的動物。卡爾也在動物園工作，不過，他是推著手推車賣氣球。有時候，卡爾攜帶的氣球太多，它們的浮力會把車子輕微抬起，脫離地面。
幾個月過去了。艾莉和卡爾翻看著艾莉的探險書，夢想著有一天能到天堂瀑布去旅行。艾莉畫了一幅美好的畫——在特普伊山的平頂上，坐落著他們的房子。他們把這幅畫掛在壁爐上方?？栐诋嫷呐赃厭炝艘环厦乐薜暮?。艾莉又掛上了一塊手工編織的小毯子，擺了一件陶器和一只熱帶鳥的雕像。
卡爾把一架玩具飛船放到壁爐架上，還在桌上放了一只玻璃瓶，這為他們的裝飾工作畫上了休止符。玻璃瓶上的標簽寫著四個字：天堂瀑布。一有機會，卡爾和艾莉就把零錢投進瓶子里存起來。
但他們并沒有存下多少錢。因為他們總有很多地方需要花錢——為車子換新輪胎，為卡爾摔斷的腿打石膏，為房子更換新屋頂……但卡爾和艾莉并不擔心。因為他們相信，總有一天他們會到南美洲去。
時間過得飛快，一轉眼，幾年過去了。
卡爾還在賣氣球，艾莉仍在動物園里照料動物。晚上，他們就在客廳里跳舞。只要兩人在一起，他們總是很開心。
結婚三十多年后的一天，卡爾意識到他們已經(jīng)等得太久了。他決定給艾莉一個驚喜。于是，他買了兩張飛往南美洲的機票，并把它們塞進了野餐籃里。但是，在兩人一起攀登他們最喜愛的那座小山坡時，艾莉摔倒了。
艾莉住進了醫(yī)院，有段時間她的身體狀況看起來還不錯，好像很快就能痊愈。但天不如人愿，艾莉最終還是永遠地離開了?？枎е淮笫{色氣球參加了她的葬禮。
隨后卡爾回了家。這是他八歲以來，第一次孤零零的一個人。
一天清晨，鬧鐘嗡嗡作響，卡爾摸索著自己的眼鏡。他坐起身，揉了揉臉。他已不再年輕，變成了一個老人。當他試圖伸展身體時，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)起床這件簡單的小事變得不那么容易了。他的骨頭發(fā)出“嘎吱嘎吱”的響聲。他抓起手杖——底部的每個開叉都裝有一只網(wǎng)球——然后坐上老年人座椅從樓梯上緩緩滑下來。從二樓到一樓這段距離很短，卻花了卡爾很長很長的時間。
吃過早餐，卡爾在房子里閑逛。他撣走了壁爐架上的灰塵，這上面有所有他和艾莉收集的探險物品，每一樣都無可替代?？栍中⌒囊硪淼卣{了調熱帶鳥雕像的位置，旁邊正好擺著望遠鏡和艾莉兒時的照片。然后，他慢慢地走到前門門口，戴上帽子，整了整別在自己翻領上的葡萄蘇打汽水瓶蓋徽章。做完這些，他停了下來，在鏡子前審視了一遍自己，然后打開前門所有的鎖，走到了門廊上。
這些年來，他家所在的街區(qū)發(fā)生了很多變化。事實上，這已經(jīng)不能再稱之為街區(qū)了。因為除了卡爾家，這里所有的房子都被拆掉了。建筑工人們正在建造新式高層公寓。
“艾莉，你看看都變成啥樣了？”卡爾看著推土機爬過土質的地面，自言自語地說道。雖然卡爾知道艾莉再也聽不到他講話了，但有時他還是喜歡自言自語地和她說話。畢竟，這座房子裝滿了他們共同的回憶，這里的一切都能勾起卡爾對艾莉的思念。
卡爾的視線落到了信箱上。自從艾莉噴繪之后，這個信箱就沒有發(fā)生過任何變化。信箱上面仍然保留著他們的名字和手印。信箱的小門上露出了幾封信件的邊角。
“來信了！”卡爾大聲說。他搖搖晃晃地走到信箱旁，從里面取出了一本小冊子。封面上和藹可親的老人對著卡爾笑著。“橡樹蔭養(yǎng)老院。哦，我的老兄！”卡爾注意到信箱外面已滿是灰塵。他皺了皺眉頭，拿起吹葉機把上面的灰塵吹走了。
“嘿！早上好，費迪遜先生！”建筑工人湯姆向他問好，“您需要幫助嗎？”
“需要。告訴你的老板，你們這是在摧毀我們的房子！”卡爾咆哮著，瞥了一眼正在一旁打電話的一個商人老板模樣的人。“好吧，跟您說句實話，如果能從您這里接手這幢老房子，我的老板會很高興的，而且他會給出兩倍于上次的報價，”湯姆回答道，“您意下如何呢？”
作為回應，卡爾直接把吹葉機對準湯姆吹起來。
“嗯，那我就當您說‘不’了。”湯姆說。
卡爾回答：“我覺得我已經(jīng)向你們老板明確表示了我的立場。”
“你把西梅汁倒進了他的油箱里。”湯姆說。
卡爾咯咯地笑起來：“哦，這不是很好嘛。”
“這可不是開玩笑，”湯姆皺著眉頭說，“他要來收你的房子了。”
卡爾轉過身，回到房子前面的臺階上。“告訴你的老板，他可以收走我們的房子，”他轉過頭對湯姆說，“不過，等到我死的那一天吧！”接著，他“砰”的一聲關上了門。
湯姆抬了抬眉毛：“我認為我們還是有希望的。”
回到屋子里，卡爾坐在椅子上，打開了電視機。
“如果現(xiàn)在訂購，”屏幕上的人說，“你就會得到相機，得到打印機，還會得到……”
卡爾的眼皮變得沉重起來，他的頭也開始一點一點地打著瞌睡。
就在這時，一陣敲門聲傳來，卡爾起身慢吞吞地走向門口，打開了門。
卡爾看見一個身穿“初級野外探險家”制服的小男孩站在門廊上。他戴著一條肩帶，上面掛滿了徽章。小男孩翻開了手上的探險家手冊，念道：“下午好，我叫小羅，我是探險隊第54團第12小隊的野外探險成員。先生，您今天需要幫助嗎？”
“不需要。”卡爾回答道。
“我可以帶你過馬路。”小羅建議道。
“不用。”
“我可以帶你在院子里遛彎兒。”
“用不著。”
“我可以帶你穿過走廊。”
“不用。”
“好吧，可我總得幫你做點什么啊。”小羅堅持說。
“噢，不需要，”卡爾說，“我很好。”話音剛落，他就在小羅面前“砰”地關上了門。
卡爾站在門后，側著耳朵聽外面的動靜，卻并沒聽到小羅離開的腳步聲。不一會兒，他猛地打開了門。
“下午好，我叫小羅，”他又開始重復剛才的話，“我是探險隊第54團第12小隊的野外探險成員。先生，您今天需要幫助嗎？”
“謝謝你了，但是我真的不需要幫助。”卡爾想把門關上，不料小羅將旅行靴別在門框處，這樣，卡爾就關不上門了。
“啊喲！”小羅痛得齜牙咧嘴。
卡爾嘆了口氣，打開了門。顯然，這個孩子不會輕易放棄。“繼續(xù)。”
“下午好，”小羅又開始了。
“直接跳到最后！”卡爾明顯不耐煩了。
小羅指著自己的肩帶。上面掛滿了五顏六色的徽章，只剩下一個小小的空隙。“看到了嗎？”小羅問道，“這些都是我的野外探險家徽章。你也許注意到這里少了一枚徽章。我還缺一枚助老徽章。如果有了這枚助老徽章，我就可以成為高級野外探險家了，就可以到野外去探險了！”說完，小羅把雙手擺成字母W的形狀，像鳥兒一樣扇動著雙手，同時嘴里發(fā)出“嘎嘎”的鳥叫聲。然后，小羅的十指彎曲成熊爪的形狀，嘴里也跟著發(fā)出“喔—嗚”的熊叫聲。
卡爾的助聽器里傳來了尖銳刺耳的噪聲。
“那簡直太棒了，”小羅繼續(xù)說道，“我們還會有一個盛大的儀式，到時候，所有的爸爸都會參加，親手給自己的孩子帶上徽章。”
“所以，你想幫助一個老人？”卡爾問。
“是??！那樣我就能成為一名高級野外探險家了！”小羅說著，美滋滋地笑起來。
卡爾先向左看看，再向右瞅瞅，然后俯下身低聲對小羅說，“你聽說過鷸嗎？”
“鷸？”小羅搖了搖頭。
“一種鳥。眼睛又小又圓。它每天晚上都溜進院子偷吃我的杜鵑花。我老了，身體不好，抓不住它。如果有人能幫我就最好不過了。”
“我來！”小羅興奮地跳了起來。“我來！我可以幫你的！”
“哦，幫不幫得上，這可說不準，”卡爾懷疑地說，“它相當狡猾。你得拍掌三下，才能把它引誘出來。”
“我一定會找到它的，費迪遜先生！”小羅向卡爾保證道。
卡爾對小羅說：“我覺得它的洞穴就在兩個街區(qū)之外。如果你經(jīng)過——”
卡爾話沒說完，小羅已經(jīng)進入狀態(tài)了。“兩個街區(qū)！知道了！”他急忙動身，邊拍手邊喊道，“鷸——鷸，這里，鷸，鷸！”
“找到了就把它帶給我！”卡爾沖著小羅喊道。
這應該夠他忙活一陣子了，卡爾想。他很清楚，根本就沒有鷸這種鳥，這完全是卡爾編出來支走小羅的理由，但小羅并不知道。
卡爾正要關門，一輛大卡車倒車的嘟嘟聲引起了他的注意。一名建筑工人正在指揮卡車倒車，而這輛卡車正向著卡爾家信箱的方向開過來！
嘎吱嘎吱！
“嘿！”卡爾好久沒有這么麻利了，他迅速拿起手杖，匆匆忙忙地向信箱的方向走去。“嘿，說你呢！”他沖著建筑工人大聲喊道，“看看你都做了些什么？”
“先生，我很抱歉。”這名工人滿臉歉意。他彎下腰試圖修理信箱。
“別碰它！”卡爾一把抱住信箱咆哮道。
“不，不，不，”工人說，“我來幫你。”
卡爾牢牢地抓住信箱。建筑工人一臉疑惑。因為在他看來，這只是一個很普通的信箱。但對卡爾而言，這是艾莉的信箱，是艾莉噴繪的那個信箱，是印有兩人手印的信箱。“別碰我們的信箱！”卡爾警告工人。
“嘿，先生，我——”
“不準碰它！”卡爾聲嘶力竭地喊道。他舉起了手杖就往建筑工人頭上敲去。
“啊喲！”工人手抱著頭，倒在了地上。
卡爾牢牢地把信箱抱在懷里，回到自己房子的地方，心“怦怦”地跳得厲害。他萬萬沒想到，自己竟有這么大的力氣，能打傷別人。周圍的人紛紛圍了上來，查看建筑工人的傷勢如何。其中有幾個人緊張地瞄了卡爾一眼。
卡爾趕緊回到屋子里，關上前門。他把窗簾也拉了下來，不過并沒有拉嚴，而是留了一條縫。這樣，他就可以偷偷地觀察外面的情況了。他看到一輛警車穿過人群，疾速趕來。房地產老板也站在那里，一直盯著卡爾的方向。驚嚇之下，卡爾逃離了窗戶附近。他知道自己犯錯了，犯了一個大錯。
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