作者：雷·布雷德伯里    翻译：提壶的胖子

“What would you do if you knew this was the last night of the world?”

当你知道这是世界的最后一个夜晚你会做些什么？

“What would I do; you mean, seriously?”

嗯，你的意思是……我该做什么，这很严肃？

“Yes, seriously.”

没错。

“I don’t know — I hadn’t thought. She turned the handle of the silver coffeepot toward him and placed the two cups in their saucers（茶托）.

"我…不知道，我不敢想象。"于是她将咖啡壶的把手转向他，并将两个杯子放在茶托之中。

He poured some coffee. In the background, the two small girls were playing blocks on the parlor rug（地毯） in the light of the green hurricane lamps. There was an easy, clean aroma（芳香） of brewed coffee in the evening air.

他倒了点儿咖啡。在他们后面有两个小女孩正在绿光映射下的地毯上玩着积木。咖啡淡淡的香气萦绕着。

“Well, better start thinking about it,” he said.

男人说：好吧，让我好好想想。

“You don’t mean it?” said his wife.

你不要说，让我猜猜看，他的妻子说。

He nodde.

他点点头。

“A war?”

战争？

He shook his head.

他点点头。

“Not the hydrogen or atom bomb?”

不会是原子弹爆炸吧！

“No.”

不是

“Or germ warfare?”

也许是生化危机？

“None of those at all,” he said, stirring（搅动） his coffee slowly and staring into its black depths. “But just the closing of a book, let’s say.”

全都不是，他说，他慢慢搅动着咖啡，咖啡越发浓郁。就像简单地合上书而已。

“I don’t think I understand.”

你什么意思？

“No, nor do I really. It’s jut a feeling; sometimes it frightens me, sometimes I’m not frightened at all — but peaceful.” He glanced（暼） in at the girls and their yellow hair shining in the bright lamplight, and lowered his voice. “I didn’t say anything to you. It first happened about four nights ago.”

我不知道怎么做。这仅仅是一种感觉，有时候它令我惊恐，有时候却无所畏惧的平和。他瞥了一眼在灯光下发色泛着金黄的女儿然后降低了声音。“前些日子我没和你说起这事儿，这事儿发生在四天前。”

“What?”

什么？

“A dream I had. I dreamt that it was all going to be over and a voice said it was; not any kind of voice I can remember, but a voice anyway, and it said things would stop here on Earth. I didn’t think too much about it when I awoke the next morning, but then I went to work and the feeling as with me all day. I caught Stan Willis looking out the window in the middle of the afternoon and I said, ‘Penny for your thoughts, Stan,’ and he said, ‘I had a dream last night,’ and before he even told me the dream, I knew what it was. I could have told him, but he told me and I listened to him.”

“我做了一个梦，一个声音告诉我一切都结束了，我并说不清是什么声音，但它真真切切地告诉我地球毁灭了。第二天醒来的时候我没有想太多，但是那一整天我都感觉怪怪的。过午那会儿我拽着斯丹在窗前望了望。我说，谈谈心。他说，他昨天做了一个梦。在此之前他没和我说做了什么梦，但我已经心知肚明。我正要和他说我知道是什么梦的时候，他告诉我让我听他讲讲。

“It was the same dream?”

那是同样的梦么？

“Yes. I told Stan I had dreamed it, too. He didn’t seem surprised. He relaxed, in fact. Then we started walking through offices, for the hell（地狱） of it. It wasn’t planned. We didn’t say, let’s walk around. We just walked on our own, and everywhere we saw people looking at their desks or their hands or out the windows and not seeing what was in front of their eyes. I talked to a few of them; so did Stan.”

没错，我告诉了斯丹我也做了同样的梦。他并不吃惊，确切的说是十分坦然。之后我们走过办公区，仿佛去往绝境。这一切不谋而合，我们一句话也没说，就在四周转了转，只是随便走走。可所到之处的人们不是看着桌子，就是手，再就是窗子，没人着眼于眼前。我们找了几个人聊聊，果然大家都一样，我真的不知道该说什么好。

“And all of them had dreamed?”

难道他们也都做了一样的梦？

“All of them. The same dream, with no difference.”

所有人做了完全相同的梦。

“Do you believe in the dream?”

你相信梦？

“Yes. I’ve never been more certain.”

是的，完全相信。

“And when will it stop? The world, I mean.”

那这世界什么时候玩完？

“Sometime during the night for us, and then, as the night goes on around the world, those advancing portions will go, too. It’ll take twenty-four hours for it all to go.”

今天，黑夜会潜移默化地吞噬整个世界，一切混沌不堪，全天候黑暗过后，一切都结束了。

They sat awhile not touching their coffee. Then they lifted it slowly and drank, looking at each other.

片刻咖啡渐渐冷却，之后他们四目相视缓缓拿起杯子喝了一口。

“Do we deserve this?” she said.

我们在劫难逃了么？

“It’s not a matter of deserving, it’s just that things didn’t work out. I notice you didn’t even argue about this. Why not?”

不这和劫难毫无关系，只是是时候完结了。我发现你听完并没有争辩的意思，为什么呢？

“I guess I have a reason,” she said.

我想我知道原因了。

“The same reason everyone at the office had?”

和整个办公室的人相同的原因么？

She nodded. “I didn’t want to say anything. It happened last night. And the women on the block are talking about it, just among themselves.” She picked up the evening paper and held it toward him. “There’s nothing in the news about it.”

她点点头。我原本不想说，我昨晚做的梦。可今天整个街区的女人们都再议论那个相同的梦。她拿起晚报告诉他说："这上面没有任何关于这方面的报道。"

“No, everyone knows, so what’s the need?” He took the paper and sat back in his chair, looking at the girls and then at her.

"不，这事儿每个人都知道，所以没必要报道了。"他起身拿了报纸坐回椅子上，静静看着姑娘们和妻子。

“Are you afraid?”

"你怕么？"

“No. I always thought I would be, but I’m not.”

"不，我本来以为我会，可是没机会怕了。"

“Where’s that spirit called self-preservation they talk so much about?”

"都说人大难临头的时候会有很强的自保欲望，这会儿全没了。"

“I don’t know. You don’t get too excited when you feel things are logical. This is

logical. Nothing else but this could have happened from the way we’ve lived.”

"我不知道，大概觉得这事儿没什么让人惊慌的吧。就该这样发生，这是必经之路。"

“We haven’t been too bad, have we?”

"或许不那么糟。"

“No, nor enormously good. I suppose that’s the trouble—we haven’t been very much of anything except us, while a big part of the world was busy being lots of quite awful things.”

"不糟糕，也不太好。这才是真正的问题所在——世界太大了，每一瞬间都有无法预期的事情发生，我们不过是无法扭转乾坤的蝼蚁罢了。"

The girls were laughing in the parlor.

女孩们在客厅有说有笑。

“I always thought people would be screaming in the streets at a time like this.”

"我一直在想一切到来的那一刻人们会不会在街上惊恐尖叫。"

“I guess not. You don’t scream about the real thing.”

"大概不会吧。没人畏惧必然发生的事情。"

“Do you know, I won’t miss anything but you and the girls. I never liked cities or my

work or anything except you three. I won’t miss a thing except perhaps the change in the weather, and a glass of ice water when it’s hot, and I might miss sleeping. How can we sit here and talk this way?”

"你知道么，我根本无法割舍任何关于你和宝贝们的任何事。我厌倦这个城市，这份工作，除了你们仨我什么都不爱。哈，也许还有四季变换的风景，大热天冰冰凉的汽水和一场美梦。这时候了，我们竟然还在这聊得火热"

“Because there’s nothing else to do.”

"因为我们无能为力了。"

“That’s it, of course; for if there were, we’d be doing it. I suppose this is the first time in the history of the world that everyone has known just what they were going to do during the night.”

"是的，没错，无力回天了。我想这一切史无前例，所有人都准备好了用自己的方式度过今夜。"

“I wonder what everyone else will do now, this evening, for the next few hours.”

"不知道这最后的几小时别人在做什么。"

“Go to a show, listen to the radio, watch television, play cards, put the children to bed,go to bed themselves, like always.”

"看个演出，听听收音机，看看电视，打打牌，哄孩子睡觉，和往常一样。"

“In a way that’s something to be proud of—like always.”

"这样的坦然，何尝不是一种荣光。"

They sat a moment and then he poured himself another coffee. “Why do you suppose it’s tonight?”

他们静静做些，男人为自己续了杯咖啡。

"你感觉为什么是今天晚上？"

“Because.”

"总有些原因吧。"

“Why not some other night in the last century, or five centuries ago, or ten?”

"偏偏是今天，不是上个世纪，不是五百年前，也不是一千年前。"

“Maybe it’s because it was never October 19, 1969, ever before in history, and now it is and that’s it; because this date means more than any other date ever meant; because it’s the year when things are as they are all over the world and that’s why it’s the end.”

"或许只是因为它是1969.10.19，就在今天罢了，因为这天意味着太多，一切就再这天变成这幅德行也就在这天结束了。"

“There are bombers on their schedules both ways across the ocean tonight that’ll never see land.”

"轰炸机还会依然跨海相战，可过了今夜，一切都消逝在海底了。"

“That’s part of the reason why.”

"这只是不分原因罢了。"

“Well,” he said, getting up, “what shall it be? Wash the dishes?”

"没错"说罢，他站起身"我们接着做什么呢？洗洗盘子？"

They washed the dishes and stacked them away with special neatness. At eight-thirty the girls were put to bed and kissed good night and the little lights by their beds turned on and the door left open just a trifle.

他们洗干净盘子并把它们摆放整齐。八点半女孩们待着晚安吻准备入睡，床头的夜灯泛着微微的亮光，门悄悄地留了一条细缝。

“I wonder,” said the husband, coming from the bedroom and glancing back, standing there with his pipe for a moment.

"我想，"丈夫抽着烟想了想又望向了卧室。

“What?”

"什么？"

“If the door will be shut all the way, or if it’ll be left just a little ajar so some light

comes in.”

"还是把门全关上吧，不然门缝透进太多光了。"

“I wonder if the children know.”

"我想如果孩子们知道了。"

“No, of course not.”

"不，并不会。"

They sat and read the papers and talked and listened to some radio music and then sat together by the fireplace watching the charcoal embers as the clock struck ten-thirty and eleven and eleven-thirty. They thought of all the other people in the world who had spent their evening, each in his own special way.

他们坐下来读报，聊天，听着音乐，之后他们坐在炉火旁静静看着余辉燃尽，时间一点点过去。这一刻全世界的人都在用自己的方式静静度过最后一夜。

“Well,” he said at last.

"好了"，他最后说了一次。

He kissed his wife for a long time.

他久久地吻了自己的妻子。

“We’ve been good for each other, anyway.”

"我们曾赤诚相待就够了。"

“Do you want to cry?” he asked.

"你想哭么？"他说。

“I don’t think so.”

"并没有。"

They moved through the house and turned out the lights and went into the bedroom and stood in the night cool darkness undressing and pushing back the covers.

他们关了房间里的所有灯，回到卧室脱下衣服之后掀起被子。

“The sheets are so clean and nice.”

"多么舒服的床。"

“I’m tired.”

"我累了。"

“We’re all tired.”

"我们都累了。"

They got into bed and lay back.

"他们静静躺在床上。"

“Just a moment,” she said.

"等一下，"她说。

He heard her get out of bed and go into the kitchen. A moment later, she returned.

他听见妻子起身走到厨房，不一会儿又回来了。

“I left the water running in the sink,” she said.Something about this was so very funny that he had to laugh. She laughed with him,knowing what it was that she had done that was funny. They stopped laughing at last and lay in their cool night bed, their hands clasped, their heads together.

"我没关水龙头。"他笑了笑，她也笑了，这个时候这样的做法让他们觉得特别滑稽。笑完后两个人又躺在了丝滑的床上，手牵手，头挨头。

“Good night,” he said, after a moment.

过了一会儿，他说："晚安。"

“Good night,” she said.

"好梦。"