駕駛課

The road trip with my daughter took an unexpected turn.

和女兒一起旅行，帶給我意想不到的轉(zhuǎn)變。

The Standard Road Trip

陸路之旅

My daughter， Sidney， and I were in a rental car the size of a Pepsi can heading from Los Angeles to the Grand Canyon when it happened.

我和女兒希德妮開著一輛租來的小汽車行駛在從洛杉磯開往大峽谷的路上。期間發(fā)生了這樣一件事情。

We had driven nearly eight hours without incident. The night was foggy， misty and still - beautiful. It was just as I had imagined Arizona nights to be when I originally planned the trip. We were only 20 minutes from our hotel when I hit the deer.

我們開車將近八小時，平安無事。晚上有些薄霧，朦朧中透著寧謐的美。亞里桑那州的夜晚正如我計劃旅行之初想象的那樣。但在離旅館只剩二十分種車程的時候，我撞到了一頭鹿。

Like a phantom in the moonlight it appeared， bounding away from the safety of a hillside thicket and aimed at my headlights.

如同月光中的幻影一般，那頭鹿從山坡安全的灌木叢中一躍而出朝車頭燈撞過來。

After a brake-locked skid of about 30 yards - and after I began breathing again - from the back seat I heard Sidney ask， \"What happened?\" Those were the first words I'd heard her speak in about four hours.

我踩了剎車后仍然滑行了30碼，車停住了我才開始再次呼吸，后座的希德妮問道：“發(fā)生了什么事？”這是近四個小時來我聽到的第一句話。

Our trip took place at the end of Sidney's winter break， which marks the halfway point of sixth grade. We hadn't taken a road trip like this for over two years， and it would probably be our final vacation together - just papa and daughter - before I got remarried.

我們的旅行是在希德妮寒假即將結(jié)束的時候，這標(biāo)志著她六年級已經(jīng)過了一半。我們已經(jīng)有二年多沒有這樣的旅行了。這大概是我再婚前最后一個只屬于父親和女兒兩個人的假期了。

The last time we hit the open road， Sidney was 9 and chirped on mile after mile about school， movies and books. Now she was almost 12 and hesitant about divulging her thoughts. She still talks for hours - but not to me. To friends， and mostly on the Internet.

上次我們駕車旅行還是希德妮九歲的時候，對學(xué)校的事兒、電影還有書本嘰嘰喳喳講了一路?，F(xiàn)在，她快12歲了，對坦露自己的思想比較猶豫。她講了幾小時，但對象不是我，而是對她的朋友們，而且大多數(shù)是在網(wǎng)上。

So after loading up the car， she jumped in the back seat， put on her headphones and buried her head in a book about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So much for those long conversations about her future that I had envisioned.

所以，裝好車后她就跳到后座，帶上耳機，一頭埋在一本關(guān)于吸血鬼的書里。關(guān)于她的未來，我原打算和她長談一次，可是之前想好的長篇大論只談了這么點。

\"Here we go，\" I said， but she didn't hear a word from her nest in the back seat. Her cache of CDs held her attention.

“我們出發(fā)了，”我對她說道。但是在后座上的她一個字也沒聽到。那些CD完全吸引了她的注意力。

Even when we stopped for lunch at Lake Havasu to see the London Bridge， she was quiet. I explained how the magnificent stone bridge that used to span London's Thames River had made its way to western Arizona， but her eyes were glued to a group of teenagers dancing and screaming. She would have walked right out of her skin just to be with them.

甚至，當(dāng)我們停下來在哈華蘇湖吃午餐、觀賞倫敦橋時，她仍舊不做聲。我解釋給她聽，當(dāng)初橫跨倫敦的泰晤士河的石橋是如何的宏偉，如今，亞里桑那州也造了同樣類型的橋。但是她的眼睛卻盯著一群歡呼雀躍的年輕人。她的心早已飛到那兒和他們一起玩了。

Back on the road， I often glanced in my rearview mirror to steal a look at her silently singing or pondering her book. When she caught me looking， she'd mouth， \"What?\" The chasm separating the front and back seats of the car seemed as broad as the Grand Canyon.

在回去的路上，我常常會瞥一下后視鏡看看她，她輕輕地哼著歌或是若有所思地翻著書。當(dāng)撞上我的目光時，她便會開口問一句“什么事？”前座與后座間短短的間隙，就像寬闊的大峽谷那樣不可逾越。

I turned onto Arizona 64， a smooth stretch of highway leading straight to the hotel. The ponderosa pines of the Kaibab National Forest lined the road like quiet sentinels. Occasionally， the moon and a handful of stars shone through the clouds. My senses felt heightened with the surrounding beauty. I slowed the car.

我轉(zhuǎn)到亞里桑那州64號公路，這條平坦的高速公路直接通向旅館?？ò卟畤疑止珗@的松樹像哨兵一樣排在路邊。透過那一片片云，間或可以看到月亮和點點星光。這美麗的環(huán)境讓我心動不已，我降低了車速。

Jarred from Normalcy

打破平靜

And then from that dark thicket the deer leaped into the light， heading straight for our car. The impact woke Sid.

然后，從漆黑的灌木叢中，那頭鹿跳到車頭燈的燈光中，和車撞了個正著。碰撞驚醒了希德妮。

The car idled as we searched the road and the woods for any sign of the deer， but nothing moved in the darkness. I must have mumbled over and over something about what to do now because Sid asked， \"Are you more concerned for the deer or the car?\" I looked in the mirror and saw her face. It was an honest question.

我們的車緩緩前行，在道路上以及灌木叢中尋找鹿的蛛絲馬跡，但是在黑暗中沒有任何動靜。我一定是在不斷地喃喃自語，現(xiàn)在怎樣辦？因為希德妮問道：“你是更關(guān)心你的車子還是那頭鹿？”在鏡子里我看到了她的臉，看得出她問這個問題時的一臉誠懇。

\"The deer，\" I replied， realizing that I had declined the rental company insurance. If the car was still running， and amazingly it was， and neither one of us was hurt， then my thoughts were for the deer.

考慮到我已經(jīng)把租借公司保險降低了之后，我回答說“是鹿”。不知道汽車是否還能繼續(xù)開動，而讓人感到驚奇的是它還真的可以，而且我們兩個人都安然無恙，然后，我腦子里想的便是那頭鹿了。

Sid must have sensed me slipping away in my own thoughts to work things out in my head. I was brought back to the moment， however， by the sensation of her hand reaching out of the darkness， stretching across the wide depths of our tiny car and squeezing my shoulder. It took a full hour for me to drive the last several miles， but her hand stayed with me until we arrived at the hotel.

希德妮一定意識到我的思想在開小差，已經(jīng)開始想一些工作上的事兒了。我又回到了那一刻，然而，感覺到她的手從黑暗中伸出來，穿過小車?yán)飳掗煹拈g隙，圍著搭到我的肩上。最后幾英里的路程，整整開了一小時，她的手始終搭在我的肩上，直至到達旅館。

After checking in， we looked over the car thoroughly for damages. The driver's mirror had been ripped from its casing， the windshield had a Gothic appearance with its fractured glass spider web and one headlight was completely shattered. Nearly the whole left side of the car was mangled. I brushed away from the doorjamb a swath of fur fluttering lightly in the cold breeze.

在登記完后，我們徹底檢查了一遍車子的損壞情況。后視鏡已經(jīng)從其框架上擠了出來，擋風(fēng)玻璃裂的像張蜘蛛網(wǎng)，樣子可怕，一個頭燈被撞的粉碎。車的整個左側(cè)幾乎完全損壞了。我擦掉了門框上在寒風(fēng)中飄動的一撮鹿毛。

I'd be lying if I said the remainder of our time together was the ideal vacation I had envisioned. Calls to the insurance， rental-car and credit-card companies ended any fun left for me. But Sid spent much of the trip home perched in the front seat， scouting the terrain for deer and leaning over to honk the horn at 20-second intervals. We talked a lot more about little things before she slipped into the back seat again. But I knew she was there with me this time. It's amazing how grace can be found in the strangest of places， if you just open your eyes and look.

如果說我們余下共度的時間是我所預(yù)想的理想假期的話，那我是在說謊。給保險公司、汽車租賃公司、信用卡公司打了一通電話之后，對我來講這次旅行已經(jīng)沒有什么樂趣可言了。但是，在回家的路上，大部分時間希德妮是坐在前面的，偵查著鹿出沒的地形，每隔20秒就斜過身來按下喇叭。在她再次回到后座之前，我們講了很多瑣碎的事情。但是，我知道此刻在后面的她是和我在一起的。這真是令人驚奇，只要睜開雙眼用心觀察就能看到陌生之地的優(yōu)美之處。

I know that the fright and guilt and the image of that deer breaking the misty plane of light in front of the car are forever imprinted in my memory. But I will also keep with me the comforting feeling of Sid's hand resting on my shoulder. I thought that she was running away from me. I thought I'd lost her. But she'd been there all the time， as true as her reflection.

我深知驚恐、內(nèi)疚以及在薄霧中穿過車前燈光的那頭鹿的形象將永遠印在我的腦海中。但是希德妮將手放在我肩上那令人欣慰的感覺同樣令我難以忘懷。我以為她正與我漸行漸遠，我以為我已經(jīng)失去了我的女兒，但她一直在那兒，如我看到的她一樣真實。

from Reader's Digest

摘自《讀者文摘》

Notes

1. chirp on，指不停地嘁嘁喳喳地說，chirp指像鳥一樣嘁嘁喳喳地說或唱。

2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer，歐美電視劇《捉鬼者巴菲》，vampire指吸血鬼。

3. catch me looking，此處使用的短語是catch someone doing正碰上某人做某事。

例句：

The man caught stealing in the supermarket was sent to the police station.

那個在超市被逮著偷竊的人被送往警察局。