How to Fight the Sandman1

By John DeVore

對(duì)孩子們來(lái)說(shuō)，長(zhǎng)大的過(guò)程就是發(fā)現(xiàn)世界的過(guò)程。那些我們從小就耳熟能詳?shù)耐?huà)傳說(shuō)，充滿(mǎn)著魔法咒語(yǔ)和奇人異獸，都意在向孩子們傳播美好和善良。但言者無(wú)心，聽(tīng)者有意。不斷長(zhǎng)大的孩子也會(huì)漸漸發(fā)現(xiàn)這些故事背后有著很不一樣的“謊言”與“真相”。

Adults don’t remember childhood correctly. To be a child is to be constantly deceived2. deceive: 欺騙。.

Here is a short list of lies my parents told me, and why they disturbed me:

1. It was the Easter Bunny who would leave giant baskets of candy at the foot of my bed.3. the Easter Bunny: 復(fù)活節(jié)兔子，復(fù)活節(jié)象征之一，會(huì)在復(fù)活節(jié)（或春分）的時(shí)候給孩子們送出禮物；giant: 巨大的。I eventually figured out that the Easter Bunny was, in fact, my mother. But before that discovery,it was never properly explained to me how a talking bunny rabbit was able to get into the house. The chimney was Santa’s route.4. chimney: 煙囪；route: 通道。I eventually decided that the Easter Bunny must live in the walls. With the exception of Easter Sunday, the Easter Bunny would haunt our house all year long, wiggling its nose behind my bedroom wall.5. haunt: 常出沒(méi)于，縈繞于；wiggle: 擺動(dòng)。This unnerved6. unnerve: 使恐懼，使緊張不安。me.

牙仙

復(fù)活節(jié)免子

2. The Tooth Fairy7. The Tooth Fairy: 牙仙，是歐美等西方國(guó)家傳說(shuō)中的妖精。傳說(shuō)中，小孩子脫掉乳齒后，將乳齒放在枕頭底，夜晚時(shí)牙仙就會(huì)取走放在枕頭底的牙齒，換成一個(gè)金幣，象征小孩將來(lái)要換上恒齒，成為一個(gè)大人。. My body parts are worth more than a quarter8. quarter: 25美分。.

3. Professional wrestling was real. It wasn’t until I was eight years old or so that my dad sat me down and told me that the colorful warriors of the World Wrestling Federation were play fighting.9. warrior: 勇士；World Wrestling Federation:世界摔跤協(xié)會(huì)，一種更具娛樂(lè)性質(zhì)的比賽。比賽中有很多不同的角色，勝敗都是提前安排好的，摔跤是表演，而不是真正的格斗。My dad had spent time as a wrestling announcer in El Paso, Texas, and loved the violent man ballet.10. wrestling announcer: 摔跤解說(shuō)員；El Paso: 厄爾巴索（美國(guó)得克薩斯州一城市名）；man ballet: 男性芭蕾（這里是比喻摔跤）。But he felt that I should know the truth, and even showed me some of the choreographed11. choreographed: 精心設(shè)計(jì)的，刻意安排的。moves wrestlers used on television. Up until that point, I worshiped these gladiators in face-paint much the way I imagine a Roman prince might have venerated the gore-splattered heroes of the Coliseum.12. 直到那刻前，我都很崇拜那些臉上涂著油彩的角斗士，就像我想象中的羅馬王子崇敬血濺競(jìng)技場(chǎng)的英雄們一樣。gladiator: 角斗士；venerate: 崇敬，尊敬；gore-splattered:鮮血四濺的；the Coliseum: 意大利古羅馬競(jìng)技場(chǎng)。

But the greatest lie I was ever told was the story of the Sandman.

I hated bedtime, of course. To me, sleep was a waste of time. I had plenty of it in the womb13. womb: 子宮。. Every minute spent snoozing14. snooze: 打盹，小睡。was a minute taken away from the operas I was acting out in the basement with my action figures.

So one night, my mother told me about the Sandman. He was an invisible man who flies around and throws magic sand in your eyes so you’ll fall asleep. There was so much wrong with this concept. I imagined that the Sandman as a fat head with wild eyes and a mustache and bat wings sprouting out where his ears should be.15. mustache: 上唇上的小胡子；sprout out: 發(fā)芽，此處引申為生長(zhǎng)著。Under his chin were two long, spindly arms connected to spidery fingers.16. spindly: 細(xì)長(zhǎng)的；spidery: 細(xì)長(zhǎng)的，蜘蛛腿一般的。In one fist was a beach pale full of sand, in the other, a plastic shovel.17. pale: 范圍；shovel: 鏟子。His grin was like the Cheshire Cat in the Disney animated version of Alice in Wonderland.18. grin: 露齒笑，咧嘴笑；Cheshire Cat:柴郡貓，是下文提到的劉易斯·卡羅爾的名著《愛(ài)麗絲夢(mèng)游奇境記》（Alice in Wonderland）里的著名角色，是一只會(huì)隱身的咧嘴大笑的貓。文中說(shuō)的是1951年迪斯尼公司制作的動(dòng)畫(huà)版本。My mother told me about the Sandman, turned off the light,and left me in a room alone with this dripping, giggling,fluttering head.19. dripping: 濕淋淋的；giggling: 咯咯笑的； fluttering: 飄動(dòng)的。

That first night, I shuddered with fear20. shudder with fear: 不寒而栗，因恐懼而戰(zhàn)栗。until, apparently,the Sandman threw sand in my face and forced me to sleep.The next night, however, I would fight.

I. Would. Fight.

As I nestled into bed, I made sure I was as sweet as a Hoho.21. nestle into bed: 躺進(jìn)被窩；Ho-ho:是種圓柱形的，外面有糖霜、里面有奶油的巧克力小點(diǎn)心，類(lèi)似瑞士卷。這里用于比喻這位小朋友故作乖巧。I didn’t want to let my mom on22. let sb. on: 向……泄露。. I had a plan. Once the lights were turned off, I rolled out of bed and collected my weapons: a flyswatter, my brother’s Aviator sunglasses, and a pair of swimming goggles.23. flyswatter: 蒼蠅拍；Aviator sunglasses:飛行員太陽(yáng)鏡，由博士倫公司于1936年首次發(fā)明；swimming goggles: 泳鏡。The plan was simple. I was going to thwart the invisible intruder and stay up all night long.24. thwart: 挫??；intruder: 入侵者；stay up all night long: 徹夜不眠。I devised three levels of defense.

Level one: I would fan myself with the flyswatter. Right in front of my nose. Continuously flap the swatter back and forth until I felt wind on my face.25. flap: 搖動(dòng)；back and forth: 來(lái)回，反復(fù)。

Level two: My brother’s Aviator sunglasses, which were huge and mirrored26. mirrored: 裝有鏡片的。. Perhaps they would offer enough of a barrier that the Sandman would give up. But if not, there was…

Level three: My swimming goggles, which fit snugly27. snugly: 緊密地。over my eyes, and under the Aviator glasses. I had them from that previous summer. That was the summer I had worked up enough courage to dunk28. dunk: 泡，浸。my entire head under the water. I figured there was no way any magic sand could penetrate29. penetrate: 穿透，滲入。them.

So there I sat. In bed. Wearing swimming goggles,sunglasses, waving a flyswatter in my face as fast as I could. This was life-or-death work. I was determined.I figured it was a hopeless battle, but that the battle must be met.

When I woke up the next morning, I had a major realization. There was no way the Sandman could have penetrated my defenses. Therefore… the Sandman couldn’t exist. And if the Sandman didn’t exist… then what else didn’t exist?

My dad once told me that in Mexican border towns in the fifties, lottery balls30. lottery ball: 彩票球。with the winning numbers were picked by children no older than seven. He told me that the Catholic church believed that seven is the age that children begin to learn the difference between right and wrong, and that as a result, that was the age that children learn how to deceive.31. 他告訴我天主教會(huì)相信七歲是孩子開(kāi)始學(xué)會(huì)分辨對(duì)錯(cuò)的年紀(jì)，因此，也是孩子們學(xué)會(huì)欺騙的年紀(jì)。I still don’t know if that is true. But months away from turning seven, I learned that the whole world lies.

The next Christmas is when I discovered that my Dad was Santa. Up until then, I just assumed he was the willing puppet32. willing: 自愿的，心甘情愿的；puppet: 木偶，受他人操縱的人。of a strange fat man who was always watching me, even when I sat on the toilet.

I managed to stay up all night long with the help of a flashlight and Wolverine33. Wolverine: 金剛狼，是漫威漫畫(huà)出版物中的超級(jí)英雄。. I heard my old man cursing some GI Joe playsetthat he was trying to put together, so that when I ran downstairs that morning,I would be shell-shocked with joy.34. GI Joe playset: 是美國(guó)玩具廠商“孩之寶（Hasbro）”在1982—1994年間生產(chǎn)的玩具系列；shell-shocked: 極度震驚的。I didn’t let on that I knew he had built it. I pretended to be thrilled that the cookies had been eaten by Santa. I lied right back.

That had also been the first time I had stayed up all night long. The Sandman, that deathly jack-olantern with bat wings, was bullshit.35. deathly: 要命的；jack-o-lantern: 杰克燈，也叫南瓜燈，是萬(wàn)圣節(jié)的標(biāo)志性象征，傳說(shuō)是一個(gè)名叫杰克的人發(fā)明的；bullshit:胡扯。