我和林德伯格进餐的那个夜晚，本文主要内容关键词为：我和论文,伯格论文,夜晚论文,林德论文，此文献不代表本站观点，内容供学术参考，文章仅供参考阅读下载。
I had a friend,and she had a friend named Barbara.My friend introduced me to Barbara one day in Big Sur,Calif.,where I lived for 20 years.I soon met Barbara's husband,Jon,and one night they invited me to their tiny cabin for dinner.
[2]I remember Barbara.She kept that cottage standing up and the plumbing and electricity working.She made the meals,cared for her kids (six,I think),and radiated warmth to one and all.She possessed one of the world's great smiles.
[3]As I sat in the living room,waiting for dinner,Barbara[★]stuck her head out（注：stick...out把……伸出来。） of the kitchen and said," Oh,by the way,Jon's father is coming to dinner."
[4] Surprise,surprise.Guess who's coming to dinner?I knew the answer:[★]Charles Lindbergh（注：查尔斯·奥古斯都·林德伯格(1902-1974)，美国飞行员，首次单独完成从纽约到巴黎的飞越大西洋飞行（1927年5月20-21日）。）-Jon's father,and arguably one of the most famous figures of the 20th century.
[5]He arrived,tall and slim and silent.Not much had changed since his solo flight to Paris 40 years earlier.He and I sat silently on a pair of couches,each studying the other.Well.I was studying him,anyway.
[6]He seemed much too shy to be caught glancing at me,but I noticed his natural curiosity checking out the stranger.It was clear he felt obliged to make conversation.
[7]Charles Lindbergh,delivered to me on the half-shell,and so shy he could hardly speak.I[★] cast about（注：搜寻。）for something to say,something to put him more at ease.I noticed his shirtsleeves,which he's rolled up inside-out rather than outside-in.
[8]"Why do you fold your sleeves that way?" I asked him.He immediately became defensive,as if I had caught him doing something wrong.Swell（注：优秀的；精彩的，极好的。）,just what I didn't want.
[9]"Well,I don't know," he said,"It just seems easier for me to fold them that way.Does it seem...?" I stopped him from finishing his sentence with lots of Nos and a lot of laughing,which he finally joined in on,and the ice felt broken.
[10]We launched into easy family conversation,I avoided asking questions,and soon everyone was relaxed.Jon had arrived,on a motorcycle with the parsley or something,and dinner was ready.
[11]When it came to conversation,Jon and Barbara-bearing the weight of being related to an American icon-were no help.In truth,[★] Lucky Lindy（注：查尔斯·奥古斯都·林德伯格的昵称。） was no giggle himself.Or so I thought.But I kept trying.
[12] There were some stiff moments again,with the four of us inescapably around a table.Barbara fell silent before her father-in-law.She seemed[★]in awe of（注：awe敬畏。用法主要有：be struck with awe畏惧，敬畏；hold sb.in awe对某人敬畏，对某人望而生畏；stand(be)in awe of对……望而生畏，对……感到害怕。） his presence,his history,perhaps.She never called him by his name.He was always"Jon's father".
[13] Jon was silent before his father as well.He also seemed to have a strong sense of awe,and perhapsfear as well.Jon had described his father to me as a distant,isolated figure.
[14]"Well,"I thought,"We're not going to talk about American isolationism（注：孤立主义。一种避免与其它国家建立政治或经济关系的国家政策。） in the 1930s.Nor will we touch on international Jewish bankers or Lindbergh's[★] illadvised（注：不明智的，欠考虑的；没脑筋的；鲁莽的。） meetings with Nazi leaders in Berlin."
[15]I'd been warned not to mention the more than 50 flights Charles Lindbergh flew against theJa panese in the Pacific during World War II.
[16]What shall we talk about,then?
[17]I mentioned meeting Anne Morrow Lindbergh,Jon's mother,and I praised her.More silence.
[18]How about discussing flight? No,he's talked about it all his life.We continued to eat in silence.
[19]But then I heard Jon say something a throwaway line,at best-about a dinner party with the Sikorskys in Connecticut.He asked Charles to tell me the story.
[20]More silence.Only this time,I wasn't going to let go.Tell us the story.I begged him.
[21]A smile,astonishingly,appeared on Lind-bergh's face,and he started to murmur a tale.All forks were set down,and we leaned forward.
[22]He and Anne were at a formal dinner party at the home of the man who essentially invented the first commercially successful helicopter.
[23]They were at the Sikorsky mansion in Darien.A distinguished woman asked Lindbergh a question,and he answered her in a slightly saucy way,I gathered,so she stuck her fingers into her water glass and sprinkled him with a few drops of water,[★]in contempt（注：不顾，不把……放在眼里；藐视。）for his answer.
[24]Lindbergh[★] returned the compliment（注：return the compliment回敬。）,sticking his fingers into his water glass,and letting her have it.Immediately,he said,the following happened:The guests saw Lindbergh draw his chair back,and the black-tied men and gowned women did the same.
[25]They all stood up.Sikorsky announced[★] ground rules（注：a groud rule程序；体育场馆的运动章程、规则。） and team leaders,and the two groups became opposing forces in a water fight to end all water fights.Buckets,hoses-in the house,in the garden.Strategies,attacks,retreats,screams of laughter.
[26]The party ended around a huge fireplace- towels and blankets courtesy of the hosts-with hot drinks and terrible lies about who hit whom first with a bucket of water,until the [★]wee hours（注：凌晨。）.
[27]Then everyone hugged everyone and drove home happy.
[28]Charles Lindbergh was now laughing at the memory of it.He was laughing so hard that tears came to his eyes.We were laughing together.The shared story unified us all,and the goodbyes were grand as I left to drive home.
[29]Some of my own family with susceptible（注：易受影响的；易受感染的，易动感情的。） memories would have recoiled（注：退却；后退；缩回。） if they'd beard I'd met Charles Lindbergh-and liked him a lot.But that's the way it always is.
[30] The reality about people is always good,I've learned.We never talked airplanes.We talked water fights,and that's what brought us together that night.That lovely night when I met Charles Lindbergh.
我有个女友的朋友叫巴巴拉。有一天，在加州的大苏尔（我在那地方已住了20年），我的女友把我介绍给了巴巴拉。不久，我见到了巴巴拉的丈夫乔恩。一天晚上，他们邀请我到他们的小屋吃晚饭。
[2]我记得巴巴拉。她把那所小屋收拾得干净整齐，屋内的管道和电器等运转良好。她做饭、看孩子（我想是6个），对每一个人都很热情。她有世上最灿烂的笑容。
[3]就在我坐在起居室等待晚餐的时候，巴巴拉从厨房探山头来，说：“噢，顺便说一下，乔恩的父亲也来吃晚饭。”
[4]意外，太意外了。猜一猜谁来吃晚饭？我知道答案：查尔斯·林德伯格——乔恩的父亲，那个20世纪有史可鉴的最著名人物之一。
[5]他来了，又高又瘦，沉默寡言。自从他40年前单独驾机飞抵巴黎以来，他没有多大变化。他和我一声不响地坐在一张长沙发上，互相揣摩着对方。反正我是在琢磨他。
[6]他好像很腼腆，让人看不出他在瞧我，但我还是注意到了他那要了解生人的天然好奇心。显然他感到应该跟我说说话。
[7]查尔斯·林德伯格跟我讲话时显得有点拘谨，羞怯得几乎说不出话来。我极力寻找能说到一起的、能使他放松的话题。我注意到他的衬衫袖子是由里朝外挽着，而不是由外朝里挽着。
[8]“你为什么这样挽袖子呢？”我问他。他马上转入守势，好像做什么错事被我当场抓住似的。妙极了，我原本可没想这样。
[9]“啊，我不知道，”他说。“我只觉得这样挽更容易一些。是不是有点……？”我用一连串“不”和笑声打断了他的话，他也跟着笑起来，坚冰随之被打破。
[10]我们开始转入轻松的家常话题，我尽量避免提问题。很快大家都放松下来了。乔恩骑着摩托车来了，带着香菜之类的东西，晚餐也准备好了。
[11]说到谈话，乔恩和巴巴拉——他们背着美国名人亲属的沉重包袱——在这种情况下也显得无能为力。实际上，“幸运的林迪”自己也不善言笑。反正我是这么认为的。但我还是执著地尝试着。
[12]我们4个人大眼瞪小眼，无可奈何地坐在一张桌子周围，又陷入了沉闷的时刻。巴巴拉在她公公面前一言不发。她似乎对他的在场，也许对他的光荣历史感到敬畏。她从来没有用名字称呼过他。他从来都是“乔恩的父亲”。
[13]乔恩在他父亲面前也默默无语。他似乎对他父亲也有一种强烈的敬畏感，也可能是畏惧感。乔恩对我描述他父亲时，说他是一个冷漠、孤僻的人。
[14]“好了，”我想。“我们不打算谈论20世纪30年代美国的孤立主义，也不会涉及国际犹太银行家或林德伯格不明智地跟纳粹头子在柏林会见的话题。”
[15]他们早已告诫我不要谈论查尔斯·林德伯格在二次大战中在太平洋上空对抗日本人的50多次飞行。
[16]那么，谈什么呢？
[17]我谈到了跟乔恩的母亲安妮·莫罗·林德伯格的会面，我对她大加赞赏。又是沉默。
[18]谈谈飞行如何？不行。他一生都在谈论飞行。我们继续在沉默中进餐。
[19]就在这时，我听到乔恩说了句什么——至多是句漫不经心的话——有关在康涅狄格州斯高尔斯基家的一次晚宴。他请查尔斯把那个故事讲给我听。
[20]又是沉默。只是这一次我不会轻易罢手了。我请求道，给我们讲讲吧。
[21]令人惊讶的是，林德伯格的脸上露出了笑容，并开始用低沉的声音讲那个故事。所有的人都放下了刀叉，倾身恭听。
[22]他和安妮应邀到首架商用直升机发明人斯高尔斯基家里参加一次正式宴会。
[23]他们去的地方是斯高尔斯基家建在达里恩的豪华住宅。一位高贵的太太向林德伯格提了个问题，我猜想他回答的方式有点不太礼貌，因此，她把手指头伸到水杯中，向他弹了几滴水，以示对他这种回答的藐视。
[24]林德伯格以同样的方法回敬了她，他也把手指头伸进自己的水杯中蘸上水，向她弹了几滴水。他说，顷刻间就出现了这样的情景：客人们看见林德伯格推开椅子，于是打着黑色领带的男人和穿晚礼服的女人们也都跟着这样做。
[25]所有的人都站了起来。斯高尔斯基宣布了游戏规则和各队的领队。男女两组成了对立的双方，开始了一场使所有水战失色的水仗。屋子里、花园里的水桶、水管都成了武器；战略、进攻、撤退，笑声夹杂着尖叫声此起彼伏。
[26]最后，大家围着一个大壁炉，主人提供了毛巾、毯子，大家喝着热饮料，吹牛瞎侃是谁先用水桶泼了谁等，直到次日凌晨才散去。
[27]接着，人们相互拥抱，高高兴兴地开车回家去了。
[28]回想起这一幕，查尔斯·林德伯格开心地笑了。他笑得那么开心，眼泪都笑出来了。我们大家跟着一起笑。这个令人开心的故事把我们紧紧地团结在一起，而我驾车回家前的道别也显得那样隆重。
[29]我自己家里一些易动感情的人要是听说我遇见过查尔斯·林德伯格并很喜欢他，肯定会难以置信、大为惊奇的。但事情总是这样的。
[30]我懂得了人的本性永远是好的。我们没有谈飞机。我们谈的只是打水仗，这一话题使我们在那个晚上过得很愉快。这就是那个夜晚——我遇到了查尔斯·林德伯格的一个美好的夜晚。
标签：his论文;