伊恩·麦克尤恩是最重要、最多产的当代英国小说家之一。他的处女作 First Love, Last Rites 出版于1975年，获得毛姆文学奖；1998年以Amsterdam《阿姆斯特丹》一书赢得英国布克文学奖。麦克尤恩最广为人知的作品应该是Atonement《赎罪》。此书获得美国National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award, 并被改编成电影， 由Joe Wright导演，James McAvoy 和 Keira Knightley领衔主演，夺得2008年英国学院奖最佳电影奖。

On Chesil Beach《奇柔海滩》是麦克尤恩的新作，这本不到两百页的小书，功力深厚，使他获得了2008年英国图书奖的Book of the Year Award。《奇柔海滩》的故事情节很简单，讲述的60年代西方性解放运动来临之前“年轻、受过良好教育、仍是处子之身”的Florence和Edward两人的新婚之夜。他们彼此相爱，但对初夜一无所知，焦虑不安。Edward期待已久，但唯恐自己行为不当，惹恼了Florence, 前功尽弃。而Florence则一贯羞涩矜持，对肉体的亲密接触充满疑惑和恐惧，明知这是夫妻关系中顺理成章的下一步，却无法摆脱厌恶和矛盾的心理挣扎。于是两个人在尴尬和紧张之中彼此揣摩，却难以明了对方的心意，误解越来越深, 最后终于发生激烈争吵，Florence独自离开奇柔海滩边两人下榻的旅馆，一去不返。从此幸福化为云烟，两人不相往来,独自度过余生。

读过麦克尤恩的大部分作品，与其一贯风格比较，那种娓娓道来的非凡的讲述故事的能力在《奇柔海滩》依然发挥得淋漓尽致。但最让人叹服的，是对Florence和Edward沉默的心理交战优美精确的描写，其中穿插着作为背景铺垫的两人的相识过程、家庭环境和童年经历，有张有弛，此起彼伏。比较反常的，是《奇柔海滩》的简练，没有多余和复杂的故事情节，全书集中在两个简单的悬念之上，作为读者，首先担心的是两个人的洞房花烛夜如何收场，一败涂地之后，担心的又是他们是否重归于好。在以全书大部分篇幅不厌其烦地描画新婚之夜后，作者将Florence和Edward的后半生几十年的跨度在结尾的三、五页中一笔带过，似水流年，反差极大，令人震撼。

我印象最深的是全书的结尾，读过无数遍，每次仍唏嘘不已：

When he thought of her, it rather amazed him, that he had let that girl with her violin go. Now, of course, he saw that her self-effacing proposal was quite irrelevant. All she had needed was the certainty of his love, and his reassurance that there was no hurry when a lifetime lay ahead of them. Love and patience – if only he had had them both at once – would surely have seen them both through. And then what unborn children might have had their chances, what young girl with an Alice band might have become his loved familiar? This is how the entire course of life can be changed – by doing nothing. On Chesil Beach, he could have called out to Florence, he could have gone after her. He did not know, or would have cared to know, that as she run away from him, certain in her distress that she was about to lose him, she had never loved him more, or more hopelessly, and that the sound of his voice would have been a deliverance, and she would have turned back. Indeed, he stood in cold and righteous silence in the summer’s dusk, watching her hurry along the shore, the sound of her difficult progress lost to the breaking of small waves, until she was a blurred, receding point against the immense straight road of shingle gleaming in the pallid light.

(想起她的时候，他很惊讶怎么会让那个拉小提琴的女孩子走了。她近乎自辱的提议如今已经无关紧要。她唯一要的，是他确凿无疑的爱情，是他相伴终生不用仓促的保证。爱情和耐心，如果那时他两者兼有，他们一定能够走到今天。那么多少未出生的孩子会拥有来到这个世界的机会，怎样一个带发梳的小姑娘会成为他的最爱？如果他没有急于求成，人生可能截然相反。在奇柔海滩上，他完全可以叫住Florence，也可以去追她。他不知道，或不想知道，在她跑开的时候，在确信即将失去他的悲痛之中，她从来没有如此绝望地爱过他，他的声音，是一种可以让她立刻回头的解脱。而他，冷漠地呆立在夏日的黄昏中，看着她在海边疾走，她艰难前进的声音消失在海浪冲击下，直到她的身影，成为一个模糊的黑点，消失在宽阔笔直的卵石路尽头苍白的微光里。)

翻译上面这一段，真太吃力了，还望高人指点。