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注释

Limbo

进退两难

其含义是：a situation in which you are not certain what to do next, cannot take action, etc., especially because you are waiting for someone else to make a decision。请见：http://oaadonline.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/limbo。

By Rhonda Lucas

朗达·卢卡斯著

My parents’ divorce was final.

父母离婚，无可挽回。

The house had been sold and the day had come to move.

房子卖后，搬家的日子到了。

Thirty years of the family’s life was now crammed into the garage.

同一屋檐下，悠悠三十年，这段生活，现已塞入车库。

The two-by-fours that ran the length of the walls were the only uniformity among the clutter of boxes, furniture, and memories.

里面乱堆着箱子、家具和回忆，只有二乘四木方，两头顶着墙，整整齐齐。

All was frozen in limbo between the life just passed and the one to come.

之前的生活刚刚过去，之后的生活还没到来，一切都停止在两者之间，进退两难。

The sunlight pushing its way through the window splattered against a barricade of boxes.

窗中透过的阳光，洒落在堆积如山的箱子上。

Like a fluorescent river, it streamed down the sides and flooded the cracks of the cold, cement floor.

阳光如水，流下箱边，灌满了冰冷水泥地的裂缝。

I stood in the doorway between the house and garage and wondered if the sunlight would ever again penetrate the memories packed inside those boxes.

我站在房子和车库之间的门廊里，不知阳光是否还会透过那些箱中塞着的回忆。

For an instant, the cardboard boxes appeared as tombstones, monuments to those memories.

有一瞬间，那些纸板箱，对于那些回忆，看起来就像是墓碑、纪念碑。

The furnace in the corner, with its huge tubular fingers reaching out and disappearing into the wall, was unaware of the futility of trying to warm the empty house.

角落里的火炉，管道四出，没入墙中，挥舞巨爪，竭力使空屋暖和起来，却不知徒劳。

The rhythmical whir of its effort hummed the elegy for the memories boxed in front of me.

炉火呼呼作响，有板有眼，为我面前箱中的回忆哼着挽歌。

I closed the door, sat down on the step, and listened reverently.

我关上门，席阶而坐，洗耳恭听。

The feeling of loss transformed the bad memories into not-so-bad, the not-so-bad memories into good, and committed the good ones to my mind.

失落感将糟糕的回忆，变得不那么糟糕，将不那么糟糕的回忆，变成美妙的回忆，将美妙的回忆，留在我心中。

Still, I felt as vacant as the house inside.

可我还是觉得空虚，就像空荡荡的房子。

A workbench to my right stood disgustingly empty.

右边有个工作台，空空如也，令人作呕。

Not so much as a nail had been left behind.

但不如落下的钉子那么让人反胃。

I noticed, for the first time, what a dull, lifeless green it was.

我才发现，它的绿多么黯然无光，了无生气。

Lacking the disarray of tools that used to cover it, now it seemed as out of place as a bathtub in the kitchen.

以前，工作台上，工具横七竖八，现在都不见了，所以工作台看起来摆错了地方，就像是放在厨房里的浴缸。

In fact, as I scanned the room, the only things that did seem to belong were the cobwebs in the corners.

实际上，察看房间时，看起来确实与之相称的，只有角落里的蜘蛛网。

A group of boxes had been set aside from the others and stacked in front of the workbench.

有几个箱子挪到了别处，堆放在工作台前。

Scrawled like graffiti on the walls of dilapidated buildings were the words “Salvation Army.”

破屋旧墙上，写着“救世军”几个字，字迹潦草，仿若涂鸦。

Those words caught my eyes as effectively as a flashing neon sign.

这几个字，在我看来，就像霓虹闪烁，惊心夺目，

They reeked of irony.

讽刺意味浓烈。

“Salvation—was a bit too late for this family,” I mumbled sarcastically to myself.

“对于这个家，拯救有点太晚了，”我咕哝着自嘲道。

The houseful of furniture that had once been so carefully chosen to complement and blend with the color schemes of the various rooms was indiscriminately crammed together against a single wall.

满屋家具，都曾经过精挑细选，为的是完善并融入各个房间的配色方案，现在却不分青红皂白，塞在一起，靠在墙边。

The uncoordinated colors combined in turmoil and lashed out in the greyness of the room.

这些家具，色彩混杂，乱七八糟，很不协调，肆意堆积在灰色的房间里。

I suddenly became aware of the coldness of the garage, but I didn’t want to go back inside the house, so I made my way through the boxes to the couch.

我突然意识到车库很冷，但不想回到屋内，所以我在成堆的箱子中开了一条路，走到了长沙发旁边。

I cleared a space to lie down and curled up, covering myself with my jacket.

我清理出一片空隙，躺下缩成一团，用夹克盖在了身上。

I hoped my father would return soon with the truck so we could empty the garage and leave the cryptic silence of parting lives behind.

我希望父亲马上就会带着货车回来，这样我们就能清空车库，将这新旧生活过渡期间，神秘莫测的沉寂，抛在脑后。