Navneet：来看看我的童年照

三泰虎博客译文《Navneet：Wen勾起了童年记忆》。Navneet：一位叫Wen的男孩联系上我，他非常热情的跟我聊了他居住的城市哈尔滨。他父亲在哈尔滨开了一家餐馆。后来，他和我聊了很多话题。当我说自己从未听过一本叫《西游记》的书时，他非常吃惊。当我夸他时，他谦虚地说他成绩并不好，难以相信我并非言过其实。在我看来，17岁的他看似非常聪明。也许，我并未接触过国内这一年龄的孩子，他们也许同样聪明，甚或更聪明。我们对孩子了解多少呢？这让我陷入了思考。

译文来源：三泰虎 http://www.santaihu.com
外文标题：Wen Brought Back Childhood Memories
外文地址：http://creative.sulekha.com/wen-brought-back-childhood-memories_609153_blog

A boy named Wen contacted me. He was enthusiastic to tell me about Harbin, where he lives. His father has a restaurant in Harbin. I wasn’t getting his mail on google and he said, it might be due to China’s clamp down on Google for it’s spying on China. He later chatted with me on many subjects and was surprised when I told him that I hadn’t heard about a book named “ A journey to the west”. He had sprained his ankle while playing basketball and so had all the time in the world to talk to me, quiz me and to wonder over my dimwittedness while I wondered over his adroitness and ease with which he was translating my text in to Chinese,, writing his in Chinese, translating in English and sending so fast that I couldn't cope up with it with my slow fingers punching tiny keys on phone and missing. That wasn't all that he was doing while chatting, he was also sending to me the links for various videos and posting pictures as well.

一位叫Wen的男孩联系上我，他非常热情的跟我聊了他居住的城市哈尔滨。他父亲在哈尔滨开了一家餐馆。我不是在gmail上收到他邮件的，据他说，也许谷歌因监视中国而遭压制。后来，他和我聊了很多话题。当我说自己从未听过一本叫《西游记》的书时，他非常吃惊。

他打篮球时扭伤了脚腕，所以有充足的时间和我聊天，向我提问题和惊讶于我的憨傻，而我则对他的机敏感到目瞪口呆，他把我的话翻译成中文，先用中文回答，翻译成英文，然后再发给我，这一过程非常快速，我笨拙的手指缓慢地敲着手机上的小小按键，难以应付过来。不仅如此，在聊天的同时，他还给我发了一些视频的链接以及图片。

聊天时发过来的一些图片

When I complimented his skills, he modestly said that his grades in the studies weren't good for him to believe that my praise wasn't exaggerated. To me he appeared to be very smart for his seventeen years. Maybe, I am not in touch with the children of that age from my country either and they may be as smart or even smarter now. How much do we know our children, about our children? It has set me thinking. Did I know my sons when they were growing up? Did I know anything about their world, their apprehensions and their dreams? How much of them do I know now?

当我夸他时，他谦虚地说他成绩并不好，难以相信我并非言过其实。在我看来，17岁的他看似非常聪明。也许，我并未接触过国内这一年龄的孩子，他们也许同样聪明，甚或更聪明。我们对孩子了解多少呢？这让我陷入了思考。儿子成长时，我是否了解他们？我是否了解他们的世界，他们的忧虑和他们的梦想？我对他们了解多少？

素描

When our elder son was ten/ twelve years old, he would make minutely detailed pencil sketches of the characters in his computer games, he was fascinated with. I once came across his sketches tucked in a file, long after he had left for Australia.

大儿子10-12岁时，他会用铅笔给电脑游戏里他喜欢的人物画素描。他去了澳大利亚很久后，我曾经偶然在一个文件夹内看到他的素描画。

I would bring to him intircate modelling kits with thousands of minature parts and detailed drawings for their assembly. He would spend hours assembling them meticulously. May be, from there he got in to a habit of caring for every detail while doing things. His impeccability is a challenge to his clumsy father who hasn't ever got anything better than a frown from his diligent life partner whose moniker "Smart Sulekhika" says a lot about her personality.

我曾给他一个由数以千计碎片组成的错综复杂的拼盘和详图供他拼接起来，他会花几个小时的时间一丝不苟地将它们拼接起来。也许正是得益于此，他养成了做事细致入微的习惯。他的无可挑剔给他笨拙的父亲带来了挑战，后者从勤勉的终生伴侣那里得到的总是皱眉头，这位绰号叫“Smart Sulekhika”的终生伴侣会大谈特谈她的个性。

All the treasures of our two sons, their videos, Computer games, toys and toy characters, even their pencil boxes and blazers are still sitting on the shelves of the cupboards.

我们两个儿子的珍藏，他们的影像资料，电脑游戏，玩具和动漫公仔，甚至铅笔盒和运动夹克仍然放置在橱柜的架子上。

充满记忆的橱柜

They have becomes treasure troves of our memories of those days when we had little time to spend with them. Now whenever we open the panels of those cupboards, we drink the nectar of those moments we could have, should have enjoyed with them and the thoughts form as tears and spill from our eyes.

它们已经成为了那些日子里记忆的宝库，我们当时很少有时间和他们呆在一起。现在每当打开橱柜的门时，我们就能品尝到原本就该和他们一起享受的日子的甜蜜，这些思绪使得眼泪不由自主地夺眶而出。

Now when you read this, I suggest, if you have your child or a grandchild near you- hug him/her, call him/her if he/she is in another room or just get up and see the kids playing out there in open and tuck the sweet moments in the your heart.

读到这里时，我建议，如果你有孩子或孙子在身边，那就拥抱他/她；如果他/她在另一个房间，那就喊一下他/她；或者出去看看在外面玩耍的孩子，体验心灵中的甜蜜时刻。

Though I am here in Sydney with our elder son and I hug him so often on one pretext or the other but it doesn’t feel the same. Thirty years down the lane a lot has changed. Save for the memories of those, cackles, curiosities, inquisitiveness and joys of chasing butterflies and watching ladybirds, I don’t find any traces of that child in him. Now I find him chasing targets set before him by his demanding job and at times when he expresses a desire to go and see some frolicking kids,we go to Darling Harbour.

我在悉尼和大儿子呆在一起，常常以这样或那样的借口来拥抱他，但感觉并不一样。随着30年光阴的流逝，一切已经改变。喋喋不休地闲谈、儿时的好奇、追逐蝴蝶和观看瓢虫的快乐等记忆被珍藏了起来，我在他身上已经找不到任何童年的痕迹。如今，我在他身上看到的是过于苛刻的工作驱使他追逐目标。有时候，当他说想去看看一些嬉戏玩耍的孩子时，我们便去达令港。【三泰虎注：达令港(Darling Harbour)是悉尼的娱乐中心，有世界最大的水族馆之一悉尼水族馆的海底生物，IMAX影院，澳大利亚国家海事博物馆，星城赌场，著名海鲜餐馆】

Unlike in India, it's not possible to see the playing kids around. Though there are lots of parks and open places but without the cacophony of children playing a discomforting quietness surrounds. The parents don't have time for their children. Everyone is running a race without knowing why. How so often in this deafening silence , I long for his childhood to return to my arms in the form of his children so that I may live a little of it again before it’s all over for me

跟印度不一样，这里不可能在身边看到玩耍的孩子。虽然当地有许多公园和开阔场所，但缺少孩子刺耳的音调。父母并没有时间和孩子呆在一起。大家都疲于奔命，却不知道为什么要这样做。在这种令人震惊的沉默中，我经常渴望他回到童年，投入我怀抱，也许在一切结束之前，我可以再次体验一番。