A Solitary Human Voice
文章来源:未知 文章作者:enread 发布时间:2015-11-23 05:08 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
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A SOLITARY1 HUMAN VOICE

We are air, we are not earth...

-- M. Mamardashvili
 
 
I don't know what I should talk about -- about death or about love? Or are they the same? Which one should I talk about?
 
We were newlyweds. We still walked around holding hands, even if we were just going to the store. I would say to him, "I love you." But I didn't know then how much. I had no idea... We lived in the dormitory of the fire station where he worked. On the second floor. There were three other young couples, we all shared a kitchen. On the first floor they kept the trucks. The red fire trucks. That was his job. I always knew what was happening—where he was, how he was.
 
One night I heard a noise. I looked out the window. He saw me. "Close the window and go back to sleep. There's a fire at the reactor3. I'll be back soon."
 
I didn't see the explosion itself. Just the flames. Everything was radiant. The whole sky. A tall flame. And smoke. The heat was awful. And he's still not back.
 
The smoke was from the burning bitumen4, which had covered the roof. He said later it was like walking on tar2. They tried to beat down the flames. They kicked at the burning graphite with their feet...They weren't wearing their canvas gear. They went off just as they were, in their shirt sleeves. No one told them. They had been called for a fire, that was it.
 
Four o'clock. Five. Six. At six we were supposed to go to his parents' house. To plant potatoes. It's forty kilometers from Pripyat to Sperizhye, where his parents live. Sowing, plowing5 -- he loved to do that. His mother always told me how they didn't want him to move to the city, they'd even built a new house for him. He was drafted into the army. He served in the fire brigade in Moscow and when he came out, he wanted to be a fireman. And nothing else! [Silence.]
 
Sometimes it's as though I hear his voice. Alive. Even photographs don't have the same effect on me as that voice. But he never calls to me...not even in my dreams. I'm the one who calls to him.
 
Seven o'clock. At seven I was told he was in the hospital. I ran there, but the police had already encircled it, and they weren't letting anyone through. Only ambulances. 
 
The policemen shouted: The ambulances are radioactive, stay away! 
 
I wasn't the only one there, all the wives whose husbands were at the reactor that night had come. 
 
I started looking for a friend, she was a doctor at that hospital. I grabbed her white coat when she came out of an ambulance. "Get me inside!" 
 
"I can't. He's bad. They all are." 
 
I held on to her. "Just to see him!" 
 
"All right," she said. "Come with me. Just for fifteen or twenty minutes."
 
I saw him. He was all swollen6 and puffed7 up. You could barely see his eyes.
 
"He needs milk. Lots of milk," my friend said. "They should drink at least three liters each." 
 
"But he doesn't like milk." 
 
"He'll drink it now." 
 
Many of the doctors and nurses in that hospital, and especially the orderlies, would get sick themselves and die. But we didn't know that then.


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1 solitary 7FUyx     
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士
参考例句:
  • I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
  • The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际,显得十分壮美。
2 tar 1qOwD     
n.柏油,焦油;vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于
参考例句:
  • The roof was covered with tar.屋顶涂抹了一层沥青。
  • We use tar to make roads.我们用沥青铺路。
3 reactor jTnxL     
n.反应器;反应堆
参考例句:
  • The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
  • Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里,大分子裂变为小分子。
4 bitumen ad5yB     
n.沥青
参考例句:
  • Bitumen paper can be burnt to gain energy.沥青纸可以焚烧以获得能量。
  • In fact,a speciality crude is suitable only for bitumen production.事实上,这种特性的原油只适宜于生产沥青。
5 plowing 6dcabc1c56430a06a1807a73331bd6f2     
v.耕( plow的现在分词 );犁耕;费力穿过
参考例句:
  • "There are things more important now than plowing, Sugar. "如今有比耕种更重要的事情要做呀,宝贝儿。 来自飘(部分)
  • Since his wife's death, he has been plowing a lonely furrow. 从他妻子死后,他一直过着孤独的生活。 来自辞典例句
6 swollen DrcwL     
adj.肿大的,水涨的;v.使变大,肿胀
参考例句:
  • Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着,她的双腿已经肿了。
  • A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她,她的手臂肿起来了。
7 puffed 72b91de7f5a5b3f6bdcac0d30e24f8ca     
adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧
参考例句:
  • He lit a cigarette and puffed at it furiously. 他点燃了一支香烟,狂吸了几口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He felt grown-up, puffed up with self-importance. 他觉得长大了,便自以为了不起。 来自《简明英汉词典》
TAG标签: death love milk
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