"And the others?"
“另一些人是?”
"Nomads, for the most part. We've all lived that way at times. It gets tedious, like anything else. But we run across the others now and then, because most of us prefer the North."
“游牧者,大多数情况下是这样。我们有时候会这样生活。这样的生活很乏味,和别的事情一样。但我们时不时会碰见别的同类,因为我们中的大多数人更喜欢北方。”
"Why is that?"
“为什么会这样呢?”
We were parked in front of my house now, and he'd turned off the truck. It was very quiet and dark; there was no moon. The porch light was off so I knew my father wasn't home yet.
现在我们把车停在了我家前,他已经把卡车的引擎关掉了。外面非常安静,非常黑,月亮没有出来。门廊的灯关着,所以我知道我爸爸还没到家。
"Did you have your eyes open this afternoon?" he teased. "Do you think I could walk down the street in the sunlight without causing traffic accidents? There's a reason why we chose the Olympic Peninsula, one of the most sunless places in the world. It's nice to be able to go outside in the day. You wouldn't believe how tired you can get of nighttime in eighty-odd years."
“你今天下午没有睁开眼睛吗?”他揶揄道。“你认为我能在洒满阳光的街道上行走而不引发任何交通事故吗。这正是我们选择奥林匹亚半岛的缘故,这里几乎是世界上阳光最不充足的地方。在白天能够到外面去是件很棒的事。你不会相信,在这八十多年里你会多么地厌倦夜晚。”
"So that's where the legends came from?"
“所以这就是那种传说的来源?”
"Probably."
“很有可能。”
"And Alice came from another family, like Jasper?"
“而爱丽丝来自另一个家族,就像贾斯帕一样?”
"No, and that is a mystery. Alice doesn't remember her human life at all. And she doesn't know who created her. She awoke alone. Whoever made her walked away, and none of us understand why, or how, he could. If she hadn't had that other sense, if she hadn't seen Jasper and Carlisle and known that she would someday become one of us, she probably would have turned into a total savage."
“不,这一切还是个谜。爱丽丝完全不记得她还是人类时的生活。她也不知道是谁创造了她。她独自醒来。转变她的人已经走了。我们都不能理解为什么,或者,他是怎么能做到的。如果不是她拥有第六感,如果她没有看到贾斯帕和卡莱尔,知道她终有一日将成为我们中的一员,她也许早就变成了一个彻底的未开化的原始人了。”
《暮光之城》
与图书题目相得益彰的是,“暮光之城”系列别具匠心的封面设计则很好地传达出了每本书内在的深远寓意。斯蒂芬妮·梅尔指出《暮色》封面上的苹果代表“创世纪” 内善恶树上的禁果。象征贝拉和爱德华之间人类与吸血鬼禁忌的爱恋。在书的开头引用了“创世纪”217页的内容:“只是分别善恶树上的果子,你不可吃,因为你吃的日子必定死。”这同时也代表了贝拉如何分辨善恶——选择是否吃下那颗禁忌的果实,这比喻了选择跟爱德华在一起或远离他。