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“The astronauts eat shrimp cocktail and beef stew and pineapple cake.”
“宇航员们吃鸡尾酒虾、炖牛肉和菠萝蛋糕。”
At dinner, he said, “Gene is the youngest man ever to go into space, and they’re going to do the longest spacewalk ever.”
晚餐时，他说：“吉恩是有史以来进入太空的最年轻的人，他们将进行有史以来最漫长的太空行走。”
In the morning, as his father poured cereal that Nath was too excited to eat, he said, “The astronauts wear iron pants to protect their legs from the boosters.”
早上，父亲给纳倒麦片时，他兴奋得吃不下去，他说:“宇航员穿铁裤是为了保护腿不受助推器的伤害。”
James, who should have loved astronauts—what were they but modern cowboys, after all, venturing into the newest frontier?—did not know any of these things.
詹姆斯应该是喜欢宇航员的。他们究竟是些什么人呢?不过是些现代牛仔，敢于冒险探索最新的边界罢了，这些事情无从得知。
Tangled in his thoughts, Marilyn’s torn-up note pressed to his heart, he saw his son’s new obsession through the other end of the telescope.
这些问题萦绕在他的脑海中，玛丽琳撕烂的字条贴在心口，透过望远镜的另一端，他看到了儿子对新事物的痴迷。
The astronauts, far off in the sky, were mere specks.
在遥远的天空中，宇航员们只是些小斑点。
Two little men in a sardine can, tinkering with nuts and bolts, while here on earth people were disappearing, even dying, and others were struggling just to stay alive one more day.
像是两个小矮人坐在沙丁鱼罐头里，摆弄着螺母和螺栓，而在地球上，人们正在消失，甚至死亡，其他人在挣扎着，只为多活一天。
So frivolous, so ridiculous: actors playing dress-up, strung on wires, pretending to be brave.
多么轻浮，多么可笑：演员们穿着盛装，串在电线上，假装勇敢。
Dancing with their feet above their heads.
倒立跳舞。
Nath, mesmerized, stared at the screen all day with a serene smile, and James felt a hot resentful flare in his gullet.
纳被迷住了，一整天都安详地微笑，盯着屏幕，詹姆斯感到一股强烈的愤恨在食道里燃烧。
On Sunday evening, Nath said, “Daddy, can you believe people can go practically to the moon and still come back?” and James slapped him, so hard Nath’s teeth rattled.
星期天晚上，纳说：“爸爸，你能相信人们几乎可以登上月球，再回到地球?”詹姆斯打了他一巴掌，打得纳牙齿格格作响。
“Shut up about that nonsense,” he said.
“别再胡说八道了，”他说。
“How can you think about things like that when—”
“你怎么能想到这样的事情——”
He had never hit Nath before, and he never would again.
他以前从未打过纳，以后也不会再打了。
But something between them had already broken.
但是他们之间的关系已经破裂了。
Nath, clutching his cheek, darted out of the room, as did Lydia, and James, left alone in the living room with the image of his son’s shocked, reddening eyes, kicked the television to the floor in a burst of glass and sparks.
纳捂着脸冲出房间，莉迪亚也跟着跑了出去，詹姆斯独自留在客厅，脑海里浮现出儿子那震惊的、发红的眼睛，把电视机踢到地板上，火花四射，玻璃散了一地。
And although he took the children on a special trip to Decker’s Department Store on Monday to buy another, he would never again think of astronauts, of space, without recoiling, as if shielding his eyes from shards of glass.
尽管他周一带着孩子们专程去德克尔百货商店买了电视机，但他一想到宇航员和太空就会害怕，就像保护眼睛不受碎玻璃伤害一样。
Nath, on the other hand, took down the Encyclopaedia Britannica and began to read:
纳拿起《大英百科全书》，开始读起来:
Gravity. Rocket. Propulsion.
重力。火箭发射。推进。
He began to scan the newspapers for articles about the astronauts, about their next mission.
他开始浏览报纸，寻找有关宇航员和他们下一次任务的报道。
Surreptitiously he clipped them and saved them in a folder, poring over them when he woke up in the night dreaming of his mother.
他偷偷把它们剪下来，保存在一个文件夹里，晚上梦见母亲而醒来时，就会认真研读这些报道。
Tented by his blanket, he pulled a flashlight from under his pillow and reread the articles in order, memorizing every detail.
他盖着毯子，从枕头下拿出手电筒，把文章按顺序读了一遍，记住了每一个细节。
He learned the name of each launch: Freedom. Aurora. Sigma.
他知道了每一次发射的名称：自由。极光。西格玛。
He recited the names of the astronauts:
他记住了宇航员的名字:
Carpenter. Cooper. Grissom. Glenn.
卡彭特。库珀。格里森。格伦。
By the time he reached the end of the list, he was able to sleep again.
看到名单末尾时，他又能睡着了。
