评论
打印
After breakfast, Lydia settled cross-legged in the corner by the tree and opened the book again. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. She turned a few pages.
早饭后，莉迪亚盘腿坐在树旁的角落里，又翻开了那本书。做一个好的倾听者。鼓励别人谈论自己。她翻了几页。
Remember that the people you are talking to are a hundred times more interested in themselves and their wants and problems than they are in you and your problems.
记住，与你交谈的人对他们自己的需求和问题要比对你和你的问题感兴趣得多。
Across the living room, Nath put his eye to the viewfinder of his new camera, zooming in on Lydia, pushing her in and out of focus.
穿过客厅，纳全神贯注盯着新相机的取景器，放大莉迪亚，把她推进和移出对焦范围。
He was apologizing for giving her the silent treatment, for shutting the door in her face when all she’d wanted was not to be alone.
他为对她的沉默以对道歉，为在她不想一个人待着的时候，当着她的面把门关上而道歉。
Lydia knew this, but she was not in the mood to make up. In a few months he would be gone, and she would be left alone to win friends and influence people and pioneer in science.
莉迪亚知道，但她没有心情和好。几个月后，他就会离开，而她将一个人结交朋友，影响他人，并成为科学的先驱。
Before Nath could snap the photo, she dropped her gaze back to the book, hair curtaining her face. A smile says, "I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you."
纳还没来得及拍下这张照片，她的目光就回到了书本上，头发垂在脸上。微笑意味着：“我喜欢你。你让我快乐。我很高兴见到你。”
That is why dogs make such a hit. They are so glad to see us that they almost jump out of their skins.
这就是为什么狗会如此受欢迎。他们看到我们高兴得几乎要跳起来了。
Dogs, Lydia thought. She tried to picture herself as a dog, something docile and friendly, a golden retriever with a black smile and a fringy tail, but she did not feel friendly and purebred and blond.
莉迪亚试着把自己想象成一只温顺而友好狗，一只带着黑色微笑和流苏状尾巴的金毛寻回犬，但她并不觉得自己是友好的纯种金毛。
She felt unsociable and suspicious, like the Wolffs' dog down the street, a mutt, braced for hostility.
她孤僻又多疑，就像街上沃尔夫家那只杂种狗，时刻处于警备状态。
"Lyds," Nath called. He would not give up. "Lydia. Lyd-i-a." Through the screen of her hair, Lydia saw the zoom lens of the camera like a giant microscope trained on her. "Smile."
“莉迪，”纳喊道。 他不会放弃的。 “莉迪亚。莉-迪-亚。”透过她的头发，莉迪亚看到照相机的变焦镜头就像一个巨大的显微镜对准了她。“微笑”。
You don't feel like smiling? Then what? Force yourself to smile. Act as if you were already happy, and that will tend to make you happy.
你不想笑吗？然后呢？强迫自己微笑。表现得好像你已经很快乐一样，这往往会让你快乐。
Lydia pulled her hair back over her shoulder in a slowly untwisting rope.
莉迪亚慢慢把头发挽到肩上。
Then she stared straight into the black eye of the camera, refusing to smile, even the slightest bend in her lips, even after she heard the shutter click.
然后她直视着摄像机的黑眼睛，拒绝微笑，甚至在听到快门声后，嘴唇也没有丝毫幅度。
By the time school started again, Lydia was relieved to escape the house, even if physics class was the first thing she had to face.
开学时，莉迪亚终于松了一口气，逃离了家，即使物理课是她必须面对的第一件事。
She set the failed test—signed now by her mother—facedown on Mr. Kelly's desk. Mr. Kelly himself was already at the chalkboard, drawing a diagram.
她把母亲签字的不及格试卷正面朝下放在凯利先生的办公桌上。凯利先生已经在黑板前画图表了。
Unit II: Electricity and Magnetism, he wrote at the top. Lydia slid into her seat and rested her cheek on the desktop. Someone had etched a dime-sized FUCK YOU into the surface with a pushpin.
他在最上面写道：第二单元，电磁。莉迪亚坐到座位上，把脸靠在桌面上。有人用图钉在桌面刻了一句硬币大小的脏话。
She pressed her thumb against it, and when she lifted her hand a backward FUCK rose on her fingertip like a welt.
她将拇指按在上面，抬起手时，指尖上出现了一个红红的FUCK。
"Good vacation?" It was Jack. He slouched into the next seat, one arm slung over the back, as if it were a girl's shoulder.
“假期怎么样？”杰克问道。他没精打采地坐到旁边的座位上，一只胳膊搭在椅背上，仿佛那是一个女孩的肩膀。
At this point she hardly knew Jack at all, though he lived just on the corner, and hadn’t talked to him in years.
这时她几乎不认识杰克了，他就住在附近，好几年没跟他说过话了。
His hair had darkened to the color of beach sand; the freckles she remembered from their childhood had faded but not disappeared.
他的头发变成了海滩沙的颜色；儿时的雀斑已经淡了，但并没有消失。
But she knew that Nath didn't like him at all, never had, and for this reason alone she was pleased to see him. "What are you doing here?"
她知道纳一点也不喜欢杰克，正因如此，她才很高兴见到他。“你在这儿干什么？”
Jack glanced at the board. "Electricity and Magnetism." Lydia blushed. "I mean," she said, "this is a junior class."
杰克瞥了一眼黑板。“电磁”。莉迪亚红着脸说：“我的意思是，这是初级班。”
Jack pulled a capless ballpoint from his knapsack and rested his foot on his knee.
杰克从背包里掏出一支没有盖的圆珠笔，翘着二郎腿。
"Did you know, Miss Lee, that physics is required to graduate? Since I failed the second unit of physics last year, here I am again. My last chance."
“李小姐，你不知道物理是必修课吗？去年我物理第二单元不及格，所以我又来重修了。这是最后一次机会。”
He began to trace the tread of his tennis-shoe sole in blue ink. Lydia sat up. "You failed?" "I failed," he said.
他开始用蓝墨水描网球鞋底的花纹。莉迪亚坐了起来。“你没有及格？”“我没有及格，”他说。
"Fifty-two percent. Below below-average. I know that's a hard concept to grasp, Miss Lee. Since you've never failed anything."
“百分之五十二。低于平均值。李小姐，我知道这很难理解。因为您从未不及格过。”
Lydia stiffened. "As a matter of fact," she said, "I'm failing physics myself." Jack didn't turn his head, but she saw one eyebrow rise.
莉迪亚绷紧身体，说：“其实我物理也不及格。”杰克没有回头，但她看到他扬了扬眉。
Then, to her surprise, he leaned across the aisle and doodled a tiny zero on the knee of her jeans.
令她惊讶的是，他靠在过道上，在她的牛仔裤膝盖上涂了一个很小的零。
"Our secret membership sign," he said as the bell rang. His eyes, a deep blue-gray, met hers. "Welcome to the club, Miss Lee."
铃声响起时，他说：“我们的秘密会员标志。”他那双深蓝灰色的眼睛和她的眼睛目光交汇。“欢迎来到俱乐部，李小姐。”
