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A few months earlier, a different illicit romance had been brewing.
几个月前，一段不正当的恋情正在酝酿之中。
To Nath's immense disapproval, all spring Lydia had spent her afternoons out with Jack in his car:
令纳大为不满的是，整个春天莉迪亚下午都在杰克的车里度过：
driving round and round town, or parking the VW near the green quad of the college, or by the playground, or in a deserted parking lot.
他们开着车绕着小镇转啊转，或者把车停在学校绿色的院子附近，或者停在操场旁边，或者停在一个废弃的停车场里。
Despite what Nath thought, to Lydia's smug satisfaction, despite the whispers, now and then, when someone glimpsed her climbing into Jack's car—She's not, is she? No way. Her? Can't be—despite Lydia's own expectations, the truth was much less scandalous.
不管纳怎么想，让莉迪亚自鸣得意的是，不管有人瞥见她爬进杰克的车里而时不时窃窃私语——她不是，是吗？不可能。她吗？不可能，尽管莉迪亚有自己的期待，但事实远没有那么令人反感。
While the college students scurried to class, or kindergartners scaled the slide, or bowlers trudged into the alley for a quick after-work game, something happened that Lydia had never expected: she and Jack talked.
大学生们匆匆忙忙地去上课，幼儿园的孩子们爬滑梯，保龄球手们拖着沉重的脚步走进巷子里进行一场下班后的快速游戏时，发生了一件莉迪亚意想不到的事：她和杰克说话了。
As they sat smoking, feet propped on the dashboard, she told him stories about her parents:
他们坐在车里抽烟，脚支在仪表板上，她给他讲她父母的故事：
how in second grade, she'd traced the diagram of the heart from the encyclopedia, labeling each ventricle with magic marker, and her mother had pinned it up on her bedroom wall as if it were a masterpiece.
二年级时，她从百科全书上找到了心脏的图解，每个心室都用魔法记号笔做了标记，她妈妈把它钉在卧室墙上，就好像它是一件杰作。
How at ten, her mother had taught her to take a pulse; how at twelve her mother had persuaded her to skip Cat Malone's birthday party—the only one she'd ever been invited to—to finish her science fair project.
十岁时，母亲教她量脉搏；12岁时，母亲说服她不参加凯特·马龙的生日聚会（这是她唯一受邀参加的聚会）而去完成科学展览项目。
How her father had insisted she go to the freshman dance and bought her a dress, and she had spent the night standing in the darkest corner of the gym, counting the minutes until she could go home: how late was late enough? Eight thirty? Nine?
父亲坚持要她去参加新生舞会，给她买了一件礼服，她整晚都站在体育馆最黑暗的角落里，一分一秒地数着时间，直到可以回家：多晚才算晚？八点半？九点？
At first she tried not to mention Nath, remembering how Jack hated him.
一开始，她尽量不提纳，因为她记得杰克是多么讨厌他。
But she could not talk about herself without Nath and, to her surprise, Jack asked questions: Why did Nath want to be an astronaut? Was he quiet at home like he was at school?
但没有纳，她就无法谈论自己。令她吃惊的是，杰克问了她几个问题：为什么纳想当宇航员？他在家里像在学校一样安静吗？
So she told him how, after the moon landing, he had bounded across the lawn, pretending to be Neil Armstrong, for days.
于是她告诉他，在登月后，他如何连续几天扮成尼尔·阿姆斯特朗跃过草坪。
How, in the sixth grade, he'd convinced the librarian to let him borrow from the adults' section and brought home textbooks on physics, flight mechanics, aerodynamics.
六年级时，他如何说服图书管理员让他从成人区借阅，并把物理学、飞行力学、空气动力学的课本带回家。
How he'd asked for a telescope for his fourteenth birthday and received a clock radio instead; how he'd saved his allowance and bought himself one.
他十四岁生日想要一架望远镜，结果却收到了一台时钟收音机；他省下零用钱自己买了一架望远镜。
How, sometimes, at dinner, Nath never said a word about his day, because their parents never asked.
有时吃饭时，纳对自己的一天只字不提，因为他们的父母从未问过。
Jack absorbed everything, lighting her next cigarette as she flicked the old butt out the window, tossing her his pack when she ran out.
杰克全神贯注地听着，点燃了她的下一根香烟，她把旧烟蒂弹到窗外，当她跑出去时，把他的烟盒扔给她。
Week after week, she tamped down a flare of guilt at making Nath seem even more pathetic — because talking about Nath kept her in Jack's car every afternoon, and every afternoon she spent in Jack's car bothered Nath more and more.
一周又一周过去了，她抑制住了让纳显得更可怜的内疚感，因为每天下午她都在杰克的车里谈论纳，每天下午，她坐在杰克的车里，这使纳越来越心烦。
Now, in mid-April, Jack had started teaching Lydia to drive. At the end of the month, she would be sixteen.
到了四月中旬，杰克开始教莉迪亚开车。到四月底，她就十六岁了。
"Think of the gas pedal and the clutch as partners," he said. "When one goes up, the other goes down."
“把油门和离合器当作伙伴，”他说。“一个升，另一个降。”
Under Jack's direction, Lydia let the clutch out slowly and tapped the gas with her toe, and the VW crept forward across the empty parking lot of the roller rink on Route 17.
在杰克的指挥下，莉迪亚慢慢松开离合器，轻踩油门，大众汽车缓慢驶过17号公路旱冰场的空停车场。
Then the engine stalled, slamming her shoulders into the seat back.
然后引擎熄火了，她的肩膀撞到了椅背上。
Even after a week of practice, the violence of this moment still surprised her, how the whole car jolted and fell silent, as if it had had a heart attack.
即使经过一个星期的练习，这一刻的暴力仍然让她感到惊讶，整个车子颠簸起来，一片寂静，就像心脏病发作了一样。
"Try again," Jack said. He set his foot on the dashboard and pushed in the cigarette lighter. "Nice and slow. Clutch in, gas out."
“再试一次。”杰克说。他把脚放在仪表板上，把打火机推了进去。“很好，慢点。踩离合器，松油门。”
At the far end of the parking lot, a police car pulled in and executed a neat U-turn, pointing its nose toward the street. They're not looking for us, Lydia told herself.
在停车场的尽头，一辆警车驶进来，做了一个漂亮的U型转弯，把车的鼻头对着街道。警察不是来找我们的，莉迪亚自言自语。
Route 17, out at the edge of town, was a notorious speed trap. Still, the black-and-white car kept catching her eye. She turned the key and restarted the car and stalled again, almost at once.
17号公路在城市边缘，是一个臭名昭著的汽车超速监视区。尽管如此，那辆黑白相间的车还是吸引了她的注意。她转动钥匙，重新发动汽车，几乎立刻又熄火了。
"Try again," Jack repeated, pulling a pack of Marlboros from his pocket. "You're in too much of a hurry." She had not realized this, but it was true.
“再试一次。”杰克重复道，从口袋里掏出一包万宝路香烟。“你太着急了。”她没有意识到这一点，但确实是这样。
