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I looked to see if he was teasing me, but his face was serious. He, in turn, inspected me carefully, as if to make sure I grasped the significance of his statement. The occasion called for some show of recognition on my part. "The center of the world?" I repeated, trying to show interest if not complete acceptance. He nodded. "The absolute center. Everyone around here knows it."
我看着他，想知道他是否在和我开玩笑，但他却表情严肃，反过来认真地审视着我，似乎想确认我是否领会了他那句话的深刻含义。这种情况要求我必须表现出认同。“世界的中心？”我重复道，虽然我并不真正赞同，但仍尽力表现出对此的兴趣。他点头说：“世界的最中心。这儿的人都知道。”
At that moment the boy returned with an armful of green bananas. The man cut one in half and pressed the cut end against the radiator jacket. The banana melted into a glue against the hot metal, stopping the leaks instantly. I was so astonished at this that I must have looked rather foolish and everyone laughed. They then refilled my radiator and gave me extra bananas to take along in case my radiator should give me trouble again. An hour later, after using the green banana once more, my radiator and I reached our destination. The local mechanic smiled. "Who taught you about the green banana?" I gave him the name of the village. "Did they show you the rock marking the center of the world?" he asked. I assured him they had. "My grandfather came from there," he said. "The exact center. Everyone around here has always known about it."
这时，小男孩抱着一抱青香蕉回来了。那个男子把其中一根切成两半，将其断口处按在水箱的外壳上。香蕉遇到炙热的金属融成了胶，立刻就堵住了漏洞。面对如此情景，我惊呆了，我当时的表情一定是傻傻的，所有的人都笑了起来。他们把我的水箱装满水，又让我带上一些香蕉，以防沿途中水箱再出问题。路上，我又用了一次青香蕉，一个小时后，我开着车到达了目的地。当地的修理工笑着问我：“谁教你用青香蕉的？”我告诉了他那个村子的名字。“他们有没有指给你看标志世界中心的那块岩石？”他问道。我告诉他，他们指给我看了。“我祖父就是那儿的人，”他说，“世界的最中心。一直以来这儿的人都知道。”
