I had better explain that I was a frequent visitor to the headmaster's study, because of the latest thing I had done or left undone. As we now say, I was not integrated. I was, if anything, disintegrated. Whenever I found myself in a penal position before the headmaster's desk I would sink my head, and writhe one shoe over the other.
在这里我得向大家解释一下,由于我不是做了不该做的事情,就是该做的事情没有做,我成了校长办公室的常客。用我们现在的话说,我和周围不是很合拍,实际上,正相反,应该说我是一个出奇调皮的孩子。所以,每当我站在校长办公桌前准备受罚的时候,我就低下头,一只鞋在另一只鞋上不安地蹭来蹭去。
The headmaster would look at me and say,
这时校长就会看着我说:
"What are we going to do with you?"
“我们拿你怎么办呢?”
Well, what were they going to do with me? I would writhe my shoe some more and stare down at the worn rug.
是啊,他们打算拿我怎么办呢?这时我便更使劲地蹭鞋,低头盯着磨损了的地毯。
"Look up, boy! Can't you look up?"
“抬起头来,小家伙!你不会抬头吗?”
Then I would look up at the cupboard, where the naked lady was frozen in her panic and the muscular gentleman contemplated the hindquarters of the leopard in endless gloom. I had nothing to say to the headmaster. His spectacles caught the light so that you could see nothing human behind them. There was no possibility of communication.
于是,我就抬起头来看那个柜子,看上面停留在永久的恐惧之中的维纳斯,和那肌肉强壮永远在阴郁中望着豹子屁股出神的男子。我对校长无话可说。他的眼镜片反光,我看不见镜片后任何有人情味的东西。我感到交流是不可能的。