My “Asparagus Moment”

By Ben Frederick

很多人并不知道自己真正喜歡什么，直到嘗試了那件讓其為之瘋狂的事情。就好像沒有吃過一樣東西，你并不知道自己喜不喜歡吃。對于本文作者而言，蘆筍就是這樣的東西。他只身前往波士頓實習，并下定決心要成為真正的波士頓人。然而，他一直找不到歸屬感，直至身處一個人聲鼎沸的體育館里，與三萬多人一起為紅襪隊吶喊助威。那一刻，他覺得那就是他的“蘆筍時刻”。

Stepping off the plane at Logan International, I resolved to drop all ties to any other city in order to be a Bostonian.1. 當我在洛根國際機場走下飛機的那一刻，我就下定決心，要與任何其他城市割斷聯(lián)系，做個純粹的波士頓人。Logan International： 洛根國際機場，位于波士頓。I’d moved there that January to complete a couple of internships and avoid the crushing2. crushing： 壓倒的。weight of higher education, if only for a year. I knew two people in the whole city, but I figured that making friends couldn’t be too hard.

In the movies, friends materialize through chance encounters—you make a joke in the grocery store line and someone laughs, or a receptionist calls your last name and you both answer.3. 電影里，人們總是在機緣巧合之下交到朋友——你在雜貨店排隊時開了個玩笑，有人笑了起來；或接待員喊你的姓，有一個人和你同時應(yīng)聲。materialize： 實現(xiàn)；chance encounter： 邂逅，巧遇；grocery store： 雜貨店；receptionist：前臺接待員。At my job, one of my bosses turned to me one day and asked, “Have you spoken to anyone today?”

I hadn’t.

Then in April, two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon finish line, blocks from my apartment.4. Marathon： 馬拉松賽跑；finish line：（賽跑的）終點線；block： 街區(qū)。The media painted the alleged perpetrators, two young men, as outsiders and loners—alienated from the community they had lashed out against.5.媒體稱兇徒——兩個年輕人——是局外人和邊緣人，他們與社會格格不入，于是展開了報復行為。paint...as： 把……描述成；alleged： 聲稱的，所謂的；perpetrator： 犯罪者，行兇者；loner： 喜孤獨者，不合群的人；alienate： 使疏遠，離間；lash out against： 攻擊。

Walking the streets in the weeks that followed, people seemed kinder. You could even catch a smile or two. (Boston being Boston, though, the trappings of courtesy still fell away the minute a pedestrian became a driver.6. 然而波士頓還是波士頓，一旦行人開起車來， 表面上的彬彬有禮立馬消失殆盡。courtesy： 禮貌，彬彬有禮；fall away： 離開，消失；pedestrian： 路人，行人。)

The atmosphere quickly resolved itself from despair to trademark Yankee determination.7. 氣氛很快就從絕望轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)槊绹袠酥拘缘膱詮?。resolve： 轉(zhuǎn)變，改變。As the city regrouped, there was a sense of momentum building8. momentum building： 積蓄動力，打造聲勢。. People who had never run before started training for next year’s marathon. Boston suddenly felt more like a small town as citizens and strangers made the extra effort to connect. The community rallied behind the Red Sox, and the team quickly became a symbol of renewal and unity.9. 所有人因紅襪隊而團結(jié)起來，這支棒球隊很快就成為重振和團結(jié)的象征。rally： 聚集，團結(jié)；Red Sox： 波士頓紅襪隊，一支隸屬美國職棒大聯(lián)盟的職業(yè)棒球隊。

I saw the Sox play at Fenway Park twice that year: The first time, they beat the Texas Rangers, 17-5; the second time, they beat the Seattle Mariners after trailing,10. Fenway Park： 芬威公園，波士頓的一個棒球公園、世界知名體育場，許多世界知名的棒球賽就是在這里舉行；Texas Rangers： 得克薩斯州騎兵隊；Seattle Mariners： 西雅圖水手隊；trailing： 落后。7-2, for most of the game. The Sox scored six runs in the bottom of the ninth to win, 8-7.11. 紅襪隊在第九局即將結(jié)束的最后時刻拿下六分，以8：7獲勝。run： 在棒球比賽中相當于“score”，得分。

By the end of that second game, with the entire stadium on its feet, breath held, all eyes on the batter, I suddenly realized I was a fan.12. 第二場比賽臨近結(jié)束之時，全場所有人都站了起來，屏住呼吸，緊緊盯著擊球員。在那一刻，我突然意識到我也是一名粉絲。stadium： 運動場，體育場；batter： 擊球員。It wasn’t just the sport: I’d never been in a crowd of 30,000 people all hoping for the same thing to happen. It was electric13. electric： 令人激動的。—like tasting a food that you didn’t know you loved until you tried it. I’d had a similar experience with asparagus, though a stadium full of vegetable enthusiasts hadn’t surrounded me at the time.14. 我于蘆筍也有類似的經(jīng)歷，雖然當時沒有一整個體育館的素食愛好者包圍著我。enthusiast： 愛好者，狂熱者。

I had found my people.

I followed the Sox all the way to October. Despite my internships, the Fenway attendant wouldn’t accept “job experience” as legal tender, and I was forced to watch the 109th World Series in my apartment.15. 盡管我有實習經(jīng)歷，但芬威公園在招人時并不看重“工作經(jīng)驗”，所以我不得不在公寓觀看第109屆世界大賽。attendant： 服務(wù)人員，侍者；legal tender： 法定貨幣。By Game 6, the Sox were set to win it all at home, at Fenway.

Police details16. detail：（軍）特遣隊，小分隊。were positioned on nearly every street in my neighborhood.Rioting had been a problem after Boston broke the “curse of the Bambino” in 2004.17. 自從波士頓紅襪隊2004年打破了“貝比·魯斯魔咒”之后，就有了騷亂問題。rioting： 騷亂，暴動；curse of the Bambino： 貝比·魯斯魔咒，美國職棒球員貝比·魯斯于1920年被紅襪隊賣給洋基隊，因此詛咒紅襪隊無法再拿世界大賽冠軍。I invited some friends over (I did eventually make some)to share this historic moment and eat pizza with me. They mostly came for the pizza, not having had their “asparagus moments” yet.

After an hour, the deliveryman called and said he couldn’t reach my street because of a police barricade.18. deliveryman： 送貨員；barricade： 路障，封鎖。We agreed to meet on a corner nearby. Walking back with the food, I noticed a large group of police officers standing outside my apartment looking in. I walked behind them, peering over their shoulders, hoping that pizza would stand up as an alibi in court.19. 我走到他們身后，從他們的肩頭望過去，若發(fā)生什么事，希望手中的披薩餅?zāi)茉诜ㄍド嫌米魑也辉趫龅淖C明。alibi： 〈法〉不在犯罪現(xiàn)場的抗辯事實。

They were trying to watch the game through my front window. It was pure Boston.

I went inside, pulled all the blinds up, and angled the TV toward the street, giving the throng of Boston’s finest a big thumbs up.20. 我走進屋里，把百葉窗拉上去，把電視朝向街道，向這群波士頓警察豎起大拇指。blind： 百葉窗；angle： v.把……放置成一角度；throng： 人群；finest： 警察；thumb up： 豎起大拇指以表示贊許、滿意、勝利。Later, an officer knocked on the door. I opened it, and he sheepishly21. sheepishly： 羞怯地，不好意思地。asked if we had anything to drink. We obliged with22. oblige with： 以……施恩于（某人），以……滿足于（某人）。plastic cups and soft drinks.

By the last inning23. inning： （棒球的）一局。, it was clear the Sox were going to win. My friends started to leave, hoping to miss the postgame traffic. One came back inside a few moments later carrying three deep aluminum pans.24. aluminum： 鋁；pan： 平底鍋。The police outside had bought 150 chicken wings from another deliveryman who’d gotten lost. They’d eaten their fill, and wondered if we wanted the rest.25. 他們填飽了肚子，問我們是否想要剩下的雞翅。eat one’s fill： 吃飽。Of course we did.

We all high-fived with greasy fingers when the Red Sox won.26. high-five：（尤指慶祝成功、表示致意等的）舉手擊掌；greasy： 油膩的。It may have been the food or my friends, the police outside or the Sox winning the World Series in Boston, or even the cheers of the college students out in the streets, but for the first time I felt as if I was home.27. 也許是因為食物或朋友，或是外面的警察，或是紅襪隊在波士頓拿下世界大賽冠軍，或甚至是大街上大學生們的歡呼聲，總之我第一次產(chǎn)生了家的感覺。

It was a good day to be a Red Sox fan, but a better one to be a Bostonian.ELL

波士頓馬拉松爆炸案