【译】读一本新书如同一场恋爱

Starting a new book is a risk, just like falling in love. You have to commit to it. You open the pages knowing a little bit about it maybe, from the back or from a blurb on the front. But who knows, right? Those bits and pieces aren’t always right。

读一本新书就像坠入爱河,这是一场冒险。你要全身心投入。当你打开书页,从序言简介直至封底,你可能都知之甚少。但是谁又不是呢?字里行间的只言片语并不总是正确的。

Sometimes people advertise themselves as one thing and then when you get deep into it you realize that they’re something completely different. Either there was some good marketing attached to a terrible book, or the story was only explained in a superficial way and once you reach the middle of the book, you realize there’s so much more to this book than anyone could have ever told you。

有时候你会发现人们自我推销时是一种形象,然后当你深入了解之后你会意识到他们完全是另外一种模样。有时糟糕的书籍却可以配上卓越的市场营销,或者是一个故事只是用一种浅显的方式叙述,一旦你读至一半,你会发现这本书真是妙不可言!这种感觉只能你自己体会。

You start off slow. The story is beginning to unfold. You’re unsure. It’s a big commitment lugging this time around. Maybe this book won’t be that great but you’ll feel guilty about putting it down. Maybe it’ll be so awful you’ll keep hate-reading or just set it down immediately and never pick it up again. Or maybe you'll come back to it some night, drunk or lonely — needing something to fill the time, but it won’t be any better than it was when you first started reading it。

你慢慢翻开书页,故事徐徐展开。而你却依旧心存疑虑,阅读这本书需要百分百的专注投入。或许它并不如你想的那样是部伟大的作品,但是若你阅读到半途而废又会使你不安。或许这本书非常糟糕,要么你必须咬牙坚持读下去,或者立刻束之高阁再也不会拿起来。或许某个醉酒或孤独的夜晚,你重新拿起它来读,你只是需要来打发时间。但是这并不会让你觉得比第一次阅读它的时候感觉好。

Maybe you’re worn out. You've read tons of books before. Some were just light weights on a Kindle or Nook, no big deal really. Others were Infinite Jest-style burdens, heavy on your back or in your purse. Weighing you down all the time. Maybe you've taken some time off from reading because the last few books you read just weren't worth it. Do they even write new, great works of literature anymore? Maybe that time you fell in love with a book before will just never happen for you again. Maybe it's a once in a lifetime feeling and you're never gonna find it again。

或许你已经疲惫不堪,你已经阅书无数。有些是在Kindle 或者Nook上阅读的电子书,它们无足轻重。而有些却像荒诞讽刺的包袱,重重的压在你的背上或者行囊里,随时都可能压垮你。或许你觉得上次读的书索然不味,你暂时放弃了阅读时光。他们还会写新的优秀的文学作品吗?或许对你来说,和一本书坠入爱河不会再发生在你身上了。或许在一生中曾经出现过一次这种感觉,以后你再也不会有这种感觉了。

Or something exciting could happen. Maybe this will become your new favorite book. That's always a possibility right? That's the beauty of risk. The reward could actually be worth it. You invest your time and your brain power in the words and what you get back is empathy and a new understanding and pure wonder。

当然生活总有新鲜事发生,或许你也会有新的爱书。一切总有可能,不是吗?这正是冒险的魅力。得到的也大抵物有所值吧。你在字里行间里投入了时间和精力,自然会得到感悟、新的理解和纯正的遐思。

How could someone possibly know you like this? Some stranger, some author, some character. It's like they're seeing inside your soul. This book existed inside some book store, on a shelf, maybe handled by other people and really it was just waiting for you to pick it up and crack the spine. It was waiting to speak to you. To say, “You are not alone”

怎么有人知道你喜欢它呢?某个陌生人、作者、亦或是书中的人物。他们似乎能看透你的心思。这本书他陈列在某个书柜里面或者书架上,或许经人辗转,真的就像在等你捧起翻阅,等着向你低语:“我会伴你左右。”

You just want more of the story. You want to keep reading, maybe everything this author's ever written. You wish it would never end. The closer it gets to the smaller side of the pages, the slower you read, wanting to savor it all. This book is now one of your favorites forever. You will always wish you could go back to never having read it and pick it up fresh again, but also you know you’re better for having this close, inside you, covering your heart and mind。

你渴望更多的故事,想要一直读下去,或许搜集作者以往的所有作品。你希望故事永远延续。书页越翻越薄,你会越读越慢,你想要细细品尝。此刻它确定无疑就是你永恒的至爱了。你希望你可以回到过去从来没有阅读过它,这样你每次捧起它都感觉新奇如初。但是你也明白:你的内心深处的每一缕思绪已经和它这般亲密,你已变得更加美好。

Once you get in deep enough, you know you could never put this book down。

一旦你深深的沉醉于它,你知道你再也无法放下它了。(情动至深那刻,你便知道自己再也将它割舍不下了。)

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