My morning routine varies little from day to day. I walk the dog, eat breakfast at the kitchen counter with Katie and Matt, then settle in for a day at the computer. And because I work mostly from home, I have learned that little forays into the outside world are imperative for psychological well-being. So before I begin attempting to put sentences together, I stroll over to a quirky little coffee shop in my neighborhood, chat with the folks behind the counter, and get a large coffee to go. No sugar. No cream.

　　每天早上，我都要做這樣幾件事：遛一陣小狗，坐在廚房餐桌前陪妻子卡蒂和兒子馬特吃早餐，然后對(duì)著電腦,一頭扎進(jìn)寫(xiě)作天地中。天天如是，無(wú)甚變化。由于主要在家里工作，我很明白時(shí)不時(shí)到外邊的世界“闖蕩”一下對(duì)自己保持良好的心態(tài)有多么重要。因此，在推敲詞句著筆成文之前,我會(huì)散步去附近一間風(fēng)格奇特的小咖啡店，和店里的伙計(jì)們聊聊天，然后帶回一大杯咖啡——不加糖、不加奶的那一種。

　　The coffee shop is on the other side of the historic Chesapeake & Ohio Canal from my house. In season, a mule-drawn barge is docked there, and tourists line up to take a slow boat, if not to [en]China, at least into the 19th century. The men who work the boat wear what canal workers might have worn back then-broad-brimmed straw hats and suspenders that pull their scratchy-looking pants high above their boots.

　　離我家不遠(yuǎn)的地方就是歷史悠久的切薩皮克—俄亥俄運(yùn)河，那間小咖啡店就座落在運(yùn)河對(duì)岸。每逢旺季,便有一條用騾子拖拽的駁船停靠在河邊，游客們會(huì)排起長(zhǎng)隊(duì)等著乘坐一艘慢悠悠的小船，即使不像駛往古老的中國(guó)，至少也像是要駛回19世紀(jì)的昔日時(shí)光。船上的工人穿著只有當(dāng)年運(yùn)河船工們才有的行頭：寬邊草帽和吊帶褲。那吊帶把他們那看起來(lái)粗糙的褲子高高吊起,露出他們的靴子。

　　One warm day last fall, I was on my morning outing when I turned the corner to see one of the men sitting alone on the boat, bathed in early-morning light. He was playing a tiny accordion, the kind such canal men squeezed as they floated down the inland waterways of a westward-expanding America. The sound was both melancholy and sweet. It was as if he were alone in the universe. The scene stopped me in my tracks. What I witnessed could only be described as a perfect moment. Ten seconds at most. But months later I still remember just standing there, watching, listening, taking it all in.

　　去年秋天里的一天，風(fēng)和日麗，我還和平常一樣一早外出溜達(dá)。剛轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)街口，我一眼就看見(jiàn)那條船。船上沒(méi)有別人,只有一個(gè)船工靜靜地坐著，沐浴著晨曦。他正在船上拉著小手風(fēng)琴。當(dāng)年的運(yùn)河船工正是這樣，撫琴駕舟，沿著這條古老的內(nèi)陸河道向美國(guó)西部航行。琴聲憂郁而甜美，仿佛整個(gè)宇宙只有他一人。此情此景，令我情不自禁停了下來(lái)。我所看到的這個(gè)情景只能用“完美時(shí)刻”來(lái)描述！不過(guò)十秒的時(shí)光。可數(shù)月后，我仍清楚地記得當(dāng)時(shí)自己就站在那里，注視著,傾聽(tīng)著，把一切都刻印在腦海中。

　　We all have such moments put before us. Little surprises. Whether we’re wise enough to see them is another thing.

　　我們都曾經(jīng)歷過(guò)類似的時(shí)刻。小小的驚喜。不過(guò)，我們是否都具有發(fā)現(xiàn)這種瞬間之美的智慧，則是另外一回事。

　　I thought of the accordion man Sunday afternoon while reading the biographies of those killed in the Columbia tragedy. Mission specialist Laurel Clark, talking from the shuttle a few days before it was to land, said she was delighted by the simple unexpected wonders of space. Like a sunset. “There’s a flash; the whole payload bay turns this rosy pink,” she said. “It only lasts about 15 second and then it’s gone. It’s very ethereal and extremely beautiful.” A moment not lost on her.

　　一個(gè)周日的下午,當(dāng)我閱讀有關(guān)哥倫比亞號(hào)航天飛機(jī)事故中喪生的宇航員的傳記時(shí)，我的腦海中又浮現(xiàn)出那個(gè)船工在演奏手風(fēng)琴的情景。執(zhí)行那次飛行任務(wù)的.女專家勞雷爾克拉克，在哥倫比亞號(hào)著陸前的幾天，曾從飛船上發(fā)回講話,她說(shuō)能有幸看見(jiàn)太空中那些意想不到的自然奇觀令她非常開(kāi)心。比如日落。“有一道閃光，整個(gè)有效載荷艙被暈染成了玫瑰紅，”她說(shuō)，“這僅僅持續(xù)了15秒就消失了。過(guò)程神奇非凡且美艷絕倫。”她沒(méi)有錯(cuò)過(guò)這一瞬間。

　　In The Hour Meryl Streep and Ed Harris recall a moment they shared years before at a beach house on Cape Cod. It was nothing more than him watching her walk out into the early-morning light. But for that moment, everything was right with their world, everything was possible, everything aligned. They agreed it was the happiest they had ever been.

　　在電影《時(shí)時(shí)刻刻》里,梅麗爾斯特里普和埃德哈里斯回憶起多年前他們倆在科德角上的那間沙灘小屋里共度的時(shí)光。也就是他看著她走出小屋，走進(jìn)晨曦的一幕。就在那一刻，在他們的兩人世界里，一切都正好,一切都變得可能，處處是生機(jī)。他們都認(rèn)為，那是他們一生中最幸福的時(shí)刻。

　　And in last month’s issue of her magazine, Oprah Winfrey confessed to a “moment” she had last summer. It was a walk down a Santa Barbara lane, a hummingbird and the smell of orange blossoms. She said it was one of those rare times she could say she was truly happy.

　　奧普拉溫弗瑞在她上個(gè)月出刊的雜志中提到，去年夏天她也有過(guò)一次美妙的“時(shí)刻”。那一刻她正走在圣巴巴拉市的一條小巷子里，猛然間看見(jiàn)一只蜂鳥(niǎo)，和著一陣撲面而來(lái)的橘子花香。她說(shuō)，這是她一生中難得的幾次讓她真正感到幸福的時(shí)刻之一。

　　I once had a friend who had an odd habit that never ceased to amuse me, maybe because I never quite knew when she was going to spring it on me. It could be while sitting quietly at the end of a dock on Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks. Or it could come in the middle of a particularly lively dinner with old friends. Out of the blue, she’d say, “Stop! I want to remember this moment.”

　　我曾有一個(gè)朋友，她有個(gè)怪習(xí)慣，對(duì)此我總覺(jué)得很好笑，或許是因?yàn)槲沂冀K沒(méi)法料到她的怪癖會(huì)在什么時(shí)候發(fā)作。或許在我們靜靜地坐在阿迪朗達(dá)克山下舒?zhèn)惡叺拇a頭邊上之時(shí)，或許在和老朋友那次尤其熱鬧的聚餐之時(shí)。每每在這樣的時(shí)刻，她會(huì)突然說(shuō)道：“停一下！我要記住這一刻！”

　　I realize now, after her death, what wise advice that is.

　　她去世以后，我才明白到,那是多么明智的建議啊。

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