双语对照 ● 爱的港湾 Where Love Lands

爱的港湾 Where Love Lands

◎ Diana Chapman

No one knows where love’s wings will land. At times, it turns up in the most unusual spots. There was nothing more surprising than when it descended upon a rehabilitation[69] hospital in a Los Angeles suburb—a hospital where most of the patients can no longer move of their own accord.

爱的羽翼会在哪里停歇，没有人知道。偶尔，它会出现在最不寻常的地方。最令人难以置信的是，它出现在洛杉矶郊区的一家康复医院里——那儿的大多数病人都丧失了最基本的身体机能。

When the staff heard the news, some of the nurses began to cry. The administrator was in shock, but from then on, Harry MacNarama would bless it as one of the greatest days in his entire life.

当医院的工作人员听到这个消息时，有几个护士哭了。院长震惊了，从那一刻开始，哈利把它当作人生中最伟大的日子，并为它祈祷。

Now the trouble was, how were they going to make the wedding dress? He knew his staff would find a way, and when one of his nurses volunteered, Harry was relieved. He wanted this to be the finest day in the lives of two of his patients—Juana and Michael.

现在的问题是，怎么给他们缝制结婚礼服呢？他知道他的员工会找到办法的。一个护士提出自愿效劳时，哈利放心了。他希望这将是两位病人——朱安娜和迈克一生中最美好的时光。

Michael strapped in his wheelchair and breathing through his ventilator[70] , appeared at Harry’s office door one morning.

一天早上，迈克出现在哈利的办公室门口，他的身体用带子缚在轮椅上，还需要借助呼吸器呼吸。

“Harry, I want to get married,” Michael announced.

“哈利，我想结婚。”迈克大声宣布。

“Married?” Harry’s mouth dropped open. How serious was this? “To whom?” Harry asked.

“结婚？”哈利张大了嘴巴，他说这话是认真的吗？他接着问道：“跟谁呢？”

“To Juana,” Michael said. “We’re in love.”

“跟朱安娜，我们相爱了。”迈克答道。

Love. Love had found its way through the hospital doors, over two bodies that refused to work for their owners and penetrated their hearts—despite the fact that the two patients were unable to feed or cloth themselves, required ventilators just to breath and could never walk again. Michael had spinal muscular atrophy; Juana had multiple sclerosis.

爱情。爱情穿越了医院的大门，降临在两个瘫痪的人身上，并住进他们的心里——虽然这两位病人衣食无法自理，需要借助呼吸器呼吸，再也无法行走。迈克得了骨髓肌肉萎缩症，朱安娜患了多发性硬化病。

Just how serious this marriage idea was, became quite apparent when Michael pulled out the engagement ring and beamed as he hadn’t done in years. In fact, the staff had never seen a kinder, sweeter Michael, who had been one of the angriest men Harry’s employees had ever worked with.

结婚的念头究竟有多认真，当迈克拿出订婚戒指，露出多年不见的笑容时，态度就更加明显了。其实，此时的迈克是工作人员见过的最和善、最温柔的时刻。之前他一直是公认的脾气最暴躁的人。

The reason for Michael’s anger was understandable. For twenty-five years, he had lived his life at a medical center where his mother had placed him at age nine and visited him several times a week until she died. He was always a raspy sort of guy, who cussed out his nurses routinely, but at least he felt he had family at the hospital. The patients were his friends.

迈克的暴躁是可以理解的。25年来，他一直生活在医疗中心。9岁时，他妈妈将他送到那儿后，每周来看几次，直到她去世。他经常大发雷霆，常把护士赶走。但是，他始终觉得医院是他的家，病人们都是他的朋友。

There even had been a girl once who went about in a squeaky wheelchair who he was sure had eyed him. But she hadn’t stayed long at the center. And after spending more than half his life there, now Michael wasn’t going to get to stay either.

曾经有个女孩，坐在咯吱作响的轮椅上，迈克以为她注意到自己了，可是她并没有在那儿待多久。迈克在那儿度过了大半辈子后，现在也不想待下去了。

The center was closing, and Michael was shipped to live at the rehabilitation hospital, far from his friends and worse, far from Juana.

医疗中心要关门了，他被转到康复医院，远离了那些朋友。更糟糕的是，他远离了朱安娜。

That’s when Michael turned into a recluse. He wouldn’t come out from his room. He left it dark. His friends drove more than two hours to see him. But Michael’s spirits sagged so low, no one could reach him.

迈克开始变得孤僻，喜欢待在黑暗的房间里，整天足不出户。他的朋友驱车2个多小时来看他，但迈克依旧情绪低落，没有人能走进他的心。

And then, one day, he was lying in bed when he heard a familiar creaking sound coming down the hall. It sounded like that same, ancient, squeaky wheelchair that girl, Juana, had used at the center where he used to live.

有一天，他躺在床上，走廊传来一阵熟悉的吱吱声。古老的轮椅咯吱作响，就像以前他住的那个医疗中心遇见的女孩——朱安娜所坐的轮椅发出的声音。

The squeaking stopped at his door, and Juana peered in and asked him to come outdoors with her. He was intrigued and from the moment he met Juana again, it was as though she breathed life back into him.

那个吱吱声在他的门口停住了，朱安娜盯着他，问他能否和她一起外出。他立即兴奋起来，再次见到她的那一刻，他的生命似乎重新被她带了回来。

He was staring at the clouds and blue skies again. He began to participate in the hospital’s recreation programs. He spent hours talking with Juana. His room was sunny and light. And then he asked Juana, who’d been living in a wheelchair since age twenty-four, if she would marry him.

他再次仰望蓝天白云，参加医院的娱乐活动。他会花好几个小时和朱安娜聊天。他的房间充满了阳光和欢笑。于是，他向从24岁起就在轮椅上生活的朱安娜求婚，问她是否愿意和自己一起生活。

Juana had already had a tough life. She was pulled out of school before finishing the third grade, because she collapsed and fell a lot. Her mother, thinking she was lazy, slapped her around. She lived in terror that her mother wouldn’t want her anymore, so on the occasions when she was well enough, she cleaned house “like a little maid”.

朱安娜也曾有过一段艰辛的日子。还没念完三年级，她就被赶出了学校，只因为她身体虚弱，很容易晕倒。妈妈以为她偷懒，老是打她。她生活在恐惧中，总是担心妈妈会抛弃自己。所以，身体好些时，她就“像个小女佣似的”打扫房间。

Before the age of twenty-four, like Michael, she had a tracheotomy just to breathe and that was when she was officially diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. By the time she was thirty, she had moved into a hospital with round-the-clock care.

24岁之前，她和迈克一样经历过一次气管切开手术，只是为了让呼吸更顺畅。也就是在那个时候，她被确诊为患有多发性硬化症。30岁时，她被送进医院里接受全天24小时的护理。

So when Michael asked her the big question, she didn’t think she could handle the pain if he was teasing.

所以，当迈克问她这个“重大”问题时，她想，如果他只是戏弄自己的话，对她来说那将是无法忍受的痛苦。

“He told me he loved me, and I was so scared,” she said. “I thought he was playing a game with me. But he told me it was true. He told me he loved me.”

“他说爱我时，我非常害怕，”她说，“我以为他是跟我开玩笑。但是他告诉我，他是认真的，他爱我。”

On Valentine’s Day, Juana wore a wedding dress made of white satin, dotted with pearl beads and cut loose enough to drape around a wheelchair and a ventilator. Juana was rolled to the front of the room, assisted by Harry, who proudly gave the bride away. Her face streamed with tears.

情人节那天，朱安娜穿着一件白色的绸缎婚纱，上面缀着珍珠。婚纱很大，足以盖住轮椅和呼吸器。哈利自豪地把她推到房门前，她激动地泪流满面。

Michael wore a crisp white shirt, black jacket and a bow tie that fit neatly over his tracheotomy. He beamed with pleasure.

迈克穿着笔挺的白衬衣和黑夹克，动了手术的脖子上还打了一个精美的蝴蝶结，脸上洋溢着幸福的微笑。

Nurses filled the doorways. Patients filled the room. An overflow of hospital employees spilled into the halls. Sobs echoed in every comer of the room. In the hospital’s history, no two people—living their lives bound to wheelchairs—had ever married.

护士和病人挤满了走廊和房间，甚至连医院的大厅都挤满了医护人员。房间的每个角落里都能听到哽咽声。有史以来，医院还没有两个生活在轮椅上的人结合的先例。

Janet Yamaguchi, the hospital’s recreation leader, had planned everything. Employees had donated their own money to buy the red and white balloons, matching flowers, and an archway dotted with leaves. Janet had the hospital chef make a three-tiered, lemon-filled wedding cake. A marketing consultant hired a photographer.

医院的娱乐带头人珍妮特早已安排好了一切活动。医护人员用捐来的钱买了红色和白色的气球，树叶缠绕的拱门上插满了鲜花。珍妮特请医院的厨师做了一个三层高的柠檬味的婚礼蛋糕。一位市场营销顾问还请来了摄影师。

Janet negotiated with family members. It was one of the most trying and satisfying times of her life to watch the couple get married.

珍妮特和家人谈起这件事情。看着这对有情人终成眷属，这是她这辈子最下功夫、最满意的时刻。

She thought of everything.

她考虑到了所有事情。

The final touch—the kiss—could not be completed. Janet used a white satin[71] rope to tie the couple’s wheelchairs to symbolize the romantic moment.

最后的程序——接吻——无法完成。珍妮特用一根白色绸缎将两人的轮椅绑在一起，以象征这个浪漫时刻。

After the ceremony, the minister slipped out trying to hold back her tears. “I’ve performed thousands of weddings, but this is the most wonderful one I’ve done so far,” the minister said. “These people have passed the barriers and showed pure love.”

婚礼结束后，牧师强忍着泪水走了出去。“我主持过成千上万次的婚礼，但这次是最激动人心的。”牧师说，“这些人跨过了障碍，寻得了最纯洁的爱情。”

That evening, Michael and Juana rolled into their own room for the first time together. Michael and Juana knew they had moved many people with their love, and they had been given the greatest gift of all. They had the gift of love. And it’s never known where it will land.

那天晚上，迈克和朱安娜一齐步入他们的新房。他们知道，他们真挚的爱情打动了许多人，他们也因此收获了最珍贵的礼物——爱情。爱情会在哪里停歇，你永远都不会知道。

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