I grew up bent over

我是伏在

a chessboard.

棋盘上长大的。

I loved the word endgame.

我喜欢残局这个词儿。

All my cousins looked worried.

那会儿我那些表哥全都忧心忡忡。

It was a small house

这是一间小屋，

near a Roman graveyard.

靠近一处古罗马坟场。

Planes and tanks

飞机坦克

shook its windowpanes.

震动了窗玻璃。

A retired professor of astronomy

一位退休的天文学教授

taught me how to play.

向我传授棋艺。

That must have been in 1944.

那肯定是在1944年。

In the set we were using,

我们正下着的这一盘，

the paint had almost chipped off

彩棋差不多吃光了

the black pieces.

黑子。

The white King was missing

白色的王不见了

and had to be substituted for.

只好用别的替代。

I’m told but do not believe

我听人说过可又不信

that that summer I witnessed

那年夏天我真的目睹了

men hung from telephone poles.

男人们吊死在电线杆上。

I remember my mother

我记得母亲

blindfolding me a lot.

完全蒙住我的眼睛。

She had a way of tucking my head

她有办法猛地把我的脑袋

suddenly under her overcoat.

藏到她的大衣下边。

In chess, too, the professor told me,

教授对我说，下棋也有这种情况，

the masters play blindfolded,

大师蒙住眼睛跟人交手，

the great ones on several boards

那些最了不起的同时在

at the same time.

几个棋盘上与人对弈。