许多人正在做爱。上方，天使们

Manyare making love. Up above, the angels

在人类企望的无可撼动的苍穹和水晶之中

inthe unshaken ether and crystal of human longing

编织着彼此的发辫，浅草莓色的头发

arebraiding one another’s hair, which is strawberry blond

有着寒冷之河的纹理。他们不时地

andthe texture of cold rivers. They glance

瞥见下面那令人尴尬的狂喜——

downfrom time to time at the awkward ecstasy —

在他们看来，那一定如同没长羽毛的鸟

itmust look to them like featherless birds

在床上的泉眼里嬉水——

splashingin the spring puddle of a bed —

一个女人，她即将走来，

andthen one woman, she is about to come,

拨开男人紧闭的眼皮说，

peelsback the man’s shut eyelids and says,

看着我，他照做了。或者正是这男人

lookat me, and he does. Or is it the man

在漆黑的剧院里拽着幕布的绳子？

tuggingthe curtain rope in that dark theater?

无论如何，他们这样做了，他们看着彼此；

Anyway,they do, they look at each other;

两个生灵拥有进化的眼睛，贪婪，

twobeings with evolved eyes, rapacious,

惊恐，在难以置信地甜美的油滑胶水中

startled,connected at the belly in an unbelievably sweet

与肚皮相连，他们凝视着彼此，

lubriciousglue, stare at each other,

而天使们感到荒凉。他们憎厌这件事。他们伤感得发抖

andthe angels are desolate. They hate it. They shudder pathetically

就像石版画里维多利亚时期的乞丐们

likelithographs of Victorian beggars

那些有着完美面容和石膏般皮肤的乞丐，在小说中

withperfect features and alabaster skin hawking rags

下流的巷子里兜售旧布。

inthe lewd alleys of the novel.

一切生物都被这苦恼所侵扰。

Allof creation is offended by this distress.

就如同月亮有时发出的热切之声，

Itis like the keening sound the moon makes sometimes,

正在升起。情人们尤其无法承受这声音，

rising.The lovers especially cannot bear it,

它使他们充斥着无以言表的悲哀，因此

itfills them with unspeakable sadness, so that

他们再次合上眼睛并抱紧彼此，每个人

theyclose their eyes again and hold each other, each

都感到身体上致命的特异之处

feelingthe mortal singularity of the body

他们在死亡之外迷醉了大约一个小时，

theyhave enchanted out of death for an hour or so,

有一天，事情发生在日落时分，女人对男人说，

andone day, running at sunset, the woman says to the man,

今早我带着伤感醒来，因为我意识到

Iwoke up feeling so sad this morning because I realized

你无法爱得像我一样深，

thatyou could not, as much as I love you,

亲爱的，治愈我的孤独，

dearheart, cure my loneliness,

她抚摸他的脸颊，使他确信

wherewithshe touched his cheek to reassure him

她并不是故意用这个事实来伤害他，

thatshe did not mean to hurt him with this truth,

而男人丝毫未受伤害，

andthe man is not hurt exactly,

他明白生命有限，人们

heunderstands that life has limits, that people

在年轻时死去，失败于爱情，

dieyoung, fail at love,

也未完成他们的抱负。他在她身旁运动着，他想起

failof their ambition. He runs beside her, he thinks

那悲哀，他们曾在来时的路上急促地喘着气，

ofthe sadness they have gasped and crooned their way out of

柔声哼着，他们带着优雅又笨拙的感激，用老套的

coming,clutching each other with old, invented

已发明的姿势牢牢抓住彼此，准备

formsof grace and clumsy gratitude, ready

再一次变得孤单，或不满，或仅仅

tobe alone again, or dissatisfied, or merely

变得友善，就像夏季海滩上的情侣们

companionablelike the couples on the summer beach

把杂志上关于两性关系的文章

Readingmagazine articles about intimacy between the sexes

读给他们自己听，读给彼此听，

tothemselves, and to each other,

读给那些庞大，无知，予人慰藉的天使们听。

andto the immense, illiterate, consoling angels.