These are no pages for the young,

这些版面不属于年轻人，

who are better off in one another's arms,

他们最好彼此相拥，

nor for those who just need to know

也不属于那些只需知道

about the price of gold,

黄金价格的人，

or a hurricane that is ripping up the Keys.

或一场正撕裂基韦斯特的飓风。

But eventually you may join

但终有一天你会加入

the crowd who turn here first to see

那群人——他们首先翻到这里，

who has fallen in the night,

看看谁在夜里倒下了，

who has left a shape of air walking in their place.

谁留下了一团行走的空气占据其位置。

Here is where the final cards are shown,

这里亮出了最后的底牌：

the age, the cause, the plaque of deeds,

年龄、死因、功绩的铭牌，

and sometimes an odd scrap of news—

有时还有一则古怪的花絮——

that she collected sugar bowls,

她曾收集糖罐，

that he played solitaire without any clothes.

他玩单人纸牌时不穿衣服。

And all the survivors huddle at the end

所有幸存者在末尾挤作一团，

under the roof of a paragraph

躲在一个段落的屋檐下，

as if they had sidestepped the flame of death.

仿佛刚刚避开了死亡之火。

What better way to place a thin black frame

还有什么更好的方式，

around the things of the morning—

能给早晨的事物镶上一层薄薄的黑框——

the hand-painted cup,

那只手绘的杯子，

the hemispheres of a cut orange,

那只切开的橙子的两半半球，

the slant of sunlight on the table?

桌上那一道斜落的阳光？

And sometimes a most peculiar pair turns up,

有时会出现一对最奇特的组合，

strange roommates lying there

古怪的室友躺在那里，

side by side upon the page—

在版面上肩并肩——

Arthur Godfrey next to Man Ray,

阿瑟·戈弗雷紧挨着曼·雷，

Ken Kesey by the side of Dale Evans.

肯·克西紧挨着黛尔·埃文斯。

It is enough to bring to mind an ark of death,

这足以让人想到一艘死亡之舟，

not the couples of the animal kingdom,

不是动物王国里的成双配对，

but rather pairs of men and women

而是一对又一对男女，

ascending the gangplank two by two,

两两登上跳板——

surgeon and model,

外科医生和模特，

balloonist and metalworker,

热气球驾驶员和金属工匠，

an archaeologist and an authority on pain.

考古学家和疼痛权威。

Arm in arm, they get on board

他们臂挽着臂，上了船，

then join the others leaning on the rails,

然后加入其他人，倚靠在栏杆上，

all saved at last from the awful flood of life—

终于所有人都在生命的可怕洪水中得救了——

so many of them every day

每天有这么多人离去，

there would have to be many arks,

那一定需要许多艘方舟，

an armada to ferry the dead

一支舰队来运送死者

over the heavy waters that roll beyond the world,

渡过世界之外翻滚的深水，

and many Noahs too,

也需要许多个诺亚，

bearded and fiercely browed, vigilant up there at every prow.

留着胡子，眉头紧锁，在每个船头警惕地守望。