英譯漢散文佳作賞析：什麼叫朋友

A Faraway Friend is someone you grew up with or went to school with or lived in the same town as until one of you moved away. Without a Faraway Friend, you would never get any mail addressed in handwriting. A Faraway Friend calls late at night, invites you to her wedding, always says she is coming to visit but rarely shows up. An actual visit from a Faraway Friend is a cause for celebration and binges of all kinds.
遠方的朋友是這樣的一個人：和你從小一同長大的，或者是同學，或者和你原本住在同一個鎮上，後來你們中的一人搬到了別處。沒有一位遠方的朋友，你連一封手寫的信都收不到。遠方的朋友會半夜打來電話，邀請你去參加她的婚禮，她總是說要來看你，卻很少露面。要是真的來訪，那才叫“不亦樂乎”，各種名目的狂歡可就有了理由。

Faraway friends go through phases of intense communication, then maybe out of touch for many months. Either way, the connection is always there. A conversation with your Faraway Friend always helps to put your life in perspective: When you feel you’ve hit a dead end, come to a confusing fork in the road, or gotten lost in some cracker-box subdivision of your life, the advice of the Faraway Friend — who has the big picture, who is so well acquainted with the route that brought you to this place — is indispensable.
兩個遠方的朋友會經歷密切交流的階段，接下來或許幾個月都不聯繫。但無論聯繫與否，友誼永遠不會改變。與遠方的朋友一席長談，總是有助於你更好地認識生活；當你覺得自己走入了死衚衕時，當你面對岔路而不知所措時，來自遠方朋友的忠告就越發不可或缺，她看得清大局，完全瞭解你是怎麼走到這一步的。

Another useful function of the Faraway Friend is to help you remember things from a long time ago, like the name of your seventh-grade history teacher, what was in that really good stir-fry, or exactly what happened that night on the boat with the guys from Florida.
遠方的朋友還有一個益處，就是能讓你記起很久以前的事情，比如七年級歷史老師的名字，那盤炒菜裏究竟什麼東西那麼好吃，或者那天晚上在船裏和佛羅里達來的男孩子們都幹了些什麼。

Ah, the former friend. A sad thing. At best a wistful memory, at worst a dangerous enemy who is in possession of many of your deepest secrets. But what was it that drove you apart? A misunderstanding, a betrayed confidence, an underpaid loan, an ill-conceived flirtation. A poor choice of spouse can do in a friendship just like that. Going into business together can be a serious mistake. Time, money, distance, cult religions: all noted friendship killers. You quit doing drugs, you’re not such good friends with your dealer anymore.
啊，從前的朋友。讓人憂傷的事情。好了的話是一段傷感的記憶，不好的話你有一個危險的敵人，而且對你許多最隱祕的事情都瞭如指掌。可究竟是什麼把你們分開的呢？一個誤解，一個被泄露的祕密，一筆沒有償還的借款，一次有欠考慮的輕俏之舉。擇偶不慎也會使友誼分崩離析；一起做生意會成爲一個嚴重的錯誤；時間、金錢、距離、宗教狂熱，這都是耳熟能詳的友誼殺手。如同一旦你戒了毒，你就不再是你供貨商的好朋友了。

And lest we forget, there are the Friends You Love to Hate. They call at inopportune times. They say stupid things. They butt in, they boss you around, they embarrass you in public. They invite themselves over. They take advantage. You’ve done the best you can, but they need professional help. On top of all this, they love you to death and are convinced they’re your best friends on the planet.
而且我們別忘了：還有些朋友，你喜歡恨他們。他們在不適當的時候打電話，他們蠢話連篇，他們胡亂插手你的事情，他們把你指使得團團亂轉，他們總是佔盡了你的便宜。你已經盡了最大的努力，可他們需要的其實是專業人員的幫助。這一切之外，他們還愛你愛得要死要活，深信他們是你在這個世界上最好的朋友。

So why do you continue to be involved with these people? Why do you tolerate them? On the contrary, the real question is what would you do without them. Without Friends You Love to Hate, there would be nothing to talk about with your other friends. Their problems and their irritating stunts provide a reliable source of conversation for everyone they know.
那麼你又爲什麼繼續和他們打交道呢？爲什麼要容忍他們呢？反過來說，真正的問題是：沒有他們你行嗎？沒有這些你寧可去憎恨的朋友，你和你別的朋友也就無話可說了。他們的缺陷和他們惱人的噱頭，爲他們認識的每一個人都提供了源源不斷的談資。

What’s more, Friends You Love to Hate make you feel good about yourself, since you are obviously in so much better shape than they are. No matter what these people do, you will never get rid of them. As much as they need you, you need them, too.
此外，他們還能使你對自己感覺良好，因爲你的狀況顯然比他們好得太多。不管他們做出什麼事情來，你絕對不願擺脫他們。你對他們的需要，和他們對你的需要可謂不相上下呢。

At the other end of the spectrum are Hero Friends. These people are better than the rest of us, that’s all there is to it. Their career is something you wanted to be when you grew up — painter, forest ranger, tireless doer of good.
與此相反的另一個極端則是那些令人豔羨的朋友。他們比我們這些人都更出色，有這一點就夠了。他們的事業就是你長大後的追求——畫家、護林人，不知疲倦的行善者。

They have beautiful homes filled with special handmade things presented to them by villagers in the remote areas they have visited in their extensive travels. Yet they are modest. They never gossip. They are always helping others, especially those who have suffered a death in the family or an illness. You would think people like this would just make you sick, but somehow they don’t.
他們擁有漂亮的房子，裏面滿是手工做的奇特玩意兒，都是他們周遊世界時到過的邊遠地區的村民總送給他們的。可他們依舊待人謙和。他們從不饒舌。他們總是去幫助別人，特別是那些遭受喪失親人之痛或疾病折磨的人。你會認爲這種人只能讓你厭倦，可他們偏偏不是那樣。

A new friend is a tonic unlike any other. Say you meet her at a party. In your bowling league. At a Japanese conversation class, perhaps. Wherever, whenever, there’s that spark of recognition. The first time you talk, you can’t believe how much you have in common. Suddenly, your life story is interesting again, your insights fresh, your opinion valued. Your various shortcomings are as yet completely invisible.
新的朋友是一劑無可比擬的良藥。也許你是在一次聚會上結識她的，也許是在保齡球俱樂部裏，也許是日語會話課上。無論何處，無論何時，只因爲擦出了那鍾惺惺相惜的火花。你簡直無法相信你們有這麼多共同點，而且只是第一次交談。突然間，你的經歷又變得有趣了，你的見識不同凡響，你的意見也倍受重視。你各式各樣的缺點一時間也完全消失不見了。