雙語故事:獨自孤島生活 遠離塵囂16年

For the last 16 years, Nick Fahey has been living on an island in the San Juan 1)archipelago north of 2)Puget Sound, in Washington State, where his only full-time companion is a 26-year-old3)quarter horse. Mr. Fahey, 67, lives in a cabin on 100 wooded acres; it has no refrigerator, but there is electricity generated by solar panels, so he has light and can 4)charge his cell phone. There are few 5)amenities of the material kind, but his days are his own. With the exception of cutting wood for fuel and to support himself—occasionally he makes a trek to neighboring islands or the mainland, to sell the wood or buy groceries—he is free to do as he pleases.

在過去的16年裏,尼克·費伊一直住在華盛頓州普吉特海灣北面聖胡安羣島中的一個小島上,終日陪伴他的只有一匹26歲高齡的夸特馬。現年67歲的費伊先生住在一間建於一片佔地100英畝的林地裏的小木屋中,屋裏沒有電冰箱,但可以藉助太陽能電池板發電,所以他有電燈,也可以給手機充電。儘管物質條件不盡如人意,但費伊過得逍遙自在。平日裏,費伊會砍些木頭來生火,偶爾會長途跋涉到附近的島嶼或島外的陸地上賣自己砍來的木頭或是買些生活用品回來維持基本的生活,除此之外的時間他可以自由支配,隨心所欲。

Getting away from it all: it’s a common fantasy. But for some people, fantasizing isn’t enough. For whatever reason, perhaps the desire for peace and quiet in an increasingly 6)frenetic world, an attempt to escape the intrusiveness of technology or the need for an isolated place to recover from heartbreak, they feel compelled to act out the fantasy, seeking the kind of solitude found only in the remotest locations.

拋開一切,遠離塵囂,這樣的白日夢大家都做過。但對於某些人來說,光空想還不夠。也許是想在愈漸狂躁的俗世中渴求一份平和與寧靜,或者是妄圖避開科技的侵擾,又或者需要躲在一處偏僻之地修復破碎的心,不論出於何種原因,他們迫切想要跳出空想,付諸行動,去尋求只能在杳無人煙之地才能尋求到的獨居生活。
　　
　　The compulsion to live in isolation can be attributed to any number of factors, said psychologist Elaine N. Aron. Some people might “really need their 7)downtime,” Dr. Aron said, and may seek out “isolation that avoids all social intercourse.” Others may have developed an “8)avoidant attachment style” in childhood, resulting in “a need to prove to themselves that they don’t need anybody,” she said. For many people, though, the desire for extreme solitude may have simpler roots, she noted: “It could be because they want a mystical experience. You can’t 9)pathologize that.”

心理學家伊萊恩·N·艾爾倫表示,有很多因素會導致人們迫切渴望過上獨居的生活。艾爾倫博士說,有些人可能“真的需要停下手中的工作”,並可能會想“隱居起來,避開所有的社交活動”。還有一些人可能在童年時期就逐漸形成了一種“迴避型的依戀模式”,結果導致以後“總要向自己證明他們不需要任何人的陪伴,”她說。然而對於大多數人來說,渴望徹底地獨處可能是出於一種更簡單的理由,艾爾倫指出:“可能是因爲他們想要獲得一種具有神祕感的體驗,你不能將其視爲一種病態。”

　　
　　In Mr. Fahey’s case, he moved to the island full time in 1994, several years after he divorced. Not because he was 10)traumatized, he said, but because he liked the “feeling of freedom when you’re by yourself. You don’t have to answer to anybody.” Once a week, though, he goes to Anacortes, a town on the mainland, 10 miles away by boat, to visit his 99-year-old father in an assisted-living home and to see his girlfriend, Deborah Martin, whom he has been dating for 15 years. Ms. Martin, 56, explained: “We are both pretty independent, and I imagine that’s partly why it works. We don’t have the same expectations that other couples might, like, ‘I need you to be here every night.’”

而費伊先生的情況是,他於1994年搬到這個小島定居,當時他已離婚了好幾年。據他所說,他隱居並非因爲心靈受到創傷,而是因爲他喜歡“獨自一人時那種自由自在的感覺,你不需要迎合任何人。”然而每週,他都會乘船去一次阿納科特斯——距離該島10英里的大陸上的一個市鎮,去看望他那住在一所護理院裏的99歲的父親以及女友黛博拉·馬丁。他倆談戀愛已經談了15年。56歲的馬丁女士說:“我們都很獨立,我想這大概是我們的戀愛關係能持續如此久的部分原因吧。我們沒有其他夫妻對伴侶的那些諸如‘我需要你每晚都呆在這裏陪我’的期望。”

For Roger Lextrait, 63, living in 11)seclusion seemed like an appealing change after a 12)harried life as a restaurateur in Portland, Oregon.

對於現年63歲,曾在俄勒岡州的波特蘭開餐館而忙得焦頭爛額的羅格·萊科斯曲特而言,隱居對其人生來說是一種可喜的轉變。
　　
　　Mr. Lextrait was the sole inhabitant of the remote tropical 13)atoll of Palmyra, in an island chain in the Northern Pacific Ocean, more than 1,000 miles south of Hawaii, from 1992 to 2000. He 14)wound up there in his mid-40s, after nearly a dozen years of sailing around the world on his yacht, following his divorce and the sale of two restaurants in the early 1980s. Exhausted by his years on the boat, he agreed to take a job as the island’s caretaker, warning ships off the reefs and 15)discouraging vandals. The post was supposed to last a few months, but Mr. Lextrait stayed for eight years.

從1992年到2000年這些年間,萊科斯曲特是偏遠的巴爾米拉熱帶環礁上唯一的居民。巴爾米拉環礁是北太平洋島鏈上的一個島,位於夏威夷以南,與夏威夷相距1000多英里。上世紀80年代早期,萊科斯曲特在經歷離婚以及變賣兩個餐館這些事情後,開着自己的遊艇花了近12年的時間來環遊世界。最後,在他四十來歲時,他來到了巴爾米拉環礁。多年的船上生活讓他心生厭倦,他於是接受了看管巴爾米拉環礁的工作,負責警告船隻避開暗礁以及驅逐環礁的破壞者。萊科斯曲特先生原本只打算幹幾個月就走,但結果一呆就是8年。

Part of the draw of living on the island was that “time did not matter—sometimes I would lose track of the year,” he said. “It was so magical, millions of birds, turtles. When I’d go out with the 16)dinghy, 17)manta ray would escort me, dolphins.” Still, island life took its toll. “I got attacked by loneliness,” said Mr. Lextrait, who came to depend on the company of his German shepherd mix. His infrequent visitors would ask things like “What are you going to do if a coconut falls on your head?”—given that the nearest doctor was hundreds of miles away. “I said, ‘18)Oh my, if I think like that, I’ll never do anything.’”

吸引萊科斯曲特在這個島上住下的部分原因在於“時間無關緊要——住在這裏,我有時會弄不清楚自己處在哪個季節,”他說,“這裏棲息着數百萬只鳥和海龜,太不可思議了。當我划着小舢板出海時,蝠鱝和海豚會爲我護航。”儘管如此,孤島生活也讓他付出了代價。“我爲寂寞所困擾,”萊科斯曲特先生說,他現在主要依賴自己那隻混血的德國牧羊犬作伴。偶爾會有幾個訪客,他們會問些諸如“如果椰子砸到了你的頭上,你會怎麼辦?”的問題——鑑於離他最近的醫生也在幾百英里之外。“我會說,‘天吶,如果我老是擔心這擔心那,那我就什麼也幹不了了。’”
　　
　　Others choose a 19)reclusive lifestyle as a political statement. Edward Griffith-Jones, a 27-year-old British man, spent the last year living in a hut he built in a national park in Sweden. It was his way of being environmentally responsible, he said.

還有些人選擇隱居來表明自己的政治立場。27歲的英國小夥子愛德華·格里菲斯-瓊斯去年一整年都住在瑞典某國家公園中他自建的一間小木屋裏。他表示要以此履行他對環境負責的承諾。
　　
　　Living deep in a Swedish forest, he had to take an hour and a half walk from the nearest train station—a trip that could take four hours during the winter, when the snow was deep. He had a cell phone, which he charged with a small solar generator and used to call his family and his girlfriend. His diet was not for the fainthearted. Along with 20)perch and 21)pike from nearby lakes, he ate wild plants like 22)nettles, berries and 23)tubers, as well as mice and rats. He couldn’t hunt larger 24)game because he didn’t have a gun—to purchase one, he would have had to provide an address—but he began studying how to make a bow and 25)fletch arrows. Every aspect of his daily routine was essential to his survival.

住在瑞典這麼一片森林的深處,他得走上一個半小時才能去到最近的火車站——冬天雪厚時要走上4個小時。他有一部用來和他的家人以及女友通話的手機,以及一臺可以爲手機充電的小型太陽能發電機。他賴以爲生的食物膽小的人決不敢吃。除了吃從附近的湖裏捕的鱸魚和梭子魚,他還吃諸如蕁麻、漿果和球根等野生植物,小鼠、大鼠他也吃。他無法捕獲大型獵物,因爲沒有槍——購買槍支需提供住址——但他開始研究如何製造弓和羽箭了。他的日常事務的方方面面都事關生存大計。
　　
　　David Glasheen, 66, likened his experience of living alone to “going to the moon.” He lives on Restoration Island, off the northern coast of Australia, with his mixed-breed dog, and has been there since 1996.

66歲的戴維·葛拉辛則將自己的獨居經歷比作“去了一趟月球”。自1996年起,他就和他那條混血狗住在澳大利亞北海岸以外的復原島上。

　　
　　An entrepreneur who said he has worked in a number of fields—including mineral exploration, food services and toys—he had suffered a series of financial losses and divorce when a girlfriend suggested escaping to an island in the early 1990s. “I just wanted the idea of a less stressful life,” he said. “I figured there had to be something better than this out there.” Mr. Glasheen was living in Sydney at the time and found the island, an uninhabited national park, through a real estate agent. He and his girlfriend set up residence there, but she left after six months. “We had a baby, we had no hot water, we had no washing machine,” he said. “Things are not easy here for a woman.”

這位曾經的企業家說,他曾涉足礦產探測、食品服務和玩具業等多個領域,在遭受離婚以及一連串經濟損失的打擊後,上世紀90年代初,他的女友建議他找個小島隱居起來。“當時我只想過一種壓力小一些的生活,”他說,“我想,隱居在小島上的生活肯定比我那會兒的生活要好。”葛拉辛先生那時住在悉尼,他通過一位房產經紀人找到了這個杳無人煙的國家公園小島。他和女友搬到島上住,但住了6個月後,他的女友就離開了。“當時我們有個嬰兒要照顧,這裏沒有熱水,也沒有洗衣機,”他說,“這裏的生活對於一個女人來說的確不易。”
　　
　　Mr. Glasheen had built a farm on the island. Along with native foods like 26)lemon grass and 27)capers, he raises 28)bok choy, tomatoes and corn. He also makes home-brewed beer that he trades for 29)prawns from30)trawlers that sometimes 31)anchor off shore.

葛拉辛先生在島上建了一個農場。除了種植諸如檸檬草和馬檳榔之類的本地食物以外,他還種了白菜、西紅柿和玉米。他還自釀啤酒,並拿去和把船停泊在小島岸邊的拖網捕魚者換大蝦。
　　
　　There is an inherent conflict between the peace of total solitude and the pleasures of companionship, he admitted. “It’s literally like living in heaven on Earth,” he said of the island, but “I guess I could say I’m desperately lonely sometimes.”

徹底的獨居生活所擁有的平靜不可避免地會和與人交往所獲得的愉悅發生衝突,他如此承認道。“生活在這兒簡直就像生活在人間天堂裏,”他如此評價這個小島,但“我想,得承認,有時,我會感到孤獨至極。”