绘◎也圆

I met a young Australian girl last week who was backpacking through Europe for the first time in her life. I gave her directions to the train station. She was heading up to Slovenia, just to check it out. When I heard her plans, I was stricken with such a dumb spasm①of jealousy②, thinking, I want to go to Slovenia! How come I never get to travel anywhere?

Now, to the innocent eye it might appear that I already am traveling. And longing to travel while you are already traveling is, I admit, a kind of greedy madness. But the fact that this girl asked directions from me (clearly, in her mind, a civilian③) suggests that I am not technically④traveling in Rome, but living here.However temporary⑤it may be, I am a civilian.When I ran into the girl, in fact, I was just on my way to pay my electricity bill⑥, which is not something travelers worry about. Traveling-to-aplace energy and living-in-a-place energy are two fundamentally⑦different energies, and something about meeting this Australian girl on her way to Slovenia just gave me such an idea to hit the road.

And that's why I called my friend Sofie and said,"Let's go down to Naples for the day and eat some pizza!"

Immediately, just a few hours later, we are on the train, and then- like magic- we are there. I instantly love Naples. Wild, raucous, noisy, dirty Naples. An anthill inside a rabbit warren, with all the exoticism of a Middle Eastern bazaar and a touch of New Orleans voodoo.A tripped-out, dangerous and cheerful nuthouse. My friend Wade came to Naples in the 1970s and was mugged... in a museum. The city is all decorated with the laundry that hangs from every window and dangles across every street; everybody's freshwashed undershirts and brassieres flapping in the wind. There is not a street in Naples in which some tough little kid in shorts and mismatched socks is not screaming up from the sidewalk to some other tough kid on a rooftop nearby. Nor is there a building in this town that doesn't have at least one crooked old woman seated at her window, peering suspiciously down at the activity below.

上个星期我遇上一位澳大利亚姑娘，背着背包从事她有生以来的头一次欧洲之旅。我为她指点去火车站的路。她正要前往斯洛文尼亚游览。我听到她谈及她的计划时，心中一阵妒忌，心想：“我也想去斯洛文尼亚！为什么我从没去任何地方旅行？”

以简单的眼光来看，我已正在旅行。已经在旅行的时候渴望旅行，我承认是一种贪婪的疯狂行为。但这名女孩向我问路（显然，在她心目中，我是罗马市民）的事实说明，实际上我并非在罗马旅行，而是在罗马定居。无论时间多么短暂，我都是市民了。事实上，碰上这位姑娘时，我正要去付电费，这可不是旅人担心的事情。“在某地旅行”的精力和“在某地定居”的精力，是根本不同的精力，遇上这位即将前往斯洛文尼亚的姑娘，引发了我上路的念头。

于是我打电话给苏菲，说：“我们今天往南去那不勒斯吃比萨饼吧。”

才几个小时后，我们立即搭上火车，而后——像变魔术似的——我们到了那不勒斯。我立即爱上那不勒斯。狂放、刺耳、嘈杂、肮脏的那不勒斯。兔子窝里的蚁冢，混杂中东市集的异国情调，以及新奥尔良的巫毒魅力。古怪、危险、兴高采烈的疯人院。我的朋友韦德在20世纪70年代到过那不勒斯，遭人袭击抢劫……在博物馆里。洗好的衣物晾在每一扇窗口，悬荡在每一条街上，装点这座城市。那不勒斯的每条街都看得见身穿短裤、袜子不相配的狠小子，向人行道上朝邻近屋顶的另一个狠小子高声叫喊。每一栋建筑物至少有一位佝偻老妇坐在窗边，狐疑地凝视底下进行的活动。

——《美食祈祷和恋爱》

① spasm 英 ['spæz(ə)m] 美 ['spæzəm]

n. [临床] 痉挛；抽搐；一阵发作

② jealousy 英 ['dʒeləsɪ] 美 ['dʒɛləsi] n. 嫉妒；猜忌；戒备③ civilian 英 [sɪ'vɪlj(ə)n] 美 [sə'vɪlɪən]

adj. 民用的；百姓的，平民的n. 平民，百姓

④ technically 英 ['teknɪklɪ] 美 ['tɛknɪkli]

adv. 技术上；专门地；学术上；工艺上

⑤ temporary 英 ['temp(ə)rərɪ] 美 ['tempəreri]adj. 暂时的，临时的n. 临时工，临时雇员

⑥electricity bill 电费

⑦ fundamentally 英 [fʌndə'mentəlɪ]

美 [,fʌndə'mɛntəli] adv. 根本地，从根本上；基础地