高诗丽（音）/文　罗婕/译

I came home to Dad yelling at our CookBot again. There was a wok of fried rice on the stove.

我回到家，听见爸爸又在冲着家里的做饭机器人库克嚷嚷。炉子上放着一锅炒饭。

Dad said， “The damn machine can’t get it right. The garlic goes in when the oil is hot， not with the oil. And the ginger should be chopped fine. Really fine.”

爸爸说：“这该死的机器总做不对。大蒜要在油热后才下锅，而不是和油一起下锅。生姜要切细，非常细。”

Cook said， “Please define ‘really fine’ quantitatively.”

库克说：“请量化一下‘非常细’。”

“Fine means fine. Go look it up， you piece of junk.”

“细就是细。自己去查，你这没用的东西！”

We’ve had Cook for a month now. Ever since Mom died， Dad’s been trading one obsession for another. After periods of relentless exercising， house cleaning， and cataloging of Mom’s books， he’s now fixated on perfecting Cook’s fried rice. We’ve had fried rice every day for two weeks.

库克来我们家一个月了。妈妈去世以后，爸爸执着于一件又一件事。先是玩命锻炼身体，打扫房间，接着是整理妈妈的书籍，现在是一门心思地要完善库克的炒饭技术。连续两周，我们天天吃炒饭。

I helped myself to a plate and started eating. “It’s good， Dad. Better than yesterday.”

我自己盛了一盘，开始吃起来。“不错哦，老爸。比昨天的好。”

Cook said， “Thank you for your praise， Marta. Flavor profile is a 93% match versus original sample. This exceeds the average human detection of 85% minimum match for carbohydrate-based recipes.”

库克说：“谢谢夸奖，玛尔塔。根据风味剖面法，这份炒饭与原始样本匹配度为93%。这超过了85%——人类对碳水食谱能有所察觉的平均最小匹配值。

Dad said， “It’s not just about the flavor. You have to cook it right. If you can’t make fried rice， how are we going to move on to other dishes？”

爸爸说：“这不只是味道的问题，炒的方法得对才行。如果连炒饭都做不对，还怎么去做其他菜？”

“Progression does not need to be linear，” said Cook.

“不一定非要循序漸进，”库克说。

I said， “Shut down1， Cook. We’ll talk later.”

我说，“关机吧，库克。我们等会再聊。”

Cook retracted his pneumatic2 arms and rolled to his charging station beside the fridge. The display screen on his chest went black but I had a feeling he was still listening.

库克收回气动手臂，滚轮将他带到冰箱旁的充电站。他胸前的显示屏变黑了，但我感觉他还在听。

“Seriously， Dad， arguing with a bot？”

“你是认真的吗，老爸，和机器人吵架？”

“Who else am I going to argue with？ You’re out all the time.”

“我还能和谁吵？你老不着家。”

If I could， I would just eat my way through Cook’s three hundred pre-loaded five-star recipes. The ones I had tried were all delicious although it had felt like a betrayal at first， missing Mom but not her food. The problem was Dad.

如果可以，我真想把库克预装在系统里的300种五星级菜品吃个遍。虽然这么想刚开始会有种背叛的感觉，仿佛在想念妈妈却不想念她做的菜，但我尝试过的菜品的确都很美味。是爸爸在找茬。

Mom had refused to stop cooking before she died. She filled our two fridges and chest freezer with labelled plastic containers of everything she could think of cooking. Dad chipped away at the frozen food like it was gold， feeding samples into Cook’s analyzer to deconstruct and reproduce. Every attempt was declared a failure despite the flavor profile matching. I was starting to think it’d been a mistake getting a Cookbot， that it’d given Dad an excuse for not moving on.

妈妈直到去世之前都不愿意停止做饭。家里两个冰箱和冰柜塞满了贴标签的塑料盒，所有她能想到用来做饭的东西应有尽有。爸爸把这些冷冻食品一点点凿开，就像凿金子一样，然后再把样本输入库克的分析仪，让它进行分解重制。尽管口味匹配，但他每次都说不成功。我开始觉得买做饭机器人是个错误，因为它给了爸爸拒绝重新开始生活的借口。

Later that night， I went into the kitchen. “Wake up， Cook.”

那天晚上晚些时候，我走进厨房。“库克，醒醒。”

Cook’s screen came on. “Hello. Would you like a snack？”

库克的屏幕亮了。“您好，您要点心吗？”

“I wouldn’t mind a roti3 if you have some dal4 curry.”

“如果有木豆咖喱的话，我想吃烙饼。”

“Dal curry is available. Your meal will be ready in twelve minutes. Calorie count is three hundred and sixty.”

“木豆咖喱有。您的餐点将在十二分钟内做好。热量是360卡路里。”

“You didn’t need to tell me that.”

“你不用告诉我这个。”

“Instruction to provide calorie information for snacks was given on August first.”

“提供点心热量信息的指令是8月1日下达的。”

Cook took a dough ball from the fridge. He stretched it into a thin， rubbery skin， flipped and twirled it in the air before folding and patting it into shape on the hot griddle with his tong hands.

库克从冰箱拿出一个面团。他把面团抻成一层薄薄的、有弹力的面皮，然后在空中翻转、旋转面皮，最后用钳手在滚烫的铁板上折叠拍打成型。

I said， “How many fried rice recipes do you have， Cook？”

我问：“库克，你有多少炒饭的菜谱？”

“Seven. One was dictated by your father.”

“七种。其中一种是您父亲口述的。”

“Please add this to Dad’s recipe. Chop garlic and ginger into fine pieces of not more than one millimeter in size. Heat oil in wok until smoking. Add chopped garlic and ginger. Sauté5 until fragrant. Did you get that， Cook？ Can you tell when it’s fragrant？”

“請把我说的补充到老爸的菜谱里。将大蒜和生姜切成不超过一毫米的细末。锅里放油加热至冒烟。放入切好的蒜和姜，炒至出香味。明白了吗，库克？出香味时你能闻到吗？”

“Yes. My olfactory6 sensors can detect increased concentrations of allicin and gingerol compounds in the air around the stove. That is what you define as fragrant.”

“清楚，我的嗅觉传感器可以检测火炉周围空气中大蒜素和姜酚化合物浓度的增加。那就是你所说的香味。”

“How do we solve this problem with Dad？ I don’t want to be eating fried rice for the rest of the year.”

“我们怎么解决老爸的问题？我可不想今年余下的日子都吃炒饭。”

“Please define the problem. I have made fried rice for sixteen consecutive days. The repetition is unacceptable according to my nutrition planning algorithm.”

“请明确一下问题。我已经连续做了16天炒饭。根据我的营养计划算法，如此重复饮食并不可取。”

“OK， here’s the problem. Dad wants fried rice to taste like Mom’s. Flavor profile is matched， but Dad is not satisfied. He’s hurting. You are not Mom. You can’t cook like Mom.”

“好吧，是这样的。老爸希望炒饭的味道和妈妈做的一样。即使风味分析合格，但老爸就是不满意。他很痛苦。你不是妈妈，你做的饭跟妈妈做的不一样。

“Concise problem statement is ‘You are not Mom’. Please describe Mom.”

“简单来说就是‘你不是妈妈’。请描述一下妈妈。”

Cook said that he would search his database of cooking styles. I couldn’t imagine it working， but I started telling him about Mom over my roti. I told him about the childhood foods she used to talk about; what she fed me when I was a child; the one-pot meals she cooked because she was always rushing between her two jobs; what she made with leftovers; the way she always ruined fish and overcooked steak; how her cakes were always damp at the bottom and burnt at the sides; and how， when her taste buds deteriorated， her cooking was either too bland or over-seasoned.

库克说他会搜索烹饪风格数据库。我不敢奢求这有什么用，但我还是边吃烙饼边开始讲妈妈的故事。我给他讲妈妈常常提起的孩童食物；小时候她喂我吃的东西；她做的“一锅出”，那时她做两份工作，总是匆忙奔波；她用剩菜做的餐饭；她总是把鱼做糟，把牛排煎过头；她做的蛋糕总是底部还没烤好，四周却已焦糊；还有味蕾退化后，她做的菜的味道要么太淡，要么太重。

Just talking about Mom was a relief and Cook was a good listener. The sound waves of my voice dancing on his screen gave shape to the void she had left behind.

就这样聊着妈妈，对我是一种放松，库克听得很认真。我说话时的声波在他的屏幕上跳动，衬托出妈妈走后留下的虚空。

The next day， I came home to fried rice again. Dad was eating quietly. Cook was silent in his corner.

第二天，我回到家，又是炒饭。爸爸一言不发地吃着，库克安静地待在角落。

This time， the fried rice looked carelessly cooked. It was lumpy with bits of charred garlic， the egg pieces were rubbery， and there was a heat in the rice that tasted of the wok. It needed extra soya sauce. It was， in fact， exactly like something Mom would have made when she was in a hurry.

这一次，炒饭看起来做的很随意。饭是结团的，还有一片片烧焦的大蒜，碎鸡蛋跟胶皮似的，米饭里还有炒锅的热气，酱油也放得不够。这简直和妈妈匆忙时做的炒饭一模一样。

I said， “How did you do it， Cook？”

我说：“你是怎么做的，库克？”

Cook said， “You described Mom as a person with many distractions and unreliable taste buds. I modelled an imperfect two-star skill level chef who likes to cook on high heat with reduced time in wok.”

库克说：“你描述的妈妈是一个要兼顾很多事且味觉不可靠的人。所以我就模拟了一个不完美的二星级厨师，喜欢用大火来节省炒菜时间。”

Dad smiled into his plate. He looked close to tears. “That sounds about right. That sounds like her.”

爸爸含笑埋头吃饭，眼看就要流出泪来。“没错，她就是那样。”

“Dad， I think we should let go of the fried rice now. We need to try something new. You ready for stir fry， Cook？”

“老爸，我觉得现在我们可以不再跟炒饭较劲了。我们需要试一下别的东西。你会炒菜吗，库克？”

“I have been ready since I left the factory.” His screen flickered and a menu with pictures of stir-fried dishes started scrolling.

“自出厂之日我就会。”他的屏幕一闪，一個印有各种炒菜图片的菜单开始滚动起来。

Gently， Cook， I thought to myself. Gently does it.

别急，库克，我暗想。慢慢来。

（译者单位：江西师范大学外国语学院）

1 shut （sth） down关闭；（使）停止运转。  2 pneumatic由气压操作的；气动的。

3 roti（南亚）烙饼，烤饼。  4 dal豆泥糊（用扁豆或其他豆子做的印度菜肴）。  5 sauté煎，煸，炒。  6 olfactory嗅觉的。