1. One beautiful April morning, on a narrow side street in Tokyo’s fashionable Harajuku neighbourhood, I walked past the 100% perfect girl. Tell you the truth, she’s not that good-looking. She doesn’t stand out in any way. Her clothes are nothing special. The back of her hair is still bent out of shape from sleep. But still, I know from fifty yards away: She’s the 100% perfect girl for me. The moment I see her, there’s a rumbling in my chest, and my mouth is as dry as a desert. All I can remember about her for sure is that she was no great beauty. It’s weird.
一个美丽的四月清晨，在东京市内时尚的原宿区的一条狭窄的小路上，我从一位100％完美的女孩身边经过。说实话，她并不那么漂亮，各个方面都不是那么出众，穿着普通，头发散落在身后，还保持着睡醒后翘起的状态。但是，从距离她50码远的地方我就知道——她是我心目中100％完美女孩。看到她的那一刻，我的胸口“咯噔”一颤，口中像沙漠一样干涸。我对她的所有记忆中唯一确信无疑的是，她并非一个大美人——这很奇怪。
2. She’s walking east to west, and I west to east. It’s a really nice April morning. Wish I could talk to her. Half an hour would be plenty: just ask her about herself, tell her about myself, and - what I’d really like to do. After talking, we’d have lunch somewhere, maybe see a Woody Allen movie, stop by a hotel bar for cocktails.
她从东走向西，我从西走向东。这真是一个非常美妙的四月清晨。我希望我能跟她说会儿话，半小时就足够了——只问问关于她的事情，告诉她关于我的事情，再跟她说说我真正的兴趣爱好。然后，我们再找个地方共进午餐，或许再看上一场伍迪·艾伦的电影，顺便在酒店的酒吧里喝杯鸡尾酒。
3. Now the distance between us has narrowed to fifteen yards. How can I approach her? What should I say? “Good morning, miss. Do you think you could spare half an hour for a little conversation?” Ridiculous. I’d sound like an insurance salesman. “Pardon me, but would you happen to know if there is an all-night cleaner in the neighbourhood?” No, this is just as ridiculous. I’m not carrying any laundry, for one thing. Who’s going to buy a line like that?
现在我们之间的距离已经缩小到15码。我怎么才能接近她？我该说些什么？“小姐，早上好。您能抽出半个小时咱们简单谈谈吗？”这太荒谬了。我听起来就像个卖保险的。“打扰一下，您知不知道附近有没有通宵营业的洗衣店？”还是算了吧，这简直太荒谬了。首先，我又没带着任何要洗的衣服。谁会相信我这样的鬼话？
4. Maybe the simple truth would do? “Good morning. You are the 100% perfect girl for me.” No, she wouldn’t believe it. Or even if she did, she might not want to talk to me. Sorry, she could say, I might be the 100% perfect girl for you, but you’re not the 100% boy for me. It could happen. And if I found myself in that situation, I’d probably go to pieces. I’d never recover from the shock. I’m thirty-two, and that’s what growing older is all about.
直截了当地把实情说出来或许可行？——“早上好。您是我心目中100％完美的女孩。”不，她不会相信的。或者，即使她真的相信了，她也不会想和我说话的。“对不起，”她可能会这么说，“虽然我可能是你心目中100％完美的女孩，但你并非我心目中100％完美的男孩。这种事情是可能发生的。而且，当我发现自己身处这样的状况时，我可能会崩溃，而且再也无法恢复过来。我已经32岁了，这个年纪的人已经经不起这样的打击了。
5. I take a few more strides and turn: She’s lost in the crowd. Now, of course, I know exactly what I should have said to her. It would have been a long speech, though, far too long for me to have delivered it properly. It would have started “Once upon a time” and ended “A sad story, don’t you think?”
我又往前走了几步，然后转过身来——她已消失在人群中。当然，此时，我已经确切地知道我本应该对她说些什么的。不过，我的话会很长，长到我无法把这些话说明白。可能会是这样的开头：“从前”，然后以“一个悲伤的故事结尾，你不这样认为吗？”
6. Once upon a time, there lived a boy and a girl. The boy was eighteen and the girl sixteen. He was not unusually handsome, and she was not especially beautiful. They were just an ordinary lonely boy and an ordinary lonely girl, like all the others. But they believed with their whole hearts that somewhere in the world there lived the 100% perfect boy and the 100% perfect girl for them. Yes, they believed in a miracle. And that miracle actually happened.
从前有一个男孩和一个女孩。男孩18岁，女孩16岁。他不是很帅，她也不是特别漂亮。他们只是一对普通而又寂寞的男孩和女孩，跟其他人没什么两样。但是，他们一心相信，世界上的某个地方生活着他们自己心目中100％完美的男孩和100％完美的女孩。是的，他们相信奇迹的存在。而且，奇迹也确实发生了。

7. One day the two came upon each other on the corner of a street. “This is amazing,” he said. “I’ve been looking for you all my life. You may not believe this, but you’re the 100% perfect girl for me.” “And you,” she said to him, “are the 100% perfect boy for me, exactly as I’d pictured you in every detail. It’s like a dream.”
一天，他们两人在一条街的拐角处相遇。“这太神奇了，”他说，“我一生都在寻找你。你可能不相信，但你是我心目中100％完美的女孩。”“而，你，”她对他说，“也是我心目中100％完美的男孩，你的每个细节都跟我想象中一模一样。就像做梦一样。”
8. Then, the boy said to the girl, “Let’s test ourselves - just once. If we really are each other’s 100% perfect lovers, then sometime, somewhere, we will meet again without fail. And when that happens, and we know that we are the 100% perfect ones, we’ll marry then and there. What do you think?” “Yes,” she said, “that is exactly what we should do.” And so they parted, she to the east, and he to the west.
然后，男孩对女孩说：“我们来测试一下我们自己，仅一次。如果我们真的是彼此100％完美的恋人，那么我们肯定会在未来某个时间某个地点再次相遇。如果是这样，我们就知道我们是100％完美的一对，然后我们就在那个时间那个地点结婚。你觉得怎么样？”“可以，“她说，”这正是我们应该做的。”于是，他们分开了，她向东，他向西。
9. The test they had agreed upon, however, was utterly unnecessary and the worst plan ever. For one winter, both the boy and the girl came down with the season’s terrible influenza, and after drifting for weeks between life and death they lost all memory of their earlier years.
然而，他们约定的这个测试完全是没有必要的，甚至可以说是最糟糕的计划。一年冬天，男孩和女孩都患上了可怕的季节性流感。几周的生死挣扎过后，他们都失忆了，早年的记忆统统荡然无存。
10. Time passed with shocking swiftness, and soon the boy was thirty-two, the girl thirty. One beautiful April morning, in search of a cup of coffee to start the day, the boy was walking from west to east, while the girl, intending to send a special-delivery letter, was walking from east to west, but along the same narrow street in the Harajuku neighbourhood of Tokyo. They passed each other in the very centre of the street.
时间飞逝，很快男孩32了，女孩也30了。一个美丽的四月清晨，男孩从西向东走来，正在寻找一杯咖啡开始新的一天；与此同时，女孩从东向西走来，正打算去寄一封快递信件。他们沿着东京原宿区的同一条小街相对而行，却在街道的正中央彼此擦肩而过。
11. The faintest gleam of their lost memories glimmered for the briefest moment in their hearts. Each felt a rumbling in their chest. And they knew: She is the 100% perfect girl for me. He is the 100% perfect boy for me. But the glow of their memories was far too weak, and their thoughts no longer had the clarity of fourteen years earlier. Without a word, they passed each other, disappearing into the crowd. Forever. A sad story, don’t you think? Yes, that’s it, that is what I should have said to her.
刹那间，他们那段失去的记忆在各自的心中泛起了极其微弱的光芒。他们的胸口同时“咯噔”一颤。他们意识到——她是我心目中100％完美的女孩；他是我心目中100％完美的男孩。但他们记忆的光芒太过微弱了，他们的内心对彼此的感觉已不再像14年前那样清晰。他们一声不吭地彼此走过，消失在人群中。从此再也没有相遇。这是一个伤感的故事，你不觉得吗？是的，这就是故事的全部，这就是我应该对她说的。