"That is not here, sir," he said in English. "The mayor expects you tonight for dinner with other foreigners on the restaurant boat. See? This is where it is.” He sketched a little map for me on the back of my invitation.

“不是这儿，先生，”他用英语说道。“市长邀请您今天晚上同其他外宾一起在水上餐厅赴宴。您看，就是这儿。”他边说边为我在请柬背面勾划出了一张简略的示意图。

Thanks to his map, I was able to find a taxi driver who could take me straight to the canal embankment , where a sort of barge with a roof like one on a Japanese house was moored. The Japanese build their traditional houses on boats when land becomes too expensive. The rather arresting spectacle of little old Japan adrift amid beige concrete skyscrapers is the very symbol of the incessant struggle between the kimono and the miniskirt.

幸亏有了他画的图，我才找到一辆出租车把我直接送到了运河堤岸，那儿停泊着一艘顶篷颇像一般日本房屋屋顶的大游艇。由于地价过于昂贵，日本人便把传统日本式房屋建到了船上。漂浮在水面上的旧式日本小屋夹在一座座灰黄色摩天大楼之间，这一引人注目的景观正象征着和服与超短裙之间持续不断的斗争。

At the door to the restaurant, a stunning, porcelain-faced woman in traditional costume asked me to remove my shoes. This done, I entered one of the low-ceilinged rooms of the little floating house, treading cautiously on the soft matting and experiencing a twinge of embarrassment at the prospect of meeting the mayor of Hiroshima in my socks.

在水上餐厅的门口，一位身着和服、面色如玉、风姿绰约的迎宾女郎告诉我要脱鞋进屋。于是我便脱下鞋子，走进这座水上小屋里的一个低矮的房间，蹑手蹑脚地踏在柔软的榻榻米地席上，因想到要这样穿着袜子去见广岛市长而感到十分困窘不安。

He was a tall, thin man, sad-eyed and serious. Quite unexpectedly, the strange emotion which had overwhelmed me at the station returned, and I was again crushed by the thought that I now stood on the site of the first atomic bombardment, where thousands upon thousands of people had been slain in one second, where thousands upon thousands of others had lingered on to die in slow agony.

市长是位瘦高个儿的男人，目光忧郁，神情严肃。出人意料的是，刚到广岛车站时袭扰着我的那种异样的忧伤情绪竟在这时重新袭上心头，我的心情又难受起来，因为我又一次意识到自己置身于曾遭受第一颗原子弹轰击的现场。这儿曾有成千上万的生命顷刻之间即遭毁灭，还有成千上万的人在痛苦的煎熬中慢慢死去。