(单词翻译:单击)
So we went together to visit a nice French expatriate financial adviser and real estate guy, who was kind enough to suggest the best way to transfer the money. His suggestion was that I keep it easy and just wire the money directly from my bank account into Wayan's bank account and let her buy whatever land or home she wants, so I don't have to mess around with owning property in Indonesia. As long as I didn't wire over amounts bigger than $10,000 at a time, the IRS and CIA wouldn't suspect me of laundering drug money. Then we went to Wayan's little bank, and talked to the manager about how to set up a wire transfer. In neat conclusion, the bank manager said, "So, Wayan. When this wire transfer goes through, in just a few days, you should have about 180 million rupiah in your bank account."
于是我们一块儿去找一位专司财务顾问兼房地产专业的法国人,他颇为好意地建议汇钱的最佳方式。他的建议是采取简单方式,直接从我的银行账户把钱汇入大姐的银行账户,让她买自己想买的土地或房子,那我就无须为在印尼拥有资产伤脑筋。只要每次汇款不超过一万块钱,国税局和调查局就不会怀疑我为毒品洗钱。而后我们去大姐所属的小银行,和经理讨论如何设定电汇。银行经理最后利落地说:"大姐,电汇完成后,再经过几天,你的银行账户就会有一亿八千万卢比亚。"
Wayan and I looked at each other and sparked off into a ridiculous riot of laughter. Such an enormous sum! We kept trying to pull ourselves together, since we were in some fancy banker's office, but we couldn't stop laughing. We stumbled out of there like drunks, holding on to each other to not fall over.
大姐和我面面相觑,突然放声大笑起来。好一笔巨款!我们尝试镇定下来,毕竟是在银行家的豪华办公室里,却忍不住笑个不停。我们像醉鬼似的跌跌撞撞地走出银行,搀扶彼此以免跌倒。
She said, "Never have I seen a miracle happen so fast! All this time, I was begging God to please help Wayan. And God was begging Liz to please help Wayan, too."
她说:"我还没见过发生得如此之快的奇迹!这些日子,我求神帮助大姐。而神也求小莉来一起帮助大姐。"
I added, "And Liz was begging her friends to please help Wayan, too!"
我接口说:"而小莉也求她的朋友帮助大姐!"
We returned to the shop, found Tutti just home from school. Wayan dropped to her knees, grabbed her girl, and said, "A house! A house! We have a house!" Tutti executed a fabulous fake faint, swooning cartoonishly right to the floor.
我们返回店里,见图蒂已放学回家。大姐跪下来抓住她的女儿,说:"房子!房子!我们有房子了!"图蒂假装晕倒,像卡通人物似的昏倒在地。
While we were all laughing, I noticed the two orphans watching this scene from the back-ground of the kitchen, and I could see them looking at me with something in their faces that resembled . . . fear. As Wayan and Tutti galloped around in joy, I wondered what the orphans were thinking. What were they so afraid of? Being left behind, maybe? Or was I now a scary person to them because I'd produced so much money out of nowhere? (Such an unthinkable amount of money that maybe it's like black magic?) Or maybe when you've had such a fragile life as these kids, any change is a terror.
大伙笑在一起时,我留意到两名孤儿从后头的厨房注视着这一幕。我瞥见她们看着我的表情类似……恐惧。大姐和图蒂雀跃万分之时,我在想两名孤儿做何感想。她们恐惧什么?被冷落?或者现在我在她们眼里很恐怖,因为我无端变出一大笔钱?(这种难以想象的钱数或许是某种魔咒?)或者当你像这些孩子曾过着没有保障的生活时,任何改变都叫人恐惧吧。
When there was a lull in the celebration I asked Wayan, just to be sure: "What about Big Ketut and Little Ketut? Is this good news for them, too?"
当庆祝的心情稍微平静下来时,为了确定起见,于是我问大姐:"大老四和小老四怎么办?这对她们是不是也是好消息?"
Wayan looked over at the girls in the kitchen and must have seen the same uneasiness I had seen, because she floated over to them and herded them into her arms and whispered some reassuring words into the crowns of their heads. They seemed to relax into her. Then the phone rang, and Wayan tried to pull away from the orphans to answer it, but the skinny arms of the two Ketuts clung on to their unofficial mother relentlessly, and they buried their heads in her belly and armpits, and even after the longest time they refused—with a fierceness I'd never seen in them before—to let her go.
大姐看着厨房里的女孩们,肯定也看到相同的不安,因此她走过去,把她们搂入怀中,在她们头顶轻声说话鼓舞她们。她们似乎在她怀中安心起来。而后电话响起,大姐想放开孤儿去接电话,但大小老四的瘦弱手臂抓住她们的非正式母亲不放,把头埋在她的腹部和腋窝中,即使很久之后也不放她走,其猛烈是我前所未见的。
So I answered the phone, instead.
于是我替她接了电话。
"Balinese Traditional Healing," I said. "Stop by today for our giant close-out moving sale!" Eat, Pray, Love
"巴厘传统医疗,你好,"我说,"今天过来逛一逛我们的搬家清仓大拍卖吧!