Peggy Noonan lives in New York and writes a weekly column for The Wall Street Journal. This piece is taken from one of them. In it she reflects on her week and on life in the city. Writing less than a year away from the destruction of the World Trade Center, her thoughts are inevitably affected by that terrible event.

佩吉·诺南住在纽约，每周为《华尔街时报》撰写专栏文章。本文即其中一篇。她在文章中反思了自己的一周以及这个城市的生活。撰写此文时，离世贸中心被毁还不到一周年，她的思考不可避免地带有这一可怕事件的阴影。







The Nightmare and the Dreams

-- How has Sept. 11 affected our national unconscious?

PEGGY NOONAN

1 It is hot in New York. It is so hot that once when I had a fever a friend called and asked me how I felt and I said, "You know how dry and hot paper feels when it's been faxed? That's how I feel." And how I felt all day yesterday. It is hot. We feel as if we've been faxed.

梦魇与梦想

――9·11事件如何影响了国民的潜意识？

佩吉·诺南

纽约真热。天气如此炎热，因此，有一次我发高烧，朋友打电话来问候我感觉如何时，我就说，“你知道发传真时纸张有多干燥多烫手吗？那就是我的感觉。”昨天整整一天我都是这种感觉。太热了。我们觉得自己被传真过似的。







　

2 I found myself fully awake at 5 a.m. yesterday and went for a walk on the Brooklyn Bridge. Now more than ever the bridge seems like a great gift to my city. It spans. In the changed landscape of downtown it is our undisturbed beauty, grown ever more stately each year. People seem to love it more now, or at least mention it more or notice it more. So do I. It's always full of tourists but always full of New Yorkers, too.

昨天清晨5点我就完全醒了，便去布鲁克林大桥散步。如今这座大桥越发像是赐予我们这个城市的一件贵重礼物。它跨河而立。在业已改变的市区景观中，它依旧是一道美丽的景致，年复一年，越发显得气势非凡。如今，人们似乎更喜欢它，至少是更多地提到它、注意到它。本人也一样。桥上总是挤满游客，也总是挤满纽约居民。









3 I am struck, as I always am when I'm on it, that I am walking on one of the engineering wonders of the world. And I was struck yesterday that I was looking at one of the greatest views in the history of man's creation, Manhattan at sunrise.

我在这座桥上行走时总是深感骄傲，因为自己漫步在世界工程技术一大奇迹之上；今天踏上这座桥，我同样深感骄傲。昨天我深受感动，因为我在观看有人类创造史以来最辉煌的景象之一：曼哈顿日出。









4 And all of it was free. A billionaire would pay billions to own this bridge and keep this view, but I and my jogging, biking and hiking companions have it for nothing. We inherited it. Now all we do is pay maintenance, in the form of taxes. We are lucky.

而且那是分文不花的。亿万富翁要想拥有这座桥，将这一景致占为己有，那得付出亿万钱财，而我以及那些或慢跑、或骑车、或徒步的同行者却能免费享用。我们继承了这座大桥。如今我们所要做的只是以纳税的方式支付维修费用。我辈实属有幸。









5 As I rounded the entrance to the bridge on the Brooklyn side, a small moment added to my happiness. It was dawn, traffic was light, I passed a black van with smoked windows. In the driver's seat with the window down was a black man of 30 or so, a cap low on his brow, wearing thick black sunglasses. I was on the walkway that leads to the bridge; he was less than two feet away; we were the only people there. We made eye contact. "Good morning!" he said. "Good morning to you," I answered, and for no reason at all we started to laugh, and moved on into the day. Nothing significant in it except it may or may not have happened that way 30 or 40 years ago. I'm not sure the full charge of friendliness would have been assumed or answered. 我从布鲁克林一边上桥时，一件小事更增添了我的快乐。天刚亮，车辆稀少，我与一辆车窗熏黑的黑色面包车擦肩而过。窗开着的驾驶座里坐着一个30岁左右的黑人，帽子低低地压在眉檐上，戴着一副厚厚的黑色太阳镜。我走在通往大桥的人行道上，他距我不到两英尺；周围只有我们两个人。我们目光对视。“早上好！”他说。“早上好，”我回答着，两人随即无缘无故地大笑起来，笑罢各人继续各人的生活。这事并没有什么特别的意义，只是30年或40年前是不是会发生这样的事。我不知道那时会不会有这种完全友好的表示，又会不会得到回应。









6 It made me think of something I saw Monday night on TV. They were showing the 1967 movie "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" with Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier and Spencer Tracy, about a young white woman and a young black man who fall in love, hope to marry and must contend with disapproving parents on both sides. It's held up well, and parts of it seemed moving in a way I didn't remember, and pertinent.

这让我想起星期一晚上看的电视节目。他们播放的是1967年的影片《猜猜谁来赴晚餐》，由凯瑟琳·赫本、辛尼·普瓦提艾和斯潘塞·特雷西主演，讲的是一个白人姑娘与一个黑人小伙子相爱，想要结婚，不得不与持反对态度的双方父母做斗争。影片拍得不错，故事的部分细节似乎很感人，如何感人我记不清楚了，反正很切题。









7 There was a bit of dialogue that packed a wallop. Spencer Tracy as the father of the would-be bride is pressing Mr. Poitier on whether he has considered the sufferings their mixed-race children might have to endure in America. Has he thought about this? Has his fiancée? "She is optimistic," says Mr. Poitier. "She thinks every one of them will grow up to become president of the United States. I on the other hand would settle for secretary of state." Those words, written 35 years ago may have seemed dreamy then. But in its audience when the movie came out would likely have been a young, film-loving Army lieutenant named Colin Powell who, that year, was preparing for a second tour of duty in Vietnam. And now he is secretary of state. This is the land dreams are made of. Does that strike you as a corny thing to say and talk about? It is. That's another great thing.

有几段对话让人为之震动。饰演未来新娘父亲的斯潘塞·特雷西质问普瓦提艾先生，他是否想过他们混血的孩子在美国将会承受多少痛苦。他考虑过这点吗？他的未婚妻考虑过这点吗？“她很乐观，”普瓦提艾先生说。“她认为他们每个人都能长大成人当上美国总统。而我则觉得他们能当国务卿也就可以了。”这些写于35年前的话当时听上去或许就像是痴人说梦。但影片上映时，观众中可能就有爱看电影的年轻的陆军中尉科林·鲍威尔，当年他正准备第二次到越南去服役。如今他正担任着国务卿一职。这是个梦想成真的国度。这么说你是否觉得有点老生常谈？这又是一件美妙的事情。









8 Late Tuesday, on a subway ride from Brooklyn to the north of Manhattan, I resaw something I'd noticed and forgotten about. It is that more and more, on the streets and on the train, I see people wearing ID tags. We all wear IDs now. We didn't use to. They hang from thick cotton string or an aluminum chain; they're worn one at a time or three at a time, but they're there.

星期二晚些时候，在从布鲁克林开往曼哈顿北部的地铁上，我又看到一个我注意过，可后来又忘了的现象。那就是大街上，地铁里，我越来越经常地发现人们挂着表明身份的胸卡。如今人人都佩带胸卡。过去我们是不带的。胸卡吊在粗棉线或铝制链上；有的佩带一张，有的同时佩带三张，反正胸卡处处可见。









9 I ponder the implications. What does it mean that we wear IDs? What are we saying, or do we think we're saying? I mean aside from the obvious.

我思索着这一现象意味着什么。大家随身携带身份证件，这意味着什么？我们是在表明什么？或者说我们自以为是在表明什么？我指的是表象之外的意义。









10 I imagined yesterday the row of people across from me on the train, looking up all of a sudden from their newspaper and answering one after another:

假设昨天地铁车厢里我对面的那排人一下子放下报纸抬起头来，逐个回答道：









11 "It means I know who I am," says the man in blue shirt and suspenders.

“这意味着我知道自己是谁，”穿蓝衬衫和吊裤带的那个男子说。









12 "It means I can get into the building," says the woman in gray.

“这意味着我能进办公楼，”那个灰衣女子说。









13 "It means I am a solid citizen with a job."

“这表明我是个有职业的体面公民。”









14 "I am known to others in my workplace."

“在工作场所别人知道我是谁。”









15 "I'm not just blowing through life, I'm integrated into it. I belong to something. I receive a regular paycheck."

“我不是在混日子，我融入了生活。我有所归属。我有固定的工资。”









16 "I have had a background check done by security and have been found to be a Safe Person. Have you?"

“安检部门对我的背景来历核查过，认定我为人可靠。你呢？”









17 I wonder if unemployed people on the train look at the tags around the other peoples' necks and think. Soon I hope I'll have one too. I wonder if kids just getting their first job at 17 will ever know that in America we didn't all use to be ID'd. Used to be only for people who worked in nuclear power plants or great halls of government. Otherwise you could be pretty obscure. Which isn't a bad way to be.

我不知道车上那些失业的人看着别人头颈里吊着的胸卡，会不会有什么想法。我希望不久我也有张胸卡。我不知道那些刚刚开始工作的17岁的小伙子们会不会知晓，以前在美国，我们并不是人人携带身份证的。过去只有在核电站或政府办公大楼里工作的人才用。在别处，没人会知道你是谁。这可不是件坏事。









18 A month ago there were news reports of a post-Sept. 11 baby boom. Everyone was so rocked by news of their mortality that they realized there will never be a perfect time to have kids but we're here now so let's have a family. I believed the baby boom story and waited for the babies.

一个月前，有关于9·11事件之后出现生育高峰的新闻报道。大家为那些关于死亡的报道所震惊，意识到决没有什么生养孩子的最佳时机，现在我们既然活着，就该生儿育女。我相信关于生育高峰报道的真实性，期待着这些孩子的出生。









19 Then came the stories saying: Nah, there is no baby boom, it's all anecdotal, there's no statistical evidence to back it up. And I believed that too. But I've been noticing something for weeks now. In my neighborhood there is a baby boom. There are babies all over in Brooklyn. It is full of newborns, of pink soft-limbed infants in cotton carriers on daddy's chest. It is full of strollers, not only regular strollers but the kind that carry two children -- double-wides. And triple-wides. I don't care what anyone says, there have got to be data that back up what I'm seeing: that after Sept. 11, there was at least a Brooklyn baby boom.

后来又有报道说，不对，没有什么生育高峰，那完全是道听途说，并没有统计数据加以证实。我也相信这一报道的真实性。但好几个星期以来我一直关注着一个情况。我家附近出现了生育高峰。布鲁克林到处都是婴儿。处处可见新生婴儿，处处可见粉嘟嘟的、小手小脚软软的婴儿，他们蜷伏在父亲胸前的棉兜里。处处可见婴儿小推车，不仅是普通的小推车，还有那种可放两个婴儿的小推车。甚至还有可放三个婴儿的小推车。别人怎么说我不管，应该有数据证实我目睹的情况：9·11 事件之后，至少在布鲁克林出现了生育高峰。









20 A dream boom, too. The other day I spoke with a friend I hadn't seen since the world changed. He was two blocks away when the towers fell, and he saw everything. We have all seen the extraordinary footage of that day, seen it over and over, but few of us have seen what my friend described: how in the office buildings near the World Trade Center they stood at the windows and suddenly darkness enveloped them as the towers collapsed and the demonic cloud swept through. Did you see those forced to jump? I asked.

夜梦也激增。一天我跟事件发生后一直没见过面的一位朋友交谈。世贸大楼倒下时，他就在两个街区之外，目睹了一切。我们都看过当日那令人震惊的电视镜头，看过一遍又一遍，但很少有人看到过我朋友所描述的情景：在世贸中心近旁的办公大楼里，他们站在窗边，突然黑暗将他们笼罩，那两幢楼倒塌了，可怕的浓烟迅速蔓延。你有没有看到那些被迫往下跳的人？我问。









21 "Yes," he said, and looked away.

“看到，”他说着移开了视线。









22 Have you had bad dreams?

你有没有做噩梦？









23 "Yes," he said, and looked away.

“做的，”他说着，仍看着别处。









24 I thought about this for a few days. My friend is brilliant and by nature a describer of things felt and seen. But not this time. I spoke to a friend who is a therapist. Are your patients getting extraordinary dreams? I asked.

我好几天都想着这事。我的这位朋友才华横溢，天生擅长描述自己的感受与见闻。但这次却例外。我跟一位当治疗专家的朋友交谈。你的病人是不是都做些稀奇古怪的梦？我问。









25 "Always," he laughs.

“总是做那样的梦，”他笑了起来。









26 Sept.11-related?

都跟9·11事件有关？









27 "Yes," he says, "mostly among adolescents. "

“是的，”他说，“主要都是青少年。”









28 I asked if he was saving them, writing them down. He shook his head no.

我问他有没有把这些梦收集好记下来。他摇了摇头。









29 So: The Sept. 11 Dream Project. We should begin it. I want to, though I'm not sure why. I think maybe down the road I will try to write about them. Maybe not. I am certain, however, that dreams can be an expression of a nation's unconscious, if there can be said to be such a thing, and deserve respect. (Carl Jung thought so.)

是啊：9·11梦录项目。我们应该着手进行了。本人有意去做，虽说我自己也不太清楚到底为什么。我想，以后也许我会试着把那些梦写下来。也许不会。但我相信，梦可以反映国民的潜意识――如果真有所谓潜意识――而且值得把梦当一回事。（卡尔·荣格持肯定态度。）









30 To respect is to record. Send in your Sept. 11 related dream -- recurring, unusual, striking, whatever. I will read them, and appreciate them and possibly weave them into a piece on what Sept. 11 has done to our dream lives and to our imaginations, when our imaginations are operating on their own, unfettered, unstopped, spanning.

既然值得当回事就要记录下来。请把你做的与9·11事件有关的梦寄给我――一再重复的，不同寻常的，惊人的，等等。我会阅读你们的来函，会理解，可能的话会将它们编成一篇文章，反映9·11事件对我们的梦幻生活和想象力――即当我们的想象力独立地、无拘无束地、毫无牵绊地持续发挥时――产生了什么影响。