Fish Cheeks中文全文翻译

Fish Cheeks
鱼的脸颊
Amy Tan
I fell in love with the minister's son the winter I turned fourteen. He was not Chinese, but as white as Mary in the manger. For Christmas I prayed for this blond-haired boy, Robert, and a slim new American nose.
那年冬天我14岁，我爱上一个牧师的儿子。

他不是中国人，他白得像马槽里的玛丽。

神诞节的时候我为了这个金发男孩祈祷，他叫罗伯特，他有一个超薄的新美式鼻子。

When I found out that my parents had invited the minister's family over for Christmas Eve dinner, I cried. What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas? What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners? What terrible disappointment would he feel upon seeing not a roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food?
当我发现我父母邀请了牧师一家在平安夜聚餐，我哭了。

罗伯特会怎么看待我们的破简陋的中国圣诞节？如何看待我家缺乏美国习惯的亲戚在桌上的吵闹。

他将会多么失望的感觉到没有美式烤火鸡和红薯只有中国菜。

On Christmas Eve I saw that my mother had outdone herself in creating a strange menu. She was pulling black veins out of the backs of fleshy prawns. The kitchen was littered with appalling mounds of raw food: A slimy rock cod with bulging eyes that pleaded not to be thrown into a pan of hot oil. Tofu, which looked like stacked wedges of rubbery white sponges. A bowl soaking dried fungus back to life. A plate of squid, their backs crisscrossed with knife markings so they resembled bicycle tires.
在圣诞前夕，我看到我的母亲超越自我创造了一份奇怪的菜单。

她扯出多肉的对虾身上的黑色静脉。

厨房堆积着一大堆未加工的食物：鼓着眼等着下锅的黏滑的岩石鳕鱼，有弹性的豆腐，一碗泡着的干木耳，切得如自行车胎花纹般的鱿鱼。

And then they arrived – the minister's family and all my relatives in a clamor of doorbells and rumpled Christmas packages. Robert grunted hello, and I pretended he was not worthy of existence.
然后他们来了，牧师一家人和我所有的亲戚在喧闹的门铃声中带着成套的圣诞包裹来了。

罗伯特哼了一声你好，然后我假装他并不存在。

Dinner threw me deeper into despair. My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food. Robert and his family waited patiently for platters to be passed to them. My relatives murmured with pleasure when my mother brought out the whole steamed fish. Robert grimaced. Then my father poked his chopsticks just below the fish eye and plucked out the soft meat. "Amy, your favorite," he said, offering me the tender fish cheek. I wanted to disappear.
晚餐让我更加绝望。

亲戚们舔着筷子的两端，把手伸过桌子，浸渍到食物的十几个板。

罗伯特和他的家人耐心等待大盘要传递给他们。

亲戚们低声快乐时，妈妈带来了整个清蒸岩石鳕鱼。

罗伯特扮鬼脸。

然后我的父亲用他的筷子夹了鱼
眼下的一块嫩软的脸颊肉，“艾米，你最喜欢的，”他说。

他把嫩的鱼的脸颊肉给我。

那时，我想让自己消失。

At the end of the meal my father leaned back and belched loudly, thanking my mother for her fine cooking. "It's a polite Chinese custom to show you are satisfied," explained my father to our astonished guests. Robert was looking down at his plate with a reddened face. The minister managed to muster up a quiet burp. I was stunned into silence for the rest of the night.
最后我的父亲斜着背打了一个响亮的饱嗝，感谢我妈妈的好厨艺。

“中国式的礼貌表示满意，”我的父亲向惊讶的客人解释到。

罗伯特低下头看到他的盘子里通红的脸。

牧师设法鼓起一个安静的打嗝。

我被沉默的夜晚的宁静震惊到了。

After everyone had gone, my mother said to me, "You want to be the same as American girls on the outside." She handed me an early gift. It was a miniskirt in beige tweed. "But inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame."
当所有的人都走了，我的母亲对我说，“你想在外表上跟美国的女孩一样。

”他给了我一份礼物。

这是米色的粗花呢裙。

“但是内里你必须永远做一个中国人，你一定为你的与众不同自豪。

你唯一的遗憾是有羞愧感。

And even though I didn't agree with her then, I knew that she understood how much I had suffered during the evening's dinner. It wasn't until many years later –long after I had gotten over my crush on Robert – that I was able to fully appreciate her lesson and the true purpose behind our particular menu. For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen all my favorite foods.
尽管我并不同意她的话，但是我了解她知道我在晚餐上所承受的。

直到许多年以后，我克服了我对罗伯特的暗恋，能够完全欣赏她的课特别的菜谱后面的真正目的。

那一年的平安夜，她选择了我最喜欢的食物。

翻译：hungrywolf。