Where did the 1)flyswatter hang in the kitchen of the house you grew up in? Which closet kept the used Christmas wrapping paper? Where did the stacks of old National Geographic magazines collect dust? Every home has roots, warmth, 2)anchors, laughter, tears, a place to hang a flyswatter and a junk drawer. I’m sure archaeologists have discovered junk drawers in caves.
伴你成长的房子里,那苍蝇拍挂在厨房的哪个地方?哪个壁橱里保存着用过的圣诞礼物包装纸?那一叠叠《国家地理》杂志过刊又放在哪里积尘?每个家庭都有根、温暖、支柱、欢笑、泪水、一个用来挂苍蝇拍的地方,还有一个装废品的抽屉。我敢肯定,考古学家在洞穴里发现过装废品的抽屉。
The junk drawer. It’s a 3)yard sale in a drawer. The junk drawer is a place where things 4)slink off to hide from us. A place for things that have moved well 5)off the beaten path. It’s like an attic. We tend to forget what’s in the attic. It’s always a surprise—pleasant or unpleasant—when we once again see what inhabits the attic.
装废品的抽屉。那是一场在抽屉里上演的“大甩卖”。装废品的抽屉是那些从我们身边潜逃并躲藏起来的东西的栖身地,那些远离惯常轨迹的东西也聚首于此。它就像一个阁楼。我们往往会忘记阁楼里放着什么。当我们又一次看见住在阁楼里的东西时,总觉诧异—— 或“惊”或“喜”。
The junk drawer is like a museum without a 6)curator—a museum without a 7)custodian.
装废品的抽屉就像一个没有馆长的博物馆—— 一个没有看门人的博物馆。
As a boy, I knew that while some houses had a number of junk drawers, every house had at least one junk drawer. The junk drawer was like an old friend. It had a personality. It had its good points and its bad points. It had its strengths and its weaknesses.
还是个男孩的时候,我就知道尽管一些房子里有好几个装废品的抽屉,但每间房子里至少有一个装废品的抽屉。装废品的抽屉就像一个老朋友。它有种个性。它有优点也有缺点,有强处也有弱处。
You could take a photo of the contents of your family’s junk drawer, give it to Sherlock Holmes and the famous 8)sleuth would be able to tell just about everything worth knowing about you and your family. The junk drawer was a 9)nook. It was a cranny. It was perfectly suited to do what it did.
你可以给你家装废品的抽屉里的那些东西拍张照,把照片拿给夏洛 克·福尔摩斯看,这位名侦探定能把关于你和你家人的所有值得了解的信息一一道破。装废品的抽屉是个隐蔽处,是个缝隙。用来装废杂物最适合不过了。
The junk drawer kept things that we probably didn’t need to keep. A junk drawer is like a mind. We can remember the room number of our 7th grade study hall, but forget our 10)PIN for the ATM or our cell phone number. The junk drawer harbors things of no use or value. We need to 11)rummage through our brain occasionally, just as we rummage through a junk drawer.
装废品的抽屉保存着我们可能不需要保存的东西。一个装废品的抽屉就像一个人的大脑。我们能记起我们上七年级时自修室的门牌号,但却在自动柜员机提款时忘了我们的个人识别码或是手机号码。装废品的抽屉里放置着没有用或者没有价值的东西。有时,我们需要在脑子里搜出一些东西,就像我们在装废品的抽屉里搜东西一样。
What did you keep in your junk drawer? Probably a lot of the same stuff we kept in ours. First there was always tape—12)duct,13)masking, 14)Scotch and 15)Band-Aids. Ernest Hemingway wrote, “Life breaks everyone, but the tough become strong in the broken places.” The junk drawer tape helped make broken places strong.
你在你那个装废品的抽屉里放着什么?我们保存的大多数东西很可能是一样的。首先,总会有各种胶带——布基胶带、美纹纸胶带、“思高牌”透明胶带和创可贴。欧内斯特·海明威写道:“人人都逃不过生活的挫败打击,但顽强的人在受挫之处会变得愈加强韧。”装废品的抽屉里的胶带能使受挫之处变得强韧。
What were all of those keys for? No one knows that many doors.
所有那些钥匙有什么用?也没那么多门。
Rubber bands, 16)twist ties, ink pens that dried up years ago, dead flashlight batteries, an earring that had lost its mate, 17)feral 18)screwdrivers, escaped screws and nails, expired 19)coupons, a sticky coin or two, unidentifiable bits of plastic, candles, a hammer without a handle, a bottle cap or two, 20)clothespins, broken crayons, a piece of chalk, buttons, a couple of 21)safety pins, seeds in a package that says they should be planted by 1988, an unsigned birthday card from back when 22)Eisenhower was the president and lots of loose string. 23)Flotsam and jetsam.
橡皮筋、扭线环、几年前就干水了的水笔、没电的手电筒电池、一只形单影只的耳环、长得凶猛的螺丝刀、松掉的螺丝钉和钉子、过期的商家优惠券、一两个黏糊糊的硬币、一些无从辨认的塑料碎片、蜡烛、一把没有柄的铁锤、一两个瓶盖、衣夹、断掉的蜡笔、一支粉笔、钮扣、一些别针、一包说明上写着需在1988年之前播下的种子、一张未署名的生日卡片——卡片上署下的日期可追溯到艾森豪威尔总统在任期间,以及一大堆零散的绳绳线线。都是些零碎的废品。
They are things that once brought us happiness that found their way into a drawer that we didn’t know we’d left open. Things that were once useful and wanted wait to be useful and wanted once again. They end up in the junk drawer because they don’t really fit anywhere else.
它们是一些曾带给我们快乐的东西,最后落入连我们自己也不知道有打开过的抽屉里。那些我们曾经需要又觉得有用的东西等着再次被派上用场。它们最终落入装废品的抽屉里,是因为没有其他地方适合它们容身。
Bits of our lives that have been tossed aside. Lost treasures and broken items. Things just a little too good to throw away. Each tells a story. Each was something we needed. Something that we had to have. Something that we’re not so sure we still need. Some of the stuff ended up in its present location because the drawer was closer than the waste basket.
我们生命中的一小部分被扔在一边。失落的宝贝和破烂的东西。一些扔掉又有点可惜的东西。每件东西都讲述着一个故事。每件都是我们曾经需要的东西,一些我们必须得有的东西,一些我们不确定是否仍需要的东西。其中一些最终落入这里是因为那抽屉相比垃圾筒离我们更近些。
A junk drawer is a junk pile that stays within limits due to the size of the drawer. It’s life in small doses. 24)Adlai Stevenson said that many things are revealed to the humble that are hidden from the great. A junk drawer is a humble place.
一个装废品的抽屉能堆积的垃圾数量有限,取决于那个抽屉的容积。它们就像生活里的一个个小片段。阿德莱·史蒂文森说过,大人物看不到的很多东西,谦卑小人物却能发现。一个装废品的抽屉就是这么一个微贱的小地方。
Our current junk drawer has been opened thousands of times. It has been shaved and soaped, but it still 25)squeaks. It’s a drawer full of hopes, dreams and memories. It may be a drawer filled with junk rather than money, but it’s a drawer that remains optimistic. It’s proof that the quality of life is more important than the standard of living.
我们当前在用的那个装废品的抽屉已经被打开过上千次。它被刨过,也被抹过肥皂用以润滑,但它仍是吱吱作响。那是个装满希望、梦想和回忆的抽屉。也许,它是个装满废品而不是金钱的抽屉,但它一直是个乐观的抽屉。它证明了生活的质量比生活的物质水平更重要。
“We really need to clean that junk drawer this weekend.”
Why do we call it a junk drawer? It’s not junk.
The junk drawer. It has everything I’ll never need.
“我们这个周末真的需要清理那个装废品的抽屉了。”
我们为什么称它为装废品的抽屉?那里面不是废品。
装废品的抽屉,它有着一切我将再也不需要的东西。
