This music did not take a long time or a short time. It did not have anything to do with time going by at all. She sat with her arms held tight around her legs, biting her salty knee very hard. It might have been five minutes she listened or half the night. The second part was black-colored—a slow 12)march. Not sad, but like the whole world was dead and black and there was no use thinking back to how it was before. One of those horn kind of instruments played a sad and 13)silver tune. Then the music rose up angry and with excitement underneath. And finally the black march again. But maybe the last part of the symphony was the music she loved the best—glad and like the greatest people in the world running and springing up in a hard, free way. The whole world was this symphony, and there was not enough of her to listen.
曲子说不上长也说不上短，根本和时间无关。她紧紧地抱住大腿，咬着自己带汗咸味的膝盖。她可能只听了五分钟，也可能听了半个夜晚。第二乐章是黑色的——缓慢的进行曲。不是悲伤的，但整个世界都寂灭了，一片黑暗，没必要去回想这个世界寂灭前是什么样。一种号角式的乐器奏出了悲伤清悦的旋律。随后音乐愤怒地扬起，潜伏着激动的情绪。最后，黑色的进行曲又来了。不过，也许这首交响乐的最后部分才是她最喜欢的——充满快乐，像世界上最出色的人在奔跑，狠狠地、毫无拘束地一跃而起。整个世界就是这曲交响乐，她简直听不过来了。
It was over, and she sat very stiff with her arms around her knees. Another program came on the radio and she put her fingers in her ears. The music left only this bad hurt in her and a blankness. She could not remember any of the symphony, not even the last few notes. She tried to remember, but no sound at all came to her. Now that it was over there was only her heart like a rabbit and this terrible hurt.
乐曲结束了。她抱着膝盖，僵硬地坐着。另一个节目开始了，她用手指堵住耳朵。刚才的音乐只给她留下一份戚然和空虚。她完全想不起这首交响乐了，甚至连最后几个音符也忘了。她努力去回想，但是没有声音回响在她耳边。现在全都结束了，只剩下她的一颗心像兔子一样狂跳不止，还有这可怕的伤害。
The radio and the lights in the house were turned off. The night was very dark. Suddenly Mick began hitting her thigh with her fists. She pounded the same muscle with all her strength until the tears came down her face. But she could not feel this hard enough. The rocks under the bush were sharp. She grabbed a handful of them and began scraping them up and down on the same spot until her hand was bloody. Then she fell back to the ground and lay looking up at the night. With the 14)fiery hurt in her leg she felt better. She was 15)limp on the wet grass, and after a while her breath came slow and easy again. Why hadn’t the explorers known by looking at the sky that the world was round? The sky was curved, like the inside of a huge glass ball, very dark blue with the sprinkles of bright stars. The night was quiet. There was the smell of warm cedars. She was not trying to think of the music at all when it came back to her. The first part happened in her mind just as it had been played. She listened in a quiet, slow way and thought the notes out like a problem in geometry so she would remember. She could see the shape of the sounds very clear and she would not forget them.
收音机和屋里的灯都被关上了。夜晚如此之黑。米克突然用拳头猛击大腿。她用尽全身的力气击打同一块肌肉，直到淌下眼泪。但她还是感觉很麻木。树丛下的石子很尖利。她抓起一把石子，在腿上同一块地方来回地蹭，直到手磨出了血。她躺倒在地上，抬头看天。腿上的灼热痛感令她好受了些。她软弱无力地躺在湿湿的草地上，过了一会儿她的呼吸终于慢下来，自如了。为什么宇宙探索者不看看天空就知道世界是圆的？天空是弯曲的，好似一个巨大的玻璃球的内侧，几颗明亮的星星点缀着深蓝色的天空。夜晚是安静的，空气中有温暖的雪松的气味。在她完全不想音乐的时候，音乐却回来了。她的脑子里响起了第一乐章，和她刚刚在收音机里听到的一模一样。她静静而缓慢地听着，像解几何题一样思考着那些音符，好让自己记住。她能清楚地看见那些声音的形状，并牢牢铭记。
This part of the music was beautiful and clear. She could sing it now whenever she wanted to. Maybe later on, when she had just woken up some morning, more of the music would come back to her. If ever she heard the symphony again there would be other parts to add to what was already in her mind. And maybe if she could hear it four more times, just four more times, she would know it all. Maybe. Once again she listened to this opening part of the music. Then the notes grew slower and soft and it was like she was sinking down slowly into the dark ground…
这一部分的曲子美妙而清晰。她随时都可以唱出来。也许以后的某个早晨，她醒来时，更多的旋律会回响在她耳边。如果她有机会再听一遍这首交响乐，那么她会记住更多的乐章。如果她能再听上四遍，只要四遍，她就能全都记住了。也许。她又听了一遍这开章部分。接着，那些音符变得越来越缓慢和轻柔，她感到自己正在慢慢地沉入黑暗的地下……
She sat down on the steps and laid her head on her knees. She went into the inside room. With her it was like there was two places—the inside room and the outside room. School and the family and the things that happened every day were in the outside room. Foreign countries and plans and music were in the inside room. The songs she thought about were there. And the symphony. When she was by herself in this inside room the music she had heard that night after the party would come back to her. This symphony grew slow like a big flower in her mind. During the day sometimes, or when she had just woken up in the morning, a new part of the symphony would suddenly come to her. Then she would have to go into the inside room and listen to it many times and try to join it into the parts of the symphony she remembered. The inside room was a very private place. She could be in the middle of a house full of people and still feel like she was locked up by herself.
她坐在台阶上，把脑袋靠在膝盖上。她走进了“里屋”。她的大脑如同被划分出两个地方——“里屋”和“外屋”。学校、家里和每天发生的事放在“外屋”。而外国、计划和音乐则藏在“里屋”。她脑子里回响的音乐就放在“里屋”。还有那首交响乐。当她一个人待在“里屋”时，那天晚上派对之后听到的音乐就会回来。那首交响乐在她的脑子里像一朵巨大的花，慢慢开放。有时，在白天，或者早晨刚醒过来时，那首交响乐的新的片段会突然在她脑中响起。随后她要走进“里屋”，一遍又一遍地听，努力把它拼进她以前记得的部分里。这个“里屋”是一个非常私密的地方。她可以站在人满为患的房子中间，却依然感觉到自己独自关在“里屋”中。
