夜

電燈的發明和普及讓人們徹底告別了對黑暗的原始恐懼；然而，一次意外的停電，使“我”獨享其中，思緒萬千……

By Erica F.

采蘇 選編

The lights go out – another power outage[1]. “Grab[2] the candles,” Mom says, and I do. My younger brother and I raid every room to collect the tall candles and votives spaced around the house.[3] I hurry from shelf to shelf gathering wax sticks in my arms and place them in the living room, a few candles in each corner except for a small red votive. That one I keep. It is the one I will take to the coffee table to use to read. I slide my book, Things Fall Apart, beside the candle holder, determined to finish the last three chapters, but lacking conviction. So the book remains closed. A sigh escapes my brother’s lips.[4]

“This is boring,” he says. A drop of wax falls on my book.

“I know,” I say, but really, I am enjoying the stillness[5]. I like to watch the candle burn and feel that life is simple. I like to look out the window into an immediate darkness unspoiled by harsh light.[6] I cherish these silent moments when I feel as if I can live the way they lived, the people of the past – the Egyptians, the Pilgrims, the Greeks – anyone who ever lived to see the black color I’m seeing, anyone who lived to see a yellow flame and depended on it.[7] I feel at one with a secret, primeval[8] age. I’m convinced that night, in this unhampered[9] state, is the closest a person can get to experiencing the past.

So, what was night really like for them? Night, as we know it now, is a mellow, tender thing compared to the impenetrable darkness that cloaked Earth’s first people.[10] Even its beauty seemed unparalleled[11].

What did a farmer’s family do at night? Of course, the darkness must have brought them together, forced them into each other’s company as it has done to us tonight – fostered camaraderie in a time of fear and uncertainty.[12] A fire probably blazed[13] in a central room where the family gathered to talk and relax. Night was a time when men and women were liberated from work and socialized.[14] They had no computers or TVs, and had to make do with[15] books, religion, and conversation. At their bedside, they prayed to God, and felt a sense of security that they were out of the darkness and harm’s reach.

Nevertheless, to venture outside was sometimes necessary, and the threat of robbers, wolves, even the ethereal, was tangible.[16] What emotions did these people feel? Did they witness a deep azure cloud creep across heaven?[17] Catch a glimpse of the devil’s minions[18]? What would it have been like to feel the night, heavy and damp against my back? Would it have taken me, smothered me with its clammy hands, isolated me?[19] Or would those have been frightful[20] dreams, and dreams only? Perhaps the night was grand, maybe a mixture of both beauty and peril[21].

I imagine a young girl, stepping outside her home and into a desert for some air. A cool, earthy[22] smell would greet her. There’s a sky speckled[23] with millions of stars – far more than a person could see today – and there’s the moon. It’s the largest object in the sky, the midnight sun that illuminates[24] the world, the traveler’s torch. It inspires stories of uncertainty, stories of power. I imagine this girl marveling[25] at the moon and stars. She’s entranced by this sight as divine as sparkling diamonds, and if she wanders too far, she needn’t worry, for the stars will lead her back home.[26]

Bzzz! The lights return. Everyone cheers and abandons the room, happy that their period of solitude[27] is over, everyone except me. I pull my candle closer, and stare into the night. The glory is gone; it has been dimmed by street lamps, electric signs, TVs, and all other manner of artificial light.[28] But in those moments, when every light in every house was snuffed[29], people may have had a taste of the old world. They may finally have touched upon the fear, the admiration, and the reverence that our predecessors felt for the night.[30]

Vocabulary

1. outage: （水、電等）斷供。

2. grab: 抓住，抓取。

3. raid: 突擊搜查，劫掠；votive: 蠟燭。

4. slide: 悄悄移動，悄悄地放在；Things Fall Apart:《瓦解》，小說，尼日利亞作家阿契貝著作；holder: 支托物，夾具。

5. stillness: 平靜，安靜。

6. immediate: 緊接的，貼近的；unspoiled: 未受損害的，未喪失原有自然美的；harsh: 刺目的，耀眼的。

7. Pilgrim: 清教徒前輩移民（指1620年到達北美洲創立普利茅斯殖民地的英國清教徒）。

8. primeval: 原始的，遠古的。

9. unhampered: 不受束縛的，自由的。

10. impenetrable: 不能穿過的，透不過的；cloak: v. 遮蓋。

11. unparalleled: 無比的，無雙的

12. foster: 培養，助長；camaraderie: 同志情誼。

13. blaze: 熊熊燃燒。

14. liberate: 解除對……的束縛，解脫；socialize:使合群的，使適應過社會生活。

15. make do with: 用（某物）將就對付。

16. venture: 冒險前進；ethereal: （聲音、特性等）飄渺的，非人間的；tangible：重要的，顯著的。

17. azure: 天藍色的，蔚藍色的；creep: 緩慢移動，蔓延。

18. minion: 部下，下屬。

19. smother: 使窒息，悶死；clammy: 又冷又潮的，濕冷的；isolate: 使孤立，使隔離。

20. frightful: 非常嚴重的，極其討厭的。

21. peril: 危險，險事。

22. earthy: 泥土般的，泥土味的。

23. speckled: 多斑的，布滿斑點的。

24. illuminate: 照亮，照明。

25. marvel: （對……）感到驚訝，欽佩。

26. entrance: 使入迷，使神魂顛倒；sparkling: 閃閃發光的，閃爍的。

27. solitude: 孤獨，獨處。

28. dim: 使暗下來，使變微弱；artificial: 人造的，人工的。

29. snuff: 熄滅，掐滅（火焰）。

30. touch upon: 提到，提及；reverence: 尊敬，崇敬；predecessor: 前輩，前人。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：丹妮）