第1回
写在前面：我很少做文章翻译，翻译功底很浅，所以不能保证词句都和原文保持一致。所以有些词可能在原文中出现却在译文中消失了，请大家谅解吧。
“I’m going to call your mother,” said Mrs. Haymaker, my fifth grade teacher. Terror shot through my body. Of course, this was in front of the whole class. Most of the children knew the horror of having their parents called at work from school and an “Ooooooo,” spread throughout the classroom. All I could do was sit, wait, and shake. Mrs. Haymaker turned and was gone. I hated and still hate to this day (36 years later) the thought of “Parent/Teacher Conferences. All my life, they meant nothing but bad news. Mind you, I was not a disobedient child. I just had some issues at school. Things like not getting work in on time (lazy), not trying my hardest, always being the last in line, and such like that. I was actually a quiet child and more like a victim of bullies rather than a troublemaker. However, I had not told my mother about the conference that was to take place at 6:00 pm that evening. I just didn’t want her to think badly of me or be disappointed in me. What made me think I could get away with it and she would never find out is beyond me. And of course, Mrs. Haymaker had no confirmation that Mom would come to the conference except for my word that Mom would be there. Needless to say, she was a bit skeptical.
“我将要给你的妈妈打一个电话。”海梅克夫人，我的五年级导师说道。恐惧感立刻贯穿了我的身体。当然，她是在全班面前说的这话，许多孩子都知道当忙于工作的父母们接到这样一个电话是多么恐怖的事情，所以，一个幸灾乐祸的声音响彻了整个教室。我所能做的就是不安的坐着，等待着。海梅克夫人转身离开了。30年后回忆起来当天的家长会，我依旧充满了厌恶。在我的人生中，这件事除了一个糟糕的记忆并没使我认识到别的什么。告诉你，我其实不是一个不听话的孩子。就是那时候我刚好在学校有一些小问题，比如迟到、不努力学习、成绩总是排在后面等等。事实上我更像是一个经常被欺负的安静的小孩。然而我没有告诉我妈妈关于那天晚上6点有家长会，是因为我不想让她对我失望而另眼看待我。那阵她一直都不怎么关心我，所以我想我应该能瞒住这件事情。但是，海梅克夫人却不认为我告诉了我妈妈来开家长会。不用说，她对我产生了怀疑。
Not two minutes after my teacher’s announcement, she came back and said, “The number I have for your mother is not correct. Do you have a different number?” Another chorus of “Oooooooooo,” boomed from my classmates. I tried to act as nonchalant as possible but as I stood outside of my body, I heard my voice give out my mother’s new work number. It was all over. Please, kill me now!
过了不到两分钟，她回来了，说：“我这个的你妈妈的电话号码打不通，你还知道她其他的号码吗？”同学们起哄的声音再一次响起，我尽可能的装作无所谓，但是我已经魂不附体了，我只听到了自己说出来母亲的新号码。一切都完了，赶快杀了我吧。
I have little memory of the rest of the day. I simply remember having a hot, guilty feeling coursing through my body, deep down to the core of my being. My stomach was full of butterflies with a mass of total fear. As I rode the school bus to after school, I prayed for some sort of catastrophe. Please let the bus crash. Pleas let there be a nuclear bomb. Please let an asteroid destroy the Earth. Please, just let me drop dead! No such luck.
我几乎记不起来那天发生了什么，只模糊的记得强烈的内疚感充斥着我的心灵。我的胃因恐惧而翻腾着。放学后，当我坐在这学校的公车上的时候，我很希望突然发生一场灾难。让公车出车祸吧，让原子弹落在这里吧，让小行星撞向地球吧，让我暴毙吧！可惜上帝没有可怜我。
As darkness began to descend, my terror mounted beyond comprehension until it consumed my very soul. I held on to the chance that maybe Mrs. Haymaker wasn’t able to get a hold of my mother. I had lied to my teacher about setting up the conference without my mother’s knowledge. Maybe Mom would be understanding, gentle, kind, and loving. Yeah right!
当夜幕降临，我的恐惧超出了我所能想象的范围，使我失魂落魄、我开始幻想着海梅克夫人可能并未从我妈妈那里知道我对她说谎的事。也许妈妈是温柔善良、和蔼可亲的，能理解我，爱我。多么美好的夜晚啊！
All of the other children walked happily to their parents with no thought of doom awaiting them when they got home. I watched them hug and kiss their parents with no thought of peril. I was going to be killed, or worse. I shifted from foot to foot, rubbing my hands together as I waited for my mother to arrive. I didn’t take long. My mother drove up in the small, 1972 Datsun pickup truck and got out. She made a quick motion for me to get into the truck. No words came out of her mouth. I knew I was dead. I obeyed like a robot. As I got into the truck, she handed me a sheet of yellow legal paper. In large block letters were these words:
所有其他孩子都高兴的投入他们父母的怀抱，他们到家后也不会有厄运降临到他们头上。我看着他们无忧无虑的拥抱和亲吻他们的父母。我是比快死了还要糟糕。我来回踱着脚步，搓手，等待着我的母亲。没过多久，一辆1972年大产牌小型货车到了，我妈妈从车里走了出来。她一言不发打了一个手势示意我赶紧上车。我知道我完了。我表现的像一个听话的机器人，上了卡车。她递给了我一张黄色的公文纸，上面清楚的写着几行大字。
WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? YOU KNEW I WOULD FIND OUT! DO YOU KNOW HOW EMBARRASSED I WAS TO EXPLAIN TO YOUR TEACHER THAT I DID NOT KNOW OF THE CONFERENCE? WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS TO ME?
你究竟想干什么？你知道肯定瞒不住我！你知道当我和你的老师说我不知道有家长会的时候我多么难堪吗？你为什么要这么做？
The note only took a few seconds to read but it was between five and ten minutes before I could say anything. Many different responses went through my mind. “I didn’t want you to find out.” “I didn’t want to trouble you.” “I didn’t want you to think less of me.” “I didn’t want to disappoint you.” However, I couldn’t bring myself to say any of those things, so, I gave the classic response, “I don’t know.” What more was there to say? Mom asked several questions, made several statements, and all I could do was play “broken record” and say each time, “I don’t know.” The truck moved along the road as the evening was settling in.
这便条并不需要很长时间来阅读，但我却沉默了很长时间才开口。许多种回答在我的脑海中盘旋：“我认为你能知道这件事。”“我不想要麻烦你。”“我不希望你轻视我。”“我不想让你失望。”然而，我根本没法把它们说出口，因此，我给出了一个最平常的回答：“我不知道。”就这样？妈妈接连着和我说了很多，也问了我很多问题。我却只能一遍一遍重复着：“我不知道。”夜已深了，路上只有这辆孤独的卡车。
After a couple of moments of silence, the next thing I knew, Mom pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the truck hard. A red-hot tingling went though my body, especially my bottom. I knew exactly what was coming next. Mom got out of the truck, and walked around to my door. She opened it, grabbed my arm and hauled me out. Then she preceded to forcefully pull my pants and underwear down to my thighs. The cool crisp October air blew across my vulnerable bottom.
片刻的安静之后，接下来发生的事不出我的预料，妈妈艰难的将路边卡车停在了路边。一个热辣的刺痛感充斥着我的身体，尤其是我的屁股。我完全能预知未来。妈妈下了车，绕到了我这边。
打开了门，抓住我的胳膊把我拖了出来。然后她把我的外裤和内裤拉到了我的大腿处。清秋十月的凉风袭击着我弱不禁风的屁股。
She turned me around and began to unmercifully spank my bare bottom. I tried to put my hands back to shield it from the onslaught, but she quickly jerked them well out of reach. SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP!
他把我的屁股转了过来，然后在我的光屁股上开始了无情的摧残。我尝试着用手去挡驾这对猛烈的袭击来保护我这脆弱的屁股。但是却被她飞快的制服了。唰！噼！啪！（注：SMACK是掴打的声音，SLAP是拍击的声音，WHACK是重击，所谓的暴击，WHAP是连续的重击，也就是毒打。SPANK是手打在屁股的声音，至于力道如何，不知。）
Her hand was relentless and my howls, cries, pleads, promises, fell on deaf ears. SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! When Mom spanked, it wasn’t a slow process. It was fast, HARD, and long! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP!
她的手毫不留情的打着我的屁股，我哀号，哭泣，求饶，发誓，都无济于事。唰！噼！啪！唰！噼！啪！唰！噼！啪！唰！噼！啪！被妈妈打屁股时是相当难熬的，她打的又快，有狠，而且还一直不停的打。唰！噼！啪！唰！噼！啪！唰！噼！啪！唰！噼！啪！
As she applied her handiwork, somehow I vaguely noticed a few cars driving by. I remember hoping that I didn’t know anyone in those cars. Especially classmates. Still the spanking continued. It seemed it would NEVER end. SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP! SMACK! WHACK! SPANK! SLAP! WHAP!
她还在继续表演着她的拿手绝活，我好像是模糊的看到几辆小轿车使近了。我希望那些车上不要有我认识的人，特别是不要有同学。手掌和屁股的亲吻依旧的持续，这个祭祀好像永远不会结束似的。唰！噼！啪！唰！噼！啪！唰！噼！啪！唰！噼！啪！
After what seemed like an eternity, (I lost count long ago) Mom shook me violently and hissed, “Get in the truck!” I had to get into the truck without pulling my pants up. The now cool, vinyl seats were little comfort to my blazing bottom. I also had a terminal case of the sobs and snubs and tears continued to stream down my face. Mom went around to the other side of the truck, got in, slamming the door. We drove the rest of the way home in silence, aside from my occasional sob and snub. I felt sooooooo sorry for myself.
一段接近永恒的时间过后，（至少我已经记不得那究竟有多长了）妈妈粗暴的拉起了我，非常气愤的说：“滚进卡车里去。”我连提上裤子的时间都不敢耽误，就连滚带爬的进了卡车。现在胶皮座椅传递过来的凉气对我这熊熊燃烧的屁股来说是一种小小的安慰。我也停止了哭喊，然而却无法止住委屈的泪水划过我的脸颊。妈妈绕到另一边，上了车，砰的摔上了们。车在一片寂静中走完了剩下的路，偶尔能听到我的一两声委屈的抽泣。我感觉我自己实在很冤枉。
When we got home, I got out of the truck and gingerly pulled up my underwear and pants and we went inside. My mother then said, “I have a conference to go to.” She turned and left, slamming the door, leaving me to inspect my angry red and very sore bottom.
车开到家了，我下车后小心翼翼的提上我的内裤和外裤，然后跟进屋里。突然，我妈妈说：“我还有一个会要开。”她转身离开，重重的摔上了门，丢下我一个人查看自己这个非常红肿且相当疼痛的屁股。
暂无评论内容