少年派的奇幻漂流

少年派的奇幻漂流
你是在动物园长大的
So you were raised in a zoo?
出生和长大
Born and raised.
在过去法属印度的本地治里
In Pondicherry, in what was the French part of India.
我父亲是动物园园长
My father owned the zoo…
一位爬虫学家临时为我接生
and I was delivered on short notice by a herpetologist…
他是去园里看一只孟加拉巨蜥
who was there to check on the Bengal monitor lizard.
我们母子平安
Mother and I were both healthy…
但那只巨蜥脱逃
but the poor lizard escaped…
被受惊的食火鸡踩扁了
and was trampled by a frightened cassowary.
这就是因果
The way of karma, huh?
天理
The way of God.
好精彩的故事
That’s quite a story.
看你的名字还以为令尊是数学家
I had assumed your father was a mathematician because of your name.
差得远了 我与一座游泳池同名
Far from it, I was named after a swimming pool.
有名叫”派”的游泳池
There is a swimming pool named “Pi”?
我的叔叔法兰西斯出生时
You see, my uncle Francis was born
肺里积水过多
with too much water in his lungs.
听说医生拎着他的脚踝把水甩了出来
They say the doctors swung Francis around by the ankles to clear the water out…
所以他的胸膛很厚 腿很细
and that’s what gave him the huge chest and skinny legs…
成了游泳健将
that made him such a great swimmer.
他是你的亲叔叔吗
Is Francis actually your uncle?
他自称是令尊的朋友
He said he was friends with your father.
他是我的干叔叔
He’s my honorary uncle,
我叫他玛玛吉
I call him Mamaji.
他是我父亲的至交
My father’s best friend,
我的游泳导师
my swimming guru.
我每周跟他在修道园练习游泳三次
I trained with him three times a week at the ashram.
他的教导后来救了我的命
His lessons would save my life in the end.
喝口水不会要命
A mouthful of water will not harm you,
但惊慌会
but panic will.
记住要呼吸
Remember to breathe now,
不要憋气
don’t hold your breath.
好孩子
Good boy.
你不介意吃素吧
I hope you don’t mind vegetarian.
一点也不会
No, no. Not at all.
那你的名字呢
And your name?
啊
Huh?
我想你正要说你的名字的由来
You were going to tell me how you got your name, I think.
对 这跟玛玛吉对我父亲说的事有关
Oh, yes. I got it from something Mamaji once told my father.
一般人旅行都是收集明信片或茶杯
You see, most travelers collect postcards or teacups on their journeys…
玛玛吉不是
but not Mamaji.
玛玛吉收集游泳池
Mamaji collects swimming pools.
他见到游泳池就进去游
He swims in every pool he comes upon.
（便辛墨利多游泳池）
某天玛玛吉对我爸说
One day, Mamaji said to my father that,
世界上最美的游泳池
of all the pools in the world…
是巴黎的一个公共游泳池
the most beautiful was a public pool in Paris.
那里的水干净到早上能拿来煮咖啡
That the water there was so clear, you could make your morning coffee with it.
在那里一游改变了他的一生
That a single swim there changed his life.
在我出生前 他说…
Before I was born, he said…
“要是希望你儿子心灵纯净”
“If you want your son to have a clean soul…
“将来一定要带他去墨利多游泳”
you must take him one day to swim in the Piscine Molitor.”
我一直不懂我父亲为何那么在意这件事
I never understood why my father took this so much to heart.
但他就是在意
But he did,
而我就成了便辛?墨利多?帕帖尔
and I was named “Piscine Molitor Patel.”
想象我解释起来有多窘
Imagine me trying to explain that name.
好不容易撑到11岁…
I barely made it to the age of 11 before…
喂 便辛
Hey, Piscine!
你的小便很腥吗
Are you pissing right now?
看 他在小便
Look at him, he’s pissing!
就这样 我的名字从优雅的法国泳池
With one word, my name went from an elegant French swimming pool…
变成了臭印度公厕
to a stinking Indian latrine.
到处都有人叫我”小便”
I was “Pissing” everywhere.
不准在操场”小便”
No Pissing in the schoolyard!
就连老师也如此
Even the teachers started doing it.
当然不是故意的
Not deliberately, of course.
那么要是太快释放出气体会怎样
So, then, what might occur if we release gas too quickly?
“小便”
Pissing?
他说”小便”啊
He said “Pissing.”
够了 大家安静
That’s enough! Order! Order!
第二年开学
When we returned the next year for our first day of school,
我有备而来
I was prepared.
有
Present, sir.
便辛?帕帖尔
Piscine Patel.
早安 我是便辛?墨利多?帕帖尔
Good morning. I am Piscine Molitor Patel.
大家都叫我…
Known to all as…
派 希腊文的第十六个字母
Pi, the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet…
在数学里也被用来表示
which is also used in mathematics to represent the ratio…
圆形的周长与直径的比值
of any circle’s circumference to its diameter.
一个无限长的无理数
An irrational number of infinite length,
通常四舍五入写成 3.14
usually rounded to three digits as 3.14.
这就是π
Pi.
很好 派 坐下
Very impressive, Pi. Now, sit down.
从此你就成了派
And from then on, you were “Pi”?
没那么容易
Well, no, not quite.
试得好 “小便”
Nice try, Pissing.
但我还有一整天的时间
But I still had the whole day ahead of me.
下一节课是法文课
French class was next.
我是便辛?墨利多?帕帖尔
Je m’appelle Piscine Molitor Patel.
又叫派
Dit Pi.
然后是地理课
Then, geography.
这是π的小数点后二十位数
These are the first 20 decimal places of pi.
当天最后一节课是数学课
My last class of the day was mathematics.
慢点儿 不要挤
Slowly, slowly, slowly.
3、7、5、8、9
Three. Seven. Five. Eight. Nine.
8、5、8、9
Eight. Five. Eight. Nine.
没错 他真的背出来了
It’s right. He’s really doing this.
派！派！派
Pi! Pi! Pi!
到了放学前 我已经是派?帕帖尔 校园传奇
By the end of that day, I was Pi Patel, school legend.
玛玛吉说你在水手圈也是传奇
Um, Mamaji tells me you’re a legend among sailors, too.
独自在海上漂流
Out there, all alone.
我连船都不会开
Oh, I don’t even know how to sail.
我也不是一个人
And I wasn’t alone out there.
理查德?帕克跟我一起
Richard Parker was with me.
理查德?帕克
Richard Parker?
玛玛吉没跟我细说
Mamaji didn’t tell me everything.
他只说我回到蒙特利尔应该联络你
He just said I should look you up when I got back to Montreal.
你去本地治里做什么
So, what were you doing in Pondicherry?
写一本小说
Writing a novel.
我很喜欢你的第一本书
By the way, I enjoyed your first book.
新书的背景是印度
So, this new one, is it set in India?
其实是葡萄牙 住印度比较便宜
No, Portugal, actually. But it’s cheaper living in India.
总之期待拜读
Ah, well, I look forward to reading it.
恐怕不行了
You can’t.
我把它扔了
I threw it out.
我花了两年的时间孕育它
Two years trying to bring this thing to life…
有一天它口吐白沬、宣告阵亡
and then one day, it sputtered, coughed and died.
很遗憾
Oh, I’m sorry.
有天下午我在本地治里泡咖啡馆哀悼我的损失
Uh, I was sitting in this coffee house in Pondicherry one afternoon, mourning my loss…
隔壁桌一位老人家跟我攀谈起来
when this old man at the table next to me struck up a conversation.
对 玛玛吉会那样
Yeah, Mamaji, he does that.
谈到那部放弃的作品 他说…
When I told him about my abandoned book, he said…
“一个加拿大人来法属印度找故事”
“So, a Canadian who’s come to French India in search of a story.”
“朋友 法属加拿大有个印度人”
“Well, my friend, I know an Indian in French Canada…
“有一个最不可思议的故事”
with the most incredible story to tell.”
“你们两个一定是注定要相遇”
“It must be fate that the two of you should meet.”
我好多年没谈起理查德?帕克了
Well, I haven’t spoken about Richard Parker in so many years.
玛玛吉都说了什么
So, what has Mamaji already told you?
他说你有个故事会让我相信上帝
He said you had a story that would make me believe in God.
他也会那样说一桌好菜
He would say that about a nice meal.