第一部分 英译汉

 

For more than 30 years, I have been wondering about L.R. Generson.

 

On one of our first Christmases together, my husband gave me a complete set of Dickens. There were 20 volumes, bound in gray cloth with black corners, old but in good condition. Stamped on the flyleaf of each volume, in faded block letters, was the name of the previous owner: “L.R. Generson, M.D., Bronx, NY.”

 

That Dickens set is one of the best presents anyone has ever given me. A couple of the books are still pristine, but others – “Bleak House,’’ “David Copperfield,’’ and especially “Great Expectations’’ – have been read and re-read almost to pieces. Over the years, the character kept me company. And so, has L.R. Generson in his silent enigmatic way.

 

Did he love the books as much as I do? Who was he? On a whim, I Googled him. There wasn’t much – a single mention on a veterans’ website of a World War II captain named Leonard Generson. But I did find a Dr. Richard Generson, an oral surgeon living in New Jersey. Since Generson is not a common name, I decided to write to him.

 

Dr. Generson was kind enough to write back. He told me that his father, Leonard Richard Generson, was born in 1909. He lived in New York City but went to medical school in Basel, Switzerland. He spoke 10 languages fluently. As an obstetrician and gynecologist, he opened a practice in the Bronx shortly before World War II. His son described him as “an extremely patriotic individual’’; right after Pearl Harbor he closed his practice and enlisted. He served throughout the war as a general surgeon with an airborne special forces unit in Europe, where he became one of the war’s most highly decorated physicians.

 

Leonard Generson’s son didn’t remember the Dickens set, though he told me that there were always a lot of novels in the house. His mother probably “cleaned house’’ after his father’s death in 1977 – the same year my husband bought the set in a used book store.

 

I found this letter very moving, with its brief portrait of an intelligent, brave man and his life of service. At the same time, it made me question my presumption that somehow L.R. Generson and I were connected because we’d owned the same set of books. The letter both told me a little about him, and told me that I would never really know anything about him - and why should I? His son must have been startled to hear from a stranger on such a fragile pretext. What had I been thinking?

 

One possible, and only somewhat facetious, answer is that I’ve read too much Dickens. In the world of a Dickens novel, everything is connected to everything else. Orphans find families. Lovers are joined (or parted and morally strengthened). Ancient mysteries are solved and old scores are settled. Questions are answered. Stories end.

 

Leonard Generson’s life touched mine only lightly, through the coincidence of a set of books. But there are other lives he touched more deeply. The next time I read a Dickens novel, I will think of him and his military service and his 10 languages. And I will think of the hundreds of babies he must have delivered, who are now in the middle of their own lives and their own stories.

 

参考译文：

 

三十多年来，我一直在想关于L.R.吉尼森的事情。

 

跟老公过第一个圣诞节的那天，他送给我一整套狄更斯的书。一共有二十册，灰布封面，黑边裹角，虽有些泛旧，但保存完好。每一本书的扉页上，之前主人的名字大写而就：L.R.吉尼森，M.D.布朗克斯，纽约；只是字迹有些斑驳。

 

这套狄更斯的作品是我收到的最好的礼物之一。有些书还是原来的样子，但是像《荒凉山庄》《大卫-科波菲尔》这几本，尤其是《远大前程》，由于反复阅读已经翻烂。多年来书中的人物一直陪伴着我,当然还有L.R.吉尼森，虽然他静默又神秘。

 

他是否也像我一样珍爱这些书？他是谁？(我时常这样想）有一次心血来潮，便上网搜索。信息不多，只在一个老兵网站上搜到了二战时期一个叫里奥纳德-杰内森的上尉。但我找到了理查德-杰内森博士，他是新泽西州一位口腔外科医生。由于姓氏杰内森并不常见，我决定写信给他。

 

杰内森博士很热心，给我回了信。他告诉我，他的父亲，里奥纳德-理查德-杰内森，1909年生于纽约。后来在瑞士巴塞尔读医科，能熟练地讲十种语言。成为一名妇产科医生后，二战前夕他在布朗克斯开了一家诊所。在他儿子眼中，父亲是“一个非常爱国的人”；日本偷袭珍珠港后，他随即关闭了诊所参了军。战争期间他在欧洲一支空运特种部队担任外科医生，是获得最高荣誉勋章的医生之一。

 

里奥纳德-杰内森的儿子不记得那套狄更斯的书籍，但是他告诉我，那时他们家一直有很多小说。大概是他的妈妈在1977年他父亲去世后“整理房间”处理了一部分书，而恰在那一年，我丈夫在一家二手书店买到了那套书。

 

我觉得这封信很感人，尽管它只简短地介绍了一个智慧、勇敢的人，及他毕生的贡献。同时，我不禁产生一个疑问，由于我和L.R.吉尼森曾拥有同一套书，因此我们之间才有了某种联系。那封信告诉我了一些他的信息，而我永远不会真正了解他，为什么我要了解呢？他的儿子收到一个陌生人由只字片语而寄来的信时一定很惊讶。我当时是怎么想的？

 

我想可能是读了太多狄更斯的缘故，这解释听来有几分可笑。在他的小说里，任何事物都跟其他的事物相联系。孤儿找到亲人，有情人终成眷属（或者有缘无分，各自心灵得到升华），旧时秘密被探知，昔日宿怨最终得偿，谜题解开，故事也就结束了。

 

仅仅一套书的机缘巧合，里奥纳德-杰内森的生活就打动了我，他接触过的人必定受他影响更深。下次我再读狄更斯的小说时，我会想起他，想起他的军旅生涯，他能讲的十种语言。我也会想起他所接生过的数百个婴儿，现在都过着自己的生活，有着独特的故事。