海边的卡夫卡
文字难度3
By Haruki Murakami（村上春树）
Translated by Philip Gabriel
Read by Sean Barrett and Oliver Le Sueur
林少华 译
《海边的卡夫卡》被誉为是日本作家村上春树继《挪威的森­林》之后最负盛名的小说力作。自2001年在日本推出，便好评如潮，并迅速被翻译成多种文字在世界各地流行。此书所到之处，无论是英文版、德语版还是中文版都深得当地读者的喜爱。去年年初，英译版的《海边的卡夫卡》被《纽约时报》列入美国“2005年的十本书”，之后，村上又凭此书获得了被称为“诺贝尔文学奖前奏”的捷克文学“弗朗茨·卡夫卡奖”以及2006年的世界幻想小说奖——显示出该书极高的文学价值和村上春树极佳的艺术素质。
《海边的卡夫卡》讲述的是一个背负命运诅咒的少年远走异乡的经­历。故事通过村上春树独创的行文风格以及充满魔幻色彩的想象力层层展开，交织着希望与绝望，现实与虚幻，诅咒与救赎，让人爱不释手。
(Excerpt from Chapter 1 节选自第一章)
My fifteenth birthday is the ideal point to run away from home. Any earlier and it’d be too soon. Any later and I would have missed my chance.
During my first two years in junior high, I’d worked out, training myself for this day. I started practicing 1)judo in the first couple years of 2)grade school, and still went sometimes in junior high. But I didn’t join any school teams. Whenever I had the time I’d jog around the school grounds, swim, or go to the local gym. I’m pretty tall to begin with, and with all this exercise I’ve developed pretty broad shoulders and 3)pecs. Most strangers would take me for seventeen. If I ran away looking my actual age, you can imagine all the problems that would cause.
Apart from the trainers at the gym and the housekeeper who comes to our house every other day—and of course the bare 4)minimum required to get by at school—I hardly talked to anyone. For a long time my father and I have avoided seeing each other. We live under the same roof, but our schedules are totally different. He spends most of his time in his studio, far away, and I do my best to avoid him.
The school I’m going to is a private junior high for kids who are 5)upper-class, or at least rich. It’s the kind of school where, unless you really blow it, you’re 6)automatically promoted to the high school on the same campus. All the students dress neatly, have nice straight teeth, and are as boring as hell. Naturally I have zero friends. I’ve built a wall around me, never letting anybody inside and trying not to venture outside myself. Who could like somebody like that? They all keep an eye on me, from a distance. They might hate me, or even be afraid of me, but I’m just glad they didn’t bother me. Because I had tons of things to take care of, including spending a lot of my free time devouring books in the school library.
I always paid close attention to what was said in class, though. Just as the boy named Crow suggested.
The facts and techniques or whatever they teach you in class isn’t going to be very useful in the real world, that’s for sure. Let’s face it, teachers are basically a bunch of 7)morons. But you’ve got to remember this: you’re running away from home. You probably won’t have any chance to go to school anymore, so like it or not you’d better absorb whatever you can while you’ve got the chance. Become like a sheet of 8)blotting paper and soak it all in. Later on you can work out what to keep and what to unload.
I did what he said, as I almost always do. My brain like a 9)sponge, I focused on every word said in class and let it all sink in, worked out what it meant, and committed everything to memory. Thanks to this, I hardly had to study outside the classroom, but always came out near the top on exams.
My muscles were getting hard as steel, even as I GREw more 10)withdrawn and quiet. I tried hard to keep my emotions from showing so that no one—classmates or teachers alike—had a clue what I was thinking. Soon I’d be launched into the rough adult world, and I knew I’d have to be tougher than anybody if I wanted to survive.
My eyes in the mirror are as cold as a 11)lizard’s, my expression fixed and unreadable. I can’t remember the last time I laughed or even showed a hint of a smile to another person. Let alone myself.
I’m not trying to imply I can keep up this silent, isolated 12)facade all the time. Sometimes the wall I’ve 13)erected around me comes crumbling down. It doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes, before I even realize what’s going on, there I am—naked and 14)defenseless and utterly confused. At times like that I always feel an omen calling out to me, like a dark, 15)omnipresent pool of water.
我觉得十五岁生日是最适合离家出走的时间。这以前过早，以后又太晚。
为了这一天，上初中后的两年时间里我一直努力锻炼身体。从小学低年级开始我就去学柔道，成了初中生后也大体坚持下来了。但在学校里，我没参加体育俱乐部，一有时间我就一个人围着学校的操场慢跑，去游泳池游泳或去区立体育馆锻炼。幸运的是我原­本长得高，每天的运动又使肩部变宽，胸脯变厚。在大部分陌生人眼里，我应该足有十七岁。如果我十五岁而看上去又只有十五岁，那么出走之后势必麻烦缠身。
除去同体育馆教练员的交谈，除去跟隔一天上门一次的家政阿姨之间的三言两语以及学校必不可少的几句话，我差不多不向任何人开口。同父亲很早以前就回避见面了。一来虽然同在一家，但活动时间段截然不同，二来父亲一天之中几乎所有时间都闷在位于远处的工作室里。而我则总是刻意避免同父亲见面。
我上的是一所私立中学，里面几乎全是上流家庭或有钱人家的子女。只要不出大格，就能直接升入高中。他们个个衣着干净、牙齿整齐而且没趣得要死。在班里我当然一个朋友也没有。我在自己周围筑起高墙，没有哪个人能够入内，也尽量不放自己出去。这样的人不可能讨人喜欢。他们对我敬而远之，并怀有戒心。他们或许讨厌我，或者甚至感到惧怕也未可知。然而，不为他人理睬这点莫如说正中我下怀，因为我必须独自处理的事堆积如山，比方说，休息时间我总去学校图书馆，贪婪地阅读不止。
不过学校的课我还是听得相当专心。这是叫“乌鸦”的少年再三劝我做的。
初中课堂教的知识和技术，在现实生活中没多大用处，是这样的。老师也差不多全部不值一提，就认了吧。可你得记住：你是要离家出走的。而那一来，日后进学校的机会几乎等于零。因此最好把课堂上教的东西——喜欢也好，讨厌也罢——一点不剩地好好吸进脑袋。权当自己是块海绵。至于保存什么抛弃什么，日后再定不迟。
我听从了他的劝告(总的说来我对他是言听计从的)。我全神贯注，让脑袋变成海绵，侧耳倾听课堂上的每一句话，使之渗入脑袋。我在有限时间里理解它们记住它们。这样，尽管课外几乎不必用功，但考试成绩我经常在班上排在前面。
我的肌肉如合金一般结实起来，我也愈发变得沉默寡言。我尽可能不让喜怒形诸于色，注意不使自己所思所想为老师和身边同学注意。我即将融入剧烈争斗的大人世界，要在那里生存，必须变得比任何人都坚不可摧。
面对镜子，我发现自己的眼睛泛出蜥蜴般的冷光，表情越来越僵硬麻木。回想起来，自己从不曾笑过，甚至连微笑都不曾有过——无论对他人还是对自己本身。
但是，并非任何时候我都能彻底保持静静的孤立。以为自己围筑妥当的高墙一下子土崩瓦解的时候也是有的。虽然不很频繁，但时而还是有的。围墙在我不知不觉之间崩毁，我赤身裸体暴露在世界面前。每当那时脑袋便一片混乱，极度混乱。况且那里还有预言。预言总是如黑乎乎的水潭出现在那里。
1) judo n. <日>柔道（日本的一种È­术）
2) grade school <美>小学
3) pec n. <口>胸肌（即pectoral muscle）
4) minimum n. 最小值，最小化
5) upper-class 上层社会，贵族阶层
6) automatically adv. 自动地，机械地
7) moron n. <口>低能者，笨人
8) blotting paper 吸墨水纸
9) sponge n. 海绵，海绵状物
10) withdrawn adj. 性格内向的，孤僻的
11) lizard n. [动]蜥蜴
12) facade n. 正面
13) erect v. 使竖立，使直立，建立
14) defenseless adj. 无防备的
15) omnipresent adj. 无所不在的，同时遍在的
小链接
村上春树，日本著名小说家，1949年出生，早稻田大学戏剧系毕业。自1979 年以第一部创作小说《且听风吟》得到当年的群像新人奖起，至今他已几乎将日本所有的文学奖项收入囊中。村上的创作不受传统拘束，构思新奇，行文潇洒自在，又不流于庸俗，被誉为“村上体”小说。作品描绘的世界与众不同，并不拘泥于某个国度，从而使得他不光在亚洲的中国、韩国，而且在北美、欧洲都拥有大量的读者。而他的作品每每都会成为这些地区畅销书榜的座上客。
村上拥有《寻羊冒险记》、《挪威的森­林》、《世界尽头与冷酷仙境》、《舞！舞！舞！》、《奇鸟行状录》、《海边的卡夫卡》等几十部作品，许多都被翻­译推介至30多个国家和地区，在世界各地深具影响。其中1987年的作品《挪威的森­林》在全世界范围引起了轰动，从此奠定了他作为日本最畅销作家以及日本首席“国际作家”的地位。2001年推出的《海边的卡夫卡》在多个国家长销不衰的同时，还为村上赢得了多个国际文学大奖。虽然与2006年的诺贝尔文学奖擦肩而过，但是村上春树一直被当地媒体认为是继川端康成和大江健三郎后，第三个最有希望问鼎此殊荣的日本人。
日积月累—高考必备
work out: ① 算出，计算：work out one’s tax 计算税款 ② 想出，产生出：work out a programme 制定方案 ③ 解决，确定：work out differences 解决分歧 ④ 理解：work out the enemy’s secret messages 破译敌人的密电 ⑤ 使筋疲力尽，耗尽：He never seems to be worked out. 他好像永远不知疲倦似的。⑥ 产生结果：The plan worked out badly. 计划实行得很不成功。
avoid: v. ① 避免，防止（不用to do 结构作宾语）：Learn from past mistakes and avoid future ones. 惩前毖后。/ I just avoided running over the cat. 我差一点轧着猫了。 ② 撤销，废止：avoid a plea 使抗辩无效
[搭配] avoid（逃避）＋doing（sth.）
