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Beyond the Door（Part 5）門后的“布谷鳥”

ByPhilip K. Dick

Larry pushed the front door open，grunting咕噥著說.He set his briefcase down andtook off his hat. Then he saw Bob for the first time.

Larry推開門，發著牢騷。他把公文包放下來，摘下帽子。然后他第一次看到了Bob。

"Chambers. I'll be damned（v.使……失敗；ad.該死）." His eyes narrowed."What are you doing here?" He came into the dining-room. Doris drewher robe（長袍，睡袍） about her helplessly, backingaway.

"I—" Bob began."That is, we—" He broke off打斷（談話）, glancing at Doris. Suddenly theclock began to whirr（呼呼的飛/轉；呼的一聲）. The cuckoo came rushing out, bursting into sound. Larry movedtoward him.

"Shut that din（嘈雜聲） off," he said. He raisedhis fist toward the clock. The cuckoo snapped into silence and retreated（后退，撤退）. The door closed. "That'sbetter." Larry studied Doris and Bob, standing mutely together.

“Chambers.我真倒霉。”眼睛瞇起來問道“你們在這干什么”他來到臥室。Doris拉著她的睡袍，無助的回過頭來。‘我” Bob回應道“額……我們”他說不下去了，盯著Doris。突然，布谷鳥鐘開始忽的飛出來報時。布谷鳥沖出來叫起來。Larry走向布谷鳥。“關掉那個該死的噪音，”他說著，揮起拳頭向時鐘砸去。布谷鳥一下子靜音了，然后退了回去，時鐘的門也關上了。“這樣好多了。”Larry打量著D&B，所有人都陷入沉默。

"I came over to look at theclock," Bob said. "Doris told me that it's a rare antique andthat—"

“我來看這個鐘”Bob說：“Doris告訴我這個鐘非常罕有，它……”

"Nuts（<俚>發瘋的，傻的）. I bought it myself." Larry walked up to him. "Getout of here." He turned to Doris. "You too. And take that damn clockwith you."

“蠢貨。這是我買的”Larry向Bob走過去“離開這兒。”他又轉向Doris“還有你。把這個該死的鐘也帶走。”

Hepaused, rubbing his chin（摸著他的下巴）. "No. Leave the clock here.It's mine; I bought it and paid for it."

他停頓一會兒，摸著他的下巴繼續說。“不，把鐘留下來。它是我的；我買回來的，我花的錢。”

In the weeks that followed afterDoris left, Larry and the cuckoo clock got along even worse than before. Forone thing, the cuckoo stayed inside most of the time, sometimes even at twelveo'clock when he should have been busiest. And if he did come out at all heusually spoke only once or twice, never the correct number of times. And therewas a sullen（不高興的）, uncooperative note in hisvoice, a jarring（vi.發出刺耳的聲音） sound that made Larry uneasy and a little angry.

Doris離開的幾周里，Larry和報時鐘相處的越來越不好。首先，布谷鳥大部分時間都待在鐘里，有時候甚至12點，布谷鳥應該最忙的時候他也不出來。即使布谷鳥出來了，他也是通常只叫一兩聲，從來沒有準確報時。而且，布谷鳥報時的聲音里有一種不高興、不情愿的語氣，是一種讓Larry聽起來不舒服，有點兒生氣的刺耳的聲音。

But he kept the clock wound,because the house was very still and quiet and it got on his nerves（get on one’snerves 使人心煩，使人不安） not to hear someone running around, talking and droppingthings. And even the whirring of a clock sounded good to him.

但是他還是給報時鐘上弦，因為這間房子太安靜了，聽不到有人（應該是他前妻Doris吧）在房子里跑來跑去、說話、丟東西的聲音，讓他感到很不安。所以這個時鐘突然的報個時，對他來說聽起來不錯。

Buthe didn't like the cuckoo at all. And sometimes he spoke to him.

盡管他根本不喜歡布谷鳥，但是有時候他還要跟他說說話。

木風叁碎碎念（用英語的71天）：

By Philip K. Dick是一位知名科幻小說家，這篇文章是他一個短篇的節選，原文整個故事講述了Larry（男主角）給妻子（Doris）買了一個有問題的布谷鳥報時鐘（a cuckoo clock），而因為這個報時鐘引發了一系列的麻煩和妻子的抱怨，故事已經升級到小三出現了。用布谷鳥與男主人的相處，側面描寫內心，表達故事主線，很有意思的短篇。