克林顿《我的生活》片段试译之一

In 1956, I finally got a brother, and our family finally got a television set. My brother, Roger Cassidy Clinton, was born on July 25, his father's birthday. I was so happy. Mother and Daddy had been trying to have a baby for some time(a couple of years earlier she'd had a miscarriage). I think she, and probably he too, thought it might save their marriage. Daddy's response was not auspicious. I was with Mammaw and Papaw when Mother delivered ny caesarean section. Daddy picked me up and took me to see her, then brought me home and left. He had been drinking for the last few months, and instead of making him happy and responsible, the birth of his only son prompted him to run back to bottle.

1956年，我终于有了一个弟弟，而我家也终于有了第一台电视机。我的弟弟叫罗杰·卡西迪·克林顿，出生了7月25日，与他父亲的生日相同。我高兴坏了。老妈和老爸好一段时间以来都想要一个小孩了（几年前老妈曾经流过产）。我想她，也许还有老爸都认为这个孩子挽救了他们的婚姻。老爸的反应并不那么积极。老妈做剖腹产手术时，我和外祖父母在一起。老爸接我带我去看她，然后将我又送了回来，便离开了。在过去的几个月里，他嗜酒如命。他唯一的儿子的生出并没有让他快乐和变得负责，反而让他更加醉生梦死。

Along with the excitement of a new baby in the house was the thrill of the new TV. There were lots of shows and entertainers for kids: cartoons, Captain Kangaroo and Howdy Doody, with Buffalo bob smith, whom I especially liked. And there was baseball: Mickey Mantle and the Yankees, Stan Musial and the Cardinals, and my all-time favorite, Willie Mays and the old New York Giants.

除了新婴儿的降生让人兴奋以外，那段时间最让人激动的东西莫过于新电视了。电视会播放许多的适合儿童观看的表演和娱乐节目：卡通片，如袋鼠船长和胡迪·都迪，我尤其喜欢里面的法布罗·鲍勃·史密斯。此外，还有棒球节目：米奇·曼托和洋基队，斯坦·穆休和红雀队，和我一直以来的最爱——威利·梅斯和老纽约巨人队。

But strange as it was for a kid of ten years old, what really dominated my TV viewing that summer were the Republican and Democratic conventions. I sat on the floor right in front of the TV and watched them both, transfixed. It sounds crazy, but I felt right at home in the world of politics and politicians. I liked president Eisenhower and enjoyed seeing him renominated, but we were democrats, so I really got into their convention. Governer Frank Clement of Tennessee gave a rousing keynote address. There was an exciting contest for the vice-presidential nomination between young senator John F. Kennedy and eventual victor, Senator Estes Kefauver, who served Tennessee in the senate with Al Gore's father. When Adlai Stevenson, the nominee in 1952, accepted his party's call to run again, he said he had prayed"this cup would pass from me." I admired Stevenson's intelligence and eloquence, but even then I couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't want the chance to be president. Now I think what he didn't want was to lead another losing effort. I do understand that. I've lost a couple of elections my self, though I never fought a battle I didn't first convince myself I could win.

但是对一个十岁的孩子来说，最令人奇怪的是，那个夏天占据我绝大部分时间的电视节目居然是共和党和民主党大会。我坐在电视机前的地板上看着它们两个，完全看呆了。这听上去很疯狂，但是在政治和政治家的世界里，我就感觉如鱼得水一般。我喜欢艾森豪威尔总统，很高兴他能获得提名，但我们是民主党人，所以我真的被他们的会议吸引住了。田纳西州州长弗兰克·克莱蒙特发表了一篇激动人心的主旨演讲。在大会上，年轻参议员约翰·肯尼迪与参议员埃斯蒂斯·凯弗维尔围绕副总统的人选展开了激烈的竞争，最终，凯弗维尔获胜。他曾经代表田纳西州与埃尔·戈尔的父亲一起担任过参议员。当1952年被提名人阿德莱·斯蒂文森接受党的号召，重新参选之时，他说他祈祷过“让我来传递这一棒”。我钦佩斯蒂文森的智慧与口才，但是即便是在当时，我也不明白为什么没有人想要竞选总统。现在我认为，他们可能是害怕再一次失败而已。我真的很理解这一点。尽管每次竞选前我都坚信自已一定会胜利，但我也失败过好几次。

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