雙語·當呼吸化為空氣 我高中最好的朋友叫里奧

我高中最好的朋友叫里奧，也是畢業(yè)典禮上的學生致辭代表和我認識的家里最窮的孩子。高中最后一年，學校輔導員建議他：“你很聰明，應該去參軍?！?br>Senior year, my close friend Leo, our salutatorian and the poorest kid I knew, was advised by the school guidance counselor, “You’re smart—you should join the army.”

之后他跟我說起這事?！叭ニ?，”他說，“要是你會去上哈佛、耶魯或者斯坦福，我也要去?！?br>He told me about it afterward. “Fuck that,” he said. “If you’re going to Harvard, or Yale, or Stanford, then I am, too.”

我去了斯坦福，里奧去了耶魯。這兩件事帶給我的喜悅程度實在不分伯仲。
I don’t know if I was happier when I got into Stanford or when Leo got into Yale.

暑假過去了。斯坦福開學比其他大學都要晚一個月，所以我的朋友全都四散而去，把我一個人留了下來。很多個下午，我都獨自深入沙漠，找個地方打個小盹，等著我的女朋友艾比蓋爾從金曼唯一的咖啡館下班。沙漠是穿過山野進入城鎮(zhèn)的捷徑，步行也遠比駕車來得有趣。艾比蓋爾二十出頭，就讀于斯克里普斯學院。她不想申請助學貸款，所以休學一個學期，好存點學費。她身上那種世俗氣深深吸引了我。她知道的那些秘密，只有大學生才知道。她還上過心理學的課呢！我們經(jīng)常在她下班以后見面。她就是甜蜜愛情與美好生活的先兆，是幾個星期后我即將進入的新世界的預告。一天下午，我打盹醒來，抬頭一看，禿鷹就在我頭頂盤旋，可能錯把我當成了一具尸體。我看了看表，快三點了，要遲到了。我拍拍牛仔褲上的塵土，一路小跑著穿越沙漠，直到黃沙盡頭，抵達道路起點，建筑開始映入眼簾，我跑到街角，看到艾比蓋爾手里拿著一把掃帚，在清掃咖啡館外面的地板。
Summer passed, and since Stanford began classes a month later than every other school, all of my friends scattered, leaving me behind. Most afternoons, I’d trek into the desert alone and nap and think until my girlfriend, Abigail, got off her shift at Kingman’s lone coffee shop. The desert offered a shortcut, through the moun-tains and down into town, and hiking was more fun than driving. Abigail was in her early twenties, a student at Scripps College who, wanting to avoid loans, was taking a semester off to stockpile tuition money. I was taken with her worldliness, the sense that she knew secrets one only learned at college—she had studied psychology!— and we’d often meet as she got off work. She was a harbinger of the sub rosa, the new world awaiting me in just a few weeks. One afternoon, I woke from my nap, looked up, and saw vultures circling, mistaking me for carrion. I checked my watch; it was almost three. I was going to be late. I dusted off my jeans and jogged the rest of the way through the desert, until sand gave way to pavement, the first buildings appeared, and I rounded the corner to find Abigail, broom in hand, sweeping the coffee shop deck.

“濃縮咖啡機我已經(jīng)洗了，”她說，“所以你今天沒有冰咖啡喝啦?！?br>“I already cleaned the espresso machine,” she said, “so no iced latte for you today.”