李妮走了,冯路仿佛生活中又少了什么,重新回到了无休止的期盼之中。一天,Jennifer打电话过来,再次约他去游泳。路上,Jennifer告诉他,自己为期半年的短期交流就要结束,不久要回美国了。
“Would you miss me if I am gone?”Jennifer问冯路:(我走了,你会想我吗?)
“Absolutely!”(那是一定的。)
“ We will be the best friends with each other。”(我们会成为最好的朋友。)
“We are not, are we?”(难道我们现在不是吗?)
Jennifer的问题让冯路无所适从,严格地说,他根本没想过。“I don’t mean it, just think we haven’t yet known that well each other。”(我不是那个意思,只是认为我们之间还不那么相互了解。)
“Well, let’s do it well。 Let me guess you’ve got a girlfriend。”(那好吧,就让我们好好地了解一下对方吧。先让我猜猜你已经有了女朋友。)
“How did you know it?”(何以见得?)
“You dated Lee, didn’t you?”(你不是和李小姐在约会吗?)
冯路不想否认这个事实,但还是做了进一步的解释,“She was my girlfriend back at a school, but she left me due to my fault。 It would have been a chance of reconciliation this time when we met again in London。 It seems to me that fizzled once more, though。”(上学的时候,她就是我的女友,但后来因为我的错,她离开了我。本来这次伦敦相遇该是我们重归于好的机会,不过看来又泡汤了。”)
“Why?”(为什么?)
“She left back for China with her accident-suffered husband。 You know she could divorce with her husband intact, but she can’t now, seeming not too ethical if she does。”(她已经随他受伤的丈夫回中国了。要是她丈夫没事的话,她本可以和他离婚,但现在不行了,如果她那样做,显得很不道德。)
“It’s not ethical either for a marriage without love, isn’t it?”(没有爱的婚姻也是不道德的,不是吗?)
“It’s true, but It is not every couple that is a pair。”(话是这么说,但世上夫妻多,珠联璧合少啊。)
“You can say that again, what about yourself next, though。”(说的倒也是,那你自己下面怎么办?)
“I have no idea, just let things drift。”(我不知道,还是顺其自然吧。)
“In my view, you’d better come to the States soon。”(我看你还是早点来美国吧。)
“Why?”(为什么?)
“ You may figure out over there what you have been seeking。”(你或许可以在那里找到你这些年苦苦寻觅的东西。)
朝夕相处的半年时间,已让Jennifer对冯路日久生情。加上,她看了他的论文后,发现这个来自东方的小伙子非常有见地,于是春心开始萌动。
冯路也未必没有觉察到,他只是在心里依然放不下李妮,所以,他不想再搅进一个不现实的感情中去。“Maybe,It’s about time for me to spend more time on studying。”(也许是该好好花些时间在学习上了。)
Jennifer 被打了叉,只好顺着他的话题说下去。“I read over what you wrote about the connection between culture and demand。 It’s very nice, a good job。 Could you tell me how you thought of this subject in the first place。”(我仔细地阅读了你写的那篇关于文化与需求之间关系的文章,写得很好,堪称不朽之作。你能告诉我你最初是怎么想到这个题目的吗?)
“I found every demand has something to do with a suitable culture, even drug like that。”( 我发现每一种需求都与相应一种文化,毒品也不例外。)
“Interesting,be specific, please。”(很有意思,请具体一点。)
“You know, jeans came from hippy, Internet triggering computer industries thriving, violent movies increasing American’s demand for guns, meanwhile, various festivals are also able to develop the demands。 For an instance, Beer fest brought up a lot of beer output。”(你知道,牛仔服源于嬉皮士文化,而电脑业的兴旺是受互联网催生的,美国人对枪支的需求就是因为暴力电影的泛滥,同样,各种节日带来了不同需求的增长,譬如,啤酒节就让啤酒的产量大增。)
“Sounds reasonable。”(听起来很有道理。)
“So,I brought up such a proposition, that is, developed countries like United States ought to innovate more and more novel cultures to create demands, while developing ones like China require to absorb all kinds of cultures quickly to lif