第22部分(第2/6 页)
挤出来,来到这片岛屿。他们中很少有人曾在公共图书馆安静的阅览室里,享受过一个悠闲的下午。图书馆运书的电梯(如同一部水车)不断地上上下下,把书运送到流动架上。他们在包厘街上帮人看管火炉,炉膛里的火苗在温度只有零度的冬夜里噼里啪啦地响。他们也可能在金融区中心工作,却从未见过洛克菲勒中心富丽堂皇的花卉树木。在那儿,一到风景优美的春天清晨,黄水仙、麝香兰属植物和白桦树都整理得整整齐齐的,还有各色旗帜迎风飘扬。他们也可能在市中心的办公室里工作,一年又一年,却从未见过防波堤外面的总督岛。这样的上班族只要离开人世,人生的日程表上会留有一串长长的印记,可他却不是一个流浪者。即便和那些饲养草原犬鼠的村民们相比,他的登场和谢幕离开要多几分曲折。他最终埋葬在东河河底的污泥里,变成一朵浪花静静地拍打着大桥。仅仅长岛铁路一家公司去年就运送了四千万这样的上班族,但其中很多是反复往来的人。书 包 网 txt小说上传分享
这里是纽约(3)
纽约的奇妙之处还在于,有时候城里的居民反而比匆忙的上班族走得更远。欧文·柏林当年从郊区东部的雪莉街来到市中心的一幢公寓,走的是一条普通的小路,两者间的距离不过三四英里,但他却如同绕地球走了三圈。
Here Is New York
Elwyn Brooks White
On any person who desires such queer1 prizes; New York will bestow the gift of loneliness and the gift of privacy。 It is this largess that accounts for the presence within the city’s walls of a considerable section of the population; for the residents of Manhattan are to a large extent strangers who have pulled up stakes somewhere and e to town; seeking sanctuary or fulfillment or some greater or lesser grail。 The capacity to make such dubious gifts is a mysterious quality of New York。 It can destroy an individual; or it can fulfill him; depending a good deal on luck。 No one should e to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky。
New York is the concentrate2 of art and merce and sport and religion and entertainment and finance; bringing to a single pact arena the gladiator; the evangelist; the promoter; the actor; the trader; and the merchant。 It carries on its lapel the unexpungeable odor of the long past; so that no matter where you sit in New York you feel the vibrations of great times and tall deeds; of queer people and events and undertakings。 I am sitting at the moment in a stifling hotel room in 90…degree heat; halfway down an air shaft; in midtown。 No air moves in or out of the ro
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