John updike got divorced. Excuse me, who has an interpreter?

Don't use the original, it's translated.

Separation-john updike

The weather is fine and sunny. The sunny weather throughout June contrasts with the tragic mood of the Maple Leaf couple. Their conversation wriggled like worms in the golden beam, layered under the green forest tree, unknown. At this time, their sad and whispering figures constitute the only stain in nature. Usually by this time of year, their skin has been tanned, but now when they go to England to pick up their eldest daughter from the plane, they have been as pale as their eldest daughter for a year, while Judith is confused and unaware by the noise of the motherland in the sun. And they didn't tell her what happened immediately, so as not to disappoint their daughter who had just arrived home. While drinking coffee, cocktails and orange-flavored white wine, one suggestion they made in their boring conversation was to wait a few more days to let her recover from the fatigue caused by jet lag. It was these conversations that prompted them to form the idea of breaking up, but they didn't notice that the earth was undergoing an annual renewal outside the closed window. Richard wanted to start on Easter, but Joan insisted on waiting until all four children came home. At that time, all the exams were over, the graduation ceremony was attended, and there were new things to comfort them in summer. So Richard was miserable, repaired the window screen, sharpened the blade of the lawn mower, and flattened and compacted the new tennis court with half love and half fear.

After the first winter, the clay tennis court has become pitted and the red skin has been blown away by the wind. Many years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Maple Leaf saw from their friends that divorce was often accompanied by a large-scale residential renovation project, which was like the last effort made by marriage to survive. The most serious marriage crisis they encountered was under the dust of the kitchen being renovated and in the exposed lead pipe. However, last summer, they didn't realize that this change was not a good sign. Instead, they think that this hasty behavior will add a little festive atmosphere, and their marriage can make this land more beautiful by talking and laughing. At that time, the pale yellow bulldozer was happily driving back and forth on a hillside covered with grass and decorated with daisies, shoveling it into a muddy highland, and then a group of young people with braids came to rake and tamp the soil. Next spring, when Richard goes out for a walk every morning, he will have a feeling of slipping, just like one end of his bed has been lifted. He found that the atmosphere created by the bare tennis court (the net and rope are still coiled in the barn) coincides with his own sadness for a reason: during the thawing season, several dogs frolic on the court, and streams formed by melted snow water rush out of gullies, so handfuls of artificially paved soil are washed into these ditches and holes by water, which is bound to continue naturally. In his closed heart, Richard secretly hoped that day would never come.

Now this day has arrived. It was a Friday, and Judith adapted to life in her hometown again. The four children finally got together before work, and the summer camp and going out to be a guest again made them part ways. Joan thinks we should tell them one by one, while Richard wants to explain it to them at the dinner table. Joan said, "I think it is an escape to make only one explanation." They will quarrel and tease each other, but they can't concentrate. You know, they are independent individuals, not a collective obstacle on your road to freedom. "

"Okay, okay. I agree. " Joan has a careful plan. That night, they will hold a long-awaited dinner for Judith, eating lobster and drinking champagne. After dinner, they will call her out and walk to the bridge on the salty stream to talk to her and make her swear to keep a secret. Nineteen years ago at this time, they were pushing her along Fifth Avenue to Washington Square. Then tell little richard. He is going to Boston to attend a rock concert directly from his work place, so the conversation is scheduled after he comes back by train that night or before going to work on Saturday morning. He is seventeen years old and is a golf course repairman. Then you can sue in the morning.

Verbs (short for verb) John and Margaret, two small ones.

"It messed everything up," Richard said.

"Do you have a better arrangement? In this way, you can spend the rest of Saturday answering questions that children may ask, packing your bags and then embarking on your wonderful journey. "

"No" means that he has no better arrangement and agrees to her plan. Although he thinks this order is not appropriate, it also implies an attempt to grasp the overall situation, just like her long list of housework to do and her lengthy class notes when she first met. Her plan is to turn a fence erected in front of him into a wall with four sides as sharp as blades, and the other side of the wall is covered with thin curtains.

Throughout the spring, Richard sometimes shows his heart and sometimes hides his heart, walking through various barriers. He and Joan are a thin barrier between children and truth. Every moment separates the past from the future, and the future includes this incredible present. Outside the four sharp walls, an unpredictable new life awaits him. There is a secret hidden in my head, and a white face, which is both frightened and gratified, strange and familiar. He didn't want to let the tears wet it, but he felt that the tears flooded himself like enough sunshine. The idea haunted him, and he was fascinated by repairing at home, replacing screens, hanging ropes, hinges and bolts on doors, just like a Houdini master wanted to get everything done before he fled.

And the door lock. He wants to replace the lock of a door on the porch with a gauze curtain. Like many such things, the work is not as easy as he imagined. The old aluminum lock, which was too rusty to open, was tampered with by the manufacturer and could not be used after a while. It is extremely easy to remove the old lock, but none of the three hardware stores can find a lock about the size of the exposed hole, so they have to dig another hole, but his spiral cone is too small and the saw is too big, so they have to plug the original hole with a piece of wood.

His chisel is dull, his saw is rusty, and his fingers are clumsy because of too little sleep. The sun poured down on the deserted land outside the porch. The trees are about to be pruned, and the paint on the windward wall of the house is beginning to peel off layer by layer. After he leaves, rain will fall in, as well as all kinds of bugs, rotting things and death. He tried hard to drill holes, chop small pieces of wood, listen to others' inexplicable instructions and fiddle with small metal parts. At the same time, he vaguely felt that his family and all the relatives who were about to lose were walking around.

Judith sat on the porch like a princess returning from exile. She told us vivid stories: how gasoline was in short supply, how bombs in subway stations scared people to death, and how Pakistani workers lured her loudly on the way to dance school when she had to pass by them. Joan walked around the house, going in and out. She pretended to be calm and praised Richard for doing a good job in repairing locks, as if it were just one of a long list of housework they shared, not the last one. For a time, the youngest son stood against the crumbling screen door and let his father clumsily knock with a hammer and chisel. For Richard, every voice is a sob. My little daughter attended a girl's all-night chat party last night, and now she is sleeping soundly in a hammock on the porch. Noise has no effect on her. She slept soundly, blushed and looked carefree. Time, like sunshine, stretches forward relentlessly, and gradually, it has reached sunset. Today is the longest day in a year. The pendulum is ticking away. The work is finished. He poured a glass of wine, drank it on the porch and listened to his daughter. She is saying: "The power failure is also very warm. At the worst time, all butcher shops and bakeries need candles to open. Everyone is brave and cool. But from the newspaper here, it seems that the situation is much worse: people shoot people while waiting in line to refuel, and everyone is frozen. "

Richard asked, "Do you still want to stay in England forever?" The concept of eternity has now become a reality close to him, oppressing him and scratching his throat.

"No," Judith admitted, turning her oval face. Her eyes are still as big as a child, but her mouth is moist and full. "I'm in a hurry to go home. I am an American. " She has grown into a woman. They brought her up, and he and Joan went through a lot of hardships to raise one of the four children, and they have to work hard on the other children. But at the thought of telling Judith about it, he couldn't help thinking of her childhood: she was sandwiched between them and the three of them walked hand in hand towards the bridge. Richard could no longer hold back the tears on his face. He sat at the dining table to celebrate his daughter's coming home, and his throat tightened. Champagne and lobster seem to represent good times. He stared at these things and tasted them with tears in his eyes. He blinked, swallowed, and told a joke in a hoarse voice that pollen allergy caused eye inflammation. However, tears can't stop pouring out, not from a hole that can be blocked, but from a hole in the film. The clear trickle will keep flowing and eventually converge into a large piece. His tears became a barrier to his separation from his family. He will never see their faces again, and he will never see this last party where everyone pretends to be innocent. He sat at this table as a parent for the last time. As soon as I knock on the lobster's back, tears roll down the bridge of my nose, and a sip of champagne has the salty taste of tears. My throat hurts, too, as if I had been caught by something. He can't help himself.

The children pretended not to see Richard crying. Judith, sitting on his right hand, lit a cigarette and looked up at the full-fledged and experienced smoke ring she spit out.

In the past, John lowered his head and ate the only meat left on the legs and tail of the crimson lobster. Joan sat at the other end of the table and gave him a surprised look. She didn't blame him, but for an instant her face twisted painfully, which not only conveyed her understanding, but also expressed her admiration for his clever technique. Margaret sitting among them is thirteen years old and looks older than her peers, so no one calls her "Little Bean" anymore. She stared at her father through a string of crystal tears, as if looking at what she longed for in the shop window. In her view, he is now a pile of crystal fragments and a series of memories.

But later, when everyone was washing dishes and cleaning lobster shells in the kitchen, it was not her but John who asked Joan questions. "Why is Dad crying?"

Richard heard the child's question, but he didn't hear Joan's low answer. Then he heard the little bean shout "Woo-no, no!" "This cry is a bit artificial, as if crying people have long anticipated this situation.

John came back to the table with a bowl of salad, nodded to his father, moved his mouth mysteriously and said silently, "She did it."

"What did you say?" Richard almost frantically asked loudly.

The child sat down first, as if to set a good example of calmness and blame his restless father. He whispered, "About separation."

Joan and Margaret are back. In Richard's distorted vision, the child's body seemed to be contracting, and he was relieved because the devil finally appeared.

The people sitting around the table are far away from each other. He shouted at Joan, "You know, you know …" His throat tightened and he couldn't finish what he wanted to say.

He heard Joan talking far away, with a gentle and reasonable tone, explaining what they had already prepared: this was just a short separation this summer, an experiment. Both she and her father think it's good for both of them, and they need space and time to think. They love each other but somehow they can't make each other happier.

Judith imitates her mother's flat tone, but because she is young, her tone fluctuates and sounds too calm. "I think it's silly. Either live together or divorce. "

Richard's crying was like a wave valley, but now it was drowned by another noise. John, who has always been reserved, is getting bigger and bigger at the dinner table. Maybe my sister knew about it first and made him unhappy. "Why didn't you tell us?" He asked loudly, the loud voice didn't sound like his. "You should tell us that you don't get along well."

Richard was taken aback and tried to squeeze words out of his tears. "We get along very well. This is the problem. We didn't see-"We don't love each other anymore. It's what he wanted to say but didn't say. He can't go on.

Joan ended it for him in her way: "But we always love our children very much."

This can't calm John's anger. He growled, "What do you care about us? We are just a little trick of yours. " His sister smiled, which made him laugh out loud. It sounds stiff and funny: "hahahaha". Richard and Joan realized at the same time that the child was drunk. Judith drank too much champagne to celebrate his coming home. John felt that he had to occupy a conspicuous position, so he took a cigarette from Judith's cigarette case and stuffed it into his mouth, holding it diagonally with his lower lip and squinting like a gangster.

Richard shouted at him, "You are not our gadget, you are everything to us." But you have grown up, or almost grown up. "

John is striking a match. Instead of putting the flame on the cigarette, he stood in front of his mother with a lighted match, getting closer and closer, and asked her to help blow out the flame. No one has ever seen him smoke, and "being good" has always been his unique way. Then he lit the whole box of matches, and only one torch snorted and lit up. He held it in front of his mother. Tears distorted Richard's vision like a prism. His eyes are full of flames, and he doesn't even know how to put them out. He heard Margaret say, "Come on, don't show off." Seeing John's reaction, he first folded the cigarette in half and then put it in his mouth to chew. He also stuck out his tongue to show his sister the chewed tobacco.

Joan is talking to him, reasoning and talking, but he doesn't understand.

"We have been talking for several years ... our children want to help us ... Dad and I are both.

I think ... "John carefully stuffed a napkin into the lettuce leaves in the salad, made a ball out of paper and lettuce leaves, threw it into his mouth, and then looked around, waiting for everyone to laugh." Nobody laughed. Judith said, "You should be an adult, too." Then she exhaled a puff of smoke.

Richard stood up, left the boring table and took John outside. The light in the room is dim, but it is still bright outside. It is a bright day with long days and short nights in midsummer. Both father and son are laughing. Richard told John to spit the leaves, paper and tobacco in his mouth into the grass. He took John's hand, which was square and rough. Although it is still a man's hand, it holds Richard's hand tightly. They crossed the tennis court together and came to the court. The new ridge pushed by bulldozers is dotted with daisies. They crossed the tennis court and a flat area where the whole family played baseball. There stands a green hill, which stands out in the afterglow of the sunset. Every tree and every grass is clearly distinguishable, just like a pattern painted on parchment.

Richard cried, "I'm sorry. It's really hard. You are the only one in the family who helps me with those damn chores. "

After tears and champagne, John is now sobbing brazenly: "This is not just your separation. I had a terrible year. I hate that school. I can't make friends there. That history teacher is a scum. "

They sat on the top of the mountain, tears made them tremble with excitement, but their hearts were warm and their conversation was smoother. Richard tried to focus on his children's sad year, such as Sunday with a lot of homework, making a model plane in his room to spend the weekend, while his parents whispered about their separation downstairs. Richard thought of how selfish and slow they were. He felt that he was sensitive now, so he said to his son, "We should consider transferring you to another school. Life is too short to live a hard life. "

They talked about all the topics they could think of. They didn't want to end the conversation at this moment, so they talked about the school and the tennis court, wondering if they could become as good as the first summer. They went to check and pressed some iron hooks tied with net ropes into the ground. Perhaps in order to deepen the impression of this moment, Richard took the children to the best scenery in the field with some affectation. From here, you can see iron-blue rivers, green swamps, islands scattered everywhere, soft shadows cast in the dim light, and small pieces of white beaches in the distance.

He said, "Look, it's still so beautiful, and the scenery will be the same tomorrow."

"I know." John said impatiently. That moment has become the past.

When they got home, the others had already drunk all the champagne. They opened another bottle of white wine and still sat around the table. Three women were chatting. Joan's seat became her parents' seat. She turned to look at him without tears on her face and asked, "Are you all right?"

"We're fine," Richard said. The family dinner continued in his absence, which made him very unhappy and relieved.

Lying in bed, Joan explained, "I can't cry." I think it's because I cried too much this spring. " This is really unfair. It was your idea, but you acted like I was going to kick you out. "

Richard said, "Sorry. I can't help it I want to hold back, but I just can't hold back. "

"You don't want to endure. You like this. You did what you wanted to do and vented your anger on everyone. "

He admitted: "I am willing to clarify things as soon as possible. God, these children are amazing, have courage and personality. " When John came home, he fiddled with the model plane in his room and kept shouting downstairs, "I'm fine." Take it easy. Richard continued with a sigh of relief: "They never questioned the reasons we gave. No one thinks there is a third party, even Judith.

"This is really touching," said Joan.

Richard gave her a hug. "You are also great, which makes everyone feel at ease. Thank you. " With a sense of guilt, he realized that he didn't feel separated from Joan.

She reminded him, "You still have to talk to Dick." Her words were like a black mountain, which fell in front of him in the dark, and the chill it carried and its weight pressed straight to his chest. The eldest of the four children understands him best and is his soul mate. So Joan doesn't need to add this sentence: "I won't do this dirty work for you."

"yes. I will do it. You go to sleep. "

After a few minutes, her breathing slowed down. She forgot all about it and fell asleep. It's a quarter to twelve, and Dickie's train after the concert will arrive at 1: 14, so Richard set the alarm clock to 1: 00. He hasn't slept well for weeks. But as soon as he closed his eyes, some scenes that appeared in the past few hours flashed before his eyes-Judith sprayed smoke rings at the ceiling in disgust, little beans stared at him silently, and the sun-dried vegetation in the field where he and John were resting. The mountain in front of us moved towards him, getting closer to him and merging into one. He became huge and important, and the pain in his throat was no longer so obvious. His wife slept soundly, as if she had been killed beside him. Hot eyelids and confused thoughts made him fidgety, so he got up and dressed. At this moment, Joan woke up, turned over and fell asleep again. Then he told her, "Joan, if I can forget what I did, I will."

Joan asked, "where do you start?" There is no starting point. Speaking of courage, she has been giving him courage. He wears his shoes barefoot in the dark. The children are snoring in their room, and there is no one downstairs. They were afraid of forgetting to turn off the lights, so he turned them off one by one, leaving only the chandelier in the kitchen. The car started, and he had hoped it wouldn't start. He didn't meet anyone on the moonlight road. The bright moonlight is like a pure traveling companion. It flashed in the grass by the roadside, flickered in the rearview mirror like a stalker, and finally disappeared under his roof lamp. At this time, it seems a bit strange that people are still walking in the city center. A young policeman in police uniform and a group of children in short-sleeved shirts are sitting on the steps of the bank. Several bars opposite the railway station are still open, and most of them are young people. They go in and out on warm nights and enjoy the fresh breath of summer. There were shouts from passing cars, and it seemed that countless people were talking. Richard parked his car here, tired of letting his head fall on the seat next to him, avoiding the noisy and dazzling lights. It's like the assassin in the movie going through the carnival crowd in cold blood to complete his task, but the movie can't show the steep and touchable slope that you are persistent in your heart. You can't climb down any more, it will only be wrestling. The chemical fiber cushion of the car was heated by his face, and he smelled an ancient and recognizable vanilla smell.

The train whistle sounded and he looked up. The bus arrived on time, but he hoped it would be late. The narrow security door fell down, and the bell announcing that the train was entering the platform jingled happily. A huge body like a flat flute wobbled and stopped, and a group of sleepy teenagers came down, including his son. Dick didn't show surprise when he saw his father pick him up at this critical moment. He walked to the car with two taller friends. He said hello to his father, sat in the front seat and made a tired and agile gesture to show his gratitude. His friend is sitting in the back. Richard welcomed them so much that he had to send them home and postpone the conversation for a few minutes.

He asked, "How was the concert?"

"Great," said a child sitting in the back seat.

"Very exciting," said another.

"Well, dickie said. He doesn't like to go to extremes and is very reasonable, so the irrationality in the world made him have a headache, a stomachache and nausea when he was still young. After seeing his second friend off at the door of his dark house, Dickie suddenly said, "hay fever is killing my eyes." I have been mowing the grass all day today! "

"Do you still have that kind of eye drops at home?"

"I used it last summer and it didn't work at all."

"This year may be useful." Richard made a sharp turn in the empty street. It only takes a few minutes to get home. The mountain is here, in his throat. "Richard," he began, realizing that the child lying on the seat rubbing his eyes was nervous when he heard his tone was wrong. "I've come to meet you not to make you comfortable, but because your mother and I have something to say to you, but it's not easy to catch you these days. This is a sad news. "

"ok." What I asked my father to say was soft, but I just blurted it out, as if I had jumped out from the top of the spring.

Richard has been worried that he will cry again, but now the boy's manhood has set an example for him, and his voice is flat and unemotional. "This is a sad news, but it doesn't necessarily bring bad news, at least not for you. It won't have a real impact on your life, but it will definitely involve your emotional life. You'd better work and go back to school in September. Your mother and I are sincerely proud that you can treat life with such a positive attitude. We don't want this situation to change. "

"hmm." The child took a breath and whispered, trying to control himself. They have turned the corner now, and the church they usually go to is faintly visible, like a fortress whose interior has been leveled. The woman Richard wants to marry has a house on the other side of the lawn, and the light in her bedroom is still on.

He said, "Your mother and I decided to separate, just this summer. It has no legal effect, and it is not a divorce. We want to know what it feels like. For several years, we haven't done enough for each other and can't do our best to make each other happy. Do you realize that? "

"No," said the child. His answer is sincere and unemotional, just like judging the truth in an exam.

With the facts as the basis, Richard happily went on to state the details. It was just a rap. He said that the apartment he rented was at the other end of the city and he could be found at any time. He talked about separate holiday plans, the benefits that separation will bring to children, increased flexibility and colorful activities in summer. Dickie listened to him carefully and asked, "Does anyone else know?"

"I know."

"How did they react?"

"The girls are very calm. John can't help himself. He shouted, ate a cigarette and made a salad with a napkin, telling us how much he didn't like school. "

Dick giggled. "Really?"

"Yes, things at school upset him more than mom and me. He seems to be much more comfortable after shouting these things. "

"Really?" He repeated that this was the first sign of his shock.

"Well, dickie. I want to tell you something. The hour when your car just pulled into the station was probably the saddest moment in my life. I hate doing this. I hate it. My father would rather die than treat me like this. " With these words, he felt much more relaxed. He pushed the mountain onto the child. When they got home, Dickie quickly got off the bus and walked into the bright kitchen, like a shadow. Richard shouted after him, "Do you want a glass of milk or something?"

"No, thanks."

"Do you want us to call the stadium tomorrow and say that you are ill and can't go to work?"

"No, I have nothing." This was whispered at the door of his room. Richard waited to hear him slam the door angrily, but the door closed softly as usual. The sound of closing the door sounds chilling.

Joan has fallen into the first round of deep sleep and can't wake up easily. Richard had to say it again: "I told him."

"What did he say?"

"Said nothing. Can you go and say good night to him? Please. "

She went out without even wearing a bathrobe. Richard slowly put on his pajamas again and walked into the hall. Dickie has gone to bed, Joan is sitting beside him, and the alarm clock radio beside the child's bed is playing music softly. When Joan stood up, a light came from somewhere, perhaps moonlight, to outline her body under her pajamas. Richard sat in the warm position where she had just sat, and the child's narrow mattress was squeezed out by her.

He asked the child, "Do you want to leave the radio on like this?"

"It's always been like this."

"It won't keep you awake? I can't sleep. "

"No."

"Are you sleepy?"

"hmm."

"okay. Do you still want to get up on time to go to work? You went to bed too late tonight. "

"I want to go."

Living on campus in winter, children realize that people who sleep less will not die. When I was a child, I was motionless and sweaty after falling asleep, which often made people who took care of him panic. As a teenager, he was often the first of four children to go to bed. Today, he still sleeps while watching TV, with his furry brown legs up. "okay. Good boy. Listen, Dick, I love you very much. I didn't know how much I love you until now. No matter what the outcome of this matter is, I will always be with you. Really. "

Richard leaned down to kiss the face he thought he would avoid, but his strong son turned around, put his wet face on him and kissed his lips like a passionate woman. In his father's ear, he groaned and uttered a sentence, which is an extremely important question related to the soul: "Why?"

Why? It was a sudden rustling wind, a sword to shoot, and a window that was pushed open in Xu Ling. The white face is gone, and the darkness is featureless. Richard has forgotten the specific reason.