和爱读书的女孩谈恋爱

何航

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

和一个爱读书的女孩谈恋爱。和一个会把钱花在买书而不是买衣服的女孩谈恋爱。这种女孩常常为柜子空间不够而烦恼，因为实在有太多书了。和一个有以“我想读的书”为名的书单女孩谈恋爱，她十二岁就办了一张借书证了。

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

找一个会读书的女孩。当你得知她的书包里永远都会有一本还没读完的书，你就知道她真的会读书了。那个女孩是书店里目不转睛地翻寻书架的可爱女孩，是每每找到想要的书就会高兴得叫出声的女孩。你见过那个在二手书店里贪婪地嗅着一本旧书的怪萝莉了吗？那才是真正的读者。她们总是控制不住想要闻闻那些书，尤其是那种黄页书。

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book. Buy her another cup of coffee. Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

她是那个在街尾咖啡厅里一边读书一边等人的女孩。你可以偷瞄一下她的杯子，里面的奶精已经浮上来了，因为她读书读得太专注忘了搅拌了。她完全沉浸在作者营造出来的世界了。你可以坐下，她可能会瞟你一眼，因为爱读书的女孩不喜欢读书时被人打扰。问她喜不喜欢那本书，再买一杯咖啡给她，让她知道你真的有读过村上春树的作品,看看她是否读完了《伙伴》的第一章节，搞清楚她是否读懂了她刚刚提到的詹姆斯·乔伊斯的《尤利西斯》，这样可以显摆她的聪明，问问她喜不喜欢爱丽斯，还是她想成为爱丽斯。

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does. She has to give it a shot somehow.

跟一个爱读书的女孩谈恋爱很简单。不管是生日、圣诞节还是纪念日，书就是最好的礼物。文字是礼物的不二之选，可以朗诵给她，也可以唱给她。聂鲁达，庞德，塞克斯顿，或者康明的书，都可以，告诉她你知道文字代表爱。你要明白她分得清书里的世界和现实，尽管她的现实是由上帝创造的。她可能会另自己的生活跟自己最喜欢的书里描写的一样。如果她真这么做了，这不是你的错。因为她无论怎样就是想试试。

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

对她撒谎。如果她懂得句法结构，她就会明白你为什么要撒谎了。词句的背后隐藏的是撒谎的动机、撒谎是因为要守护、因为撒谎而不自然的语气和话语。这个谎不至于毁灭地球。

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

有负于她。一个爱读书的女孩明白置诸死地而后生的道理。明白事理的女孩知道天下无不散之筵席。你还可以写个续集，分开重新一起无数次后你还是她的英雄。因为生活本来就要有那么一两个混蛋。

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.

为什么老是被自己不害怕的事吓到？爱读书的女孩就明白人就跟书中的角色一样，是会成长的。除了暮光系列里的角色.......

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

如果你找到一个爱读书的女孩，一定要“保持距离”，越近越好。你发现在凌晨两点她还不睡，紧紧抱着一本书哭泣着，泡杯茶给她，抱着她，过几个小时后她就会恢复成还你原来的她。她话语里会让人以为书中的角色成真的了，因为可能有那么一段时间，他们真的成型了。

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

你会在一个热气球里面向她求婚，或者是在摇滚音乐会上，或者在她任意一次生病的时候，通过微信向她求婚。

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

你会狂笑不止，你会好奇，为什么你的心还没有蹦出胸膛，为什么你还没有被溅得“满腔热血”。你会根据你的生活写一个故事，你会有一个有着陌生名字的孩子，他身上可能还有陌生人的味道。而她可能会在同一天里把孩子们介绍给《戴帽子的猫》和《亚斯兰》。年老的你们在冬日里散步，她会压低声音背诵济慈的诗，而你在抖靴子里的雪出来。

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

和一个爱读书的女孩谈恋爱，你值得拥有。如果她能给你能想象得到最多彩的生活，这个女孩你值得拥有。如果你只能给一个女孩一成不变的生活、枯燥的时光，还有乏味的求婚仪式，你最好还是选择孤独终老吧。如果你想拥抱世界或者世界之外的世界，那么就和一个爱读书的女孩谈恋爱吧。

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

或者再好不过的就是和一个会写作的女孩谈恋爱吧。