English Original
People have different views about which are "the best years of one's life." One common idea is that the teenage years form this happy period. The modern Irish novelist, Edna O'Brien, is particularly sensitive to the views of young women, and perhaps one can judge whether she views teenage as necessarily the happiest time in a young girl's life from this description of Caithleen in The Girl with Green Eyes. Living in Dublin, Caithleen has fallen in love with Eugene Gaillard, and has been seeking every possible way of 'just bumping into him'. Now, unexpectedly, they meet in the street...
Coming down the stone steps from the bookshop I met him. I saw him in that instant before he saw me and I was so astonished that I almost ran away.
"Oh, you!" he said as he looked up in surprise. He must have forgotten my name.
"Mr. Gaillard, hello," I said, trying to conceal my excitement.
In daylight his face looked different—longer and more melancholy. A shower of rain had brought us together. He came up to shelter in the porch and I stood in with him. My body became as jelly from standing close to him, smelling his nice smell.
"What have you been doing?" he said. "We went to a marvellous dance last night, a marvellous band and supper and everything."
Oh, God, I thought, I am as dull as old dishwater. Why can't I say something exciting, why can't I tell him what I feel about him?
"The rain sparkles on the brown pavement," I said in a false fit of eloquence.
"Sparkles?" he said, and smiled curiously.
"Yes, it's a nice word."
"Indeed." He nodded.
I felt that he was bored and I prayed there would be a deluge and that we would have to stay there for ever. I imagined the water rising inch by inch, covering the road, the pavement, the steps, our ankles, our legs, our bodies, drawing us together as in a dream, all other life cut off from us.
"It's getting worse," I said, pointing to a black cloud that hung over the darkening city of Dublin.
"It's only a shower," he said, shattering all my mad hopes. "What about a cup of tea, would you like some tea?" he asked.
"I'd love it."
And in the rain we crossed the road to a tea shop. I forget what we talked about. I remember being speechless with happiness and feeling that God, or someone, had brought us together. I ate three cakes; he pressed me to have a fourth but I didn't, in case it was vulgar. It was then he asked my name. So he had forgotten it.
"Tell me, what do you read?" he asked. He had a habit of smiling whenever I caught his eye, and though his eyes were sad, he smiled nicely.
"Chekhov and James Joyce and James Stephens and ..." I stopped suddenly in case he should think that I was showing off.
"I must loan you a book some time," he said. Some time? When is some time, I thought as I looked at the tea leaves in the bottom of his cup.
"I often wonder what young girls like you think. What do you think of?" he asked, after he had been looking steadily at me for a few seconds.
I think about you, I thought, and blushed a bit. To him I said in a dull stupid voice, "I don't think very much really; I think about getting new clothes or going on my holidays or what we'll have for lunch."
It seems to me now that he sighed and that I tittered to hide my embarrassment and told him that some girls thought of marrying rich men, and one I knew of thought only of her hair; she washed it every night and measured how much it grew in a week. He looked at his watch and inevitably he had to go.
"I'm sorry, but I have to see somebody at four."
"I'm sorry for keeping you," I said, as we stood up. He paid the bill and took his cap off the hat rack inside the door.
"Thank you. A pleasant encounter," he said, as we stood on the stone step.
I thanked him, he raised his cap and went away from me. I watched him go. I saw him as a dark-faced God turning his back on me. I put out my hand to recall him and caught only the rain. I felt that it would rain forever, noiselessly.
中文翻译
人们对于“一生中最好的年华”是何时有不同的看法。一个普遍的观点是，青少年时期构成了这段快乐的时光。现代爱尔兰小说家埃德娜·奥布莱恩对年轻女性的观点特别敏感，或许我们可以从她对《绿眼睛女孩》中凯瑟琳的描述，来判断她是否认为青少年时期必然是一个年轻女孩一生中最快乐的时光。凯瑟琳住在都柏林，她爱上了尤金·盖拉德，并一直在寻找各种可能“偶遇”他的方式。现在，他们意外地在街上相遇了……
从书店的石阶上下来时，我遇见了他。在他看到我之前的那一瞬间，我先看到了他，我惊讶得差点跑开。
“哦，是你！”他抬起头，惊讶地说。他一定是忘了我的名字。
“盖拉德先生，你好，”我说，试图掩饰我的兴奋。
在日光下，他的脸看起来不一样了——更长，更忧郁。一阵雨让我们聚到了一起。他走过来在门廊下避雨，我也和他站在一起。因为站得离他很近，闻着他好闻的气味，我的身体变得像果冻一样软。
“你最近在做什么？”他说。“我们昨晚去参加了一个精彩的舞会，乐队很棒，还有晚餐，一切都很棒。”
哦，天哪，我想，我像洗碗水一样乏味。为什么我不能说点令人兴奋的话，为什么我不能告诉他我对他的感觉？
“雨水在棕色的路面上闪闪发光，”我假装口才很好地说道。
“闪闪发光？”他说，好奇地笑了笑。
“是的，这是个好词。”
“确实。”他点了点头。
我觉得他感到无聊了，于是我祈祷会有一场大洪水，这样我们就得永远待在那里。我想象着水一寸一寸地上涨，淹没了道路、人行道、台阶，淹没了我们的脚踝、我们的腿、我们的身体，像在梦中一样把我们拉近，所有其他的生活都与我们隔绝。
“雨越下越大了，”我指着笼罩在渐暗的都柏林城上空的一朵乌云说。
“只是一阵雨而已，”他说，击碎了我所有疯狂的希望。“喝杯茶怎么样，你想喝点茶吗？”他问道。
“我很乐意。”
于是，我们在雨中穿过马路，来到一家茶馆。我忘了我们聊了什么。我只记得自己幸福得说不出话来，感觉是上帝，或者某个人，把我们带到了一起。我吃了三块蛋糕；他劝我再吃第四块，但我没有，怕显得粗俗。就在那时，他问了我的名字。所以，他确实忘了。
“告诉我，你都读些什么书？”他问道。每当我与他对视时，他都有微笑的习惯，虽然他的眼睛是悲伤的，但他笑起来很好看。
“契诃夫、詹姆斯·乔伊斯、詹姆斯·斯蒂芬斯和……”我突然停住了，以免他认为我在炫耀。
“我改天一定借你一本书，”他说。改天？改天是什么时候，我看着杯底的茶叶想。
“我常常想知道像你这样的年轻女孩在想些什么。你在想什么？”他定定地看了我几秒钟后问道。
我在想你，我想，脸有点红。我用一种沉闷愚蠢的声音对他说：“我真的不怎么想事情；我想的是买新衣服，或者去度假，或者我们午餐吃什么。”
现在回想起来，他似乎叹了口气，而我则咯咯地笑以掩饰我的尴尬，并告诉他有些女孩想嫁给有钱人，我认识的一个女孩只想着她的头发；她每晚都洗头，还测量一周长了多少。他看了看手表，不可避免地，他得走了。
“抱歉，我四点得去见个人。”
“抱歉耽误你了，”我们站起来时我说。他付了账，从门内的帽架上取下帽子。
“谢谢。一次愉快的邂逅，”我们站在石阶上时，他说。
我向他道了谢，他抬了抬帽子，离开了我。我看着他离去。我把他看作一个黑脸的神，转身背对着我。我伸出手想唤回他，却只抓住了雨水。我感觉雨会永远下下去，无声无息。