She was dancing. My crippled grandmother was dancing. I stood in the living room doorway absolutely stunned. I glanced at the kitchen table and sure enough-right under a small, framed drawing on the wall-was a freshly baked peach pie.
她在跳舞。我那身有殘疾的祖母居然在跳舞。我站在客廳的門口，被徹底驚呆了。我掃了一眼廚房的餐桌，果不其然，在餐桌上——墻上那幅小小的鑲框畫像的正下方——有一塊新鮮出爐的烤蜜桃派。
I heard her sing when I opened the door but did not want to interrupt the beautiful song by yelling I had arrived, so I just tiptoed to the living room. I looked at how her still-lean body bent beautifully, her arms greeting the sunlight that was pouring through the window. And her legs… Those legs that had stiffly walked, aided with a cane, insensible shoes as long as I could remember. Now she was wearing beautiful dancing shoes and her legs obeyed her perfectly. No limping. No stiffness. Just beautiful, fluid motion. She was the pet of the dancing world. And then she’d had her accident and it was all over. I had read that in an old newspaper clipping.
當我推門進屋的時候，我聽到了她在唱歌，但我不想大喊自己回來了，不想打斷那美妙的歌聲，于是我踮著腳尖走到客廳。我看著她那依然消瘦的身體優雅地彎下，她的手臂迎向從窗口傾瀉而入的陽光。而她的腿……自我能記事以來，她總是拄著拐杖，穿著便鞋，走起路來腿腳僵硬。可現在，她正穿著美麗的舞鞋，而她的雙腿完全聽從著她的支配。不再蹣跚，不再僵硬。只有優美、流暢的動作。她曾是舞蹈界的寵兒。可是后來她遭遇了一場意外，舞蹈生涯因此而結束。我是從一張老舊的剪報中讀到這個的。
She turned around in a slow pirouette and saw me standing in the doorway. Her song ended, and her beautiful movements with it, so abruptly that it felt like being shaken awake from a beautiful dream. The sudden silence rang in my ears. Grandma looked so much like a kid caught with her hand in a cookie jar that I couldn’t help myself, and a slightly nervous laughter escaped. Grandma sighed and turned towards the kitchen. I followed her, not believing my eyes. She was walking with no difficulties in her beautiful shoes. We sat down by the table and cut ourselves big pieces of her delicious peach pie.
她緩緩地轉身做了一個足尖旋轉，見到我站在門口。她的歌聲嘎然而止，還有她那優美的動作，一切停止得如此突然，感覺像是從一場美夢中被人搖醒了。突如其來的寂靜沖擊著我的耳朵。祖母看起來很像是一個伸手從餅干罐里偷吃卻被抓了個正著的小孩，我不禁發出了一陣略帶一絲緊張的大笑。祖母嘆了口氣，轉身走向廚房。我跟在她身后，還是不敢相信自己的眼睛。她穿著那雙美麗的舞鞋，行走自如。我們坐在了桌邊，從她那美味的蜜桃派中切出了大大的幾塊，倆人一起吃。
“So…” I blurted, “How did your leg heal?”
“那么……”我脫口而出道，“你的腿是怎么好了的?”
“To tell you the truth—my legs have been well all my life,” she said.
“跟你說實話吧——我的腿一直都挺好的，”她說。
“But I don’t understand!” I said, “Your dancing career… I mean… You pretended all these years?
“可是我不明白!”我說，“你的舞蹈事業……我是說……難道這些年來你一直在假裝?”
“Very much so,” Grandmother closed her eyes and savored the peach pie, “And for a very good reason.”
“的確如此，”祖母閉上眼睛，品嘗著蜜桃派，“而且是因為一個非常好的理由。”
“What reason?”
“什么理由?”
“Your grandfather.”
“你的祖父。”
“You mean he told you not to dance?”
“你是說，他讓你不要再跳舞了?”
“No, this was my choice. I am sure I would have lost him if I had continued dancing. I weighed fame and love against each other and love won.”
“不，這是我自己的選擇。我確信如果我再繼續跳舞的話，我就會失去他了。我權衡名利和愛情孰輕孰重之后，選擇了愛情。”
