波士顿的一天：当欢乐变成震惊

A Joyful Day In Boston Ends In Shock

A marathon is human joy on a grand scale. The training can be solitary, especially on those bleak winter mornings, running in the darkness when all you can hear is your breath and the mad neighborhood dogs, barking at themselves. But the race itself is a jubilant parade, loud and visible for spectators and participants: all those legs of different ages and inspirations, motoring fast and slow over familiar streets.

马拉松是人类的一场大规模欢乐赛事。虽然训练可能是一个人的战斗（尤其是在阴冷冬日的清晨，奔跑在黑暗中，你能听到的所有声响就只有你的呼吸声和邻家狗自顾自的狂吠），但这一赛事本身却是一场兴高采烈的游行，声势浩大，喜气洋洋，对观众和参赛者来说都是如此：一双双不同年龄、让人生出不同联想的腿，或快或慢地经过熟悉的街道。

The energy from the crowd will lift you off your feet. Marathoners will complain about the chafed legs and the blisters but they know the truth: this sport is addictive and affirming, whether you finish in two and-a-half hours or six. This is why marathoning has blossomed in this country, especially in the grass roots, where few people are competing against anything other than themselves. The finish is the thing -- that's where the real joy is. For many men and women who cross that line, completing a marathon becomes one of the happiest days of their lives.

围观人群散发的能量会让你如同置身于云端。马拉松选手或许会因为腿疼、脚起泡而抱怨不已，但他们都知道这样一个真相：这种运动能让人上瘾，能让人肯定自我，不管你用两个半小时跑完还是用六个小时跑完。这就是为什么马拉松能在这个国家、特别是在草根阶层──这些人除了与自己竞争之外几乎就不与任何人或事竞争了──蓬勃兴起的原因。终点线是比赛的意义所在，真正的快乐就在那里。对很多冲过那条线的男人和女人来说，完成一次马拉松是他们人生中感觉最幸福的事之一。

What happened in Boston Monday is a terrible tragedy in any context.

不管从哪种意义上来说，周一发生在波士顿的事件都是一场可怕的悲剧。

It would be awful anywhere, in any setting. But there is something utterly wicked about it happening at such a public location, near the marathon finish line on the storied concrete of Boylston Street. Just steps from what is traditionally the scene of so much personal triumph -- people pushing themselves to limits they never thought they had -- there is only madness and horror.

在任何一种情境下发生这样的事都让人难以接受，但在这样一个公共地点，在人们津津乐道的博伊尔斯顿街(Boylston Street)马拉松赛终点线附近发生这样的事，其间尤其有着一种极其邪恶的意味。传统上，这里是个人享受胜利喜悦的地方，因为他们不断挑战了自己极限，做到了自己此前从未想过能做到的事，但就在离这里只有几步远的地方，疯狂和恐惧成了人们感受到的唯一的东西。

Information from Boston continues to pour in, much of it incomplete, most of it terrifying. The reported tolls are devastating: two dead and at least 100 injured. Victims are said to include both spectators and runners; video from the scene is frantic and terrifying. As first responders rushed to attend to victims, there was mayhem and fear and bursts of news that have proven both true and erroneous. Relatives and friends began the nauseating process of trying to connect with loved ones who'd intended to run. Police urged residents to stay home. Officials halted trains and air traffic. On a day of civic celebration, Boston met the evening on a nervous lockdown.

来自波士顿的消息不停涌入，很多消息都不完整，大多数消息都让人惊恐。新闻报道中的伤亡数量让人震惊：两人死亡，至少100人受伤。据称，受害者当中既有观众也有参赛者。来自现场的视频显示出狂暴、令人惊惧的场面。在首批反应过来的人冲过去照料受害者的时候，人们陷入了慌乱和恐惧，各种消息喷薄而出，有真有假。亲戚朋友心情忐忑地试图与那些曾表示要参加这项赛事的人取得联系。警方敦促民众呆在家里。政府官员停止了火车和飞机交通。在一个本应是民间庆祝的日子里，波士顿在傍晚陷入了紧张的闭锁状态。

An afternoon unraveled in blunt shock. Patriots' Day in Boston is a brilliantly choreographed sports day -- the marathon sets off in the morning, followed by a Red Sox game that begins before lunch and it is possible to finish up at Fenway Park, wander over the Mass Pike and catch a bunch of the race. The marathon has produced some local legends -- Bill Rodgers, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Dick and Rick Hoyt -- but mostly it's about the crowd. The Boston Marathon may be an elite race in which participants are asked to qualify but what makes it memorable are the little things that make any race special: the visible personal battles, played out on public stage, from Hopkinton to Boston.

这个下午发生的一切令人震惊。波士顿的爱国者节一般会安排精彩的体育比赛，马拉松比赛上午开始，随后是在午饭之前开始的红袜队(Red Sox)的比赛。在波士顿芬威公园球场(Fenway Park)看完红袜队的比赛后，你可以闲逛着穿过Mass Pike公路，看一会马拉松比赛。波士顿的马拉松赛事诞生了一些当地的传奇人物：罗杰斯(Bill Rodgers)、萨缪尔森(Joan Benoit Samuelson)、迪克•霍伊特(Dick Hoyt)和瑞克•霍伊特(Rick Hoyt)，但它主要还是属于大多数人的比赛。波士顿马拉松赛可能是一项精英赛事，参与者需要满足一定资格，但是这项比赛最令人难忘的还是一些细节，是从霍普金顿(Hopkinton)到波士顿的众人瞩目的道路上，选手与自身的较量。所有的比赛都会因为这样的细节而不同。

This is a city that has won its share of championships and seen its share of championship parades over the past decade, but Patriots' Day is Boston at its best. Though it's a holiday for many, there's a sense of a whole city playing hooky. It's the best Monday in the history of Mondays.

过去10年，波士顿赢得了一些比赛，也举行过冠军游行，但是爱国者节才是波士顿最好的一天。尽管许多人都过这个节日，但在波士顿总让人感觉这是一个全城庆祝的日子。这是最好的星期一了。

Now it is not. The athletic aspect of the Boston Marathon feels hopelessly unimportant now, as it should. There are dead, there are injured, there are lives permanently changed and trauma that will never completely fade.

这样的记忆已经被改变。波士顿马拉松赛中有关体育的方面让人感到无关紧要了，的确是这样。有人在爆炸中死去，有人受伤，有人的人生被永远改变，有的创伤再也无法完全愈合。

There's also abundant outrage, and justifiably so. The act is unconscionable and the vulnerability is universal. What appears to have happened in Boston could happen anywhere.

除此之外，还有人们强烈的愤怒，人们有理由感到愤怒。这种行径是不可容忍的，全世界都有可能受到伤害。波士顿的遭遇可能发生在任何一个地方。

In the coming days, it is almost certain that more will be learned about the explosions and the motives behind it. A clearer picture will emerge. There will be eyewitness accounts and mourning and a stillness that comes with heartache. What there won't be -- at least for a long time, is a finish line.

未来几天，人们毫无疑问会听到更多有关这次爆炸和背后动机的消息。事情的真相会更加清晰。将会有目击证人的口述和悼念活动，以及伴随着心痛的沉默。有一样东西我们至少在相当长的一段时间里不会看到，那就是终点线。

The end of Boston Marathon was an exhilarating experience for runners, a sharp right off Commonwealth Avenue onto Hereford Street and then a quick left onto Boylston before all that noise and the thrilling final strides.

波士顿马拉松赛终点前的那段路对于参赛者来说本是一次令人愉快的体验，从波士顿联邦大道(Commonwealth Avenue)向右转到赫里福德街(Hereford Street)，然后左转到波伊尔斯顿街(Boylston Street)，随后是人群的欢呼声，以及令人兴奋的最后几步。

That scene, once joyous, is full of pain. Boston is at the beginning of a long, brutal process and the finish now looks, devastatingly, a million miles away.

这个曾经令人愉悦的场景现在却充满痛苦。波士顿正处在一个漫长、残酷过程的起点，而终点现在看起来却在遥不可及的百万英里之外。