又中又英｜Gnaw at your emotions

While riding the MTR recently, I saw something happy and something sad. I was standing at one side of a door. A girl of about seven years old and her domestic helper, who had a bag of bananas, were at the other side of the door. A boy of about ten years old and a woman were standing near me. The woman was either his mother or a relative. The little girl was playing with the helper. The helper laughingly took out a banana for the girl to eat. But it was just the peel of an eaten banana.

The girl was annoyed, but then laughed. It was so funny that I stifled a laugh. To stifle your laugh means to stop yourself from laughing. When the boy and the woman reached their stop, the boy covered his eyes with both hands. It was as though he wanted to shut out the world. To shut out the world used this way means to stop yourself from thinking about unpleasant or painful emotions. When the train doors opened, the boy held the steel pole tightly with both hands, refusing to exit. It was only then that I saw he was visually impaired (blind).

The woman dragged him out to the platform, but he refused to walk. She carried him. What I saw still gnaws at my emotions. To gnaw at your emotions means to make you emotional. The boy clearly hasn’t been treated to accept his blindless. Western scientists have found ways to partially cure some blind people with protein injections in the eye. I wish I had told the woman about this, but I did not want to interfere.

最近搭港铁时，我见到一件开心的事，与一件难过的事。我当时站在车门的一边，一个大约七岁的小女孩和她那拿着一袋香蕉的外佣姐姐，则站在门的另一边。一个大约十岁的男孩和一个女人站在我的附近，那女人大概是他的母亲或亲戚吧。小女孩正在跟外佣姐姐玩耍，外佣开玩笑地拿出一条香蕉给女孩吃，但原来只是吃剩的蕉皮。

女孩气恼了，转而又笑了。因为情境太有趣，我不得不stifled a laugh——to stifle your laugh是指要克制自己笑出来。当男孩和女人到站时，男孩用双手掩着眼睛，看来像是想shut out the world——to shut out the world在这里是指制止自己去想那些不快或痛苦的情感。当列车车门打开时，男孩用双手紧握那金属柱，不肯下车。到那时候我才见到他是有视障的（visually impaired）。

女人拉他出去月台，但他不肯走，她便抱着他走。我看到的情境仍然gnaws at my emotions——to gnaw at your emotions是指令你伤感的，像内心有什么在啃咬着你似的。那男孩很显然还没有好好获得治疗去接受自己的失明。西方科学家已找到一些方法，透过在眼睛注射感光蛋白，让一些失明人士恢复部分视力。但愿我能跟那位女士说这些，可是我当时候并不愿多管闲事。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻

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