《美食祈祷和恋爱》Chapter 31 (65):为了学习而退学

Over the next six weeks, I travel to Bologna, to Florence, to Venice, to Sicily, to Sardinia, once more down to Naples, then over to Calabria. These are short trips, mostly—a week here, a weekend there—just the right amount of time to get the feel for a place, to look around, to ask people on the street where the good food is and then to go eat it. I drop out of my Italian language school, having come to feel that it was interfering with my efforts to learn Italian, since it was keeping me stuck in the classroom instead of wandering around Italy, where I could practice with people in person.

接下来的六个礼拜，我去了波隆那、佛罗伦萨、威尼斯、西西里、撒丁，又南下去了一次那不勒斯，而后去了卡拉布里亚。这些短程旅行——这地方待一个礼拜，那地方待一个周末——时间恰恰足以让人感受一个地方，四处参观，问路人哪儿东西好吃，然后去尝尝。我从意大利语言学校退了学，觉得它阻碍我学习意大利语的努力，因其把我困在课堂上，无法周游意大利，和人们面对面练习。

These weeks of spontaneous travel are such a glorious twirl of time, some of the loosest days of my life, running to the train station and buying tickets left and right, finally beginning to flex my freedom for real because it has finally sunk in that I can go wherever I want. I don't see my friends in Rome for a while. Giovanni tells me over the phone, "Sei una trottola" ("You're a spinning top"). One night in a town somewhere on the Mediterranean, in a hotel room by the ocean, the sound of my own laughter actually wakes me up the middle of my deep sleep. I am startled. Who is that laughing in my bed? The realization that it is only me just makes me laugh again. I can't remember now what I was dreaming. I think maybe it had something to do with boats.

Eat, Pray, Love

这几个星期的自发旅游，如此愉快，是我这辈子最闲散的日子。奔去火车站买票，我终于开始认真看待自己的自由，因为我终于会意过来，我能随心所欲地去自己想去的任何地方。我有好一阵子未见罗马的朋友。乔凡尼在电话中告诉我：“Sei una trottola”（你是旋转的陀螺。）某天晚上在地中海边的某个城镇，我在海边的饭店房间内，自己的笑声竟然唤醒沉睡中的我。我大吃一惊。“是谁在我床上大笑？”我发现就只有我自己一人，这使我又笑了起来。我现在记不得梦见什么。我想或许和船有点关系。