Remembering When Brooklyn Was Mine

By Naima Coster

?（憶起我的布魯克林）

1 I have always felt as if Brooklyn belonged to me. At the very least, Fort Greene was mine.

• 我一直覺得布魯克林好像是屬于我的。至少，格林堡曾經(jīng)是我的。

2 While I was growing up in the late 1980s and the 1990s, Fort Greene was notorious for being a rough neighborhood, home to one of New York City’s largest public housing projects. For most of my life, this provided me with incredible and undue street credibility: I survived life in the Fort.

• 我成長于20世紀80年代末到90年代，那時，格林堡臭名昭著，被譽為野蠻街區(qū)，是紐約市最大的公共住房住宅區(qū)之一。在我生命的大部分時間里，這讓我有了一個令人難以置信卻不恰當?shù)慕诸^聲望：我在格林堡生存了下來。

3 When I tell someone I am from Fort Greene now, I get quite a different response. And now I am the one who is troubled by what the neighborhood has become.

• 如今，當我告訴別人我來自格林堡時，我得到的反應大不相同。現(xiàn)在我才是被街區(qū)變化困擾的人。

4 I remember walking with my father one afternoon near Fort Greene Park. It was sunny, and we were holding hands.

• 記得一個午后，我與父親在格林堡公園附近一起散步，那天陽光明媚，我和父親手牽著手。

5 My father, Martin, moved to Fort Greene in 1973 to attend Long Island University. By the time I was born, in 1986, he knew the character of every block around our building. He taught me how to keep safe in the neighborhood.

• 我的父親馬丁1973年搬到格林堡，進入長島大學。到1986年我出生時，他已經(jīng)熟知我們住所周圍每個街區(qū)的特點。他教我如何在街區(qū)里注意安全。

6 “If I’m ever walking with you, Naima, and someone starts bothering us, let go of my hand,” he said.

• 他對我說：“奈瑪，如果我和你走在一起，有人開始騷擾我們，你就放開我的手。”

7 I imagined an encounter I could picture only vaguely: two men, younger than my father, about his size, approaching us, wordlessly, to rob us.

• 我想象著這樣一次遭遇，我只能依稀描繪出來：兩個男人，比父親年輕些，與他身材相仿，向我們走來，什么也不說，搶劫我們的財物。

8 “If I ever drop your hand, you’re to walk away,” my father said. “You, your mother and Luciano leave. Just go.”

• 父親說：“如果我甩開你的手，你就跑得遠遠的。你、你媽媽，還有盧西亞諾都走。什么也別管。”

9 “Who will protect you?” I asked.

• “那誰來保護你呢？”我問道。

10 He smiled and said, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

• 他微笑著說：“別擔心我，我會沒事的?！?/p>

11 Still, when we rode the Q train over the Manhattan Bridge into Chinatown for dumplings and egg cakes, or when we walked to Fulton Street to shop for sneakers and school uniforms, I was trailed by the fear that someone would interrupt our time together, that our lives would change forever, that my father would have to drop my hand.

• 盡管如此，當我們乘坐Q號火車穿過曼哈頓大橋去唐人街買餃子和雞蛋餅時，或是當我們步行到富爾頓街去買運動鞋和校服時，我害怕有人會打斷我們在一起的時光，害怕我們的生活從此永遠改變，害怕我的父親不得不甩開我的手，這種擔憂如影相隨。

12 And although I sneered at people who did not understand Brooklyn, the Fort Greene my father warned us about was real.

• 盡管我嘲笑那些不了解布魯克林的人，但是父親告誡我的那些關于格林堡的事都是真實的。

13 I was reminded when my brother, Luciano, was attacked on the train platform at Nevins Street, or when he came home from playing soccer in the park to report that he had seen one player almost stab another, midgame.

• 當我的弟弟盧西亞諾在內(nèi)文斯街的火車站站臺被襲擊，或是當他從公園踢完球回家告訴我在中場休息時看見 一個隊員差點刺傷另一個隊員的時候，我會想起爸爸告誡我的那些話。

14 I was reminded when gunshots rang out from Myrtle Avenue, and I crept to the living room on my hands and knees, as I had seen people do in movies. My father laughed and told me to stand; no one was aiming for the 12th floor.

• 當槍聲從默特爾大道傳來，我效仿電影里的人用手和膝蓋爬到客廳的時候，也會想起爸爸告誡我的那些話。父親大笑著叫我起來，因為沒有人會朝12樓開槍。

15 Despite these fears, my neighborhood was the only place I had ever lived, and everyone I knew lived there or in a neighborhood like it.

• 盡管有這些擔心，但這里卻是我唯一生活過的地方，而且我認識的每一個人都住在這里或者住在跟它類似的街區(qū)里。

16 I was raised on Fort Greene food: Sicilian slices from Liberty Pizza; multicolored mango ices; greasy Chinese food we ordered when my mother was too tired to cook.

• 我是吃格林堡的食物長大的：西西里島的自由比薩、彩色的芒果冰、母親太累不想做飯時點的油膩的中餐。

17 Fort Greene was getting my hair pulled in the schoolyard, being told I was “Spanish” by the other girls but it not mattering much, jumping Double Dutch and going to the corner store for free quarter waters.

• 在格林堡，我在校園里被人扯頭發(fā)，其他女孩說我是“西班牙人”，但這些都不重要，我跳雙荷蘭舞，去街角的商店買免費的區(qū)水。
  

18 Brooklyn was the photograph of my parents on the day they were married. They are young, wearing pea coats and standing close in the snow, in front of the old Dime Savings Bank.

• 布魯克林意味著我父母結(jié)婚那天的相片。那時他們都還年輕，穿著粗羊毛呢短大衣，站在雪中老舊的戴埃姆儲蓄銀行前相互依偎。

19 I knew Fort Greene was other things, too — the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Spike Lee films, the convergence of a dozen train lines as they entered the borough. Even before I could see Fort Greene begin to change and gentrify, I knew it was a place to defend.

• 我心中的格林堡同時也意味著其他：布魯克林音樂學院、斯派克·李的電影、進入布魯克林區(qū)的12條鐵路的交匯點。甚至在我看到格林堡開始變得高雅前，我就知道，它是一個值得捍衛(wèi)的地方。

20 When I enrolled in a private school on the Upper East Side, I met girls who considered Bloomingdale’s downtown and Brooklyn another planet. They had never any other part of Brooklyn: poor, black, violent. I gave heard about Fort Greene, but they assumed it was just like up my sometime-habit of saying I was from “Downtown Brooklyn” or “near Brooklyn Heights”. I declared myself proudly. Fort Greene.

• ?當我入讀上東區(qū)的一所私立學校時，遇到一些女孩子，她們認為布魯明戴爾的市中心和布魯克林簡直就是另一個星球。她們以前從來沒有聽說過格林堡，但是她們想當然地認為格林堡和布魯克林的其他地方一樣：貧窮、黑暗、?暴力。我以前有段時間習慣說我來自“布魯克林市區(qū)”或是“布魯克林高地附近”。后來，我摒棄了這種習慣，驕傲地說，我來自格林堡。

21 At Yale, when I introduced myself as a Fort Greene girl, I faced the same question from fellow students and job recruiters, “How did you get here?”

• 在耶魯，當我介紹自己是來自格林堡的女孩時，我會面臨來自同學和招聘人員問的同一個問題：“你是怎么成功走到這一步的？”

22 But when I returned for holiday breaks and summers, I felt my neighborhood being eclipsed by change. The area had been gentrifying for a long time, but only after being away did I see how rapidly the neighborhood was being remodeled: white faces, modern condos, demolition and reconstruction were indisputable evidence that after I graduated I would not be able to afford to move back to my Fort Greene.

• 但是當我假期和夏天回來時，我感覺我的街區(qū)因變化而黯然失色。在很長一段時間里，這個地方一直在改善， 但是只有離開一段時間后，我才發(fā)現(xiàn)街區(qū)正發(fā)生著迅猛的變化：白人面孔、現(xiàn)代公寓樓、拆除和重建毋庸置疑地表明在我畢業(yè)以后，我將無力搬回我的格林堡了。

23 I had changed, too, on the Upper East Side and at Yale. Back home, I felt dwarfed by new buildings, new neighbors and new shops, but I had learned how to engage with strangers and what to order in a café. I could navigate the new emerging culture that was not mine because of the years I had spent away.

• 在上東區(qū)和耶魯時，我也變了?；氐郊遥陆ㄖ?、新鄰居和新商店讓我覺得自己特別矮小，但是我已經(jīng)學會怎樣 與陌生人打交道，并且知道在咖啡店該點些什么。因為多年在外，我能夠駕馭不屬于我的這種新興文化。

24 In recent years, I have been invited by former classmates to have drinks or dinner in the neighborhood. These invitations make me worry that Brooklyn is dying and that I am somehow a part of it. I worry that although the brownstones and trees and rolling hills of Fort Greene Park will remain, the soul of the neighborhood will be gone, transformed into something that I can understand but cannot feel.

• 近年來，我以前的同學常邀請我在這街區(qū)喝茶或吃飯。這些邀請讓我擔心布魯克林正在消亡，從某個方面來說，我也是如此。我擔心盡管格林堡公園的褐色沙石、樹木和綿延起伏的山丘將保留，但街區(qū)的靈魂將不復存在，變成一些我可以理解卻無法感受的東西。

25 My parents, now retired, are among the lucky ones; their apartment is rent-stabilized and they have been able to stay. Everyone else is gone, except for a few neighbors who managed to buy their apartments. My parents never bought their apartment, and now they never will.

• 我的父母現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)退休，他們是幸運的人。他們住的公寓租金穩(wěn)定并且能夠長住。除了少數(shù)能夠買得起房子的鄰居，其他人都走了。我的父母從沒買過房子，以后也不會買了。

26 Now, when I tell someone I am from Fort Greene, there are no groans or raised eyebrows or easy dismissals. There is not the hush of awed respect, but rather an exceedingly pleasant, “How lovely!” or “Great area.”

• 如今，當我告訴別人我來自格林堡時，他們不再發(fā)出不屑的聲音，或者皺眉頭，抑或輕易解雇我。也沒有令人敬畏的沉默，取而代之的是異常愉悅的話“不錯的地方”或者“好地方”。

27 When people tell me Fort Greene is a wonderful neighborhood, I say, I know. I have known for a long time. My mother knew, and so did my father —— even when he told me to be proud of where I come from, but to be ready to run and leave him behind.

• 當別人告訴我格林堡是個極好的地方時，我說，我知道。我很久以前就已經(jīng)知道了。我的母親知道，我的父親也知道——即使他告訴我要為自己的家鄉(xiāng)感到驕傲，但應準備好前行，然后離開他。

?