小A杂谭

我家门前的鸟巢

zhuhanhua — Tue, 12 August 2008 21:17:40 -0300

08/12/2008

我家门前的这棵枫树，不辜负我殷勤看顾，已经长得挺拔茂盛。

隔壁几个孩子放学后在我前院玩耍，发现了这个鸟巢。它虽然没有北京的鸟巢那么气派，但却更能体现和谐的大自然。片片绿叶掩映下，三两根枯草残枝也能构建出一个安全温软的家。

孩子们搬来梯子上去看，发现里面有两只小鸟。小朋友个个小心翼翼地细心观察，没有一个人想去掏一下鸟窝----那可是我童年时的爱好。

明天早上估计鸟妈妈会来喂食，到时候继续给大家贴新的照片。

请为这些一身正气的海外华人喝彩

zhuhanhua — Sun, 02 March 2008 19:19:42 -0300

03/02/2008

前两天，几位华人用他们集体的智慧和勇气，齐心协力，将在新西兰杀妻弃女的逃亡疑犯薛乃印抓捕归案，感动了我所在的城市----美国亚特兰大。

事情的经过几乎像好莱坞巨片。齐金波、吴桂森、陈伟、李新宝四人，都是极普通的在美华人。他们分别在不同的餐馆打工。由于不通英文，他们只能在Chinatown（中国城）附近工作和生活。但他们和所有的海外华人一样，勤劳善良、乐观热心。薛乃印隐姓埋名逃亡到亚特兰大的时候，他们并不知道这是一个跨国通缉的逃犯。所以，在鼠年春节的时候，他们还热情地招待了这个同胞。但细心的齐金波在最近的一次聚会中发现了可疑线索。聚会后，薛乃印主动提出开车送齐金波回家，齐金波猛然发现薛的德州车牌换成了纽约州车牌，疑窦顿生。老齐联想到最近华文报纸的相关报道，与其他三人一起对比照片，认定这人就是杀人逃犯薛乃印。他们立即选择了报警。

2月27号晚上，他们拿着印有薛乃印照片的华文报纸，来到当地警察局报警。可惜，由于语言不通，接待的黑人女警怎么也不明白他们的意思。女警察想出了一招，让他们在警察局打911报警电话，美国的紧急电话基本上都有中文接线服务。齐金波让中文接线警官告诉这位女警，他们发现了在逃疑犯，并且约好了他次日在一家加油站见面。折腾了大半天，女警官也好不容易在电脑里找到薛乃印的妻子和女儿的相关信息。可就在这时候，让老齐他们意想不到的事情发生了。这个女警官到点要下班，扔给他们一句“very good（很好）”后，居然拍屁股就走了。（美国这种事情并不少见，以前还发生过押送犯人的囚车司机半路到点下班，将犯人和囚车撂在路上的怪事。有时候尊重了个人权利，却牺牲了社会责任。）接班的警官同样弄不明白他们的意思，草草地告诉他们下次发现薛乃印的话，继续拨打911报警。

报警没有结果，而老齐他们又已经约好了薛乃印的下次见面。几个人一合计，这样的危险分子多一天在外，对社会就多一份危险。他们决定自己动手，对薛乃印实施抓捕行动。作出这样的决定，在美国来说真的是需要莫大的勇气，因为美国是很容易就能搞到枪的，而薛作为身负命案的逃犯，很有可能身上藏有枪械。而且薛习武出身，身强体壮，不是一般人可以制服得了。但强烈的正义感让老齐他们把个人的安危放在了一旁。吴桂森在事后接受媒体采访的时候说，他们这么做是因为这是件正义的事情，是为在美华人争光的事情。华人在美国生活，也应当维护美国人的利益、维护美国的社会秩序。“这种思想觉悟我们还是有的”。吴桂森说道。

抓捕的过程同样一波三折。惶惶不可终日的薛乃印并没有出现在约定的加油站，而是去了中国城的一家“大华超市”。辗转另约了几个地方，老齐他们成功地把薛约到了一家中国面馆。期间，吴桂森还让加油站的一位出租司机帮忙打电话报警，但仍未能有效地沟通清楚。

到面馆之后，老齐他们发现这不是一个实施抓捕的好地方，因为万一薛身上藏有枪械的话，可能会伤及其他人。于是，他们灵机一动，邀薛饭后去附近一个华人朋友家，继续谈关于帮助薛开按摩店的事情。到家里谈了一会儿之后，老齐和吴桂森以买点菜为借口溜了出来，再次找到附近的一辆警车报警。这一次，借助一位银行华人女职员的翻译，警察算是明白了怎么回事儿，可老齐他们却说不清楚薛所在的具体地址。无奈之下，这个警察居然又让吴桂森去附近的加油站打911报警！由于担心屋里的同伴出意外，吴桂森和齐金波选择了赶回现场。看清门牌地址后，吴桂森留在外面继续打电话报警，齐金波回到屋里，给另外两个同伴使了个眼色。按照事先安排好的分工，与陈伟、李新宝一道，一举将薛乃印合力制服住。约半个小时后，警察才出现。这个跨国逃亡了近半年的杀人凶手终于落网。

齐金波、吴桂森他们的英雄般事迹很快通过电视、报纸传扬开来。参与追捕薛乃印行动的洛杉矶移民局负责人称赞他们“做了一件很伟大的事，他们恰恰做到了我们想要美国公民要做的事。”。但老齐他们觉得这并没有什么特别的，因为这都是他们应该做的事情，他们甚至不知道追捕薛乃印有悬赏，即便是提供有用的信息都可以获得一大笔奖励。参与行动的李新宝说：“我们只是凭良心做事，伸张了正义。这对社会安全、对受害人都有交待。”言语朴实无华，但金子般的品格却熠熠闪亮。他们的确为我们所有在海外的华人争了光，为我们国家争了光。在齐金波、吴桂森、陈伟、李新宝这些极其普通的海外华人身上，让世界看到了中华民族见义勇为、嫉恶如仇的优秀品德，让世界看到了中华儿女机智勇敢、无私无畏的气概。我的几个邻居看到电视上的新闻之后，都特地跑到我家里来，激动地说：“中国人，太伟大了，太了不起了。”那一刻，我万分自豪，我是中国人！感谢我们伟大的祖国母亲，几千年的优良传统我们从来都不会丢弃、未敢忽忘，无论身在何地，无论脚踏何方。

在这个见利勇为、甚至见利为所欲为的世界里，几个平凡的海外华人，用自己的行动，书写了一段高尚的篇章。请为这些一身正气的海外华人喝彩----因为，中国有了他们，变得更加美丽！

[金鼠闹新春•随笔] 过年谈吃

zhuhanhua — Sun, 17 February 2008 00:52:03 -0300

02/16/2008

民以食为天。大过年的，吃，是头等大事。所以，今儿咱别的不谈，专门谈吃。

   打娘胎里生下来，吃的头一样东西，居然是黄连！这事儿起先我是不知道的，也没人跟我商量。后来读书了，焚膏继晷、悬梁刺股，刻苦勤学的小样儿每次都能骗得高分，老爹一开心就说漏了嘴：说是他喂我那第一口黄连的功劳，所以我特别能吃苦！！！这完全不符合唯物主义的理论嘛！考虑到我爹算一自首，也就大人有大量，没跟他秋后算账。
   小时候家里成分不好，爹娘都是臭老九，印象里的吃都很马虎。中午算是正餐，青菜是俺娘菜场快休市时扫荡来的，价格贼便宜，自然免不了大量黄叶夹杂其中。老家在湖边，鱼算是最廉价的食品，所以餐餐有鱼。鱼，也是小鱼，或煎或炸，酥脆可口，连骨头都不用吐。（俺娘说俺从小就不缺钙，估计道理正在于此！）偶尔遇到奄奄一息的大鱼，鱼贩子忍疼贱卖，我就可以一饱口福了。我特别爱吃鱼头，每每小心翼翼地咬开鱼头盖骨，伸嘴一嘬那鱼脑，经喉爽滑落肚，快意顿生！当时真以为这就是人生最大享受！有鱼如此，夫复何求！而晚餐一般都非常含糊，剩饭剩菜热一热，便对付了漫漫长夜的辘辘饥肠。现在，每每看到新闻里说谁谁出席晚宴，都要在心底鄙视一番：浪费粮食嘛，睡觉前还那么狼吞虎咽！
   快乐时光通常在年末岁尾，农历新年将至。外婆家张罗着杀猪的时候，我一定会强烈地提出到外婆家探亲的申请，这个申请通常俺娘都会给俺签证的。看杀猪的过程虽说是一种折磨，但一想到那热气腾腾的心肺汤、梅菜煨猪肠等等，那凄厉的尖叫却也不怎么刺耳了。大块吃肉，大碗喝汤，幸福原来就这么简单。闲暇时，还有更多的炒蚕豆、炒花生、冻米糖做零食，外婆偶尔会谨慎地提醒：“还没过年呢，瓶瓶罐罐的都吃空啦！”（每念及此，黯然神伤。愿亲爱的外婆在天堂也有炒蚕豆、炒花生、冻米糖，分给小天使们吃。）

中学之后，所有的心思都在高考上，关于吃的记忆非常模糊。也难怪，那时候高考千军万马过独木桥，哪像现在的大学那么好考！这一段乏善足陈，略过不表。

大学里大部分的吃都在食堂里。大锅菜的味道，虽然跟俺娘的手艺比起来差老大一截，但品种却丰富得多。由于有财政补贴，所以收费也不高。每餐都能换着花样吃，也算是一种境界了。后来还认识了一食堂掌勺的美女，每次轮到我，总是挑好的舀给我，分量十足。投我以木瓜，报之以琼瑶。虽不必牺牲色相，眉来眼去的送点儿秋波还是必要的。直到俺们班的老大发现了教师食堂的菜色更好、而且学生亦可混迹其中之后，俺和掌勺美女的眉目传情划上了句号。现在偶尔回想起来，依稀还记得那掌勺美女挥舞大勺的倩影，只是不知道她是否还记得我手捧大碗的雄姿！伤心桥下春波绿，曾是惊鸿照影来，错过的，也许就永远错过了。（念及此，又神伤。愿掌勺美女家庭幸福，仍能挥动大勺给她的爱人舀满勺的甜蜜）
大学里也不尽吃食堂。时不时地会到校门外的小餐馆搓一顿。搓一顿通常都会找个因头，或是拿了奖学金，或是比赛得了名次。最特别的一次，俺们寝室的八大爷们为隆重庆祝三八妇女节，也出去搓了一顿。三五个小炒，加上花生米、辣椒酱，对付了几瓶四特酒。寝室里的蚊子同学喝得酩酊大醉，狂喊着要到女生寝室去联欢，不是给俺们老大拉住，估计那晚蚊子同学就交待了，非判个流氓罪不可！去年三八节，蚊子同学带了一大帮妇女同志到上海来玩，蚊子同学说：只要是三八节，就安排单位的女同事联欢。奶奶的，要把大学没做成的事情补上！

第一份工作是在机关里。朝南坐的衙门，油水真的很足。每次到下面去检查工作，基层总把吃看成是接待的核心内容。菜，挑贵的点；酒，挑好的喝。几年吃下来，体重由大学时的100斤出头骤增至150斤，好好一个帅哥就在推杯问盏的腐败生活中沦落得肥肥胖胖，光长肉不长智慧了。抛开这点遗憾，从吃的角度来看，偶认为自己是上了一个档次的。知道了霸王别姬别的是乌骨鸡，游龙戏凤戏的是小鸽子。关于这一段经历，还有个不得不说的花边新闻。咱们局长带领我们下去腐败的时候，最爱去XX市财政局，究其原因，（我也是事后才从小道得知）是因为那里负责接待工作的人事科长是个女同志。所谓饮食男女，当男女一起饮酒食饭频繁了，难免吃出火花来。人事科长虽貌不出众，但半老徐娘，风韵犹佳。而局长见她，往往是酒后色眼。一来二往，整出了男女问题。吃掉乌纱帽的，咱那个局长算一个。好在他事后总结里，并没把责任推在吃上，只说酒后犯了迷糊。

成家之后，有了自家厨房。可惜工作繁忙，总也没时间下厨。而老婆翻来覆去，除了蛋炒饭，还是蛋炒饭。在经历了N次蛋炒饭的煎熬之后，我作出了一生中最重大的决定：到丈母娘家蹭饭！！！实践证明，这个决定何其英明。丈母娘家其实真正掌管着厨务大政的是老丈人。丈母娘偶尔打打下手洗棵葱剥个蒜什么的，老丈人凭着职业敏锐都能挑出小错误来。照说我吃遍大江南北、各地菜系，早就对菜谱里的东西耳熟能详了。可老丈人一出手，俺就由衷地折服了。山外有山天外天，丈人出手谱新篇！老丈人做的菜我且不说，就拿煲汤的绝活来举例。一般人的概念里，广东人最能煲汤。广东男人找老婆的标准之一据说就是煲得一手靓汤。可和我老丈人一比，那叫小巫见大巫，小煲见大煲。信手拈来一周汤谱，让各位看官长长见识：周一，老丈人煲香菇鸡汤。传统配方，中规中矩。那味道，就一个字：鲜！周二，鸡汤有结余，还有半只鸡没吃完呢，老丈人锐意改革，煲了个冬瓜香菇鸡汤。传统配方改良，那味道，就两个字：好喝！周三，鸡汤仍有结余，鸡也还剩些骨架呢，老丈人大胆尝试，煲了个土豆冬瓜香菇鸡汤。突破旧框架，增加新内容。那味道，就三个字：汤、汤、汤！（感谢恒源祥提供创意。）周四，鸡汤还有结余，鸡头鸡爪也都安在呢。老丈人与时俱进，煲了个番茄土豆冬瓜香菇鸡汤。咱国家天天讲和谐，不喝这汤，你还真不知道和谐是什么呢。那味道，就四个字：非常鸡汤！周五，鸡汤剩余不多，鸡也全部扫荡光了，呵呵，这回老丈人没辙了吧？答案：错！老丈人奇思妙想，煲了个豆腐番茄土豆冬瓜香菇鸡汤。此时无鸡胜有鸡，于无鸡处喝鸡汤。那味道，就五个字：喝了还想喝！！！如果说中国的改革总设计师是小平爷爷的话，那么，厨艺改革的总设计师一定是我老丈人！！！！！！（三九严寒，想必老丈人仍在厨房辛勤劳作。借此机会，对他老人家的默默奉献表达最高的敬意！）

刚到美国那阵子，忙于安家落户，三天两头汉堡、薯条地将就。不出俩月，体重猛增10多磅。痛定思痛，胖后思胖，资本主义的糟粕必须坚决抵制。蛋炒饭老婆开始潜心钻研。感谢TV、感谢互联网，半年的实践摸索，辅之以我和女儿的以身试餐，老婆厨艺已然突飞猛进。我原本以为蛋炒饭能升级到扬州炒饭就算了不起了，事实证明大错特错。将门无弱女，老丈人的基因注定了新一代融会中西的超级厨师必然诞生！现在，隔三岔五餐桌上总会有惊喜。豪气冲天的老婆甚至动了开餐馆的念头，打算拯救美国佬依然水深火热的饮食习惯呢！

生有涯，而食无涯。新春佳节之际，在大洋彼岸的我们，祝福天下人都能丰衣足食。吃出健康，吃出快乐。

Happy Valentine's day!

zhuhanhua — Thu, 14 February 2008 18:05:40 -0300

02/14/2008

今天是西方世界的情人节（Valentine’s day）。1800年前，Saint Valentine因违背罗马暴君的禁止举行婚礼的命令，坚持为年轻人悄悄举行婚礼，被捕入狱。在等待执行死刑的日子里，他爱上了一个监狱守卫的女儿。执行死刑的当天，他写了封信给这个姑娘表达爱慕。这就是情人节的由来。

情人节这天，西方的传统是exchanging notes, flowers and love(交换小纸条、花，互述爱意)，这天旅馆的生意会异常火爆，大量的情侣、无论老幼，会选择去开个房间浪漫浪漫，算是典型的一晌贪欢。而学生们会带上很多的notes和礼物，与老师同学们互换。我女儿今天放学回来，带回来一大堆的love notes和糖果。

情人节是天下有情人的节日，今天看到google的这个logo，浪漫得要命。美国人还真是越老越romantic，我的一个朋友Joe，80多岁的二战老兵，前些日子自己偷偷开车出去给老婆买情人节礼物，藏在家里打算情人节这天surprise his wife。但他和我一样不幸，礼物被老婆无意中发现了。虽然没了surprise，但happiness一点不少。

情人节不单是异性恋人(heterosexuals)的节日，也属于同性恋人（homosexuals）。以前，在同性恋不被大部分社会接受的时候，同性恋人常常选择这一天游行，来争取权益。而现在，他们可以开始享受这同样属于他们的节日。以上两幅招贴，就是送给gay couples的。

Happy Valentine’s day every guy！

儿女心事总如云（译）

zhuhanhua — Mon, 11 February 2008 15:42:17 -0300

华尔街日报本周末头版，用很长的篇幅讲述了这么一则爱情故事。

问世间，情为何物？生活在俗世中的你我，爱情、亲情、生活、工作、信仰、道德，凡此种种，哪一天不在心底里纠结缠绕？你得到了什么？你又失去了什么？也许我们成天在意的，往往是最不值得在意的；而我们成天忽视的，可能在失去后才蓦然发觉，那才是最珍贵的。看过这篇故事，心绪久久难平；突然感觉，好多年的生活过得真的草率。我希望所有的读者都能细细看、细细回味深思。

用这篇故事送给所有的朋友们，祝你们情人节快乐！

The heart has its reasons 儿女心事总如云

By KEVIN HELLIKER
February 9, 2008; Page A1

For 46 years, Toby Phalen Young was a model of propriety.

46年来，Toby Phalen Young一直是行为端庄的楷模。

Married to her high-school sweetheart since the age of 20, Ms. Young was a respected mother, business professional and philanthropist. She found homes for stray dogs and did volunteer work at a prison. She never even got a traffic ticket. Her siblings called her "goody two shoes."

20岁便嫁给高中情人的Young女士，是人们眼里的好母亲、职业商人和慈善家。她收留流浪犬，到监狱做义工。她甚至从未吃过交通罚单。她的兄弟姐妹们都叫她“乖乖女”。

Almost exactly two years ago, however, on the eve of Valentine's Day, Ms. Young used her volunteer status at Lansing Correctional Facility to smuggle out a convicted murderer. At age 27, John Manard had convinced the 48-year-old Ms. Young of his undying love for her. Before running off with him, she withdrew $42,000 from her retirement plan, purchased a getaway vehicle and packed it with her belongings. Her husband found a pair of pistols missing from their home, a discovery that turned the fugitive lovers into America's most-wanted couple.

然而，两年前的情人节前夜，Young女士利用其在兰辛监狱义工的身份，协助27岁的杀人犯John Manard潜逃。John Manard视48岁的Young为其一生中至爱。为了逃亡，她从退休金中提取了42000美元，买了辆车，并带上了嫁妆。直到她的老公发现家里两把枪丢了，这对亡命鸳鸯才东窗事发，成为美国头号通缉情侣。

（Young在监狱服刑）

The escape brought a parade of journalists into this blue-collar town across the river from glittering Kansas City, Mo. But nobody here could or would offer insight into the sudden wild streak of a community pillar who lived down the street from her parents in the only town she'd ever called home.

逃亡事件导致了一场新闻工作者的游行，他们越过堪萨斯州河流来到这个蓝领小镇。但他们也许永远无法洞悉这位生于斯、长于斯的社区栋梁所做的狂野举措。

Even after federal authorities located the fugitives in a honeymoon cabin in Tennessee, Ms. Young's friends and loved ones reserved judgment. Many were convinced she had fallen under the spell of a manipulator at a vulnerable time, when her father was dying and Ms. Young herself was recovering from cancer.

Young的朋友和热爱她的人们一直坚信事出有因。当时Young的父亲生命垂危，她本人也刚从癌症中恢复过来，魔咒在脆弱的时候俘虏了她。直到联邦当局在田纳西德一家蜜月小木屋找到这对逃亡者。

"In the middle of a mid-life crisis, she got caught in the trap of a no-good rotten con artist," says Michael Peterson, a state legislator here who has known Ms. Young's family, the Phalens, since the 1950s. Adds her attorney, Michael Harris: "Toby is lucky not to be lying in a ditch in Appalachia with a bullet in her head."

“中年危机的非常时期，她坠入了道德败坏的大骗子设计的陷阱，”自打1950年代就跟Young家庭认识的州立法委员Michael Peterson说道。她的律师Michael Harris补充说：“Toby没有在Appalachia刑场被枪决算是幸运的了。”

Yet in Ms. Young's account, the first she has offered publicly since her arrest two years ago, Mr. Manard didn't wrong her and never would have. "Everybody wants me to hate him, but I don't," she says, visibly embarrassed to be sitting on the inmate side of plexiglass, a telephone pressed to her ear.

然而，两年前Young被逮捕后的首次公开声明中，她坚称Manard没有害她，永远不会。“谁都希望我恨他，但我不会，”局促地坐在隔着监狱玻璃的另一头，她把电话听筒靠着耳边，悠悠说道。

Her guilty pleas to felony charges in state court in 2006 and federal court last year offered no insight into the motivation behind her crimes, and she never provided any to the media -- in part, she says, for fear no one would understand. She cites a quote, from French philosopher Pascal, that she recently came across in prison, where she reads a book a day: "The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of."

2006年她接受重罪指控，但联邦法庭对她犯罪动机语焉不详，她也从未对媒体提及—--她认为无人能懂的理由。她引用最近在监狱里读到的法国哲学家Pascal书中的一段话：“儿女心事总如云，悠悠渺渺凭谁述？”

（John Manard）

Her husband of 28 years, a fire captain named Patrick Young, has rejected all requests for interviews. For this article, he declined to return calls placed to his home, his cell phone and his place of work. "I want to assure you that no matter what may come of this, it will remain a private and personal matter," Mr. Young said in a statement to the media following Ms. Young's arrest.

结婚28年的丈夫、消防中队长Patrick Young谢绝了所有的采访，他家里、单位和手机的回复请求也一概被拒。他在Young女士被捕后的媒体公开声明中说：“无论事件如何进展，我希望你们明白这都将是个人隐私。”

In a prison cell elsewhere in Kansas, meanwhile, Mr. Manard professes his love for her. "I miss her so much, I'd have to wipe out an entire rainforest to put it on paper," he said in a recent letter to The Wall Street Journal.

其间，在堪萨斯州的某个监狱，Manard先生表露了他们的爱情。“我是如此想她，用整个森林做纸，也写不完我的思念。”他在最近给华尔街日报的信里写道。

The felonies that cost Ms. Young her home, marriage, financial security and freedom might never have occurred if she had shared her unhappiness with someone other than an inmate seeking to woo her. But she had lived her life according to a family credo, she says: "Phalens don't complain. Phalens suck it up."

重罪的代价是她的家庭、婚姻、财产和自由。如果她能将心中郁结与他人倾诉，而不是跟一个渴慕她的囚犯流露，这一切原本不该发生。可惜，她活在家族教义里，她说：“Phalen家族默默承受，从不抱怨。”

Even by those standards, Ms. Young's father, James Phalen, stood out. At age 27, he nearly died in a fire that burned off his ears and hospitalized him for six months. Upon discharge, he could barely move his arms, so tight was his scalded flesh. Returning to his job as a machinist at the railroad, however, he didn't seek work that would accommodate this limitation. Instead, he sought the most-hated job on his shift -- crawling under an engine and reaching up to replace its brake shoes -- for the purpose of painfully forcing that skin to stretch. It was a story he sometimes told when he heard his children complaining.

Young的父亲James Phalen坚守着这些教义标准。他听到孩子们抱怨时，常常会讲这样一个故事：当他27岁的时候，一场几乎夺去性命的火灾烧掉了他的双耳，他住了6个月的医院。出院的时候，烧伤的肌肤紧缩，使得他几乎只能移动上肢。回到单位，作为铁路机修工的他并没有借此理由换个轻松的活儿。相反，他选择了班组里最讨厌的活儿----爬到机车发动机下面换刹车片，目的就是承受剧疼来拉伸皮肤。

Of the seven Phalen children, none took it to heart more than the oldest, Toby. "'Great' was the only answer Toby ever gave to 'How's it going?'" says her youngest sister, Amy Phalen, an Arkansas housewife.

Phalen的七个小孩中，唯有年长的Toby将此铭刻于心。她最小的妹妹、阿肯色州家庭主妇Amy Phalen说：“每次问Toby近况，她唯一的回答就是‘很好’。”

At the Catholic high school where her grandmother had been a teacher and her father a football standout, Ms. Young is still remembered as the pep-club president, a straight-A student and the steady girlfriend of a baseball star named Pat Young. A good-looking kid from a troubled part of town, Pat hung out so often in the Phalen house that Toby's younger siblings say they considered him a brother. "Shy, quiet, polite," is how Ms. Phalen, Toby's sister, describes her former brother-in-law, whom she says she loves.

在Young祖母曾任教、她父亲曾是橄榄球明星的天主教高中，Young给人留下的印象是活力俱乐部主席、优等生及棒球明星Pat Young的固定女友。Pat在乱哄哄的小镇上显得鹤立鸡群，他频繁出入于Phalen家，Toby的小弟妹们视其为兄长。Toby的妹妹Phalen女士对这位姐姐曾爱过的前姐夫印象是“腼腆、文静、优雅”。

At age 20, Pat and Toby married. Of the 200 members of the Bishop Ward High class of 1975, dozens married their high-school sweethearts. These unions in part reflected a belief in church teachings: When a Bishop Ward couple started thinking about having sex, marriage was the right thing to do. And among her siblings, Toby was known as fanatical about doing the right thing. "She was less like a sister than like a third parent," says Ms. Phalen.

Pat和Toby在20岁时结婚。1975年那个时期，在这个拥有200名成员的高级教区，成打的人跟高中恋人结婚。这类婚姻大都源于教堂灌输给他们的信仰：教区的恋人举办婚礼后方可做爱。Toby是教义的忠实信徒。“她看上去不象是姐姐更像是家长。”Phalen说到。

Pat became a fireman, Toby a secretary. They bought a house not far from her parents and had three children within seven years. The middle child, their only daughter, died a few hours after birth.

Pat当上了消防队员，Toby找了份秘书的工作。他们在靠近父母的地方买了房子，7年里生育了3个小孩。老二、他们唯一的女儿，生下来几个小时就夭折了。

Ms. Young says her method of handling that setback, and hardship generally, was to stay busy. While raising two sons and working full-time, she attended college at night and obtained two undergraduate business degrees. She landed a job at Sprint Corp., where she became a project manager specializing in systems analysis. "Toby figured out a way to make any process more efficient," says Steven Smith, a tax expert who worked with Ms. Young on several projects at Sprint.

Young通常对付挫折困苦的方式就是让自己忙碌。她在带两个儿子并且全职上班的同时，还去读夜大学，拿了两个商务大学的学位。她在Sprint公司供职，成为负责系统分析的项目经理。在Sprint曾与Young合作过数个项目的税务专家Steven Smith回忆道：“Toby总能找出解决方案，使得流程更高效。”

In 2001, she was earning a six-figure income as a member of a project at Sprint called ION, an attempt to bundle telephone and Internet services. But the attacks of 9/11 rocked the economy at a time when Sprint was already reeling from the failure of its proposed merger with MCI WorldCom Inc. In October 2001, Sprint killed the ION project and laid off most of ION's work force, ending Ms. Young's 14-year career at the company.

2001年，她成为Sprint一个旨在捆绑电话和互联网服务的ION计划的高管，收入也达到了6位数。但911袭击重创经济，而Sprint与MCI国际电讯的合并也告失败，Sprint终止了ION计划，遣散了ION工作组，Young在这家公司14年的职业生涯宣告结束。

Reeling from the loss of her executive dreams, she bounced around: She started a Web-design venture with her 20-something son, enrolled in nursing school, began working part time at a veterinary clinic. Then a lump on her neck turned out to be thyroid cancer. In March of 2004, she underwent surgery.

Young从高管梦想的破灭中挣脱出来，依然活力四射：她和20来岁的儿子一起搞网络探险设计，参加护士学校，到宠物医院兼职。2004年3月，她脖子上发现了一个肿块，诊断为甲状腺癌，她接受了手术治疗。

This glimpse of her mortality evoked in her a desire for meaningful work, and her mind turned to dogs. Rescuing, training and showing dogs had been a life-long avocation. At the veterinary clinic where she worked, she became aware of the large number of strays around Kansas City that got exterminated for lack of adoptive owners. So she broached the idea of starting a dog-adoption service.

身患绝症的她开始渴望做更有意义的事情。她的注意力转向了狗，营救、培训狗并做狗表演成为其毕生爱好。她在宠物医院打工的时候，她注意到堪萨斯州有大量流浪犬因无人收养而濒临死亡，于是她产生了开展收养流浪犬的服务的念头。

A fellow clinic employee, whose husband worked at Lansing Correctional Facility, a nearby state prison, suggested Ms. Young consider using prisoners to train stray dogs. Around the country, so-called cell-dog programs had been shown to reduce inmate violence and convert doomed canines into adoptable pets.

一位老公在兰辛监狱工作的宠物医院同事给Young提了个建议，让她考虑用囚犯来培训狗。当时一个所谓“牢房-狗”的项目被认为可以减少囚犯暴力，同时还可以把这些难逃一劫的流浪狗变成可被收养的宠物。

A visit to the warden's office at Lansing Correctional Facility convinced Ms. Young the idea would work. Going onto the Internet, she downloaded the documents needed to create a non-profit, which she called the Safe Harbor Prison Dog Program. She enlisted volunteers and raised money. Within a year, the program trained and found homes for nearly 700 strays.

Young在参观完兰辛监狱的看守办公室后，认为这个建议可行。她上网下载了表格，开始创建一个她称为“监狱狗避风港”的非营利项目。她获得了志愿者的支持，募集了资金。仅一年时间，这个项目就培训了近700只流浪犬并为它们找到了收养的人家。

These penitentiary pooches became famous across the Midwest, attracting dog seekers to the suburban Kansas City PetSmart store where Ms. Young held adoption fairs on weekends. Violence diminished inside the prison, officials said, in part because many inmates wanted to share their cells with a dog, and obtaining one required good behavior.

这些监狱犬在中西部出了名，Young周末在堪萨斯城郊外的宠物超市店外办收养集市，求狗者趋之若鹜。而监狱官员则称监狱暴力锐减，部分正是因为囚犯们都想有个狗狗在他们号子里，而要想得到小狗的前提是囚犯得表现良好。

The program brought a new kind of publicity to an institution known for four decades as the harsh setting of Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood." In media outlets ranging from television and talk radio to newspapers and pet publications, the dog program generated coverage that made prison officials look progressive and hardened criminals humane. "Part of your heart goes into each dog," Leslie Ellifritz, a convicted murderer and rapist, told the Associated Press.

这个项目如同四十年前著名作家Truman Capote写的“冷血告白”，吸引了大众的眼球。从电视到脱口秀广播，从报纸到宠物杂志，报道连篇累牍，狗项目让监狱官显得更进步，而囚犯也更仁慈了。“狗进入了你心灵的空间，”杀人强奸犯Leslie Ellifritz对联合报记者说道。

The publicity turned Ms. Young into one of Kansas City's highest-profile nonprofit executives. In animal-control circles, she became known as a savior. "Toby took the lame, the ugly, the dogs nobody else wanted," says Karen Sands, shelter director of the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City.

公众的关注使得Young成为堪萨斯州非营利组织中最耀眼的执行官之一。她被看作动物保护组织的救星。“Toby总是收留那些没人想要的瘸腿的、丑陋的小狗。”大堪萨斯城动物保护协会的主管Karen Sands如是说。

But privately, she was coming unglued. The sense of well-being she'd always received from striving non-stop eluded her now, she says, and in an attempt to regain it, she worked all the harder. When she wasn't collecting strays or training inmates or updating her Web site with photos of adoptable canines, she was writing her weekly newsletter or cleaning the kennel behind her house, where 15 or so dogs awaited transfer to prison.

但Young私下里却开始感觉忧伤悄然袭来。过去伴随不懈努力而来的幸福感躲避着她，她只好用加倍的辛劳力求挽回。收养狗、培训囚犯或更新网页之余，她开始写每周简报，或清理屋后那养着15只左右等待移送监狱的狗的窝。

Yet staying busy no longer warded off a sense of despair and alienation, Ms. Young recalls. Her achievements -- no matter how celebrated -- seemed inadequate to her, because thousands of local dogs continued to be exterminated each year. Behind the wheel of the Safe Harbor cargo van, she says she increasingly found herself battling the impulse to steer into oncoming traffic.

然而，忙碌无法再度让她避开绝望和冷落的感觉，每年仍有数千只当地狗被灭绝的残酷现实，使得过往的成就不管多么辉煌，都不足以鼓舞她。坐在“避风港”货车的后排，她说她日益感觉到自己像是在与投入车流漩涡的冲动作斗争。

Only during visits behind bars did she find any relief. In a fortress packed with men, her appearance at age 47 drew more compliments than she'd received at 27, and not just from inmates. One guard, she says, always greeted her by saying, "Hey, beautiful." Inmates worshipped her for being able to place a dog in their cells.

惟有在大狱中她才找到些许宽慰。她的47岁的容貌，在这个关满男人的堡垒中，赢得了比她27岁时还要多的赞美。赞美不仅来自囚犯。她说，有一个警卫每次打招呼都说“嗨，美人儿。”囚犯们因她能给号子带来狗而崇拜她。

In particular, she enjoyed her dealings with Mr. Manard, partly, she says, because he challenged her. Early on, he good naturedly questioned her argument that positive reinforcement, rather than discipline, produced the best-trained pets. But after agreeing to eliminate "no" from his dog-handling vocabulary, he became an ace, she says, his charges exhibiting good behavior and happy dispositions long after adoption.

Young说，她特别喜欢与Manard的交往，某种程度上是因为他挑战了她。一开始，他对Young的“积极的鼓励比惩罚更能训练出最好的宠物”理论争论不休，但随后当他从训狗字典中拿掉“不许”这个词之后，他成了训狗能手，他训练出来的狗被收养后能长期表现出良好的行为和快乐的性格。

Mr. Manard says he loved handling menacing beasts, such as an American bulldog named Kane, that entered prison snarling and left licking hands.

Manard说他喜欢处理那些危险的动物，比如说那只刚进监狱时挥舞爪子狂嚎乱叫的美国斗牛犬Kane。

In his first interview on the subject of their courtship and escape, Mr. Manard says he never imagined Ms. Young would take interest in him. "I respected her -- she was like Mother Teresa -- and I was careful not to cross any lines," said Mr. Manard, in a collect call from a maximum-security cell in El Dorado, Kan.

忆起他们相爱并越狱前的初次见面，Manard说他从未想过Young会对他感兴趣。Manard在堪州黄金岛最高戒备的监狱里接受电话采访时说道：“我尊重她—她就像特里萨妈妈—我小心翼翼不敢越雷池半步。”

Ms. Young says Mr. Manard began offering tips on how to handle this guard, that inmate or some logistical problem. She says she watched him defuse tension between inmates. "Like a great corporate manager, he could turn people his way without creating resentment, by persuading them that his idea was theirs," she says.

Young说，Manard开始给看守小费来应付他们，这是监狱里固有的问题。她发现他能缓解囚犯间的紧张气氛。“他就像个高级企管，总能劝说他们接受他的观点，采用他的方式消弭怨恨。”

Mr. Manard says he marveled at her innocence. At age 47, she told him she'd never been drunk, smoked a cigarette, tried drugs or watched pornography -- lines he had crossed by 14, at which age he was living in a juvenile detention center, he says. A tattoo across his torso said: "Hooligan."

Manard说他为Young的天真而惊叹。47岁的Young告诉Manard，她从未醉酒、从不吸烟、从不碰毒品、也从不看色情表演----而这些，他14岁在一个少年感化中心就已经全部体验。他身上的一处纹身绣着“街霸”。

（John Manard秀纹身）

But by age 27, he was different, he told her. Behind bars, he'd obtained his high-school equivalency diploma, taught himself to play several instruments and joined a prison band. He eventually won release to medium-security from maximum-security status. "His disciplinary history had improved from the time that he was first incarcerated," says Bill Miskell, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Corrections, noting that Mr. Manard "qualified for the privilege to participate" in the dog program. At the time, about 70 of the prison's nearly 2,500 inmates were involved in that program.

但27岁时，他开始洗心革面。他告诉Young，牢中他获得了相当于高中的学历，自学了几种乐器并加入监狱乐队。他也最终获得从最高戒备向中等戒备的移送。“他入狱后的改造记录有了改进，”堪萨斯州监狱发言人Bill Miskell说，但这并不是说Manard有权参与养狗项目。当时，2500个囚犯中只有70个左右参与到这个项目。

Yet Mr. Manard suspected no amount of reform would ever win him freedom, he told Ms. Young. At age 17 he'd received a life sentence for his role in a car-jacking that left a passenger fatally shot. By Mr. Manard's calculations, the earliest he would gain parole would be 2028, and he felt certain he wouldn't win it even then. His biggest fear, he says, was that he'd be buried on prison grounds.

Manard告诉Young，他觉得再怎么努力改造他也不可能重获自由。17岁那年，他卷入一桩汽车劫案，一名乘客被射杀，他因此被判终生监禁。Manard估计他要是能被假释，最早也要2028年，他估计肯定等不到那个时候。他最大的担心是葬身大牢。

All this, he told Ms. Young, for a crime he never committed. As an adolescent, he says he'd been a "self-centered adrenalin junkie," and not because his parents hadn't taught him right from wrong. "My life wasn't taken from me -- I gave it away [by] stealing the guy's car," he says.

所有这些，都是因他没有犯过的罪行。青少年时，他成了一个自私的吸毒者，并不是他父母没有教他辨别是非，“我的生活没有离弃我----是我自己从偷那个家伙的车时丢弃了。”他说。

Yet he says he didn't shoot anybody. He hadn't even been carrying a gun, he says, asserting that his older accomplice accidentally pulled the trigger. "I would never kill anyone," Mr. Manard told her.

Manard坚称他没有枪杀过任何人，他甚至从不携枪，是那个年长的同案犯无意触动了扳机。“我永远都不会杀人。”Manard告诉她。

Paul Morrison, the prosecutor in the case, says he believes that Mr. Manard didn't pull the trigger. But he says that the felony-murder law in Kansas renders that issue irrelevant, because Mr. Manard participated in a crime that clearly had the potential to turn violent. Prosecutors say felony murder, besides being a deterrent, avoids the legal gridlock that occurs when defendants endlessly point fingers at each other.

该案的公诉人Paul Morrison说他相信Manard没有开枪，但基于Manard参与犯罪并显然具备实施暴力的可能，堪萨斯州法律仍认定其一级谋杀。公诉人说，为防止案犯间相互推诿使案件陷入僵局，除凶杀中止外，法律都认定为一级谋杀。

Felony murder is a concept that many other nations -- and some American states -- have abolished as unfair. Going online, Ms. Young researched the subject and concluded Mr. Manard had a point. "If you didn't kill anybody, you shouldn't be convicted of murder and sent to prison for life," she says.

一级谋杀罪因人道原因，在很多国家及美国一些州被废止。Young在线查找了相关资料，并得出结论。“如果你没有杀人，你就不应该被判谋杀而终生监禁。”她说。

Sympathy also flowed the other way. Mr. Manard could tell she was unhappy, she says, and his concern was particularly helpful when her father, a loving and powerful figure in her life, was diagnosed with cancer in 2005. Mr. Manard also asked about her marriage: Why was she spending 50 hours a week inside a prison?

同情在其他方面同样泛滥。Manard察觉到她的不快乐。2005年，当Young毕生挚爱的父亲被诊断出癌症时，Manard的关心显得格外温暖。Manard也常问及她的婚姻：她为什么每周都花50个小时呆在监狱里呢？

Ms. Young says she replied that nearly 30 years of marriage had created a bond between her and her husband that wasn't measurable in hours-per-week spent together. "He's the only man I ever dated," she said, reciting an oft-rehearsed line that she thought sounded romantic.

Young回答道，近30年的婚姻仿佛是她和丈夫间形成的契约，无关乎每周花多少时间呆在一起。“他是我唯一约会过的男人，”她一而再、再而三用那些她以为的浪漫片断苍白地解释着。

For years a spinner of fictitious tales of domestic bliss, Ms. Young recalls a letter she wrote regaling relatives with the story of a salsa-making fiasco that dissolved in laughter between her and her husband. "It never happened," she says. "But it was how I wished our marriage was." Instead, she felt the marriage was bereft of affection.

多年来Young总是用虚构的家庭幸福的故事来掩饰自己，她回忆曾给亲戚写信讲当自己辣酱做失败后丈夫如何与自己相视莞尔的故事，“这从未发生过，”她说，“但这正是我所想要的婚姻。”事实上，她已然察觉她的婚姻失去了激情。

On occasion, she broached the subject of divorce, but says her husband laughed and said she had nothing to complain about. He never hit her, wasn't a drunk and didn't cheat, she says. He brought home a fire-captain's salary. She suspected such factors would sway her parents and siblings, who regarded Mr. Young as a son or brother. "I didn't see any way out," she says.

偶尔，她也提出过离婚，但丈夫总是嘲笑地问她究竟有什么可以抱怨的？他从不伤害她；他也从不喝酒、从不撒谎；他把消防中队长的厚禄都奉献给了家庭。如此种种，都可能让那些视她丈夫如子如兄的父母、弟妹们反对她离婚。Young无助地叹息：“我无路可逃。”

At the prison, Mr. Manard endlessly asked her: "What's wrong?" Often, she answered that she felt obliged to please too many people, including her husband. Gradually, she confided her marital woes. Mr. Manard suggested that she obtain one of those bracelets that say "WWJD," for "What Would Jesus Do?" Instead of Jesus, however, Mr. Manard suggested that she ask herself, "What would John do?"

监狱里Manard不断地追问她：“你到底怎么了？”通常她都回答她感觉到自己对太多人强颜欢笑，包括自己的丈夫。渐渐地，她开始吐露婚姻的不幸。而Manard则建议她把手镯上刻着那句话“WWJD”（耶稣能为你做些什么？）换成另外一句问自己：“John能为你做些什么？”

In times of stress, Ms. Young says she started asking herself that.

几番挣扎之后，Young说她开始问自己这个问题。

He began wooing her. When he raved about the way her hair color matched her eyes, the creaminess of her skin, her taste in clothes, "it was like water on a dying plant," she says.

他开始向她示爱。她头发和眼睛的颜色如此和谐，肌肤胜雪，衣裳中透出的体香让他意乱神迷。“一切仿佛久旱逢甘露。”她说道。

（John Manard写给Young的情书）

A turning point in their relationship came in October 2005, both say, when an inmate threatened her.

他俩认为关系的转折出现在2005年的10月，当一个囚犯威胁她的事件发生后。

After that, Ms. Young says she refused to return without protection. She says an officer in the warden's office responded by appointing Mr. Manard her unofficial protector. "He said John would accompany me everywhere I went inside," she says.

从那以后，Young拒绝在没有保护的情况下重返监狱。监狱的一位官员随后指定manard作为她的非官方陪护。Young说：“官员说John将在监狱里与我寸步不离。”

Prison officials acknowledge Ms. Young reported a threat. But Mr. Miskell, the state corrections department spokesman, says prison officials didn't -- and never would -- appoint an inmate to protect a volunteer or visitor.

州监狱发言人Miskell承认Young曾报告了威胁事件，但他否认监狱官方指定过囚犯作为志愿者或探视者的陪护，他称监狱不会这样做。

No one disputes that the two spent hours together or that Ms. Young had extraordinary access inside the prison. When two of her sisters came along one day, they quickly insisted on leaving, alarmed to find themselves surrounded by inmates without a guard nearby, recalls Ms. Phalen, Toby's sister. Ms. Young's former Sprint colleague, Mr. Smith, had a similar reaction when he tagged along with her to inmate cells, no guard in sight.

无人过问他俩的朝夕相处，也无人对Young自由地出入监狱提出质疑。Toby的妹妹Phalen回忆说，一次她和另一个妹妹来访，当她们发觉周围都是囚犯却没有守卫时，她们很快便惊恐离去。Young以前在Sprint同事Smith也有过类似体会，一次他陪着Young到牢房里，根本看不到守卫。

（越狱前Manard和Young在监狱里的合影）

"Frankly, it kind of freaked me out," says Mr. Smith, who provided tax services to the dog program. "I told Toby, 'I'm not coming back.'"

“坦率地说，这太不正常了，”为训狗项目提供税务服务的Smith说到：“我跟Toby说我再也不愿进这号子了。”

Mr. Miskell, the corrections department spokesman, says, "People who tour facilities for the first time are often taken off-guard by the amount of movement and interaction between inmates and others." He says those who work or volunteer in a correctional facility must meet necessary training requirements, as Ms. Young did.

监狱发言人Miskell说：“第一次到访监狱的人们四处走动，与囚犯们接触，往往脱离守卫。”他称那些在监狱工作的或志愿者必须有一定的培训设施，如Young这样。

In rare moments of solitude behind bars, Ms. Young and Mr. Manard professed their love. He told her he wanted to be with her every day, forever. She told him that she'd never felt this way about anybody, that just talking with him fulfilled something vital in her. In December of 2005, he asked whether Ms. Young would run off with him, if he managed to escape?

在大狱深处的某个霎那，Young和Manard点燃了爱的火花。他表露了与她终身厮守的渴望，她在他身上找到了从未有过的感觉，与Manard的倾心交谈成为她生命的全部。2005年12月，Manard问Young，如果他策划越狱，她是否愿意与他一道私奔？

"I would," she replied.

“我愿意。”她回答道。

Mr. Manard says he asked that as a joke, but her reply turned escape into an obsession. He focused his thoughts on fitting into a box. Stretching himself to become more limber, and dropping nearly 30 pounds to a weight of 155, Mr. Manard tried without success to squeeze his 6-foot-2-inch frame into the box. But one night, he says, he dreamed of a way to pretzel into it. Trying it the next morning, he found it worked.

Manard说他当时只是玩笑地问这个问题，但Young肯定的回答让越狱成了心事。他开始全力以赴，尝试把自己装进箱子里。他拉升肢体以求变得柔软，减掉近30磅，使体重只有155磅。但他仍无法把自己装进6尺2寸的箱子里。然而一天晚上他梦到如何塞进箱子的方法，第二天早上一试，果然奏效。

Originally, both say, he was determined to mail himself out of prison. But she argued that plan would never work. Getting past the gates was unlikely, since a heart-beat detector is generally applied to cargo trucks. Then Mr. Manard broached the idea of sneaking out in Ms. Young's van, which often didn't undergo heart-beat detection.

据他俩回忆，最初他本打算把自己寄出监狱。但她认为这个方案不可取。货车出关口都要经过心跳探测仪的检查，要想通过几无可能。随后Manard提出混在Young的货车里潜逃出去，因为Young的货车往往不经过心跳探测。

His plan: When she pulled up to collect dogs, Mr. Manard would be hiding in the box, inside a dog crate that also contained food bowls and other supplies. The inmates who always loaded dog crates into the van would -- unknowingly, he said -- load him into her van. Then the two would flee for parts unknown.

他的方案是当她进监狱收培训好的狗出去，Manard躲进那些装狗、食物和其他器具的箱子里。囚犯们在把那些装狗的箱子搬上车的同时，也把他一道装上了车，这样它们就可以神不知鬼不觉地逃出来。

Ms. Young says she agreed to the plan without allowing herself to consider the consequences. As laid out, it seemed to involve minimal complicity on her part, she says. "I wouldn't be loading him into the van. I'd just be pulling up to collect dogs the way I always did on Sunday morning," she says.

Young说她想都没想什么后果，就赞同了这个方案。整个方案她似乎所涉及少，她说：“我都不需要把他装上货车，我需要做的只是象以往周日早上那样去收狗。”

As part of the plan, she drained $42,000 from her retirement plan, bought a 1997 Chevrolet pickup as a getaway vehicle and hid it in a rented storage unit.

作为方案的一部分，她从退休金中提取了42000美金，买了辆1997年产雪佛兰皮卡作为出逃工具，并把它藏在一个租来的货仓里。

Using a contraband cellphone inside prison, Mr. Manard rented a cabin in rural Tennessee. In the month before their breakout, he and Ms. Young communicated 12,000 minutes by phone, she says. One morning, Ms. Young says, her husband fished her vibrating phone from her purse and found a text message that read: "good morning, baby. I love you."

利用偷运进来的手机，Manard在田纳西乡下租了间小木屋。而越狱前的一个月里，两人电话交流了12000分钟。Young回忆说，有天早上她老公从她包里掏出震动的手机，发现一则短信：“早上好宝贝，我爱你。”

"That's a wrong number," Ms. Young told her husband.

“有人发错了号码。”Young搪塞老公。

She says her husband responded that he didn't consider her sexually capable of having an affair.

而他老公的回应则是借她两个胆她也不会红杏出墙。

On the afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 12, the phone rang in the home of Ms. Young's parents. Peggy Phalen, Ms. Young's mother, recalls being told that an inmate was missing from prison and Ms. Young had failed to show at that morning's adoption fair at Pet-Smart. Terror struck that she'd been taken hostage. "We prayed for the best but feared the worst," she says.

2006年2月12号周日下午，Young父母家的电话急促响起。Young的妈妈接了电话，被告知一名囚犯越狱，而Young早上也没有在宠物超市的收养集市里露面，所以她有可能被劫持。“我们祈祷最好的结果，但结局却是最糟的。”她妈妈说。

Within hours, though, evidence of Ms. Young's complicity emerged -- her missing belongings, the money taken out of her retirement fund -- and by Valentine's Day, federal authorities were calling her role incontrovertible.

数小时候，Young参与共谋的线索显现出来----她的嫁妆、退休金里取出的钱。情人节这天，联邦当局证实了她为越狱共谋。

In Tennessee, meanwhile, the fugitives spent Valentine's Day in their cabin, exchanging gifts: She bought him a bass guitar. He bought her a parakeet, that he named Lynyrd, a reference to Lynyrd Skynyrd's song, "Freebird." They made love, talked for hours and planned outings. On Feb. 24, they toured an aquarium, and saw an IMAX movie about lions and stopped at Barnes & Noble, where Mr. Manard bought Ms. Young one of his favorite books, "Where the Red Fern Grows," a tale of a boy who trains hunting dogs.

而此时，这对亡命鸳鸯正在田纳西小木屋里共度情人节，互换礼物：她给他买了把低音吉他，他为她买了只鹦鹉。他给鹦鹉取名叫“Lynyrd”，Lynyrd Skynyrd有首歌叫“自由鸟”，他以此会意他们的自由。他们做爱、倾谈，计划远足，任时光在幸福中流逝。2月24号，他们去了家水族馆观光，看了场关于狮子的高清电影，然后他们在BN书店驻足流连，Manard给Young买了本他最喜欢的书〈红色羊齿草的故乡〉----一个讲述小男孩训练猎犬的感人故事。

After they left the bookstore, authorities spotted them. Following a short chase, they were arrested.

当他们离开书店的时候，警察发现了他们。短暂的追逐后，他们双双被捕。

As the image of Ms. Young, handcuffed and bewildered, flashed across TV screens around the nation, her husband refused to utter any public criticism of her. His subsequent request for an emergency divorce didn't cite grounds. A judge here quickly granted it.

当Young戴着手铐、神情迷离的形象在全国电视台的画面上闪现时，她的丈夫拒绝了就任何公共评论发表意见。紧接着他递交了缺席特别离婚申请，而法官则很快批准了这一申请。

In a letter to a Kansas City television station, Mr. Manard described his 12 days with Ms. Young as the high point of his life. Even after receiving an extra decade of prison time for the escape, Mr. Manard says in an interview that it was worthwhile.

在给堪萨斯电视台的一封信里，Manard描述他与Young共度的那12个日夜，是一生中最开心的日子。尽管越狱给他带来了额外的十年徒刑，但Manard在采访中说，他觉得值得。

"I got to meet an angel who for some reason graced me with her love," he says.

“我得到了用爱点亮我生命的天使。”他说。

Lost amid the weepy guilty pleas of Ms. Young was what happened immediately after the escape. She and Mr. Manard stopped at her home, so that she could place in her backyard kennel the adoption-ready dogs in her van. She says she knew other volunteers in the prison program would find homes for the dogs. "After rescuing them once, I wasn't going to ditch them in a field," she says.

Young的认罪让人心伤，而她刚越狱后发生的事情则更让人揪心。她和Manard先回到她的家，把那些训好的狗放在后院的狗窝里。她说其他的志愿者会到她家里找到这些狗的。“一旦营救了它们，我再也不舍弃它们于山野。”

While she was unloading the dogs, Mr. Manard -- who was supposed to be hiding in the front of the van -- says he slipped into the house and grabbed a pair of handguns. Ms. Young says she never wanted to bring the guns or even touched them. ("I hate guns. I'm 100% for gun control," she says.) But federal prosecutor Terra Morehead says that even if this story were true, which she doubts, it wouldn't diminish Ms. Young's guilt.

当Young卸那些狗的时候，本该藏在货车里面的Manard溜进了房子里，并偷了两把手枪。Young称她从没想过带枪，碰都没碰过它们。（“我讨厌枪，我是100%的禁枪支持者。”她说。）而联邦公诉人Terra Morehead则称即便Young辩解的故事是真实的，也无法减少她的刑期。

Her 27-month sentence forced Ms. Young to ponder the damage her betrayal wrought upon loved ones, including her grown sons, one of whom she says hasn't spoken to her since her arrest. Her father died two months later, after granting her forgiveness, she says. "I've told Toby that her father may have died sooner because of what she did, and she just has to live with that," says her mother, a retired Catholic-college administrator who visits Ms. Young weekly in prison.

27个月的宣判，让Young不得不开始面对，自己的背叛给她爱着的亲人带去的伤害。他的儿子们，其中一个自她被捕后就再也没理过她；父亲两个月后去世，她说父亲临死前宽恕了她。“我告诉过Toby，她的叛逆加速了父亲的去世，她将背负这个歉疚一辈子。”Young的妈妈说道。这位退休的天主教大学主管每周都去监狱探访Young。

Upon completing her sentence this May, Ms. Young says she expects the repair of shattered trust with loved ones to take a while. She plans to live with her mother and wants to work at a book store.

今年5月Young服刑期满，她知道，要让那些所爱的亲人重建破碎的信赖需要时间。她打算和母亲住在一起，并想找一份书店的工作。

She doesn't miss the life she lost, she says, asserting that the humiliation and deprivations of prison have been beneficial. Long dismissive of psychotherapy, she now praises the prison therapists who, initially placing her on suicide watch, began treating her for depression.

Young对失去的生活并不惋惜，她坚持入狱的耻辱和失去自由对她而言是有益的。过去瞧不起心理治疗的她现在对监狱心理医生赞赏有加。这位医生一开始负责防范她自杀，现在则开始治疗她的抑郁症。

She refuses to endorse the theory that she is the brainwashed victim of a self-serving convict. She says she believes John Manard loved her, that he escaped to be with her, that he is a reformed man worthy of freedom. When legally able to make contact with him, she says she will do so.

Young拒绝接受人们把她看作一个被自私囚犯洗脑的受害者。她说她相信John Manard是爱着她的，他越狱只是为了与她长相守。而已改过自新的他本该获得自由，法律不能给他，那么Young说她会给他自由。

Her deepest regret is that his lengthened sentence may keep him behind bars for life. Her voice breaking, she says, "I wonder if he'd be better off if he'd never met me."

她最大的遗憾是延长的刑期会让Manard在牢里度过余生。念此神伤，Young黯然说道：“我想，也许没有遇到我，他会过得更好些。”

拜年

zhuhanhua — Wed, 06 February 2008 16:52:39 -0300

02/06/2008

农历新年来临之际，请接受来自大洋彼岸的祝福。给我所有的亲人们、朋友们、博联社社员同志们以及长期以来关注我博客的潜水队员们拜年！恭祝鼠年吉祥！阖家幸福！事事顺心！天天开心！

亚特兰大现在还是大年三十，龙卷风的警报刚刚解除。壁炉里熊熊的火儿旺旺地烧，思乡的心绪悠悠地飞。在异乡没有鞭炮、没有春联的春节，我们与祖国一起走进鼠年，我们与你们一道张开怀抱迎接新春。祈求我们的祖国风调雨顺、国泰民安，祈愿我们的人民丰衣足食、幸福安康！

The World's Hottest Chili 世界第一椒

zhuhanhua — Sat, 02 February 2008 22:31:27 -0300

02/02/2008

译者注：近年中国饮食中，辣文化传播渐广。在上海的时候，三天不吃辣，嘴里淡出个鸟来。遍尝川、湘各系，自以为得辣之三昧。今天看了华尔街这篇文章，始知山外有山辣外有辣。如有嗜辣诸君读此文心动，可给我留言，下次回国带给你们尝尝天下首辣的滋味~

文章来源：华尔街日报周末版

By STAN SESSER
February 2, 2008; Page W1

The bhut jolokia chili pepper fires up the imagination, as well as the taste buds. The thumb-sized chilies are so potent they could be used in pepper spray, says the director of India's Defense Research Lab, R.B. Srivastava. "I've been told the U.S. and Israel have considered it for antiriot material," he says.

揭罗喀魔椒燃烧味蕾，激起无尽想象。这一拇指大小的辣椒，威力大到可以做防狼喷雾剂。印度国防实验室主管Srivastava如是说，“我听说美国和以色列正考虑用它来做防暴材料呢。”

Most admirers prefer eating them. The Indian pepper is the latest discovery by a fraternity of eaters who relish the sweaty, addictive pleasures of hot chilies.

大部分嗜辣者更愿意品尝它。这些嗜辣成瘾、吃到辣汗淋漓的饕餮族最近发现了印度辣椒。

The bhut jolokia pepper, which is farmed in the northeast part of the country, was plucked from obscurity last year when the Guinness Book of World Records declared it the world's hottest. The standard measure for such things is the Scoville Heat Unit, or SHU, named after Wilbur Lincoln Scoville, a chemist who in 1912 developed a method of assessing the heat given off by capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili peppers. Jalapeño peppers measure about 5,000 SHUs. The bhut jolokia tops a million.

产于印度东北的揭罗喀魔椒去年闪亮登场，以今世最辣而记入吉尼斯纪录。测量辣椒的标准，因wilbur Lincoln Scoville而得名，这位化学家1912年发明了一种测量辣椒中活跃成分辣椒素的方法，即斯科维尔标准（SHU）。墨西哥胡椒的辣度才5000斯科维尔标准，揭罗喀魔椒达到百万SHU之巅。

"When you eat it, it feels like dying," touts one online retailer. Even packaging the stuff is a pain. "Our workers wear goggles, face masks, head cover and protective clothing," says Ananta Saikia, whose firm is the pepper's sole exporter. "They look like astronauts." He and his wife have started shipping tons of dried bhut jolokia around the world, including Germany, England and the U.S. Annual sales, he says, are expected to jump 500% this year.

“够胆试一试，辣死不抵命。”一位网上零售商吹嘘道。即便包装都辣不堪言。“我们工人戴护镜、蒙面具、包头裹体，”辣椒出口商Ananta Saikia如此描绘，“他们看上去就像宇航员。”他们两公婆将成吨的干魔椒销往全球，包括德国、英国和美国。他称今年销售预计将激增500%。

Locals here in Assam and the neighboring states of Manipur and Nagaland add fresh chopped chilies to the pot when cooking curries. The hardiest eat them raw as a condiment. Dried pepper powder and flakes are sold online in the U.S. and abroad.

Assam当地和邻近的Manipur、Nagaland邦郡在炮制咖喱粉时，将新鲜辣椒剁碎加入罐中。以此为调料，吃起来生猛无比。干辣椒粉与辣椒末在线销往美国及海外。

The spread of Mexican, Thai and Sichuan cuisines that use chili peppers is kindling America's interest in hot dishes. There are hundreds of Web sites selling sauces and chili seeds, says Dave DeWitt, of Albuquerque, N.M., who has written 31 books on the topic. Visits to his Web site, fiery-foods.com, have doubled in the past five years to 2.5 million annually, he says.

墨西哥、泰国和四川的辣味风靡美国，上了他们的餐桌。新墨西哥州Albuquerque市的Dave Dewitt，这位写过31本关于辣椒书籍的作家，说现在数百个互联网站卖辣椒酱和辣椒籽，而他的网站fiery-food.com过去五年访问量倍增，已达到每年250万人次的点击。

"There's also the macho, who-can-eat-the-hottest aspect," says Dave Hirschkop, owner of Dave's Gourmet Inc. and the producer of Dave's Insanity Sauce. This spring, he plans to add bhut jolokia to his 2008 Private Reserve hot sauce, priced at $30 for a five-ounce bottle packaged in a small wooden coffin. Mr. Hirschkop says he got in the business after opening a Mexican restaurant in Maryland in the early 1990s. He started serving superhot sauces in his restaurant as a joke. Then he discovered customers liked them.

“敢吃这种辣椒的，才算得上爷们。”生产Dave牌辣酱的Dave’s Gourmet公司老板Dave Hirschkop说。他打算今年春季将揭罗喀魔椒加入其2008辣酱秘方中，一小盒5盎司包装标价30美元。Hirschkop先生1990年代早期在马里兰开墨西哥餐馆后做起了这个买卖。当初他只是在餐馆里提供超级辣酱逗趣，不料广受欢迎。

Hard-core chili addicts incorporate the pursuit of hot food into their travels. Terry and Marty Ward of Virginia Beach, Va., have chased chilies in Jamaica, Venezuela, Aruba, Mexico and New Mexico. India is now on the couple's trip list, says Mr. Ward.

路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求辣。来自佛吉尼亚州Virginia Beach市的Terry和Marty Ward足迹遍及牙买加、委内瑞拉、阿鲁巴岛、墨西哥和新墨西哥，天涯寻辣。Ward先生说，他们夫妻下一站将去印度。

Food scientists speculate that hot chilies have an unexpected side effect that boosts their popularity. A publication of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden in New York described it this way: "When capsaicin comes into contact with the nerve endings in the tongue and mouth, pain messengers, called neurotransmitters, are sent to the brain in a panic. The brain, mistakenly perceiving that the body is in big trouble, responds by turning on the waterworks to douse the flames. The mouth salivates, the nose runs and the upper body breaks into a sweat. The heart beats faster and the natural painkiller endorphin is secreted. In other words, you get a buzz."

食品科学家猜测，匪夷所思的功效是超级红辣椒大行其道的缘由。纽约《布鲁克林植物园》杂志如是描述：“当辣椒素与口舌间神经末稍亲密接触，神经传递素将刺激传递到大脑。大脑如临大敌，慌乱应对，涕泪横流，热汗淋漓。心跳为之加速，荷尔蒙为之分泌。换句话说，你高潮了。”

It's similar to a runner's high, says Bruce Bryant, a researcher for the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, which specializes in analyzing taste. That may explain why plants shunned by starving animals end up in party bowls next to the chips. "We're about the only species who like hot peppers," he says. "You can't even train a rat to like them."

专攻味觉分析的Monell化学感官中心研究员Bruce Bryant说，这种感觉就像短跑运动员的快感。这或许可以解释为什么饥禽饿兽看到这种辣物也要退避三舍。“可能只有人类好这口辣，”他说，“就算老鼠你都没办法教会它吃辣。”

The chilies are so loved in Assam that locals brighten at just the mention of bhut jolokia. "I've been eating them for 25 years," says Indrajit Karayan Dev, a filmmaker in Guwahati, Assam's capital. "I have two plants near my garage and every morning I pluck one for lunch. We eat them raw, pickled, in vegetable stir-fries and in chicken soup." Hoihnu Hauzel, the New Delhi-based author of a cookbook on northeast Indian cuisine, says her mother keeps her stocked. "I grew up in Manipur," she says. "Now, whenever someone comes here from home, my mother sends me some."

红椒在Assam备受推崇，当地人提到揭罗喀魔椒双眸放光。“俺吃了25年咯，”Assam首都Guwahati的制片人Indrajit Karayan说道，“俺车库旁种了两洼辣椒，每天上午摘一个过中饭，或生吃、或腌制、或热炒、或煲汤。”新德里撰写印度东北菜一书的作家Hoihnu Hauzel称，她妈常备此椒。“我在Manipur长大，”她说，“现在只要有人从老家来，我妈都会捎上些这玩意儿。”

Besides its heat, the bhut jolokia departs from other peppers with its distinct flavor. Raw, it has a strong vegetable smell. Cooked with pork in a curry, it gives the meat a perfume-like sweetness. "It doesn't just make the dish spicy," says Ms. Hauzel. "It enhances the flavor." Bhut jolokia chilies look like jalapeño peppers and redden as they ripen. Some devotees chop a single chili for a pot of curry; others use a half pepper to accompany a meal. "Our whole family can share one chili for an entire week," says Mr. Saikia.

揭罗喀魔椒和其他辣椒比起来，除却热辣，别有韵味。生魔椒清新扑鼻，煮咖喱肉则肉香盈盈。Hauzel女士赞道：“它不独佐辣，更添风味。”揭罗喀魔椒形似墨西哥胡椒，成熟时赤红。一些魔椒迷会切一个魔椒腌进咖喱罐中，有的则是半个魔椒一餐饭。Saikia先生说：“俺们全家一棵魔椒顶一礼拜呢。”

Although it's been eaten in northeast India for centuries, the bhut jolokia pepper would still be undiscovered by the rest of the world if not for scientist R.K.R. Singh. He works at the Indian government's Defense Research Laboratory, which occupies a tree-shaded campus in Assam, outside the city of Tezpur. Seven years ago, Mr. Singh, who loves bhut jolokia, got curious about its heat quotient. "We knew it was hot, but no one knew how hot," he says. He asked for a lab analysis, and the results were submitted to a scientific journal.

尽管揭罗喀魔椒在印度东北吃了上百年，但如果不是科学家Singh的话，地球上其他地方的人还真无缘消受。Singh在印度政府的国防实验室工作。七年前，酷爱魔椒的Singh忽发奇想，对魔椒的热辣指数产生了好奇。他说：“我们都知道它辣，但到底有多辣没人说得出。”于是他求诸实验室分析，并将结果登在了科学杂志上。

Word of the tests reached the Chile Pepper Institute of New Mexico State University, which is widely regarded as the final arbiter of all chili questions. The institute is headed by Paul Bosland, a 54-year-old horticulture professor. "I put all my chilies in one basket," he says of the 22 years he's devoted to studying hot peppers. "It was always a poor sister to tomatoes in terms of research."

实验报告送到了新墨西哥州立大学的胡椒学院----这家被普遍认为对辣椒问题拥有最高裁决权的权威机构。54岁的园艺教授Paul Bosland是这家学院的头儿。他说：“我集众椒于一篮，22年浸淫其间。就科研来说，它与番茄常常是难兄难弟，不受重视。”

Mr. Bosland grew bhut jolokia from seed in the desert climate of southern New Mexico and discovered, " 'Oh my gosh, this is hot,' " he recalls. A panel of tasters used to rank chilies. Now a process called high performance liquid chromatography does all the work, with results given in Scoville Heat Units. The peppers yielded a reading of 1,041,427 SHUs, twice that of the California red savina pepper, the previous record-holder. An SHU is the amount of dilution needed before the chili is undetectable. A drop of bhut jolokia extract needs a million drops of water.

Bosland先生在新墨西哥南部试着播种了揭罗喀魔椒。“额滴神呐，太牛逼了！”忆及此事，他惊呼不已。过去辣椒评级往往是一组品尝员来完成，现在则由一个叫做“高能液体色版”的系统来按照斯科维尔标准评定。魔椒测评结果为1041427斯科维尔辣度，是此前记录保持者加利福尼亚赛瓦纳红椒辣度的两倍。（一个斯科维尔辣度是指用一定数量清水稀释辣椒素直至无法感知辣味。）一滴揭罗喀魔椒油，需要100万滴水来稀释！

The Saikias expect their company, Frontal Agritech Ltd., to sell 25 tons of dried chilies for the fiscal year ending in March. Mr. Saikia, 45, a horticulture professor at Assam Agricultural University, says the couple started their export business in 2004, knowing "we had a unique thing here." Shipments are certified by the Spices Board of India, a stamp of approval that allows entry into most overseas markets, he says.

Assam农业大学园艺教授，45岁的Saikia先生预期他们公司Frontal Agritech 截至今年三月的财政年度，能实现25吨干辣椒的销售。他们夫妻老婆店2004年开始做这个出口买卖。据他说，他拥有印度香料协会的独家特许船运证书，准予远销大多数海外市场。

Among their customers is Tom Beasley, of Merritt Island, Fla. He started buying powdered bhut jolokia six months ago and sells it at his Web site, burnmegood.com, with the promotion, "It's so hot, you can't even imagine; when you eat it, it's like dying."

他的客户主要来自佛州Merritt岛的Tom Beasley，六个月前他开始采购揭罗喀魔椒粉，并在他的网站burnmegood.com上销售。广告云：热辣无法想象，让你欲仙欲死。

The market for bhut jolokia, while growing, may be limited by the very quality that's put it on the map. "I've never even had a bite of bhut jolokia," says Mr. DeWitt, despite his career promoting hot foods. "I've reached the level I really like, and there's no reason to exceed that level." The head of India's defense lab, Mr. Srivastava agrees. "I'm from New Delhi," he says. "It's too hot for me."

成长中的揭罗喀魔椒市场也许将受制于其闻风丧胆的超辣品质。“揭罗喀魔椒我几乎一小口都不敢碰，”尽管贩辣为生，DeWitt先生提起魔椒仍不得不服，“我吃辣的境界算是厉害了，它才是辣中极品。”印度国防实验室的头儿Srivastava点头称是：“我这个新德里辣坛子泡大的，都受不了它的辣。”