第24章 完美的照片 The Perfect Picture

詹姆斯·亚历山大·汤姆/James Alexander Thom

It was early in the spring about 15 years ago, a day of pale sunlight and trees just beginning to bud. I was a young police reporter, driving to a scene I didn't want to see. A man, the police dispatcher's broadcast said, had accidentally backed his pickup truck over his baby granddaughter in the driveway of the family home. It was a fatality.

As I parked among police cars and TV news cruisers, I saw a stocky, white haired man in cotton work clothes standing near a pickup. Cameras were trained on him, and reporters were sticking microphones in his face. Looking totally bewildered, he was trying to answer their questions. Mostly he was only moving his lips, blinking and choking up.

After a while the reporters gave up on him and followed the police into the small white house. I can still see in my mind's eye that devastated old man looking down at the place in the driveway where the child had been. Beside the house was a freshly spaded flower bed, and nearby a pile of dark, rich earth.

“I was just backing up there to spread that good dirt,”he said to me, though I had not asked him anything.“I didn't even know she was outdoors.”He stretched his hand toward the flowerbed, then let it flop to his side. He lapsed back into his thoughts, and I, like a good reporter, went into the house to find someone who could provide a recent photo of the toddler.

A few minutes later, with all the details in my notebook and a three by five studio portrait of the cherubic child tucked in my jacket pocket, I went toward the kitchen where the police had said the body was.

I had brought a camera in with me—the big, bulky Speed Graphic which used to be the newspaper reporter's trademark. Everybody had drifted back out of the house, tighter family, police, reporters and photographer. Entering the kitchen, I came upon this scene.

On a Formica topped table, backlighted by a frilly curtained window, lay the tiny body, wrapped in a clear white sheet. Somehow the grandfather had managed to stay away from the crowd. He was sitting on a chair beside the table, in profile to me and unaware of my presence, looking uncomprehendingly at the swaddled corpse.

The house was very quiet. A clock ticked. As I watched the grandfather slowly leaned forward, curved his arms like parentheses around the head and feet of the little form, then pressed his face to the shroud and remained motionless.

In that hushed moment I recognized the makings of a prize winning news photograph. I appraised the light, adjusted the lens setting and distance, locked a bulb in the flashgun, raised the camera and composed the scene in the viewfinder.

Every element of the picture was perfect: the grandfather in his plain work clothes, his white hair backlighted by sunshine, the child's form wrapped in the sheet, the atmosphere of the simple home suggested by black iron trivets and World's Fair souvenir plates on the walls flanking the window. Outside, the police could be seen inspecting the fatal rear wheel of the pickup while the child's mother and father leaned in each other's arms.

I don't know how many seconds I stood there, unable to snap that shutter. I was keenly aware of the powerful story telling value that photo would have, and my professional conscience told me to take it. Yet I couldn't make my hand fire that flashbulb and intrude on the poor man's island of grief.

At length I lowered the camera and crept away shaken with doubt about my suitability for the journalistic profession. Of course I never told the city editor or any fellow reporters about that missed opportunity for a perfect news picture.

Every day, on the newscasts and in the papers, we see pictures of people in extreme conditions of grief and despair. Human suffering has become a spectator sport. And sometimes, as I'm watching news film, I remember that day.

I still feel right about what I did.

大约15年前早春的一天，苍白的阳光普照着大地，树木刚刚泛出新绿。那时的我是一个年轻的警方记者。一天，我驱车前往一个并不想去的事故现场。据警方广播报道，有人在自家车道倒轻型小货车时发生意外，车轮从他的小孙女身上轧了过去。真是一场灾难。

在众多警车和电视新闻采访车中我停下车，看到一个敦实、白发苍苍的男人穿着棉制的工作服站在一辆小货车旁。所有的摄像机都对准了他，记者们的话筒挤在他面前。他完全不知所措，努力回答记者们的问题，但多数时候只是蠕动着双唇，哽咽着。

过了一会儿，记者们放弃了采访，纷纷跟着警察进了一栋白色的小房子。老人绝望的表情令我至今难忘，他低着头，盯着小孙女出事的地方。房子旁边有一个刚松过土的花坛，边上有一堆黑色、肥沃的泥土。

“我只是想把车倒过去施肥。”他对我说，尽管我什么都没问。“我根本不知道她出来了。”他把手伸出来，指了指花坛，很快就无力地垂下去，又陷入了沉思。我和其他记者一样，也走进了房子，看看是否有人能提供这个刚学会走路的小女孩的近照。

几分钟后，我已在笔记薄上记下了所有的细节，并把一张三寸宽五寸长的照片塞进了夹克的口袋里，照片上是一个天真烂漫的女孩。然后，我走进厨房，警察说小女孩的尸体就放在这里。

我随身带了一个标志着新闻记者身份的快速成像的大容量照相机——一个大而笨重的能快速成像的家伙。此时，包括这个家里的其他成员、警察、记者和摄影师在内的所有人都从房子里出来了。我走进厨房，目睹了这样一个场景：

一张铺着福加卡塑料贴面的桌子上，放着那具用洁净的床单裹着的小尸体。光线透过挂着褶边窗帘的窗户照在上面。这位祖父一直在尽量避开人群。他坐在桌子旁边的椅子上，侧对着我，似乎并未觉察到我的存在。他直直地看着裹住的尸体，露出令人难以琢磨的表情。

房间里一片寂静，只听得见时钟滴滴答答的声音。我看到这位祖父慢慢地俯下身子，手臂弯成弧形，把这个小尸体从头到脚环抱在怀里，然后把脸贴在孩子的身上，一动不动。

那一刹那，我意识到这或许是一张能让我获奖的新闻照片。我对准光线，调好焦距，装上闪光灯，然后举起相机，把这个场面定格在取景器里。

这张照片的每个细节都很完美：祖父穿着他朴素的工作服，阳光从后面映照着他的白发。孩子的身躯裹在白色的床单里，黑色的金属三角架，窗户边墙壁上的世博会纪念托盘，烘托出这个简朴的房间的气氛。外面，警察在检查轻型小货车那致命的车轮，孩子的父母相拥着站在一旁。

我不知道自己在那儿站了多久，我始终无法按下快门。我强烈地意识到这张照片会带来巨大的新闻写实价值，我的职业良知也告诉我要拍下来。可是，我不忍心按下快门，闯入这个可怜老人的悲痛世界。

最终，我放下照相机，悄悄地离开了，带着对自己是否适合做新闻采访记者的疑虑。当然，错失这张完美照片的事，我没有告诉负责本地新闻的主编和同事。

每天，在电视新闻和报纸上，我们都可以看到一些处于巨大悲痛和绝望中的人们的照片。人们的痛苦竟成了众人的看资。如今，我看到一些新闻片时，常常不由自主地想起那一天。

那天的决定，我至今无悔。

记忆填空

1.As I parked among police cars and TV____________cruisers, I saw a stocky, white haired man in cotton work clothes standing____________a pickup. Cameras were trained on him, and reporters were sticking microphones in his____________. Looking totally bewildered, he was trying to answer their____________. Mostly he was only moving his lips, blinking____________choking up.

2.I don't know how many____________I stood there, unable to snap that shutter. I was keenly aware of the powerful story telling____________that photo would have, and my professional conscience told me to____________it. Yet I couldn't make my hand fire that flashbulb and intrude on the poor man's____________of grief.

佳句翻译

1.老人绝望的表情令我至今难忘，他低着头，盯着小孙女出事的地方。

译___________________________________________________

2.房间里一片寂静，只听得见时钟滴滴答答的声音。

译___________________________________________________

3.最终，我放下照相机，悄悄地离开了，带着对自己是否适合做新闻采访记者的疑虑。

译___________________________________________________

短语应用

1.I had brought a camera in with me—the big, bulky Speed Graphic which used to be the newspaper reporter's trademark.

used to：习惯于；过去常常

造___________________________________________________

2.Somehow the grandfather had managed to stay away from the crowd.

manage to：设法；达成

造___________________________________________________