Swansea Cigarette Ladies 斯旺西抽烟的女士 by Via

文章链接 https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/13KjBYsW1EKFBprasIi4ag

背景音乐 Caesarxmw - 森林里, Tears in the Sea, Real Sea, 2019, Soul

Riddle Apple Podcast https://c1n.cn/TIUMa

Riddle 喜马拉雅 https://m.ximalaya.com/album/52712505

Riddle Wechat公众号「流浪Riddle」

Riddle Instagram https://bit.ly/riddleinsta

Patreon Page https://www.patreon.com/yuanriddle

It was my second day in Swansea and I was going to Rhossili. The bus to Rhossili from Swansea comes every hour. Unluckily, It passed 3 minutes before I arrived at the bus stop for buying some drawing stuff. So I grabbed a coffee and sat outside of the cafe to wait for the bus.

今天是我在斯旺西的第二天，我计划去罗西里海湾。在这个小城，去罗西里的巴士每隔一小时才来一辆，不巧的是，在我买完我忘带的水彩工具到达车站时，它三分钟前刚刚驶过。我便在车站旁的咖啡馆外坐下，要了一杯拿铁。

"Do you mind we sit here if we smoke?" An old lady came and asked."Of course not," I said.
“你介意我坐在这儿吗？我们会抽烟。” 一位年长的女士走过来问。“我不介意。”
To be honest I didn’t hear it clearly because I was doing the sketch. But I never refuse the chance to talk with strangers while traveling. She sat down in the chair diagonally in front of me, took off the mask and put on her sunglasses. Then she took out a cigarette. A moment later, another lady with a cane came out of the cafe.

其实我一开始没有太听清，但是在旅行时我很乐意和陌生人搭话。她在我斜对面的椅子上坐下来，摘下透明面罩然后戴上墨镜，从口袋里抽出一根烟。过了一小会儿，另一位拄着拐杖的女士从咖啡馆里走出来。

"Look what she drew!" A vivid voice came from behind.

“看她画的！” 一个声音从我身后传来。

She sat down strenuously, putting her cane aside and taking out her cigarette case. It was a metallic case covered with leather. They lit up the cigarettes.

她有点困难地坐下，把拐杖放在一旁然后也拿出她的香烟盒。那是一个包裹着黑色皮革的金属烟盒。她们点燃了手中的烟。

"Do you live here?" She asked."No, it’s my second day here in Swansea. I’m on holiday. I live in London."

“你住在这儿吗？” 我对面的女士问道。“不，这是我在这儿的第二天。我正在度假，我住在伦敦。”

"Swansea was not like this when I was a child. It had a lot of shops in the town centre. Now they are all cafes. I'm eighty-seven." She blew out a stream of smoke."You don't seem to be." I started to sketch her sneakingly, looking at her eyes."Age is not a big deal. It's fine because my brain is energetic. I don't want to live forever. That’s scary." She pointed at her head.…

“现在的斯旺西和我小时候完全不一样了。从前在这儿有很多各种各样的商店，现在全变成咖啡馆了。我八十七岁了。”她吐出一口烟圈。“您看起来不像。”我看着她的眼睛，手上悄悄地开始画她的速写。“年龄不是什么重要的事情。我的大脑还充满活力。我才不想活到永远，这太可怕了。”她用手指了指脑袋。…

"You are asking too much, she’s drawing." The lady with sunglasses patted her shoulder. "Actually I'm sketching you… I'm sorry. Do you mind?" I confessed.

“你问的太多了。”戴墨镜的女士拍了拍她的肩吐槽道。“其实我在画您的速写。很抱歉，请问您介意吗？”我坦白了。

She glanced at my paper and pulled a face."Are you capturing my face?""Swansea was destroyed in World War 2…" Back to this topic again. She kept talking about how people were killed and escaped during the war.

她瞟了一眼我的画本，然后做了个鬼脸。“你在画我的脸吗？” “斯旺西在二战的时候被炸毁了…“话题又回到二战了。她讲了很多关于二战在英国的情景。

I was hesitating whether to tell them I was waiting for the bus. I missed my bus again.

我看了一下表，有点犹豫要不要告诉她们我其实在等巴士。我又错过那辆巴士了。

"Am I too noisy?" She asked twice. In the meantime, the lady with sunglasses noticed that I was sketching her and changed her smoking pose just like the models in the fashion magazine.

“我会太聒噪吗？”她问了两次。同时，另一位女士注意到我开始画她，换了一个抽烟的姿势,看起来像时尚杂志里的模特。

"You drew me like a man." She watched my drawing carefully. Both of them have short hair.

“你把我画得像个男人。”她走到我身后仔细看了看我的画。她们俩都是短发。

They finished their coffee and stood up. "I'm glad that we chose to sit at this table to meet you today, Via. We come to grab a coffee from time to time. Hope to see you again." "Don’t forget to add my wrinkles!" The lady with sunglasses said before she left.

她们喝完了咖啡准备离开。“我很高兴我们今天坐在一张桌子上聊天。很高兴见到你Via。我们时不时地就会来这里喝咖啡。希望能再见到你。” “别忘记把我的皱纹画上去。”那位戴墨镜的女士说。

I decided to post postcards during Christmas to this cafe. Maybe the cafe will forward the card to the cigarette ladies can receive them. Who knows?

我决定圣诞的时候给这家咖啡馆寄明信片，有机会的话或许能转交给她们呢。

022 睡前英文 ｜ 斯旺西女士 by Via #英国

022 睡前英文｜斯旺西女士 by Via #英国