The loudspeaker in the moon-base canteen has not said a clear word for three years. It mumbles, and everybody pretends to understand.
月球基地食堂的喇叭，已经三年没有说清楚过一句话了。它总是含含糊糊地嘟囔，而大家都假装听懂了。
Asha runs the canteen. Every morning she stands behind the long steel counter and listens to the speaker explain the day's menu. It sounds like a sleepy person talking under a blanket.
阿莎负责经营食堂。每天早上，她站在长长的钢制柜台后面，听喇叭播报当天的菜单。那声音像是一个昏昏欲睡的人在被子底下说话。
"Today we have noodles, mm, beans, and, mm-hm, extra rice," the speaker says.
“今天有面条、嗯、豆子，还有，嗯哼，加……饭。”喇叭说。
"Extra what?" asks a technician at the front of the line.
“加什么？”队伍最前面的一位技术员问。
"Extra rice," Asha says. "It always means rice."
“加饭，”阿莎说，“意思永远是加米饭。”
By ten o'clock, Aziz arrives to eat his second breakfast. He is the base's repair technician, and he carries a small metal toolbox everywhere, even to meals. He sits at the end of the counter and puts a printed form in front of her.
到了十点，阿齐兹来吃他的第二顿早餐。他是基地的维修技术员，走到哪儿都带着一只小小的金属工具箱，连吃饭也不例外。他坐在柜台的尽头，把一张打印的表格放在她面前。
"The supply capsule leaves Earth tomorrow at eight o'clock," he says. "The commander has given us one free slot for the canteen. We must send our order before tonight's meal."
“补给舱明天早上八点从地球出发，”他说，“指挥官给了食堂一个免费的名额。我们必须在今晚开饭前把订单发出去。”
Asha reads the form. It has two boxes, and only one can be ticked.
阿莎读着表格。上面有两个方框，只能勾一个。
"Box one is a new speaker unit with a clear voice," she says. "Box two is a tray of real soil and four hundred seeds."
“第一个框是换一台声音清晰的新喇叭，”她说，“第二个框是一盘真正的泥土和四百颗种子。”
"Basil, mint and peppers," Aziz says, and his eyes shine. "Fresh leaves in a month. Do you remember what a fresh leaf smells like?"
“罗勒、薄荷和辣椒，”阿齐兹说，眼睛闪闪发亮，“一个月后就有新鲜的叶子了。你还记得新鲜叶子是什么味道吗？”
"Of course I do. I am a cook." Asha folds her arms. "But I also remember what I did on Monday. I told sixty people that the noodle line was closed. Half of them heard that the moon was closed."
“我当然记得。我是厨师。”阿莎抱起胳膊。“可我也记得我星期一做了什么。我告诉六十个人面条队伍关了。结果他们有一半人听成了月球关了。”
Aziz laughs. "That was funny."
阿齐兹笑了。“那可真好笑。”
"It was not funny when they all went to the airlock."
“他们全都跑去气闸舱的时候，就不好笑了。”
"The speaker is old," he says, "but it works. I have opened it three times. The wires are fine, the chip is fine, and the voice board is fine. It mumbles because it wants to mumble."
“喇叭是旧了，”他说，“可它能用。我拆开过三次。线路没问题，芯片没问题，声音板也没问题。它含糊其词，是因为它想含糊其词。”
"A machine cannot want things."
“机器不会有想法。”
"On this base, I am not sure." Aziz lowers his voice. "The old crew say the first cook talked to that speaker every night. They say it learned to whisper from her."
“在这座基地里，我可不太确定。”阿齐兹压低了声音。“老队员说，第一位厨师每天晚上都跟那个喇叭说话。他们说它的耳语就是跟她学来的。”
"That is a story for new arrivals," Asha says, but she smiles anyway.
“那是讲给新来的人听的故事。”阿莎说，但她还是笑了。
He puts a finger on the form. "I vote for the garden. Both choices are good, so we should pick the one that makes us happy."
他用一根手指点着表格。“我投花园一票。两个选择都不错，所以我们该选那个能让我们快乐的。”
Asha thinks about that for a long moment. She likes the idea of green leaves in the grey canteen. She likes it so much that she feels almost guilty.
阿莎想了很久。她喜欢在灰色的食堂里有绿叶的想法。喜欢到她甚至觉得有点愧疚。
"I will decide before the evening meal," she says. "Give me one day to check something."
“晚饭前我会决定，”她说，“给我一天时间，我要查一件事。”
All afternoon, she watches the speaker. At two o'clock it mumbles that the library will close early. At three it announces a movie night, but nobody understands which movie. At four, it says something about the water recycler, and a worried engineer runs out of the room. Asha writes each mistake on a paper napkin and puts the napkins in her apron pocket. By five, she has eleven.
整个下午，她都盯着那个喇叭。两点，它嘟囔着说图书馆要提前关门。三点，它宣布要办电影之夜，却没人听懂是哪部电影。四点，它说了些关于水循环装置的事，一位担心的工程师冲出了房间。阿莎把每一处差错都写在一张纸餐巾上，塞进围裙口袋里。到了五点，她已经有十一张了。
At six thirty, the commander's voice arrives on the wall screen with a short message. "Corridor C will close at seven for filter repair. Please use Corridor A. Thank you."
六点半，指挥官的声音出现在墙上的屏幕上，带来一条简短的消息。“C走廊七点关闭，维修过滤器。请改走A走廊。谢谢。”
Asha nods to herself. Then she presses the speaker button and reads the message into the microphone. She speaks slowly and clearly. She wants to see what the speaker does with it.
阿莎对自己点点头。然后她按下喇叭的按钮，对着麦克风把这条消息念了一遍。她说得缓慢而清楚。她想看看喇叭会怎么处理它。
The old speaker clears its throat with a soft crackle. "Corridor, mm-mm, closes at, mm, seven. Please use, mm, see."
旧喇叭轻轻噼啪一声，清了清嗓子。“走廊，嗯嗯，七点，嗯，关闭。请改走，嗯，诶。”
"Please use what?" asks a young man by the door. "Corridor C?"
“请改走什么？”门边的一个年轻人问，“C走廊？”
"I think it said C," says a woman beside him.
“我觉得它说的是C。”他旁边的一位女士说。
By seven, twenty people stand in front of the sealed door of Corridor C. They hold their trays and look confused. Some of them have been walking for ten minutes. A technician arrives late to the filter repair because nobody told him it had started. Aziz hurries into the canteen with his toolbox, out of breath, and finds Asha standing by the counter.
到七点，二十个人站在封闭的C走廊门前。他们端着托盘，一脸困惑。有些人已经走了十分钟。一位技术员去过滤器维修现场迟到了，因为没人告诉他维修已经开始。阿齐兹提着工具箱，气喘吁吁地冲进食堂，发现阿莎正站在柜台边。
"Did you do this on purpose?" he asks.
“你是故意的吗？”他问。
"I read the message exactly as it was written," Asha says. "Look at the line. They are tired and hungry, and some of them are standing at a closed door. Today it was only a filter. What if tomorrow it is something serious?"
“我只是把消息原原本本念了出来，”阿莎说，“你看那一队人。他们又累又饿，有些人还站在一扇关着的门前。今天只是个过滤器。要是明天是什么严重的事呢？”
Aziz looks at the crowd. A little girl, the commander's daughter, pulls at her mother's sleeve and asks which way they should go. Nobody can answer her.
阿齐兹看着人群。一个小女孩，指挥官的女儿，拉着妈妈的袖子，问他们该往哪边走。没有人能回答她。
"I see," he says quietly.
“我明白了。”他轻声说。
"We can plant seeds next month," Asha says. "A voice that people can understand cannot wait. If the garden is good now, it will still be good later. But if somebody mishears an emergency tonight, nothing will be good."
“种子下个月还可以种，”阿莎说，“可一个大家都能听懂的声音，等不得。花园现在好，以后也还是好。可要是今晚有人听错了紧急通知，那什么都好不了了。”
She tears the form from the clipboard and ticks box one. Then she signs her name, and Aziz signs under it. At seven fifty-five, he walks to the commander's office and drops the paper into the order slot.
她把表格从写字板上撕下来，在第一个框里打了勾。然后签上自己的名字，阿齐兹在她下面签了名。七点五十五分，他走到指挥官办公室，把纸投进了订单口。
"Next month, the seeds are mine," he says when he returns.
“下个月，种子归我。”他回来时说。
"Next month, the soil is yours," Asha agrees. "And I will cook with the first leaf."
“下个月，泥土归你，”阿莎同意道，“我会用第一片叶子做菜。”
The capsule arrives nine days later. The new speaker comes in a white box, wrapped in soft foam. It is smaller than Asha expects, with a silver front and one round blue light. Aziz takes the old speaker off the wall and puts the new one in its place. His hands move slowly, almost kindly.
补给舱九天后到了。新喇叭装在一个白盒子里，用柔软的泡沫包着。它比阿莎想象的要小，银色的正面，有一盏圆圆的蓝灯。阿齐兹把旧喇叭从墙上取下来，把新的装在原处。他的动作很慢，几乎是温柔的。
When he plugs it in, the room goes quiet. Everyone looks at the wall.
他接上电源，房间安静下来。所有人都望着墙壁。
"Good evening," says the new speaker, in a clear, bright voice. "Tonight the canteen is serving noodles, beans and extra rice."
“晚上好，”新喇叭用清晰明亮的声音说，“今晚食堂供应面条、豆子和加量米饭。”
The whole room cheers. Someone throws a napkin into the air, and the commander's daughter claps both hands. Asha laughs so hard that she has to hold on to the counter.
整个房间都欢呼起来。有人把一张餐巾抛到空中，指挥官的女儿拍起了双手。阿莎笑得太厉害，不得不扶住柜台。
Late that night, after the last tray is washed, Asha walks through the empty canteen. Aziz has put the old speaker in a box on the storage shelf, with a blanket around it. She turns off the lights and stops at the door.
那天深夜，最后一个托盘洗完后，阿莎穿过空荡荡的食堂。阿齐兹已经把旧喇叭放进一个盒子里，搁在储物架上，还用一条毯子裹着它。她关了灯，在门口停下。
Behind her, the box makes a tiny sound. She looks over her shoulder. The blanket moves a little, as if somebody is breathing under it.
她身后，盒子里发出一点细小的声响。她回头一看。毯子微微动了动，仿佛有人在底下呼吸。
Then, for the first time in three years, the old speaker says one word clearly.
然后，三年来第一次，旧喇叭清楚地说出了一个词。
"Wait."
“等等。”
