For the first six weeks of term, Elan was the person who asked for help. She asked the older students where the compost bins were kept. She asked the technician how to read the humidity dials. She asked a second-year girl, twice, how the misting system worked, and twice she nodded as if she understood.
开学头六个星期，埃兰一直是那个开口求助的人。她问高年级的学生堆肥箱放在哪儿。她问技术员怎么看湿度表。她还问过一个二年级的女生两次喷雾系统是怎么运作的，两次她都点着头，好像听懂了。
The college greenhouse was the best place on the campus, and also the most confusing. It was a long glass building with three climates under one roof. The first room was dry and sandy, and the second was cool and green. The third was a tropical house, so warm and wet that your glasses fogged the moment you stepped inside.
学院的温室是校园里最好的地方，也是最让人犯迷糊的地方。那是一座长长的玻璃建筑，一个屋顶下有三种气候。第一间干燥多沙，第二间凉爽青翠。第三间是热带馆，又暖又湿，你一踏进去，眼镜就起了雾。
On a Thursday afternoon, with the lecture hall empty and the corridors almost silent, Elan went to the tropical house to check the water trays. She was alone, which was unusual. She was also in a good mood. On Monday the technician had taught her a skill she could use: how to mend a torn net with a needle and strong green thread.
星期四下午，阶梯教室空着，走廊里几乎没有声音，埃兰去热带馆检查水盘。她独自一人，这不常见。她心情也很好。星期一，技术员教了她一项用得上的本领：怎么用针和结实的绿线补一张破网。
She had practised on a spare piece of shade cloth for an hour. The knot was a small one, a tight loop that looked like nothing and held like iron. She had been waiting for a chance to show someone, and so far nobody had asked.
她拿一块多余的遮阳布练了一个小时。那个结很小，是一个紧紧的小圈，看着不起眼，却牢得像铁。她一直在等机会给人看看，可到现在还没人问过。
At the far end of the tropical house, between the banana plants and the glass wall, she found a boy she had never seen before.
在热带馆的最里头，香蕉树和玻璃墙之间，她发现了一个她从没见过的男孩。
He was tall and thin, with a wet fringe stuck to his forehead. He was holding a long-handled net above his head like a man trying to touch the ceiling. In front of him a blue butterfly the size of a playing card drifted in lazy circles. Every time he swung, it slid sideways, and every time he missed, he said a short word in a language that Elan did not know.
他又高又瘦，一绺湿漉漉的刘海贴在额头上。他把一张长柄网举过头顶，像个想摸到天花板的人。他面前，一只扑克牌大小的蓝蝴蝶懒洋洋地绕着圈子飘。他每挥一次网，蝴蝶就朝旁边一滑，每扑空一次，他就说一个短短的词，是埃兰听不懂的语言。
"Excuse me," she said. "Can I help?"
“打扰一下，”她说。“要我帮忙吗？”
"Please do not come closer," the boy said, without turning. "It is a very expensive butterfly. I mean, it is not expensive for me. It is expensive for the college. I am an exchange student, and I borrowed the net from the office. They told me this one is the last of its kind in the building."
“请别靠近，”男孩头也不回地说。“这是一只非常贵的蝴蝶。我是说，对我来说不贵。对学院来说贵。我是交换生，网是我从办公室借的。他们告诉我，这是楼里同类里的最后一只。”
"Then I think you should lower the net," Elan said, "and look at it."
“那我觉得你应该把网放下来，”埃兰说，“看着它。”
He lowered the net. The butterfly floated down gently and settled on a leaf, its wings opening and closing like a slow book. In the middle of the net, where the mesh should have been, there was a hole about the size of a coin.
他放下了网。蝴蝶轻轻飘落下来，停在一片叶子上，翅膀一开一合，像一本缓缓翻动的书。网的中央，本该是网眼的地方，有一个硬币大小的洞。
"Oh," the boy said.
“哦，”男孩说。
"It went straight through it," Elan said. "Twice. I watched from the door."
“它直接从那里穿过去了，”埃兰说。“两次。我在门口看见的。”
He looked at the hole. Then he looked at her, and she saw that he was trying very hard not to laugh.
他看着那个洞。然后他看着她，她看出他正拼命忍着不笑。
"My name is Hendrik," he said. "I was told it would be an easy job."
“我叫亨德里克，”他说。“有人告诉我这是份轻松的活儿。”
"I am Elan," she said. "And I know exactly how to fix that."
“我是埃兰，”她说。“我恰好知道怎么补它。”
It was a strange sentence for her to say. She had never said anything like it in this building. She felt her voice rise a little at the end, as if she were asking a question, and she tried to straighten it.
这对她来说是句奇怪的话。她在这座楼里从没说过这样的话。她觉得自己的声音在句尾微微扬了起来，好像在提问，她努力把它压平。
"Hold the net still," she said, and she took the needle and thread from the pocket of her apron.
“把网拿稳，”她说着，从围裙口袋里拿出针线。
Hendrik held the net as if it were a sleeping animal. Elan worked at the edge of the hole, drawing the loose mesh together with quick small stitches. She showed him how each knot closed on itself and locked. He leaned in to watch. His shoulder was a few centimetres from hers, and she noticed that he smelled faintly of rubber boots and oranges.
亨德里克托着网，像托着一只睡着的动物。埃兰在洞的边缘穿针引线，用又快又小的针脚把松开的网眼拉拢。她给他演示每个结怎样自己扣紧、锁死。他凑过来看。他的肩膀离她的只有几厘米，她注意到他身上隐约有橡胶靴和橙子的味道。
"You are very fast," he said.
“你好快，”他说。
"I am very new," she said. "I learned this on Monday. Before that, I could not have mended a sock."
“我很新手，”她说。“这是我星期一学的。在那之前，我连一只袜子都补不了。”
"Then you are the best teacher I have ever had," Hendrik said. "And you have taught me for two minutes."
“那你就是我遇到过的最好的老师，”亨德里克说。“而你只教了我两分钟。”
She bent her head so that he could not see her face, and she pulled the last knot tight. When she bit the thread, it made a tiny, satisfying click.
她低下头，不让他看见她的脸，把最后一个结拉紧。她用牙咬断线头，发出一声细小而令人满足的咔哒。
"There," she said. "It will hold."
“好了，”她说。“它能撑住。”
But the butterfly had moved while they worked. It was resting on a high stem now, well out of reach. It fanned its blue wings in the glow of the lamps with the calm of a creature that had nowhere to be.
可是蝴蝶在他们忙活的时候挪了地方。它现在停在一根高高的茎上，远远够不着。它在灯光里扇动蓝色的翅膀，神态安然，仿佛无处可去。
"Now what?" Hendrik asked. "I can jump, but I will probably fall into the banana plant."
“现在怎么办？”亨德里克问。“我可以跳，不过多半会摔进香蕉丛里。”
"We do not chase it," Elan said. "Chasing makes it nervous. The technician told me that butterflies come for sweet things." She looked around the room, then pointed to his jacket. "You have an orange in your pocket. I can smell it."
“我们不追它，”埃兰说。“追会让它紧张。技术员告诉过我，蝴蝶是冲着甜的东西来的。”她环顾房间，然后指了指他的外套。“你口袋里有个橙子。我闻到了。”
Hendrik pulled out the fruit as if he were surprised to find it there. "It was my lunch," he said. "I forgot to eat it."
亨德里克把水果掏出来，好像很惊讶它会在那儿。“这是我的午饭，”他说。“我忘了吃。”
"Good. Cut it in half."
“好。把它切成两半。”
They laid the two halves on a clean saucer from the staff cupboard and set it on the bench beside the water trays. Then they stood back, side by side, and waited. The room was quiet except for the dripping of the leaves. Elan kept the net low and steady in her hand. To her surprise, Hendrik stayed completely still, his arms folded and his eyes on the saucer.
他们把两半橙子放在从员工柜里拿的一只干净碟子上，把碟子摆在水盘旁的台子上。然后他们并肩退后，等着。房间里很安静，只有叶子上的水珠在滴答。埃兰把网低低地、稳稳地握在手里。令她惊讶的是，亨德里克一动不动，双臂抱在胸前，眼睛盯着碟子。
It took four minutes. The blue butterfly lifted from its stem, circled once, twice, and dropped lightly onto the orange. Its long tongue uncurled like a tiny watch spring. Elan raised the net slowly, with the patience of someone who had learned from a boy's mistake. She brought it down over the saucer in a single soft movement.
过了四分钟。那只蓝蝴蝶从茎上飞起来，盘旋了一圈、两圈，然后轻盈地落在橙子上。它长长的口器像一根小小的表簧一样展开。埃兰缓缓举起网，带着从一个男孩的失误里学来的耐心。她以一个柔和的动作把网罩在了碟子上。
The butterfly rose inside the mesh and bumped against it, and the mended hole stayed closed.
蝴蝶在网里飞起来，撞到网上，那个补好的洞纹丝不动。
"We did it," Hendrik said. He covered his mouth with his hand, and she saw that his eyes were bright. "We did it. You did it."
“我们做到了，”亨德里克说。他用手捂住嘴，她看见他的眼睛亮闪闪的。“我们做到了。是你做到的。”
"We," Elan said firmly. "You held the net."
“是我们，”埃兰坚定地说。“网是你拿的。”
They carried the net carefully to the display cage at the end of the room. Hendrik opened the little door, and the butterfly slipped inside. It circled the plants, found a branch and settled. They both leaned on the glass, shoulder to shoulder, and watched it for a long time.
他们小心翼翼地把网抬到房间尽头的展示笼边。亨德里克打开小门，蝴蝶滑了进去。它绕着植物飞了一圈，找到一根枝条，落了下来。他们俩肩并肩靠在玻璃上，看了很久。
"Nobody has ever thanked me for anything here," Elan said at last. She was surprised to hear herself say it. "I am the one who always asks."
“在这里，从来没有人为任何事谢过我，”埃兰终于说。她听到自己这么说，感到惊讶。“我总是那个求助的人。”
"Then I will thank you properly," Hendrik said. "I will tell the office that the net was broken before I borrowed it, and that the student who fixed it is a genius."
“那我就好好谢谢你，”亨德里克说。“我会告诉办公室，网在我借之前就是坏的，而修好它的那个学生是个天才。”
"I am not a genius. I only know one knot."
“我不是天才。我只会一种结。”
"It is a very good knot." He glanced at the thread in her hand, then back at her. He smiled the slow, lopsided smile of someone who had just remembered something funny. "You know, it is a good thing the net had a hole."
“这是个很棒的结。”他瞥了一眼她手里的线，又看回她。他露出一个缓慢而歪斜的微笑，像刚想起了什么好笑的事。“你知道吗，幸亏这张网有个洞。”
