第23章 在路上
《在路上》的主人公萨尔为了追求刺激，与几个
年轻男女沿途搭便车或自己开车，几次横越美国大陆，
最终到达墨西哥。一路上他们狂喝烂饮，吸大麻，玩
女人，高谈东方禅宗，走累了就挡道拦车，夜宿村落，
从纽约游荡到旧金山，最后作鸟兽散。
[ 美] 杰克·凯鲁亚克 （ Jack Kerouac）
That night I found Carlo and to my amazement he told me
he’d been in Central City with Dean.
“What did you do?”
“Oh，we ran around the bars and then Dean stole a car and
we drove back down the mountain curves ninety miles an hour.”
“I didn’t see you.”
“We didn’t know you were there.”
“Well，man，I’m going to San Francisco.”
“Dean has Rita lined up for you tonight.”
“Well，then，I’ll put it off.”I had no money. I sent my aunt
an airmail letter asking her for fifty dollars and said it would be the
last money I’d ask ；after that she would be getting money back
from me，as soon as I got that ship.
Then I went to meet Rita Bettencourt and took her back to
the apartment. I got her in my bedroom after a long talk in the
dark of the front room. She was a nice little girl，simple and true，
and tremendously frightened of sex. I told her it was beautiful. I
wanted to prove this to her. She let me prove it，but I was too
impatient and proved nothing. She sighed in the dark.“What do
you want out of life?”I asked，and I used to ask that all the time
of girls.
“I don’t know，”she said.“Just wait on tables and try to
get along.”She yawned. I put my hand over her mouth and told
her not to yawn. I tried to tell her how excited I was about life
and the things we could do together ；saying that，and planning
to leave Denver in two days. She turned away wearily. We lay on
our backs，looking at the ceiling and wondering what God had
wrought when He made life so sad. We made vague plans to
meet in Frisco.
My moments in Denver were coming to an end，I could feel
it when I walked her home，on the way back I stretched out on
the grass of an old church with a bunch of hobos，and their talk
made me want to get back on that road. Every now and then
one would get up and hit a passer-by for a dime. They talked of
harvests moving north. It was warm and soft. I wanted to go and
get Rita again and tell her a lot more things，and really make love
to her this time，and calm her fears about men. Boys and girls in
America have such a sad time together ；sophistication demands
that they submit to sex immediately without proper preliminary
talk. Not courting talk — real straight talk about souls，for life is
holy and every moment is precious. I heard the Denver and Rio
Grande locomotive howling off to the mountains. I wanted to
pursue my star further.
那天晚上我见到了卡罗，使我吃惊的是他告诉我，他和狄
恩去了中央城。
“你们去那儿干什么？”
“噢，我们到那儿的酒吧里转了转，后来狄恩偷了一辆汽车，
我们以每小时90 英里的速度从山上歪歪扭扭把它开了下来。”
“我没见到你们。”
“我们不知道你也在。”
“噢，老兄，我要去旧金山了。”
“狄恩让莉塔今晚等你。”
“好的，那么我就推迟几天走。”我一分钱也没有了。我已
发了一封航空信给姨妈，跟她要50 美元，并且告诉她这是我最
后一次向她要钱。以后等我在船上找到工作了，就把钱都还给她。
然后我去找莉塔·贝特科特，带她到我的公寓。我们在前
面漆黑的房间里聊了很长时间，然后进了卧室。她是一个好姑
娘，纯真、朴实，对性生活极其恐惧。我告诉她这是件很美的事。
我想向她证明这一点，她也允许我向她证明，但我太不耐烦了，
以致什么也没做。她在黑暗中叹了口气。“你想从生活中得到什
么呢？”我问她，我总是对女孩子提这样的问题。
“我不知道，”她说，“我只想在饭店好好干，别出乱子就行。”
她哀叹着。我用手捂住了她的嘴，告诉她不要叹息。我想告诉她
我的生活是多么激动人心，告诉她我们可以在一起做许多事。我
对她说两天后我就要离开丹佛了。她伤心地转过身去。我们躺在
一起，凝望着天花板。为什么上帝要让人类如此痛苦，对此，我
们都感到迷惑不解。我们初步计划在旧金山再见。
当我送她回家的时候，我感到自己在丹佛的生活快要结束
了。回来的路上，我伸开四肢躺在教堂前的草坪上，这儿还躺
着许多流浪汉，他们的谈话令我更想上路了。他们随时都可能
爬起来向过路的人要上几个子儿，他们谈论着自己的收获。空
气是温柔而又舒适的。我真想返回去找莉塔，给她讲更多的东西，
这次要真的与她做爱，安慰她，让她不再害怕任何男人。美国
的男孩和女孩总是这样伤心地呆在一起，老于世故使他们立即
屈服于性欲，在这之前没有任何温柔和爱抚，甚至没有任何交
谈——那种心灵与心灵的交流。然而生活是神圣的，生命的每
一刻都是珍贵的。我听到丹佛和里奥格兰河正咆哮着离我而去，
我要去追求我远方的星星了。
作者介绍
杰克·凯鲁亚克（1922—1969）美国小说家。出生于马萨诸塞州洛
厄尔城的一个信奉天主教的工人家庭。凯鲁亚克是美国五十年代中期崛
起的“垮掉的一代”的重要代表人物之一，他一生共创作了18 部小说，
大多带有自传性质。他的作品有《乡村与城市》、《地下室居民》、《达摩
流浪者》、《萨克斯医生》和《麦琪·卡西迪》，凯鲁亚克的作品对社会现
实有独到的认识。
单词注解
tremendously [tri5mendEsli] adv. 极大地；极其；非常
impatient [im5peiFEnt] adj. 不耐烦的；无法忍受的
vague [vei^] adj. ( 形状等) 模糊不清的，朦胧的
preliminary [pri5liminEri] adj. 预备的；初步的；开端的
名句大搜索
我已发了一封航空信给姨妈，向她要50 美元，并且告诉她这是我最后一
次向她要钱。
我们都感到迷惑不解，为什么上帝要让人类如此痛苦。
然而生活是神圣的，生命的每一刻都是珍贵的。
实战提升