亲密无间的意思(亲密无间的意思解释)

【本课内容】在本课中我们将读到、听到和感受到温馨而美丽的小故事《When Your Greatest Romance is Friendship》（当你遇见的最美情感是友谊的时候）的最后一部分。大家会了解到，这是一个真实的故事，会听到作者自己的感受分享，同时还会了解一点这个口音浓重的故事播讲人的身份。许多人其实都见过他，你们知道他是谁吗？

【刘博士课前闲话】

在通过头条自媒体这种社交方式与成人英语学习者分享英语学习以后，我开始愈发紧张和谨慎。英语在现在这个时期再次成为不合时宜的东西，容易躺枪甚至更甚。让我把中国最早决定在国内教育体系中引入英语的一些史料给大家参考，让我们理性了解学英语和不学英语的利弊：

1903年颁布《奏定学堂章程》奠定了中国的近代教育体系，也解释了全国性教育体系中为什么要引入英语。这个由张百熙，张之洞等晚清开明学者负责编撰的的章程条目对这一问题做了回答。在“中学堂以上各学堂，必勤习洋文”一章，章程写到了两个背景原因。第一是当时不通洋文，“于交涉、游历、游学，无不窒碍”， “而粗通洋文者，往往以洋文居奇”， “其猾黠悖谬者，则专采外国书报之大异乎中国礼法、不合乎中国政体者，截头去尾而翻译之，更或附会以一己之私意，故为增损，以求自圆其说”，而且用这些翻译“可以易售而罔利”，一则因“中国通洋文者少，故摘取其单词片语以冀欺世而惑人，鄙险甚矣。假令中国通洋文者多，则此种荒谬悖诞之翻译，决无所施其伎俩。“

正因如此，刘博士英语学习法中，学习者不仅能够看到英语的译文，你们还会看到英语的原文。刘博士希望通过自己的努力能够让更多的国人通过英语理解原文，不再受骗。

当然，会有许多人不喜欢英语，这很正常。毕竟英语对大多数人是无用的，你们不用看它就好，它是给那些和我一样的英语爱好者分享的。

让我们相互分享自己的体验感受，让我们不去妄做评价。

【关于故事的作者，故事内容和故事播讲人】

本故事的作者是美国当代作家和戏曲家Victor Lodato。这是他自己写作生涯中的一个亲身经历。作为作家，他习惯了孤独的生活。然而当他遇见了Austin 之后，Austin 把他从孤独中领了出来，让他重新感受到了人与人在社会中依旧存在的温情。而在遇见了Austin 之后，Victor 也发现了，在我们的社会中，许多的老人，由于其生活经历、年龄和经济状况等原因，他们在这个社会上也感受着另外一种孤独。他们被排除在这个社会的主流思想之外，他们希望加入下一代的对话和交流，然而他们却普遍被下一代和主流社会拒之门外。

这个故事是Victor搬到美国俄勒冈写作时的一个亲生经历。他的朋友Austin 是在Victor 写完这个故事那一年的12月去世的，Austin生前与Victor有了更多的相互交流和理解的机会。Austin 去世前说，她最担心的就是Victor 不能从自己的孤独中走出来，她告诉Victor, ”You're going to be fine, I love you, I want you to be okay.'”。Austin生前读到了Victor为她写的这篇文章，她很欣慰。

在这个故事结束之后，大家可以在音频中听到剧作家Victor 亲自谈论他的感受。他的亲自分享内容的英语原文我附在了故事之后，除了以上的概括，我没有翻译。

（Victor Lodato)

大家一定也对这个故事讲述中的英语口音所困扰吧。这已经是改善了许多的印度英语口音了。故事的播讲人是Ali Fazal。Ali Fazil 出生于印度。他早先成名于印度的Bollywood，在2015年他前往美国Hollywood 发展，并在《Fast and Furious》（速度与激情）第七部出演角色。现在，他已经成为国际影星。

Ali 说他喜欢Victor的这篇文章是因为这篇文章所揭示的亲密无间（Intimacy）的含义。Ali 说， “有一句话真的打动了我。”这句话是，'（我们）没有什么问题是越界的。' 这让我感到一种完全坦诚的空间——一旦你越过这个界线，'亲密'一词的范围就突然变得无限宽广起来。它是无边无际的。因为它无关友谊，也无关爱情。它成了一种心灵感应的东西。你可以用接吻的方式，也可以不用接吻的方式；你可以是睡着，你也可以是醒着；你也许只是在看书，你也许只是在说话，（可是你却能够感觉到这种亲密）。我觉得这种感觉美妙极了。”

"This one line really sticks with me," Ali said. "It says, 'There were no questions that were off limits.' And it's that space of total nudity that I feel — once you cross that, the word intimacy just suddenly widens out. And it's huge. Because it's not about friendship, it's not about love. It's something very spiritual. You could be kissing, or you could be not kissing. You could be sleeping, you could be not sleeping. You could be just reading. You could just be talking. And I think that's just beautiful."

【刘博士译文】：When Your Greatest Romance is Friendship (part 3)

当然啦，Austin一定会比我早许多离开人世。不过那不是这个故事要讲的内容。我开始意识到，这个故事是一个爱情故事。

Austin继续坚持画了几个月的画，那是一幅支离破碎的，让人产生幻觉的自画像，却是用炙热的颜色画成的。那是她最好的作品。不过，最近她很疲倦，几乎一直都蜷缩在沙发上。我陪着她，坐在她的对面，我们的腿彼此穿插着。

“给我读你的书吧，”她说。

当我告诉她我的书已经写完了的时候，她会让我给她读点新东西。可是每当我这样做时，她马上就睡着了。

不过，我不会离开她。我凝视着窗外。奥斯汀是对的。这个房间的光线的确是最好的。

最近她的头发变得稀薄起来，不过她的额头正前方有一簇头发被一个朋友的女儿给染成了一缕品红色。她看上去就像是我在高中时可能约会过的某个朋克（Punk）女孩。

我最后一次来看望她时，她比平时略微有了点精神。她说：“嘿，Victor，我昨天吃到了最美味的甜点。是桃子和康涅狄格州做的。你有没有尝过？”

“我没尝过，”我一边回答，一边笑了起来。

我喜欢这个说法。把两个似乎全然不沾边的事情放在一起。猴子和鸽子。桃子和康涅狄格州。是啊，风马牛不相及，但却美味无比。

Audio Transcript: When Your Greatest Romance is Friendship (part 3)

Of course, Austin was going to die long before I did. That’s not what this is about. This, I have come to understand, is a love story.

Austin continued to paint for several months more, fractured, psychedelic self-portraits in scorching colors. Her best work. Lately, though, she is tired and hardly leaves the couch. I sit with her, at the opposite end, our legs intertwined.

“Read to me,” she says.

When I tell her the book is finished, she tells me to read her something new. But whenever I do, she promptly falls asleep.

I don’t leave, though. I stare out the window. Austin was right. This room does get the best light.

Recently her hair has thinned, but she has a shock of white up front that a friend’s daughter has dyed with a streak of fuchsia. She looks like some punk girl I might have dated in high school.

She had a bit more energy the last time I came to visit and said: “Oh, Victor, I had the most wonderful dessert yesterday. Peaches and Connecticut. Have you ever had it?”

“No,” I said, smiling.

I loved the idea of it. Two things that don’t seem to go together. Monkeys and pigeons. Peaches and Connecticut. Unlikely, yes — but delicious beyond measure.

The End-Note: The Author Sharing

Austin passed away in December, before this Modern Love essay was published. But she had the chance to read it before she died, and in her last days, Victor said that she took the opportunity to share her feelings about him.

“I remember her telling a friend when she could still talk that one of the things she was worried about was me, because she knew how attached I was to her, and how important she was in my life. At the end, she…very soon before she died, she just took two fingers and she pointed them at me, and she did it several times, like three or four times, and I knew she was just saying, 'You're going to be fine, I love you, I want you to be okay.' So I felt like at the end, we didn't talk much, but I think we both understood everything."

Victor gravitates toward solitude. As a writer, he spends a lot of time alone. But Austin pulled him out of that solitary world.

“Any time something good happen, you know, I had a story published, or an article published, or some critic said something nice about my work, so it was an excuse to go out to a bar and celebrate, and I realized that you know, one of the things Austin said to me, she said, “living alone, it can make you strange, and I realized it’s true. And I'm already strange enough. So Austin taught me to get out more."

Victor says that his relationship with Austin made him aware how much friendships can be limited by age or social-economic status. And he thinks about that when he remembers their first meeting.

“You know I really was attracted to her, I like her energy, wanted to have a drink with her, but you know, I was thinking, I probably had some thought at the back of my head like, that, well we’ll certainly not become some good friends, because she was so much older than I am. So I guess I faced my own prejudice that there was some sort of limitation there. So, I hope that I am less rigid in thinking that my friends will come from certain segments of population,

Victor has lost other important people in his life, his mother, and his grandparents. But Victor says that losing Austin felt different.

"I saw her every day, up until the point she died, and so my body misses her. Still it does. I go to a certain coffee shop that I spent time with her, and I still expect to see her appear at the door and to join me. But because I spent so much time with her up until the moment she died, I have no regrets. You know, I didn't take it for granted for one second."

(The end)