双语】纸之恋 The Paper Chase

kobe

On a shelf not too far from the desk where I’m typing sit 267 unused notebooks. Tallying (统计，清点) them up was a little disturbing. It’s one thing to suspect you possess more than enough paper to capture every thought you’ll ever have; it’s another to know it for sure. But despite this abundance, I still want more—in the last week alone, four more journals have joined their dusty comrades, and I just ordered another off the Web.

离我现在打字的书桌不远处有一个书架，上面放着267本尚未使用的笔记本。清点它们还是让人有些烦心的：怀疑自己拥有过多的纸张来记录脑海中出现的每一缕思绪，这是一回事；而确定地知道这一点又是另外一回事。不过，尽管我已有了这么多本本，我还是想要更多。仅仅在上周，就有四个笔记本加入了它们那落满灰尘的同类行列，而我刚刚又在网上定购了一本。

My name is June, and I am a stationery (文具) addict. When I’m feeling overwhelmed or dispirited, nothing perks me up (使振作，使活跃) more than a few minutes perusing the Notebook Stories blog or staring at photos of other people’s stationery collections online. Or, better yet, wandering the aisles of a quality paper emporium (商店，店铺). Sometimes the thrill comes from recognizing the hunting-and-gathering skills of the store’s owner: Whenever I go to Papeterie Nota Bene in Montreal (and I go to Montreal mostly to go to Papeterie Nota Bene), the proprietor (业主，经营者) always seems to have tracked down new items that I’ve never seen before but immediately need to own. Or perhaps I’m drawn to the miracle of small differences. It’s inspiring to see shelves and shelves of almost identical items, knowing that tiny details—rounded versus squared corners, slight variations in grid scale and ink color—can elevate the so-so to the spectacular.

我叫琼，是个文具迷。每当感到迷茫无助或是情绪低落时，我就会花上几分钟时间品读“笔记本故事”(编注：一个关于笔记本等文具的博客网站)上的博文，或者细细端详别人在网上发布的文具收藏品照片，再没有什么比这更能使我精神振作的了。或者，更为理想的做法是徜徉于优质纸品店铺的货架间。有时，那种兴奋感来自于对店主搜罗文具本领的欣赏：每当我光顾位于蒙特利尔的诺塔-贝内文具店(我到蒙特利尔多半是为了去诺塔-贝内文具店)，我会发现店主似乎总能搜罗到一些我前所未见却又想立刻拥有的新东西。或者，我可能会被那些细微差别所带来的神奇效果而吸引。看到一个个货架上摆满了几乎一模一样的东西，知道正是那些细微的区别——圆角与方角，网格大小和线条颜色的细微变化——化平庸为神奇，我会感到振奋不已。

I am also a keen stationery tourist. Notebooks make perfect souvenirs, since a notebook bought on a trip will remind you of your vacation every time you write in it. All I can remember of a long weekend in Lisbon is a broiling (酷热的) August sun, the difficulty of finding a restaurant open on Sunday evening, and an insanely eclectic (不拘一格的，兼收并蓄的) stationer’s that was the first place I found my all-time favorite pen, the Rotring Xonox Graphic. (That model seems to have been retired—the replacement Tikky Graphic is fine but not quite the same.) Kyoto, Japan, is a blur of temples and carefully tended sand gardens, but I can visualize the exact layout of the peculiar store where I bought some beautiful Year of the Ox cards. And many a trip to my home town of Manchester has been redeemed by a few hours in the huge branch of Paperchase (英国一家文具用品连锁店).

在旅游中我也热衷于购买文具。笔记本是最好的纪念品，因为每当你使用在旅途中购买的某个笔记本时，它都会勾起你对那次度假的回忆。对于在里斯本度过的那个长周末假期，我所能记得的除了8月似火的骄阳，以及在周日傍晚找到一家开门的餐馆如何困难外，就是那家品种超级繁多的文具店了。正是在这家店里，我第一次发现了我今生最爱的笔——德国红环Xonox绘图笔(这个型号似乎已经停产了，它的替代品Tikky绘图笔也不错，但不大一样)。还有日本的京都，那是一片由庙宇和精心打理的沙石园林所构成的模糊记忆，但我却能在脑海中清晰地勾画出一家小店的精确布局，就是在那里，我购买到一些精美的牛年卡片。多次返回故乡曼彻斯特时，我都要在“纸之恋”文具店的一家大型分店里逗留几个小时，也算是不虚此行了。

I am not alone in my obsession. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who understand that, in a stationery store, every book has to be examined, every paper block caressed, and every potentially suitable pen tested; and those for whom buying a notebook is like shopping for eggs: They find the size they want, make sure it’s in one piece, and take it to the till (收银机). Never go shopping with those people; they’ll be ready to leave before you’ve figured out where the Leuchtturm1917s* are stashed (储藏，藏匿).

对文具如此迷恋的并非只有我一人。这世上有两种人：有一种人明白，文具店里的每个笔记本都要细细看过，每沓纸都要摩挲过，每一支看起来适合的笔都要试用过；还有一种人，他们买本子就像买鸡蛋一样——找到自己想要的尺寸，确认完好无损，然后拿着直奔收银台。永远不要和这种人一起买东西：你还没搞清楚“灯塔1917”笔记本放在哪儿，他们就已经准备离开了。

* Leuchtturm1917s：德国的一个笔记本品牌，Leuchtturm在德语中是“灯塔”的意思。



But even we paper fiends (……迷) come in different stripes (种类，类型). Perhaps because my own fixations are essentially anti-social (I am drawn to small notebooks that no one else will ever get to look inside), I’m fascinated by folks who love social stationery—cards, notepaper with matching envelopes, and kits (一套资料) full of stickers and sheets of pastel paper (粉彩纸). How can they stand to share their finds with other people? I guess they’re just less selfish than me. Or perhaps more practical: Since I can’t bear to tear pages out of my notebooks, I end up scrawling notes to friends on oversize legal pads (标准拍纸簿) or on the backs of to-do lists. In a house full of notebooks, I can never find a decent sheet of writing paper when I need it.

但即使是我们这些恋纸狂也不尽相同。也许因为我本人所痴迷的文具本质上都是非社交型的(我喜欢小巧的笔记本，别人永远都没有机会打开看一眼的那种)，因此我会被那些喜欢社交型文具的人所吸引——他们喜欢卡片、配有信封的信纸以及装满贴纸和粉彩纸的文具套装。他们怎么能忍受与他人分享自己发现的宝物呢？我想他们只是没有我那么自私吧。或者也许是他们比我更加明智：我无法忍受把纸张从笔记本中撕下来，所以到头来在给朋友写便条时我只能龙飞凤舞地写在特大号拍纸簿上，或者写在任务清单的背面。在一座摆满笔记本的房子里，我却永远无法在需要时找到一张像样的书写纸。

Why do I love stationery? My absolute delight in browsing paper palaces gives me a glimmer of the addict’s compulsion, an overwhelming desire for something I really don’t need. Fortunately, stationery is a harmless obsession—most of the items I jones (渴望，渴求) for cost less than $25—and while acquiring 300 notebooks isn’t a wise investment, it hasn’t put me in financial peril, either.

我为什么喜爱文具？徜徉于纸张的宫殿里，我有一种纯粹的快感，它使我领略到一丝沉迷者的那种不可自拔的感觉，一种对我根本不需要的东西无法抵抗的欲望。幸好，对文具的痴迷没有任何害处——我渴望买下的文具大都不超过25美元。虽说买下300本笔记本并不是什么明智的投资，却也不至于使我陷入财政危机。

And like any collector, I find pleasure in knowledgeable connoisseurship (鉴赏力；鉴赏家或行家身份). I’m not as obsessed with pens as I am with paper, for example, but I know what I like, and that is JetStream Uni-ball ballpoint pens with a 1 mm refill (替换笔芯), Muji Gel-Ink pens with a 0.7 mm refill, Pilot Precise V7 retractable (可缩进的) rollerballs, Zebra G-301 Gel Retractable pens with a 0.7 mm refill, or disposable Varsity fountain pens from Pilot.

和其他收藏者一样，我也发现作为一个知识渊博的鉴赏家其乐无穷。比方说，虽然我对笔不像对纸那样痴迷，但我也知道我喜欢什么：日本三菱的JetStream系列圆珠笔，配有1毫米的替换笔芯；无印良品的中性笔，配有0.7毫米的替换笔芯；百乐牌的V7可伸缩圆珠笔；斑马牌的G-301可伸缩中性笔，配有0.7毫米替换笔芯；或者百乐的Varsity系列一次性水笔。

I also know that pens are only special when paired with the right paper. And I am a regular Dolly Levi* of paperpen matchmaking. The unbreakable rule is: ballpoint pens for composition books, reporters’ notebooks, and college-ruled* spiral-bound (螺旋装订的) books with university logos on the front; gel inks or fountain pens for Moleskines* or supersmooth Japanese or Korean paper. Some notebooks even insist on a No. 2 pencil (指HB铅笔). I never know for sure until I open up a journal for the first time.

我也知道，笔只有和正确的纸搭配才能与众不同。我就像媒人多莉•利瓦伊一样，经常给纸和笔牵线搭桥。下面是颠覆不破的规则：圆珠笔要配作文本、采访记录本以及抬头印有大学徽标的中等横格线螺旋装订本；中性笔或水笔要配“鼹鼠皮”笔记本，或是配超级光滑的日本纸或韩国纸。有些笔记本甚至要求使用HB铅笔。如果一个笔记本从来没有打开过，我就无法确定到底该用什么笔。

* Dolly Levi：多莉•利瓦伊，百老汇音乐剧《你好，多莉！》(Hello, Dolly!)中的女主角，以替人做媒为生。

* college-ruled：又称Medium-ruled，指横隔线间距为9/32英寸(7.1毫米)、左侧1.25英寸(31.75毫米)处有一条竖线的纸张，在美国普遍使用。

* Moleskine：“鼹鼠皮”笔记本，意大利手工笔记本品牌，在20世纪成为欧洲艺术家和知识分子手中的传奇笔记本。



Sometimes, notebooks can be intimidating. How could my scribblings be worthy of the gorgeous hand-made journal I found in a Parisian stationer’s so packed with irresistible goodies that I finally understood the pain of Sophie’s Choice*? One of the reasons my stationery shelf is so crowded with pristine (崭新的，未触动过的) items is that I do most of my writing in inexpensive, mass-produced notebooks. I make work notes in college-ruled composition books—preferably the commonplace Mead variety. Since there are stacks of them in every drug store and school-supply warehouse in America, they’re the opposite of daunting. And best of all, they change as you fill them—they’re a couple of centimeters fatter when completed, and the sound made by flipping through the crinkled pages is one of the most satisfying I know.

有时，笔记本可能会令人望而生畏。我那潦草的涂鸦怎么能配得上那本手工制作的精美笔记本呢？那是我在巴黎一家文具店里淘到的，那家店里到处摆放着令人无法抗拒的好东西，在那里我终于明白了《苏菲的选择》里苏菲的痛苦。我的文具架上摆满了那么多从未动过的笔记本，其中一个原因就是我的写作大都是在那些廉价的、大批量生产的笔记本上进行的。我的工作笔记都是记在印有中等横隔线的作文本里，最好是那种常见的米德笔记本。由于这种本子在美国每一家杂货店、每一家学校用品仓储店都有很多，它们绝不会让你心生胆怯。更妙的是，它们会在你使用的过程中发生变化——用完后它们会变厚几厘米，而且在随意翻阅那些皱巴巴的页面时，它们发出的声音是我所听到的最令人舒心的声音。

But the real thrill of the paper chase lies in the sense of possibility. After all, I don’t spend a lot of time putting pen to paper. I do most of my writing, professional and personal, on a computer. But those notebooks are my life raft—I just know they’ll rescue me if I get lost for words. Notebooks have sprung me from creative funks (沮丧，苦闷) enough times to convince me of their mystical powers. I feel about notebooks the way I imagine believers feel about their religion: Someone who lacks faith in stationery will never understand how much comfort the perfect combination of pen and paper can provide. Faced with a task I don’t know how to tackle or a story that just won’t be written, I approach the notebook shelf knowing that something there will get me out of my jam.

但对纸的迷恋真正令人兴奋的地方在于那种一切皆有可能的感觉。毕竟，我在纸上写写画画的时间并不多。我的大部分写作，工作上的也好，私人的也好，都是在电脑上进行的。但这些笔记本是我的救生艇——我知道在我词穷时它们会来救我。这些本本已多次将我从创作的苦闷中救出，这足以使我坚信它们具有神秘的力量。我想，我对笔记本的感觉大概就像信徒们对自己宗教信仰的感觉：对文具缺乏信仰的人永远无法明白笔与纸的完美结合能给人带来多少欣慰。每当我遇到一个不知该如何处理的工作任务或是一个怎么也写不出的故事，我就会走近摆放着笔记本的书架，深信那里一定会有东西让我摆脱困境。

* Sophie’s Choice：《苏菲的选择》(1979)，美国作家威廉•斯蒂伦(William Styron, 1925~2006)的作品，获1980年美国国家图书奖。小说讲述了波兰女子苏菲在极端境遇的生死抉择，使人在跌宕起伏的故事背后领悟到人性的复杂。

This is why, to me, notebooks are irresistibly beautiful objects: Their shape evokes the intellectual satisfaction of the great books, combined with the endless possibilities of the unknown: The next thing I write in one might be the best thing I’ve ever written.

正因为如此，对我来说，笔记本就是无可抗拒的尤物：它们的外形能像名篇巨著那样给人以知识上的满足感，还有那种未知的、无限的可能——说不定我下次在某一个笔记本上写出的就是我最得意的作品。