骑车记：飞一般的自由

著名主持人倪萍有本书叫做《自行车的日子》，里面有句话总结了人在自行车上的心境：当置身其中，你会感到这像是血脉在运行，热热闹闹、轰轰烈烈，蕴藏着不尽的潜能，仿佛自行车也有灵魂、有脉搏、有呼吸一样。如果说，自行车有灵魂，那也一定会是轮转不歇、自由不羁的灵魂吧！不然，怎能载着我在青山绿水、贫穷富贵、时间流转中肆意飞驰呢？

After college, I lived abroad for a time. Returning from London, I discovered to my horror that my parents had sold my bike. They didn't even know who had bought it.

For years after that, I didn't have a bicycle that was specifically mine. Teaching in a New England prep school, I simply rode whatever bikes its graduates had left behind, usually for good reason. I rode around the little town, out to the surrounding fields and woods, on bikes that slipped in and out of gear, with brakes that grabbed or simply failed.

I did not take any of those bikes with me when I moved south to the coastal town where I now live. But after a while I missed riding.

Finally, on a fall day, I bought a bicycle. Called a comfort bike, it has wider tires than my old bike and seven gears. But it is green - a brighter green, but green nonetheless.

Still, I was a bit apprehensive. I was out of the habit and a lot older. I brought the bike home and put on my helmet - I'd never worn a helmet before. Then I got on the bike to ride down to the boardwalk.

After a tentative, slightly wobbly start, I felt exactly as I had that long-ago day on Springfield Avenue: free. Soon I was scudding along, watching the waves break, hearing the gulls cry. The beach roses were still blooming, the monarch butterflies in full jittery flight. It seemed that everyone I passed smiled and waved or called out almost wistfully, "Great day for a bike ride!"

And I knew they all remembered their first bike and how it had set them free. It still can, I wanted to call back to them, it still can.

Vocabulary

1. Schwinn: 施文，美国最知名的自行车品牌之一；coaster: 卡斯达，一款山地车的名称，有宽而多齿的轮胎和牢固结实的车架，适于各种路况骑行；distinctive: 独特的，与众不同的。

2. 我记得自己以极快的速度冲下斯普林菲尔德大道的陡坡，摇摇晃晃十分危险，幸而有会骑车的朋友陪伴左右不断给予我鼓励。wobble: 摇晃，下文wobbly指“摇晃的，晃动的”；hill: （路上的）斜坡；outrider: （为车辆开道的）摩托车警卫，此处指为作者护航的骑友们。

3. crate: 板条箱，装货箱。

4. glossy: 有光泽的，光滑的；gear: 排挡，齿轮；hand brake: 手刹。

5. celebrity: 名人。

6. responsive: 反应快的，灵敏的。

7. suburb: 郊区。

8. starter house: 起步房，过渡房（首次购买的小房子或小公寓）；row house: 排屋（一排相连房屋的一幢）。

9. 我有时独自上路，有时和朋友们一路欢歌，穿越四季的流转：清爽的秋日黄昏、漫长的春日午后、炎热的夏日晨光，就连冬日的严寒也阻挡不了我一路前行，直至冰雪降临。a gang of: 一群；spicy: 轻快的；lingering: 拖延的，漫长的。

10. 那辆心爱的自行车随我步入大学校园，载我去过图书馆和教室，途经普雷多街上那些庞然木屋和北剑桥破旧的三层楼房，还曾冲入“险境”——因无视街旁的单行道指示牌而被当地警察拦住过。frame house: 木屋；shabby: 肮脏破旧的；triple-decker: 这里指三层的房屋。

11. prop: 道具；conspicuous: 显眼的，引人注目的；self-conscious: （在他人面前）忸怩的，不自然的。

12. prep school: （私立）预备学校。

13. slip in and out of gear: 自行车齿轮脱落，移位；grab: 抓住，攫取，此处指自行车刹车过紧。

14. apprehensive: 忧虑的，担心的。

15. helmet: 头盔。

16. boardwalk: （用木板铺成或架成的）海滨宽阔人行道。

17. tentative: 实验性的，试探性的。

18. scud: 飘过，掠过；break: （波浪）迸溅，拍岸；gull: 海鸥。

19. monarch butterfly: 黑脉金斑蝶，俗称帝王蝶，栖息在北美一带；jittery: 焦虑的，紧张不安的。

20. wistfully: 渴望地，惆怅地。