流星雨 Meteor Shower

「如果天氣好，星期三晚上來吃飯，我們去野餐！」星期天碰面時，希薇亞如是說…
“If the weather is ok, come and join us on Wednesday night. Let’s go for picnic!” said Silvia when we met up for dinner on Sunday.

八月正值義大利的度假期，逢人最常（被）問到的，就是去哪裡度假。我和米奇從布達佩斯回來以後，一個跌到聲音採樣、一個跌到神秘學的萬丈深淵，工作忙到不行。希薇亞和克里斯常常三不五時打個電話過來，看看我們要不要出去透一口氣，對他們來說，我們兩個整天坐在電腦前面的工作方式，實在是很不健康，所以喜歡吆喝三五好友小酌聚會的他們，總是不會忘了打個電話過來叫人。
August is vacation month in Italy. “Where do you go for vacation” is a common topic. Michele and I have been buried in work since we came back from Budapest, one by sound samples for synthesizer and one by occult studies. Silvia and Cristian call us often to see if we want to go out to “change some air”. In their mind, both of us sit in front of the computer almost all day long, and it’s not a healthy thing. So when they organize something with friends, they always ask us to join them if possible.

克里斯、希薇亞和他們常一起廝混的幾個好友，都是夜貓子。每次跟他們出門，不搞到兩三點是不可能結束的…這次也不例外。話說這一陣子常在媒體上看到流星雨的消息，希薇亞找了一個其他人都有空的晚上，吆喝一起到她在山丘上的老家野餐觀星。
What we call “Cristian and the company” are all night people. Every time we go out together, it’s impossible to return home before two o’clock. It’s no exception this time. The meteor shower is a hot thing of this period. Silvia invited everyone to go to her parental house for a night picnic. It’s a nice place hidden away in the hills in the province.

我們抵達時已經過了十點，我們一群十個人，在希爸的帶領下，在希家園子裡找到了一個僻靜的角落，便開始忙著佈置，一些人舖上坐墊點好蠟燭，其他則把車子裡的點心餐食飲料樂器玩具等，一一搬了出來。
We arrived after ten o’clock. We’re in ten people totally. Silvia’s father led us to find a quiet corner in the yard. Then we started to get busy with preparation. Some laid the mats and pads on the ground, some lit the candles, and other brought out all the stuff in the car, including food, beverage, toys and instruments.

除了我、米奇、克里斯和希薇亞以外，其他六人晚上都是廝混夜店的DJ。在他們自己和克里斯的口中，這群人都玩點音樂…這個晚上我們算是見識到了！歌唱得或許有些五音不全，不過號稱會談吉他的幾個人，連和弦名稱都叫不出口，實在是有點誇張。
Besides me, Michele, Silvia and Cristian, all others are DJ. They “claimed” that they know some music and play some instruments. It’s the first occasion for Michele and I to discover whether it’s true or not. They sing somehow out of tune. And the ones that play guitar don’t even know how to call a chord. I guess it’s a bit exaggerating…

然而，大家還是在酒精、兩把吉他和一些打擊樂器的陪伴下，渡過了有點瘋狂的一個晚上。天氣並不太好，原本冀望清朗的天空，卻是層雲密佈，偶爾才會有幾顆星星探出頭來，唯一的一顆流星，是希薇亞認真躺在草坪上等待了一會兒，才好運看到的，跟幾年前我和米奇上到山城阿西亞哥，四十分鐘內數到二十八顆流星的景況，簡直不能相比~~~
With the company of alcohols, two guitars and some percussion instruments, we’ve passed a somehow crazy evening. The weather wasn’t great and it’s actually covered with thick clouds. Once in a while, some stars came out to show their brightness but hided away after some minutes. The only shooting star was seen by Silvia. She lied down on the grass, waited for a while, watched carefully, and she was lucky. I guess our lucky experience in Asiago some years ago is nothing comparable. In less than forty minutes we’ve counted twenty-eight shooting stars…

一會兒，有人瞎起鬨開始跳起‘祈流星雨舞’，逕自繞著一支火把跳舞吟誦了起來…嘻鬧了將近半小時，眼見祈雨舞似乎沒有奏效，眾人興致漸失，我們終於在深夜兩點多下了山回家睡覺。
In a while, someone started to do the “rain dance”, circling around a torch and singing along… However, it didn’t work. Dancing for half hour, we started to lose our interests and decided to go home.

為了看流星雨出門，連流星的影子都沒看到…
We went out for the meteor rain, but didn’t even see a thing…