村上春树1Q84英文版

CHAPTER 1AomameDON T LET APPEARANCES FOOLYOUThe taxi s radio was tuned to aclassical FM(张开凤是男的还是女？快手网红张开凤至今没有公开过自己的性别，不过网上有小道消息称张开凤去泰国做过变性手术，十分成功，但是准确性还有待考证，张开凤现在凭借自己的魅力成为快手上有名的主播。) broadcast. Jan ček sSinfonietta probably not the idealmusic to hear in a taxi caught intraffic. The middle-aged driverdidn t seem to be listening veryclosely, either. With his mouthclamped shut, he stared straightahead at the endless line of carsstretching out on the elevatedexpressway, like a veteranfisherman standing in the bow ofhis boat, reading the ominousconfluence of two currents.Aomame settled into the broadback seat, closed her eyes, andlistened to the music.How many people couldrecognize Jan ček s Sinfonietta afterhearing just the first few bars?Probably somewhere between very few and almost none. Butfor some reason, Aomame was oneof the few who could.Jan ček composed his littlesymphony in 1926. He originallywrote the opening as a fanfare fora gymnastics festival. Aomameimagined 1926 Czechoslovakia: TheFirst World War had ended, andthe country was freed from thelong rule of the Hapsburg Dynasty.As they enjoyed the peacefulrespite visiting central Europe,people drank Pilsner beer in caf sand manufactured handsome lightmachine guns. Two years earlier,in utter obscurity, Franz Kafka hadleft the world behind. Soon Hitlerwould come out of nowhere andgobble up this beautiful littlecountry in the blink of an eye, butat the time no one knew whathardships lay in store for them.This may be the most importantproposition revealed by history: At the time, no one knew whatwas coming. Listening toJan ček s music, Aomameimagined the carefree windssweeping across the plains ofBohemia and thought about thevicissitudes of history.In 1926 Japan s Taisho Emperordied, and the era name waschanged to Showa. It was thebeginning of a terrible, dark timein this country, too. The shortinterlude of modernism anddemocracy was ending, giving wayto fascism.Aomame loved history as muchas she loved sports. She rarely readfiction, but history books couldkeep her occupied for hours. Whatshe liked about history was the wayall its facts were linked withparticular dates and places. She didnot find it especially difficult toremember historical dates. Even ifshe did not learn them by rotememorization, once she graspedthe relationship of an event to itstime and to the events precedingand following it, the date wouldcome to her automatically. In bothmiddle school and high school, shehad always gotten the top grade onhistory exams. It puzzled her tohear someone say he had troublelearning dates. How couldsomething so simple be a problemfor anyone? Aomame was her real name.Her grandfather on her father sside came from some littlemountain town or village inFukushima Prefecture, where therewere supposedly a number ofpeople who bore the name, writtenwith exactly the same characters asthe word for green peas andpronounced with the same foursyllables, Ah-oh-mah-meh. Shehad never been to the place,however. Her father had cut his tieswith his family before her birth,just as her mother had done withher own family, so she had nevermet any of her grandparents. Shedidn t travel much, but on thoserare occasions when she stayed inan unfamiliar city or town, shewould always open the hotel sphone book to see if there wereany Aomames in the area. She hadnever found a single one, andwhenever she tried and failed, shefelt like a lonely castaway on theopen sea.Telling people her name wasalways a bother. As soon as thename left her lips, the other personlooked puzzled or confused. Miss Aomame? Yes. Just like green peas. Employers required her to havebusiness cards printed, which onlymade things worse. People wouldstare at the card as if she had thrusta letter at them bearing bad news.When she announced her name onthe telephone, she would oftenhear suppressed laughter. Inwaiting rooms at the doctor s or atpublic offices, people would lookup at the sound of her name,curious to see what someone called Green Peas could look like.Some people would get the nameof the plant wrong and call her Edamame or Soramame, whereupon she would gentlycorrect them: No, I m notsoybeans or fava beans, just greenpeas. Pretty close, though.Aomame. How many times in herthirty years had she heard the sameremarks, the same feeble jokesabout her name? My life might havebeen totally different if I hadn t beenborn with this name. If I had had anordinary name like Sato or Tanaka orSuzuki, I could have lived a slightlymore relaxed life or looked at peoplewith somewhat more forgiving eyes.Perhaps.Eyes closed, Aomame listened tothe music, allowing the lovelyunison of the brasses to sink intoher brain. Just then it occurred toher that the sound quality was toogood for a radio in a taxicab.Despite the rather low volume atwhich it was playing, the soundhad true depth, and the overtoneswere clearly audible. She openedher eyes and leaned forward tostudy the dashboard stereo. The jet-black device shone with a proudgloss. She couldn t make out itsbrand name, but it was obviouslyhigh end, with lots of knobs andswitches, the green numerals of thestation readout clear against theblack panel. This was not the kindof stereo you expected to see in anordinary fleet cab.She looked around at the cab sinterior. She had been too absorbedin her own thoughts to notice untilnow, but this was no ordinary taxi.The high quality of the trim wasevident, and the seat wasespecially comfortable. Above all,it was quiet. The car probably hadextra sound insulation to keepnoise out, like a soundproofedmusic studio. The driver probablyowned his own cab. Many suchowner-drivers would spare noexpense on the upkeep of theirautomobiles. Moving only her eyes,Aomame searched for the driver sregistration card, without success.This did not seem to be an illegalunlicensed cab, though. It had astandard taxi meter, which wasticking off the proper fare: 2,150yen so far. Still, the registrationcard showing the driver s namewas nowhere to be found. What a nice car, Aomame said,speaking to the driver s back. Soquiet. What kind is it? Toyota Crown Royal Saloon, the driver replied succinctly. The music sounds great in here. It s a very quiet car. That s onereason I chose it. Toyota has someof the best sound-insulatingtechnology in the world. Aomame nodded and leanedback in her seat. There wassomething about the driver s wayof speaking that bothered...