桥中识巴黎

Knowing Paris by Its Bridges

　　Sometimes, when sleep eludes me in the dark hour before dawn, I make my way to the Pont de la Tournelle, the 400-foot bridge that links the Île Saint-Louis to Paris’s Left Bank. I plant myself at its midpoint, face west and wait. Before me is the skeletal back of Notre-Dame, shrouded in darkness.

　　有时，我在黎明前的黑暗中醒来，不能再入睡时，我会走上都尔奈勒桥，这座122米长的桥把巴黎左岸与圣路易岛连接起来。我站在桥中央，面向西等待着，面前是笼罩在黑暗中的圣母院后部的轮廓。

　　I watch as the sky moves from blue-black to deep blue velvet to soft gray, then light blue. The delicate architectural details of the cathedral gradually reveal themselves, until finally, the early morning sun bathes them in warm orange hues.

　　随着天空从蓝黑变成深蓝色的天鹅绒、再到柔和的灰色、直到淡蓝，大教堂精致的建筑细节在我眼前逐渐显现，直到清晨的阳光令它们最终沐浴在温暖的橙色中。

　　The back side of Notre-Dame is the creation of Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, the young architect in charge of the cathedral’s restoration in the 19th century. It looks nothing like the grandiose main entrance, whose hundreds of Medieval stone carvings make it one of the most recognizable images of Paris around the world.

　　圣母院的后部是尤金·伊曼纽尔·维欧勒-勒-杜克(Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc)的创作，这位年轻的建筑师是负责大教堂19世纪修复工作的人。从后面看，大教堂与其华丽的正面截然不同，正门成百上千的中世纪石雕使大教堂成为巴黎在世界上最易于识别的形象之一。

　　The view from behind is different from what it was just a few months ago. During the great fire of April 15, 2019, the cathedral lost the spire that Viollet-le-Duc erected, and sections of the roof are hidden under protective scaffolding. But the structure still shows its splendor at night, the flat, dark silhouette of its flying buttresses visible through the trees.

　　后面的景象与几个月前已经大不相同。在2019年4月15日的那场大火中，大教堂失去了维欧勒-勒-杜克建造的尖顶，部分屋顶现在已被保护性脚手架遮盖起来。但在夜间，这个结构仍保留着它的光彩，夜里，大教堂飞扶壁的平坦黑色轮廓透过树枝依稀可见。

　　I am never alone when I come here. Sitting atop a tall, stark pylon on the southeastern bank of the bridge is the 1928 statue of Sainte Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris. The fifth-century saint is portrayed as a young woman, her hands on the shoulders of a child who represents the city. During her lifetime, Geneviève predicted that Attila and his Mongol hordes would spare Paris from massacre and destruction; after she was proved right, she was heralded as the savior of Paris. These days, she looks out on the water — and perhaps down on me — like a silent protector.

　　我在桥上从来都不孤独。桥东南岸一个巍然兀立的高大塔架顶端，是1928年修建的巴黎守护神圣日内维耶(Sainte Genevieve)的雕像。这个五世纪的圣女以一名年轻女性的形象出现，她把双手放在一个象征巴黎的孩子的肩上。日内维耶在有生之年曾预言，阿提拉及其率领的蒙古部落将会放过巴黎，使其免于屠杀和毁灭;在她的预言被证明正确后，她被封为巴黎的救星。这些日子里，她像一名默默的保护者那样看着河水——也许也看着我。

　　The Seine begins to awaken at dawn. The first barges of the morning move downstream. The river police begin their patrols in fast-moving inflatable boats. The garbage trucks rumble along the quays picking up the refuse from the revelry the night before. Dogs bark. Crows caw.

　　塞纳河在黎明时分醒来。清晨的第一艘驳船顺流而下。河警乘着快速移动的充气船开始巡逻。垃圾车在码头边的路上隆隆作响，把狂欢作乐的人群头天晚上丢下的垃圾运走。狗吠。乌鸦发出聒噪的叫声。

　　I have found on the Pont de la Tournelle a special place and time in which to make Paris my own.

　　我在都尔奈勒桥上找到了一个特殊的地点和时刻，让巴黎完全属于我自己。

　　All that contemplation whets my appetite, and from here, I walk along the quay on the Left Bank until I reach Le Depart Saint-Michel, a 24-hour café-brasserie. A touristy place to avoid at lunch and dinner, it is a great place for people-watching over an omelet and an espresso at early rush hour and a fitting way to savor the magic of a Seine River bridge at dawn.

　　想太多想到肚子饿，从这里，我沿着左岸的驳岸，来到Le Depart Saint-Michel，这是一家全天营业的咖啡馆/小酒馆。午餐和晚餐时间要避开这里，因为全是游客，但在早高峰的时候，这里是点上一份煎蛋卷和浓缩咖啡，坐下来看着往来路人的好去处，也是在黎明时分领略塞纳河的桥所散发魔力的好地方。

　　Study Paris through its bridges, and you have a mosaic of the city’s history and architecture.

　　通过桥研究巴黎，将这座城市的历史和建筑如马赛克一般拼接起来。

　　There are 35 bridges crossing the eight-mile span from one end of Paris to the other, starting at the Pont National upstream to the Pont du Garigliano, the last bridge as the river moves to the sea (the number is 37 if you count the Boulevard Périphérique, the utilitarian highway that rings the city and crosses the river upstream at Charenton/Bercy and downstream at Saint-Cloud/Issy).

　　从巴黎的一端到另一端，8英里的范围里有35座桥，从上游的国家桥(Pont National)到塞纳河入海前的最后一座桥——加里利亚诺桥(Pont du Garigliano)。若是算上在上游的沙朗通/贝西和下游的圣克卢/伊西两次跨越塞纳河的环城大道(Boulevard Périphérique)，则有37座桥。

　　Unesco celebrates 23 of the city’s bridges in its designation of the banks of the Seine — from the Pont de Sully, near Notre-Dame Cathedral to the Pont d’Iéna, at the Eiffel Tower — as a World Heritage cultural site.

　　从巴黎圣母院附近的苏利桥(Pont de Sully)到埃菲尔铁塔附近的耶拿桥(Pont d’Iéna)，联合国教科文组织(Unesco)将塞纳河上的23座桥列入了世界文化遗产名录。

　　The bridges stretch themselves over the river as if they are posing for passers-by. Every one of them has its own story, structure, purpose and character. Four are footbridges; two carry Metro trains. Twenty-six welcome both motorists and pedestrians; three are even more ambitious, with car and pedestrian lanes and Metro or tram tracks.

　　桥在河上舒展开来，好像为路人摆好了姿势。它们每一个都有自己的故事、构造、目的和性格。其中4座人行桥，2座走地铁。26座桥既走车也走人，有3座野心更大，走车走人不说，还走地铁或有轨电车。

　　Indeed, there is only one way to discover the bridges of Paris: on foot. With good walking shoes, you can make it east to west, from the first to the last bridge, in a day, stopping for lunch at a riverside cafe midway.

　　的确，要想探索巴黎的桥，只有一个办法：步行。穿上一双舒适的徒步鞋，你可以用一天的时间从东走到西，从第一座桥走到最后一座桥，中午在河边找家咖啡馆吃午饭。

　　A bridge named for Simone de Beauvoir

　　一座以西蒙·德·波伏娃命名的桥

　　I recommend starting at Paris’s newest bridge, a pedestrian span built in 2006 and named after the 20th-century feminist, novelist, and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, slightly downstream of the Périphérique’s crossing at Charenton/Bercy. Asymmetrical and eclectic, it is an arched and suspension bridge in one; it has no pillars or visible supports, although it stretches over one of the widest stretches of the Seine.

　　我建议你从巴黎最新的一座桥开始，这座人行桥建于2006年，以20世纪的女权主义者、小说家和哲学家(Simone de Beauvoir)命名，位于环城公路在沙朗通/贝西跨越塞纳河之处再往下游走一点的地方。它不拘一格，追求不对称的效果，集拱桥与悬索桥于一体;虽然跨越塞纳河最宽的一段，却看不见任何桥墩或者支撑物。

　　The heart of Paris is still the Île de la Cité, the island in the middle of the river where Paris was created in ancient times. There, at the foot of the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall), is the Pont d’Arcole, the site of the last scene of the 2003 film “Something’s Gotta Give.” Jack Nicholson, thinking he has lost Diane Keaton, stumbles out of a restaurant near the Hôtel de Ville and onto the bridge. An accordionist plays “La vie en rose.” A tourist boat aglow in white lights cruises below him. He gets teary-eyed. It starts to snow. She arrives in a taxi to confess that she still loves him. He tells her, “If it’s true, my life just got made …. I’m 63 years old, and I’m in love — for the first time in my life.” They kiss.

　　巴黎的中心仍然是西岱岛(Île de la Cité)，这个位于河中的小岛是古代巴黎的发源地。在那里，阿尔科莱桥(Pont d’Arcole)就在市政厅的脚下，2003年的电影《爱是妥协》(Something’s Gotta Give)的最后一幕就是在这里拍摄的。杰克·尼科尔森(Jack Nicholson)以为自己失去了黛安·基顿(Diane Keaton)，跌跌撞撞地走出市政厅附近的一家餐厅，上了桥。一个手风琴演奏者在弹奏《玫瑰人生》(La vie en rose)。桥下是一艘闪闪发光的游船驶过。他泪眼婆娑。天上开始飘雪。她坐着出租车赶来，承认自己仍然爱着他。他对她说，“如果真是这样，我的生活才刚刚开始……我今年63岁，我恋爱了——有生以来的第一次。”他们吻在一起。

　　Even the most fantastic love scenes in the movies seem plausible standing on a Parisian bridge.

　　站在巴黎的桥上，即使电影中最梦幻的爱情场景也显得真实可信。

　　Nearby, the Pont Saint-Louis connects the Île de la Cité and the smaller Île Saint-Louis. It is a short, unexceptional bridge, but serves as an intimate stage for musicians, especially Americans playing jazz, jugglers, actors and mime artists.

　　附近的圣路易桥连接着西岱岛和较小的圣路易岛。这座桥很短，没有什么特别之处，但它是音乐家们，尤其是美国爵士乐手、以及杂耍者、演员和哑剧艺人的私享舞台。

　　A half a mile west is Paris’s oldest bridge, paradoxically named the Pont-Neuf, the “new bridge” at the tip of the Île de la Cité, and more or less the center point of the Seine’s course through the city. A 17th-century triumph of design and technology, it was the first bridge in Paris to be built entirely of stone and featured pedestrian walkways. It was built without the houses that lined earlier bridges and cluttered the views. In constructing it through and on both sides of the island, Henri IV created an intimate, permanent bond between Parisians and the lifeblood of their city, the Seine.

　　往西半英里是巴黎最古老的桥，矛盾的是，它的名字却叫做“新桥”(Pont-Neuf)，它位于西岱岛一端，差不多在塞纳河流经这座城市的中点。这座桥建于17世纪，堪称设计与技术上的巨大成功，它是巴黎第一座完全由石头建造的桥，两侧设有人行道，并且没有早期桥梁上那些令周遭景色杂乱不堪的房屋。这座桥由亨利四世下令修建，将西岱岛和左右两岸连接起来，为巴黎人和城市的命脉塞纳河建立了亲密的永久性纽带。

　　This bond still exists. Behind a statue of Henri IV on the bridge are staircases that descend two flights. They open out onto a spit of land at the westernmost tip of the Île de la Cité, the Square du Vert-Galant. Unlike most Paris parks, it is open to the public all night long. When the river is high, the branches of the weeping willow planted in cobblestones at the tip of the square caress the surface of the Seine. You can come close enough to reach out and touch the water.

　　这个纽带至今仍在。桥上亨利四世雕像的后面有两段下行的楼梯。它们通向西岱岛最西端的一块区域，即绿色戈兰广场。与大多数巴黎公园不同的是，它彻夜对公众开放。河水上涨时，广场一侧的鹅卵石堤岸边，垂柳树枝轻抚着塞纳河水面。你可以走上前去，伸手触摸河流。

　　A quarter mile to the west, at the Louvre, is the Pont des Arts, a wood-slatted, iron pedestrian bridge that links the museum to the Institut de France, home of the Académie Française, on the other side of the river. A magnet for picnickers, it was once the place couples proclaimed their love by attaching metal padlocks. But the spindly, fragile footbridge was too weak to bear the weight of all this love. The city of Paris lined the bridge barriers with lock-resistant Plexiglas, and couples moved east to the Pont Neuf, until its barriers were replaced with corrugated plastic. But the love locks still sprout on odd spaces — between barriers on bridges, on lampposts and on heavy iron mooring rings all along the river.

　　卢浮宫以西四分之一英里处是艺术桥(Pont des Arts)，这是一座铁构人行桥，桥面由木板铺成，将卢浮宫与河对岸的法兰西学会(Institut de France)连接起来。法兰西学会是法兰西学术院(Académie Française)的所在地。艺术桥曾是情侣们用金属挂锁来示爱的地方，也吸引着许多野餐者。但是这座人行桥细长而又脆弱，承受不了那么多爱的重量。巴黎市在桥栏之间安装了无法挂锁的有机玻璃，情侣们只得向东迁移到新桥，直到那座桥的桥栏也装上了波纹塑料。但是，爱之锁仍然在一些奇怪的地方出现——桥上的栅栏之间，灯柱上，河边的重铁系舶环上。

　　Heading downstream, history buffs might like to walk over the Pont de la Concorde which joins the Place de la Concorde with the National Assembly. The bridge was built during the French Revolution using stones of the demolished Bastille, “so that the people could forever trample on the old fortress,” according to Rodolphe Perronet, the bridge’s engineer.

　　顺流而下，历史爱好者可能会走过协和桥(Pont de la Concorde)，它连接协和广场和国民议会。这座桥是在法国大革命期间用拆毁的巴士底狱的石头建造的，“这样人们就可以永远践踏这座古老的堡垒，”这座桥的工程师(Rodolphe Perronet)说。

　　The most elegant bridge in Paris

　　巴黎最优雅的桥

　　Then comes the most elegant of Paris bridges: the Pont Alexandre III, a belle epoque confection linking the Invalides to the Champs-Élysées. Built for the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900, it was named in honor of the father of the visiting Russian czar, Nicholas II. Sculptures of full-figured, bare-breasted nymphs look out at the river from their perches at the bridge’s center. Gilded candelabra, trumpet-blowing angels, lion-taming cherubs, dolphins, starfish, sea monsters and birds proclaim joy. Faust, a nightclub, sits underneath the bridge on the Left Bank.

　　接下来是巴黎最优雅的桥：亚历山大三世桥(Pont Alexandre III)，它连接着荣军院和香榭丽舍大道，是“美好时代”(belle epoque)遗留下来的精品。它是为1900年的巴黎博览会建造的，以来访的俄国沙皇尼古拉二世(Nicholas II)的父亲命名。真人大小的裸胸女神雕像栖居在桥梁中心俯瞰河流。镀金烛台、吹号天使、驯服狮子的小天使、海豚、海星、海怪和鸟类的雕像无不是欢乐的象征。左岸一侧的桥下有一家名叫“浮士德”的夜总会。

　　The Pont Alexandre III is so emblematic of Paris that when mayor Anne Hidalgo led a campaign to promote her city as the site for the 2024 Summer Olympics, she built a 12-meter diving board on the bridge and a floating running track alongside it to stage a show of Olympic sporting events. The Eiffel Tower was strategically visible in the background for the perfect photo frame.

　　亚历山大三世桥堪称巴黎的象征，为巴黎申办2024年夏季奥运会主办城市时，市长安娜·伊达尔戈(Anne Hidalgo)在这座桥上建了一座12米跳台，旁边是一个浮动跑道，展示奥运体育赛事。站在桥上，埃菲尔铁塔在背景中非常醒目，可以拍出完美的照片。

　　The city of Paris also spends millions of dollars every year to light up its river banks, and at night, the bridges look like bright necklaces strung across the river. They show off the two schools of lighting: the Paris school, which bathes its subjects in warm, even light, and the Lyon school, which uses small spotlights to highlight details for dramatic effect. The decorations of Pont Alexandre III are lit with the pointillism of the Lyon school. So are the arches and hanging lamps of the Pont de Bercy, the high-relief sculptures on the Pont d’Austerlitz, and the medallions on the N monograms, in honor of Napoléon III, on the Pont au Change.

　　巴黎每年花费数百万美元为河岸照明，夜晚，这些桥看起来就像串在河上的明亮项链。它们展示了两种照明风格：巴黎派和里昂派，前者让对象沐浴在温暖、均匀的光线之中;后者则使用小聚光灯突出细节，达到戏剧性的效果。亚历山大三世桥上的装饰采用里昂派的点彩风格照明。贝西桥(Pont de Bercy)上的拱门和悬灯、奥斯特里茨桥(Pont d’Austerlitz)上的高浮雕雕塑、兑换桥(Pont au Change)上纪念拿破仑三世(Napoleon III)的N字母圆雕饰也都是如此。

　　Gary Zuercher, a retired businessman and a lifelong photographer, was so passionate about the way the bridges look at night that he spent more than five years photographing them in black and white for a 190-page coffee-table book, “The Glow of Paris.” Because Paris isn’t fully dark in the summer months until about 11 p.m., he did most of his work during the winter. “I wanted to present the majesty of the Paris bridges in their most alluring setting,” he said. “Nighttime.”

　　退休商人、毕生从事摄影的加里·祖尔希(Gary Zuercher)热爱这些桥梁在夜晚的样子，他花了五年多的时间拍摄这些桥的黑白照片，收集为190页的画册《巴黎的光辉》(The Glow of Paris)。因为在夏天的几个月里，巴黎要到晚上11点左右才会完全黑下来，他的大部分作品都是在冬天拍摄的。“我想在最迷人的背景下展现巴黎大桥的雄伟壮观，”他说。“那就是夜晚。”

　　By day, tourist boat rides on the Seine are interesting, of course, but at night, they become voyages of discovery. I take visitors on the Vedettes de Paris, a small bateau-mouche, because if we arrive early enough, we can nab a spot in the front of an upper deck. When the boat passes under the bridges, we can see how the lighting from underneath reveals the curves and angles of their underbellies.

　　白天在塞纳河上乘坐游船当然很有趣，但到了晚上，乘船游河就成了探索之旅。我带领游客们搭乘巴黎观光船(Vedettes de Paris)，这是一艘小型观光船，如果到得足够早，就能在上层甲板的前面占个位子。当船从桥下经过时，可以看到桥下的灯光会将桥梁下方的曲线和角度展现出来。

　　Tour guides on the bateaux-mouches will tell you that the Pont Marie is the lovers’ bridge. The story goes that if you make a wish as the boat slips under the bridge and keep the wish secret, it will be granted. One summer night, I took two female college students for a boat ride. As we approached the bridge, a recording announced: “If you’re with the person you love, kiss him or her under the bridge, make a wish, and your wish will come true.” One of the students closed her eyes and made a wish, even though her boyfriend was an ocean away.

　　观光船上的导游会告诉你，玛丽桥(Pont Marie)是一座恋人之桥。传说如果你在船从桥下行驶而过的时候许个愿，并且不告诉别人，这个愿望就会实现。一个夏天的晚上，我带着两个女大学生乘坐观光船游览。当我们接近大桥时，船上的录音宣布：“如果你和爱人在一起，在桥下亲吻他或她，再许个愿，你的愿望就会实现。”其中一个学生闭上眼睛许了个愿，尽管她的男友远隔重洋。

　　注：双语全文源自纽约时报中文网

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