Knowing Paris by Its Bridges

　　桥中识巴黎

　　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。

　　钢制的、石制的、木制的......塞纳河穿过巴黎，而塞纳河上的37座桥梁则为这条河、这座城市提供了建筑瑰宝、历史细节和其浪漫史的源头。

　　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

　　比尔阿克姆桥以利比亚的一个绿洲得名，二战期间，自由法国的军队曾在那里跟德国人作战。

　　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、小说家和哲学家西蒙·德·波伏瓦(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(Îlede laCité)，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。

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