【看不見的城市】I Desideri Sono Gia Ricordi.

[Illustrate from http://calvino.lib.ru/english/mainframeset.html]

文字自會說明一切：所有的反思與感動，所有夜晚燈下的吟哦。

我在公司裡只有英文本的電子檔，因此我只能cite英文的原文，加上自己的譯文。

Cities and Memories -- Isidora

When a man rides a long time through wild regions he feels the desire for a city.
當一個旅人騎馬越過荒原，他渴望一個城市。

Finally he comes to Isidora, a city where the buildings have spiral staircases encrusted with spiral seashells, where perfect telescopes and violins are made, where the foreigner hesitating between two women always encounters a third, where cockfights degenerate into bloody brawls among the bettors.
於是他到了Isidora，在這裡，每一個建築物都有螺旋狀的階梯、階梯上又鑲嵌了螺旋狀的貝殼；完美的望遠鏡和小提琴也從這個城市中出產。在這裡，當一個旅人厭倦了兩個女人時，總會出現第三個女人供他選擇；在這裡，鬥雞比賽中總會出現賭徒的流血鬥毆。

He was thinking of all these things when he dedired a city.
當他想到一座城市時，他總會想到這些事情。

Isidora, therefore, is the city of his dreams: with one difference.
而Isidora便是他夢想中的城市，只除了一件事情不同：

The dreamed-of city contained him as a young man; he arrives at Isidora in his old age.
在他的夢想中，他是一個城市中的青年；然而到達Isidora時，他已是老年。

In the square there is the wall where the old men sit and watch the young go by; he is seated in a row with them.
城中的廣場裡，有一座牆。老人們坐在牆下看著年輕人走過；他和這些老人們坐成一列。

Desires are already memories.
而慾望已成記憶。