Andre plays classical guitar at the How You Bean,a coffeehouse in Boulder Colorado.He plays for tips,but really he plays for Eva,Queen of Lattes,who works behind the counter.
在美国科罗拉多州的波尔得有一家叫做How You Bean的咖啡馆，而安德烈就在这里演奏古典吉他。他的表演看上去是为了挣小费，但实际上是为了在柜台上工作的“拿铁咖啡皇后”——伊娃。
It takes him a while to notice her.Andre is drawn to a well-defined type,oliveskinned girls with robust features and dark eyes.
他并不是一开始就注意到她的。安德烈喜欢的类型很明确，即她们要有橄榄色的皮肤，周身散发着活力并拥有黑色的双眼。
His first night at the Bean,Eva barely registers.She is slim,red-haired,freckled,a quick entry to his Not-My-Type file(he does not do this consciously,but his filters are ruthlessly consistent).He plays for two hours,to small applause but several smiles,plus sixteen dollars in his guitar case.
他在How You Bean咖啡馆演出的第一个晚上，伊娃几乎就没注意到他。她体型柔细，一头红发，脸上还有些雀斑，因而很快便被他归为“不适合自己”的一类（他并不是有意这样做的，但他的衡量标准时一如既往的，丝毫不夹杂着情面因素）。他每晚演出两小时，有些观众会对他的演出回以微笑，但掌声很少，演出末了，他的吉他盒里能多出16美元来。
“Hi,Andre?”It was the tall,red-haired barista.”Do you want your drink?You get a free drink.”
“嗨，安德烈？”说话的是这个高个红发的咖啡师。“你想要杯饮料么？你可以免费来一杯”。
“Sure.How about a double latte?I’ll pick it up after this last song.”
“当然。那就来杯双料拿铁吧？我弹完这最后一曲就过来拿”。
“That was great”says the barista.”I will leave your drink on the table.”
“好的！”这个咖啡师说“我会把咖啡留在桌上的”。
“Thanks.”He gathers his tips,lowers his guitar into the case,then turns to find the most perfect latte he has ever seen.
“谢谢”他收好他赚的小费，把他的吉他装入盒中，然后转过身，发现了这杯他见过的最好的拿铁咖啡。
It sits in a tall,narrow glass.The bottom layer is four inches of steamed milk;the middle an inch-wide stripe of espresso,the color of charred wood.The top is two inches of milk foam,edging past the brim like a snow bank.Only once has Andre seen such a thing.In a cafe in Florence,on a tour of Italy after his first year in college.
咖啡就盛在一直细长的玻璃高杯中。底层是4英寸厚的蒸汽奶沫，中间是1英寸宽，呈现碳木色的条状的浓缩咖啡。顶部是2英寸厚的牛奶奶沫，沫子已经溢出杯口，好似白雪一样，堆积在一起。这样的东西安德烈只见过一次。那是在他大学第一年去意大利旅行时，在佛罗伦萨一家咖啡馆里见到的。
Andre plays there again the following week,and he finds himself slipping up,on a piece he has played since he was six.No one notices.But it bothers him.He understands that perfection is not,logocally speaking,attainable.But if you aren’t going to at least chase it,what’s the purpose?
第二个星期，安德烈再次在这里演出，不过他发现自己在一首曲子上出了错。而这首曲子竟是他从6岁起就开始弹奏的曲目。没有人注意到这一点。但这却使他感到不安。他知道，从逻辑上讲完美是可遇不可求的。但是如果你一点也不想去追求完美，那你做事的动力又是什么呢？
He knows what it is.Too many of his focal points are occupied by the image of Eva’s latte and Eva herself.He takes an early break,and requests his free drink.
他知道是怎么回事。他关注的焦点太多地放在伊娃的拿铁咖啡和她本人身上。他提前结束了演奏，并要求来一杯免费饮料。
“Double latte?”she asks.
“双料的拿铁么？”她问。
“Exactly the same.”
“和一起一样”。
She smiles.She clicks the grounds into a disc and slides it into the machine.Andre stands at the counter,watching.
她微笑了一下。她把咖啡粉压进把手，将装有咖啡的手柄装入机器。安德烈就站在柜台边看着。
“What do you call it?”He asks.
“你管这个叫什么？”他问。
Eva twitches her lips in thought “Pretty-style”
伊娃嘴唇微微动了一下，想了一会儿“美丽式”。
“Pretty-style”
“美丽式”。
She laughs.”It is the only expression everyone seems to understand.”
她笑了。“这或许是人们唯一能明白的表达方式”。
She pours the milk,then lays in the foam,till it comes to an inch from the top.Then she brings the shot cup to the edge of the glass.
她倒入牛奶，然后铺上奶沫，直到它离顶部还有1英寸为止。接着，她将小口杯接到玻璃杯的边缘。
“Wow!You pour it freehand?No spoon?”
“哇！你就用手来倒啊，不用勺子么？”
Eva smiles,keeping her eye on the hot brown trickle.
伊娃露出一丝微笑，眼睛注视着滚烫的棕色细流。
“You are a goddess of the caffeine arts.”says Andre,taking his prize.
“你简直是咖啡艺术女神。”安德烈接过他的慰问品说道。
Eva is protective of her true affections,rarely gives them out and is very clear on the type of man who buzzes her circuits.He is big,a barrel-chested guy who could squeeze her to a pulp.In the old high-school fantasy game,her picks would be Russell Crowe,a young Sean Connery.
伊娃对于自己的真实感情其实是掩饰的，很少将自己的感情表露出来。她非常清楚什么样的男人能打动她。这个男人应该十分高大威猛，胸肌发达，有着足以把她揉成一团的力量。在高中的传统幻想游戏里，她通常选的都是肖恩康纳利的青年版-拉塞尔克罗。
Slight,effeminate Andre doesn’t stand a chance until he starts playing.The deftness of his fingering captivates her.His choice of material is good.He also knows a good musical joke,smugging a quote from Hotel California into a Granados tango.She’s the only who notices.
瘦小、柔弱的安德烈对伊娃而言是一点机会都没有的。然而当他开始演奏的时候一切发生了变化。他纯熟的指法让她着迷。他对音乐的选择也极有品位。他还很会开音乐玩笑——把加州旅馆中的一个片段和格拉纳多斯的探戈舞曲柔和在一起。她是唯一注意到这一切的人。
Eva is a piano student.Her teachers love her playing,and encourage her to give recitals.But her ears tell her differently.She knows that perfection if a ruthless master,but she wants to be at least somewhere in the county before she exposes herself to an audience.She tells no one about her studies not even her closest friends and when she hears someone like Andre,her feelings are confirmed.
伊娃是主修钢琴的学生。她的老师欣赏她的演奏，并鼓励她举办演奏会。但她的耳朵告诉她自己的水平还远远不够。她知道，完美就像一位不留情面的批判者。她想，她在面对观众表演之前，至少能够达到接近完美的水平。她没有告诉任何人关于她学业的事情，甚至对她最亲密的朋友也是一样，而当她听到安德烈这样的演奏之后，她的感觉得到了证实。
She thinks it should be Andre to ask her out first,after all.
她认为不管怎样安德烈应该主动邀请她出去。
Another night,she is stacking chairs on tables when Andre stops by,guitar case in hand.
又一天晚上，当她正在将椅子堆叠到桌子上的时候，安德烈手拿吉他盒在她身边停了下来。
“Is there something different tonight?”
“今晚有什么地方不一样么？”
“Sure,I added some cardamom.”
“当然了，我在咖啡里放了小豆蔻”。
“I like it,”he says.
“我喜欢这个”他说。
“good”
“很好”。
A silence drifts in like a fog.Lots of room for someone to ask someone out on a date.Maybe they could meet for a cup of coffee.
沉默像雾气一般弥散开来。这时是邀请别人约会的最佳时机。或许他们可以相约喝杯咖啡。
“Well,”he says,”I gotta go”
“好了，”他说，“我得走了”。
“Goodnight,”says Eva.She lifts another chair.
“晚安”伊娃说，她搬起另一把椅子。
Andre sits on his couch.It is getting worse!That look on her face.”She is so popular.It seems like half the town knows her.What am I doing even thinking about it?Oh,Jesus,Andre,read the fucking music.:
安德烈坐在他的睡椅上。情况有点不妙！想想她脸上的那种神情吧。她是那样地受欢迎。仿佛整座小镇中有一半人认识她。我还有什么好想的？哦，天啊，安德烈，你还是去读那该死的曲谱吧。
Eva continues the cardamon,to no discemible effect.If anything,Andre seems more distant,even vaguely annoyed.Then he’s gone,replaced by a guy named Martin.
伊娃继续往咖啡里加入小豆蔻，可安德烈对此却没有什么反映。如果有什么不对劲的话，那就是安德烈似乎陌生了很多，看上去甚至还有些生气。随后，他走了，一个叫马丁的年轻人顶替了他的位子。
The next three months are winter.The short days and foul weather conspire to drive Eva into the ground.Even the snow,which used to excite her.Now it reminds her of lost chances,some connection she has failed to make.She spends hours in her rehearsal room playing Schubert sonatas and Chopin nocturnes.
接下来的三个月是在冬日里度过的。短暂的白昼和沉郁的天气勾结到了一起，将伊娃的情绪降到了最低点。甚至连曾经让她那么兴奋的雪也成了她不快乐的理由。现在，雪让她想起了与擦肩而过的机会，她错过的爱情。她有很长时间都在排演室里度过的，弹奏着舒伯特的鸣奏曲和肖邦的小夜曲。
On the first day of March,she sits in a corner with her biology textbook.A shadow comes over her table like a stormcloud.The stormcloud is Andre.
三月的第一天，她坐在一个角落里翻着生物课本。一个阴影像暴风云一般遮住了她的桌子。而这个暴风云正是安德烈。
“Andre!Where have you been?It is good to seen you.”
“安德烈！这些日子你都去哪里了？看到你真是太好了。”
“It is good to see you.I have been kind of busy.But today has been a rough day,and I thought,what you really need is one of Eva’s perfect lattes.But I guess you are not on?”
“很高兴见到你。我一直有点忙。但今天真是糟透了。于是我对自己说，你真正需要的是一杯伊娃的拿铁咖啡。但我猜你可能下班了？”
“No.But I’ll make you one.Be right back.”
“对，不过我可以为你做一杯，稍等。”
…….
Eva plays piano at the university in Boulder,Colorado.She plays for grades,but really she plays for Andre,King of Guitar,who listens from the front row.
在科罗拉多州波尔得的大学里，伊娃在演奏着钢琴。她的表演看上去是为了分数，而实际上是为了此刻正端坐在前排聆听的“吉他之王”——安德烈。
