Over the Step

Michael Bell had spent fifteen years making sure that nobody in a room ever looked at him for long, and now two hundred people had stood up and clapped at him, and he did not know where to put his hands. He had put them over his face, in the end, because it was the only place he could think of. When he took them away, the hall was sitting down again, and the small woman with the half-moon glasses was asking the committee who was in favour.

十五年来，Michael Bell一直竭力避免让屋里的任何人长久注视自己，而现在，两百个人站起身来向他鼓掌，他一时竟不知手该往哪儿放。到最后，他把双手捂在脸上，因为那是他唯一能想到的地方。等他拿开手时，大厅里的人正重新坐下，那个戴半月形眼镜的娇小女人正在询问委员会谁赞成。

One hand went up on the stage. It belonged to a heavy man at the end of the table whose name card said Cllr R. Booth and who looked, Michael thought, like someone voting for his own peace and quiet rather than for flats. It went up slowly, and then, as the man seemed to become aware of two hundred pairs of eyes, it came down again halfway and stayed there, uncertain, like a bird that could not decide where to land.

台上举起了一只手。那是坐在长桌尽头的一名身形魁梧的男子，他的姓名牌上写着R·布思议员（Cllr R. Booth）。Michael觉得，他看上去更像是在为自己的清静投票，而不是为了公寓。那只手举得很慢，接着，那名男子似乎意识到了两百双眼睛正盯着自己，手又落下一半停在那里，悬而未决，就像一只拿不定主意该落在哪里的鸟。

“Councillor Booth, are you in favour or not?” said Councillor Hale.

“布思议员，您是赞成还是反对？”黑尔议员（Councillor Hale）说。