William Ward sells a lot of gum. He works at anewspaper stand just around the corner from a bizarre attraction called the gum wall near PikePlace Market just off the waterfront here, and people show up unprepared. He also sells a lot ofhand sanitizer.
威廉·沃德(William Ward)賣出了很多口香糖。他的報刊亭就在八怪七喇的“口香糖墻”景區的拐角，處於河邊派克農貿市場(Pike Place Market)鄰近。人們來這平日都沒甚麽預備。他同時也賣出了許多洗手液。
“I tell people it’s the second-most disgusting tourist attraction in the world,” Mr. Ward, 31,said. In his view, only the Blarney stone in Ireland, which millions of tourists actually kiss, cantop the gum wall on the gross-out scale.
“我常跟人說這是全球第二惡心的旅行景區，”32歲的沃德說。在他眼裏，只有愛爾蘭的“親吻巧語石”(Blarney stone)能與之媲美，在那邊，不計其數的搭客真的在現場親吻那塊石頭。比擬之下，惡心範圍可以賽過一籌。
But gum, in a dozen or so varieties — helped by the sign out front, “We sell gum!” — still fliesoff the shelves. In most cases, he said, the gum is destined for only the briefest of chewsbefore commemoration or deposit or whatever it is that people do, usually with a photo, inmaking the wall one of this city’s strangest destinations.
然則由於店前寫著“口香糖有售!”的招牌，十幾種口胃的口香糖仍然飛快地發賣一空。沃德說，平日這些口香糖的宿命，只是被飛快品味幾下，然後成為一種敬拜或存念，或是其余甚麽器械——平日要拍張照片，把這座墻釀成了都會裏最奇異的一個處所。
Now, the gum is coming down, after accumulating for 20 years in a deeply encrusted pointillistdisplay of perhaps a million pieces — and about 2,200 pounds of sugary, cavity-inducingweight that Pike Place officials say threatens the integrity of the 115-year-old brick wall. Crewson Tuesday morning started to remove the gum with garden rakes and superheated water, 260 degrees Fahrenheit, in a three-day display of industrial-strength dental hygiene.
20多年來，這幅恍如出自點彩派畫家之手的美麗佳構，在墻壁上結成為了硬殼。如今，派克市場的治理職員以為，這2200磅甜膩的、讓人認為要齲齒的重物，對這座具有115年汗青的磚墻構成為了平安威逼，應當被革除。從周二早上起，事情職員開端用園用釘耙和260華氏度的過熱水清算口香糖。三天的消除，如統一場產業級的牙科幹凈技巧展現。
In the days before the cleaning, there was a rush of last-minute visits and gum-themed selfies.People like the Fergus family, visiting from Phoenix this week, even stopped at Costco beforeleaving home to load up on supplies for a visit.
在清算開端前，一大量想遇上末班車的旅客簇擁所致，特地前來和口香糖墻熱鬧合影。像這周從鳳凰城趕來的費格斯一家，乃至在動身前到好市多超市采購物質，為此行做預備。
“Five packs, 15 sticks in each,” Christie Fergus said. She and her husband, Brian, and their twochildren, Michael, 8, and Rachel, 3, chewed their way through the arsenal at a stop at the wallon Monday afternoon, then spelled the family’s name in large bright green spearmint.
“五包，每包15條，”克裏斯蒂·費格斯(Christie Fergus)說。她和丈夫布賴恩帶著兩個孩子——8歲的邁克爾和9歲的瑞切爾，在周一下晝抵達前一起都嚼著口香糖。他們用薄荷味的口香糖，在墻上拼出自家碩大的姓氏。
“It was pretty disgusting, but also a really interesting and fun family activity,” said Ms. Fergus, apharmacist. Michael, she said, gets credit for the family name idea.
“這真的挺惡心。然則作為一項家庭文娛，也頗有趣，”職業是配藥師的費格斯說明道。她說拼出姓氏這個主張是孩子邁克爾想出來的。
Pike Place Market officials initially tried to protect the wall from gum after it began appearingthere in the 1990s, added by people waiting to enter an improvisational comedy club. But afterseveral cleanings, and the realization that mentions of the wall in tourist guidebooks likeFrommer’s were spurring people on, they surrendered. A spokeswoman for the market, EmilyCrawford, said she expected people would resume the practice the moment the wall was onceagain blank.
1990年月，列隊預備進入一家即興笑劇俱樂部的人們，順手將口香糖黏在墻上，漸漸構成了這座口香糖墻。最開端，派克農貿市場的治理職員妄圖掩護墻壁。但經由數次清算，再加之像弗羅默旅遊指南(Frommer’s)同樣的旅遊手冊紛紜提到這堵口香糖墻，吸引了無數人前來觀光，讓治理職員廢棄了持續清算的設法主意。市場的談話人艾米莉·克勞福德(Emily Crawford)稱，她估量墻壁清算一空後，人們還會持續來黏口香糖。
“It’s a crowdsourced piece of public art,” Ms. Crawford said. “We don’t need to promote it.”
“這是一件眾籌的大眾藝術作品，”克勞福德稱。“咱們不須要做宣揚。”
Chris Borgen, 31, a firefighter from a Seattle suburb who had never visited before, said he wasprompted to come by his mother, who told him about the cleaning. He was there on Monday,holding up his son, Abbott, who is almost 2, for photos.
31歲的克裏斯·博格斯(Chris Borgen)是來自西雅圖郊區的一位消防隊員。此前他從未觀光過這座墻壁。他說，是他母親告知他如今的口香糖將被消除，敦促他來看看。周一，他帶著兩歲的兒子艾伯特來到這裏，攝影紀念。
Mr. Borgen said he imagined coming back for a kind of time-lapse series as the gum graduallycomes back and Abbott grows up.
博格斯說，跟著往後墻壁上的口香糖從新多起來，艾伯特也逐步長大，他盤算帶兒子重返舊地，拍一些見證時間流逝的照片。
Donna Prust, a retired technology worker, was taking photos on Monday of Ed the Clam, asmiley-faced clamshell character that has become a kind of “Kilroy was here” figure for manypeople, who post pictures of him on his Facebook page. Ms. Prust, 68, who has taken photos ofherself and the clam in various places around the world, pressed the figure into the gum,which was several inches thick in spots, then pasted on a blue bubble as though Ed waschewing bubble gum.
唐娜·普魯斯特(Donna Prust)是一位退休的技巧職員，周一，她帶著她的卡通玩偶Ed the Clam來攝影。她的這個擺出笑容的蛤殼卡通玩偶，就像“Kilroy到此一遊”的卡通形象同樣，許多人拿著它在遍地攝影，再把照片發到Facebook上。68歲的普魯斯特曾和Ed the Clam在全球很多處所合影。此次，她把玩偶按進墻壁上的口香糖裏(墻壁上有幾處口香糖有幾英寸厚)，還在墻壁上貼了一個藍色的泡泡，偽裝是玩偶本身在吹口香糖。
“Hand sanitizer!” she said, rifling through her purse when the task was done.
等做完這統統，她一邊嚷著“洗手液”，一邊在手袋裏用力翻找著。
Thanks to the scale of their gum deposit, and perhaps the gross-out factor as well, Ms.Fergus said the family’s visit to the wall had just about exhausted their desire for gum.
因為口香糖的量異常大，再加之確切也挺惡心，費格斯說百口此行後，算是完全沒有嚼口香糖的願望了。
“I think we will take a break from chewing gum for a while after that,” she said in a telephoneinterview as they prepared to head home.
“我認為，這以後咱們得有一陣子不嚼口香糖了，”當他們預備回家時，她在手機裏這麽說。
市場價：HK$ 110
