Through high school and college, I had a close-knit group of friends. I was rarely alone.
高中和大學(xué)階段，我有不少親密的朋友，我很少獨(dú)自一人。

In college, I felt close to many but often sought a deeper friendship with my roommate, or the friend whose life, at the given semester, most intertwined with mine.
大學(xué)的時(shí)候，我覺(jué)得和很多人都很親近，但我會(huì)會(huì)去和我的室友或者在某個(gè)學(xué)期中跟我有許多生活交集的人建立更深的友誼。

But this year, lacking a “person” meant something different. My apartment, strung with Christmas lights and candles, shared with a lovely woman I met online, suddenly felt cold and isolating.
但這一年，缺個(gè)“人”的意味就有所不同了。我和我網(wǎng)上認(rèn)識(shí)的可愛(ài)女子合住，而這個(gè)掛滿了圣誕彩燈和蠟燭的公寓突然之間滿是寂寥和冷冰。

Friends lived mere subway stops away, dispersed between neighborhoods. I’d see them every few weeks, enjoying the intimacy of reunion. But in the quiet moments, the rides from work, I became fixated on what I lacked.
我的朋友們就住在幾站地鐵之外，散布在不同的街區(qū)。我每隔幾周就會(huì)和他們見(jiàn)面，享受親密的重聚。但在安靜的時(shí)候，以及下班回家的路上，我就會(huì)關(guān)注到我所缺失的東西。

My closest platonic friendships do not necessarily require physical proximity, intimacy or daily communication to keep us close. This unconditionality makes the way I share and confide in my closest friends different from my friendship with my boyfriend.
我最親密的柏拉圖式友誼并不需要兩人離得很近、也不需要每日交流來(lái)保持親近的關(guān)系。我和最親密的朋友間這種無(wú)條件的分享和互訴衷腸有別于我和男友的關(guān)系。

In the past three months, I faced two emergency surgeries. Both ejected me from the city and placed me on bed rest, immobile and isolated, for weeks.
過(guò)去的三個(gè)月里，我面臨了兩次緊急手術(shù)，每次都連續(xù)幾個(gè)禮拜讓我遠(yuǎn)離城市、臥床休息，動(dòng)彈不得還與世隔絕。

Convinced I needed a “person,” I became irrational. I lost sight of my people. Yet they had not lost sight of me. Friendship, I learned, is an investment and a privilege but friendship can’t be quantified.
我確信我需要個(gè)“人”，我變得不可理喻，忽視了我的朋友們。然而， 他們并沒(méi)有忽視我。我慢慢懂得，友誼是經(jīng)營(yíng)、是特權(quán)，但不能量化。

Like all relationships, friendships are about mutual exchange: Sharing parts of yourself, be it humor, memories, adventures, love or support, and receiving parts of others.
和所有關(guān)系一樣，友誼也是一種利益交換：分享你自己，無(wú)論幽默還是回憶、冒險(xiǎn)歷程還是愛(ài)與支持，然后對(duì)方會(huì)向你分享他自己。

What shined through after my surgery wasn’t just love but the power of many individual bonds. One best friend was not by my side, but with each check-in came reminders of the parts of my heart that others carry, and the unique parts of them that I cherish.
手術(shù)后，那些讓我覺(jué)得美好的東西不僅僅是愛(ài)，還有羈絆的力量。有一位我最好的朋友并不在我身邊，不過(guò)朋友們每次來(lái)看望的時(shí)候都讓我意識(shí)到他們心里有我，也讓我意識(shí)到我的心中有他們。

聲明：本雙語(yǔ)文章的中文翻譯系滬江英語(yǔ)原創(chuàng)內(nèi)容，轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處。中文翻譯僅代表譯者個(gè)人觀點(diǎn)，僅供參考。如有不妥之處，歡迎指正。