大智若愚-

2021年1月26日发(作者：石醒宇)
In
the
dining-saloon
I
sit
at
a
table
with
three
other
men;
Laura
sits some way oft with a married couple and their daughter. I
can
observe
her
without
her
knowing,
and
this
gives
me
pleasure,
for it is as in a moving picture that I can note the grace of
her gestures, whether she raises a glass of wine to her lips
or turns with a remark to one of her neighbours or takes a
cigarette
from
her
case
with
those
slender
fingers.
I
have
never
had
much
of
an
eye
for
noticing
the
clothes
of
women,
but
I
get
the impression that Laura is always in grey and white by day,
looking cool when other people are flushed and shiny in the
tropical
heat;
in
the
evening
she
wears
soft
rich
colours,
dark
red, olive green, midnight blue, always of the most supple
flowing
texture.
I
ventured
to
say
something
of
the
kind
to
her,
when
she
laughed at
my clumsy
compliment
and
said I
had
better
take
to
writing
fashion
articles
instead
of
political
leaders.
在餐厅里，
我同另外三个男人围 坐在一张桌子旁，
而劳拉同一对夫妇
及他们的女儿一块儿坐在离我不远的地方。
我可以 观察她而不让她发
觉，
这使我觉得开心，
因为我可以像看电影一样地欣赏她优雅的动作 ，
不论是举杯送到唇边，
还是扭头与邻座交谈，
抑或是用她那纤细的手
指从烟 盒中夹取香烟的动作。
我向来不太会欣赏也不大注意女人的衣
着，但我却有这样的印象：
劳拉白天总穿着灰色和白色的衣服，因而
当别人被热带的高温烘烤得红光满面时，
她看上去却 给人一种清爽的
感觉。
到了晚间，
她又总是穿着深红、
橄榄绿、
深蓝 等色调柔和富丽、
质料柔软光滑的衣服。
当我不揣冒昧地将这话对她讲时，
她对我这种
笨拙的恭维报以开心的大笑，
还说我最好不再写什么政坛人物的述评
文章而改行专写时 装评论算了。

The tall Colonel whose name is Dalrymple seems a nice chap .
He and I and Laura and a Chinese woman improbably galled Mme
Merveille
have
made
up
a
Bridge-tour
and
thus
beguile
ourselves
for an hour or so after dinner while others dance on deck. The
Colonel,
who
is
not
too
offensively
an
Empire-builder,
sometimes tries
to talk
to
me about
public affairs;
he says
he
used
to
read
me,
and
is
rather
charmingly
deferential
,
prefacing his remarks by
'Of course
it's
not
for
me
to suggest
to
you…
and then proceeding
to
tell
me exactly
how
he
thinks
some
topical
item
of
our
dome,
the
or
foreign
policy should
be
handled. He is by no means stupid or ill-informed; a little
opinionated perhaps, and just about as far to the Right as
anybody could go, but I like him, and try not to tease him by
putting
forward
views
which
would
only
bring
a
puzzled
look
to
his
face.
Besides,
I
do
not
want
to
become
involved
in
discussion. I observe with amusement how totally the concerns
of the world, which once absorbed me to the exclusion of all
else
except
an
occasional
relaxation
with
poetry
or
music,
have
lost interest for me eve to the extent of a bored distaste.
Doubtless some instinct impels me gluttonously to cram these
the last weeks of my life with the gentler things I never had
time for, releasing some suppressed inclination which in fact
was always latent. Or maybe Laura's unwitting influence has
called it out.
※


那个名叫达里波的高个子上校看样子是个好相处的人。他和
我同劳拉及一个竟被人称呼为麦尔维 尔夫人的中国妇女凑成一桌桥
牌，四人搭档。这样，晚饭后，当其他的人在甲板上跳舞时，我们便
用打牌来消遣个把小时。
上校不是个令人讨厌的帝国的卫道士，
他经
常找我谈论一些 国家大事。
他说他以前常读我写的文章；
他说话温文
尔雅，彬彬有礼，一开口总是先来 上一句“当然，我没有资格建议
您……”
接下来他就会明确地谈他该如何处置关于某项国内或外 交事
务的意见。他决不算愚笨，
也绝谈不上孤陋寡闻，只是可能有一点偏
执，政治思想 上极端右倾保守，但我对他颇有好感，因而尽量不提出
一些只会使他露出困惑的神色的见解，以免使他难 堪。况且，我也不
想陷入讨论的旋涡。
我有趣地发觉，
自己过去除偶尔借诗歌或音乐消
遣放松一下外，
一心专注的世界大事现在不仅是索然无味，
而且简直
是令人厌 烦了。
这无疑是自己受某种本能的驱使，
要贪婪地用一些过
去无暇享受的赏心乐事来填 补自己生命中的最后几周，
释放那些在过
去虽受到压抑但一直潜伏在自己心中的欲望。
也许是劳拉的无意的影
响唤起了我心中的欲望。

Dismissive
as
Pharisee,
I
regarded
as
moonlings
all
those
whose
life
was
lived
on
a
less
practical
plane.
Protests
about
damage
to
'natural
beauty'
froze
me
wit,
contempt,
for
I
believed
in
progress and could spare no regrets for a lake dammed into
hydraulic use for the benefit of an industrial city in the
Midlands. And so it
was
for
all
things. A
hard materialism
was
my creed, accepted as a law of progress; any ascription of
disinterested motives aroused not only my suspicion but my
scorn.
※


过去，我像法利赛人一样自以为是，轻视别 人。只要别人的
生活不像我这么讲求实际，
我就把他们看作月球居民。
对于人们因“大
自然的美”
遭到破坏而提出的抗议我嗤之以鼻，
因为我相信文明的进
步的合理性。
对于为了利用水力使内地某个工业城市受益而在某个湖
泊上筑起拦湖大坝这种事情 我根本不觉得遗憾。
对一切事物我都是这
种态度。
我信仰绝对的实用主义，
并 将其看作是人类进步的自然法则。
任何人若标榜自己的行为出于无私的动机，那不仅会引起我的怀疑，< br>而且会引起我的轻蔑。

And now see how I stand, as sentimental and sensitive as any
old maid doing water-colour s of sunsets! I once flattered
myself
that
I
was
an
adult
man;
I
now
perceive
that
I
am
gloriously and abolescently silly. A new Clovis, loving what
I
have
despised,
and
suffering
from
calf-love
into
the
bar
gain,
I want my till of beauty before I go. Geographically I did not
care and scarcely know where I am. There are no signposts in
the sea.
可是看看现在的我吧，竟然像一个老处女正用水彩画着西下的残阳，
十分地多愁善感
!
我曾自诩为老成持重，现在却意识到自己原来这么
幼稚无知。
就像那个改弦 易辙的克洛维一样，
我竟然对自己过去所鄙
视的一切开始热爱起来，
并且还要遭受少年 初恋的痛苦。
我想在离开
人世之前尽情享受一切美好的东西。
我不知道也不想知道自己 身处何
方。茫茫大海无路标。

The young moon lies on her back tonight as is her habit in the
tropics,
and
as,
I
think,
is
suitable
if
not
seemly
for
a
virgin.
Not a star but might not shoot down and accept the invitation
to
become
her
lover.
When
all
my
fellow-passengers
have
finally
dispersed
to
bed,
I
creep
up
again
to
the
deserted
deck
and
slip
into
the
swimming
pool
and
float,
no
longer
what
people
believe
me to
be, a
middle-aged
journalist
taking
a holiday on
an
ocean-going
liner,
but
a
liberated
being,
bathed
in
()
mythological
water
s,
an
Endymion
young
and
strong,
with
a
god
for
his
father
and
a
vision
of
the
world
inspired
from
Olympus.
All weight is lifted from my limbs; 1 am one with the night;
I understand the meaning of pantheism . How my friends would
laugh if they knew I had come to this! To have discarded , as
I believe, all usual frailties , to have become incapable of
envy,
ambition,
malice
,
the
desire
to
score
off
my
neighbour,
to
enjoy
this
purification
even
as
I
enjoy
the
clean
voluptuousness of the warm breeze on my skin
and the cool
support of the water. Thus, I imagine, must the pious feel
cleansed on leaving the confessional after the solemnity of
absolution .
※


今夜的一弯新月仰面斜躺在天 空，这是月亮在热带地区常见
的姿势。在我看来，这种姿势对一个少女来说虽说有些不雅，但却还
是适宜的。
没有哪一颗星星不愿飞射下来接受邀请做她的情人。
当船
上的其他乘客最 后一个个都回舱就寝之后，
我一个人又悄悄爬上空荡
荡的甲板，滑人游泳池，在水面上浮游着。 这时我已不再是人们所熟
悉的那位在远洋海轮上度假的中年记者了，
而是一个无拘无束的沐浴< br>着天池神水的自由快乐的人，
就像神话中那位有天神作父亲并有一双
奥林匹斯山诸神所赐 的观察人世的慧眼的年轻健壮的恩底弥翁。
我只
觉身体四肢轻飘飘的没有任何重量，
并 且和夜的世界合为一体。
我悟
出了泛神论的真正意义。
我的那些朋友们若知道我已变成 这样，
他们
不知会笑成什么样子
!
在享受着这暖风浴肤，凉水托体所带来的清 新
快感时，
我相信我的心灵也得到了净化，
丢弃了凡人皆有的种种弱点，
变得 不会嫉妒，没有野心，没有恶意，与世无争。照我想象，那些虔
诚的教徒在做完庄严的忏悔仪式离开忏悔 室时，
他们心灵得到净化的
感觉一定就像我此时的感觉一样。

Sometimes Laura and I lean over the taffrail , and that is
happiness. It may be by daylight, looking at the sea, rippled
with little white ponies, or with no ripples at all but on-ly
the lazy satin of blue, marbled at the edge where the passage
of our ship has disturbed it. Or it may be at night, when the
sky surely seems blacker than ever at home and the stars more
golden. I recall a phrase from the diary of a half-literate
soldier, ‘ The stars seemed little cuts in the black cover,
through
which
a
bright
beyond
was
seen.'
Sometimes
these
untaught scribblers have a way of putting things.
※


有时，劳拉和我一起倚在船尾栏杆上，这对我是一种幸福。
倘是在白天，
我 们凭栏远眺大海，
只见海面上时而翻卷起白色的浪花，
时而平静得宛若一幅微微飘动起伏着的蓝 色缎面，
完全见不到翻起的
浪花，
只有我们的轮船驶过之处才泛起一道道如大理石般的 波纹。
若
是在夜晚，我们翘首望天，
这儿的夜空比故乡的更黑，星光却显得更
加璀璨。
此时此景令我不由想起一个粗通文墨的士兵在日记中写的这
样一句话：
“星星 看起来就像一个黑锅盖上挖的许多小窟窿，透过这
些小窟窿可以看见锅盖外面的亮光。
”有时候 那些没念过书的人信笔
涂鸦写的东西倒也有那么两下子。

The wireless
told
us
today
that there
is fog
all
over
England.
据无线电广播，今天全英格兰弥漫着大雾。

Sometimes we follow a coastline, it may be precipitous bluffs
of grey limestone rising sheer out of the sea, or a low-lying
arid stretch with miles of white sandy beach, and no sign of
habitation,
very
bleachedand
barren.
These
coasts
remind
me
of
people;
either
they
are
forbidding
and
unapproachable
,
or
else
they present no mystery and show all they have to give at a
glance, you feel the country would continue to be flat and
featureless
however
far
you
penetrated
inland.
What
I
like
best
are the stern cliffs, with ranges of mountains soaring behind
them,
full
of
possibilities,
peaks
to
be
scaled
only
by
the
most
daring.
What
plants
of
the
high
altitudes
grow
unravished
among
their crags and valleys? So do I let my imagination play over
the
recesses
of
Laura's
Character,
so
austere
in
the
foreground
but
nurturing
what
treasures
of
tenderness,
like
delicate
flowers, for the discovery of the venturesome.
※


有时，我们的轮船沿着海岸线航行。时而是突拔而起的石灰
岩峭壁，时而是地势低洼 连绵数英里的茫茫沙滩，渺无人迹，凄惨荒
凉。
这种海岸景象使我联想到这样一些人，
他们或者是令人望而生畏，
难以接近，或者是无秘可隐，让人一眼就可看穿。看见这些海岸，你
会产生这样的感觉：
不论你向内陆腹地深人多远，
那里的土地都将和
岸边一样平淡无奇 。
我最喜爱的是岸边的那些悬崖峭壁及其背后的那
高耸云端、
神秘莫测的峰峦叠嶂，< br>那山峰只有最英勇无畏的人才能够
攀登上去。
在崇山峻岭之间人迹未至的石隙和幽谷中生 长着的是一些
什么样的高原植物呢
?
我也这样地让自己的想象力尽情地探索劳拉性格深处的秘密。
她的性情表面上严肃冷峻，
但她内心里却蕴育着丰富
温柔的情感， 宛如娇嫩的花朵，等待着勇士去发现。

My fellow-passengers apparently do not share my admiration.


‘
Drearee sorter cowst,' said an Australian.
‘
Makes you
Iong for a bit of green. '
同船的其他乘客们显然不能以我这样的眼光去欣赏海岸上的景色。

“这海岸景象真是荒凉，
”
一位澳大利亚人说。
“它让人渴望见到一点
绿色。
”

Darkness
falls,
and
there
is
nothing
but
the
intermittent
g1eam
of a 1iahthouse on a solitary promontory .
※


夜幕降临，四野茫茫，唯见一处荒凉的岬角的一座灯塔上的
航标灯忽明忽暗地闪烁着。

We rounded just such a cape towards sunset, the most easterly
point of a continent, dramatically high and lonely, a great
purple mountain overhung by a great purple cloud. The sea had
turned
to
a
corresponding
dusk
of
lavender
.
Aloofad
on
the
top,
the yellow 1iaht revolved, steady, warning; I wondered what
mortal
controlled
it,
in
what
must
be
one
of
the
loneliest,
most
forbidding spots on Earth. Haunted too, for many wrecks had
piled up on the reefs in the past, when there was no beacon to
guide them.

大智若愚-

大智若愚-

大智若愚-

大智若愚-

大智若愚-

大智若愚-

大智若愚-

大智若愚-