雙語短文 · 微笑

The Smile　微笑

◎ Mother Teresa


Smile at each other, smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other—it doesn’t matter who it is—and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other.
Many Americans are familiar with The Little Prince, a wonderful book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. This is a whimsical and fabulous book and works as a children’s story as well as a thought-provoking adult fable. Far fewer are aware of Saint-Exupery’s other writings, novels and short stories.
Saint-Exupery was a fighter pilot who fought against the Nazis and was killed in action. Before World War II, he fought in the Spanish Civil War against the fascists. He wrote a fascinating story based on that experience entitled The Smile. It is this story which I’d like to share with you now. It isn’t clear whether or not he meant this to be autobiographical or fiction. I choose to believe it to be the former.
He said that he was captured by the enemy and thrown into a jail cell. He was sure that from the contemptuous looks and rough treatment he received from his jailers he would be executed the next day. From here, I’ll tell the story as I remember it in my own words.
“I was sure that I was to be killed. I became terribly nervous and distraught. I fumbled in my pockets to see if there were any cigarettes, which had escaped their search. I found one and because of my shaking hands, I could barely get it to my lips. But I had no matches, they had taken those.
“I looked through the bars at my jailer. He did not make eye contact with me. After all, one does not make eye contact with a thing, a corpse. I called out to him ‘Have you got a light?’ He looked at me, shrugged and came over to light my cigarette.
“As he came close and lit the match, his eyes inadvertently locked with mine. At that moment, I smiled. I don’t know why I did that. Perhaps it was nervousness, perhaps it was because, when you get very close, one to another, it is very hard not to smile. In any case, I smiled. In that instant, it was as though a spark jumped across the gap between our two hearts, our two human souls. I know he didn’t want to, but my smile leaped through the bars and generated a smile on his lips, too. He lit my cigarette but stayed near, looking at me directly in the eyes and continuing to smile.
“I kept smiling at him, now aware of him as a person and not just a jailer. And his looking at me seemed to have a new dimension, too. ‘Do you have kids?’ he asked.
“‘Yes, here, here.’ I took out my wallet and nervously fumbled for the pictures of my family. He, too, took out the pictures of his family and began to talk about his plans and hopes for them. My eyes filled with tears. I said that I feared that I’d never see my family again, never have the chance to see them grow up. Tears came to his eyes, too.
“Suddenly, without another word, he unlocked my cell and silently led me out. Out of the jail, quietly and by back routes, out of the town. There, at the edge of town, he released me. And without another word, he turned back toward the town.
“My life was saved by a smile.”
Yes, the smile is the unaffected, unplanned, natural connection between people. I tell this story in my work because I’d like people to consider that underneath all the layers we construct to protect ourselves, our dignity, our titles, our degrees, our status and our need to be seen in certain ways— underneath all that remains the authentic, essential self. I’m not afraid to call it the soul. I really believe that if that part of you and that part of me could recognize each other, we wouldn’t be enemies. We couldn’t have hate or envy or fear. I sadly conclude that all those other layers, which we so carefully construct through our lives, distance and insulate us from truly contacting others. Saint-Exupery’s story speaks of that magic moment when two souls recognize each other.
I’ve had just a few moments like that. Falling in love is one example. And looking at a baby. Why do we smile when we see a baby? Perhaps it’s because we see someone without all the defensive layers, someone whose smile for us we know to be fully genuine and without guile. And that baby-soul inside us smiles wistfully in recognition.


經(jīng)常保持笑容，對你的另一半、你的孩子微笑，甚至對陌生人也不要吝惜你的微笑，因為小小的微笑就能大大增進人與人之間的感情。
法國作家安東尼·德·圣埃克絮佩里所著的《小王子》是本很多美國人都熟悉的極好的書。這本書表面上看來是童話故事，但世故的成人讀來也覺寓意深遠。很少有人知道，除了《小王子》，圣埃克絮佩里還創(chuàng)作過其他小說和短篇故事。
圣埃克絮佩里是名飛行員，在第二次世界大戰(zhàn)中對抗納粹分子時被擊落身亡，之前他也曾參加西班牙內(nèi)戰(zhàn)打擊法西斯分子。他根據(jù)這次經(jīng)驗寫了一篇精彩的故事《微笑》，現(xiàn)在要提的就是這部作品。這是真實的自傳故事還是虛構(gòu)的故事，沒人能下定論，但我寧可相信這是作者的親身體驗。
故事的前段大意是作者被敵軍俘虜，關(guān)進一間單人監(jiān)牢。獄卒們一臉兇相，態(tài)度極為惡劣，他受到了粗暴的對待。他心想，明天絕對會被拖出去槍斃。以下是我所記得的所有關(guān)于這個故事的話。
“我確信自己明天就沒命了，一想到這個，我就變得極度惶恐與不安。我翻遍了口袋，終于找到一支逃過搜查的香煙。但我的手緊張得不停發(fā)抖，幾乎都無法將煙送進嘴里。而我的火柴也在搜身時被拿走了。
“我透過鐵柵欄望著獄卒。他并沒有注意到我在看他。畢竟，我只是他看守的一樣‘物品’、一具‘尸體’。我叫了他一聲，‘能跟你借個火嗎？’他轉(zhuǎn)頭望著我，聳了聳肩，然后走了過來，點燃我的香煙。
“當他幫我點火時，他的眼光無意中與我相接觸。這一刻，我微笑了一下。我不知道自己為什么會笑。也許是過于緊張，或者是當你如此靠近另一個人，你很難不對他微笑。不管是何理由，我對他笑了一下。就在這一剎那，這抹微笑如同一?；鹦前?，打破了我們心靈間的鴻溝。我知道他并不想這樣，但我的微笑越過了牢房的鐵柵欄，他的嘴角不自覺地也現(xiàn)出了笑容。點完火后他并沒立刻離開，而是兩眼盯著我瞧，臉上仍帶著微笑。
“我也以笑容回應(yīng)，仿佛他是個朋友，而不是個守著我的警衛(wèi)。他看著我的眼神也少了當初的那股兇氣，‘你有小孩嗎？’他開口問道。
“‘有，你看。’我拿出了皮夾，手忙腳亂地翻出了我的全家福照片。他也掏出了照片，并且開始講述他對家人的期望與計劃。這時我眼中充滿了淚水，我說我怕再也見不到家人了。我害怕沒機會看著孩子長大。他聽了也熱淚盈眶。
“突然間，他二話不說地打開了牢門，悄悄地帶我從后面的小路逃離了監(jiān)獄，出了小鎮(zhèn)，就在小鎮(zhèn)的邊上，他放了我，之后頭也不回地轉(zhuǎn)身走了，不曾留下一句話。
“一個微笑居然能救自己一條命。”
是的，微笑是人與人之間最自然真摯的溝通方式。我在我的作品中講這個故事，因為我希望人們能仔細想想以下的事情：人常常為自己建立層層保護膜，為了維護尊嚴、頭街、身份、形象等，而必須有所隱藏。我相信在這些掩飾下，每個人都有一個真實、不虛偽的靈魂。如果我們能用心靈去認識彼此，世間不會有結(jié)怨成仇的憾事。仇恨、妒嫉、恐懼也會不復(fù)存在。遺憾的是：人小心翼翼為自己所建造的保護膜，卻阻隔了自己與他人真誠相對的機會。圣?？诵跖謇锏倪@則故事，讓我們見到了兩顆心靈相互交流的神奇時刻。
我也曾有過如此神奇的時刻。墜入情網(wǎng)是其中一刻，而看著嬰兒的臉是另外一例。為什么我們見到嬰兒會微笑？也許是因為我們在他們身上見到?jīng)]有設(shè)防的靈魂。他們純真無邪的笑容，引起了我們內(nèi)心深處的共鳴。