(中英)現(xiàn)代散文:菩提樹下 Under the Linden Tree

Under the Linden Tree

菩提樹下

◎ Guo Moruo

◎　郭沫若

-1

一

My wife is very keen on raising chickens. She does this not for studying genetics or making a profit out of it, but merely for collecting more eggs for our kids to eat.

我的女人最喜歡養(yǎng)雞。她的目的并不在研究遺傳，并不想有甚居積①，充其量只是想給孩子們多吃幾個(gè)雞蛋罷了②。

Therefore, she always prefers to raise hens. She will be immensely delighted whenever a hen is laying, giving it additional feed, making it a new roost, etc. Sometimes she finishes making two or three roosts at one go.

因此之故她總是愛養(yǎng)母雞。每逢母雞要生蛋的時(shí)候，她真是歡喜極了，她要多把些糧食給它，又要替它做窩。有時(shí)候一時(shí)要做兩三個(gè)窩③。

We consume our eggs sparingly. My wife has to go to a lot more trouble when a hen is sitting. As the brooding hen will fly out of its roost to seek food once every other day, she has to get the feed ready for it beforehand. And she has to be careful not to let the hen leave its droppings in the roost for fear that it should cause the eggs to rot. She puts all the eggs that a hen is sitting on in lukewarm salty water by way of a test. Those that float are judged rotten and must be thrown away; those that sink are kept for the hen to continue to brood. She will thus busy herself with all that for as long as three weeks until the yeeping sound comes out of the eggs. Then she will be left in a state of great excitement for two or three days.

雞蛋節(jié)省著吃，吃到后來母雞要孵卵的時(shí)候，那是她更操心的時(shí)候了，孵卵的母雞每隔一天要飛出窩來攝取一次飲食，她要先替它預(yù)備好；又要時(shí)常留心著不使母雞在窩里下糞，因?yàn)檫@樣容易使孵卵腐敗。還有被孵抱著的雞卵她也要常常把微溫的鹽水去試驗(yàn)，在水上可以浮起的便是腐敗了的，她便要取出，沉下去的便仍使母雞孵抱。像這樣足足要操心三個(gè)禮拜，等到雞卵里面可以聽出啾啾的叫聲了，那時(shí)候她有兩三天是快樂得不能安定的。

We have been raising chickens for five or six years, and broods upon broods of chicks have been hatched. But the baby chicks were either carried off by cats or rats, or died of beriberi caused by eating too much polished rice. None of the chicks hatched by ourselves lived until they were full-grown.

我們養(yǎng)雞養(yǎng)過五六年，雞雛也不知道孵化過好幾次了。但是孵化了的雞雛不是被貓鼠銜去，便是吃米過多得腳氣病死了。自己孵化出的雞雛從不曾長(zhǎng)大過一次。

We are a family constantly on the move. When we travel to a faraway place, we can't take our chickens with us. All we do is give them away or sell them to chicken vendors because we don't have the heart to slaughter the chickens raised by ourselves. We ate none of our own chickens during the five or six years.

我們又是四處飄流的人，遇著要遠(yuǎn)徙他方的時(shí)候，我們的雞不能帶著同走。在那時(shí)我們的雞不是送人，便是賣給雞販子去了。自己養(yǎng)過的雞怎么也不忍屠殺。所以我們養(yǎng)雞養(yǎng)了五六年，自己所養(yǎng)的雞從不曾吃過一次。

We raised only a small number of chickens, four or five at most. Apart from feeding them with the leftovers of the table, we let them out to seek food by themselves.

所養(yǎng)的雞也并不多，至多不過四五只；我們除把些殘菜剩飯給它們外，平常只聽它們?nèi)プ孕袧O食罷了。

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二

Five or six years of chicken raising has left me with a deep impression of how chickens behave. Like humans, chickens also live a life characterized by love.

養(yǎng)了五六年的雞，關(guān)于雞的心理，我也留下了不少的幽涼的記憶④。雞的生活中我覺得很有和人相類似的愛的生活⑤存在。

Take for example a flock of chickens, among them a rooster, put out to feed in a courtyard. If you sprinkle some food onto the ground, you'll invariably find the rooster start clacking to call all the hens to help themselves. The rooster himself will not eat first. This is no uncommon occurrence among chickens, but doesn't it border on woman-worship as expressed by the medieval troubadours in their amorous lyrics?

假如有一群雞在園子里放著的時(shí)候，請(qǐng)把一些食物向雞群里灑去罷。這雞群里面假使有一只雄雞，你可以看出它定要咯咯地呼喚起來，讓母雞去攝取那食物，它自己是決不肯先吃的。這樣本是一個(gè)很平常的現(xiàn)象，但這個(gè)很平常的現(xiàn)象不就有點(diǎn)像歐洲中世紀(jì)的游吟詩(shī)人（troubadour）的崇拜女性嗎⑥？

Once we had three hens and two roosters. One rooster, however, held sway and monopolized all the three hens. The other got the worst of it and looked crestfallen. Not only was he bullied by the stronger opponent, he was also snubbed by the three females. Sometimes, driven by sexual impulse, he used every trick to seduce them in the absence of his rival in love. He clacked to call the hens when actually there was no food available. He offered to preen their feathers for them, but they just ignored him. Finally, in desperation, he resorted to the use of force. That sent the three hens scampering in panic and raising a call for help — a call to the all-powerful autocrat. As soon as the autocrat came on the scene, the poor lonely heart fled with the tail between his legs.

有一次我們養(yǎng)過三只牝雞，兩只雄雞。這兩只雄雞中只有一只得勢(shì)，把那三只母雞都占有了。那不得勢(shì)的一只，真是孤苦得可憐⑦。得勢(shì)的一只雄雞不消說要欺負(fù)它，便連那些娥皇女英們也不把它看在眼里。它有時(shí)性的沖動(dòng)發(fā)作了，偷覷著自己的情敵不在，便想方設(shè)計(jì)地去誘惑它們。分明是沒有食物的，它也要咯咯地叫，或者去替它們梳理羽毛，但它們總不理睬它。它弄得焦急了，竟有用起暴力來，在那時(shí)它們一面遁逃，一面戛著驚呼求救的聲音，呼喚它們的大舜皇帝。等到大舜皇帝一來，那位背時(shí)的先生又拖著尾巴跑了⑧。

O you lucky all-powerful autocrat! O you haughty Don Juan! You took exclusive possession of a group of females; consequently, you have among you one more marriageable male remaining unmarried.

——啊，你這幸福的大舜皇帝！你這過于高傲了的唐璜（Don Juan）⑨！你占領(lǐng)著一群女性，使同類多添一位曠夫。

Hence, out of a sense of justice, I sold the domineering rooster. The three hens, at first keeping the lone rooster at arm's length, soon became his loving mates one after another.

那回是我抱了不平，我把得勢(shì)的一只雄雞賣了。剩下的一位曠夫和三位貞淑的怨女起初還不甚相投，但不久也就成了和睦的夫婦了。

The maternal love shown by hens is something even more noteworthy. Hens are normally very tame and docile, but when the eggs they have been sitting on are hatched they immediately become as fierce as birds of prey. They spare no efforts to protect their young. With eyes flashing like two fiery balls, they frequently stick their necks high up to find out how things stand. Their nerves were overstrained to the point of collapse. Sometimes they acted on the offensive instead of on the defensive. Even if you approach them without any ill intention, they will squawk and peck you all the same. At feeding time, they never eat first, but cluck to call for their young. And they will mercilessly fly on any intruder, male or female, who attempts to scramble for the feed. At sleeping time or when it rains, they will clutch their young under them so much so that they pitifully end up losing all their breast feathers. They continue to live like this for two or three months. And during this period, they completely abstain from sex.

還有一件更顯著的事情，要算是牝雞們的母愛。牝雞孵化了雞雛的時(shí)候，平常是那么馴善的家禽，立地要變成一些鷙鳥。它們保護(hù)著自己的幼兒是一刻也不肯懈怠的。兩只眼睛如像燃著的兩團(tuán)烈火。頸子時(shí)常要豎著向四方傾聽。全身的神經(jīng)好像緊張得要斷裂的一樣。這樣加緊的防御。有時(shí)還要變?yōu)楣?。不怕你便不懷敵意走近它們，它們也要戛出一種怪的叫聲，飛來啄你。攝取飲食的時(shí)候，它們自己也決不肯先吃，只是咯咯地喚著雞雛⑩。假如有別的同類要來分爭(zhēng)，不管是雄是雌，它們一樣地總要毫不容情地?fù)渥?。睡眠或者下雨的時(shí)候，要把自己的雞雛抱在自己的胸脅下，可憐胸脯上的羽毛要抱來一根也沒有存在的程度?。像這樣的生活，要繼續(xù)兩三個(gè)月之久。在這時(shí)期之內(nèi)，它們的性生活是完全消滅了的。

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三

Ah, we have so far done quite well this year. We now have two hens and sixteen baby chicks.

啊，今年的成績(jī)真好，我們現(xiàn)在有兩只母雞，十六只雞雛了。

My wife began to raise the two hens after she returned from Shanghai to Fukuoka at the end of February. One is yellow and the other looks like a falcon.

我的女人在二月底從上海渡到福岡來的時(shí)候，便養(yǎng)了兩只母雞：一只是黃的，一只是如像鷹隼一樣。

Our house on the Katakawa Bay has a very big rear garden with a giant linden tree in its centre. When I first came here early last April, the tree, with a bare trunk, had not yet put forth buds, and we didn't even know it by name. We guessed it to be a chestnut or persimmon tree. Soon afterwards, as it was turning green, I found it to be neither a chestnut nor a persimmon tree. However, my neighbours, upon my inquiry, told me it was a linden tree.

我們住在這博多灣上的房子，后園是很寬大的。園子正中有一株高大的菩提樹。四月初間我來的時(shí)候還沒有抽芽，樹身是赤裸著的，我們不知道它的名字。我們猜它是栗樹，又猜它是柿子樹。但不久漸漸轉(zhuǎn)青了，不是栗樹，也不是柿樹。我們問鄰近的人，說是菩提樹。

By the time when the linden tree was leafy and made shade, the two hens had each hatched nine baby chicks. The baby chicks were just lovely. Some were yellowish, some black, some grey, some white, and some motley like quails. They were fluffy like balls of cotton wool. Their eyes were jet black. Their pippings were even more pleasant to the ear than the bubbling of a mountain spring.

在這菩提樹成蔭的時(shí)候，我們的母雞各個(gè)孵化了九只雞雛。這雞雛們真是可愛，有蔥黃的，有黑的，有淡黑的，有白的，有如鵪鶉一樣駁雜的，全身的茸毛如像絨團(tuán)，一雙黑眼如像墨晶，啾啾的叫聲真的比山泉的響聲還要清脆。

Ah, we have done quite well this year. Of the original eighteen baby chicks raised by us, one was carried off by a cat and another died of some disease. The remaining sixteen, however, are growing fine. It is late June now. They have been gradually feathering out and we can already tell males and females apart. Hope they will never be carried off by cats or die of some disease. Healthy young chicks, if they eat too much polished rice, may die of a disease similar to beriberi to which humans are liable. Fortunately, instead of polished rice, we have presently taken to eating oats. So our baby chicks will no longer die of eating too much polished rice.

啊，今年的成績(jī)真好，我們本有十八只雞雛，除有一只被貓兒銜去，一只病死了外，剩著的這十六只都平安地長(zhǎng)大了起來?，F(xiàn)在已經(jīng)是六月尾上了，雞雛們的羽毛漸漸長(zhǎng)出，也可以辨別雌雄了。我們的這十六只雞雛想來總不會(huì)被貓兒銜去，不會(huì)病死了罷？雞雛吃白米過多時(shí)，會(huì)得白米病，和人的腳氣病一樣，好端端地便要死去，但我們現(xiàn)在吃的是麥飯，我們的雞雛們總不會(huì)再得白米病了罷。

Ah, we've done quite well this year, exclaimed my wife beamingly as she was throwing the leftovers of our supper onto the ground under the linden tree for the chicks to eat.

——“啊，今年的成績(jī)真好?！蔽业呐税殉允Ｖ耐盹?，在菩提樹下撒給雞群吃的時(shí)候，她笑著向我這樣說。

The yeeping chicks scrambled for the feed like anything, pushing and shoving each other, treading on and pecking each other.

雞雛啾啾地在她腳下爭(zhēng)食，互相擁擠，互相踐踏，互相剝啄著。

散文《菩提樹下》是郭沫若（1892—1978）1924年6月8日寫于日本博多灣的早期代表作之一，最初收入1926年出版的小說散文集《橄欖》，現(xiàn)存《郭沫若全集》。文章是他自己生活觀感的直接記錄，充滿異鄉(xiāng)情趣和熱愛生活的感情。