(中英)現(xiàn)代散文:偶像的話 The Idol Speaks

The Idol Speaks

◎ Ai Qing

There stood in a well-known ancient temple a huge statue. It was so tall that people standing by were unable to touch even its knees however hard they tried to reach for it. For many, many years, visitors couldn't help feeling so overawed and dwarfed at the sight of it that they looked to it eagerly for salvation.

在那著名的古廟里，站立著一尊高大的塑像，人在他的旁邊，伸直了手還摸不到他的膝蓋。很多年以來，他都使看見的人不由自主地肅然起敬，感到自己的渺小，卑微，因而渴望著能得到他的拯救。

Having stood there for several hundred years, the statue had now come to detest it as a kind of forced drudgery. And it knew perfectly well that it could do nothing whatsoever to help the suffering mortal beings craving for salvation by it. Feeling bored as well as ashamed, it began to address its worshippers at long last:

這尊塑像站了幾百年了，他覺得這是一種苦役，對于熱望從他得到援助的蕓蕓眾生，明知是無能為力的，因此他由于羞愧而厭煩，最后終于向那些膜拜者說話了：

O ye mortals, what a ridiculous thing you've done! You've created me in your own image, and an image of gigantic dimensions at that, believing that I can thus be powerful enough to rid you of your worries and cares. As a result, however, I've become just scared of you.

“眾生啊，你們做的是多么可笑的事！你們以自己的模型創(chuàng)造了我，把我加以擴(kuò)大，想從我身上發(fā)生一種威力，借以鎮(zhèn)壓你們不安定的精神。而我卻害怕你們。

I've every reason to believe that it is your lack of self-confidence that has prompted you to create me. Look, in what way am I superior to you? As a matter of fact, I even lack what you yourselves are equipped with.

“我敢相信：你們之所以要創(chuàng)造我，完全是因為你們?nèi)狈ψ孕?mdash;—請看吧，我比之你們能多些什么呢？而我卻沒有你們自己所具備的。

If you're bold enough to smash me to pieces, you won't see a single drop of blood trickling down my chest.

“你們假如更大膽些，把我搗碎了，從我的胸廓里是流不出一滴血來的。

Of course I'm also aware that it's a daring act of yours to have created me, in an attempt to make me an accomplice of yours so that I can join you in hoodwinking those who are even weaker than you.

“當(dāng)然，我也知道，你們之創(chuàng)造我也是一種大膽的行為，因為你們嘗試著要我成為一個同謀者，讓我和你們一起，能欺騙更軟弱的那些人。

I've had enough of punishment, having been footed to the spot for several hundred years! Ever since your forefathers moulded me, people have been gilding me all over from generation to generation to keep me glittering from top to toe. Nevertheless, I'm sick of my present position as much as I'm of hypocrisy.

“我已受夠懲罰了，我站在這兒已幾百年，你們的祖先把我塑造起來，以后你們一代一代為我的周身貼上金葉，使我能通體發(fā)亮，但我卻嫌惡我的地位，正如我嫌惡虛偽一樣。

Please smash me, or reduce me to your size and instill life-giving blood into me! I would be very grateful to you if that could ever be done. But it's simply impossible!

“請把我搗碎吧，要么能將我縮小到和你們一樣大小，并且在我的身上賦予生命所必需的血液，假如真能做到，我是多么感激你們——但是這是做不到的呀。

I hold, therefore, that you yourselves only are your saviours, and my presence can only mean your misfortune. With that, the statue crumbled all of a sudden like a huge mountain.

“因此，我認(rèn)為，真正能拯救你們的還是你們自己。而我的存在，只能說明你們的不幸。”說完了最后的話，那尊塑像忽然像一座大山一樣崩塌了。

艾青（1910—1996），浙江金華人。1929年赴法國巴黎習(xí)畫，1932年回國后放棄繪畫而寫詩，1941年奔赴延安。他不僅是詩人，也是散文家。《偶像的話》是他寫于五十年代的一篇隨筆。