蕭紅文 李運(yùn)興譯

黃葉滿地落著，小玉的祖母雖然是瞎子，她也確確實(shí)實(shí)承認(rèn)道已經(jīng)好久就是秋天了。因?yàn)槭终鹊募舛擞|到那地上的黃葉時(shí)，就起著她的手杖在初冬的早晨踏破了地面上的結(jié)著薄薄的冰片暴裂的聲音似的。1

“你爹今天還不回來嗎？”祖母的全白的頭發(fā)，就和白銀絲似的在月亮下邊走起路來，微微地顫抖著。

“你爹今天還不回來嗎？”她的手杖格格地打著地面，落葉或瓦礫或沙土都在她的手杖下發(fā)著響或冒著煙。

“你爹，你爹，還不回來嗎？”

她沿著小巷子向左邊走。鄰家沒有不說她是瘋子的，所以她一走到誰家的門前，就聽到紙窗里邊咯咯的笑聲，或是問她：

“你兒子去練兵去了嗎？”

她說：“是去了啦，不是嗎！就為著那盧溝橋……后來人家又都說不是，說是為著‘三一八什么還是‘八一三……”

“你兒子練兵打誰呢？”

假若再接著問她，她就這樣說：

“打誰……打小日本子吧……”

“你看過小日本子嗎？”

“小日本子，可沒見過……反正還不是黃眼珠，卷頭發(fā)……說話滴拉都魯?shù)亍袢瞬幌袢?，像獸不像獸。”

“你沒見過，怎么知道是黃眼珠？”

“那還用看，一想就是那么一回事……東洋鬼子，西洋鬼子，一想就都是那么一回事……看見！有眼睛的要看，沒有眼睛也必得要看嗎？不看見，還沒聽人說過……”

“你聽誰說的？”

“聽誰說的！你們這睜著眼睛的人，比我這瞎子還瞎……人家都說，瞎子有耳朵就行……我看你們這耳眼皆全的……耳眼皆全……皆全……”

“全不全你怎么知道日本子是卷頭發(fā)……”

“嘎！別瞎說啦！把我的兒子都給卷了去啦……”

汾河邊上的人對于這瘋子起初感到趣味2，慢慢地厭倦下來，接著就對她非常冷淡。也許偶爾對她又感到趣味，但那是不常有的。今天這白頭發(fā)的瘋子就空索索地一邊嘴在咕魯咕魯?shù)叵袷囚~在池塘里吐著沫似的，一邊向著汾河走去。

小玉的父親是在軍中病死的，這消息傳到小玉家是在他父親離開家還不到一個(gè)月的時(shí)候。祖母從那個(gè)時(shí)候，就在夜里開始摸索，嘴里就開始不斷地什么時(shí)候想起來，就什么時(shí)候說著她的兒子是去練兵練死了。

可是從小玉的母親出嫁的那一天起，她就再不說她的兒子是死了，她忽然說她的兒子是活著，并且說他就快回來了。

“你爹還不回來嗎？你媽眼看著就把你們都丟下啦！”

夜里小玉家就開著門過的夜，祖父那和馬鈴薯一樣的臉孔，好像是浮腫了，突起來的地方突得更高了。

“你爹還不回來嗎？”祖母那夜依著門扇站著，她的手杖就在蟋蟀叫的地方打下去。

祖父提著水桶，到馬棚里去了一次再去一次。那呼呼地，喘氣的聲音，就和馬棚里邊的馬差不多了。他說：

“這還像個(gè)家嗎？你半夜三更的還不睡覺！”

祖母聽了他這話，帶著手杖就跑到汾河邊上去，那夜她就睡在汾河邊上了。

小玉從媽媽走后，那胖胖的有點(diǎn)發(fā)黑的臉孔，常常出現(xiàn)在那七八家取水的井口邊。尤其是在黃昏的時(shí)候，他跟著祖父飲馬的水桶一塊來了。馬在喝水時(shí)，水桶里邊發(fā)著響，并且那馬還響著鼻子。3而小玉只是靜靜地站著，看著……有的時(shí)候他竟站到黃昏以后。假若有人問他：

“小玉怎么還不回去睡覺呢？”

那孩子就用黑黑的小手搔一搔遮在額前的那片頭發(fā)，而后反過來手掌向外，把手背壓在臉上，或者壓在眼睛上：

“媽沒有啦！”他說。

直到黃葉滿地飛著的秋天，小玉仍是常常站在井邊，祖母仍是常常嘴里叨叨著，摸索著走向汾河。

汾河永久是那么寂寞，潺潺地流著，中間隔著一片沙灘，橫在高高城墻下，在圓月的夜里，城墻背后襯著深藍(lán)色的天空。經(jīng)過河上用柴草架起的浮橋，在沙灘上印著日里經(jīng)行過的戰(zhàn)士們的腳印。天空是遼遠(yuǎn)的，高的，不可及的深遠(yuǎn)在圓月的背后，在城墻的上方懸著。4

小玉的祖母坐在河邊上，曲著她的兩膝，好像又要說到她的兒子，這時(shí)她聽到一些狗叫，一些掌聲。她不知道什么是掌聲，她想是一片震耳的蛙鳴。

一個(gè)救亡的小團(tuán)體的話劇在村中開演了。

然而，汾河的邊上仍坐著小玉的祖母，圓月把她畫著深黑色的影子落在地上。

Yellow leaves fell and carpeted the ground. Xiaoyus grandmother， though blind， knew without any doubt that autumn had been here for quite a while. Her sense came from the tip of her walking stick， which， when touching the leaves， made a cracking sound like that of stepping on thin ice on a morning in early winter.

“Wont your dad come back today either？” asked his grandmother， her silvery hair quivering in the moonlight as she walked.

“Wont your dad come back today either？” she repeated， her stick hitting the ground， making the fallen leaves， gravel and sand rustle and leap around its tip.

“I said， your dad. Wont he come back today either？”

She walked to the left along the alley. All her neighbors believed she was mad. Whenever she passed their houses， they would giggle to themselves or throw her a question from behind their paper windows：

“Has your son gone to train in the army？”

“Yeah， he sure did！ He went after that Lugouqiao Incident， though later they said it was actually some other incident， 318 or 813， I aint sure which…”

“Whos your son supposed to fight against？”

If they pursued their questioning， she would talk like this：

“Who？ Most likely the Japs…”

“Have you ever seen a Jap？”

“A Jap， of course not… But I know theyre no more than half-human beasts， yellow-eyed， curly-haired， and gabbling a language nobody knows.”

“How do you know theyre yellow-eyed if youve never seen them？”

“Theres no need to see， I just imagine. Western foreign devils， Eastern foreign devils， theyre all the same to my mind. See them？ People with eyes can see， but do those with no eyes also have to see？ I cant see， but I can hear what people say…”

“Who did you hear saying it？”

“Who did I hear？ You people with open eyes seem to be even blinder than me… They say the blind can do well as long as they have ears… You people with ears and eyes， you have everything， yet…”

“Never mind about us！ How do you know the Japs have curly hair？”

“Ha！ Dont talk nonsense！ They curled my son away， didnt they？”

At first， this mad woman was a focus of interest for the people along the Fen River， but later they grew bored， and eventually simply felt indifferent. Occasionally could she still arouse some interest， but it was always only momentary. Today the white-haired lunatic was again to be seen making her way towards the river， gurgling and murmuring something like a fish blowing bubbles in a pond.

Xiaoyus father died of illness in the army. The family learned about this less than a month after his enlistment. Since then， the grandmother began to rise and search around at night whenever she thought of her son， murmuring something about him being drilled to death in the army.

However， on the day Xiaoyus mother got remarried， she suddenly changed her refrain， claiming that her son was still alive and would come back soon.

“Wont your dad come back today either？ Looks like your mothers going to leave you all behind！”

That night the gate of their courtyard remained open. His grandfathers potato-like face seemed swollen， its spots protruding even higher.

“Wont your dad come back today either？” said his grandmother， leaning against the door and swinging her stick towards the chirping sound of crickets.

His grandfather， carrying a water bucket in his hand， went in and out of the stable several times， panting as loudly as a horse. He said：

“Does this still look like a home？ At midnight youre still walking around instead of sleeping.

Reacting to his words， his grandmother took her stick and went down to the riverside， where she spent the night sleeping on the bank.

After his mother left， Xiaoyus plump and swarthy face often appeared at the side of the well that seven to eight households shared， especially at dusk when his grandfather came with a bucket in his hand to water his horse. He would follow him and watch the horse drink from the bucket， slurping and snorting. He just stood still， watching… Sometimes he stayed until after dusk. If someone asked him：

“Xiaoyu， are you not going back home to sleep？”

He would run his dirty fingers across the strands of hair that lay over his forehead， and then， palm facing outward， cover his face or eyes with the back of his hand and say：

“My moms gone！”

From then on until the autumn when yellow leaves whirled about the ground， Xiaoyu was often to be seen standing by the side of the well， while his grandmother groped her way to the river， murmuring and grumbling.

As ever， the Fen River gurgled along its way in solitude. With a stretch of sand in between， on moonlit nights the city wall stood high against a celestial backdrop of dark blue. Impressed on the sand were the footprints of soldiers as they passed into the city across a makeshift bridge of wood and straw. Above the city wall and behind the moon hung the sky， remote and unreachable in its height and depth.

Xiaoyus grandmother sat by the river， her knees bent， as if she was about to speak of her son again. She heard a few dog barks and then some applause. Unable to identify it as the clapping of hands， she took it for the croaking of frogs.

In the village， a play by a group of anti-Japanese invasion activists was just beginning.

Nevertheless， Xiaoyus grandmother sat by the river as usual， while the full moon cast her dark black shadow on the ground.

1此句譯文以主語her sense啟句，以解釋祖母感知的緣由。

2此句譯文換了主語，以mad woman啟句。

3此句譯文承接上文主語，仍以“小玉”（he）為主語構(gòu)句。

4這一自然段寫景。譯者應(yīng)透過字句，構(gòu)想相應(yīng)畫面，再將畫面用英語描述出來。注意動(dòng)詞的運(yùn)用，以及句子結(jié)構(gòu)的安排，整段描寫要渾然一體。