读外刊学雅思(19)-The Raft（此文献给抗战胜利70周年大阅兵）

Posted 2021-04-27 唐老雅英语写作工作室

The Raft

木筏

文/彼得·奥纳 译析/周凌敏唐伟胜[1]

By PeterOrner

[导读]彼得·奥纳出生于芝加哥，美国当代小说家，著有《爱、羞耻和爱》(2011)（Love and Shame and Love ）和《马瓦拉·西康格的再次光临》（2006)（The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo）等长篇小说，以及短篇小说集《以斯帖》(2001)（Esther Stories）。奥纳的作品常发表在《大西洋半月刊》、《巴黎评论》以及《手推车文集》中。他的短篇小说《木筏》虽不足2000字，却被选入《2001年度美国最佳短篇小说选》。小说通过12岁男孩的视角，讲述其祖父在二战期间不为人知的秘密：祖父在二战期间曾是一艘驱逐舰的舰长，在海上执行任务时，遇到一艘装满日本难民的海船，这些日本人裸露身体，全都是皮包骨头，瘦骨嶙峋，看起来已经在海上漂流了很多天。当祖父的驱逐舰靠近这艘船时，祖父下令发射鱼雷炸掉了这艘船。虽然祖父解释说他那样做并非因为战争的缘故，而是作为舰长他不得不做出那样的决定，但他自相矛盾的解释并没有消除小男孩的疑惑，倒是让读者意识到，祖父的做法只能用战争来解释，因此，《木筏》的重要主题就是战争足以摧毁人性，并让人长期生活在负罪感的阴影中而无法自拔。

《木筏》的独特之处在于它通过一个12岁男孩的视角来讲述故事。故事开始时，祖父问“你有胆量听下去吗吗？”，然后拿出“寒光闪闪的开信刀”边开信边开始讲故事。这一细节让男孩一开始就感到祖父故事的血腥和凝重。祖父微笑时，男孩“也回笑了一下”，祖父说“别以为我在笑，我就不会马上杀了你。要知道人的本性”。这里，祖父把自己当年的行为归结为人的本性，但读者从祖父深深的负罪感中可以看到，导致祖父杀人的并非本性，而是泯灭人性的战争。小说中，祖父似乎对战争怀有深深地眷念（他在抽屉里保存着当年使用过的手枪和色情漫画），并对所谓“正义战争”深信不疑（“我这样的男人……创造了安全的世界），这些都让他认识不到战争的毁灭性。

当祖父告诉男孩他为什么下令攻击时，故事达到了高潮，祖父选择衣橱作为揭示秘密的地点。衣橱就像是忏悔室，在那里祖父感到足够安全，可以把不曾向任何人（包括祖母）讲述的秘密告诉给男孩，以释放自己的负疚感和罪恶感。男孩以前就听祖父讲过这个故事，但是这是第一次单独和祖父在衣橱里面对这个故事，这就使故事显得更加严肃和沉重。在衣橱里，祖父回答了男孩的问题：一个人为大众创造安全的世界并不意味着他不会杀害无辜。很显然，祖父的回答并不为男孩所接受，反而让他更加迷惑（祖父问男孩是否明白，男孩回答说“一点都不”）。男孩不明白的是，创造“安全世界”的人为什么要杀害无辜？其实，这也是读者的问题。颇具讽刺意味的是，祖父虽然对几十年前杀害无辜无法释怀，但他没有意识到其根源是战争，因此他仍然相信存在创造“安全世界”的战争，这就意味着，未来如果有可能，祖父还会选择战争，还会杀害无辜。笔者认为，这正是小说《木筏》传达出的忧虑所在。上世纪90年代开始，美国在全球武力推行美国式民主，消灭所谓邪恶国家，创造安全世界。《木筏》中，祖父显然是这一思想的代表和牺牲品，而那位正处于思想成长期的12岁男孩，他是否也将继承祖父的思想？小说结尾没有给出明确的答案，祖母的问题“孩子在哪儿？”既可被解读为祖母在寻找男孩，在更深的层次上也可被解读为作家对男孩未来的追问。

MY grandfather, who lost his short-termmemory sometime during the first Eisenhower Administration, calls me into hisstudy because he wants to tell me the story he's never told anybody beforeagain. My grandmother, from her perch at her beauty table, with the oval mirrorcircled by little bulbs I used to love to unscrew, shouts, "Oh, for God'ssake, Seymour. We're meeting the Dewoskins at Twin Orchards at seven-thirty.Must you go back to the South Pacific?"

我的祖父在艾森豪威尔第一届政府期间失去了短时记忆。他把我叫到书房，因为他又一次想给我讲那个他以前从未对人讲过的故事。我祖母坐在梳妆台旁的高凳上（梳妆台镶有椭圆镜子，镜子周围环绕着小灯泡，我以前爱把那些灯泡拧下来），大声嚷道：“哦，看在上帝份上，西摩，我们7：30就要去双果园见德沃斯金一家人，难道你非要回到南太平洋那码子事吗?”

[2] My grandfather slams the door and motions me tothe chair in front of his desk. I'll be thirteen in two weeks. "There'ssomething I want to tell you, son," he says.

"Something I've never told anybody. Youthink you're ready? You think you've got the gumption?"

"I think so."

"Think so?"

"I know so, sir. I know I've got thegumption."

[2]祖父砰地一声把门关上，示意我坐在书桌前的椅子上。再过两周我就满13岁了。“我想告诉你一件事，孩子，”祖父说道。

“这事我没告诉过任何人。你认为你准备好了吗？你认为你有胆量听下去吗？”

“我认为是这样的。”

“认为？”

“我明白是这样的，长官！我明白我有胆量。”

[3] He sits downat his desk and rips open an envelope with a gleaming letter opener in theshape of a miniature gold sword. "So, you want to know?"

"Very much."

"Well then, stand up, sailor."

[3] 祖父在桌旁坐下来，用一把寒光闪闪、外形像小型金剑的开信刀裁开了一个信封。“这么说，你想知道？”

“非常想。”

“那好。起立，水手。”

[4] Mygrandfather's study is carpeted with white shag, which feels woolly against mybare feet. I twist my toes in it. Many cactuses are also in the room. Mygrandfather often encourages me to touch their prickers to demonstrate howtough an old boy a plant can be. My grandfather captained a destroyer duringWorld War II.

[4] 祖父书房的地板上铺着白色地毯，抵着我的光脚板感觉毛茸茸的。我在地毯中扭动着脚趾。房间里还有许多仙人掌，祖父经常鼓励我去摸摸上面的刺，以证明植物有时是多么难对付的东西。二战期间，祖父曾是一艘驱逐舰的舰长。

[5] "It waslate," he says. "Someone knocked on my stateroom door[2]. I leapedup. In those days I slept in uniform -- shoes, too." My grandfathersmiles. His face is so perfectly round that his smile looks like a gash in abasketball. I smile back.

"Don'tsmile," he says. "Just because I'm smiling, don't assume I couldn'tkill you right now. Know that about a man."

[5] “那天天色已晚，”祖父讲道，“有人敲我的舱门。我一跃而起。那些日子，我睡觉时都穿着军装—还有鞋。”祖父微笑着。他的脸很圆，那笑容就像是篮球上划开的一道裂缝。我回笑了一下。

“别笑！”他说道，“别以为我在笑，我就不会马上杀了你。要知道人的本性。”

[6] "Oh,Seymour, my God," my grandmother protests through the door. "Isn't hesupposed to be at summer camp, anyway? Call his mother."

He looks straight at me and snarls at her,"Another word out of you, ensign, and I'll have you thrown in the brig,and you won't see Beanie Dewoskin till V-J Day[3]."

"I'll make coffee," mygrandmother says.

祖父直盯着我，对她大吼道：“你要再废话，少尉，我就关你禁闭，等到日本宣布投降才让你见比妮·德沃斯金。”

“我煮咖啡去了，”祖母说道。

[7]"It waslate," I say. "Someone knocked."

"Two knocks," he says. "Andby the time he raised his knuckle for the third, I'd opened the door. 'Amessage from the watch, sir. A boat, sir, three miles due north. Very small,sir. Could be an enemy boat, sir; then again, it might not be. Hard to tell,sir.' I told the boy to can it. Some messengers don't know when to take abreath and let you think. They think if you aren't saying anything, you want tohear more, which is never true. Remember that. I went up to the bridge. 'Wait,'I told them. 'Wait till we can see it. And ready the torpedoes,' I told them,or something like that. I forget the lingo[4]."

[7]“那天天色已晚，”我提醒他，“有人敲门。”

“敲了两下”，祖父说，“他举起手指准备敲第三下时，我开了门。‘夜值消息，长官，一只船，长官，正北方向三英里，非常小，长官。可能是敌船，长官，但也许不是，很难说，长官。’我叫那小子住口。有些报信员就是不知道什么时候停下来喘口气，让你有时间思考。他们以为，只要你没说什么就意味着你想听下去，可根本就不是那么回事。记住这一点。我登上舰桥。‘等一等，’我告诉他们，‘看清楚再说。准备好鱼雷！’我这样吩咐他们，或者类似的话。我记不清那些军事行话了。”

[8]"Thetorpedoes?" I say.

"Yes," he says. "Thetorpedoes. I couldn't see it clearly, but the chance that it wasn't a hostileboat was slim. You see what I'm driving at?"

"I do, sir."

"No, you don't, sailor."

"No, I don't," I say. "Don'tat all."

"We'd been warned in a communiqué fromthe admiral to be on high alert for kamikaze flotillas[5]. Do youhave any idea what a kamikaze flotilla is?"

"Basically," I say, "it hitsthe side of your boat, and whango[6]."

"You being smart with me? You thinkthis isn't life and death we're talking about here?"

"Sorry, sir."

"So I waited. It took about a halfhour on auxiliary power for us to get within a quarter mile of the thing --then I could see it with the search."

[8]“鱼雷？”我问道。

“是的，”祖父回答。“鱼雷。我看不清那只船，但它不是敌船的可能性很小。你明白我的意思吗？”

“明白，长官。”

“不，你不明白，水手。”

“是的，我不明白，”我答道，“一点也不明白。”

“司令公报警告我们要高度戒备日本神风舰队。你知道日本神风舰队吗？”

“大概知道，”我回答说，“它会冲撞你的船侧，随即哐当一声。”

“你在跟我开玩笑？难道你认为我们这里说的不是生死攸关的大事?”

“不好意思，长官。”

“于是我等着。我们使用后备引擎，大约半个小时后到达距那东西1/4英里处，然后通过探照灯我看见了它。”

[9] My grandfatherpauses and then opens his right-hand desk drawer, where he keeps asafety-locked pistol and a stack of tattered pornographic comic books. They arestrange books. In the cartoons men with long penises with hats on the ends ofthem and hair growing up the sides, so that to me they look like pickles, chasewomen with skirts raised over their heads and tattoos on their asses that saythings like "Uncle Sam's my Daddy" and "I never kissed aKaiser." He whacks the drawer shut and brings his hands together in frontof his face, moving his thumbs around as if he's getting ready either to prayor to thumb-wrestle.

[9] 祖父停下不讲了，他打开右手边的抽屉，里面放着一把上好保险栓的手枪和一摞破旧不堪的色情连环漫画册。这些画册很奇怪。在漫画中，男人的生殖器很长，顶端挂着帽子，四周毛发滋长，在我眼里就像泡菜，这些男人在追逐着女人，而那些女人的裙子撩过头顶，屁股上纹着诸如“山姆大叔是我老爹”和“我没吻过凯撒”的字样。他砰地一声关上抽屉，双手放在脸前，大拇指来回摇动，似乎在准备做祷告或做拇指摔跤游戏。

[10] "Japs,"he says. "Naked Japs on a raft. A raftload of naked Jap sailors. Today thebleedyhearts would probably call them refugees, but back then we didn't callthem anything but Japs. Looked like they'd been floating for days. They turnedtheir backs to the light, so all we could see was their backsides, skin andbone fighting it out and the bone winning."

[10]“小日本，”祖父说道，“赤身裸体的小日本在筏子上。满满一筏子赤身裸体的小日本海员。今天那些心肠软的人们或许会称他们为难民，但是那时候我们只称他们为小日本。看起来他们已在海上漂流很多天了。他们转过身，背对探照灯，因此我们只能看到他们的背部，全都瘦得只见骨头不见肉的。”

[11] I step back.I want to sit down but I don't. He stands and leans over his desk, examines myface. Then he points at the door and murmurs, "Phyllis doesn't know."On a phone-message pad he scrawls "BLEW IT UP" in capital letters. Hewhispers, "I gave the order." He comes around the desk and motions tohis closet. "We can talk in there," he says, and I follow him intohis warren of suits. My grandfather has long ago moved all his clothes out ofmy grandmother's packed-to-the-gills closets. He leaves the light off. In thecrack of sun beneath the door I can see my grandfather's shoes and white socks.He's wearing shorts. He was working on his putting in the driveway.

[12] "Atease, sailor," he says, and I kneel down amid the suits and dangling tiesand belts. And I see now that it's not how many times you hear a story butwhere you hear it that matters. I've heard this before, but this is the firsttime I've been in a closet alone with my grandfather.

"Why?" I say. "Why, if youknew it wasn't --"

[12]“稍息，水手！”祖父说道。我跪了下来，四周都是衣服、悬着的领带和腰带。我现在明白了，一个故事你听过多少遍并不重要，重要的是你在什么地方听。这个故事我已经听过，但和我祖父单独待在衣橱里，这还是第一次。

“为什么？”我问。“为什么要炸，如果你已经知道那不是——”

[13] "Why?"he says, not as if he's repeating my question but as if he really doesn't know.He sighs. Then, still whispering even though we're in the closet, he says,"Some men would lie to you. They'd say it's war. I won't lie to you. Ithad zero to do with war and everything to do with the uniform I was wearing.Because my job was to make decisions. Besides, what the hell would I have donewith a boatload of naked Japanese? There was a war on."

"But you just said --"

[13] “为什么？”祖父说道，好像不是在重复我的问题，而是他真的不知道答案。他叹了口气。接着，虽然我们在衣橱里，他依然很小声地说，“有些人会对你撒谎。他们会说因为这是战争。我不会对你撒谎。这和战争丁点儿关系都没有，全与我当时穿的那身军装有关系。因为我的工作就是做决断。此外，面对一船赤身裸体的日本人我还能怎么办呢？当时可是在打仗啊！”

“可您刚才说——”

[14] "Listen,my job. Just because men like me made the world safe for men like your fatherto be cowards doesn't mean you won't ever blow up any civilians. Because youwill. I do it once a week at the bank." He places a stumpy, powerful handon my shoulder. "Comprende?"

"Never," I breathe.

[14] “听着，这是我的工作。我这样的男人为你父亲那样的懦夫创造了安全的世界，但并不因此意味着你不会炸掉平民百姓。因为你会的。在岸上，我现在每周都要做一次这样的事。”他把粗壮有力的手放在我肩上。“明白吗？”

“一点都不。”我喘着粗气回答道。

[15] "Good,"he says, and we are standing in the dark and looking at each other and thestory is the same and different -- like last time except this time his tearscome so fast they're like lather. He blows his nose into his hand. I reach andoffer him the sleeve of one of his tweed jackets. "I'll let myselfout," he says, and leaves me in the confessional, shutting the door behindhim.

[15]“好了，”祖父说道。我们站在黑暗中看着对方，故事既相同又不同——其他与上次都一样，只是这一次他的眼泪像泡沫一样飞快地流下。他在手中擤着鼻涕。我伸手把他的一件粗花呢夹克的袖子递了过去。“我出去了，”祖父说道，顺手关上衣橱的门，将我一个人留在忏悔室里。

[16] I don'timagine anything, not even a hand that feels like a fish yanking my ankle.Another door opens. "Seymour? Seymour?" my grandmother says."Where's the kid?"

[16] 我大脑一片空白，即使有只手像鱼一样猛拽我的脚踝我也没有任何反应。另一扇门打开了。“西摩？西摩？”祖母喊道，“孩子在哪儿？”

（原载《英语世界》2014年第1期）

注释：

---

[1]周凌敏，南方医科大学外国语学院讲师，研究方向为当代美国文学；唐伟胜，现任南方医科大学外国语学院院长，教授，博士，研究方向为叙事学与当代美国文学。

[2] stateroom：客舱

[3]V-J Day：全名是Victoryover Japan Day，日本投降日

[4] lingo：行话，隐语

[5]kamikaze flotillas ：日本神风舰队。1944年，战争局势对日本愈加不利，日海军把战备的重点转到了特攻作战上。刚刚就任日本第一航空舰队司令的大西泷治郎中将认为“最大效率地使用我们的微薄力量的唯一办法就是组织由‘零式’战斗机编成的敢死攻击部队，每架带上250千克炸药，俯冲撞击敌航母。”不久，以寻歼航母为目的“神风”舰队成立。

[6] whango; 哐当一声