讓座

Ｂｉｌｌ　Ｃａｒｒｅｌｌ

譯/劉宇婷

有一天，在二戰剛剛結束的日本，身為駐日美軍的我和兩個戰友一起乘坐火車。落座之后，我發現一個奇怪的現象——車上所有的座位都被男人霸占著，而負著背包和孩子的女人們則抓著頭頂上的吊環，搖搖晃晃地保持著平衡。

這時，一個日本老太太拎著幾個沉重的包裹上了車，我連忙起身給她讓座。不料，還沒等她動彈，一個小伙子就擠過來搶先坐了下去。我不假思索地抓住那小子的衣領，把他拎了起來，然后扶著老太太的臂肘，引她坐到座位上。

這個小小的插曲更增添了我心中的不平之氣。我如法炮制徑直抓起離我最近的男人，強迫他把座位讓給了一名婦女。我們三個人你看著我，我看著你，都咧嘴樂了，然后不約而同地向第三個男人走去。可是他不待我們靠近便一躍而起。

突然，又有一個人站了起來，接著一個又一個，直到火車上所有的男人都站了起來，而所有的女人都坐了下去。每個人都表現得仿佛男人給女人讓座是世界上最天經地義的事。沒有人說話。一位高齡老者甚至把座位讓給了一個小姑娘。

40多年過去了，當我在東京北部的一名基督教友家做客時，在火車上發生的那一幕早已被我淡忘。為了消磨時間，我聊起了自己在二戰時的經歷，心想這也許是個有趣的話題。這位日本女士插言道，在戰爭接近尾聲時，日本政府為了鼓舞士氣，警告國民說，如果美國人占領了日本，他們會強奸所有的婦女！“但是有一天，”她說，“三個美國兵上了一列火車，讓所有的男人都站起來給女人讓座。于是我們明白了，我們根本不必懼怕美國人?！?/p>

她的話令我瞠目結舌。

毫無疑問，我就是那三個“鬧事”的美國兵之一，對我來說，那是一場近乎任性的“胡作非為”，然而它卻給人們帶來了如此深遠的影響……

One day in Japan, during the early days of the occupation following World War II, two of my friends and I boarded a train. After I sat down, I noticed that only the men were seated. All the women with all their baggage and babies on their backs were attempting to keep their balance by hanging onto the overhead straps.

When an older woman boarded with several heavy packages, I started to give her my seat. But before she could move, a young man pushed his way in and took the seat. Without thinking, I just grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him to his feet. Then I took the womans elbow and directed her to sit down.

As we say , I was “on a roll” and I simply reached for the next man.I assisted him to his feet also and gave his seat to a woman. We three looked at each other, grinned, and all together started for number three. But he did not wait, and jump to his feet,

Suddenly another stood up, then another and another, until every man on the train was standing and every woman was seated. Everyone acted as if it were the most natural thing in the world. No one spoke. One very old man gave his seat to a little girl.

Forty years later,the event on the train was far from my thoughts as we visited the home of a Christian lady in the northern part of Tokyo. To pass the time， I thought it might be interesting to tell some of our experiences from the great War. She explained that as the war was ending, the Japanese government, trying to sustain the will to fight, warned that if Americans invaded Japan they would rape all the women. “But one day,” she said, “three Americans got on a train and made all the men stand up and let the women sit down. We knew then that we had nothing to fear from the Americans.”

I was dumbfounded.

I felt certain I had been one of the perpetrators. Perhaps he was the one I had pulled to his feet. It had been almost a prank on my part. Yet it still affects people to this day.

《含英咀華》啟迪人生智慧，提升語言能力。歡迎譯者來稿。字數以五百字為限。一經刊用，每篇付稿酬400元/千字。來稿未經采用，恕不退稿。郵寄地址請參見本期第二十二頁。