絕代雙碟

丁玎 黃湘淇

History， Served up on Two Plates

近來(lái)電視上流行起了鑒寶節(jié)目，這廂請(qǐng)來(lái)火眼金睛的專家大拿來(lái)坐鎮(zhèn)，那廂請(qǐng)觀眾搬出自己家的寶貝來(lái)鑒賞。所謂的寶貝有真有假，但每個(gè)捧著寶貝前來(lái)的人都能津津有味地說(shuō)上一段自家寶貝的來(lái)龍去脈。不論物件真假，價(jià)格高低，其實(shí)都承載了人的感情——關(guān)于寶貝的那段說(shuō)道，那種念想，才是無(wú)價(jià)之寶。

1. indigo dye： 靛藍(lán)染料；pagoda： 塔；fade into： 漸漸融入。

2. Glasgow： 格拉斯哥，英國(guó)蘇格蘭西部港口城市。

3. going-away gift： 離別禮物； Binatang： 民那丹；Sarawak： 砂拉越（馬來(lái)西亞一州）。

4. nonprofit： 非營(yíng)利的；Americas Peace Corps： 美國(guó)和平護(hù)衛(wèi)隊(duì)；be set to： 被定在，安排。

5. open-air： 露天的。

6. tin： 錫制的；spoon： 勺子； painted-on： 描畫(huà)上去的； scratch： 刮掉；chip： 削落。

7. cicada： 蟬；mosquito： 蚊子； swarm： 成群結(jié)隊(duì)地移動(dòng)。

8. head boy/girl： 男/女班長(zhǎng)。

9. convince： 使信服；grateful： 感謝的。

10. shed tears： 流淚；parcel： 包裹；wrap： 包，裹。

11. Iban longhouse： 伊班長(zhǎng)屋，伊班人居住在馬來(lái)西亞砂拉越州；drop ones voice： 放低聲音；raid： 洗劫；grave： 墳?zāi)埂?/p>

12. remote： 偏遠(yuǎn)的；jungle： 叢林。

13. pottery： 陶瓷。

14. 這大概是成套餐具的一部分，送至遠(yuǎn)東用以出售，或者作為英國(guó)殖民者、軍官、地方官或傳教士家居用品的一部分。dinnerware set： 成套餐具；the Far East： 遠(yuǎn)東地區(qū)；household goods： 家庭用品；colonist： 殖民者；military officer： 軍官；magistrate： 地方官；missionary： 傳教士。

15. Cape of Good Hope：（位于南非的）好望角；Suez Canal： 蘇伊士運(yùn)河。

16. eventually： 最終。

17. possession： 所有，擁有。

18. Toronto： 多倫多；via： 通過(guò)，經(jīng)由；Iran： 伊朗；Switzerland： 瑞士；Belgium： 比利時(shí)。

19. Ontario： 安大略省（加拿大南部省，省會(huì)多倫多）。

20. curator： 館長(zhǎng)；antique： 古董。

21. backwoods： 偏遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)，邊遠(yuǎn)林區(qū)。

22. barn： 谷倉(cāng)，畜棚；china： 瓷器；chest of drawers： 五斗櫥，衣柜；decrepit： 破舊的。

23. log house： 原木屋；massive： 巨大的，厚重的；beam： 橫梁。

24. 一進(jìn)門(mén)便是一個(gè)巨大的中式紅木藥柜，上面全是小抽屜和格子，盡管要價(jià)昂貴，我還是自圓其說(shuō)試圖買下它來(lái)。enormous： 龐大的；rosewood： 紅木，黃檀木；medicine cupboard： 藥柜；compartment： 隔間；justify： 證明……正當(dāng)（或有道理、合理）； extravagant： 過(guò)高的，奢侈的。

25. Fabergé egg： 法貝熱彩蛋，指俄國(guó)著名珠寶首飾工匠彼得·卡爾·法貝熱制作的類似蛋的作品；czar： 沙皇； palace： 宮殿；triptych： 三張相聯(lián)的圖畫(huà)；luminescent： 發(fā)光的；pale jade bowl： 白玉碗。

26. worth every penny： 物有所值。

27. steady： v. 使穩(wěn)定。

28. authentic： 真正的；Five Roosters plate： 五雄雞盤(pán)。

29. 我問(wèn)店主為什么會(huì)經(jīng)營(yíng)這么另辟蹊徑的生意，他十分謙虛地告訴我，某些有錢有名的主顧，名號(hào)可是人盡皆知的，當(dāng)他們需要?jiǎng)e致的禮物時(shí)，都會(huì)給他打電話。off the beaten path： 不走尋常路的；modesty： 謙遜。

30. 所以，我其中一個(gè)盤(pán)子可能來(lái)自洛克菲勒家族需要置辦禮品時(shí)光顧的一家店，它邊上還掛著一個(gè)出處驚人的盤(pán)子，想當(dāng)年，如果你需要備份禮物，可能還得動(dòng)手挖墳掘墓去。the Rockefellers： 洛克菲勒家族，由約翰·D. 洛克菲勒（1839—1937）白手起家而創(chuàng)立，是美國(guó)近代史上擁有最多財(cái)富、最具影響力的家族之一。

I have a beautiful old Chinese plate hanging on my kitchen wall. I love its intense indigo dyes， and how its bridges and pagodas appear to be fading into the China of long ago.2 Ive owned it for 46 years， and today I discovered it is not an old Chinese plate. It was made in Glasgow2， Scotland.

This plate was a going-away gift from my students at a secondary school in Binatang， Sarawak.3 （Sarawak is a state of Malaysia in Southeast Asia.） I had just completed two years there teaching English and science with a nonprofit Canadian organization similar to Americas Peace Corps， and I was set to leave the next morning.4 Everyone had gathered in the schools open-air5 dining room to say goodbye.

Dinner was over， the kitchen was closed， and the tin spoons and plates—their painted-on flowers scratched and chipped6—had all been put away. Clouds of cicadas and mosquitoes were swarming around the bright lights.7 The students were waiting at the rows of tables， and we teachers and the head boy and head girl8 were on the stage.

The headmaster and the head boy each made kind speeches thanking me， and I tried to match theirs， using simple English and hoping to convince them how grateful I was for their kindness.9 We shed a few tears， and then they gave me a parcel wrapped in pages from a Chinese newspaper.10 Inside was this beautiful plate.

After we left the stage， I asked the head boy where it had come from. He told me it might have come from a native Iban longhouse， but—and here he dropped his voice—he suspected someone had raided a Chinese grave for it.11

So you see why Ive always believed it was a Chinese plate.

I have no idea how it got from Glasgow to a remote jungle school in Sarawak.12 Ill never know who ate from it， washed it， stored it， traveled with it， treasured it， and later probably lay dead beside it in their grave.

If Id ever thought to look on the back， Id have seen it was made by the Glasgow pottery13 company R. Cochran & Co.， which was formed in 1856. It was probably part of a dinnerware set either sent to the Far East for sale or as part of the household goods of a British colonist， military officer， magistrate， or missionary.14 It would have made its long voyage from Glasgow around Africas Cape of Good Hope， or， if it traveled later than 1869， through the then-newly opened Suez Canal.15

When it eventually16 reached Singapore， it could have gone to what was then Malaya or Sarawak or on to China. There it could have ended up in the possession17 of a Chinese family， who later moved to Sarawak in the early 1900s. It probably traveled little after it arrived in the jungle until， in 1968， it came into my hands. Then it flew to Toronto via Iran， Switzerland， Belgium，18 and London. Now it hangs here in my house in southern Ontario19.

It hangs beside another old plate， this one bought from a former curator and expert in Chinese and Russian antiques.20 This man ran an antique store in the backwoods21 near where I live. Not knowing his background， I went expecting an old barn with bits of china， old chests of drawers， and decrepit farm equipment.22 Instead I found a log house with massive beams.23 Right inside the door was an enormous Chinese rosewood medicine cupboard entirely made up of little drawers and compartments， a piece that I found myself trying to justify buying despite its extravagant price.24

The owner took me around， showing me one wonderful thing after another： Fabergé eggs from a czars palace， Russian triptychs painted with gold leaf， and luminescent pale jade bowls.25 I thought one of the bowls was worth every penny26 of the $35 price tag. Then I looked again： It was $35，000. I steadied27 my hand and put it back on its shelf. The only thing I could afford was an authentic Chinese Five Roosters plate，28 which now also hangs on my wall.

I asked the owner how he managed a business so far off the beaten path， and he told me with great modesty that some of the rich and famous—names everyone would recognize—call him when they need a special gift.29

And so， one of my plates comes from a place where， perhaps， the Rockefellers might have gone had they needed a gift， and beside it hangs a plate that comes from an astonishing place where， back then， if you needed a gift， you might have had to dig up a grave.30