A Fellow Traveller

文/A.G.加德納 譯/黃珊珊 審訂/寧一中

A Fellow Traveller

文/A.G.加德納 譯/黃珊珊 審訂/寧一中

I do not know which of us got into the carriage first. Indeed I did not know he was in the carriage at all for some time. It was the last train from London to a Midland town—a stopping train, an infinitely1infinitely非常；極其。leisurely train, one of those trains which give you an understanding of eternity. It was tolerably full when it started, but as we stopped at the suburban stations the travelers alighted2alight降；下車(馬）。in ones and twos and by the time we had left the outer ring of London behind I was alone—or, rather, I thought I was alone.

[2]When the last of my fellow passengers had gone, I put down my paper, stretched my arms and my legs,stood up and looked out of the window on the calm summer night through which I was journeying, noting the pale reminiscence3reminiscence引起聯想的相似事物。of day that still lingered4linger（想法、感覺、疾病）繼續存留。in the northern sky; crossed the carriage and looked out of the other window, sat down and began to read again. It was then that I became aware of my fellow traveler. He came and sat on my nose…He was one of those wingy5wingy有翼的。, nippy6nippy靈巧的；敏捷的。intrepid7intrepid勇敢的；無畏的。insects that we call vaguely mosquitoes. I fl icked8flick輕拂，輕彈。him off my nose and he made a tour of the compartment,investigated its three dimensions,visited each window, fluttered9flutter（鳥或昆蟲）振（翅），鼓（翼）。round the light, decided that there was nothing so interesting as that large animal in the corner, came and had a look at my neck.

[3]I flicked him off again. He skipped away, took another jaunt10jaunt（短途）游覽。round the compartment, returned, and seated himself impudently11impudently無禮地。on the back of my hand. It is enough, I said,magnanimity12magnanimity寬宏大量的行為；雅量。has its limits. Twice you have been warned that I am some one in particular, that my august13august威嚴的。person resents the tickling14tickle搔觸（使覺得癢）。impertinences15impertinence魯莽的言行。of strangers. I assume the black cap16black cap（宣判死刑時法官所戴的）黑色帽子。. I condemn you to death. Justice demands it, and the court awards17award審判，裁定。it. The counts18count〈法律〉起訴理由，罪狀。against you are many. You are a vagrant19vagrant流浪者。; you are a public nuisance;you are traveling without a ticket; you have no meat coupon. For these and many other misdemeanours20misdemeanour〈法律〉輕罪。you are about to die.

[4]I struck a swift, lethal21lethal致命的。blow with my right hand. He dodged22dodge躲開。the attack with an insolent23insolent張狂的；侮慢的。ease that humiliated24humiliate使丟臉。me. My personal vanity was aroused,I banged25bang猛敲；砸。at him with my hand, with my paper; I jumped on the seat and pursued him round the lamp; I adopted the tactics of feline26feline貓科動物。cunning27cunning狡猾。waiting till he had alighted, approaching with a horrible stealthiness28stealthiness隱蔽性。stealthy不聲張的；偷偷摸摸的。, striking with a sudden and terrible swiftness. It was all in vain. He played with me openly and ostentatiously29ostentatiously故意地；夸耀地。like a skilful matador30matador斗牛士。finessing31finess用巧計戰勝。round an infuriated32infuriated激怒的。bull.It was obvious that he was enjoying himself, that it was for this that he had disturbed my repose33repose鎮定。. He wanted a little sport and what sport like being chased by this huge lumbering34lumbering緩慢吃力的。windmill35windmill假想的（邪惡的、具威脅性的）敵人或對手，出自塞萬提斯《堂吉訶德》，文中主人公將風車幻想成巨人。此用法一般用于短語tilt at windmills中。of a creature who tasted so good and seemed so helpless and so stupid? I began to enter into the spirit of the fellow. He was no longer a mere insect. He was developing into a personality, an intelligence that challenged the possession of the compartment with me on equal terms. I felt my heart warming towards him and the sense of superiority fading. How could I feel superior to a creature who was so manifestly36manifestly明顯地。my master in the only competition in which we had ever engaged? Why not be magnanimous again? Magnanimity and mercy were the noblest attributes of man. In the exercise37exercise行使；運用。of these high qualities I could recover my prestige. At present I was a ridiculous fi gure, a thing for laughter and derision38derision取笑；奚落。. By being merciful I could reassert39reassert重申；堅持。the moral dignity of man and go back to my corner with honor. I withdraw the sentence of death,I said, returning to my seat. I cannot kill you, but I can reprieve40reprieve〈法律〉緩期執行（死刑）,暫緩處刑。you. I do it.

[5]“Going on tonight, sir?” said a voice at the window. It was a friendly porter giving me a hint that this was my station. I thanked him and said I must have been dozing. And seizing my hat and stick I went out into the cool summer night. As I closed the door of the compartment I saw my fellow traveller fl uttering round the lamp… ■

我不知道我們倆到底是誰先上火車的。說實話，我很長一段時間都沒有發覺他的存在。這是最后一趟從倫敦開往中部城市的慢車。火車優哉游哉地向前駛去，給人一種永遠延伸、永無休止的感覺。火車開動的時候，車廂里人頭攢動，但是到達郊區時，旅客們三三兩兩地下了車。等火車駛離了倫敦的外環，車廂里就剩下了我一個人了，或者說，我以為只剩下了我一個人。

[2]當最后一個旅客下了車，我收起報紙，伸了伸懶腰，站起身往車窗外看去。寧靜的夏夜里，我仿佛獨自前行。北邊天還殘留著一點黯淡的光芒。于是我穿過了車廂走廊，往另一邊的車窗看去。復又坐了下來，開始看報紙。這個時候，我才開始意識到這一位旅客朋友的存在。他悄悄地飛來，落在我的鼻尖……對，他是一只蚊子，來自萬千嗡嗡飛撲、敏捷勇猛的蚊子大軍。我將他從鼻子上彈走后，他就繞著隔間往其他三個方向飛了一圈。他飛過每一扇窗戶，繞著車燈飛舞，又飛了回來，盯著我的脖子看。仿佛跟我這個坐在角落里的龐然大物相比，車廂里再沒有什么東西更有趣的了。

[3]我又拂走他，他敏捷地躲開，再次繞著隔間飛來飛去，又飛了回來，十分放肆地落在我的手背上。真是夠了，我暗道，即使我再寬容，我也有我的底線。我已經警告了你兩次，我是一個極其挑剔的人，我的自尊讓我無法容忍陌生人的無禮騷擾。我要審判你，給你定死刑。我要伸張正義，嚴明的法庭也會支持我的判決。總之，你的罪狀很多。你是一個流浪漢，人們公敵。你沒購買車票就上了車，你未經允許就膽敢吮吸人類的血液。不僅如此，你還犯了其他罪行，罪該萬死。

[4]我揮出右手，發出快速且致命的一擊。他敏捷地躲開了我的攻擊，那輕松的避讓姿態讓我備感羞辱。這下子激起了我的虛榮心，我攥起手中的報紙，猛拍這只蚊子；我跳上座椅，追打繞著車燈飛舞的蚊子。我像只靜待耗子的貓，靜靜守著，直到他飛下來，再偷偷靠近，以迅雷之勢發動可怕的突襲。然而這一切都是白費力氣。他開始公然地戲弄起我來，就像一個手段高明的斗牛士在戲弄一頭暴怒的公牛。很顯然，他玩得很開心，也正因為這樣，我才無法保持我的冷靜。這只是他想玩的小游戲!一個小小的游戲！被一個行動遲緩的大塊頭追逐，這大塊頭的味道是如此鮮美，但是卻是如此地無助和愚昧。這時我開始走進了這個家伙的內心世界。此刻他不再僅僅是一只蟲子。他變成了一個有血有肉的人，一個活生生的人。他的智慧向我發出挑戰，讓我給他平等的權利與我一起分享這個隔間。我的胸口慢慢變熱，心頭的優越感漸漸消失。他在我們僅有的唯一一次角逐中大獲全勝，我嘆道，面對他，我怎么能夠洋洋得意？我為什么不能再次寬容一點？是的，寬容和仁慈是人類最高貴的品質。展示這些美德可以為我恢復名譽。現在，我是一個小丑，一個笑柄。仁慈可以讓我再次確立人類尊嚴，然后體面回歸我的角落，回到自己的座位上，并默默對他說，我撤銷你的死刑。我不能殺死你，但是我可以饒恕你。我說到做到。

[5]“先生，今天的旅行怎么樣？”窗邊一位乘務員友好地問道，提示我到站了。我對他說了聲謝謝，并解釋說，我剛剛肯定在打瞌睡，所以才沒有意識到車已到站。伸手抓起我的帽子和拐杖，我走出了隔間，走進了這個涼爽的夏夜。正當我關上車廂門的時候，我看見我的旅客朋友正繞著車燈翩翩起舞…… □

同路人

ByA.G. Gardiner

（譯者單位：北京語言大學）