Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng, Chroniclers of Chinese Architecture1 (I)

文/丹尼爾·E.斯洛特尼克 譯/程颋

1原文刊于《紐約時報》2018年3月8日開辟的新專欄Overlooked No More，此專欄為補(bǔ)發(fā)該報歷史上遺漏的重要女性和有色人種的訃聞而設(shè)立。自1851年創(chuàng)刊以來，該報的訃聞一直以白人男性為主。設(shè)立新專欄的目的是為了彌補(bǔ)性別歧視和種族歧視造成的缺憾。

In the 1930s, the couple began surveying and recording the country’s overlooked ancient buildings, in an effort to begin preserving them. 20世紀(jì)30年代，為了開展對中國古建筑的保護(hù)工作，

這對夫婦開始勘察那些無人關(guān)注的古建筑，并做記錄。

Many of China’s ancient architectural treasures crumbled22 crumble坍塌；崩裂。to dust before Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng began documenting them in the 1930s.In China, ancient structures were usually treated like any other buildings rather than being protected and studied,as they were in many Western countries.The husband and wife team were among the first preservationists to operate in China, and by far the best known. Their efforts have since inspired generations of people to speak out for architecture threatened by the rush toward develop-

20世紀(jì)30年代，林徽因和梁思成開始對中國的古建筑珍品做詳細(xì)的記載。而在此之前，很多這樣有價值的古建筑都已淪為廢墟。在那時的中國，人們對待古建筑的態(tài)度和其他建筑沒什么不同，不像在很多西方國家那樣進(jìn)行保護(hù)和研究。這對夫婦屬于中國最早也是迄今為止最知名的一批古建筑保護(hù)者。此后，他們的努力激勵著一代又一代人為受到倉促上馬的無序開發(fā)所ment.

[2] Becoming China’s premier architectural historians was no easy feat.The buildings they wanted to save were centuries old, often in shambles3in shambles廢墟。and located in distant parts of the country. In many cases, they had to journey through treacherous4treacherous暗藏危險的。conditions in the Chinese countryside to reach them.

[3] Exploring China’s outlying areas during the 1930s meant traveling muddy,poorly maintained roads by mule, rickshaw5rickshaw人力車；黃包車。or on foot. This was a demanding undertaking both for Liang, who walked with a bad limp after a motorcycle accident as a young man, and Lin, who had tuberculosis for years. Inns were often squalid6squalid骯臟的；邋遢的。and lice-infested, food could be tainted, and there was always risk of violence from rebels, soldiers and bandits.

[4] Their greatest discovery came on an expedition in 1937 when they dated and meticulously catalogued7catalogue（為……）編目錄。Foguang Si, or the Temple of Buddha’s Light, in Wutai County, Shanxi Province. The breathtaking wooden temple was built in 857 A.D., making it the oldest building known in China at the time. (It is now the fourth-oldest known).

[5] Liang and Lin crawled into the威脅的建筑發(fā)聲。

[2]林徽因和梁思成歷盡艱辛，才最終成為中國杰出的建筑歷史學(xué)家。他們想要拯救的建筑都有幾百年的歷史，往往破敗不堪，且地處偏遠(yuǎn)。很多情況下，他們不得不穿行于中國鄉(xiāng)間，克服種種艱險，才能到達(dá)目的地。

[3] 20世紀(jì)30年代，在中國的邊遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)考察，就意味著要靠騎騾子、坐人力車或徒步走過泥濘破舊的道路。這對他們兩人都不容易。梁思成年輕時因摩托車事故一條腿落下了殘疾，林徽因則罹患肺結(jié)核多年。他們經(jīng)常住的是骯臟的小旅店，里面虱子橫行，食物可能也不干凈，而且一路上隨時都有可能遭到叛軍、士兵和土匪的侵害。

[4]他們最偉大的發(fā)現(xiàn)來自1937年的一次考察。在這次考察中，他們明確了位于山西省五臺縣的佛光寺的建造年代，并對其做了詳細(xì)編目。這座令人驚嘆的木結(jié)構(gòu)寺廟建于公元857年，是當(dāng)時已知的中國最古老的建筑（現(xiàn)在是已知的第四古老的建筑）。

[5]為了確定這座寺廟的temple’s most forbidding, forgotten areas to determine its age, including one aerie8aerie（鷹等的）巢。inhabited99 inhabit棲息（在）。by thousands of bats and millions of bedbugs, covered in dust and littered with dead bats. Liang wrote of the experience in an account10段[6]原文引自梁思成先生用英文寫的《中國最古老的木構(gòu)建筑》，原載《亞洲雜志》1941年7月號。《梁思成全集》第三卷有相應(yīng)譯文，由英若聰程慕勝校。這次部分重了included in “Liang and Lin: Partners in Exploring China’s Architectural Past,”11譯文采用了上海文藝出版社2003年版譯本的書名。費(fèi)著參考了《梁思成文集》、《林徽因詩集》、《美國與中國》（費(fèi)正清著）、《梁啟超年譜長編》等一批中英書籍, 從梁、林的幼年記到兩人病故, 實(shí)為梁思成、林徽因合傳。the English-language story of their lives written by Wilma Fairbank12全名Wilma Canon Frbk，中文名費(fèi)慰梅（1909—2002），美國著名漢學(xué)家，研究中國藝術(shù)和建筑的美國學(xué)者，是美國漢學(xué)大師費(fèi)正清（John King Fairbank）的夫人。曾任美國駐華大使館文化參贊。費(fèi)氏夫婦是梁思成和林徽因的好友。, their close friend and correspondent.

[6] “In complete darkness and amid the vile odor, hardly breathing, with thick masks covering our noses and mouths, we measured, drew, and photographed with flashlights for several hours,” Liang wrote. “When at last we came out from under the eaves to take a breath of fresh air, we found hundreds of bedbugs in our knapsack. We ourselves had been badly bitten. Yet the importance and unexpectedness of our find made those the happiest hours of my years hunting for ancient architecture.” ■

(To be continued)年齡，梁思成和林徽因爬進(jìn)了里面最危險、最偏僻的地方。其中有一個灰塵覆蓋的閣樓，棲息著無數(shù)只蝙蝠和臭蟲，死蝙蝠到處都是。和他們通信的密友費(fèi)慰梅在《中國建筑之魂：一個外國學(xué)者眼中的梁思成林微因夫婦》一書中用英文講述了他們的人生故事，其中就有梁思成描述的這段經(jīng)歷。

[6]“四周一片漆黑，穢氣沖天，我們戴著厚厚的口罩掩住口鼻，難以呼吸。我們一連好幾個小時測量、繪圖、用閃光燈拍照?！绷核汲蓪懙?，“最后我們從屋檐下出來呼吸新鮮空氣時，發(fā)現(xiàn)背包里竟有幾百只臭蟲，而我們自己已經(jīng)被咬得傷痕累累了。但這次出乎意料的重要發(fā)現(xiàn)讓這幾個小時成為我搜尋古建筑的幾年中最快樂的時光?！?□

（未完待續(xù)）