獨行之路

文/約翰·博因頓·普里斯特利 譯/朱建迅

Sometimes, on one of these sunny autumn mornings, when I turn my back on the town and take to the highway, I seem to have the world to myself.I walk forward, as it were, into great sunlit emptiness.Once I am a little way out of the town it is as if the world has been swept clean of men.I pass a few young mothers, who are proudly ushering their round-eyed solemn2譯為“兩眼圓睜、小臉緊繃”，增加動感，凸顯嬰兒憨態可掬的神態。babies into the presence of the morning sun, a lumbering cart or two, and maybe a knot of labourers, who look up from their task with a humorous resignation in their faces; these and others I overtake and pass by, and then there is often an end to my fellows.I alone keep a lounging tryst with the sun, himself, I fancy, a mighty, genial idler and the father of all dreamers and idlers among men.

有時候，在這樣一個秋陽朗照的早晨，我轉身背對城市走上公路之際，會覺得這世界仿佛為我一人所獨有。我徑自前行，好似步入一個灑滿陽光的巨大空間。一旦我離開城市一小段路，世上的人們似乎就被一掃而空了。我會遇見幾個年輕的母親，她們驕傲地帶著自己兩眼圓睜、小臉緊繃的嬰兒迎接晨光；會經過一兩輛緩慢行進的運貨馬車；也許還會碰到一群工人，他們停下活兒抬頭瞧著什么，露出幽默達觀的表情。我趕上并從他們旁邊走過后，路上就常常再無別人了。為消磨時間，我獨自來赴與太陽的約會，我把他想象成萬能而和善的閑人，是全天下所有空想家和無所事事者的始祖。

2A light mist covers the neighbouring hills, which are almost imperceptible,their shapes and colours showing but faintly, so that they seem to stand aloof—things of dream.As I go further along the shining road I seem to be lounging into a vast empty room.There are sights and sounds in plenty; cows looking over the walls with their great mournful eyes; here and there a thin blue column of smoke; the cawing of rooks about the decaying woods; and distantly sounding, the creak of a cart,a casual shout or two, a vague hammering, and, more distant still, the noise of the town, now the faint murmur of a hive.Yet to me, coming from the crowded, tumultuous streets, it seems empty because I meet no one by the way.The road, for all its thick drift of leaves, deep gold and brown, at either side, seems to lie naked in the sunshine,and I drink in this unexpected solitude as eagerly as a dusty traveller takes his ale.For a time, it comes as a delectable and quickening draught3“爽口怡神的佳釀”，呼應前句，切合情境。, and though outwardly a sober, meditatively, almost melancholy pedestrian, I hold high festival in the spirit, drink deep, and revel with the younger gods.

2在一片薄霧的籠罩下，附近的群山模糊難辨，山的顏色和輪廓影影綽綽，因而它們好似超然而立，恰如夢中的景物。我沿著亮閃閃的道路繼續前行，好像悠閑地走入一間寬敞的空房。耳聞眼見的東西可真不少：母牛睜著憂愁的大眼瞅著墻頭外面；偶爾飄起一縷稀薄的藍煙；禿鼻烏鴉圍著朽木呱呱叫喚；遠方響起一輛運貨馬車的嘎吱聲、間或一兩聲呼喊、隱約的敲擊聲，更遠處傳來市鎮嘈雜的聲音，如今變成若有若無的嗡嗡聲。然而，對于來自擁擠而喧鬧的街道的我來說，這里又好像空蕩蕩的，因為我路上沒遇見一個人。眼前的這條路，盡管兩邊厚厚地堆積了暗黃和棕色的落葉，卻好像赤裸裸地橫亙在陽光下。我陶醉于這種料想不到的孤寂中，如同風塵仆仆的旅人暢飲啤酒般急切。有一刻，會感到這種孤寂好似爽口怡神的佳釀。從外表上看，我是一個為人持重、耽于沉思、近乎憂郁的行人，但我卻在舉行精神上的節日盛宴，與年輕的神靈一起縱情飲酒狂歡。

3生活在大城市的一個極大危險是，我們的鄰居太多，而人們之間的交情過于廉價。我們動輒對人感到厭煩；相比一千多個同胞，有時一棵孤零零的綠樹似乎更讓我們覺得親切。除非我們變得麻木不仁，那幾百萬雙眼睛真會逼得我們發瘋。始終被人群推來搡去的我們，開始對馬爾薩斯多了一些好感，甚至愿意重新評價希律和其他一大批嗜好屠戮的惡棍。我們開始討厭看到那些人——如若在土耳其斯坦或巴塔哥尼亞遇見，他們會被我們視若神明。我們已經變得對人群深惡痛絕。我們覺得，這成千上萬不斷出現的男男女女將很快粉碎、踐踏或壓迫我們獨特而非凡的個性，使其成為街頭某種令人厭惡的樣板；我們覺得，精神將因缺乏拓展的空間而頹喪；而我們渴望呼吸未遭人群污染的空氣。

3One of the greatest dangers of living in large towns is that we have too many neighbours and human fellowship is too cheap.We are apt to become wearied of humanity; a solitary green tree sometimes seems dearer to us than an odd thousand of our fellow citizens4此句若依照原有的比較結構譯為“一棵孤零零的綠樹比……還要使我們感到親切”，顯得累贅拖沓，故作切分處理。.Unless we are hardened, the millions of eyes begin to madden us; and forever pushed and jostled by crowds we begin to take more kindly to Malthus5馬爾薩斯（1766—1834），英國經濟學家，主張限制人口增長，以其所著《人口論》而知名。, and are even willing to think better of Herod6希律（約前73—前4），古猶太王，為殺死襁褓中的耶穌，曾下令屠殺伯利恒所有的男嬰。and other wholesale depopulators.We begin to hate the sight of men who would appear as gods to us if we met them in Turkestan or Patagonia7土耳其斯坦原系蘇聯屬區，巴塔哥尼亞系阿根廷南部大草原，均為人口稀少的地區。, we have become thoroughly crowd-sick, we feel that the continued presence of these thousands of other men and women will soon crush, stamp, or press our unique,miraculous individuality into some vile pattern of the streets; we feel that the spirit will perish for want of room to expand in; and we gasp for air untainted by crowded humanity.

4Some such thoughts as these came to me, at first, in my curious little glimpse of solitude.8翻譯此句，應避免“這樣一些念頭是在……之時出現的”之類過長的整句，宜從句中斷開。I am possessed by an ampler mood than men commonly know, and feel that I can fashion the world about me to my changing whims;my spirit overflows, and seems to fill the quiet drooping countryside with sudden light and laughter; the empty

4起初萌生這樣一些念頭，是在我短暫而好奇地品嘗孤寂之時。我具有一種比常人所知更充沛的情緒，覺得可以按自己時常變化的古怪念頭塑造周圍的世界。我的精神飽滿酣暢，似乎瞬間便以光焰與笑聲充實了這寧靜而疲乏的鄉間。空寂的道路和空曠的田野，金色的大氣與蔚藍的天空，正是我的王國，我可以盡憑想象隨心所欲居住其中。詩句斷斷續續浮現在我的腦海，我懷著激情反復高聲吟誦其中的幾個詞，甚至只是一個詞，似乎要用它們的意義和美麗打動一群聆聽者的心靈。有時，我會爆發一陣陣短促的大笑以自娛；有時，我則恣意高歌，聽眾是被嚇呆的一頭母牛和三棵樹。我以悅耳的腔調堅稱，菲莉斯風姿何等迷人，我可以愛她愛到死，這話當時我也相信。我自我吹噓，自我喝彩，自我奉承。我甚至沉湎于一兩個年少時自我膨脹的白日夢，夢中發現自己忽然登上了某個非凡的高位，成為數百萬人的偶像，成為半神之人，用不乏善意的輕蔑眼光居高俯視那些目光短淺的人——他們目睹了真正的偉大而不知，其中多為愛挖苦人的教師和出語尖刻的親戚。road and vacant fields, the golden atmosphere and blue spaces are my kingdom, and I can people them at will with my fancies.Snatches of poetry come into my head, and I repeat a few words,or even only one word, aloud and with passionate emphasis, as if to impress their significance and beauty upon a listening host.Sometimes I break into violent little gusts of laughter, for my own good pleasure.At other times I sing,loudly and with abandon: to a petrified audience of one cow and three trees.I protest melodiously that Phyllis9本出希臘神話，常在田園詩中用作鄉村少女和情人的名字。has such charming graces that I could love her till I die, and I believe it, too, at the time.I brag to myself, and applaud and flatter myself.I even indulge in one or two of those swaggering day-dreams of boyhood in which one finds oneself suddenly raised to some extraordinary eminence, the idol of millions, a demigod among men, from which height one looks down with kindly scorn10譯為“用不乏善意的輕蔑眼光”，再現原文矛盾修辭的特點。on those myopic persons who did not know true greatness when they saw it, sarcastic schoolmasters and jeering relatives for the most part.

5Only by such heightened images,seemingly more applicable to centuries of riotous life than half an hour’s sauntering, can I suggest in stubborn words the swelling moods that first comes to me with this sudden, unexpected seclusion.

5這些被拔高的形象似乎比半小時的漫步更適合幾個世紀的熱鬧生活，只有借助它們，我才能言之鑿鑿地表明，那些高漲的情緒是因陷入這種突兀而意外的隔絕狀態而首次產生的。

6But as the morning wears away, the jubilation arising from this new expansion of oneself dwindles and perishes;the spirit wearies of its play.The road stretches out its vacant length, a few last leaves come fluttering down, and the sun grows stronger, sharpening the outline of the hills.The day is lovelier than ever.But I met no one by the way, and even the distant sounds of men’s travail and sport have died down.After a time the empty road and silent valley become vaguely disquietening, like a great room spread for a feast, blazing with lights,opulent in crimson and gold, and yet all deserted and quiet as the grave.I ask myself if all men have been mewed up in offices and underground warehouses,by some ghastly edict, unknown to me which has come into force this very morning.Have I alone escaped? Or I wonder if the Last Day has dawned, and been made plain to men not by sound of trump, but by some sign in the sky that I have overlooked11譯文增加了“昭告天下”的同義詞“周知世人”，節奏鮮明、鏗鏘有力，意美音美兼具。; a vast hand may have beckoned to all men or the heavens may have opened while I was busy lighting my pipe.Have all but one of the weary children of earth been gathered to their long rest? I walk in loneliness.

6但是，隨著早晨的時光悄然流逝，這種由新的自我膨脹而引發的欣悅漸漸消減乃至泯滅，精神厭倦了它的戲弄。空空蕩蕩的道路伸向遠方，最后幾片葉子飄落到地上，陽光愈發強烈，讓群山的輪廓更加清晰。這一日比以往更怡人，然而路上我沒遇見一人，就連遠方人們勞作和嬉鬧的聲音也已沉寂。少頃，闃無人跡的道路和靜謐的山谷開始讓人隱隱有些不安，猶如一個準備設宴的寬大房間，緋紅和金黃的燈火映照得滿室生輝，然而卻一派凄清，死寂如同墳墓。我問自己，是不是所有人都被依據某項嚴酷的法令強行禁閉在辦公室或地下倉庫，這項法令我一無所知，而就在今晨已經生效。是否僅有我一人逃脫了？我轉而又琢磨，是否最后的審判日已經降臨，不是通過號聲昭告天下，而是通過天上某個被我忽略的標記周知世人。一只巨手大概已經召喚了所有的人吧，抑或在我忙著點燃煙斗之時天堂敞開了大門。大地倦乏的子民們除一人外都被召集去長眠了吧？我孤單單地走著。

7Suddenly, I see a tiny moving figure on the road before me, and immediately it focuses my attention.What are walls,fields, trees, and cows compared with this miraculous thing, a fellow human being, played upon by the same desires and passion, this head stuffed with the same dreams and fluttering thoughts?In one of the world’s greatest romances is not the most breathless moment concerned with the discovery of a human footprint in the sand12出自英國作家笛福的長篇小說《魯濱遜漂流記》第十四章，主人公在荒島的沙灘上忽然發現一個人的足印。? Does not the world’s story begin with one human being meeting another? As I keep my eyes fixed on the nearing figure the last of my vague fancies and egotistical imaginings are blown away; my mind is engrossed by the solidly romantic possibilities of the encounter.Just as I was glad to escape from the sight and sound of men, so I am eager now to break my solitude: the circle is complete.And as we come up together, the stranger and I,I give him a loud greeting, and he, a little startled, returns the salute; and so we pass on, fellow-travellers and nameless companions in a great adventure, knowing no more of each other than the brief sight of a face, the sound of a voice can tell us.We only cry out a Hail and Farewell through the mist, yet I think we go on our way a little heartened.■

7驀地，我瞧見前面路上一個小小的移動的身影，它即刻攫住我的注意力。這個神奇的人物、我的一位同胞受到相同的愿望和激情的驅使，腦瓜里塞滿了同樣的夢想和飄忽的思緒——相較于他，圍墻、田野、樹木和母牛又算得了什么呢？在某部世上最偉大的經典傳奇作品中，沙灘上發現人類的足跡不是最攝人心魄的時刻嗎？世上的故事不都是始于一人遇見另一人嗎？就在我注視著來人身影的當兒，心里殘存的模糊念頭和自負想象消失了，心神專注于此次邂逅種種非常浪漫的可能性。正如我曾樂得避見他人、避聽其聲，此刻我急于打破我的孤寂：循環就此完成。陌生人與我走到一起時，我向他大聲打了個招呼，稍稍有些吃驚的他也給我回了禮。我們就這樣交錯而過。作為一次了不起的歷險的同行者和無名的同路人，我們互不相識，僅僅打了個照面，加上簡單的語音交流。雖說我們只是透過薄霧彼此問好和道別，可我覺得，我們繼續前行時，精神多少振作了些。 □