A Robot Tries to Make Sense of Humanity試圖理解人性的機器人

羅恩·查爾斯　孫美萍/譯

One hundred years ago， a play titled “R.U.R.，” by Karel Capek， debuted in Prague and gave us the word “robot.” Since then， androids have been dreaming of electric sheep1， and weve been having nightmares about the robot apocalypse2. But calamity rarely comes in the neat， clarifying ways we fear.

一百年前，卡雷爾·恰佩克的戲劇《R. U. R.》在布拉格首演，這部戲劇為我們帶來了“機器人”一詞。之后，仿生人一直夢見電子羊，我們則做著關于機器人大劫難的噩夢。但是災難很少以我們所害怕的那種簡潔明了的方式降臨。

Leave it to Kazuo Ishiguro to articulate our inchoate3 anxieties about the future were building. “Klara and the Sun”， his first novel since winning the Nobel Prize in 2017， is a delicate， haunting story， steeped in sorrow and hope. Readers still reeling from4 his 2005 novel “Never Let Me Go” will find here a gentler exploration of the price children pay for modern advancements. But if the weird complications of technology frame the plot， the real subject， as always in Ishiguros dusk-lit fiction， is the moral quandary5 of the human heart.

我們對自己正在建設的未來懷有模糊不清的焦慮，讓我們把這焦慮留給石黑一雄去闡釋清楚吧。《克拉拉與太陽》是石黑一雄自2017年獲得諾貝爾文學獎之后的第一部小說，講述了一個微妙又讓人難以忘懷的故事，充斥著憂傷與希望。對還沒有從他2005年的小說《莫失莫忘》中緩過神來的讀者而言，他們會發現《克拉拉與太陽》就孩子們為現代進步付出的代價進行了更溫和的探討。然而，如果說用技術奇怪的復雜性來框定情節，那么與石黑一雄以往的“黃昏文學式”小說一樣，這部小說真正的主題是人心所面臨的道德困境。

Klara， the narrator of this genre-straddling novel， is an Artificial Friend （AF）， a popular class of androids designed to provide companionship to teenagers. Why young people would need artificial companionship is one of the chilling questions that Ishiguro raises but postpones so naturally that the horror feels almost incidental.

這部跨體裁小說的敘述者克拉拉是一名人工朋友（AF），即一類廣受歡迎的人形機器人，旨在為青少年提供陪伴。為什么年輕人需要人工朋友陪伴？這是石黑一雄提出的令人不寒而栗的問題之一，但是他很自然地擱置了這個問題，以至于讓人感覺恐懼是種偶然。

When we meet Klara， she （it？） is on display in something like the Apple Store， an elegant retail shop catering to well-heeled6 parents. Older AFs such as Klara rotate with the latest models， competing for attention based on their specifications and social cachet7. Klaras particular skill is empathetic observation. She sits in the store window like a teddy bear on Christmas Eve， waiting for a young person to notice and take her home.

克拉拉出場時，她（它？）被放在類似于蘋果商店的地方展示，那是一家面向富有家長的高檔零售店。像克拉拉這樣的老款AF與最新款AF輪流展示，雙方依靠各自的技術規格以及在社會上的名聲來爭奪顧客的關注。克拉拉的特殊技能是感同身受地觀察。她像圣誕節前夜的泰迪熊一樣坐在商店櫥窗里，等待有孩子發現她并帶她回家。

Powered by solar energy， Klara takes a keen interest in the sun. Its rays literally give her life， and she notices how daylight enlivens everyone outside the store， too. Its not such a leap for her to conclude that the sun is an omnipotent， often benevolent being capable of casting his invigorating light on those whom he chooses. That faith， if you will， becomes the abiding premise of Klaras life—and the haunting complication of this novel.

克拉拉由太陽能驅動，因此她對太陽有濃厚的興趣。陽光確實給了她生命，而且她注意到陽光也讓店外的每個人都活躍了起來。于是，克拉拉順理成章地得出一個結論：太陽是全能的存在，常常表現出仁慈，可以將自己生機勃勃的光芒投射在他所選擇的人身上。這一信念，如果你愿意這樣說的話，成為克拉拉一生的永恒前提——也是這部小說中縈繞不去的復雜因素。

The story begins in earnest when Klara is purchased to be the companion for a bright but sickly teenager named Josie. She moves into an isolated country house and takes up her role as an attentive Artificial Friend. The housekeeper treats her with suspicion bordering on disgust， but Klaras programming doesnt include resentment， and， in any case， she gets along well with Josie， and Josies mother seems particularly taken with8 her.

克拉拉被買下來與活潑但多病的少女喬西作伴，故事由此正式開始?？死徇M偏僻的鄉間別墅，開始扮演體貼的AF角色。管家以近乎厭惡的懷疑態度對待她，但是她的程序中不包含怨恨。無論如何，她和喬西相處得很好，而且喬西的母親似乎特別喜歡她。

Theres a Jamesian quality9 to the searching， deliberate portrayal of life in Josies remote house. Like Klara， Ishiguro attends closely to the way apparently innocuous10 conversations shift， the way joy drains from a frozen smile. This is a home recovering from grief and bracing for more.

該書對喬西在偏遠別墅中的生活做了謹慎從容的探尋性描述，頗具亨利·詹姆斯的風格。像克拉拉一樣，石黑一雄也密切關注著看似無傷大雅的談話如何轉變，喜悅如何從凝固的笑容中消失。這是一個漸漸從悲傷中恢復，但又準備迎接更多悲傷的家庭。

Josies illness—like the life-threatening ailments in fairy tales—is never diagnosed， but its the source of the homes ever-rising alarm. The possibility of her death ratchets up11 the pressure on Josies mother to pretend that nothing is wrong even while preparing for the next terrifying loss. Klara， determined to help any way she can， is left to discern sensitivities she can sense but not entirely grasp. She may be an Artificial Friend， but there is nothing artificial about her friendship. “I knew my best course was to work harder than ever to be a good AF to Josie until the shadows receded，” Klara tells us. “At the same time， what was becoming clear to me was the extent to which humans， in their wish to escape loneliness， made maneuvers that were very complex and hard to fathom.”

喬西的病就像童話故事中威脅生命的疾病一樣，從未確診，但構成了家中警報不斷升級的原因。喬西可能會死這件事讓她母親的壓力逐漸增大，即使正在為又一場可怕的死亡做準備，她母親也要假裝一切正常。克拉拉決定盡己所能提供幫助，她發現自己能分辨出敏感問題——那些問題她能感知卻無法完全掌握。她或許是個“人造的朋友”，但是她的友情不夾雜任何人工的成分?！拔颐靼鬃詈玫淖龇ň褪潜纫酝Φ毓ぷ?，做好喬西的好AF，直到陰影散去?！笨死嬖V我們，“同時，我越來越清楚的是，人類為了逃避孤獨，會采取何等復雜并難以理解的策略?！?/p>

Beyond the dark enchantment of this peaceful house， Ishiguro suggests a world radically transformed. Another author would have been eager to elaborate on the dystopian features of the not-too-distant era， but Ishiguro always implies， never details. One reads Ishiguro in a defensive crouch， afraid to have our worst suspicions confirmed. Were left to intuit that the economy has been revolutionized， hollowing out the middle class. Odd new social practices have arisen， too， such as “interaction meetings” in which teenagers gather at one anothers houses to practice getting along. For readers whose children endure remote learning， this is unnervingly close to the bone12.

除了表現出這座寧靜別墅的黑暗魅力，石黑一雄還暗示了一個遭到徹底顛覆的世界。要是換成另一位作者，對于這個不太遙遠的時代，他可能會急于詳細描述其反烏托邦特質，但石黑一雄總是暗示，從不揭露細節。讀者以蜷伏的防御姿勢讀石黑一雄的作品，害怕自己最壞的猜想得到證實。我們只能憑直覺知道經濟發生了革命性巨變，中產階級已被掏空。與此同時，社會上出現了奇怪的新習俗，例如“交流聚會”，即青少年聚在彼此家里練習如何和睦相處。對于家中孩子長時間接受遠程教育的讀者而言，這樣的情節觸及了痛點，令人不安。

But the most unsettling reference in “Klara and the Sun” concerns a process called “lifting”. Its some kind of genetic enhancement—rarely fatal—that has created a superclass of young people， completely altering adolescence， college admissions and employment possibilities.

但是《克拉拉與太陽》中最令人不安的說法是一個叫作“提升”的程序。這是某種極少致命的基因強化術，已經創造出一個由年輕人組成的超級階層，完全改變了青少年、大學錄取過程以及各種就業選擇。

Creepy as this is， its not so far off from current genetic research， and it certainly comports with the desires of frantic parents who will stop at nothing to13 promote their darlings. Thats the real power of this novel： Ishiguros ability to embrace a whole web of moral concerns about how we navigate technological advancements， environmental degradation and economic challenges even while dealing with the unalterable fact that we still die.

這雖然令人毛骨悚然，但與當下的基因研究相去不遠。當然，這也符合瘋狂父母的心愿，他們為了自己寶貝孩子的發展不擇手段。這是這部小說的真正力量所在：石黑一雄有能力一邊領悟關乎我們如何駕馭技術進步、應對環境退化、迎接經濟挑戰的一系列道德問題，一邊討論不可改變的事實——我們仍會死亡。

Telling this story from Klaras algorithmic point of view is a perilous choice， even for an author used to risky narrative maneuvers. With her childlike intensity， Klara evinces14 a kind of devotion that could sound preprogrammed， like listening to the reassuring15 voice of an automatic telephone operator for 300 pages. But Ishiguro has perfectly calibrated16 Klaras uncanny tone， with a personality just warm enough and alien enough to feel like the Artificial Friend we all need. Even her radical faith in the sun is moving and profound. Seeing her construct her own theodicy from the simple process of observing and reasoning is like watching the passage of 2，000 years over a few months.

即便對于習慣了冒險敘事策略的作者而言，采用克拉拉的算法視角來講述故事也是一個危險的選擇?？死瓗е⑼愕臒崆?，表現出一種聽起來像是預編好的奉獻精神，就像聽一名自動接線員用令人安心的聲音念了300頁。但是石黑一雄把克拉拉的神秘腔調設定得十分完美，她的性格恰如其分地既溫暖又陌生，讓人覺得她就是我們都需要的人工朋友。就連她對太陽的激進信仰也無比深刻、令人動容。我們看她依靠簡單的觀察和推理來構建自己的自然神學，就像看兩千年的時光在幾個月里流逝而去。

Of course， tales of sensitive robots determined to help us survive our self-destructive impulses are not unknown in the canon of science fiction. But Ishiguro brings to this poignant subgenre a uniquely elegant style and flawless control of dramatic pacing. In his telling， Klaras self-abnegation feels both ennobling and tragic.

敏感的機器人決定幫我們在自我毀滅的沖動中活下來，這樣的故事在經典科幻小說中當然不少見。但是石黑一雄為這一深刻的文學亞類型賦予了獨特的優雅風格，展現出對戲劇節奏的完美把控。在他的敘述中，克拉拉的自我犧牲既高貴又悲慘。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者；單位：北京外國語大學）