A Trip to Yan’an (II)延安之行（下）

In the morning we were taken to where the Liberation Daily had been printed when Yan’an was the revolutionary center. Our friend George Hatem， when he wasn’t doctoring， had helped produce the English edition. As a precaution against Japanese and， subsequently， Kuomintang bombings， the newspaper had been housed in the Cave of the Ten Thousand Buddhas—a cavern about 60 feet square which had been hewn out of solid rock over 1，000 years ago. Two huge pillars supported the ceiling. Every inch of the walls and pillars was lined with rows of carved Buddhas and female figures in the lush natural style of the Tang Dynasty.

次日上午，我們被領(lǐng)去參觀延安作為革命中心時(shí)期印刷出版《解放日?qǐng)?bào)》的地方。當(dāng)初馬海德在不看病問診時(shí)還幫著辦過報(bào)紙的英文版呢。為了防范日本鬼子和后來國民黨反動(dòng)派的轟炸，報(bào)社設(shè)在了萬佛洞，這是一座約六平米見方的洞窟，從堅(jiān)硬巖壁上鑿出，距今已有一千多年。窟頂由兩根大立柱支撐，石壁和石柱上雕出一排排佛像觀音，都豐腴飽滿、栩栩如生，盡顯唐代遺風(fēng)。

They originally had been colored， but Hu Zongnan had set fire to the printing equipment when he retreated， blackening the paint. The figures were still beautiful. Each one was different in posture and expression， and had been created in sets by different sculptors over several centuries. Beside each set was a plaque inscribed with the names of the artists and the devout Buddhists who had sponsored the carvings1.

這些雕像原本是彩雕，但胡宗南從延安撤離時(shí)放火燒毀洞內(nèi)的印刷設(shè)備，雕像也因此被熏黑了。盡管如此，雕像依然精美，姿態(tài)表情各異，能看出是在幾百年間由不同的雕刻師完成的，每組雕像旁有一塊銘牌，刻的是雕刻師和為本組雕像捐資的善男信女的姓名。

We visited a large experimental farm outside Yan’an. They had found a good wheat variety for cold climates and were trying to improve it. Their wheat expert turned out to be a man who had been studying agriculture at Cornell while I was there taking an army course in Chinese. Small world department. His English was very good. He had returned to China in 1945.

我們還去參觀了延安郊外的一個(gè)大型實(shí)驗(yàn)農(nóng)場(chǎng)。農(nóng)場(chǎng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種耐寒小麥良種，正在努力改良。巧的是，他們的專家當(dāng)年在康奈爾大學(xué)修農(nóng)學(xué)時(shí)，我正在那修陸軍班中文課程，這世界可真小。而且他英語講得相當(dāng)不錯(cuò)。1945年，他學(xué)成歸國。

The farm was also pushing apples. For one thing they had discovered that the slopes held water better when strips of fields were alternated with strips of orchards. For another， apples grew well here. They had several varieties. My favorite， and the one which seemed to thrive the best， was a type called the “banana apple”. Crisp and juicy， it did actually have the flavor of bananas. The farm had given 100，000 grafts the previous year to the co-ops， free of charge， to improve the local stock. They would be bearing fruit within three years.

農(nóng)場(chǎng)也在推廣蘋果種植。一來，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)農(nóng)田果園輪作能改善坡地的儲(chǔ)水效果。二來，蘋果樹在這里長勢(shì)很好。這里的蘋果有好幾個(gè)品種，我最喜歡吃，也是長得最好的一種叫“香蕉蘋果”，清脆多汁，果真有股香蕉味兒。去年農(nóng)場(chǎng)免費(fèi)給合作社十萬株嫁接枝，以改善當(dāng)?shù)仄贩N砧木，這些嫁接樹苗三年內(nèi)就能結(jié)果。

As any farmer will tell you， fruit is a risky crop. If you don’t dispose of it all in season， it starts to go bad. You have to preserve it or refrigerate it， and that requires capital and equipment poor hillside regions don’t have. Here again， the experimental farm people distinguished themselves. They found that the yellow soil caves were natural refrigerators， cool and dry. Apples stored in October keep most of their natural juice and flavor until the following May or June. Big cities like Xi’an could be supplied all during the usually apple-less first half of the year. Another source of income for the farming co-ops.

農(nóng)民都知道，水果種植有風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，一旦滯銷水果就會(huì)腐爛。所以必須保鮮或冷藏，這樣一來就需要資金和設(shè)備，而這恰恰是貧困山區(qū)所缺乏的。在這個(gè)難題上，實(shí)驗(yàn)農(nóng)場(chǎng)的人又立了大功，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)黃土窯洞就是天然的冷藏庫，涼爽干燥。十月份儲(chǔ)存的蘋果，一直到轉(zhuǎn)年五六月份還大部分保留著原汁原味，可以在基本不產(chǎn)蘋果的整個(gè)上半年供應(yīng)像西安等大城市。這成了農(nóng)業(yè)合作社另一個(gè)收入來源。

According to the lunar calendar it was Moon Festival Day. The time of the year when the moon is at its roundest and people celebrate the harvests. In the afternoon we bought moon cakes and lots of fruit and invited the kids from the operetta company over. The boys had a basketball match， but half a dozen of the girls came. A pretty Hui ethnic girl from Kaifeng sang Henan opera tones. （She was the only member of the troupe who had dietary scruples but they had a special kitchen for her. It’s government policy to respect the customs of ethnic minority people.）

照農(nóng)歷算這天是中秋節(jié)，是一年中月亮最圓、人們喜慶豐收的節(jié)日。下午我們?nèi)ベI了月餅和許多水果，邀請(qǐng)歌劇團(tuán)的孩子們來做客。男孩們正打籃球賽來不了，但來了六七個(gè)姑娘。一個(gè)來自開封的漂亮回族姑娘唱了幾段豫劇。整個(gè)劇團(tuán)里就她一個(gè)有飲食忌諱，但劇團(tuán)還是為她開了小灶。這是尊重少數(shù)民族風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣的國家政策。

Others did some north Shaanxi songs. We were amused by a cute number called Husband and Wife Have a Tiff. Gao Min， a charming mezzo-soprano from Jiangsu Province， wrote out the words and rehearsed us a couple of times. She was surprised that I didn’t have any of the pear-shaped tones some foreigners use for rendering Chinese folk songs. Obviously she had never heard of unpretentious Brooklyn speech.

還有姑娘唱了幾首陜北歌曲，我們被一首叫《夫妻拌嘴》的俏皮歌逗樂了。來自江蘇的漂亮女中音高敏把歌詞寫下來，教我們唱了幾遍。見我沒有外國人唱中國民歌時(shí)那種帶鼻音的腔調(diào)，她很吃驚。顯然她從未聽過不拿腔拿調(diào)的布魯克林英語。

The next day was our last in Yan’an. We visited the famed Precious Pagoda. Built in Tang times， it stood atop a high hill from which there was a wonderful view in all directions. A big old bell of cast bronze stood in a wooden frame not far from the pagoda. Also made in Tang， it had hung in a local temple， long since gone. It was inscribed with the names of worshipers who claimed they had been cured of their ailments， and of women who believed their prayers for sons had been answered. They had all chipped in to pay for the bell and present it to the temple. An expensive gift. It had been used as an alarm in the Liberated Area days.

轉(zhuǎn)天是在延安的最后一天，我們參觀了著名的寶塔。寶塔建于唐代，坐落在一座高山頂上，在此遠(yuǎn)眺，四面八方的美景盡收眼底。離寶塔不遠(yuǎn)的一個(gè)木頭架子里有一口古老的銅鐘。鐘也是唐代鑄造的，原來掛在當(dāng)?shù)氐囊蛔聫R里，寺廟早已不存。鐘上刻著信眾的名字，有的說自己病癥全消，還有女子相信求子成功是菩薩顯靈。就是這些人籌款鑄了這口鐘送給寺廟，是件貴重禮物。這口鐘當(dāng)年曾在解放區(qū)當(dāng)過報(bào)警鐘。

To my amazement， along with various holy figures on the bell， there was Pigsy. Old Pigsy was a folklore figure who allegedly accompanied Xuan Zang， a devout Buddhist monk， to India 1，000 years ago to bring back holy scriptures. Their other companion was Monkey， whose X-ray eyes2 could penetrate the disguises of the many demons who beset them on their way. The adventure of these three3 was an important part of Chinese children’s fairy tales and puppet shows. They appeared， too， in Beijing opera.

有意思的是，鐘上刻的各種神像中竟然有豬八戒。豬八戒是民間故事人物，據(jù)說一千年前曾跟隨虔誠的玄奘法師去印度取經(jīng)。同去的還有孫悟空，他火眼金睛，能看穿一路上阻攔他們的妖魔鬼怪。師徒幾人的歷險(xiǎn)故事是中國小孩子看的神話和木偶戲的重要題材，京劇中也有他們的身影。

Monkey was a typical children’s hero. He could work powerful magic， was fearless， humorless， and treated women with disdain. Pigsy appealed more to the grown-ups， though the kids liked him too， as a raffish comedian. Brave enough when he had to fight， he was a good-natured slob the rest of the time， a glutton and a lecher whenever the opportunity presented. Due to certain minor deficiencies in my own character， I have always found Pigsy entirely lovable. But I never expected to see him commemorated on an ancient bronze temple bell. That must have been quite a congregation4. No wonder Tang was a Golden Age.

孫悟空是孩子們心中的大英雄。他神通廣大，無所畏懼，不茍言笑，不近女色。豬八戒則是個(gè)俗氣十足的滑稽人物，孩子們倒也喜歡，但他更招成年人喜歡。打斗時(shí)他勇敢無畏，其他時(shí)候則憨厚、懶惰，逮著機(jī)會(huì)就貪吃貪色。可能我自己性格有些小缺點(diǎn)，我一直覺得豬八戒十分可愛。不曾想他還被刻在古廟銅鐘上被人紀(jì)念，看起來信眾規(guī)模還不小，難怪說唐朝是個(gè)“盛世”。

We took off the following morning at 5：30 by bus， arrived in Tongchuan by 3：30 in the afternoon， got on a train at 4：30， reached Xi’an at 11 in the evening， returned to the hotel by pedicab， had a wash and fell into bed， bone weary， around midnight.

第二天早上我們五點(diǎn)半乘長途汽車離開，下午三點(diǎn)半到銅川，四點(diǎn)半又坐上火車，晚上十一點(diǎn)才到西安，坐三輪車回旅館后，沖了個(gè)澡就倒在床上，渾身疲憊，此時(shí)已過半夜。

1 Buddhists在此處并非指和尚僧人等出家人，而是指信奉佛教的百姓，因此不能直接譯為“佛教徒”。信眾捐資修建佛像是一種傳統(tǒng)，sponsor即指“捐資”，如譯為“贊助”則脫離了中國文化語境。

2 the Monkey和X-ray eyes都屬于中國神話元素翻譯到英文中的變形，在英譯漢時(shí)需要采取回譯策略，譯為“孫悟空”和“火眼金睛”。

3 《西游記》中為師徒四人，沙博理此處記述有誤，因此譯文進(jìn)行了模糊處理。 4 con-gregation本意指教會(huì)會(huì)眾的集會(huì)，此處指前來參拜的信眾規(guī)模之大，quite更添幾分感嘆的意味。