英语散文:微笑

 

The Smile

微笑

Smile at each other, smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other─it doesn’t matter who it is─and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other.

经常保持笑容，对你的另一半、你的孩子微笑，甚至对陌生人也不要吝惜你的微笑，因为小小的微笑就能大大增进人与人之间的感情。 ──泰瑞莎修女

1/ Many Americans are familiar with The Little Prince, a wonderful book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. This is a whimsical and fabulous book and works as a children’s story as well as a thought-provoking adult fable. Far fewer are aware of Saint-Exupery’s other writings, novels and short stories.

法国作家安东尼·圣艾修伯里所写的《小王子》是本很多美国人都很熟悉的极好的书。这本书表面上看来是童话故事，但世故的成人读来也觉寓意深远。很少人知道，除了《小王子》，圣艾修伯里还创作过其他小说和短篇故事。

2/ Saint-Exupery was a fighter pilot who fought against the Nazis and was killed in action. Before World War II, he fought in the Spanish Civil War against the fascists. He wrote a fascinating story based on that experience entitled The Smile. It is this story which I’d like to share with you now. It isn’t clear whether or not he meant this to be autobiographical or fiction. I choose to believe it to be the former.

圣艾修伯里是名飞行员，二次大战对抗纳粹时被击落身亡，之前他也曾参加西班牙内战打击法西斯分子。他根据这次经验写了一篇精彩的故事──《微笑》，现在要提的就是这篇作品。这是真实故事或是虚构事情，没人能下定论，但我宁可相信这是作者的亲身体验。

3/ He said that he was captured by the enemy and thrown into a jail cell. He was sure that from the contemptuous looks and rough treatment he received from his jailers he would be executed the next day. From here, I’ll tell the story as I remember it in my own words.

故事的前段大意是作者被敌军俘虏，关进监牢。看守监狱的人一脸凶相，态度极为恶劣。他心想，明天绝对会被拖出去枪毙。以下是我记忆中的故事原文。

4/ “I was sure that I was to be killed. I became terribly nervous and distraught. I fumbled in my pockets to see if there were any cigarettes, which had escaped their search. I found one and because of my shaking hands, I could barely get it to my lips. But I had no matches, they had taken those.

“一想到自己明天就没命了，不禁陷入极端的惶恐与不安。我翻遍了口袋，终于找到一支没被他们搜走的香烟，但我的手紧张得不停发抖，连将烟送进嘴里都成问题，而我的火柴也在搜身时被拿走了。

5/ “I looked through the bars at my jailer. He did not make eye contact with me. After all, one does not make eye contact with a thing, a corpse. I called out to him ‘Have you got a light?’ He looked at me, shrugged and came over to light my cigarette.

“我透过铁栏望着外面的警卫，他并没有注意到我在看他，也许对他而言，我只是他看守的一样‘物品’、一具‘尸体’。我叫了他一声：‘能跟你借个火吗？’他转头望着我，耸了耸肩，然后走了过来，点燃我的香烟

6/ “As he came close and lit the match, his eyes inadvertently locked with mine. At that moment, I smiled. I don’t know why I did that. Perhaps it was nervousness, perhaps it was because, when you get very close, one to another, it is very hard not to smile. In any case, I smiled. In that instant, it was as though a spark jumped across the gap between our two hearts, our two human souls. I know he didn’t want to, but my smile leaped through the bars and generated a smile on his lips, too. He lit my cigarette but stayed near, looking at me directly in the eyes and continuing to smile.

“当他帮我点火时，他的眼光无意中与我的相接触，这时我突然冲着他微笑。我不知道自己为何有这般反应，也许是过于紧张，或者是当你如此靠近另一个人，你很难不对他微笑。不管是何理由，我对他笑了。就在这一刹那，这抹微笑如同火花般，打破了我们心灵间的隔阂。受到了我的感染，他的嘴角不自觉地也现出了笑容，虽然我知道他原无此意。他点完火后并没立刻离开，两眼盯着我瞧，脸上仍带着微笑。

7/ “I kept smiling at him, now aware of him as a person and not just a jailer. And his looking at me seemed to have a new dimension, too. ‘Do you have kids?’ he asked.

“我也以笑容回应，仿佛他是个朋友，而不是个守着我的警卫。他看着我的眼神也少了当初的那股凶气，‘你有小孩吗？’他开口问道。

8/ “ ‘Yes, here, here.’ I took out my wallet and nervously fumbled for the pictures of my family. He, too, took out the pictures of his family and began to talk about his plans and hopes for them. My eyes filled with tears. I said that I feared that I’d never see my family again, never have the chance to see them grow up. Tears came to his eyes, too.

“‘有，你看。’我拿出了皮夹，手忙脚乱地翻出了我的全家福照片。他也掏出了照片，并且开始讲述他对家人的期望与计划。这时我眼中充满了泪水，我说我害怕再也见不到家人。我害怕没机会看着孩子长大。他听了也流下两行眼泪。

9/ Suddenly, without another word, he unlocked my cell and silently led me out. Out of the jail, quietly and by back routes, out of the town. There, at the edge of town, he released me. And without another word, he turned back toward the town.

“突然间，他二话不说地打开了牢门，悄悄地带我从后面的小路逃离了监狱，出了小镇，就在小镇的边上，他放了我，之后便转身往回走，不曾留下一句话。

10/ My life was saved by a smile.

“一个微笑居然能救自己一条命。”

11/ Yes, the smile─the unaffected, unplanned, natural connection between people. I tell this story in my work because I’d like people to consider that underneath all the layers we construct to protect ourselves, our dignity, our titles, our degrees, our status and our need to be seen in certain ways─underneath all that, remains the authentic, essential self. I’m not afraid to call it the soul. I really believe that if that part of you and that part of me could recognize each other, we wouldn’t be enemies. We couldn’t have hate or envy or fear. I sadly conclude that all those other layers, which we so carefully construct through our lives, distance and insulate us from truly contacting others. Saint-Exupery’s story speaks of that magic moment when two souls recognize each other.

是的，微笑是人与人之间最自然真挚的沟通方式，我在我的作品中讲这个故事，因为我希望人们能仔细想想以下的事情：人常常为自己建立层层的保护膜，为了维护尊严、头街、身分、形象等，而必须有所隐藏。我相信在这些掩饰下，每个人都有一个真实、不带虚伪的灵魂。如果我们能用心灵去认识彼此，世间不会有结怨成仇的憾事；恨意、妒嫉、恐惧也会不复存在。可惜的是人小心翼翼为自己所建造的保护膜，却阻隔了自己与他人真诚相对的机会。圣艾修伯里的这则故事，让我们见到了两颗心灵相互交流的神奇时刻。

12/ I’ve had just a few moments like that. Falling in love is one example. And looking at a baby. Why do we smile when we see a baby? Perhaps it’s because we see someone without all the defensive layers, someone whose smile for us we know to be fully genuine and without guile. And that baby-soul inside us smiles wistfully in recognition.

我也曾有过如此神奇的时刻，坠入情网是其中一刻，而看着婴儿的脸是另外一例。为什么我们见到婴孩会微笑？也许是因为我们在他们身上见到不设防的灵魂，还有他们纯真无邪的笑容，更引起了我们内心深处的共鸣。