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| 2009/03/06 06:32:32瀏覽830｜回應2｜推薦7 | |
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Then I spotted it. The light! Oh, THE Let-There-Be-Light-Saith-He, light. Then it's gone; then it’s there again. As we swirled around the circles that continuously shrinking in size while moving our way up higher and higher toward the mountain top, that light disappeared and reappeared at an ever increasing frequency until it finally expanded into an object with discernible structures. There it was; right in front of me, less than 100 yards away, a gate shined from the top by two searching beams hanging up-side down. Is this my gate to heaven or road to hell? I wondered. 【想像這是一齣默片。一車的人翻著死魚眼，搖搖晃晃隨著車子盤旋而上。忽然遠方出現一燈如豆，卻又不見了，然後又出現了。愈接近山頂，山的腰圍愈窄，燈光明滅的頻率也愈頻繁，直到原本豆大的光點變成兩大盞探照燈。目的地終於到了。 Let there be light: 語出《創世紀》第一章。 此段單寫燈光，竟帶出種種變化，令人佩服作者說故事的本事。】 Whatever thought religious I had developed from watching those lights at a far distance disappeared the moment our truck passed through the gate. We stopped a few yards behind the gate but before anyone could get off, another car, a jeep this time, came out from the opposite direction and zoomed past us heading for the gate. On top of it was a colonel handcuffed and boxed in by four MPs. This was the infamous Meat-Bun about whom I mentioned in another story written a year ago so whoever is interested in it can go and read it for himself. In the dust left behind by the jeep, my fellow pilgrims began jumping off the wagon left and right, forming a lazy gathering on the ground between where the truck parked and the guard post stood; Ken and I stayed on the edge toward the rear, a natural reaction to our not knowing our places around here. The temperature was dropping and never had I felt this cold in my life before in Taiwan which is a tropical island. The truck moved away after everyone cleared out and I didn’t understand what we’re waiting for until three people approached us from a path lead to the shadows outlining a cluster of low buildings. 【進了營門，尚未下車，迎面而來一部吉普車離開營門絕塵而去。車中一位上校上了手銬，被四名憲兵包夾其中 - 這就是有名的“肉包起解”，請參見諸神的黃昏一文。 三名預官隨眾下車，在探照燈下無所遁形，像卡通片《馬達加斯加》裡剛被“放生”到非洲的動物，不知大難之將至。山頂氣溫陡降，完全不像亞熱帶的臺灣。這時三個黑影朝他們走了過來。】 Leading the three stooges was a captain (Yet another one? I know and quit complaining to me! I didn’t create all these captains and leave them there, like your almighty lord did to Adam and Eve; your well-lubricated military machine did it so go ask them yourself where have all the captains gone?) accompanied by two guards carrying long rifles, He stopped in front of our herd of brutes and pulled a piece of paper out from his pocket. Before going through the paper which turned out (later on) to be a list of people who were supposed to be returning from their shore leaves today, he announced that for anyone who had in his possession anything illegal, liquors, weapons, narcotics, porn-magazines etc., now was the time to turn them in and no question would be asked. No one did; actually no one even gave a shit about his advice. When I say they (we?) were brutes I don’t mean lemmings running toward a cliff edge – you’ve got to be pretty suicidal to ‘turn yourself in’ for the offenses he had just mentioned. Receiving no response from the men, he ordered them to form up and I thought he was going to have everyone stripped searched but instead he unrolled the paper and started making roll calls. Everyone who had his name called answered a lazy, dejected or to the best uninterested ‘Aye’ before picking up his bag and walked away – no stripped-search and no nothing, not even a frisking. The badly performed ceremony carried on until everyone’s gone except us three. He studied us for a few seconds as if trying to solve a puzzle, then it dawned on him who we were. He got in front of us where we had already formed a perfect line with militarily regulated spacing evenly put out in-between – it would take another two full weeks before the soldiery habits I acquired from the boot camp to wear off totally. He introduced himself as the intelligence/anti-espionage officer, Chinese version of Gestapo if you really want to know, and since we were new in town, there would have to be a thorough search before he could let us in. Man, what he just said and the way he said it reminded me all the stories I had read from the traditional Chinese novel ‘The Outlaws of the Marsh’; about (unfailingly) how all the heroes (Hao-Han) would have to go through three hundred rounds of floggings before checking into these military jails, as a reward to the deeds they're in for which usually involved a lot of killings followed up by acts of arson. 【 lemming: 旅鼠，一種住在北極圈附近的鼠類，繁殖力奇高，習慣周期性大規模遷徙，有時會集體墜崖跳海溺斃。（其實它們會游泳；大幅遷徙是因為鼠口壓力；跳海並非主動，而是被後來湧至的鼠群逼的，游累了就溺死了。） roll call: 點名 frisk: 搜身 Gestapo: 蓋世太保，指保防官（主管保密防諜等事） The Outlaws of the Marsh: 水滸傳 三人中帶頭的是一個上尉（哪來這麼多上尉？），跟著兩名肩荷步槍的衛兵。這人是軍中的“保防官”，對剛銷假歸營的官兵例行公事地宣告一番：“有沒有帶酒、武器、毒品、色情書刊等等違禁品的啊？趕快自首，交出來就沒事”。有沒有搞錯！誰會蠢到在這種地方自首呢？保防官見無人招認，就放老鳥們入營去了，剩下三個新科預官一字排開。蓋世太保打量他們半天，說：”哦，是新來的。那可要仔細盤查才能放你們進來“。大哥不由想起水滸傳中的故事：殺人放火的好漢刺配充軍，入獄報到的第一天，牢頭要先請他們吃三百殺威棒。 接下來蓋世太保與三員預官的交手過程極為狠辣，我盡可能翻譯（意譯）。 】 I thought to myself, ‘Fuck you Sir, bring it on; I’ve got nothing to hide here’. He started with the third ROTC, a really quiet and obedient guy who put his sack on the ground, untied the string and took a step backward to embrace himself for the inspection. The Gestapo stared at him disbelievingly, asked him who the hell he think he was. That was it right to let him, the one who had been entrusted with all the top military intelligences by our country, to bend over and lower himself in front of a miserable ROTC first lieutenant (such as my unlucky comrade) in order to look through his shit? My comrade was (easily) intimidated, got on his knees and started laying out his stuffs one by one next to the sack. Somehow that really infuriated the Gestapo captain, in a sudden burst of rage he picked up the whole sack, hold it up-side-down and flung its contents all over the ground – thousands of personal items scattered among millions shattered pieces of what used to be two nice sets of plates and rice bowls; I finally got it why someone advised us to get something unbreakable. 【大哥心想：「去你的，來查呀，老子不怕你查。」 保防官卻從第三個預官先搜起。這人是個沉默的乖乖牌，馬上把背袋放在地上，鬆開帶子，然後退後一步站好，誠惶誠恐的等候檢查。保防官用一副不可置信的表情瞪著他，問道：「你小子以為你是誰啊？讓一位掌管軍事情報國家機密的長官，蹲在你這可憐的小少尉面前，檢查你袋子裡的狗屁垃圾，你覺得合理嗎？！」 小少尉被這聲勢嚇到，馬上蹲下把東西從背袋裡一個一個拿出來擺在地上。這個好整以暇的舉動當真惹毛了我們的蓋世太保，一怒之下一把抓起地上的袋子，袋口朝下把所有的東西一股腦全倒光。小少尉的個人用品夾雜著兩套高級瓷盤瓷碗的碎片，散了到處都是；這時大哥才恍然大悟，為何有人提醒他們買砸不破的餐具了。】 The Gestapo probably felt he’s a bit over the line (yeah) so he reined himself in a bit when he came to me. Quick learner as I have always been, especially from other people’s mistake, I had already dumped everything I got on the ground and had the sack turn inside out for his viewing pleasure. He picked up my doggy-bowl, looked at it first then at me, seemingly wanted to say ‘You smart ass, someone told you already or what?’ but didn’t utter it. Next he found a copy of “Look Homeward Angel” and thought that would make his day. He began by holding onto the book spine and shook it for a few times to see if anything was hidden in it. After browsing through it quickly but apparently not understanding a single word of it, he asked me what language it was in and I told him it’s English. He asked me what was it about and I told him it’s a novel about a young man who wanted to become a great man( hell, I weren’t suicidal either so I lied my teeth off). When he asked me was I any good at it, the English, I said that I was still learning it. Then he asked me do I mind teaching other service men I told him I didn’t think I was qualified for the job but if they weren’t particularly picky about where they would be getting it from we could certainly all learned it together. He seemed satisfied with my answers so he moved on without asking me any further question – man, I know how to suck dick. 【保防官大概覺得自己做得太過了，所以檢查大哥的時候就收斂了點。大哥從別人慘痛的教訓裡很快學到生存之道，早把東西傾囊而出，連背袋裡層都翻到外面來，好讓保防官看個徹底。他撿起狗食鋼盆端詳一番，瞥了大哥一眼，似乎是說：「挺精的嘛，跟誰學的？」 他又拾起一本書《Look Homeward Angel》，心想：「給我逮到了吧！」 他拿著書背甩了幾下確定書中沒有挾帶，接著迅速翻了一遍，顯然一字不識，便問大哥：「是用什麼語言寫的？」 大哥答道：「英文。」 「內容是什麼？」 「是本小說，講一個年輕人立志成為偉大人物的故事。」 形勢比人強，大哥只好扯謊。保防官又問：「你的英文怎樣？」 「馬馬虎虎啦，我也還在學習。」 「你願意教官兵英文嗎？」 大哥卑辭以對：「我教英文恐怕不夠格，但如果別人不介意的話，我是很願意和大家一同學習的。」 保防官頗滿意大哥的應對，就放過了他。大哥鬆了口氣，心想自己還真曉得仰承上意。 《Look Homeward Angel》: 美國作家 Thomas Wolfe 的小說，寫於20世紀初。 】 He now turned his attention to Ken who had efficiently utilized the extra time we had thus bought him by putting all his belongings in a neat military order; he also had his sack turned inside-out - learned from the master dick sucker standing next to him, I supposed. 【這時保防官來到 Ken 的面前。Ken 既有充分的準備時間，又從前兩名同志身上學到寶貴的功課，早將全部的個人用品整整齊齊排列在地，背袋裡層也翻到外面來（這招無疑是跟巧言令色的大哥學的）。】 Well, here lay his first mistake: he had a pile of books. Secondly, they were in Chinese (don’t think he’s handy in any foreign language, well, heck, neither did I) so the captain could understand it too. Number three and this one got him closer to disaster than the previous two combined; the books were political in contents. Then the number four, the grand slam which was on the level of The Big Bang (or the Big Crunch, generally considered wrong now), they were all works either of or about the political theories (I doubt it can be thus described) of Dr. Sun-Yi-Sen's, the uncertified founding father of ROC (uncertified by some 50% of her population). Even thought it was dark, somehow I could see the captain’s face turn into a piece of raw liver. He interrogated Ken on what his assigned duty here was and when Ken told him it’s accounting the liver started cooking. He then asked him, much more gravely this time, of what the hell was he reading these books for and Ken told him that’s what he studied in graduate school and what he got his MS degree for, The liver was now way overcooked and the boiler about to burst. When he informed Ken (did I just say ‘informed’? I meant to say ‘warned’) coldly that he should focus on his own little mud pie and let the professionals handle the real stuffs and with Ken arguing back (most humbly) that reading and understanding Dr. Sun’s political, moral and philosophical doctrines was the divine duty of every single Taiwanese citizen, the captain exploded and poor Dr. Sun’s life long ingenuities paid the price. They got launched head-over-heel to the far side of the gate together with one of captain’s shoes. He didn’t just send them (the books) flying from the ground; he picked them up, flung them high in the air and let his right foot meet them on their way down, like a goalie kicking the soccer ball off to the center field. 【不幸的是，Ken 犯了幾項重大錯誤。首先，他有一疊書；第二，他的書都是中文書（Ken 的外文大概不在行），保防官看得懂。第三個錯誤把他帶到災難邊緣：這些書是政治書籍。最後一點，也是最具爆炸力的一擊，就是這些全是孫中山所著、或者是關於其政治理論的書籍。 保防官的臉在夜色中漲成生豬肝色，開始盤問 Ken。「你來這裡擔任什麼職務？」 「會計。」 保防官一聽，臉上的豬肝色開始升溫，語氣也更嚴峻：「你他媽的念這些東西幹嘛？」 「是我念研究所的時候讀的，我還拿了一個碩士學位。」 滾燙的豬肝臉冷冷的說：「我鄭重告訴你，管好你自己份內的事，其他事的交給內行人來管。」 千不該萬不該，Ken 竟然敢謙卑的回嘴：「我覺得研究孫中山先生的政治和哲學思想是中華民國每一位國民的天職。」 說時遲那時快，豬肝色沸騰爆炸了，遭殃的是孫中山畢生的心血結晶，只見Ken的書和保防官的一只鞋倏地上騰飛躍頭頂降落在營門遠遠的一端。這是怎麼回事？原來他將書拋起，以足球門將的一記大腳，把書（連鞋）踢到遙遠的他方！】 With his entire life-long hatred toward people like me and Ken thus dissipated, turning around suddenly and followed by two scared-out-of-their-wits sentries, the Gestapo captain walked dejectedly back toward the camp, as if he had just had some passionate sex and needed the panting time to recover himself from the ejaculation which had temporarily taken a part of his life force out of him. 【蓋世太保討厭像大哥和 Ken 這種人討厭了一輩子，這一大腳可是把畢生的恨意淋漓盡致的發洩了。這時他一轉身，神情落寞，如洩氣的皮球一樣頭也不回的往營區走去，後面跟著兩名嚇呆的衛兵。他仿佛激情過後，全身虛脫 ...】 I quietly put my stuffs inside my sack; flipping on my lighter I helped Ken search for his beloved Dr. Sun lost in tall grasses over the gate. After gathering all his other stuffs first, he threw each one of them into the bag as if flinging a piece of junk into a trash bag and slung it over his shoulder. Although the night sky was totally unpolluted from any source of artificial light, there was no star to follow either. Side by side and sacks over their backs, the three wise men took to their road to the unknowns. 【保防官走後，大哥靜靜的先把自己的東西收拾好，接著點亮打火機，幫 Ken 找尋他心愛的、失落在草叢裡的中山先生。找到後，Ken 像扔垃圾一般一本本扔在袋裡，然後把袋子甩到背上。夜空漆黑一片，雖無半點人為光害，可是也看不到一顆可以指引方向的星。三個預官如同東方三博士，兼並肩、背著背包，走向一無所知的未來。】 Died, that night on top of that mountain was what little love I once held inside me toward my country, my honor and my Der Fuhrer. I didn’t know about Ken’s; I still don’t. 【大哥說：“在那個晚上，在那個山頂死去的，是我對國家、榮譽、領袖稍存的一點敬愛。至於 Ken 心中的愛歸於何處呢？我當時不曉得，如今也仍然不曉。” Der Fuhrer: 希特勒 】 【註】本篇翻譯多有借鏡普希金《魔山記》之處（其實也略有剽竊啦  ） |
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