雙語|現(xiàn)代散文:巴金 一千三百圓

1,300 Yuan 一千三百圓

◎ Ba Jin ◎ 巴金

I was asked to a dinner party in Xiguan given by a friend of mine. There were seven of us going together，including the host.

一個(gè)朋友在西關(guān)宴客邀了我去。同去的連主人一共是七位。

As has long been known to me，Xiguan is a busy downtown area in Guangzhou — a place inhabited by many old-fashioned big families. The streets are wide，but there are quite a few narrow lanes and flagstones too. Hidden in the tightly packed dwellings were unfathomable mysteries of all sorts. Every afternoon many gaudily dressed young women will be seen parading through the streets，escorted by their maid servants. It is said that they are concubines of big families and that the maid servants have been hired by their masters specially to keep watch on the young women in case they should run away.

我早就聽說西關(guān)是一個(gè)很熱鬧的地方。那里還是許多舊式大家庭的根據(jù)地。馬路寬闊，但也有不少的窄巷和石板鋪的小路。在那些密集的房屋里面隱藏著種種神秘的事情。每天下午馬路上出現(xiàn)了許多服飾華麗的年輕女人，后面還跟著女傭。據(jù)說這些女人都是大家庭里的姨太太。她們的主人因?yàn)楹ε滤齻兲幼?，專門雇了女傭來監(jiān)視她們。

After parking our car by the side of a big street，we alighted and walked into a narrow flagged lane lined with small houses.

我們的汽車停在大馬路上。我們下了車，走進(jìn)一條窄巷，路是石板鋪砌的，兩旁是些矮小的房屋。

We came to a big restaurant after taking a turning. The gorgeous restaurant，standing in such a lowly place，struck us as unusual and fantastic.

我們轉(zhuǎn)了一個(gè)彎，走到一座大酒樓的門前。這樣漂亮的酒樓立在這條街上就像一個(gè)奇跡，實(shí)在叫人不能相信。

It was quite roomy inside. An old-style multi-storeyed building，with corridors，halls，courtyards and trees，it also looked like a VIP private mansion. After walking about for a while，we went upstairs and took our seats at table in a beautifully-named room.

酒樓里面很寬敞，是舊式的建筑，有樓，有閣，有廊，有廳，有天井，有樹木，又像一個(gè)大公館。我們在里面走了一轉(zhuǎn)，就登樓，在一個(gè)名稱很美的房間里坐了下來。

The host having ordered food，we sat chatting and cracking melon seeds. The room was quite spacious. The electric fan kept rotating. The balcony was decorated with potted flowers. A bamboo shade under the eaves kept off the sun. Birds were heard again and again singing outside. The whole place was nice and quiet.

主人點(diǎn)了菜。我們嗑著瓜子飲茶談話。樓房很大，還開著電風(fēng)扇。露臺上擺了好幾盆鮮花。檐下垂著竹簾，遮住了陽光。從外面不時(shí)送來鳥聲。這個(gè)地方倒還清靜。

A sallow-faced woman in her early fifties appeared at the door of our room，umbrella in hand. She paced about for a while before she came in and said a few words to all of us. I couldn't make out what she said. Then she left after exchanging a few words with one of us，who was a native of Guangzhou.

一個(gè)五十多歲的黃臉女人拿著一把傘在樓房門口出現(xiàn)了。她起先在門外徘徊了一陣，然后走進(jìn)來，對我們說了幾句話。我不懂她的意思。一個(gè)本地的客人和她問答了幾句，她便走了。

My friends laughed and I thought I knew why they laughed. The woman reappeared shortly，with a young girl and a middle-aged woman following after her.

他們在笑，我想我懂得他們笑的原因。等一會兒那個(gè)女人又來了。在她后面跟著一個(gè)年輕姑娘和一個(gè)中年婦人。

The young girl，though nicely dressed，was plain-looking. She sat down without saying a word，and having her eyes dropped，kept waving a folding fan. She looked embarrassed with all eyes centered on her.

姑娘相貌平常，卻打扮得很漂亮。她坐下來，并不說一句話。她垂下眼皮，手里拿著一把折扇不停地?fù)]著。她在眾人的陌生的眼光下有點(diǎn)害羞。

The silence among all made the host feel rather uncomfortable until the Guangzhou man and the old woman exchanged a few words which，however，I could understood a bit. He wanted to know what price she was asking and the answer was，“1,300 yuan.”It was not until then that I realized what it was all about. The young girl was a potential concubine，waiting for a prospective buyer.

沒有人講話，主人也顯得不好意思了。后來還是那個(gè)本地的客人和那個(gè)老婦人問答了幾句。他們的談話我也懂得一點(diǎn)。他問她多少價(jià)錢，老婦人回答說，一千三百圓。我現(xiàn)在才知道這是怎么一回事情。姑娘不過是一個(gè)候補(bǔ)姨太太，等待合意的主顧來把她買去。

All kept silent. The old woman accepted a 20-cent silver coin and then left with the young girl. On leaving the room，the latter turned round to make a slight bow to us.

大家沒有話說了。于是那個(gè)老婦人接了兩毫銀角，把姑娘帶走了。走出房門，姑娘還回轉(zhuǎn)身向我們微微鞠躬。

A moment later，while we were eating，the old woman came again，this time bringing with her two young girls. One，wearing a braid at the back of her head，was very young，said to be only 16. The other，with bobbed hair，was older and said to be only 18，but her real age was probably over 20.

過了一會兒，我們正在吃菜的時(shí)候，那個(gè)老婦人又來了。這次她帶了兩個(gè)姑娘進(jìn)來。一個(gè)年紀(jì)很輕，據(jù)她說只有十六歲，頸后拖著一根辮子。一個(gè)年紀(jì)大一點(diǎn)，頭發(fā)剪短了，據(jù)說只有十八歲，實(shí)際的年齡恐怕已經(jīng)超過二十了。

The girls both sat down in a chair，waving a folding fan all the time，probably because they wanted to keep their idle hands occupied or because they were fidgety beneath the gaze of so many eyes. They kept quiet until the Guangzhou man asked them their names.

這兩個(gè)姑娘就在旁邊的靠背椅上坐下。兩個(gè)人都不停地?fù)u著折扇，大概因?yàn)槭珠e著沒有事情做的緣故吧，或者是被人看得有些不好意思了。她們也不說話，只有那個(gè)本地客人直接問起她們的姓名時(shí)，她們才開了口。

The two girls were more nice-looking than the previous one，hence their higher selling prices. 1,300 and 1,800 yuan were the prices asked for the two girls respectively. When one of my friends said the old woman was asking too much，she replied complacently that the two girls had got some schooling and knew how to read and write. Then she fetched from outside the room two slips of paper and a pen and put them on a tea table. Thereupon，the older girl turned sideways to pick up the pen and write down her name，and then handed the pen to the girl with the braid，who also wrote down her name.

她們的相貌顯然比先前的一個(gè)漂亮，身價(jià)也就貴了許多。年紀(jì)小的一個(gè)要價(jià)一千五百圓，年紀(jì)較大的索價(jià)到一千八百圓。一個(gè)朋友嫌身價(jià)太高，老婦人就得意地說她們兩個(gè)都讀過書認(rèn)識字。她還到外面去找了紙筆來，放在茶幾上。年紀(jì)較大的姑娘便側(cè)著身子拿起筆寫出自己的姓氏。她寫完就把筆遞給垂著辮子的姑娘，那個(gè)少女也寫了自己的姓名。

The old woman brought the two slips of paper to our table and we took a look at them in turn. The three neatly written characters Huang Xu Zhen on one slip showed that the older girl wrote a slightly better hand. The other slip was written by the 16-year-old girl，whose name was Li Pan Hao.

老婦人把兩張紙條都送到我們的席上來。我們依次傳觀。第一張紙上的字比較好一點(diǎn)，是“黃旭貞”三個(gè)端端正正的字。另一張是那個(gè)十六歲的姑娘寫的，她的姓名是“李盼好”。

However，despite their ability to write their own names，the two girls were turned down and left after each receiving a 20-cent silver coin. They also turned about to bow to us.

雖然兩個(gè)姑娘都會寫自己的姓名，結(jié)果依舊是各人拿了兩毫銀角走了。走出樓房門口，她們也回轉(zhuǎn)身給我們行禮。

My friends continued to chat and laugh. They said the reason why they had chosen to eat at Xiguan was to find me some materials for writing fiction. They may have told the truth. But，being students of natural science，they had little interest in literature. They knew I was a novelist，but they had never read any of my works，and even if they had，they probably wouldn't have appreciated them. Nevertheless I was grateful to them. But they didn't know how sorry I felt. What I had just seen seemed to weigh heavily on my mind like a solid stone. I couldn't imagine how the three girls had felt the moment they bowed to us on leaving the room. Had they accustomed themselves to such dealings？

客人們繼續(xù)在談笑。他們還說，他們選定在西關(guān)吃飯，是為了給我找小說材料。他們的話也許是真的。他們都是研究自然科學(xué)的人，對于文學(xué)并沒有興趣。他們只知道我會寫小說，卻不曾讀過我的作品，即使有機(jī)會讀到它們，也未必會贊美。我自然感激他們。但是他們完全不了解我。我的心里并不快樂。方才見到的一切似乎放了一塊石頭在我的心上。我不敢想象那三個(gè)少女離開房間時(shí)行禮的一瞬間的心情。難道她們已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了這種事情？

Human trafficking is nothing new. I know it is one of the outcomes of our morbid social system. From day to day，a great many living things named“women”are being bought and sold across the land as commodities.

自然買賣人口并不是一件新奇的事情。我知道它也是我們的畸形的社會制度的一個(gè)產(chǎn)物。每天每天在各個(gè)地方都有許多這樣的被稱為“女人”的生物讓人們當(dāng)作商品來買賣。

My grandpa bought a concubine，so did my father's brother and my mother's brother. And some of my generation are going to follow the example of their elders. I know of just too many instances of concubinage. But it was the first time for me to see women openly offered for sale at a restaurant like they were commodities，and prices negotiated in their presence. It was said that after the bargain was struck and the deposit paid，the customer would go so far as to scrutinize the woman he had bought physically from top to toe. I could not help feeling most indignant about all that.

我的祖父買過姨太太，我的叔父買過姨太太，我的舅父也買過姨太太，我的一些同輩還準(zhǔn)備學(xué)他們長輩的“榜樣”。關(guān)于這件事我知道得很多，很多。但是公開地在茶館酒樓把女人當(dāng)一件商品來招攬主顧，當(dāng)面講價(jià)錢），這在我還是第一次看見。對這樣的事情我不能沒有憤怒！

《一千三百圓》是巴金1933年6月在廣州寫的一篇著名散文，選自他的散文集《旅途隨筆》。文章記述了作者在廣州目睹公開買賣婦女為人妾的情景，充滿了對下層不幸婦女的同情以及對黑暗社會的憎恨。