雙語|現(xiàn)代散文:謝冰瑩 櫻之家

Sakura[1] Apartment 櫻之家

◎ Xie Bingying ◎ 謝冰瑩

In my long seeking for lodgings，I often met with a snub．I remember how，before Te arrived，when Xue Ying and I went out hunting for a room to let，we would often encounter an elderly woman emerging from a house to announce her curt refusal to rent out a room to a Chinese or a single woman．That incurred our great displeasure and we sometimes found it both laughable as well as irritating．If we had asked her for the reason why，she would probably have，to our even greater displeasure，cooked up stories of how noisy and messy the Chinese were…

為了找房子，不知花費我多少時間，受過多少閑氣。記得在特沒有來之前，我和雪影去找房子，老太婆出來回答的，不是說不租給中國人，便是說不租給獨身的女人。這些話不知引起我們發(fā)過多少牢騷，有時就氣得啼笑皆非。你如果要質(zhì)問她為什么不租給中國人，那才倒天下之大霉，她會亂七八糟地說中國人如何愛鬧愛吵，不講衛(wèi)生……

It was with great difficulty that I finally，together with two friends，managed to find a living place called Sakura Apartment．It was an exquisite small house with its exterior painted pink—of exactly the same colour as cherry blossoms．I was very much struck by it at first sight．Oh，how poetic it would be to be domiciled in a pink house！

好容易和兩個朋友一同找著了櫻“阿怕拖”。這是一座精巧玲瓏的小房子，外面漆的粉紅色，完全和櫻花的顏色一般。我最初望到它時，腦筋里立刻受了一個大大的刺激，呵，住在粉紅色的房子里，該是多么有詩意的生活！

Meditatively，I kept muttering the name of the house“Sakura”．Beautiful！What a beautiful name！I'd sure take up my lodgings here if only there was a room available！

我一面這樣想著，一面念著這房子的名字：“沙枯拉阿怕拖”，太美了！這名字太美了！如果有房子，我非住在這里不可！

Hearing me talk to myself，my friends burst out laughing．When the landlord told me there was a flat available downstairs，I immediately paid some earnest money and decided to move in the next day.

他們聽了我自言自語的話，都哈哈大笑起來，房主人告訴我還有一間樓下的房子空著，于是我看了后立刻就放下定錢，決定第二天搬來。

After alighting from a street car and crossing a railway track，I came to a busy village street．Near a florist's shop，a wonderful scene suddenly came into view．Standing tall and erect before me in neat array was a forest of evergreen pines and firs．The shortcut to Sakura Apartment was by a beautiful track through this forest．While walking in the shade of the trees，I preferred not to focus my attention exclusively on the scenery．I found it most interesting to watch，by slowing down my pace，other people walking ahead of me one after another．On a fine day，I enjoyed watching them like on television．On a rainy day，however，the bad condition of the track was abominable．The place was，however，very charming on a snowy day when all was white．Glittering icicles hanging from eaves of houses and branches of trees plus the snow-capped mountains in sight would make you feel like living in an earthly paradise．Snow falling off branches of pines and firs would land all over on pedestrians．When it happened to land on young girls' heads or their delicate necks，their sweet giggles and rosy cheeks would form a picture of indescribable beauty.

下了電車，走過鐵路，就是一條有相當(dāng)熱鬧的鄉(xiāng)村的街。走到一間賣花店的面前，你會突然發(fā)現(xiàn)一個奇跡，擺在你眼前的原來是一座高聳入云的松林。樹是那樣高，筆直，而又整齊得特別可愛！因為是松樹和杉樹的原故，所以四時都是綠油油的。你如果要到“櫻之家”去，最經(jīng)濟(jì)，最美麗的道路自然是穿過森林。自己在樹底下行走，如果把風(fēng)景看得太嚴(yán)重了，倒反沒有什么趣味。最有意思的是自己慢慢地在后面走，看著人家一個個地從樹蔭下經(jīng)過。若遇著晴天，人的影子迅速地在路上移動著，好像看電影似的，非常有趣；雨天，路太壞了，不但感不到什么好處，而且非常恨這塊地方。下雪天，不待說，這兒是最令人留連的了！雪景，白茫茫的一片，亮晶晶的冰條，掛在屋檐上、樹枝上，再加上一眼望過去的白皚皚的冰山，簡直令你忘記了此身還在人間。其實這些景致并不算稀奇，最妙的還是堆積在松枝上的白雪，當(dāng)著行人從底下經(jīng)過時，它突然輕輕地打了下來，弄得你滿頭滿身都是雪。有時恰好落在日本的少女頭上，或者粉頸上，她們那嬌滴滴的叫笑聲，和泛著桃紅色的兩頰，真有描寫不出的美麗。

Once，on the second day after the second fall of snow in spring，when we were halfway through the track，a lump of snow falling from the trees almost hit Te on the head．He immediately put his own hat on my head and walked ahead of me bareheaded．Two nearby Japanese boy students，seeing me wearing a man's hat，began to laugh out loud．I didn't see anything funny about a woman wearing a man's hat．I rather thought it funny for them to laugh．So I also laughed.

是第二次下了春雪的第二天，我們從森林中經(jīng)過，走到半途，雪塊忽然掉下來，差一點打在特的頭上，他連忙把帽子取下來給我戴上，自己光著頭在前面打先鋒。后面兩個日本男學(xué)生，看我戴著男人的帽子，笑得一塌糊涂，我并不覺得女人戴男人的帽子好笑，而覺得他們的笑才真是好笑，于是自己也笑了起來。

Yes，this was a very interesting place．On the right side of the track stood a Japanese Shinto shrine，which we often passed by on our way to the post office．All was quiet and clean．The most memorable thing was the soughing of the wind in the pines at dusk and the singing of spring birds at dawn.

是的，這里是這樣一個有趣味的地方，路的右邊是神社，去郵局常常要經(jīng)過這里。寂靜、清潔自不待言，最令人懷戀的是黃昏時晚風(fēng)吹動的松濤和在清晨聽到的一聲聲告春鳥的歌唱。

On a moonlit night，when you passed through this place，you would better understand the following two lines[2] escaping your lips：

The bright moon peeps through pine trees，

Crystal-clear spring water flows over stones.

有月亮的晚上，你經(jīng)過這里，一定會不知不覺地念出“明月松間照，清泉石上流”的詩句，而且理解那是怎樣一個情境。

Beside the forest lay a brook，which kept babbling along，through the thick forest and by the pink house.

森林的旁邊有一灣溪水，這溪水永遠(yuǎn)在潺潺地流著，經(jīng)過深邃的森林，也經(jīng)過粉紅色的房子。

Sakura Apartment was tucked away in a natural environment of peace and quiet．Though the interior of the house was not so beautiful as its exterior，I paid only 12 yen a month for my flat complete with study，bedroom and kitchen．An accommodation renting so cheaply was hard to come by in Tokyo．Moreover，I could rise at the call of the early morning sun and enjoy the company of the bright moon every night．These were but two of the things I didn't want to miss.

“櫻之家”，就在山水清幽的地方建筑起來的。里面雖沒有外面的美麗，然而只花十二元一月，有精巧的書齋、睡房、廚房給你享受，在東京，這樣便宜的地方是再也找不到的。何況早晨有太陽喚醒你起床，晚間有清朗的月亮陪伴你寫作，只這兩點也值得我們留戀了。

Yet I had to leave this quiet and enchanting place！

然而，這樣幽靜、這樣美麗的地方，我們終于離開它了！

“Let's stay on…in this nice place！”I kept saying falteringly to Te until the porter came.

一直到搬運夫來搬行李為止，我還在猶豫地對特說：“不要搬了吧，這里太好了！”

Thirty minutes after the car left，I，in a dreamy state，still turned back to look out of the glass window in search of Sakura Apartment hidden in the depths of the forest.

當(dāng)汽車走了半個多鐘頭之后，我好似在夢里似的，仍然回過頭來，從玻璃窗里尋找那在森林深處的“櫻之家”。

《櫻之家》是著名女作家謝冰瑩1935年3月寫于日本東京的一篇散文。當(dāng)時她在日本早稻田大學(xué)文學(xué)研究所攻讀西洋文學(xué)。作者在文章中談到自己所受的歧視，同時詳細(xì)描述了留日生活的片段以及周圍的秀麗風(fēng)光，語言平實自然，樸素流暢。