在奔跑的秋色中回到从前---读汤姆·索亚

“城里来的陌生男孩自带一种高冷，两个人一言不发地就把对方划成‘死对头’。”x0ax0a记得当时年纪小，你在谈天，我在嘲笑。怎么会有人叫“吐温”！...

文/兰卿娘

编/张小红



这本书是献给孩子们的田园诗，也是献给那些曾是孩子的大人们的回忆录。

马克·吐温（Mark Twain）在序言中写道：

Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in.

似乎哪里似曾相识呢？法国作家安东尼（Antoine de Saint-Exupéry）在他享誉全球的儿童文学短篇小说《小王子》中，说了同样的话：

I will dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown-up grew. All grown-ups were once children-- although few of them remember it.

这本书看着看着我就会心地笑了，我真的想起了我的小时候。马克·吐温擅长使用口语化的语言再现底层人民的生活，我不得不长长地引用他的句子，以使热爱英语的朋友得到最直观的阅读趣味。

故事发生在美国密西西比河畔的圣彼得堡小镇，聪明顽皮的小汤姆由姨妈收养，过着无忧无虑、随心所欲的日子，他不喜欢上学，不喜欢去教堂，喜欢玩耍和探险，和所有同龄的小男孩一样。有一天他在街上闲荡，吹着哨子，遇到了一个比他高大很多的陌生男孩（要知道，在这个落后封闭的小镇，任何一个陌生人的出现都能引起极大的兴趣），汤姆眼里的陌生男孩是这样的形象：

This boy was well dressed, too——well dressed on a week-day. This was simply as-tounding. His cap was a dainty thing, his close-buttoned blue cloth roundabout was new and natty, and so were his pantaloons. He had shoes on——and it was only Friday. He even wore a necktie, a bright bit of ribbon. He had a citified air about him that ate into Tom’s vitals. The more Tom stared at the splendid marvel, the higher he turned up his nose at his finery and the shabbier and shabbier his own outfit seemed to him to grow. Neither boy spoke. If one moved, the other moved——but only sidewise, in a circle; they kept face to face and eye to eye all the time.

城里来的陌生男孩自带一种高冷，两个人一言不发地就把对方划成“死对头”，杠上了，真正是有默契啊……

Finally Tom said:

“I can lick you!”

“I’d like to see you try it.”

“Well, I can do it.”

“No you can’t, either.”

“Yes I can.”

“No you can’t.”

“I can.”

“You can’t.”

“Can!”

“Can’t!”

啧……僵持不下。

An uncomfortable pause. Then Tom said:

“What’s your name?”

“’Tisn’t any of your business, maybe.”

“Well I’ low I’ll make it my business.”

“Well why don’t you?”

“If you say much, I will.”

“Much-much-MUCH. There now.”

此处可捧腹大笑也。翻译过来就是“你叫什么名字？”“不关你的事！”“我会让它关我的事的！”“是嘛？你倒是关啊？！”“你再说一句我就关！”“一句！一句！一句！好，我说了很多了，你关啊！”哈哈，你的小时候有没有跟人这样斗过嘴呢？

他们还没完：

“Oh, you think you’re mighty smart, DON’T you? I could lick you with one hand tied behind me, if I wanted to.”

“Well why don’t you DO it? You SAY you can do it.”

“Well I WILL, if you fool with me.”

“Oh yes- I’ve seen whole families in the same fix.”

“Smarty! You think you’re SOME, now, DON’T you? Oh, what a hat!”(斗嘴斗不过的时候就开始人身攻击了，你看你那顶破帽子，丑得嘞！)

“You can lump that hat if don’t like it. I dare you to knock it off- and anybody that’ll take a dare will suck eggs. ”

“You’re a liar!”

“You ’re another.”

“You’re a fighting liar and dasn’t take it up.”

“Aw-take a walk!”

“Say- if you give me much more of your sass I’ll take and bounce a rock off’n your head.”

“Oh, of COURSE you will.”

“Well I WILL.”

“Well why don’t you DO it then? What do you keep SAYING you will for? Why don’t you DO it? It’s because you’re afraid.”(说半天有什么用，你说要打我你怎么老不打啊，你倒是来打啊，不打是因为你怕我！——这小子有觉悟，已经抢了先机，开始总结陈词了。)

“I AIN’T afraid.”

“You are.”

“I ain’t.”

“You are.”

Another pause, and more eying and sidling around each other. Presently they were shoulder to shoulder. Tom said:

“Get away from here!”

“Get away yourself!”

“I won’t.”

“I won’t either.”

……

“You’re a coward and a pup. I’ll tell my big brother on you, and he can thrash you with his little finger, and I’ll make him do it, too.”

“What do I care for your big brother? I’ve got a brother that’s bigger than he is-and what’s more, he can throw him over that fence, too.”[Both brothers were imaginary.]

一场没有硝烟的战争就这么结束了……我想起我小时候和一个小女孩一起回家，在那条泞泥的小路上对骂，想尽脑海中的词，骂出来一句“猴子吃桃子，你被猴子吃掉啦！”（那个小女孩姓陶），一路骂着“猴子吃桃子，猴子吃桃子”，转身到自己的小巷子里飞快跑掉了，好像对方骂一句，你只要能回一句，都不算输，不管这句有没有逻辑。好像只要是自己这边骂的最后一句，听不到对方回过来的骂，都算是赢得了胜利，即使是因为自己跑掉了才听不到的。

汤姆对一个新来到镇上的小女孩怦然心动，想办法成为她的同桌，小女孩知道汤姆“劣迹斑斑”，懒得搭理他，但是汤姆坚持不懈：

Presently the boy began to steal furtive glances at the girl. She observed it, “made a mouth” at him and gave him the back of her head for the space of a minute. When she cautiously faced around again, a peach lay before her. She thrust it away. Tom gently put it back. She thrust it away again, but with less animosity. Tom patiently returned it to its place. Then she let it remain.

嗯，小小年纪，已然明白，脸皮厚是无耻，脸皮够厚是本事。

Tom scrawled on his slate, “Please take it- I got more.” The girl glanced at the words, but made no sign. Now the boy began to draw something on the slate, hiding his work with his left hand. For a time the girl refused to notice; but her human curiosity presently began to manifest itself by hardly perceptible signs. The boy worked on, apparently unconscious. The girl made a sort of non-committal attempt to see, but the boy did not betray that he was aware of it. At last she gave in and hesitatingly whispered: “Let me see it.”

汤姆越是不让小女孩看到自己画的东西，小女孩越是想看到。敢情汤姆还懂得“饥饿营销”呢？还没完，他画了些有意思的图吸引了小女孩的兴趣，又开始在记事板上涂涂画画，这次小女孩果断抛弃对汤姆的成见，巴巴地要看他画的是什么。

Tom said:

“Oh, it ain’t anything.”

“Yes it is.”

“No it ain’t. You don’t want to see.”（读者如我真是深刻地懂得了什么叫“欲迎还拒”。）

“Yes I do, indeed I do. Please let me. ”

“You will tell.”

“No I won’t- deed and deed and double deed won’t.”

“You won’t tell anybody at all?Ever, as long as you live?”

“No, I won’t ever tell ANYbody. Now let me.”（汤姆，氛围营造到这个份上也够了吧？然而不……）

“Oh, YOU don’t want to see!”

“Now that you treat me so, I WILL see.” And she put her small hand upon his and a little scuffle ensued, Tom pretending to resist in earnest but letting his hand slip by degrees till these words were revealed: “I LOVE YOU.”（汤姆，给跪了！）

“Oh, you bad thing!” And she hit his hand a smart rap, but reddened and looked pleased, nevertheless.

天真无邪的小女孩此时完全忘记汤姆是不是调皮捣蛋、劣迹斑斑，乖乖地被他拿下了。我等看得瞠目结舌，只能心悦诚服地给汤姆点个赞：高，实在是高……

诸如这样有趣的段落在小说中俯拾即是，整部小说虽然看似简单—仅围绕小男孩汤姆的日常生活展开，却在平实生动的叙述中铺开一幅具有淡淡怀旧色彩的童年写意，让长大了的我们时不时在恍惚中回到从前。

从前，我会绕着很远很远的路去等一个小女孩一起去学校，一定要一起去，尽管两个人都可能迟到，我现在不记得那个小女孩长什么样子了。从前，我和同桌会在堆得高高的书后面，压低了脖子讲小话，边讲边吃吃傻笑，被老师点名站起来批评一顿，坐下来后旧疾立犯，被批评的羞窘马上又变成讲小话的嘻笑，我现在不记得那时候什么小话可以讲整整一节课了。从前，我会给楼下班上的好朋友买当时很吃香的扬州炒饭，下课铃一响就飞奔下楼等她，在空荡荡的教室里两个脑袋凑在一起，吃得津津有味，我现在不记得是在哪里买的扬州炒饭了。日复一日的忙碌，几乎要忘了我的小时候，然而一经想起，那午后的阳光和慵懒的蝉鸣依然如此清晰。

我知道马克·吐温写这本小说不仅是为怀旧过去，也是为反讽现实。只是我自己更多地读出了童趣与回忆，读出了不忘纯朴与简单之初心，不知你会读出什么呢？Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) is considered to be one of America’s greatest humorists and writers. He is perhaps best known for his novels about boyhood life on the Mississippi River in the mid-19th Century: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, considered to be Twain's greatest contribution to American literature, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, both of which were based in part on his adventures as a child along the banks of the Mississippi.

Under the pen name Mark Twain, Clemens published more than 30 works of literature that included satire, historical fiction, short stories, and nonfiction. Many of his books, including Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court have become classics.

红爷说

“迷宫般的暖气管道开始发光了。玻璃罐里的小矮人抱紧双臂沉入了水底。是时候回家了吧。白色的猿猴们来了又走了。小丑背对着鹈鹕站在冰冻的湖水中间。深夜里，瓦西里岛上长着鹅腿的大楼成群跳下涅瓦河，朝着南方浮游。是时候回家了吧？我却还在绿色的巨型灯罩下数着字符的触角。”

这就是爷为什么还爱着微信的原因。因为有这样漂亮的文字时不时跳出来跟你say Hi，突然间就惊了一地的彩珠，蹦起来，滚向远方。于是整个世界就亮了。

在俄罗斯的朋友，一个只有一面之缘的姑娘却仿佛相识了一个世纪那么久。因为她把苦兮兮憋论文的日子写成了诗，不招摇，不呻吟，还藏了一个精灵在里面肆意起舞。

一定是有一颗五彩斑斓的童年的心还住在她的身体里。

早上醒来看到兰卿娘的小汤姆，顿觉今天阳光明媚，大地飞歌，而我们的小伙伴奔跑嘶叫在放学回家的小巷子里，手里的辣条在刚刚起过沙尘暴的空气里华丽旋转。当然这是一个爷的童年，虽然没有兰卿娘的扬州炒饭那么好吃，可是在日复一日的忙碌中，“几乎要忘了我的小时候，一经想起，那午后的阳光和慵懒的蝉鸣依然如此清晰。”

马克·吐温，第一个记住名字的外国人。记得当时年纪小，你在谈天，我在嘲笑。怎么会有人叫“吐温”！

兰卿娘，热爱文学的英语教师。

古诗唱：

风风雨雨寒寒暖暖 处处寻寻觅觅

莺莺燕燕花花叶叶 卿卿暮暮朝朝

英诗吟：

To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour

她说：

原来中西相通，古今一物。朝暮之间，一粒沙里折射着怎样的世界？风雨之中，半瓣花上透视出怎样的人情？一起伸开手掌吧，看看这无穷无极之中，刹那如何成就永恒。

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