康拉德的忧伤我的忧伤（8）——那忧伤的象牙

（原创：灵隐士）

康拉德的忧伤我的忧伤（8）——那忧伤的象牙

  （'How did that ivory come all this way?' growled the elder man, who seemed very vexed. The other explained that it had come with a fleet of canoes in charge of an English half-caste clerk Kurtz had with him; that Kurtz had apparently intended to return himself, the station being by that time bare of goods and stores, but after coming three hundred miles, had suddenly decided to go back, which he started to do alone in a small dug-out with four paddlers, leaving the half-caste to continue down the river with the ivory.

  The two fellows there seemed astounded at anybody attempting such a thing. They were at a loss for an adequate motive. As to me, I seemed to see Kurtz for the first time. It was a distinct glimpse: the dug-out, four paddling savages, and the lone white man turning his back suddenly on the headquarters, on relief, on thoughts of home--perhaps; setting his face towards the depths of the wilderness, towards his empty and desolate station. I did not know the motive. Perhaps he was just simply a fine fellow who stuck to his work for its own sake.）

  “象牙是从哪儿来的呢？”“不就是长在大象头上嘛。”以上是我的脑筋急转弯。其实挺难搞，超麻烦，超危险，真的。

  翻译如下：

  “你说这他妈的象牙到底是怎么给弄到这里的呢？”年长的那个压着嗓子怒骂了一句，看起来烦恼得要死。年轻的那个开始解释说来了一长遛木头船，有个办事员——一个一半英格兰血统的人带着队，库尔茨跟他一起过来的。看来很明显库尔茨事先就有着打算，打算好了自己一个人尽快能回去，原因可能是那时候贸易驿站已经没有了现货，也没有了库存。这个人说起来挺奇怪的，你辛辛苦苦奔了三百英里远道而来，也不休整一下，突然一下子马上就要回去，重新挤在那个小小的木头船里，一个人带着四个生兵蛋子蛮子桨手逆流而回，只留下那个一半英格兰种姓的家伙继续带队象牙顺流而下。

  “这事儿——有必要那么急么？”看来这两个家伙对这事儿惊讶极了——真没料到还有人敢这样神操作。两个人一片茫然，大眼对小眼，搞不懂人家为什么要这样干——您的动机是啥呀？对我这个听众来说，这倒是第一次有机会了解到了库尔茨。虽然惊鸿一瞥，却是清晰明了：一只简陋的木头船，命令四个蛮人划桨，一个寂寞的白人，就这么突然把腰一拧身体一转，把自己的背对着公司的总部，背对着同胞的救援，也背对着自己朝思暮想的家乡和亲人，或许会这样吧，或许只是我的臆想而已。然后呢把自己的头脸摆正，开始对着荒野那不见底的深邃，对着遥远的，无比荒凉，现在空空如也的贸易驿站。是的我确实不知道这一切的动机是什么——也许他就是一个大好人，作事简单直接惯了，为了工作在坚守着自己的岗位，尽心而尽力，完全发自于内心的意愿。”

  （The wilderness had patted him on the head, and, behold, it was like a ball --an ivory ball; it had caressed him, and--lo!--he had withered; it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation. He was its spoiled and pampered favorite. Ivory? I should think so. Heaps of it, stacks of it. The old mud shanty was bursting with it. You would think there was not a single tusk left either above or below the ground in the whole country. 'Mostly fossil,' the manager had remarked disparagingly. It was no more fossil than I am; but they call it fossil when it is dug up. It appears these niggers do bury the tusks sometimes--but evidently they couldn't bury this parcel deep enough to save the gifted Mr. Kurtz from his fate. We filled the steamboat with it, and had to pile a lot on the deck. Thus he could see and enjoy as long as he could see, because the appreciation of this favor had remained with him to the last. You should have heard him say, 'My ivory.' Oh yes, I heard him. 'My Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my--'everything belonged to him.）

  是象牙？还是化石？——这是一个问题。只不过在某些人眼里，在攝夺象牙的人的眼里，两个意思是完全一样，用不着区分。这语言真是有魔力的工具，经它一修辞果然高大上，让人不得不佩服。是啊，珍贵的象牙大家都爱，如此之白，如此美丽，如此圣洁，难免带点血腥——大象的，还有人的。你要想快、准、狠地搞到手里，只有一个办法，就是血腥的办法。

  翻译如下：

  “荒野如同一只手一般在轻轻拍打着他（库尔茨）的脑门，看哪，这脑袋看上去就像是一只球一般被玩耍着——一个象牙白的球体；这只无形之手不停地爱抚着他——没错是这样！于是他就像花朵一般在萎谢凋零。无形之手攝抓住他，深爱着他，拥抱着他，侵蚀进他的血管往四处流淌，消耗着他的肌体，就像借用着仪式在祈祷一般，引发出在他躯体之内的某种恶魔，接着把这种魔魂封印到自己的魂魄之中，合二为一。他变成了荒野心头上的肉，精心呵护着，娇生惯养着，宠着。哦你在说象牙吗？嗯我认为应该是。一堆堆的摆在地上，一摞摞的高高叠起来，多极了。那条古老，布满淤泥，用于分流的水沟一时间被塞得要爆了。怎么这么多呀！你一定会认为这一整片土地上，不可能再有一根象牙留下了,不管地上还是地底下。“大多数应该称为化石，”领头的经理曾经这样给过评价，他觉得称之为象牙实在太高看它了。但是我不敢苟同，我看这东西挺年轻，不会比我更象化石。不过我说了不算，他们挖它出来就叫它化石。没错，大老黑们有时的确会把象牙埋起来——但是现在证据表明这批货呢，他们埋得还是不够深，所以命中注定躲不过天赋异禀的库尔茨先生。我们把蒸汽船装得满满的，就是甲板上也堆了挺多——地方小没办法呀。这样还有一个好处，就是他（库尔茨）能看到——只是看到这东西对他而言就是一种享受，他呢，看到这种正能量他就会满怀欣慰，已经养成了好习惯，怕是到死都难改。你应该听他说过吧，“我~~~的象牙。”啊是的，我听他这样讲过。“我的未来打算，我的象牙，我的贸易驿站，我的河，我的。。。。。。”——感情什么东西都是他的。”

  （But there is no disguising the fact, Mr. Kurtz has done more harm than good to the Company. He did not see the time was not ripe for vigorous action. Cautiously, cautiously--that's my principle. We must be cautious yet. The district is closed to us for a time. Deplorable! Upon the whole, the trade will suffer. I don't deny there is a remarkable quantity of ivory--mostly fossil. We must save it, at all events--but look how precarious the position is--and why? Because the method is unsound.'
'Do you,' said I, looking at the shore, 'call it "unsound method"?' 'Without doubt,' he exclaimed, hotly.

  'Don't you?' . . . 'No method at all,' I murmured after a while. 'Exactly,' he exulted. 'I anticipated this. Shows a complete want of judgment. It is my duty to point it out in the proper quarter.'.）

  动嘴容易动手难。道理人人都会讲——光讲有用吗？更何况是马后炮。有的人总觉得自己眼光非常独到，判断力非常卓越，于是恍惚之间觉得自己与上帝同在，像这位领头的经理。但是对大象来说，不管是库尔茨的涸泽而渔，还是这位经理的“细水长流”，执行起来都是要命的。

  翻译如下：

  ““要是揭开伪装去着眼事实的话，库尔茨先生的所作所为对公司来说，那造成的伤害一定大于做出的贡献。他没有看到现在时机尚不成熟，所以不能就这样一股脑地猛干。谨慎些，要谨慎些——这就是我的准则。我们一定要小心，万事要小心，无论什么时候，多么小心都不过分。曾经有段时间，这块地域跟我们距离近得快合到了一起。糟糕啊！因为整体长远来看，这样去操作贸易一定会受损。我不否认象牙的数量确实很多，多得惊人——哦，多数应该称之为化石。可是我们必须省着点儿，任何情况下都要节省点儿——你看看我们现在所处的位置，这么被动！友谊的小船说翻就翻，多不稳哪！——知道为什么吗？因为方法不靠谱，是野路子不对嘛。”

  “你的意思是说，”我盯着河滩的远处，开了口，“是他用的“方法不靠谱”吗？”“绝对是，毋庸置疑，”他一声欢呼，情绪有点上头了。

  “难道你不觉得吗？”。。。。。。“我觉得啊，根本没有啥方法可言，”我想了一会儿，轻轻地感慨出一句。“精辟极了，”听到后他兴高采烈一阵欢腾。“现在这种情况我以前倒是预估到了。这样一看大家完全是需要我的判断力呀，不服也不行。不过没啥，这也正是我的职责，要为大伙儿指明正确的方位，应该的，你说对不对啊？””

  （She walked with measured steps, draped in striped and fringed cloths, treading the earth proudly, with a slight jingle and flash of barbarous ornaments. She carried her head high; her hair was done in the shape of a helmet; she had brass leggings to the knee, brass wire gauntlets to the elbow, a crimson spot on her tawny cheek, innumerable necklaces of glass beads on her neck; bizarre things, charms, gifts of witch-men, that hung about her, glittered and trembled at every step. She must have had the value of several elephant tusks upon her. She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent; there was something ominous and stately in her deliberate progress. And in the hush that had fallen suddenly upon the whole sorrowful land, the immense wilderness, the colossal body of the fecund and mysterious life seemed to look at her, pensive, as though it had been looking at the image of its own tenebrous and passionate soul.）

  “她”是原始村落的一名女巫，庄严神圣，可以代表众人接触上天。自从库尔茨来到这里，她起了变化——她的穿着变得华丽至极，于是在心里觉得自己更加的神圣，更加的与众不同。只是这些外表的华丽不是轻易就能得到的，绝不容易。那是用象牙，用大象的生命，用人的生命——用村落的同胞，以及其他的村落，那些一样黑色面孔的生命所换来的。无比华丽，华丽极了，只是除了华丽，她的眼里还会在乎别的吗？

  翻译如下：

  “女人（女巫）行走着，一步一步好像精准地测量过，身上搭挂着条带形状，有着流苏的服饰，她骄傲地踩着大地迈步向前，身上挂着的原始饰品叮铃铃，亮晶晶。她的头颅高高扬起，头发缠绕成头盔的造型，腿上穿着紧身裤，青铜色，直到膝盖，前臂上带着同色系的线圈护腕，一直延伸到肘根，黄褐色的脸颊有一处猩红之色，在脖子上挂着一条用透明珠子穿成的项链，这些东西蛮奇特的，看上去挺吸引人，应该是献给女巫的礼物，现在穿戴在她的周身上下，每走一步都是颤颤悠悠，闪光发亮。这身行头可不便宜，我看一定能值上好几条象牙。她看上去野蛮十足，又超凡脱俗，眼神散发出狂野，而外观又华丽无比，她的动作如此慎重，似乎在兆示着一种庄严，一种不详。突然寂静一下子就降临到了这片悲伤的土地，四周一片沉寂。这片荒野天地无限，丰饶富足，身躯伟岸，包含着原始、神秘的生命。此时似乎也在注视着她，沉思着，仿佛看到了一张画像，刻画着自己的灵魂，沉郁又热情的灵魂。”

  好忧伤的象牙。好忧伤的大象。好忧伤的人命。其实大象跟人差不多——我本善良，怀璧其罪也。