0929翻譯：那樹（王鼎鈞）

0929翻譯：那樹（王鼎鈞）

Translation: That Tree (Wang Dingjun)

(translated by: alexcwlin; edited by: Adam Lam)

那棵樹立在那條路邊上已經很久很久了。

That particular tree had been standing by the side of that road for a very long time.

當那路還只是一條泥濘的小徑時，它就立在那裡；當路上駛過第一輛汽車之前，它就立在那裡；當這一帶只有稀稀落落幾處老式平房時，它就立在那裡。

It had positioned itself at that spot as early as the times when the road was a muddy little path, the first car drove on that road, and only a few old-fashioned bungalows scattered around the area.

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那樹有一點佝僂，露出老態，

The Tree was somewhat hunched and showing the effect of age.

但是堅固穩定，

But still it was sturdy and steady.

樹頂像剛炸開的焰火一樣繁密。

The luxuriant outgrowth of foliage at Tree』s top resembled blazing flames after an explosion.

認識那棵樹的人都說，有一年，颱風連吹兩天兩夜，附近的樹全被吹斷，房屋也倒坍了不少，

All those people who were familiar with the Tree said one year savaging of a typhoon for two days and nights snapped trees and crumpled houses.

只有那棵樹屹立不搖，

Only that Tree remained unscathed.

而且據說，連一片樹葉都沒有掉下來。

Allegedly not even a single leaf was lost from it.

這真令人難以置信，

It was hard to believe.

可是，據說，當這一帶還沒有建造新式公寓之前，陸上颱風緊急警報聲中，總有人到樹榦上漩渦形的洞里插一柱香呢！

However, reportedly before new high-rises came up in this area, people placed sticks of incense in whirlpool-shaped holes on trunk of that Tree when inland typhoon warnings were issued.

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那的確是一株堅固的大樹，

It was indeed a solid big Tree.

黴黑潮濕的皮層上，有隆起的筋和縱裂的紋，像生鐵鑄就的模樣。

On its moldy-black, moist surface, there were bulged-up veins and vertically-cracked lines that seemed like they were fashioned from cast pig-iron.

幾丈以外的泥土下，還看出有樹根的伏脈。

It could be seen that there were veins of its roots buried underneath soil a short distance away.

在夏天的太陽下挺著頸子急走的人，會像獵犬一樣奔到樹下，

Fast-walking people looking up into the summer sun would rush under the tree like hounds.

吸一口濃蔭，仰臉看千掌千指托住陽光，看指縫間漏下來的碎汞。

Then they would take a breather below the shade, look up at the sunlight that thousands of people would be trying to shield off with their palms and fingers, and would look at tiny bits of light that leaked through their own finger gaps.

有時候，的確，連樹葉也完全靜止。

In fact even tree leaves stayed put at times.

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於是鳥來了，

Then birds came.

鳥叫的時候，幾丈外幼兒園裡的孩子也在唱歌。

When birds chirped, children in a kindergarten a short distance away were singing as well.

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於是情侶止步，夜晚，樹下有更黑的黑暗，

Lovers halted their steps below the Tree because over there it was darker than elsewhere around the area at night.

於是那樹，那沉默的樹，暗中伸展它的根，加大它所能蔭庇的土地，一厘米一厘米的向外。

So the taciturn Tree unobtrusively extended its roots, centimeter by centimeter, to stretch out the territory under its protection.

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但是，這世界上還有別的東西，別的東西延伸得更快.

But in this world, there were other things which expanded much faster.

柏油一里一里鋪過來，高壓線一千碼一千碼架過來，公寓樓房一排一排挨過來。

They included asphalt pavement being laid down mile after mile, high-pressure electric cables being installed thousand-yard after thousand-yard, and residential apartments being built row after row.

所有原來在地面上自然生長的東西都被剷除，被連根拔起。只有那樹被一重又一重死魚般的灰白色包圍，

Almost everything naturally there before was uprooted, except that Tree which was surrounded by dead-fish-color gray materials.

連根須都被壓路機輾進灰色之下，

Even the Tree』s rootlets were driven underneath the gray materials by steam-rollers.

但樹頂仍在雨後滴翠，

Yet the Tree』s top seemingly was dripping green color after rainfall.

經過速成的新建築物襯托，綠得很深沉。

Against the backdrop of fast constructed buildings, the green color was ever so rich and profound.

公共汽車在樹旁插下站牌，讓下車的人好在樹下從容撐傘。

Beside the Tree, a public-bus stop-sign was erected so that passengers getting off the buses could take their time in opening up umbrellas under the Tree.

入夜，毛毛細雨比貓步還輕，跌進樹葉里匯成敲響路面的點點滴滴，泄漏了秘密，

At nightfall, lighter-than-catwalk drizzle which was conflated into water drops in Tree』s leaves fell noisily to ground as if secrets were being revealed.

很濕，也很有詩意。

It was wet, yet poetic.

那樹被工頭和工務局裡的科員端詳過計算過無數次，任他依然綠著。

The Tree』s situation had been scrutinized and evaluated many times by field foremen and Public Works Department officers, but in the end it was left alone to stay green.

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計程車像飢蝗擁來。

Taxis came in droves like starved locusts.

「為什麼這兒有一棵樹呢？」一個司機喃喃。「而且是這麼老這麼大的樹。」

A cab driver mumbled: 「Why is there such an old and big tree here at this place?」

乘客也喃喃。

Public transit passengers grumbled as well.

在車輪揚起的滾滾黃塵里，在一片焦躁惱怒的喇叭聲里，那一片清陰不再有用處。

Amidst yellowish dust kicked up by vehicle tires and impatient honking from rude drivers, the need for the Tree』s shade had evaporated.

公共汽車站搬了，搬進候車亭。

The bus stop had moved to a location with a bus shelter;

水果攤搬了，搬到行人能優閑的停住的地方。

the fruit stand had moved to a place where pedestrians could hang around leisurely;

幼兒園也要搬，看何處能屬於孩子。

the kindergarten had moved to a site that was more suited for children.

只有那樹屹立不動，連一片葉也不落下。

Only the tree stood its ground without making a move or even shedding a leave.

那一蓬蓬葉子照舊綠，綠得很問題。

The thriving leaves stayed green—the kind of green that was of questionable value.

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啊，樹是沒有腳的。

Oh, trees do not grow feet.

樹是世襲的土著，是春泥的效死者。

They are hereditarily localized natives and sworn loyalists to spring』s soil.

樹離根根離土，樹即毀滅。

Once they are removed of roots or their roots are removed from soil, then they die.

它們的傳統是引頸受戮，即使是神話作家也不曾說森林逃亡。

Traditionally they stay passive to meet their destinies, and even a fairy-tale author has never fabricated a story on how a forest escapes from its doom.

連一片葉也不逃走，無論風力多大。

No matter how strong wind may be, even a leaf would not run away.

任憑頭上已飄過十萬朵雲，地上疊過百萬個腳印。任憑那在枝椏間跳遠的鳥族已棲習過每一座青山。當幼苗長出來，當上帝伸手施洗，上帝曾說：「你綠在這裡，綠著生，綠著死，死復綠。」

Even though a hundred thousand clouds have passed over from above, a million footprints have made their marks on the ground, and those branch-hopping birds have made their homes in each green hill, yet when the Tree』s young seedlings came out, the Creator baptized them and said: 「You stay green here when you are alive, dead or resurrected.」

啊！所以那樹，冒死掩覆已失去的土地，作徒勞無功的貢獻，在星空下仰望上帝。

Oh, therefore that Tree, in looking up the starry sky at Him, realized it was a meaningless endeavor to risk its own life in protecting ground that had ben lost.

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這天，一個喝醉了的駕駛者以l六十英里的速度，對準樹榦撞去。

This day, a drunken driver crashed his car right into the Tree』s trunk at the speed of sixty kilometers an hour.

於是人死。

The driver was killed.

於是交通專家宣判那樹要償命。

So the traffic expert announced the Tree had to pay with its own life.

於是這一天來了，電鋸從樹的踝骨咬下去，

The day came and an electric power-saw bit into the Tree』s ankles.

嚼碎，撒了一圈白森森的骨粉，

It gnawed them into a ring of white sawdust scattered all around.

那樹僅僅在倒地時呻吟了一聲。

The Tree only groaned once when it fell down.

這次屠殺安排在深夜進行，為了不影響馬路上的交通。

This butchering was arranged to be carried out deep into the night so that traffic would not be disrupted.

夜很靜，

The night was quiet.

像樹的祖先時代，星臨萬戶，天象莊嚴，

Like the Tree』s ancestry times, stars filled the sky and astronomical atmosphere was somber.

可是樹沒有說什麼，上帝也沒有。

The Tree did not say a thing, and neither did the Creator.

一切預定，一切先有默契，

Everything was prearranged and understood.

不再多言。

Words were not needed.

與樹為鄰的老太太偏說她聽見老樹嘆氣，一聲又一聲，像嚴重的氣喘病。

A neighborhood old lady deliberately said she heard repeated sighing of the old Tree similar to symptom of serious asthma.

伐樹的工人什麼也沒聽見，

The workers cutting down the Tree said they did not hear anything.

樹緩緩傾斜時，他們只發現一件事：原來藏在葉底下的那盞路燈格外明亮，

When the Tree was slowly tilting before it came down, they discovered only one thing—the street light underneath the leaves became much brighter.

馬路豁然開曠，像拓寬了幾尺。

The road was broadened as if a few extra feet were added.

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屍體的肢解和搬運連夜完成。

The dismemberment and transportation of the Tree』s body were completed overnight.

早晨，行人只見地上也碎葉，葉上的每一平方公分仍綠。

In the morning, pedestrians saw damaged leaves lying on the ground, and the leaves were still green everywhere.

綠世界的殘存者已不復存，它果然綠著生、綠著死。

The survivor in the green world had ceased to exist, and sure enough it was green when alive and green when deceased.

緩緩的，路面上染著旭輝；緩緩的，清道婦一路揮帚出現。

Slowly the dawn』s glow shone on the road, and a few lady street-sweepers with their brooms appeared.

她們戴著斗笠，包著手臂，是樹的親戚。

Wearing bamboo hats and arm-wrappers, they were close acquaintances of the Tree like relatives.

掃到樹根，她們圍年輪站定，看著那一圈又一圈的風雨圖，

When they swept to the roots of the Tree, they surrounded the annual rings and looked at those weather-telling circles.

估計根有多大，能分裂多少斤木柴。

They were guessing how big were the roots, and how many firewood bundles could the Tree be split into?

一個她說：昨天早晨，她掃過這條街，樹仍在，

One of them said yesterday morning the Tree was still around when she was sweeping the street.

住在樹榦里的螞蟻大搬家，由樹根到馬路對面流成一條細細的黑河。

At that time, the ants living in the Tree』s trunk were relocating and they formed a small black stream from the roots to the opposite side of the road.

她用作證的語氣說，她從沒見過那麼多螞蟻，那一定是一個螞蟻國。

She spoke with a testimonial tone that she had never seen so many ants in her life, and that had to be an ants』 kingdom.

她甚至說，有幾個螞蟻像蒼蠅一般大。

She even said some ants were as big as flies.

她一面說，一面用掃帚畫出大移民的路線，

As she was speaking, she used the broom to map out the exodus route of those ants.

汽車輪胎幾次將隊伍切成數段，但秩序豪不紊亂。

Even though wheels of passing vehicles cut up the troop into sections, the formation order was never sent to a chaos.

對著幾個睜大眼睛了的同伴，她表現了鄉村女子特殊的豐富見聞。

In front of her wide-eyed companions, she demonstrated the rich knowledge of a village woman.

老樹是通靈的，它預知被伐，

The old Tree was psychic and it could tell beforehand that it would be cut down.

將自己的災禍告訴體內的寄居者。

It told its forthcoming disaster to the residents in its body.

於是小而堅韌的民族決定遠征，一如當初它們遠征而來。

So the small but tough tribe of ants decided on a long trip, just like it came a long way at the beginning.

每一個黑鬥士離巢時先在樹榦上繞行一匝，表示了依依不捨。

Every black warrior, before it left the nest, circled around the Tree』s trunk once to show its reluctance to part.

這是那個鄉下來的清道婦說的。

That was the story from the lady street-sweeper.

這就是落幕了，她們來參加了樹的葬禮。

It was the moment in letting down the curtain and they came for the Tree』s funeral.

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兩星期後，根被挖走了。

Two week later, the roots were dug up.

為了割下這顆生滿虯須的大頭顱，劊子手貼近它做成陷阱，切段所有的靜脈動脈。

To cut off the bearded-head-like stump, the executioners had to work at it closely to dig up a trap-like hole and severed all the roots.

時間仍是在夜間，

The time was still deep into the night.

這一夜無星無月，黑得像一塊仙草冰，

That night there were no stars and moon in the sky and it was as dark as iced grass jelly.

他們帶著利斧和美製的十字鎬來，帶工作燈來，

The workers brought along sharp axes, cross-shaped picks and construction work lamps.

人造的強光把舉鎬揮斧的影子投射在路面上，在公寓二樓的窗帘上，跳躍奔騰如巨無霸。

The bright artificial light cast shadows of ax- and pick-wielding figures on the road and hopping giants on window shades of the second-floor apartment.

汗水趕過了預算數，有人懷疑已死為朽之木還能頑抗。

Sweat in the efforts exceeded what was expected and someone suspected it was resistance put up by the deceased timber.

在陷阱未填平之前，車輛改道，

Before the trap-like hole was filled, vehicles had to be re-routed.

幾個以違規為樂的摩托車騎士跌進去，抬進醫院。

Several habitual traffic violating motorcyclists fell into the hole and were carried off to hospital.

不過這一切都過去了，

All these were in the past.

現在，日月光華，周道如砥，

Now the sun and moon were shining bright and traffic on the road was smooth.

已無人知道有過這麼一棵樹，更沒人知道幾千條斷根壓在一層石子一層瀝青又一層柏油下悶死。

Nobody knew there was such a tree in existence and thousands of severed roots were choked to death under layers of stones and asphalt.

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