雙語·面紗 第五十三章

53

Since she had been working at the convent Kitty had seen less of Waddington. Two or three times he had come down to the river bank to meet her and they had walked up the hill together. He came in to drink a whisky and soda, but he would seldom stay to dinner. One Sunday, however, he suggested that they should take their luncheon with them and go in chairs to a Buddhist monastery. It was situated ten miles from the city and had some reputation as a place of pilgrimage. The Mother Superior, insisting that Kitty must have a day's rest, would not let her work on Sundays and Walter of course was as busy then as usual.

They started early in order to arrive before the heat of the day and were carried along a narrow causeway between the rice-fields. Now and then they passed comfortable farm-houses nestling with friendly intimacy in a grove of bamboos. Kitty enjoyed the idleness; it was pleasant after being cooped up in the city to see about her the wide country. They came to the monastery, straggling low buildings by the side of the river, agreeably shaded by trees, and were led by smiling monks throughout courtyards, empty with a solemn emptiness, and shown temples with grimacing gods. In the sanctuary sat the Buddha, remote and sad, wistful, abstracted and faintly smiling. There was about everything a sense of dejection; the magnificence was shoddy and ruined; the gods were dusty and the faith that had made them was dying. The monks seemed to stay on sufferance, as though they awaited a notice to quit; and in the smile of the abbot, with his beautiful politeness, was the irony of resignation. One of these days the monks would wander away from the shady, pleasant wood, and the buildings, crumbling and neglected, would be battered by fierce storms and besieged by the surrounding nature. Wild creepers would twine themselves about the dead images and the trees would grow in the courtyards. Then the gods would dwell there no longer, but evil spirits of darkness.

第五十三章

自從一直在修道院幫忙，凱蒂就很少再見到威廷頓了。有兩三次，他來到河邊接她，然后他們一起走上山。他到凱蒂的家總會(huì)喝上一杯蘇打水加威士忌，但是很少留下來吃晚飯?？墒牵幸粋€(gè)星期天，他建議他們應(yīng)該隨身帶著午飯，坐轎椅去一所佛家寺院。這所寺院距離城鎮(zhèn)有十英里遠(yuǎn)，作為一個(gè)朝圣之地還有一些名氣。院長(zhǎng)嬤嬤堅(jiān)持讓凱蒂一周休息一天，不讓她在周日還在工作。當(dāng)然，沃爾特周日仍然同往常一樣忙碌。

為了趕在一天的炎熱到來之前到達(dá)那里，他們很早就動(dòng)身了。轎夫們抬著轎椅在狹窄的稻田田埂上行走，偶爾他們還經(jīng)過很恬靜的農(nóng)家院落，一叢叢竹子友好而親密地依偎在院子的周圍。凱蒂很喜歡這種田園氣息，被禁錮在擁擠的城鎮(zhèn)中，冷不丁來到視野寬闊的鄉(xiāng)間，讓人心曠神怡。他們來到了寺院，這寺院是由河邊零星散落著的一些低矮建筑組成的，廟宇都在樹蔭之下。面帶笑容的僧人們把他們領(lǐng)進(jìn)了院子，這里空寂而又肅穆，廟里的眾神像是各種鬼臉的造型。佛祖的神像端坐在一座大殿中，臉上掛著遙遠(yuǎn)和悲傷的、沉思的、高深莫測(cè)的、淡淡的微笑。這里的每一件東西都有一種憂郁的感覺，昔日的富麗堂皇已經(jīng)變成了虛驕假飾和冷落破敗，神像身上布滿灰塵，它們所代表的信仰已經(jīng)行將就木。僧人們似乎在苦捱度日，好像他們正在等著遣散通知。主持和尚的微笑和彬彬有禮，仿佛是對(duì)辭職的嘲諷。某一天，僧人們會(huì)遠(yuǎn)離陰涼的、令人愉快的樹林去遠(yuǎn)游，而這些斑駁和荒涼的廟宇，會(huì)受到猛烈暴風(fēng)雨的打擊和周圍大自然的圍困。野生的爬山虎會(huì)盤繞在那些沒有生命的神像上，而樹木會(huì)在院落中自生自滅，到了那時(shí)，各種神靈不會(huì)在此駐留，只有邪惡的黑暗精靈在此游蕩。