(中英)現(xiàn)代散文:海戀 I Love the Sea

I Love the Sea

海　戀

◎ Xie Bingying

◎　謝冰瑩

I love diverse aspects of Mother Nature, but I love the sea more than the mountain.

對于大自然的愛好，我是多方面的，我愛山，但更愛海。

Ever since I came to Xiamen, I've been in the habit of going for a walk along the seashore almost every day. It gives me an indescribable pleasant sensation to step on the spongy fine sand. When the sea wind dashes the snow-white billows against the beach, I can pick up from among the brilliant spray many pretty shells and colourful pebbles, as well as some lovely green seaweed as delicate as human hair. I'm even more inclined to lie on the clean and soft sandy beach and listen quietly to the sea unbosoming itself. How comfortable and refreshed I will be to feel the cool gentle sea breeze brushing past me!

自從來到廈門，我?guī)缀跆焯於家胶I去散步，踏在那細軟的沙子上①，有一種說不出來的舒適。當海風卷起雪浪來襲擊海岸時，在美麗的浪花里②，會拾到許多小巧玲瓏的貝殼，和五色斑斕的小石子；還有那些碧綠的海草，長的像秀發(fā)，又美又可愛。我更愛躺在潔凈輕柔的細沙上，靜聽著海潮的傾訴；當微風輕輕地從我的身邊掠過，那種又清涼又輕松的感覺，真是舒適極了，甜美極了！

There is no denying the mightiness of the sea. I love her not only because she has the beautiful hues and many intriguing objects hidden deep underneath her, but also because she is broad and liberal enough to turn the foul into the pure. The numerous small rivers that she accommodates may be of a black or yellow colour, but once they flow into her bosom, they instantly take on the green colour signifying peace and tranquility. A person with a terrifying hot temper will become, I believe, as meek as a lamb after a long stay by the seashore. Likewise, I believe a narrow-minded person will become tolerant and open-hearted if he often keeps company with the sea.

誰能否認海的偉大呢？我愛海，并不僅僅因為她的顏色美麗，和藏在海底那許多有趣的玩藝兒，而是愛她的胸襟廣闊③，化污穢為清潔④。她容納無數(shù)的細流，盡管它們的顏色有黑的也有黃的，一旦流到了海的懷抱，便立刻變成碧綠的了。碧綠是代表和平，代表一種靜美。一個人，哪怕他的脾氣有如虎狼那么兇暴⑤，我相信如果長住在海濱，一定會變得和羔羊一般馴良；同時，那些心懷狹隘的人，如果常與海做朋友，我相信他也會改變成豪爽，痛快的性格。

Surrounded by the sea on all sides, the city of Xiamen is really picturesque with clean wide avenues. Facing it on the opposite bank is Gulangyu, the famous tourist resort, and in the west is Nanputuo, one of the local scenic spots. Here you can choose to tour a different place of interest each day if you feel fit enough.

廈門，真是個風景幽美的所在，四周被海環(huán)抱，街道是那么廣闊，清潔；對岸是鼓浪嶼，西邊是南普陀，只要你的身體健康，你可以一天換一個地方游覽。

Lots of things happen by mere coincidence in this world. It has been an unexpected piece of luck for me to become a teacher at Xiamen Middle School. Zhuang Kuizhang, headmaster of the school, was a stranger to me when we first met though he had been a schoolmate of mine at Peking Normal University. The middle school is located high up on a mountain slope facing the sea. On the second day after my arrival at Xiamen, I was so struck by the beauty of the school environment that I went sauntering into the campus where Zhuang and I met by accident and started chatting. He asked me if I would like to be a teacher of Chinese at his school, but, as I was to go on a tour to western Fujian, I could not say yes or no immediately. Later he wrote me again and again urging me to go back to Xiamen to pick up the teaching post. At first, I had misgivings about working together with a person of whom I knew so little. What if he and I should fail to agree with each other in the future? My worries, however, turned out to be uncalled-for. Zhuang is very honest and kindhearted. So is his wife, if not more. He treats all the teaching staff with warmth of heart as if he were head of a big family. We will often go together to his home to spend our free hours chatting cheerfully.

世界上往往有許多巧事，是你沒有想到的；我來到廈門中學教書，完全是一種意外的收獲。莊校長奎章，雖然是師大的同學，我們卻并不認識。是抵廈門的第二天，我隨便到廈中去參觀，看見校舍建筑在高高的山坡上，面臨著海，風景非常幽美，于是就信步走進去，無意中會到了莊校長，隨便談起來，他就要請我去教國文；然而我當時不能決定⑥，因為我還需要去游歷閩西。后來一連接到莊校長好幾封催我去廈門的信，我覺得有點太冒險，和一個陌生的人共事，將來如果意見不合又怎么辦呢？其實我這顧慮是多余的，莊是個非常厚道的人，他的太太尤其忠厚溫和，對待同事都很熱情，好像他就是一個家長，沒有課時，大家圍在他的家里聊天，談笑自如，非常有趣。

I came back to Xiamen to fill the teaching post before school began. It was unbearably hot, so Mr. Zhuang and his wife invited me to go seabathing with them. But surprisingly it ended up in my narrow escape from the surging waves. As I had never in my life seen people swim except in some pictorials and as the weather was so hot, I, being at the seaside and not knowing how dreadful the sea could become, naturally felt like having a go at dabbling in the water. Suddenly the violent waves came upon me and carried me quite a few metres away. "Help! Help!" I cried out with lots of salty seawater in my mouth. They rushed to my rescue. But no sooner had they seized me by the arm than the surging waves returned to carry all of us quite a few metres away. In an increasingly rough sea, even a good swimmer may lose all control over himself, let alone me, an absolute beginner in the art of swimming.

我到廈中時，還沒有開學，正是熱得要命的時候，莊先生夫婦約我去洗海水浴，差一點我被海浪卷去了生命⑦。原來我生平?jīng)]有看見人家游泳過，只在畫報上看到一些游泳的照片，既然來到了海濱，而且天氣這么熱，自然我想下水去練習練習⑧；沒想到海浪是這么可怕的，它突然襲來，我被卷去了丈多遠⑨，口里灌進去很多海水，咸得我大聲叫喊“救命呀！救命呀！”他們連忙把我的膀子捉住，又是一個大浪打來，把我們卷去了丈多遠。海水越來越深，連最會游泳的都失去了控制的能力，何況我是個初下水的人？

It was with much effort that they managed to drag me onto the beach. Since then, I've never dared to have a go at swimming again. All I do is sit quietly on the beach reading and basking in the sunshine, or go collecting shells. True, shells have aroused in me so much interest that every day I will come back from the seaside with pockets bulging with shells. I'll lay out my new acquisitions on the desk in many classified groups so as to show off before my colleagues. They may take away some of the shells, but I don't care at all, for the next day I can bring back from the beach as many replacements.

后來他們好容易才把我拖到海灘上來，經(jīng)過這一次危險后，我再也不敢嘗試游泳了。我只高興靜靜地一個人坐在沙灘上看書，曬太陽，或者拾貝殼。真的，對于拾貝殼，我發(fā)生了莫大的興趣，每天回來，袋子里都是裝得滿滿的⑩；我把它們擺在書桌上，分成很多種類，向同事們夸耀。有些被他們搶走了，我也不心痛，因為第二天，我又可以跑去海灘拾許多同樣的回來。

I've become more and more crazy about the sea. I never let a day pass without seeing it with my own eyes. Sometimes, as soon as I get up, I'll hasten to the seashore to greet the blood-red sun rising from the distant edge of the sea. Sometimes, I'll go to the beach at sunset for the special purpose of enjoying the twilight scene. I'm even more fascinated by the lighthouse standing in the middle of the sea. My hat off to the lighthouse keeper for drudging at the tedious task of providing ships with a flashing light lest they should run up on rocks in the dark sea!

我對于海，好像著了魔似的一天比一天迷戀起來，我愛它，甚至一天也不能離開它。有時清早起來便奔向海濱，迎接血紅的太陽由海邊升起；有時特地在陽光將要落山的時候，去領略海灘的黃昏滋味。我更愛看矗立在海中央的燈塔，我佩服那守燈塔的人?，他每天機械地守住自己的崗位，給予往來的航行者一種光明的指示；假若沒有他，這海面將被黑暗所包圍，來往的船只，隨時都有觸著暗礁的危險。

I love the sea. I wish I could some day live by the sea in a thatched cottage of my own so that I could all day listen to the soft breeze and the sea communicating with each other in sweet whispers and watch the rolling waves kissing the beach. If I should then have great sufferings (as a matter of fact, I know I can never steer clear of sufferings), I'll quietly plunge myself into the bosom of the sea, and let the mighty waves strike up a funeral hymn for me, the gentle sea breezes softly caress my dead body floating about on the blue waters, and the moon and stars mourn over my death with their tender light. How wonderful it will be for me quietly to take leave of this afflicted mortal world without the knowledge of anyone except the moon and stars, and the wind and sea!

我愛海，我愿意將來有那么一天，筑兩間茅屋在海濱，整天聽柔風和海濤蜜語，看海水吻著海灘；如果那時我還有痛苦的話，（其實，我知道，痛苦會永遠地跟隨著我的?。）我可以悄悄地投進海的懷抱，讓雄壯的海濤，為我奏著挽歌，溫柔的海風，輕輕地撫摸著我浮在碧波上的尸體；月兒和星星放出慈祥的光輝為我追悼。就這樣，悄悄地沒有一個人知道，除了月亮，星光，風和海，我離開了這苦惱的人間，該是多么美，多么快樂……

《海戀》是謝冰瑩寫于1932年的一篇散文。當時她從上海漂流到福建，正在廈門中學教書。