雙語|現(xiàn)代散文:冰心 我差點被狼吃了!

My Narrow Escape from a Wolf's Jaws 我差點被狼吃了！

◎ Bing Xin ◎ 冰心

The editors of the Childhood asked me to write for kids an article entitled My Childhood．Since I have written more than once on the same subject，now I might as well tell you a thrilling story instead.

《兒童時代》的編輯們叫我給小朋友寫一篇《我的童年》。關于“童年”，我寫過不止一篇了?，F(xiàn)在不妨講一段驚險的故事，給小朋友們聽。

It was probably in 1906．My father was then in charge of a Yantai naval training camp．We lived just opposite in an old-style quadrangle for naval officers' family members．It stood on a piece of level land dug out of the mountain slope．Every day，I remember，when mother was busy plaiting my hair，I would look out of the back window to set my eyes on a tall earthen wall and small clusters of dandelions growing out of the holes in the ground left by digging．They were the first flowers I have ever been friends with in my life！

這大概是一九〇六年的事了，那時我的父親是煙臺海軍練營的營長，我們的家就住在練營對面的一個職工家屬的四合院里，這個四合院是蓋在從山坡上挖出來的一塊平地上。我總記得每天我母親替我梳小辮的時候，我從后窗望去，外面是一堵高高的土墻，在每一個鋤頭挖過的凹孔里，都長著一小叢的蒲公英，她是我一生中所結(jié)交的“花”的朋友中的第一個！

On the slope behind our house was a platform for exchanging flag signals with warships at sea．Often，armed with a slate—the kind of slate as used by schoolchildren for learning arithmetic，father would mount the platform to communicate with warships in harbour，together with a seaman carrying two coloured flags.

在我家后面的山坡上，有一座和海上兵艦通旗語的旗臺，我父親常常帶著一塊石板——就是我們小時候上學時用的做算術的那種石板——和一個帶著兩面彩旗的水兵，上旗臺去跟海港里的軍艦通話。

Dongshan in Yantai was then a bleak and desolate place，often haunted by wolves at night hunting for food．Our cook often complained about wolves eating up our chicks the previous night after pushing off the heavy stone on top of the big bamboo coop．He suggested that a brick hen house be built to replace the bamboo coop．I had never seen a wolf，so didn't take his words too much to heart.

那時候的煙臺東山，還是荒涼得很，時常有狼在夜里出來覓食。我們的廚師傅常抱怨說：昨天夜里蓋在大雞籠下，上面還壓著一塊大石頭的雞籠，又被狼頂開，把小雞吃了。不如砌一個磚頭的雞舍好。我從來沒看見過狼，也就沒把這話往心里去。

One evening，father went up the platform again with a signal man，but he remained there long after the seaman came back．So I started running up to meet him．Then，in the midst of the deepening dusk，I became aware of something like a big dog following at my heels．All of a sudden，father gave a loud shout，“Come on！Quick！”I looked back and saw a pair of grayish blue eyes glittering piercingly．Meanwhile，there was a terrific Bang！as father's slate was smashed to pieces on the ground．The dog-like big beast，with its fearful grayish blue eyes，immediately turned to scurry away with its long tail between its legs．All that lasted but a few seconds！

有一天傍晚，父親又帶一個打旗語的水兵上旗臺去了。水兵下來半天了，父親還在臺上，我就跑上旗臺去找父親。夜色蒼茫里，我聽見身后仿佛有一只大狗在跟著我，忽然聽見父親一聲斷喝：“你快上來！”我回頭看時，只見一雙亮得又涼得透骨的、灰藍的眼睛，同時旗臺上砰的一聲巨響，是石板摔在地上的碎聲，那大狗似的、有一雙可怕的灰藍眼睛的東西，拖著一條長長的尾巴，轉(zhuǎn)身就跑了。這一切只發(fā)生在幾秒鐘的時間！

Up on the platform，father hugged me closely in his arms and said，“It was a wolf that pursued you just now！Had I not frightened it away by smashing the slate，it would have eaten you up．From now on，don't come out by yourself after dark．Understand？”I giggled in his arms，not knowing what it was like to be eaten up by a wolf．Today，nevertheless，the small incident never fails to strike fear in me whenever I recall it.

我跑上了旗臺，父親把我緊緊地摟在懷里說：“剛才追在你后面的是一只狼！不是我砸了石板把它嚇跑了，你早就讓它吃了。以后在這么晚的時候千萬不要自己一個人出來，聽見沒有？”那時我在父親懷里只是嘻嘻地笑著，我想像不出被狼咬著吃了是什么感覺。現(xiàn)在回想起來卻有一種“后怕”。

《我差點被狼吃了！》是冰心寫于1990年4月的一篇散文。作者回憶了她童年時代的一段驚險經(jīng)歷，文章寫于晚年，但仍流露出她早期作品的風格，如對童心和童年時代的憧憬、對父母的摯愛、對自然景物的贊賞。