英譯現(xiàn)代散文●上海菜市場(chǎng) ◎ 季羨林

上海菜市場(chǎng)

The Shanghai Food Market

◎　季羨林

◎　Ji Xianlin

上海盡有看不夠數(shù)不清的高樓大廈，跑不完走不盡的大街小巷，滿目琳瑯的玻璃櫥窗，車水馬龍的繁華鬧市;但是，我們的許多外國(guó)朋友卻偏要去看一看早晨的菜市場(chǎng)。這是完全可以理解的。我們剛到上海的時(shí)候不是也想到菜市上去看一看嗎?

Shanghai has countless eye-catching skyscrapers and innumerable streets and lanes, with beautiful shop windows and busy market quarters. Nevertheless, many foreign friends of mine would rather pay a morning visit to the food markets there. That is understandable. Didn't we ourselves choose to go and see a food market there on our first visit to the city?

那還是幾年前的一個(gè)早晨，在太陽(yáng)剛剛升起來(lái)的時(shí)候，踏著熹微的晨光，到一個(gè)離開旅館不遠(yuǎn)的菜市場(chǎng)去。

It was on an early morning of several years ago, when the sun was just coming up, that I went at the first light to see a food market near the hotel where I was staying.

到了鄰近菜市場(chǎng)的地方，市場(chǎng)的氣氛就逐漸濃了起來(lái)。熙熙攘攘的人群，摩肩擦背，來(lái)來(lái)往往。許多老大娘的菜籃子里裝滿了蔬菜海味雞鴨魚肉。有的籃子里活魚在搖擺著尾巴，肥雞在咯咯地叫著。老大娘帶著一臉笑意，滿懷愉快，走回家去。

The nearer I went, the more prevalent the atmosphere of the food market. The surrounding streets were thronged with shoppers milling around. The shopping baskets carried by many elderly women were filled with vegetables, seafood, chickens, ducks, fish and meat. Some fish were wagging their tails and some hens clucking. The elderly women, with a happy smile spread across their faces, were on their way home.

一走進(jìn)菜市場(chǎng)，仿佛走進(jìn)了另一個(gè)世界。這里面五光十色，令人眼花繚亂。但是，仔細(xì)一看，所有的東西卻又都擺得整整齊齊，有條不紊。菜攤子、肉攤子、魚蝦攤子、水果攤子，還有其他的許許多多的攤子，分門別類，秩序井然，又各有特點(diǎn)，互相輝映。你就看那蔬菜攤子吧。這里有各種不同的顏色：紫色的茄子、白色的蘿卜、紅色的西紅柿、綠色的小白菜，紛然雜陳，交光互影。這里又有各種不同的線條：大冬瓜又圓又粗，豆莢又細(xì)又長(zhǎng)，白菜的葉子又扁又寬。就這樣，不同的顏色、不同的線條，緊密地?cái)[在一起，于紛雜中見統(tǒng)一。我的眼一花，我覺(jué)得，眼前不是什么菜攤子，而是一幅出自名家手筆的彩色絢麗、線條鮮明的油畫或水彩畫。

Once inside the market, I felt like landing in a new world. The rich assortment of hues and colors were dazzling. All goods were kept neat and tidy and arranged in perfect order be they at a vegetable stall, meat stall, seafood stall, fruit stall, etc. And each stall, being specialized, showed a characteristic of its own. Take for example the vegetable stall with its display of colors: purple eggplants, white radishes, red tomatoes, greenish cabbages. It also displayed various shapes: round clumsy wax gourds, long narrow bean pods, flat wide cabbage leaves. Hence, different colors and lines merged into an organic whole showing diversity in unity. I looked here and there until my eyes became blurred, taking the vegetable stall for an oil painting or a watercolor with distinct colors and lines done by a famous painter.

不只菜攤子是這樣，其他的攤子也莫不如此。賣魚的攤子上，活魚在水里游泳，十幾斤重的大鯉魚躺在案板上。賣雞鴨的攤子上，雞鴨在籠子里互相召喚。賣肉的攤子上，整片的豬肉、牛肉和羊肉掛在那里。還為穆斯林設(shè)了賣牛、羊肉的專柜。在其他的攤子上，雞蛋和鴨蛋堆得像小山，一個(gè)個(gè)閃著耀眼的白光。咸肉和板鴨成排掛在架子上，肥得仿佛就要滴下油來(lái)。水果攤子更是琳瑯滿目。肥大的水蜜桃、大個(gè)兒西瓜、又黃又圓的香瓜、白嫩的鮮藕，擺在一起，競(jìng)妍斗艷。我眼前仿佛看到葳蕤的果子園、十里荷香的池塘、翠葉離離的瓜地。難道這不是一幅美妙無(wú)比的圖畫嗎?

The same was true of other stalls. At fish stalls, live fish were swimming in the water and big carps weighing more than five kilos each were lying on chopping boards. At poultry stalls, caged chickens and ducks were making a lot of noise to greet each other. At meat stalls, chunky pieces of pork, beef and mutton were hung up. There were also special counters selling beef and mutton to Moslems. At some stalls, chicken and duck eggs of a glistening white were piled high up like small hills while rows of bacon and salted duck, seemingly dripping with fat, were hung out on racks. The fruit stalls were even more attractive. Arrayed side by side were juicy honey peaches, plump watermelons, yellow round muskmelons, fresh tender lotus roots, vying with each other to be the most beautiful. It seemed as if I saw unfolding before me luxuriant orchards, fragrant lotus ponds, leafy green melon patches. Wasn't it a painting of matchless beauty?

說(shuō)是圖畫，這只是一時(shí)的幻象。說(shuō)真的，任何圖畫也比不上這一些攤子。圖畫里面的東西是死的、不能動(dòng)的。這里的東西卻隨時(shí)在流動(dòng)。原來(lái)擺在架子上的東西，一轉(zhuǎn)眼已經(jīng)到了老大娘的菜籃子里。她們站在攤子前面，瞇細(xì)了眼睛，左挑右揀，直到選中了自己想買的東西為止。至于價(jià)錢，她們是不發(fā)愁的，因?yàn)闁|西都不貴。結(jié)果是皆大歡喜，在一片鬧鬧嚷嚷的聲中，大家都買到了中意的東西。她們?cè)瓉?lái)的空籃子不久就滿了起來(lái)。當(dāng)她們轉(zhuǎn)回家去的時(shí)候，她們手中的籃子也像是一幅美麗的圖畫了。

It was, however, more of a transient illusion than a painting. To tell the truth, no painting could ever compare with these stalls. Things in a painting were fixed and immovable while goods at a stall were always on the move. Things on the display shelf would, before we knew it, soon find their way to the elderly women's shopping baskets. Standing before a stall, the elderly women would narrow their eyes and pick and choose until they decided on what they wanted to buy. They never worried about the purse because all food was selling at reasonable prices. Shopping was done in the hubbub of the market to the satisfaction of all. Everybody got what they needed, their shopping baskets filled to the brim. While the elderly women were on their way home, the shopping baskets they carried in their hands also looked like beautiful paintings.

我們的外國(guó)朋友是住在旅館里的，什么東西都不缺少。但是他們看到這些美麗誘人的東西，一方面嘖嘖稱贊，一方面又躍躍欲試，也都想買點(diǎn)什么。有人買了幾個(gè)大香瓜，有人買了幾斤西紅柿，還有人買了一些豆腐干。這樣就會(huì)使本來(lái)已經(jīng)很豐富的餐桌更加豐富多彩。我們的外國(guó)朋友也皆大歡喜了。

Our foreign friends, putting up at hotels, were provided with everything they needed. But, when they saw the captivating food market, they clicked their tongue in admiration and were eager to do a bit of shopping there by themselves. Some of them bought a couple of big muskmelons, some bought several kilos of tomatoes, some bought some dried bean curds. To the satisfaction of all, the new acquisitions added to the richness and variety of their already abundant table.

《上海菜市場(chǎng)》是季羨林先生寫于1963年9月的一篇隨筆。作者60年代從北京南下走訪上海，當(dāng)?shù)刎S富多彩的菜市場(chǎng)曾使他驚嘆不已。所作描述淋漓酣暢，富于藝術(shù)想象。