《一件小事》

A Small Incident

我從鄉(xiāng)下跑到京城里，一轉(zhuǎn)眼已經(jīng)六年了。其間耳聞目睹的所謂國(guó)家大事，算起來(lái)也很不少；但在我心里，都不留什么痕跡，倘要我尋出這些事的影響來(lái)說(shuō)，便只是增長(zhǎng)了我的壞脾氣，——老實(shí)說(shuō)，便是教我一天比一天的看不起人。

Six years have slipped by since I came from the country to the capital. During that time the number of so-called affairs of state I have witnessed or heard about is far from small, but none of them made much impression. If asked to define their influence on me, I can only say they made my bad temper worse. Frankly speaking, they taught me to take a poorer view of people every day.

但有一件小事，卻于我有意義，將我從壞脾氣里拖開(kāi)，使我至今忘記不得。

One small incident, however, which struck me as significant and jolted me out of my irritability, remains fixed even now in my memory.

這是民國(guó)六年的冬天，大北風(fēng)刮得正猛，我因?yàn)樯?jì)關(guān)系，不得不一早在路上走。一路幾乎遇不見(jiàn)人，好容易才雇定了一輛人力車(chē)，教他拉到S門(mén)去。不一會(huì)，北風(fēng)小了，路上浮塵早已刮凈，剩下一條潔白的大道來(lái)，車(chē)夫也跑得更快。剛近S門(mén)，忽而車(chē)把上帶著一個(gè)人，慢慢地倒了。

It was the winter of 1917, a strong north wind was blustering, but the exigencies of earning my living forced me to be up and out early. I met scarcely a soul on the road, but eventually managed to hire a rickshaw to take me to S—Gate. Presently the wind dropped a little, having blown away the drifts of dust on the road to leave a clean broad highway, and the rickshaw man quickened his pace. We were just approaching S—Gate when we knocked into someone who slowly toppled over.

跌倒的是一個(gè)女人，花白頭發(fā)，衣服都很破爛。伊從馬路上突然向車(chē)前橫截過(guò)來(lái)；車(chē)夫已經(jīng)讓開(kāi)道，但伊的破棉背心沒(méi)有上扣，微風(fēng)吹著，向外展開(kāi)，所以終于兜著車(chē)把。幸而車(chē)夫早有點(diǎn)停步，否則伊定要栽一個(gè)大斤斗，跌到頭破血出了。

It was a grey-haired woman in ragged clothes. She had stepped out abruptly from the roadside in front of us, and although the rickshaw man had swerved, her tattered padded waistcoat, unbuttoned and billowing in the wind, had caught on the shaft. Luckily the rickshaw man had slowed down, otherwise she would certainly have had a bad fall and it might have been a serious accident.

伊伏在地上；車(chē)夫便也立住腳。我料定這老女人并沒(méi)有傷，又沒(méi)有別人看見(jiàn)，便很怪他多事，要自己惹出是非，也誤了我的路。

She huddled there on the ground, and the rickshaw man stopped. As I did not believe the old woman was hurt and as no one else had seen us, I thought this halt of his uncalled for, liable to land him trouble and hold me up.

我便對(duì)他說(shuō)，“沒(méi)有什么的。走你的罷！”

“It’s all right,” I said. “Go on.”

車(chē)夫毫不理會(huì)，——或者并沒(méi)有聽(tīng)到，——卻放下車(chē)子，扶那老女人慢慢起來(lái)，攙著臂膊立定，問(wèn)伊說(shuō)：

He paid no attention — he may not have heard — but set down the shafts, took the old woman’s arm and gently helped her up.

“你怎么啦？”

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“我摔壞了。”

“I hurt myself falling.”

我想，我眼見(jiàn)你慢慢倒地，怎么會(huì)摔壞呢，裝腔作勢(shì)罷了，這真可憎惡。車(chē)夫多事，也正是自討苦吃，現(xiàn)在你自己想法去。

I thought: I saw how slowly you fell, how could you be hurt? Putting on an act like this is simply disgusting. The rickshaw man asked for trouble, and now he’s got it. He’ll have to find his own way out.

車(chē)夫聽(tīng)了這老女人的話，卻毫不躊躇，仍然攙著伊的臂膊，便一步一步的向前走。我有些詫異，忙看前面，是一所巡警分駐所，大風(fēng)之后，外面也不見(jiàn)人。這車(chē)夫扶著那老女人，便正是向那大門(mén)走去。

But the rickshaw man did not hesitate for a minute after hearing the old woman’s answer. Still holding her arm, he helped her slowly forward. Rather puzzled by his I looked ahead and saw a police-station. Because of the high wind, there was no one outside. It was there that the rickshaw man was taking the old woman.

我這時(shí)突然感到一種異樣的感覺(jué)，覺(jué)得他滿身灰塵的后影，剎時(shí)高大了，而且愈走愈大，須仰視才見(jiàn)。而且他對(duì)于我，漸漸的又幾乎變成一種威壓，甚而至于要榨出皮袍下面藏著的“小”來(lái)。

Suddenly I had the strange sensation that his dusty retreating figure had in that instant grown larger. Indeed, the further he walked the larger he loomed, until I had to look up to him. At the same time he seemed gradually to be exerting a pressure on me which threatened to overpower the small self hidden under my fur-lined gown.

我的活力這時(shí)大約有些凝滯了，坐著沒(méi)有動(dòng)，也沒(méi)有想，直到看見(jiàn)分駐所里走出一個(gè)巡警，才下了車(chē)。

Almost paralysed at that juncture I sat there motionless, my mind a blank, until a policeman came out. Then I got down from the rickshaw.

巡警走近我說(shuō)，“你自己雇車(chē)罷，他不能拉你了。”

The policeman came up to me and said, “Get another rickshaw. He can’t take you any further.”

我沒(méi)有思索的從外套袋里抓出一大把銅元，交給巡警，說(shuō)，“請(qǐng)你給他……”

On the spur of the moment I pulled a handful of coppers from my coat pocket and handed them to the policeman. “Please give him this,” I said.

風(fēng)全住了，路上還很靜。我走著，一面想，幾乎怕敢想到自己。以前的事姑且擱起，這一大把銅元又是什么意思？獎(jiǎng)他么？我還能裁判車(chē)夫么？我不能回答自己。

The wind had dropped completely, but the road was still quiet. As I walked along thinking, I hardly dared to think about myself. Quite apart from what had happened earlier, what had I meant by that handful of coppers? Was it a reward? Who was I to judge the rickshaw man? I could give myself no answer.

這事到了現(xiàn)在，還是時(shí)時(shí)記起。我因此也時(shí)時(shí)煞了苦痛，努力的要想到我自己。幾年來(lái)的文治武力，在我早如幼小時(shí)候所讀過(guò)的“子曰詩(shī)云”一般，背不上半句了。獨(dú)有這一件小事，卻總是浮在我眼前，有時(shí)反更分明，教我慚愧，催我自新，并且增長(zhǎng)我的勇氣和希望。

Even now, this incident keeps coming back to me. It keeps distressing me and makes me try to think about myself. The politics and the fighting of those years have slipped my mind as completely as the classics I read as a child. Yet this small incident keeps coming back to me, often more vivid than in actual life, teaching me shame, spurring me on to reform, and imbuing me with fresh courage and fresh hope.