2011年6月15日星期三

the story is so meaningless and I don't know why I translated it

The following article and poem are translated by me, and edited by Robert Berold, from the original Chinese written by Wuqing (乌青, meaning Bruise, pseudonym of Zheng Gongyu), who quited college in his second year and led a normadic life since then. Wuqing published his own books and sells them online. He also made short films, which I haven't seen.


Smash slate on chest

It was a hot and stuffy afternoon, and I was feeling in low spirits. Even a cigarette wouldn't have made me feel good. So I walked over to the cold drink shop at the gate of our compound and bought a cup of cucumber juice. I wandered through the neighbourhood as I drank it. A girl was pushing her bike along in front of me. She had a nice ass. So I followed her for a while. I kept walking between the apartment blocks. Water was oozing out of the air conditioners. I spat and my spit was cucumber-green.

I felt bored and restless.  Then suddenly I was overcome by this strange desire.  I wished I had a board with nails on it. I wanted to lie on it, and then have a heavy piece of slate laid on my chest, so heavy that I wouldn't be able to breathe. Then a person with a hammer would come along and hit it onto me. Think of that! Wouldn't that be fun!

When something comes up, act on it – that’s what I believe. There was an old woman who collected garbage where I lived. I could get anything from her. So I said to her, I need a wooden board studded with nails, a heavy slab of slate and a huge hammer. But she couldn't understand Chinese. So I explained to her with gestures. I said, wooden board, board with nails, full of nails coming out of it; slate, big big piece of rock, and very heavy; hammer, huge hammer, to hit the rock.

Nothing would lift my spirits that night. So I went back to the cold drink shop and ordered another cucumber juice. I walked out of our compound as I drank it. I decided to fritter away the time in the supermarket nearby. There was a woman on the slow escalater. Her legs were huge. I came up with a kind of desire.
‘When something comes up, act on it’. So I walked up to her and said, Your legs are fat. She responded, It's none of your business! I had said the one thing I wanted to say, so I went away without a word.

I walked to the section selling sanitary pads, and my mind got carried away while I was standing there.  It's not that I was watching the stuff on the shelves, it’s just that I wanted to let my mind drift. After a while I noticed that a woman next to me was staring at me. Without saying anything, It forced a kiss on her for about 10 seconds. Then I spat out a gum and gave it back to her. It's yours, I said.

Back to my living area, I saw a stray cat. I wanted to catch it. ‘When something comes up, act on it’. So I dashed towards it, but it sprinted away without a trace. I shouted out loudly to the old woman, Where is my board with nails,  and the slate and the hammer?


*“想到了就要做”原本译成do it when something comes up,改成when something comes up, act on it之后,要切合得多。

Crying

I think crying is useless
mom cried
grandma cried, too
even papa's and grandpa's crying
didn't solve anything

when they were crying
they put everything aside
tears
blocked the whole world
not even God could stop them
from crying

学单车的大龄宅男你伤不起!

谨以本文献给即将离开校园的pia叔


我满以为骑单车泡妞的时代已经一去不复返了,直到pia叔告诉我,为了载一个女生,他在29岁的高龄决定学骑自行车。

其实在这样一个岁数决定对自己的人生重新洗牌的人不在少数,有人30岁决定做建筑师,有人40岁开始写歌,有人50岁丢开老婆、小孩徒步穿越中亚,前者如安藤忠雄,次者如罗思荣,第三者如20年后的我。但问题是,pia叔是为了一个女人——确切的说,是为了载女生在校园里兜风的一个承诺——决定学自行车的,这样大一新生头脑里才有的动机着实令我有些猝不及防,要知道pia叔已经研三了啊!

pia叔是一个本硕断断续续读了9年的老研究生。我第一次去见他的时候,他一个人在寝室里,四人间的寝室空着三张床。
“这个人是博士,一直跟导师在外地做项目。”pia叔指着其中一张床道。
“这个人有老婆,已经搬出去跟老婆住了。”pia叔指着另一张床说。
“这个人是富二代,每天泡妞、开房,而且是希尔顿。”pia叔指着一张下面有辆自行车的床说,左眼里写着嫉,右眼里写着妒,“我因公因私都没有住过希尔顿,这他妈天天开房希尔顿。”
发黑的蜘蛛网从寝室的天花板垂下来,纠成一团。
柜子上是一张关之琳的海报。
“是我贴的。”pia叔说,“我最喜欢的女明星,小时候常幻想她。”
“我懂的。”我说。
“你懂个屁啊,我那时就幻想和关姐姐一起上下学。”

后来我把希尔顿开房富二代的自行车拿出去在重庆大学的校园里骑了一圈,听pia叔说,车主为了跟寝室打赌能从重庆骑到成都,专门花了1600块钱买了辆车,用了3天时间随车队在成渝间骑了个来回,赌注是30块钱。

这件事对pia叔的影响有二:一,pia叔在那个赌中压了5块,并从中获利5块,这进一步刺激了pia叔买体育彩票的热情;二,pia叔因此爱上了自行车运动。

但去过重庆的朋友都知道,想在那个地形凸翘起伏的地方骑车无异于自虐,这就好比生活在水里的鱼突然决定到岸上走走,难度可想而知。当然我们知道世界上确实有这样一种会跳出水面到岸上行走的鱼,正因此,世界上也就有了pia叔这样的人。

pia叔是在QQ上告诉我这个决定的,这多少让这个决定显得不够酷,如果换做G-talk或是Skype,效果可能会好一些。其实我白天很少上QQ,更何况是在办公室,大家都忙着淘宝或是斗地主,但是因为上司要我给他的一个女同事传份文件,所以我就配合着对方用起了QQ。

我得交代一下办公室的状况,因为这对我之后的影响很大。我后面坐着一个不太年轻、但总喜欢把自己称为“小姑娘”的——怎么说呢,叫她王姐吧。王姐的一大爱好是时不时地欠过身看我在做什么,并附上简短的评论,“哎哟,小郑,你好厉害哦,英文的网站都看得懂。”“哎哟,小郑,你好用功啊,那么复杂的表格能看嘎久。”我的左边是一个瘦瘦的姑娘,在淘宝上买衣服的时候总是能坐出一副刚正不阿的样子,并会有一句没一句地接过王姐的短评,“那是,人家学历高啊。”“那是,人家年轻力壮啊。”我的左边是一个胖胖的姑娘,喜欢团购,每天吃过午饭都会在网上拍下两杯奶茶。我的前面是一个净水器。我们三人之间只有一块短短的塑料隔板,这不仅让我们看对方时无所不见,也让我们的关系很廉价。

好了,说了那么多办公室的姑娘,我得回到pia叔身上啦。当时pia叔在QQ上向我汇报了最近学骑自行车的动态:因为在拐弯、下大坡时没控制好车子,在毁了一个尾灯的同时,也把自己摔得浑身是伤。然后pia叔补了一句:“我浑身擦伤得都木法穿衣服,我现在裸体呢。”

当时我的大脑里立马浮现出了一丝不挂的pia叔坐在空荡荡的寝室里,咂吧着舌头在电脑上跟我打字。这让我始料未及,因为我是一直习惯于幻想女人裸体的,所以那一瞬间我对自己有些失望。

pia叔继续向我陈述他摔伤的各个部位以及断了的指甲,我以男性特有的方式安慰他,并建议他去豆瓣景涛咆哮组用排山倒海的“伤不起”让更多的人知道他的不幸。

也就是在那个时候,pia叔做了一件改变我整个下午的事情——他拍下了自己赤裸的腿、胳膊、小腹和胸,并截图在QQ对话框里发给了我,而王姐也就是那个时候欠过了身子来看我在做什么。“哎哟,小郑,你……”我当时的第一反应是——就像许多人在家看毛片父母突然闯进来时的反应一样——手忙脚乱地去关那个对话框。但是一切都晚了,王姐看到了那些在不仔细看的时候很像是毛片截图的东西,更糟糕的是,毛片里的主人公是个男的。

瘦姑娘转过脸,有些迷茫地看了一眼我和王姐,因为只听到了王姐半句话,她不知道该怎么接。我红着脸马上说了一句:“我在给客户传文件呢。”这句话事后经我的分析,效果无比糟糕,因为这在王姐听来是做贼心虚、欲盖弥彰。当时我还不如说“我在和一个要好的朋友聊天呢”。不过那在王姐听来,肯定会是恬不知耻之类的了。总之发生了那样的事,我是跳进黄河也洗不清了。在那之后,王姐整整一个下午都没有探过来瞧我在做什么。

更让我郁闷的是,我上完厕所回到办公室时看到王姐在和胖瘦二位姑娘窃窃私语,她们看见我进来马上做鸟兽散,各自回到座位上。更反常的是,胖姑娘一下子在团购网上买了8杯奶茶,像是在庆祝一件喜事,分发给了办公室里的每一个同事。

就这样,我在一种无比郁闷的心情和诡异的办公室氛围中度过了余下的一个下午。

下班时,我和王姐、胖瘦二位姑娘站在电梯口等电梯。我想说些什么,可脑中除了pia叔的裸体,愣是找不到可以开口的话题。进到电梯之后,王姐又和胖瘦二位姑娘耳语了几句,三人捂着嘴窃笑,并朝我看了看,这让我我又羞又臊,只感到血流一个劲地拍打着脑门。“你看到的不是裸照,那是我朋友!他在给我看他学自行车时摔伤的照片!”我差点把这句话喊出口,但在把脑门里的血流摒回去一点之后,我马上意识到这么解释下去只会越描越黑,因为一个男人给另一个男人看他受伤的肉体照,在我们这个小地方已经够骇人听闻了,再向她们解释一个男人在29岁的时候开始学骑自行车更像是天方夜谭。所以我就憋屈地看着她们窃笑私语,并和她们默默地对眼,直到走出电梯。

我觉得我在这个单位已经很难“直”着做男人了,就在几天前三番五次要给我介绍小姑娘的人力部主任,下班临走时也给了我一个意味深长的眼神。

但我一想到pia叔可以在一个礼拜后学满出山,载着姑娘在校园里上坡下坡、过弯道而不摔跤,单想想此情此景,我就觉得被办公室里的人误会又算得了什么呢?

pia叔真名陆续,来自四川泸州,因为从小被人唤作阿pia,岁月的流逝让他变成了现如今的pia叔。因为某种说不清道不明的巧合,我俩原来还同过一年校,只是那时候我不知道身边有个叫阿pia的人,阿pia也不认识那个忧郁的一心想着要退学的小郑。