双语 ● Peeling Away Artifice for the Pure Original　回归童真

Peeling Away Artifice for the Pure Original　回归童真

◎ Roy H. Barnacle

Sarah came running in. “Look what I found.” Over the top of the paper I was reading came a crispy, crumbling long object that caused me to jump. It was a snake skin that had been shed by one of our many garden snakes.

莎拉兴冲冲地跑了进来，“看我找到什么了。”那时我正在看书。突然，一个卷卷的、皱皱的、长长的东西出现在书上。我吓得跳了起来。定睛一看，原来是蛇皮，想必是花园中的哪条蛇蜕皮留下来的。

“Isn’t it beautiful?” said my wide-eyed seven-year-old.

“是不是很漂亮呀？”7岁的小莎拉问道，两只眼睛睁得大大的。

I stared at the organic wrapper and thought to myself that it really wasn’t that beautiful, but I have learned never to appear nonchalant or jaded with children. Everything they see for the first time is elementary to their sense of beauty and creativity; they see only merit and excellence in the world until educated otherwise.

我盯着那块自然脱落的蛇皮，心想：“它真的没那么漂亮。”然而，我早就学会了不在孩子面前表现出冷漠和腻烦。因为对孩子而言，与世间万物的第一次亲密接触会影响他们的审美观和创造性。未被教导如何辨认世间丑恶之前，他们眼中的世界只有美德和功绩。

“Why does it do this?” Sarah asked.

“蛇为什么要蜕皮呢？”莎拉问道。

Robert, ever the innocent comedian, said, “We have a naked snake in our garden!”

罗伯特，这个曾经做过天真喜剧演员的人答道，“这样我们的花园里就有了一条没穿衣服的蛇啦！”

I also try to customize every opportunity to teach my children that there is almost always something beyond the obvious; that there is something else going on besides what they see in front of them. “Snakes shed their skin because they need to renew themselves.” I explained. As it’s so often the case in my family, the original subject leads to another and another, until we are discussing something quite different.

我也会抓住每一次机会告诉我的孩子：有些事情他们可能常常无法理解；除了呈现在他们眼前的东西，另外一些事情也正在悄然发生。“蛇蜕皮是为了替自己换上一套新衣服呀！”我这样解释道。在我们家，这样的情况时常发生：最初的话题却能引出许许多多各不相同的话题。直到最后，我们讨论的居然是一个截然不同的新话题。

“Why do they need to renew themselves?” Sarah asked.

“为什么它们要换上新衣服呢？”莎拉问道。

Robert quipped, “Cos they don’t like who they are and they want to be someone else.”

“因为它们不喜欢自己的样子，它们想要变成别人呗！”罗伯特很不屑地答道。

Sarah and I politely ignored her brother. I suddenly remembered an article on this page many years ago where the writer was expressing her concept of renewal. She used layers of paper over a wall to describe how we hide our original selves, and said that by peeling away those layers one by one; we see the underlying original beneath.

我和莎拉很委婉地就把她的哥哥晾在一旁。突然间，我想起多年前在这本书上看到的一篇文章。文章的作者十分巧妙地表达了自己对于“更新”的理解。她用一层层墙纸来描述我们是如何隐藏最真实的自我。用她的话说，将这些墙纸一层层撕下时，我们看到的就是深埋其中的纯真自我。

“We often need to shed our skins, those coatings and facades that we cover ourselves with.” I said to my now absorbed daughter. “We outgrow some things and find other stuff unwanted or unnecessary. This snake no longer needs this skin. It is probably too stiff and crinkly for him, and he probably doesn’t think he looks as smart in it as he once did. Like buying a new suit.”

“我们常常需要脱去那些用来自我掩饰的外在的东西。”我这样向我那个全神贯注的女儿解释。“我们会长出一些新的东西。这样，我们就会觉得其他一些东西是无用的，多余的。这条蛇就是不再需要这身皮了。也许是因为这身皮太硬太皱。或者，它觉得自己穿上这身衣服时不再像以前那样英俊潇洒。总之啊，它就像是给自己买了一套新衣服！”

Of course, I’m sure this explanation won’t sit well with bona fide naturalists. But Sarah was getting the point. As we talked, I knew that she began to comprehend, albeit slightly, that renewal is part of progress; that we need to take a good look at ourselves, and our rooms and schoolwork and creativity and spirituality, and see what we need to keep and what we need to cast off. I was careful to point out that this is a natural process, not one to be forced.

当然，我深知这样的解释无法让真正的自然主义者满意。但莎拉明白了。谈话过程中，我意识到她已然开始浅浅地领悟着：“更新”意味着进步；我们必须仔细审视自己、房间、家庭作业、创造性和灵魂。看看哪些值得保留，而哪些应该摒弃。我小心翼翼地告诉她，这是一种自然的过程，而不是被迫的结果。

“Snakes don’t peel off their skin when they feel like it.” I explained. “It happens as a natural consequence of their growth.”

“如果蛇喜欢它的皮，它就不会蜕皮的。”我解释道。“蜕皮是蛇成长过程中自然而然产生的结果。”

“I see, Dad.” said Sarah and jumped off my lap, grabbed the snakeskin, and ran off.

“爸爸，我明白啦！”莎拉一边说一边从我的膝上跳下。她抓起那块蛇皮，跑开了。

I hoped she would remember this. That often, in order to find our real selves underneath the layers of community and culture with which we cloak ourselves year after year, we need to start examining these layers. We need to gently peel some away, as we recognize them to be worthless, unnecessary, or flawed, or at best, store the discarded ones as mementoes of our promotion to a better vitality or spirit.

我希望她能记住我说过的这些话。通常，为了找寻深埋于社会和文化里的纯真自我，我们必须开始审视这些外在的东西。当我们意识到它们已然毫无价值，不再有用，不再完美时，我们就该将其轻轻地脱去。或者，最好将这些逝去的美好封存起来，找到纯真的自我供我们回味！

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