双语全文 ● 鲁迅——白光

The White Light

It was afternoon before Chen Shicheng came back from seeing the results of the county examinations. He had gone very early， and the first thing he looked for on the list was the name Chen. Quite a few Chens leapt to meet his eye， but none followed by the characters Shicheng， thereupon，starting again， he made a careful search through all twelve lists. Even after everyone else had left， the name Chen Shicheng had not appeared on the list but the man was still standing there， a solitary figure before the front wall of the examination school.

A cool wind was ruffling his short greying hair and the early winter sun shone warmly on him， yet he felt dizzy as if from a touch of the sun. His pale face grew even paler； his tired eyes， puffy and red， glittering strangely. In fact， he had long stopped seeing the results on the wall， for countless black circles were swimming past his eyes.

He had won his first degree in the county examination and taken his second in the provincial capital， success following success.... The local gentry were trying by every means to ally with him by marriage； people were treating him like a god， cursing themselves for their former contempt and blindness. The other families renting his tumble-down house had been driven away—no need for that， they would move of their own accord—and the whole place was completely renovated with flagpoles and a placard at the gate.... If he wanted to keep his hands clean he could be an official in the capital， otherwise some post in the provinces would prove more lucrative. Once more the future mapped out so carefully had crashed in ruins like a wet sugar-candy pagoda， leaving nothing but debris behind.

Not knowing what he did， he turned with a strange sensation of disintegration， and shambled disconsolately home.

The moment he reached his door， seven small boys raised their voices to drone their lesson together. He started as if a chime had been struck by his ear， aware of seven heads with seven small queues bobbing in front of him， bobbing all over the room， with black circles dancing between. As he sat down they handed in their homework， contempt for him manifesting on every face.

白光

陈士成看过县考的榜，回到家里的时候，已经是下午了。他去得本很早，一见榜，便先在这上面寻陈字。陈字也不少，似乎也都争先恐后的跳进他眼睛里来，然而接着的却全不是士成这两个字。他于是重新再在十二张榜的圆图里细细地搜寻，看的人全已散尽了，而陈士成在榜上终于没有见，单站在试院的照壁的面前。

凉风虽然拂拂的吹动他斑白的短发，初冬的太阳却还是很温和的来晒他。但他似乎被太阳晒得头晕了，脸色越加变成灰白，从劳乏的红肿的两眼里，发出古怪的闪光。这时他其实早已不看到什么墙上的榜文了，只见有许多乌黑的圆圈，在眼前泛泛的游走。

隽了秀才，上省去乡试，一径联捷上去，……绅士们既然千方百计的来攀亲，人们又都像看见神明似的敬畏，深悔先前的轻薄，发昏，……赶走了租住在自己破宅门里的杂姓——那是不劳说赶，自己就搬的，——屋宇全新了，门口是旗竿和扁额，……要清高可以做京官，否则不如谋外放。……他平日安排停当的前程，这时候又像受潮的糖塔一般，刹时倒塌，只剩下一堆碎片了。他不自觉的旋转了觉得涣散了的身躯，惘惘的走向归家的路。

他刚到自己的房门口，七个学童便一齐放开喉咙，吱的念起书来。他大吃一惊，耳朵边似乎敲了一声磬，只见七个头拖了小辫子在眼前幌，幌得满房，黑圈子也夹着跳舞。他坐下了，他们送上晚课来，脸上都显出小觑他的神色。

“You may go，” he said painfully after a brief hesitation.

They snatched up their satchels， stuffed them under their arms， and were off like a streak of smoke.

Chen Shicheng could still see a host of small heads dotted with black circles dancing in front of him， now higgledy-piggledy， now in strange formation； but by degrees they grew fewer， hazier.

“Failed again！”

With a violent start he leapt to his feet， for undoubtedly the sound came from just beside him. When he turned his head there was no one there， yet he seemed to hear another muffled chime and his lips formed the words：

“Failed again！”

Abruptly he raisd one hand and reckoned it up on his fingers： eleven，thirteen times， counting this year made sixteen， yet not a single examiner had been capable of appreciating good writing， all had been completely blind. It was so pathetic， in fact， that he had to snigger. In a fury he snatched his neatly copied examination essays and poems from their cloth wrapper and started out with them； but in the doorway he was dazzled by the bright light outside， where even the hens were making fun of him. Unable to still the wild pounding of his heart， he slunk back inside again.

He sat down once more， a strange glitter in his eyes. He could see many things， but hazily—his wrecked future， in ruins like a sugar-candy pagoda before him， was looming so large that it blocked all his ways out.

The neighbours’ kitchen fires were long since out， their bowls and chopsticks washed， but Chen Shicheng had not started cooking a meal. His tenants knew from years of experience that after he had seen the results of the county examinations their best course was to close their doors early and mind their own business. First all voices were hushed， then one by one lamps were blown out， till nothing was left but the moon slowly climbing the cold night sky.

“回去罢。”他迟疑了片时，这才悲惨的说。

他们胡乱的包了书包，挟着，一溜烟跑走了。

陈士成还看见许多小头夹着黑圆圈在眼前跳舞，有时杂乱，有时也排成异样的阵图，然而渐渐的减少，模胡了。

“这回又完了！”

他大吃一惊，直跳起来，分明就在耳朵边的话，回过头去却并没有什么人，仿佛又听得嗡的敲了一声磬，自己的嘴也说道：

“这回又完了！”

他忽而举起一只手来，屈指计数着想，十一，十三回，连今年是十六回，竟没有一个考官懂得文章，有眼无珠，也是可怜的事，便不由嘻嘻的失了笑。然而他愤然了，蓦地从书包布底下抽出誊真的制艺和试帖来，拿着往外走，刚近房门，却看见满眼都明亮，连一群鸡也正在笑他，便禁不住心头突突的狂跳，只好缩回里面了。

他又就了坐，眼光格外的闪烁；他目睹着许多东西，然而很模胡，——是倒塌了的糖塔一般的前程躺在他面前，这前程又只是广大起来，阻住了他的一切路。

别家的坎烟早消歇了，碗筷也洗过了，而陈士成还不去做饭。寓在这里的杂姓是知道老例的，凡遇到县考的年头，看见发榜后的这样的眼光，不如及早关了门，不要多管事。最先就绝了人声，接着是陆续的熄了灯火，独有月亮，却缓缓的出现在寒夜的空中。

The deep blue of the sky was like an expanse of sea， while a few drifting clouds looked as if someone had dabbled a piece of chalk in a dish for washing brushes. The moon discharged cold rays of light down upon Chen Shicheng. At first the orb seemed no more than a newly polished iron mirror but by some mysterious means this mirror projected light through him until he reflected the shadow of the iron moon.

He paced up and down the yard outside his room， his vision clear now，all around him still. But this stillness was abruptly and rudely shattered as in his ear he distinctly heard the urgent whisper：

“Left turn， right turn....”

He pricked up his ears and listened intently as the voice repeated more loudly：

“Right turn！”

Now he remembered. This yard was the place， before his family fortunes declined， where he used to come with his grandmother on summer evenings to enjoy the cool. A boy of ten， he would lie on a bamboo couch while his grandmother sat beside him and told him interesting stories. She had it from her own grandmother， she said， that the founder of the Chen family was a man of great wealth who had built this house and buried a vast store of silver here， which some fortunate descendant was bound to find，although so far no one had discovered it. A clue to the hiding place was in this riddle：

Left turn， right turn， forward， back！

Gold and silver by the sack！

Chen Shicheng often quietly cudgelled his brains to guess this riddle. Unfortunately he no sooner hit on a solution than he realized that it was wide of the mark. Once he was sure the treasure was under the room rented to the Tang family， but he lacked the courage to dig there and a little later it struck him as most unlikely. As for the vestiges of earlier excavations in his own room， these were signs of his depression over previous failures in the examination， and the sight of them later shamed and embarrassed him.

空中青碧到如一片海，略有些浮云，仿佛有谁将粉笔洗在笔洗里似的摇曳。月亮对着陈士成注下寒冷的光波来，当初也不过像是一面新磨的铁镜罢了，而这镜却诡秘的照透了陈士成的全身，就在他身上映出铁的月亮的影。

他还在房外的院子里徘徊，眼里颇清净了，四近也寂静。但这寂静忽又无端的纷扰起来，他耳边又确凿听到急促的低声说：

“左弯右弯……”

他耸然了，倾耳听时，那声音却又提高的复述道：

“右弯！”

他记得了。这院子，是他家还未如此雕零的时候，一到夏天的夜间，夜夜和他的祖母在此纳凉的院子。那时他不过十岁有零的孩子，躺在竹榻上，祖母便坐在榻旁边，讲给他有趣的故事听。伊说是曾经听得伊的祖母说，陈氏的祖宗是巨富的，这屋子便是祖基，祖宗埋着无数的银子，有福气的子孙一定会得到的罢，然而至今还没有现。至于处所，那是藏在一个谜语的中间：

“左弯右弯，前走后走，量金量银不论斗。”

对于这谜语，陈士成便在平时，本也常常暗地里加以揣测的，可惜大抵刚以为可通，却又立刻觉得不合了。有一回，他确有把握，知道这是在租给唐家的房底下的了，然而总没有前去发掘的勇气；过了几时，可又觉得太不相像了。至于他自己房子里的几个掘过的旧痕迹，那却全是先前几回下第以后的发了怔忡的举动，后来自己一看到，也还感到惭愧而且羞人。

But this iron light enfolding him today was gently persuasive. And when Chen Shicheng hesitated， the serious proofs it brought forward，backed up by some covert pressure， compelled him to cast his eyes towards his own room again.

A white light， like a round white fan， was flickering in his room.

“So it’s here after all！”

With these words he charged like a lion into the room， but once across the threshold he saw no sign of white light， nothing but a dark， shabby room， with some rickety desks half swallowed up in the shadows. He stood there irresolutely till by degrees his vision cleared and the white light reappeared beyond a doubt， broader this time， whiter than sulphurous flames and lighter than morning mist. It was underneath a desk by the east wall.

Chen Shicheng charged like a lion to the door， but when he put out his hand for the hoe behind it he bumped into a dark shadow. He gave an involuntary shiver and hastily lit the lamp， but there was nothing there except the hoe， he moved away the desk and hardly stopping for breath raised four square flagstones. Kneeling， he saw the usual fine yellow sand，and rolling up his sleeves he removed this sand to reveal black earth beneath. Very carefully and quietly he dug down， stroke by stroke. The night was so still， however， that the thudding of his sharp-bladed hoe against the earth was plainly audible.

The pit was over two feet deep yet still no crock had appeared and Chen Shicheng was beginning to lose heart when —clang！ —he wrenched his wrist as the hoe struck something hard. He dropped his tool and scrabbled in the soil， discovering a large square brick beneath. His heart was throbbing painfully as with infinite care he prised up this brick， disclosing beneath it the same black earth as before. Although he loosened a great deal of earth， it apparently went down and down without end. All of a sudden， however， he struck a small hard object， something round， probably a rusty coin. There were some fragments of broken china too.

Faint and soaked in sweat， Chen Shicheng burrowed desperately. His heart nearly turned over when he struck another strange object shaped somewhat like a horseshoe， but light and brittle in his hands. Having extracted it with infinite care， he picked it up cautiously and studied it intently by the lamp. Blotched and discoloured like a mouldering bone， it bore an incomplete row of teeth on the upper side. He realized that it must be a jawbone twitched disconcertingly in his hands and gaped as if with laughter. Finally he heard it mutter：

但今天铁的光罩住了陈士成，又软软的来劝他了，他或者偶一迟疑，便给他正经的证明，又加上阴森的催逼，使他不得不又向自己的房里转过眼光去。

白光如一柄白团扇，摇摇摆摆的闪起在他房里了。

“也终于在这里！”

他说着，狮子似的赶快走进那房里去，但跨进里面的时候，便不见了白光的影踪，只有莽苍苍的一间旧房，和几个破书桌都没在昏暗里。他爽然的站着，慢慢的再定睛，然而白光却分明的又起来了，这回更广大，比硫黄火更白净，比朝雾更霏微，而且便在靠东墙的一张书桌下。

陈士成狮子似的奔到门后边，伸手去摸锄头，撞着一条黑影。他不知怎的有些怕了，张惶的点了灯，看锄头无非倚着。他移开桌子，用锄头一气掘起四块大方砖，蹲身一看，照例是黄澄澄的细沙，揎了袖爬开细沙，便露出下面的黑土来。他极小心的，幽静的，一锄一锄往下掘，然而深夜究竟太寂静了，尖铁触土的声音，总是钝重的不肯瞒人的发响。

土坑深到二尺多了，并不见有瓮口，陈士成正心焦，一声脆响，颇震得手腕痛，锄尖碰着什么坚硬的东西了；他急忙抛下锄头，摸索着看时：一块大方砖在下面。他的心抖得很利害，聚精会神的挖起那方砖来，下面也满是先前一样的黑土，爬松了许多土，下面似乎还无穷。但忽而又触着坚硬的小东西了，圆的，大约是一个锈铜钱；此外也还有几片破碎的磁片。

“Failed again！”

An icy shudder went through him. He let it go. The jawbone had barely dropped lightly back into the pit before he bounded out into the yard. He stole a glance at his room. The dazzling lamp and supercilious jawbone made it strangely terrifying. Averting his eyes in fear， he lay down in the shadows of the eaves some distance away， where he felt slightly safer. But another sly whisper sounded through the stillness in his ear：

“Not here.... Go to the hills....”

Chen Shicheng had a faint recollection of hearing this remark in the street that day， and at once light dawned on him. He threw back his head to look up at the sky. The moon was hiding itself behind West Peak， so that the peak a dozen miles from the town seemed immediately before him， upright，black， and awesome as the tablet carried by ministers to court， while from it pulsed great flickering beams of white light.

And this white light in the distance seemed just before him.

“Yes， to the hills！”

This decision taken， he rushed wildly out. Doors hanged as he opened them， then all was still. The lamp， its wick heavily furred， lit up the empty room and the gaping pit. Presently it sputtered a few times and by degrees dwindled and died as the oil burned out.

“Open the gate！ ...”

In the dawn this cry， fearful and despairing yet fraught with infinite hope， throbbed and trembled like a floating thread before the West Gate of the town.

陈士成心里仿佛觉得空虚了，浑身流汗，急躁的只爬搔；这其间，心在空中一抖动，又触着一种古怪的小东西了，这似乎约略有些马掌形的，但触手很松脆。他又聚精会神的挖起那东西来，谨慎的撮着，就灯光下仔细的看时，那东西斑斑剥剥的像是烂骨头，上面还带着一排零落不全的牙齿。他已经悟到这许是下巴骨了，而那下巴骨也便在他手里索索的动弹起来，而且笑吟吟的显出笑影，终于听得他开口道：

“这回又完了！”

他栗然的发了大冷，同时也放了手，下巴骨轻飘飘的回到坑底里不多久，他也就逃到院子里了。他偷看房里面，灯光如此辉煌，下巴骨如此嘲笑，异乎寻常的怕人，便再不敢向那边看。他躲在远处的檐下的阴影里，觉得较为平安了；但在这平安中，忽而耳朵边又听得窃窃的低声说：

“这里没有……到山里去…”

陈士成似乎记得白天在街上也曾听得有人说这种话，他不待再听完，已经恍然大悟了。他突然仰面向天，月亮已向西高峰这方面隐去，远想离城三十五里的西高峰正在眼前，朝笏一般黑魆魆的挺立着，周围便放出浩大闪烁的白光来。

而且这白光又远远的就在前面了。

“是的，到山里去！”

他决定的想，惨然的奔出去了。几回的开门声之后，门里面便再不闻一些声息。灯火结了大灯花照着空屋和坑洞，毕毕剥剥的炸了几声之后，便渐渐的缩小以至于无有，那是残油已经烧尽了。

“开城门来 ”

含着大希望的恐怖的悲声，游丝似的在西关门前的黎明中，战战兢兢的叫喊。

At noon the next day someone noticed a drowned man floating in the Wanliu Lake five miles from the West Gate. He lost no time in spreading the news till word reached the local bailiff， who got some villagers to recover the corpse. It was the body of a man in his fifties， “of medium height， pale and beardless，” completely naked. It may have been Chen Shicheng. But since none of his neighbours could be troubled to go and look and no kinsmen went to identify and claim him， after the county authorities had held and inquest the bailiff buried him. The cause of death was beyond dispute and the theft of a dead man’s clothes a common occurrence，insufficient grounds for suspicion of foul play. In fact， the post-mortem established that he had fallen in while still alive， for he had undoubtedly struggled under the water—embedded under all his nails was mud from the bottom of the lake.

Jun-22

第二天的日中，有人在离西门十五里的万流湖里看见一个浮尸，当即传扬开去，终于传到地保的耳朵里了，便叫乡下人捞将上来。那是一个男尸，五十多岁，“身中面白无须”，浑身也没有什么衣裤。或者说这就是陈士成。但邻居懒得去看，也并无尸亲认领，于是经县委员相验之后，便由地保抬埋了。至于死因，那当然是没有问题的，剥取死尸的衣服本来是常有的事，够不上疑心到谋害去；而且仵作也证明是生前的落水，因为他确凿曾在水底里挣命，所以十个指甲里都满嵌着河底泥。

一九二二年六月。