丑石

我常常遺憾我家門前的那塊丑石呢：它黑黝黝地臥在那里，牛似的模樣；誰也不知道是什么時候留在這里的，誰也不去理會它。只是麥收時節，門前攤了麥子，奶奶總是要說：這塊丑石，多礙地面喲，多時把它搬走吧。

I used to feel regretful about the ugly stone in shiny dark lying in front of my house like an ox. Nobody knew when it was there and it was ignored forever. Only during the wheat harvest season with wheat spread everywhere， grandma complained that this ugly stone was really a hindrance and when on earth could it be moved away.

于是，伯父家蓋房，想以它壘山墻，但苦于它極不規則，沒棱角兒，也沒平面兒；用鏨破開吧，又懶得花那么大氣力，因為河灘并不甚遠，隨便去掮一塊回來，哪一塊也比它強。房蓋起來，壓鋪臺階，伯父也沒有看上它。有一年，來了一個石匠，為我家洗一臺石蘑，奶奶又說：用這塊丑石吧，省得從遠處搬動。石匠看了看，搖著頭，嫌它石質太細，也不采用。

Then， when my uncle was building his own house， he had wanted to use it for the pediment but gave up at last for its irregular shape， no corners and nor a flat plane and for too much effort needed to break it with a chisel since the river bank was not far where he could have carried one easily back instead. My uncle didnt think of using it even when the steps of the new house have been paved. As a stone mason came one day and was expected to chisel a stone for us to wash clothes on， my grandma said：just use this one， then you neednt to take one from afar. He looked at it and shook his head for it was too dedicate to wash clothes on.

它不像漢白玉那樣的細膩，可以鑿下刻字雕花，也不像大青石那樣的光滑，可以供來浣紗捶布；它靜靜地臥在那里，院邊的槐蔭沒有庇覆它，花兒也不再在它身邊生長?；牟荼惴毖艹鰜?，枝蔓上下，慢慢地，竟銹上了綠苔、黑斑。我們這些做孩子的，也討厭起它來，曾合伙要搬走它，但力氣又不足；雖時時咒罵它，嫌棄它，也無可奈何，只好任它留在那里去了。

It was not as fine as white marble which could be carved， nor like a smooth big bluestone on which people could wash their clothes. It lied in the yard silently with no trees to shade it and no flowers were growing around it. The weeds sprung up with tendrils interlacing. Dark green spots of moss gradually appeared. We children became hatred to it too and would have moved it away if we had been strong enough. Although we used to curse it， we had no choice but to leave it alone.

稍稍能安慰我們的，是在那石上有一個不大不小的坑凹兒，雨天就盛滿了水。常常雨過三天了，地上已經干燥，那石凹里水兒還有，雞兒便去那里渴飲。每每到了十五的 夜晚，我們盼著滿月出來，就爬到其上，翹望天邊；奶奶總是要罵的，害怕我們摔下來。果然那一次就摔了下來，磕破了我的膝蓋呢。人都罵它是丑石，它真是丑得不能再丑的丑石了。

The only thing to comfort us was a small pit on top of the stone which was filled with water on rainy days. Then three days after a rain， when the ground had dried and there was still water in the pit， where chickens went to drink. When it was on the fifteenth of lunar calendar every month， we were looking forward to the coming out of the full moon then we could climb onto the top of the stone. Grandma would scold that we should be afraid to fall down from it. I fell down once and broke my knee. So everybody condemned the stone as ugly as it could be.

終有一日，村子里來了一個天文學家。他在我家門前路過，突然發現了這塊石頭，眼光立即就拉直了。他再沒有走去，就住了下來；以后又來了好些人，說這是一塊隕石，從天上落下來已經有二三百年了，是一件了不起的東西。不久便來了車，小心翼翼地將它運走了。

One day， an astronomer came to the village. He passed in front of my house and found the stone by accident with eyes immediately straightened in shock. He never left then and settled down for a while. Some other men came and said that it was a piece of meteorite which had fallen down from the sky two or three hundred years ago. Soon came a truck， carefully took it away.

這使我們都很驚奇！這又怪又丑的石頭，原來是天上的呢！它補過天，在天上發過熱，閃過光，我們的先祖或許仰望過它，它給了他們光明，向往，憧憬；而它落下來了，在污土里，荒草里，一躺就是幾百年了？

This surprised all of us！ Such a strange and ugly stone was actually from the sky！ It had once mended the sky and emitted heat and light there. Our ancestors might have looked upon at it which had given them brightness， expectation and hopes. When it fell down to the earth， in the mud and among the weeds， it had been lying there for hundreds of years！

奶奶說：“真看不出！它那么不一般，卻怎么連墻也壘不成，臺階也壘不成呢？”

“它是太丑了”。天文學家說。

“真的，是太丑了”。

“可這正是它的美”天文學家說，“它是以丑為美的?！?/p>

“以丑為美？”

Grandma said：“I never expected that it was so great！ But why we dont even build walls or pave the stairs with it？”

“It is too ugly， ” the astronomers said.

“Really it is.”

“But that is where its beauty lies， ” said the astronomer， “its beauty lies in its ugliness.” “Beauty lies in ugliness？”

“是的，丑到極處，便是美到極處。正因為它不是一般的頑石，當然不能去做墻，做臺階，不能去雕刻，捶布。它不是做這些玩意兒的，所以常常就遭到一般世俗的譏諷?！?奶奶臉紅了，我也臉紅了。

“Yes， ugly to the extreme is beautiful to the extreme. It shouldnt be used to build walls， pave the steps， carve on or wash clothes on just because the stone is not an ordinary one. It is not made for these common things， so it is often satirized by the general public with inherent bias.” Grandma blushed， and so did I.

我感到自己的可恥，也感到了丑石的偉大；我甚至怨恨它這么多年竟會默默地忍受著這一切？而我又立即深深地感到它那種不屈于誤解、寂寞的生存的偉大。

I felt ashamed of myself while I felt the greatness of the ugly stone； and I have even resented the fact that it had endured it all these years， but I again immediately feel deeply its greatness in the unyielding misunderstanding by others and loneliness.

*文/賈平凹，譯/韓莉。