多麗絲?萊辛：《浮世畸零人》

◆ 唐書哲

【作者簡介】

多麗絲·萊辛（Doris Lessing, 1919~2013），英國著名女作家，1919年出生于伊朗，父母是英國人。萊辛童年曾隨父母在津巴布韋一農場度過一段時間，后來在一家天主教女子修道院高中接受教育，離校后從事過保姆、接線員和速記員等工作。1939年，萊辛和法蘭克·惠斯頓（Frank Wisdom）結婚，育有一子一女，1943年離婚。離婚后，萊辛對政治產生興趣，積極投身反殖民主義運動。 1945年，她與德國共產黨人戈特弗利·萊辛（Gottfried Lessing）再婚，生下兒子彼德，但兩人的婚姻關系也僅維持了四年。1949年，萊辛攜幼子彼得和一部小說手稿回到英國，追求自己的寫作生涯和共產主義信仰。1950年，這部手稿出版，即我們知道的《野草在歌唱》（The Grass Is Singing），萊辛一舉成名。萊辛一生共創作了50余部作品，在世界范圍內產生了重大影響，被譽為繼伍爾夫（Virginia Woolf）之后最偉大的女性作家，2007年獲得諾貝爾文學獎。

萊辛是一位多產和富有創作力的作家，她的作品文類多樣、題材豐富，有以非洲民族獨立運動為題材的長篇小說，如《野草在歌唱》；有以女性困境和解放為題材的女性主義小說，如《金色筆記》（The Golden Notebook, 1962）；有以人類的危機為題材的科幻小說，如《南船星系中的老人星座：檔案》（Canopus in Argos: Archives, 1979~1983）系列小說；還有以社會現實問題為題材的現實主義小說，如《好恐怖分子》（The Good Terrorist, 1985）。萊辛善于結合自己的經歷，從女性的視角，用多種文類來思考和表達她所關注的問題：女性的困境、殖民主義、人性的陰暗、種族隔離。華裔女作家虹影曾這樣評價萊辛：“多麗絲·萊辛是當代英國文壇上最重要的作家之一，她的作品廣泛涉及殖民主義、女性主義、種族隔離等社會和政治熱點問題，曾多次獲得諾貝爾文學獎提名以及多個世界級文學獎項，她的作品思想深邃，極具挑戰性?！敝Z獎委員會給萊辛的評語是：“她的作品堪稱女性經驗的史詩，用懷疑、熱情和夢想的力量審視了一個分裂的文明?！?/p>

【內容提要】

《浮世畸零人》（Ben, in the World）發表于2000年，是《第五個孩子》（The Fifth Child, 1988）的續篇?！兜谖鍌€孩子》講述了主人公班（Ben）的童年，班由于基因變異而發生返祖現象，野蠻有力而富有攻擊性，被父親大衛送到“療養院”，受盡了非人的待遇，后又被牽腸掛肚的母親海蕊接回，家庭因班的歸來再度陷入恐慌和怨恨。在《浮世畸零人》中，長大成人的班因受不了父親和兄長的冷眼而離家出走，開始了四處漂泊的生活。他由于相貌怪異、不諳世故，處處受到人們的排斥、欺侮和利用。建筑工地的工人們毆打他并騙取他的工錢，詹士頓利用他運毒到尼斯，亞力帶他到巴西拍攝電影，高拉克教授綁架他來做人體實驗。但小說中也有愛和溫情，畢格斯太太、麗妲和德蕾莎都把班視為自己的同類，對他進行照料和呵護，她們不僅給他提供食物和精神上的安慰，而且還在他被綁架到研究中心后全力營救，并帶他去深山的洞穴中看壁畫上的原始人。在小說的結尾，班跳下山谷自殺。選文中，德蕾莎和她的男朋友阿爾弗雷多一起去高拉克教授的研究中心救出被關在籠子中的班。

Ben, in the World(Excerpt)

Where was Ben? They stood at the edge of the trees, looking at the scattered1buildings and did not know where to go.Then Teresa heard it, a low rattling, bang, bang, bang, and a rattle2again.

“There he is,” said Teresa, “he’s there,” and she began running across the space of flat dust to the building.As they ran, the sound grew louder, the rattling bang.It was dark now.The light on this building was at the front,and they stole around to the back and saw windows.They were open.A foul3smell came out.First Alfredo and then Teresa climbed up over the sill4.A low light was burning on the ceiling.In layers of cages were monkeys, small and large, arranged so that the excrement5from the top cages must fall down on the animals below.A bank of rabbits, locked at the neck, had chemicals dripping into their eyes.A big dog, which had been cut open from the shoulder to the hip bone and then sewn up again, was lying moaning on the ground.From cages monkeys stretched out their hands and their human eyes begged for help.Teresa saw nothing of all this.She was looking at Ben, kneeling on the floor of his cage,bangbanging his head on the wire.He had not been drugged: Professor Stephen wanted him uncontaminated6.He was unclothed, this creature who had been clothed since he was born.In the corner of his cage was a pile of dung7.

“The alarm,” Teresa said to Alfredo, who began looking around for the wire,and at her voice Ben sat up and howled, his face lifted towards her.“Be quiet,Ben,” whispered Teresa.“We’re going to take you away.” His eyes—what was wrong with them? In the feeble8light they seemed like dark holes, but they were blanked out with terror and misery.“Ben, Ben, be quiet, you must be quiet.” He quietened but his breathing was like groaning.Alfredo had found the wire for the alarm and had cut it.Then he vomited: the smell, that smell—and it was so hot in here.

He began cutting a big hole in the wire of Ben’s cage, which was for a strong animal—thick wire.Teresa was looking at a cage where a white cat was lying stretched out, a mother cat.Wires led into her head from an instrument fastened to the wire of the cage.Four kittens9sucked at her: each had wires on its head.The cat looked at Teresa and the accusation in its eyes made her want to put her hands over her own eyes.There was a big hole in Ben’s cage.“Quiet, quiet, be quiet, Ben,” whispered Teresa, and put her arms around him to hold him.He was dirty and shaking, a poor helpless defeated creature who now—surprising them—jumped out of the window and disappeared into the darkness.He was running for the forest, and Teresa and Alfredo ran after him.“Stop, Ben! There are people, don’t go further, come here.” She and Alfredo moved cautiously10about under the trees, in the dark, and could hear nothing.Yet she knew Ben was there.“I’m going to sit down here, Ben.And Alfredo too.He’s a friend.Come here to me.And we’ll take you to Alfredo’s house and then we’ll go right away.”

A silence.Little forest noises.Behind, in the building they had left,monkeys cried, a terrible sound, from that hell which is multiplied all over the world, everywhere human beings make our civilization.“Ben, Ben, come here to me, Ben.” It was the smell that told them he was coming.“Will you take me to the people who are like me?” they heard.“Yes, yes, Ben, we will,” said Teresa, desperate with his desperation.He was there, by them, crouching11, trembling.“Now, come quietly, quietly, Ben.Don’t make a sound, Ben.”

It was all right in the forest, they were well hidden, but they had to cross an open space, taking the risk of being seen.Luckily most people were inside eating their evening meal.They could hear television sets, radios, voices.Alfredo said, “Now, run.” And Teresa, “Run fast, Ben.” The three ran, through the darkness cut by lights from the houses, to Alfredo’s room.There Teresa pushed Ben into the shower, washed him, ran water until it was clear around his feet, pulled him out, dried him, and put on the clean clothes she had brought.Alfredo found orange juice for him, and fruit.He wanted to drink, but not to eat.His eyes were on Teresa, imploring12her: like those monkeys’ eyes, she thought, though she had not taken them in at the time.

“Why are they allowed to do that?” she asked Alfredo.He was silent, and grim13, and—she could see—ashamed, and said, “It’s science.” Ben was not trembling now, but he found it hard to look at them, and sat crouching on his chair, fists dangling14, head poked15forward, eyes still painful with fear.“We are going to drive you down to Rio,” said Teresa.“Then tomorrow we are going on an airplane.” “To my people?” “Yes,” she said, helplessly, and did not dare even to look at Alfredo.What were they going to do?

【作品簡評】在《浮世畸零人》中，主人公班是個基因發生變異的返祖人，受盡了人們的歧視、欺侮和利用。在西部流浪的時候，他遭到了少年團伙的圍毆，在建筑工地做工的時候，他又被包工頭和工友欺侮，騙去辛苦掙來的工錢。詹士頓利用他來運送毒品到法國，導演亞力誘騙他到巴西去拍攝一部像《金剛》一樣的電影，在巴西期間，班又被綁架到研究中心進行活體實驗。小說中也充滿了溫情：當班被少年團伙打得吐血的時候，一個在酒館工作的女孩把他帶到小酒館去，幫他沖洗，給他東西吃；畢格斯太太為他提供食物和住所，還教他洗澡；德蕾莎在他被綁架后努力進行營救。有意思的是，小說中欺侮和利用班的大多是男性，而關懷和幫助班的則大多是女性，這似乎表明女性比男性更在乎別人的感受，更重視對他人，尤其是弱者和邊緣人物的義務和關懷。另外，班熱愛原始自然、厭惡現代文明，在某種程度上是原生自然的化身，他在研究中心的遭遇折射出男性對自然的壓迫。在高拉克教授的研究中心里，動物受到了令人發指的虐待：狗被剖開又縫合，電線插進貓的頭部，猴子“從牢籠里伸出手來”，用“充滿人性的眼睛乞求著幫助”。班也被關在研究中心的籠子里，和其他用作實驗的動物放在一起。高拉克教授的做法是人類中心主義的表現：他以科學為名，以造福人類為由，將自然置于人類的對立面，割裂人類與自然和其他物種的復雜關系，企圖征服自然、用動物實驗來促進科技進步，一切價值取向皆以人類為中心。在小說的結尾，班跳下懸崖，化作一縷煙，似乎表明了人類中心主義所造成的毀滅。

1.scatter v.分散；散布。如：Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.

2.rattle n.咔嗒聲；嘎吱聲。如：From the kitchen came a rattle of bowls and plates.

3.foul adj.惡臭的。如：He opened the window to let out the foul air.

4.sill n.窗臺。如：The cat quickly jumped on the sill and ran away.

5.excrement n.糞便；排泄物。如：Her job as a nurse is mainly to analyze human excrement.

6.uncontaminated adj.未污染的。如：In some industrial cities, uncontaminated water resources are hard to find.

7.dung n.動物的糞便。如：In old times, peasants collect dung as fuel and fertilizer.

8.feeble adj.微弱的。如：He said something in a feeble voice and then passed out.

9.kitten n.小貓。如：Our kitten is shiningly brown and has soft paws.

10.cautiously adv.謹慎地。如：She just got her license and drove cautiously.

11.crouch v.蹲下；蜷縮。如：The tiger crouched behind the rock, ready to leap upon the antelope.

12.implore v.懇求；哀求。如：He implored Susie to give him another chance but she refused.

13.grim adj.嚴肅的。如：When little Anna saw her father’s grim face, she stopped crying.

14.dangle v.搖晃；懸垂。如：She sat on the deck, gazed upon the starry night and dangled her feet in the blue sea water.

15.poke v.捅；伸出。如：She should know better than to poke the poor animal with her umbrella.

【True or False】Read the excerpt and mark the following statements T (true)or F (false).

1.In the cages, cats were locked and had chemicals dripping into their eyes.____

2.When Teresa saw Ben in the cage, she banged her head on the wire.____

3.Ben was so terrified and miserable that his eyes looked like a pair of dark holes.____

4.Ben rushed to the forest and refused to come back to Teresa and Alfredo.____

4.Teresa and Alfredo felt what the people in the center did was wrong and horrible.____

【Matching】Match the following words with their English definitions.

1.scatter ____ a.very careful

2.feeble ____ b.to move in different directions

3.contaminated ____ c.to beg, to ask sb.to do sth.

4.cautious ____ d.very weak, not strong

5.implore ____ e.polluted, not pure or innocent

【Cloze】Read the passage and fill in the blanks with the words given to you.Change the form where necessary.

attention, explore, appear, without, include, interview, announce, award, prize, raise

In 2007, Lessing was 1 the Nobel Prize in Literature.She received the prize at the age of 88, making her the oldest winner of the literature prize at the time of the award.Lessing was out shopping for groceries when the 2 came, arriving home to tell reporters who had gathered there, “Oh Christ!” She told reporters outside her home, “I’ve won all the 3 in Europe, every bloody one, so I’m delighted to win them all.It’s a royal flush.” She titled her Nobel Lecture On Not Winning the Nobel Prize and used it to draw 4 to global inequality of opportunity, and to 5 changing attitudes to storytelling and literature.The lecture was later published in a limited edition to 6 money for children made vulnerable by AIDS.In a 2008 7 for the BBC’s Front Row, she stated that increased media interest after the award had left her 8 time or energy for writing.Her final book, Alfred and Emily, 9 in 2008.A 2010 BBC documentary titled Useful Idiots listed among “useful idiots” of Joseph Stalin several prominent British writers, 10 Lessing.

【Translation】Put the following sentences into proper English.

1.多麗絲?萊辛是一個很有吸引力的作家，她有智慧、有熱情，敢于為自己的信仰而戰斗。

2.萊辛的《野草在歌唱》探討了殖民地時期南非的種族歧視和女性的困境。

3.《金色筆記》由五本筆記構成，講述了安娜的生活，尤其是她碎片化的意識。

4.班離家出走后過著流浪的生活，他四處漂泊，不斷地受人欺侮和利用。

5.2007年，瑞典皇家科學院將諾貝爾文學獎授予萊辛，認為“她的作品堪稱女性經驗的史詩，用懷疑、熱情和夢想的力量審視了一個分裂的文明”。

【Writing】Dust storms pose an environmental threat to northern China and have aroused the deep concern of the public.Please write an essay titled “Dust Storms” to introduce dust storms in northern China.

【Culture Bridge】All the following sentences are English translations of the Chinese classic essay The First Memorial to the King before Setting off for War (《前出師表》).Read them and identify the original Chinese text.

1.It is injudicious that Your Majesty should unduly humble yourself, and use metaphors with distorted meanings, lest you should block the way of sincere admonition.

2.There should be neither prejudice nor partiality in Your Majesty’s attitude towards the officials inside and outside the court for fear that different laws be put into practice.

3.To be close to the virtuous and able officials and keep away from the vile and mean persons.That was the reason the Western Han Dynasty was prosperous.

4.I managed to survive in times of turbulence and had no intention of seeking fame and position from princes.

5.I owe this to the late king and wish to demonstrate my loyalty to Your Majesty.

【Answers】

【True or False】1.F 2.F 3.T 4.F 5.T 【Matching】1.b 2.d 3.e 4.a 5.c 【Cloze】1.awarded 2.announcement 3.prizes 4.attention 5.explore 6.raise 7.interview 8.without 9.appeared 10.including 【Translation】1.Doris Lessing was a very attractive writer.She had wisdom, passion and dared to fight for her belief.2.Lessing’s The Grass Is Singing explores racial discrimination and the plight of women in South Africa during its colonial rule.3.The Golden Notebook, consisting of 5 notebooks, relates the life of Anna, particularly her fragmented consciousness.4.After running away from home, Ben lives a vagrant life and is constantly abused and taken advantage of.5.In 2007, the Swedish Academy awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to Doris Lessing and described her as “that epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny.” 【Writing】Dust storms are becoming a great concern for both the public and the government in recent years.Every spring, overwhelming sands and dust sweep the northern part of China, blocking out the sky and bringing much inconvenience to people’s life and work.In some regions, sandstorms have seriously affected people’s health and caused considerable property damage.Dust storms largely originate from human activities.On the one hand, the release of too much greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide in particular, results in greenhouse effect, which, in turn, leads to global warming.A warmer climate makes northern China where there is insufficient precipitation drier.On the other hand, overgrazing, deforestation and strip mining all leave the land unprotected.When the wind blows, it blows away topsoil and loose soil.Dust storms are another punishment that nature gives to mankind.We must be alert to this ecological alarm.We should not only take effective measures to stop dust storms but also draw a lesson from it.We should not develop economy at the cost of natural environment.【Culture Bridge】1.不宜妄自菲薄，引喻失義，以塞忠諫之路也。2.不宜偏私，使內外異法也。3.親賢臣，遠小人，此先漢所以興隆也。4.茍全性命于亂世，不求聞達于諸侯。5.此臣所以報先帝而忠陛下之職分也。