为自己减刑
作者: 余秋雨
译者: 爱尔兰UCD 赖小琪
一位朋友几年前进了监狱。有一次，我应邀到监狱为犯人们演讲，没有见到他，就请监狱长带给他一张纸条，上面写了一句话：“平日都忙，你现在终于获得了学好一门外语的上好机会。”
One of my friends went into jail several years ago. One day, I was invited to deliver a speech for the prisoners. When I was in the prison, I did not see him. So I asked the warden to help me give him a piece of paper where I wrote: You used to be very busy, but now you can have time to master a foreign language.
几年后我接到一个兴高采烈的电话：“嘿，我出来了！”我一听是他，便问：“外语学好了吗？”他说：“我带出来一部60万字的译稿，准备出版。”
Several years later, I received my friend’s call and he said, “Hey buddy! I come out!” I knew it was him from his voice and asked, “How is your foreign language learning?” He said, “I’ve accomplished a translation of 600,000 words and am going to publish it.”
他是刑满释放的，但我相信他是为自己大大地减了刑。茨威格在《象棋的故事》里写一个被囚禁的人无所事事时度日如年，而获得一本棋谱后日子过得飞快。外语就是我这位朋友的棋谱，轻松愉快地几乎把他的牢狱之灾全然赦免。
He wasn’t released from the jail ahead of time, but I believe he has deducted his own sentence. Zweig has written a story in his book, Story of Chess: A prisoner felt time passing so slowly in the beginning while he felt time flying so rapidly after he got a chess book. For my friend, learning a foreign language is exactly the chess book, which has eliminated all the pains in the prison for him.
真正进监狱的人毕竟不多，但我却由此想到，很多人正恰与我的这位朋友相反，明明没有进监狱却把自己关在心造的监狱里，不肯自我减刑、自我赦免。
In our lives, only a handful of people would be put into jail. However, many of them have indeed locked themselves in the prisons that are created by their own hearts without releasing themselves.
我见到过一位年轻的公共汽车售票员，一眼就可以看出他非常不喜欢这个职业，懒洋洋地招呼，爱理不理地售票，时不时抬手看着手表，然后满目无聊地看着窗外。我想，这辆公共汽车就是他的监狱，他却不知刑期多久。其实他何不转身把售票当作棋谱和外语呢，满心欢喜地把自己释放出来。
I have met a young conductor in a bus, who, obviously did not like his job. He was lazily greeting to the passengers and selling tickets indifferently, watching his watch now and again or looking outside the window bored. To my mind, the bus was exactly the prison for him, but he did not know how long he would be kept in it. Actually, he could have looked on his job as a chess book or a foreign language and gleefully released himself from the prison.
对有的人来说，一个仇人也是一座监狱，那人的一举一动都成了层层铁窗，天天为之而郁闷忿恨、担惊受怕。有人干脆扩而大之，把自己的嫉妒对象也当作了监狱，人家的每项成果都成了自己无法忍受的刑罚，白天黑夜独自煎熬。
To some people, an enemy may be a prison, the behaviors of whom become the endless closed windows of the prison that make them feel hatred and worries. Some people may even amply the definition of “prison” and treat the one they envy as a prison. All the achievements others make will torture them to the deepest day and night.
我确实相信，世界上最恐怖的监狱并没有铁窗和围墙。人类的智慧可以在不自由中寻找自由，也可以在自由中设置不自由。环顾四周多少匆忙的行人，眉眼带着一座座监狱在奔走。老友长谈，苦叹一声，依稀有锒铛之声在叹息声中盘旋。
I strongly believe that the most horrible prison has no ruthless walls and windows. The intelligence of human beings can help them seek freedom in the restriction and can also restrict them in the freedom. Look around at those walking by you and you will see from their eyes that they are indeed carrying numerous prisons when they are living. You can even hear their sighs echoing from the prisons they set for themselves.
舒一舒眉，为自己减刑吧。除了自己，还有谁能让你恢复自由？
Please relieve yourself from the prison you set in your heart! Nobody other than you can help you regain freedom again! |
