绝代双碟

丁玎 黄湘淇

History， Served up on Two Plates

近来电视上流行起了鉴宝节目，这厢请来火眼金睛的专家大拿来坐镇，那厢请观众搬出自己家的宝贝来鉴赏。所谓的宝贝有真有假，但每个捧着宝贝前来的人都能津津有味地说上一段自家宝贝的来龙去脉。不论物件真假，价格高低，其实都承载了人的感情——关于宝贝的那段说道，那种念想，才是无价之宝。

1. indigo dye： 靛蓝染料；pagoda： 塔；fade into： 渐渐融入。

2. Glasgow： 格拉斯哥，英国苏格兰西部港口城市。

3. going-away gift： 离别礼物； Binatang： 民那丹；Sarawak： 砂拉越（马来西亚一州）。

4. nonprofit： 非营利的；Americas Peace Corps： 美国和平护卫队；be set to： 被定在，安排。

5. open-air： 露天的。

6. tin： 锡制的；spoon： 勺子； painted-on： 描画上去的； scratch： 刮掉；chip： 削落。

7. cicada： 蝉；mosquito： 蚊子； swarm： 成群结队地移动。

8. head boy/girl： 男/女班长。

9. convince： 使信服；grateful： 感谢的。

10. shed tears： 流泪；parcel： 包裹；wrap： 包，裹。

11. Iban longhouse： 伊班长屋，伊班人居住在马来西亚砂拉越州；drop ones voice： 放低声音；raid： 洗劫；grave： 坟墓。

12. remote： 偏远的；jungle： 丛林。

13. pottery： 陶瓷。

14. 这大概是成套餐具的一部分，送至远东用以出售，或者作为英国殖民者、军官、地方官或传教士家居用品的一部分。dinnerware set： 成套餐具；the Far East： 远东地区；household goods： 家庭用品；colonist： 殖民者；military officer： 军官；magistrate： 地方官；missionary： 传教士。

15. Cape of Good Hope：（位于南非的）好望角；Suez Canal： 苏伊士运河。

16. eventually： 最终。

17. possession： 所有，拥有。

18. Toronto： 多伦多；via： 通过，经由；Iran： 伊朗；Switzerland： 瑞士；Belgium： 比利时。

19. Ontario： 安大略省（加拿大南部省，省会多伦多）。

20. curator： 馆长；antique： 古董。

21. backwoods： 偏远地区，边远林区。

22. barn： 谷仓，畜棚；china： 瓷器；chest of drawers： 五斗橱，衣柜；decrepit： 破旧的。

23. log house： 原木屋；massive： 巨大的，厚重的；beam： 横梁。

24. 一进门便是一个巨大的中式红木药柜，上面全是小抽屉和格子，尽管要价昂贵，我还是自圆其说试图买下它来。enormous： 庞大的；rosewood： 红木，黄檀木；medicine cupboard： 药柜；compartment： 隔间；justify： 证明……正当（或有道理、合理）； extravagant： 过高的，奢侈的。

25. Fabergé egg： 法贝热彩蛋，指俄国著名珠宝首饰工匠彼得·卡尔·法贝热制作的类似蛋的作品；czar： 沙皇； palace： 宫殿；triptych： 三张相联的图画；luminescent： 发光的；pale jade bowl： 白玉碗。

26. worth every penny： 物有所值。

27. steady： v. 使稳定。

28. authentic： 真正的；Five Roosters plate： 五雄鸡盘。

29. 我问店主为什么会经营这么另辟蹊径的生意，他十分谦虚地告诉我，某些有钱有名的主顾，名号可是人尽皆知的，当他们需要别致的礼物时，都会给他打电话。off the beaten path： 不走寻常路的；modesty： 谦逊。

30. 所以，我其中一个盘子可能来自洛克菲勒家族需要置办礼品时光顾的一家店，它边上还挂着一个出处惊人的盘子，想当年，如果你需要备份礼物，可能还得动手挖坟掘墓去。the Rockefellers： 洛克菲勒家族，由约翰·D. 洛克菲勒（1839—1937）白手起家而创立，是美国近代史上拥有最多财富、最具影响力的家族之一。

I have a beautiful old Chinese plate hanging on my kitchen wall. I love its intense indigo dyes， and how its bridges and pagodas appear to be fading into the China of long ago.2 Ive owned it for 46 years， and today I discovered it is not an old Chinese plate. It was made in Glasgow2， Scotland.

This plate was a going-away gift from my students at a secondary school in Binatang， Sarawak.3 （Sarawak is a state of Malaysia in Southeast Asia.） I had just completed two years there teaching English and science with a nonprofit Canadian organization similar to Americas Peace Corps， and I was set to leave the next morning.4 Everyone had gathered in the schools open-air5 dining room to say goodbye.

Dinner was over， the kitchen was closed， and the tin spoons and plates—their painted-on flowers scratched and chipped6—had all been put away. Clouds of cicadas and mosquitoes were swarming around the bright lights.7 The students were waiting at the rows of tables， and we teachers and the head boy and head girl8 were on the stage.

The headmaster and the head boy each made kind speeches thanking me， and I tried to match theirs， using simple English and hoping to convince them how grateful I was for their kindness.9 We shed a few tears， and then they gave me a parcel wrapped in pages from a Chinese newspaper.10 Inside was this beautiful plate.

After we left the stage， I asked the head boy where it had come from. He told me it might have come from a native Iban longhouse， but—and here he dropped his voice—he suspected someone had raided a Chinese grave for it.11

So you see why Ive always believed it was a Chinese plate.

I have no idea how it got from Glasgow to a remote jungle school in Sarawak.12 Ill never know who ate from it， washed it， stored it， traveled with it， treasured it， and later probably lay dead beside it in their grave.

If Id ever thought to look on the back， Id have seen it was made by the Glasgow pottery13 company R. Cochran & Co.， which was formed in 1856. It was probably part of a dinnerware set either sent to the Far East for sale or as part of the household goods of a British colonist， military officer， magistrate， or missionary.14 It would have made its long voyage from Glasgow around Africas Cape of Good Hope， or， if it traveled later than 1869， through the then-newly opened Suez Canal.15

When it eventually16 reached Singapore， it could have gone to what was then Malaya or Sarawak or on to China. There it could have ended up in the possession17 of a Chinese family， who later moved to Sarawak in the early 1900s. It probably traveled little after it arrived in the jungle until， in 1968， it came into my hands. Then it flew to Toronto via Iran， Switzerland， Belgium，18 and London. Now it hangs here in my house in southern Ontario19.

It hangs beside another old plate， this one bought from a former curator and expert in Chinese and Russian antiques.20 This man ran an antique store in the backwoods21 near where I live. Not knowing his background， I went expecting an old barn with bits of china， old chests of drawers， and decrepit farm equipment.22 Instead I found a log house with massive beams.23 Right inside the door was an enormous Chinese rosewood medicine cupboard entirely made up of little drawers and compartments， a piece that I found myself trying to justify buying despite its extravagant price.24

The owner took me around， showing me one wonderful thing after another： Fabergé eggs from a czars palace， Russian triptychs painted with gold leaf， and luminescent pale jade bowls.25 I thought one of the bowls was worth every penny26 of the $35 price tag. Then I looked again： It was $35，000. I steadied27 my hand and put it back on its shelf. The only thing I could afford was an authentic Chinese Five Roosters plate，28 which now also hangs on my wall.

I asked the owner how he managed a business so far off the beaten path， and he told me with great modesty that some of the rich and famous—names everyone would recognize—call him when they need a special gift.29

And so， one of my plates comes from a place where， perhaps， the Rockefellers might have gone had they needed a gift， and beside it hangs a plate that comes from an astonishing place where， back then， if you needed a gift， you might have had to dig up a grave.30