重 拾 旅 行

文/伊兰·斯塔文斯 乔舒亚·埃利森 译/李亚芬 审订/朱波

重 拾 旅 行

文/伊兰·斯塔文斯 乔舒亚·埃利森 译/李亚芬 审订/朱波

What compels us to leave home, to travel to other places? The great travel writer Bruce Chatwin1（1889—1940），英国现代旅行作家，代表作《巴塔哥尼亚高原上》（In Patagonia）曾获“豪森登奖”（Hawthornden Prize）和“福斯特奖”（E. M. Forster Award）。described nomadism as an “inveterate impulse”,deeply rooted in our species. The relentless movement of the modern world bears this out2bear out支持；证明。: our relative prosperity has not turned us into a sedentary3sedentary定栖的；不迁徙的。species. The World Tourism Organization,an agency of the United Nations, reported nearly a billion tourist arrivals in 2011. Some 200 million people are now living outside their country of birth.

[2] This type of massive movement—the rearrangement, temporary or permanent, of multitudes4multitude人群。—is as fundamental to modern life as the Internet, global trade or any other sociopolitical developments. Certainly, many of our most intractable55 intractable很难对付（或处理）的。collective challenges as a society are directly linked to our mobil-ity: urbanization, environmental depletion6depletion耗尽，枯竭。, scarcity and, of course, immigration. An immigrant is a traveler without a return ticket.

[3] In theBible, the human journey begins with an expulsion7expulsion驱逐。. God’s chosen people are also those condemned to88 be condemned to注定；落得个……下场。wander. Not only wander, but wonder:Why are we in exile? Where is home?Can this rupture9rupture断裂。ever be repaired?Gilgamesh10人类历史上第一部史诗，讲述了英雄吉尔伽美什一生的传奇故事。, the Icelandic sagas andThe Odyssey11古希腊史诗，主要讲述希腊英雄奥德修斯在特洛伊战争后航海返乡的奇幻经历。are all about the itinerant12itinerant流动的；四处奔波的。life. Yet these characters don’t see travel as we moderns do. They embark on journeys of mythic signi fi cance—the literature of travel in the pre-modern era did not recognize travel for leisure or self-improvement. Today, our approach to travel is defined not by archetypal13archetypal原型的。imagery but, rather, according to our own mostly prosaic14prosaic没有诗意（或美感）的；平淡的。trips.

[4] For the most fortunate among us,our travels are now routine, devoted mainly to entertainment and personal enrichment. We have turned travel into something ordinary, deprived it of allegorical15allegorical比喻的，寓言的。grandeur16grandeur庄严；伟大。. We have made it a business: the business of being on the move17on the move在活动中。. Whatever impels us to travel, it is no longer the oracle18oracle先知；神谕。, the pilgrimage or the gods. It is the compulsion19compulsion冲动。to be elsewhere, anywhere but here.

[5] St. Augustine20（354—430），天主教圣师，古罗马帝国思想家，中世纪天主教神学、教父哲学的代表。believed that “because God has made us for Himself,our hearts are restless211 restless不安分的；浮躁不安的。until they rest in Him.” We often think of restlessness as a malady22malady疾病。. Thus, we urgently need to reclaim the etymology23etymology词源。of restlessness — “stirring constantly, desirous of action” — to signal our curiosity toward what isn’t us, to explore outside the con fi nes24confine界限；边界。of our own environment.Getting lost isn’t a curse25curse祸殃，厄运。. Not knowing where we are, what to eat, how to speak the language can certainly make us anxious and uneasy. But anxiety is part of any person’s quest to find the parameters26parameter规范；范围。of life’s possibilities.

[6] The act of traveling is an impossibly broad category: it can encompass27encompass包含。both the death march28死亡行军，典出二战太平洋战场。在（菲律宾）巴丹半岛上的美菲守军与日军激战4个月，因缺乏支援与接济，被迫投降。近8万名战俘被押解到100公里外的战俘营，一路无食无水，又遭刺死、枪杀，死亡过半。and the cruise ship. Travel has no inherent29inherent固有的；内在的。moral character, no necessary outcome. It can be precious or worthless, productive or destructive. It can be ennobling30ennoble使变得高尚。or self-satisfied. The returns can be only as good as what we offer of ourselves in the process. So what distinguishes meaningful, fruitful travel from mere tourism? What turns travel into a quest rather than self-serving31self-serving只为个人打算的；一心谋私利的。escapism?

[7] George Steiner wrote that “human beings need to learn to be each other’s guests on this small planet.” We usually focus on the ethical322 ethical伦理的；合乎道德的。imperative33imperative必要的事。of hospitality, on the obligation to be a generous host. When we travel, though,we are asking for hospitality. There’s great vulnerability in this. It also requires considerable strength. To be a good guest—like being a good host—one needs to be secure in one’s own premises344 premise住宅；房屋（及其附属基地、建筑等）。: where you stand, who you are. This means we tend to romanticize355 romanticize使浪漫化。travel as a lonely pursuit. In fact,a much deeper virtue366 virtue优秀品质；良好习惯。arises from the demands it makes on us as social beings.

[8] Travel is a search for meaning, not only in our own lives, but also in the lives of others. The humility required for genuine travel is exactly what is missing from its opposite extreme, tourism.

[9] Modern tourism does not promise transformation but rather the possibility of leaving home and coming back without any signi fi cant change or challenge.Tourists may enjoy the visit only be-cause it is short. The memory of it, the retelling, will always be better. Whereas travel is about the unexpected, about giving oneself over to disorientation37disorientation迷失方向；迷惑。,tourism is safe, controlled and predetermined38predetermined预先决定的。. We take a vacation, not so much to discover a new landscape, but to fi nd respite39respite稍事休息；解脱。from our current one, an antidote40antidote解毒药；〈喻〉矫正法。to routine.

[10] There are still traces of the pilgrimage, even in tourism, though they have become warped41warped歪曲的；〈非正式〉反常的。and solipsistic42solipsistic我论的；自我中心。.Holy seekers go looking for oracles,tombs, sites of revelation. Tourists like to visit ruins, empty churches, battlefields, memorials. Tourist kitsch43kitsch投人所好的；迎合低级趣味的。depends on a sterilized44sterilize消毒。version of history and a smug45smug自命不凡的。assurance that all of our stories of the past are ultimately redemptive46redemptive救赎的。—even if it is only the tourists’ false witness that redeems them.There’s no seeking required, and no real challenge, because the emotional voyage is preprogrammed. The world has become a frighteningly small place.

[11] The planet’s size hasn’t changed,of course, but our outsize egos have shrunk477 shrink收缩；减少。it dramatically. We might feel we know our own neighborhood, our own city, our own country, yet we stillknow so little about other individuals,what distinguishes them from us, how they make their habitat into home.

[12] This lack of awareness is even more pronounced when it comes to different cultures. The media bombards48bombard一下子抛给；提供过多信息。us with images from far-away places,making distant people seem less foreign, more relatable49relatable有关联的。to us, less threatening. It’s a mirage, obviously. The kind of travel to which we aspire should tolerate uncertainty and discomfort. It isn’t about pain or excessive strain—travel doesn’t need to be an extreme sport—but we need to permit ourselves to be clumsy50clumsy笨拙的；无技巧的。, inexpert and even a bit lonely.We might never understand travel as our ancestors did: our world is too open,relativistic51relativistic相对性的。, secular52secular世俗的。, demystified53demystify弄清楚，解开……的谜团。.But we will need to reclaim54reclaim取回。some notion of the heroic: a quest for communion555 communion（思想感情的）交流，交融。and, ultimately, self-knowledge.

[13] Our wandering is meant to lead back toward ourselves. This is the paradox56paradox悖论。: we set out on adventures to gain deeper access to ourselves; we travel to transcend our own limitations. Travel should be an art through which our restlessness fi nds expression. We must bring back the idea of travel as a search. ■

是什么力量驱使我们离开家、旅行到其他地方？著名旅行作家布鲁斯·查特文把游牧生活描写成一种“根深蒂固的冲动”，深深植根于人类的内心。现代社会的流动不息表明：相对繁荣的生活并没有让我们安定下来。联合国机构世界旅游组织2011年发布的全球游客总量接近十亿人次。如今约有两亿人居住在出生国之外的地方。

[2]这种大规模的流动——不管是临时还是永久性的人口迁移——如同互联网、全球贸易或其他社会政治动态一样，是现代社会的根本。显然，我们共同面临的很多最棘手的社会问题，如城市化、环境损耗、资源稀缺，当然还有移民，都与我们的流动性直接相关。移民就是没有返程票的旅客。

[3]在《圣经》中，人类旅行始于一次驱逐。上帝的选民也是注定要漂泊一生的人，不仅流浪，还会反思：我们为何被流放？家在哪里？这种破裂的关系能否修复？《吉尔伽美什》、冰岛传说和《奥德赛》等无一例外记录了主人公的流浪生活。但是，他们对旅行的理解与现代人有所不同。他们踏上具有神话意义的行程——前现代关于旅行的作品既不将其看作休闲，也不把它视为自我提升。如今，我们对待旅行的看法不再受缚于原始意象，转而依托我们自己那些平淡无奇的旅程。

[4]对我们当中那些最幸运的人来说，旅行已成惯例，主要是为娱乐和丰富自我。我们把旅行变成一桩稀松平常的事情，消除了它的庄严寓意。我们把它发展成一门生意：一门关于行走的生意。驱使我们上路的原因多种多样，却不再是神谕、朝圣或众神。旅行就是一种离开的冲动，不论是哪儿，换个地方就行。

[5]圣奥古斯丁认为，“由于上帝为自身造出人类，我们的内心是躁动不安的，除非皈依于他”。我们经常把不安看成是一种病，因而迫切需要回归restless（不安）的原始含义——“搅动不止，渴望行动”——使之表达我们对他者的好奇，突破自身环境的局限，探索外部世界。迷失不是一件坏事。不清楚身处何地，有什么东西可吃，不会说当地语言，无疑都会让我们感到焦虑且不安。但是，焦虑也是一种常态，伴随每一个人发现生活多种可能的探索之旅。

[6]从死亡行军到游轮观光，旅行是一个难以置信的宽广范畴，没有内在的道德属性，也不保证任何必然结果。这种经历可能弥足珍贵，也可能微不足道；可能带来收获，也可能造成破坏。它可以使人变得高尚，或感到自我满足。旅行的回报取决于我们在这一过程中对于自身的付出。如何把意义非凡、富有成效的旅行与单纯的旅游观光区分开来？是什么把旅行变成一种探索，而非满足一己之利的逃避行为？

[7]乔治·斯坦纳写道，“在这个小星球上，人类需要学会彼此间互为客人。”我们总是强调待客之道，强调有义务做宽厚大方的主人。但当我们旅行时，我们要求受到款待。这当中有很大的脆弱性，也需要很强的力量。要成为一个好的客人，就像做一个好的主人一样，必须确立属于自己的地方：你身处何处？你是谁？这意味着我们易于把旅行浪漫化为一种孤独的追寻。实际上，旅行对我们这些社会人提出的要求可以让我们养成深厚的美德。

[8]旅行是一种对意义的探索，不仅是在自己生活中，而且也涉及他人生活。真正的旅行要求谦逊，而这恰恰是处在其对立面的旅游所欠缺的。

[9]现代旅游不能促使人转变，它只是让人有可能离开家再返回，其间无须经历任何显著变化或挑战。恰恰因为行程短暂，游客会很享受这段时光。回忆或重温这段旅程总是更美妙。旅行是出乎意料，是让自我迷失；而旅游则是安全的，受控的和预先定制的。我们去休假，并不是为了发现一处新的风景，只是为了从时下境况中暂时解脱，打破常规而已。

[10]即便在旅游中，朝圣的踪迹依旧可见，尽管已变得扭曲且唯我。寻道者搜寻神谕、古墓和天启圣地，观光客喜欢参观遗迹、空置的教堂、古战场和纪念碑。迎合游客的媚俗景点依赖“净化”的历史，自以为是地宣称一切历史故事都具有救赎性——其实只是从游客错误的见证中得到救赎而已。旅游无须探索，没有真正的挑战，因为情感历程都已预先设定。它把这个世界变小了，小到令人震惊。

[11]地球大小没有变化，但是人类的狂妄自大却让它大幅缩小。我们自以为了解自己的社区、自己的城市、自己的国家，但是我们对其他个体几乎一无所知，不知道他们与我们有何不同，也不知道他们如何把栖身处改造成家。

[12]当涉及不同文化时，这种意识上的不足更是显而易见。媒体上充斥着来自遥远地方的形象，让远方的人看起来不再异样，更加可亲，少了些威胁。显然，这是一种幻觉。我们渴望的那种旅行应能容忍不确定性和不适。它并不意味着痛苦或负担过度——旅行不需要成为一项极限运动——但我们应当允许自己显得笨拙、不熟练，甚至有点孤独。我们可能永远无法像祖先那样参透旅行：我们的世界过于开放，趋于相对，极其世俗，神秘感尽失。但是，我们需要重拾史诗的理念：（在旅行中）寻求交融，最终发现自我。

[13]我们的漂泊意在回归自我。吊诡的是：我们开启冒险是为了更接近自我，在旅行中超越自身局限。旅行应该是一门艺术，通过它，我们的不安得以表达。我们必须重新把旅行看成一种探索。 □

Reclaiming Travel

ByIlan Stavans&Joshua Ellison

（译者单位：南京航空航天大学外国语学院）