《老兵》—勇气是灵魂的色彩

陈榕

Excerpts1）

Out of the low window could be seen three hickory trees placed irregularly in a meadow that was resplendent in springtime green. Farther away， the old， dismal belfry2） of the village church loomed over the pines. A horse meditating in the shade of one of the hickories lazily swished his tail. The warm sunshine made an oblong3） of vivid yellow on the floor of the grocery.

“Could you see the whites of their eyes？” said the man who was seated on a soap box.

“Nothing of the kind，” replied old Henry warmly. “Just a lot of flitting figures， and I let go at where they peared to be the thickest. Bang！”

“Mr. Fleming，” said the grocer—his deferential4） voice expressed somehow the old mans exact social weight—“Mr. Fleming， you never was frightened much in them battles， was you？”

The veteran looked down and grinned. Observing his manner， the entire group tittered. “Well， I guess I was，” he answered finally. “Pretty well scared， sometimes. Why， in my first battle I thought the sky was falling down. I thought the world was coming to an end. You bet I was scared.”

斯蒂芬·克萊恩（Stephen Crane， 1871～1900）是19世纪后期美国文坛最富创造力的作家之一。他生于新泽西州纽瓦克一个牧师家庭，从小体弱多病，却早早显现出写作天分。1885年他进入彭宁顿神学院读书，数年间更换了两所大学，尝试了不同专业，最终选择辍学，专心从事写作。1893年，他发表了中篇小说《街头女郎梅吉》（Maggie： A Girl of the Streets）。这部小说描写了一位被生活所迫落入风尘的女子可怜可叹的一生，开创了美国自然主义文学的先河。1895年，他出版了长篇小说《红色英勇勋章》（The Red Badge of Courage，又译《红色的英勇标志》）。这部小说以美国内战为背景，用印象主义的笔法描写了战争的残酷。他的其他代表作还有短篇小说《无篷船》（The Open Boat）、《蓝色旅馆》（The Blue Hotel）等。本文赏析的《老兵》（The Veteran）为短篇小说，是《红色英勇勋章》的续篇。

Every one laughed. Perhaps it seemed strange and rather wonderful to them that a man should admit the thing， and in the tone of their laughter there was probably more admiration than if old Fleming had declared that he had always been a lion. Moreover， they knew that he had ranked as an orderly sergeant5）， and so their opinion of his heroism was fixed. None， to be sure， knew how an orderly sergeant ranked， but then it was understood to be somewhere just shy of a major generals stars. So， when old Henry admitted that he had been frightened， there was a laugh.

“The trouble was，” said the old man， “I thought they were all shooting at me. Yes， sir， I thought every man in the other army was aiming at me in particular， and only me. And it seemed so darned unreasonable， you know. I wanted to explain to em what an almighty good fellow I was， because I thought then they might quit all trying to hit me. But I couldnt explain， and they kept on being unreasonable—blim！—blam！ bang！ So I run！”