丑石

我常常遗憾我家门前的那块丑石呢：它黑黝黝地卧在那里，牛似的模样；谁也不知道是什么时候留在这里的，谁也不去理会它。只是麦收时节，门前摊了麦子，奶奶总是要说：这块丑石，多碍地面哟，多时把它搬走吧。

I used to feel regretful about the ugly stone in shiny dark lying in front of my house like an ox. Nobody knew when it was there and it was ignored forever. Only during the wheat harvest season with wheat spread everywhere， grandma complained that this ugly stone was really a hindrance and when on earth could it be moved away.

于是，伯父家盖房，想以它垒山墙，但苦于它极不规则，没棱角儿，也没平面儿；用錾破開吧，又懒得花那么大气力，因为河滩并不甚远，随便去掮一块回来，哪一块也比它强。房盖起来，压铺台阶，伯父也没有看上它。有一年，来了一个石匠，为我家洗一台石蘑，奶奶又说：用这块丑石吧，省得从远处搬动。石匠看了看，摇着头，嫌它石质太细，也不采用。

Then， when my uncle was building his own house， he had wanted to use it for the pediment but gave up at last for its irregular shape， no corners and nor a flat plane and for too much effort needed to break it with a chisel since the river bank was not far where he could have carried one easily back instead. My uncle didnt think of using it even when the steps of the new house have been paved. As a stone mason came one day and was expected to chisel a stone for us to wash clothes on， my grandma said：just use this one， then you neednt to take one from afar. He looked at it and shook his head for it was too dedicate to wash clothes on.

它不像汉白玉那样的细腻，可以凿下刻字雕花，也不像大青石那样的光滑，可以供来浣纱捶布；它静静地卧在那里，院边的槐荫没有庇覆它，花儿也不再在它身边生长。荒草便繁衍出来，枝蔓上下，慢慢地，竟锈上了绿苔、黑斑。我们这些做孩子的，也讨厌起它来，曾合伙要搬走它，但力气又不足；虽时时咒骂它，嫌弃它，也无可奈何，只好任它留在那里去了。

It was not as fine as white marble which could be carved， nor like a smooth big bluestone on which people could wash their clothes. It lied in the yard silently with no trees to shade it and no flowers were growing around it. The weeds sprung up with tendrils interlacing. Dark green spots of moss gradually appeared. We children became hatred to it too and would have moved it away if we had been strong enough. Although we used to curse it， we had no choice but to leave it alone.

稍稍能安慰我们的，是在那石上有一个不大不小的坑凹儿，雨天就盛满了水。常常雨过三天了，地上已经干燥，那石凹里水儿还有，鸡儿便去那里渴饮。每每到了十五的 夜晚，我们盼着满月出来，就爬到其上，翘望天边；奶奶总是要骂的，害怕我们摔下来。果然那一次就摔了下来，磕破了我的膝盖呢。人都骂它是丑石，它真是丑得不能再丑的丑石了。

The only thing to comfort us was a small pit on top of the stone which was filled with water on rainy days. Then three days after a rain， when the ground had dried and there was still water in the pit， where chickens went to drink. When it was on the fifteenth of lunar calendar every month， we were looking forward to the coming out of the full moon then we could climb onto the top of the stone. Grandma would scold that we should be afraid to fall down from it. I fell down once and broke my knee. So everybody condemned the stone as ugly as it could be.

终有一日，村子里来了一个天文学家。他在我家门前路过，突然发现了这块石头，眼光立即就拉直了。他再没有走去，就住了下来；以后又来了好些人，说这是一块陨石，从天上落下来已经有二三百年了，是一件了不起的东西。不久便来了车，小心翼翼地将它运走了。

One day， an astronomer came to the village. He passed in front of my house and found the stone by accident with eyes immediately straightened in shock. He never left then and settled down for a while. Some other men came and said that it was a piece of meteorite which had fallen down from the sky two or three hundred years ago. Soon came a truck， carefully took it away.

这使我们都很惊奇！这又怪又丑的石头，原来是天上的呢！它补过天，在天上发过热，闪过光，我们的先祖或许仰望过它，它给了他们光明，向往，憧憬；而它落下来了，在污土里，荒草里，一躺就是几百年了？

This surprised all of us！ Such a strange and ugly stone was actually from the sky！ It had once mended the sky and emitted heat and light there. Our ancestors might have looked upon at it which had given them brightness， expectation and hopes. When it fell down to the earth， in the mud and among the weeds， it had been lying there for hundreds of years！

奶奶说：“真看不出！它那么不一般，却怎么连墙也垒不成，台阶也垒不成呢？”

“它是太丑了”。天文学家说。

“真的，是太丑了”。

“可这正是它的美”天文学家说，“它是以丑为美的。”

“以丑为美？”

Grandma said：“I never expected that it was so great！ But why we dont even build walls or pave the stairs with it？”

“It is too ugly， ” the astronomers said.

“Really it is.”

“But that is where its beauty lies， ” said the astronomer， “its beauty lies in its ugliness.” “Beauty lies in ugliness？”

“是的，丑到極处，便是美到极处。正因为它不是一般的顽石，当然不能去做墙，做台阶，不能去雕刻，捶布。它不是做这些玩意儿的，所以常常就遭到一般世俗的讥讽。” 奶奶脸红了，我也脸红了。

“Yes， ugly to the extreme is beautiful to the extreme. It shouldnt be used to build walls， pave the steps， carve on or wash clothes on just because the stone is not an ordinary one. It is not made for these common things， so it is often satirized by the general public with inherent bias.” Grandma blushed， and so did I.

我感到自己的可耻，也感到了丑石的伟大；我甚至怨恨它这么多年竟会默默地忍受着这一切？而我又立即深深地感到它那种不屈于误解、寂寞的生存的伟大。

I felt ashamed of myself while I felt the greatness of the ugly stone； and I have even resented the fact that it had endured it all these years， but I again immediately feel deeply its greatness in the unyielding misunderstanding by others and loneliness.

*文/贾平凹，译/韩莉。