沈从文《五个军官与一个煤矿工人》中英双语 -《湘西散记：汉英对照》

朗读这篇文章

五个军官与一个煤矿工人

辰河弄船人有两句口号，旅行者无人不十分熟悉。那口号是：“走尽天下路，难过辰溪渡。”事实上辰溪渡也并不怎样难过，不过弄船人所见不广，用纵横长约千里路一条辰河与七个支流小河作准，因此说出那么两句天真话罢了。地险人蛮却为一个事实。但那个地方，任何时节实在是一个令人神往倾心的美丽地方。

辰溪县的位置，恰在两条河流的交汇处，小小石头城临水倚山，建立在河口滩脚崖壁上。河水深到三丈尚清可见底。河面长年来往着湘黔边境各种形体美丽的船只。山头为石灰岩，无论晴雨，总可见到烧石灰人窑上飘扬的青烟与白烟。房屋多黑瓦白墙，接瓦连椽紧密如精巧图案。对河与小山城成犄角，上游是一个三角形小阜，阜上有修船造船的干坞与宽坪。位在下游一点儿，则为一个三角形黑色山岨，濒河拔峰，山脚一面接受了沅水激流的冲刷，一面被麻阳河长流淘洗，岩石玲珑剔透。半山有个壮丽辉煌的庙宇，名“丹山寺”，庙宇外岩石间且有成千大小不一的浮雕石佛。太平无事的日子，每逢佳节良辰，当地驻防长官，县知事，小乡绅及商会主席，税局头目，便乘小船过渡到那个庙宇里饮酒赋诗或玩牌下棋。在那个悬岩半空的庙里，可以眺望上行船的白帆，听下行船摇橹人唱歌。街市尽头下游便是一个长潭，名“斤丝潭”，历来传说水深到放一斤丝线才能到底。两岸皆五色石壁，矗立如屏障一般。长潭中日夜必有成百只打渔船，载满了黑色沉默的鱼鹰，浮在河面取鱼。小船挹流而渡，艰难处与美丽处实在可以平分。

地方又出煤炭，是湘西著名产煤区。似乎无处无煤，故山前山后随处可见到用土法开掘的煤井。沿河两岸常有运煤船停泊，码头间无时不有若干黑脸黑手脚汉子，把大块烟煤运送到船上，向船舱中抛去。若过一个取煤斜井边去，就可见到无数同样黑脸黑手脚人物，全身光裸，腰前围上一片破布，头上戴了一盏小灯，向那个俨若地狱的黑井爬进爬出。矿坑随时皆可以坍陷或被水灌入，坍了，淹了，这些到地狱讨生活的人自然也就完事了。

矿区同小山城各驻扎了相当军队。七年前，有一天晚上，一名哨兵扛了枪支，正从一个废弃了的煤井前面经过，忽然从黑暗里跃出了一个煤矿工人，一菜刀把那个哨兵头颅劈成两爿。这煤矿工人很敏捷的把枪支同子弹取下后，便就近埋藏在煤渣里。哨兵尸身被拖到那个浸了半井黑水的煤井边，咚的一声抛下去了。这个哨兵失了踪，军营里当初还以为人开了小差，照例下令各处通缉。直等到两个半月以后，尸身为人在无意中发现时，那个狡猾强悍的煤矿工人，在辰溪与芷江两县交界处的土匪队伍中称小舵把子，干打家劫舍捉肥羊的生涯已多日了。

三年后，这煤矿工人带领了约两千穷人，又在一种十分敏捷的手段下，占领了那个辰溪的小山城。防军受了相当损失，把其余部队集中在对河产煤区，准备反攻。一切船只不是逃往下游便是被防军扣留，河面一无所有，异常安静。上下行商船一律停顿到上下三五十里码头上，最美观的木筏也不能在河面见着了。煤矿全停顿了，烧石灰人也逃走了。白日里静悄悄的，只间或还可听到一两声哨兵放冷枪声音。每日黄昏里及天明前后，两方面都担心敌人渡河袭击，便各在河边燃了大大的火堆，且把机关枪毕毕剥剥的放了又放。当机关枪如拍簸箕那么反复作响时，一些逃亡在山坳里的平民，以及被约束在一个空油坊里的煤矿工人，便各在沉默里，从枪声方面估计两方的得失。多数人虽明白这战争不出一个月必可结束，落草为寇的仍然逃入深山，驻防的仍然收复了原有防地。但这战事一延长，两方面的牺牲，谁也就不能估计得到了。

每次机关枪的响声下，照例必有防军方面渡江奇袭的船只过河。照例是五个八个一伙伏在船舱里，把水湿棉絮同砂包垒积到船头与船旁，乘黄昏天晓薄雾平铺江面时挹流偷渡。船只在沉默里行将到达岸边时，在强烈的手电筒搜索中被发现了，于是响了机关枪。船只仍然不顾一切在沉默中向岸边划去。再过一会儿，訇的一声，从船上掷出的手榴弹已抛到岸边哨兵防御工事边。接着两方面皆响起了机关枪声音，手榴弹也继续爆炸着。再过一阵，枪声已停止，很显然的，渡河的在猛烈炮火下，地势不利失败了。这些人或连同船只沉到水中去了，或已拢岸却依然在悬崖下牺牲了，或被炮火所逼，船中人死亡将尽，剩余一个两个受了伤，尽船只向下游漂去，在五里外的长潭中，方有机会靠拢自己防地那一个岸边。

半月以内，防军在渡头上下三里前后牺牲了大约有三连实力，与三十七只大小船只。到后来却有五个教导团的年轻学兵，在大雨中带了五支自动步枪，一堆手榴弹，三支连槽，用竹筏渡河，拢岸时，首先占领了土匪沿河一个重要码头，其余竹筏已陆续渡河，从占领处上了岸。在一场剧烈凶猛巷战中，那矿工统率的穷人队伍不能支持，在街头街尾一些公共建筑各处放了火，便带了残余部众，绑着县长同几个当地绅士，向东乡逃跑了。

三个月内，防军在继续追剿中，解决了那个队伍全部的实力，肉票也皆被夺回了。但那个矿工出身土匪首领的漏网，却成为地方当局忧虑不安的事情。到后来虽悬赏探听明白了他的踪迹，却无方法可以诱出逮捕。

五个青年教导团学兵，那时节业已毕业，升了各连的见习，尚未归连。就请求上司允许他们冒一次险，且向上司说明这冒险的计划。

七天以后，辰溪沅州两县边境名为“窑上”的地方，一个制砖人小饭铺里，就有五个人吃饭。五个人全作贵州商人装束，其中有四个各扛了小扁担，扛了担贵州出产的松皮纸。只一人挑了一担有盖箩筐。这制砖人年纪已开六十岁，早为防军侦探明白是那个矿工的通信联络人。年青人把饭吃过后，几人便互相商量到一件事情。所说的话自然就是故意想让那老头子从一旁听去的话。这时节几个人正装扮成为一群从黔省来投靠那矿工的零伙，箩筐里白米下放的是一支已拆散了的捷克式轻机关枪同若干发子弹。箩筐中真是那玩意儿！几人一面说，一面埋怨这次来到这里的冒昧处。一片谎话把那个老奸巨猾的心说动了后，那老的搭讪着问了些闲话，相信几人真是来卖身投靠的同道了，就说他会卜课。他为卜了一课，那卦上说，若找人，等等向西方走去，一定可以遇到他们所要见的人。等待几人离开了饭铺向西走去时，制砖人早把这个消息递给了另一方面。两方面都十分得意，以为对面的一个上了套。

因此几个人不久就同一个“管事”在街口会了面。稍稍一谈，把箩筐盖甩去一看，机关枪赫然在箩筐里。管事的再不能有何种疑虑了。就邀约五个人入山去见“龙头”，吃血酒发誓，此后便祸福与共，一同作梁山上弟兄。几个年青人却说“光棍心多，请莫见怪”，以为最好倒是约“龙头”来窑上吃血酒发誓，再共同入山。管事的走去后，几个人就依然住在窑上制砖人家里等候消息。

第二天，那个机智结实矿工，带领四个散伙弟兄来到了窑上，见面后，很亲热的一谈，见得十分投契，点了香烛，杀了鸡，把鸡血开始与烧酒调和，各人正预备喝下时，在非常敏捷的行为中，五个年青人各从身边取出了手枪同小宝（解首刀）动起手来，几个从山中来的豹子，在措手不及情形中全被放翻了。那矿工最先手臂和大腿各中了一枪，早躺在地上血泊里，等到其他几个人倒下时，那矿工就冷冷的向那五个年青人笑着说：

“弟兄，弟兄，你们手脚真麻利！慢一会儿，就应归你们躺到这里了。我早就看穿了你们的诡计，明白你们是从哪儿来的卖客，好胆量！”

几个年青人不说什么，在沉默里把那些被放翻在地上的人首级一一割下。轮到矿工时，那矿工仍然十分沉静的说：

“弟兄，弟兄，不要尽做蠢事，留一个活口，你们好回去报功！”

五个年青人心想，真应该留一个活的，好去报功。就不说什么，把他捆绑起来。

一会儿，五个年青人便押了受伤的矿工，且勒迫那个制砖的老头子挑了四个人头，沉默的一列回辰溪县了。走到去辰溪不远的白羊河时，几人上了一只小船。船到了辰溪上游约三里路，那个受伤的矿工又开了口：

“弟兄，弟兄，一切是命。你们运气好，手面子快，好牌被你们抓上手了。那河边煤井旁，我还埋了四支连槽，爽性助和你们，你们谁同我去拿来吧。”

那煤矿原来去山脚不远，来回有二十分钟就可以了事。五个年青人对于这提议毫不疑惑。矿工既已身受重伤，无法逃遁，四支连槽照市价值一千块钱，引起了几个年青人的幻想，商量派谁守船都不成，于是五个人就又押了那个受伤矿工与制砖老头子，一同上了岸。走近一个废坑边，那矿工却说，枪支就埋在坑前左边一堆煤渣里。正当几个人争着去翻动煤渣寻取枪支时，矿工一瘸一拐的走近了那个业已废弃多年的矿井边，声音朗朗的从容的说道：

“弟兄，弟兄，对不起，你们送了我那么多远路，有劳有偏了！”

话一说完，猛然向那深井里跃去。几个人赶忙抢到井边时，只听到咚的一声，那矿工便完事了。

五个青年人呆了许久，骂了许久，皆觉得被骗了一次，白忙了一阵。那废井深约四十米，有一半已灌了水。七年前那个哨兵，就是被矿工从这个井口抛下去的。

在另外一个篇章里，我不是曾经说过我抵辰州时，第一天就见着五个少年军官吗？当他们和我共同围坐在一个火炉边，向我说到他们的冒险，和那矿工临死前那分镇静时，我简直呆了。我问他们，为什么当时不派个人拉那矿工的绳子。

“拉他的绳子吗，你真说得好。当真拉住他，谁拉他谁不就同时被他带下井去了吗？”说这个话的年青朋友，原来就正是当时被派定看守矿工的那一个，为了忙于发现埋藏的手枪，幸而不至于被拉下井的。

Five Army Officers and a Miner

All travellers on the River Chen are familiar with the boatmen’s saying, “Of all places accursed, Chen Ferry is worst.”Actually this ferry is not so hard to cross; it is just that these boatmen have seen so little of the world that they compare the River Chen, about a thousand li long, with its seven small tributaries, and therefore reach this ingenuous conclusion. True,inaccessible places breed wild people. But this locality, whatever the season, is truly enchanting.

Chenxi County lies at the confluence of two rivers. The small stone county town overlooks the water at the foot of a cliff, situated at the mouth of a river so clear that its bed can be seen thirty feet below. Lovely boats of different designs from Hunan and Guizhou ply up and down the river year in year out.On lime peak, rain or fine, dark smoke or white smoke always floats above the limekilns. Most of the houses have black tiles and white walls, forming a charming pattern of compact tiles and rafters. Upstream, on the other side of the river and little town, is a triangular mound with a dry dock where boats are repaired or built. A little way downstream a black triangular cliff rises from the water, its base pounded by the swift-flowing Yuan on the one side and on the other side washed by the Mayang, so that the rock is intriguingly eroded. Halfway up the cliff stands magnificent Red Hill Temple, with countless Buddhas large and small carved in relief on the rocks all around it. In peaceful times, at festivals or on auspicious days the local garrison commander, county magistrate, local gentry, guild heads or tax commissioner ferry across in sampans to feast in this temple, where they write poems or play mahjong or chess. The temple commands a view of the white sails of boats tacking upstream, and stands within earshot of the songs of the boatmen rowing downstream. Further downstream is the long pool A Catty of Silk, so called because legend has it that its source lies so deep that a whole catty of silk thread has to be unravelled to reach to its bottom. Cliffs of many colours rise on both sides like screens. Day and night there are hundreds of fishing boats on the lake, their silent black cormorants floating near by to catch fish. Small vessels have share and share alike of hazards and beauty spots.

This is known as west Hunan’s best coal-producing region.There seems to be coal everywhere. Pits worked by local methods can be seen on both sides of the hills. Coal barges are constantly moored by the banks. And on the wharves miners black from head to foot are for ever loading great lumps of coal into these barges.If you pass the shaft of a pit you can see countless miners black from head to foot, stark naked except for a small ragged loincloth,with a small lamp tied to their foreheads. They crawl in and out of those hellish pits liable at any moment to cave in or be flooded.When that happens, it is naturally the end of these men who sweat for a living in those hell-holes.

Sizeable garrisons are posted in the mines as well as in the small mountain town. One evening seven years before this, a sentinel with a rifle was passing an abandoned pit when suddenly a miner jumped out from the darkness and with a cleaver sliced his head in two. After slickly appropriating his rifle and ammunition, the miner buried them under some nearby cinders,then lugged over the sentinel’s body and plonked it into the pit half filled with black water. At first the garrison command assumed that the sentinel had deserted, and the usual circular for his arrest was issued. Two and a half months later, his body was accidentally discovered; but by then the tough, crafty miner was already a bandit chief in the border region between Chenxi and Zhijiang, looting the villages and stealing fat sheep.

Three years later this miner headed a band of about two thousand paupers, and by another very skilful manoeuvre they occupied the mountain town Chenxi. The garrison suffered heavy casualties. The troops who had escaped were stationed in the mining district on the opposite bank to prepare a counter-attack.All boats which had not fled downstream were requisitioned by the military, leaving the river deserted, abnormally quiet.Merchant boats had to moor at wharves a few dozen li upstream or downstream, and even the finest rafts were banned from the river. All the pits on both banks closed down, and the workers decamped from the limekilns. By day silence reigned, broken only by stray shots fired by sentries. At dawn and dusk, however, when both sides feared that the enemy might cross the river to launch an attack, they lit bonfires on the banks and fired off machine-guns at random. Townsfolk who had fled to the hills or miners holed up in some empty oil-press tried to estimate from the shooting the relative strength of each side. Most of them realized, though,that this contest must end within a month, when the bandits would escape back to the mountains and the garrison would reoccupy its old position. But while the fighting dragged on, it was impossible to estimate the casualties of the two sides.

Each time the machine-guns opend up, the garrison dispatched boats to raid the opposite bank. Five to eight soldiers crouched behind sandbags and wet cotton-wool piled in the prow and on both sides of each boat, and under cover of the mist which hung above the river at dawn or dusk, they tried to make surprise crossings. But while rowing silently across they would be picked out by powerful torches, and machine-guns would open fire. Still they rowed on defiantly in silence and flung grenades at the defences on the shore. Then both sides bombarded each other and more grenades exploded, until eventually the firing stopped. The attacking parties in the boats, under fierce fire and at a disadvantage, had obviously been repulsed. They might go down with their boats, be wiped out as they came alongside the shore, or one or two wounded survivors might drift with their boats downstream, finally making it to their own side’s bank five li further down the lake.

In less than half a month the garrison lost about three companies and thirty-seven boats in these abortive crossings.Finally five cadets of the training corps punted a raft across in the pouring rain. Armed with five automatic rifles, hand-grenades and three repeating rifles, they managed to land and occupy one of the bandits’ main wharves. They were joined by other rafts.After fierce street fighting, the paupers’ force led by the miner was worsted. They set fire to some public buildings before their remnant fled east, taking with them as hostages the county head and some of the local gentry.

During the next three months the garrison troops mopped up the bandit force and recaptured the hostages. But the bandit chief,the ex-miner, slipped through their net, remaining a thorn in the side of the local authorities. Although a reward was offered for information regarding his whereabouts, they failed to capture him.

The five cadets of the training corps had now graduated and were about to be posted. They worked out a ruse and asked for permission to risk it.

Seven days later, five young men went to have a meal in a little eating house run by a brick-maker in Yaoshang, on the border of Chenxi and Yuanzhou. All five had got themselves up like merchants from Guizhou. Four of them had carrying-poles with loads of pine-bark paper made in Guizhou. The fifth had a covered crate. The brick-maker was in his sixties, and spies of the garrison command had discovered that he did liaison work for the ex-miner. After their meal the young men had a discussion,naturally intended for the old man’s ears. They pretended to have come from Guizhou to join the miner’s band of brigands, and mentioned that under the rice in that crate were a dismantled Czech submachine-gun and some rounds of ammunition. This was the truth! One of them also grumbled that they had taken too big a risk coming here. The crafty old brick-maker, taken in by these lies, entered into conversation with them and was convinced that they truly wanted to join the bandits. He told them he was a diviner, and having consulted an oracle assured them that if they were looking for someone they could meet him by heading west. By the time they left the eating house and headed west, the brick-maker had passed on this information. Both sides gloated,thinking they had tricked their opponents.

So presently the young fellows met the miner’s aide-de-camp at the end of the street. After a brief discussion, they opened up the crate to show the machine-gun. That seemed to satisfy him.He invited them into the mountains to meet his chief and take an oath of allegiance with blood and spirits, after which they would go through thick and thin together like the outlaws of Liangshan.The youngsters objected that they preferred to play safe and it would be better if his chief came to the kiln, where they would pledge their allegiance before going with him to the mountains.The aide-de-camp went off then while they returned to the kiln to wait for news.

The next day that shrewd, sturdy miner took four of his men to the kiln. After a cordial talk they reached complete understanding; incense was burned, a chicken killed and its blood mixed with spirits for all to drink. At this point, quick as lightning, the five young men whipped out their pistols and daggers and brought down the bandits from the hills before they could make a move. The ex-miner, the first to be shot through the arm and thigh, lay in a pool of blood. When his comrades fell too he said calmly with a grin to the five young men:

“Well, mates, you’re quick on the draw! A bit slower and you’d be the ones lying here. I saw through your scheme from the start, and knew who’d sent you. What nerve!”

In grim silence the young men cut off the heads of the bandits. When it came to the miner’s turn he said quietly:

“Don’t be such fools, mates. Take one prisoner back alive to announce your success.”

This struck the young men as sound advice: it would redound to their credit. So without a word they trussed the prisoner up.

Soon the five young men marched off the wounded miner,as well as the old brick-maker whom they had ordered to carry the four heads. In silence they set off for Chenxi. At White Sheep Stream not far from it they boarded a small boat. When the boat was about three li upstream from Chenxi, the wounded miner spoke again:

“Everything is fated, mates. Luck’s with you, and moving so fast you turned up trumps. In one of these pits on the bank I’ve cached four repeaters. I may as well do you a good turn by showing you where they are.”

That pit was not far from the foot of the hill, only ten minutes away. The five young men took the miner at his word. After all,he was too badly wounded to escape, and the market price of four repeaters was one thousand dollars; so they were very tempted.Seeing no reason to leave anyone to mind the boat, they marched the wounded miner and the old brick-maker up the bank. As they neared an abandoned pit the miner told them that the guns were hidden in the cinders in front of it, to the left. While they all scrabbled in the cinders, he limped to the mouth of the pit, not worked for years, and called to them clearly and calmly:

“Sorry, mates, to have troubled you to bring me all this way!”

With that he jumped into the pit. Dashing to the edge they heard a splash. The miner had disappeared.

The five young men hung around there cursing. What fools he had made of them! The abandoned pit, forty metres deep, was half filled with water. It was here, seven years ago, that the miner had flung the sentry.

In an earlier essay I described how I met five young officers on the day I reached Chenzhou. As we sat round the fire together,they staggered me by telling me of this adventure, of the miner’s calmness in the face of death. I asked why no one had hauled him up by his rope.

“Haul him up, eh? Easier said than done! If anyone had tried, wouldn’t the fellow have dragged him down into the pit?”The young officer speaking was the one who had been given the job of guarding the miner. Luckily for him, he had been so busy searching for hidden guns that he had escaped being dragged into the pit.

未经允许不得转载：帕布莉卡 » 沈从文《五个军官与一个煤矿工人》中英双语 -《湘西散记：汉英对照》