泡菜壇子

A Pickle Pot

李漢榮

Li Hanrong

母親從鄉下來，住了十天。臨走時，她老人家想為我們添置一件東西，目個紀念。

Mother came from our home village. She stayed with us for ten days. When she was about to leave, she wanted to buy us something as a present.

母親說：“你們什么都有，又好像什么都沒有。電視機是你們的，里面走來走去都是些陌生的人，有時候，殺人犯、賊、貪官、小偷也在里面出出進進；收錄機是你們的，可盡是人家在唱歌；書架上的書是你們的，可那都是別人寫的字；電冰箱是你們的，一年四季都裝一箱不知從哪里落下的霜。方便是方便，可就是沒有一樣是你們自己的。”

"You've got everything," she said, "but you seem to have got nothing. The TV set is yours, but the people who walk back and forth in it are all strangers, even murderers, corrupt officials and thieves come in and out of it from bite to time. The radio cassette player is yours, but it's all others who sing in it. The books on the shelf are yours, but they are all written fry others. The fridge is yours, but all the year round it's filled with frost that comes from God knows where. Though they snake your life easy and comfortable, none of them BELONGS to you in the rest sense of the word. "

走的那天，母親起了個早，從街上抱回一個泡菜壇子。她說：“在壇子里腌一些菜吧，調調自家的口味。”

On the day she was to leave for home, she got up early in the morning and brought back a pickle pot from the market. "Make some pickles in it," she said, "and have something that suits your own palate."

我們的家里，從此有了泡菜，有了自己的味道。朋友上門，我們時常以泡菜佐酒，微醉中，大家就會說：“鄉下的味道，不錯；不錯，鄉下的味道!”

Since then pickles of our own taste had been added to our diet. When we had guests, we often had pickles to go with me. Slightly intoxicated, everyone would comment, "A country flavor, not bad. Not bad, a country flavor."

于是我們大家都有了自己的味道。再看那泡菜壇子，靜靜地守在資陣里，在喧囂的日子，在鋼筋棍凝土的單元里，守著一壇平靜的心情，醞釀著古老而純樸的鄉下味道。

So we had something to our own taste. When we looked at the pot, it was standing quietly at the corner. . Amid the hustle and bustle of our everyday life and in the apartment of reinforced concrete, the pot stood there by itself, brewing an old and simple flavor.

(劉士聰 譯)

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