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It's not a ludicrous hypothesis, therefore, to say that the Balinese are the global masters of balance, the people for whom the maintenance of perfect equilibrium is an art, a science and a religion. For me, on a personal search for balance, I had hoped to learn much from the Balinese about holding steady in this chaotic world. But the more I read and see about this culture, the more I realize how far off the grid of balance I've fallen, at least from the Balinese perspective. My habit of wandering through this world oblivious to my physical orientation, in addition to my decision to have stepped outside the containing network of marriage and fam-ily, makes me—for Balinese purposes—something like a ghost. I enjoy living this way, but it's a nightmare of a life by the standards of any self-respecting Balinese. If you don't know where you are or whose clan you belong to, then how can you possibly find balance?
因此，說巴厘島是全世界的平衡大師，并非荒唐可笑的假設(shè)；保持完美的平衡狀態(tài)，對(duì)他們而言是一種藝術(shù)、科學(xué)和宗教。對(duì)我而言，在尋求個(gè)人平衡時(shí)，我期望從巴厘人身上學(xué)習(xí)在這混亂的世間維持平穩(wěn)的方式。然而對(duì)這文化讀得愈多、看得愈多，我更意識(shí)到自己與平衡相距甚遠(yuǎn)，至少從巴厘人的觀點(diǎn)看來。我習(xí)慣漫游世界卻無視于自己身在何處，并決定走出受限的婚姻家庭網(wǎng)絡(luò)，使我——就巴厘議題而言——成了鬼一樣的東西。我喜歡這么過生活，然而就巴厘人的自尊標(biāo)準(zhǔn)看來，卻是可怕的生活。你若對(duì)自己的定位或所屬族群一無所知，如何找到平衡？
Given all this, I'm not so sure how much of the Balinese worldview I'm going to be able to incorporate into my own worldview, since at the moment I seem to be taking a more modern and Western definition of the word equilibrium. (I'm currently translating it as meaning "equal freedom," or the equal possibility of falling in any direction at any given time, depending on . . . you know . . . how things go.) The Balinese don't wait and see "how things go." That would be terrifying. They organize how things go, in order to keep things from falling apart.
盡管如此，我不很確定能把多少巴厘島人的世界觀，納入自己的世界觀內(nèi)，因?yàn)椋壳拔覍?duì)"平衡狀態(tài)"似乎采用較為現(xiàn)代的西方定義。（目前我將這個(gè)詞轉(zhuǎn)譯為"相等自由"，或在特定時(shí)間落入任何方向的幾率相等，視……形勢(shì)發(fā)展而定。）巴厘島人不等著"看形勢(shì)發(fā)展而定"。這是可怕的事情。他們直接"安排"形勢(shì)的發(fā)展，免得搞砸事情。
When you are walking down the road in Bali and you pass a stranger, the very first question he or she will ask you is, "Where are you going?" The second question is, "Where are you coming from?" To a Westerner, this can seem like a rather invasive inquiry from a perfect stranger, but they're just trying to get an orientation on you, trying to insert you into the grid for the purposes of security and comfort. If you tell them that you don't know where you're going, or that you're just wandering about randomly, you might instigate a bit of distress in the heart of your new Balinese friend. It's far better to pick some kind of specific direction—anywhere—just so everybody feels better.
走在巴厘島路上遇見陌生人，他或她問你的第一個(gè)問題是："你去哪里？"第二個(gè)問題則是："你來自何方？"對(duì)西方人來說，素不相識(shí)的人提問這類問題似乎頗具侵犯性，但巴厘人只是想給你定位，想讓你進(jìn)入安全舒適的組織系統(tǒng)中。你若告訴他們不知道自己要去哪里，或只是漫無目的到處走，你的巴厘新朋友將感到窘迫。你最好挑選某個(gè)特定方向——哪兒都好——讓大家感覺好些。
The third question a Balinese will almost certainly ask you is, "Are you married?" Again, it's a positioning and orienting inquiry. It's necessary for them to know this, to make sure that you are completely in order in your life. They really want you to say yes. It's such a relief to them when you say yes. If you're single, it's better not to say so directly. And I really recom-mend that you not mention your divorce at all, if you happen to have had one. It just makes the Balinese so worried. The only thing your solitude proves to them is your perilous disloca-tion from the grid. If you are a single woman traveling through Bali and somebody asks you, "Are you married?" the best possible answer is: "Not yet." This is a polite way of saying, "No," while indicating your optimistic intentions to get that taken care of just as soon as you can.
巴厘島人幾乎肯定問你的第三個(gè)問題是："你已婚嗎？"又是定位的詢問。他們有必要知道這點(diǎn)，以確定你生活在完整的秩序當(dāng)中。他們真正要你回答的答案是"已婚"。聽你說已婚，使他們大感欣慰。你若單身，最好別直接說出來。假使你離了婚，我真心建議你絕口不提。這只會(huì)讓巴厘人大感憂慮。你的孤寂只是向他們證明脫離組織的危險(xiǎn)。你若是在巴厘島旅行的單身女子，當(dāng)有人問你："你已婚嗎？"最好回答"還沒"，這比回答"不"來得禮貌，亦表示你樂觀地期待盡早結(jié)婚。
Even if you are eighty years old, or a lesbian, or a strident feminist, or a nun, or an eightyyear-old strident feminist lesbian nun who has never been married and never intends to get married, the politest possible answer is still: "Not yet."
即便你已八十歲，或是同性戀者，或是激進(jìn)的女性主義者，或修女，或八十歲的激進(jìn)女性主義同性戀修女，從未結(jié)婚也不打算結(jié)婚，最禮貌的回答還是："還沒。"
