Author: whatsoeverellen

The other day I helped a friend translate some paragraphs of Wang Xiaobo’s work. I used to think translating as the most tedious job on earth and I would never have the patience to do that. But now I realized translating the works that you really admire for is a great pleasure, a bliss, also a very efficient way to learn and improve the translator’s own writing.

I’m thinking about doing it from time to time in the future. : ) Below is what I’ve done.

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One day I went to help my friend moving. I dressed shabby on purpose for I knew I would be doing heavy works. As expected, I came back with some dirt on my forehead, a stained shirt, and some extra clumsiness for lifting refrigerator the whole day. Along with my innately dark face, I looked perfectly like an “extra-provincial man who just arrived in Beijing”. Wearing this image as I took a bus home, both the bus conductor and passengers glanced at me in a way that they didn’t even bother to hide their disapproval of my presence. Dejectedly distracted by those unfriendly gazes, I bumped into someone as I walked back home. Before my apology could slip out of the lips, I was yelled into the face that “Haven’t you got your eyes?!” The language got even more offensive then, I guess I’d better leave out the worst part here. I quickly sloped off getting too afraid to say a word.

I would be fooling you if I said I got so resentful that the next day I rode a tricycle onto the street to sell breakfast carrying a honeycomb stove and a bucket of dirty water. But I do feel it, the causation that if others show no respect to me, I am unable to respect them either. If everyone else kept looking and yelling at me that way, I would literally be doing however awful things.

What I’m saying is, if one is able to feel the dignity of being an individual in both living condition and interpersonal relations, one would act decently in accord with the standard of a dignified man; otherwise, it would be ineluctable for one to behave in an undignified way, which eventually will turn one into a villain.

王小波原文【摘自杂文集《沉默的大多数》】：

有一天， 我出門去幫朋友搬家。出去時穿得比較破，因為要做粗活；回來時頭上有些土，衣服上有點污漬，抬了一天冰箱，累得手腳有點笨；至於臉色，天生就黑。總而言之，像個“外地來京人員”，就這個樣子乘車回來，從售票員到乘客，對我都不大客氣，看我的眼神都不對。我因此有些憋氣，走到離家不遠，一不小心碰到了一個人。還沒等把道歉的話說出口，對方已經吼道：沒帶眼睛嗎？底下還有些話，實在不雅，不便在此陳述。我連話都不敢說，趕緊溜走了。

假如我說，我因此憋了一口氣，第二天就蹬輛三輪車，帶一個蜂窩煤爐子、一桶髒水到街上練早點，那是我在編故事。但我確實感覺到了，假如別人都不尊重我，我也沒法尊重別人。假如所有的人都一直斜眼看我，粗聲粗氣地說我，那我的確什麽事都幹得出來。

假如一個人在生活條件和人際關係上都能感到做人的尊嚴，他就按一個有尊嚴的人的標準來行事，像個君子。假如相反，他難免按無尊嚴人的方式行事，做出些小人的行徑。