寫給明天的寓言

文◎Rachel Carson 譯◎姚乃強 繪◎秋林夕

“A Fable for Tomorrow”選自美國海洋地理學家Rachel Carson的環(huán)保啟蒙之書Silent Spring（《寂靜的春天》），通過對農藥危害的分析，為人類的自然保護意識點亮明燈。《三體》一書中，在葉文潔的最后時刻，她回憶起《寂靜的春天》對自己一生的影響，是這本書使她對人類之惡第一次進行了理性的思考。

There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony①harmony 英 ['hɑ?m?n?] 美 ['hɑrm?ni]n. 協(xié)調；和睦；融洽；調和with its surroundings.The town lay in the midst of a checkerboard②checkerboard 英 ['t?ek?b??d] 美 ['t??k?b?rd] n. 棋盤；西洋跳棋棋盤vt. 在……上面縱橫交錯地排列of prosperous farms, with fields of grain and hillsides of orchards where, in spring, white clouds of bloom drifted above the green fields. In autumn, oak and maple and birch set up a blaze of color that flamed and flickered③f l icker 英 ['f l ?k?] 美 ['f l ?k?] vi. 閃爍；搖曳；顫動；撲動翅膀；假裝昏倒vt. 使閃爍；使搖曳n. 閃爍；閃光；電影across a backdrop of pines. Then foxes barked in the hills and deer silently crossed the fields, half hidden in the mists of the fall mornings.

Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change. Some evil spell had settled on the community: mysterious maladies④malady 英 ['m?l?d?] 美 ['m?l?di] n. 弊??；疾病；腐敗swept the flocks of chickens; the cattle and sheep sickened and died. Everywhere was a shadow of death. In the town the doctors had become more and more puzzled by new kinds of sickness appearing among their patients. There had been several sudden and unexplained deaths, not only among adults but even among children, who would be stricken⑤stricken 英 ['str?k(?)n] 美 ['str?k?n]adj. 患病的；受挫折的；受……侵襲的；遭殃的suddenly while at play and die within a few hours.

在美國的心臟地區(qū)從前有一座小鎮(zhèn)，那里的生活跟周圍的環(huán)境相處得十分融洽。小鎮(zhèn)坐落在星羅棋布的農場中央。平地上的莊稼和山坡上的果園呈現(xiàn)出一片欣欣向榮的景象。春天，果樹綻開白花，像片片白云在綠色的田野上飄蕩。秋天，橡樹、楓樹和白樺樹散射出彩色的火焰，在松樹織成的綠色帷幕上閃爍跳躍。狐貍在小丘上嘶嚎，野鹿隱蔽在秋天的晨霧里悄悄地越過田野。

后來，一個奇怪的禍害潛入了這個地區(qū)，一切都開始變了。一個邪魔降臨在這個地區(qū)，神秘的瘟疫先是在雛雞中流傳，然后蔓延到牛群羊群中去，病的病，死的死。死亡的陰影籠罩著每一個角落。鎮(zhèn)上的醫(yī)生對病人中不斷出現(xiàn)的各種怪病感到困惑。好些人不明不白地突然死去，其中不僅有成年人，還有小孩。有的孩子在玩耍時突然發(fā)病，不出幾個小時便撒手人寰。

這里變得寂靜異常。就說鳥吧，它們到哪里去了？偶然在什么地方看到幾只鳥都是病懨懨的，哆哆嗦嗦，飛也飛不動。這是一個鴉雀無聲的春天。原來清晨，百鳥齊鳴：鶇鳥、貓鳥、鴿子、松鴉、鷦鷯等幾十種鳥響起了黎明大合唱，可是現(xiàn)在什么聲音也聽不見了：只有寂靜滯留在田野、樹林和沼澤地的上空。

在農場里，母雞在抱窩，但是沒有小雞破殼而出。農民們抱怨他們沒法養(yǎng)豬了，豬崽太小，存活不了幾天便都夭折了。蘋果樹開花不結果，因為沒有蜜蜂在花間飛舞授粉。

這個小鎮(zhèn)并不真正存在，是虛構的，但在美國和在世界的其他地方隨處可以見到類似的小鎮(zhèn)。我知道還沒有一個地方完完全全經歷了我所描寫的種種不幸。然而這樣或那樣的災禍無處不在發(fā)生，有些地方屢屢遭殃遇災。一個陰森可怕的幽靈已經偷偷地潛入我們中間來了。這個想像的悲劇也許很快會成為家喻戶曉的凄涼現(xiàn)實。

There was a strange stillness⑥stillness 英 ['st?ln?s] 美 ['st?ln?s] n. 靜止；沉靜. The birds, for example, where had they gone? The few birds seen anywhere were moribund⑦moribund 英 ['m?r?b?nd] 美 ['m?r?b?ndadj. 垂死的；停滯不前的n. 垂死的人; they trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh.

On the farms the hens brooded,but no chicks hatched. The farmers complained that they were unable to raise any pigs the litters were small and the young survived only a few days.The apple trees were coming into bloom but no bees droned among the blossoms, so there was no pollination⑧pollination 英 [?p?l??ne??n] 美 [?pɑl??ne??n]n. [農學] 授粉（作用）and there would be no fruit.

T h i s t o w n does not actually exist, but it might easily have a thousand counterparts in America or elsewhere in the world.I know of no community that has experienced all the misfortunes I describe. Yet every one of these disasters has actually happened somewhere, and many real communities have already suffered a substantial number of them. A grim specter has crept upon us almost unnoticed,and this imagined tragedy may easily become a stark reality we all shall know.