游弋在重慶的外國姑娘

◇ 文 |本刊記者 胡 婷 圖 | 游 宇

“如果以后不能再繼續(xù)水下芭蕾表演，你們會選擇干什么？”

問題一出，我們和五個大眼睛、活潑熱情的外國姑娘熱鬧的對話中斷了一下。

“我喜歡和人交流，想做記者?！睘蹩颂m的薩沙最先回答，“但現在，我還是想繼續(xù)現在的工作，直到真的游不動了?！?/p>

其他四人連連點頭。

她們來自不同的國家，從小和泳池結緣，如今輾轉世界各地的海洋公園，表演水下芭蕾。去年冬天，她們聚集重慶，成為重慶唯一的外籍美人魚演出團隊。

“What will you do after retiring from underwater ballet performance?” I asked the fi ve cheery, enthusiastic alien girls.

My question was followed by a brief silence.

“I like communicating with people, so I wanna be a reporter.” replied Sasha from the Ukraine. “But I’d like to carry on until I can’t swim anymore.”

The answer was echoed by the other four.

Coming from different nations, they learned to swim since they were little, and are now performing underwater ballet in ocean parks all over the world.They have been together in Chongqing since last winter,forming the one and only foreign underwater ballet group in the city.

最怕“咸”和“冷” The Greatest Dread: Salt and Cold

元旦后第二個工作日，重慶漢海海洋公園。下午兩點，“美人魚”表演準時開始。

透過玻璃巨幕，大海來的魚兒們在藍色的“海底”游來游去，音樂響起，美人魚出場了。她們穿著魚尾服，舞若翩然，和觸手可及的牛鼻鲼、鰩魚、圓燕魚肆意徜徉。時而輕盈敏捷地旋轉，時而曼妙優(yōu)雅地游走，隊列造型花樣百出。

“世界上真的有美人魚欸?！毙∨笥褌兣d奮地走上前去，手貼著玻璃幕墻，目不轉睛地望著。姑娘們游上前去，對著他們比了一個心型。

表演持續(xù)了十分鐘。這是當天的第三場，兩小時后，還有最后一場。

每場演出結束，美人魚都立刻沖向澡堂。因為“海水”里都是海鹽，不趕緊洗掉鹽分，皮膚就得受傷。掐指一算，從周一到周五，每天四場表演，周末每天五場，一周要洗30次。

半小時后，沖洗完畢。先前婀娜多姿的美人魚生生裹成了“粽子”，穿上厚厚的羽絨服，戴上針織帽，回到寢室休息一會兒。

五個姑娘分別來自俄羅斯、白俄羅斯和烏克蘭，那里的冬天想想就冷。本以為這群妹子耐寒力驚人，沒想到她們一回到寢室，立馬打開空調，調到26℃，然后迅速穿上厚襪子。

原來，水下是恒定的26℃，而元旦這幾天，重慶的氣溫不到10℃。溫差太大，保暖就成了必修課。

On the second workday after New Year’s Day, the“mermaids” performance began on time in Chongqing Andover Ocean Park.

As sea fish swimming far and near in the blue“seabed”, the mermaids entered the arena with music.Dressed like beautiful fi sh, they danced gracefully and swam freely with cow-nosed rays, rays, and orbiculate bat fi sh. Now gyrating swiftly, now swimming elegantly,they formed a variety of complex group patterns.

“Wow, there are mermaids indeed！” Kids stared in excitement, hands touching the glass wall. The dancers swam to them, and made a hand heart.

The ten-minute performance was the day’s third round, followed by the last round in two hours.

The performers rush to shower the minute the show comes to an end, otherwise their skin will be hurt by the salt in the “sea water”. There are four rounds of shows every day on weekdays, and fi ve at weekends, so they have to take shower thirty times per week.

After a half-an-hour shower, the girls wrapped themselves up in thick down jackets and wore knit caps,and then took a break in their bedrooms.

The girls are from Russia, the Republic of Belarus,and Ukraine, where the winter is bitterly cold. Beyond expectation, they turned on AC immediately when they came back at bedrooms, and put on thick socks.

They told me then that the temperature of the water was always 26℃, while these days that of Chongqing was below 10℃. To adapt to the wide range of temperature difference, they had to keep warm.

人魚的主食是沙拉 Salad: Mermaids’ Main Course

在水下，她們要經歷“撞魚”考驗。俄羅斯的娜塔莎說，“魚喜歡和人親近，常常成群結隊地過來。尤其是鰩魚，塊頭大，一不留神就會被撞翻?！卑锥砹_斯的薩莎接過話茬，“水下不做動作，我可以憋兩分鐘，如果做動作，最多40秒。要是撞上了魚，就更艱難一點?！?/p>

水下表演很耗費能量，休息時，姑娘們拿出一塊最小規(guī)格的士力架。薩莎還沒吃兩口，就放下了，原因是“怕長胖”。水下表演需要保持身材，姑娘們對身材管理近乎苛刻。

平時的飲食更是清淡。打開姑娘們的冰箱，里面有酸奶、雞蛋、柚子、火腿腸和蔬菜。沙拉就是她們的主食，逢年過節(jié)也不例外。

三天前，她們第一次在重慶過元旦。那天，她們吃了一頓沙拉大餐：蟹肉沙拉、雞肉沙拉和水果沙拉。只不過多了兩道薩沙的家鄉(xiāng)菜：烏克蘭的土豆泥和肉餅。哦，她們還破例開了瓶威斯忌，這是只有節(jié)日才有的福利。

順便說一句，薩沙出生在烏克蘭游泳世家，十歲開始學習游泳，曾是烏克蘭國家游泳隊運動員，多次獲得頓涅次冠軍，參加烏克蘭冠軍賽。

Beneath the water surface, they may run into fi sh, which can be a sore trial. “Fish enjoy being close to people, and often a school swims to us. The most troublesome one is ray. If not careful enough, we can be knocked down by such a big fi sh.” complained Natasha from Russia. “I can hold my breath for two minutes without moving. If I have to move, I can hold it for at most forty seconds. If I meet a fi sh, the time is shorter.”said Sarah from the Republic of Belarus.

Giving a show in the water is exhausting. While taking a break, the girls took out a smallest piece of Snickers. Sasha took a couple of bites before putting it down, fearing “gaining weight”. As the performers have to keep slim, they are strict weight-watchers.

They often have light food. There were yogurts,eggs, pomelos, hams and vegetables in the refrigerator.Salad is their main course, even in festivals.

Three days before interview, the group spent New Year’s Day in Chongqing. It was their fi rst time to spend the festival here. They had a feast of salad: crabmeat salad, chicken salad and fruit salad. There were also two specialties of the Ukraine, Sasha’s hometown: mashed potatoes and patties. Well, they also opened a bottle of Whiskey, which they enjoy only in festivals.

By the way, Sasha was born into a swimmer family,and learned to swim when she was ten. She took part in Ukrainian championship when she was one member of Ukrainian national swimming team.

游來游去的生活 Travelling Mermaids

五個姑娘與重慶的緣分不算深，約定的表演期限有的是三個月，有的是半年。她們都是游泳運動員出身，由于年齡、傷病等原因，多數人揮別泳壇，卻始終舍不下水池。眼下，她們必須面對如水般流動的水下表演工作。

“上半年我還在廣州表演，11月就到了重慶，不知道下個地方去哪里?！卑锥砹_斯的薩莎是隊伍中唯一的現役游泳運動員。據說，她是白俄羅斯25米短池、50米長池的200米仰泳記錄保持者。

去年上半年，她受了腿傷，休養(yǎng)期間開始了美人魚演出。她還輔修了白俄羅斯國立體育大學體育師范專業(yè)和維捷布斯克國立技術大學的經濟學專業(yè)，退役后，打算當游泳教練。

這也是她們中多數人的第一選擇。

24歲的俄羅斯姑娘喀秋莎已經有了20個學生。 今年2月，喀秋莎就要離開重慶，她打算買些中國結送給學生們。

別看平時表演日程很滿，姑娘們可一點沒耽誤買買買。盡管在每個城市呆的時間不長，沒有辦銀行卡，她們人手一個淘寶賬號，看中的東西就把鏈接發(fā)給翻譯代買。烏克蘭來的尤利婭，23歲，二月份也將回國。她一次性發(fā)給了翻譯50多條鏈接?！拔医o家人朋友買了衣服、茶葉、鞋子……”她撒歡地說著，一旁的翻譯妹子忍不住插了句話，“我現在都不敢看我的支付寶。”

The five girls once were all swimmers, and were mostly forced to leave the swimming pool because of age or illness. However, they cannot say goodbye to their beloved career. At present, they must travel across China to give underwater performance. According to the contracts, some would perform three months, some half a year.

“I worked in Guangzhou during the fi rst half of the year, and came to Chongqing in November. I have no idea where I will go next.” said Sasha, the only active swimmer in the team. It’s said that she still holds the national records of Republic of Belarus for 200-metre backstroke in 25-metre short pool and 50-metre long pool.

Suffering leg injuries last year, she started the underwater performance when she left the swimming arena temporarily to recover. Besides, she majored in sport education in Belarusian State Sport University, and economics in Vitebsk State Technology University. She plans to teach swimming after retirement, the way as the fi rst choice of other team members.

24-year-old Russian girl Katyusha has already recruited twenty students. She would leave Chongqing this February, and is going to buy some Chinese knots for them.

Despite of the full working schedule, the girls still make the time to do online shopping. Without bank account in China, they all have applied for Taobao accounts, and they would send the item’s links to their interpreters, who would do them a favor. Yulia, a 23-year-old girl from the Ukraine, is going to return to her country in February. She has sent over fi fty links to her interpreter. “I have bought my family and friends clothes, tea, shoes…”she said joyfully. “I dare not see my Alipay bill.” her interpreter put in.