Elephant Eyes大象之眼

基思·麥克拉克倫 駱海輝

The great bull elephant stands majestically in the hot African sun. Crackling， buzzing bush surrounds it as a ragged mountain range fills the backdrop beyond the dry vegetation and the rolling savanna1.

Slowly the gigantic beast lifts its head and its thick trunk snakes out to delicately curl around the leaves of a nearby acacia tree2， plucking the leaves and politely slipping the bundle into its mouth.

The beasts great grey hide is cracked and aged from the harsh African sun， some mud splatters on one side from its last trip to a nearby river. Coarse hair juts out from all over its hide and two large， white tusks curve elegantly from either side of its mouth.

Its large ears lazily move back and forth， perhaps to cool it down， to chase away the insistent， endless insects or perhaps both. It is a slow， steady action， almost cathartic3 in nature.

The bull elephant appears deep in thought as it slowly chews the leaves in its mouth and reaches out with its trunk to the tree for more.

Somewhere a lion roars and something else shrieks. A vulture drifts over far above this world， barely a black dot in the sky. The buzzing of the countless bush insects seems to collectively shift up in pitch and intensity， almost like the whole of the Savanna was singing some song that only they knew.

I peer through the lens at this scene. The zoom shows almost every detail of the elephant. The three nicks in its left ear from playing as a calf4 around thorn trees. The scar down its front leg where a lioness caught it unaware as a young adult， and the cracks and weathering on its great， valuable tusks from decades of living in this unforgiving5 Eden on a dusty continent.

And then the elephant looks at me.

It looks at me with those immense， eyelashed eyes with a warmth emanating outwards from a vast， hidden depth there. I can suddenly feel its soul， and feel the line of elephants that came before this one， trailing back to the very beginnings of this great savanna. We will never understand what wonders this ancient being and its kind have seen and whispered to each other across the ages on this old， sacred grassland.

It looks at me， and it looks through me and sees me.

The elephant knows I am there. It always did. It is not running away， nor is it fighting.

It accepts and forgives. It loves. But， mostly， it just feels sad. It feels sorry for me.

I cannot do this anymore.

I take my eye off the sights and hand the gun back to the ranger.

“Lets go home，” I mumble， “l(fā)ets just go home.”

大公象在非洲熾烈的陽(yáng)光下威嚴(yán)站立。四周的灌木叢噼啪作響，一片嘈雜。干枯的植物和綿延的稀樹(shù)草原的遠(yuǎn)處，是一道高低起伏的山脈。

那頭巨獸慢吞吞地抬起頭，伸出粗壯的長(zhǎng)鼻子，靈巧地卷起身旁那棵金合歡樹(shù)的葉子，將其采下，優(yōu)雅地把一團(tuán)葉片塞入嘴里。

那頭巨獸暴曬在非洲的烈日底下，灰色的獸皮滿是裂紋，蒼老無(wú)比。它剛從附近的河里出來(lái)，軀體一側(cè)還粘著些淤泥。它渾身豎著粗糙的毛發(fā)，嘴巴兩邊各有一根彎彎的白象牙，優(yōu)雅極了。

巨獸懶洋洋地來(lái)回扇著兩只大耳朵，可能是給自己降溫，也可能是驅(qū)趕不斷襲擾、無(wú)窮無(wú)盡的蟲(chóng)子，或許這兩個(gè)目的都有。這個(gè)動(dòng)作遲緩而平穩(wěn)，本質(zhì)上差不多是在宣泄情緒。

看上去大公象正處于沉思中，不緊不慢地咀嚼口中的樹(shù)葉，不慌不忙地伸出長(zhǎng)鼻子，從樹(shù)上摘下更多的葉片。

某處有一頭獅子在咆哮，還有別的動(dòng)物在尖叫。一只禿鷲在這片世界的高空盤旋，看上去只是天空中的一個(gè)黑點(diǎn)。數(shù)不清的灌木昆蟲(chóng)嗡嗡叫著，似乎是全體調(diào)高了音調(diào)和強(qiáng)度，就像整個(gè)草原在合唱一首只有它們才聽(tīng)得懂的歌曲。

我透過(guò)望遠(yuǎn)鏡凝視著這幅景象。在變焦鏡頭里，大公象身上的每處細(xì)節(jié)幾乎一覽無(wú)遺。左耳上有三道劃痕，是它幼時(shí)在荊棘樹(shù)旁玩耍時(shí)留下的。一條前腿上有道傷疤，那是它年輕時(shí)遭遇一頭雌獅突襲后落下的。這塊塵土飛揚(yáng)的大陸是它的伊甸園，它在這惡劣的環(huán)境里生存了幾十年，那一對(duì)寶貴的大象牙不僅裂痕斑斑，而且褪色了。

就在那時(shí)，大公象看向我。

它看著我，睫毛下兩只大眼睛熱情溫暖，那是從廣闊而深邃的眼底流露出來(lái)的。我突然能夠觸碰到它的靈魂，能看到它出生前的一頭頭大象排成行，一直延伸到這片稀樹(shù)大草原最初形成的時(shí)候。我們將永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)明白，在這片久遠(yuǎn)的神圣草原上，這個(gè)古老的生物及其同類在漫長(zhǎng)的歲月里，都見(jiàn)過(guò)、耳語(yǔ)過(guò)什么樣的奇觀。

它看著我，看透了我，也看清了我。

大公象知道我在那兒。它一直都知道。它既沒(méi)有跑開(kāi)，也沒(méi)有戰(zhàn)斗。

它接受了，原諒了。它心中有愛(ài)，但它多半只是感到悲哀，為我感到難過(guò)。

這事兒我再也干不下去了。

我將目光從瞄準(zhǔn)器上收了回來(lái)，把獵槍遞給了管理員。

“回家吧?！蔽夜緡伒?，“我們回家吧。”

（譯者單位：綿陽(yáng)師范學(xué)院）

Mind Your Own Business & Trouble

Mr. and Mrs. Brown had two sons. One was named Mind Your Own Business and the other was named Trouble. One day the two boys decided to play hide and seek. Trouble hid while Mind Your Own Business counted to one hundred. Mind Your Own Business began looking for his brother behind garbage cans and bushes. Then he started looking in and under cars until a police man approached him and asked， “What are you doing？” “Playing a game，” the boy replied. “What is your name？” the officer questioned. “Mind Your Own Business.” Furious the policeman inquired， “Are you looking for trouble？！” The boy replied， “Why， yes.”