不着地族／A Lift-Off People

 

不着地族 金雨田	A Lift-Off People Jin Yu Tian
友人家住布萊德嶺地鐵站旁，雨蓋連接，下樓即走入地道，辦公室在華聯中心，出了地道即可搭電梯上樓，再也沒有這麼方便的上班族了。其實也有很多人跟他差不多，家住高樓，駕車上班，上了電梯以後，再也不見天日了，下了班也是同樣的返家公式。	GOING to work couldn’t be more convenient for an office worker like my friend.  Leaving his flat in a block next to Braddell MRT station, he goes downstairs, walks through a roofed passage, and is right underground for the train; then he gets off at another station, takes a lift up the OUB Centre close by, and arrives in his office. In fact, there are many others like him, who live in a high-rise building, drive to work, take a lift to get to the office, and then go home by reversing the route, without staying in the open air.
雖說頂不着天立不着地的形容有點過火，但我常喜歡自嘲為“不着地族”。	While “levitating” would be too hyperbolic a description, I take delight in dubbing my folks “a lift-off people”.
一位台灣朋友批評新加坡人鄉土觀念薄弱，因為都住不着地，我從都不以為然，人來人往，本就是都市的特質，不管是不是歷史的意外，五星伴月，紅白飄揚，這就是一個都市國家，何必生造那土地鄉愁，自我煽情。	A friend from Taiwan often comments that Singaporeans lack a sense of attachment to their homeland because they all live off the ground.  I don’t think he is right.  To me, moving around is simply natural for an urban population and, by accident or by design, ours has evolved into a city-state over history under the flying red-and-white flag of moon and stars.  Why create a land-linked nostalgia out of nowhere and wax sentimental over it?
自從組屋底層不建居間後，“不着地族”的人口更是迅速膨脹，有百分之九十了吧。	Since the ground floor of flat-blocks became the “void deck”, our lift-off residents have increased rapidly, now accounting for maybe 90% of the population, I guess.
居於空中，漂浮若夢，打開窗，萬家燈火照人眼，不也是一番景致。	For those who live in lofty flats that seem to float mid-air in a dreamland, the window view of myriads of brightly-lit homes under the night sky does make a real spectacle.
不着地族何懼之有，要擔心的倒是骨質鬆脫症呢！   注： 雨盖：可遮阳遮雨的有盖走廊。 五星伴月，红白飘扬：指新加坡国旗，颜色上红下白，图案为一弯新月加五颗星星。 组屋底层：新加坡公共住宅的底层一楼，不建居室，用作公众的活动空间。	There is nothing our lift-off folks should be wary of –– except osteoporosis, a bone weakness from lack of exercise. (Tr. Allen Zhuang)
原載新加坡《聯合早報》(2000)；後收入《不著地族 / A L O P》(潘正鐳著，Allen Zhuang 英譯；Singapore: All Publishing House, 2002)；曾貼於譯者早前的網誌 坡港英華 / SingaKong Chinese & English (2008-11-23)，今重貼於此。 【允許轉貼；請注明取自本網頁，並保留源文作者及譯者姓名。】