一把米/A Handful of Rice

 

一把米 金雨田	A Handful of Rice By Jin Yu Tian
一把米，握在手心，往包裝袋內一擲，別小看這簡單的動作，它蘊藏著的人情可不簡單。	SCOOPING up a handful of rice in the palm, and dropping it into the shopping-bag: the action seems simple, yet it speaks volumes about human kindness.
我童時住的甘榜，隔條街的洋屋是家吉埃，我與店夥計阿福私交好，每次隨脚車尾送貨，借機參觀大戶人家的大房子，滿足好奇心。裝滿白米的麻袋阿福肩上一托往顧客家裏送。	Across a street from the kampung where I lived as a young boy, there stood a bungalow that housed a grocer’s, or “keat-ai” as they called it in Hokkien.  Ah Hock, the shop-assistant, was my good friend, so I would accompany him whenever he ran a delivery errand, riding on a bike.  This way I got a peep into big houses of the rich, which satisfied my curiosity.  Ah Hock would grab the sack of rice, lift it up onto his shoulder and carry it into the customer’s home.
店裏也作論斤計兩的零售。阿福有一個慣性動作，就是凡來零買的顧客，稱好後他總抓把米附送。	The shop also sold rice by the pound.  Habitually, after weighing out the right amount, Ah Hock would scoop up an additional handful as a gift to the buyer.
有天好奇問他，他就是笑而不答。	Why? I wondered, and asked him one day.  He smiled, but gave no answer.
前天在錦茂組屋區的一家雜貨店，驚訝地看到今天還有人來零買白米這回事。	THE DAY before yesterday, in a grocer’s in Kim Moh housing estate, I was surprised to find rice still being sold in small quantities the old way.
只見一對夫婦帶著一對小孩來買米，老店主掄起米鏟，往膠袋裏裝米，稱好一公斤的米，臨打結封口時，我看到了一個早已模糊的動作：又是外加一把米。	I saw a couple with two children come for some rice.  The elderly shopkeeper took up his scoop and filled a plastic bag.  When he had weighed out a kilogram and was going to tie up the bag, I saw once again the action, long faded out in my memory: adding a handful of rice.
看著那一家四口，我才恍然大悟：爲什麽是一把米！	Looking at the family of four, suddenly I realised why. (Tr. Allen Zhuang)
原刊於新加坡《聯合早報》(2000)；後收入《不著地族 / A Lift-Off People》(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 (2009年10月22日)，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。】

 

練武不練功，到老一場空 / Stake Standing: Basic Training in Martial Arts

 

 

練武不練功，到老一場空 葉問 大師	Stake Standing: Basic Training in Martial Arts By Master Yip Man
站樁是所有習武之人入門的基本功，站樁不僅是練你腳下的功夫，更重要的是磨練你的心志。	For all beginners in martial arts, the first basic training to do is a standing exercise called “stake standing”. Not only does it make your legs fit for kungfu but, more importantly, it tempers your mind and will.
習武的精髓是習心，習心就是要讓你自己的心志得到磨練。習武之人最重要的是要做到身心要平靜如水，心靜思遠能達千里。	The essence of practising martial arts lies in mental drills; that means subjecting your mind and will to tough workouts. For a martial arts practitioner, it is crucial to make his body and mind stay tranquil like still water. Then his heart and thought, being calm and steady, can reach thousands of miles afar.
站樁的時候，你就是一棵樹，你要把自己想像成參天大樹。樹高萬丈在於根，你整個身心，要在你腳下的土地生根，根扎得越深，你的功夫就越深。	When doing stake standing, you ARE a tree –– you must imagine yourself to be a giant tree reaching high up to the sky. A tree standing thousands of yards tall must rest upon its root lying deep down. So, your entire body and mind must strike root into the earth beneath your feet –– the deeper their root goes, the better your kungfu grows.
習武要內外兼修，最終要與天地萬物融為一體，如果到達了這個層次，到了那個時刻，你的整個身心就會變成水了。	In practising martial arts, one must aim at self-cultivation both internally and externally to attain the ultimate union with all Universe. Once that aim is achieved, you’ll feel your entire body and mind being transformed into water, so to speak.
從一棵大樹，變成能滲透萬物之中的水，到那時那就是習武的更高境界了。這個境界就是要融化自己，化成水，只有你自覺不自覺地把自己融成一汪水了，你才能夠將你的身心融入你腳下的土地，到那個時候你才算是真正入了武道。	From a giant tree to water that permeates all Creation, you’ll have done the journey that leads to an even higher realm in martial arts, where you’ll find yourself melting –– melting into a puddle of water, consciously or unconsciously. Only then can your entire body and mind merge with the earth beneath your feet. Only then can you be counted as having really attained the Tao of martial arts. (Tr. Allen Zhuang)
【源文取自電視劇《李小龍傳奇》，是詠春拳師傅葉問指點李小龍的一段話。The source text, Master Yip Man’s advice to Bruce Lee, is taken from TV series The Legend of Bruce Lee. 】
本文曾貼於譯者早前的網誌坡港英華/SingaKong Chinese & English (2013年6月7日)；修訂後，今重貼於此。
【允許轉貼；請注明取自本網頁，並保留源文出處及譯者姓名。】