老同學 / Old Boys

 

老同學 金雨田	Old Boys Jin Yu Tian
多年來不見面的兩個中學同學無意間碰頭，話頭一起，竟互相羡慕起對方來。	TWO old boys of the same secondary school chanced upon each other after years of separation.  They had a chat, and soon found themselves envying each other greatly.
一個是商行高級人員，一個是小廠主，都是在生活線上努力掙來的。隔行如隔山，自己有欠缺之處，好象總能在他人身上尋得補償似的。別人的苦水，到底沾不上自己的唇。	One was a senior executive with a business firm, and the other owned a small factory, both having struggled their way through life to what they were.  Coming from different trades, each felt the drawback of his own career and seemed to find the grass greener in the other’s field, but neither bothered to delve into the other’s problems.
在商行裏幹的，大學生，安安穩穩，自嘲“爲他人做嫁衣裳”。小廠主則是中學畢業，憑一把勁，跌倒了又爬起來，開拓一片天空，爲幾乎每個星期都要反被來應徵工作者“面試”的角色轉移大發牢騷。	Despite a secure job resulting from his university degree, the senior executive likened himself to a seamstress toiling away at other girls’ bridal dresses.  The factory-owner had only secondary education but, in an unyielding spirit, had overcome many a setback until prospering in his own business.  Yet he lamented that, almost every week, he had to swallow the humiliation of being questioned like an interviewee by those coming for a job interview.
你一杯我一杯，啤酒都喝了幾大瓶。他們起身去找另一位聽說搞的不錯，念書時常一起打籃球的朋友。在購物中心經營小食店，這位老同學滿得意說生意不錯，但一天得幹十六小時，“真羡慕你們”，他也這麽說。	They talked and talked, over mug after mug of beer until they had emptied several bottles.  Then they got up and went to see another old boy, a basketball pal in the old days, but now manager of a thriving snack bar at a shopping centre. The restaurateur was well pleased with his business except that he had to work 16 hours a day.  “How I envy you guys!” he sighed, too.
三個人到酒廊喝酒，半醒半醉話當年說人生。“你看我好我看你好，哈哈哈”，他們踉踉蹌蹌的走出酒廊，在夜風裏抛下了人到中年的結語。	The three went over to a pub and had a hearty drink, chatting about life then and now, all half-intoxicated.  “I envy you and you envy me, ha ha ha!”  The conclusion about life in middle age wafted in the night air as the old boys staggered out of the pub. (Tr. by Allen Zhuang)
原載新加坡《聯合早報》(2000)；後收入《不着地族 / A Lift-Off People》(潘正鐳著，Allen Zhuang 英譯；Singapore: All Publishing House, 2002); 曾貼於譯者的網誌 坡港英華 / SingaKong Chinese & English (2010-0307)，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。】

跳Q/Jumping the Queue

 

跳Q 金雨田	Jumping the Queue Jin Yu Tian
寫了篇帶女兒看牙醫，讀者問怎麽你碰上的都不是東西？孰知當今行醫如賣雜果，生意好，少你個人又怎樣？	AFTER publishing an essay about taking my daughter to see a dentist, I got responses from readers wondering how it was that I had always come across mean doctors.  They don’t know that many practitioners nowadays are like those fruiterers who, complacent about their good business, just don’t care about losing a customer.
年前駕車，胸口悶，才發覺自己對心呀肝呀肺呀的位置都摸不清，生命誠可貴，下句還是生命誠可貴。立即停車奔進診療所，櫃枱小姐竟擋駕，推說醫生準備出診，不看！不看！我說，好，我只要等醫生出來告訴我心臟在左在右呢，還是在中間？	Late last year, when driving, I suddenly felt suffocated somewhere in the chest.  This reminded me how I had neglected myself, ignorant even about the position of my heart, liver, or lungs.  “Oh, verily, precious is life;” –– the oft-quoted line flashed across my mind, followed by my impromptu version –– “Nothing more precious can I find!” At once I stopped my car and dashed into the nearest clinic, only to be stopped by the receptionist.  “No, no,” said the girl, telling me the doctor was just leaving for a house call. Well, I replied, I would just like the doctor to tell me where exactly my heart was –– in the left, right, or middle of the chest.
才隔一天，牙根來折磨，年除夕大早，急下樓看牙醫，櫃枱小姐也推說不看不看，因爲我沒預約。“小姐，這是牙痛啊啊！”連續兩個啊，她都懶得睬你呢。	Two days later, a decayed tooth root came to torture me.  Incidentally, it was the New Year’s Eve, so I hurried to the community dentist’s downstairs early in the morning.  The receptionist turned me away because I had no appointment. “Oh, my young lady,” I pleaded, “but this is TOOTHACHE.  Ouch!  Ouch!”  Yet the girl granted me no attention, despite my double exclamations of agony.
歲末得跟時間賽跑，只好急奔公司牙醫。嘩，少說也二十多人在輪候，都是友族病人；但沒幾個人，我便被傳召了。雖然麻醉藥還在擴散，醫生已把那“傢伙”幹掉了。“Happy New Year!”老醫生奧利佛說。	The year approaching its very end, I had to race against time.  I rushed into my company’s dentist clinic and found –– oh no! –– at least 20 patients in the waiting queue, all of them Malays and Indians.  But very soon I was attended to and, under anaesthesia, the troublemaker in my mouth was removed.  “Happy New Year!” said Oliver, the old doctor.
一面捧著腫脹的面頰一面感覺“如沐春風”，尤其對著候診室裏讓我跳Q的友族同胞 —— 新年快樂！好兆頭！	Even with my cheeks still swollen, I felt a soothing breeze caressing me.  “Happy New Year to you, too!” I replied, particularly to all my Malay and Indian colleagues in the waiting room, who had kindly allowed me to jump the queue.  What a good omen for the New Year! (Tr. by Allen Zhuang)
原載新加坡《聯合早報》(2000)；收入《不著地族/A Lift-Off People》（潘正鐳著，Allen Zhuang 英譯；Singapore: All Publishing House, 2002）；2009年1月31日譯者貼於博客網頁坡港英華/SingaKong Chinese & English，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。】