(中英)現(xiàn)代散文:杜鵑 The Cuckoo

The Cuckoo

杜　鵑

◎ Guo Moruo

◎　郭沫若

The cuckoo, the spirit of my native place Sichuan, is probably holding a higher place in Chinese literature than any other bird.

杜鵑，敝同鄉(xiāng)的魂①，在文學上所占的地位，恐怕任何鳥都比不上。

The mere mention of this bird will arouse in our hearts a great deal of poetic feeling.

我們一提起杜鵑，心頭眼底便好像有說不盡的詩意②。

To begin with, she is the incarnation of the legendary king of ancient Sichuan named Wang Di. She has come to be known sometimes as an ill-fated beauty and sometimes as a patriot concerned over the fate of the nation. Her call is full of longings for home; she loiters about the mountains crying and spitting up blood⑩. She is pathetic, sad, pure and sincere ... She is in the eyes of all a symbol of love, which seems to have become a national feeling.

它本身不用說，已經(jīng)是望帝③的化身了。有時又被認為薄命的佳人，憂國的志士；聲是滿腹鄉(xiāng)思，血是遍山躑躅④；可憐，哀惋，純潔，至誠……在人們的心目中成為了愛的象征。這愛的象征似乎已經(jīng)成為了民族的感情。

And this feeling has gone beyond the national boundary to affect most of the eastern countries. In Japan, for example, the cuckoo is holding a position in literature by no means lower than in China.

而且，這種感情還超越了民族的范圍，東方諸國大都受到了感染。例如日本，杜鵑在文學上所占的地位，并不亞于中國。

Nevertheless, all that is a typical instance of undeserved reputation.

然而，這實在是名實不符⑤的一個最大的例證。

The cuckoo is a grayish-brown bird with none too beautiful feathers. She is characteristically domineering and cruel.

杜鵑是一種灰黑色⑥的鳥，毛羽并不美，它的習性專橫而殘忍。

She doesn't build her own nest, nor does she hatch or feed her young. During the breeding season, she deposits her eggs in the nests of orioles for them to hatch and rear. A baby cuckoo is bigger in size than a baby oriol, and, when full grown, bigger even than the mother oriol. After she is hatched, she often pushes the baby oriol out of the nest, leaving the poor chick to cry and die of hunger and cold so that she may have the mother oriol's care all to herself. The mother bird, however, being treated unfairly without her knowledge, continues laboriously to feed the baby cuckoo who is bigger than herself. The tragic spectacle is such as to arouse great indignation and draw tears of sympathy!

杜鵑是不營巢的，也不孵卵哺雛。到了生殖季節(jié)，產(chǎn)卵在鶯巢中，讓鶯替它孵卵哺雛。雛鵑比雛鶯大，到將長成時，甚且比母鶯還大。鵑雛孵化出來之后，每將鶯雛擠出巢外，任它啼饑號寒而死，它自己獨霸著母鶯的哺育⑦。鶯受鵑欺而不自知，辛辛苦苦地哺育著比自己還大的鵑雛：真是一件令人不平、令人流淚的情景。

Hence I believe that the cuckoo can best serve as a model of those who win popularity by dishonest means. But the cuckoo is not to blame. A cuckoo is a cuckoo. She has never asked people to call her a beauty or a patriot.

想到了這些實際，便覺得杜鵑這種鳥大可以作為欺世盜名者的標本了。然而，杜鵑不能任其咎。杜鵑就只是杜鵑，它并不曾要求人把它認為佳人、志士。

Man is no wiser than the oriol. Many act on their own personal imagination regardless of the reality of things.

人的智慧和鶯也相差不遠⑧，全憑主觀意象而不顧實際，這樣的例證多的是。

Therefore, we do see, both in history and at present, numerous cuckoo-like men sponging off their compatriots. What about in the future? The oriol can't give an answer, but man should and can.

因此，過去和現(xiàn)在都有無數(shù)的人面杜鵑被人哺育著⑨。將來會怎樣呢？鶯雖然不能解答這個問題，人是應(yīng)該解答而且能夠解答的。

《杜鵑》是郭沫若寫于1937年1月13日的一篇散文。作者憑借對杜鵑的精細觀察，從描述該鳥在中國文學上所占突出地位開始，轉(zhuǎn)而揭示它的可憎習性，托物喻志，意味明顯，深入淺出。