野孩子的天空

馬克·吐溫(Mark Twain)是美國作家塞繆·蘭亨·克萊門斯(Samuel Langhorne Clemens， 1835~1910)的筆名。他出生于密蘇里州，自幼在密西西比河畔長大，22歲時開始在密西西比河上當領航員，28歲時開始從事文學創作，代表作有《傻子國外旅行記》(The Innocents Abroad)、《湯姆·索亞歷險記》(The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)、《密西西比河上的生活》(Life on the Mississippi)、《哈克貝利·費恩歷險記》(The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)、《傻瓜威爾遜的悲劇》(The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson)、《敗壞了哈德萊堡的人》(The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg)等。馬克·吐溫是美國最偉大的現實主義小說家之一。他的小說以幽默而犀利的語言針砭時弊，其塑造的湯姆·索亞、哈克貝利·費恩等人物成為美國文學中深受讀者喜愛的經典形象。

Excerpts1)

Two or three days and nights went by; I reckon I might say they swum by， they slid along so quiet and smooth and lovely. Here is the way we put in the time. It was a monstrous big river down there—sometimes a mile and a half wide; we run nights， and laid up and hid daytimes; soon as night was most gone we stopped navigating and tied up—nearly always in the dead water under a towhead2); and then cut young cottonwoods and willows， and hid the raft with them. Then we set out the lines3). Next we slid into the river and had a swim， so as to freshen up and cool off; then we set down on the sandy bottom where the water was about knee deep， and watched the daylight come. Not a sound anywheres—perfectly still—just like the whole world was asleep， only sometimes the bullfrogs a-cluttering， maybe. The first thing to see， looking away over the water， was a kind of dull line—that was the woods on t’other side; you couldn’t make nothing else out; then a pale place in the sky; then more paleness spreading around; then the river softened up away off， and warn’t4) black any more， but gray; you could see little dark spots drifting along ever so far away—trading scows5)， and such things; and long black streaks6)—rafts; sometimes you could hear a sweep screaking7); or jumbled8) up voices， it was so still， and sounds come so far; and by and by you could see a streak on the water which you know by the look of the streak that there’s a snag9) there in a swift current which breaks on it and makes that streak look that way; and you see the mist curl up off of the water， and the east reddens up， and the river， and you make out a log-cabin in the edge of the woods， away on the bank on t’other side of the river， being a woodyard， likely， and piled by them cheats so you can throw a dog through it anywheres; then the nice breeze springs up， and comes fanning you from over there， so cool and fresh and sweet to smell on account of the woods and the flowers; but sometimes not that way， because they’ve left dead fish laying around， gars10) and such， and they do get pretty rank; and next you’ve got the full day， and everything smiling in the sun， and the song-birds just going it!

A little smoke couldn’t be noticed now， so we would take some fish off of the lines and cook up a hot breakfast. And afterwards we would watch the lonesomeness of the river， and kind of lazy along， and by and by lazy off to sleep. Wake up by and by， and look to see what done it， and maybe see a steamboat coughing along up-stream， so far off towards the other side you couldn’t tell nothing about her only whether she was a stern-wheel or side-wheel; then for about an hour there wouldn’t be nothing to hear nor nothing to see—just solid lonesomeness. Next you’d see a raft sliding by， away off yonder， and maybe a galoot11) on it chopping， because they’re most always doing it on a raft; you’d see the axe flash and come down—you don’t hear nothing; you see that axe go up again， and by the time it’s above the man’s head then you hear the k’chunk!—it had took all that time to come over the water. So we would put in the day， lazying around， listening to the stillness. Once there was a thick fog， and the rafts and things that went by was beating tin pans so the steamboats wouldn’t run over them. A scow or a raft went by so close we could hear them talking and cussing12) and laughing—heard them plain; but we couldn’t see no sign of them; it made you feel crawly13); it was like spirits carrying on that way in the air. Jim14) said he believed it was spirits; but I says:

“No; spirits wouldn’t say， ‘Dern15) the dern fog.’”

Soon as it was night out we shoved; when we got her out to about the middle we let her alone， and let her float wherever the current wanted her to; then we lit the pipes， and dangled our legs in the water， and talked about all kinds of things—we was always naked， day and night， whenever the mosquitoes would let us—the new clothes Buck’s folks16) made for me was too good to be comfortable， and besides I didn’t go much on clothes， nohow.

Sometimes we’d have that whole river all to ourselves for the longest time. Yonder was the banks and the islands， across the water; and maybe a spark—which was a candle in a cabin window; and sometimes on the water you could see a spark or two—on a raft or a scow， you know; and maybe you could hear a fiddle or a song coming over from one of them crafts. It’s lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there， all speckled with stars， and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them， and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened. Jim he allowed they was made， but I allowed they happened; I judged it would have took too long to make so many. Jim said the moon could a laid them; well， that looked kind of reasonable， so I didn’t say nothing against it， because I’ve seen a frog lay most as many， so of course it could be done. We used to watch the stars that fell， too， and see them streak down. Jim allowed they’d got spoiled and was hove17) out of the nest.

Once or twice of a night we would see a steamboat slipping along in the dark， and now and then she would belch18) a whole world of sparks up out of her chimbleys， and they would rain down in the river and look awful pretty; then she would turn a corner and her lights would wink out and her powwow19) shut off and leave the river still again; and by and by her waves would get to us， a long time after she was gone， and joggle20) the raft a bit， and after that you wouldn’t hear nothing for you couldn’t tell how long， except maybe frogs or something.

After midnight the people on shore went to bed， and then for two or three hours the shores was black—no more sparks in the cabin windows. These sparks was our clock—the first one that showed again meant morning was coming， so we hunted a place to hide and tie up right away.

1.英文節選部分選自小說第19章，描寫了哈克和吉姆在密西西比河上漂流的情景。

2.towhead [#712;t#601;#650;#716;hed] n. 沙洲

3.line [la#618;n] n. 釣魚線

4.warn’t：等于wasn’t或weren’t

5.scow [ska#650;] n. 平底船

6.streak [stri#720;k] n. 條紋，線條

7.screak [skri#720;k] vi. 嘎嘎作響

8.jumble [#712;d#658;#652;mb(#601;)l] vt. 使混亂

9.snag [snaelig;ɡ] n. (樹的)斷枝，殘干

10.gar [gɑ#720;] n. 雀鱔屬魚，雀鱔

11.galoot [g#601;#712;lu#720;t] n.〈俚〉笨人，呆子

12.cuss [k#652;s] v. 亂罵，咒罵

13.crawly [#712;kr#596;#720;li] adj. 悚然的

14.Jim：吉姆，小說中沃森小姐的奴隸。沃森小姐是道格拉斯寡婦的妹妹，她們在小說開頭時曾收留哈克，后來哈克被他的父親帶走。

15.dern [dɑ#720;n] interj.〈口〉(等于darn，相當于damn)該死

16.Buck’s folks：巴克家的人，指小說中哈克在漂流中遇到的一家人，他們曾短暫收留了哈克。

17.heave [hi#720;v] vt. (用力)舉起拋出；投擲

18.belch [belt#643;] vt. (火山、炮等)冒煙，噴出

19.powwow [#712;pa#650;#716;wa#650;] n. (北美印第安人為醫病、慶祝勝利等舉行的)(帕瓦)儀式，在本文中指嘈雜聲。

20.joggle [#712;d#658;#594;ɡ(#601;)l] vt. 輕搖，搖動

作品賞析

1935年，美國作家厄內斯特·海明威在《非洲的青山》中寫道：“所有的現代小說都源自于馬克·吐溫寫的一本叫做《哈克貝利·費恩歷險記》的書。所有的美國文學都源自于它。這是一部前無古人的作品，也不會有來者可以超越。”不過，這部在當代早已被奉為經典的小說，在它剛剛出版的半個世紀里，卻充滿了爭議。從19世紀后半葉到20世紀初，小說反復遭到投訴，不少公立圖書館決定將它清除出書架。其中1907年一位名叫E. L. 皮爾遜的圖書管理員的看法非常具有典型性：“湯姆·索亞和你，你這可怕的哈克貝利·費恩，你們絕對不能進入圖書館。這里的男孩和女孩都是虔誠的好孩子：他們的臉干干凈凈，他們上主日學校，他們也喜歡上學讀書……但是你們——你們這些調皮的壞孩子，你們不洗臉，你們的衣服滿是塵土。我不相信你們中間的哪一位會在早上梳頭……至于你，哈克貝利，你不穿鞋也不穿襪，所有的人都知道你爸爸是什么人。”

哈克一眼看上去的確是個壞小孩：父親是個酒鬼和無賴，母親早早就過世了，因此他缺乏管教，沒有機會受教育，衣著邋遢，舉止散漫，謊話張口就來，偶爾還到別人的田里偷甜瓜。而且，更重要的是，他壓根就沒有打算上學受教育，變成體面人。對他來說，最快樂的事情是在太陽底下無所事事地晃蕩掉一天的時光。許多教育者為之惶恐：如果所有的小孩子都以他為榜樣，文明社會的前景豈不是令人擔憂？

作者馬克·吐溫對這樣的憂慮卻不以為然。他借助小說提出了一個十分犀利的問題：教育能夠教給孩子什么？孩子們會勤洗手，勤換衣，吃飯前知道要祈禱，能讀會寫，談吐舉止像一個個小紳士或小淑女。的確，他們看上去更加整潔干凈、體面大方。但是，這樣的教育是否能夠使他們成為一個更好的人？馬克·吐溫的回答很顯然是“不能”。

教育能夠讓人“看起來”更好，然而，衣著談吐都是外表，就算是博覽群書，掌握了大量的知識，也不過是本移動的百科全書。在馬克·吐溫看來，“更好”所指的應該是善良、真誠、獨立、勇敢、寬容、富有同情心等內在的品質。美國文化中一貫存在著反智主義(anti-intellectualism)傾向。馬克·吐溫的思想與之一脈相承。所謂反智主義，簡而言之，是反對文明社會的教化。它源自于美國經驗，是拓荒時代的產物。拓荒者在面對大自然的時候，書本的知識并不如生活中積累的經驗重要，教條法規不如務實應變重要。哈克的形象是個典型的拓荒者。他機敏、變通、實干，不像他的伙伴湯姆·索亞，湯姆腦袋里裝著的都是從浪漫小說里讀來的點子，聰明卻缺乏原創性。

更糟糕的是，失敗的教育不僅會讓人變成書呆子，而且會遮蔽人的純真本性。白人一貫標榜的文明社會居然孕育出奴隸制的畸胎，這真是莫大的諷刺。奴隸制剝奪了黑人最基本的權利，白人習慣了把黑人等同于家禽與牲畜。黑人沒有自由，沒有收入，隨時可以被轉賣，一家人沒有權利自己決定是否能夠生活在一起。吉姆當了逃奴，是因為他聽說自己會被主人轉手賣掉。他想逃到北方找份工作，賺一點屬于自己的錢，再回到南方，將他的妻子和孩子贖出來，一家人團聚。這是多么卑微的夢想。

奴隸制是荒謬可恥的，它將一部分人的幸福建立在對另一部分人的剝削之上。白人卻為了自己的利益捍衛這一制度，并為它制訂了一系列的道德規范。在這一文明體系之中，有罪的反而是吉姆。他的出逃意味著他的主人要蒙受財產的損失。難怪哈克在和吉姆沿著密西西比河漂流的時候，常常責怪自己當了從犯，詰問自己為什么不去檢舉吉姆。

社會的準則通過教育被內化成個人的準則，而人們選擇了盲從。在《哈克貝利·費恩歷險記》中，哈克有所成長，因為他最終擺脫了文明的枷鎖，決定相信自己的判斷，依照自己的內心行事。在漂流中，哈克和吉姆結下了深厚的感情。他逐漸體會到吉姆和他一樣是個“大寫”的人，有責任感，善良，有愛心。沃森小姐曾經教育哈克要循規蹈矩，否則死后會墮入地獄，烈火焚身。當哈克發現吉姆被同船的兩個騙子轉賣時，他決定即便下地獄，也要去營救吉姆。哈克用人性的道德法則戰勝了文明社會的虛偽條規。

《哈克貝利·費恩歷險記》中，馬克·吐溫并沒有將哈克拔高成一名反奴隸制的斗士。哈克只是堅持了個人主義立場——傾聽內心深處的那個善良自我的指令。小說中，會讀一點莎士比亞劇的人成了騙子，天天念《圣經》的基督徒在道德上執行雙重標準，談吐高雅的貴族陷入你死我活的世仇爭斗。難怪哈克想要逃離這樣的文明世界。小說的結尾，哈克拒絕再次被收養。他選擇到美國西部去，那里還有未開發的土地、可以自由呼吸的空氣、可以曬太陽的曠野，可以讓他不必受困于繁文縟節的生活。

哈克是個令人羨慕的野孩子。小說中，寫得最美的一段是哈克和吉姆在寬寬的密西西比河上漂流的日子。迎著河面吹拂的晚風，望著滿天密密麻麻的星星，吉姆和哈克體會到了生存的尊嚴與不受文明侵擾的自由，分享著人與人之間的信任與關懷。他們的旅行為哲學家康德的名言作了生動的注解：“最神圣恒久而又日新月異的，最令人驚奇與震撼的，是我頭頂群星閃耀的天空和內心的道德律令。”