《老兵》—勇氣是靈魂的色彩

陳榕

Excerpts1）

Out of the low window could be seen three hickory trees placed irregularly in a meadow that was resplendent in springtime green. Farther away， the old， dismal belfry2） of the village church loomed over the pines. A horse meditating in the shade of one of the hickories lazily swished his tail. The warm sunshine made an oblong3） of vivid yellow on the floor of the grocery.

“Could you see the whites of their eyes？” said the man who was seated on a soap box.

“Nothing of the kind，” replied old Henry warmly. “Just a lot of flitting figures， and I let go at where they peared to be the thickest. Bang！”

“Mr. Fleming，” said the grocer—his deferential4） voice expressed somehow the old mans exact social weight—“Mr. Fleming， you never was frightened much in them battles， was you？”

The veteran looked down and grinned. Observing his manner， the entire group tittered. “Well， I guess I was，” he answered finally. “Pretty well scared， sometimes. Why， in my first battle I thought the sky was falling down. I thought the world was coming to an end. You bet I was scared.”

斯蒂芬·克萊恩（Stephen Crane， 1871～1900）是19世紀后期美國文壇最富創造力的作家之一。他生于新澤西州紐瓦克一個牧師家庭，從小體弱多病，卻早早顯現出寫作天分。1885年他進入彭寧頓神學院讀書，數年間更換了兩所大學，嘗試了不同專業，最終選擇輟學，專心從事寫作。1893年，他發表了中篇小說《街頭女郎梅吉》（Maggie： A Girl of the Streets）。這部小說描寫了一位被生活所迫落入風塵的女子可憐可嘆的一生，開創了美國自然主義文學的先河。1895年，他出版了長篇小說《紅色英勇勛章》（The Red Badge of Courage，又譯《紅色的英勇標志》）。這部小說以美國內戰為背景，用印象主義的筆法描寫了戰爭的殘酷。他的其他代表作還有短篇小說《無篷船》（The Open Boat）、《藍色旅館》（The Blue Hotel）等。本文賞析的《老兵》（The Veteran）為短篇小說，是《紅色英勇勛章》的續篇。

Every one laughed. Perhaps it seemed strange and rather wonderful to them that a man should admit the thing， and in the tone of their laughter there was probably more admiration than if old Fleming had declared that he had always been a lion. Moreover， they knew that he had ranked as an orderly sergeant5）， and so their opinion of his heroism was fixed. None， to be sure， knew how an orderly sergeant ranked， but then it was understood to be somewhere just shy of a major generals stars. So， when old Henry admitted that he had been frightened， there was a laugh.

“The trouble was，” said the old man， “I thought they were all shooting at me. Yes， sir， I thought every man in the other army was aiming at me in particular， and only me. And it seemed so darned unreasonable， you know. I wanted to explain to em what an almighty good fellow I was， because I thought then they might quit all trying to hit me. But I couldnt explain， and they kept on being unreasonable—blim！—blam！ bang！ So I run！”