Nocturne 寄余欢

前段时间整理博客（删文）后发现，自己把之前一篇翻译练习误删了。一年前的稿，拿出来时看了看，又改了改，再贴回来。记得去年也是这样的时候，我看着tag感到烦躁，开始翻文，没想今年校对，也是如此。哎。

死之阴影，生之博弈

文靳东

The Shadow of Death and the Game of Life

By Jin Dong

Whenever looking over a script, a novel, or catching a brief sight of a story accidentally, I will always explore its meaning in depth, following the trace of the words to track the thoughts of the author. And when I find them, I know that those subtle feelings precipitating in my heart, no matter a sensation, a burst of resentment, a joy, or a sigh, are the most meaningful gains of mine. Though they maybe sealed up in my deep memory, they will be neverfaded, or erased, with the elapse of time.

 

People growing up in the era of peace like us are unable to experience in person the vicissitudes of life in the wartime filled with flames and gun smoke. Fortunately, they are now recorded in countless words and expressed by numerous films, television dramas, and other media products in many different ways. I love the feeling when wandering about in the world of words. Through imagination, I can experience and touch the unreal world, which however feels so real.

 

The words of The Disguiser brought me back to the times of that war, the times when the country was suffering, as if I were there, witnessing people under dilapidated walls struggling, though the dawn going to break the darkness had already been seen by my eyes. Aside from these, however, the sorrowful separation of family members was just like a stab of pain bursting into my heart, wetting my eyes.  

 

All the time, by following the steps of times, we progress, and in the progress, we accept new things and cater more trendy thoughts. And when the so-called“new things”are filled increasingly fully in our life as time passes, old ideas are faded gradually in our memory. But there are, always, some people, some things, some times, and some notions that should be never forgotten. 

 

Men, no matter in the long river of history or on the tide of times, more or less, have a heroic complex and a willingness to live according to the longing in their inner hearts and their yearning for this world faithfully and seriously, and to make their lives informed by vigour, integrity and tenderness, though sometimes they may need to eke out a living in reality after growing up. The book, The Disguiser, ignites the righteous ardour deep inside the spirit. The magnificent scenery of the times it depicts lets us come up to those heroes and heroines, no matter they are well-knownor nameless, with great achievements or in obscurity.  

 

This is a good story suitable for people of all ages, a good book that can challenge its readers' intelligence and refine their emotional intelligence. By telling stories of the elder sister and her younger brothers of the Ming family, it portrays their resolutions and righteous deeds in the context of the rise and fall of the country in both rational and emotional ways, like piling up the jadeware and roof tiles piece by piece. Country versus family is just like the Mount Tai versus a goose feather.

 

Behind each character in The Disguiser are stories, and what surrounds the stories are the interlacing, correlated enigmas. From story construction to character setting, the writer presents true dispositions of characters from various angles. Miss Zhang Yong wrote with a logical thinking hardly seen in other female writers. Her words are delicate and calm, informed by courage and resolute, and containable to all miscellaneous things. In The Disguiser, the lines are like unsheathed swords and the plots the trickles seemed tranquil, yet able to turn the situation and make the reading process smooth and enjoyable.

 

It is said that under the nib there is a world, and if a reader immerses his or herself into it, he or she would hear the sound of growing of the characters. They are all unimportant people in the great age, standing on given historical turning points. What the ups and downs of their fates reflect are the theme of the times and the memory of the nation - the shadow of death and the game of life.

 

Although Miss Zhang Yong chose to set her story on a murky, recondite historical background and present it with a tense rhythm, she didn't give it a sorrow, desolate appearance. Her words are vivid, brisk, and splendid, and the characters she creates are alive and have noble spiritual worlds. In the story, there are family affection difficult to give up, deep love among brothers, forbearance and torment before choices, and more directly, bravery and resolute shown by characters in the process of their defending the territory and facing the death. Miss Zhang Yong respects the most essential tradition of the East, while self-examining in a sober, Western way. Every character in the story has to temper his or herself in the process of his or her going through the tough ordeals and trails she arranges, and so did the energetic Ming Tai, the everything-forsaking Ming Jing, and the forbearing, perseverant Ming Lou. With distinct personalities, they are lifelike in the story, and all of these merits can be attributed to "love", for if there is love, there are hearts, and there are men.

 

Everyone in The Disguiser pretends and walks in between the real and the false. 

 

"The fake is created by men and is not the truth of the world." Why pretend? Pretend for what? Those are what the readers can only understand by reading the book.

 

Actors and actresses are destined to toss around in various turns. They have opportunities to experience others' lives and release another self. And when an actor or actress finds his or her desired warmth in the life of a character and a desired world in the character's life experience, it means the actor or actress meets a right play and plays a right role, which is worthy of their efforts, whatever the efforts are.