belt around your waist. All that kills my idea of soliciting help or seeking personal
connections. I disdain to go humbly begging for a job even when I am starving, let alone to
go asking for other people’s help in getting me a mere ticket. Neither is it necessary for me
to go to all that trouble, nor should I bother other people for that matter. Going around is
hard in the city of Chongqing. You have to queue up for at least 30 minutes or more to get
on a bus. It would really be too much for me to go about for the ticket every day. As to the
temporary divorce from my old self and the concealing of my identity, I hate to usurp all
those designations though other people may think otherwise. I’m neither a government
employee, nor a secretary, nor so-and-so, nor so-and-so’s father. I am myself. I am just an
ordinary man with no urge to do better, so I hate to change places with anybody else,
whether for a while or for good. To change places just for the sake of a trip would make
me feel like being deprived. Wouldn’t it be sinful for me to wear the grey-cloth
cotton-padded army uniform for nothing more than making a single trip? Though many
other people violate the taboo, I for my part cannot bear to do the same. This again is the
impractical view of a bookish person.
It was with this impractical view that I decided to take a wooden boat. It is absolutely
true that a wooden boat cannot compare with a steamer, much less an airplane. But there is
no need for soliciting help or seeking personal connections, nor the need for the so-called
“black” ticket. All you need to do is contact the transport company, or go direct to the
wharf to look for a wooden boat. Once you have located it, you will know what the fare is
from Chongqing to Hankou, and every dollar will be paid for what it is worth, no more, no
less. I find the wooden boat super in this respect. I am saved the humiliation of begging for
help or the need of confronting the nasty look on somebody’s face. I can travel with my
true identity. This is something quite beyond the majority of those travelling by steamer or
aircraft. I am proud of it.
After I had made up my mind, two friends of mine, in spite of the difficult boat journey
all the way from Li Jia Tuo and Bai Bin respectively, came to dissuade me from taking
the wooden boat out of concern and respect for me. They enumerated various reasons
against my decision as well as various possible mishaps, advising me in the end to
re-consider the matter. I felt very grateful to them, and of course refrained from showing
any reluctance to re-consider the matter. By way of allaying their anxiety, I said jokingly,
“A good guy always enjoys Heaven’s protection.” Now, the subsequence news of my
safe arrival in Hankou must have set their mind at rest.
注释:
叶圣陶（1894-1988）原名叶绍钧，江苏苏州人，现代文学家，教育家。《我坐了木船》一文
以平淡的口吻叙述他在抗战胜利后乘木船从重庆到汉口的一番经历，对当时的黑暗社会作了无情的鞭挞。
(1)“还有盗匪”译为To complicate matters, there are bandits lurking around，其中To complicate ┇┇
matters是为承上启下而添加的成分。又，lurking around作“潜伏”解，也是添加成分，原文虽无其字，而有其意。
(2)“无奈何只好出此下策”译为have been reduced to the disreputable business as a last resort，
其中disreputable business（不体面的行当）指“下策”。又，reduced to 意即“被逼从事……”；
as a last resort意即“作为最后一着”。
(3)“异常难处的事儿”译为I’ll be in a real fix, 其中in a fix是成语，作“陷入困境”或“尴尬”解。
(4)“川江”即“四川段的长江”，故译为the Sichuan section of the Yangtse River。
(5)“要绝对避免危险就莫做人”译为“Enjoying absolute safety is humanly impossible，其中
humanly意即“从从做人的角度看”。
(6)“要坐轮船坐飞机，自然也有办法”译为It stands to reason that I can go by steamer or aircraft
if I care to，其中It stands to reason是成语，意即“当然”。
(7)“付出超过定额的钱，力有不及，心有不甘”译为to pay more than the regular price for a “black” ticket, which I can ill afford and which I disdain to do。“心有不甘”意即“不屑一干”，故译disdain to do。
(8)“你买黑票，无异同作敝，赞助越出常轨”译为Buying a “black” ticket is as good as getting
involved in a fraud or an illegal practice, 其中as good as 是成语，作“实际上等于”或“与……几乎一样”解。
(9)“书生之见”译为the pedantic view of a bookish