秘书，不是某人，不是某人的父亲，
我是我。我毫无成就，样样不长进，我可不愿与任何人易地而处，无论长期的或是暂
时的。为了走一趟路，必须易地而处，在我总觉着像被剥夺了什么似的。至于穿灰布
棉衣更为难了，为了走一趟路才穿上那套衣服，岂不亵渎了那套衣服(13)？亵渎的人
固然不少，我可总不忍——这一套又是书生之见。
抱着书生之见，我决定坐木船。木船比不上轮船，更比不上飞机，千真万确。可
是绝对不用找关系，也无所谓黑票。你要船，找运输行，或者自己到码头上去找，找
着了，言明价钱，多少钱坐到汉口，每块钱花得明明白白(14)。在这一点上，我觉得
木船好极了(15)，我可以不说一句讨情的话，不看一副难看的嘴脸，堂堂正正的凭我
的身分东西归。这是大多数坐轮船坐飞机的朋友办不到的，我可有这种骄傲。
决定了之后，有两位朋友特来劝阻，一位从李家沱，一位从柏滨，不怕水程跋涉，
为的是关爱我，瞧得起我。他们说了种种理由，预想了种种可能的障害，结末说，还
是再考虑一下的好。我真感谢他们，当然不敢说不必再行考虑，只好带玩笑的说，“吉
人天相，“安慰他们激动的心情。现在，他们接到我平安到达的消息了，他们也真的
安慰了。
I Took a Wooden Boat
Ye Shengtao
I took a wooden boat from Chongqing to Hankou.
Of course I know it is risky to travel by wooden boat. With countless shoals and reefs
to negotiate, accidents may happen any time. To complicate matters, there are bandits
lurking around－those pitiful fellow countrymen who, unable to ward off starvation by
farming or soldiering or whatnot, have been reduced to the disreputable business as a last
resort. I’ll be in a real fix if they should rob me of, say, my bedding or clothes.
Now, on reflection, I realize that in the days before steamers and aircraft came into use,
people used to travel by wooden boat up and down the Sichuan section of the Yangtse
River. Even today, many continue to do so, and statistic will invariably show a higher
percentage of people travelling by wooden boat than by steamer or aircraft. Why shouldn’t
I do the same? Why should I think it beneath myself to travel by wooden boat? As for
safety, is it less dangerous to travel by steamer or aircraft? Going on foot seems to be the
best choice, but a tile falling off the eaves of somebody’s house might prove equally
disastrous to foot passengers. Enjoying absolute safety is humanly impossible.
It stands to reason that I can go by steamer or aircraft if I care to. I can simply go
around fishing for help or personal connections, or just buy a “black” ticket. But I’ll have
to pay more than the regular price for a “black” ticket, which I can ill afford and which I
disdain to do. And the very word “black” generates in me a feeling of repulsion. “Black”
signified fraud or illegal practice. Buying a “black” ticket is as good as getting involved in
a fraud or an illegal practice. If it is beyond one’s capacity to single-handedly stem the
prevailing social evils, one should at least be self-disciplined so as not to make matters
worse. All this is undoubtedly the pedantic view of bookish person—a view which must
sound ridiculous to all sensible gentlemen. ⑥⑥
Some people have told me from their own experience that soliciting help or speaking
personal connections is something as difficult as hunting for a job. You may be kept
cooling your heels in a janitor’s office or a reception room before an interview is granted.
Hearing that you are trying to get a steamer or air ticket, the much sought-after interview
may reply in a cold and indifferent manner, “Ah, that’s difficult…Come see me next
week…” Thereupon you seem to see a ray of hope, and you may also feel totally uncertain
of success. All you can do is wait until then. After making you don’t know how many
visits, there eventually appear signs of positive outcome. Then you have to go here and
there to get a signature or a seal, meet with all sorts of cold reception and wait for all sorts
of summonses—all for the purpose of obtaining a useful certificate to buy a ticket with.
Once with a ticket in hand, your status automatically changes. You can now call yourself
the employee of certain government office or certain official’s secretary. You can call
yourself so-and-so or so-and-so’s father. You can either keep your original name or have it
changed. In short, you must temporarily break off relations with your old self. The funniest
thing is when you try to pass for a soldier of a certain army unit, you must not only have
your name changed, but also wear a grey-cloth cotton-padded army uniform with a leather