【作者】V.S.PROTCHETT

【文章來(lái)源】《50 GREAT SHORT STORIES》

ps.之前10月25日寫(xiě)的書(shū)評(píng)今天貼上來(lái)。

【故事梗概】我17歲那年跟叔叔住一起，他因生意不興一次偶然機(jī)會(huì)改了信仰變成了Purifier，因此我們一直被同學(xué)、老師以及周?chē)顺靶ΑＳ幸淮挝腋蠋煈蛔旎丶?，想著信仰?shū)里所說(shuō)的惡魔是否有源——因?yàn)槲铱偪匆?jiàn)惡魔化身的毛猿總跟著我。這一直困擾著我，我問(wèn)了叔叔，他希望我不要這么想下去。一天，鎮(zhèn)里來(lái)了我信仰的教派里較被尊敬的Timberlake先生（以下簡(jiǎn)稱(chēng)T），我提出了同樣的問(wèn)題。他不說(shuō)話，帶我去了河邊。但是我們乘坐的船翻了，險(xiǎn)些喪命。是我救了T但是我仍覺(jué)得是我錯(cuò)，因?yàn)槿绻皇俏襎就不會(huì)帶我去河邊就不會(huì)發(fā)生這些事。但是翻船之后到我救T然后帶他去安全的地方時(shí)，我發(fā)現(xiàn)T也就是一個(gè)平凡的人，他所謂的奇跡都不復(fù)存在——我的信仰也因此破裂。

16年后，T去世了，死因是心臟疾病，醫(yī)生說(shuō)他活著就是一個(gè)奇跡。我又想起了救他的那個(gè)下午，我突然明白了，那個(gè)一直跟著我猿猴，那個(gè)惡魔的化身，原來(lái)吃掉了T的心臟。

【一點(diǎn)個(gè)人理解】差不多以上就是故事梗概，沒(méi)有說(shuō)的是文章一直提到miracle（奇跡）與evil（惡魔）是跟我叔叔和我的宗教有關(guān)——在這個(gè)宗教里，不存在生病，即使摔下來(lái)腦子摔碎了也不會(huì)死。所以相對(duì)的，死亡就是惡魔。所以T先生一直沒(méi)有告訴我惡魔的來(lái)源，他一直在躲避，但是事實(shí)并非像T信仰的宗教，一般什么都化險(xiǎn)為夷。所以才會(huì)有，我?guī)出去的時(shí)候發(fā)現(xiàn)T并非是萬(wàn)能的，他是需要?jiǎng)e人的幫助，這才讓我的宗教信仰破碎。

【eNotes的一些他人觀點(diǎn)】Pritchett uses three images to make his points: the ape, the statue, and the miracle. The narrator describes his doubts as being like an ape following him around; at the end of the story, he comments that the ape that merely had followed him around had been inside eating out Reverend Timberlake’s heart. The ape image, which Pritchett uses in other works, stands for the material, fleshly, and sexual nature of the human condition. People must come to terms with this condition, for they cannot deny it out of existence.

The second image is that of the statue. The slice of Timberlake’s white underbelly, glimpsed when his shirt and trousers separate, reminds the narrator of a crack appearing along the belly of the statue of some Greek god. This recalls the loss of faith of the last pagans, as they see that their gods are nothing more than flawed pieces of marble. The narrator’s glimpse reveals both Timberlake and his belief system as flawed. The statue image reappears when Timberlake and the narrator rest in a meadow filled with goldenrods. Timberlake’s wet clothing is covered with golden pollen, making him look like the gilded statue of a saint.

The third image is that of the miracle, which occurs throughout the story. What the vulgar would call miracles occur among the little congregation of Purifiers routinely every day. Timberlake performs miracles, even, it is said, raising the dead. At the end, the doctor who inspects Timberlake’s body remarks that it was a miracle he had lived as long as he had. Pritchett thus shows that talk of miracles can be meaningless cant in the mouths of true believers.

【相應(yīng)的有道翻譯】普里切特用三種形象來(lái)闡述他的觀點(diǎn):猿猴、雕像和奇跡。敘述者把他的疑惑描述成像一只猿猴一樣跟著他;在故事的結(jié)尾，他評(píng)論說(shuō)，那只一直跟著他的猿猴已經(jīng)在里面吃掉了汀布萊克牧師的心。普里切特在其他作品中使用的猿類(lèi)形象，代表了人類(lèi)生存狀態(tài)的物質(zhì)、肉體和性的本質(zhì)。人們必須接受這種情況，因?yàn)樗麄儾荒芊裾J(rèn)它的存在。

第二個(gè)形象是雕像。當(dāng)汀布萊克的襯衫和褲子分開(kāi)時(shí)，可以瞥見(jiàn)他白色的小腹，這讓敘述者想起了某個(gè)希臘神的雕像腹部出現(xiàn)的裂縫。這讓人回想起最后的異教徒失去信仰，因?yàn)樗麄兛吹剿麄兊纳癫贿^(guò)是有缺陷的大理石。敘述者的一瞥揭示了汀布萊克和他的信仰體系都是有缺陷的。當(dāng)汀布萊克和敘述者在一片長(zhǎng)滿(mǎn)黃菊花的草地上休息時(shí)，雕像的形象又出現(xiàn)了。汀布萊克濕漉漉的衣服上沾滿(mǎn)了金色的花粉，讓他看起來(lái)就像鍍金的圣徒雕像。

第三個(gè)意象是奇跡，貫穿整個(gè)故事。平民們所稱(chēng)的奇跡每天都在凈化者的小集會(huì)中例行公事地發(fā)生著。據(jù)說(shuō)，汀布萊克甚至還會(huì)表演奇跡，起死回生。最后，檢查汀布萊克身體的醫(yī)生說(shuō)，他能活到現(xiàn)在真是個(gè)奇跡。因此，普里切特表明，在真正的信徒口中，談?wù)撈孥E可能是毫無(wú)意義的空話。