“破四舊”期間,我患牙病,醫(yī)生說(shuō)臼齒磨損厲害,建議做套,罩住臼齒;套最好用金制,因金的硬度最適合與牙結(jié)合,且耐久。我覺(jué)得金牙太丑,醫(yī)生說(shuō)那是臼齒上的罩,根本看不見(jiàn)。于是決定用金。但哪里去找金?當(dāng)時(shí)金子不是商品,且禁止買(mǎi)賣(mài),“破四舊”將家家戶戶的金銀珠寶抄盡,民間已與黃金絕緣。
During the early years of the Cultural Revolution, I had a tooth problem. The dentist told me one of my molars was badly decayed and suggested I have a crown fitted, most preferably a gold one, because the hardness of gold is similar to that of enamel and would fit it well. I was afraid it would look ugly. However, the dentist assured me that nobody would see it since it was on one of the back teeth. So gold was chosen as the material, but where to find the precious metal at that time of political turmoil? Gold transaction was then forbidden on the market. And to make things worse, gold products along with jewelry were all being searched and looted by the Red Guards in the 'Destruction of the Four Olds' campaign1. No one in mainland China had access to even a single ounce of gold.
幸而,我的一位入了泰國(guó)國(guó)籍的老同窗要返國(guó)探親,他便特意戴了一個(gè)大大的金戒指解決了我的治牙問(wèn)題。感謝醫(yī)生的精心設(shè)計(jì)、制作,這金牙罩保護(hù)了我的病牙,讓我平安度過(guò)了能吃食的幾十個(gè)春秋,以為一勞永逸了。然而,竟然發(fā)現(xiàn)它日漸耗損,金子也衰老了!今天金子不稀罕,但那一只假牙確是我半輩子的保衛(wèi)者,而它卻比我先壞,令人感傷。世間沒(méi)有一勞永逸的安全。但人們竭力追求永逸和永恒,筑長(zhǎng)城、造金字塔、建地下宮……都為了保護(hù)權(quán)力及掌權(quán)者的尸身不朽,待復(fù)活。
Fortunately, an old classmate of mine, a Thai-Chinese, was planning a trip home and promised to bring me a gold ring by wearing it on his finger when going through customs. That really was an ingenious solution to my tooth crowning problem! Using the melted gold as raw material the doctor prepared the crown with great care and superb skill. Protected by the well-fit crown, I was able to eat and chew with much ease for several decades. I thought the crown would keep good forever, but, to my dismay, gold too proved to be subject to wear and tear like all other things. Now gold is no longer a rarity, but back at that time gold was very hard to get and the gold ring-turned-crown was meant to save me from dental trouble for the rest of my life, so the fact that it was aging even faster than I was actually made me quite sad and sentimental. I came to understand that nothing in this world will last for good. However, people still spare no effort to pursue ease and permanence. The Great Wall, the Pyramids, the underground palaces, all these were built in an attempt to eternalize power or to preserve corpses until they can be restored to life someday.
木、石、鋼鐵……一切的一切都扛不住歲月的消蝕,地震、海嘯,大宇宙一次次嘲弄人類(lèi)的渺小??铸埖臏缃^,龐貝的遺址,早揭示了人類(lèi)及任何生物都擋不住宇宙之變幻。聰明的人類(lèi)用科學(xué)來(lái)自救,為救自身卻又加速毀滅自身,首先,自身的超量繁殖早已泛濫成災(zāi)。毀滅與再生是不可抗拒的規(guī)律,人類(lèi)永遠(yuǎn)探不盡宇宙之謎。夏夜,滿天美麗的星星,老祖母為此講的故事依舊沒(méi)變,牛郎織女永葆青春,鵲橋也永不斷裂。然而,老祖母不知遙遠(yuǎn)的微小星星可能是大大的太陽(yáng),或大于太陽(yáng),我們的太陽(yáng)也并不因后羿已死去而永遠(yuǎn)安逸。人類(lèi)發(fā)覺(jué)必須保護(hù)地球的體溫了,但誰(shuí)又能阻止又一次冰河期或火山期的爆發(fā)。到木星去,也只才出得庭前三五步。杞人真超前,他預(yù)感憂天,是神異的先知者。
Wood, stone, iron and steel, none of them can resist the erosion of time; earthquakes, tsunami and other natural disasters time and again mock the insignificance of mankind. The extinction of the dinosaurs, the tragic fate of Pompeii, all these are evidence that neither men nor animals can fend off the changes of the universe. To save themselves, man cleverly resorts to science, yet in doing so they only speed up the process of self-destruction. To top it all, over-multiplication of the human species has already brought disastrous consequences. Destruction and regeneration are irresistible laws of Nature, and the universe still remains a myth to men no matter how hard they endeavor to explore into it. Looking up at the beautiful stars on a summer night, grandmothers have long been telling the same story about the Cowherd and the Weaving Maid2: their romance has always remained fresh and the magpies have never failed to build a bridge for their yearly meeting. But grandmothers don't know the tiny stars in the distant sky may turn out to be as large as or even larger than the sun, and that our sun will not shine steadily for ever, even though Houyi3 is long dead. Mankind has realized that we must keep the earth's temperature from rising, but who can prevent a volcano from erupting again or stop the coming of another glacial period? Even if we can flee to Jupiter, we're still not very far from danger, like only being a few yards from a falling house. In a Chinese legend, someone in the State of Qi feared that the sky would someday fall. That man, to me, is a wise prophet having the presentiment that Nature may spell doom to man.
一個(gè)假牙的消蝕,等同地球的變質(zhì),暗示宇宙的顫栗。人類(lèi)的苦難還在后頭,惟望科學(xué)救命,人之族天長(zhǎng)地久!
The wearing-away of my tooth crown is a warning sign equal to that of the deterioration of the earth or a tremor of the universe. Disasters we humans have to endure are yet to come. May science provide for our salvation and the human race live as long as the universe lasts!
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