軍鞋 / The Army Boots

軍鞋 金雨田	The Army Boots Jin Yu Tian
教頭站在床前，大聲喝問為什麼軍鞋身都是皺折的。我看著那雙花了一個小時擦亮的鞋子，着腳的鞋，依腳變形，就是這樣的嘛！心裏暗罵他笨問。	HOW COME all combat boots are wrinkled? – The military instructor shouted this quiz at me as he came to my bed while inspecting the barracks. “What a damn stupid question!” I cursed inwardly, glancing at the boots that I had spent an hour polishing until they shone. “They just bend and wrinkle to fit the feet, that’s all!”
但在那種壓制的氣氛下，還是惶惶恐恐地大聲回話：穿過的鞋，就這樣，長官。	Yet the crushing oppressiveness then and there made me give a loud, deferential reply: “All boots are like that once you wear them, sir!”
想不到，前來巡察的教頭轉向我的鄰床同袍，拎起他的亮得超級的怕輸的軍鞋，大聲喝問：為什麼軍鞋面這麼平滑？同袍不只聲洪，還聽得出聲音夾幾分得意：我天天勤勞擦，長官。	Unexpectedly, the officer turned towards the bed next to mine. “How come yours are so glossy?” he shouted at my comrade, lifting a pair of boots jealously maintained in a dazzling state. “Because I work hard and polish them every day, sir!” – came the answer, loud and perceptibly proud.
接著只聽砰的一聲，那雙亮亮亮非常亮的鞋子飛牆而過。“天天勤擦一雙沒穿過的鞋子”變成了我們苦中作樂的笑談。	With a bang the super-shiny boots were flung away over the wall. Thus, “polishing unworn boots every day” became a standing joke to amuse ourselves, the NS men, amid fatigue and boredom.
我當時想，教頭也許看過梵谷的油畫《鞋子與鞋帶》，整個畫面主題就只是一雙鞋子。當時梵谷人在巴黎，不過是以家鄉荷蘭農民的鞋子表達他的鄉情。鞋子有了生命，鞋子會開口說話，是勞動的雙腳踏著大地賦予的。	Probably the instructor had seen A Pair of Shoes by Vincent van Gogh before, I thought. The subject of the oil painting is merely a pair of shoes, the type worn by the Dutch farmers, so fondly pictured that they speak volumes for the artist’s homesickness during his sojourn in Paris. They were brought to life and enabled to talk, I believe, by the feet of the man who toiled in the fields.
一雙只用來擺美的軍鞋，能用在一朝嗎？	But a pair of combat boots just kept nice and good to look at – could they come in useful in an emergency? (Translated by Allen Zhuang)
[原載新加坡《聯合早報》(2000)；收入《不着地族 / A Lift-Off People》(潘正鐳著、Allen Zhuang 英譯；Singapore: All Publishing House, 2002)] 梵谷畫作: Click here: “A Pair of Boots” or 見此網址: http://www.globalgallery.com/enlarge/30416/