[英語散文] 微笑

The smile

"I was sure that I was to be killed. I became terribly nervous. I fumbled

[1] in my pockets to see if there were any cigarettes, which had escaped[2]

　　their search. I found one and because of my shaking hands, I could barely get it to my lips. But I had no matches, they had taken those. "I looked through the bars at my jailer. He did not make eye contact with me. I called out to him 'Have you got a light?' He looked at me, shrugged [3]and came over to light my cigarette. "As he came close and lit the match, his eyes inadvertently locked with mine. At that moment, I smiled. I don't know why I did that. Perhaps it was nervousness, perhaps it was because, when you get very close, one to another, it is very hard not to smile. In any case, I smiled. In that instant, it was as though a spark jumped across the gap between our two hearts, our two human souls. I know he didn't want to, but my smile leaped through the bars and generated a smile on his lips, too. He lit my cigarette but stayed near, looking at me directly in the eyes and continuing to smile.

"I kept smiling at him, now aware of him as a person and not just a jailer. And his looking at me seemed to have a new dimension[4] too. 'Do you have kids?' he asked. " 'Yes, here, here.' I took out my wallet and nervously fumbled for the pictures of my family. He, too, took out the pictures of his family and began to talk about his plans and hopes for them. My eyes filled with tears. I said that I feared that I'd never see my family again, never have the chance to see them grow up. Tears came to his eyes, too. "Suddenly, without another word, he unlocked my cell and silently led me out. Out of the jail, quietly and by back routes, out of the town. There, at the edge of town, he released me. And without another word, he turned back toward the town.

"My life was saved by a smile." Yes, the smile―the unaffected, unplanned, natural connection between people.. I really believe that if that part of you and that part of me could recognize each other, we wouldn't be enemies. We couldn't have hate or envy or fear.

微 笑

“一想到自己明天就沒命了，不禁陷入極端的惶恐。我翻遍了口袋，終於找到一支沒被他們搜走的香菸，但我的手緊張得不停發抖，連將煙送進嘴裏都成問題，而我的火柴也在搜身時被拿走了。 “我透過鐵欄望着外面的警衛，他並沒有注意到我在看他，我叫了他一聲：‘能跟你借個火嗎？’他轉頭望着我，聳了聳肩，然後走了過來，點燃我的香菸。 “當他幫我點火時，他的眼光無意中與我的相接觸，這時我突然衝着他微笑。我不知道自己爲何有這般反應，也許是過於緊張，或者是當你如此靠近另一個人，你很難不對他微笑。不管是何理由，我對他笑了。就在這一剎那，這抹微笑如同火花般，打破了我們心靈間的隔閡。受到了我的感染，他的嘴角不自覺地也現出了笑容，雖然我知道他原無此意。他點完火後並沒立刻離開，兩眼盯着我瞧，臉上仍帶着微笑。

“我也以笑容迴應，彷彿他是個朋友，而不是個守着我的警衛。他看着我的眼神也少了當初的那股凶氣，‘你有小孩嗎？’他開口問道。 “‘有，你看。’我拿出了皮夾，手忙腳亂地翻出了我的全家福照片。他也掏出了照片，並且開始講述他對家人的期望與計劃。這時我眼中充滿了淚水，我說我害怕再也見不到家人。我害怕沒機會看着孩子長大。他聽了也流下兩行眼淚。 “突然間，他二話不說地打開了牢門，悄悄地帶我從後面的小路逃離了監獄，出了小鎮，就在小鎮的邊上，他放了我，之後便轉身往回走，不曾留下一句話。

“一個微笑居然能救自己一條命。”“是的，微笑是人與人之間最自然真摯的溝通方式。如果我們能用心靈去認識彼此，世間不會有結怨成仇的憾事；恨意、妒嫉、恐懼也會不復存在。

背景介紹：

《微笑》是法國作家安東尼·聖艾修伯裏的作品，聖艾修伯裏是名飛行員，二次大戰對抗納粹時被擊落身亡，之前他也曾參加西班牙內戰打擊法西斯分子。他根據這次經驗寫了一篇精彩的故事――《微笑》。他的代表作《小王子》是美國人都很熟悉的童話故事。

註釋：

1. fumble：我們總是能看到愛抽菸的男人在自己的身上到處摸煙的鏡頭，用動詞fumble（亂摸、摸索）來形容他們的動作是再恰當不過了；下文中提到的nervously fumbled for the pictures也是借用fumble來形容“主人公非常緊張地在錢包搜索照片”的情景；現在如果你看到某人在“嘩啦啦”地翻書尋找他想要的內容，你就可以大膽地用fumle來描述他的動作，可以說He fumbled the pages looking for the place.

2. escape是個很調皮的詞彙，總是“逃離這兒，逃離那兒”， 此處的escaped their search字面上就表示出“（煙）逃離了他們的搜查”，也就是“沒有被他們搜走（的煙）”； 再看看I'm afraid your name escapes me. 看起來是“你的名字逃離了我”，也就是“我恐怕想不起你的名字了”。如果你是位老師，在課堂可能就會很嚴肅地對那些搗蛋的學生說上一句：Nothing escaped my attention.（什麼都逃不過我的注意），這下，那些學生該乖乖地聽課了吧。

3. shrug表示的動作是“聳聳肩”，比如你把一個消息告訴給自己的好友時，“她聽到消息後只是聳聳肩”，你就可以描繪成She shrugged her shoulders at the news. 因爲我們也經常用“聳肩”的動作來表示“不感興趣“或“無所謂”等心態，所以shrug可以引申地表示“冷漠、無所謂、不屑一顧”等意思。比如說在法庭上，法官已經對某個貪污犯進行了判決，但是此人仍然暴跳如雷地表示抗議，那麼People only shruggled at his protests.看來“人們對他的抗議只是輕蔑地聳聳肩而已了”。

4. dimension：如果你已經知道dimension是用來表示“尺寸、面積、大小”的，那麼你就會很疑惑此處的a new dimension是什麼意思。不過你要是聯想一下，既然dimension表示事物的“長、寬、高”等各因素，這也就相當於事物的“各個方面”了，所以此處的a new dimension也就相當於“一個新的方面”，聯繫上下文，可推斷出這個“新的方面”就是jailer對“主人公”態度的轉變，從最初的“兇”到現在的“友好”；如果你發現了男朋友身上的一個新特點，就可以對他說到 I found a new dimension of your personality. 我保證他一定要求你把his new dimension說出來的。