樹上的男爵（上）
Baron in the Trees
ByItalo Calvino ∷ 蔣素華 選注
《樹上的男爵》是義大利作家伊塔洛·卡爾維諾創作的三部曲《我們的祖先》里最長的一篇。故事發生在18世紀義大利南部的翁布羅薩地區，貴族家庭長子及未來的爵位繼承者柯希莫（Cosimo）因拒絕吃蝸牛，一氣之下離家出走，爬到樹上，並在樹上度過了自己的餘生，再也沒有踏回到地上。這種做法盡乎荒唐，幾乎不可思議，樹上的生活使柯希莫擺脫了貴族生活繁文縟節的束縛，但也給他帶來極大的不便，他在樹上過的幾乎是原始人一般的生活。然而柯希莫是一個心甘情願以自己的生命堅守規矩的人，哪怕犧牲寶貴的愛情。因為無論對他還是對別人，一旦破了這條規矩，柯希莫便不再是柯希莫了。
It was on 15 June 1767 that Cosimo Piovasco di Rondo, my brother, sat among us for the last time. And it might have been today, I remember it so clearly. We were in the dining-room of our house atOmbrosa（翁布羅薩）, the windows framing the thick branches of the greatholm oak（聖櫟樹）in the park. It was midday, the old traditional dinner hour followed by our family, though by then most nobles had taken to the fashion set by thesluggard（遊手好閒的）Court of France of dining halfway through the afternoon. A breeze was blowing from the sea, I remember,rustling（使沙沙作響）the leaves. Cosimo said: 「I told you I don』t want any, and I don』t!」 and pushed away his plateful of snails. Never had we seen suchdisobedience（違抗）.
A few months before, Cosimo having reached the age of twelve and I of eight, we had been admitted to the parental board; I had benefted by my brother』s promotion and been moved up prematurely, so that I should not be left to eat alone. 「Benefted」 is perhaps scarcely the word; for really it meant the end of our carefree life, Cosimo』s and mine, and we regretted the meals in our little room, alone with theAbbe（神父）Fauchelefeur. Our meals in the Abbe』s company used to begin, after many a prayer, with ordered ritual, silent movements of spoons, andwoe（悲哀）to anyone who raised his eyes from his plate or made the slightest sucking noise with the soup; but by the end of the first dish the Abbe was already tired, bored, looking into space andsmacking（咂嘴）his lips at every sip of wine, as if only the mostfleeting（轉瞬即逝的）and superficialsensations（興奮）could get through to him; by the main dish we were using our hands, and throwing pearcores（果核）at each other by the end of the meal, while the Abbe every now and again let out one of hislanguid（倦怠的）, 「...Oooo bien（法語，好的）!...Oooo alors[法語，哎！（表示不耐煩、憤怒等）].」
Now, at table with the family, up camesurging the intimate grudges（充斥著親密又怨恨的情緒）that are such a burden of childhood. Having our father and mother always there in front of us, using knives and forks for the chicken, keeping our backs straight and our elbows down, what a strain it all was! —not to mention the presence of that sister of ours, Battista. So began a series of scenes,spiteful exchanges（惡言相向）, punishments, pinpricks（令人煩惱的小事）, until the day when Cosimo refused snails and decided to separate his fate from ours.
Theseaccumulating（積累的）family resentments I myself only noticed later; then I was eight, everything seemed a game, the struggle between us boys and grown-ups was the usual one all children play, and I did not realize that my brother』sstubbornness（固執）hid something much deeper. Our father the Baron was abore（無聊的人）, it』s true, though not a bad man: a bore because his life was dominated by conflicting ideas, as often happens inperiods of transition（歷史轉換時期）. The movements of the times makes people feel a need to move themselves, but in the opposite direction, away from the road; so, with things stirring all round him, our father had set his heart onregaining the lapsed title of Duke of Ombrosa（重新獲得已經失效的或轉歸他人的翁布羅薩公爵的頭銜）, and thought of nothing butgenealogies（宗譜）andsuccessions（繼承權）and family rivalries andalliances with grandees near and far（跟遠近的達官貴族們建立聯盟）.
Life at our home was a constant dress rehearsal for an appearance at court, either the Emperor of Austria』s, King Louis』s, or even the mountain court ofTurin（都靈，義大利城市）. When, for instance, a turkey was served, our father would watch carefully to see if wecarved and boned（切開並剔去骨頭）it according to royal rules, and the Abbe scarcely dared toucha morsel（一口）lest（唯恐）he made some error ofetiquette（禮節，禮儀）, for poor man, he had to put up with our father』srebukes（指責） too. And we saw now a deceitful side of theCavalier Carrega（卡雷加騎士）; he wouldsmuggle away（偷運）whole legs under the folds of his Turkish robe, tomunch（大聲咀嚼）them up bit by bit later, at his ease, hidden in thevineyard（葡萄園）; and we could have sworn (although we never succeeded in catching him in the act, his movements were so quick) that he came to table witha pocketful of stripped bones（一滿袋剔乾淨的骨頭）, which he left on the table in place of thehunks（大塊）of turkey hewhisked away（迅速撣進他的袍子里）. Our mother, the Generalessa, did not worry us, as even when serving herself at table she usedbrusque（直率的）military manners, 「So! Noch ein wenig! Gut!」（繼續！再多一點兒！好！）and no one found fault with her: she held us not to etiquette, but to discipline, supporting the Baron withparade-ground（閱兵場）orders, 「Sitz ruhig!（坐直！）And clean your nose!」 The only person really at ease was Battista, the nun of the house, who would sitshredding（撕成碎片）her chicken with minuteconcentration（細心，專註）, fibre by fibre, using some sharp little knives, rather likesurgeon』s scalpels（外科醫生的手術刀）, which she alone had. The Baron, who should have held her up to us as an example, did not dare look at her, for, with her staring eyes under thestarched wings（上過漿的帽檐）, her narrow teeth set tight in her yellowrodent』s（嚙齒類動物的）face, she frightened him too. So it can be seen why ourfamily board（全家人在一張餐桌上吃飯）brought out all theantagonisms（對抗）, theincompatibilities（不相容）, between us, and all ourfollies（愚蠢，荒唐）andhypocrisies（虛偽）too; and why it was there that Cosimo』s rebellioncame to a head（達到最高點）. That is why I have described it at some length—and anyway it is the last set table we shall find in my brother』s life, that』s sure.
To be continued...
以上內容選自《英語學習》雜誌
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主編： 侯毅凌
《英語學習》雜誌創刊於1958年，由北京外國語大學主辦，是一本集知識、學習和趣味於一體的英語文化綜合性刊物，被評為「全國優秀外語教輔期刊」，一貫以「學習英語的終身益友，了解世界的精彩櫥窗」為宗旨，在突出人文旨趣、深入介紹西方社會文化、增進閱讀者的英語修養的理念指導下，堅持嚴謹而不失活潑、品位與趣味並重的辦刊風格，凸顯雜誌的高等教育氣質。
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