猴山/李单(赵金基译）

程思良

猴山/李单
　　
　　王大一出被窝就给王二挂电话：王二，早些把妈接过去，我们要去猴山。
　　王大王二瘫痪的老妈逢单月在王大家，逢双月在王二家，每月一号轮转。
　　今天是六月一日儿童节。王大带上王大宝一早就出了家门。
　　王大买了二十个薄皮大馅的包子，王大吃四个，王大宝也吃四个，剩下的由他提着上猴山。
　　山里游乐场像开了锅，穿山车、激流勇进、高空缆车应有尽有。他们一件一件地玩过，大半天过去了。王大取出包子，王大吃四个，王大宝也吃四个，剩下的喂猴。
　　猴山那里已经汇聚了不少游人。
　　一只顽皮的小猴子抓住铁笼向他们挤眉弄眼，王大宝递过去一个包子，小猴几口吃光，感觉意犹未尽。王大宝又递进去第二个包子。这时，一只秃毛老猴慢吞吞挪过来，布满皱纹的脸上显现出“老年斑”。那只小猴懂事地把手中圆滚滚的包子递给老猴，小猴这个举动让王大和王大宝瞠目结舌。
　　老猴拿着包子冲阳光痴呆地看上半天，挑剔地只吃了几口就扔掉了。老猴迟暮惹人伤心。
　　王大意外地看见王二带着王二宝也在不远处拿包子喂猴。
　　王大靠过去喊：王二，妈接走了吗？王二说：还没去。
　　王大拉着王二往家走……
　　家里，他们的妈已睡去多时了。涎水淌到颌下……几粒药片撒在床上，圆滚滚的，像冷冷的包子……
　　
　　Monkey Hill
　　
　　By Li Dan
　　
　　“Brother, come for mom as soon as possible. We are going to Monkey Hill.” Hardly had he got out of his bed when Wang Da called Wang Er.
　　Wang Da and Wang Er took turns to look after their paralyzed mom, odd months being the former’s turn and even months the latter’s, and on the first day of each month, one would go picking up their mom in the other’s home.
　　It was June 1st, Children’s Day. Wang Da and his son Wang Dabao left home early in the morning.
　　Wang Da had bought 20 steamed spongy fully-stuffed buns, four consumed by the father, four by the son, and the rest being carried by Wang Da up to Monkey Hill.
　　The playground was boiling with pleasant children who had occupied such facilities as roller coasters, rapids, upper air cable cars, and so on. Enjoying themselves from one place to another for half of the day, Wang Da took out the buns, four consumed by the father, four by the son, and the rest for feeding to the monkeys.
　　A large audience was clustering around Monkey Hill.
　　In the wide iron cage, a cute young monkey was casting naughty winks at the crowd.
　　Wang Dabao handed over a bun and with several bites the young monkey swallowed it all, seemingly wanting more. Handing over another bun, Wang Dabao saw an old balding monkey come along with a slow movement, “age pigments” shown on its wrinkled face; the young monkey, in turn, considerately handed the bun to the old monkey. Both Wang Da and Wang Dabao were stupefied.
　　Taking the bun and staring dully at it toward the sun for quite a while, the old monkey tried a couple of critical bites and got rid of the remainder. What a sad aging monkey!
　　All on a sudden, Wang Da noticed Wang Er and Wang Erbao also feeding buns to monkeys over there.
　　“Brother, have you got mom home?” shouted Wang Da.
　　“Not yet.” replied Wang Er.
　　They hurried back to Wang Da’s home, only to find their mom had been long sleeping, the saliva drooling down her jaw; on her bed scattered a few round pills which appeared like cold fully-stuffed buns.

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