心中的那片麦田
July 11th, 2008刚才又翻阅了一下J.D. Salinger的The Catcher in the Rye(麦田里的守望者),这本书依然在打动我。
尤其读到了Holden在和他妹妹谈话之时说的那段话:
Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around–nobody big, I mean–except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff–I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it’s crazy. (我将来要当一名麦田里的守望者。有那么一群孩子在一大块麦田里玩。几千几万的小孩子,附近没有一个大人,我是说—除了我。我呢。就在那混帐的悬崖边。我的职务就是在那守望。要是有哪个孩子往悬崖边来,我就把他捉住—我是说孩子们都是在狂奔,也不知道自己是在往哪儿跑。我得从什么地方出来,把他们捉住。我整天就干这样的事,我只想做个麦田里的守望者。)
可是,等到Holden到了Mr. Antolini家的时候,Mr. Antolini却给他一个相反的建议:
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one. (不成熟者的特征就在于为了理想选择高尚的死去,而成熟者的特征则在于为了理想选择卑贱的活着。)
这就是大人里嘴里的那个所谓的“成长”,我想,大人看到此本书以后,都会想起以前年轻的梦想,接着又不得不进退两难、犹豫不决的培养他们的孩子去面临那个肮脏的成长。“望子成龙”的含义也不过如此。
麦田里的守望者,或许是一个遥远而不可能实现的愿望,可是,我希望每个人心里面保留一份麦田—-一个充满小孩子的麦田,一个充满欢笑的麦田。或许,真正的天堂,就是那片麦田。