你向往乌托邦世界吗——《记忆传授人》赏析

文 /晓 菲

◆原作节选◆

Jonas felt nothing unusual at first.He felt only the light touch of the old man’s hands on his back.

He tried to relax,to breathe evenly（均匀地）.Then he shivered.He realized that the touch of the hands felt,suddenly,cold.Atthe same instant,breathing in,he felt the air change,and his very breath was cold.He licked（舔）his lips,and in doing so,his tongue touched the suddenly chilled（冰冷的）air.

It was very startling；but he was not at all frightened,now.He was filled with energy,and he breathed again,feeling the sharp intake of frigid air.Now,too,he could feel cold air swirling（打旋）around his entire body.He felt it blow against his hands where they lay at his sides,and over his back.

起初，乔纳思不觉得有什么特别，只感觉到老人的手轻轻地触摸他的背。

他尽量放松，保持有规律的呼吸。就在这时，他哆嗦了一下。他知道是触摸他的那只手突然间变冷了。与此同时，他发现吸入的空气也变得很冷。他舔舔嘴唇，感觉舌头一阵冰凉。

他大吃一惊，却一点也不害怕，反而觉得全身上下充满活力。他再吸一大口气，让冰凉的空气流窜到身体各处。现在，他感觉得到寒冷的空气在周遭萦绕，拂在他的手上，笼罩在他的背上。

Now he became aware of an entirely new sensation（感觉）：pinpricks？ No,because they were soft and without pain.Tiny,cold,feather like feelings peppered his body and face.He put out his tongue again,and caught one of the dots of cold upon it.It disappeared from his awareness instantly；buthe caught another,and another.

And he could see,though his eyes were closed.He could see a bright,whirling torrent of crystals（结晶体）in the air around him,and he could see them gather on the backs of his hands,like cold fur.

Beyond,through the swirlofwhathe now,somehow,perceived（察觉）was the thing the old man had spoken of— snow — he could look out and down a great distance.He was up high someplace.The ground was thick with the furry snow,buthesat slightly above it on a hard,flat object.

Sled,he knew abruptly（突然地）.He was sitting on a thing called sled（雪橇）.And the sled itself seemed to be poised at the top of a long,extended mound（土堆）that rose from the very land where he was.Even as he thought the word“mound”（土堆）,his new consciousness（意识）told him hill.

Then the sled,with Jonas himself upon it,began to move through the snowfall,and he understood instantly that now he was going downhill.No voice made an explanation.The experience explained itself to him.

His face cut through the frigid air as he began the descent（下降）,moving through the substance called snow on the vehicle called sled, which propelled itself on what he now knew without doubt to be runners.

Comprehending all of those things as he sped downward,he was free to enjoy the breathless glee（欢乐）that overwhelmed him：the speed,the clear cold air,the totalsilence,the feeling ofbalance and excitement and peace.

现在，他有了一种全新的感觉。是针扎吗？不，针扎不会这样柔软又没有痛楚。细小的、冰冷的、羽毛般的触感，落在他的身上和脸上。他再伸出舌头，捕捉一次次寒冷的接触。那种感觉很快就消失了，但很快又一个接一个地从不同的地方冒出来。

虽然眼睛闭着，他却看得见景象。他看见四周白茫茫一片，晶莹、旋转的结晶体自空中缓缓飘落，聚积在他的手背上，好像一层冰冷的软毛。

他终于了解老人所说的“雪”是什么东西了。穿透层层雪花，他可以眺望到极远的地方。他现在身在高处，地上是厚厚的积雪。他因为坐在一个坚硬、平坦的物体上，才让雪地如此突出。

雪橇，他突然明白了，他正坐在一部雪橇上。他的脚下是蜿蜒地势的最高点，但雪橇却安稳地停在上头。最先闪现在他脑海的是“土堆”这个词，但是新的知觉告诉他这叫“山丘”。

然后，雪橇载着他穿越纷纷飘落的雪花，往前滑行。乔纳思立刻明白自己正在下坡。没有任何说明，完全是他亲身体验出来的。

当雪橇开始急速下降，冰冷的空气拂过他的脸庞时，他穿越的物质叫做雪，他脚下的工具叫做雪橇，而推动雪橇前进的就是滑板。他终于完全了解了。他整个人沉浸在喜悦中：速度、清新的冷空气、完全的静谧，还有平衡、兴奋、祥和的感受。

下降的速度慢慢趋缓，在接近土堆——不对，应该是山丘——的底端时，雪橇前进的速度变慢了，上面也堆满了雪花。他用身体推动雪橇前进，不想这么快结束这段刺激的旅程。

但是积雪挡住去路，雪橇上的薄滑板再也前进不了，他停了下来。他坐了一会儿，冰冷的手握着绳子，喘着气。

他试探性地张开眼睛——不是坐雪橇时的眼睛——看见自己躺在床上，动也没动过。

“我可以问问题吗？”

老人点点头，鼓励他发问。

“为什么雪和其他东西通通不见了呢？”

“因为气候受到控制的缘故。雪会妨碍农作物生长，限制耕作时间。它那飘忽不定、难以预测的动向还会影响交通，非常不实用，所以在建立同化社区的时候，就被废除了。”

“山丘也是一样，”他补充说，“搬运物品的时候，爬山越岭非常不便，还会减慢卡车、公共汽车的速度，所以也被同化了。”

“先生？”乔纳思怯生生地说。

“我还不知道您的大名呢。我本来认为您是记忆传承人,但是您又说我现在才是记忆传承人。所以我不知道该怎么称呼您。”

“就叫我传授人好了。”

Then,as the angle of incline lessened,as the mound—the hill—flattened,nearing the bottom,the sled’s forward motion slowed.The snow was piled now around it,and he pushed with his body,moving it forward,not wanting the exhilarating ride to end.

Finally the obstruction（障碍物）of the piled snow was too much for the thin runners of the sled,and he came to a stop.He sat there for a moment,panting,holding the rope in his cold hands.He opened his eyes—not his snow-hill-sled eyes,and saw that he was still on the bed,that he had not moved at all.

“Could I ask questions?”

The man nodded,encouraging his question.

“Why don’t we have snow,and sleds,and hills?”he asked.

“Climate Control. Snow made growing food difficult, limited the agricultural periods. And unpredictable（不可预测的）weather made transportation almost impossible at times.It wasn’t a practical thing,so it became obsolete when we went to Sameness.”

“And hills, too,” he added. “They made conveyance of goods unwieldy.Trucks；buses.Slowed them down.So－sameness.”

“Sir?”Jonas said shyly, “It’s just that I don’t know your name.I thought you were The Receiver,but you say that now I’m The Receiver.So I don’t know what to call you.”

The man had sat back down in the comfortable upholstered chair.He moved his shoulders around as ifto ease away an aching sensation.He seemed terribly weary.

“Call me The Giver,”he told Jonas.

1.shiver v.颤抖 2.instant n.瞬间 3.startling adj.令人吃惊的

4.intake v.摄入量 5.frigid adj.严寒的 6.pinprick n.针刺

7.pepper v.加胡椒粉 8.whirling adj.旋转的 9.torrent n.奔流

10.swirl n.漩涡 11.propel v.推进 12.exhilarating adj.令人愉快的

13.obsolete adj.废弃的 14.conveyance n.运输工具 15.upholstered adj.经过布置的

◆赏析◆

古希腊哲学家柏拉图曾替我们勾勒过一个名叫“乌托邦”的世界。“乌托邦”三个字合起来的意思即为“空想的国家”。在那里，财产是公有的，人民是平等的。人与人之间非常默契地本着按需分配的原则，互敬互爱、和睦共处，淡泊名利、远离矛盾，引得凡夫俗子们好生羡慕。

约莫2000年后，这样的“空想国家”在作家洛伊丝·劳里笔下再次得以重现。本期推荐的小说《记忆传授人》（The Giver）则更全面而真实地为我们勾勒出一个完整的乌托邦社区。透过她细腻的文笔，我们共同见证了一个极度完美的社区。这里没有冲突、贫困、猜疑、不安全感，人们的饮食、职业、婚姻，甚至子女都由社区统一管理和分配。因此，每个人都生活得认认真真、开开心心。每一个家庭都和睦共处，夜不闭户，非常欣然地享受社区为自己安排的一切。

倘若孩子们在青春发育期产生蒙眬的感情怎么办？有专门的药丸让孩子们回归理性；他们到了一定的年龄，要迈入社会工作怎么办？社区通过常年观察每个孩子的特点，会给他们分配最适合每一个孩子性格特点的工作。如果不是因为男主人公乔纳思被选为新一轮的“记忆传授人”，可能眼前这个看似美好的乌托邦世界永远都没有机会被揭开本质。所谓记忆传授人，就是社区选出来的最有前途的青年。他负责储存所有其他被淘汰的记忆，比如颜色、爱、战争、饥饿、寒冷，甚至死亡。乔纳思在上一辈记忆传授人那里，体会到了从未感知过的情感，进而得知原来眼前的“完美世界”从一开始就剥夺了人类最基本的选择权利。它让你没有机会去爱、去恨、去努力、去争取、去承受，所以只能心甘情愿地服从安排，顺应趋势。在这个没有感情的世界中，所有的人性都荡然无存。而真相被揭开后，善良的乔纳思到底应该选择接受,还是逃离呢？用牺牲情感的代价，去换取和平、宁静以及永远与世无争的心境，到底值不值得？

本期节选的是乔纳思第一次感知到“雪”的经历。雪花的冰冷、雪橇的刺激，却远远抵不过乔纳思内心因真相被揭开后受到的震撼。仅仅因为对农作物发展不利，人们就再无机会体会到雪花的纯洁与晶莹，那么活着仅仅就是为了在现实世界来一趟、走一遭吗？没有喜怒哀乐、爱恨情仇的纷纷扰扰，是否有资格说自己是“真的活过”这一生呢？

洛伊丝·劳里一定是你能想到的最有天赋的作家之一。1937年3月，她出生于美国夏威夷。因为父亲在军中担任牙医，所以一家人也随着军队迁移到世界各地。洛伊丝40岁才开始尝试完成小时候的梦想——当一名作家。结果却一鸣惊人，如今她不但是世界知名的作家，还两次获得纽伯瑞金牌奖。除了写作儿童小说、短篇故事，她也撰写评论、专业的论文。她的写作素材非常广泛，风格多样，有生活幽默小说《阿纳斯塔西亚·克鲁布尼克》（Anastasia Krupnik）、谈战争与屠杀的《数星星》（Number the Stars）、描写未来乌托邦社会的科幻小说《记忆传授人》（The Giver）等。此外，还有涉及收养、精神疾病、癌症等议题的20多本著作，她堪称是一位多才多艺、风格多变的作家。