野草 Wild Grass21 / 22

淡淡的血痕中 Amid Pale Bloodstains

目前的造物主，還是一個怯弱者。The Creator of the present day is still a coward.

目前的造物主，还是一个怯弱者。

他暗暗地使天變地異，卻不敢毀滅一個這地球；Secretly he makes heaven and earth change, yet dares not destroy this earth entirely;暗暗地使生物衰亡，卻不敢長存一切屍體；secretly he makes living things wither and perish, yet dares not let every corpse endure forever;暗暗地使人類流血，卻不敢使血色永遠鮮穠；secretly he makes mankind bleed, yet dares not let the color of blood stay forever fresh and rich;暗暗地使人類受苦，卻不敢使人類永遠記得。secretly he makes mankind suffer, yet dares not let mankind remember forever.

他暗暗地使天变地异，却不敢毁灭一个这地球；暗暗地使生物衰亡，却不敢长存一切尸体；暗暗地使人类流血，却不敢使血色永远鲜秾；暗暗地使人类受苦，却不敢使人类永远记得。

他專爲他的同類——人類中的怯弱者——設想，用廢墟荒墳來襯託華屋，用時光來冲淡苦痛和血痕；He plans solely for the sake of his own kind—the cowards among mankind—using ruins and desolate graves to set off splendid mansions, using time to dilute pain and bloodstains;日日斟出一杯微甘的苦酒，不太少，不太多，以能微醉爲度，遞給人間，使飮者可以哭，可以歌，也如醒，也如醉，若有知，若無知，也欲死，也欲生。day after day he pours out a cup of faintly sweet bitter wine, not too little, not too much, just enough to leave one slightly tipsy, and hands it to the human world, so that those who drink it may weep, may sing, seem awake, seem drunk, seem to know, seem not to know, wish to die, and also wish to live.他必須使一切也欲生；He must make everyone wish to live as well;他還沒有滅盡人類的勇氣。he still lacks the courage to destroy mankind utterly.

他专为他的同类——人类中的怯弱者——设想，用废墟荒坟来衬托华屋，用时光来冲淡苦痛和血痕；日日斟出一杯微甘的苦酒，不太少，不太多，以能微醉为度，递给人间，使飮者可以哭，可以歌，也如醒，也如醉，若有知，若无知，也欲死，也欲生。他必须使一切也欲生；他还没有灭尽人类的勇气。

幾片廢墟和幾個荒墳散在地上，映以淡淡的血痕，人們都在其間咀嚼着人我的渺茫的悲苦。A few patches of ruins and a few desolate graves lie scattered upon the ground, reflecting faint traces of blood, and among them people are all chewing over the vague, boundless sorrow of self and others.但是不肯吐棄，以爲究竟勝於空虛，各各自稱爲『天之僇民，』以作咀嚼着人我的渺茫的悲苦的辯解，而且悚息着靜待新的悲苦的到來。Yet they will not spit it out, thinking it after all better than emptiness, each calling himself 'a man condemned by Heaven,' as a justification for chewing over the vague, boundless sorrow of self and others, and holding their breath in dread as they quietly await the arrival of new sorrow.新的，這就使他們恐懼，而又渴欲相遇。The new—this is what makes them afraid, and yet also makes them yearn to meet it.

几片废墟和几个荒坟散在地上，映以淡淡的血痕，人们都在其间咀嚼着人我的渺茫的悲苦。但是不肯吐弃，以为究竟胜于空虚，各各自称为『天之僇民，』以作咀嚼着人我的渺茫的悲苦的辩解，而且悚息着静待新的悲苦的到来。新的，这就使他们恐惧，而又渴欲相遇。

這都是造物主的良民。These are all the good subjects of the Creator.他就需要這樣。This is exactly what he needs.

这都是造物主的良民。他就需要这样。

叛逆的猛士出於人間；A rebellious fierce warrior arises from among mankind;他屹立着，洞見一切已改和現有的廢墟和荒墳，記得一切深廣和久遠的苦痛，正視一切重疊淤積的凝血，深知一切已死，方生，將生和未生。he stands towering, seeing clearly through all the ruins and desolate graves, both changed and still existing, remembering all the deep, vast, and enduring pain, looking straight at all the layered, pooled clotted blood, knowing deeply all that has died, that is just now being born, that will be born, and that has not yet been born.他看透了造化的把戲；He has seen through the tricks of Creation;他將要起來使人類蘇生，或者使人類滅盡，這些造物主的良民們。he is about to rise up to revive mankind, or else to destroy mankind utterly—these good subjects of the Creator.

叛逆的猛士出于人间；他屹立着，洞见一切已改和现有的废墟和荒坟，记得一切深广和久远的苦痛，正视一切重叠淤积的凝血，深知一切已死，方生，将生和未生。他看透了造化的把戏；他将要起来使人类苏生，或者使人类灭尽，这些造物主的良民们。

造物主，怯弱者，羞慚了，于是伏藏。The Creator, the coward, grows ashamed, and so hides himself away.天地在猛士的眼中于是變色。Heaven and earth, then, change color in the eyes of the fierce warrior.

造物主，怯弱者，羞惭了，于是伏藏。天地在猛士的眼中于是变色。

（一九二六年四月八日。）(April 8, 1926.)

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What it’s about

An indictment of the Creator for cowardice. He quietly makes the heavens shift and the earth quake, but does not dare destroy a single planet; quietly lets living things die out, but does not dare let a corpse last; quietly makes men bleed, but does not dare keep the colour of the blood fresh; quietly makes men suffer, but does not dare let them remember. Everything he does is arranged for his own kind, the cowards among men: ruins and desolate graves to set off the fine houses, time to dilute pain and bloodstains, and a cup of faintly sweet bitter wine poured out day after day — not too little, not too much, just enough to make a man tipsy — handed to the world so that the drinker may weep, may sing, may be as though awake and as though drunk, as though knowing and as though not, wanting to die and wanting to live.

The people inside that arrangement chew over the vague sorrow of themselves and of others among a few ruins and graves with pale bloodstains on them, and will not spit it out, since it seems better than emptiness; they call themselves men punished by heaven to justify the chewing, and hold their breath waiting for the next sorrow, which frightens them and which they long to meet. These, Lu Xun says, are the Creator's good subjects, and they are what he needs. Then the other figure arrives: a rebel fighter, standing upright, who sees through all the ruins and graves both altered and present, remembers all the deep and long-lasting pain, looks straight at all the layered clotted blood, and knows everything that has died, is being born, will be born and is not yet born. He has seen through the trick, and he will rise up and either bring mankind back to life or finish these good subjects off entirely. The Creator, being a coward, is ashamed and hides; and in the fighter's eyes heaven and earth change colour.

When it was written 背景

Dated 8 April 1926, three weeks after 段祺瑞's government had troops fire on unarmed demonstrators outside the executive offices in Beijing on 18 March, killing dozens of them, among them students Lu Xun taught. He confirms the occasion in his preface to the English translation and adds that by then he had already left home and gone into hiding. Knowing that, the pale bloodstains of the title stop being a metaphor and the anger at time-the-diluter becomes an argument about what a massacre is permitted to fade into. The prose is his most rhetorical: long parallel sentences built on 暗暗地…卻不敢…, and abstractions rather than pictures, so it is easier to follow the shape than the individual words. Read it with 記念劉和珍君, written the same spring, if you can find a copy.

Words in this chapter 生词