師傅越來越幽默(2001)序言:任何作家從事這一行業(yè)都有自己的理由，我也不例外。但我為什么成了這種作家，而沒有成為海明威或者?？思{那樣的作家，我想是和我的童年經(jīng)歷分不開。我的寫作生涯受益于我的童年，它幫助我一直在這條道路上繼續(xù)走下去。回顧40多年前，也就是20世紀(jì)60年代初期，那是現(xiàn)代中國歷史上最奇異的一段時(shí)期，人們經(jīng)歷著史無前例的狂熱。一方面，整個(gè)國家經(jīng)濟(jì)停滯，人民貧困，人們?nèi)背陨俅K日掙扎在生死線上；另一方面，那個(gè)時(shí)代的人有著強(qiáng)烈的政治熱情，挨餓的人民勒緊褲腰帶也要追隨黨的共產(chǎn)主義實(shí)踐。那時(shí)我們相信，雖然忍饑挨餓，但我們是世界上最幸運(yùn)的人。我們相信世界上2/3的人民都生活在悲慘之中，我們的神圣使命就是把他們從水深火熱中拯救出來。直到80年代中國實(shí)行改革開放政策，我們才最終開始面對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)，仿佛大夢(mèng)初醒。 From the preface to “Shifu, Youll Do Anything for a Laugh” (2001)Every person has his own reasons for becoming a writer, and I am no exception. But why I became the sort of writer I am and not another Hemingway or Faulkner is, I believe, linked to my childhood experiences. They have been a boon to my writing career and are what will make it possible for me to keep at it down the road. Looking back some forty years, to the early 1960s, I revisit one of modern Chinas most bizarre periods, an era of unprecedented fanaticism. On one hand, those years saw the country in the grips of economic stagnation and individual deprivation. The people struggled to keep death from their door, with little to eat and rags for clothes; on the other hand, it was a time of intense political passions, when starving citizens tightened their belts and followed the Party in its Communist experiment. We may have been famished at the time, but we considered ourselves to be the luckiest people in the world. Two-thirds of the worlds people, we believed, were living in dire misery, and it was our sacred duty to rescue them from the sea of suffering in which they were drowning. It wasnt until the 1980s, when China opened its door to the outside world, that we finally began to face reality, as if waking from a dream. 酒國(2000)門窗嚴(yán)絲合縫，密封很好。丁鉤兒周身發(fā)癢，汗在臉上爬。他聽到平頭友善地說：“您不要著急，心靜自然涼。”丁鉤兒耳朵里有嗡嗡的響聲，他想到蜜蜂。蜂蜜。蜜餞嬰兒。此行任務(wù)重大，不敢馬虎。窗玻璃似乎在微微顫抖。幾架巨大的機(jī)械，在窗戶外的天地間緩慢地、無聲無息地移動(dòng)著。他感到自己在一個(gè)水柜里，像一條魚。那些礦山機(jī)械是黃色的。黃色令人昏昏欲醉。他努力諦聽著礦山機(jī)械的聲音，但任何努力都是徒勞。From “Republic of Wine” (2000)The office was hermetically sealed by perfectly dovetailed doors and windows. Once again Ding Gouer started to itch all over, and rivulets of sweat ran down his face. He heard Crewcut say consolingly:“Dont worry, youll cool off as you calm down.”A buzzing filled Ding Gouers ears. Bees and honey, he was thinking, and honeyed infants. This mission was too important to be undone by carelessness. The glass in the windows seemed to vibrate. In the space between heaven and earth outside the room, large rigs moved slowly and noiselessly. He felt as if he were in an aquarium, like a pet fish. The mining rigs were painted yellow, a numbing color, an intoxicating color. He strained to hear the noise they made, but no dice. 豐乳肥臀(2004)日本人的馬隊(duì)沿著河灘往東跑下去，跑到上官來弟她們放鞋子的地方，齊齊地勒住馬頭，穿過灌木叢爬上了大堤。她看不到日本馬隊(duì)了。她看到河灘上躺著那匹死去的大花馬，碩大的頭顱上沾滿黑血和污泥，一只藍(lán)色的大眼珠子，悲涼地瞪著湛藍(lán)的天空。那個(gè)白臉的日本兵半截身子壓在馬腹下，趴在淤泥上，腦袋歪在一側(cè)，一只白得沒有一點(diǎn)血色的手伸到水邊，好像要從水里撈什么東西。清晨光滑平坦的灘涂，被馬蹄踐踏得一塌糊涂。河水中央，倒著一匹白馬，河水沖擊著馬尸緩緩移動(dòng)、翻滾，當(dāng)馬尸肚皮朝上時(shí)，四條高挑著瓦罐般胖大馬蹄的馬腿，便嚇人地直豎起來，轉(zhuǎn)眼間，水聲混濁，馬腿便掄在水里，等待著下一次直指天空的機(jī)會(huì)。那匹給上官來弟留下深刻印象的棗紅大馬，拖著它的騎手的尸體，順流而下，已經(jīng)走到很遠(yuǎn)的下游，她突然想到，這匹馬很可能要到樊三爺家去找那匹大種馬。她堅(jiān)決地認(rèn)為，棗紅大馬是匹母馬，與樊三爺家的公馬是失散多年的夫妻。From “Big Breasts and Wide Hips” (2004)The Japanese cavalry unit headed south along the riverbank all the way up to where Laidi and her sisters had left their shoes. There they reined in their horses and cut through the bushes up to the dike. Laidi kept looking, but they were gone. She then turned to look down at the dead sorrel, its head bloody, its big, lifeless blue eyes staring sadly into the deep blue sky. The Japanese rider lay facedown in the mud, pinned beneath the horse, his head cocked at an awkward angle, one bloodless hand stretched out to the riverbank, as if fishing for something. The horses hooves had chewed up the smooth, sun-drenched mud of the shoals. The body of a white horse lay on its side in the river, rolling slowly in the shifting water, until it flipped over and its legs, tipped by hooves the size of clay jugs, rose terrifyingly into the air. A moment later, the water churned and the legs slipped back into the water to wait for the next opportunity to point to the sky. The chestnut horse that had made such an impression on Laidi was already far downriver, dragging its dead rider with it, and she wondered if it might be off looking for its mate, imagining it to be the long-separated wife of Third Master Fans stud horse. 生死疲勞(2008)我的故事，從1950年1月1日講起。在此之前兩年多的時(shí)間里，我在陰曹地府里受盡了人間難以想象的酷刑。每次提審，我都會(huì)鳴冤叫屈。我的聲音悲壯凄涼，傳播到閻羅大殿的每個(gè)角落，激發(fā)出重重疊疊的回聲。我身受酷刑而絕不改悔，掙得了一個(gè)硬漢子的名聲。我知道許多鬼卒對(duì)我暗中欽佩，我也知道閻王老子對(duì)我不勝厭煩。為了讓我認(rèn)罪服輸，他們使出了地獄酷刑中最歹毒的一招，將我扔到沸騰的油鍋里，翻來覆去，像炸雞一樣炸了半個(gè)時(shí)辰，痛苦之狀，難以言表。鬼卒還用叉子把我叉起來，高高舉著，一步步走上通往大殿的臺(tái)階。兩邊的鬼卒嘬口吹哨，如同成群的吸血蝙蝠鳴叫。我的身體滴油淅瀝，落在臺(tái)階上，冒出一簇簇黃煙From “Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out” (2008)My story begins on January 1, 1950. In the two years prior to that, I suffered cruel torture such as no man can imagine in the bowels of hell. Every time I was brought before the court, I proclaimed my innocence in solemn and moving, sad and miserable tones that penetrated every crevice of Lord Yamas Audience Hall and rebounded in layered echoes. Not a word of repentance escaped my lips though I was tortured cruelly, for which I gained the reputation of an iron man. I know I earned the unspoken respect of many of Yamas underworld attendants, but I also know that Lord Yama was sick and tired of me. So to force me to admit defeat, they subjected me to the most sinister form of torture hell had to offer: they flung me into a vat of boiling oil, in which I tumbled and turned and sizzled like a fried chicken for about an hour. Words cannot do justice to the agony I experienced until an attendant speared me with a trident and, holding me high, carried me up to the palace steps. He was joined by another attendant, one on either side, who screeched like vampire bats as scalding oil dripped from my body onto the Audience Hall steps, where it sputtered and produced puffs of yellow smoke. With care, they deposited me on a stone slab at the foot of the throne, and then bowed deeply.