顛簸的馬車
張惠娟
貝拉米（Edward Bellamy）的《百年一覺》(Looking Backward 2000-1887) 是十九世紀最著名的烏托邦小說之一。此書於一八八八年出版，描述一年輕人於沉睡一百多年後醒來，驚覺自己置身於二０００年的波士頓，一個人人平等、財產公有、富麗祥和的烏托邦世界。此書受歡迎的程度可謂空前絕後，甫出版即售出一萬本，第二年則多達三十萬本，而「貝拉米俱樂部」更如雨後春筍般在全美各地成立，以推廣《百年一覺》中的理想社會理念。以下選文摘自《百年一覺》第一章，文中貝拉米藉助顛簸馬車的生動意象描繪十九世紀美國社會貧富不均、顛沛流離的慘狀，以與二十一世紀理想的波士頓做一對照：
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By way of attempting to give the reader some general impression of the way people lived together in those days, and especially of the relations of the rich and poor to one another, perhaps I cannot do better than to compare society as it then was to a prodigious coach which the masses of humanity were harnessed to and dragged toilsomely along a very hilly and sandy road. The driver was hunger, and permitted no lagging, though the pace was necessarily very slow. Despite the difficulty of drawing the coach at all along so hard a road, the top was covered with passengers who never got down, even at the steepest ascents. These seats on top were very breezy and comfortable. Well up out of the dust, their occupants could enjoy the scenery at their leisure, or critically discuss the merits of the straining team. Naturally such places were in great demand and the competition for them was keen, everyone seeking as the first end in life to secure a seat on the coach for himself and to leave it to his child after him. By the rule of the coach a man could leave his seat to whom he wished, but on the other hand there were many accidents by which it might at any time be wholly lost. For all that they were so easy, the seats were very insecure, and at every sudden jolt of the coach persons were slipping out of them and falling to the ground, where they were instantly compelled to take hold of the rope and help to drag the coach on which they had before ridden so pleasantly. It was naturally regarded as a terrible misfortune to lose one’s seat, and the apprehension that this might happen to them or their friends was a constant cloud upon the happiness of those who rode. But did they think only of themselves? You ask. Was not their very luxury rendered intolerable to them by comparison with the lot of their brothers and sisters in the harness, and the knowledge that their own weight added to their toil? Had they no compassion for fellow beings from whom fortune only distinguished them? Oh, yes; commiseration was frequently expressed by those who rode for those who had to pull the coach, especially when the vehicle came to a bad place in the road, as it was constantly doing, or to a particularly steep hill. At such times, the desperate straining of the team, their agonized leaping and plunging under the pitiless lashing of hunger, the many who fainted at the rope and were trampled in the mire, made a very distressing spectacle, which often called forth highly creditable displays of feeling on the top of the coach. At such times the passengers would call down encouragingly to the toilers of the rope, exhorting them to patience, and holding out hopes of possible compensation in another world for the hardness of their lot, while others contributed to buy salves and liniments for the crippled and injured. It was agreed that it was a great pity that the coach should be so hard to pull, and there was a sense of general relief when the specially bad piece of road was gotten over. This relief was not, indeed, wholly on account of the team, for there were always some dangers at these bad places of a general overturn in which all would lose their seats. |
為使讀者了解那個時代人們的生活方式，特別是貧富關係，或許我所能做的，莫過於將當時的社會比擬成一輛巨大的馬車，社會大眾則套著韁繩，費力地在崎嶇而滿佈砂礫的路上行進。飢餓是車夫，不容許任何人落後，然而步履的蹣跚卻是無庸置疑的。儘管在這麼險峻的路上駕馭馬車十分辛苦，車頂卻坐滿了從不下車的乘客，即便遇到最陡峭的路段也毫無例外。車頂的座位十分涼爽怡人。乘客不受風沙干擾，得以悠閒地欣賞美景，抑或議論那一群賣力拉車者的功過。此等座位的需求量當然很大，人人競相爭取，視求得一席並傳諸後代為人生首要目的。依照馬車的規定，座位可以自由轉讓，不過也常有意外發生，使得座位就此喪失。雖然坐在車上十分悠哉，卻也十分不牢靠，馬車每一顛簸即有一些人掉到路上。這些人立刻被迫抓住韁繩，幫忙拖曳先前自己才快樂乘坐的馬車。喪失座位自是天大的不幸，而擔心自己或朋友遭逢此等厄運也就成了快樂的乘客心目中揮之不去的陰霾。
他們光為自己著想嗎？你問道。面對套著韁繩的手足苦難的命運，加以意識到自己的重量更增加了這些手足的負擔，他們難道還能容忍自己奢華的享受嗎？對於這些僅因命運乖蹇而處境遂有雲泥之別的同胞，他們難道沒有惻隱之心嗎？噢，是的；那些乘客對於拉車者常表達憐憫之意，尤其路況不佳時－這種事經常發生－或者碰到山路特別陡峭的狀況。在這些時候，這群人費力拉車的景象，在「飢餓」車夫無情的鞭笞下痛苦閃躲的景況，以及許許多多拉車者昏倒而於泥濘中被踐踏的慘狀，在在令人不安，車上的乘客也常為此真情流露。在這些時候乘客往往朝拉車者喊叫以表加油之意，勸告他們要有耐心，並安慰他們，此生雖然困頓，在另一個世界當可獲得報償。其他乘客則湊錢幫跛腳或受傷的拉車者買軟膏和塗敷劑。所有乘客對於拉曳馬車的困難情形皆倍覺遺憾，待馬車走過一段特別難行的路後，他們也就寬心不少。其實，他們寬慰的心情並不全是為了拉車者，因為在這些路況極糟的地段，往往有全車傾覆的危險，以至於所有乘客皆喪失了車位。
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貝拉米以快樂的乘客與悲慘的拉車者兩相對照的手法，點出十九世紀末美國社會階級對立、貧富不均的狀況，而在上位者的偽善嘴臉，以及勇於護衛一己既得利益的心態，此處也描繪得栩栩如生。有鑑於此一社會現狀與美國作為「應許之地」(The Promised Land) 的理想有極大落差，貝拉米遂試圖勾勒一階級泯滅、利益為全民均霑、「馬車不再顛簸」的理想社會。時至今日，貝拉米式的理想雖被證實並不可行，然則其勇於追尋美國夢的熱情卻值得我們借鏡。
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發音及解釋 |
1) impression〔〕(n.) 印象 2) prodigious [ ] (a.) 巨大的 3) drag〔〕(v.) 拖著……行進 4) merits〔〕(n.) 功過 5) keen [ ] (a.) 激烈的 |
6) secure〔〕(v.) 獲得 7) apprehension [ ](n.) 擔心 8) lot 〔〕(n.) 命運 9) commiseration [ ] (n.) 憐憫 10) exhort [ ] (v.) 敦促 |
匱乏
張惠娟
當代美國女作家勒干（Ursula K. Le Guin）一九七四年出版的《一無所有者》(The Dispossessed）是七０年代烏托邦的經典作，甫出版即深獲好評，且歷久不衰。有別於傳統烏托邦對於「物質豐盈」的追求，《一無所有者》另闢蹊徑，轉而強調匱乏的價值，以圖針砭世人耽溺逸樂而心靈漸趨麻木的景況。在《一無所有者》中，勒干描述兩個截然不同的星球：「安那勒思」（Anarres）和「由拉思」（Urras）。安那勒思是個無政府的社會，自然環境十分嚴苛，物質常有匱乏之虞。然而，在其中成長的男男女女，卻擁有樂天知命的襟懷，不為物役。相對地，物質豐盈的由拉思人則長年在聲色犬馬的追逐中喪失了自我，舉國彷若監禁於物質的牢獄中。以下選文出自《一無所有者》第五章，描述來自安那勒思的主角席維克（Shevek），在由拉思的鬧區所經歷的一段購物經驗：
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The whole experience had been so bewildering to him that he put it out of mind as soon as possible, but he had dreams about it for months afterwards, nightmares. Saemtenevia Prospect was two miles long, and it was a solid mass of people, traffic, and things: things to buy, things for sale. Coates, dresses, gowns, robes, trousers, breeches, shirts, blouses, hats, shoes, stockings, scarves, shawls, vests, capes, umbrellas, clothes to wear while sleeping, while swimming, while playing games, while at an afternoon party, while at an evening party, while at a party in the country, while traveling, while at the theater, while riding horses, gardening, receiving guests, boating, dining, hunting—all different, all in hundreds of different cuts, styles, colors, textures, materials. Perfumes, clocks, lamps, statues, cosmetics, candles, pictures, cameras, games, vases, sofas, kettles, puzzles, pillows, dolls, colanders, hassocks, jewels, carpets, toothpicks, calendars, a baby’s teething rattle of platinum with a handle of rock crystal, an electrical machine to sharpen pencils, a wristwatch with diamond numerals; figurines and souvenirs and kickshaws and mementos and gewgaws and bric-a-brac, everything either useless to begin with or ornamented so as to disguise its use; acres of luxuries, acres of excrement. In the first block Shevek had stopped to look at a shaggy, spotted coat, the central display in a glittering window of clothes and jewelry. “The coat costs 8,400 units?” he asked in disbelief, for he had recently read in a newspaper that a “living wage” was about 2,000 units a year. “Oh, yes, that’s real fur, quite rare now that the animals are protected,” Pae had said. “Pretty thing, isn’t it? Women love furs.” And they went on. After one more block Shevek had felt utterly exhausted. He could not look any more. He wanted to hide his eyes. And the strangest thing about the nightmare street was that none of the millions of things for sale were made there. They were only sold there. Where were the workshops, the factories, where were the farmers, the craftsmen, the miners, the weavers, the chemists, the carvers, the dyers, the designers, the machinists, where were the hands, the people who made? Out of sight, somewhere else. Behind walls. All the people in all the shops were either buyers or sellers. They had no relation to the things but that of possession. |
這段經驗令他十分迷惘，因此他試圖儘快將之拋諸腦後，然而其後有好幾個月卻常常做惡夢。賽姆提內維亞大街有二英里長，萬頭鑽動，車水馬龍，供人選購、待價而沽的貨品充斥其間。外套、連衣裙、長袍、禮服、長褲、短褲、裙子、上衣、帽子、鞋子、長襪、圍巾、披肩、背心、斗蓬、雨傘、睡衣、泳衣、遊戲時的穿著、下午聚會的穿著、晚間聚會的穿著、鄉間聚會的穿著、旅行時的裝束、看戲時的裝束、騎馬時的裝束、蒔花種草時的裝扮、接待客人、划船、用餐、打獵等的裝扮－各種各樣，數以百計不同的剪裁、樣式、顏色、織法、質料。香水、時鐘、燈具、雕像、化妝品、蠟燭、圖畫、相機、遊戲器材、花瓶、沙發、水壺、益智玩具、枕頭、洋娃娃、濾器、厚墊、珠寶、地毯、牙籤、月曆、有著水晶把柄白金材質的嬰兒磨牙玩具、削鉛筆的電器、鑲嵌鑽石數字的腕表；小雕像、紀念品、小玩意、紀念物、廉價飾品、小古玩－這些東西或者本就一無是處，或者外表的模樣掩飾了原來的用途；滿坑滿谷的奢侈品，滿坑滿谷的排泄物。席維克在第一區一個展示衣服和珠寶的閃亮櫥窗前，佇足觀看其主要展覽品－一件毛茸茸且帶有斑點的大衣。「那件大衣賣八千四百元？」他不敢置信地問道，因為最近他才在報上看到，一年的”薪水”大約是兩千元。「噢，沒錯，那是真的皮草。因為動物受到保護的緣故，它可是相當稀罕。」白埃說道。「漂亮得很，是不是？女人最愛皮草了。」他們繼續逛下去。再走過一區後，席維克已是筋疲力竭。他再也看不下去了，想把眼睛矇起來。
這條夢魘般的大街，最奇怪的，是它所出售的數以百萬計的物品中，沒有一樣是在當地製造的。那兒只是出售的場所。工作室和工廠在那兒？農夫、技工、礦工、織工、藥劑師、雕刻工人、染色工人、設計者、機械師在那兒？那些技師、製造者到那兒去了？不見了，在別處。在牆後。店裡所有的人，不是購物者，就是販賣者。他們和這些物品只有「擁有」的關係。
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此處勒干屢屢以堆砌手法，鋪陳塞姆提內維亞大街物慾橫流的景況，十分生動。「滿坑滿谷的奢侈品，滿坑滿谷的排泄物」一語，更道盡了勒干對於耽溺奢華的批判。勒干強調匱乏價值的另類烏托邦視野，雖然可能招來「不食人間煙火」之譏，對於一意追逐物質文明的現代人，卻也是一記當頭棒喝。隨著席維克遊逛塞姆提內維亞大街，我們不禁捫心自問：生活的本質是什麼？我們又應如何自持，始能不為物役，重拾本真？《一無所有者》中二個星球的故事，必曾為讀者開啟了許多思辨的空間。
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請於此處輸入生字：發音及解釋 |
1) bewildering〔〕(a.)迷惘的 2) nightmare [ ](n.) 惡夢 3) disguise〔〕(v.) 掩飾 |
4) luxury〔〕(n.) 奢侈品 5) excrement [ ](n.) 排泄物 6) glittering [ ] (a.) 閃亮的 |
7) exhausted [ ] (a.) 筋疲力竭的 |
未來想像
張惠娟
未來世界會是何等面貌？相信許多人皆曾有種種遐想，文學作品中更不乏勾勒未來的例子，美國當代女作家皮兒西(Marge Piercy)即是個中翹楚。皮兒西於一九三六年誕生於密西根州底特律市，擁有西北大學的碩士學位，集小說家、散文家、詩人於一身。皮兒西的作品多環繞著女性意識與環保等課題。以下文章擷取自皮兒西一九七六年出版的女性烏托邦小說《時間邊際的女子》(Woman on the Edge of Time)中，描述女主角康妮(Connie Ramos)，藉由未來世界的使者露仙(Luciente)之助，初履未來(西元二一三七年)國度「美他邦」(Mattapoissett)的所見所聞：
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Then she smelled salt in the air, a marsh tang. A breeze ruffled the loose rag of dress, chilling her calves. Under her feet she felt stone. A gull mewed, joined by another somewhere above her. Luciente relaxed her grip. “Home free. Will you stand there all day with your eyelids bolted down? Look!” Rocket ships, skyscrapers into the stratosphere, an underground mole world miles deep, glass domes over everything? She was reluctant to see this world. Voices far, near, laughter, birds, a lot of birds, somewhere a dog barked. Was that—yes, a rooster crowing at midday. That pried her eyes open. A rooster? Fearfully she stared into Luciente’s face, broken open in a grin of triumph. “Where are we?” “You might try looking around! This is where I live.” Luciente took her by the arm and swung around to her side. “This is our village. Roughly six hundred of us.” She looked slowly around. She saw…a river, little no account buildings, strange structures like long-legged birds with sails that turned in the wind, a few large terracotta and yellow buildings and one blue dome, irregular buildings, none bigger than a supermarket of her day, an ordinary supermarket in any shopping plaza. The bird objects were the tallest things around and they were scarcely higher than some of the pine trees she could see. A few lumpy free-form structures overrun with green vines. No skyscrapers, no spaceports, no traffic jam in the sky. “You sure we went in the right direction? Into the future?” “This is my time, yes! Fasure, look how pretty it is!” “You live in a village, you said. Way out in the sticks. Like if we went to a city, it’d be…more modern?” “We don’t have big cities—they didn’t work. You seem disappointed, Connie?” “It’s not like I imagined.” Most buildings were small and randomly scattered among trees and shrubbery and gardens, put together of scavenged old wood, old bricks and stones and cement blocks. Many were wildly decorated and overgrown with vines. She saw bicycles and people on foot. Clothes were hanging on lines near a long building—shirts flapping on wash lines! In the distance beyond a blue dome cows were grazing, ordinary black and white and brown and white cows chewing ordinary grass past a stone fence. Intensive plots of vegetables began between the huts and stretched into the distance. On a raised bed nearby a dark-skinned old man was puttering around what looked like spinach plants. |
然後她在空氣中聞到一股鹽味，一種沼澤的特殊氣味。微風掀起了她鬆垮襤褸的衣裙一角，小腿肚一陣寒意襲來。她察覺到腳底下踩著石頭。有隻海鷗鳴叫著，引來她頭頂附近的另一隻與之唱和。露仙鬆開了她緊握康妮的手。「回到家，自由了。難不成你打算整天站在那兒，眼皮被拴住了一般？睜開眼看看吧！」 火箭船、高聳入雲的摩天大樓、深達數哩宛如鼴鼠居所般的地下世界、覆蓋一切的玻璃圓頂？她不想觀看這種世界。來自遠方和身畔的聲音、笑聲、鳥兒、好多鳥兒、某處的狗吠。難道是─－不錯，是雄雞在白晝啼叫。那倒令她睜開了眼睛。雄雞？她驚懼地盯著露仙那綻放著勝利笑容的臉龐。「我們在那兒？」 「你可以四處看看啊！這就是我住的地方。」露仙抓住她的手臂，轉向她。「這是我們的村子。大約有六百人。」 她緩緩地四處張望。映入眼簾的是……河流，小而不起眼的建築，狀似在風中舞動翅膀的長腿鳥般怪模怪樣的結構體，一些赤色與黃色的大建築以及一座藍色圓頂建物，參差不齊的建築，沒有一棟比她的世界裡任一座購物中心的尋常超市來得大。那些長腿鳥狀的結構體，高度在周遭可說是數一數二，卻不及她所看到的那些松樹高。一些獨樹一格、結成團塊的建築物表面爬滿了綠色的蔓藤。沒有摩天大樓，沒有太空站，天際也沒有交通壅塞的狀況。「我們走的方向沒錯嗎？真的來到未來了？」 「沒錯，這是我的時代！看啊，它好美！」 「你說過你住在村子裡，在遠離城市的僻靜鄉間。那麼假如我們去都市，應該會是……現代化多了？」 「我們沒有大都會－－那行不通的。康妮，你是不是有點失望？」 「這和我想像的差太遠了。」大部分的建築都小小的，零星點綴於樹木、灌木叢、與花園間。它們由廢棄的木材、舊磚塊石頭、與水泥塊等拼湊而成，大部分都粧點得花枝招展而且爬滿蔓藤。她看到腳踏車和步行的人們。在一個長型建築旁，可見衣服掛在晾衣繩上－－襯衫在繩上飄動著！遠處，在一座藍色圓頂建物再過去一點，有群母牛正吃著草。尋常的黑白相間以及褐白相間的母牛，正越過石牆，咀嚼著尋常的牧草。採行精耕制的菜圃由茅舍旁一直延伸到遠處。附近一塊隆起的苗床上，一個有著淺黑膚色的老人正悠然自得地在看似種植菠菜的園圃中幹活。
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皮兒西所勾勒的未來，既乏高科技的眩惑，更無超大都會的喧囂，難怪康妮會有回到過去的疑慮。皮兒西刻意顛覆傳統烏托邦的未來想像，一意經營其小國寡民、綠野平疇、與自然保持和諧關係的理想境界。此等世界，看在日復一日與水泥森林為伍的我們眼裡，或許別有一番領悟？
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生字：發音及解釋
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1) tang〔 〕(n.) (濃烈的)氣味 2) ruffle [ ] (v.)弄皺 3) stratosphere〔 〕(n.)同溫層 |
4) crow〔 〕(v.)(公雞)啼叫 5) terracotta [ ](a.)赤褐色的 6) lumpy〔 〕(a.)多塊狀物的 |
7) scavenge [ ] (v.)（由廢棄物中）撿（有用之物） 8) flap [ ] (v.) 飄動 9) intensive [ ] (a.) (農業)集約的；精耕細作的 |
生態浩劫
張惠娟
生態議題一向是各方關注的焦點，也在諸多當代文學作品中占有一席之地。美國女作家皮爾西(Marge Piercy)於一九九一年出版的小說《他，她與它》(He, She and It)即有相當篇幅勾勒未來的生態浩劫。它描述西元2059年的未來世界，生態環境遭受全面破壞，地表大部分已成荒原，動、植物瀕臨絕種，能源漸趨枯竭，人們僅能仰賴人工合成食品維生。除了掌控全球的二十三的階級森嚴、極權統治的「跨國企業」(multi)外，絕大部份的人口在所謂的「超大都會」(Megapolis,簡稱the Glop)中掙扎，處境淒慘。《他，她與它》的故事主軸，乃描述女主角席拉(Shira)於婚姻破裂並喪失獨子的監護權後，告別其所工作的跨國企業，回歸故里—一個碩果僅存，能自給自足的自由城。以下選文出自全書第四章，描述席拉飛越荒原、重返故土的旅程：
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Driving a hired float car was undemanding. She need not do anything except steer it around or over obstacles. It had the coordinates of her destination and proceeded on its own. Overhead a vast helix of vultures circled. They had evolved to withstand UV radiation. They could live in the raw, as could most bugs, as could gulls and rats and raccoons. Not people. Not songbirds, all dead, so the insects flourished and moved in waves over the land, eating the hills to desert. The hills were deeply eroded. Scrub trees like pitch pine, wild cherry and bear oak had replaced sugar maples and white pines. Brambles and multiflora rose grew in impenetrable thickets she detoured around.
The car automatically cut east, toward the ocean, to miss the near corner of the Cybernaut enclave. Multis did not permit private or hired cars to pass through. Once the car had detoured the enclave with its green parklands under the dome, its coruscating city, she came into the area of free towns bordering the ocean. The road she was following ran straight into the sea, for low-lying coastal towns had been destroyed in the Great Hurricane of ’29. The wrap on St. Marystown glistened under the amber sun. She was close enough to the waves to smell petroleum and salt. Now she could see rising from the waters the hill on which her own town, Tikva, was built, its wrap floating over it on its supports like a shining cloud. She steered the car ashore and up the hill toward Tikva. She put down before the gate that faced the sea, got out and let the car turn and veer off.
She stood with her pack outside the gate and only then remembered to take off the black cover-up. Nothing remained but to return where she had been nurtured as a child. Would it serve as a safe haven? Gadi might still be here. They were friends by electronic transmission, but Gadi in the flesh was more than she wanted to face. She could probably slip into town, as she used to do with Gadi when she was growing up, but she had no reason to. Slowly she approached the monitor. Would it still recognize her hand print? It did. The male voice that was the town computer greeted her by name. “Shira, Malkah Shipman expects you. Avram Stein expects you. Welcome.”
She was embarrassed to find her eyes flushed with tears as she stuffed the cover-up into her shoulder pack. She was glad a moment later she had not tried to slip in, because she met two young people on guard duty. As official security, they bore dart guns with paralyzing capability. They had heard the monitor greet her and nodded her by. This must be a tense period, for there to be human guards on the perimeter. The free towns were not supposed to be able to buy laser weapons, although from the black market they sometimes did. They relied on shock or tranquilizers mostly, or on sonic weapons.
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駕駛出租的漂浮汽車並不費力。除了操縱它繞過或飛越障礙外，她毋需做任何事。車子已經設定了目的地的座標，自動朝目標邁進。頭上有一大群禿鷹盤旋。牠們已練就一身本領，能抗拒紫外線的輻射。牠們毋需遮蔽即能存活。大部分的蟲子，以及鷗類、鼠類和浣熊也有此等本事。人則不然。鳴鳥也無此能耐，全部滅絕。因此昆蟲愈形活躍，大舉進駐各地，把山丘啃噬成一片荒蕪。山丘慘遭劫掠。諸如北美油松、歐洲甜櫻桃與櫟樹等灌木叢取代了糖槭與五針松。荊棘和野薔薇蔓生，深不可測的樹叢令他唯有繞道而行。
車子自動轉向東方，朝海而去，以避開近在轉角的「電腦行家」領地。跨國企業體不允許私有或出租汽車穿越期間。此一領地的高樓即是光鮮亮麗的都市，其下有綠地。汽車一旦繞過領地，即抵達座落海邊的自由城區域。她所走的路直接通向海邊，因為低窪的海岸城鎮已在二九年的大颶風中被摧毀。聖瑪麗鎮的防護罩在琥珀色的太陽照耀下閃閃發光。她距離海岸已經夠近，聞得到汽油和鹽的氣味。現在她看得見自海邊凸出的山丘，家鄉提克哇鎮即座落其上，由支柱支撐的防護罩有若閃亮的雲朵般在鎮的上方飛舞著。她把車駛上岸，沿著山丘往提克哇行進。她在面海的入口處停住，走出車外，任令汽車轉向駛離。
她拿著背包在入口站定後，才想起該把披在身上的黑色罩袍脫下來。她已一無所有，唯有回到兒時成長的家園。它會是安全的避風港嗎? 蓋迪也許還在這兒。他倆藉由電子通訊傳遞友情，但她可不願面對他。她也許可以悄悄潛入鎮上，就像兒時與蓋迪做過的一樣，但現在沒有理由如此做。她緩緩地朝監視器走去。它還能辨識她的手印嗎? 果然如此。代表鎮上電腦的男子聲音親切地呼喚她的名字。「席拉，瑪兒卡·席卜曼正盼著你來。亞夫南·司坦也等著你。歡迎。」
她把罩袍塞進背包內。發現自己兩眼滿含淚水，她覺得很不好意思。不久她即很慶幸自己沒有偷偷潛進來，因為她遇見了兩位執行巡邏勤務的年輕人。他們是官方的安全人員，配備有具癱瘓嚇阻效果的鏢槍。他們聽到了監視器和她打招呼的聲音，經過她身邊時向她頷首致意。在邊境竟然有人類擔任警衛任務，可以想見情勢一定相當緊張。自由城一般說來是不能購買雷射武器的，雖然有時候會由黑市的管道購得。它們大部分仰賴電擊或麻醉槍，或者聲波武器。 |
這幾段文字，娓娓道出席拉的返鄉之旅，以及初抵故土的所見所聞。儘管平鋪直敘，其所勾勒的人類未來卻頗發人深省，而其所描述的生態浩劫更待有心人思索如何防患於未然。
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發音及解釋 |
1) helix (n.) 螺旋形 2) radiation (n.) 輻射 3) flourish (v.) 興旺
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4) detour (v.) 繞道 5) coruscating (adj.) 閃耀的 6) veer (v.) 轉向
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7) nurture (v.) 養育 8) slip (v.) 悄悄進出 9) paralyzing (adj.) 使人無法動彈的
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時間旅行
張惠娟
英國作家威爾斯(H.G.Wells,1866—1946)素有「現代科幻之父」的美稱，創作數量頗為可觀，以小說而言即有五十本左右。威爾斯有豐沛的生命力，集散文家、小說家、演說家、教育家……於一身，其所創作的科幻小說可謂膾炙人口，歷久不衰，如其初試啼聲即廣獲好評的《時間機器》(The Time Machine)(1895)，已成科幻的經典之一。威爾斯於一八六六年生於倫敦附近的小鎮，少年時曾為布商學徒，及長藉獎學金之助進入倫敦的科學師範學院，受教於赫胥黎(T. H. Huxley)，並獲有生物學位。在十九世紀末科技發展和科技研究日新月異的時刻，威爾斯對於人類社會的終極命運抱持高度的關切。以下文章選自《時間機器》，是時間旅行者駕著時光機造訪遙遠未來後所見的末世景象：
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I cannot convey the sense of abominable desolation that hung over the world. The red eastern sky, the northward blackness, the salt Dead Sea, the stony beach crawling with these foul, slow-stirring monsters, the uniform poisonous-looking green of the lichenous plants, the thin air that hurts one’s lungs: all contributed to an appalling effect. I moved on a hundred years, and there was the same red sun—a little larger, a little duller—the same dying sea, the same chill air, and the same crowd of earthly crustacea creeping in and out among the green weed and the red rocks. And in the westward sky, I saw a curved pale line like a vast new moon. So I travelled, stopping ever and again, in great strides of a thousand years or more, drawn on by the mystery of the earth’s fate, watching with a strange fascination the sun grow larger and duller in the westward sky, and the life of the old earth ebb away. At last, more than thirty million years hence, the huge red-hot dome of the sun had come to obscure nearly a tenth part of the darkling heavens. Then I stopped once more, for the crawling multitude of crabs had disappeared, and the red beach, save for its livid green liverworts and lichens, seemed lifeless. And now it was flecked with white. A bitter cold assailed me. Rare white flakes ever and again came eddying down. To the north-eastward, the glare of snow lay under the starlight of the sable sky and I could see an undulating crest of hillocks pinkish white. There were fringes of ice along the sea margin, with drifting masses further out; but the main expanse of that salt ocean, all bloody under the eternal sunset, was still unfrozen. I looked about me to see if any traces of animal life remained. A certain indefinable apprehension still kept me in the saddle of the machine. But I saw nothing moving, in earth or sky or sea. The green slime on the rocks alone testified that life was not extinct. A shallow sandbank had appeared in the sea and the water had receded from the beach. I fancied I saw some black object flopping about upon this bank, but it became motionless as I looked at it, and I judged that my eye had been deceived, and that the black object was merely a rock. The stars in the sky were intensely bright and seemed to me to twinkle very little. Suddenly I noticed that the circular westward outline of the sun had changed; that a concavity, a bay, had appeared in the curve. I saw this grow larger. For a minute perhaps I stared aghast at this blackness that was creeping over the day, and than I realized that an eclipse was beginning. Either the moon or the planet Mercury was passing across the sun’s disk. Naturally, at first I took it to be the moon, but there is much to incline me to believe that what I really saw was the transit of an inner planet passing very near to the earth. The darkness grew apace; a cold wind began to blow in freshening gusts from the east, and the showering white flakes in the air increased in number. From the edge of the sea came a ripple and whisper. Beyond these lifeless sounds the world was silent. Silent? It would be hard to convey the stillness of it. All the sounds of man, the bleating of sheep, the cries of birds, the hum of insects, the stir that makes the background of our lives—all that was over. |
我簡直無法傳達，籠罩著這個世界的那種令人嫌厭的寂寥感。東邊火紅的天空，北邊的漆黑，鹽分高的死海，石頭嶙峋的海灘上爬行的這些髒污、緩慢移動的怪物，苔蘚植物清一色看似有毒的綠，傷害肺部的稀薄空氣：這一切切皆令人毛骨悚然。我再前行一百年，依舊是同樣的紅太陽──大了一點，也黯淡了一些──同樣氣數將盡的海洋，同樣寒澈骨的空氣，同樣爬行於綠草與紅岩石間的一群群甲殼類生物。在西方的天空，可見蒼白彎曲的線條，彷若巨大的新月。
我繼續前行，隔一千年甚至更久始停一次，地球命運之謎深深吸引著我。我癡迷地望著西天變大也黯淡了一些的太陽，以及古老地球上的生物漸形消失。最後，也就是距今三千多萬年，太陽火紅的大圓盤幾乎將黑暗的天空遮蔽了十分之一。我再次停下，因為那一群群爬行的蟹已經消失無蹤，而紅色海灘上除了青灰色的地錢和靑苔外，似乎再無其他生物。取而代之的是斑斑白點。嚴寒向我襲來。稀疏的雪花不時飄下。在東北方，可見昏暗天空的星光下閃耀著雪的光芒，以及高低起伏的粉白色小山丘。冰塊環繞著海岸，再往外更有大塊浮冰飄動著；不過這片鹹海大部分尚未結凍，永恆的夕照將它渲染成一片血紅。
我四處張望，搜尋任何動物的蹤影。一股莫名的不安，令我不敢擅離時光機。然而，無論地表、天際、抑或海上，皆無生物移動的跡象。惟有岩石間綠綠黏黏的東西，成為生命並未全然消失的證據。海面上有片淺沙洲，沙灘上潮水已退。我好似見到一個黑色物件在岸上晃動著，待定睛一看它卻又停住不走了。我猜想自己大概是眼花了，而那黑色物件只不過是塊岩石。天際的星星亮極了，絲毫沒有閃爍不定的情形。
我驀然發覺，太陽西側的圓弧已變形；它凹了下去，而且凹處愈來愈大。也許有一分鐘之久吧，我驚懼地瞪著這片漸次席捲白晝的黑暗，意識到日蝕已然到來。越過太陽表面的，可能是月亮或是水星。很自然地，起初我猜測是月亮，但諸多跡象又令我覺得，自己真正看到的，是一個內行星由極接近地球處通過。
黑暗急速擴張；清冽的冷風由東方一陣陣吹來，空中降下的雪花愈來愈多。海岸邊有小浪捲來，伴隨著細微的聲響。除了這些單調的聲音外，大地一片死寂。死寂？實在很難形容那全然寂靜的景況。屬於人的喧囂，羊群的羋叫聲，鳥兒的鳴啼，昆蟲的嗡嗡聲，那一切嘈雜人世的配樂──全化成過眼雲煙。 |
有別於十九世紀末諸多烏托邦思想家對於人類未來的樂觀想像，威爾斯的《時光機器》所描摹的未來令人毛骨悚然。受到當時甚囂塵上的熱力學第二定律的啟發，威爾斯預言整個地球終將面臨熱衰竭，而成一死寂的世界。若果一切終將歸零，則營營苟茍的人生，其終極意義何在？此等議題，或許提供了威爾斯的讀者進一步思索的方向。
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發音及解釋 |
1) abominable〔 〕(a.) 令人討厭的 2) desolation [ ] ( n.) 荒蕪；孤寂 3) lichenous〔 〕(a. ) 地衣的 |
4) crustacea [ ] (n.) 甲殼類生物 5) assail〔 〕(v.) 襲擊 6) apprehension [ ] (n.) 不安
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7) testify〔 〕(v.) 證明 8) recede〔 〕(v.) 後退 9) eclipse [ ] (n. ) 日蝕 |