#1 [中篇小说] 英译：抽调
抽 调
Secondment
作者：朱晓玲 Zhu Xiao Ling (中国）
翻译： Xiaoman （加拿大）
但丁说：来到痛苦地方的你啊
注意你是怎样进来的，你信托谁，
不要让进口的宽敞欺骗了你的双眼。
——题记
Dante said: you come to a painful place
You should pay attention how you come in and who you trust,
Don't let the spacious entrance deceive your eyes.
----Preface
一
梵，下岗了。
梵下岗是在她被抽调到局机关工作了半年之久，并在此期间为整个系统争得了一些荣誉之后发生的事情。
梵的下岗，使所有认识她的朋友们都大吃了一惊。
One
Fan was laid off.
After having been transferred to the Bureau, and working there for a half year, and during that period of time having received awards and honors for the entire system, Fan was laid off.
This bad news really surprised all her friends.
梵被通知下岗的那一天，阳光非常明媚，灿烂。没有丁点儿灾难要降临到某个人头上的征兆。这天局机关一片忙乱。所有在政府部门或其它要害部门，如公安局、检察院、法院、反贪局有头有脸的领导都在为保释出一个前些日子被市检察院收审的二级单位的法人而四处活动、奔波。
It was a sunny, bright day when Fan received the notice of being laid off. Not a single bad omen had shown when the bad luck came along the way. It was a hectic day, everyone was as busy as chickens with their heads cut off: all the powerful and respected leaders from the government department and other key sectors, such as the Police Department, the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Court, and the Anti-Corruption Authority, were busy bailing out a legal representative from a level two bureau, who, not long ago, was detained for interrogation by the City Prosecutor's Office.
这个二级单位的法人梵熟得很。他是1993年由部队转业到地方的转业军人。长得一副好身骨架阔额宽脸堂，仪表堂堂。虽说转业到地方已有好几年了，但一直保持着军人的那种特有的威严气质，男子汉的魅力浓烈得很。如果不是铁证如山的事实明明白白地摆在世人面前，梵是一千个一万个不相信这个平素看上去一身凛然之气的男人，生活腐化堕落到那样无以复加的地步。可是，某些领导为什么对这样的干部至今还在姑息呢？
In fact, Fan knew the legal person from the level two Bureau quite well. He was a veteran transferred from the Army to the local in 1993, a strongly built man with a wide forehead and square face, who was strong and charmed with great aplomb. Although he had been working for the local authority for a few years now, he still reserved a special majestic temperament that particularly belonged to soldiers. If it was not for the fact that the irrefutable evidence piled up before the world, Fan would not have believed her eyes, that this awe-inspiring man had been extremely involved in grand corruption. But, the question was, why do some leaders still tolerate such government officials like this man?
有这种例子的比较，梵就有些弄不懂哦，自己那么兢兢业业地工作，到头来，还不如一个生活糜烂、品质恶劣的人在领导面前有价值、有份量。
Seeing such an example, Fan got lost at times: I work conscientiously every day, but I still cannot be compared with those who have evil character, who live a fast life, yet are considered to be valuable and important before leaders.
梵被抽调到局机关，同一家政府部门主办的期刊合办一期“XX专号”，是去年10月中旬的时候，到今天被局办公室主任孟柏以一个非常不成理由的理由，一句再简单不过的话打发回工厂，相隔不到一年的时间。这样一个结果，实在是梵料始不及的。因此，梵觉得受侮辱了，因此梵非常愤怒。梵这个时候才明白，上午快下班时，刚由不知是哪个单位调进局机关、后被安排在梵的办公室办公的李连英以要配钥匙为由，将梵手中的钥匙要走，是个预谋。可是，当时梵对李连英的话信以为真，就很爽快地将钥匙给了长得像清朝大太监李连英名字也叫李连英的李连英。到下午上班时，梵问李连英：钥匙配了吗？李连英一脸抱歉样儿地说：哟哟哟，忘了配。对不起对不起，等我明天配了就把钥匙还你。
It had been the middle of last October that Fan was transferred to the Bureau, which was another branch under the same government department, to work on a special issue of a journal. She was sent back to the factory by the director of the Bureau Office without a reasonable explanation: she had been given a very simple excuse. Such an outcome was not what she had expected. Thus, she felt so insulted and irritated. Now Fan realized that it must have been deliberately planned, that in the afternoon when she completed her work for the morning, Li Lianying, who, worked in her office, coming from an unknown organization, whose name was exactly the same as the chief eunuch in the Qing dynasty, even his looks were similar, came to her and took her keys away and told her that he would get a spare key made for the office. Without a second thought, Fan gave him the key. When the afternoon came, Fan asked Li Lianying, "Did you copy the key?" "Oh, I am so sorry I forgot. I will do it tomorrow and then return your key", said Li Lianying, with strong expressions of apology.
结果没等到明天，办公室主任孟柏就找梵谈了话。梵为李连英和孟柏这些人的行为不光明磊落感到无比地愤懑。她甚至愤怒到很想找谁大吵一架，或者找个地方痛快淋漓地痛哭一场。可是找谁吵架呢？可是到哪儿去哭呢？都没有个明确的目标。梵想，回家去哭肯定是不行的，回工厂办公室去哭，也不成。工厂早已于去年（阴历年）年底停产了，院子铁门上的锁怕是锈蚀得难以打开了。到旷野、到树林丛中去哭好像都不是理想之地。“在这些地方哭若是被人发现，别人定是要将我当作精神病患者来围观了。”想想连个哭的地方都难以找到，梵就有了欲哭无泪的感觉，索性连一滴泪都没流，反而发出了一声诡谲的笑……
But Meng Bai, the director of the office talked to Fan even before the next day. Fan was so angry with Li Lianying and Meng Bai, for they were not being honest and aboveboard. She was so angry that she even wanted to have a fight with someone, and she even wanted to find a place to cry out of frustration thoroughly, but who to fight with? And where to cry? She was not sure. She had no clear goals. Fan thought that to go home to cry was not possible, and to cry at the office of the factory was not a good idea. Same as the fields and woods: both seemed not to be an ideal place to hide and cry. The factory was out of business since the end of last year(Chinese lunar year). The factory gate lock had been badly rusted, it must be hard to open. Fields and woods seemed not to be good places either. "If I am found crying in those places, people around me watching would think that I am insane. Just thinking about finding no place to cry made her feel like weeping but had no tears. She simply decided not to shed a tear, instead, she just gave a strange laugh.
末了，梵就在既感愤慨又感滑稽的情状之中回到了自己的家。回到家后，径直走进书房，坐到写字台前，她的心情就平静了许多。她心平气和地搬出字典和辞海来翻（这是她的习惯，凡是遇到不顺心的事就找出书来读，以平静和调节烦乱的心情）。当她拿出字典和辞海时，又觉得自己今天的行为是有些颠三倒四的。她不知道自己希望在这二本工具书中找到些什么？她在翻看新华字典（这字典是早已作古的父亲给她买的）和辞海之前，在一张泛黄的稿纸上写了无数的“抽调抽调、退回退回”的字样。尤其是对“抽调”二字，她简直深恶痛绝到了极点。是的，她今天倒要看看“抽调”的准确含义是什么。新华字典P57页对“抽”的注释是：“从事物中提出一个部分，抽签、抽调干部，抽空儿。”新华字典对“抽调”二字并没作过多解释。而《辞海》里面对“抽调”二字就更没个确切的说法了。《辞海》P668对“抽”的注释是：①引出、吸。如：抽水；抽烟。②拨出。李白《宣川谢眺楼饯别校书叔云》诗：抽刀断水水更流……③提取、腾出、如抽空抽闲。④牵动、收缩。如抽筋。⑤抽打。《西厢百咏.小桃红》：“雨点似棍抽，火急般追究，做媒的下场头”。抽丰、抽头、抽身、抽象、抽签、抽簪——就是没有“抽调”一词的解释。当她看到“抽簪”的注释时，就拿出词卡将“抽簪”一词的注释记在了知识卡片上：“抽簪：谓弃官归隐。簪：贯发具，可以连冠于发，古时作官的人须束发整冠，故称归隐为‘抽簪’。”
Finally, in the state of being angry and frustrated, Fan walked homeward. After returning home, she went straight to the study. As she sat down at the writing desk, her heart became quite calm and felt at ease. She took out two dictionaries, one was a small Xinhua Dictionary, another was very big, flipping through them (This was her habit: whenever she had trouble, she would find some books to read, so as to control her bad mood). As she took out a dictionary and a Cihai, again, she thought that her actions today were sort of topsy-turvy. She had no idea what she had hoped to look for in these two dictionaries. Before she flipped through the Xinhua Dictionary, (which, her deceased father bought her) she wrote countless Chinese characters on a piece of paper which had turned yellow : transfer, transfer, withdraw, withdraw ...She particularly hated the character 抽调, wholeheartedly. Yes, she wanted to see the exact definition of it today. On Xinhua Dictionary, page 57, the annotation of 抽 is, " To select a small part; to decide by lot; to deploy cadres; to take time." The Xinhua Dictionary didn't give further explanation of 抽调, Which, either was not clearly defined by the Cihai. On page 668 in Cihai, the definition of抽 is: (1) to lead and vacuum, such as pumping and smoking. (2) to pull out. In the poem Farewell to Shu Shuyun at XieTiao Tower, Xuan Chuan, by Libai: 抽刀断水水更流----drawing one's sword to stop the water only makes it flow even more...(3)extract, make, take time. (4)to touch, contract. like a cramp. (5) whip. In the Romance of One Hundred Chants, The Little Taohong " raindrops as if sticks, rapidly hit on the head of the matchmaker." She found more definitions of 抽，such as抽丰、抽头、抽身、抽象、抽签、抽簪----but 抽调 was certainly not found. When Fan spotted the phrase抽簪, she grabbed a vocabulary card, on which she put down抽簪: to resign the position as a government official and become a recluse. 簪: A hair connecting tool which is used to connect hair: in the ancient times, government officials needed to wear hat and tie hair, so to resign a position was called抽簪’ (to remove the hair connecting tool).
记下这些，梵就有了“归隐”的悲戚感。而且受伤的心灵多少得到了些许的安抚。这也是她的一种习惯，但凡遇上不幸和难以逾越的坎儿，她就搜肠刮肚地找些古今中外名人、豪杰的受难和不畏强权高压依然独立自己人格的经历来勉励自己鼓舞自己闯过难关。自古圣贤多磨难啊。天降大任于斯，必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨等等，搜寻这些充满生活哲理的先哲名言来勉励自己也是梵寻求心灵慰藉的一种方式。当然，梵无意于将自己同先哲们类比，但是她总是力图在圣贤们的不凡经历中找到一种力量啊、经验啊、方向啊什么的，或者还有安慰。但是，往往这些虚无飘渺的精神抚慰又维持不了多久，就会被现实生活的残酷击得粉碎。
Writing all this down , Fan was embraced by a sad feeling: she pictured a life of reclusion in her mind. On the other hand, that was a great relief to her painful heart, too. It was, as well, one of her habits: if, unfortunately, whenever she experienced hardships or things that were hard to deal with, she would, do her best to look for and read stories of celebrities and heroes from ancient to modern times. Such inspiring stories were about how protagonists managed to retain their independent personality while struggling to overcome difficulties and fight against authorities with high power, so as to encourage herself to get through tough times. Ah! Since ancient times, all sages must undergo many tribulations. When God is about to place a great responsibility on a man, He always tests the man's heart, exhausts his body and makes him suffer great hardships... Fan liked to search quotes about life to inspire herself, which, too, was one way she sought solace inside her heart. Of course, Fan had no intention of comparing herself with philosophers, but she was always trying to seek a kind of power, a lesson, a direction or even a comfort from the remarkable experience of those sages. However, those unreal spiritual soothers didn't last long, which, were, inevitably shattered by the cruel reality relentlessly, and she was, again left in bitterness.
梵一回到现实中来，就有不尽的苦恼和无奈……
When Fan pulled herself back to reality, the endless distress and helplessness started to invade her and haunt inside her once again, endlessly...
（待续）
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