北非的岩壁沒有羊There Is No More Goat on the Rock Cliff of North Africa

2022/9/2漢娜一早做了個惡夢，她神思恍惚從床上跌了下來，是什麼夢靨記不得，在夢裡完全發不出聲音，就把自己縮成一個球自我保護，然後有些奇怪的蜘蛛爬蟲嗖嗖嗖經過，她只知道不能被捕食。
Hanna had a nightmare in the early morning on Sep. 2nd in 2022. She fell down from bed in a trance without bringing the nightmare to mind. In her dream, she couldn’t give off sound at all, and then she shrank herself into a ball for self-protection. Afterwards, some weird spiders and crawlers whizzed past. All she could know was that she was not able to be preyed on.

滾下床之後人也清醒了，她還想賴床換個好夢，但已經快要遲到，她就這樣也沒梳頭，撐著傘走到便利店複印重要文件，簡直像個瘋女人！點了一杯拿鐵在心裡想：自從咖啡蔚為時尚，那就跟快流行一樣是災難！她無法避免，咖啡燒的時候香，入口卻苦，為什麼她對這樣的飲品上癮？彷彿喝了就能變得高調些：美式不加糖。
After getting out of bed, she was also conscious. She would like to dawdle in bed for a good dream; however, she was almost to be late. She didn't even comb her hair, walked to a convenience store with an umbrella and photocopied the important documents. Such an insane woman she was! She ordered a cup of latte and reflected on herself: Since coffee came into vogue, it has been a disaster as identical as fast fashion! She was inevitable to smell the fragrance of coffee making, but to taste the bitter flavor in the mouth. Why was she addicted to such a drink? It seemed if she drank coffee, she might become more elegant: Caffè Americanowith no sugar.

她抬頭看了新聞：「北非的怪奇岩壁不再有山羊」。
She raised her head and watched the news, "There is no more goat on the bizarre rock cliff of North Africa".

新聞說北非某個區域的岩壁出現了奇怪現象，竟然開始生長植被還有草，這些真菌跟草被發現具有經濟價值。剛開始被發現的原因非常奇詭，所有的羊都跑到這片壁上，密密麻麻占滿了羊；然後老鷹也來了，整個高處都是老鷹，停一排就像電線上的麻雀，佔著制高點。他們開始了競技，鷹總是非常殘酷地用利爪把羊趕下懸崖，然後啃食羊的身體，有時候羊踩到羊也掉下去，但後來人們決定佔領這塊土地，其上的石木耳一斤可以賣好幾百元，摘取的時候還有水分，人們買到的時候則是乾貨。
The news was about a weird phenomenon which appeared on a rock cliff in a certain region of North Africa. Unexpectedly, vegetation and grass begun to grow on it. These fungi and grass were discovered to own the economic value. The reason of the weird phenomenon which was found in the beginning was very peculiar. All the goats came to this cliff, and occupied it densely. After that, eagles also came on the scene and took over the high spot. They halted for a row as sparrows on the electric wire to take control of the key point. The eagles started a competition as they always brutally drove the goats off the cliff with their sharp claws, and then gnawed the bodies of them. Occasionally, the goats stepped on others and fell down; however, people decided to take possession of the land later on. The rock tree fungi could be sold for hundreds of dollars per catty. Some moisture content still left inside of the fungi when people picked them, but as soon as people purchased them, these rock tree fungi turned into dried food.

所有羊都被趕到樹上表演，就像蘋果樹上結得不是蘋果而是各種山羊，她希望羊能有好果子吃，總比被摔下懸崖好，站在樹上跟站在絕壁上對羊來說都很簡單，但絕壁的高崗危機四伏，誰知道下一秒會不會就死了，粉身碎骨，搞不好筋脈盡斷還痛不欲生。
All the goats were driven to perform on the tree, which was similar to apple trees that did not bear apples but the variety of goats. She hoped that the goats enabled to enjoy a feast with good fruits, which was definitely better than being thrown off from the cliff. As to goats, standing on a tree was as easy as standing on a cliff, but it was much more crisis-ridden to stand on the mound of a cliff. Who knows whether they may lose their life and be smashed to pieces in the next second, or their muscles and veins may be broken to grieve to the extent of wishing to die.

對人或是對羊，空間都是很重要的。
For humans and goats, space is quite essential indeed.

為了空間，漢娜後來也只能把翻譯小說都回收，英倫情人那本放在其中一疊的上頭，封面是凱薩琳的肖像，跟雷夫.范恩斯親吻。電影當時沒看，書是在家樂福買的。
For the sake of space, Hanna could only sent all the translated novels to the recycling later. The English Patient was placed on top of one of the stacks. The cover was a portrait of Catherine to give Ralph Fiennes a kiss. Hanna didn't watch the movie at that time, but she bought the novel at Carrefour.

漢娜當時對小說的表達理解很困難，電影更是時空交錯，角色交叉出場，沒戀愛經驗，沒經歷戰爭，一切就像是各種畫面拼湊，彷彿切換轉台：一台戀愛、一台在沙漠考古、一台顧病人，一場沙塵暴就會被掩埋，慢慢耗盡了力氣。
At that moment, it was perplexing for Hanna to comprehend the expression of the novel, and the movie was even more intertwined with time and space. The characters crossed to appear on the scene. With no romantic and war experiences, everything was as a patchwork of diverse pictures, as if people switched channels: one for love story, one for archaeology in the desert, and one for a patient’s caretaking. They would be buried under a sandstorm and run out of energy gradually.

現在漢娜懂了，但懂了也沒什麼好處，只能跟著茱麗葉.畢諾許一起哭，英國的病人最後打翻一盒嗎啡，凱薩琳也沒等到艾莫西，其他軍人還在歡慶，下一秒就踩到地雷，歸來的旅人獨自回家，一張漂亮的紙印刷著優美秩序，寫滿了愛人的代號K......要說是詛咒，又該死的像是恩典，我想凱薩琳跟科林.佛斯會先重逢，伯爵注定遲到。
At the moment, Hanna has understood, but there was no benefit to make the comprehension. She could only weep with Juliet Binoche. The English Patienteventually knocked over a box of morphine, and Katharine didn't wait for Almásy to come back. Other soldierscelebrated joyously in this second, but stepped on a landmine in the next second. The returning traveler went home alone. A beautiful piece of paper was printed in an elegant order and written by the lover's code K.… If you want to say it's a curse, but it's damn like the grace. I thought Katharine and Colin Firth would have a reunion first, and the Earl was doomed to be late.

當時買書送明信片大小的電影劇照，早之前就遺失了，肯定是回收或丟棄，有陣子難過時就丟東西，畢竟我們都是有包袱的人，就像西裝，穿上了就有一種精英氣質，越昂貴的包袱自然越重，頂尖精英份子連衣服都有人送洗，妥妥的黃金包袱，偶爾丟個數年未用的器物感覺也倒像是隨時能練習「放下」。
At that time, purchasing a book would give a film photo of postcard-size for a gift. I lost it a long time ago. It was definitely recycled or discarded. Once in a while, when I felt upset, I would throw away some stuff. After all, we all undertake some burdens. Take a suit for instance, people may possess an elite temperament once they put on it. The more expensive the burden is, the heavier it is. The top elites even send out the laundry, which they bear the exact golden burden. Occasionally, throwing away the stuff that has not been used for several years, they feel like to practice "letting it go" at any time.

故事裡的男歡女愛，我們那些盼望跟獸性都在一種隨時隨地不經意就解鎖的狀態，迷人的男女解鎖是有密碼的，那些普通人物沒上鎖也只想去解鎖別人。
The passionate love in the story, our expectation and barbarityare in a state of unlocking inadvertently on the go. There is a password to unlock for charming gentlemen and ladies, and those ordinary people without being locked would only like to unlock others.

後來，漢娜也跟雷夫.費恩斯在一起，世界就是這麼小，遠方有各種狹路，那是我最喜歡的電影之一≪為愛朗讀≫，背負著秘密的漢娜這次變成戰犯間諜，她終於有了光，向著光的方向活下來，因為那些寄來的東西，讓她有了盼望，沒想唯一的盼望除去激情，也只剩下同情跟可憐，那些深植在回憶最重要的第一次，再也沒有色彩，因為那道細細的光，畢竟是從一個很深很深的地方出來，誰又能走進深處。
Hana was also Ralph Fiennes’ life companion later on. It’s such a small world, and there are diversity of narrow paths in the distance. It is one of my favorite movies The Reader. Hanna who was bearing a secret became a war criminal spy. Ultimately, she held the light and survived toward the direction of the light. Because of the stuff sent by post, she owned the hope. Beyond her expectation, to remove the passion from the only hope, there was nothing left but sympathy and pity. The most crucial first time which was deeply rooted in her memory was no longer colorful, because that weak light came out from an extremely deep place after all, and who could enter the deepest site?

英倫情人裡，漢娜結束了雷夫；為愛朗讀裡，雷夫結束了漢娜。原來真正的永動能量就在人跟人的聚散裡。
In The English Patient, Hana endedRalph; in The Reader, Ralph ended Hanna. It turns out that the real perpetual energy is between the gathering and dispersing among people.

漢娜期許自己會是「快樂的」漢娜，不需要吉普帶她到滿目瘡痍的戰場觀賞壁畫。
Hanna expected that she would be "pleasant" Hanna, and it was unnecessary for her to view the murals on the devastated battlefield by a jeep.

但願她可以忘記戰爭跟審判。
Wishing she could have forgotten the war and the trial.

她喝完拿鐵，難過的什麼也吃不下去......可憐絕壁下那些羊，非死即傷，還好那地點被人占領了，不然不知道還有多少羊要犧牲。
After she drank the cup of latte, she was so depressed that she couldn't eat anything... She pitied that the poor goats under the cliff were either dead or injured. Fortunately, that location was took over by humans, otherwise she didn't even know how many goats would have been sacrificed.

英譯Sandy Tao
（中文系畢業/教授英文寫作/現職藝術家及英文教師）

後記：文僅依據觀光產業困境所生，做一連結與發想，但山羊確實被趕上樹。