什么是美披粟？
美是一種寬泛的范疇咒锻，也因此難以定義。
賈平凹的短文《丑石》描述的是家中門前的那塊石頭守屉。一塊丑石惑艇，沒有用武之處，在世人眼中也稱不上“美”拇泛，但或許他的美沒法定義滨巴，它的美就源于它的丑。
原來俺叭，美與丑恭取，界限還可以這樣模糊。下面和大家分享賈平凹《丑石》這篇短文和楊憲益先生翻譯的譯文熄守，很有味道：
賈平凹·《丑石》（中英）
Jia Pingwa? An Ugly Stone
我常常遺憾我家門前的那塊丑石呢：它黑黝黝地臥在那里蜈垮，牛似的模樣；誰也不知道是什么時候留在這里的裕照，誰也不去理會它攒发。只是麥?zhǔn)諘r節(jié)，門前攤了麥子晋南，奶奶總是要說：這塊丑石惠猿，多礙地面喲，多時把它搬走吧负间。
I used to feel sorry for that ugly black piece of stone lying like an ox in front of our door; none knew when it was left there and none paid any attention to it, except at the time when wheat was harvested and my grandma, seeing the grains of wheat spread allover the ground in the front yard of the house, would grumble: “This ugly stone takes so much space. Move it away someday.”
于是偶妖，伯父家蓋房姜凄，想以它壘山墻，但苦于它極不規(guī)則餐屎，沒棱角兒檀葛，也沒平面兒；用鏨破開吧腹缩，又懶得花那么大氣力屿聋，因為河灘并不甚遠(yuǎn)，隨便去掮一塊回來藏鹊，哪一塊也比它強(qiáng)润讥。房蓋起來，壓鋪臺階盘寡，伯父也沒有看上它楚殿。有一年，來了一個石匠竿痰，為我家洗一臺石蘑脆粥，奶奶又說：用這塊丑石吧，省得從遠(yuǎn)處搬動影涉。石匠看了看变隔，搖著頭，嫌它石質(zhì)太細(xì)蟹倾，也不采用匣缘。
Thus my uncle had wanted touse it for the gable when he was building a house, but he was troubled to find it of very irregular shape, with no edges nor corners, nor a flat plane on it. And he wouldn’t bother to break it in half with a chisel because the river bank was nearby, where he could have easily fetched a much better stone instead. Even when my uncle was busy with the flight of steps leading to the new house he didn’t take a fancy to the ugly stone. One year when a mason came by, we asked him to make us a stone mill with it. As my grandma put it: “Why not take this one, so you won’t have to fetch one from afar.” But the mason took a look and shook his head: He wouldn’t take it for it was of too fine a quality.
它不像漢白玉那樣的細(xì)膩，可以鑿下刻字雕花鲜棠，也不像大青石那樣的光滑肌厨，可以供來浣紗捶布；它靜靜地臥在那里豁陆，院邊的槐蔭沒有庇覆它柑爸，花兒也不再在它身邊生長『幸簦荒草便繁衍出來竖配，枝蔓上下，慢慢地里逆，竟銹上了綠苔、黑斑用爪。我們這些做孩子的原押，也討厭起它來，曾合伙要搬走它偎血，但力氣又不足诸衔；雖時時咒罵它盯漂，嫌棄它，也無可奈何笨农，只好任它留在那里去了就缆。
It was not like a fine Piece of white marble on which words or flowers could be carved, nor like a smooth big bluish stone people used to wash their clothes on. The stone just lay there in silence, enjoying no shading from the Pagoda trees by the yard, nor flowers growing around it. As a result weeds multiplied and stretched all over it, their stems and tendrils gradually covered with dark green spots of moss. We children began to dislike the stone too, and would have taken it away if we had been strong enough; all we could do for the present was to leave it alone, despite our disgust or even curses.
稍稍能安慰我們的，是在那石上有一個不大不小的坑凹兒谒亦，雨天就盛滿了水竭宰。常常雨過三天了，地上已經(jīng)干燥份招，那石凹里水兒還有切揭，雞兒便去那里渴飲。每每到了十五的夜晚锁摔，我們盼著滿月出來廓旬，就爬到其上，翹望天邊谐腰；奶奶總是要罵的孕豹，害怕我們摔下來。果然那一次就摔了下來十气，磕破了我的膝蓋呢励背。
The only thing that had interested us in the ugly stone was a little pit on top of it, which was filled with water on rainy days. Three days after a rainfall, usually, when the ground had become dry, there was still water in the pit, where chickens went to drink. And every month when it came to the evening of the 15th of lunar calendar, we would climb onto the stone, looking up at the sky, hoping to see the full moon come out from far away. And Granny would give us a scolding, afraid lest we should fall down — and sure enough, I fell down once to have my knee broken.
人都罵它是丑石，它真是丑得不能再丑的丑石了桦踊。
So everybody condemned the stone: an ugly stone, as ugly as it could be.
終有一日椅野，村子里來了一個天文學(xué)家。他在我家門前路過籍胯，突然發(fā)現(xiàn)了這塊石頭竟闪，眼光立即就拉直了。他再沒有走去杖狼，就住了下來炼蛤；以后又來了好些人，說這是一塊隕石蝶涩，從天上落下來已經(jīng)有二三百年了理朋，是一件了不起的東西。不久便來了車绿聘，小心翼翼地將它運(yùn)走了嗽上。
Then one day an astronomer came to the village. He looked the stone square in the eye the moment he came across it. He didn’t take his leave but decided to stay in our village. Quite a number of people came afterwards, saying the stone was a piece of aerolite which had fallen down from the sky two or three hundred years ago—what a wonder indeed! Pretty soon a truck came and carried it away carefully.
這使我們都很驚奇！這又怪又丑的石頭熄攘，原來是天上的呢兽愤！它補(bǔ)過天，在天上發(fā)過熱，閃過光浅萧，我們的先祖或許仰望過它逐沙，它給了他們光明，向往洼畅，憧憬吩案；而它落下來了，在污土里帝簇，荒草里徘郭，一躺就是幾百年了？己儒！
It gave us a great surprise! We had never expected that such a strange and ugly stone should have come from the sky! So it had once mended the sky, given out its heat and light there, and our ancestors should have looked up at it. It had given them light, brought them hopes and expectations, and then it had fallen down to the earth,in the mud and among the weeds, lying there for hundreds of years!
奶奶說：“真看不出崎岂！它那么不一般，卻怎么連墻也壘不成闪湾，臺階也壘不成呢冲甘？”
My grandma said: “I never expected it should be so great! But why can’t people build a wall or pave steps with it?”
“它是太丑了⊥狙”天文學(xué)家說江醇。
“It’s too ugly,” the astronomer said.
“真的，是太丑了何暇√找梗”
“Sure, it’s really so ugly.”
“可這正是它的美！”天文學(xué)家說裆站，“它是以丑為美的条辟。”
“But that’s just where its beauty lies!” the astronomer said, “its beauty comes from its ugliness.”
“以丑為美宏胯？”
“Beauty from ugliness?”
“是的羽嫡，丑到極處，便是美到極處肩袍。正因為它不是一般的頑石杭棵，當(dāng)然不能去做墻，做臺階氛赐，不能去雕刻魂爪，捶布。它不是做這些頑意兒的艰管，所以常常就遭到一般世俗的譏諷滓侍。”
“Yes. When something becomes the ugliest, it turns out the most beautiful indeed. The stone is not an ordinary piece of insensate stone, it shouldn’t be used to build a wall or pave the steps, to carve words or flowers or to wash clothes on. It’s not the material for those petty common things, and no wonder it’s ridiculed often by people with petty common views.”
奶奶臉紅了牲芋，我也臉紅了粗井。
My grandma became blushed, and so did I.
我感到自己的可恥尔破，也感到了丑石的偉大；我甚至怨恨它這么多年竟會默默地忍受著這一切浇衬？而我又立即深深地感到它那種不屈于誤解、寂寞的生存的偉大餐济。
I feel shame while I feel the greatness of the ugly stone; I have even complained about it having pocketed silently all it had experienced for so many years, but again I am struck by the greatness that lies in its lonely unyielding existence of being misunderstood by people.
作者簡介
常識
曾求學(xué)巴黎和倫敦耘擂，
如今在非洲大陸，用文字滋養(yǎng)成長的創(chuàng)客絮姆。
決定你上限的不是能力醉冤，而是格局。
年輕篙悯，不如去闖蚁阳。
@創(chuàng)客史記保留所有權(quán)利
