遙遠的記憶
Earliest Memory

三歲前的事情，我居然還能記得，很多人覺得不可思議。但記憶的碎片是散落的、模糊的，唯有一件事至今歷歷在目，對于一個三歲孩童而言，那是一件大事。Believe it or not, I do remember certain things that happened before I turned three. But such memories are hazy and scanty, except for one. The only thing from that period I do recall with inexplicable lucidity was a major event in my three-year-old life.

那一天，爸爸媽媽告訴我，有位好心的叔叔要帶我進電影院看電影，只有一張票，他們就不進去了。This is what I remember: My parents had told me that a very nice uncle was going to take me into the cinema to see a film. There was only one ticket for me, so they could not join me. 之后，便來了一個白衣裝束的男人，他把我抱了起來。爸爸媽媽叮囑我好好看電影，話音剛落，那人就抱著我進了一所大房子。Then came a man dressed in white. He picked me up and held me in his arms. My parents told me to enjoy the film and the uncle carried me into the building.

他抱著我，走在一條長長的過道里。另一位同樣身著白衣的叔叔迎面走來，他們相互點點頭，那位叔叔一手握著一個白色的茶缸，另一只手里攥著一支藍色的牙刷。With me in his arms, the uncle walked down a very long corridor. On the way, another uncle, also in white, passed us by. They nodded to each other. That man had a white mug in one hand and a blue toothbrush in the other.

記憶中的下一個場景，就是我平躺在“座位”上，面向天花板，天花板吊著個很大的圓盤，圓盤里鑲嵌著一盞盞燈。The next scene I remember is inside the ‘cinema’. I lay down on my ‘seat’and found myself facing a big round plate hanging from the ceiling. The plate was studded with light bulbs. 我想不通：這電影院真奇怪！其它電影院都是坐著看電影，這兒怎么躺著看？其它電影院都是后面掛一盞燈，前面吊一塊大簾子，我看的是簾子，這兒怎么凈看燈了？I was confused: What a strange cinema this is! In the normal cinema, I would sit and watch. But here, I am lying on my back. In other cinemas, there is a single light at the back and a large piece of white cloth at the front. I would be looking at the cloth. But here, I am actually staring at the lights, many lights. 回憶至此，戛然而止。That is the point where my recollection of that event baulks abruptly. 多年后，我跟父母提起這段回憶，他們證實，那是一所醫(yī)院——南京兒童醫(yī)院。當時我得了“小腸氣”，必須接受手術。為了讓我乖乖地跟陌生叔叔走，他們便哄我，說是去看電影。Many years later, when I mentioned that memory to my parents, they confirmed I had been in a children's hospital in Nanjing at the time, undergoing an operation. I had had a hernia in my lower abdomen that the doctor had to fix. They had told me a porky-pie about going to the cinema, so I wouldn't say no to a stranger taking me away. 而我躺在手術臺上看到的燈，就是無影燈。And what met my eyes while I was lying on the operating table was the shadowless lamp. 后來我在一部關于針刺麻醉的紀錄片里看到了無影燈，跟我記憶里的那所“影院”里看見的一模一樣。Years later, when I finally got to see a real operating ‘theatre’in a documentary about acupuncture-induced anaesthesia, the shadowless lamp on the screen looked just like the one I had seen in that unusual ‘theatre’. 再后來發(fā)生了什么，我記不起來了。當年全身麻醉用的還是乙醚，我嗅一嗅就“不省人事”了，因此記憶出現了斷層。Ether was still being used for general anaesthesia when I was operated on. I sniffed it and conked out straight away. A memory fault line was thus formed. 那年，我三歲。I was three.

絮叨至此，諸位看官，感受如何？興致依舊，還是哈欠連天？How do you feel? So far so good? Not yawning, yet? 請稍安勿躁。本書絕非編年史式流水賬，否則如何做到我所奢求的引人入勝呢？盡管我深信，真實的故事更有吸引力，但聽故事的人要是提不起勁來，聽著聽著睡著了，你的故事再真實也沒有用啊。Don't worry. I shall not let this chronological thread run through my writing; nor will I weigh it down with mundane minutiae of my life. Otherwise this would not be a page turner, which every storybook ought to be. Instead, it would be a dreary, monotone rigmarole that guarantees nothing but yawns aplenty. While I'm convinced that reality does not get in the way of a good yarn, tedium does, for sure.