婚姻鞋
畢淑敏
婚姻是一雙鞋。
先有了腳，然后才有了鞋。幼小的時候光著腳在地上走，感受沙的溫?zé)�，草的潤涼，那種無拘無束的灑脫與快樂，一生中會將我們從夢中反復(fù)喚醒。
走的路遠了，便有了跋涉的痛苦。在炎熱的沙漠被炙得像駝鳥一般奔跑，在深陷的沼澤被水蛭蜇出腫痛……
人生是一條無涯的路，于是人們創(chuàng)造了鞋。
穿鞋是為了趕路，但路上的千難萬險，有時尚不如鞋中的一粒砂石令人感到難言的苦痛。
鞋，就成了文明人類祖祖輩輩流傳的話題。
鞋可由各式各樣的原料制成。最簡陋的是一片新鮮的芭蕉葉，最昂貴的是仙女留給灰姑娘的那只水晶鞋。
不論什么鞋，最重要的是合腳;不論什么樣的姻緣，最美妙的是和諧。
切莫只貪圖鞋的華貴，而委屈了自己的腳。別人看到的是鞋，自己感受到的是腳。腳比鞋重要，這是一條真理，許許多多的人卻常常忘記。
我做過許多年醫(yī)生，常給年輕的女孩子包腳，鋒利的鞋幫將她們的腳踝硌得鮮血淋淋。纏上雪白的紗布，套好光潔的絲襪，她們裊裊地走了。但我知道，當(dāng)翩翩起舞之時，也許會有人冷不防地抽搐嘴角：那是因為她的鞋。
看到過祖母的鞋，沒有看到過祖母的腳。她從不讓我們看她的腳，好像那是一件穢物。腳馱著我們站立行走。腳是無辜的，腳是功臣。丑惡的是那鞋，那是一副刑具，一套鑄造畸形殘害天性的模型。
每當(dāng)我看到包辦而蒙昧的婚姻，就想到祖母的三寸金蓮。
幼時我有一雙美麗的紅皮鞋，但鞋窩里潛伏著一只夾腳趾的蟲。每當(dāng)我不愿穿紅皮鞋時，大人們總把手伸進去胡亂一探，然后說：“多么好的鞋，快穿上吧!”為了不穿這雙鞋，我進行了一個孩子所能爆發(fā)的最激烈的反抗。我始終不明白：一雙鞋好不好，為什么不是穿鞋的人具有最后決定權(quán)?!?
旁的人不要說三道四，假如你沒有經(jīng)歷過那種婚姻。
滑冰要穿冰鞋，雪地要著雪靴，下雨要有雨鞋，旅游要有旅游鞋。大千世界，有無數(shù)種可供我們挑選的鞋，腳卻只有一雙。朋友，你可要慎重!
少時參加運動會，臨賽的前一天，老師突然給我提來一雙桔紅色的帶釘跑鞋，祝愿我在田徑比賽中如虎添翼。我褪下平日訓(xùn)練的白網(wǎng)球鞋，穿上像橘皮一樣柔軟的跑鞋，心中的自信突然溜掉了。鞋釘將跑道鍥出一溜齒痕，我覺得自己的腳被人換成了蹄子。我說我不穿跑鞋，所有的人都說我太傻。發(fā)令槍響了，我穿著跑鞋跑完全程。當(dāng)我習(xí)慣性地挺起前胸去撞沖刺線的時候，那根線早已像授帶似的懸掛在別人的胸前。
橘紅色的跑鞋無罪，該負責(zé)任的是那些勸說我的人。世上有很多很好的鞋，但要看適不適合你的腳。在這里，所有的經(jīng)驗之談都無濟于事，你只需在半夜時分，傾聽你腳的感覺。
看到那位赤著腳參加世界田徑大賽的南非女子的風(fēng)采，我報以會心一笑：沒有鞋也一樣能破世界紀錄!腳會長，鞋卻不變，于是鞋與腳，就成為一對永恒的矛盾。鞋與腳的力量，究竟誰的更大些?我想是腳。只見有磨穿了的鞋，沒有磨薄了的腳。鞋要束縛腳的時候，腳趾就要把鞋面挑開一個洞，到外面去涼快。
腳終有不長的時候，那就是我們開始成熟的年齡。認真地選擇一種適合自己的鞋吧!一只腳是男人，一只腳是女人，鞋把他們聯(lián)結(jié)為相似而又絕不相同的一雙。從此，世人在人生的旅途上，看到的就不再是腳印，而是鞋印了。
削足適履是一種愚人的殘酷，鄭人買履是一種智者的迂腐，步履維艱時，鞋與腳要精誠團結(jié);平步青云時切不要將鞋兒拋棄……
當(dāng)然，腳比鞋貴重。當(dāng)鞋確實傷害了腳，我們不妨赤腳趕路!
The Shoes of Marriage
Bi Shumin
Marriage is a pair of shoes.
We have feet before we have shoes. The warmth of the sand, the delicious coolness of the grass on our little feet in our childhood, and the free and uninhibited joy of those days would awaken us from our dreams throughout our lives.
As our journeys take us farther and farther, we begin to experience the pains that come with them and hop frantically like ostriches on scorching deserts or get stung by leeches in deep swamps.
Life is an endless journey. That’s why shoes were invented.
The purpose of putting on shoes is to walk and to get where we want to go. Sometimes, however, a grit in the shoe can bring more indescribable suffering than all other perils of the journey.
Shoes have thus become a topic of conversation from generation to generation within the civilized world.
Shoes can be made of all kinds of material. The most simple and crude shoe is a fresh plantain leaf. The most expensive are the crystal shoes that were given to Cinderella by the fairy.
The first essential about any shoes is that they fit the feet. Likewise, the essence of marriage is compatibility.
Do not ever covet elegant shoes and abuse your own feet. What other people see as shoes are in fact your feet as you feel them. Feet are more important than shoes. This is a truth all too often forgotten.
In the many years that I worked as a doctor, I often had to bandage young girls’ feet, when they came to me with their ankles bleeding because of the sharp edges of their shoes. I would apply a snow-white gauze bandage on them before they slipped on their panty-hose. As I watched them walk off with their graceful steps, I knew that when they danced, their lips would twist with the pain in their feet.
I have seen my grandmother’s shoes but not her feet. She always hid her feet from view as if they were hideous objects. Our feet, which carry our weight as we stand and walk, are blameless. They render us outstanding service. It was her shoes that were hideous. They were an instrument of torture and a mold that distorted nature.
Each time I learn about an uncivilized arranged marriage, I am reminded of my grandmother’s tiny shoes and her bound feet.
When I was a child, I had a pair of beautiful red leather shoes, but the shoes pinched my toes. Whenever I refused to wear them, adults would perfunctorily feel the inside of the shoes with their hands and say, “What nice shoes! Put them on.” I resisted in the most violent way I knew as a child. I have never understood why the person wearing shoes is not entitled to final veto power.
If you have not experienced a certain kind of marriage, do not make irresponsible remarks.
You need skates to skate, hiking boots to walk in the snow, galoshes for the rain, and walking shoes when traveling…There are infinite varieties of shoes to choose from in the whole wide world, but only one pair of feet for each of us. My friend, you need to weigh your choices carefully!
As a child playing sports, I received from my teacher, on the eve of a track-and-field event, a pair of orange-colored spiked running shoes, along with his expressed wish that wearing them would be like adding wings to a tiger. So I took off the white tennis shoes I wore during my everyday training and put on the running shoes, which felt as soft as orange peels. As I did so, my confidence vanished. When I saw that the spikes had left a row of marks on the track, I felt as if my feet had been changed into a pair of hoofs. I said I didn’t want the running shoes, but everyone present said I was being silly. So, at the crack of the starting pistol, I began to run in those shoes. By the time I threw out my chest, as usual, to meet the tape, it was already draped across a competitor’s chest like a sash of honor.
The orange-colored running shoes were blameless. The responsibility rested with those who had offered me advice. The world abounds in good shoes, but some will not fit. Wise counsel is of no avail. You need listen only to what your feet have to say in the middle of the night.
Looking at the South African women running barefoot in all her glory in the world track-and-field event, I smiled. World records can be broken with or without shoes. Feet grow, but shoes don’t. Herein lies an eternal contradiction. Which has the greater strength – the foot or the shoe? The foot, I believe. I’ve seen shoes that have worn out, but never feet that have worn thin. When the shoe pinches the foot, one’s big toe can always poke a hole and stick itself out to enjoy fresh air.
There inevitably comes a point in one’s lifetime when the feet stop growing. Choose your shoes with care! Make sure they fit your feet. In marital terms, one foot represents the man, the other the woman. They are joined like a pair of similar but by no means identical shoes. Henceforth, what you see on the road of life are no longer footprints but shoeprints.
Cutting feet to fit shoes is a fool’s act of cruelty. The story about a stupid man who returns empty-handed after a shoe-buying trip because he forgot to bring his measurement ridicules the pedantic. When the going gets tough, the feet and shoes must unite as one. When the feet are lifted by a cloud to the height of fame and fortune, one must not discard the shoes.
The feet, of course, are more precious than shoes. When shoes truly hurt our feet, we might as well get on with our journey barefoot!
(Yang Shuhui and Yang Yunqin 譯)
