The Knocking
叩門

Tap, tap, tap
答，答，答！

I awoke from my dream with a start.
我從夢中跳醒來。

“Who’s that knocking at the door?” I wondered, at a loss to know. I strained my ears and listened intently. There wasn’t a sound. The lamp overhead gave out a pallid glow, shining dimly on my face, still half asleep. The paper windows and hanging scroll remained as still and silent as before.
——有誰在叩我的門？我迷惘地這么想。我側耳靜聽，聲音沒有了。頭上的電燈灑一些淡黃的光在我的惺忪的臉上。紙窗和帳子依然是那么沉靜。

I turned over, and was about to drift back hazily into my dream when suddenly the sound awoke me again. This time, besides that slight tap-tapping, I could hear also a great howling sound. Was it the angry roar of the North Wind? Or the awakening of Man? I couldn’t be sure. But my blood surged with exhilaration, as if I had already flown out of the room, straddled the neck of the North Wind and galloped off into space.
我翻了個身，朦朧地又將入夢，突然那聲音又將我喚醒。在答，答的小響外，這次我又聽得了呼——呼——的巨聲。是北風的怒吼罷？抑是“人”的覺醒？我不能決定。但是我的血沸騰。我似乎已經飛出了房間，跨在北風的頸上，砉然驅馳于長空！

Yet that great sound became indistinct again, became fainter, and disappeared; all that remained from this metamorphosis was a lonely void.
然而巨聲卻又模糊了，低微了，消失了；蛻化下來的只是一段寂寞的虛空。

“That great sound only happened precisely because there was this void for it to fill in the first place,” I laughed, realising that I’d been fooled.
——只因為是虛空，所以才有那樣的巨聲呢！我啞然失笑，明白我是受了哄。

Eyes wide open now, I became immersed in thought. A multitude of faces danced randomly before my eyes, whilst in my ears, a cacophony of voices fought to be heard. Then, suddenly, everything vanished, and there was that little tap, tap, tapping again, coming from over by the window, as if someone was knocking at the door.
我睜大了眼，緊裹在沉思中。許多面孔，錯落地在我眼前跳舞；許多人聲，嘈雜地在我耳邊爭訟。驀地一切都寂滅了，依然是那答，答，答的小聲從窗邊傳來，像有人在叩門。

“Who’s there? What’s the matter?” I shouted impatiently. But there was no reply.
“是誰呢？有什么事？”我不耐煩地呼喊了。但是沒有回音。

I turned off the light. Outside the window, a few cold stars shimmered in the blue-black sky. No-one should be knocking at my door at this time of the night, I thought. And even suppose someone really were doing so, it must surely be an ignorant good-for-nothing—waking people up like this yet giving no reply.
我捻滅了電燈。窗外是青色的天空內耀著幾點寒星。這樣的夜半，該不會有什么人來叩門，我想；而且果真是有什么人呀，那也一定是妄人：這樣喚醒了人，卻沒有回音。

Yet these musings were cut short again—this time, the sound from outside my door was a rumbling, like the sound of thunder. Naturally, it couldn’t be the thunderous din of mosquitoes. Certainly, there were mosquitoes around, but they were all hidden in dark corners, long since having lost any impetus to make such a sound. I knew too that it wasn’t real thunder, for it was still too early for that just then. I turned over under my quilt, pressing my left ear firmly into the pillow, suspecting that this rumbling was nothing more than a ringing in my ears. Yet suddenly, there it was again: that tap, tap, tap!
但是打斷了我的感想，現在門外是殷殷然有些像雷鳴。自然不是蚊雷。蚊子的確還有，可是躲在暗角里，早失卻了成雷的氣勢。我也明知道不是真雷，那在目前也還是太早。我在被窩內翻了個身，把左耳朵貼在枕頭上，心里凝惑這殷殷然的聲音只是我的耳朵的自鳴。然而忽地，又是——答，答，答！

This third time, the knocking seemed to spread through the cold air, more penetrating than ever, bringing with it a sense of mournful desolation. I could stand it no longer: I leapt up, flung open the door and stared outside.
這第三次的叩聲，在冷空氣中擴散開來，格外地響，頗帶些凄厲的氣氛。我無論如何再耐不住了，我跳起身來，拉開了門往外望。

There was nothing. The faint light of a sickle moon shone cold and dim in the pond beyond my door, whilst a row of cherry trees, bare and denuded, trembled slightly in the frozen air.
什么也沒有。鐮刀形的月亮在門前池中送出冷冷的微光，池畔的一排櫻樹，裸露在凝凍了的空氣中，輕輕地顫著。

There was nothing; nothing except a black dog cringing in the doorway, its head cocked, as if eavesdropping something. Now it hung its head, as if abashed, sidling slowly off to the floor under the eaves, burying its muzzle in its soft furry neck, withdrawing into a heap.
什么也沒有，只一條黑狗爬在門口，側著頭，像是在那里偷聽什么，現在是很害羞似的垂了頭，慢慢地挨到檐前的地板下，把嘴巴藏在毛茸茸的頸間，縮做了一堆。

I felt a momentary sense of pity for this ashen beast, but then my mind was seized by a furious reproach:
我暫時可憐這灰色的畜生，雖然一個忿忿的怒斥掠過我的腦膜：

You wretched cur—only fit to follow the rest of the pack. You wake people up, startling them in their deep sleep like an apparition; and yet all you leave them with is a void.
是你這工于吠聲吠形的東西，丑人作怪似的驚醒了人，卻只給人們一個空虛！

（來源：網絡 編輯：許晶晶）