作品原文

季羡林 《容忍》

人处在家庭和社会中，有时候恐怕需要讲点容忍。

唐朝有一个姓张的大官，家庭和睦，美名远扬，一直传到了皇帝耳中。皇帝赞美他治家有道，问他道在何处，他一气写了一百个“忍”字。这说得非常清楚：家庭中要互相容忍，才能和睦。这个故事非常有名。在旧社会，中国姓张的全以祖先的容忍为荣了。

但是容忍也并不容易。1935年，我乘西伯利亚铁路的火车经苏联赴德国，车过中苏边界上的满洲里，停车四小时，由苏联海关检查行李。这是无可厚非的，入国必须检查，这是世界公例。但是，当时的苏联大概认为，我们这一帮人，从一个资本主义国家到另一个资本主义国家，恐怕没有好人，必须严查，以防万一。检查其他行李，我决无意见。但是，在哈尔滨买的一把最粗糙的铁皮壶，却成了被检查的首要对象。这里敲敲，那里敲敲，薄薄的一层铁皮决藏不下一颗炸弹的，然而他们却敲打不止。我真有点无法容忍，想要发火。我身旁有一位年老的老外，是与我们同车的，看到我的神态，在我耳旁悄悄地说了句：Patience is a great virtue（容忍是很大的美德）。我对他微笑，表示致谢。我立即心平气和，天下太平。

看来容忍确是一件好事，甚至是一种美德。但是，我认为，也必须有一个界限。我们到了德国以后，就碰到这个问题。旧时欧洲流行决斗之风，谁污辱了谁，特别是谁的女情人，被污辱者一定要提出决斗，或用手枪，或用剑。普希金就是在决斗中被枪打死的。我们到了的时候，此风已息，但仍发生。我们几个中国留学生相约：如果外国人污辱了我们自身，我们要揣度形势，主要要容忍，以东方的恕道克制自己。但是，如果他们污辱我们的国家，则无论要同他们玩儿命，决不容忍。这就是我们容忍的界限。幸亏这样的事情没有发生，否则我就活不到今天在这里舞笔弄墨了

现在我们中国人的容忍水平，看了真认人气短。在公共汽车上，挤挤碰碰是常见的现象。如果碰了或者踩了别人，连忙说一声：“对不起！”就能够化干戈为玉帛。然而有不少人连“对不起”都不会说了，于是就相吵相骂，甚至于扭打，甚至打得头破血流。我们这个伟大的民族怎么竟成了这个样子！我在自己心中暗暗祝愿：容忍兮，归来！

作品译文

Patience
Ji Xianlin

In home and social life one probably needs to be a little bit patient and then.

During the Tang Dynasty, a high official surnamed Zhang was known far and wide for his harmonious home life. When the emperor gave him praise and asked him how he had been running the family to achieve harmony, he wrote down without a break one hundred characters meaning “patience”. Evidently, the message he tried to bring home to the emperor was that family members must be accommodating to each other for the sake of harmony. That’s famous story. Consequently, people surnamed Zhang in the old days all felt greatly honored that one of their ancestors had been known for exercising patience.

However, it is easier said than done to be tolerant towards others. In 1935, I traveled to Germany via the Soviet Union over the Siberian railway. At the Sino-Soviet border in Manzhouli, the train stopped for a 4-hour-inspection by the Soviet customs. That was all right because entry inspection was an international practice. But the then Soviet Union subjected me to a closer-than-usual customs inspection probably on the assumption that I, like all those traveling from one capitalist country to another, must be a dubious character. I had no objection to the check-up of my belongings except when a crudely-made tinplate kettle that I had bought at Harbin became something very fishy to them. The kettle was certainly too flimsy for holding a hidden bomb, but they barked up the wrong tree and kept clanking it repeatedly here and there. Driven beyond the limit of my patience, I was about to flare up when an elderly foreigner, who was my co-passenger, whispered to me, “Patience is a great virtue.” That calmed me down, and I turned to him with a smile by way of expressing my thanks.

Obviously, patience is really a good thing or rather a great virtue. But I think there should be a demarcation line to be observed. Fighting a duel was a common practice in old Germany. One who suffered an insult to himself or especially his girlfriend would challenge the offender to a fight in which they used pistols or swords. The great Russian poet A. S. Pushkin was one of those shot dead in a duel. At the time when I arrived in Germany together with some other Chinese students, the practice of dueling was still lingering on there though less prevalent. We pledged that in case of ourselves being insulted we should weigh the pros and cons and give precedence to patience in line with the Oriental doctrine of magnanimity, but that in case of a humiliating insult directed against our dear country, we should wage a life-and-death struggle against the offender without showing any patience. That is what I mean by drawing a demarcation line. Fortunately, nothing of the kind happened; otherwise, I might not have survived to write this article today.

It is disheartening nowadays to see so little patience shown by our compatriots. On a crowded bus, for instance, when you happen to bump into a co-passenger or step on his feet, an immediate word of apology from you will serve to prevent a dispute. But many even grudge saying, “Sorry!” thereupon a quarrel or a fist-fight will follow until both parties are beaten black and blue. Oh, what has brought our great nation to such a pass? May PATIENCE come back to stay!