本文作者与译者 Chairman Mao and his English Lady Friends
毛主席和他的英伦女粉丝
（英） 罗宾·吉尔班克 胡宗锋 译
We walked up the main street and I was surprised to find Mao Tse-tung did not live in a cave up the mountain, but within the city wall a little to the west. We went down a narrow alley and came to a gate. A small tap and it shot open, and a soldier stood inside the gate with what looked like a Thompson sub-machine gun. There was a square walled piece of ground with a well in the middle. We walked towards a raised brick platform and there, outside a doorway, stood a soldier in a great sheepskin coat. Pressed against his side was the biggest naked sword I had ever seen in my life – it looked terrifying. We walked in and Mao Tse-tung came forward holding out his hand.
我们走到了大街上，让我惊讶的是毛泽东没有住在山上的窑洞里，而是住在城墙里面的西边。我们下到一个狭窄的巷子，来到一座大门前。轻轻的一敲，门忽的打开了，里面站着一位端着汤姆孙冲锋枪的战士。院子四周有墙，中间有一口井。我们走到一个砖砌台子，那里的门口站着一个穿羊皮袄的战士，贴身的是一把我这辈子也没有见过的长剑，看上去令人生畏。我们走进去，毛泽东走过来伸出了手。
He was short, his ears were different from any man’s I have ever seen – quite flat on top – and his thick black hair was parted in the middle. His fingers were thin and his hands nicely shaped. He had a quiet manner and voice. I had expected to see a man who would have given outwardly the appearance of fire and strength. […]
他个子不高，耳朵上部扁平，和我以前见过的人都不同；中分头，头发黑而浓密。他手指纤细，手型很好看，举止稳健，言谈平静。我原想会遇到一个外表火热、强悍的人……
He: Are you a Communist?I: No, I am not.He: Why do you want all these questions answered about us?I: Having heard so much about you and what the guerillas are doing, I wanted to see for myself, and the questions are those that I can’t get answered by anyone or anywhere except by you here.He: What have you heard about me?I: Only, of course, propaganda for and against.He: What in favour of me?I: That you are wonderfully good, that you are improving the lives of thousands in China and that you can do no wrong.He: And what have you heard against me?I: That you have killed, in some towns, all the inhabitants over forty and under eight, that you are a robber and a rogue.
毛：你是共产党员吗？
作者：不，我不是。
毛：你为什么想让我来回答这些问题？
作者：听到关于你和游击队的事很多，我想亲自来看看。这些问题除了在你这儿得到答案，在其它地方和别人那儿得不到。
毛：听到我什么啦？
作者：当然只是宣传，有支持的，也有反对的。
毛：说我好的有啥？
作者：说你了不起，你是在改善中国成千上万人的生活，你做的没错。
毛：你听到不好的有什么？作者：说你在有些城里屠杀了四十岁以上，八岁一下的所有人，说你是个强盗，是个恶棍。
Everyone in the room remained very still, but the man standing behind my sword moved a little as my words were translated. Mao Tse-tung had not moved a muscle while I was speaking, but he kept his eyes on mine. Then with a sudden smile he said: “No, I don’t eat babies for tiffin,” and the ice was broken.
屋里的每一个人都默不作声，但在我的话被翻译的时候，站在剑后面的那个人动了一下。我说话的时候，毛泽东的肌肉动了一下，但他的眼睛盯着我，然后突然笑了笑说：“不，我不吃孩子。”冰冷的僵局就被打破了。
(From Violet Cressy-Marcks, Journey into China, 1940, p. 163) ——引自 维奥莉特·克雷西·马克斯著《中国之旅》第163页
When Edgar Snow claimed what has been called “the journalistic coup of the century” by becoming the first foreigner to publish an interview Mao Zedong he drew ire from many corners. China Hands were indignant that a non-Sinophone should claim the glory and other competitive wayfaring souls, like his compatriotAgnes Smedley, were piqued to have been beaten. Smedley, perhaps in retaliation, established her own fastness at Yan’an, pounding out as much copy as she could on her portable typewriter even as paper and spare ribbons were scarce. Her ensuing friendship with Zhu De was seen as an exemplar of cross-cultural friendship among “fellow travellers,” while her proximity to the Chairman himself was the subject of not a little contemporary speculation. Journalists of various nationalities braved the hazardous track across the loess to the Revolutionary Capital as the Communist encampment in Northern Shaanxi stretched onto a dozen years.
By and large their accounts rehashed Mao’s pronouncements on ideology and reflections upon his adversaries, both foreign and fellow Chinese. On the other hand, these pieces of reportage still glisten with interest. When Mao Zedong met with his motley visitors there was not infrequently a sense of frisson arising from the contrast between their personalities. Some were struck by the apprehension of greatness on his part and that he may be about to reshape the destiny of the nation, if not the world. For others, like the above-quoted Violet Cressy-Marcks, the strain of intractable struggle was written plainly on his face and they felt as though they were encountering a mortal, not a deity.
当埃德加·斯诺称之为是“跨世纪的新闻政变” 发生时，他成为了第一个采访毛泽东的外国人，也引起了多方的不满。让那些中国通们气愤的是，他这样一个汉学门外汉竞会获此殊荣。其他一些在此领域竞争的人，如他的同胞艾格尼丝·史沫特莱感到不爽，就像被人揍了一顿。也许是为了回敬，史沫特莱在延安建立了自己的战斗堡垒，虽然色带和纸张有限，却尽量想在便携式打字机上敲打出更多的文字。她和朱德之间的友谊在“同行”中被认为是跨文化的典范，而她与毛主席本人的亲密关系也是当时人们的热门话题。随着共产党阵营在陕北十几年来的扩大，不少外国记者勇敢穿过黄土高原上的险道，来到了革命圣地。他（她）们的文笔渐渐的改变了毛泽东的意识形态宣言和他在中外对手中的影响。另外，这些记者的报道现在依旧闪烁着耐人寻味的光芒。当毛泽东和这些五颜六色的来访者见面时，这些人的个性差异也时常引起人们的兴奋感。有些人意识到了他的伟大，认为即便他不能改变这个世界，也会改变这个国家的命运。对于另一些人，如维奥莉特·克雷西·马克斯来说，艰苦斗争的压力就刻在毛泽东的脸上，她们觉得自己见到的就是一个普通的人，而不是神。
The following essay will elaborate upon the circumstances behind Cressy-Marcks’s visit to Yan’an, which culminated in her spending five hours in Mao’s company. Her experience will be compared with that of another Englishwoman of considerable social standing, Lady Isobel Cripps, the wife of the then President of the Board of Trade, Sir Stafford Cripps. For the former, the lure of travel proved never less than intoxicating and despite being a married mother she trekked right across the globe several times, questing after whatever unplumbed and exotic corners she heard mention of. Cripps, meanwhile, a stalwart socialist and internationalist with more than a little in common ideologically with both Bertrand Russell and Joseph Needham, undertook her journey several years later under the auspices of the charitable body “British United Aid to China.” Offering support to a war-riven nation was her manifest purpose, yet the bonhomie which the Communists were eager to extend and the British guests were just as keen to reciprocate tells us much about the mutually-perceived need to form an alliance between an incumbent Labour government of the West and a revolutionary Party on the brink of seizing power in the East.
本文将详尽阐述 维奥莉特·克雷西·马克斯访问延安时的背景，其精华是和毛泽东在一起呆了五个小时。我们将把她的的经历和另外一个颇有社会地位的英国女人，当时英国贸易部的部长斯塔福德·克利普斯爵士的妻子伊泽贝尔·克利普斯女士的经历做一比较。对于维奥莉特·克雷西·马克斯来说，旅行的诱惑让人陶醉；虽然已有家室，但她却好几次艰难的穿越全球，去探索任何一个她听人提起过，但却无人涉足的异域角落。而伊泽贝尔·克里普斯夫人则是一个坚定的社会主义者和国际主义者，与伯特兰·罗素和李约瑟有一定的共识。在慈善团体“英国援华会”的支持下，几年后来到了中国。她的目的很明确，就是为战乱中的国家提供支持。然而共产党人急于表达的友好和英国客人的急于回报告诉人们，那就是双方都意识到，有必要在当时西方执政的英国工党和东方即将夺取政权的革命党之间建立一个联盟。
汉语原文刊发《美文》2015年第11期 （未完待续）
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