柯灵（1909年—2000年），生于广州，中国电影理论家、剧作家、评论家。柯灵在艺术上涉及多个领域，文备众体，散文，童话，话剧，电影等多有佳作。其中，散文创作源于抗战时期，“孤岛”上海的特殊时空环境与畸形繁荣给了他创作灵感。
Ke Ling (1909-2000) is a famous Guangzhou-born film theorist, critic and playwright in China. His multi-dimensional artistic creations are featured with many styles, with a plethora of masterpieces often seen in the fields of proses, fairytales, dramas and films. He started his prose composition during the Second Sino-Japanese War when he was greatly inspired by the critically temporal situation and the illusionary prosperity of the ‘Isolated Island’ (referring to the time when Shanghai’s former foreign concessions were besieged but not invaded).
夜行
Walking in the Night
夜静，灯火阑珊，从热闹场中出来，踽踽独行，常感到一种微妙的喜悦。
At night when everything becomes quiet and lights are dimly lit. I will come out from a hilarious place and into the street alone, often with a subtle feeling of joy.
街上清冷，空远辽廓，仿佛在寂寞秋江，泛扁舟一叶；偶然有汽车飞驰而过，又使你想到掠过水面的沙鸥。而街角远处，交通灯的一点猩红，恰似一片天际飘坠的枫叶，孤零零地开在岸畔的雁来红。
The deserted street looks empty and vast, like a lonely river in the fall with only one canoe floating there. Occasionally a car will speed by, having you in mind those skittering gulls. At the far corner of the street, the traffic light is signaling a point of scarlet, like a maple leaf drifting down from the sky, or a piece of amaranthus solitarily blooming on the river bank.
上海的白昼汹涌着生存竞争的激流，而罪恶的开花却常在黑夜。神秘的夜幕笼罩一切，但我们依然可以用想象的眼睛看到这人间天堂的诸种色相。跳舞场上这时必是最兴奋的一刻了，爵士乐缭绕在黝黯的灯光里，人影憧憧，假笑佯欢的。靠着舞客款款密语；寻花问柳的，感到了女性占有的满足。出卖劳力的，横七竖八地倒在草棚里，无稽的梦揶揄似的来安慰他们了；多美，多幸福，那梦的王国！而有的却在梦里也仍然震慑于狞恶的脸相，流着冷汗从鞭挞中惊醒。做夜工的，正撑着沉沉下垂的眼皮，在嘈杂的机械声中忙碌。亡命与无赖也许正在干盗窃和掠夺的勾当，也许为了主子们的倾轧，正在黑暗中攫取对手的性命。也许有生活战场上的败北者，怀着末路的悲戚，委身于黄浦江的浊流，激起一阵小小的波浪以后，一切复归宁静。我们还可以看到，在灯光如豆的秘密所在，还有人为着崇高的理想，冒着生命的危险；他们中间不幸的，便在星月无光的郊外受着惨毒的死刑。
In Shanghai's daylight, torrents surge in our struggle for life, yet the flower of sin will usually open at night. Though everything is shrouded by the night's mysterious curtain, we may still see all sorts of countenances on this earthly paradise by our imaginative eyes. It must be the most exciting moment in the dancing floor, moving shadows with feigned laughter and joys accompanied by jazz music. Snuggled closely with coquettish whispers, womanizers are carnally satisfied. Laborers are now lying down disorderly in their thatched shack. Some are consoled by groundless teasing dreams – a realm so beautiful and felicitous, while others, still scared of hideous looks, are awakened by lashes and still nervous and sweating! And those working at night are struggling against their drooping eyelids under the noisy mechanical sound. At this time, thefts and robberies are under way, committed by desperados and miscreants who might in the darkness rob the life out of any rivals in strife with their masters. Probably there is also a loser in the battle of life who has decided to plunge his life into the turbid flow of Huangpu River with his ruefulness at the dead end, and after a little wave is provoked, everything goes back to normal. We may also see from a dimly-lit secret place where some people are tempting fate for their lofty ideal, and if fails, the less fortunate will be sent to the suburb, suffering from brutal and vicious death penalty under the starless sky…
你可以这样想象，事实也正在这样搬演；但眼前展现的，却是一片平静。——人海滔天，红尘蔽日的上海，这是仅有的平静的一刻。
You may conjure up such things as what is performing in the real world. However, all presented before our eyes at this moment are nothing but a stretch of calmness, the only peaceful moment in Shanghai that should otherwise be buried in huge crowds of people.
烦嚣的空气使心情浮躁，繁复的人事使灵魂粗糙，丑恶的现实磨损了人的本性，只是到了这个时刻，才像暴风雨后经过澄滤的湖水，云影天光，透着宁静如镜的清澈。虽然路上人迹稀少，可是你绝不会因此感到寂寞。
Noisy airs agitate our mood, complex interrelations roughen our soul, and ugly realities wear our human nature out. It is only until this moment can we be like lake water purified by the storm, serene and limpid as a mirror under the shadowy and glimmering sky. Even with few passers by on the street, you will never therefore feel alone.
坐在清冷的末班电车上，常常只有三三两两晚归的乘客，神态逸豫，悠悠对坐，仿佛彼此莫逆于心，不劳辞费。卖票员闲闲地从车座底下拿出票款，一堆堆闪亮的银角，暗黄的铜板，耐心地点着数，预备进了厂就赶快交帐，回家休息。偶尔在无聊中闲谈起来，随随便便，仿佛大家本来就是相熟的朋友：卖票人与乘客在白天那种不必要的隔膜，此刻是烟消云散了。
In the last run of the trolley bus, a few passengers, usually staying out late, will sit down together face to face, a picture of idleness and pleasure as if they were close friends who do not bother any exchange of words. The conductor takes out the paid fares insouciantly from under her seat, a pile of shinning nickels and dark yellow copper coins, and while counting them one by one with all the patience, she is prepared to settle the account as soon as the bus enters in the station so that she may go home and rest. The conductor and the passengers will accidentally strike up into conversation in a casual way as if they were old friends, in which the unnecessary feeling of distance in the day time is quickly dissipated.
拖着空车的黄色车夫施施而行，巡捕静悄悄地站在警亭下，也不再对车夫怒目横眉，虎视眈眈。看到这种彼此相安，与世无争的境界，我常有一种莫名其妙的冲动，想跑上去跟他们攀谈几句，交换一点无垢的安慰，倾诉一点歆慕的心情。
A rickshaw puller in his yellow uniform is walking on slowly with his empty vehicle while a policeman is quietly standing outside the sentry box as usual, but this time he ceases to glare at him. By looking at the scene that this two stay in peace without competing with each other, I always have such an indescribable impulse that I need to go there and have a few words with them, expressing my untainted encourages and admirations.
要是腹中空虚，可以随意跑进一家小铺子里去当一回座上客。铺子是小的，店堂湫隘腌(ZA)，花不了多少钱，却完全可以换得一饱。这里没有什么名贵西餐，满汉酒席，苏扬细点，山珍海馐，精致美味；但你去看看周围的食客，一碗牛肉汤，一碗阳春面，有的外加二两白干，浅斟细酌，品味着小市民式的餍足。面对那种悠然自得的神情，你会不由得从心里尝味到一种酸辛苦涩而又微甘的世味，同时想起那俗滥的诗句，真的是“万事不如杯在手，人生几见月当头？”
If you happen to be hungry, you may be a guest of honor in any one of the small restaurants. Though small and dirty, it is for sure that you only need to spend a little money to feed up your stomach. There will be no service of expensive western food, Manchu Han Imperial Feast, fine desserts from Suzhou and Yangzhou, and other exquisite delicacies. However, if your look around, you may find those gourmets, with a bowl of beef soup, or a plain noodle, plus a small cup of white spirit for sipping, have all the air of satisfaction, being as an urban petty bourgeois. By looking at these carefree and contented faces, you can’t help but savor in your heart the flavor of this world that is sour, pungent, bitter, and astringent, topped with a bit of sweet, as described in an over-quoted lousy verse:
A cup of wine in hand
All worries out in mind
Few lives have no shade
As moon seldom seen over my head
浏览一下铺面的景色，又会“别有一番滋味在心头”。古朴的陈设，油腻破旧的桌椅，蓝边大碗，寿字花的小酒盅，壁上威武的关公画像，砧板上雪亮的刀子，红色的牛肉，炉灶上熊熊的火光，在满是油污的伙计脸上闪烁，实大声洪的大声叫唤。……这光景会使你自然地想到《水浒》里描写的场面，恍惚回到了辽远的古代。
Glancing over the scene inside the eatery, you are fed with other kinds of flavor: simple layout, oily shabby tables and chairs, huge blue-rimmed bowls, small wine cups imprinted with a character 'Longevity', a portrayal of mighty 'Guan Gong' on the wall, shinning knives on the cutting board, red beef, and raging fires in the stoves reflecting on the greasy faces of the cooks who are shouting loudly to one another – the scene that will remind you naturally of the one in the Water Margin (a story about rebels in the Northern Song Dynasty 960AD to 1127AD) as if you were in the remote ancient times.
尔虞我诈的机心暂时收敛了，残酷的杀伐挂起了短期的免战牌。
For the time being, schemes in cunning and falsehood are put to a halt, and a temporary ceasefire sign is on to make a pause of the cruel killing.
夜深沉，上海这个巨人睡熟了，给了我们片刻的安静。但我们期待的，不是这种扑朔迷离的幻境，而是那晨曦照耀的黎明。
The night deepens, putting our giant Shanghai into a sound sleep and us a momentary peace. However, what we are expecting are not those elusive fantasias but a real dawn with the ascending sun.
[所有图像来源：百度]
