Cities and symbols

你在树木和石头之间走了许多天。你的目光难得停留在什么物体之上，而且只有在认清那物体是另一物体的标记之后才会停留下来：沙上的脚印说明有老虎经过；沼泽宣示一脉流水；木芙蓉花意味着冬天的终结。其余一切都是静默的、可以替换的；树和石只是树和石。

旅程终于抵达塔玛拉。你沿着街道深入，两旁的墙满是伸出的招牌。你眼中所见的并不是物件的本身而是意味着别些物件的、物件的形象：镊子是牙科诊所；耳杯是酒馆；戟是军营；天平是杂货店。雕像和绘着狮子、海豚、塔楼、星子的盾牌：某种——谁知道是什么？——以狮子或者海豚或者塔楼或者星子作为标记的东西。别些标记警告你不准在某些地点作某些事（驾车进入小巷、在亭子后面小便、在桥上以鱼竿垂钓）或者准许做某些事（给斑马淋水、打木球、焚烧亲友的尸体）。寺庙门上的神像都表明各自的属性——羊角、沙漏、水母——让信徒看得清清楚楚以免错念祈祷文。没有招牌或图像的建筑物，可以凭它们的形状以及在城里排列的位置面认出它的作用：皇宫、监狱、铸币厂、学校、妓院。摊子上陈列的货物也一样，“他们的价值不在于商品本身，却在于作为标记所代表的别些东西：绣花的束发带代表典雅，镀金的轿子是权力，书籍是学问、脚镯是滢逸。你遛览街道，它们仿佛是写满字的纸张：这城说出你必须深思的每一件事，叫你复述它讲过的话，而在你自以为游览塔玛拉的时候，其实不过在记录它用来剖析自己各个部分的名词。

无论城的真正面貌如何，无论厚厚的招牌下面包藏着或者隐藏着什么东西，你离开塔玛拉的时候其实还不曾发现它。城外，土地空虚地伸向地平线；天空张开，云团迅速飞过。机缘与风决定了云的形状，此刻你开始着意揣摩一些轮廓：一艘开航的船、一只手、一头象……

You walked among the trees and stones for many days. Your eyes rarely rest on anything, and they do not rest until you know that it is a mark of something else: Footprints in the sand indicate a tiger; a swamp indicates a stream of water; The hibiscus means the end of winter. Everything else is silent and replaceable; the tree and the stone are just the tree and the stone. At last the journey reached Tamara. You Go Down the street, and the walls are full of signs sticking out. What you see is not the object itself but the image of something else: The tweezers are the dental clinic; the ear cups are the tavern; the halberds are the barracks; the scales are the grocery store. Statues and shields painted with lions, dolphins, towers, planetesimal: something -- who knows what? - something marked by a lion or a dolphin or a tower or planetesimal. Don't put up signs warning you not to do certain things in certain places (driving down alleys, urinating behind kiosks, fishing on bridges) or to be allowed to do certain things (watering zebras, playing cricket, burning the bodies of relatives and friends) . The images of the gods on the doors of the temples all indicate their attributes-horns, hourglasses, jellyfish-so that the devotees can see them clearly so that prayers can not be read by mistake. Buildings without signs or images can be identified by their shape and position in the city: palaces, prisons, mints, schools, brothels. The goods on display on the stalls are the same, "their value is not in the goods themselves, but in something else that is the symbol: the embroidered headband for elegance, the gilded sedan chair for power, the book for learning, the anklet for ease. You Walk the streets as if they were sheets of paper: the City tells you everything you must think about, and asks you to repeat what it has said, while you think you are visiting Tamara, you are merely recording the nouns it uses to dissect its parts. No matter what the city really looks like, no matter what is hidden or hidden under the thick signboards, you leave Tamara without ever finding it. Outside the city, the land stretched empty to the horizon; the sky opened up and the clouds flew by. Chance and wind determined the shape of the clouds, and now you began to take notice of the shapes: a sailing ship, a hand, an elephant.. 标题: 城市和标记
作者: 伊塔洛·卡尔维诺
字数: 703
简介: 你在树木和石头之间走了许多天。你的目光难得停留在什么物体之上，而且只有在认清那物体是另一物体的标记之后才会停留下来：沙上的脚印说明有老虎经过