Collecting things - My Grandmother's elephant 收藏品——我奶奶的黑檀象

By Chris Wilson 克里斯.威爾遜著

My grandmother had a beautiful elephant carved out of sandalwood on her dressing table which I secretly used to covet. I wanted it more than anything in the world. It was about the size of a football and had a cheeky smile. It was inlaid with tiny circular mirrors and mother of pearl, and had real ivory tusks and toenails. One day my sister said “Oh Grandma, please can I have it?” and, to my fury and disbelief, she just gave it to her! I immediately made two resolutions: 1) never to speak to either of them ever again. 2) To find another elephant just like it.
我奶奶的鏡架臺(tái)上，有一頭用檀香木雕刻的漂亮的大象，我對(duì)這只大象覬覦已久。我對(duì)他的渴望，要比擁有這世上的其他東西要來的更強(qiáng)烈。這只大象大概有足球大小，帶著一臉賣萌的微笑。這只大象跟小圓鏡和貝殼鑲嵌在一起，有真象牙和象腳趾甲。一天，我妹妹對(duì)奶奶說“噢，奶奶，可以把大象給我嗎？”讓我憤怒和意想不到是，奶奶竟然真的把大象給了妹妹。我立刻做了兩個(gè)決定：1）永遠(yuǎn)不再跟妹妹或者奶奶說話。2）找另一只一模一樣的大象。

Ever since I have been scouring the world. I have rummaged round junk shops and antique shops all over Europe, I have been to garage sales and flea markets in America, I have hung about in Arab souks and Indian bazaars, but I have never seen anything quite the same.
從那時(shí)候起，我找遍了全世界, 翻遍了歐洲的舊物商店和古董店，美國舊貨賣場和跳蚤市場。我也逛過阿拉伯的露天賣場和印度集市，但是還是找不到跟那頭大象一模一樣的東西。

Along the way, however, I have acquired all sorts of other elephants and my collection has grown and grown. I have got black ebony elephants from Malawi, and a couple of ivory – all, I hasten to add, made a long time ago, before the ebony trees were chopped down and the ivory trade was made illegal. I also have soap stone elephants from Zimbabwe, and an exotic Congolese one carved out of bright green malachite. I have a whole family of wooden Thai elephants marching along the top of my piano – sometimes when I sit and play. I could swear they are marching in time to the music. I have two very heavy, long legged elephants which I bought in Khan el Khalili, in Cairo, which I use as bookends, and an enormous fat one from the Sudan which I use as a coffee table. My search goes on, but it gets more and more difficult to find really good pieces. On recent trips to Africa I have noticed how the quality of the workmanship has deteriorated. In craft markets all over the continent you can find thousands of elephants, but they are nearly all shoddily made, churned out for tourists by people who probably have never seen a real elephant in their lives.
然而一路上，我找到了各種各樣的象，收藏品也越來越多。我從馬拉維那里得到了一只黑檀大象，還有幾個(gè)象牙——我迫切地想要補(bǔ)充說明一下，所有的這些藏品都是很久之前制作的，那時(shí)黑檀樹還未被伐倒，象牙交易還未被視為違法行為。我還有一只津巴布韋的皂石大象，一只很奇異的用鮮亮綠孔雀石雕琢而成的剛果大象藏品。我還有一家子的木制泰國大象，在鋼琴蓋上一字排開——我發(fā)誓，有時(shí)我坐下來彈琴，它們就隨著音樂行進(jìn)。我有兩只笨重的長腿大象，是我從埃及的汗埃爾哈利利買來的，我用它們來做書擋，還有一只約旦肥壯大象，我把它當(dāng)咖啡桌用。我不斷搜尋著，但要找到好的藏品越來越難了。最近在非洲，我發(fā)覺制作大象的工藝質(zhì)量已經(jīng)變差了。你可以在整個(gè)非洲的工藝品市場找到成千上萬只大象藏品，但幾乎都是粗制濫造的，這些工藝品都是為了賣給游客而大量生產(chǎn)出來的，那些制作大象的人恐怕還沒有在生活中見過真正的大象呢。

Why do people collect things? Probably many, like me, don’t set out to do so. You just acquire something, then another and another and then, once you’ve got a small collection you just keep adding to it. I have an uncle who collects key rings – he has hundreds of them from all over the world – but he can’t remember how it started. Other people collect stamps, stones, beer cans, beer mats, match boxes, all sorts of things. For some it can become a total obsession and they will go to any lengths to get something. One of my colleagues collects Royal memorabilia, which to me is the ultimate in bad taste! Her house is crammed full of kitsch things like Coronation mugs, ashtrays with pictures of Charles and Diana, British flags, tea towels printed with Windsor Castle and even a toilet seat cover with Prince Andrew grinning widely up at you. What is this urge to possess all these things?
為什么人們會(huì)收集藏品呢？很可能很多人都像我一樣，并非有意為之，僅僅是獲得了某一個(gè)東西，接著又多了一件，又多了一件，你有了一些藏品后，又不斷增加。我有一個(gè)叔叔在收集鑰匙環(huán)——他有全球各地的鑰匙環(huán)——但他已經(jīng)記不起出于什么原因開始收藏了。其他人，可能收集郵票，石頭，啤酒瓶，啤酒墊子，火柴盒，各種各樣的東西。對(duì)于某些人來說，收藏可能會(huì)讓人完全癡迷其中，并竭盡全力地去獲得一些藏品。我的一個(gè)同事收集皇家紀(jì)念品，我覺得這很俗氣。她的房子堆滿了粗劣的藏品，像加冕杯，帶有查爾斯王子和戴安娜王妃頭像的煙灰缸，英國國旗，印有溫莎城堡的茶布，甚至是印有安德魯王子對(duì)你大笑的馬桶蓋子。收藏這些東西的動(dòng)力是什么呢？

I recently discussed this question with a group of students in Mozambique and what rapidly became evident was that few of them had such an urge. “Why not?” I asked. “I don’t know” said Anotonio. “It’s just not in our culture”.“Does that mean you’re not as materialistic as Europeans?”Antonio laughed. “No way! We want cars and houses and fancy things just like anyone else, but we don’t collect knick knacks, things we can’t use”.“I think it’s because of our recent war” said Maria “and the state of the economy. For many years there was nothing to collect, except shells off the beach perhaps”.“? collect shoes” said Teresa, who comes from Angola. “I have over seventy pairs. But I buy them to wear, not just for the sake of having them”.“Oh come on!” laughed Antonio. “Anything you don’t actually need you have for the sake of having it, and you can’t possibly need seventy pairs!”“I do, I need every single pair!” she insisted.“So you are a collector!”“No I’m not!”“Yes you are!” shouted the whole class.
最近，我跟莫桑比克的一群學(xué)生討論了這個(gè)問題，很快我就明白了，學(xué)生中幾乎沒有人有如此的一個(gè)收藏的動(dòng)力?！盀槭裁礇]有動(dòng)力呢？”，我問?！拔也恢??！?，安東尼奧說道?！拔覀兊奈幕锊]有收藏?！薄斑@是否意味著，你不像歐洲人那樣都是唯物主義者？” 安東尼奧笑了?！敖^不是！我們像其他人一樣，都想要汽車和房子，還有奇特的東西，但是我們不收藏那些我們不用的小擺設(shè)?！?“我覺得，那是因?yàn)槲覀兘鼇淼膽?zhàn)爭所致”，瑪利亞說道，“還有經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況。很多年來，也許除了沙灘上的貝殼，我們都沒啥好收藏的?！?“我收藏鞋”，來自安哥拉的特里紗說道?！拔矣谐^70雙鞋。但我買鞋來穿的，不是為了擁有這些鞋而去購買?！?“噢，得了吧！”，安東尼笑道?！叭魏文銓?shí)際上并不需要的東西，你都會(huì)為了擁有而去購買，你是不可能需要70雙鞋的。” “我真的需要，我需要這70雙鞋中的每一雙鞋！”，她堅(jiān)稱?！八?，你是一個(gè)收藏家！” “不，我不是” “是的，你是收藏家！”整個(gè)班的人都喊了出來。

Paula stuck up her hand. “I’m a collector” she said. “? am a fan of Julio Iglesias and I have all his CDs, every one, even the latest which, I have to admit, isn’t very good at all”. “So why did you buy it?” I asked. “Well, because I’ve got all the others of course” she said. “And my son collects those little plastic dinosaurs you find inside cereal packets. He’s only got to get T Rex and then he’s got the whole set.” “They are exploiting you” said Antonio. “They encourage children to become collectors so that you keep buying more and more. This is something new in our country. Soon we will all be fanatically collecting things, just like everyone else in the world”.
寶拉舉起手來?！拔沂且粋€(gè)收藏家”，她說道?！拔沂呛飱W.伊格萊西亞斯的粉絲，我擁有他所有的唱片，每一張唱片，甚至是我覺得一點(diǎn)兒都不好聽的最新的那張?！?“為什么你還買呢？” 我問?！耙?yàn)槲乙呀?jīng)有了其他所有的唱片?！彼f道。“我孩子收藏那些谷物包中的塑料恐龍。他本只想要霸王龍，之后他收集了整個(gè)系列的恐龍?！?“這些藏品正在剝削你的錢”，安東尼奧說道?！斑@些塑料恐龍鼓動(dòng)孩子成為收藏家，這樣你就得越買越多。這在我們這還很新鮮。不久后，我們就都會(huì)像世界上的其他人一樣，狂熱地收集各種東西?！?/p>

Harshill, who is of Indian origin, had been silent all this time. He cleared his throat. “One good reason to collect things is that a collection is worth more - how do you say in English? More than the sum of its parts. If you sold your elephants one by one you wouldn’t get nearly as much as if you sold the whole collection. So it is a way of saving money, a good investment.”
哈歇爾，這個(gè)印籍人從始至終保持沉默。他清了清嗓子，“收集東西的一個(gè)有力的理由就是，藏品會(huì)值更多錢——怎么用英語來說呢？比藏品各個(gè)部分加起來還要貴。如果把你的大象一只只地賣掉，那得到的錢沒有一次性把所有的藏品賣出去所得到的錢多。所以，這是存錢的一種方法，一種很好的投資方式。

On the way back to my hotel a young boy was selling a badly carved elephant by the side of the road. I didn’t want it but I bought it because I felt sorry for him. Later I thought I should just have given him some money and let him try to sell it to someone else. It would never be part of my collection, each in its own special place in a different part of my house. I imagined walking round looking at them all and thought about what Harshill had said – it’s a way of increasing the value of what you already have - but as usual there was that niggling feeling that my collection, not matter how valuable, would never be complete. Not without my Grandmother's elephant! What a waste for it to be with my sister when it could be, should be, with me! “Oh well, never mind, try not to be obsessed” I told myself.
回酒店的路上，我看到有一個(gè)小男孩在路邊賣雕工粗糙的大象。我并不想要，但我還是買了，因?yàn)槲液芡樗?。過后，我覺得我應(yīng)該把錢給他，讓他把大象賣給其他人。這頭大象永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)成為我收藏品的一部分。藏品的每一頭都放在我房子不同位置，我想象著自己在這些東西周圍走走，看著它們，思考著哈歇爾的話——這是增加你所擁有東西的價(jià)值的一種方法——但像往常一樣，我總有一種感覺，我的藏品，無論多么寶貴，永遠(yuǎn)無法完整。因?yàn)闆]有我奶奶的那頭大象！那只本該跟我在一起的大象，放在我妹妹那里可真是浪費(fèi)啊?！班?，沒關(guān)系的，不要被這件事困擾?！蔽易匝缘馈?/p>

Ever since though, I have been lying awake at night, thinking of it standing there on a brass table in her hallway, next to the window she always leaves open for her cat. Her dogs know me, so they won’t be a problem when I climb over the wall in my gloves and balaclava. The whole operation will be over in less than five minutes. The only problem is, having acquired it, what will I do when my sister comes barging in to nose around, as she periodically does, and sees it in pride of place in my house? I’ll have to keep it hidden and then what will be the point of having it? Oh dear. Perhaps I could have a special alarm that would only ring when my sister is on her way. No that’s silly. I’ll just have to move. To another country, under another name, far, far away. But even then, knowing her, she’ll track me down. Oh – dear Reader, what would you do if you were me?
從那以后，我晚上一直不睡覺，想著大象就在她門廳里，在她那總是開著的窗戶邊的銅桌上站立著，窗是為她的貓開的。她的狗兒認(rèn)得我，所以，如果我戴上手套，戴上巴拉克拉法帽子，爬墻進(jìn)去是沒問題的，整個(gè)過程也不過五分鐘。唯一的問題是，妹妹偶爾會(huì)來我的房間，如果妹妹突然闖進(jìn)我的房子，看到它就在我屋子里，那我得怎么辦？把它藏起來嗎，那我得到這只大象又有什么意義呢？哎呀，天吶！也許我需要一個(gè)特殊的警鈴，我妹妹來的時(shí)候，就會(huì)響起來。不，太愚蠢了。我可以逃到另一個(gè)很遠(yuǎn)很遠(yuǎn)的國家，改名換姓。即使那樣，她也會(huì)過來找我的。親愛的讀者，如果你是我，你會(huì)怎么辦呢？