屎虼螂的颂歌(中英文）Sing in Praise of Dung Beetles (in Chinese and English)

China's Great Leap Forward 中国的“大跃进”视频纪录片

陈凯博客： www.kaichenblog.blogspot.com

屎虼螂的颂歌(中英文）
Sing in Praise of Dung Beetles (in Chinese and English)

Recognizing reality is the prerequisite for seeking truth and building a future. Unless one has the will, the ability and the courage to recognize reality, one will be doomed to live forever in falsehood, therefore eternal despair. --- Kai Chen

承认真实的现状是寻找真理, 创造未来的必要先决条件。 如果一个人没有意愿，能力及勇气去承认真实的现状，他就会永远生活在虚假之中，也因此永远生活在默默的绝望之中。 --- 陈凯

Tolerance of difference is a virtue, but tolerance of evil is beyond the most insidious vice on earth. The saddest thing for the Chinese is that they seem to have zero tolerance for difference, but unlimited tolerance for evil. They take the former as weakness and the latter as strength. They even take pride in their own fear and tolerance toward evil. Such a tendency for moral confusion can only be defined as corrupt and evil itself. --- Li Bangding (My Father, 1921 - 1988)

容忍不同是一大良德。 容忍邪恶却是一大败坏。 中国的悲哀在于中国人对不同的毫不容忍，而对邪恶的无限怯懦与忍让。 他们还不以为耻、反以为荣地将前者作为软弱，并将后者作为光荣，力量与骄傲。 这样一种道德混乱的文化只能被定义为邪恶与腐败的文化。 --- 李邦定 (陈凯的父亲，生1921 - 逝1988)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Author’s Words:

I wrote this fable in Chinese. Now I translate it into English so all can read and enjoy. This is the Chinese story equivalent to the English story “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. I hope you all enjoy it.

Best wishes to you all and Happy New Year (2011). Kai Chen 陈凯

***********************************************

屎虼螂的颂歌
Sing in Praise of Dung Beetles

陈凯 著 4/2/2007 http://www.kaichenblog.blogspot.com/

Translation into English by Kai Chen 12/28/2010


农夫们将自己一生的积蓄带到市场上去购货。 他们想买一件东西来证实他们一生的价值。

Peasants brought their life savings to the market, wanting to purchase one thing that could demonstrate to the world their lives’ worth.

市场上卖货的人很多。 他们有不同种族的人们，有不同宗教的人们，有不同文化的人们、、。 他们的货也是多种多样的，五颜六色，五花八门。 农夫们看花了眼，搞不清哪件货值得他们一生的积蓄。 于是农夫们就将注意力集中在卖货人的身上。

There were many merchants selling their merchandise on the market. All of them were from different places and of different races, cultures and religions. Their goods also reflected this diversity. They were colorful and full of varieties. The peasants had never seen so many goods and they were very excited yet confused and fearful, not knowing what to buy to prove their lives’ worth.

最后农夫们决定只从那个长的与他们相近的商人那里买货。 但那个商人的货都是放在一个个四四方方的彩色盒子里的。 谁也看不到盒子里究竟是什么。 商人卖货的唯一条件是买货的人只能在回家以后才能将盒子打开。 商人并让农夫们许诺绝不退货。

After a tortuous hesitation and a long debate, the peasants decided to buy only from those who looked like themselves with similar racial, ethnic and cultural background. However, all such merchants’ goods were packaged in colorful square boxes and no one knew what was in them. The merchants had two conditions for all buyers of their goods: First, those who buy their goods must go home before they open their packages. Second, the buyers can never return the goods for refund.

农夫们想要知道盒子里到底装了什么，但又不愿从与他们长相不同的商人们哪里买货，即使那些商人们的货品是公开让顾客察看检验的。 农夫们最终决定用他们一生的积蓄去买那些装在盒子里，不能看，不能摸的货。 每一个农夫都将自己一生的积蓄买了一个盒子回家。

All the peasants wanted to know what was in those colorful boxes. They felt uncertain about buying from the merchants with such conditions. Yet they were much more unwilling to purchase anything from other merchants of different looks and backgrounds, even those merchants’ goods were open in the plain sight and everyone was allowed to examine them carefully before they bought them. Overwhelmed by their fear of differences, the peasants finally decided to spend their life savings on those colorful boxes from the merchants of similar looks and backgrounds. Every one of the peasants bought a colorful box and went home.

当他们回家打开盒子一看的时候，发现盒子里有一个用极为精巧的包装展现的棕色的圆球。 它是潮湿的，拳头大小，有些尚没消化的草叶从中滋出。 一种农夫们非常熟悉的气味从中弥漫出来。 农夫们觉得非常困惑，不知如何鉴定。 只是当他们的孩子们看到后叫出来“驴粪蛋”的时候，他们才恍然大悟。

After they returned home, they eagerly opened the boxes. They discovered inside the box there was an exquisitely packaged brown ball. The brown fist-sized ball was moist with some undigested grass sticking out from its surface. A very familiar smell emanated from this brown ball. The peasants were very puzzled, unable to decide what it was that they bought with their life savings. Only when their children yelled out “donkey dung, yak, donkey dung”, running away covering their nose, they suddenly understood.

有的农夫非常愤怒。 但他们已经许诺绝不退货。 他们知道自己受了骗，一生的积蓄已荡然无存。 他们离开了他们的祖地，不断地告诫着他们的后代不要再重犯他们的无知，偏见与愚蠢。 他们决心绝不重蹈覆辙并在新的家园建立新的正义的文化。 他们把那新的家园称之为“美德国度”。

Some of the peasants were very angry, knowing they were cheated. But they had already promised never to return what they bought. Their entire live savings were gone and their lives’ worth was nowhere to be found. They left their own homeland to start a new life somewhere else, all the time warning and educating their own children not to repeat their own stupidity based on bias and fear of differences. They eventually established a new village with a new culture based on individual virtue, justice, courage and rationality. They named their new village “Land of the Beautiful”.

更多的农夫们不光不觉得羞耻与受骗, 他们大骂着他们的后代们并让他们住口。 他们认为如果他们买到的是那么昂贵，那这个货品一定也同样有价值。 他们为他们的驴粪蛋起了一个新名称：“黄金蛋“。

However, most other peasants felt otherwise. They reacted by cursing their own children, calling them names and shutting them up. They reasoned that since they spent their entire life savings on this one thing, it had to be very valuable. So they named their donkey dung “Golden Ball”, just to reflect its preciousness.

他们建立了”黄金蛋“研究所，”黄金蛋“大学，不断地教育，告诫他们的后代们”黄金蛋“的伟大。 他们说黄金蛋之伟大是因为它的得来是不易的，是来自农夫们一生的血汗辛劳。 他们说黄金蛋之伟大是因为它来自”黄金驴“-- 它披着”黄金甲“，食了”黄金草“，喝了”黄金河“的水。 他们不知疲倦地，兢兢业业的将他们毕生的精力投入了”黄金文化“，有所发明地研究着为什么黄金蛋的光泽是那么亮，黄金蛋的味道是那么美，黄金蛋的气味是那么香，黄金蛋的品质是那么纯，黄金蛋的原由是那么古，黄金蛋的价值是那么高、、。 他们发明了”黄金蛋“文学并书写了一卷又一卷不朽的”黄金卷“及”黄金诗篇“，如”黄金游记“，黄金演义”，“黄金浒传”，“黄金楼梦”、、。 近代的最高的“黄金著作”叫做“黄金选集”。 自然地“黄金主义“，“黄金思想”，“黄金理论”，“黄金原则”，“黄金坚持”，“黄金代表”，“黄金荣耻”都应运而生。 他们称着“黄金帝”，舞着“黄金龙”，披着“黄金袍”，打着“黄金旗”，宣扬着“黄金特色”的“黄金主义”。 一批批的“黄金圣人”被一代代的“黄金传人”推上了“黄金祭坛”。 “黄金文化”由此不断发扬光大，一代又一代地千古流传。

Later on, they worked even harder to prove the priceless value of donkey dung and hence the value of their lives:

They established all kinds of institutes and universities to educate their offspring about how great the “Golden Ball” was and how valuable it was to all their lives. They told everyone that the Golden Ball’s greatness was in its price – the price of so many people’s lives and so much hard work. They invented fables, proverbs and folklores to sing in praise of the Golden Ball. They extolled that the Golden Ball was from Golden Donkey – It had Golden Armors on its back. It ate Golden Grass by the Golden River. They wrote many volumes of books to espouse the virtues of Golden Ball Culture. They marketed the Golden Ball with a feverish passion in the world, telling all mankind how beautiful the Golden Ball is, how fragrant the Golden Ball smells, how pure a quality the Golden Ball is if it is from the peasants’ homeland, how historical and valuable the Golden Ball is to all mankind in the world….

Their children have learned all about Golden Ball Culture. They have read Golden Poems, Golden Literature Collections from the ancients, Golden Thoughts from the modern saints and saviors, Golden Theories from sages and gods, Golden Principles from Golden Governments, Golden Rules, Golden Morals, Golden Ethics, Golden Characters, Golden Heroes and Martyrs, etc. etc…. They have worshipped Golden Emperors and Golden Chairmen. They have danced with Golden Dragons. They have upheld Golden Flags. They have fortified a Golden Society. They have forged Golden Generations with Golden Characteristics. They have all knelt before the Golden Alta to chant Golden Scriptures….

A Golden Existence thus has been emerged, prolonged and reinforced in the Golden Land, on and on, till eternity.

那些生活在“美德国度”的人们偶然返回他们的祖地，惊异地发现他们的祖地已经没有了人的存在。 在那满地驴粪蛋的，臭气熏天的大地上，只有大大小小的屎虼螂们兢兢业业的打理着，维护着，建造着驴粪蛋的事业，弘扬着驴粪蛋的文化，唱赞着驴粪蛋的悠久与伟大。

After awhile some peasants who live in the Land of the Beautiful returned to their ancestral land for a visit. To their horror, surprise and amazement, they have discovered that in their ancestral land there has long been a total absence of human beings. On the ancient abyss, enveloped with a nauseating stink of donkey dung, countless dung beetles are hard at work managing countless pieces of fresh and stale donkey dung, singing passionately in praise of a culture of excrement from donkeys and dung beetles.