论文部分内容阅读
I had 2)envisaged a quiet time of reading and sleeping; our couple of days in southern Laos would be spent cruising 100 miles up the 3)Mekong in a pretty, old 4)teak boat. I was mistaken. Wonderfully mistaken. “Bye! Bye! Bye!” was the endless 5)refrain, as groups of tiny children, some in twos and threes, some in their dozens, stood waving at us and practicing their one word of English from the banks. Or from small carved wooden boats. Or, on one occasion, from the top of a giant tree, before they all jumped one after the other into the waters below.
To read or to 6)snooze would have been to fail to wave back at the hundreds of small, smiling faces. That, one felt, would be letting down the children of Laos. On the last day, one fellow passenger laughed delightedly as she showed me the two pages she had read of the 400-page7)doorstop she had been planning to finish.
It was just another example of what makes this mountainous 8)sliver of a country—squeezed between its bigger, louder neighbors, Thailand, Vietnam, and China—such a remarkable place to visit. Laotian people, whatever their age, are some of the loveliest I have ever encountered. Laotians today seem happy with what little they have—theirs is one of the poorest countries in the world—and largely unconcerned by the 9)mucky business of making money, as well as many other aspects of modernity. This is the kind of country where most Lao women still wear the traditional tube skirt, together with a neatly tailored jacket, just as most Lao families still live in traditional wooden houses on 10)stilts and work in the11)rice paddies.
Cars are a comparatively rare sight; bicycles and water buffalo, in contrast, are 12)ubiquitous. 13)Scooters are the transport of choice for the well-off, a brightly patterned umbrella 14)nonchalantly held in one hand when the sun is hot or the rain is falling. Its rural landscape in the months from November to January is 15)eye-poppingly 16)verdant and 17)picturesque. But equally 18)beguiling is Luang Prabang, now a Unesco World Heritage Site, a 19)pinch-yourself perfect 20)time capsule of a French colonial town, caught in a 21)fork between the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. Its main streets are filled with pretty French-built stone buildings with wooden 22)fretwork balconies and terraces, its residential streets are lined with traditional raised Laotian wooden houses with their 23)sweeping24)gables.
Here and there is the occasional temple, most memorably the tiny Wat Paa Huak, which has orange walls covered with stunning 25)murals depicting26)exotica such as white tigers. Looking down on the other temples is Wat Chom Si, which 27)perches on a rocky 28)outcrop next to the main street. Outside it, women sell birds in tiny pink-dyed bamboo birdcages; release a bird and your wish will come true. A couple of hours upriver are two more unusual temples, hidden in caves carved out of the cliffs by the Mekong millennia ago. In each are hundreds of gilded Buddhas of all different sizes, left by worshippers. Some are 29)intricate, 30)immaculately carved, big and grand. Others are31)lopsided, as small as a chess piece, or a thimble, and 32)squiffy-eyed, as if they have availed themselves of too much of the local 33)rice whisky. The higher of the two caves, a steep climb up 200 steps, is dark and at first seems empty. But with a torch, suddenly the Buddhas 34)transmogrify 35)en masse, a magical entity dazzling out of the darkness.
Back in Luang Prabang, at dawn the spiritually inclined—along with the more dedicated visitors—kneel along the length of the main street with offerings of rice for the 36)crocodiles of passing orange-37)clad monks. To each you must offer a handful from your tip khao—the traditional woven bamboo pot. Next on the morning to-do list for locals is the market, which snakes along a narrow street in the centre of town. There are plenty of peculiar things for sale—squirrels, 38)assorted rodents, crickets—but the main focus is fish and shellfish, particularly the small pinky-orange Mekong crabs, which are strung on large hoops of bamboo as if on some mermaid-39)gaoler’s key ring. And then there are the vegetables: neat, abundant piles of 40)morning glory and 41)watercress, and so-called river weeds (a Mekong speciality). Everywhere you look there are mini-mountains of chillies and limes, both key ingredients in the national dish of laap, a spicy 42)minced meat or fish salad.
The eating houses of Luang Prabang are the best in the country. Here is the place to try out a cuisine that is much-loved in neighbouring Thailand—but difficult to find elsewhere in the world. Plus, its stylish, tourist-targeted shops bear dangerous testimony to the country’s French past; as well as pretty antiques there are tasteful modern 43)reworkings of old textiles and 44)objet trouvé (particularly 45)covetable are the silver tip khao).
But, this being Laos, you only need to cross the river to forget about shops and restaurants, about modernity itself. Hire a bicycle in town and 46)hitch a ride with a local boatman for a couple of dollars, and you can cycle out into the paddy fields and villages. Stop occasionally to watch the locals playing their version of 47)boules, or marvel at a tiny child atop a bicycle built for someone three times their size, or another child skillfully 48)cleaving a chicken in the yard. Glimpse a mother rocking her baby in a cradle strung between the stilts under the house, or watch a farmer and his family constantly bent, it seems, in the rice paddies. And then when you cycle back to the river bank, the boatman is waiting for you. And he is, of course, smiling.
我曾经想象着，我们在老挝南部旅行的几天里会坐着一艘漂亮而古朴的柚木船在湄公河上巡游100英里（约161公里），享受一段只有阅读和闭目休息的宁静时光。但我想错了，惊喜频频出现。“再见！再见！再见！”是我们不断听到的一个词，一群群小孩子，有些是两三人一起，有些是十几个一组，站在河堤上边朝我们挥手边练习着说他们刚学会的这个英语单词。也有些孩子会站在小小的雕花木船上。或者，碰到那么一回，是站在一棵大树的顶端。随后，他们一个接一个地全都跳进了身下的河里。
如果在船上看书或者打盹，那就不能挥手回应那数百张微笑的小脸，如此一来，游客们会感觉辜负了那些老挝孩子们的好意。在旅行的最后一天，我的一位旅伴快乐地笑着给我看那本她原本准备在旅途中看完的书，那本400页的厚书她只看了开头的两页。
虽然老挝这狭长的山地之国挤在那些引人注目的邻居们（泰国、越南和中国）当中，却精彩处处，那里孩子们的笑容只是其值得到访的理由之一。老挝人，无论其年龄大小，都是我见到过的最可爱的人。今天，老挝人看起来都满足于他们所拥有的一切，即使老挝是世界上最穷的国家之一，大多数老挝人不太关心钻营敛财之道，也不关心现代化的种种发展。就是这样一个国家，在这儿，大多数老挝妇女仍然穿着传统的筒裙和整洁而剪裁讲究的短上衣，同时，大多数老挝家庭仍住在传统的木头高脚屋里，在稻田里劳作。
汽车相对少见；相比之下，自行车和水牛则到处都是，有钱人会选择小轮摩托车做交通工具。无论是出太阳还是下雨，人们手里总是拿着图案鲜亮的雨伞。从十一月到一月这段时间，老挝的乡村一片青翠，风景如画。不过，同样诱人的还有其首府琅勃拉邦，坐落于湄公河和南康河交汇处的这个城市，现在是联合国教科文组织指定的一处世界遗址，其法国殖民时代的风情得到了完好的保存，让人感觉恍如时光倒流。在琅勃拉邦的大街上，到处是法国人建造的漂亮的石头房屋，带有木质雕花阳台和露台，住宅区的街道旁是一排排有着大型尖顶山墙的传统老挝高脚木屋。
这里随处可见寺庙，最令人印象深刻的是那座小小的帕华可寺，那里橙色的墙上有各色慑人的壁画，描绘着白虎这类珍禽异兽。接着来看另一所寺庙——宗西寺，它坐落在主街旁那片石崖上。庙门外有妇女售卖装在粉红色小竹笼里的小鸟，放生一只小鸟你的愿望就会实现。沿着河流乘船逆行两个小时，就可以来到另外两座非同一般的寺庙，它们建在湄公河边岩壁上凿出的岩洞里，已经有千年历史了。每座寺庙里都有几百尊不同尺寸的镀金佛像，这些都是香客捐塑的。有些佛像雕刻精美，尺寸巨大。有些则倾斜着，像一枚棋子或顶针那样细小，醉眼朦胧的，仿佛它们喝了太多 本地米酒。到较高的那个岩洞去要爬上200级陡峭的台阶，洞里光线很暗，初看像是空空如也。但是用电筒一照，佛像突然齐齐显现了，在黑暗中神奇地发出耀眼的光芒。
回到琅勃拉邦。清晨时分，沿着大街跪满了虔诚而专注的香客们，他们向一队队穿着橙色袈裟的和尚们施舍大米。你必须从传统的编织竹篓里拿出米来分给那些和尚，每人一把。当地人接下来要在早上做的第二件事情就是去市场。市场位于市中心一条狭窄的街道上。有很多特别的东西在那里售卖——松鼠，各种鼠类，蟋蟀等，但最多的还是鱼和贝类。特别是淡红色的湄公河小蟹，用竹环扎起来，好像美人鱼看守人的钥匙环。还有那些蔬菜：堆得整整齐齐的圆叶牵牛花、豆瓣菜以及所谓的“河籽”（湄公河的一种特产）。到处都可以看见堆成小山般的辣椒和酸橙，这两样都是老挝人做主菜“腊普”（一种用肉糜或鱼做成的香辣色拉）的主要食材。
琅勃拉邦的餐馆是全国最好的。在这里一定要试试备受邻国泰国人喜爱的老挝菜，因为在世界上其他地方不容易尝到。此外，琅勃拉邦那些颇有品位，专做游客生意的店铺，还有那些高雅的古董店里陈列着的精美的古董复制品（特别吸引人的是那些银质的竹篓）都印证着这个国家曾为法国殖民地的过去。
但是，这就是老挝，你只要过了河就可以把那些商铺、餐馆抛诸脑后，把现代社会的一切忘得干干净净。花几美元在镇上租一辆自行车，接着携车免费搭乘当地船夫的小船渡一程后，你就能到乡村和稻田间去骑游。随走随停，看当地人玩本地版的法国式滚木球游戏，或惊奇地发现小孩子骑着比他们身体大三倍的自行车，或是观看另一个小孩在院子里熟练地杀鸡，或瞥见一位母亲摇着那吊在屋子柱子之间的摇篮，或看到一位农民和他的家人在稻田里持续地弯着腰劳作。然后，当你骑车回到河岸的时候，你会发现，船夫正在等你，当然，他面带微笑。
To read or to 6)snooze would have been to fail to wave back at the hundreds of small, smiling faces. That, one felt, would be letting down the children of Laos. On the last day, one fellow passenger laughed delightedly as she showed me the two pages she had read of the 400-page7)doorstop she had been planning to finish.
It was just another example of what makes this mountainous 8)sliver of a country—squeezed between its bigger, louder neighbors, Thailand, Vietnam, and China—such a remarkable place to visit. Laotian people, whatever their age, are some of the loveliest I have ever encountered. Laotians today seem happy with what little they have—theirs is one of the poorest countries in the world—and largely unconcerned by the 9)mucky business of making money, as well as many other aspects of modernity. This is the kind of country where most Lao women still wear the traditional tube skirt, together with a neatly tailored jacket, just as most Lao families still live in traditional wooden houses on 10)stilts and work in the11)rice paddies.
Cars are a comparatively rare sight; bicycles and water buffalo, in contrast, are 12)ubiquitous. 13)Scooters are the transport of choice for the well-off, a brightly patterned umbrella 14)nonchalantly held in one hand when the sun is hot or the rain is falling. Its rural landscape in the months from November to January is 15)eye-poppingly 16)verdant and 17)picturesque. But equally 18)beguiling is Luang Prabang, now a Unesco World Heritage Site, a 19)pinch-yourself perfect 20)time capsule of a French colonial town, caught in a 21)fork between the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. Its main streets are filled with pretty French-built stone buildings with wooden 22)fretwork balconies and terraces, its residential streets are lined with traditional raised Laotian wooden houses with their 23)sweeping24)gables.
Here and there is the occasional temple, most memorably the tiny Wat Paa Huak, which has orange walls covered with stunning 25)murals depicting26)exotica such as white tigers. Looking down on the other temples is Wat Chom Si, which 27)perches on a rocky 28)outcrop next to the main street. Outside it, women sell birds in tiny pink-dyed bamboo birdcages; release a bird and your wish will come true. A couple of hours upriver are two more unusual temples, hidden in caves carved out of the cliffs by the Mekong millennia ago. In each are hundreds of gilded Buddhas of all different sizes, left by worshippers. Some are 29)intricate, 30)immaculately carved, big and grand. Others are31)lopsided, as small as a chess piece, or a thimble, and 32)squiffy-eyed, as if they have availed themselves of too much of the local 33)rice whisky. The higher of the two caves, a steep climb up 200 steps, is dark and at first seems empty. But with a torch, suddenly the Buddhas 34)transmogrify 35)en masse, a magical entity dazzling out of the darkness.
Back in Luang Prabang, at dawn the spiritually inclined—along with the more dedicated visitors—kneel along the length of the main street with offerings of rice for the 36)crocodiles of passing orange-37)clad monks. To each you must offer a handful from your tip khao—the traditional woven bamboo pot. Next on the morning to-do list for locals is the market, which snakes along a narrow street in the centre of town. There are plenty of peculiar things for sale—squirrels, 38)assorted rodents, crickets—but the main focus is fish and shellfish, particularly the small pinky-orange Mekong crabs, which are strung on large hoops of bamboo as if on some mermaid-39)gaoler’s key ring. And then there are the vegetables: neat, abundant piles of 40)morning glory and 41)watercress, and so-called river weeds (a Mekong speciality). Everywhere you look there are mini-mountains of chillies and limes, both key ingredients in the national dish of laap, a spicy 42)minced meat or fish salad.
The eating houses of Luang Prabang are the best in the country. Here is the place to try out a cuisine that is much-loved in neighbouring Thailand—but difficult to find elsewhere in the world. Plus, its stylish, tourist-targeted shops bear dangerous testimony to the country’s French past; as well as pretty antiques there are tasteful modern 43)reworkings of old textiles and 44)objet trouvé (particularly 45)covetable are the silver tip khao).
But, this being Laos, you only need to cross the river to forget about shops and restaurants, about modernity itself. Hire a bicycle in town and 46)hitch a ride with a local boatman for a couple of dollars, and you can cycle out into the paddy fields and villages. Stop occasionally to watch the locals playing their version of 47)boules, or marvel at a tiny child atop a bicycle built for someone three times their size, or another child skillfully 48)cleaving a chicken in the yard. Glimpse a mother rocking her baby in a cradle strung between the stilts under the house, or watch a farmer and his family constantly bent, it seems, in the rice paddies. And then when you cycle back to the river bank, the boatman is waiting for you. And he is, of course, smiling.
我曾经想象着，我们在老挝南部旅行的几天里会坐着一艘漂亮而古朴的柚木船在湄公河上巡游100英里（约161公里），享受一段只有阅读和闭目休息的宁静时光。但我想错了，惊喜频频出现。“再见！再见！再见！”是我们不断听到的一个词，一群群小孩子，有些是两三人一起，有些是十几个一组，站在河堤上边朝我们挥手边练习着说他们刚学会的这个英语单词。也有些孩子会站在小小的雕花木船上。或者，碰到那么一回，是站在一棵大树的顶端。随后，他们一个接一个地全都跳进了身下的河里。
如果在船上看书或者打盹，那就不能挥手回应那数百张微笑的小脸，如此一来，游客们会感觉辜负了那些老挝孩子们的好意。在旅行的最后一天，我的一位旅伴快乐地笑着给我看那本她原本准备在旅途中看完的书，那本400页的厚书她只看了开头的两页。
虽然老挝这狭长的山地之国挤在那些引人注目的邻居们（泰国、越南和中国）当中，却精彩处处，那里孩子们的笑容只是其值得到访的理由之一。老挝人，无论其年龄大小，都是我见到过的最可爱的人。今天，老挝人看起来都满足于他们所拥有的一切，即使老挝是世界上最穷的国家之一，大多数老挝人不太关心钻营敛财之道，也不关心现代化的种种发展。就是这样一个国家，在这儿，大多数老挝妇女仍然穿着传统的筒裙和整洁而剪裁讲究的短上衣，同时，大多数老挝家庭仍住在传统的木头高脚屋里，在稻田里劳作。
汽车相对少见；相比之下，自行车和水牛则到处都是，有钱人会选择小轮摩托车做交通工具。无论是出太阳还是下雨，人们手里总是拿着图案鲜亮的雨伞。从十一月到一月这段时间，老挝的乡村一片青翠，风景如画。不过，同样诱人的还有其首府琅勃拉邦，坐落于湄公河和南康河交汇处的这个城市，现在是联合国教科文组织指定的一处世界遗址，其法国殖民时代的风情得到了完好的保存，让人感觉恍如时光倒流。在琅勃拉邦的大街上，到处是法国人建造的漂亮的石头房屋，带有木质雕花阳台和露台，住宅区的街道旁是一排排有着大型尖顶山墙的传统老挝高脚木屋。
这里随处可见寺庙，最令人印象深刻的是那座小小的帕华可寺，那里橙色的墙上有各色慑人的壁画，描绘着白虎这类珍禽异兽。接着来看另一所寺庙——宗西寺，它坐落在主街旁那片石崖上。庙门外有妇女售卖装在粉红色小竹笼里的小鸟，放生一只小鸟你的愿望就会实现。沿着河流乘船逆行两个小时，就可以来到另外两座非同一般的寺庙，它们建在湄公河边岩壁上凿出的岩洞里，已经有千年历史了。每座寺庙里都有几百尊不同尺寸的镀金佛像，这些都是香客捐塑的。有些佛像雕刻精美，尺寸巨大。有些则倾斜着，像一枚棋子或顶针那样细小，醉眼朦胧的，仿佛它们喝了太多 本地米酒。到较高的那个岩洞去要爬上200级陡峭的台阶，洞里光线很暗，初看像是空空如也。但是用电筒一照，佛像突然齐齐显现了，在黑暗中神奇地发出耀眼的光芒。
回到琅勃拉邦。清晨时分，沿着大街跪满了虔诚而专注的香客们，他们向一队队穿着橙色袈裟的和尚们施舍大米。你必须从传统的编织竹篓里拿出米来分给那些和尚，每人一把。当地人接下来要在早上做的第二件事情就是去市场。市场位于市中心一条狭窄的街道上。有很多特别的东西在那里售卖——松鼠，各种鼠类，蟋蟀等，但最多的还是鱼和贝类。特别是淡红色的湄公河小蟹，用竹环扎起来，好像美人鱼看守人的钥匙环。还有那些蔬菜：堆得整整齐齐的圆叶牵牛花、豆瓣菜以及所谓的“河籽”（湄公河的一种特产）。到处都可以看见堆成小山般的辣椒和酸橙，这两样都是老挝人做主菜“腊普”（一种用肉糜或鱼做成的香辣色拉）的主要食材。
琅勃拉邦的餐馆是全国最好的。在这里一定要试试备受邻国泰国人喜爱的老挝菜，因为在世界上其他地方不容易尝到。此外，琅勃拉邦那些颇有品位，专做游客生意的店铺，还有那些高雅的古董店里陈列着的精美的古董复制品（特别吸引人的是那些银质的竹篓）都印证着这个国家曾为法国殖民地的过去。
但是，这就是老挝，你只要过了河就可以把那些商铺、餐馆抛诸脑后，把现代社会的一切忘得干干净净。花几美元在镇上租一辆自行车，接着携车免费搭乘当地船夫的小船渡一程后，你就能到乡村和稻田间去骑游。随走随停，看当地人玩本地版的法国式滚木球游戏，或惊奇地发现小孩子骑着比他们身体大三倍的自行车，或是观看另一个小孩在院子里熟练地杀鸡，或瞥见一位母亲摇着那吊在屋子柱子之间的摇篮，或看到一位农民和他的家人在稻田里持续地弯着腰劳作。然后，当你骑车回到河岸的时候，你会发现，船夫正在等你，当然，他面带微笑。