銀河戲法

為了讀者閱讀的樂趣，中外文學作品裡都可以看到許多既貼切又耐人尋味的直喻 (simile)。張愛玲的「生命是一襲華麗的袍，上面爬滿了蝨子」幾乎人人都會引用，雖然我個人更喜歡她下面這句名言：裝扮得很像樣的人，在像樣的地方出現，看見同類，也被看見，這就是社交。

2003 年諾貝爾文學獎得主柯慈 (J. M. Coetzee) 在《屈辱》(Disgrace) 這本小說裡描寫男主角 David 的女兒 Lucy 被性侵害之後恍恍惚惚的生活：
Lucy spends hours after hour lying on her bed, staring into space or looking at old magazines... She flicks through them impatiently, as though searching for something that is not there. (p. 114)

簡單一點的像是：
A feeling being betrayed surged up in me while my nose turned stuffy. I shook my head as if a hard object had hit it. (p. 183)
I began laying him down slowly. The muscle on his face twitched and twitched as though something were biting him in his mouth. (p. 136)
都出自哈金 (Ha Jin) 的小說 《The Crazed》。

直喻用得恰當、用得生動，顯然可以讓故事變得更活潑，更有想像空間。反之，如果用得不高明，結果就不一定是作者所能預期的了。

下面是一些初學者所寫的直喻和我的中譯供大家參考：

1. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
冰雹在人行道上彈跳的樣子，就好像你用熱油煎蛆蟲一樣。

2. It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall.
痛到就好像你不小心用釘書機把舌頭釘到牆上一樣。

3. The plan was simple, like my brother Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
這個計畫像我弟弟飛兒一樣單純 ，但是這個計畫可能行得通，又不像我老弟。

4. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
年輕鬥士一臉餓像，好像很久沒吃東西一樣。

5. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
他像鴨子一樣跛著腳。不是比喻用的那種「跛腳鴨」，而是真正瘸了腿的一隻鴨。也許踩到了地雷或是什麼的。

6. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
她從喉嚨發出深沉、純正的笑聲，好像一隻狗快要嘔吐以前發出的聲音。

7. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a lamppost.
芭蕾舞孃優雅地以腳尖站立，把另一隻瘦長的腿伸到身後，正像一隻狗把腳斜靠在燈柱上一樣。

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
三十年的婚姻由於他老婆的出軌毀於一旦，消息傳出大家都嚇了一跳，好像先前免收手續費的自動提款機突然要收錢一樣。

9. The dandelion swayed in the gentle breeze like an oscillating electric fan set on medium.
蒲公英在微風中擺盪，好像旋轉的電扇風力設在中段一樣不快也不慢。

10. Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.
在雨中她的頭髮閃閃發亮，好像打噴嚏後的鼻毛一樣。

我覺得最爆笑的是第七句，最匪夷所思的是第一句。您認為呢？