【赫临译笔】救命的微笑 - 心云驛站

我一定会被处决，感到非常紧张。我把手伸进衣袋，摸索着，看是否有没被搜走的香烟。摸到了一根，但由于双手发抖，送不到嘴里。烟没法点燃，火柴早已被搜走。

我透过铁窗看着狱卒。他并没看我。我向他喊道：“有火吗？”他看了看我，耸了耸肩，走过来点燃了我的烟。当他走近，划亮火柴时，他的目光无意中锁定了我的目光。那时候，我笑了。说不清为什么。也许是因为紧张，也许是两人靠得太近，不能不笑。无论如何，我笑了。那一霎那，微笑好像一个火花跨跃了两颗心，两个灵魂之间的距离。我知道他不想这样做，但是我的微笑穿越铁栏，使他脸上也出现了微笑。他点燃我的烟，呆在我附近，直视着我的眼睛，继续微笑着。

我一直朝他笑着，现在意识到，他是一个人而不是一个狱卒。他对我的注视似乎有了新的内容。“有孩子吗？”他问。“有，在这里。”我掏出钱包，紧张地寻找着家人的照片。他也掏出家人的照片，开始向我谈他们的设想和希望。我眼含热泪，说恐怕再也见不到家人了，再也没有机会看着孩子们长大。他眼里也涌出了泪水。突然，什么也没说，他打开了我的牢房，默默地放我出来。出了狱门，沿后面的小路，我们悄悄地出了城。在城外，他放了我。什么也没说，他转身朝城里走去。

一个微笑救了我的命。是的，是一个毫不造作，没有心机的微笑，这是人与人之间自然的沟通。我相信，如果我们能够通过微笑彼此赏识的话，我们就不会成为敌人。我们也不会再有仇恨、妒忌和恐惧。

I was sure that I was to be killed. I became terribly nervous. I fumbled in my pockets to see if there were any cigarettes, which had escaped their search. I found one and because of my shaking hands, I could barely get it to my lips. But I had no matches, they had taken those.

I looked through the bars at my jailer. He did not make eye contact with me. Icalled out to him "Have you got a light?" He looked at me, shrugged and came over to light my cigarette. As he came close and lit the match, his eyes inadvertently locked with mine. At that moment, I smiled. I don't know why I did that. Perhaps it was nervousness, perhaps it was because, when you get very close, one to another, it is very hard not to smile. In any case, I smiled. In that instant, it was as though a spark jumped across the gap between our two hearts, our two human souls. I know he didn't want to, but my smile leaped through the bars and generated a smile on his lips, too. He lit my cigarette but stayed near, looking at me directly in the eyes and continuing to smile.

I kept smiling at him, now aware of him as a person and not just a jailer. And his looking at me seemed to have a new dimension too. "Do you have kids?" he asked. "Yes, here, here." I took out my wallet and nervously fumbled for the pictures of my family. He, too, took out the pictures of his family and began to talk about his plans and hopes for them. My eyes filled with tears. I said that I feared that I'd never see my family again,never have the chance to see them grow up. Tears came to his eyes, too. Suddenly,without another word, he unlocked my cell and silently led me out. Out of the jail, quietly and by back routes, out of the town. There, at the edge of town,he released me. And without another word, he turned back toward the town.

My life was saved by a smile. Yes, the smile-the unaffected, unplanned, natural connection between people. I really believe that if that part of you and that part of me could recognize each other, we wouldn't be enemies. We couldn't have hate or envy or fear.