美女与英雄(6)

We never know what a hero will look like. Sometimes a world changing hero is a tiny little teenage girl creeping through the freezing Gobi desert in the dark of night. 💪

我们无从知晓一个英雄外表看起来像什么。有时改变世界的英雄就是一个十几岁的小女孩，在黑漆漆的夜晚穿越冰冷的戈壁滩。

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She told him she’d heard the rumor from her husband’s Chinese uncle, who had heard it from a friend.

她告诉他，她是从她丈夫的一个中国叔叔那里听来的谣言，那中国叔叔是从他的一个朋友那里听来的。

“What do you think of it?” he said.

“你对此怎么想？”他说。

“It’s a terrible, evil rumor!” she said, most sincerely. “It’s a lie told by our enemies who are trying to destroy the greatest nation in the world!”

“这是可怕邪恶的谣言！”她真诚地说，“这是一个谎言，这是我们的敌人正在试图破坏世界上最伟大的国家。”

“What do you think you have done wrong?” he said, flatly.

“你认为你做错了什么？”他直截了当地说。

“Sir, I should have gone to the party organization to report it. I was wrong to just tell it to an individual.”

“领导，我应当去党组织汇报。我错了，我不该去告诉个别人。”

“No, you are wrong,” he said. “You should never have let those words out of your mouth.”

“是的，你是错了，”他说。“你应当从不把这些话从你的嘴里讲出来。”

Now she was sure she was going to die. She kept telling him she was sorry, begging to spare her life for the sake of her two babies. As we say in Korea, she begged until she thought her hands would wear off.

现在她认为她将要死掉了。她不停地对他说抱歉，哀恳着赦免她，看在她有两个孩子的份上。按我们北朝鲜的话，她苦苦哀求着，直到她觉得把两只手都搓破了。

Finally, he said in a sharp voice that chilled her bones, “You must never mention this again. Not to your friends or your husband or your children. Do you understand what will happen if you do?

终于，他尖厉地说，那声音冷彻入骨，“永不许提起此事。甚至不要对你的朋友，你的丈夫和你的孩子提起。如果你提起，你理解什么会发生吗？

She did. Completely.

她服从了。

Next he interrogated Uncle Yong Soo, who was nervously waiting with the family at our house. My mother thinks that she was spared any punishment because Yong Soo confirmed to the agent how angry she had been when he told her the rumor.

接下来，又开始盘问Yong Soo叔叔，他正在我们家里焦急不安地等待着。我母亲认为她之所以能逃脱惩罚，是因为Yong Soo叔叔向当局证实当他给她讲“谣言”时，她即刻变得异常愤怒😠。

When it was over, the agents rode away in their car. My uncle went back to China. When my father asked my mother what the secret police wanted from her, she said it was nothing she could talk about, and never mentioned it again. My father went to his grave without knowing how close they had come to disaster.

事情结束后，当局坐回车里扬长而去。我叔叔也回中国去了。当我父亲问母亲秘密警察找她干什么，她说没什么好讲的，以后也没再提起过。我父亲直到进入坟墓时，都不知道他们曾经离灾难多么近过。

Many years later, after she told me her story, I finally understood why when my mother sent me off to school she never said, “Have a good day,” or even, “Watch out for strangers.” What she always said was, “Take care of your mouth.”

多年后，当我母亲讲起她的故事时，我终于理解了为什么当她送我到学校时，她从来不说“祝一天愉快，”或者“小心陌生人”之类的话。她总是说，“小心你的嘴(不要乱讲）。”

In most countries, a mother encourages her children to ask about everything, but not in North Korea. As soon as I was old enough to understand, my mother warned me that I should be careful about what I was saying. “Remember, Yeonmi-ya,” she said gently, “even when you think you’re alone, the birds and mice can hear you whisper.” She didn’t mean to scare me, but I felt a deep darkness and horror inside me.

在绝大多数国家里，母亲总是鼓励孩子们多提问，但在北朝鲜绝不是。我一懂事后，母亲就警告我，我应当小心我说的话。“记住，Yeonmiya，”她柔声说，“即使你认为你是孤单一人，小鸟和老鼠也能听到你的私语。”她并非故意吓唬我，但是，却在我内心深处种下了黑暗和恐惧的种子。