老炮儿的讲究
Mr. Six’s Way
文、译/林巍
〔1〕颇受欢迎的国产电影《老炮儿》，开头有这样一幕：一民工模样的小偷，在拿走战利品中的现金之后，把钱包扔进了垃圾桶，这时老炮儿逼着他把证件给人寄回去，末了儿冒出一句“讲究1”!
[1] At the start of the plot of the popular Chinese movie entitled Mr. Six, when a migrant-laborer-looking burglar throws out a wallet after empting all its cash, Mr. Six insists on him sending back all the cards to their owner, shouting “That’s our way of doing things”.
〔2〕这个“讲究”很有学问2。分析起来，主要有两方面的涵义，一是“规矩”，一是“面子”。
[2] “Our way of doing things” is meaningful on two fronts: following the rules and maintaining face.
〔3〕凭着这“规矩”，老炮儿几乎成了胡同里的道德警察，他拉群架，挡城管，劝和气，有效地维系着胡同中的民间秩序。
[3] By applying his rules he has virtually become the moral policeman of the hutong (alleys), refereeing fights, reasoning with city inspectors and mediating among neighbors, so as to effectively maintain the folk order of the community.
〔4〕内在的，老炮儿心里也有那么一股高贵劲儿，支撑着他的“面子”。虽然身上没俩钱儿，但穷也讲礼数，如遛个八哥，且见面一定打招呼，嘴头上永远没有不得体的时候3。
[4] Inwardly, he has an air of nobility which well preserves his face. With little money in his pocket, Mr. Six manages to keep his decency by a gracious way of living (such as playing myna) and immaculate courtesy.
〔5〕但是，老炮儿的这些讲究，从性质上说，是江湖的。
[5] However, his way of doing things is actually the way of Jiang Hu.
〔6〕对于“江湖”，我们的教科书似乎始终没有一个到位的定义，例如“泛指流落四方各地”等。
[6] It seems that we haven’t yet found the proper term to define “Jiang Hu”: those in use, such as “all corners of the country”, “a vagabond life” in our dictionary, are far from satisfactory.
〔7〕其实，据我理解，江湖的本质是与官方相对立，另有一套，类似潜规则之类的，故不妨译为street practice in sub-communities。
[7] In my understanding, the nature of Jiang Hu is contrary to any official practice, since it is based on unofficial rules of practice recognized in subcommunities. So I am suggesting “street practice in sub-communities”.
〔8〕这便有了两条致命的弱点：一、拿不上桌面；二、跟不上现代社会的趟，于是就很拧巴4。
[8] Inevitably, this kind of practice is somewhat odd since it has to be under the table, and is deemed outdated by current society.
〔9〕例如，他跟已经发迹了的哥们儿借钱，人家二话不说把钱掏了出来，但他又嫌人家说“钱”了，不给面子；奇怪得很，来借钱又不能提钱的事儿，这不是虚伪吗5？但是，当他病倒后送入了ICU，哥们儿给他出了钱，他又不言声了6。
[9] For instance, when his nouveau riche friend offered to lend him a huge amount of money at his own request without any hesitation, he felt somehow hurt and refused, which is typical hypocrisy – wanting the money but not wanting the money to be mentioned. However, when on another occasion he was fatally ill and sent to the ICU, and the bill was paid by his friend, he just quietly accepted it without apology.
〔10〕又如，当他儿子把人家的豪车弄坏后，赔不起了，他又要用“我们的方式”把事儿铲了7，提议打群架，以输赢决胜负。结果架没茬成8，儿子被对方姑娘救出，还顺走了10万块钱。实际上是没守规矩。9
[10] On another occasion, when his son damaged someone’s luxury car and was unable to repair or pay for it, he proposed “his way of settling things” – a free fight, which is supposed to be a fair fight. However, his son was surprisingly rescued by a girl who also stole a prepayment of ten thousand yuan from the victim. This behavior that had broken the rules was nevertheless endorsed by Mr. Six.
〔11〕老炮儿信守着“不报警”，但实在没招了，最后还是给中纪委寄去了举报信，扳倒了官二代的小混混。于是，江湖了一辈子10，临了老炮儿还是和官方合作了一把。
[11] “Never go to the police” is the one tenet that Mr. Six vowed always to stick to. However, when he realized that he really was at a disadvantage, he reported to the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Committee of the CPC about the crime his rival “officiallings” had committed. As a kingpin of Jiang Hu throughout his life, he finally broke his own “way of doing things” by cooperating with the official.
〔12〕电影落幕时， 老炮儿身着皇军大衣，手提日本战刀，向着一群“不讲规矩”的家伙冲将上去，不料却犯病倒下——形成了一幅堂吉诃德式的北京老炮儿恶战当今腐败势力的黑色幽默图，令人产生无尽的时空倒错与无可奈何的感觉。
[12] The final scene: wearing an overcoat of the Japanese imperial army and holding a Japanese sabre, Mr. Six singlehandedly rushes a crowd who are “lawless people” by his standard, but suffers an unexpected attack of his old illness, falls over himself and loses consciousness. What a Beijing-style Quixotic anticorruption crusader he portrays in a picture of black humor! In such manner he leaves his audience endlessly sighing over the chaotic jumble of time and space and desperation.
注释：
1. 这里的“讲究”京味十足，不是一般意义上的stress/strive for/be particular about/pay great attention to/devote particular care to/daintily 等，而是一种特殊的做事方式，故成此译文。
2. 这是句京腔，不是平时讲的have knowledge/learning/learned/literacy等，即有特殊含义。
3. 这句话颇有北京人的幽默，不宜照字面意思翻译，故不妨以immaculate courtesy一语概括。
4. 也是北京人的一句现代用语，有awkward/uncomfortable/troublesome/difficult to deal with/hard to get along with等意思，这里用了somewhat odd，以表别扭。
5. 此句不一定要译成疑问句，而可为陈述句并作相应的句式调整。
6. 这里的“不言声了”不仅仅是不说话了，而是有着更多的含义，即与他的讲究相抵触，故在译文为quietly accepted it without apology 以作扩充处理。
7. 即北京话，把事摆平了，这里用了settle things…。
8. “茬架”，似无准确的英文对应语，姑且用free fight。
9. 此句没有单独译出，而是融入整句，以更通顺, 特别是加入the rules was nevertheless endorsed by Mr. Six，以揭示老炮儿信念的矛盾性。
10. 此句中的“江湖”用作动词，即“一生行江湖之道”，是位“老炮儿”，故用了kingpin，其意为the most important person in a group or undertaking，这里当然是指in sub-communities。