The Laugher

張蜀生/選注

微笑、冷笑、酣暢淋漓的笑、歇斯底里的笑……

當(dāng)賣笑成了他的謀生手段之后，笑的真實(shí)意義已經(jīng)離他遠(yuǎn)去。

When someone asks me what business I am in， I am seized with embarrassment: I blush and stammer， I who am otherwise known as a man of poise.I envy people who can say: I am a bricklayer. I envy barbers， bookkeepers and writers the simplicity of their avowal， for all these professions speak .for themselves and need no lengthy explanation， while I am a laugher. An admission of this kind demands another， since I have to answer the second question: \"Is that how you make your living?\" truthfully with\"Yes.\" I actually do make a living at my laughing， and a good one too，for my laughing is-commercially speaking-much in demand. I am a good laugher， experienced， no one else laughs as well as I do， no one else has such command of the fine points4 of my art. For a long time， inorder to avoid tiresome explanations， I called myself an actor， but my talents in the field of mime and elocution are so meager that I felt this designation to be too far from the truth:I love the truth， and the truth is: I am a laugher. I am neither a clown nor a comedian. I do not make people gay6， I portray gaiety: I laugh like a Roman emperor， or like a sensitive schoolboy， I am as much at home in the laughter of the seventeenth century as in that of the nineteenth， and when occasion demands I laugh my way through all the centuries， all classes of society， all categories of age: it is simply a skill which I have acquired， like the skill of being able to repair the shoes. In my breast I harbor the laughter of America， the laughter of Africa， white， red，yellow laughter-and for the right fee I let it peal out in accordance with the director's requirements.