世紀文學經典:《百年孤獨》第4章Part 7

José Arcadio Buendía conversed with Prudencio Aguilar until dawn. A few hours later, worn out by the vigil, he went into Aureliano's workshop and asked him: "What day is today?" Aureliano told him that it was Tuesday. "I was thinking the same thing," José Arcadio Buendía said, "but suddenly I realized that it's still Monday, like yesterday. Look at the sky, look at the walls, look at the begonias. Today is Monday too." Used to his manias, Aureliano paid no attention to him. On the next day, Wednesday, José Arcadio Buendía went back to the workshop. "This is a disaster," he said. "Look at the air, listen to the buzzing of the sun, the same as yesterday and the day before. Today is Monday too." That night Pietro Crespi found him on the porch, weeping for Prudencio Aguilar, for Melquíades, for Rebeca's parents, for his mother and father, for all of those he could remember and who were now alone in death. He gave him a mechanical bear that walked on its hind legs on a tightrope, but he could not distract him from his obsession. He asked him what had happened to the project he had explained to him a few days before about the possibility of building a pendulum machine that would help men to fly and he answered that it was impossible because a pendulum could lift anything into the air but it could not lift itself.
On Thursday he appeared in the workshop again with the painful look of plowed ground. "The time machine has broken," he almost sobbed, "and úrsula and Amaranta so far away!" Aureliano scolded him like a child and he adopted a contrite air. He spent six hours examining things, trying to find a difference from their appearance on the previous day in the hope of discovering in them some change that would reveal the passage of time. He spent the whole night in bed with his eyes open, calling to Prudencio Aguilar, to Melquíades, to all the dead, so that they would share his distress. But no one came. On Friday. before anyone arose, he watched the appearance of nature again until he did not have the slightest doubt but that it was Monday. Then he grabbed the bar from a door and with the savage violence of his uncommon strength he smashed to dust the equipment in the alchemy laboratory, the daguerreotype room, the silver workshop, shouting like a man possessed in some high-sounding and fluent but completely incomprehensible language. He was about to finish off the rest of the house when Aureliano asked the neighbors for help. Ten men were needed to get him down, fourteen to tie him up, twenty to drag him to the chestnut tree in the courtyard, where they left him tied up, barking in the strange language and giving off a green froth at the mouth. When úrsula and Amaranta returned he was still tied to the trunk of the chestnut tree by his hands and feet, soaked with rain and in a state of total innocence. They spoke to him and he looked at them without recognizing them, saying things they did not understand. úrsula untied his wrists and ankles, lacerated by the pressure of the rope, and left him tied only by the waist. Later on they built him a shelter of palm brandies to protect him from the sun and the rain.

霍·阿·布恩蒂亞跟普魯登希奧·阿吉廖爾一直談到夭亮。幾小時以後，他由於失眠變得疲憊不堪，走進奧雷連諾的作坊，問道：“今天是星期呀？”奧雷連諾回答他是星期二。“我也那麼想，”霍·阿·布恩蒂亞說，“可我突然覺得，今天還是星期一，象昨天一樣。你瞧天空，瞧牆壁，瞧秋海棠。今天還是星期一。”奧雷連諾對他的怪里怪氣已經習以爲常，沒有理睬這些話。下一天，星期三，霍·阿·布恩蒂亞又來到作坊。“這簡直是一場災難，”他說。“你瞧瞧空氣，聽聽太陽的聲音，一切都跟昨天和前天一模一樣。今天還是星期一。”晚上，皮埃特羅·克列斯比遇見他在走廊上流淚：他不太雅觀地、抽抽嗒嗒地哭訴普魯登希奧·阿吉廖爾，哭訴梅爾加德斯，哭訴雷貝卡的雙親，哭訴自己的爸爸媽媽——哭訴他能想起的、還在陰間孤獨生活的人。皮埃特羅·克列斯比給了他一隻用後腿走鋼絲的“自動狗熊”，可也未能使他擺脫愁思。於是皮埃特羅·克列斯比就問，霍·阿·布恩蒂亞不久以前向他談到過的計劃——使人飛到空中的鐘擺機器搞得如何了？霍·阿·布恩蒂亞回答說，製造這種機器是不可能的，因爲鐘擺能使任何東西升到空中，它自己卻不能上。
星期四，霍·阿·布恩蒂亞又來到作坊，他的面孔露出了完全的絕望。“時間機器壞啦，”他幾乎號啕地說，“烏蘇娜和阿瑪蘭塔又去得那麼遠！”奧雷連諾罵他象個小孩兒，他就順從地一聲不響了。在六個小時之內，他仔細地觀察了各種東西，打算確定它們的樣子跟頭一天有沒有差別，並且堅持不渝地尋找變化，藉以證明時間的推移。整個晚上他都睜着眼睛躺在牀上，呼喚普魯登希奧·阿古廖爾、梅爾加德斯和一切死人來分擔他的憂慮，可是誰也沒來。星期五早晨，家裏的人還在睡覺，他又開始研究周圍各種東西的形狀，最後毫不懷疑這一天還是星期一。接着，他抓住一根門閂，使出渾身非凡的力氣，兇猛地砸爛了鍊金器具、照相機洗印室和金銀首飾作坊，同時，他象着了魔似的，快嘴快舌地尖聲叫嚷，但是誰也不懂他叫些什麼。他還想毀掉整座房子，可是奧雷連諾馬上叫了左鄰右舍的人來幫忙。按倒霍·阿·布恩蒂亞，需要十個人；捆起他來，需要十四個人，把他拖到院內大慄樹下，需要二十個人；他們拿繩子把他捆在樹幹上。他仍在用古里古怪的話亂罵，嘴裏冒出綠色的唾沫。烏蘇娜和阿瑪蘭塔回來的時候，他的手腳仍然是捆着的，渾身被雨水淋得透溼，但已完全平靜、無害了。她們跟他講話，但他不認得她們，他回答的話也叫人莫名其妙。烏蘇娜鬆開了他已經磨出血來的手腕和腳踝，只留下了捆在腰間的繩子。隨後，她們用棕櫚枝葉給他搭了個棚子，免得他受到日曬雨淋。