翻译俗世奇人刷子李（冯骥才）

翻译：俗世奇人: 刷子李（冯骥才）
Translation: Mundane World Phenom: Paint-Brush Li (Feng Jicai)
(translated by: alexcwlin; edited by: adam.L)

一间屋子，一个屋顶四面墙，先刷屋顶后刷墙。顶子尤其难刷，
A house has one ceiling and four walls. Normally we paint the ceiling first and then the walls. The ceiling is especially difficult to paint.
蘸了稀溜溜粉浆的板刷往上一举，谁能一滴不掉？一掉准掉在身上。可刷子李一举刷子，就赛没有蘸浆。
How can anyone lift up the scrubber brush saturated with thin watery whitewash and not a drop is dripped? The drip will for sure fall on the body. But when Paint-Brush Li lifted his whitewash-soaked brush, it would beat operating a brush without whitewash.
但刷子划过屋顶，立时匀匀实实一道白，白得透亮，白得清爽。
When his brush swept across the ceiling, immediately an even, solid, shiny and crisp white stripe would appear.
有人说这蘸浆的手臂悠然摆来，悠然摆去，好赛伴着鼓点，和着琴音，每一摆刷，那长长的带浆的毛刷便在墙面“啪”的清脆一响，极是好听。
Some people said the rhythms of his whitewash-stained arm moving unhurriedly back and forth rivaled harmonizing drum beats and piano sounds. At every stroke of the brush, the whitewash-soaked long brittles made a distinct smacking sound on the wall surface quite pleasing to the ears.
啪啪声里，一道道浆，衔接得天衣无缝，刷过去的墙面，真好比平平整整打开一面雪白的屏障。
At those slapping sounds, rows after rows of seamless whitewash were brushed across the wall surface as if a neat and tidy snow-white screen was opened up.
可是曹小三最关心的还是刷子李身上到底有没有白点？
But what Cao Xiaosan was most concerned about was whether Paint-Brush Li had white spots on his body after all?
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刷子李干活还有个规矩，每刷完一面墙，必得在凳子上坐一大会儿，抽袋烟，喝一碗茶，再刷下一面墙。
In carrying out his job, Paint-Brush Li had a routine. After painting a wall, he had to sit on a stool for a long while to smoke a pipe and drink a cup of tea before moving on to paint the next face of wall.
此刻，曹小三借着给师傅倒水点烟的机会，拿目光仔细搜索刷子李的全身。
Cao Xiaosan made use of the opportunity in pouring tea and lighting cigarette for his master Li to check out his entire body thoroughly.
每一面墙刷完，他搜索一遍，居然连一个芝麻大小的粉点也没发现。他真觉得这身黑色的衣服有种神圣不可侵犯的威严。
After each wall had been painted, Cao would search again but couldn’t find even a white speck the size of a sesame seed on Li’s body. He really felt Li’s black outfit had an eerily unfathomable power.
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可是，当刷子李刷完最后一面墙，坐下来，曹小三给他点烟时，竟然瞧见刷子李裤子上出现一个白点，黄豆大小。
But when Li finished the last face of wall and sat down, Cao lit a cigarette for him and noticed a white speck the size of a soybean on Li’s pants.
黑中白，比白中黑更扎眼。完了！师傅露馅了，他不是神仙，往日传说中那如山般的形象轰然倒去。
It was a white spot on black background, which stood out more than black on white. Cao thought: “It’s all over. Master has revealed his untold secret. He’s human after all. His legendary image of invincibility appeared to have collapsed utterly.”
但他怕师父难堪，不敢说，也不敢看，可妨不住还要扫一眼。
But Cao was afraid his master would feel really embarrassed and he didn’t dare to say anything or look Li’s direction. In the end, however, he couldn’t hold back any longer and took another peek.
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这时候，刷子李忽然朝他说话：“小三，你瞧见我裤子上的白点了吧。
At that moment, Li suddenly said to him: “Xiaosan, you must have seen the white speck on my pants.
你以为师傅的能耐有假，名气有诈，是吧。傻小子，你再细瞧瞧吧——”
You think your master’s ability is flawed and reputation is phony, isn’t that right? Silly boy, look again.”
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说着，刷子李手指捏着裤子轻轻往上一提，那白点即刻没了，再一松手，白点又出现，奇了！
At saying that, Li lightly squeezed the pants and lifted it up. The white dot disappeared immediately. When he let go the pants, the white speck appeared again. That was strange.
他凑上脸用神再瞧，那白点原是一个小洞！刚才抽烟时不小心烧的。里边的白衬裤打小洞透出来，看上去就跟粉浆落上去的白点一模一样！
He moved his face closer and tried harder to look, and then realized the white dot was in fact a small hole. The hole was inadvertently burned by a lit cigarette just a moment ago, and the white underpants showed through. At a glance it looked the same as a dot caused by dripping whitewash.
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刷子李看着曹小三发怔发傻的模样，笑道：“你以为人家的名气全是虚的？那你在骗自己。好好学本事吧！”
Li was amused by Cao’s stunned-silly expression and said with a smile: “You really think my repute is a fake? You’re fooling yourself. Try harder to learn, would you?”
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曹小三学徒头一天，见到听到学到的，恐怕别人一辈子也未准明白呢！
What Cao saw and learned on his first day of apprenticeship were things which others would not be able to understand all their lives.
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