第17章 最不可思议的事 The Most Incredible Thing (第1/9页)

《最不可思议的事》，1870 年

the most Incredible thing, 1870

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首先发表于美国的《河滨青少年杂志》，《最惊人的事》被安徒生认为是他最好的故事之一。

First published in the United States in the Riverside magazine for Young people, “the most Astonishing thing” was considered by Andersen to be one of his best stories.

这是他晚年所写的一个故事，对于一本儿童杂志来说它不太合适，因为在这个故事里安徒生总结了艺术的精髓。

A tale written near the end of his life, it is an unlikely candidate for a children’s magazine, for in it Andersen summed up the essence of art.

作为 “最惊人的事” 的时钟代表了暂时性和超越性。

the clock that serves as “the most astonishing thing” represents both temporality and transcendence.

它计时，但它也是一件艺术品，不惧毁坏，即使被砸成碎片也能复活。

It keeps time, but it is also an objet d’art that resists destruction, ing back to life even after it has been smashed to bits.

它包含了圣经元素和神话元素、季节和感官、视觉和听觉、肉体和精神。

It houses the biblical and the mythical, the seasons and the senses, the visual and the acoustical, the carnal and the spiritual.

安徒生在艺术中所期望的一切都包含在那个令所有人惊叹的非凡时钟里。

Everything that Andersen wanted in art is housed in that extraordinary clock that astonishes everyone.

对安徒生来说，令人惊叹的艺术可不是小事。

the art of astonishment was no small matter to Andersen.

值得一提的是，这个故事中举办的比赛的获胜者是一个创造出一个物体的人，这个物体之所以令人震惊正是因为它呈现出生命的表象。

It is telling that the winner of the contest staged in this story is a man who creates an object that shocks precisely because it provides the semblance of life.

这个谦逊的工匠制作的时钟不仅仅是一个机