感受郝景芳《北京折叠》和“折叠式英语”

小说的开篇是对第三空间的生活状况的描写：

步行街上挤满了刚刚下班的人。拥挤的男人女人围着小摊子挑土特产，大声讨价还价。食客围着塑料桌子，埋头在酸辣粉的热气腾腾中，饿虎扑食一般，白色蒸汽遮住了脸。油炸的香味弥漫。货摊上的酸枣和核桃堆成山，腊肉在头顶摇摆。这个点是全天最热闹的时间，基本都收工了，忙碌了几个小时的人们都赶过来吃一顿饱饭，人声鼎沸。

People who had just gotten off work filled the road. Men and women crowded every street vendor, picking through local produce and bargaining loudly. Customers packed the plastic tables at the food hawker stalls, which were immersed in the aroma of frying oil. They ate heartily with their faces buried in bowls of hot and sour rice noodles, their heads hidden by clouds of white steam. Other stands featured mountains of jujubes and walnuts, and hunks of cured meat swung overhead. This was the busiest hour of the day—work was over, and everyone was hungry and loud.

Key words:  clouded, busiest, loud

对第三空间的描写就是对一群都市打工仔的生活的真实写照。最为忙碌的他们居住在最为拥挤而又嘈杂狭小的空间里，毫无生活质量可言。

我们再来看对 第二空间的描写：

楼并不高，比第三空间矮很多。路上的人很多，匆匆忙忙都在急着赶路，不时有人小跑着想穿过人群，前面的人就也加起速，穿过路口的时候，所有人都像是小跑着。大多数人穿得整齐，男孩子穿西装，女孩子穿衬衫和短裙，脖子上围巾低垂，手里拎着线条硬朗的小包，看上去精干。

The buildings here weren’t nearly as tall as buildings in Third Space. The sidewalks were filled with people walking very fast, and from time to time, some trotted and tried to shove their way through the crowd, causing those in front of them to begin running as well. Everyone seemed to run across intersections. The men dressed mostly in western suits while the women wore blouses and short skirts, with scarves around their necks and compact, rigid purses in their hands that lent them an air of competence and efficiency.

Key words:  fast, efficiency

对第二空间的描写展现了一群匆忙而又不失秩序的上班族，他们分秒必争，勤恳工作，构成城市的中坚力量。

作者对于 第一空间的描写与其他空间的切入角度有所不同，从景物描写入手：

老刀从来没有见过这样的景象。太阳缓缓升起，天边是深远而纯净的蓝，蓝色下沿是橙黄色，有斜向上的条状薄云。太阳被一处屋檐遮住，屋檐显得异常黑，屋檐背后明亮夺目。

Lao Dao had never seen such a sight. The sun rose gradually. The sky was a deep and pure azure, with an orange fringe at the horizon, decorated with slanted, thin wisps of cloud. The eaves of a nearby building blocked the sun, and the eaves appeared especially dark while the background was dazzlingly bright.

偶尔有华服的女人乘坐着双轮小车缓缓飘过他身旁，沿步行街，像一场时装秀，端坐着姿态优美。没有人注意到老刀。绿树摇曳，树叶下的林荫路留下长裙的气味。

Occasionally, well-dressed women passed Lao Dao in two-wheeled carts. The passengers adopted such graceful postures that it was as though they were in some fashion show. No one paid any attention to Lao Dao. The trees swayed in the breeze, and the air in their shade seemed suffused with the perfume from the elegant women.

Key words: bright, graceful

在作者的笔下，生活在第一空间的人们似乎没有什么生活的压力，天空是湛蓝的，空气是纯净的，人类是悠闲的。对第一空间的人来说， 生活不是一场战斗，而是一种享受。所以第一空间的人摆脱了物质的束缚，活得优雅而从容。

据说郝景芳的《北京折叠》引发了大家对社会阶层的大讨论，触动了不少人脆弱而又敏感的神经。毕竟， 我们中的大多数人，还似乎只是生活在作者笔下的第二空间和第三空间，而非第一空间。也许， 阶层分级之势不可逆转，但是不管生活在哪个阶层，我们都有责任和义务把自己的生活经营得更好， 让自己活得更精彩。