1、导言

 1、INTRODUCTION

1、导言

 

Plate 1. The Prologue of the manuscript.

圖 1. 手稿的序言。

Sometime in the spring of 1846, with the fresh and heady scent of orange blossoms filling the gardens surrounding his native Tetuan, Muhammad aş-Şaffär, newly returned from travels in France, took up his pen and began to write. Before him was the thick bundle of notes reminding him of the people, places, and marvels seen and heard during his voyage. After invoking the blessings of God, he patiently set to work, recording his impressions in a careful, fluid hand steadied by years of practice.

1846 年春天的某个时候，穆罕默德-阿什-沙法尔刚从法国旅行归来，他在家乡德图恩周围的花园里嗅到了清新醉人的橘子花香，于是他拿起笔开始写作。 摆在他面前的是一沓厚厚的纸条，上面记录着他旅行期间所见所闻的人物、地点和奇闻异事。 在祈求上帝保佑之后，他耐心地开始工作，用多年的实践练就的细心、流畅的笔触记录下自己的印象。

At the beginning of September, when the blossoms of spring were ripening into golden orbs, aş-Şaffar wrote the closing lines of his manuscript, giving expression to the relief that often comes with finishing an arduous task: "This is all that it is possible for this poor insignificant self to do, given his muddled brain and the pressures of other work. Were it not for the sake of helping him whose re- quest is hereby answered-for obedience to him is an obligation-I would not have completed it." These words, and indeed the evident haste in which they were written, suggest that the request to which aş-Şaffar was responding came from the Sultan himself.

9 月初，当春暖花开时，阿什-沙法尔写下了手稿的最后几行，表达了完成一项艰巨任务后的欣慰之情："这是我这个微不足道的可怜虫所能做的一切，因为我的脑子糊涂了，还有其他工作的压力。 如果不是为了帮助他，我是不会完成这项任务的，因为服从他是我的义务"。 "这些话，以及写这些话时明显的匆忙，表明阿什-沙法尔所回应的请求来自苏丹本人。

Why was Mulay 'Abd ar-Rahman, Commander of the Faithful, descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, head of a dynasty that had ruled Morocco for more than two hundred years, so eager to read Muhammad as-Saffar's account? One reason may have been the ex- pectation that its densely filled pages would contain answers to some troubling questions: What is the secret of French power? How can it be acquired? How have they achieved mastery over nature in ways as yet unknown to us? How do they lead their daily lives, educate their children, treat their women and servants? What is the status of their learning, how do they amuse themselves, what do they eat? In short, what is the condition of their civilization, and how does it differ from ours?

穆莱-阿卜杜勒-拉赫曼是忠实的统帅、先知穆罕默德的后裔、统治摩洛哥 200 多年的王朝的首领，他为何如此渴望阅读穆罕默德-阿斯-萨法尔的叙述？ 其中一个原因可能是，他认为书中密密麻麻的篇幅将包含一些令人不安的问题的答案： 法国权力的秘密是什么？ 如何获得？ 他们是如何以我们尚不知晓的方式驾驭自然的？ 他们的日常生活、子女教育、妇女和仆人待遇如何？ 他们的学习状况如何，他们如何自娱自乐，他们吃什么？ 总之，他们的文明状况如何，与我们的文明有何不同？

The significance of Muhammad aş-Şaffar's rihla, or travel ac- count, arises from the author's ability to offer answers to these questions and to capture his experience in finely drawn images that are profoundly human. He had the aptitude for opening a window on a world remote from his own and transmitting what he saw to others. Through his minute descriptions of the new (and almost everything is new), we feel the texture of the cultural encounter: in reading his travel account, we have the rare opportunity to "get in- side the skin" of a literate Moroccan at a critical moment that tested his beliefs, sensibilities, and bearings.

穆罕默德-阿什-沙法尔的《里赫拉》（或称《游记》）之所以意义重大，是因为作者能够回答这些问题，并将自己的经历描绘成具有深刻人性的精美画面。 他善于为远离自己的世界打开一扇窗，并将自己的所见所闻传递给他人。 通过他对新事物（几乎所有事物都是新的）的细微描述，我们感受到了文化邂逅的质感：在阅读他的旅行记录时，我们有了一个难得的机会，"深入 "一个识字的摩洛哥人的内心世界，在那个关键时刻，他的信仰、情感和定位都受到了考验。

Aş-Şaffar's "rendezvous" with the new, to borrow Barthes's phrase, evokes a far greater confrontation, in which his experience was magnified many times. In the background to his journey were events which had profoundly upset the Moroccan ruling elite's per- ception of its own power vis-à-vis the West. Indeed, aş-Şaffar's journey was part of an effort to try to correct the imbalance, and to gain insight into what had gone wrong. The age in which he lived was one of anxiety about Moroccan abilities against a militant West, and of fears about the impact of external affairs on a fragile domestic order. These larger issues are the antecedents to the voyage, casting it onto a higher plane of historical significance. In order to under- stand the rihla, we must first see it within the setting of its times.

1. See page 220.

借用巴特的说法，阿斯-沙法尔与新事物的 "约会 "唤起了一场更大的对抗，在这场对抗中，他的经历被放大了许多倍。 在他旅行的背景中，发生了一些事件，这些事件深深打乱了摩洛哥统治精英对自己相对于西方力量的看法。 事实上，阿什-沙法尔的旅行是试图纠正这种不平衡的努力的一部分，也是为了深入了解出了什么问题。 他所处的时代是一个对摩洛哥抵御好战的西方国家的能力感到焦虑的时代，也是一个对外部事务对脆弱的国内秩序的影响感到担忧的时代。 这些更大的问题是这次航行的前因后果，使其具有更高的历史意义。 为了理解里赫拉号，我们必须首先将其置于时代背景中加以审视。

1. See page 220.