许菁手肘捅了捅夏冉江，面不改色地盯着窗外，咬着牙齿说道。夏冉江微微侧过头，顺着许菁充满杀气的眼神望过去——果然是昨天的女裁判。
坐定后，许菁轻轻地拍了拍夏冉江垂下的手臂，朝着夏冉江微微点头，夏冉江心领神会，双手捏紧拳头又慢慢放开，搭在桌台上。
裁判上前，宣读了规则。夏冉江接过裁判递过来的硬币，紧紧地攥在手心。
一个漂亮地抛物线，硬币叮地一声落在地板上，跳跃、翻转，最终安静地躺在会场中间。
“Yes!”
看到硬币正面朝上，夏冉江刚才拧成一股乱麻的心情现在却慢慢有些兴奋，转头瞥了一眼许菁，朝许菁抖了抖眉毛，许菁正双手搭成一个金字塔形，拇指托住下巴，紧锁的眉头慢慢舒展开。
例行介绍后，比赛开始。夏冉江作为正方一辩首先阐述观点。
夏冉江微微挺起胸脯，感受到了西装内侧口袋里的挂链。挂链的轮廓嵌入左侧胸肌，随着心脏起伏，金属在肌体的温度中似乎慢慢融化，分子渗入每个细胞中。一股莫名的力量如同强心剂一般注入身体，仿佛此刻站在台上的不只是夏冉江一个人。不再犹豫寡断，不再敏感多虑，不再沉默黯然，再次站起来时，夏冉江有种醍醐灌顶的感觉，如凤凰涅槃般摒弃烈火焚身的伤痛与无助，脱胎换骨。
进入到自由辩论环节，反方开始发动第一轮攻击。
“As a heterosexual, do you think it’s acceptable if another man physically approaches you？”（作为异性恋，难道你认为男人在身体上对你进行侵犯是可以接受的吗？）
“No. Same answer to approach of another woman. This is an issue of human rights, not human behavior.”（不可接受。同理，女人对男人进行侵犯也是不可接受的。今天讨论的是人权，而非行为。）
夏冉江据理还击。只是当他说出这段话时，内心深处不知被什么东西刺痛了一下，一时竟乱了思绪。
“You mentioned many recent examples of movements fighting for gay marriage. We thank you for your share of such knowledge. But as you stated, such movements are frequent in some developed countries, United States, Germany, Spain. These countries accept gay marriage due to their high-level economic and cultural advancements. That’s why we don’t believe it feasible to legalize gay marriage in our country as well.”（对方辩友刚才提到了众多近年来发生的同性婚姻平权运动，感谢您为我们普及了知识。正如您所说，这些平权运动更多地是在美国、德国、西班牙等发达国家发生，这些国家经济水平和文化水平较高，因此能够接受同性婚姻。但是我们认为，我们国家尚不到程度，不能像这些国家那样立法通过同性婚姻。）
“First of all, these recent examples are just some typical ones in history. Second, to legalize gay marriage or not has nothing to do with economic and cultural factors. It’s all about people’s awareness of basic human rights. Even in China, we have gay anecdotes that helps to define the culture, even in more than a thousand years ago. To make an exaggerated cultural comparison, we value the love and even marriage between a snake and human, between a ghost and human, between a god and human, what’s is actually the problem with the love between human and human？”（首先，我所提到的案例仅仅是历史上比较典型的部分。其次，同性婚姻是否立法通过跟经济和文化因素无关，这取决于人们对基本人权的认识。即使在千百年前的中国，同性关系的故事也传为佳话，成为中国文化的一部分。退一万步来看，在我们的文化中我们欣赏人蛇恋，欣赏人鬼恋，欣赏人神恋，为什么不能接受人和人之间的爱情？）
许菁密切关注双方交锋，手里在纸上记着关键词。刚抬起头，正好碰见三名裁判听到这里微微点头，也在评分表上记着什么。
“Seems that you are quite familiar with Chinese culture. But we see from Chinese culture that gay relationship is against the basic principles. In Taoi□□, everything in the world follows Yin and Yang. Yin or Yang does not grow alone. This is the same with human. Love between man and woman ensures the continuation of human destiny, not between man and man or woman between woman.”（对方辩友对中国文化相当了解。可是实际上中国文化的定义里，同性恋关系是与部分基本准则相悖的。道教认为，世间万物遵循阴阳，独阳不生，独阴不长。人类也不例外。男女之间的情爱保证人类命运得以延续，而同性之间的情爱无法做到。）
对方话音未落，夏冉江几乎是蹿了起来，可是没想到许菁也不慌不忙地站了起来，首先出声。
“Thank you for briefing us the basic rules defined by Belief.”许菁低头看了一眼稿纸，正视对方，说到rules时双手还比了个引号。“But instead of staying superficially on the basic rules, we need to learn more to arrive at the essence of Belief behind the quotes of Yin and Yang. Everything in the Universe has its natual laws. We can’t say that the principle of Yin and Yang governs everything. What exists is reasonable. And this is one of few laws that most religions and cultures agree upon. We also need to update our technology knowledge about reproduction. In your last sessions you strongly insisted that cloning and adoption helps better human generations. And this is also my solution to supplement what is missing in gay marriage, which this house have the strongest stance to legalize in this great country.”（感谢您让我们了解了信仰的基本规律。但是，除了掌握肤浅的皮毛，我们还是要深入了解一下信仰的实质，而不能仅仅停留在阴阳学说的引述上。道教认为，宇宙万物皆有其发展规律，阴阳学说不能适配万物，我们应该顺应自然。所谓存在即合理，这也是世界众多宗教和文化的契合点。同时，我们也要多学习一下关于人类繁衍的技术知识。就如对方辩友前几场比赛时大力支持的克隆技术和领养问题，我们也同意对方在这个问题上的观点，这也弥补了同性婚姻的缺憾。我方坚决赞同在本国通过同性婚姻合法化。）
许菁微微抬起下巴，眼睛里透出难得一见的从容和自信。对方一开始还趾高气昂的逐条提问，可是现在却慢慢低下头，紧张地讨论着对策。
“你是怎么知道他们前几场比赛的议题？”
夏冉江一脸风轻云淡，可是放在桌下的左手给许菁竖起了大拇指——刚才心里还捏着一把汗，生怕许菁控制不出情绪又开始人身攻击，不过刚才的回击语气固然有些刻薄，可是字字铿锵，一针见血，明显压制住了对方的气势。夏冉江知道，辩论中用宗教信仰和人类伦理做论据是逼不得已的做法，显然对方已经有些自乱阵脚，黔驴技穷了。
夏冉江把纸上的论据一条条划掉。赛程已经过半，杀手锏还没使出，夏冉江抬头瞥了一眼对手，都已经开始用纸巾擦汗了。
终于到了最后的总结陈词。胜负已定，夏冉江心里有了底，正准备拿着稿纸上台，还是决定放下稿纸，全程即兴发言。
“…As a government that takes the mission of serving the people, we believe we should respect the basic rights of people, and even more important is we should try our best to make it possible that such respect is exercised by the entire society. As an independent man, we live, we work, we laugh and we cry. We care and love others no matter it is a man or woman. Love means no boundaries. Why do we have to label love to what we are used to Ladies and gentlemen. No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion and family. The hope for gay marriage is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from our civilization. In response to the decades of fights for gay benefits, to honor those who sacrificed only for the pursuit of love, to maintain our sacred belief of all men created equal, we believe we should legalize gay marriage in our country. There will be hazards and obstacles ahead, but we will overcome and make it happen.”（作为以服务人民为己任的政府，我们应该尊重人们的基本权利。更为重要的是，我们应该创造环境，让全社会都能够尊重他人权利。作为独立个体，我们像他人一样，生活、工作、欢笑、悲伤。我们关爱他人，无论性别。爱无界限，为什么我们一定要以自己习惯的方式给爱打上标签呢？女士们，先生们，没有任何一种形式的结合比婚姻更深刻。婚姻代表了最高理念的爱、忠诚、付出以及家庭。同性婚姻的渴望不应被诅咒，不应孤独终老，不应排斥在文明之外。为了过去几十年同性婚姻的努力，为了那些追求爱的权力付出的牺牲，为了维护所有人生而平等这个神圣的理念，我们应通过同性婚姻合法化提案。纵然前方有无数艰难险阻，我们必将披荆斩棘，走向胜利。）
夏冉江内心澎湃激昂，可还是努力压制住不断上涌的情绪。手边有无数论据足以一击毙命，让对手毫无翻身机会，可是夏冉江毅然决然地让情感占领灵魂，仿佛像斗士一般，振臂高呼，一呼百应，字字皆发自肺腑。
“Excellent！”
主裁判几乎是欢呼起来，双手举过头鼓掌。两位助理裁判也跟着鼓起掌来。
比赛结束，裁判宣布结果。三名裁判意见一致，江东大学获胜。
“Yes！”
许菁激动地抱住夏冉江，拍了拍后背放开。夏冉江一时觉得奇怪，一直以来惧怕女人的接触，可是现在心里毫无波澜。
吃过晚饭，夏冉江照例换上体恤衫、短裤，顶着海风，沿着沙滩深一脚浅一脚地走着，又碰到那块钟乳状的礁石。停下来，爬到礁石顶端坐下，双手抱膝，远远地望着氤氲一片的墨蓝色海天交接处。
此刻夏冉江感觉到无比惬意。