Posts filed under '小说 Novels'
《怨女》The Rouge of the North
《怨女》 节选
张爱玲
上海那时候睡得早，尤其是城里，还没有装电灯。夏夜八点钟左右，黄昏刚澄淀下来，天上反而亮了，碧蓝的天，下面房子墨黑，是沉淀物，人声嗡嗡也跟着低了下去。
小店都上了排门，石子路上只有他一个人踉踉跄跄走着，逍遥自在，从街这边穿到那边，哼着京戏，时而夹着个”梯格隆地咚”，代表胡琴。天热，把辫子盘在头顶上，短衫一路敞开到底，里露着胸脯，带着把芭蕉扇，刮喇刮喇在衣衫下面煽着背脊。走过一家店家，板门上留着个方洞没关上，天气太热，需要通风，洞里只看见一把芭蕉扇在黄色的灯光中摇来摇去。看着头晕，紧靠着墙走，在黑暗中忽然有一条长而凉的东西在他背上游下去，他直跳起来。第二次跳得更高，想把它抖掉，又扭过去拿扇子掸。他终于明白过来，是辫子滑落下来。
“操那！”
用芭蕉扇大声拍打着屁股，踱着方步唱了起来，掩饰他的窘态。
“孤王酒醉桃花宫，韩素梅生来好貌容。”
一句话提醒了自己，他转过身来四面看了看，往回走过几家门面，拣中一家，蓬蓬蓬拍门。
“大姑娘！大姑娘！”
“谁？”楼上有个男人发声喊。
“大姑娘！买麻油，大姑娘！”
“关门了，明天来。”这次是个女孩子，不耐烦地。
The Rouge of the North (excerpt)
Eileen Chang
In those times, Shanghai was not yet a night town, especially in its city area where electric lamps were unheard of. Around 8 o’clock on a summer night, amid the settling dusk, the sky brightens up instead; above the horizon hangs a blue sky, beneath it are sediments-like pitch dark houses; buzzing voices subsided to a calm.
All the shops were already closed as the vertical shutters at the shops’ front were put up; there on the pebbled street, he was the only staggering figure, leisurely and freely, strolling down the streets, humming tunes of Jingxi (Beijing Opera), once in awhile imitating the music of Huqin, a string instrument. As it was a hot day, he twirled his pigtail on top of his head, undid his shirt revealing his bare chest, with a palm leaf fan in his hand, randomly flipping and flopping under his shirt. He walked past a shop with a square hole on its door, which was intentionally left uncovered for ventilation because of the hot weather. Through that square opening, he saw a palm leaf fan swaying under the dim yellow light. Hit by the wave of giddiness, he rest his weight against the wall as he continued walking; suddenly in darkness, a long and cool feeling shivered down his spine, making him jump. And for a second time, he jumped even higher trying to shake off that unwelcomed object; he twisted to his side to dust it away with his fan. Oh—it turned out be his pigtail.
“FVCCANT!”
Flapping the palm leaf fan loudly on his butt, the lone figure began to sing as he paced on, in an attempt to hide his embarrassment.
“The lonely emperor loves his drink at the peach palace; Lady Han is loved for her natural beauty.”
The lyrics prompted him to think of something; he then looked around the area, walked back a few shops before picking one and pounding loudly on its door.
“Missy! Missy”
“WHO’S THAT?” A man yelled from an upper floor.
“Missy! Buy some sesame oil, Missy!”
“We are closed, come by tomorrow.” An irritated lady replied.
Translated by Evy, edited by Dr Yang Liping
Add comment 六月 17, 2009
《呐喊》自序 Preface to Nahan
《呐喊》自序
鲁迅
我在年青时候也曾经做过许多梦，后来大半忘却了，但自己也并不以为可惜。所谓回忆者，虽说可以使人欢欣，有时也不免使人寂寞，使精神的丝缕还牵着己逝的寂寞的时光，又有什么意味呢，而我偏苦于不能全忘却，这不能全忘的一部分，到现在便成了《呐喊》的来由。
我有四年多，曾经常常，——几乎是每天，出入于质铺和药店里，年纪可是忘却了，总之是药店的柜台正和我一样高，质铺的是比我高一倍，我从一倍高的柜台外送上衣服或首饰去，在侮蔑里接了钱，再到一样高的柜台上给我久病的父亲去买药。回家之后，又须忙别的事了，因为开方的医生是最有名的，以此所用的药引也奇特：冬天的芦根，经霜三年的甘蔗，蟋蟀要原对的，结子的平地木，……多不是容易办到的东西。然而我的父亲终于日重一日的亡故了。
有谁从小康人家而坠入困顿的么，我以为在这途路中，大概可以看见世人的真面目；我要到N进K学堂去了，仿佛是想走异路，逃异地，去寻求别样的人们。我的母亲没有法，办了八元的川资，说是由我的自便；然而伊哭了，这正是情理中的事，因为那时读书应试是正路，所谓学洋务，社会上便以为是一种走投无路的人，只得将灵魂卖给鬼子……
Preface to Nahan
Lu Xun
I had many dreams in my youth too. Although I have forgotten most of them, I do not think it is regrettable. While reminiscing can make one joyful, it sometimes makes one lonesome; why should I allow the lonely past to cling on to my mind when it serves no purpose at all? Unfortunately I have difficulties erasing memories completely, and those surviving parts have given rise to Na Han.
For more than four years, the pawnshop and the medical hall were places that I frequented — almost every day. I cannot recall my exact age then, but I do remember that I was as tall as the counter in the medical hall, and only half the height of the one in the pawn shop. During those four years, I would enter the pawnshop with either some clothes or jewelries in exchange for some money under scornful eyes, then set off to the medical hall to buy medicine for my ailing father. Work did not end when I returned home. The doctor who prescribed the medicine was a very famous one, and his prescription was rather peculiar. To enhance the efficacy of the medicine, he required strange ingredients ranging from reed roots that were gathered in winter and sugar cane frosted for three years to twin crickets…all of which were really hard to find. Notwithstanding this, my father’s illness continued to worsen as days went by till he passed away.
Anyone who has gone through such a fall from prosperity to poverty, I believe, is able to learn some truths about people along the way. I wanted to enroll myself in Institute K in N City — perhaps I needed a different route, a different place, to search for different types of people. My mother could do nothing except to raise eight dollars for my travelling expenses, and told me I could do anything as I pleased. However Mom cried, which is natural. During that period, schooling was about following the traditionally accepted right path of either becoming an official or at least a private advisors of the officials; while foreign learning were meant for the utterly useless who were considered to have sold their souls to the foreigners…
Translated by Evy, edited by Dr Yang Liping
Add comment 五月 1, 2009
