微信标题党:值得学习的美文翻译（汉译英）

落花生     许地山
我们屋后有半亩隙地。母亲说：“让它荒芜着怪可惜，既然你们那么爱吃花生，就辟来做花生园罢(1)。”我们几个姊弟(2)和几个小丫头都很喜欢——买种的买种，动土的动土，灌园的灌园；过了不几个月，居然收获了！ 妈妈说：“今晚我们可以做一个收获节(3)，也请你们的爹爹来尝尝我们底新花生，如何？”我们都答应了。母亲把花生做成好几样食品(4)，还吩咐这节期要在园里底茅亭举行。 那晚上底天色不大好(5)，可是爹爹也来到，实在很难得！爹爹说：“你们爱吃花生吗？” 我们都争着答应：“爱！” “谁能把花生底好处说出来？” 姊姊说：“花生底气味很美。” 哥哥说：“花生可以榨油。” 我说：“无论何等人都江堰市可以用贱价买它来吃；都喜欢吃它。这是它的好处。”
爹爹说：“花生底用处固然很多；但有一样是很可贵的。这小小的豆(6)不像那好看的苹果、桃子、石榴，把它们底果实悬在枝上，鲜红嫩绿的颜色(7)，令人一望而发生羡慕的心。它只把果子埋在地底，等到成熟，才容人把它挖出来。你们偶然看见一棵花生瑟缩(8)地长在地上，不能立刻辨出它有没有果实，非得等到你接触它才能知道。”
我们都说：“是的。”母亲也点点头。爹爹接下去说：“所以你们要像花生(9)，因为它是有用的，不是伟大、好看的东西。”我说：“那么，人要做有用的，不要做伟大、体面的人了。”爹爹说：“这是我对于你们的希望。” 我们谈到夜阑才散，所有花生食品虽然没有了，然而父亲底话现在还印在我心版上。
Peanuts
Xu Dishan
Behind our house there lay half a mou of vacant land. Mother said, “it’s a pity to let it lie waste. Since you all like to eat peanuts so very much, why not plant some here?” that exhilarated us children and our servant girls as well, and soon we started buying seeds, ploughing the land and watering the plants. We gathered in a good harvest just after a couple of months!
Mother said, “How about giving a party this evening to celebrate the harvest and inviting your Daddy to have a taste of our newly-harvested peanuts?” We all agreed. Mother made quite a few varieties of goodies out of the peanuts, and told us that the party would be held in the thatched pavilion on the peanut plot. It looked like rain that evening, yet, to our great joy, father came nevertheless. “Do you like peanuts?” asked father. “Yes, we do!” we vied in giving the answer. “Which of you could name the good things in peanuts?” “Peanuts taste good,” said my elder sister. “Peanuts produce edible oil,” said my elder brother. “Peanuts are so cheap,” said I, “that anyone can afford to eat them. Peanuts are everyone’s favourite. That’s why we call peanuts good.” “It’s true that peanuts have many uses,” said father, “but they’re most beloved in one respect. Unlike nice-looking apples, peaches and pomegranates, which hang their fruit on branches and win people’s admiration with their brilliant colours, tiny little peanuts bury themselves underground and remain unearthed until they’re ripe. When you come upon a peanut plant lying curled up on the ground, you can never immediately tell whether or not it bear any nuts until you touch them.” “That’s true,” we said in unison. Mother also nodded. “So you must take after peanuts,” father continued, “because they’re useful though not great and nice- looking.” “Then you mean one should be useful rather than great and nice-looking,” I said. “That’s what I except of you,” father concluded. We kept chatting until the party broke up late at night. Today, though nothing is left of the goodies made of peanuts, father’s words remain engraved in my mind.
注释:
本文是许地山（1892-1941）的名篇。作者回忆自己童年时代一个小小片断，以朴实无华、
清新自然的笔调，从花生的平凡而有用，谈到做人的道理，富于哲理，反映他身处旧社会的污泥
浊流而洁身自好、不慕虚名的思想境界。
(1)原句也可译为why not have them planted here或why not make a peanut plot of it，但现译更
直截了当，且避免在同一句中重复peanuts一词。
(2)“几姊弟”在下文将涉及，为防累赘，译为children。
(3)“做一个收获节”不宜直译为hold a harvest festival，现取意译。
(4)“食品”也可译为food，但不如goodies 贴切；goodies指“好吃的东西”，常用于口语。
(5)“那晚上底天色不大好”译为It looked like rain that evening, 符合原意和英语习惯。
(6)“这小小的豆”译为tiny little peanuts。英语中常把tiny和little用在一起，有“小得可怜
（爱）”等含意。
(7)“鲜红嫩绿”不宜直译，译brilliant colours即可。
(8)“瑟缩”意即“蜷曲而不舒展”，故有现译。
(9)“你们要像花生”译为you must take after peanuts，其中take after 是成语，意即take……as an example（学习……的榜样）。

  不要抛弃学问(1)
胡适
诸位毕业同学，你们现在要离开母校了，我没有什么礼物送给你们，只好送你们一句话罢。
这一句话是：“不要抛弃学问。”以前的功课也许有一大部分是为这张文凭，
不得已而做的，从今而后，你们可以依自己的心愿去自由研究了(2)。趁现在年富力强
的时候，努力做一种学问。少年是一去不复返的，等到精力衰时，努力做学问(3)也来
不及了。即为吃饭计，学问决不会辜负人的(4)。吃饭而不求学问，三年五年后，你们
都江堰市要被后来少年淘汰掉的。到那时再想做点学问来补救，恐怕已太晚了。
有人说：“出去做事之后，生活问题急需解决，哪有工夫去读书？即使要做学
问，既没有图书馆，又没有实验室，哪能做学问？”
我要对你们说：凡是要等到有了图书馆才读书的，有了图书馆也不肯读书。凡
是要等到有了实验室才做研究的，有了实验室也不肯做研究。你有了决心要研究一个
问题，自然会撙衣节食(5)去买书，自然会想出来法子来设置仪器。
至于时间，更不成问题(6)。达尔文一生多病，不能多作工，每天只能做一点钟的
工作。你们看他的成绩！每天花一点钟看10页有用的书，每年可看3600多页书，30
年可读11万页书。
诸位，11万页书可以使你成一个学者了，可是，每天看三种小报也得费你一点
钟的工夫，四圈麻将也得费你一点半钟的光阴。看小报呢，还打麻将呢？还是努力做
一个学者呢？全靠你们自己的选择(7)！
易卜生说：“你的最大责任是把你这块材料铸造成器。”
学问便是铸器的工具。抛弃了学问便是毁了你们自己。
再会了！你们的母校眼睁睁地要看(8)你们十年之后成什么器。
Never Give Up the Pursuit of Learning
Hu Shih
Dear students of the Graduating Class,
As you are leaving your alma mater, I have nothing to offer you as a gift except a
word of advice.
My advice is, “Never give up the pursuit of learning.” You have perhaps finished
your college courses mostly for obtaining the diploma, or, in other words, out of sheer necessity.
However, from now you are free to follow your own bent in the choice of
studies. While you are in the prime of life, why not devote yourselves to a special field of
study? Youth will soon be gone never to return. And it will be too late for you to go into
scholarship when in your declining years. Knowledge will do you a good turn even as a
means of subsistence. If you give up studies while holding a job, you will in a couple of
years have had yourselves replaced by younger people. It will then be too late to remedy
the situation by picking up studies again.
Some people say, “Once you have a job, you’ll come up against the urgent problem
of making a living. How can you manage to find time to study? Even if you want to, will it
be possible with no library or no laboratory available?”
Now let me tell you this. Those who refuse to study for lack of a library will most
probably continue to do so even though there is a library. And those who refuse to do
research for lack of a laboratory will most probably continue to do so even though a
laboratory is available. As long as you set your mind on studies, you will naturally cut
down on food and clothing to buy books or do everything possible to acquire necessary
instruments.
Time is no object. Charles Darwin could only work one hour a day due to ill health.
Yet what a remarkable man he was! If you spend one hour a day reading 10 pages of a
book, you can finish more than 3600 pages a year, and 110000 pages in 30 years.
Dear students, 110000 pages will be quite enough to make a learned man of man. It
will take you one hour to read three tabloids a day, and one and half hours to finish four
rounds of mah-jong a day. Reading tabloids, playing mah-jong or striving to be a learned
man, the choice lies with you.
Henrik Ibsen says, “it is your supreme duty to cast yourself into a useful implement.”
Learning is the casting mould. Forsake learning, and you will ruin yourself.
Farewell! Your alma mater is watching eagerly to see what will become of you ten
years from now.
注释：
本文是胡适1928-1930年在上海任中国公学校长时为毕业生所作赠言，至今仍有参考价值。
(1)“不要抛弃学问”在这里的意思是“不要放弃对学问的追求”，因此不能直译为Never Give
up Learning，必须加字：Never Give up the Pursuit of Learning。
(2)“你们可以依自己的心愿去自由研究了”译为you are free to follow your personal bent in the
choice of studies，其中to follow one’s bent 是成语，和to follow one’s inclination同义，作“做自己感兴趣或爱做的事”解。
(3)“做学问”译为to go into scholarship, 等于to engage in learning。
(4)“学问决不会辜负人的”译为Knowledge will do you a good turn，其中to do one a good turn
是成语，作“做对某人有益的事”解.
(5) “撙衣节食”即“省吃省穿”，现译为 cut down on food and clothing, 其中 to
cut down on 是成语，与 to economize on 同义，作“节约”解。又，上语也可译为 to
live frugally。
(6)“至于时间，更不成问题”译为Time is no object,其中no object是成语，等于no problem，作“不成问题”或“不在话下”解。
(7)“全靠你们自己的选择”译为the choice lies with you或it is up to you to make the choice。
(8)“你们的母校眼睁睁地要看……”中的“眼睁睁地”通常的意思是“无可奈何地”，现
在这里作“热切地”解，故译为eagerly。
  

Passage3 我之于书(1)
夏丐尊
二十年来，我的生活费中至少十分之一二是消耗在书上的(2)。我的房子里(3)比较
贵重的东西就是书。
我一向没有对于任何问题作高深研究的野心，因之所以买的书范围较广，宗教、
艺术、文学、社会、哲学、历史、生物，各方面差不多都有一点。最多的是各国文学
名著的译本，与本国古来的诗文集，别的门类只是些概论等类的入门书而已。
我不喜欢向别人或图书馆借书。借来的书，在我好像过不来瘾似的(4)，必要是自
己买的才满足。这也可谓是一种占有的欲望。买到了几册新书，一册一册在加盖藏书
印(5)记，我最感到快悦的是这时候。
书籍到了我的手里，我的习惯是先看序文，次看目录。页数不多的往往立刻通读
(6)，篇幅大的，只把正文任择一二章节略加翻阅，就插在书架上。除小说外，我少有
全体读完的大部的书，只凭了购入当时的记忆，知道某册书是何种性质，其中大概有
些什么可取的材料而已。什么书在什么时候再去读再去翻，连我自己也无把握，完全
要看一个时期一个时期的兴趣。关于这事，我常自比为古时的皇帝，而把插在架上的
书籍诸列屋而居的宫女(7)。
我虽爱买书，而对于书却不甚爱惜。读书的时候，常在书上把我认为要紧的处所
标出。线装书竟用红铅笔划粗粗的线。经我看过的书，统计统体干净的很少。
据说，任何爱吃糖果的人，只要叫他到糖果铺中去做事，见了糖果就会生厌。自
我入书店以后，对于书的贪念也已消除了不少了，可不免要故态复萌(8)，想买这种，
想买那种。这大概因为糖果要用嘴去吃，摆存毫无意义，而书则可以买了不看，任其
只管插在架上的缘故吧。
Books and I
Xia Mianzun
For twenty years past, books have eaten into at least 10-20 percent of my pocket. Now
the only things of some value under my roof, if any, are my books.
Since I have never entertained ambition for making a profound study of any subject,
the books I have acquired cover almost everything--religion, art, literature, sociology,
philosophy, history, biology, etc. Most of them are Chinese translations of literary works
by famous foreign writers and anthologies of Chinese poetry and prose through the ages.
The rest, often called an outline or introduction, are merely on rudiments of various
subjects.
I never care to borrow books from other people or a library. It seems that books
bought can better satisfy my bibliomania than books borrowed. You may also attribute this
to some sort of desire for personal possession. Whenever I have some new acquisitions, it
always gives me great pleasure and satisfaction to stamp my ex-libris on them one by one.
As soon as a new book comes to hand, I always read the preface first and then the
table of contents. If it happens to be a thin one, I often finish reading it at one sitting.
Otherwise, I often browse through one or two chapters or sections before putting it onto
my bookshelf. I seldom read a thick book from cover to cover unless it is a novel. By dint
of the first impression it made on me at the time of buying, I have a rough idea of what a
book is about and what useful materials in it are available to me. But I have little idea
which book is to be read or looked over again at what time. It is completely subject to the
whims of the moment. This often prompts me to liken myself and the books on my shelves
respectively to an ancient emperor and his concubines housed separately in a row of
adjoining rooms.
Much as I love books, I take little care of them. In doing my reading, I often mark out
what I regard as important in a book. If it is a thread-bound Chinese book, I use a writing
brush to draw small circles as markings. Otherwise, I use a red pencil to draw heavy
underlines. Consequently, the books I have read are rarely clean.
It is said that those who have a great liking for candies will sicken to see them when
later they happen to work in a candy store. Likewise, ever since I began to work in a
bookstore, my obsession with books has been very much on the decline. Nevertheless, I
still can not help slipping back into the same old rut, eager to buy this and that book. This
is probably because candies are to be eaten with the mouth and not worth keeping as
knick-knacks while books can be bought without being read and just left on a shelf.
注释：
夏丐尊（1886-1946）浙江上虞人，著名文学家、教育家、出版家。他的文学创作以散文为主，多随笔、杂感，内容积极，风格平淡朴素。此文于1933年11月发表在《中学生》杂志上。
(1)“我之于书”译为 Books and I ，比 I and Books 符合英语习惯，读音也较顺口。
(2)“我的生活费中至少十分之一二是消耗在书上的”译为books have eaten into at least 10-20 percent of my pocket，其中成语 to eat into 作“耗尽”或“花费”解，意同 to use up 或 to spend gradually；pocket 作“腰包”解。
(3)“我的房子里”译为 under my roof ,意同 in my house。
(4)“好像过不来瘾似的”中的“瘾”指“藏书癖”，故译为bibliomania，意即 desire or passion for collecting books。
(5)“藏书印”译为 ex-libris，为专用语。
(6)“往往立刻通读”译为 I often finish reading it at one sitting，其中at one sitting（亦作at a sitting）为成语，作“坐着一口气”或“一下子”解。
(7)“宫女”本可译为court ladies或palace maids，但原文实际上指的是“妃子”，故译为concubines。
(8)“故态复萌”译为slipping back into the same old rut，或relapsing into my old habit。

  Passage4 中年人的寂寞
夏丐尊
我已是一个中年的人。一到中年，就有许多不愉快的现象，眼睛昏花了，记忆
力减退了，头发开始秃脱(1)而且变白了，意兴，体力，什么都不如年青的时候，常不
禁会感觉到难以名言的(2)寂寞的情味。尤其觉得难堪的是知友的逐渐减少(3)和疏远，
缺乏交际上的温暖的慰藉。
不消说，相识的人数是随了年龄增加的，一个人年龄越大，走过的地方当过的
职务越多，相识的人理该越增加了。可是相识的人并不就是朋友。我们和许多人相识，
或是因了事务关系，或是因了偶然的机缘(4)——如在别人请客的时候同席吃过饭之
类。见面时点头或握手，有事时走访或通信，口头上彼此也“朋友”，笔头上有时或
称“仁兄”，诸如此类，其实只是一种社交上的客套，和“顿首”“百拜”同是仪式
的虚伪(5)。这种交际可以说是社交，和真正的友谊相差似乎很远。
真正的朋友，恐怕要算“总角之交”或“竹马之交”了(6)。在小学和中学的时代
容易结成真实的友谊，那时彼此尚不感到生活的压迫，入世未深，打算计较的念头也
少，朋友的结成全由于志趣相近或性情适合，差不多可以说是“无所为”的(7)，性质
比较纯粹。二十岁以后结成的友谊，大概已不免搀有各种各样的颜色分子在内；至于
三十岁四十岁以后的朋友中间，颜色分子愈多，友谊的真实成分也就不免因而愈少了。
这并不一定是“人心不古”(8)，实可以说是人生的悲剧。人到了成年以后，彼此都有
生活的重担须负，入世既深，顾忌的方面也自然加多起来，在交际上不许你不计较，
不许你不打算，结果彼此都“勾心斗角”(9)，像七巧板似地只选定了某一方面和对方
接合(10)。这样的接合当然是很不坚固的，尤其是现代这样什么都到了尖锐化的时代。
在我自己的交游中，最值得系念的老是一此少年时代以来的朋友。这些朋友本
来数目就不多，有些住在远地，连相会的机会也不可多得。他们有的年龄大过了我，
有的小我几岁，都江堰市是中年以上的人了，平日各人所走的方向不同。思想趣味境
遇也都不免互异，大家晤谈起来，也常会遇到说不出的隔膜的情形。如大家话旧，旧
事是彼此共喻的，而且大半都江堰市是少年时代的事，“旧游如梦”，把梦也似的过
去的少年时代重提，因谈话的进行，同时会联想起许多当时的事情，许多当时的人的
面影，这时好象自己仍回归到少年时代去了(11)。我常在这种时候感到一种快乐，同
时也感到一种伤感，那情形好比老妇人突然在抽屉里或箱子里发见了她盛年时的影
片。
逢到和旧友谈话，就不知不觉地把话题转到旧事上去，这是我的习惯。我在这
上面无意识地会感到一种温暖地慰藉。可是这些旧友一年比一年减少了，本来只是屈
指可数的几个，少去一个是无法弥补的。我每当听到一个旧友死去的消息，总要惆怅
多时。
学校教育给我们的好处不但只是灌输知识，最大的好处恐怕还在给与我们求友
的机会上。这好处我到了离学校以后才知道，这几年来更确切地体会到，深悔当时毫
不自觉，马马虎虎地过去了。近来每日早晚在路上见到两两三三的携了手或挽了肩膀
走着的青年学生，我总艳羡他们有朋友之乐，暗暗地要在心中替他们祝福。
Mid-life Loneliness
Xia Mianzun
I am already a middle-aged man. At middle age, I feel sad to find my eyesight and
memory failing, my hair thinning and graying, and myself no longer mentally and
physically as fit as when I was young. I often suffer from a nameless loneliness. The most
intolerable of all is the lack of friendly warmth and comfort due to the gradual passing
away and estrangement of more and more old pals.
Needless to say, the number of acquaintances increases with one’s age. The older one
gets, the more widely traveled one is and the more work experience one has, the more
acquaintances one is supposed to have. But not all acquaintances are friends. We come to
know many people either in the way of business or by mere chance –say, having been at
the same table at a dinner party. We may be on nodding or hand-shaking terms, call each
other “friend”, sometimes write to each other with the salutation of “Dear So-and-So”, etc.,
etc. All these are, in fact, nothing but civilities of social life, as hypocritical as the polite
formula dunshou (kowtow) or baibai (a hundred greetings) used after the signature in
old-fashioned Chinese letter-writing. We may call them social intercourse, but they seem
to have very little in common with genuine friendship.
Real friendship between two persons originates perhaps from the time of life when
they were children playing innocently together. Real friendship is easily formed in primary
or middle school days when, being socially inexperienced and free from the burden of life,
you give little thought to personal gains or losses, and make friends entirely as a result of
similar tastes and interests or congenial disposition. It is sort of “friendship for friendship’s
sake” and is relatively pure in nature. Friendship among people in their 20's, however, is
more or less coloured by personal motives. And friendship among those aged over 30
becomes correspondingly still less pure as it gets even more coloured. Though this is not
necessarily due to "degeneration of public morality", I do have good reasons to call it the
tragedy of life. People at middle age, with the heavy burden of life and much experience in
the ways of the world, have more scruples about this and that, and can not choose but
become more calculating in social dealings till they start scheming against each
other. They always keep a wary eye, as it were, on each other in their association. Such
association is of course fragile, especially in this modern age of prevailing sharp conflicts.
Of all my friends, those I have known since child-hood are most worthy of
remembrance. They are few in number. Some of them live far away and we seldom have
an opportunity to see each other. Some of them are older than I am, and some a few years
younger. But all of us are in late mid-life. Since we have each followed a different course
in life, our ways of thinking, interests and circumstances are bound to differ, and often we
lack mutual understanding somehow or other in our conversation. Nevertheless, when we
talk over old times, we will always agree on things in the past--mostly about things in our
childhood days. While we retell the dream-like childhood days in the course of our
conversation, numerous scenes and persons of bygone days will unfold again before our
eyes, and we will feel like reliving the old days. Often at this moment, I'll feel at once
happy and sad--like an old lady suddenly fishing out from her drawer or chest a photo of
her taken in the bloom of her youth.
When chatting away with my old friends, I am in the habit of unwittingly channeling
the topic of conversation toward things of former days. From that I unknowingly derive
some sort of warm solace. But old friends are dwindling away year by year. They are
originally few in number, so the disappearance of any of them is an irreparable loss to me.
The news of any old pal's death will invariably make me sad in my heart for a long, long
time.
The imparting of knowledge is not the sole advantage of school education. Its greatest
advantage is perhaps the opportunity it affords us for making friends. It was not until I had
already left school that I began to realize this advantage. And in recent years I have come
to understand it even more deeply. I much regret having carelessly frittered away my
school days without making many friends. Recently, every morning or evening, whenever
I see school kids with satchels walking in twos and threes, hand in hand or shoulder to
shoulder, I always envy them for enjoying happy friendship, and inwardly offer them my
best wishes.
注释：
本文发表在1934年11月的《中学生》杂志上，文章用平淡的语言诉说了中年人的苦恼，感叹“真实的友谊”不可多得，字里行间流泄出对当时现状的不满。
(1)“头发开始秃脱”指头发开始变稀，也可译为 my head balding。 今译 my hair thinning ，以 hair 取代head，是为了照顾下面的graying一字。
(2)“难以名言的”译为nameless，意同indescribable，但nameless常用来指不好的事物，如：a nameless fear、nameless atrocities。
(3)“逐渐减少”在原文指逐渐作古，如直译为 the gradual dwindling away 则未能明确表达“死去”的意思。故译为gradual passing away.
(4)“我们和许多人相识，或是因为事务关系，或是因了偶然的机缘……”译为We come to know
many people either in the way of business or by mere chance…，其中in the way of 是成语，作“为了”解。成语in the way of可有若干不同的意思，如“关于”、“以……的方法”，“为了”等，须由上下文来决定。
(5)“和‘顿首’‘百拜’同是仪式的虚伪”译为as hypocritical as the polite formula dunshou (kowtow) or baibai (a hundred greetings) used after the signature in old-fashioned Chinese letter-writing。其中 kowtow, a hundred greetings 以及 used after the signature in old fashioned Chinese letter-writing 均为译者的补充说明，属一种释义译法。
(6)“真正的朋友，恐怕要算‘总角之交’或‘竹马之交’了”译为 Real friendship between two persons originates perhaps from the time of life when they were children playing innocently together，其中“总角之交”和“竹马之交”合而为一，用意译法处理。
(7)“差不多可以说是‘无所为’的”译为It is sort of “friendship for friendship’s sake”，其中sort of （有几分）用来表达“差不多可以说”。又“无所为”意即“无其它目的”或“无条件的”，故译为friendship for friendship’s sake（为友谊而友谊的）。
(8)“这并一定是‘人心不古’”译为Though this is not necessarily due to “degeneration of public
morality”。也可考虑采用另一译法：Though this should not be ascribed exclusively to “degeneration of public morality”。
(9)“结果彼此都‘勾心斗角’”译为till they start scheming against each other。注意其中till的一种特殊用法。它在这里指“结果”，意即so that、finally或and at last，不作“直到……为止”解。
(10)“像七巧板似地只选定了某一方面和对方接合”不宜直译。现按“人们在交往中互相提防，互存戒心”的内涵，用意译法处理：They always keep a wary eye, as it were, on each other in their association，其中插入语as it were作“似乎”、“可以说”等解。
(11)“这时好像自己仍回归到少年时代去了”译为and we feel like reliving the old days，其中to relive作“（凭想象）重新过……的生活”(to experience…again, especially in imagination)解。

Passage5 背 影
朱自清
我与父亲不相见已二年余了，我最不能忘记的是他的背影。那年冬天，祖母死了，
父亲的差使也交卸了，正是祸不单行的日子，我从北京到徐州，打算跟着父亲奔丧回
家。到了徐州见着父亲，看见满院狼藉的东西，又想起祖母，不禁簌簌地流下眼泪。
父亲说：“事已如此，不必难过，好在天无绝人之路！”
回家○1变卖典质，父亲还了亏空；又借了钱办了丧事。这些日子，家中光景很是
惨淡，一半为了丧事，一半为了父亲的赋闲○2
。丧事完毕，父亲要到南京谋事，我也
要回到北京念书，我们便同行。
到南京时，有朋友约去游逛，勾留了一日；第二日上午便须渡江到浦口，下午上
车北去。父亲因为事忙，本已说定不送我，叫旅馆里一个熟识的茶房○3陪我同去。他
再三嘱咐茶房，甚是仔细。但他终于不放心，怕茶房不妥贴，颇踌躇了一会。其实那
年我已二十岁，北京来往过两三次，是没有甚么要紧的了。他踌躇了一会，终于决定
还是自己送我去。我两三回劝他不必去○4；他只说，“不要紧，他们去不好○5！”
我们过了江，进了车站。我买票，他忙着照看行李。行李太多了，得向脚夫行些
小费○6，才可过去。他便又忙着和他们讲价钱。我那时真是太聪明过分○7，总觉得他
说话不大漂亮○8，非得自己插嘴不可。但他终于讲定了价钱；就送我上车。他给我拣
定了靠车门的一张椅子；我将他给我做的紫毛大衣铺好坐位。他嘱我路上小心，夜里
要警醒些，不要受凉。又嘱托茶房好好照应我。我心里暗笑他的迂○9；他们只认得钱，
托他们直是白托！而且我这样大年纪的人，难道还不能料理自己吗？唉，我现在想想，
那时真是太聪明了10！
我说道，“爸爸，你走吧。”他望车外看了看，说，“我买几个橘子去。你就在
此地，不要走动。”我看那边月台的栅栏外有几个卖东西的的等着顾客。走到那边月
台，须穿过铁道，须跳下去又爬上去。父亲是一个胖子，走过去自然要费些事。我本
来要去的，他不肯，只好让他去。我看见他戴着黑布小帽。穿着黑布大马褂11，深青
布棉袍，蹒跚在走到铁道边，慢慢探身下去，尚不大难。可是他穿过铁道，要爬上那
边月台，就不容易了。他用两手攀着上面，两脚再向上缩；他肥胖的身子向左微倾，
显出努力的样子。这时我看见他的的背影，我眼泪很快地流下来了。我赶紧拭干了泪，
怕他看见，也怕别人看见。我再向外看时，他已抱了朱红的橘子往回走了。过铁道时，
他先将橘子散放在地上，自己慢慢爬下，再抱起橘子走。到这边时，我赶紧去搀他。
他和我走到车上，将橘子一股脑儿放在我的皮大衣上。于是扑扑衣上泥土，心里很轻
松似的，过了一会说，“我走了；到那边来信！”我望着他走出去。他走了几步，回
过头看见我，说，“进去吧，里边没人12。”等他的背影混入来来往往的人里，再找
不着了，我便进来坐下，我的眼泪又来了。
近几年来，父亲和我都是东奔西走13，家中的光景是一日不如一日。他少年出外
谋生，独力支持，做了许多大事。那知老境却如此颓唐！他触目伤怀，自然不能自己
14。情郁于中，自然要发之于外；家庭琐屑便往往触他之怒。他待我渐渐不同往日15。
但最近两年的不见，他终于忘却我的不好，只是惦记着我，惦记着我的儿子。我北来
后，他写了一信给我，信中说道，“我身体平安，惟膀子疼痛利害，举箸提笔，诸多
不便，大约大去16之期不远矣。”我读到此处，在晶莹的泪光中，又看见那肥胖的，
青布马褂的背影。唉！我不知何时再能与他相见！
The Sight of Father’s Back
Zhu Ziqing
It is more than two years since I last saw father, and what I can never forget is the
sight of his back. Misfortunes never come singly. In the winter of more than two years
ago, grandma died and father lost his job. I left Beijing for Xuzhou to join father in
hastening home to attend grandma’s funeral. When I met father in Xuzhou, the sight of the
disorderly mess in his courtyard and the though of grandma started tears trickling down my
cheeks. Father said, “Now that things’ve come to such a pass, it’s no use crying.
Fortunately, Heaven always leaves one a way out.”
After arriving home in Yangzhou, father paid off debts by selling or pawning things.
He also borrowed money to meet the funeral expenses. Between grandma’s funeral and
father’s unemployment, our family was then in reduced circumstances. After the funeral
was over, father was to go to Nanjing to look for a job and I was to return to Beijing to
study, so we started out together.
I spent the first day in Nanjing strolling about with some friends at their invitation,
and was ferrying across the Yangtse River to Pukou the next morning and thence taking a
train for Beijing on the afternoon of the same day. Father said he was too busy to go and
see me off at the railway station, but would ask a hotel waiter that he knew to accompany
me there instead. He urged the waiter again and again to take good care of me, but still did
not quite trust him. He hesitated for quite a while about what to do. As a matter of fact,
nothing would matter at all because I was then twenty and had already travelled on
Beijing-Pukou Railway a couple of times. After some wavering, he finally decided that he
himself would accompany me to the station. I repeatedly tried to talk him out of it, but he
only said, “Never mind! It won’t do to trust guys like those hotel boys!”
We entered the railway station after crossing the River. While I was at the booking
office buying a ticket, father saw to my luggage. There was quite a bit of luggage and he
had to bargain with the porter over the fee. I was then such a smart aleck that I frowned
upon the way father was haggling and was on the verge of chipping in a few words when
the bargain was finally clinched. Getting on the train with me, he picked me a seat close to
the carriage door. I spread on the seat the brownish fur-lined overcoat he had got tailor
made for me. He told me to be watchful on the way and be careful not to catch cold at
night. he also asked the train attendants to take good care of me. I sniggered at father for
being so impractical, for it was utterly useless to entrust me to those attendants, who cared
for nothing but money. Besides, it was certainly no problem for a person of my age to look
after himself. Oh, when I come to think of it, I can see how smarty I was in those days!
I said, “Dad, you might leave now.” But he looked out of window and said, “I’m
going to buy you some tangerines. You just stay here. Don’t move around.” I caught sight
of several vendors waiting for customers outside the railings beyond a platform. But to
reach that platform would require crossing the railway track and doing some climbing up
and down. That would be a strenuous job for father, who was fat. I wanted to do all that
myself, but he stopped me, so I could do nothing but let him go. I watched him hobble
towards the railway track in his black skullcap, black cloth mandarin jacket and dark blue
cotton-padded cloth long gown. He had little trouble climbing down the railway track, but
it was a lot more difficult for him to climb up that platform after crossing the railway track.
His hands held onto the upper part of the platform, his legs huddled up and his corpulent
body tipped slightly towards the left, obviously making an enormous exertion. While I was
watching him from behind, tears gushed from my eyes. I quickly wiped them away lest he
or others should catch me crying. The next moment when I looked out of the window again,
father was already on the way back, holding bright red tangerines in both hands. In
crossing the railway track, he first put the tangerines on the ground, climbed down slowly
and then picked them up again. When he came near the train, I hurried out to help him by
the hand. After boarding the train with me, he laid all the tangerines on my overcoat, and
patting the dirt off his clothes, he looked somewhat relieved and said after a while, “I must
be going now. Don’t forget to write me from Beijing!” I gazed after his back retreating out
of the carriage. After a few steps, he looked back at me and said, “go back to your seat.
Don’t leave your things alone.” I, however, did not go back to my seat until his figure was
lost among crowds of people hurrying to and fro and no longer visible. My eyes were again
wet with tears.
In recent years, both father and I have been living an unsettled life, and the
circumstances of our family going from bad to worse. Father left home to seek a livelihood
when young and did achieve quite a few things all on his own. To think that he should now
be so downcast in old age! The discouraging state of affairs filled him with an
uncontrollable feeling of deep sorrow, and his pent-up emotion had to find a vent. That is
why even mere domestic trivialities would often make him angry, and meanwhile he
became less and less nice with me. However, the separation of the last two years has made
him more forgiving towards me. He keeps thinking about me and my son. After I arrived in
Beijing, he wrote me a letter, in which he says. “I’m all right except for a severe pain in my
arm. I even have trouble using chopsticks or writing brushes. Perhaps it won’t be long now
before I depart this life.” Through the glistening tears which these words had brought to
my eyes I again saw the back of father’s corpulent form in the dark blue cotton-padded
cloth long gown and the black cloth mandarin jacket. Oh, how I long to see him again.
注释:
《背影》是朱自清（1898-1948）影响最大的抒情名篇之一，写于1925年10月。作者用的提炼的口语，文笔秀丽，细腻缜密，读来有一种亲切婉转、娓娓动听的感觉。但它的巨大艺术魅力主要来自它饱含的真挚感情。
(1)“回家”指作者和父亲一起从徐州回扬州奔丧。英译时有必要交代清楚扬州是他们的老家，所以采用加字法：After arriving home in Yangzhou。
(2)“一半为了丧事，一半为了父亲的赋闲”译为Between Grandma’s funeral and father’s
unemployment，其中Between…and…等于What with …and (what with)…，作“半因……，半因……”或“由于……的共同影响“解。
(3)“茶房”旧时指旅馆、餐馆、轮船等内的服务员，可译为waiter、attendant、boy等。
(4)“我两三回劝他不必去”译为I repeatedly tried to talk him out of it，比I repeatedly tried to
dissuade him from accompanying me to the station通俗简洁。
(5)“他们去不好”中的“他们”指“茶房”，全句意译为It won’t do to trust guys like those hotel
boys。如直译为It won’t do to let one of the hotel boys go with you，也无不可，但未能把“对茶房缺乏信任感”的意思表达出来。
(6)“小费”在这里不指按规定价格付费之外另给的“赏金”，不能用tip表达，现译为fee。
(7)“我那时真是聪明过分”中的“聪明”是反话，现全句译为I was then such a smart aleck，
其中smart aleck意即“自以为是的人”或“自以为样样懂的人”。
(8)“总觉得他说话不大漂亮”意即嫌父亲不会讲价钱，现全句译为I frowned upon the way
father was haggling，其中frowned upon作“表示不赞同”解。
(9)“迂”在这里作“不切实际”或“没有见识”解，现结合上下文译为impractical。
(10)“那时真是太聪明了”也是反语，现译为how smarty I was in those days，其中smarty和
smart aleck同义。
(11)“马褂”为旧时男子穿在长袍外的对襟短褂，通常译为mandarin jacket。
(12)“里边没人”不宜按字面直译，现译为Don’t leave your things alone。
(13)“父亲和我都是东奔西走”不宜按字面直译，现意译为both father and I have been living an
unsettled life。
(14)“他触目伤怀，自然情不能自己”意即“他看到家庭败落，情不自禁为之悲伤”，现译
为The discouraging state of affairs filled him with an uncontrollable feeling of deep sorrow。
(15)“他待我渐渐不同往日”意即“他待我渐渐不如过去那么好”，故译为he became less and
less nice with me。
(16)“大去”为旧时用语，意即“与世长辞”，现译为depart this life。

  Passage 6 匆 匆
朱自清
燕子去了，有再来的时候；杨柳枯了，在再青的时候；桃花谢了，有再开的时候
1。但是，聪明的，你告诉我，我们的日子为什么一去不复返呢？——是有人偷了他
们罢：那是谁？又藏在何处呢？是他们自己逃走了罢：现在又到了那里呢2？
我不知道他们给了我多少日子3；但我的手确乎是渐渐空虚了4。在默默里算着，
八千多日子已经从我手中溜去5；像针尖上一滴水滴在大海里，我的日子滴在时间的
流里，没有声音，也没有影子。我不禁头涔涔而泪潸潸了6。
去的尽管去了，来的尽管来着；去来的中间，又怎样地匆匆呢？早上我起来的时
候，小屋里射进两三方7斜斜的太阳。太阳他也有脚啊，轻轻悄悄地挪移8了；我也茫
茫然跟着旋转。于是——洗手的时候，日子从水盆里过去；吃饭的时候，日子从饭碗
里过去；默默时，便从凝然的双眼前过去。我觉察他去的匆匆了，伸出手遮挽时，他
又从遮挽着的手边过去，天黑时，我躺在床上，他便伶伶俐俐在从我身上跨过，从我
脚边飞去了。等我睁开眼和太阳再见，这算又溜走了一日。我掩着面叹息。但是新来
的日子的影儿又开始在叹息里闪过了。
在逃去如飞的日子里，在千门万户的世界里的我能做些什么呢？只有徘徊罢了，
只有匆匆罢了；在八千多日的匆匆里，除徘徊外，又剩些什么呢？过去的日子如轻烟，
被微风吹散了，如薄雾，被初阳蒸融了；我留着些什么痕迹呢？我何曾留着像游丝样
的痕迹呢？我赤裸裸来到这世界，转眼间也将赤裸裸的回去罢？但不能平的9，为什
么偏要白白走这一遭啊？
你聪明的，告诉我，我们的日子为什么一去不复返呢？
Transient Days
Zhu ziqing
If swallows go away, they will come back again. If willows wither, they will turn
green again. If peach blossoms fade, they will flower again. But, tell me, you the wise, why
should our days go by never to return? Perhaps they have been stolen by someone. But
who could it be and where could he hide them? Perhaps they have just run away by
themselves. But where could they be at the present moment?
I don’t know how many days I am entitled to altogether, but my quota of then is
undoubtedly wearing away. Counting up silently, I find that more than 8000 days have
already slipped away through my fingers. Like a drop of water falling off a needle point
into the ocean, my days are quietly dripping into the stream of time without leaving a trace.
At the thought of this, sweat oozes from my forehead and tears trickle down my cheeks.
What is gone is gone, what is to come keeps coming. How swift is the transition in
between! When I get up in the morning, the slanting sun casts two or three squarish
patches of light into my small room. The sun has feet too, edging away softly and
stealthily. And, without knowing it, I am already caught in its revolution. Thus the day
flows away through the sink when I wash my hands; vanishes in the rice bowl when I have
my meal; passes away quietly before the fixed gaze of my eyes when I am lost in reverie.
Aware of its fleeting presence, I reach out for it only to find it brushing past my
outstretched hands. In the evening, when I lie on my bed, it nimbly strides over my body
and flits past my feet. By the time when I open my eyes to meet the sun again, another day
is already gone. I heave a sigh, my head buried in my hands. But, in the midst of my sighs,
a new day is flashing past.
Living in this world with its fleeting days and teeming millions, what can I do but
waver and wander and live a transient life? What have I been doing during the 8000
fleeting days except wavering and wandering? The bygone days, like wisps of smoke, have
been dispersed by gentle winds, and, like thin mists, have been evaporated by the rising
sun. What traces have I left behind? No, nothing, not even gossamer-like traces. I have
come to this world stark naked, and in the twinkling of an eye, I am to go back as stark
naked as ever. However, I am taking it very much to heart: why should I be made to pass
through this world for nothing at all?
O you the wise, would you tell me please: why should our days go by never to return?
注释：
本文是朱自清的早期散文，写于1922年7月28日。文章充满诗意，对时光的消失深表感叹
和无奈，流露出当时青年知识分子的苦闷和忧伤情绪。
(1) 原文开头三个句子结构类似，译文采用三个相应的句式，力求形似。同时，每句均以if
从句为首，使人想起英国诗人雪莱(Shelley)的名句If Winter comes, can Spring be far away，有助于烘托原文的韵味。
(2) “现在又到了那里呢”译为But where could they be at the present moment，其中at the
present moment等于now，也可用at the moment或at the moment in time等表达。
(3) “我不知道他们给了我多少日子”译为I don’t know how many days I am entitled to
altogether，其中entitled to相当于qualified for，作“能有……”或“有权得到……”解。此句也可译为I don’t know how many days been given to live。
(4) “但我的手确乎是渐渐空虚了”不宜逐字直译，现以意译法处理：but my quota of them is
undoubtedly wearing away，其中quota of them的意思是“一定数额的日子”，也即“寿命的预期数额”。也可用my allotted span 代替my quota of them。
(5) “八千多日子已经从我手中溜去”译为more than 8000 days have already slipped away
through my fingers，其中to slip away through one’s fingers是英语习语。
(6) “我不禁头涔涔而泪潸潸了”的译文中添加了At the thought of this（一想到这儿），承
上启下，原文虽无其字而有其意。
(7) “两三方”译为two and three squarish patches，其中squarish的意思是“似方形的”比
square模糊些，似较可取。
(8) “挪移”在此有“慢慢离开”的含义，现以英语短语动词(phrasal verb) to edge away表
达。注意原文第三段中若干表示动作的词语在译文中均挑选恰当的英语短语动词表达，效果较好。如：“从……（双眼前）过去”译为to pass away before…；“伸出手遮挽……”译为to reach out for…；“从……（手边）过去”译为to brush past…；“从……（身上）跨过”译为to stride over…；
“从……（脚边）飞去了”译为to flit past…；“闪过去了”译为to flash past。
(9) “不能平的”意即“为之耿耿于怀”或“为之想不开”，现译为Iam taking it very much
to heart，其中to take…to heart是英语成语，作“为……烦恼”或“为……想不开”解。