讀點(diǎn)好英文:Love 愛(ài)

Love 愛(ài)

Eileen Chang

This is real.

There was once a daughter of a tolerably well-off family in the country who was very lovely and sought out by many matchmakers, although nothing had come of their efforts. That year, she was only fifteen or sixteen years old. One spring evening, she stood by the back door, hands resting on a peach tree. She remembered that she was wearing a moon-white tunic. She had seen the young man who lived across the way, but they had never spoken. He walked toward her, came to a halt close by, and said softly: "So you're here, too?" She did not say anything, and he did not say more. They stood for a moment and then went their separate ways.

That was all.

Later, the girl was abducted by a swindler in the family and sold as a concubine in some far-off town, then sold several times more, passing through any number of trials and ordeals. When she was old, she still remembered that incident and often spoke of that evening in spring, the peach tree by the back door, that young man.

?When you meet the one among the millions, when amid millions of years, across the borderless wastes of time, you happen to catch him or her, neither a step too early nor a step too late, what else is there to do except to ask softly: "So you're here, too?"

愛(ài)

張愛(ài)玲

這是真的。

有個(gè)村莊的小康之家的女孩子，生得美，有許多人來(lái)做媒，但都沒(méi)有說(shuō)成。那年她不過(guò)十五六歲吧，是春天的晚上，她立在后門(mén)口，手扶著桃樹(shù)。她記得她穿的是一件月白的衫子。對(duì)門(mén)住的年輕人同她見(jiàn)過(guò)面，可是從來(lái)沒(méi)有打過(guò)招呼的，他走了過(guò)來(lái)，離得不遠(yuǎn)，站定了，輕輕的說(shuō)了一聲：“噢，你也在這里嗎？”她沒(méi)有說(shuō)什么，他也沒(méi)有再說(shuō)什么，站了一會(huì)，各自走開(kāi)了。

就這樣就完了。

后來(lái)這女子被親眷拐子賣(mài)到他鄉(xiāng)外縣去作妾，又幾次三番地被轉(zhuǎn)賣(mài)，經(jīng)過(guò)無(wú)數(shù)的驚險(xiǎn)的風(fēng)波，老了的時(shí)候她還記得從前那一回事，常常說(shuō)起，在那春天的晚上，在后門(mén)口的桃樹(shù)下，那年輕人。

于千萬(wàn)人之中遇見(jiàn)你所遇見(jiàn)的人，于千萬(wàn)年之中，時(shí)間的無(wú)涯的荒野里，沒(méi)有早一步，也沒(méi)有晚一步，剛巧趕上了，那也沒(méi)有別的話可說(shuō)，唯有輕輕地問(wèn)一聲：“噢，你也在這里嗎？”

實(shí)戰(zhàn)提升

Practising & Exercise

導(dǎo)讀

張愛(ài)玲（Eileen Chang），原名張瑛，1921年生于上海一個(gè)沒(méi)落的官宦之家，其祖父為張佩綸，外曾祖父為李鴻章。她在1943年發(fā)表小說(shuō)《沉香屑·第一爐香》并一舉成名，同年發(fā)表代表作《金鎖記》、《傾城之戀》等。1955年留美定居。1995年9月8日在洛杉磯家中去世，終年75歲。張愛(ài)玲寫(xiě)這個(gè)故事的時(shí)候，正是與胡蘭成熱戀的時(shí)候。張愛(ài)玲一直拒絕浪漫，但她與胡蘭成的這段熱戀，又是她一生中短暫的浪漫時(shí)期，幾乎是唯一的一次。所以在張愛(ài)玲眾多作品中，《愛(ài)》這篇小散文顯示出了別樣的風(fēng)采，如此明亮的詩(shī)意，寄托了她此時(shí)此刻對(duì)愛(ài)的理解與感慨、遐思。人在熱戀時(shí)，對(duì)愛(ài)的理解與其他時(shí)期都有所不同。

核心單詞

tolerably [?t?l?r?b(?)li] adv. 可容忍地

matchmaker [?m?t?meik?(r)] n. 媒人

halt [h??lt] n. 暫停，停止；終止

abduct [?b?d?kt] v. 誘拐；綁架；劫持

concubine [?k??kjubain] n. 妾；姘婦

amid [??mid] prep. 在……之間；在……之中

翻譯

She had seen the young man who lived across the way, but they had never spoken.

They stood for a moment and then went their separate ways.

When she was old, she still remembered that incident and often spoke of that evening in spring, the peach tree by the back door, that young man.