讀點好英文:Love 愛

Love 愛

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

張愛玲

這是真的。

有個村莊的小康之家的女孩子，生得美，有許多人來做媒，但都沒有說成。那年她不過十五六歲吧，是春天的晚上，她立在后門口，手扶著桃樹。她記得她穿的是一件月白的衫子。對門住的年輕人同她見過面，可是從來沒有打過招呼的，他走了過來，離得不遠，站定了，輕輕的說了一聲：“噢，你也在這里嗎？”她沒有說什么，他也沒有再說什么，站了一會，各自走開了。

就這樣就完了。

后來這女子被親眷拐子賣到他鄉(xiāng)外縣去作妾，又幾次三番地被轉(zhuǎn)賣，經(jīng)過無數(shù)的驚險的風波，老了的時候她還記得從前那一回事，常常說起，在那春天的晚上，在后門口的桃樹下，那年輕人。

于千萬人之中遇見你所遇見的人，于千萬年之中，時間的無涯的荒野里，沒有早一步，也沒有晚一步，剛巧趕上了，那也沒有別的話可說，唯有輕輕地問一聲：“噢，你也在這里嗎？”

實戰(zhàn)提升

Practising & Exercise

導讀

張愛玲（Eileen Chang），原名張瑛，1921年生于上海一個沒落的官宦之家，其祖父為張佩綸，外曾祖父為李鴻章。她在1943年發(fā)表小說《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。張愛玲寫這個故事的時候，正是與胡蘭成熱戀的時候。張愛玲一直拒絕浪漫，但她與胡蘭成的這段熱戀，又是她一生中短暫的浪漫時期，幾乎是唯一的一次。所以在張愛玲眾多作品中，《愛》這篇小散文顯示出了別樣的風采，如此明亮的詩意，寄托了她此時此刻對愛的理解與感慨、遐思。人在熱戀時，對愛的理解與其他時期都有所不同。

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.