美文欣賞-Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon

(Jiaolong and Lo Xiaohu, who is recognized as the bandit Dark Cloud, has a passionate love affair. And they once lived happily and freely in the desert for awhile.)

Lo: One night, when I was little, I saw a thousand stars fall out of the sky. Where they all go? I wondered. Then I thought, maybe if I ride to the end of the desert to find them. I’m an orphan. I was always doing things alone. So I rode out one morning and I’ve been riding all over the desert ever since. And after riding all over the desert I’m now a 1)bandit.

Jiaolong: And since he could not find the stars, he robs young girls of their combs.

Lo: Out here simple survival is the main occupation. So first thing you join others, form a group. The group is your shelter and your strength. I’m not a real bandit. It’s just easier that way to fill my stomach.

Jiaolong: So in your heart you’re still a child searching for where the stars fell.

Lo: A grown man gazing at the sky and thinking a bright star has fallen at his side.

(Mubai and Xiulian are sitting together in a pavilion.)

Mubai: Xiulian, the things we can touch have no 2)permanence. It is all an 3)illusion. The Master would say, “A man’s 4)primary need is to let go. Only then can he possess what is truly real.”

Xiulian: Yes, I am sure many things are an illusion. Yet some are hopelessly real. Like my hand. Wasn’t that real?

Mubai: Rough and 5)calloused. The hand of a Shuang Dao master. How I’ve longed to touch it and never dared! XiuLian, we are 6)beset with 7)peril, and it is not weapons. The real danger resides in the human heart. I tried to leave the Jianghu world for you and look what trouble that had brought us.

Xiulian: The feelings one 8)represses just strengthen.

Mubai: You are right, but what do I do then? What I would like is us... together as we are here. It gives me a sense of 9)infinite peace.