雙語美文：故都的秋
雙語美文：《故都的秋》
摘錄：秋天，這北國的秋天，若留得住的話，我願把壽命的三分之二折去，換得一個三分之一的零頭。
Autumn is always wonderful regardless of where it is. But autumn in the north is especially fresher, quieter and more desolate. I have traveled thousands of miles in a rush from Hangzhou to Qingdao and then from Qingdao to Peking. The only reason was to taste ‘the autumn’, its flavor in the ancient capital.
秋天，無論在什麼地方的秋天，總是好的;可是啊，北國的秋，卻特別來得清，來得靜，來得悲涼。我的不遠千里，要從杭州趕上青島，更要從青島趕上北平來的理由，也不過想嘗一嘗這“秋”，這故都的秋味。
In the south, of course there is autumn too. However, vegetation there withers slow. With moist air and pale sky, it is often more rainy and less windy. One, always mixed in the crowds in Suzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Hong Kong or Guangzhou, lives a chaotic life and only feels a bit cool. It is never possible to fully appreciate the taste, color, context and gesture of the autumn. Autumn is not a brand flower, nor a mellow wine. The half-drunk altitude is inappropriate in the course of understanding the autumn.
江南，秋當然也是有的;但草木雕得慢，空氣來得潤，天的顏色顯得淡，並且又時常多雨而少風;一個人夾在蘇州上海杭州，或廈門香港廣州的市民中間，混混沌沌地過去，只能感到一點點清涼，秋的味，秋的色，秋的意境與姿態，總是看不飽，嘗不透，賞玩不到十足。秋並不是名花，也並不是美酒，那一種半開，半醉的狀態，在領略秋的過程上，是不合適的。
I have not spent the autumn in the north for almost ten years. Every autumn in the south, I always thought of the aloe flowers of the TaoRan Pavilion, the elegant willows of the DiaoYu Platform, the singing insets in the Western Hills, the autumn moon of the Jade Springs and the bell rings of the Tanzhe Temple. In Peking, no matter whether you stay at home, go with the crowd in the Forbidden City or rent a shack, you’ll see the lofty and azure sky and hear the sound of pigeon-training under the sky when you get up to make a bowl of hot tea and sit in the yard in the morning. Under the shady locust trees, counting the traces of the sunbeams sifted through toward the east, or in the broken wall, facing silently the blue flowers of the trumpet-like morning glory, you will feel naturally the authentic autumn. Saying a morning glory, I thought blue or white one is the best, the purple one the second and then follows the pink one. It would be the best if there are a few sparse tapering and long autumn grasses growing on the base of the flowers to serve as a contrast.
不逢北國之秋，已將近十餘年了。在南方每年到了秋天，總要想起陶然亭的蘆花，釣魚臺的柳影，西山的蟲唱，玉泉的夜月，潭柘寺的鐘聲。在北平即使不出門去罷，就是在皇城人海之中，租人家一椽破屋來住着，早晨起來，泡一碗濃茶，向院子一坐，你也能看得到很高很高的碧綠的天色，聽得到青天下訓鴿的飛聲。從槐樹葉底，朝東細數着一絲一絲漏下來的日光，或在破壁腰中，靜對着象喇叭不逢北國之秋，已將近十餘年了。在南方每年到了秋天，總要想起陶然亭的蘆花，釣魚臺的柳影，西山的蟲唱，玉泉的夜月，潭柘寺的鐘聲。在北平即使不出門去罷，就是在皇城人海之中，租人家一椽破屋來住着，早晨起來，泡一碗濃茶，向院子一坐，你也能看得到很高很高的碧綠的天色，聽得到青天下訓鴿的飛聲。從槐樹葉底，朝東細數着一絲一絲漏下來的日光，或在破壁腰中，靜對着象喇叭似的牽牛花(朝榮)的藍朵，自然而然地也能感覺到十分的秋意。說道了牽牛花。我以爲以藍色或白色者爲佳，紫黑色次之，淡紅色最下。最好，還要在牽牛花底，教長着幾根疏疏落落的尖細且長的秋草，使作陪襯。
Locust tree in the north is also a kind of embellishment and a reminder of r fallen petals, somehow like but unlike flowers, fully cover the ground in the morning. Stepping on them even causes no sound or smell, only arouses a sense of super subtlety and tenderness. After the street cleaners sweep the streets shadowed by the trees, the streak traces left behind by the brooms in the dust looked soft and idle, also a bit lonely in sub-consciousness. The ancients said that one leaf of phoenix tree makes the autumn known to the world, a reverie almost evidenced by the depth of these things.
北國的槐樹，也是一種能使人聯想起秋來的點綴。象花而又不是花的那一種落蕊，早晨起來，會鋪得滿地。腳踏上去，聲音也沒有，氣味也沒有，只能感出一點點極微細極柔軟的觸覺。掃街的在樹影下一陣掃後，灰土上留下來的一條條掃帚的絲紋，看起來既覺得細膩，又覺得清閒，潛意識下並且還覺得有點兒落寞，古人所說的梧桐一葉而天下知秋的遙想，大約也就在這些深沉的地方。
The fading and feeble chirping of cicadas is a specialty of the north. Trees grow everywhere in Peking. Houses are also lowly sprawled. So no matter where you are, you are able to hear their singings. In the south, you need to go into the countryside or up to the mountains to hear them. In Peking, the whinny of autumn cicadas is just simply the home insects like crickets and mice kept in every household.
秋蟬的衰弱的殘聲，更是北國的特產;因爲北平處處全長着樹，屋子又低，所以無論在什麼地方，都聽得見它們的啼唱。在南方是非要上郊外或山上去才聽得到的。這秋蟬的嘶叫，在北平可和蟋蟀耗子一樣，簡直象是家家戶戶都養在家裏的家蟲。
Also there is raining in autumn, so odder, more flavored and more decent in the north than in the south.
還有秋雨哩，北方的秋雨也似乎比南方的下得奇，下得有味，下得象樣。
Under the gloomy sky, suddenly comes a gust of cool wind. Rain is immediately scattered down. After this fit of raining, the clouds gradually roll away toward the west. The sky turns into blue and the sun shows off its face again. The urban idlers, wearing thick green unlined clothes or lined jackets and chewing tobacco pipes, stand on the bridge shadowed by the trees after rain.
When meeting acquaintances, they would greet each other in a slow and leisurely tone:
"Oh, it is really cool now----" (the last word was pronounced in high pitch and dragged very long.)
在灰沉沉的天底下，忽而來一陣涼風，便息列索落地下起雨來了。一層雨過，雲漸漸地卷向了西去，天又青了，太陽又露出臉來了;著者很厚的青布單衣或夾襖的都市閒人，咬着煙管，在雨後的斜橋影裏，上橋頭樹底下去一立，遇見熟人，便會用了緩慢悠閒的聲調，微嘆着互答着的說：
“唉，天可真涼了----”(這了字念得很高，拖得很長。)
“Isn’t it really? Coldness follows the autumn rain!"
“可不是麼?一層秋雨一層涼了!”
When the Northerners speak, they are pretty like to layer words and make the tones of the words ups and downs. So the mispronounced rhyme sounds just alright.
北方人念字，總老象是層字，平平仄仄起來，這唸錯的岐韻，倒來得正好。
The fruit trees of the Northerners in the autumn are also a spectacle too. The first one is the date tree, which grows up one by one in the corner, on the wall, besides the latrine and by the door of kitchens. The size of date is similar to that of olives and the pigeon eggs. When their color turns yellowish and greenish amid the fine oval leaves, it is just the heyday of autumn. After the leaves fall off and the dates turn red, the northwest wind is coming. The north then is a world of dust. At the junction of July and August when the dates, persimmons and grapes almost ripen, it is the best days of autumn in the north and the only golden days of the year.
北方人的果樹，到秋來，也是一種奇景。第一是棗子樹;屋角，牆頭，茅房邊上，竈房門口，它都會一株株地長大起來。象橄欖又象鴿蛋似的這棗子顆兒，在小橢圓的細葉中間，顯出淡綠微黃的顏色的時候，正是秋的全盛時期;等棗樹葉落，棗子紅完，西北風就要來了。北方便是塵沙灰土的世界，只有這棗子、柿子、葡萄成熟到八九分的七八月之交，是北國的清秋的佳日，是一年之中最好也沒有的Golden Days。
Some critics say that Chinese literati, especially poets, are all tinted with a very strong color of decadence. So in Chinese poetry, the words in praise of the autumn are particularly abundant. But why the foreign poets are an exception? I have not read a lot foreign poetry, neither do I want to build up an account to compile collections of poems and proses on autumn. But if you go over the anthologies of English, French, German and Italian poets or poets from any other nationality, you will always see many praises and laments about autumn. In the lengthy pastoral poetry or poetry on all four seasons of the famous poets, the best written and most flavored parts are also about autumn. It is clearly seen that for the autumn, animals with sense and human beings with taste, always arouse the same especially deep, remote, harsh, desolate feelings. Not only a poet, but also a prisoner held in a dungeon, as to the fall, I think he will certainly feel an uncontrollable affectionateness. For human beings, why should autumn be different to them, why should autumn be distinct among different races and classes? But in Chinese, ‘Autumn scholar’is an idiom and ‘Autumn sound’ by Ouyang Xiu and ‘Ode to the Red Cliff’ by Susei are frequently seen in literature readings, etc., Chinese literati are felt in particularly deep relationship with the autumn. However, the deep meaning of autumn, especially the deep meaning of China's autumn, can be felt fully only in the north.
有些批評家說，中國的文人學士，尤其是詩人，都帶着很濃厚的頹廢色彩，所以中國的詩文裏，頌讚秋的文字特別的多。但外國的詩人，又何嘗不然?我雖則外國詩文念得不多，也不想開出帳來，做一篇秋的詩歌散文鈔，但你若去一翻英德法意等詩人的集子，或各國的詩文的Anthology來，總能夠看到許多關於秋的歌頌與悲啼。各著名的大詩人的長篇田園詩或四季詩裏，也總以關於秋的部分，寫得最出色而最有味。足見有感覺的動物，有情趣的人類，對於秋，總是一樣的能特別引起深沉，幽遠，嚴厲，蕭索的感觸來的。不單是詩人，就是被關在牢獄裏的囚犯，到了秋天，我想也一定會感到一種不能自己的深情;秋之於人，何嘗有別，更何嘗有人種階級之分呢?不過在中國，文字裏有一個“秋士”的成語，讀本里又有着很普遍的歐陽子的秋聲與蘇東坡的赤壁賦等，就覺得中國的文人，與秋的關係特別深了，可是這秋的深味，尤其是中國的秋的深味，非要在北方，才感受得底。
Of course, the autumn in the south also has its uniqueness, such as the bright moon over the bridge of twenty-four arched holes, the autumn tides of the Qiantang River, the cool mist in the Putuo Mountain, the lingering lotus in the Lychee Bay, etc. Their hues are not strong, but their aftertastes last long. Compared to the north, the autumn in the south is just as the yellow wine versus the dry liquor, the rice porridge versus the steamed bun, the bass versus the big crab, and the yellow dogs versus the camels.
南國之秋，當然是也有它的特異的地方的，比如廿四橋的明月，錢塘江的秋潮，普陀山的涼霧，荔枝灣的殘荷等等，可是色彩不濃，回味不永。比起北國的秋來，正象是黃酒之與白乾，稀飯之與饃饃，鱸魚之與大蟹，黃犬之與駱駝。
Autumn, the autumn in the north, if it can be retained, I would like to exchange for its one-third with the two-thirds of my lifetime.
秋天，這北國的秋天，若留得住的話，我願把壽命的三分之二折去，換得一個三分之一的零頭。
August 1934, in Beiping.
一九三四年八月，在北平。
