童年/Childhood( 三）
“《盛世危言》激起我想要恢复学业的愿望。我也逐渐讨厌田间劳动。我父亲是反对这件事的。为此我们发生过争吵，最后我从家里跑了，我到一个失业的法科学生家里，在那里读了半年书，以后我又在一位老先生那里读了更多的经书，也读了许多时论和一些新书。”
“Sheng-shilh Wei-yan[Words of Warning] stimulated in me a desire to resume my studies. I had also become disgusted with my labor on the farm. My father naturally opposed me. We quarreled about it, and finally I ran away from home. I went to the home of an unemployed law student, and there I studied for half a year. After that I studied more of the Classics under an old chinese scholar, and also read many contemporary articles and a few books.”
“这时，湖南发生了一件事情，影响了我的一生，在我读书的那个小学堂外边，我们学生看到许多豆商从长沙回来。我们问他们为什么离开长沙，它们告诉我们城里闹了大乱子。”
“At this time an incident occurred in Hunan which influenced my whole life. Outside the little Chinese school where I was studying, we students noticed many bean merchats coming back from Changsha. We asked them why they were all leaving. They told us about a big uprising in the city. ”
“那年发生了严重的饥荒，长沙有成千上万的人饿饭。饥民派了一个代表团到抚台衙门请求救济。但抚台衙门傲慢地回答他们说：‘为什么你们没有吃饭？城里有的是。我就总是吃的饱饱的。’抚台的答复一传到人们的耳朵里，大家都非常愤怒。他们举行了群众大会，并且组织了一次游行示威。他们攻打清朝衙门，砍断了作为官府标志的旗杆，赶走了抚台。这以后，一个姓庄的布政使骑马过来，告诉百姓，说官府要采取措施帮助他们，这个姓庄的说话显然是有诚意的，可是皇上不喜欢他，责他同‘暴民’勾结。结果他被革职，接着来了一个新抚台。马上下令逮捕闹事的领袖，其中许多人被斩首示众，他们的头挂在旗杆上，作为对今后‘叛逆’的警告。”
“There had been a severe famine that year, and in Changsha thousanbds were without food. The starving sent a delegation to the civil governor to beg for relief, but he replied to them haughtily, 'Why haven't you food? There is plenty in the city. I always have enough.' When the people were told the governor's reply, they became very angry. They held mass meetings and organized a demonstration. They attacked the Manchu yamen, cut down the flagpole, the symbol of office, and drove out the governor. Following this,the Commissioner of Internal Affairs, a man named Chang, came out on his horse and told the people that the government would take measures to help them. Chang was evidently sincere in his promise, but the Emperor disliked him and accused him of having intimate connections with ‘the mob’.He was removed. A new governor arrived, and at once ordered the arrest of the leaders of the uprising. Many of them were beheaded and their heads displayed on poles as a warning to future 'rebels' .”
"这件事在我们学堂里讨论了许多天，给我留下了深刻的印象。大多数学生都同情'造反者'，但它们仅仅是从旁观者的立场出发，它们并不懂这同自己的生活有什么关系。它们单纯的把它看做一件耸听的事而感兴趣。我却始终忘不掉这件事。我觉得造反的人也是像我自己家里人那样的老百姓，对于他们收到的冤屈，我深感不平。”
"This incident was discussed in my school for many days. It made a deep impression on me. Most of the other students sympathized with the ‘insurrectionists’, but only from an observer's point of view. They did not understand that it had any relation to their own lives. They were merely interested in it as an exciting incident. I never fogrot it . I felt that there with the rebels were ordinary people like my own family and I deeply resented the injustice of the treatment given to them."
“不久以后，在韶山，秘密会社哥老会里的人同本地一个地主发生了冲突。这个地主到衙门里去控告它们。因为他有钱有势，所以很容易胜诉。哥老会里的人败诉了，但是他们并没有屈服，他们起来反抗地主和政府，撤到本地一个叫做浏山的山里，在那里建立了一个山寨。官府派兵去攻打他们，那个地主散布谣言说，哥老会举义旗的时候，曾经杀死一个小孩祭旗，起义的领袖是一个叫做彭磨匠的人。最后他们被镇压下去了，彭磨匠被逼逃走，后来终于被捕斩首。但是在学生眼里，他是一个英雄，因为大家都同情这次起义。”
“Not long afterward, in ShaoShan, there was a conflict between members of the Ke Lao Hui, a secret society, and a local landlord. He sued them in court, and as he was a powful landlord he easily bought a decision favorable to himself. The Ke Lao Hui members were defeated. But instead of submitting, they rebelled against the landlord and the goverment and withdrew to a local mountain called Liu Shan, where they built a stronghold. Troops were sent against them and the landlord spread a story that they had sacrificed a child when they raised the banner of revolt. The leader of the rebels was called P'ang the Millstone Maker. They were finally suppressed and P'ang was forced to flee. He was eventually captured and beheaded. In the eyes of the students, however, he was a hero, for all sympathized with the revolt.”
“第二年青黄不接的时候，我们乡里发生了皇粮，穷人要求富户接济，他们开始了一个叫做‘吃大户’的运动，我父亲是一个米商，尽管本乡缺粮，他仍然运出大批粮食到城里去。其中，有一批被穷苦的村民扣留了，他怒不可遏。我不同情他，可是我又觉得村民们的方法也不对。”
“Next year, when the new rice was not yet harvested and the winter rice was exhausted, there was a food shortage in our district. The poor demanded help from the rich farmers and they began amovement called 'Eat Rice Without Charge'. My father was a rice merchant and was exporting much grain to the city from our district, despite the shortage. One of his consignments was seized by the poor villagers and his wrath was boundless. I did not sympathize with him. At the same time I thought the villagers' method was wrong .”
"这时还有一件事情对我影响很大，就是本地的一所小学来了一个‘激进派’教师。说他是‘激进派’，是因为他反对佛教，想要去除神佛，他劝人把庙宇改为学堂，大家对他议论纷纷，我钦佩他，赞成他的主张。"
“Another influence on me at this time was the presence in alocal primary shchool of a 'radical' teacher. He was 'radical' because he was opposed to Buddhism and wanted to get rid of the gods. He urged people to convert their temples into schools. He was a widely discussed personality. I admired him and agreed with his views.”
“这些事情接连发生，在我已有反抗意识的年轻心灵上，留下了磨灭不掉的印象，在这个时期，我也开始有了一定的政治觉悟，特别是在读了一本关于瓜分中国的小册子以后，我现在还记得这本小册子的开头一句：‘呜呼，中国将其亡矣’，这本书谈到了日本占领了朝鲜，台湾的经过，谈到了越南、缅甸等地的宗主权的丧失，我读了以后，对国家的前途命运感到沮丧，开始意识到，国家兴亡，匹夫有责。”
“These incidents, occurring close together, made lasting impressions on my young mind, already rebellious. In this period also I began to have a certain amount of political consciousness, especially after I read a pamphlet telling of the desmemberment of China. I remember even now that this pamphlet opened with the sentence:'Alas, China will be subjugated!' It told of Japan's occupation of Korea and Taiwan, of the loss of suzerainty in Indochina, Burma, and elsewhere. After I read this I felt depressed about the futre of my country and began to realize that it was the duty of all the people to help save it.”
“我父亲决定送我到湘潭一家同他有往来的米店去当学徒，起初我并不反对，觉得这也许是有意思的事。可是差不都就在这个时候，我听说有一个非常新式的学堂，于是决心不顾父亲反对，要到那里去上学。学堂设在我母亲娘家住的湘乡县，我的一个表兄就在那里上学，他向我谈了这个新学堂的情况和‘新法教育’的改革。那里不那么注重经书，西方‘新学’教得比较多。教学方法也是很‘激进’的。”
“My father had decided to apprentice me to a rice shop in Hsiang T'an, with which he had connections. I was not opposed to it at first, thinking it minght be interesting. But about this time I heard of an unusual new school and made up my mind to go there, despite my father's opposition. This school was in Hsiang hsien, where my mother's famliy lived. A cousin of mine was a student there and he told me of the new school and of the changing conditions in 'modern' education'. There was less emphasis on the Classics, and more was taught of the 'new knowledge' of the West. The educational methods , also, were quite 'radical'.”
评论