
My Home Town
My home town is a beautiful place, but it is not very big. It stands beside a wide river at the foot of low green hills. There are about eleven thousand people in it. The streets are wide and straight, and there are many new houses and shops along them. There is a modern hospital and some fine schools. You can see trees and flowers everywhere.
But what were things like in the town in the old days? It is said that it was a sad, dirty little town. There were only about several thousand people in it. Life was good for the few rich families. But the rest of the people were poor. Their life was miserable. They lived in dark, unhealthy rooms in old buildings and huts on narrow muddy streets. Many had no work and their children often went hungry.
Everything has changed now. The people have got rid of the mud and dirt. They have put up schools, theaters, shops and flats. They have an assembly hall(礼堂) which can seat two thousand people. Along the river they have built offices, hotels and a big park. Factories with tall chimneys have sprung up. On the river steamers and boats come and go busily, day and night. They carry products of our industries to all parts of the province.
I love my home town, and love its people, too.
My Parents
⏹My mother is 38 years old, but she never tells others how old she is. She says she just doesn’t want them to know about it! My mother is a well-known doctor in our area. She works hard. She often gets up very early in the morning and rushes to the hospital to look after her patients. She is kind to her patients and treats them the way she treats her family. Sometimes I wonder whom she loves more, her patients or me.
⏹My father is 40 years old. He has short hair, big eyes and a small mouth. He is my best friend.
⏹My father is a teacher. Just like my mother, he is very busy. He doesn’t have any holidays or weekends. Every morning he goes to school very early and stays with his students until late in the afternoon. It seems that he never gets tired! His students love and respect him. He always tells my mother how good it is to be a teacher, because his students make him feel young. He thinks my mother should be a teacher, too! But so far she hasn’t taken his advice.
⏹I will be a new student in my father's school this summer. I will work harder and I hope one day I can be a good doctor like my mother.
朱自清《春》的英文版
Spring
For so long we had been waiting before the east wind finally resumed its course. Now Spring is to arrive in no time.
It seems that everything is just after a long sleep, their eyes still sleepy. Mountains and hills turn more luxuriant, rivers and lakes fuller and clearer, and the sun hotter.
The new grass, tender and greenish, sneaked out of the ground without anybody knowing when. The gardens, fields, everywhere you turn, you see but tracts after tracts of greenness. You may like to sit down, or lie down, or roll yourself over on the grass; and you may feel like playing footfall or doing several rounds of running or even playing hide-and-seek on it. The breeze was simply so gentle and the grass so tender.
The peach trees, apricot trees, and pear trees seem to vie against each other in blossoming. The red resemble fire, the pink clouds, and the white snow, giving off a sweet fragrance. With your eyes closed, you could almost see peaches, apricots and pears on these trees. And swarms of bees are buzzing among the flowers, together with butterflies, large and small, busy flying to and fro. Wild flowers are seen here and there: a miscellany with or without a name each, dotting the grass like eyes, or stars that blink from time to time.
“Blowing into your face without making you feel cold is the spring breeze.” True, it was just like a mother’s hand fondling you. The smell of the newly-cultivated land carried by the wind to you, mixed with that of the grass as well as fragrance of various kinds of flowers, was brewing in the slightly-moistened air. Now that the nestle had been completed among luxuriant flowers and tender leaves, the birds grew happy, singing proudly to call their friends as well as mates with their notes in perfect harmony with the gentle breeze and gurgling water. And the cowboys on the buffalo back can be heard blowing their flute so resonantly these days.
Rain is nothing unusual now, and often lasts two to three days. Never get annoyed! Look, could it be ox hair, or needles, or thin threads instead ? Those thin threads simply weave sideways, so densely that a thin mist pervades over all the house-tops. The tree leaves are, however, dazzlingly green, so is the grass with its luxuriance. When the dusk sets in and lights are on, the pool of dim light suggests a night of peace and quiet. In the countryside, on the trails and beside the stone bridges, there are people strolling leisurely, holding an umbrella, and there are also farmers working in the fields, wearing a straw-cloak and a bamboo-hat. Their houses, sparsely located, stand still in the weaving rain.
Gradually, there are more and more kites in the sky and the number of
children on the ground grows, too. In cities as well as in the countryside, people from every household, young and old, are all pouring out of their homes one after another to stretch their limbs and, with their spirits aroused, go about their own business. “The whole year’s plan is made in Spring,” the saying goes. A year has just started, so there is still much time and one can have as many hopes.
Spring comes as a newly-born baby, new from head to toe, who grows.
Spring comes as a charming maid, dressed in her Sunday best, who laughs as she walks.
Spring comes as a robust lad with a strong arm, waist and feet, who leads us forward.
春
朱自清
盼望着,盼望着,东风来了,春天的脚步近了。
一切都像刚睡醒的样子,欣欣然张开了眼。山朗润起来了,水涨起来了,太阳的脸红起来了。
小草偷偷地从土里钻出来,嫩嫩的,绿绿的。园子里,田野里,瞧去,一大片一大片满是的。坐着,躺着,打两个滚,踢几脚球,赛几趟跑,捉几回迷藏。风轻悄悄的,草软绵绵的。
桃树、杏树、梨树,你不让我,我不让你,都开满了花赶趟儿。红的像火,粉的像霞,白的像雪。花里带着甜味儿,闭了眼,树上仿佛已经满是桃儿、杏儿、梨儿。花下成千成百的蜜蜂嗡嗡地闹着,大小的蝴蝶飞来飞去。野花遍地是:杂样儿,有名字的,没名字的,散在花丛里,像眼睛,像星星,还眨呀眨的。
“吹面不寒杨柳风”,不错的,像母亲的手抚摸着你。风里带来些新翻的泥土的气息,混着青草味儿,还有各种花的香,都在微微润湿的空气里酝酿。鸟儿将巢安在繁花嫩叶当中,高兴起来了,呼朋引伴地卖弄清脆的喉咙,唱出宛转的曲子,跟轻风流水应和着。牛背上牧童的短笛,这时候也成天在嘹亮地响着。
雨是最寻常的,一下就是三两天。可别恼。看,像牛毛,像花针,像细丝,密密地斜织着,人家屋顶上全笼着一层薄烟。树叶儿却绿得发亮,小草也青得逼你的眼。傍晚时候,上灯了,一点点黄晕的光,烘托出一片这安静而和平的夜。在乡下,小路上,石桥边,有撑起伞慢慢走着的人;还有地里工作的农民,披着蓑戴着笠。他们的草屋,稀稀疏疏的,在雨里静默着。
天上风筝渐渐多了,地上孩子也多了。城里乡下,家家户户,老老小小,也赶趟儿似的,一个个都出来了。舒活舒活筋骨,抖擞抖擞精神,各做各的一份儿事去,“一年之计在于春”;刚起头儿,有的是工夫,有的是希望。
春天像刚落地的娃娃,从头到脚都是新的,它生长着。
春天像小姑娘,花枝招展的,笑着,走着。
| 春天像健壮的青年,有铁一般的胳膊和腰脚,他领着我们上前去。 |
