江南第一窟——

No.1 Grotto in South China - 

合掌岩石窟

Joined Palms Rock Grotto

合掌岩石窟位于福建省顺昌县城西郊3公里处的合掌岩风景区。合掌岩主峰海拔551.7米，因山形如“双手合掌表一心”而得名。紧挨石窟有西安寺，占地110多亩，始建于元太祖二十年（公元1225年），建筑面积愈10000多平方米。登高临远仰察云天俯察地，动观流水静观山，更闻古刹梵音袅袅，了然心静，一派“江南佛国”之景象。

The Joined Palms Rock Grotto is located in the Joined Palms Rock Scenic Zone, which is 3 kilometers to the west of the township of Shunchang County, Fujian Province. The highest peak of the Joined Palms Rock is 551.7 meters above sea level, and the Rock is named after its resembling shape of “joining palms to express oneself”. A temple is situated to the west of the Joined Palms Rock Grotto. Founded in the twentieth year of Yuan Taizu (the first emperor of Yuan Dynasty) Administration (1225 A. D.), the Xi An Temple has a land area of 110mu (7.5 hectares) and a building area of more than 10,000 square meters. Looking from heights, one can observe the upper clouds and sky, or examine the lower landscape, running waters and still mountains. The sound of sutra-chanting from the ancient monastery is lingering and soothing, so one can well perceive here a vision of “Buddhism Land in South China”.

2003年3月31日，顺昌县佛教协会会长、西安寺住持本圆法师，率众于西安寺旁开山凿洞，历时五载挖通山体建合掌岩石窟。石窟全长173米，由前厅、大厅、后通道、念佛堂、闭关洞等关联而成，2005年始刻佛像，规划大、小佛像1万余尊，面积愈9000平方米，其工程之大，规模之盛，华夏少有，享有“江南第一窟”之美誉。

On 31 March 2003, Ven. BEN YUAN, the Chairman of Shunchang County Buddhist Society and Buddhist Abbot of Xi An Temple, initiated the project of excavating near the Xi An Temple to build a grotto. After five years of endeavor, the mountain body was excavated through and the Joined Palms Rock Grotto was constructed. With a length of 173 meters and consisting of the vestibule, main hall, rear passage, Buddhist prayer room, Buddhist retreat cave and so on, the Grotto is over 9,000 square meters in area and dotted with more than 10,000 large and small Buddha statues that have been carved since 2005. As its size and scale can only be matched by a handful of other grottos in China, the Joined Palms Rock Grotto is renowned as the “No.1 Grotto in South China”.

进得石窟，经过弥勒佛、韦驮菩萨等石雕佛像群，中央大厅宽38米，最高15米，可同时容纳2000多人顶礼拜佛，气势恢宏。环目四周，中央千佛绕毗卢，东方净琉璃世界、西方极乐世界、南方宝生佛、北方成就世界等佛像群雕栩栩如生、熠熠生辉。大厅后四小石窟相互相联，圣杰祖师、斗战圣佛、千手观音等各组石雕群像和金刚经、弥陀经、往生咒、心经等各类经文或已雕刻完毕或正在施工中。

In the vestibule of the Grotto, there are stone statues of among others the Maitreya and the Skanda. The central main hall, 38 meters wide and 15 meters high from the floor to the inner vertex, is magnificent and can accommodate 2,000 fellow believers to worship and pay homage to Buddhas at the same time. There are groups of vivid and shining Buddha statues in and around the main hall, including “One Thousand Boddhisattvas Gathering around the Vairocana Buddha” in the middle, “Land of the Buddha Medicine” in the east, “Land of the Buddha Amitabha” in the west, “Land of the Buddha Ratnaketu” in the south and “Land of the Buddha Amoghasiddhi” in the north. Behind the main hall there are four small grottos linking to one another, where there are carved statue groups of the Mikyo Dorje, the Fight-Victorious-Buddha, the Avalokitesvara et al, and carved scriptures of the Vajra Sutra, the Amitabha Sutra, the Pure Land Rebirth Dharani, the Heart Sutra etc. Of these carvings, some are still being worked on.

如今，石窟已被收录《福建民俗文化大观》、《闽台宗教名胜旅游博览》和《南平历史文化丛书·山水顺昌》，国学大师文怀沙欣然题写“合掌岩石窟”，周边乃至美国、新加坡、日本及台港澳等四方信众皆众缘和合，施财施力，鼎建合掌岩石窟。

To date, the Joined Palms Rock Grotto has been recorded in the Overview of Fujian Folk Cultures, the Tourism Guide of Religious Sites in Fujian and Taiwan and the Culture Series of Nanping City – Landscape of Shunchang County. The Chinese characters of the Joined Palms Rock Grotto were written by Mr. WEN Huai-sha, a Master of Chinese Learning. The project of constructing the Joined Palms Rock Grotto has received financial and/or physical supports from fellow believers of neighboring areas, and even from fellow believers of the United States, Singapore, Japan, and Taiwan, Hong Kong & Macau Special Administrative Regions.

释本圆简介

INTRODUCTION OF SHI BEN YUAN

释本圆，字迷尽，俗名尤启明。1961年10 月出生于闽南永春县蓬壶镇魁园村，1988年在顺昌龙头岩云峰寺礼了缘和尚为师皈依佛门，赐法名本圆。1996年住持闽北顺昌县合掌岩西安寺，现为顺昌县佛教协会会长、县政协委员，创办“闽北佛国网”，常年讲经布道，倍受海内外佛学弟子敬重。

SHI BEN YUAN, Zi (courtesy name as) MI JIN, also known as YOU Qi-ming before his conversion, was born in October 1961 in Kuiyan Village, Pengfu Town, Yongchun County, Fujian Province. He was converted and bestowed the Dharma name “BEN YUAN” in 1988 by Monk LIAO YUAN of Yun Feng Temple, which is in the vicinity of the Dragon Head Rock of Shunchang County. In 1996, Ven. BEN YUAN became the Buddhist Abbot of Xi An Temple, which is in the vicinity of the Joined Palms Rock of Shunchang County, Fujian Province. In addition, Ven. BEN YUAN is now the Chairman of Shunchang County Buddhist Society, a member of the County Committee of CPPCC, and the initiator of the “Website of Buddhism Land in Northern Fujian Province”. For many years, Ven. BEN YUAN has been presiding sermons and sutra-teaching meetings, and is esteemed by Buddhist disciples from China and other countries.

平凡的世界

Ordinary World

作者：路遥

By: Lu Yao

卷一：第一章

Volume I: Chapter One

1975年二、三月间，一个平平常常的日子，细蒙蒙的雨丝夹着一星半点的雪花，正纷纷淋淋地向大地飘洒着。时令已快到惊蛰，雪当然再不会存留，往往还没等落地，就已经消失得无踪无影了。黄土高原严寒而漫长的冬天看来就要过去，但那真正温暖的春天还远远地没有到来。

On an ordinary day in February or March of 1975, the misty drizzle with sporadic snow flakes was drifting incessantly. As it was close to the third solar term of “the Waking of Insects”, there was no reason for snow flakes to accumulate, so they disappeared before touching the ground. It seemed that the freezing and lengthy winter of loess plateau was coming to an end. However, the warm spring was still a far cry on the horizon.

经过近四个月的学习，我开拓了眼界，同时也真正认识到自己在翻译方面存在许多的问题。虽然在一位真正的翻译高手（恕我不能透露其真实身份）的指点下，我的翻译水平有所进步，但也发现自己并非具有很高天分的人：即使我不断努力提高，这辈子也无法达到这位翻译高手的水平。专业围棋选手如果13岁不能成为国手便终身无望，我想翻译也是如此，30岁不能成为顶级翻译便终身无望。我已经33岁了，应该接受这个现实，但接受现实不等于要放弃翻译事业。即使我这辈子都无法成为顶级翻译，但坚持努力学习应该还是可以有所提高的。回首之前自己试译的《平凡的世界》，发现其中确实有许多谬误。在接下来的日子里，我会抽时间慢慢重新修改译文，然后一段一段地发在博客上。也希望各方朋友能够继续给予支持，并提出宝贵意见。

经过一段时间的反思，发现自己的英语水平和翻译水平确实有待大幅度提高。恰逢一个良好的机会，我要出门去拜师学艺啦。翻译《平凡的世界》的事情要暂时搁下了。等我四十岁以后，如果还没有人翻译这部小说，再考虑重新开始翻译吧。

 天黑严以后，他还没有回家。他一个人呆呆地坐在禾场边上，望着满天的星星，听着小河水朗朗的流水声，陷入了一种说不清楚的思绪之中。这思绪是散乱而飘浮的，又是幽深而莫测的。他突然感觉到，在他们这群山包围的双水村外面，有一个辽阔的大世界。而更重要的是，他现在朦胧地意识到，不管什么样的人，或者说不管人在什么样的境况下，都可以活得多么好啊！在那一瞬间，生活的诗情充满了他十六岁的胸膛。他的眼前不时浮现出保尔瘦削的脸颊和他生机勃勃的身姿。他那双眼睛并没有失明，永远蓝莹莹地在遥远的地方兄弟般地望着他。当然，他也永远不能忘记可爱的富人的女儿冬妮娅。她真好。她曾经那样地热爱穷人的儿子保尔。少平直到最后也并不恨冬妮娅。他为冬妮娅和保尔的最后分手而热泪盈眶。他想：如果他也遇到一个冬妮娅该多么好啊！这一天，他忘了吃饭，也没有听见家人呼叫他的声音。他忘记了周围的一切，一直等到回到家里，听见父亲的抱怨声和看见哥哥责备的目光，在锅台上端起一碗冰凉的高粱米稀饭的时候，他才回到了他生活的冷酷现实中……从此以后，他就迷恋上了小说，尤其爱读苏联书。在来高中之前，他已经看过了《卓娅和舒拉的故事》。

Sun Shaoping was still not home after it had turned completely dark. He sat by himself on the edge of threshing floor and dreamed away, while watching the starry night sky and listening to the babbling brook. His feeling was confused and drifting, but deep and unfathomable. He had suddenly comprehended that there was a vast world outside his mountain-surrounded Shuangshui village. And more important is that, he could now hazily discern that no matter what kind of people, or people in whatever kind of circumstances, could live such a good life! In that very moment, the poetry of life had filled his sixteen-year-old bosom. The gaunt countenance and dynamic posture of Pavel Korchagin had kept emerging in front of his eyes. Pavel Korchagin’s eyes had never lost their sight, and always watched him from the distance in a brotherly fashion with sparkling blueness. Of course, he could never forget the adorable Tonia Tumanova，a pickled bourgeois lady. She was really nice! She had so loved Pavel Korchagin, a son of impoverished family. Sun Shaoping had never hated Tonia Tumanova, but shed warm excited tears for her final breakup with Pavel Korchagin. How wonderful it would be if I could come across a Tonia Tumanova! He wondered. For that particular day, Sun Shaoping had forgotten the meals and unheard the calling for him by family members. He had forgotten everything around him, and only returned to the cruel reality after picking up a bowl of ice-cold congee of sorghum rice from the kitchen top, under the complaining voice of father and reprimanding eyesight of elder brother. From then on, Sun Shaoping had been fascinated by novels, especially those Soviet novels, and he has read “The Story of Zoya and Shura” before entering senior high school.

最近一段时间突然觉得自己在翻译《平凡的世界》上有点缺乏激情和灵感，因此向一些译友寻求建议。某位译友建议我应该首先阅读一些相同时期类似题材的英文原著，我觉得这个建议很好。在过去的一周内，我都在试图从阅读英文原著中找到这种感觉，目前觉得有一些进展和体会，但是还需进一步反思。

在我进行反思的过程中将暂停翻译《平凡的世界》的过程，但是很快我又会重新开始的！呵呵

 润生妈同意后，他就拿着这本书匆匆地回到家里，立刻看起来。

With the consent from Tian Runsheng’s mother, Sun Shaoping hurried home with the book and started reading it right away.

他一下子就被这书迷住了。记得第二天是星期天，本来往常他都要出山给家里砍一捆柴；可是这天他哪里也没去，一个人躲在村子打麦场的麦秸垛后面，贪婪地赶天黑前看完了这书。保尔·柯察金，这个普通外国人的故事，强烈地震撼了他幼小的心灵。

He was fascinated right off by the book. The next day was Sunday, and Sun Shaoping had used to hack a bundle of firewood on Sundays from the mountain for family use; but on that very Sunday, he had gone nowhere but hid himself behind the haystack on the village threshing floor, and voraciously read through the whole book before it turned dark. Pavel Korchagin, a common foreigner with his own life story, had intensively thrilled Sun Shaoping’s juvenile soul.

除过这种漫无目的的转悠，他现在还养成了一种看课外书的习惯。这习惯还是在上初中的最后一年开始的。有一次他去润生家，发现他们家的箱盖上有一本他妈夹鞋样的厚书，名字叫《钢铁是怎样炼成的》。起先他没在意——一本炼钢的书有什么意思呢？他随便翻了翻，又觉得不对劲。明明是一本炼钢的书，可里面却不说炼钢炼铁，说的全是一个叫保尔·柯察金的苏联人的长长短短。他突然对这本奇怪的书产生了强烈的好奇心。他想看看这本书倒究是怎么回事。润生说这书是他姐的——润生他姐在县城教书，很少回家来；这书是润生他妈从城里拿回来夹鞋样的。

Other than this kind of planless sauntering, Sun Shaoping had cultivated a habit of reading extracurricular books. This habit was formed in the last year of junior high school. Once he went to Tian Runsheng’s home and discovered a thick book named HOW THE STEEL WAS TEMPERED on the top of family chest, which was used by Tian Runsheng’s mother as a tool to hold the shoe patterns. At first Sun Shaoping did not think much of it, as a book for steelmaking might not be of much interest, but after a few glimpse, he had felt something different. Although the book name was about steelmaking, the content had nothing to do with manufacture of steel or iron, and instead, the book depicted the life and experience of a Soviet, whose name was Pavel Korchagin. Sun Shaoping had suddenly sensed a strong curiosity toward that queer book and wanted to find out what on earth the book was about. Tian Runsheng said that the book belonged to his elder sister, a teacher who was working in the county town and seldom came home. The book was brought home by Tian Runsheng’s mother as a shoe pattern holder.

 每天，只要学校没什么事，孙少平就一个人出去在城里的各种地方转：大街小巷，城里城外，角角落落，反正没去过的地方都去。除过几个令人敬畏的机关——如县革委会、县武装部和县公安局外，他差不多在许多机关的院子里都转过了——大多是假装上厕所而哄过门房老头进去的。由于人生地不熟，他也不感到这身破衣服在公众场所中的寒酸，自由自在地在这个城市的四面八方逛荡。他在这其间获得了无数新奇的印象，甚至觉得弥漫在城市上空的炭烟味闻起来都是别具一格的。当然，许许多多新的所见所识他都还不能全部理解，但所有的一切无疑都在他的精神上产生了影响。透过城市生活的镜面，他似乎更清楚地看见了他已经生活过十几年的村庄——在那个位所熟悉的古老的世界里，原来许多有意义的东西，现在看起来似乎有点平淡无奇了。而那里许多本来重要的事物过去他却并没有留心，现在倒突然如此鲜活地来到了他的心间。

Every day, as long as there was nothing to do at school, Sun Shaoping would go around different places in town: high streets and back lanes, inside and outside of the town, nooks and corners, any place that had not been to before. Except for several august government units, such as the county revolutionary committee, county armed forces department and county public security bureau, Sun Shaoping had been to many government units’ compounds, most of the time acquired permission from old janitors with the excuse of using the toilet. As a stranger to the town, Sun Shaoping did not feel humbly embarrassed in wearing shabby outfit in public, and loafed freely about all places. He had acquired countless fancy impressions in the mean time, and even thought the charcoal smoke suffusing above the town has a special odor. Certainly, there were many things that he heard or seen could not be fully comprehended, nevertheless all had impact on his mind and spirit. Through the mirror of urban life, Sun Shaoping seemed had discerned more clearly his home village, where he had been living for almost two decades, an old world used to have a lot of meaningful things, now had become somehow mediocre. And some things that were used to be important but neglected by him had now emerged vividly in his mind.

 金波他父亲是地区运输公司的汽车司机，家庭情况比孙少平要好一些，生活方面在班里算是属于较高层次的。少平和这位"富翁"的关系倒特别要好。他和他从小一块耍大，玩性很投合。以后又一直在一起上学。在村里，金波的父亲在门外工作，他家里少不了有些力气活，也常是少平他父亲或哥哥去帮忙。另外，金波的妹妹也和他妹妹一块上学，两个孩子好得形影不离。至于金波对他的帮助，那就更不用说了。他们在公社上初中时，离村十来里路，为了省粮省钱，都是在家里吃饭——晚上回去，第二天早上到校，顺便带着一顿中午饭。每天来回二十里路，与他一块上学的金波和大队书记田福堂的儿子润生都有自行车，只有他是两条腿走路。金波就和他共骑一辆车子。两年下来，润生的车子还是新的，金波的车子已经破烂不堪了。他父亲只好又给他买了一辆新的。现在到了县城，离家六、七十里路，每星期六回家，他更是离不开金波的自行车了。另外，到这里来以后，金波还好几次给他塞过白面票。不过，他推让着没有要——因为这年头谁的白面票也不宽裕；再说，几个白面馍除顶不了什么事，还会惯坏他的胃口的……唉，尽管上这学是如此艰难，但孙少平内心深处还是有一种说不出的高兴滋味。他现在已经从山乡圪崂里来到了一个大世界。对于一个贫困农民的儿子来说，这本身就是一件多么了不起的事啊！

Jin Bo’s father was a truck driver of district Transportation Company, so his family circumstances was better than that of Sun Shaoping, and belonged to the higher living standard group in the class. Sun Shaoping was in good relations with this “rich guy”. They were playing together since boyhood and got along well with each other. Later, they went to school together. Back in the village, as Jin Bo’s father was out working, the physical works at home were usually helped by Sun Shaoping’s father or elder brother. In addition, Jin Bo’s younger sister was attending the same school as Sun Shaoping’s younger sister, and the two girls were so close that they were staying together all the time, inseparable as body and shadow. As for the help from Jin Bo, there was more than words can express. When they were attending junior high school in the community, which was five or six kilometers from the village, in order to make economic use of foodstuff and money, they always ate at home – returned home at night, and went to school in the morning with a handy lunch. The round trip between home and school was ten kilometers, and among the three students from same village, Jin Bo and Tian Runsheng, the son of Tian Futang, CPC secretary of production team had bicycles, only Sun Shaoping was on foot. Jin Bo shared his bicycle with Sun Shaoping, and after two years, Jin Bo’s bicycle had become irreparably rundown, while Tian Runsheng’s bicycle was still new. Jin Bo’s father had no other choice but buying him a new bicycle. When attending school in the county town, which was about thirty-five kilometers from home, Sun Shaoping could not cope without Jin Bo’s bicycle in the weekly round trip between home and school. Moreover, Jin Bo had tried several times to given Sun Shaoping some coupons of wheat flour. Nevertheless, Sun Shaoping had declined this help, because in such years nobody was affluent with coupons of wheat flour; besides, a few white buns of wheat flour could not make big difference, and might pamper his stomach. Alas, even though the school life was so difficult, Sun Shaoping had felt an unspeakable innermost jollification. He had come out of the mountainous village to a big world, this change was an remarkable event for a son of impoverished farmer!

 点完名散场后，他和他们村的金波一同走出教室。这家伙喜眉笑脸地对他悄悄伸出一个大拇指，说：“好！”“我担心这小子要和我打架。”孙少平事后倒有点后悔他刚才的行为了。

After the roll call, Sun Shaoping went out of the classroom with Jin Bo, a student from the same village. Jin Bo grinned and said “Good!” while stealthily putting a thumb up to him. “I was worrying that the due might fight me.” Sun Shaoping was somewhat regretted about his own behavior

“他小子敢！”金波瞪起一双大花眼睛，拳头在空中晃了晃。

“How dared him!” Jin Bo opened wide his big and fuzzy eyes, and swayed his fist across the air.

金波和他同龄，个子却比他矮一个头。他皮肤白晰，眉目清秀，长得象个女孩子。但这人心却生硬，做什么事手脚非常麻利。平静时象个姑娘，动作时如同一只老虎。Jin Bo was the same age as Sun Shaoping, but a head shorter, who had fair skin and delicate features, somehow liked a girl, but his heart was tough, and deft in doing things, which reminded people of an old saying: as quiet as a maiden but as fast as a fleeing hare.

 而贫困又使他过分地自尊。他常常感到别人在嘲笑他的寒酸，因此对一切家境好的同学内心中有一种变态的对立情绪。就说现在吧，他对那个派头十足的班长顾养民，已经产生了一种强烈的反感情绪。每当他看见他站在讲台上，穿戴得时髦笔挺，一边优雅地点名，一边扬起手腕看表的神态时，一种无名的怒火就在胸膛里燃烧起来，压也压不住。点名的时候，点到谁，谁就答个到。有一次点到他的时候，他故意没有吭声。班长瞪了他一眼，又喊了一声他的名字，他还是没有吭声。如果在初中，这种情况说不定立即就会引起一场暴力性的冲突。大概因为大家刚升入高中，相互不摸情况，班长对于他这种污辱性的轻蔑，采取了克制的态度，接着去点别人的名了。

However, poverty had made him excessively self-respect. He often felt that others were mocking his humble origin, so that there was an abnormal antagonism against all fellow students from better off families. As for then, he had formed a strong aversion to Gu Yangmin, the exuberant class president. Whenever seeing Gu Yangmin standing behind the podium, in fashionable and trim apparel, the mien of conducting roll call politely while raising the wrist to check time would always kindle up an unquenchable anger from nowhere in his chest. It was the practice for a student to respond with a “Here!” when called. Once Sun Shaoping had intentionally kept silent on the roll call. The class president stared at him and called his name once again, and he remained silent. This situation, if happened in junior high school, might have incurred a violent conflict. Probably because everybody were new in the senior high school and knew little background of each other, the class president had taken a restrained attitude toward his insulting disdain, and continued with the roll call.

 他在眼前的环境中是自卑的。虽然他在班上个子最高，但他感觉他比别人都低了一头。

He was self-contemptuous in the present environment. Despite the tallest stature in the class, he felt a head shorter than all other classmates.

 按说，这么几口人，父亲和哥哥两个人劳动，生活是应该能够维持的。但这多少年来，庄稼人苦没少受，可年年下来常常两手空空。队里穷，家还能不穷吗？再说，父母亲一辈子老实无能，老根子就已经穷到了骨头里。年年缺空，一年更比一年穷，而且看来再没有任何好转的指望了……在这样的情况下，他能上到高中，还有什么可说的呢？话说回来，就是家里有点好吃的，好穿的，也要首先考虑年迈的祖母和年幼的妹妹；更何况还有姐姐的两个嗷嗷待哺的小生命！

Generally speaking, the life of a family with only a few people could have been supported by the labor of father and the eldest brother. In recent years, farmers have suffered a great deal but often received little at the end of each year. The agricultural production team was poor, how could the individual family be better off? Besides, his parents had been honest and incapable for a whole life, so that the family had accumulated nothing over a long time. Insufficient and needy year after year and getting poorer as time went by, the family seemed to have lost the hope of recovery. Under such a situation, what could he complain of while studying in the senior high school? However, even if the family had some better foodstuff and clothes, the gerontic grandmother and younger sister should be the priority of consideration; let alone the two babies crying piteously for food in the elder sister’s home!

 家里实际上只有大哥一个全劳力——可他也才二十三岁啊！亲爱的大哥从十三岁起就担起了家庭生活的重担；没有他，他们这家人不知还会破落到什么样的境地呢！

There was actually just one full laborer in the family, the eldest brother, who was only twenty three years old at that time! The dear eldest brother had been shouldering the heavy burden of family life since thirteen; If not for him, the family could not imagine what kind of despair in which they might have fallen!

 少平知道，家里的光景现在已经临近崩溃。老祖母年近八十，半瘫在炕上；父母亲也一大把岁数，老胳膊老腿的，挣不了几个工分；妹妹升入了公社初中，吃穿用度都增加了；姐姐又寻了个不务正业的丈夫，一个人拉扯着两个幼小的孩子，吃了上顿没下顿，还要他们家经常接济一点救命的粮食——他父母心疼两个小外孙，还常常把他们接到家里来喂养。

Sun Shaoping knew that the family’s situation was on the edge of collapse. The old grand mother was about eighty and half paralyzed on the kang; the father and mother were also quite in years and could not earn many workpoints; the younger sister had just gone to study in community junior high school and needed more expenditure; the elder sister had married to a lousy husband and was fostering two little babies without idea of where the next meal would come from, and often needed a little lifesaving foodstuff from her parent’s home. Out of affection and concern about the two grandsons, Sun Shaoping’s parents had been feeding the two little babies at home from time to time.

 可是这绝对不可能。家里能让他这样一个大后生不挣工分白吃饭，让他到县城来上高中，就实在不容易了。大哥当年为了让他和妹妹上学，十三岁高小毕业，连初中也没考，就回家务了农。至于大姐，从小到大连一天书也没有念过。他现在除过深深地感激这些至亲至爱的人们，怎么再能对他们有任何额外的要求呢？

But it was absolutely impossible. The family had undergone great hardship to let him attend senior high school in county town, which meant a big fellow was consuming food without earning any workpoint. His eldest brother, in order to let him and the younger sister to receive education, had returned home right after graduation from primary school even without taking the entrance examination of junior high school, to work in the farm. As for his eldest sister, she had never stepped into school since birth. Except for deep-felt gratitude toward these closest and most loved people, how could he ask anything extra from them at present?

 但是对孙少平来说，这些也许都还能忍受。他现在感到最痛苦的是由于贫困而给自尊心所带来的伤害。他已经十七岁了，胸腔里跳动着一颗敏感而羞怯的心。他渴望穿一身体面的衣裳站在女同学的面前；他愿自己每天排在买饭的队伍里，也能和别人一样领一份乙菜，并且每顿饭能搭配一个白馍或者黄馍。这不仅是为了嘴馋，而是为了活得尊严。他并不奢望有城里学生那样优越的条件，只是希望能象大部分乡里来的学生一样就心满意足了。

Maybe all of these were still tolerable to Sun Shaoping, what anguished him most was the hurt inflicted by poverty to his self-respect. He had become seventeen years old, and a sensitive and sheepish heart was pulsing in his chest. He yearned for wearing a set of descent vesture in front of female schoolmates; he wished for standing in the line for meal and receiving a portion of grade B dish as others did to go with a white steamed bun or a yellow steamed bun. It was not only for pleasing the stomach, but also for living with dignity. He was not extravagantly hoping to have superior conditions as that of students from town, and would rest satisfied with the situation similar to most village students.

 每天的劳动可是雷打不动的，从下午两点一直要干到吃晚饭。这一段时间是孙少平最难熬的。每当他从校门外的坡底下挑一担垃圾土，往学校后面山地里送的时候，只感到两眼冒花，天旋地转，思维完全不存在了，只是吃力而机械地蠕动着两条打颤的腿一步步在山路上爬蜒。The everyday physical labor from two o’clock in the afternoon until supper time was unshakable, which was the most unbearable time span for Sun Shaoping. Every time when shouldering a load of garbage earth and delivering it from the lower end of slope outside the school gate to the mountain region behind the school, he could only see stars and feel very dizzy. There was not any mind left, he only moved painfully and automatically two trembling legs step by step on the climbing mountain path.

 平凡的世界

Ordinary World

作者：路遥

By Lu Yao

卷一：第二章

Volume I: Chapter Two

孙少平上这学实在是太艰难了。象他这样十七、八岁的后生，正是能吃能喝的年龄。可是他每顿饭只能啃两个高粱面馍。以前他听父亲说过，旧社会地主喂牲口都不用高粱——这是一种最没营养的粮食。可是就这高粱面他现在也并不充足。按他的饭量，他一顿至少需要四五个这样的黑家伙。现在这一点吃食只是不至于把人饿死罢了。如果整天坐在教室里还勉强能撑得住，可这年头"开门办学"，学生们除过一群一伙东跑西颠学工学农外，在学校里也是半天学习，半天劳动。至于说到学习，其实根本就没有课本，都是地区发的油印教材，课堂上主要是念报纸上的社论。开学这些天来，还没正经地上过什么课，全班天天在教室里学习讨论无产阶级专政理论。当然发言的大部分是城里的学生，乡里来的除过个别胆大的外，还没人敢说话。

It was truly very difficult for Sun Shaoping to live this school life. Young man liked him, seventeen or eighteen years old, was the very age of consuming large quantity of food. But he could only nibble two steamed buns of broomcorn flour at each meal. As his father had told him before, landlords in the old society would not feed draught animals with broomcorn – because it was the least nutritious grain. However, even this kind of broomcorn flour was not of enough quantity for him. According to his appetite, he needed at least four or five these black steamed buns for each meal. Such little food was only to keep people from starvation. If you were sitting in the classroom for a whole day, the food might be barely enough. However, the school was offering “open-the-door education”, and besides running eastward and westward in groups and crowds to learn from industrial workers and farmers, the students’ life at school was split into half day of classroom learning and half day of physical labor. As for the classroom learning, in fact there was not any text book at all, only some mimeographed teaching materials distributed by the district authority, and the major activity in class was reading aloud some editorials from the newspapers. There had not been any serious lesson since the beginning of school term, and what the class had been doing day after day was learning and discussing the theory of proletarian dictatorship. Of course the speakers were all students from town, as for the students from the villages, except for some audacious individuals, nobody had made a comment in the class yet.