幼年鲁迅 When Lu Xun Was a Child 王士菁

幼年鲁迅
When Lu Xun Was a Child
王士菁
Wang Shijing
在家里，领着幼年鲁迅的是保姆长妈妈。
As a child, Lu Xun was in the charge of a nurse called Mama Chang.
她是一个淳朴的农村妇女。
She was an honest country woman.
最初大约是一个生活在农村里的年轻的孤孀，死掉了丈夫和丧失了土地之后，就从农村来到城里谋生。
At first she must have been a young widow in the countryside, who went to town to seek a living for herself after her husband died and she lost her land.
她的姓名，当时是没有人知道的，鲁迅的祖母叫她“阿长”，因此人们也就跟着叫她“阿长”，但孩子们却叫她“长妈妈”。
Nobody knew what her name was. As Lu Xun’s grandmother called her “Achang”, other people also called her by the same name. But the children usually called her “Mama Chang”.
她懂得许多莫名其妙的道理，还有许多规矩，这一切都是孩子们所不理解的。
She was so full of mysterious lore and had so many rules of behaviour that the children sometimes found her quite puzzling.
譬如说，人死了，不说死掉，而说“老掉了”；
For instance, if someone died, you should not say he was dead but “he has passed away”.
死了人或生了孩子的屋里，是不应该走进去的；
You should not enter a room where someone had died or a child had been born.
饭粒子落在地上，必须捡起来，最好是吃下去；
If a grain of rice fell to the ground, you should pick it up, and the best thing was to eat it.
晒裤子用的竹竿底下，是万不可钻过去的，等等。
On no account must you walk under the bamboo pole on which trousers or pants were hanging out to dry.
平时她不许孩子们乱走动，拔一株草，翻一块石头，就说是顽皮，要去告诉母亲去。
She would not let the children get up to mischief. If they pulled up a weed or turned over a stone, she would say they were naughty and threaten to tell their mother.
起初，孩子们并不怎么喜欢她。
In the beginning, the children did not think much of her.
尤其是当她不留心踩死了鲁迅所心爱的隐鼠，这更使鲁迅十分生气。
Lu Xun was especially angry with her when she inadvertently stepped on and killed his favourite little mouse.
但是，有一件事，出乎意料之外，使鲁迅对她发生了敬意，因为，她对孩子们能够讲述一些“长毛”（关于太平天国）的故事；
However, one thing which unexpectedly made Lu Xun feel respect for her was that she often told the children stories of the “Long Hairs” (the Taiping Rebellion).
又一件事，更使鲁迅对她发生了很大的敬意，那就是，她不知从什么地方替鲁迅找到了一部为他日夜所渴望的绘图《山海经》。
Another thing which inspired Lu Xun with a still greater respect for her was that she was able to produce from nobody knew where an illustrated edition of the Book of Hills and Seas, which Lu Xun had been longing for day and night.
鲁迅对于绘图《山海经》的渴望已不止一天了。
Lu Xun had been longing for an illustrated copy of the Book of Hills and Seas for sometime.
这事是由和他家同住在这个台门里的远房叔祖玉田老人惹起来的。
The whole business started with a distant great-uncle named Yutian, who was living in the same compound.
他是一个胖胖的和蔼的老人，爱种一点珠兰、茉莉之类的花木。
A fat and kindly old man, he liked to grow flowers such as chloranthus and jasmine.
他在家里无人可以攀谈，所以就很喜欢和孩子们来往，有时简直称呼他们为“小友”。
The old man was a lonely soul with no one to talk to, so he liked the children’s company and often even called them his “young friends”.
他的藏书很丰富，其中有一本叫《花镜》，上面印着许多好看的花草和树木，是一部孩子们最心爱的书。
He owned a big collection of books, one of which was called The Mirror of Flowerswith many beautiful illustrations of flowers and trees. The children found this book most attractive.
但老人却说还有一部更好看的哩，那是绘图的《山海经》。人面的兽，九头的蛇，三脚的鸟，生着翅膀的人，没有头的拿两乳当作眼睛的怪物，......
But the old man told them that the illustrated edition of the Book of Hills and Seas was even more attractive, with pictures of man-faced beasts, nine-headed snakes, three-footed birds, winged men and headless monsters who used their teats as eyes...
这本书上都有。可惜，老人一时找不到，不知被放到哪里去了。
Unfortunately, he happened to have mislaid it.
孩子们怀着十分迫切的心情，都急于想看这本充满着奇异图画的书，但又不好意思逼着老人去寻找。
Eager as they were to look at the book with such strange pictures, the children did not like to press him to find it.
问别人呢，很少有人知道。
None of the people the children asked knew where to get it, and the children had no idea where they could buy it themselves.
想买吧，不知到哪里去买，大街离得很远，只有正月间才能够去玩一趟，那时书铺的门却又是关着的。
The main street was a long way from their home, and the New Year holiday was the only time in the year when they were able to go there to look around, but during that period the bookshops were closed.
玩得热闹的时候倒也不觉得有什么，一到静下来，可就想起了那绘图的《山海经》。
As long as the children were playing, it was not so bad, but the moment they sat down they would think of the Book of Hills and Seas.
也许是鲁迅过于念念不忘这本书吧，连长妈妈也知道了，来问是怎么一回事，鲁迅就把这事对她说了。
Probably because Lu Xun harped on the subject so much, even Achang got wind of it and started asking what this Book of Hills and Seas was. Lu Xun then told her about it.
过了十多天，也许是一个月吧，长妈妈在她请假回家转来的时候，一见面，就将一包书递给了鲁迅。
About a fortnight or a month later, Mama Chang came back after some leave at home and the moment she saw Lu Xun, she handed him a package.
她高兴地说道：“哥儿，有画的《三哼经》，我给你找来了！”
“Here, son!” she said cheerfully. “I’ve bought you that Book of Holy Seas with pictures.” What an unexpected piece of news!
这是一个怎样出人意外的消息啊，它比逢年过节还使鲁迅兴奋。
To young Lu Xun it was even more thrilling than the New Year holiday or a festival. He hastened to take the package and unwrap the paper.
他赶紧接过来，打开纸包一看，是四本小小的书。啊！人面兽，九头蛇，......果然都在里面了。
There were four small volumes and, sure enough, the man-faced beast, the nine-headed snake... all of them were there.
虽然这是一部纸张很黄，图像很坏，连动物的眼睛也都是长方形的，刻工印工都很粗糙的书，但它正是鲁迅所日夜盼望的书。
Although the paper was yellow and the drawings very poor — so much so that even the animals’ eyes were oblong, and both the engraving and printing were very crude, nevertheless, it was Lu Xun’s most treasured book.
后来，鲁迅把这一位贫农妇女和自己对她的深厚感情，写在一篇充满激情的散文里。
Later, in a highly impassioned essay Lu Xun paid tribute to this country woman of peasant origin and described his own deep affection for her.
这确是四本小小的不平凡的书。
The book was indeed something extraordinary.
鲁迅从长妈妈的手里，连带着她的那一份无比深厚的情意接受了过来。
Lu Xun received it from Mama Chang’s hands along with her incomparably deep affection for him.
这是幼年的鲁迅第一次读到的比一切别的书更加使他感动的书。
It touched the young Lu Xun more deeply than any other book he had read.
在家庭里，祖母特别喜爱鲁迅。
Of all the children at home, his grandmother loved Lu Xun most.
夏夜，鲁迅躺在一株大桂花树下的小板桌上乘凉，祖母摇着芭蕉扇坐在桌旁，一面摇着扇子，一面讲故事给他听，或是叫他猜谜语。
On summer evenings when Lu Xun was lying on a small wooden table under an osmanthus tree to enjoy the evening cool, she would sit by the table with a palm-leaf fan in her hand. Waving the fan, she would tell him stories or ask him riddles.
祖母对于民间故事是很熟悉的。
She was very familiar with folk tales.
她会讲关于猫的故事，据说：猫是老虎的师父。
The cat, she said, was the tiger’s teacher.
老虎本来是什么也不会的，就投在猫的门下。
Originally the tiger couldn’t do anything, so he turned to the cat for help.
猫教给它扑的方法，捉的方法，像自己捉老鼠一样。
The cat taught him how to pounce and catch his prey the way that he caught rats.
这一些学完了，老虎想：本领都学到了，谁也比不过自己了，只有做过它的老师的猫还比自己强，要是把猫杀掉，自己便是最强的脚色了。
After these lessons the tiger said to himself, “Now that I’ve mastered all the skills no other creature is a match for me except my master the cat. If I kill the cat I shall be king of the beasts.”
它打定了主意，便往猫身上扑过去。
He made up his mind to do this, and was about to pounce on the cat.
猫是早知道它的心思的，一跳，便上了树。
But the cat, knowing what he was up to, leaped up onto a tree.
老虎却只能眼睁睁地在树下蹲着。
The tiger was left squatting below and glaring upwards.
猫没有将一切本领传授完，还没有教它上树哩。
The cat had not taught all his skills: he had not taught the tiger to climb trees.
祖母还会讲“水满金山”的故事，
His grandmother also told Lu Xun the story “Flooding Jinshan Monastery”.
——有个叫作许仙的，他救了两条蛇：一青一白，后来白蛇就化作女人来报恩，嫁给了许仙；青蛇化作丫环，也跟着。
A man named Xu Xian rescued two snakes, one white and one green. The white snake changed into a woman to repay Xu’s kindness and married him, while the green snake changed into her maid and accompanied her.
有个和尚叫作法海禅师，他看见许仙脸上有“妖气”，于是就把许仙藏在金山寺的法座后面。白蛇娘娘前来寻夫，于是就“水满金山”。
A Buddhist monk by the name of Fa Hai saw from Xu’s face that he had been bewitched by an evil spirit, so he hid Xu behind the shrine in Jinshan Monastery, and when Lady White Snake came to look for her husband the whole place was flooded.
后来，白蛇娘娘中了法海禅师的计策，被骗装在一个小小的钵盂里了。
In the end Fa Hai trapped Lady White Snake, and put her in a small alms-bowl.
这钵盂被埋在地下，上面造起一座塔来镇压她，这塔就是竖立在西湖边上的雷峰塔。
He buried this bowl in the ground, and built a pagoda over it to prevent her getting out. This was Leifeng Pagoda by West Lake.
幼年的鲁迅听了这个故事，心里很不舒服，他深为白蛇娘娘抱不平。当时，他的唯一的希望，就是这座镇压白蛇娘娘反抗的雷峰塔快些倒掉。
The story made young Lu Xun uncomfortable. He was deeply concerned at the injustice done to Lady White Snake, and his one wish at that time was for the pagoda imprisoning Lady White Snake underneath it soon to collapse.
后来，他把这个民间故事写在一篇反对黑暗反动统治的杂文里。
Later, Lu Xun used this folktale in an essay opposing the reactionary rule of the forces of darkness.