妹妹的出生（四）

妹妹的出生（四）

课程导读

在上节课，我们仿佛置身于妹妹的满月酒席，看到各路亲戚的祝福，感受到格外热闹的氛围。本节课，我们将再跨越一年，来到妹妹一岁抓周的场景。

英文原文

A year later, on my sister's birthday the same relatives again crowded into our house.

A red tablecloth was put on a table in the sitting room, and all sorts of objects were spread out:

a needle and thread, a saucepan, a teapot, a paint-brush, an inkpot, a knife, a book of verses, a book of stories, a flexible fencing-foil, a piece of printed silk.

Then the little girl, who, in her embarrassment, was trying to stick her foot into her mouth, was brought to the table, to see what object she would pick up first.

If she takes a brush, she will be an authoress; if she grabs at a saucepan, she will be a housewife; if she touches silk, she will be a well-dressed woman; if she picks up a foil, she will make herself famous as a heroine or a chieftain.

I don't know what object my little sister chose. Judging by the fact that she is now in Peking University, and shows a great deal of interest in literature, she must have chosen a brush or a book.

However, she was a niece of two teachers.

So many books and so much stationery were piled up that day on the red cloth that the insignificant needle and thread had no chance of getting into the hands of little Shih-kuen.

In those days, she was the important person in the house. But I did not mind. I was grown up. I was six years older than she.

【内容拓展】

写小说就是要把一件平平淡淡的事说得很有情致（世界上哪有许多惊心动魄的事呢）。写一般文章也该如此。要把一件事说的有滋有味，得要慢慢地说，不能着急，这样才能体察人情物理，审词定气，从而提神醒脑，引人入胜。急于要告诉人一件什么事，还想告诉人这件事当中包含的道理，面红耳赤，是不会使人留下印象的。惟悠闲才能精细。不要着急。——《岁朝清供》汪曾祺