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下一篇链接：席慕蓉诗歌翻译及译后 |
在公费留学的日子里 （The Days I Studied in England）
文章出处：http://wenzili.my.24en.com
作者: wenzili （文磊）
In December of 1985, I had my first winter vacation in Bath.
Since almost all local and euro-continental students went home, only some overseas students from Asia, Africa or
For management convenience, the University authority integrated all students scattered around the whole campus into one dormitory,
He got a thrifty idea. He asked me to hand back my room in Eastwood and move to
As decent visiting scholars, we didn’t want to damage our dignity by illegal laboring; such as served as restaurant waiters, station porters etc. Therefore, to cut down our daily expenditure as much as possible was our only means to save money.
Thank to his help, I completed all necessary procedures and moved to his room successfully. In this way, we not only had saved a considerable amount of money, but also had pulled out the loneliness and homesick crisis during the Chinese New Year period.
It was the late morning of Christmas Eve in 1985. Mr. Fang and I went down the campus hill for Christmas shopping. After about one and a half hours’ shopping, we dropped in a famous electronic shop, Gatwick, to see my favorable cameras.
For unknown reason, the shop assistant did not allow us to bring our grocery bag in. We had to leave it beside the display windows.
To our surprise, when we returned, the bag had already disappeared!
“Oh, dear!” we shouted with intensive dismay.
“I have never imagined thieves in
It was true; not even one theft case had been reported by local media since we settled down in
In that evening, a horrible TV broadcast spoiled the joyful fete of Christmas Eve. A live report was shown on TV , which snatched thousands of people’s hearts.
There were a dozen of heavily armed policemen lying on snow ground. They seemed to be besieging a strange subject beside a steel bridge nearby Bath Railway Station.
Obviously, it must be a terror case. From the thrilling TV scene, we found an explosive expert with a strange bag running wild.
This legendary hero took no care of his own safety and had a hard time on the icy field.
The fete air was frozen.
We could not help admiring those brave people who had endangered their lives and sacrificed their festival pleasure for our safety.
However, at the agonizing moment, the story had a dramatic turning, when the expert reached to a shelter far away from the bridge. We found, from the focused camera lens, he was cautiously opening the parcel.
“Why does the bag look so familiar?” I asked.
“Oh, my God! It is my shopping bag!” Mr. Fang cried out in start.
Then, the screen was switched to a funny scene when the reporter had deliberately shown what was on the expert’s hands. That was nothing but a bundle of discounted vegetables with yellow tags!
A thundering laugh blasted out everywhere, which recovered the festival happiness to all residents in
After that, we’d managed to get the details.
In that morning, an unemployed fellow was wandering nearby the electronic shop and worrying about the Christmas gifts to his craving kids. He suddenly found a deserted bag lying under the display windows of Gatwick. He considered it was the very gift given by Santo and hastily went back to give his kids a surprise.
On the way home, he opened the parcel in anxiety. But the finding really disappointed him. He threw it away in despair.
It was wartime when a territory dispute between
That was why a finding report on a peculiar parcel nearby the railway bridge would have caused such panic.
(4)
For the same reason as last Christmas vacation, Mr. Fang moved to my dormitory in Eastwood during summer vacation in 1986.
Different from
Except for us, all my other neighbors in that building were from West Asia or
Found us sharing one room, they all had considered it unusual simply because they had not seen it before. I always felt several strange looks from my back, when I was cooking, washing or even walking.
Sometimes, they even grimaced at us．I was really repulsed by it. But I did not know why? After a while when we got along well, I asked one of them what was the reason?
“ Oh, yes,” he told me frankly “we thought you were gay. We also puzzled who plays the female role between two such vigorous gentlemen? Now, we fully understand it is your custom.” His answer shocked me and made me sick.
Because in early 1980’s, we never got such concept as homosexual, AIDS in Chinese dictionary, even in some western countries, Those were new phantoms appearing and wandering in horizon.
His words deeply hurt us. Even now when we recall this scene, we still feel sick. We sadly realize what is the real meaning of “poverty means humiliation”!
In the early February of 1986, the icy wind was frequently sweeping through the whole
However, just in those very days, we decided to travel to middle
In this way, we started from
Sometimes, it was too cold for shopkeepers to open the shops, then the whole street would become deadly silent. We found nowhere to shield ourselves from the coldness and had to hide in a help-yourself photo-taking booth for a while to warm up our numbed toes and fingers.
We had a thrifty cross-country journey but with a lot of fun. Nowadays, each time when we recall this journey, we still feel very excited and worthwhile.
Yes, without such legendary experiences, how can we get such vivid topics to talk about today?
(5)
It was getting dark when we were racily talking and sipping the fragrant tea. Our memory to those experiences arose us lots of fun and excitement and deeply affected our wives, as audiences who were fully sank into our misery with tears.
If the past live in overseas study left us some grieved memory, as we said, then the reality has rewarded us in multiple already. After our graduation from the
Fate had driven us to leading roles in different but famous companies. Our children had all been brought up and had pursued their higher degrees in some developed countries. Therefore, we had jointly drawn a conclusion: the change of our fate benefited from the advanced study was well worth the hardship during the days in
** It is a sort of Chinese courtesy. Standing up means to show a respect to who is coming to you. Holding something with two palms means to show the favorite and seriousness to something given to you.
“What a wet day!” When a hail of noise was trickling in my dream, I dimly recognized what happened.
It is the weather of early spring in
In spite of this, I had to get up early to visit one of my old friends, Mr. Fang who I have not met for more than 20 years, ever since he completed his advanced study and left the
The shower was getting heavier and heavier and the wind was swirling everywhere. The avenue leading to underground station was flooded. Lots of large and small streams were splashed by vehicles running to and fro.
With our distorted umbrellas, my wife and I were trekking hard in the wind and downpour. After a while we both got wet. However, the bitterly coldness never dominated my warm feeling for meeting my old friend.
The underground train journey had lasted about half an hour. We arrived at our destination 20 minutes earlier than we expected. I decided to get out of the station and to find Mr. Fang’s place by ourselves rather than calling him as we had discussed on phone yesterday.
After about 20 minutes search and walk, we had found our target, a 32-storey building where Mr. Fan’s apartment is located in. I called him, than a familiar voice appeared. ”Are you Wenzili?”
“Yes, I am here.”
“Ok, I’ll meet you at the Gate No.3 of the station.”
“No, no need to bother you. We are outside your building now.” I said with obvious satisfaction.
“Why didn’t you call me before, so that I could have met you at the station? You see, your impulsive temper has no change at all!”
“I just want to confirm if I can find my way by myself.”
As I was explaining, the lift door opened. An old man with slightly bowed body and worn-toil face appeared in front of us.
As if we had flown through a time tunnel, I was almost petrified by what a saw.
“My God! Is it the handsome man who was known as Prince Charming in
Four hands held each other firmly and tears wetted our eyes and then ran down our wrinkled faces.
“Ha-ha, my friend, you haven’t changed much.” We said to each other simultaneously. But we clearly understood it was a gentleman’s greeting, a typical English politeness.
“Mr. Fang I could never imagine, the parting in
“No, neither do I. But, should we go into my home first, then, we’ll have a specific talk.” Mr. Fang suggested.
It is a luxury apartment with floor area about 150 square meters. Looking through its windows, there is a spectacular view. The prosperity of downtown, the surging Huang Pu River and the breathtaking scene of the Oriental Pearl all under our view as if they were within one stone threw.
Came back to his sitting room, I was also surprised by the decoration inside. Simple but artful and constantly gave me an emotional impact.
As soon as we had sat down, his wife came to us with friendly smile and 3 cups of hot tea as well. The same as all overseas students’ wives, she looked very virtuous and industrious. An impulse of acknowledgment arose to me.
“Thank you very much indeed!” I said to her as I stood up to receive the tea with my palms holding. ** Then, I passed one to my dear wife to show my appreciations to her too.
Yes, indeed. Without their hard work and self-sacrifice how could we go abroad and thoroughly shifted our responsibilities to her for taking care to our elderly parents and young kids? How could our family lives be going well without their dedicated contribution?
“The time is flying! 20 years passed just in no time.” Mr. Fang’s plaint interrupted my thinking and made me go back to those days when we studied in Bath of England.
(2)
With fluctuating hills covered by evergreen forests,
A few miles away from the east of Roman Baths is the well-known academic institute, the
One day in September, 1985, I came here for my advanced study in computer simulation after my English training completion in
After talking to my supervisor on my project topic and research methodology, he led me to a huge office of floor area about 40 square meters.
Dozen of students were there to pursue different degrees either by courses or by researches. Among them were 5 Chinese students.
Facing to so many unfamiliar faces, I immediately became uneasy. Most of them either slightly nodded to me or said “Hello!” gently. I had no idea how to deal with and just stood beside the door embarrassedly.
At that awkward moment, a Chinese student left his desk and came toward me. He was a very handsome middle age man, with a moderate slim figure and pleasingly white face, a pair of large and bright eyes under dense eyebrows. The most impressive thing was his haircut-dark, shining nursed and shaped well.
“Hi! Mr. Li,” he shook my hand and greeted me in Chinese, “My surname is Fang from Zheng Zhou Warship Research Institute in He Nan Province. You are warmly welcome to join us!” Then, he introduced everyone on the site to me and showed me his dormitory.
I was deeply touched by his enthusiasm and started our friendship in this alien land since then.
I had a very difficult time to start my research, owning to my poor English and computer foundation, especially the latter. As a student to pursue a degree o computer science, I had never touched to computer keyboard before!
On the contrary, Mr. Fang always had his days in his project conduction, because he had sound linguistic and technological foundation. He was brought up in
He kindly gave me a hand in my difficulty.
Thanks to Mr. Fan’s help, I quickly got over the crisis and managed to develop my project well.
In 1980s, Chinese economic reform was still in its nursery. The foreign currency was real rarity then.
In the mean time, we were still struggling against poverty. The average of monthly salary for a common staff was as low as RMB50
Therefore, to save money by all efforts was all Chinese common habit.
As a TC award owner, I was able to get an allowance of 200 sterling pounds from Chinese Embassy in
However, it was still not easy to maintain our dignity as a “visiting scholar” by this mere 200 pounds.
Moreover, we all had a secret target in mind: save every penny to buy some duty-free home appliances, such as refrigerator, color TV, washing machine etc., to reward our wives and kids who are suffering and longing at home.
At that time, these items were real rarities in Chinese market, and were strictly controlled by quota specially enjoyed by people had been abroad.
To fulfill such a sacred target, Mr. Fang and I helped each other and created a lot of funny stories.
（一）
又一场潜梦的春雨，淅淅沥沥地给人们带来不尽的春愁。上海的早春就是这样，乍暖还寒。刚刚为丽日蓝天带来的几分温馨而窃喜，一阵霪雨又把你送回了冷面冷心的意境之中。不过，今天我可是例外。顶风撑伞，与妻子一道在泥水里深一脚浅一脚地行走。心里充满着喜悦和期盼。因为，一个半小时后，我将会看到一个在英伦留学时的同窗好友，阔别了20年的方君！
不知是线路尚在建设之中，还是周末的原因，沿途上落旅客还不太多20分钟抵达终点站。为了不过早叨扰他们，我们决定暂不打电话，而自行找去他们的住地。费了一些功夫，但花掉了与约定的20分钟时间差。我们几乎准时到达了他家楼下。我摁响了手机，话筒里出现方君熟悉的声音。“啊，是文磊吗？我马上来地铁站3号出口来接你。”“不，我已到你楼下了！”我得意地说。“不是讲好了快到时先给我来个电话吗？你老弟，还是老脾气，说到就到了。”老同学一句话，可是对我那急躁自负秉性的高度概括。……
随着铃声的一声脆响，我们急急地跨出电梯，恍惚是跨过了20年的时空隧道，一个形容憔悴的老人，微驼着背，出现在我们面前 “巴斯王子”的方君！我来不及发出感慨，老同学就迎上来了。两双热情的手掌紧紧地握在一起。泪水不由得蒙住了我们的双眼，顺着那刻满岁月沧桑的眼角汨汨流淌。“哈哈！老同学，你还是老样子，一点也没变！”我们几乎同时讲出了这句同样的话来。但我们明白，这是为了安慰对方，而发出的英伦绅士式的客套“哎，想不到，巴斯一别，一晃就是20年了。”我还沉浸在“别梦依稀”的感慨之中。“这不！….还是先进屋慢慢谈吧。”方君提议道。
这是一间面积为150平方的豪华住宅。位于浦西虹口区的中心。闹中有静。从23层居高临下，周围的街区尽收眼底，连黄浦江对岸的“东方明珠”也仿佛延手可及。
屋内的装修精细，简单而别致，但依然隐隐给人以美的震撼。
我们刚刚在沙发上坐定，他夫人便递来几杯香茗。同所有留学生的夫人一样，他夫人一看就是一个贤妻良母型的贤内助
“
（五）
就这样，在老方家我们你一言，我一语有滋有味地回忆着一幕幕往事。没料到却把旁边的听众，我们的妻子们听得鼻酸眼红，潸然泪下。
如果说，往事给我们留下的多是酸楚；那么应该说如今的现实已对此作了加倍的补偿。尽管我们都一样在回国初期，受到原国营单位部分同事和个别领导的排挤。但坏事变成好事。我们不约而同地选择了砸烂“铁饭碗”，到改革开放热土去寻找自己人生价值的道路。我们都获得了成功。得到了当地社会的认可。成为国内闻名企业的主要负责人。我们的儿女都已成材。他的一男一女都在国外获得了博士学位。并在海外就业。我的一对儿女也分别在国内外的名校获得硕士学位。同他们那“愚忠报国”的父亲一样，正在为祖国四化建设辛苦耕耘。
尽管他们选择的是不同的道路，殊途同归；命运必然给他们带来同样的归宿海归”的血液。
2006，2，25于浦东
那晚看电视，巴斯地方新闻中，突然出现了一个 “惊险”的场面。在巴斯火车站的铁桥旁边，几十名荷枪实弹的警察，面对着一个怪包如临大敌。从电视台记者现场报道的镜头中，我们还看到一名排雷专家，冒着生命危险，拿起背包极速地跑到城南的河边进行排雷。在对他的这一壮举感叹之余，我突然发现，这包怎么就这样的眼熟！“啊，那是我的包！”与此同时，旁边的老方也发出了这声惊叫。……
