翻译:风筝 (鲁迅)

翻译：

风筝 (鲁迅)

translation: alexcwlin; edit: adam.L

北京的冬季，地上还有积雪，灰黑色的秃树枝丫叉于晴朗的天空中，而远处有一二风筝浮动，在

我是一种惊异和悲哀。

It is wintertime in Beijing. The ground is covered with thick snow. Leafless tree-branches in greyish-

black color reach into the clear sunny sky. A couple of kites floating high in the air at distance saddle me

with a feeling of bewilderment and melancholy.

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故乡的风筝时节，是春二月，倘听到沙沙的风轮声，仰头便能看见一个淡墨色的蟹风筝或嫩蓝色

的蜈蚣风筝。

The kite-flying ason of my hometown is around February in springtime. If you happen to hear rustling

sound of wind-wheels, look up and you would e a grayish-black crab-shaped kite or a light-blue

centipede-shaped kite.

和我相反的是我的小兄弟，他那时大概十岁内外罢，多病，瘦得不堪，然而最喜欢风筝。

My little brother is the opposite. At that certain time he was around ten years old, sick all the time and

skinny as a twig. He loved flying kites.

自己买不起，我又不许放，他只得张着小嘴，呆看着空中出神，有时竟至于小半日。

He couldn’t afford to buy a kite, and I wouldn’t allow him to fly one. All he could do was to gaze at the

sky in fascination with his mouth open, and sometimes for duration of almost half-a-day.

我在破获秘密的满足中，又很愤怒他的瞒了我的眼睛，这样苦心孤诣地来偷做没出息孩子的玩艺。

我即刻伸手折断了蝴蝶的一支翅骨，又将风轮掷在地下，踏扁了。

I felt lf-satisfied in exposing his hidden cret and infuriated at him for making extra efforts in fooling

me to do such nonnsical kid’s game. In the heat of all the, I reached out and broke a rib of the

butterfly’s wing, and then threw the wind-wheels on the floor and stepped on them.

论长幼，论力气，他是都敌不过我的，我当然得到完全的胜利，于是傲然走出，留他绝望地站在

小屋里。后来他怎样，我不知道，也没有留心。

In terms of age and brute strength, he was not my match. Of cour it was a total victory for me. I strutted

out and left him standing in the shed in devastation. I didn’t know or care what happened afterwards.

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我也知道还有一个补过的方法的：去讨他的宽恕，等他说：“我可是毫不怪你呵。”那么，我的心

一定就轻松了，这确是一个可行的方法。

I also knew another way for redemption, and that would be to ask for his forgiveness. Once he said: “I’m

not a bit bitter about you”, then a great burden would be lifted off my mind. That would be a practical

solution.

有一回，我们会面的时候，是脸上都已添刻了许多“生”的辛苦的条纹，而我的心很沉重。

At one time when we met, our faces had been furrowed with the grind of life and I was heavy-hearted.

我们渐渐谈起儿时的旧事来，我便叙述到这一节，自说少年时代的糊涂。“我可是毫不怪你呵。”

我想，他要说了，我即刻便受了宽恕，我的心从此也宽松了罢。

Gradually our conversation turned to tidbits in the old days when we were little. I recounted the episode

and admitted it was a youth’s folly. I was thinking he was about to say: “I’m not a bit bitter about you.”

Then I would be forgiven right away and a load would be lifted off my mind forever.

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“有过这样的事么？”他惊异地笑着说，就象旁听着别人的故事一样。他什么也记不得了。

“Did it really happen?” He laughed in amazement as if he were listening to someone el’s story. He

didn’t remember a thing.

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全然忘却，毫无怨恨，又有什么宽恕可言呢？无怨的恕，说谎罢了。

It was totally forgotten. How could there be forgiveness if there was no bitterness? To feel good about

receiving a pardon from someone without a grain of bitterness in heart, I might as well lie to mylf.

my long-gone childhood and a bout of irrepressible sadness. Maybe I should hide away in the bitter cold

of deep winter; but then again isn’t deep winter already everywhere around me showing me its extreme

mercilessness and coldness.