Chapter 38 Part Four: Farewell to Cambridge Grantchester Travel Notes

one Grantchester attracted me because of a song and an anecdote. The song is Grantchester Meadow by Pink Floyd, my favorite British rock band in college: In the lazy water meadow I lay me down All around me golden sun flakes settle on the ground Basking in the sunshine of a bygone afternoon Bringing sounds of yesterday into this city room...   The lazy grassland, the golden sunshine, the past... When I first heard this song, I was only moved by the nostalgic mood, but the grassland was far away and vague to me. That anecdote was about Virginia Woolf.She is said to have gone skinny-swimming with the poet Rupert Brooke at Baron Pool near Grantchester on a moonlit night.In my impression, Woolf is a cold and lonely woman.What kind of beautiful place is it, and what kind of special man is enough to attract her to experience such a romance beyond the mundane?

After living in Cambridge for a while, I discovered that Grantchester is a small town southwest of Cambridge. Grantchester Meadow (meadow) and Orchard (orchard) are two very famous landscapes.Just because it is quite a distance from the center of Cambridge, except for local residents and students, ordinary tourists rarely know about it.This discovery really made me happy. I didn't expect that the picture that had haunted my heart many years ago was actually in the upper reaches of the Cam River. two. On the weekend, I asked Ping to walk to Grantchester.Wherever she goes, she takes the worn out map with her.I am a person who only recognizes a general direction, so I said no, just walk along the river.We came out of the back door of Trinity College and walked a short distance along the backs to a place called "Natural Paradise".Here are towering ancient trees and gentle rivers, where swans gather.The black swan, which is not often seen on weekdays, is also moving gracefully and freely in the water at this time.A few days ago, a Chinese classmate who lived nearby insisted on taking us to watch swans hatching eggs. The animals here are not afraid of people. You look at yours, she hatches hers, and don’t bother to pay attention to you.

We stepped on the soft soil on the river bank, and a small boat was swinging leisurely in the distance.A newly married couple sat on the boat. The bride wore a snow-white wedding dress and the groom wore a black tuxedo.They leaned on each other and looked at each other quietly, how much nostalgia was entangled in their eyes!Ping lamented that there was such a romantic wedding, it seemed quiet, but it was tender and sweet to the bone.I said that I still like my ancient Chinese bridal chamber wedding night.It should be red candles burning so that the whole world is red, and the young and shy bride and groom are sitting tremblingly with a long distance between them.That scene is really far away, Feng Guanxia wears a big red sedan chair, and gongs, drums and suonas worship the heaven and the earth together.Such a lively and joyous love is a romance unique to Chinese people.

Go straight along Granchester Street, and a large open and flat grass will appear in front of you. This is Grantchester Meadow.The unadorned face of the earth almost embraces the short blue sky, and you can see the end of the world at a glance.On this endless green carpet, there are several tall and tall trees; in the field, a herd of cattle is pacing leisurely; scattered bluebells, golden rapeseed flowers and white dandelions are swaying in the wind .It is said that the British mathematician Turing (Turing) came up with the idea of ​​artificial intelligence while walking on this grass.This kind of scenery is indeed a source of inspiration.

The beauty of the grass is generosity. This kind of generosity is by no means forced on others, but as much as you are willing to receive, she will give you as much.In such an open space, apart from the two of us, there are only a few faint figures in the distance, mostly pedestrians walking their dogs or jogging exercise enthusiasts.We walked in the sunshine and the faint fragrance of grass, the tranquility, the lush greenery, refreshing and connected with nature.The happiness in my heart slowly overflowed, and my steps were extraordinarily leisurely. three After walking for about an hour, we arrived at Orchard (orchard).

More than seventy years ago, Xu Zhimo wrote in his famous "Cambridge I Know": There is an old village called Grangestead. There is an orchard. You can lie in the shade of peach and plum trees and drink tea. The flowers and fruits will fall into your teacup, and the little sparrows will come to your table to peck. Don't have a world. After more than seventy years, the scenery depicted in Xu's essays has not changed much.The orchard is small, but full of wild charm.It is surrounded by natural shrubs, scattered with various fruit trees.In fact, in my opinion, flowers and fruits are still secondary, and the essence of an orchard lies in its atmosphere - the peaceful and leisurely artistic conception.There is a wooden table and a few green deck chairs under the fruit trees.As soon as I put my body on the recliner, my whole body immediately melted into a quiet green.Most of the people who come here are nearby British residents or Cambridge students: bring a roll of newspaper, spend a few pounds for a pot of tea, and some snacks, and you can "steal half a day's leisure in a floating life" and enjoy a leisurely afternoon or dusk. "In addition to our daily necessities, we must also have some useless games and pleasures to make life interesting. We watch the sunset, look at the autumn river, look at flowers, listen to the rain, smell the fragrance, drink wine that does not quench our thirst, eat Snacks that don't ask for satiety are necessary in life..." Mr. Zhou Zuoren's words pointed out the essence of life, and the British are also well versed in this.

Four Orchard was originally built in 1868 as a garden for fruit trees.It has a long history as a place for people to rest and drink tea. One morning in the spring of 1897, a group of students from the University of Cambridge came to play in the orchard they used to frequent.Mrs. Stevenson, the hostess of the garden, set up a table in front of her apartment as usual, and sold some homemade black tea and pastries.Some of the students were drinking tea in front of the house, and some were chasing and playing in the garden. One of them suggested that Mrs. Stevenson might as well move the tea table to the garden, so that she could have fun while eating.The virtuous and kind housewife catered to the children and moved the tables and chairs under the fruit trees in the garden.No one has ever realized that this small move has added a great cultural tradition to Cambridge.Word spread across the colleges of Cambridge that students were sipping tea in the orchard, an idyllic afternoon tea event that clearly had a strong appeal to students who lived their days surrounded by dull books.So the orchard soon became a resort on the upper reaches of the Jian River, leaving the footprints of countless masters and elites.

It is said that in the UK, many people may not be able to name more than two Cambridge colleges, but almost no one does not know this orchard.If you open the visitor list here, you will find Alan Turing (inventor of the computer), Frank Whittle (inventor of the aircraft engine), Roosevelt (separation of atoms), Clark and Watson (Crick and Watson, who deciphered DNA) and a long list of names such as economist Keynes, philosopher Russell, and Big Bang theory pioneer Stephen Hawking. Fives Celebrities, I respect; handsome celebrities, I like.Standing in front of the portrait of the poet Brooke, staring at his handsome face, Ping and I couldn't help feeling: worthy of being "Apollo among British men", handsome enough!

Brooke is to the British what Xu Zhimo is to the Chinese.There are indeed many similarities between the two: they were both romantic poets, both belonged to the early 20th century, both studied at Cambridge, both admired nature, both were good-looking, but both died young. Brooke was a student at King's College, where he studied literature and stayed on to study Shakespeare.To escape the noisy social life of Cambridge, Brooke moved into the orchard in 1909.Here, he lived a life of bohemian natural simplicity. In a letter to his girlfriend in 1909, he described the place like this: I live in austere, idyllic countryside.It was a small village, up the river, two miles from Cambridge.You know the place, it's not far from the campground.Here, I study Shakespeare and meet a few people.When I rest, I barely wear clothes, walk barefoot, and look out at nature with calm eyes.I don't pretend to understand nature, but I get on quite well with her... I live on honey, eggs, and milk, which are prepared for me by an old woman (especially in the face) like an apple, and I've been day sitting and working in a rose garden.

Brooke's charm attracted a large group of visitors to the orchard, including novelists Foster and Virginia Woolf, philosophers Russell and Wittgenstein, economist Keynes and painter John. Woolf once called them "The Neo-Pagans" (The Neo-Pagans).Europe at the time was a relatively peaceful, idyllic period.People are carefree and full of optimism.They often hike in the countryside, sleep in the countryside, taste tea and try new things, talk about the past and the present, and all kinds of new ideas and viewpoints emerge in an endless stream. The "Grantchester Group" is the embodiment of the characteristics of this era.

Looking at the photos of these historical figures gathering on the wall of the tea room, Ping asked me: What do you think these celebrities talked about when they got together and chatted?I laughed: It's not the same as we usually talk, but it's just trivial and ordinary things.Yes, based on my experience in Cambridge, the more academically accomplished you are, the more you look like an ordinary person who can live.Therefore, I am more willing to believe that the theme of their daily gatherings more than a hundred years ago was not the national economy and people's livelihood, literary genres, poetry and songs, but where the coffee was authentic, which bookstore was offering discounts, and which noble lady behaved elegantly. , Which Cambridge student Kong Wu is powerful in regattas.Because the inspiration of literature and art, philosophical speculation, and even the principles behind the world phenomenon do not necessarily come from blue lanterns and yellow scrolls, as long as there is understanding and spirituality, under the fruit tree, in the chat room, in the fragrance of tea, among the flowers, where is it not a source of learning? source? After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Brook joined the army and went to Gallipoli with the army, but unfortunately contracted septicemia on the way.He died of illness on April 23, 1915, and was buried that night on the Greek island of Skyros at the age of 27.He seemed to have a premonition of the end of his life, writing in the poem "Soldier" (Soldier) a few months before his death: If I should die, think only this of me That theres some corner of a foreign field That is forever England six Tired, Ping and I leaned on the green canvas recliner, looked up at the blue sky and green leaves above our heads, and tasted fresh red cherries.In the quiet orchard, time seems to return to the free, quiet and poetic time more than a hundred years ago.Brooke's verse comes to mind: Stands the church clock at ten to three And is there honey still for tea? (Is there still good honey with tea?) A tiny brown bird hopped around us...