Chapter 19 a muddled account

Citizens, no one can tell now who is literate and who is not. For example, some citizens signed their own names very beautifully, and there was a flower at the end of the letter, but they couldn't write anything else.Some can write, but they don't know what they write.The thing I wrote seems to have been scratched by a hen's claws, or it seems to have been pissed by a vicious fly.Not only the writers can’t understand it themselves, but even if they show it to a learned professor, he can’t even recognize it—it’s really a waste of time to be a professor! Dear comrades, do you think such a citizen is literate or illiterate?Some people say, of course it is literate!But some people said, no, this is illiterate!Can you tell the difference!

Take Vasily Ivanovich Gogovishechkin, who himself did not know whether he could read or not.It can be said that he made a fool of himself during the popularization of culture. Because of this, the chairman of the village Soviet almost beat him to death once.Mainly because at that time there were only two days left before the deadline for the complete eradication of illiteracy.For example, the higher authorities originally planned to eradicate illiteracy in the entire province before May 1st, but two days before May 1st, Vasily Ivanovich rushed to the village Soviet to report that he was still illiterate.

When the chairman of the village Soviet heard this, he almost smashed him flat on the spot. "What did you say? You son of a bitch! How can you still be so illiterate and so at ease! Only two days left, you know?" Vasily Ivanovitch explained that he was not very clever, and that he was lacking in knowledge. The chairman said: "Now what should I do with your ghost thing? What can I do? Now there is no one illiterate, and you are the only one left. You are deliberately sabotaging. Go to the three-person team and beg them , maybe they can teach you in two days, at least about the vowels."

Vasily Ivanovich said: "I know the vowels, why do I have to teach this every time? My head hurts." The chairman almost killed Vasily Ivanovitch when he heard this. "What are you talking about, do you recognize it? Maybe you can write your own name?" "That's not right, the name can be written." "So, you bastard, are you literate?" "When you put it that way, I seem to be literate. But what kind of literate am I? What a joy." He was so angry with these few words that the chairman almost beat him to death. "You damn thing, you are talking nonsense! I have a literacy requirement here, and I know how to judge your cultural level. May 1st is coming soon, what are you trying to scare people! You are still a literate person!"

As he spoke, he nearly killed Vasily Ivanovitch. Now Vasily Ivanovich is cocking his tail.He told others that he was literate and had a college degree.He could even go to teach in a higher school, but he himself was not very willing to go, because his wife would not let him go, and the child would not let him go, because they said they were afraid that his father would be beaten to death in the university. This man with a college degree is still alive today.The world is full of wonders!A week ago, I was still talking about being illiterate, but in the blink of an eye, I got a college level.Really: originally penniless, now rich.

④ Translated by Gu Yaling and Bai Chunren