Chapter 22 pride and pride

Everyone's childhood may not be like a fairy tale, but at least it should be like childhood.If you grow up in the red dust of the city, you are not allowed to get close to vegetation, insects and fish, and you are threatened by exams, you are not allowed to indulge in miscellaneous studies and idle books, let alone watch the clouds and listen to the rain, and spend the whole afternoon in a daze.I spent my middle school years in the countryside of Sichuan during the Anti-Japanese War. Although I was poor in material, I was rich in nature and time. As a child, I was able to get close to the mountains and rivers and learn Chinese literature.So every time I recall my childhood, I feel grateful.

I believe that a person's Chinese roots must be deeply rooted in middle school.It would be too late if they waited until university to make amends, so freshman Chinese and other courses were just a fake.My luck lies in the fact that I spent my middle school in a simple country, and my family background and school education are also suitable for learning Chinese. In the autumn of 1940, I entered Nanjing YMCA Middle School and became a first-year student.The middle school was located in Yuelaichang, Jiangbei County, Sichuan, near the Jialing River. Because of the Anti-Japanese War, it was moved from Nanjing to the so-called "rear area".It's not a famous school, but the teaching is serious.My Chinese and English foundations were solidified during those years.Especially the English teacher, Mr. Sun Liangji, who is rigorous and caring, taught me the most.If he hadn't taught me English at the beginning, it would have been a big question whether I would have entered the Department of Foreign Languages ​​in the future.

As for the Chinese teachers, they changed several times.Mr. Chen Mengjia, who graduated from Sichuan University, also taught Chinese and history. Although he is deeply nearsighted and wears glasses as thick as soy sauce bottles, his eyesight is not as sharp as beans, and his knowledge and eloquence are quite outstanding.There is another Chinese teacher, whose name I have forgotten, but I only remember that he has a refined appearance and a tall figure, not as unkempt as Teacher Chen, and even a little sloppy.I even remember that he was born in Beijing Normal University, and he was educated by many scholars and elders, so he looked down on Mr. Chen a little bit, and even expressed it.

In the first year of high school, a bagong from the former Qing Dynasty came to teach us Chinese.He is Mr. Dai Boqiong, who is very old, and he is exactly what Sichuan people used to call "Old Master".According to the imperial examination system of the Qing Dynasty, every 12 years, students with excellent character and academic performance were selected by the provinces in the academic and political examinations, and they were recommended to enter Beijing, that is, to enter the Guozijian, which is called Bagong.After passing the imperial examination, he can serve as a Beijing official, county magistrate or teaching post.In this way, only one person is selected for the selection of tributes in each county, which is really a talent.Old Master Dai should be Bagong from Ba County (i.e. Jiangbei County), so one can imagine the good old learning.In winter, he came to class, walking slowly, calmly, wearing a long gown and black hat, sitting and giving lectures.To this day, I still remember how he taught Zhou Dunyi's "Ai Lian Shuo", how to shake his head and recite it in a Sichuan accent, with the sound of gold and stone.This kind of old-fashioned reciting, changing the tune according to the mood, singing three sighs with one chant, whether it is reciting in public or reciting alone, is the most perceptual effect on appreciating the artistic conception of ancient prose or poetry.Today's students, even those majoring in Chinese, often only read silently instead of reciting, which inevitably separates them from classical literature.

In order to reflect the background of the old master, when we hand in the composition, we try to write classical Chinese.With our immature classical Chinese, how can we get into the Master's eyes?Fortunately, he was quite polite, and he would give sixty points to all those who handed in classical Chinese.Later, we gave up our minds and rewritten the vernacular, but the result was 70 to 80 points, which is really unexpected. Once, Wu Xianshu and his classmate Wu Xianshu read Kong Zhigui's "Beishan Yiwen", admiring his literary talent, half-understood the various allusions, so he insisted on asking Old Master Dai for advice, and was also a little curious, intending to test him.Unexpectedly, the master closed the book at a glance at the topic, and he continued to talk. Not only did he answer the allusions we asked in detail, but he also explained the allusions that we didn't ask, which made us admire.

Chinese classes are limited to textbooks, so what they read is limited after all, and the tutors for extracurricular training come from families.Neither of my parents are considered scholars, but they came from an old-fashioned family, and their foundation in classical Chinese is not weak as usual, at least they are proficient in arts and sciences.As soon as I entered middle school, they thought I should read some ancient Chinese, and my father began to teach me Wei Zheng's "Admonishing Taizong Shisishu", and my mother also assisted me.I don't like this kind of article very much, but because of the earnest guidance of my parents, I study it very seriously.The next thing is to read "Liu Hou Lun". Although it is also an intellectually based argumentative essay, it is full of vividness and sonorous sensibility, which moved me very much.Then there are several articles such as "Preface to the Spring Night Banquet in Taoli Garden", "Diaogu Battlefield Essay", "Book with Han Jingzhou", and "Humble Room Inscription".As my comprehension deepened and my interest grew stronger, I even turned around and begged them to teach more beautiful essays.At first they were not very willing, thinking that I should read more articles on the Tao, but seeing that I had made great progress and were really interested, they taught me "A Call for Martial Arts for Xu Jingye", "Preface to the Pavilion of King Teng", and "Ode to Efang Palace". .

My parents taught me this, and every time they explained it, they each chanted it to me in their own accents.My father recited the Southern Hokkien tune, and my mother recited the Changzhou accent. The classical sentiments called me from the depths of the local accent, and they were both very kind to me.In this way, every night, under the swaying tung oil lamp, I recited these ancient prose over and over again, sometimes in a low voice, sometimes in a high voice, and admired the neatness and beauty of the parallel prose, and the ease of opening and closing the prose.This kind of repeated chanting and concentrating on understanding is the most profound and euphemistic for truly entering the feelings of the ancients, breathing history, and embracing culture.The classical style that I will display in my poems and essays in the future is based on the night reading under the tung oil lamp as its source.For that, I am forever grateful to my parents for their inspiration that day.

However, the one who enlightened me at that time should also mention my second uncle, Mr. Sun Youfu.At that time we were in the countryside of Yuelaichang, living in an ancestral hall of the Zhu family. The foot of the mountain was the Jialing River going south. The sound of the waves was constant day and night, especially at night.The second uncle's house is on another nearby hill, across the valley from the Zhu family's ancestral hall.My father often works in the city of Chongqing, and only my mother takes me to live in the countryside, and my second uncle takes over the teaching of ancient prose.He is more leisurely than his father, and he seems to have higher academic attainments, and he prefers beautiful writing, which is in line with my lyrical tendency.

He explained to me the "Red Cliff Fu" and "Autumn Sound Fu", while holding a hookah, smoking from time to time, while explaining the meaning to me, oh oh recite.His accent is the same as that of his mother's, close to that of Wu Nong's soft language, and his delicate appearance reveals elegance.He has a lot of books in his home, and the one that attracts me the most is a thread-bound book with moving illustrations.The generation of my second uncle and my father thought that such books were frivolous and glamorous, and should only be used for occasional entertainment, so of course they would not encourage their children to read them.Fortunately, my second uncle didn't object too much, and allowed me to read it after class, allowing me to wander among ghosts and humans.

Later, my father found "Hundreds of Ancient Prose and Brushwork", "Children's Learning Qionglin", "Donglai Boyi", and taught some of them.In the afternoons of long summer, after eating mung bean soup, my father would lie on the bamboo couch and carefully read his "Gang Jian Yi Zhi Lu" volume after volume, sighing about the ups and downs, while I read old novels, Especially delay watching. ,, and even "Feng Shen Bang", "Bao Gong'an", "Ping Shan Leng Yan" and so on, are also among the list of leisurely viewing, but what I read most attentively and carefully is that even the part of "The Straw Boat Borrowing Arrows" I have also read "Fu Jiang Fu" several times.As for and, you don't read them carefully until you enter college.When I first saw it, I felt that her mother-in-law was very impatient and gave up halfway.As early as in high school, my English had improved quite a bit. I could study Tales from Shakespeare: by Charles Lamb by myself, and even tried to translate Byron’s Childe Harold’s Travels. Pilgrimage).It's just that I am too ambitious and have too many clues, so I can't go all out when reading Chinese works.

I have always believed that one cannot be called a Chinese scholar if one does not read old novels. The classical literature of "high brow" (high9鄄brow) is certainly based on poetry and history, but the old novels, folk songs, and local operas of "low brow" (low brow) are influenced by the culture of the market and the rivers and lakes. , ranging from poets and poets to pawns and traffickers, are widely appreciated by both refined and popular tastes.It is inconceivable for a Chinese not to know Guan Gong, Bao Gong, Wu Song, Xue Rengui, Sun Wukong, and Lin Daiyu.If Zhuang, Sao, Li, Du, Han, Liu, Ou, and Su are classic masterpieces, then Journey to the West, Water Margin, Three Kingdoms, and Red Mansions are the roots of folk customs, just like compass, without one foot, it will be difficult to complete it. There are at least two advantages to reading old Chinese novels.One is to understand the customs and customs of the old society, and the rivers and lakes of the city, and to make a footnote for the three religions culture of Confucianism, Taoism, interpretation and vulgarity;Contemporary scholars lament that students' Chinese proficiency is declining, and the prescription often prescribed is "read more ancient books".As a matter of fact, the current students' Chinese is almost terminally ill. Swallowing a few pills of "Mencius" or "Historical Records" is really a drop in the bucket.On the other hand, the old novels are integrated with the language, not only the language is vivid, the syntax is natural, but also the level is appropriate and the vocabulary is rich.Written in vernacular, with the fluency of spoken language, without the interludes of Westernization, it can be said that the vernacular of the old society has "the original soup and flavor";In addition to the fascinating stories, these novels can best make young readers invisible. After reading, they can master Chinese without knowing it. Affection. The middle school students of my generation not only did not have television, but also rarely watched movies, and even radio was not popular.The entertainment of sensuality, I am afraid, can only rely on drama, so it was the golden age of drama.The most convenient way for a young boy in the backcountry to enjoy stories is to read old novels.In addition, the pressure of exams is not great, the temptation of urban entertainment is not much and it is too far away, and in the long summer afternoon, in the middle of winter, in the snow window, often with Zhuge Liang and Qin Shubao, the joy is no less than today's disks, video tapes, karaoke OK?What is even more fortunate is that while "let's listen to the next chapter to break it down", the little "reading officials" of our generation can read Chinese well. The atmosphere of mutual encouragement among classmates is also very important.The style of writing in Bashu is quite prosperous, and the folks have always attached great importance to old learning, which can be said to be endless.My Sichuan classmates often collected books in thread-bound books, and some of them might be rare books, so they could not help but show off in school, and they were rewarded with rare books.Among middle school students at that time, the popular extracurricular reading materials were divided into three categories, namely: classical literature, especially old novels; new literature, especially vernacular novels of the 1930s; and translated literature, especially novels of Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union.Among the three categories, I am not too keen on the latter two categories. First, because I read English frequently and made rapid progress, I plan to directly appreciate the original text in the future, at least I can read the English translation. I don't like the style of writing, and I really don't like general new poetry, especially stereotyped writing.My classmate Wu Xianshu is from Shu. He has a large collection of classical books, and he often brings them to share with me.Once we fell in love with it, couldn't put it down, and even took advantage of the ten minutes after class to read together. When we ran into an empty class, we sat together on the stone steps of the campus, spreading Zhang Sheng's bitter love on our knees. A paragraph, chanting something "I have seen thousands of people, but Pang Er, who is so lovable, has rarely seen it."Later, when I discovered Su Manshu's, I also admired it for a while, and passed on the good sentences copied by each other. As for poetry, except for a few works in the textbooks, the teacher and elders did not intend to enlighten me, but they are similar in nature, and I am used to it, so I can be said to be self-taught.Of course, I didn’t really understand it at first, but I just felt beautiful and kind emotionally.When encountering works with many allusions and twists and turns in the background, it feels like a layer of separation, and the numerous notes are too busy to read carefully.But the love is real. I have liked Tang poetry since junior high school, and I am also good at Five Dynasties and Song poetry in high school. The strangest thing is that my way of reciting ancient poems, although I was enlightened by dictation of Fujian accent and Wu tune, and I also picked up my second uncle's sighing voice, later developed into my unique way of reciting back and forth, with twists and turns, and endless aftertaste. It is completely different from the monotonous recitation of the elders.For fifty years, whenever I was alone and lonely, such as a windy and snowy night in a foreign country, or driving alone on a long-distance high-speed road, I indulged in singing "Those who abandon me can't stay yesterday, and those who disturb my mind will worry about today!" Or It is "the long flood fights and jumps into the waves, and the light boat goes south like a shuttle. The navy is absolutely called the wild goose, and the rocks are fighting for the ground!" Suddenly, Taibai and Dongpo are at the elbow, and a heroic spirit leads to the Tang and Song dynasties .If you recite the more ancient "Old man, with aspirations for thousands of miles. The martyrs are in their twilight years, and their ambitions are endless", the mood will be even more desolate. "Book of Jin·Wang Dun Biography" says that after drinking, Wang Dun chanted the four ancient poems of Cao Cao, while beating the spitting pot with Yu Ruyi to make the beat, and the edge of the pot was missing.Gong Zizhen, a famous poet in the Qing Dynasty, has such a poem of Qijue: "The ileum is full of spirits, and the guests are desolate and half-sober. Since farewell to Wu Langgao, who will listen to the broken coral?" Resonant exhilaration.This is exactly where the sensibility of Chinese classical poetry lies.It's a pity that if you only use today's Mandarin to read ancient poems or recite silently, you may never be able to communicate with Li Du. In October of the previous year, I toured six cities in England to recite poetry.Every time after reciting the English translations of six or seven of my own works, I must choose one or two ancient Chinese poems, read the English translations first, and then recite the original texts.As soon as the chanting stopped, the applause stood up, and the reaction was enthusiastic, without exception.It can be seen that the recitation of poems is infectious beyond meaning. Unfortunately, this kind of perceptual education has disappeared today, and it has declined in the same way as calligraphy. Last December, at the "Second International Symposium on Chinese Literary Translation", I reported my experience in translating Wilde's comedy "Mrs. Wen's Fan" to sinologists from various countries. The translator is "overwhelmed by the ocean" and finds it difficult to write, but in some places, by chance, my translation will be better than his original.Many scholars were taken aback, and looked up together to wait for the following.I said: "In some places, such as the antithesis, English is not as good as Chinese. In this kind of place, the original text is not as good as the translation. It's not that Wilde is not as good as me, but that he overstepped the bounds and used the weakness of English to match the strength of Chinese. " I am proud of being Chinese, and I am even more fortunate to be able to use Chinese.