North, North, forever ——Translator's Preface "I want to keep going north from now until the end of my life." "Worse things can happen to a man on the road than death," said the mechanic. "Yes, I know," Stuart replied. —— No matter what direction you walk in, as long as it is the direction you want, you should keep walking until the end of your life.Stuart thought so, White thought so.me too. Still, the journey can be dull, difficult, and even dangerous.But walking is also fun and rewarding.Everyone's experience on the road is different.China's Li Bai left the famous poem "It's Difficult to Travel" on his road to Shu for people to recite, while Stuart of the United States left a poem on his "rat road" that sometimes makes us laugh and sometimes makes us think. "The Rat Road Documentary".And, even when he's resting, this pixie-like mouse has just as much fun to do.

Stuart is very small, but extremely cute.Even more lovely is his heart.He is kind, polite, brave, self-improvement, smart, witty, romantic, helpful... It seems that all the advantages of human beings have been taken up by him.Fortunately, White also gave him two small faults: he likes to show off, and he is more shy-so that we don't blush so much compared with him.But even so, we are still far behind him. His biggest feature is his love of adventure and travel.Whether it's on the dentist's boat or in the garbage truck, there's always some thrills going on, and those are the places kids will probably love to watch.But I just thought those adventures were interesting, even though they were described very realistically. (Although the American movie based on this fairy tale is very interesting, the plot is messy, mostly Hollywood-style vulgarity and excitement, I don't like it very much. But I like the image of Stuart in the movie very much. And those cats. )

This fairy tale was first published in the United States in 1945, and it was White's first fairy tale.I can't say it's immature, but in my opinion it's basically a wonderful fairy tale, and it doesn't hit me as hard as that.Almost every paragraph in the book has a hidden meaning, but this is not the case (except the last two chapters), so it is relatively easy for me to translate. But as a fairy tale, this book should be regarded as an excellent fairy tale work.Adults may not like children reading such books, not only because the book promotes the so-called "personal adventurism," but also because there is almost no lesson in the book, and there is no stick out to beat those disobedient Not even a pompous pointer, boy.And the chapter of Stuart's lecture tells everyone clearly: play, have fun, and childhood life should be like this.

I don't know if most adults in China wrap their children into poor little mummies with too much homework and adult hypocritical theories because of jealousy; while they themselves plunge into the shampoo room, dance floor Even in the women's room when the husband is not at home, his face is upright, with a bit of secretive complacency. There are also many people, like Stuart's father, who can only envy Stuart, but don't get much joy in life.Therefore, they should liberate their children more than the other way around. That's a long way off.Come back, my pen.Well, I did it.Adults have self-control.

There's something in this book for grown-ups too, if you'll pay close attention.Let me talk about the class that Stuart gave first. How many useful things are taught to children in school?How much of a child's time is cruelly wasted?I think this reality in China is even more shocking.I don't know what's the use of politics class, even though we are forced to breathe the dirty air of politics; ;I don't know why the knowledge that has long been rotten is still left in the textbooks of universities, middle schools and primary schools. Maybe students are born to eat cold food?

After studying for these years, I came to the conclusion that the most useful knowledge for me was basically not learned in textbooks, and in reality, I hardly met a teacher worthy of my respect and admiration (except for me I will always respect the two elementary school teachers.) Of course, I should thank the teachers for their enlightenment in elementary school, but I don’t have to after entering junior high school.Except for the knowledge of science that I never want to understand, the knowledge of liberal arts is completely self-taught, because I don't believe that the teacher can explain it better than I understand, and the knowledge in those liberal arts books is scant and doubtful.Of course, there are things I don’t understand, but the teachers around me don’t understand either. At this time, I will ask my other teachers, such as Zhuangzi, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Shen Congwen, Wang Wei, Zweig, Faulkner, etc. They may have eccentric tempers, but they are the best teachers, both in knowledge and personality.Let's put it this way, in all the classes, I felt that I was a slave; but after reading the books of Lu Xun, Shen Congwen, etc. after class, I realized that I was a human being, an upright person.

Far away again.I have paper anyway.In the chapter of Stuart's class, he also mentioned the two closely related things of war and leadership.The two are attracted to each other, and you can't stop this wonderful combination-in the face of this "two-in-one", all righteous cries are not as good as the mosquito's cry. Laugh, or cry, or suffer?We have no choice, because it is enough to have leaders who "see the problem more comprehensively" decide for us. And then there's the chapter where Stuart and Miss Eames are dating.That chapter is romantic and lyrical, but behind the words there is a sweet melancholy, like those prairie country songs sung by Randy Travis.We can't blame Miss Eames for being ruthless, but we should thank her for bringing Stuart a wonderful love fantasy.The fantasy of love is like a water lotus, it looks the most beautiful when it is closed, once it is open, there will be wind and rain to take away its beauty, unless you have an invincible lotus in your heart.

With a lotus in your heart, no matter how dirty or chaotic the world is, you will not be afraid.White must have such a lotus in his heart, and so do I. The dirtier and more chaotic this world is, the more beautiful and precious the lotus in my heart will be. Therefore, although the dream will be broken, we still have to do it; despite the danger on the road, we still have to go.Therefore, after packing up his broken heart, Stuart happily went on the road again, although a beautiful scar was left in his heart. The last chapter is the most thought-provoking chapter in the whole book, and the writing is also very beautiful, but it is a pity that my translation has destroyed these beauties.The repairman's words sounded very plain, but they completely moved me.Qifeng has always risen from the flat ground, and the taste of life is also in the distance, in these conversations.

The repairman once said something like this: “I have sat at peace on the freight platforms of railroad junctions in the north, in the warm hours and with the warm smells.” Almost every word in this sentence can arouse many associations in my life, especially the two phrases "warm hours" and "warm smells".Unfortunately, I can only translate roughly.I think that even a translated sentence that is ten times better than mine can only be translated more accurately than me alone, and the true meaning of the sentence must be understood from the original text, or even outside the original text.

At the end of this paragraph, the repairman inadvertently said another intriguing sentence: “And a person who is looking for something doesn’t travel very fast.” It was with this thought in mind that Stuart's car drove north again. Although this is an endless road, as long as you have the right direction, as long as you have "Bright", you might as well keep going.The fairy tale ends here abruptly, but it sprinkles the sky full of sunshine in our hearts, giving us great hope and courage. My imaginary children might ask: Did Stuart find Margot? (I say "imagined" because I don't think children will have the chance to read my translation, even though I dreamed about it.) The sentence in "who knows?" can be used to Reply.

Obviously, whether it is Margo, Miss Eames, or the North, here are just symbols, used to symbolize friendship, love, life and its meaning.The result of your search is not important, as long as you keep searching, your life is positive and meaningful. I'll say something else next.There is a lot of humor in this book, and there are often some well-intentioned ironies. You will know it when you read it, so I don't need to say more.But I would like to say a few more words about White's fairy tale style.In his fairy tales, the language is very loose, and some common or even repetitive words are often used, but the meaning is often very profound. (Wouldn't White be worried if his frequent words were discovered and told to him by the critic in "It's a Small World" who likes to use computers to analyze the writer's style?) .It can be summed up by a line sung by Randy Travis in the song "Forever and ever amen". His writing style is like "Old man sit and talk about the weather...forever and ever amen." If compared with Chinese writers , apart from Shen Congwen, I can't find another person to compare with.I don't need to go into details, because I may talk about it for a long time.As for these contemporary Chinese writers—I don’t think they are even a little bit inferior to White’s. Let me give another example.In the "Eames Town" chapter, the first paragraph is very long, but it is just a sentence. Except for five commas, there is no punctuation in the middle. The nouns are basically connected with "and", and the more you read, the more continuous it becomes. Endless feelings.Some people say that the "and" in the first paragraph of "A Farewell to Arms" not only has musical beauty, but also has a very aftertaste, and I think so too.However, I think White's long sentence is more imposing and lofty than Hemingway's, just like some of Wang Wei's famous sentences.I have repeated the translation many times, but I am still not satisfied, so I have no choice but to let it go.If I hadn't been too lazy, I would have copied it here for your enjoyment. Therefore, it is difficult for me to translate his works well, not to mention the poor English, so I have to do my best. Here, I would like to thank my friend Qiqi who sent me this book, and all the friends who helped and supported me during the translation process.I also want to give my translation to UFO, because Stuart is her family; I also want to give it to He’er specially, thank her for her encouragement; and I want to give it to a friend whose name I don’t say, anyway She knew I was for her and I was sure of it. Finally, I would like to ask quietly: Why is the road to the north so good? Who knows?