《背影》中英文徐英才譯版

2024年3月24日發(作者：害羞的含羞草)

背影

The Image of My Father’s Back

作者：朱自清 | 翻譯：徐英才

我與父親不相見已二年余了，我最不能忘記的是他的背影。那年冬天，祖母死了，父親的差使也交

卸了，正是禍不單行的日子。我從北京到徐州，打算跟著父親奔喪回家。到徐州見著父親，看見滿院狼

藉的東西，又想起祖母，不禁簌簌地流下眼淚。父親說：“事已如此，不必難過，好在天無絕人之路！”

Over two years have pasd since I last saw my father, but I can hardly forget the image

of his back. As misfortunes （[m?s?f??t??nz]厄運；不幸）never come singly, that winter, my

grandma died and Father lost his job（失業）. I left Beijing for Xuzhou, where I could join Father

and hurry home for the funeral. I saw him in Xuzhou. At the sight of the mess all over the yard,

I began to miss Grandma again, and tears kept rolling down my cheeks. Father said, “It’s no

u crying over what’s already happened, but there should always be a way out!”

* hardly [?hɑ?dli] adv.尤用于can或could之后，主要動詞之前，強調做某事很難

*leave…for 離開……去……

回家變賣典質，父親還了虧空；又借錢辦了喪事。這些日子，家中光景很是慘淡，一半為了喪事，

一半為了父親賦閑。喪事完畢，父親要到南京謀事，我也要回北京念書，我們便同行。

Once we went back home, Father sold the hou, paid off the debt（還清債務）, and then

borrowed some more money to hold the funeral（辦葬禮）. The funeral and the unemployment

made things very tough for the family in tho days. After the funeral, Father wanted to go to

Nanjing to look for a job（找工作）, and I needed to go back to Beijing for school. So we

traveled together for part of our trips.

到南京時，有朋友約去游逛，勾留了一日；第二日上午便須渡江到浦口，下午上車北去。父親因為

事忙，本已說定不送我，叫旅館里一個熟識的茶房陪我同去。他再三囑咐茶房，甚是仔細。但他終于不

放心，怕茶房不妥帖；頗躊躇了一會。其實我那年已二十歲，北京已來往過兩三次，是沒有什么要緊的

了。他躊躇了一會，終于決定還是自己送我去。我兩三回勸他不必去；他只說，“不要緊，他們去不好！”

On our first day in Nanjing, some friends of mine took me out on a tour, but I had to cross

the Yangtze River to get to Pukou the following morning in order to catch the northbound

（北行的；向北的）afternoon train. Father told me he would not go and e me off（送行） at

the train station as he was busy, but he would get an acquaintance （[??kwe?nt?ns]熟人）of

his, a hotel attendant, to take care of the matter. Father was so preoccupied（[pri??kjupa?d]全

神貫注的；入神的）with this matter that he repeatedly spelled out the details of his instructions

（[?n?str?k??nz]吩咐；指示）to the attendant. Even so, he was still worried, afraid that the

attendant might make a mistake. That really bothered him for a while. I was, in fact, twenty

years old that year and had already been back and forth between Beijing and my hometown

for two or three times. I would have been fine on my own, but after debating with （與……辯

論）himlf for some time, he still decided to go and e me off himlf. I told him veral

times not to, but he only said, “I’m fine. He may spoil things!”

我們過了江，進了車站。我買票，他忙著照看行李。行李太多了，得向腳夫行些小費，才可過去。

他便又忙著和他們講價錢。我那時真是聰明過分，總覺他說話不大漂亮，非自己插嘴不可，但他終于講