作者：（清）沈复,林语堂、李晖译
出版社：湖南文艺出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
浮生六记：双语版试读：
PREFACE
Yün, I think, is one of the loveliest women in Chinese literature. She is not the most beautiful, for the author, her husband, does not make that claim, and yet who can deny that she is the loveliest? She is just one of those charming women one sometimes sees in the homes of one's friends, so happy with their husbands that one cannot fall in love with them. One is glad merely to know that such a woman exists in the world and to know her as a friend's wife, to be accepted in her household, to be able to come uninvited to her home for lunch, or to have her put a blanket around one's legs when one falls asleep while she is discussing painting and literature and cucumbers in her womanish manner with her husband. I dare say there are a number of such women in every generation, except that in Yün I seem to feel the qualities of a cultivated and gentle wife combined to a greater degree of perfection than falls within our common experience. For who would not like to go out secretly with her against her parents' wish to the Taihu Lake and see her elated at the sight of the wide expanse of water, or watch the moon with her by the Bridge of Ten Thousand Years? And who would not like to go with her, if she were living in England, and visit the British Museum,where she would see the medieval illuminated manuscripts with tears of delight? Therefore, when I say that she is one of the loveliest women in Chinese literature and Chinese history—for she was a real person—I do not think I have exaggerated.Did Shen Fu, her husband, perhaps idealize her? I hardly think so. The reader will be convinced of this when he reads the story itself. He made no effort to whitewash her or himself. In him, too, lived the spirit of truth and beauty and the genius for resignation and contentment so characteristic of Chinese culture. I cannot help wondering what this commonplace scholar must have been like to inspire such a pure and loyal love in his wife, and to be able to appreciate it so much as to write for us one of the tenderest accounts of wedded love we have ever come across in literature. Peace be to his soul! His ancestral tomb is on the Hill of Good Fortune and Longevity in the neighbourhood of Soochow, and if we are lucky, we may still be able to find it. I do not think it would be wrong to prepare some incense and fruits and say some prayers on our knees to these two sweet souls. If I were there, I would whistle the melodies of Maurice Ravel's “Pavane,” sad as death, yet smiling,or perhaps Massenet's “Melodie,” tender and resigned and beautiful and purged of all exciting passions. For in the presence of these souls,one's spirit also becomes humble, not before the great, but before the small, things of life, for I truly believe that a humble life happily lived is the most beautiful thing in the universe. Inevitably, while reading and re-reading and going over this little booklet, my thoughts are led to the question of happiness. For those who do not know it, happiness is a problem, and for those who do know it, happiness is a mystery. The reading of Shen Fu's story gives one this sense of the mystery of happiness, which transcends all bodily sorrows and actual hardships—similar, I think, to the happiness of an innocent man condemned to a life-long sentence with the consciousness of having done no wrong,the same happiness that is so subtly depicted for us in Tolstoy's “Resurrection,” in which the spirit conquers the body. For this reason,I think the life of this couple is one of the saddest and yet at the same time “gayest” lives, the type of gaiety that bears sorrow so well.The Chinese title for this book is “Fousheng Liuchi” or “Six Chapters of a Floating Life,” of which only four remain.(The reference is to a passage in Li Po's poem, “Our floating life is like a dream; how often can one enjoy oneself?”)In form, it is unique, an autobiographical story mixed with observations and comments on the art of living, the little pleasures of life, some vivid sketches of scenery and literary and art criticism. The extant version was first published in 1877 by Yang Yinch'üan, who picked it up from a secondhand bookstore, with the two last chapters missing. According to the author's own testimony, he was born in 1763, and the fourth chapter could not have been written before 1808. A brother-in-law of Yang's and a well-known scholar, by the name of Wang T'ao, had seen the book in his childhood, so that it is likely that the book was known in the neighbourhood of Soochow in the second or third decade of the nineteenth century. From Kuan Yi-ngo's poems and from the known headings of the last chapters, we know that the Fifth Chapter recorded his experiences in Formosa, while the Sixth Chapter contained the author's reflections on the way of life. I have the fond hope that some complete copy of the book is still lying somewhere in some private collections or secondhand shops of Soochow, and if we are lucky, it is not altogether impossible that we may discover it still.LIN YUTANGShanghai,May 24,1935.《浮生六记》译者序
芸，我想，是中国文学中最可爱的女人。她并非最美丽。因为这书的作者，她的丈夫，并没有这样推崇，但是谁能否认她是一个最可爱的女人？她只是在我们朋友家中有时遇见的有风韵丽人，因与其夫伉偭情笃，令人尽绝倾慕之念。我们只觉得世上有这样的女人是一件可喜的事，只愿认她是朋友之妻，可以出入其家，可以不邀自来和她夫妇吃中饭，或者当她与她丈夫促膝畅谈书画文学乳腐卤瓜之时，你打瞌睡，她可以来放一条毛毡把你的脚腿盖上。也许古今各代都有这种女人，不过在芸身上，我们似乎看见这样贤达的美德特别齐全，一生中不可多得。你想谁不愿意和她夫妇，背着翁姑，偷往太湖，看她观玩洋洋万顷的湖水，而叹天地之宽，或者同她到万年桥去赏月？而且假使她生在英国，谁不愿意陪她去参观伦敦博物院，看她狂喜坠泪玩摩中世纪的彩金抄本？因此，我说她是中国文学历史上（因为确有其人）一个最可爱的女人，并非故甚其辞。她的一生，“事如春梦了无痕”，如东坡所云。要不是这书得偶然保存，我们今日还不知有这样一个女人生在世上，饱尝过闺房之乐与坎坷之愁。我现在把她的故事翻译出来，不过因为这故事应该叫世界知道；一方面以流传她的芳名，又一方面，因为我在这两位无猜的夫妇的简朴的生活中，看他们追求美丽，看他们穷困潦倒，遭不如意事的磨折，受狡佞小人的欺负，同时一意求享浮生半日闲的清福，却又怕遭神明的忌——在这故事中，我仿佛看到中国处世哲学的精华，在两位恰巧成为夫妇的生平上表现出来。两位平常的雅人，在世上并没有特殊的建树，只是欣爱宇宙间的良辰美景，山林泉石，同几位知心友过他们恬淡自适的生活——蹭蹬不遂，而仍不改其乐。他们太驯良了, 所以不会成功，因为他们两位胸怀旷达，淡泊名利，与世无争，而他们的遭父母放逐，也不能算他们的错，反而值得我们的同情。这悲剧之原因，不过因为芸知书识字，因为她太爱美至于不懂得爱美有什么罪过。因她是识字的媳妇，所以她得替她的婆婆写信给在外想要娶妾的公公，而且她见了一位歌伎简直发痴，暗中替她的丈夫撮合娶为簉室，后来为强者所夺，因而生起大病。在这地方，我们看见她的爱美的天性与这现实的冲突——一种根本的，虽然是出于天真的冲突。这冲突在她于神诞之夜，化扮男装，赴会观“花照”，也可看出。—个女人打扮男装或是倾心于一个歌伎是不道德吗？如果是，她全不晓得。她只思慕要看见，要知道，人生世上的美丽景物，那些中国古代守礼的妇人向来所看不到的景物。也是由于这艺术上本无罪而道德上犯礼的衷怀，使她想要游遍天下名山——那些年轻守礼妇女不便访游而她愿意留待“鬂斑”之时去访游的名山。但是这些山她没看到，因为她已经看见一位风流蕴藉的歌伎，而这已十分犯礼，足使她的公公认为她是情痴少妇，把她驱出家庭，而她从此半生须颠倒于穷困之中，没有清闲也没有钱可以享游山之乐了。是否沈复，她的丈夫，把她描写过实？我觉得不然。读者读本书后必与我同意。他不曾存意粉饰芸或他自己的缺点。我们看见这书的作者自身也表示那种爱美爱真的精神，和那中国文化最特色的知足常乐恬淡自适的天性。我不免暗想，这位平常的寒士是怎样一个人，能引起他太太这样纯洁的爱，而且能不负此爱，把它写成古今中外文学中最温柔细腻闺房之乐的记载。三白，三白，魂无恙否？他的祖坟在苏州郊外福寿山；倘使我们有幸，或者尚可找到。果能如愿，我想备点香花鲜果，供奉跪拜祷祝于这两位清魂之前，也没什么罪过。在他们坟前，我要低吟Maurice Ravel 的Pavane，哀思凄楚，缠绵悱恻，而归于和美静娴，或是长啸 Massenet的Melodie，如怨如慕，如泣如诉，悠扬而不流于激越。因为在他们之前，我们的心气也谦和了，不是对伟大者，是对卑弱者，起谦恭畏敬，因为我相信淳朴恬退自甘的生活，如芸所说“布衣菜饭，可乐终身”的生活，是宇宙间最美丽的东两。在我翻阅重读这本小册之时，每每不期然而然想到这安乐的问题。在未得安乐的人，求之而不可得，在已得安乐之人，又不知其来之所自。读了沈复的书每使我感到这安乐的奥妙，远超乎尘俗之压迫与人身之痛苦——这安乐，我想，很像一个无罪下狱的人心地之泰然，也就是托尔斯泰在《复活》所微妙表出的一种。是心灵已战胜肉身了。因为这个缘故，我想这对伉俩的生活是最悲惨而同时是最活泼快乐的生活——那种善处忧患的活泼快乐。这本书的原名是《浮生六记》（英译Six Chapters of a Floating Life），其中只有四记。（典出李白“浮生若梦，为欢几何？”之句。）其体裁特别，以一自传的故事，兼谈生活艺术、闲情逸趣、山水景色、 文评艺评等。现存的四记本系杨引传在冷摊上所发现，于一八七七年首先刊行。依书中自述，作者生于一七六三年，而第四记之写作必在一八〇八年之后。杨的妹婿王韬（弢园），颇具文名，曾于幼时看见这书，所以这书在一八零十至一八三十年间当流行于姑苏。由管贻萼的诗及现存回目，我们知道第五章是记他在台湾的经历，而第六章是记作者对养生之道的感想。我在猜想，在苏州家藏或旧书铺一定还有一本全本，倘然有这福分，或可给我们发现。民国二十四年五月廿四日龙溪林语堂序于上海注：本序英文原登《天下月刊》创刊号，译文登《人间世》第40期，1935年11月20曰。第一卷闺房记乐事如春梦了无痕。
Life is like a spring dream which vanishes without a trace.
I was born in 1763, under the reign of Ch'ienlung, on the twentysecond day of the eleventh moon. The country was then in the heyday of peace and, moreover, I was born in a scholars' family, living by the side of the Ts'anglang Pavilion in Soochow. So altogether I may say the gods have been unusually kind to me. Su Tungp'o said, “Life is like a spring dream which vanishes without a trace. ” I should be ungrateful to the gods if I did not try to put my life down on record.
Since the Book of Poems begins with a poem on wedded love, I thought I would begin this book by speaking of my marital relations and then let other matters follow. My only regret is that I was not properly educated in childhood; all I know is a simple language and I shall try only to record the real facts and real sentiments. I hope the reader will be kind enough not to scrutinize my grammar, which would be like looking for brilliance in a tarnished mirror.
I was engaged in my childhood to one Miss Yü, of Chinsha, who died in her eighth year, and eventually I married a girl of the Ch'en clan. Her name was Yün and her literary name Suchen. She was my cousin,being the daughter of my maternal uncle, Hsinyü. Even in her childhood,she was a very clever girl, for while she was learning to speak, she was taught Po Chüyi's poem, The P'iP'a Player, and could at once repeat it. Her father died when she was four years old, and in the family there were only her mother (of the Chin clan) and her younger brother K'ehch'ang and herself,，being then practically destitute. When Yün grew up and had learnt needlework, she was providing for the family of three, and contrived always to pay K'ehch'ang's tuition fees punctually. One day,she picked up a copy of the poem The P'iP'a Player from a wastebasket, and from that, with the help of her memory of the lines, she learnt to read word by word. Between her needlework, she gradually learnt to write poetry. One of her poems contained the two lines:“秋侵人影瘦，霜染菊花肥。”
“Touched by autumn,，one's figure grows slender ,
Soaked in frost, the chrysanthemum blooms full. ”
When I was thirteen years old, I went with my mother to her maiden home and there we met. As we were two young innocent children, she allowed me to read her poems. I was quite struck by her talent, but feared that she was too clever to be happy. Still I could not help thinking of her all the time, and once I told my mother, “If you were to choose a girl for me, I won't marry any one except Cousin Su.”My mother also liked her being so gentle, and gave her her gold ring as a token for the betrothal.
This was on the sixteenth of the seventh moon in the year 1775.In the winter of that year, one of my girl cousins, (the daughter of another maternal uncle of mine,) was going to get married and I again accompanied my mother to her maiden home.
Yün was the same age as myself, but ten months older, and as we had been accustomed to calling each other“elder sister”and“younger brother”from childhood, I continued to call her“Sister Su.”
At this time the guests in the house all wore bright dresses, but Yün alone was clad in a dress of quiet colour, and had on a new pair of shoes. I noticed that the embroidery on her shoes was very fine, and learnt that it was her own work, so that I began to realize that she was gifted at other things, too, besides reading and writing.
Of a slender figure, she had drooping shoulders and a rather long neck,slim but not to the point of being skinny. Her eyebrows were arched and in her eyes there was a look of quick intelligence and soft refinement. The only defect was that her two front teeth were slightly inclined forward, which was not a mark of good omen. There was an air of tenderness about her which completely fascinated me.
I asked for the manuscripts of her poems and found that they consisted mainly of couplets and three or four lines, being unfinished poems, and I asked her the reason why. She smiled and said,“I have had no one to teach me poetry, and wish to have a good teacher-friend who could help me to finish these poems.”I wrote playfully on the label of this book of poems the words: “Beautiful Lines in an Embroidered Case,”and did not realize that in this case lay the cause of her short life.
That night, when I came back from outside the city, whither I had accompanied my girl cousin the bride, it was already midnight, and I felt very hungry and asked for something to eat. A maid-servant gave me some dried dates, which were too sweet for me. Yün secretly pulled me by the sleeve into her room, and I saw that she had hidden="hidden" away a bowl of warm congee and some dishes to go with it. I was beginning to take up the chopsticks and eat it with great gusto when Yün's boy cousin Yüheng called out,“Sister Su, come quick!，”Yün quickly shut the door and said,“I am very tired and going to bed.” Yüheng forced the door open and, seeing the situation, he said with a malicious smile at Yün,，“So, that's it! A while ago I asked for congee and you said there was no more, but you really meant to keep it for your future husband.”Yün was greatly embarrassed and everybody laughed at her, including the servants.On my part, I rushed away home with an old servant in a state of excitement.
Since the affair of the congree happened, she always avoided me when I went to her home, and I knew that she was only trying to avoid being made a subject of ridicule.
Touched by autumn one's figur grows slender ,Soaked in frost,the chrysanthemum blooms full.
Our wedding took place on the twenty-second of the first moon in 1780. When she came to my home on that night, I found that she had the same slender figure as before. When her bridal veil was lifted, we looked at each other and smiled. After the drinking of the customary twin cups between bride and groom, we sat down together at dinner and I secretly held her hand under the table, which was warm and small, and my heart was palpitating. I asked her to eat and learnt that she was in her vegetarian fast, which she had been keeping for several years already. I found that the time when she began her fast coincided with my small-pox illness, and said to her laughingly,“Now that my face is clean and smooth without pock-marks, my dear sister, will you break your fast?” Yün looked at me with a smile and nodded her head.
As my own sister is going to get married on the twenty-fourth, only two days later, and as there was to be a national mourning and no music was to be allowed on the twenty-third, my sister was given a send-off dinner on the night of the twenty-second, my wedding day, and Yün was present at table. I was playing the finger-guessing game with the bride's companion in the bridal chamber and, being a loser all the time,I fell asleep drunk like a fish. When I woke up the next morning, Yün had not quite finished her morning toilet.
That day, we were kept busy entertaining guests and towards evening, music was played. After midnight, on the morning of the twenty-fourth, I, as the bride's brother, sent my sister away and came back towards three o'clock. The room was then pervaded with quietness,bathed in the silent glow of the candle-lights. I went in and saw Yün's bride's companion was taking a nap down in front of our bed on the floor, while Yün had taken off her bridal costume, but had not yet gone to bed. She was bending her beautiful white neck before the bright candles, quite absorbed reading a book. I patted her on the shoulder and said,“Sister, why are you still working so hard? You must be quite tired with the full days we've had.”
Quickly Yün turned her head and stood up saying,“I was going to bed when I opened the book-case and saw this book and have not been able to leave it since. Now my sleepiness is all gone. I have heard of the name of Western Chamber for a long time, but today I see it for the first time. It is really the work of a genius, only I feel that its style is a little bit too biting.”
“Only geniuses can write a biting style,”I smiled and said.
The bride's companion asked us to go to bed, but we told her to shut the door and retire first. I began to sit down by Yün's side and we joked together like old friends after a long period of separation. I touched her breast in fun and felt that her heart was palpitating too.“Why is Sister's heart palpitating like that?”I bent down and whispered in her ear. Yün looked back at me with a smile and our souls were carried away in a mist of passion. Then we went to bed, when all too soon the dawn came.
As a bride, Yün was very quiet at first. She was never sullen or displeased,and when people spoke to her,she merely smiled. She was respectful towards her superiors and kindly towards those under her. Whatever she did was done well, and it was difficult to find fault with her. When she saw the grey dawn shining in through the window,she would get up and dress herself as if she had been commanded to do so.“Why?” I asked,“You don't have to be afraid of gossip，like the days when you gave me that warm congee.”“ I was made a laughing-stock on account of that bowl of congee,”she replied,“but now I am not afraid of people's talk; I only fear that our parents might think their daughter-inlaw lazy.”
Although I wanted her to lie in bed longer, I could not help admiring her virtue, and so got up myself, too, at the same time with her.And so every day we rubbed shoulders together and clung to each other like an object and its shadow, and the love between us was something that surpassed the language of words.
So the time passed happily and the honeymoon was too soon over. At this time, my father Chiafu was in the service of the Kueich'i district government, and he sent a special messenger to bring me there, for, it should be noted that, during this time, I was under the tutorship of Chao Shengtsai of Wulin [Hangchow]. Chao was a very kindly teacher and today the fact that I can write at all is due entirely to his credit.
Now, when I came home for the wedding, it had been agreed that as soon as the ceremonies were over, I should go back at once to my father's place in order to resume my studies. So when I got this news, I did not know what to do. I was afraid Yün might break into tears, but on the other hand she tried to look cheerful and comforted me and urged me to go, and packed up things for me. Only that night I noticed that she did not look quite her usual self. At the time of parting, she whispered to me,“Take good care of yourself, for there will be no one to look after you.”
When I went up on board the boat, I saw the peach and pear trees on the banks were in full bloom, but I felt like a lonely bird that had lost its companions and as if the world was going to collapse around me. As soon as I arrived, my father left the place and crossed the river for an eastward destination.
Thus three months passed, which seemed to me like ten insufferable long years. Although Yün wrote to me regularly, still for two letters that I sent her, I received only one in reply, and these letters contained only words of exhortation and the rest was filled with airy,conventional nothings, and I felt very unhappy. Whenever the breeze blew past my bamboo courtyard, or the moon shone upon my window behind the green banana leaves, I thought of her and was carried away into a region of dreams.
My teacher noticed this, and sent word to my father, saying that he would give me ten subjects for composition and let me go home. I felt like a garrison prisoner receiving his pardon.
Strange to say, when I got on to the boat and was on my way home, I felt that a quarter of an hour was like a long year. When I arrived home, I went to pay my respects to my mother and then entered my room. Yün stood up to welcome me, and we held each other's hands in silence, and it seemed then that our souls had melted away or evaporated like a mist. My ears tingled and I did not know where I was.
It was in the sixth moon, then, and the rooms were very hot. Luckily, we were next door to the Lotus Lover's Lodge of the Ts'anglang Pavilion on the east. Over the bridge, there was an open hall overlooking the water, called “After My Heart”—the reference was to an old poem：“When the water is clear,I will wash the tassels of my hat, and when the water is muddy, I will wash my feet.”By the side of the eaves, there was an old tree which spread its green shade over the window，and made the people's faces look green with it; and across the creek, you could see people passing to and fro. This was where my father used to entertain his guests inside the bamboo-framed [1]curtains.I asked for permission from my mother to bring Yün and stay there for the summer. She stopped embroidery during the summer months because of the heat,and the whole day long, we were either reading together or discussing the ancient things, or else enjoying the moon and passing judgments on the flowers. Yün could not drink, but could take at most three cups when compelled to. I taught her literary games in which the loser had to drink. We thought there could not be a more happy life on earth than this.
One day Yün asked me,“Of all the ancient authors, which one should we regard as the master?” And I replied:“Chankuots'eh and Chuangtzǔ are noted for their agility of thought and expressiveness of style, K'uang Heng and Liu Hsiang are known for their classic severity, Ssuma Ch'ien and Pan Ku are known for their breadth of knowledge,Han Yü is known for his mellow qualities, Liu Tsungyüan for his rugged beauty, Ouyang Hsiu for his romantic abandon, and the
试读结束[说明：试读内容隐藏了图片]