The Red Bean

 

BY HUILAN　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

        The red bean grows in South

        Its spare sprouts weave

with spring

        Glean some more for me, I pray

        So that you’ll see

        It’s the sign

of remembrance.              

This is an ancient Chinese poem. It is very famous in China. I read this poem for the first time when I was nine. Since then, I wanted to become a poet. And how I longed to have a red bean, a real poet’s red bean! After all, what was a poet without a real red bean? So I kept asking my classmate Xiaoyan for one, but she only had one herself and she would only smile and say sorry to me each time.

We were in an elementary school. Xiaoyan was a farmer’s daughter, but all of us lived in the city. The first time when she went to our class, she wore a very dirty and shabby skirt. The teacher told us Xiaoyan lived with her aunt after her parents died. She was good at all her subjects.

When Xiaoyan went into the classroom and wanted to take a seat, everyone told her that the seat had been taken. Then Xiaoyan changed the row for another seat. While she was walking near me, I just said, “you can sit near me if you want.” Then she sat near me without saying a word.

Soon we became very good friends. Every day we walked to class and went back home together. We were always the best students in our class.

Time passed. A new term was beginning. One day when we were climbing a mountain, Xiaoyan got so tired that she just couldn’t move a step further. She dropped to the ground and tears rolled down her cheeks.

Just then I caught her up. I sat down by her side, took out an apple to her as I usually did, but she refused it. “What happen to you?” I asked. “I am thinking this is the end.” She answered with a soft and quiet voice. “I won’t ask you for the red bean any more. I promise you, but you don’t cry, please.” I continued to say to her. However, she didn’t open her mouth this time. After a while, she told me she wanted home and she would like to see her parents very soon.

  The next week things were even worse. Xiaoyan didn’t come to class on Monday morning. It has never happened to her before. So I worried and ran to her aunt’s house at the break time. In a small and dark room, Xiaoyan was lying on her bed. Her face was pale, and her lips were white. Clearly she was very sick and was dying! Her eyes fell on me and she motioned me to come nearer. With an effort, she stopped her tears and smiled to me. She took out the red beans from a lovely box and passed them to me.

“These red beans were my mother’s. She left them to me before she was gone. She ……she wanted me to become a poet……. Now, I ……I want you to keep them.” She took a very long time to say these words. These were her last words.

    I cried out as if my heart would break. I lost my best friend at that moment. Three days later, I brought my first poem to Xiaoyan’s little mound. I didn’t cry when I was looking at her. I just put my poem to her quietly:

        I’m coming, little maid

        With the warm flame laden

        With the fruit for the trees

        With grain for the fields

        Every little stream is lively

        All the orchard trees are golden

        And on each small and waving shoot

        Hangs your dream

 

[惠兰]

读了,多谢.

[胡涣]

但愿我们这一代能超越上一代吧。

说到老师，我有一篇写我女儿的老师的，与你分享一下：

http://blog.wenxuecity.com/blogview.php?date=200708&postID=28461

[惠兰]

我还记得，他死后，有个女老师说这下不用催他缴学费了。我当时心里很难过，心想一条命还不及几块钱的学费？那老师姓杨，平时经常骂那个学生，不知她当时是不是有些高兴她学生的死。后来有天那老师上课时，从讲台上的櫈子上摔下来（她矮，写字要上櫈子），竟没有一个同学去救她。我本来想去扶她起来，但想到她对那死去的同学这样凶，就没扶。过了很久都没同学动，大家自顾说话去了，我才去叫老师来。她从此一病不起。为这事，我内疚了很多年，到现在都还觉得对不起这老师。也不知她现在还是不是活着。

[胡涣]

欺负弱者的同学，嘲笑学生的老师：记忆犹新，历历在目！　　

[惠兰]

部分同意你的看法： famous 在美语中不是非常的褒义。但一般看你指什么具体的人或事（depends)，我个人认为一般情况下还是比较中性的，甚至褒义的成分居多。个人看法，欢迎批评。

[惠兰]

事情是真实的，只不过死去的那个小学同学是男同学而不是女同学。他的真名叫郑天才，他穿得极破烂，当时班上绝大多数同学都不理他、常常取笑他，但我对他一直很好。他打猪草从岩石上摔下来，全身是血，死得很惨，让我人生第一次体会到生命的脆弱。当时老师也看不起他，常嘲笑他的名字取得不好，但我发现他会写诗，还会模仿电影中的人物演戏，比绝大部分自以为是的同学都聪明，是个天才。

[胡涣]

感动。都分不清这是真事还是虚构的了。

这段让我想起了 Forrest Gump 中的一个完全一样的情节：

When Xiaoyan went into the classroom and wanted to take a seat, everyone told her that the seat had been taken. Then Xiaoyan changed the row for another seat. While she was walking near me, I just said, “you can sit near me if you want.” Then she sat near me without saying a word.


讨论：我似乎觉得 famous 在美语中不是非常的褒义。