桂花雨 琦君英語譯文

1、桂花雨                                             琦君    桂

2、花紛紛落下來，落得我們滿頭滿身，我就喊：“啊！真像下雨，好香的雨啊?！?#160;    中 秋節(jié)前后，就是故鄉(xiāng)的桂花季節(jié)。一提到桂花，那股子香味就仿佛聞到了。桂花有兩種，月月開的稱木樨，花朵較細(xì)小，呈淡黃色，臺(tái)灣好像也有，我曾在走過人家 圍墻外時(shí)聞到這股香味，一聞到就會(huì)引起鄉(xiāng)愁。另一種稱金桂，只有秋天才開，花朵較大，呈金黃色。我家的大宅院中，前后兩大片曠場(chǎng)，沿著圍墻，種的全是金 桂。惟有正屋大廳前的庭院中，種著兩株木樨、兩株繡球。還有父親書房的廊檐下，是幾盆茶花與木樨相間。     小 時(shí)候，我對(duì)無論什

3、么花，都不懂得欣賞。盡管父親指指點(diǎn)點(diǎn)地告訴我，這是凌霄花，這是叮咚花、這是木碧花我除了記些名稱外，最喜歡的還是桂花。桂花樹不 像梅花那么有姿態(tài)，笨笨拙拙的，不開花時(shí)，只是滿樹茂密的葉子，開花季節(jié)也得仔細(xì)地從綠葉叢里找細(xì)花，它不與繁花斗艷?？墒枪鸹ǖ南銡馕?，真是迷人。迷人 的原因，是它不但可以聞，還可以吃?！俺曰ā痹谠娙丝磥硎嵌嗝此讱?？但我寧可俗，就是愛桂花。     桂花，真叫我魂?duì)繅?mèng)縈。     故 鄉(xiāng)是近?？h份，八月正是臺(tái)風(fēng)季節(jié)。母親稱之為“風(fēng)水忌”。桂花一開放，母親就開始擔(dān)心了，“可別做風(fēng)

4、水啊?！?就是臺(tái)風(fēng)來的意思。)她擔(dān)心的第一是將收成 的稻谷，第二就是將收成的桂花。桂花也像桃梅李果，也有收成呢。母親每天都要在前后院子走一遭，嘴里念著，“只要不做風(fēng)水，我可以收幾大籮，送一斗給胡宅 老爺爺，一斗給毛宅二嬸婆，他們兩家糕餅做得多”。原來桂花是糕餅的香料。桂花開得最茂盛時(shí)，不說香聞十里，至少前后左右十幾家鄰居，沒有不浸在桂花香里 的。桂花成熟時(shí)，就應(yīng)當(dāng)“搖”，搖下來的桂花，朵朵完整、新鮮，如任它開過謝落在泥土里，尤其是被風(fēng)雨吹落，那就濕漉漉的，香味差太多了?！皳u桂花”對(duì)于 我是件大事，所以老是盯著母親問：“媽，怎么還不搖桂花嘛？”母親說：“還早呢，沒開足，搖不下來的?！笨墒悄赣H一看

5、天空陰云密布，云腳長(zhǎng)毛，就知道要 “做風(fēng)水”了，趕緊吩咐長(zhǎng)工提前“搖桂花”，這下，我可樂了。幫著在桂花樹下鋪篾簟，幫著抱住桂花樹使勁地?fù)u，桂花紛紛落下來，落得我們滿頭滿身，我就 喊：“?。≌嫦裣掠?，好香的雨啊?！蹦赣H洗凈雙手，撮一撮桂花放在水晶盤中，送到佛堂供佛。父親點(diǎn)上檀香，爐煙裊裊，兩種香混和在一起，佛堂就像神仙世 界。于是父親詩興發(fā)了，即時(shí)口占一絕：“細(xì)細(xì)香風(fēng)淡淡煙，競(jìng)收桂子慶豐年。兒童解得搖花樂，花雨繽紛入夢(mèng)甜?！痹婋m不見得高明，但在我心目中，父親確實(shí)是 才高八斗，出口成詩呢。     桂花搖落以后，全家動(dòng)員，揀去小枝小葉，鋪開在簟子里

6、，曬上好幾天太陽，曬干了，收在鐵罐子里，和在茶葉中泡茶、做桂花鹵，過年時(shí)做糕餅。全年，整個(gè)村莊，都沉浸在桂花香中。     念 中學(xué)時(shí)到了杭州，杭州有一處名勝滿覺垅，一座小小山塢，全是桂花，花開時(shí)那才是香聞十里。我們秋季遠(yuǎn)足，一定去滿覺垅賞桂花?！百p花”是藉口，主要的是飽 餐“桂花栗子羹”。因滿覺垅除桂花以外，還有栗子。花季栗子正成熟，軟軟的新剝栗子，和著西湖白蓮藕粉一起煮，面上撒幾朵桂花，那股子雅淡清香是無論如何 沒有字眼形容的。即使不撒桂花也一樣清香，因?yàn)槔踝娱L(zhǎng)在桂花叢中，本身就帶有桂花香。    &

7、#160;我們邊走邊搖，桂花飄落如雨，地上不見泥土，鋪滿桂花，踩在花上軟綿綿的，心中有點(diǎn)不忍。這大概就是母親說的“金沙鋪地，西方極樂世界”吧。母親一生辛勞，無怨無艾，就是因?yàn)樗闹杏幸粋€(gè)金沙鋪地、玻璃琉璃的西方極樂世界。     我回家時(shí)，總捧一大袋桂花回來給母親，可是母親常常說：“杭州的桂花再香，還是比不得家鄉(xiāng)舊宅院子里的金桂?！?#160;于是，我又想起了在故鄉(xiāng)童年時(shí)代的“搖花樂”，和那陣陣的桂花雨 Sweet Osmanthus Flowers Falling Like Rain Drops The days just before an

8、d just after the Mid-autumn Festival marked the season of the Sweet Osmanthus Flowers back in my hometown. Sweet Osmanthusthe very name brings the fragrance back to me. There are two kinds of Sweet Osmanthus. One comes from the family of plants known as cassia, and it blooms anew every month of the

9、year. Its flowers are a trifle smaller, a delicate yellow in hue. Taiwan ought to have it too. Ive picked up the aroma while strolling by peoples courtyard walls, and the scent alone is enough to give me a pinge of nostalgic sadness. Another variety is called Golden Osmanthus. It only blooms during

10、the autumn of the year, and the flowers are golden in color, and larger. In the middle of our old mansion there was a courtyard with a yard in both front and back, and a great wall that wound around the outside borders. Golden Osmanthus was planted all along the inside rim. Right there in the courty

11、ard directly in front of the main residence there were a couple of cassia bushes and a pair of what we called hydrangea plants. And in the area beneath the portico of Fathers study there were pots of camellia and sweet-scented osmanthus bushes. Now when I was small, I dont know why, but I never had

12、much appreciation for flowers, and it didnt matter a whit what kind they were. Father would have his fingers in the air and pointthis is a Chinese Trumpet Creeper, and this one is a Ring-a-Ding-ding-bell Flower, this is a wood-of-TurquoiseBesides remembering those names, what I recall is that the fl

13、ower I liked the very most was the Sweet Osmanthus. The Sweet Osmanthus bush isnt nearly as impressive in appearance as the plum tree. When its not in bloom it just stands there like a dullard, quite clumsy and stupid looking really, just a bush thickset with leaves is all it is. But then when its t

14、ime to blossom arrives, you search for these tiny delicate little buds that sprout amidst the leaves of green, and theres nothing in the whole wide world that can match it in beauty. But the aroma of Sweet Osmanthus can really put a spell on you. The reason it can put a spell on you is that you can

15、only just smell it, you can eat it too. Eating a flower. For a writer of poetry, isnt it stooping a bit low to put it that way? How utterly vulgar? But I would rather be vulgar, for thats what it means to me to be a Sweet Osmanthus lover. Sweet Osmanthus has really thrown a rope around my soul and d

16、reams. My hometown was in a county that was very close to the sea. The month of August was typhoon season, what Mother used to call the time of “the omen of wind and water.” The Sweet Osmanthus would start to blossom, and right away Mother would start into her worrying about the working of wind and

17、water. (That meant a typhoon would soon arrive.) The first thing she fretted over was getting the harvest in from the rice paddies, and the second was harvesting the Sweet Osmanthus. Sweet Osmanthus was like peaches and plums and pears; it had a harvest too. Mother would pace back and forth every da

18、y from one courtyard to the other, her lips mouthing and murmuring the words, “If only a typhoon wouldnt come, then I could bring in such a harvest, oh, so many baskets, and I could send over a basket for Good Old Gramps at the Hu household, and a basket too for Second Auntie over at the Maos. Those

19、 two families turn out so many cakes.” You could actually use Sweet Osmanthus as a fragrance in cake recipes. When Sweet Osmanthus flowers hit their peak, maybe you couldnt claim to smell them from ten lis1 away, but the aroma wafted all through the neighborhood air for a string of ten or so househo

20、lds. There wasnt a corner any place nearby where the fragrance didnt permeate. Now when the Sweet Osmanthus flowers burst into their fullest glory, there occurred what we called “the great shaking”. What was shaken down were the Sweet Osmanthus flowers, whole and complete and do I mean fresh, and th

21、e fragrance all round you would not be quite the same if they withered after their bloom and fluttered to the ground, which happened especially when the rain and wind would roar, and theyd be all theyd all sopping wet with the water. “The great shaking of the Sweet Osmanthus” was a magnificent pheno

22、menon as far as I was concerned. And so Id always be fixing my eyes on Mother and asking her, “Ma, how come we havent had the great shaking yet?” Mother would answer, “Its still too early, they havent blossomed yet. Theres nothing to shake loose.” But as soon as Mother caught sight of great bunches

23、of dark clouds in the sky above, when the clouds formed “sky toes and tail feathers,” then she knew “the wind and water are working,” and quickly she would send the order out for the house workers to get ready for “the great shaking of the Sweet Osmanthus.” When that happened, was I ever happy! I he

24、lped with the spreading out of the thick mats beneath the Sweet Osmanthus branches, and then I grabbed at the Osmanthus branches and gave them a gentle tug, and the Osmanthus flowers would shower down upon me, and cover me from the tip of my ears to the end of my toe nails, and I would shout, “Wow!

25、Its just rain like rain drops, sweet smelling rain drops! Wow!” Mother would wash her hands and then gather up some of the Osmanthus flowers onto a platter of sparkling crystal glass, and then it was off to pay our respects to the Buddha at the family shrine. Father would light the incense at the al

26、tar. Slender strands of smoke would rise and vanish into the air above, the two fragrances mixed together, the Buddhist Temple seemed just like the Land of the Immortals. Then Fathers poetic chant would happen. He would just break out into a four line poem he improvised right there on the spot.Slend

27、er streams of fragrance and hallowed scentWith holy fumesHands so swift for harvest of OsmanthusForetell a prosperous yearChildren all knowThe joy and mirth of The wondrous shakingBlossoms like drops of gentle rain infuse a childs dreamTender beyond all measure These poetic verseswell, perhaps they

28、not seem all that spectacular. But in the eyes of my heart, I saw a Father who stood tall with mighty genius, that he could create verse like that! After we were done with the shaking and the gathering of the Osmanthus flowers, everyone in the family would lend a hand to tear off the tiny little twi

29、glets and leaves, and spread them out on the mats, and wed let the sun send down its rays to dry them out for a few days. Then we gathered them all together into steel vats, so they could be mixed with tea leaves for drinks, or be used to make Osmanthus concentrate, or to sweeten cakes at the time o

30、f the Chinese New Year. The whole year long, all through our village, we were steeped in the scent of Sweet Osmanthus. I went to Hangchou for middle school. Hangchow had a resort called Man Chueh Lung, a tiny little niche in the mountains. It was covered with Sweet Osmanthus, and when those flowers

31、hit their peak, you could smell them from here to forever. In the autumn we would go hiking, and of course we just had to go to Man Chueh Lung to enjoy the Sweet Osmanthus. “To enjoy the Sweet Osmanthus” was just an excuse though, for the important thing was to fill up on a kind of Sweet Osmanthus b

32、roth. In addition to Sweet Osmanthus, Man Chueh Lung also had chestnuts. The chestnuts would ripen, and there was this velvety soft peeling on them, and they would mix and blend it with lily pods all the way from famous His-hu, the West Lake, and on top it they sprinkled Osmanthus petals that gave t

33、he concoction an aroma that no matter what you did, theres no way in the world you could find the words to describe how good it was. Although none of the Sweet Osmanthus flowers were sprinkled into the broth, they still played a part in the aroma, since the chestnuts themselves carried the scent, having nestled amidst the Osmanthus branches. As we hiked along, we reached out and shook the branches. Sweet Osmanthus