My friend had come back. Seeing me with the little orange lamp, she asked me where I had been. I told her, I've been to ... to Wang Chunlin's. She was astonished. Wang Chunlin, the carpen­ter? How did you come to know him? Some students from the medical college down at the foot of the mountain were arrested last year. Later, Wang Chunlin disappeared. It was said that he had often carried messages for those students ...

I left the mountain village that night, and have not heard of the little girl and her mother since.

But I recall the little orange lamp every Chinese New Year. Twelve years have passed. Her father must have come back long ago, and her mother got well. For we are all well now.

这是十几年以前的事了。

在一个春节前一天的下午，我到重庆郊外去看一位朋友。她住在那个乡村的乡公所楼上。走上一段阴暗的反反的楼梯，进到一间有一张方桌和几张竹凳、墙上装着一架电话的屋子，再进去就是我的朋友的房间，和外间只隔一幅布帘。她不在家，窗前桌上留着一张条子，说是她临时有事出去，叫我等着她。

我在她桌前坐下，随手拿起一张报纸来看，忽然听见外屋板门吱地一声开了。过了一会，又听见有人在挪动那竹凳子。我掀开帘子，看见一个小姑娘，只有八九岁光景，瘦瘦的苍白的脸，冻得发紫的嘴唇，头发很短，穿一身很破旧的衣裤，光脚穿一双草鞋，正在登上竹凳想去摘墙上的听话器，看见我似乎吃了一惊，把手缩了回来。我问她：“你要打电话吗？”她一面爬下竹凳，一面点头说：“我要×× 医院，找胡大夫，我妈妈刚才吐了许多血！”我问：“你知道××医院的电话号码吗？”她摇了摇头说：“我正想问电话局……”我赶紧从机旁的电话本子里找到医院的号码，就又问她：“找到了大夫，我请他到谁家去呢？”她说：“你只要说王春林家里病了，她就会来的。”

【冰心经典短篇《小桔灯》中英文对照】相关文章：

★ 神经学家解读:什么是偏头痛

★ 外媒评《流浪地球》：看到了异于西方大片的价值观

★ 教你分辨真假朋友

★ 钢铁侠是金牛座？外媒推测出的漫威英雄星座，你服不服？

★ 盘点那些被旅游业毁掉的世界旅游胜地

★ 整容客户低龄化 元凶竟是自拍？

★ 正念进食或能抑制对食物的渴望,帮助减肥

★ “老佛爷”去世 他的爱猫能继承遗产吗？

★ 日本研发出智能软件 不等下手就能识别小偷

★ 瑞士最适合外籍人士居住 原因是……