张培基英译散文赏析之《蟋蟀》_其他

张培基英译散文赏析之《蟋蟀》

Xiao Qu left for home with the cricket.

夜晚屋里特别寂静，孩子们也都关门睡觉了，我和老伴两人在自己卧室里感到分外孤独。似乎是前所未有的孤独。老伴埋怨我不该捉掉了蟋蟀！

That night a complete silence reigned in our house. Our children had already gone to bed behind the closed door. My wife and I felt unusually lonesome in our bedroom. She blamed it on my having got rid of the cricket.

夜半，蟋蟀又叫起来了，呵，原来不只一只！我和老伴都高兴得不想入睡了。我们不由得回忆起我们当年住在农村老家的日子：古老窗外的星空、萤火虫星星的亮光、夜莺的歌喉，自然总有蟋蟀的伴奏……我们的谈话没完没了：父老、乡亲、谁家和谁家的孩子……这一夜我们似乎远离了北京。愿蟋蟀就在我家定居吧！

Late at night, we heard the chirping of a cricket again. Ah, that must be another one! My wife and I were too excited to sleep. We were lost in memories of our child life in our rural home with the starry sky outside the antique window, the glowing of fireflies, the warbling of nightingales, the ever-present accompaniment of crickets' chirrups... We chatted on and on recalling elders at home, fellow villagers, kids in the neighbourhood, and so on and so forth. All the while, we were transported by nostalgia to our old home remote from Beijing. May the cricket settle down permanently under our roof!