《背影》中英文徐英才译版

2024年3月24日发(作者：害羞的含羞草)

背影

The Image of My Father’s Back

作者：朱自清 | 翻译：徐英才

我与父亲不相见已二年余了，我最不能忘记的是他的背影。那年冬天，祖母死了，父亲的差使也交

卸了，正是祸不单行的日子。我从北京到徐州，打算跟着父亲奔丧回家。到徐州见着父亲，看见满院狼

藉的东西，又想起祖母，不禁簌簌地流下眼泪。父亲说：“事已如此，不必难过，好在天无绝人之路！”

Over two years have pasd since I last saw my father, but I can hardly forget the image

of his back. As misfortunes （[mɪsˈfɔːtʃənz]厄运；不幸）never come singly, that winter, my

grandma died and Father lost his job（失业）. I left Beijing for Xuzhou, where I could join Father

and hurry home for the funeral. I saw him in Xuzhou. At the sight of the mess all over the yard,

I began to miss Grandma again, and tears kept rolling down my cheeks. Father said, “It’s no

u crying over what’s already happened, but there should always be a way out!”

* hardly [ˈhɑːdli] adv.尤用于can或could之后，主要动词之前，强调做某事很难

*leave…for 离开……去……

回家变卖典质，父亲还了亏空；又借钱办了丧事。这些日子，家中光景很是惨淡，一半为了丧事，

一半为了父亲赋闲。丧事完毕，父亲要到南京谋事，我也要回北京念书，我们便同行。

Once we went back home, Father sold the hou, paid off the debt（还清债务）, and then

borrowed some more money to hold the funeral（办葬礼）. The funeral and the unemployment

made things very tough for the family in tho days. After the funeral, Father wanted to go to

Nanjing to look for a job（找工作）, and I needed to go back to Beijing for school. So we

traveled together for part of our trips.

到南京时，有朋友约去游逛，勾留了一日；第二日上午便须渡江到浦口，下午上车北去。父亲因为

事忙，本已说定不送我，叫旅馆里一个熟识的茶房陪我同去。他再三嘱咐茶房，甚是仔细。但他终于不

放心，怕茶房不妥帖；颇踌躇了一会。其实我那年已二十岁，北京已来往过两三次，是没有什么要紧的

了。他踌躇了一会，终于决定还是自己送我去。我两三回劝他不必去；他只说，“不要紧，他们去不好！”

On our first day in Nanjing, some friends of mine took me out on a tour, but I had to cross

the Yangtze River to get to Pukou the following morning in order to catch the northbound

（北行的；向北的）afternoon train. Father told me he would not go and e me off（送行） at

the train station as he was busy, but he would get an acquaintance （[əˈkweɪntəns]熟人）of

his, a hotel attendant, to take care of the matter. Father was so preoccupied（[priˈɒkjupaɪd]全

神贯注的；入神的）with this matter that he repeatedly spelled out the details of his instructions

（[ɪnˈstrʌkʃənz]吩咐；指示）to the attendant. Even so, he was still worried, afraid that the

attendant might make a mistake. That really bothered him for a while. I was, in fact, twenty

years old that year and had already been back and forth between Beijing and my hometown

for two or three times. I would have been fine on my own, but after debating with （与……辩

论）himlf for some time, he still decided to go and e me off himlf. I told him veral

times not to, but he only said, “I’m fine. He may spoil things!”

我们过了江，进了车站。我买票，他忙着照看行李。行李太多了，得向脚夫行些小费，才可过去。

他便又忙着和他们讲价钱。我那时真是聪明过分，总觉他说话不大漂亮，非自己插嘴不可，但他终于讲