英汉翻译练习

【简介】以下材料节选自知名美籍华人、桥牌皇后杨小燕的回忆录。

燕园长大的杨小燕，既有西方的思维和笔触，同时又兼具传统中国的情怀。

书中描写了她十九岁赴美之前的家世、成长、生活和亲身见闻。

从北平燕园的童年往事，写到战时湖南的乡居岁月，再到陪都重庆的辗转求学、离沪赴美前的见闻和情事以及多年后的汉口归家。

对旧时中国的好与坏，对昨日经历的爱与恨，她既能身处其中细细品味，又能置之度外慢慢打量。

事过经年，杨小燕浓情淡笔，带我们再回首那个久违的中国。

The Second Daughter
Yang Xiaoyan
I had no friends in Peking, save for Cook. Our life on Yenching campus was so circumscribed by the scope of Mother's tastes and beliefs that I was exposed to very few outside influences in those years. There were playmates I would see during school hours, and neighbors whose sons and daughters Alice and I were occasionally permitted to entertain in our home. Yet we were never given enough freedom from our amahs' supervision to relax with the children we knew and develop anything approaching genuine friendship. Our health, cleanliness, and safety fell within the province of the nursemaids' responsibilities, and so those women hovered over us like ewes over newborn lambs. My amah, Li Ma, spoke with me often, but never as a friend or confidante, something that she would have regarded as unpardonable presumption on her part. That is just the sort of class discrepancy Lao Zhang refused to recognize，at least while he was alone with us children.
… I loved him too, for the respect he showed Alice and me. In our Confucian culture, in which deference to one's parents, one's elders, one's governmental authorities, and one's ancestors formed the cornerstone of a well-ordered state, it was rare indeed when an adult spoke and listened to children the way Lao Zhang spoke and listened to us. He geared his humor and advice to a level I could appreciate, and he did so without patronizing me. Unlike many of my teachers, he taught me lessons that sparkled with point of view, and he never failed to keep an ear attuned to my feelings and moods. From those earliest years, it was always Cook who made it possible for me to vent my frustration, satisfy my curiosity, express sorrow or joy. Not Mother, who gave the impression she did not care. Not Alice, who felt such different things from what I felt. Not even Father, who was at work or meetings so much of the time. Lao Zhang was my only true friend.
"They're going to receive your mother as a bride!" Those were the first words I heard Lao Zhang speak after a separation of four months.
It was just the sort of morsel he loved to share with me. Our party had come through the outer gate only moments before；we had just descended from the carriages and were stretching our legs in the courtyard. I was too tired to focus on the particulars of the surroundings, but from the start I was aware of an understated beauty. Everything seemed perfectly proportioned: the lofty evergreens and neat rows of one-story buildings; the terra-cotta walls and the careful configurations （结构，外形）of earth, stone, and water they encompassed（包围，环绕）.
"The food here is vile," Lao Zhang continued, before I could say a word. One of his favorite gambits（话题，开场白）was to dangle some tantalizing(挑逗；招惹) revelation（启示，揭露，出乎意料的事）before his listener, then pretend to withdraw it, covering it over with a thick mat of banalities（陈词滥调）. He chattered away in a low, excited voice. "Their customs and manners aren't offensive so much as, well,
‘primitive’ is, I suppose, the word. (Let's n ot even mention their ludicrous way of speaking.) But the food … no, the food I can only call vile."。