had both thought that the Fuzhou dialect was indeed most difficult for anyone
to learn.
From then on, we lived an urban life for more than a year in Fuzhou. During such
festivals as Lunar New Year, Lantern, Dragon Boat and Mid-Autumn, we all celebrated the
festivities with plenty of food and fun. Particular mention, however, should be made of the
Lantern Festival when Nanhoujie, the street known for its lantern fair and also the street
where we lived, became as bright as broad daylight at night with myriads of lanterns and
streams of spectators. The splendor and magnificence of the scene is beyond all
description.
I made the second visit in 1956, also in winter. As the Yingtan_Xiamen Railway had
not yet been built, the NPC delegation, with myself as a member, had to go from Jiangxi
Province by car. The highway from Jiangxi to Fuzhou, paved with red soil, was as smooth
as a mirror. It was the most level soil-paved highway I had ever seen. This time I visited
not only Fuzhou, but also Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Xiamen and Gulangyu—the southern
frontiers of our country. At the Xiamen seaside, I could see clearly through a telescope
pedestrians and cows on the Quemoy Islands.
My experiences of this trip, however, are too numerous to be recounted one by one
here. Anyway, I deeply love Fuzhou, my ancestral home. Over there we have the typical
southern scenery with blue mountains, green waters, limpid books…! There in the
courtyard we can always see some kind of flowers in full bloom throughout the year.
Fruits ranging from loquats, lichees, longans to tangerines are in plenty. Is there anything
more palatable to a little child than these fruits?
I did not visit all the local attractions in Fuzhou. Everywhere we could find historical
relics as well as villages and towns inhabited by relatives of overseas Chinese. Fujianese
expatriates are found all over the world. They have mostly started from scratch by the
sweat of their brow. When I met some of them on my visits to Asian, African European
and American countries, they all expressed warm feeling towards me while shaking my
hands. As I ate Fuzhou food and sipped jasmine tea in their homes or shops, I felt that
being a Fujianese, I could make myself at home wherever I travelled in the world.
My ancestral home is so endearing. Whenever I meet somebody hailing from Fuzhou
or a friend who has recently been there, I always inquire of them about the present
conditions of Fujian. They all tell me that compared with two decades ago, Fujian has
made so much progress that it is now almost beyond recognition. Recently I have learned
that people there have gone in for scientific farming and afforestation so that green and
luxuriant vegetation has appeared on all mountains and fields. People have been advising
me to pay another visit to my old home. Yes, I am more than eager to do so. And so are my
numerous fellow townsmen in all corners of the world. I hope that together with all the
people in my home town as well as all overseas Chinese from Fujian, I can do my bit to
make a still better place of my ancestral home, both materially and culturally. ■■網■
注释：
冰心出生后不久就远离故乡福州，以后只回去过两次。她这篇短文写于1982年3月29日，
以轻倩的笔调，抒写有关故乡和童年的回忆，并对当时故乡的建设表达了深切的关怀。
(1)“江头”指闽江入海处，故译the River mouth。
(2)“江南天气”译为southern climes，其中climes是英语诗歌用语，常用复数，意同climate。
(3)《繁星》是冰心1923年出版的第一诗集，收小诗凡164首。现将《繁星》译为Sparkling Stars。
(4)“从严冷枯黄的北方归来”译为Returned from the bitter cold North with its drab and dried up
vegetation，其中Returned是不及物动词return的过去分词，在此作形容词。又vegetation是译文中的添加成分，作“草木”、“植被”解。
(5)“青山碧水”译为sapphire mountains and emerald rivers，其中sapphire和emerald均为实
颜色词，原意分别为“蓝宝石”和“绿宝石”。译文用这两个实物词是为增加修辞效果。
(6)“就说不尽了”意即“就难以形容了”，故译为beyond description，为英语成语。
(7)“道滑如拭”意即“道路平坦”，译为The highway…was as smooth as a mirror，其中mirror
为英语常用有关比喻。
(8)“在厦门前线”译为At the Xianmen seaside，其中用seaside代替frontline，是为便于国外
读者理解。
(9)“福建华侨，遍于天下”译为Fujianese expatriates are found all over the