l talents, would never forgive
himself.
The next morning, Professor Su took the first tram of the day. Thanks to the address
given on the application form, he finally managed to find the secluded street in Yangshupu.
The moment he stepped into the lane, he was taken aback by what he saw.
There were broken walls, charred beams of a ghastly black and scorched rags here
and there among debris—all telling of the destruction wrought by the recent typhoon and
the ensuring fire. Since early in the morning, some people had already been busying
themselves amongst the rubble.
Professor Su, with a slip of paper in hand, was wondering where to find the address
when all of sudden he heard a child crying out randomly from an upstairs window of the
opposite building, like a singer practicing his voice:
“Mi—yi—yi—yi—, ma—ah—ah—ah—” The professor could not help smiling. He
guessed right that the kid was Chen’s younger brother affectedly parroting his elder sister’s
voice.
The professor then learned from the child that his elder sister Chen, ex-member of the
PLA art troupe, was now on the administrative staff of a factory after being transferred
from the army to civilian work in Shanghai. As a Youth Leaguer, she was enthusiastic and
earnest. Whenever the factory or her neighborhood was in need of some help, she was
always considered the right person to approach. Just a couple of days before, the neighbor-
hood had caught fire as a result of electric wire sparking caused by the typhoon.
Consequently, many families were left homeless. Chen spent a sleepless night caring for
the disaster victims, which in turn affected her voice. The next day, when it occurred to her
that it was the very day for the second test, she blurted out, “Oh, my!” Yet, she went to the
test all the same.
That was the whole story.
“Look, she’s still busy working over there!” exclaimed the child from the window,
gesticulating with his raised hand. “Let me call her! I’ll go and call her!”
“No, don’t. But just tell your sister that she’s been admitted after passing the second
test! She has every qualification for being a superb singer, hasn’t she? I’ve almost made a
mistake!”
The professor walked away from Chen’s house, and that very quickly. Yes, his bosom
swelling with a thrill, he wanted to hurry back to let everybody know of the music student
he had discovered and the whole story about her.
注释
《第二次考试》是散文家何为（1922- ）的前期代表作，1956年12月26日在《人民日报》
上发表后，立刻博得好评。此文以情节取胜，构思精巧，是一篇成功之作。
(1)“不带任何表情”意即“表情冷漠”，现译为wore an air of casual indifference。
(2)“蝴蝶夫人”为意大利著名歌剧作曲家普契尼（Giacomo Puccini）的作品，共三幕，于1904
年2月17日在意大利米兰首演。原名为Madama Butterfly或Madame Butterfly。
(3)“有一个良辰佳日”为意大利歌剧《蝴蝶夫人》中的著名女高音独唱曲。原名为Un bel di
或Un bel di vedremo。另一中文译名为《晴朗的一天》。
(4)“她的生活作风上是否有不够慎重的地方”指“她在私生活方面恐有不够检点之处”，故
译为some sort of impropriety in her private life，其中impropriety意为“不正当的行为”或“不合适的举止”。
(5)“声音极不稳固，不扎实”译为her voice far from able to hold its own, 其中to hold its own
是习语，意为“维持原有的状态”或“不衰退”。
(6)“杨树浦”位于上海市东北部，濒临黄浦江，旧时为贫民区。
(7)“有事没事地”意即“任意地”或“胡乱地”，故译为randomly。
下蛋?唱鸡及其它
谢 逸
笼里养着两只母鸡，一只爱唱，另一只喜静。主人根据母鸡下蛋之后报唱的现象，
以为所有的蛋都是那只唱鸡产的(1)，因此很偏爱它(2)，捉得蟑螂也专喂给它吃。但日
子一久，秘密揭穿了：原来那只唱鸡下蛋很少，而不叫的那只却一天一个，且蛋刚落┆┆思┆┆兔┆┆網┆┆
地就一声不响地离开鸡窝，由那只唱鸡站在蛋边大喊大叫(3)。
闲聊时和朋友谈及此事，他以为我是言外之意不在鸡，而是论人。其实，古人早
就以鸡喻人了，《尚书?牧誓》里就有“牝鸡无晨” (4)之句。说到人，在我们中确是
有很多沉默寡言的人，他们牢牢蹲在自己的岗位上，夜以继日，埋头苦干替国家创造
了大量的物质财富，为人民作出了一项又一项的优异成绩。他们像母鸡一样，吞的是
粗糠老菜，产下的是蛋，而且往往一声不响(5)。但也有一种人，嘴尖舌长，能说会道，
自我吹嘘，滔滔不绝，像那只爱唱的母鸡一样，占着个鸡窝不下蛋(6)。个别恶劣的还
窃取别人的成果去报喜称功，一点不觉得惭愧。
本来，考核一个人的成绩，不是听他唱得好听不好听，而是看他“下蛋不下蛋”。
但那善于炫耀和卖弄的人，生一个蛋就唱得像是生了十个似的，只做出三分成绩就吹
成十分，碰上个凡事只用耳朵听不用眼睛看的糊涂长官，自然就博得了偏爱，于是一
帆风顺，扶摇直上了(7)。而那些埋头“下蛋”的人，由于他们一声不响，默默无闻(8)，
就很少为人所知，更不受重视。因此，他们既没有“蟑螂”可吃，甚至连个“下蛋的
窝”也没有。
喜唱或是爱静，本来只是人的一种个性，由于是长期养成的习惯，要完全改过来
也颇不容易，但是，在新长征的途程中，人的生命到底有限，而探索宇宙奥秘的道路
却又那样的无限和悠长，结果一天到晚都用于高谈阔论，搞“假、大、空”，又哪有
时间及精力去钻研和攻关呢？最重要的还是认真蹲在“窝”里(9)，多为九亿人民“下
蛋”。
Egglaying, Cackling, Etc
Xie Yi
There were two hens in a coop. one was fond of cackling whil