u Xun more deeply than any other book he had read.
Of all the children at home, his grandmother loved Lu Xun most. On summer
evenings when Lu Xun was lying on a small wooden table under an osmanthus tree to
enjoy the evening cool, she would sit by the table with a palm-leaf fan in her hand. Waving
the fan, she would tell him stories or ask him riddles. She was very familiar with folk tales.
The cat, she said, was the tiger’s teacher. Originally the tiger couldn’t do any thing, so he
turned to the cat for help. The cat taught him how to pounce and catch his prey the way
that he caught rats. After these lessons the tiger said to himself, “Now that I’ve mastered
all the skills no other creatures is a match for me except my master the cat. If I kill the cat I
shall be king of the beasts.” He made up his mind to do this, and was about to pounce on
the cat. But the cat knew what he was up to and he leaped up onto a tree. The tiger was left
squatting below and glaring upwards. The cat had not taught all his skills: he had not
taught the tiger to climb trees. His grandmother also told Lu Xun the story “Flooding
Jinshan Monastery”. A man named Xu Xian rescued two snakes, one white and one green.
The white snake changed into a woman to repay Xu’s kindness and married him, while the
green snake changed into her maid and accompanied her. A Buddhist monk by the name of
Fa Hai saw from Xu’s face that he had been bewitched by an evil spirit, so he hid Xu
behind the shrine in Jinshan Monastery, and when Lady White Snake came to look for her
husband the whole place was flooded. In the end Fa Hai trapped Lady White Snake, and
put her in a small alms-bowl. He buried this bowl in the ground, and built a pagoda over it
to prevent her getting out. This was Leifeng Pagoda by West Lake. The story made young
Lu Xun uncomfortable. He was deeply concerned at the injustice done to Lady White
Snake, and his one wish at that time was for the pagoda imprisoning Lady White Snake
underneath it soon to collapse. Later, Lu Xun used this folktale in an essay opposing the
reactionary rule of the forces of darkness.
(1) A book of geography which contains many legends, written in the 4th—2nd centuries B.C.
(2) A manual for gardeners by Chen Haozi of the 17th century.
注释
《幼年鲁迅》摘自王士菁著《鲁迅传》一书
(1)“她懂得许多莫名其妙的道理”，译为She was so full of mysterious lore，其中lore的意思
是“口头传说或信仰”。此句根据上下文也可译为She was so full of superstitious beliefs。
(2)“她不许孩子们乱走动”意即“她不许孩子们调皮捣蛋”，不宜按字面直译。现把它译为
She would not let the children get up to mischief，其中动词短语to get up to作“干（不好的事）解”。
(3)“她不知从什么地方替鲁迅找到了……”译为she was able to produce from nobody knew
where…，其中nobody knew where作名词用，是介词from的宾语。又to produce在此作“出示”、“拿出”解。
(4)“台门”即“院落”，现译为compound。
(5)“叔祖”可译为great-uncle或granduncle。
(6)“连长妈妈也知道了”译为even Achang got wind of it，其中got wind of是成语，作“听
到……的消息”解。
(7)“哥儿”译为son，是英语中年长者对男孩或年轻男子的亲昵称呼。根据上下文，“哥儿”
在此可译为young master。
(8)“猫是早知道它的心思的”意即“猫早知道它要搞什么名堂”，故译为But tha cat knew what
he was up to，其中up to是成语，作“忙于（不好的事）”解
(9)“他看见许仙脸上有‘妖气’”中的“妖气”不好直译，现按“被妖魔迷住”的意思把全
句译为Fa Hai saw from Xu’s face that he had been bewitched by an evil spirit。此句也可译为Fa Hai
saw that Xu’s face betrayed his obsession with an evil spirit或fa Hai saw from Xu’s face that he had
been under the spell of a demon。
为奴隶的母亲
柔石
她的丈夫是一个皮贩，就是收集乡间各猎户底兽皮和牛皮，贩到大埠上出卖的人。⑨⑨文⑨檔⑨共⑨享⑨與⑨在⑨線⑨閱⑨讀⑨
但有时也兼做点农作，芒种(1)的时节，便帮人家插秧，他能将每行插得非常直，假如
有五人同在一个水田内，他们一定叫他站在第一个做标准。然而境况总是不佳，债是
年年积起来了。他大约就因为境况的不佳，烟也吸了，酒也喝了，钱也赌起来了。这
样，竟使他变做一个非常凶狠而暴躁的男子，但也就更贫穷下去，连小小的移借，别
人也不敢答应了。
在穷底的结果的病以后，全身便变成枯黄色，脸孔黄的和小铜鼓(2)一样，连眼白
也黄了。别人说他是黄疸病，孩子们也就叫他“黄胖”了。有一天，他向他底妻子说：
“再也没有办法了，这样下去，连小锅子也都卖去了。我想，还是从你底身上设
法罢。你跟着我挨饿，有什么办法呢？”
“我底身上？……”
他底妻坐在灶后，怀里抱着她刚满三周岁的男小孩。她讷讷地低声地问。
“你，是呀，”她的丈夫病后的无力的声音，“我已经将你出典了(3)……”
“什么呀？”他底妻几乎昏去似的。
屋内是稍稍静寂了一息。他气喘着说：
“三天前，王狼来坐讨了半天的债回去以后，我也跟着他去，走到了九亩潭边，
我很不想要做人了。但是坐在那株爬上去一纵身就可落在潭里的树下，想来想去，终
没有力气跳了。猫头鹰在耳朵边不住在啭，我底心被它叫寒起来，我只得回转身，但
在路上，遇见了沈家婆，她问我，晚也晚了，在外做什么。我就告诉她，请她代我借
一笔款，或向什么人家的小姐借些衣服或首饰去暂时当一当，免得王狼底狼一般的绿
眼睛天天在