Barren Spring by Pearl S. Buck

????“榮獲諾貝爾文學獎和普利策獎的女作家名作，《西南聯(lián)大英文課》第一課”

????“對中國農民生活豐富與真實的史詩般描述”

????“凝視沉重苦難的目光飽含強烈的人文關懷”

?????春天來了，在一個二月末的黃昏。農民老劉看著干裂的土地，回憶著自己曾經擁有的樹木、沃土、耕犁、水牛、親人——這些都在長江洪災和嚴冬饑荒中化為烏有。春天來了，卻沒有帶來生機與希望，這是一個貧瘠的春天。

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• 內容干貨

1.?作者簡介，本文概要

作者簡介：

????Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892-1973), American novelist and strong advocate of human rights and woman’s rights, was noted for her novels based on her near-40-year life in China. She received the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 and Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. Her direct and calm narration magically strikes a chord with readers.

????Notable Works:?East Wind, West Wind (1930)?The Good Earth (1931) The Exile (1936)

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作品梗概：

????Selected from The First Wife and Other Stories (1933), Barren Spring tells a heartbreaking story of loss. Farmer Liu had lost his land, his plow, his buffalo, his parents and children during the winter famine and flood, and finally, lost his hope in the coming barren spring.

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2.?單詞詞組，地道表達

????往年春天帶來生機和希望，生命力會在樹木里stir，柳樹會冒出swelling buds，桃杏正at the height of time，將會bear a load of fruit。但這一切都消失了。呆望著cracked soil，農民老劉ached to plow it up。但他沒有水牛，沒有耕犁。嚴冬饑荒中的饑餓與絕望讓老劉變成了a?man without reason，他gather his feeble strength去殺掉他親如兄弟的水牛來給自己和家人充饑。老劉拒絕了逃難，他在家里埋葬了他withered母親，父親和兩個孩子。剩下的人靠eat shrimps raw和crawl out to dig sprouting dandelions為生。春天來了，老劉卻feel hopeless as a leaf tossed upon the flood。沒有慰藉，沒有希望，老劉呆呆望著這貧瘠的春天。

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3.?文章佳句，沉浸賞析

????衣不蔽體，食不果腹，衣食間拆東墻補西墻？

????Was there sense in stripping the coat off one’s back to feed one’s belly?

????絕境之中，理智與情感如何撕扯？

????On that day when he had seen the faces of his old parents set as though dead, on that day when he had heard the crying of his children and seen his little daughter dying, such a despair had seized him as made him like a man without his reason, so that he had gathered together his feeble strength and he had done what he said he never would; he had taken the kitchen knife and gone out and killed his own beast. When he did it, even in his despair, he groaned, for it was as though he killed his own brother. To him it was the last sacrifice.

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????絕望宣泄，何去何從？

????“I have no seed to plant in the land. There the land lies! I could go and claw it up with my hands if I had the seed and the land would bear. I know my good land. But I have no seed and the land is empty. Yes, even though spring comes, we must still starve!”

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4.?主旨哲思，流連賞玩

????天災人禍，生的掙扎

????“He had cut them off during the bitter winter when they were starving for food and he had sold them one by one.”

????“…h(huán)e had gathered together his feeble strength and he had done what he said he never would; he had taken the kitchen knife and gone out and killed his own beast.”

????“Many of the villagers went south to other places, or they went down the river to beg in the great cities.”

????“In the last day or so his wife had crawled out and dug a few sprouting dandelions. But there was no fuel and so they also were eaten raw. But the bitterness was good after the tasteless flesh of the raw shrimps.”

????賣樹、殺牛、逃難、生吃……天災人禍面前，人們?yōu)榱嘶蠲龀隽硕嗌贍奚?，這其中又有多少理智、情感、生死的掙扎。

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????生死疲勞，尊嚴何存

????“Liu the farmer, had never begged. Moreover, it seemed to him then that they must all die and the only comfort left was to die on their own land.”

????“he and his wife had quarreled over the poor few clothes on the old body. His wife was a hard woman and she would have buried the old mother naked, if he had let her, so as to have the clothes for the children. But he made her leave on the inner coat and trousers; although they were only rags after all”

????流落他鄉(xiāng)以求一線生機，還是落葉歸根保留最后體面？保留死者尊嚴，生者的尊嚴又如何保障？生存都成問題，尊嚴置于何地？

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????一無所有，何來希望

????“But now he was comforted by nothing.”

????“I have no seed to plant in the land. There the land lies! I could go and claw it up with my hands if I had the seed and the land would bear. I know my good land. But I have no seed and the land is empty. Yes, even though spring comes, we must still starve!”

????“And he looked, hopeless, into the barren spring.”

????沒犁沒牛沒種子，希望渺然。災難之后，如何讓人重拾希望，重建家園？

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????天災人禍，生死疲勞，百姓煎熬。我們不禁思考這樣一個問題：面對災難，我們如何盡可能活著。不僅活著，還有尊嚴，有希望。我們期待逾越了冬天之后，春天不再貧瘠，而是如以往一樣，草長鶯飛，芳華滿枝。