可憐天下父母心

All parents worry for their children

山上的草綠了又黃，黃了又綠。

The grass on the mountain turned yellow from green, and green from yellow.

山下的水清了又濁，濁了又清。

The water under the mountain was turbid from clear, and clear from turbid.

日子盡管過得艱難，小興和還是漸漸長大了。

Although the days were hard, little Xinghe grew up gradually.

周興和八歲那年，父母送他到學(xué)校去讀書。

When Zhou Xinghe was eight years old, his parents sent him to school.

“萬般皆下品，唯有讀書高”，“朝為田舍郎，暮登天子堂?！迸d和的父親雖不識字，但他早年要飯時，像所有的乞討者一樣，學(xué)會了不少要飯的順口溜，也到過鄉(xiāng)場大廟里聽人念過不少戲文，他早年聽到別人說的這些話，雖沒有完全弄懂其中的涵義，但大概的意思他還是知道的。

" The one who has studied to become a scholar stays on the highest rung of the social ladder", " In the morning, one was still a farmer in the field, and in the evening, he attended the throne hall of the King." Xinghe's father could not read, but in his early years, like all beggars, he had learned a lot of rhymes about begging, and had also heared a lot of plays in the fair. He had not fully understood the meaning of these words he had heard in his early years, but he knew their general meaning.

父母從小生活在貧窮艱難之中，他們沒有上學(xué)讀書的機會，大字不識一個，這讓他們一輩子吃盡了苦頭，所以他們當(dāng)然不希望自己的兒女也成為睜眼瞎子。這時已經(jīng)解放好幾年了，連老頭老太也要被趕到村上掃盲班去掃盲，何況正在讀書年齡的兒女呢！所以不管家里再窮再苦，他們也要送兒女們?nèi)プx書。

The parents had been living in poverty and hardship since childhood. They had no chance to go to school, and they were illiterate, which made them suffering all their lives. Therefore, they certainly did not want their children to become illiterate. At that time, it had been liberated for several years, even the old man and the old woman were driven to the village literacy class for literacy, let alone the children at the age of school! So, no matter how poor the family was, they also wanted to send their children to study.

“三更燈火五更雞，正是男兒讀書時。黑發(fā)不知勤學(xué)早，白首方悔讀書時。”興和背著書兜上學(xué)第一天，學(xué)校的老師就給大家念了這首顏真卿的《勸學(xué)》詩。那時興和人還小，雖不能完全弄懂這幾句話的良苦用心，但基本的意思他還是知道的。

"It was the best time for boys to read every day, when it was late at night, and the cock was crowing in early morning. When I was young, I only knew how to play, but I didn't know how to study hard. When I was old, I regretted that I didn't know how to study hard when I was young." On Xinghe's first day at school, the school teacher read the poem "To Encourage Learning" by Yan Zhenqing. As a child, Xinghe did not fully understand the meaning of these words, but he did know the basic meaning.

農(nóng)村孩子上學(xué)不容易。學(xué)校在山那邊鹽亭縣的毛公鄉(xiāng)，無論寒冬酷暑，無論天晴落雨，他每天都必須沿著通往毛公鄉(xiāng)那條崎嶇的山道，翻過那座山，再下山來到學(xué)校上學(xué)，來回大概要走兩個小時。剛開始家里還有點吃的時，他就帶個紅苕或包谷中午充饑；到后來，家里沒有東西可帶時，中午就只能喝幾口涼水，餓著肚皮等著放學(xué)回家去。

It was not easy for rural children to go to school. The school was located in Maogong Village of Yanting County over the moutnain. No matter in winter or summer, no matter in rain or shine, he had to walk along the rugged mountain road leading to Maogong every day, climb over the mountain and then go down to the school. It took him about two hours to walk back and forth. At the beginning, when there was something to eat at home, he took a piece of sweet potato or corn for the meal at noon; later, when there was no food to take from home, he could only drink the cold water at noon and waited for leaving school to go home hungrily.

小時候，興和是個比較內(nèi)向的人，他整天沉默寡言，也不善言辭，不愿和同學(xué)們過多的交流。他們班上的同學(xué)，大多是農(nóng)村孩子，家里雖說都不富裕，但比起興和來，還是要好得多。夏天，興和從來沒有穿過鞋子，都是打著光腳爬坡上坎；冬天，衣著單薄的他，常常蜷縮在課桌下，凍得像只瑟瑟發(fā)抖小狗。然而，由于他聰慧敏思，學(xué)習(xí)還算努力，成績在班上不算落后，有時還受到老師表揚。

As a child, Xinghe was an introvert. He was silent all day and not good at speaking, unwilling to communicate too much with his classmates. Most of the students in his class were rural children. Although they were not rich at home, they were still much better off than Xinghe. In summer, Xinghe never wore shoes, but climbed the hill with bare feet. In winter, dressed in thin clothes, he often curled up under the desk, cold as a shivering puppy. However, because he was intelligent and sensitive, his study was still hard, his grades were not bad in the class, and sometimes he was even praised by the teacher.

父母雖都不識字，但和天下所有的父母一樣，當(dāng)然都望子成才，將來能有所出息。他們教育兒女的方法，除了信奉民間那“黃荊棍兒出好人”的至理名言外，督促兒子學(xué)習(xí)的方法更是別出心裁聞所未聞。

His parents were illiterate, but, like all parents in the world, they, of course, held high hopes for Xinghe. The way they educated their sons and daughters were unique and never unheard before, in addition to believe in the folk wisdom of "good man from sticks".

貪玩是兒童的天性。放學(xué)后，為了下塘去洗澡，上山掏鳥窩，興和有時做作業(yè)就難免馬虎了事。父親倒還好一些，反正他不識字，小興和作業(yè)做得好壞，無論給他作何種辯解都能蒙混過關(guān)。但，只要他老人家聽到老師或同學(xué)告狀，小興和就別想蒙混過關(guān)了，必然就要受到父親懲罰。父親懲罰他的方式，就是打他的屁股。為了打兒子的屁股，他還專門研究過打屁股的黃荊棍兒粗細(xì)。棍兒粗了，怕打折了兒子的骨頭；棍兒細(xì)了，又怕起不到懲罰的目的。最后他得出的結(jié)論是，農(nóng)村吃飯的那種筷子粗細(xì)最為合適。同時，為了對兒子起到警戒和威懾作用，他老人家經(jīng)常準(zhǔn)備了10來根粗細(xì)不一的棍兒，放在固定的位置上，有備無患隨取隨用。

It is the nature of children to play. After school, in order to swim in the pond and take the birds' egg from nests up in the hill, Xinghe sometimes did his homework carelessly. His father, however, was easy to fool around. He was illiterate, and whatever excuses could be made reasonable for his bad or good work. However, as soon as the old man heard anything bad from Xinghe’s teacher or classmates, little Xinghe would not muddle through and definitely be punished by his father. His father punished him by spanking him. In order to spank his son, he also studied the size of the stick for spanking. If the stick was thick, he was afraid of breaking his son's bones. If the stick was thin, he was afraid that it would not serve the purpose of punishment. In the end, he came to the conclusion that the type of chopstick used for eating in the countryside was the most suitable size. Meanwhile, in order to play a warning and deterrent effect on his son, the old man often prepared about 10 sticks of different thickness, which were placed in the fixed position and used at any time as a precaution.

相比起來，他母親就顯得比父親精明多了。

By contrast, his mother seemed much more astute than his father.

母親雖不識字，可比興和的父親強多了，她自有對付能識字兒子的辦法。那時的老師，都要求學(xué)生要寫毛筆字。由于沒有字帖，老師先在學(xué)生作業(yè)本上寫一行字，然后學(xué)生照著老師的字再寫。這種學(xué)生臨摹老師字跡的方法，無論如何聰明的學(xué)生，都不可能把每個字的一撇一捺，寫得和老師的一模一樣——這就好了，每當(dāng)興和把字寫完，他母親就開始檢查他的作業(yè)了。她雖不識字，但自然有她檢查作業(yè)的方法，她別出心裁地用農(nóng)村縫衣裳的棉線來當(dāng)標(biāo)尺，來量每個字一撇一捺的長短，看他寫的字是否都和老師寫得一模一樣。如若有的字筆畫寫長了或?qū)懚塘?，在她心情不好時，小興和就慘了，不但要被扯耳朵，還要被黃荊棍兒抽打。

His illiterate mother was better than Xinghe's father, and she had her own way of dealing with her literate son. Teachers at that time required students to write Chinese calligraphy. Because there was no copybook for calligraphy, the teacher firstly wrote a line in the students' workbook, and then the students wrote according to the teacher's calligraphy. No matter how clever a student was in copying his teacher's handwriting, it was impossible for him to write every stroke exactly like his teacher's. That’s the point. Every time Xinghe finished writing, his mother started checking his homework. She did not know how to read, but of course she had her way of checking his homework. She used the cotton thread for sewing to measure the length of every stroke to see if he wrote exactly as the teacher did. If some of the strokes were too long or too short, or when she was in a bad mood that day, it would be miserable for Xinghe. He would not only have his ears pulled, but also be punished by sticks.

可憐天下父母心！

All parents worry for their children!

興和至今都還記得，有一次母親外出了，他做作業(yè)時就馬虎了一些，母親回來時已經(jīng)很晚了，但她再晚再累也要檢查兒子的作業(yè)。她不檢查則罷，這一檢查，周興和就倒了霉。她依然用她有效的工具來量每個字的長短，測量的結(jié)果，興和這天寫的字，10個就有8個長短與老師寫的不一致！

Xinghe still remembers that once when his mother was out, he did his homework carelessly. When his mother came back, it was already very late, but she still had to check her son's homework even if she was tired. She checked carefully, and Zhou Xinghe was out of luck. She still used her effective tools to measure the length of each stroke, and the result was that among all the Chinese characters written that day, 8 out of 10 characters were different from the teacher's!

這還得了！母親檢查完作業(yè)后勃然大怒，一下就走到床邊，一把揪住小興和的耳朵，大聲責(zé)問他為什么作業(yè)做得這樣馬虎！興和痛得從睡夢中醒了過來，由于多次受到母親這樣的懲罰，他也憋了一肚皮的氣，不由自主就頂撞了母親幾句——這下他就更慘了。母親一只手扯住他的耳朵，另一只手就抓起父親早準(zhǔn)備好的黃荊棍兒，劈頭蓋臉就給興和一頓亂打。興和一邊哭叫，一邊辯解，可他母親根本就不聽他的辯解，反而打得更兇！

That's terrible! After checking the homework, the mother flew into a great rage and went to the bedside, grabbed little Xinghe by the ear and asked him loudly that why he did homework so carelessly! Roused from his sleep with pain, Xinghe had been punished so many times by his mother, so he felt wronged and could not help contradicting her - which made things worse for him. His mother grabbed him by the ear with one hand, and grabbed the stick that his father had prepared with the other hand, and gave him a beating all over his face and body. Xinhe cried and tried to explain, but his mother did not listen to him at all. Instead, she beated him even harder.

父親見母親打他打得有些過分，倒心痛起兒子來。他勸他母親道：小孩家不聽話，要打就打他的屁股，不要把他的耳朵扯聾了。誰知母親聞言更是憤怒，她回過頭來把氣撒在他父親身上：娃兒不聽話，你還要給他護短！你老叫我不要扯他的耳朵，要打他的屁股。我問你，打他屁股？那屁股能聽話嗎！

When the father saw that the mother had beaten Xinghe too much, his heart ached for his son. He advised the mother, "Spank the child if he doesn’t listen to you, but don't pull his ear or deafen him." But the mother got angrier for hearing these words, she turned around to the father and pissed off: "The child is not obedient, but you still give him protection rather than education! You keep telling me not to pull his ear but to spank him. Let me ask you, spank him? Can his ass listen to you?"

盡管母親沒有文化，但她罵的話其實是沒有錯的，人聽不聽話，關(guān)鍵在于耳朵，關(guān)屁股什么事呢？

Although the mother had not received any school education, but she was not wrong in the words: when the people does not listen, the key lies in the ears, what is the matter with the butt?

“現(xiàn)在想起來，父母望子成才的良苦用心值得理解。連香港有位著名的企業(yè)家都說‘孩子三天一打，打進清華’之說。我們當(dāng)然更不能苛求沒有文化的父母，對他們的兒子能采取更好的教育方式?！敝芘d和說道，“其實，如今我能寫得一手好毛筆字，還要感謝他們這種特殊的教育方式呢！”

"Now that I think about it, it is worth understanding that all parents have a good mind to make their children successful. Even a famous entrepreneur in Hong Kong said, 'Beaten once every three days, the child will enter Tsinghua University.' We certainly can't expect the uneducated parents to have a better way of educating their sons." Zhou Xinghe said, "In fact, now I can write calligraphy well, which really thanks to their special way of education!"

寒風(fēng)蕭瑟，黃葉紛飛。轉(zhuǎn)眼間，難熬的冬天又要到了。

The wind was cold and the yellow leaves were flying. In a twinkling of an eye, the tough winter was coming again.

那時，幼小的興和在父母黃荊棍兒懲戒下，無非是偶爾遭受些皮肉之苦罷了，在那些艱難苦澀的年月里，留在他心靈中更刻骨銘心的痛苦，則莫過于空前的饑餓了。

At that time, when Xinghe was young, he had only occasional sufferings under the discipline of his parents’ sticks. In those hard and bitter years, what remained in his mind was nothing more than unprecedented hunger.