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I am not a writer, nor a painter. I'm just an old ordinary retired person. Unfortunately, my old wife Mao Mei-tang passed away in March 2008, at the age of 84. By that time I was 87. You can imagine how sad I was! I stuck to this matter too hard in a period about two or three months. I don't smoke and not drink. How could I get out of this grief? At last I thought the only way for me is to write something about our life down. I had no alternative but to do this work. Because first of all, I could kill the time and second I hope this work would be a 'Family History' to my descendants. So, to tell you the truth, I didn't CHOOSE to write this book. In fact, I was COMPELLED to do so. I would have my mind at ease when I finished this book. It is my DUTY. 这封字迹流畅的英文手写信出自97岁的饶平如老先生之手。 饶平如？是不是感觉有点耳熟却一时想不起来？那你应该看看这幅画： 想起来了吗？《平如美棠》，那本轰动一时的画册就出自这位老先生之手。 2008年，在妻子美棠病逝之后，当时87岁的饶平如用画笔重现了两人之间的生活点滴…… From the first time they met each other, to their wedding, to their 22 years of separation, to her lying in bed on her final days - all the images of their nearly 60-year marriage have been recorded in Rao Pingru's drawings. 他画了一本又一本，还给这些画册起了个名字——《我俩的故事》。 后来，他的孙女把这些画发到了网上，引起了媒体的关注，年逾九十的饶平如突然变成了一名高龄“网红”。 这段音频是英语环球广播5年前的报道，背景音乐是美棠生前最喜欢的《友谊地久天长》。 再后来，广西师范大学出版社帮助老先生把这些画册整理成书。《平如美棠》走进了书店，感动了无数读者。 Rao's beloved wife Mao Meitang passed away in 2008, but his longing for her never stopped. The old man drew hundreds of pictures after his wife left him. He compiled these drawings in a book and named it 'Our Story' to commemorate his deceased wife and their marriage of nearly sixty years. 现在，这本书已经被翻译成了法语、韩语、西班牙语，接下来还有意大利语和荷兰语的版本值得期待。 今年5月，《平如美棠》的美国版即将上市，英国版会稍晚而来，买下这本书全球英语版权的是著名的企鹅兰登。 为了帮助这本书的英文译者更好地理解，饶平如会认真回答译者提出的每一个问题。为了解释中国传统建筑中的“进”这个概念，他会一丝不苟地绘图并加上注释。 看到这些详尽的图解，想象90多岁的老先生伏案工作的画面，你有没有很感动？ 对待每一次采访，每一次活动，老先生同样认真，让人钦佩。 《上观新闻》的报道曾写过这样一个细节，“大多数人发言后是微微欠身；全场只有他一人，发言后90度鞠躬，并双手递交了话筒。” 今年3月，西班牙版《平如美棠》出版，当地媒体给饶平如发来一份采访提纲。于是，他用全英文手写的方式做了回复。 图片来自《平如美棠》中文版责编阴牧云的微博 收到这封回信的西班牙编辑 Claudia 说，“这是我在我的电子邮箱中收到过的最美的东西了！我们将会把这些了不起的回复当成画作或说是艺术品来收藏的。” 饶爷爷和美国版编辑 Timothy O'Connell 《平如美棠》中文版责编阴牧云介绍说，老爷子单纯、诚恳，那些与饶平如有过接触的外国人，每个都很喜欢他，我们的中国文化就这样以最自然、最令人信服的方式传递出去了。 本是一些年代久远、平常琐碎的生活日常，平如和美棠的故事缘何有机会跨越语言和文化的障碍，打动无数中外读者？对此，饶平如自己也感到困惑。 或许是因为饶平如记录的不仅是美棠和他的故事，也是关于我们所有人的故事，故事背后的主题是爱与家庭，生与死，记忆与怀念…… 法兰克福书展上的英文简介： Like so many couples, they disagreed, quarreled and made up, raised children, and grew old together. The captioned episodes portray the everyday events from the couple’s experience against the backdrop of sweeping historical changes that shaped 20th century China. In this way, OUR STORY is the story of us all. 说到爱与家庭，生与死，记忆与怀念，怎能忘了我们中国传统的清明节？ 这个特殊的节日提醒我们不仅要怀念逝者，更要好好珍惜家人、爱人，因为当下看似平常甚至乏味的每一天，今后都是无法重来的珍贵回忆。 'Qingmingjie', also known as 'Tomb sweeping day', is a traditional Chinese festival which usually falls on either April 4th, 5th or 6th of the solar calendar. For Chinese people it's an important day to remember and honour one's ancestors and visit and maintain their graves. 你读过平如和美棠的故事吗？关于记忆与缅怀，除了文字与绘画，还有什么其他方式？ |
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