中国故事（双语）80：Butterflies and Love 梁山伯与祝英台 2

80 Butterflies and Love

梁山伯与祝英台 2

梁山伯与祝英台同窗三年，感情深厚,他将祝英台比作毛毛虫，终有一日会成长为美丽的蝴蝶。祝英台难过地告诉他，父亲不让自己上大学，但是自己已经知道自己想要什么样的生活、和谁一起度过此生。梁山伯送了祝英台一份礼物，祝英台建议梁山伯娶自己的妹妹，梁山伯以自己配不上祝家为由婉拒。

Liang Shanbo and I spent three years together, studying, laughing, running, and talking. We called each other “my brother from another mother!”

After three years, Liang Shanbo had to go away to college. I joined him in walking part of the way to his new town. “I will hide in your room!” I joked. “No one will notice me. I will be a worm, curled up in the corner.”

Liang Shanbo laughed. “I know you don’t take up much room,” he said, putting his strong arm around my shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “But you’re no worm in a corner, Zhu Yingtai,” he said. “You’re a caterpillar, not a worm.” He wiggled his fingers on his head like antennae. “Soon you’ll burst out and fly! You’ll be magnificent. Be patient. You’re not quite grown up enough to join me at college.”

“My father won’t let me go to college,” I told him, sadly. “And what if I’m already grown? What if I’m already as magnificent as I can be? I already know what I want from life and who I want to spend it with!” I cried, tangling my sleeves in my fingers.

He didn’t answer. His eyes shone golden in the light of the setting sun. I caught my breath and counted to ten to calm myself.

Avoiding his golden eyes, I handed him his going-away gift. “It’s funny you should talk about butterflies,” I said. I hoped, hoped, hoped he would like them.

“These are very beautiful!” he said, smiling. “I will hang these jade butterflies from my belt. They’ll remind me of you! It will be like we are together.”

“Only I’m a lot more talkative!” I joked.

He smiled and gave me a pat on the back. Then I opened my gift. It was a qin. I had thought it was impossible to distill our friendship into a gift. 

There were too many memories for one little gift to contain. But somehow, he had done it. I loved my gift! I played the qin for him then, the music telling him everything that I could not put into words. But had he really heard me?

“I’ll come visit you,” he promised. “We promised to be best friends, remember? You’ll always be a little brother to me.” 

“You should become my real brother!” I said, saying out loud what I had been thinking about for three years. “Marry my sister! You’ll be perfect together. She’s just like me. Only she looks better in a dress!”

He laughed. “I’ll visit you during the first break,” he promised. “You can introduce me!” Then he furrowed his brow and his mouth became a hard line. He shook his head and said, “But I’m not good enough for the great Zhu family, you know that.”

I wanted to say that money and power were not important. I knew he was good enough for anyone and any family. But we both recognized the differences in our families. Instead of talking about them, I haltingly said goodbye. Then I hurried back to school.

The days at school seemed to pass by very slowly. The moment my school let out for the break, I raced home. My parents met me at the door before I had a chance to let myself in.

“Yingtai!” My parents cried.

“You’re home at last! And guess what? We’ve solved the problem!” said my father.

“Good!” I said. Then I asked, “What problem?” My parents laughed. “You’ve been living with the secret so long,” said my mother, shaking her head. “You’ve forgotten.”

“You have to be a man to head the Zhu family,” explained my father for the hundredth time since I was born.

“But you can’t spend your life as a man,” added my mother. “You were born a girl and now you are a woman.”

“That’s the problem,” said my father. “But we’ve found a husband for you. You won’t have to pretend to be a boy anymore. He lives far enough away. No one here will know you’re a woman.” “But . . .” I stammered.

“When you’re there, you can be a woman and someday a mother like me. You can live a normal life,” said my mother. “If you lived here. . . .

Your whole life you would worry about keeping it secret that you’re really a woman.”

“We had a dress made for you,” my father said. He held up a red silk gown with butterfly sleeves. “For you to wear at your wedding.” 

“Go try it on!” urged my smiling mother. She ushered me into the bedroom. After shooing away the maid, she helped me dress, chattering happily the whole time. I said nothing.

Suddenly I heard Liang Shanbo’s deep voice calling hello. My eyes widened. A servant hurried to let him in the front gate. 

The End

Question: What would be difficult about living as a boy if the person was a girl?

核心词汇

squeeze v. 榨取，汲取;轻轻地捏

wiggle v. 摆动; 扭动

antennae n. 触角，触须( antenna 的名词复数 )

tangle v. 使）缠结，（使）乱作一团

distill v. 提炼; 抽出…的精华

furrow v. 使起皱纹

haltingly adv.迟疑不决地；犹豫地

stammer v.结结巴巴地所；口吃

gown n.长袍；礼服

shoo v.发出嘘声将...赶走

It’s funny you should talk about butterflies. 你竟然提到了蝴蝶，

真有意思啊。本句是祝英台在表达自己的惊讶之情，她未料到梁

山伯会在她拿出玉蝴蝶礼物之前也提到蝴蝶。本句中 should 意思

为竟然，表示惊讶。

Only I’m a lot more talkative! 只是我比这对玉蝴蝶话更多。上文

梁山伯提到玉蝴蝶会让他想起祝英台，本句省略了 than the jade

butterflies, 为祝英台自嘲话多，同时也委婉表达了愿意留在梁山

伯身边，互诉衷情。

I had thought it was impossible to distill our friendship into a gift.

我原本以为把我们的有益仅仅寄托在一个小小的礼物上是不可能

的。本句以 had thought 的过去完成时，描述过去的过去的事

件，表示祝英台之前的想法。

My parents met me at the door before I had a chance to let

myself in. 我还未进门，父母亲就到门口迎接我。本句中 before

表示还没来得及。

以下翻译来自百度翻译：

梁山伯和我一起度过了三年的时光，学习、欢笑、跑步、聊天。我们互相称呼“我的兄弟来自另一位母亲！”

三年后，梁山伯不得不去上大学。我和他一起走了一段路去他的新城镇。“我会躲在你的房间里！”我开玩笑说。“没有人会注意到我。我将是一只蜷缩在角落里的虫子。”

梁山伯笑了。“我知道你占不了多少空间，”他说，用他强壮的手臂搂住我的肩膀，用力一挤。“但你不是角落里的虫子，朱英台，”他说。“你是毛毛虫，不是虫子。”他像触角一样在头上摆动手指。“很快你就会爆发出来，飞起来！你会很出色的。耐心点。你还没有长大到可以和我一起上大学的程度。”

“我父亲不让我上大学，”我悲伤地告诉他。“如果我已经长大了怎么办？如果我已经尽我所能地壮丽了怎么办？我已经知道我想从生活中得到什么，我想和谁一起度过它！”我喊道，我的袖子在我的手指里纠缠着。

他没有回答。在夕阳的照耀下，他的眼睛闪闪发光。我屏住呼吸，数到十使自己平静下来。

我避开他的金眼睛，递给他临别礼物。“你应该谈论蝴蝶，这很有趣，”我说。我希望，希望，希望他会喜欢。

“这些非常漂亮！”他笑着说。“我要把这些玉蝴蝶挂在腰带上。它们会让我想起你！就像我们在一起一样。”

“只是我更健谈！”我开玩笑说。

他微笑着拍了拍我的背。然后我打开了礼物。是秦。我原以为把我们的友谊提炼成礼物是不可能的。

记忆太多，一件小礼物装不下。但不知何故，他做到了。我喜欢我的礼物！当时我为他弹奏琴，音乐告诉了他我无法用语言表达的一切。但他真的听到我的话了吗？

“我会来看你的，”他答应道。“我们答应过要成为最好的朋友，记得吗？你永远是我的小兄弟。”

“你应该成为我真正的兄弟！”我说，大声说出了我三年来一直在想的事情。“娶我妹妹吧！你们在一起会很完美的。她和我一样。只是她穿裙子更好看！”

他笑了。“我会在第一次休息时去拜访你，”他承诺道。“你可以介绍我！”然后他皱起眉头，嘴巴变得强硬起来。他摇摇头说：“但是我配不上朱家，你知道的。”

我想说的是，金钱和权力并不重要。我知道他对任何人和任何家庭都足够好。但我们都认识到我们家庭的差异。我没有谈论他们，而是结结巴巴地说再见。然后我匆匆赶回学校。

上学的日子似乎过得很慢。学校放假的那一刻，我跑回了家。我还没来得及进去，父母就在门口迎接我。

“英泰！”我的父母哭了。

“你终于到家了！你猜怎么着？我们解决了问题！”我父亲说。

“好！”我说。然后我问：“什么问题？”我的父母笑了。“你和这个秘密生活在一起太久了，”我母亲摇着头说。“你忘了。”

“你必须是一个男人来领导朱家，”父亲解释道，这是我出生后的第一百次。

“但是你不能像男人一样度过你的一生，”我母亲补充道。“你生下来是个女孩，现在是个女人了。”

“这就是问题所在，”我父亲说。“但是我们已经为你找到了一个丈夫。你不必再假装是个男孩了。他住得很远。这里没有人会知道你是个女人。”“但是……”我结结巴巴地说。

“当你在那里的时候，你可以成为一个女人，有一天也可以成为像我一样的母亲。你可以过正常的生活，”我的母亲说。“如果你住在这里。

你一辈子都会担心你是个真正的女人这一点。”

“我们为你做了一件衣服，”我父亲说。他举起一件蝴蝶袖的红色丝绸长袍。“给你在婚礼上穿的。”

“去试穿吧！”我微笑着的母亲催促道。她把我领进卧室。赶走女佣后，她帮我穿衣服，一直开心地聊天。我什么也没说。

突然我听到梁山伯低沉的声音在打招呼。我睁大了眼睛。一个仆人急忙让他进前门。