章节三

从此以后，他就迷恋上了小说，尤其爱读苏联书。在来高中之前，他已经看过了《卓娅和舒拉的故事》。

From then on, he became infatuated with novels, especially those written by Soviet authors. Before entering high school, he had already read "The Story of Zoya and Shura."

现在，他在学校和县文化馆的图书室里千方百计搜寻书籍。眼下出的书他都不爱看，因为他已经读过几本苏联小说，这些中国的新书相比而言，对他来说已经没什么意思了。他只搜寻外国书和文化革命前出的中国书。

Now, he was doing everything he could to search for books in the school's and the county cultural center's libraries. He had no interest in the new books that were coming out, as he had read several Soviet novels; compared to those, the new Chinese books had become meaningless to him. He only sought foreign books and those Chinese books published before the Cultural Revolution.

渐渐地，他每天都沉醉在读书中。没事的时候，他就躺在自己的一堆破烂被褥里没完没了地看。

Gradually, he immersed himself in reading every day. Whenever he had free time, he would lie down in his pile of ragged bedding and read endlessly.

就是到学校外面转悠的时候，胳膊窝里也夹着一本——转悠够了，就找个僻静地方看。

Even while wandering outside school, he would tuck a book under his arm—after wandering enough, he would find a secluded spot to read.

后来，竟然发展到在班上开会或者政治学习的时候，他也偷偷把书藏在桌子下面看。

Eventually, this developed into a habit of secretly hiding a book under his desk during class meetings or political studies.

不久，他这种不关心无产阶级政治，光看“反动书”的行为就被人给班主任揭发了。

Before long, his behavior of neglecting proletarian politics and only reading "reactionary books" was reported to the homeroom teacher.

告密者就是离他座位不远的跛女子侯玉英。这是一位爱关心别人私事的女同学。

The informant was a limping girl named Hou Yuying, who sat not far from him. She was a classmate who took a keen interest in others' private matters.

生理的缺陷似乎带来某种心理的缺陷：在生活中她最关注的是别人的缺点，好像要竭力证明这世界上所有的人都是不完整的——你们的腿比我好，但另外的地方也许并不如我！

Her physical disability seemed to bring about a psychological flaw: in life, she was most concerned with others' shortcomings, as if to prove that everyone in this world was incomplete—your legs may be better than mine, but you might not be as good as me in other aspects!

侯玉英讨论时常常第一个发言，像干部们一样头头是道地解释无产阶级专政理论。劳动时尽管腿不好，总是抢着干。当然也爱做一些好人好事；同时又像纪律监察委员会的书记一样监督着班上所有不符合革命要求的行为。

During discussions, Hou Yuying often spoke first, explaining the theory of proletarian dictatorship as if she were one of the officials. Despite her bad leg, she was always eager to help out during labor. Of course, she also enjoyed performing good deeds; at the same time, she acted like a secretary from the disciplinary inspection committee, monitoring all behaviors in class that did not meet revolutionary standards.

那天班上学习《人民日报》社论《领导干部带头学好》的文章，班主任主持，班长顾养民念报纸。

That day, the class was studying an editorial from the "People's Daily" titled "Leading Cadres Should Take the Lead to Study Well," with the homeroom teacher presiding and the class monitor, Gu Yangmin, reading the newspaper.

孙少平一句也没听，低着头悄悄在桌子下面看小说。他根本没有发现跛女子给班主任老师示意他的不规行为。

Sun Shaoping didn’t hear a word; he was quietly reading a novel under his desk with his head lowered. He hadn’t noticed that the limping girl was signaling the teacher about his misbehavior.

直等到老师走到他面前，把书从他手里一把夺过之后，他才猛地惊呆了。全班顿时哄堂大笑。

It wasn’t until the teacher came to him and snatched the book from his hand that he was suddenly stunned. The whole class burst into laughter.

顾养民不念报了，他看来似乎是一副局外人的样子，但孙少平觉得班长分明抱着一种幸灾乐祸的态度，看老师怎样处置他呀。

Gu Yangmin stopped reading, appearing to be an outsider, but Sun Shaoping felt the class monitor was clearly relishing how the teacher would deal with him.

班主任把没收的书放在讲桌上，先没说什么，让顾养民接着往下念。

The homeroom teacher placed the confiscated book on the podium, didn’t say anything at first, and let Gu Yangmin continue reading.

学习完了以后，老师把他叫到宿舍，意外地把书又还给了他，并且说：“《红岩》是一本好书，但以后你不要在课堂上看了。去吧……”

After the lesson ended, the teacher called him to the dormitory, unexpectedly returned the book to him, and said, “'Red Crag' is a good book, but don’t read during class anymore. Go ahead…”

孙少平怀着感激的心情退出了老师的房子。他从老师的眼睛里没有看出一丝的谴责，反而满含着一种亲切和热情。

Filled with gratitude, Sun Shaoping left the teacher's office. He saw no trace of condemnation in the teacher's eyes, only warmth and enthusiasm.

这一件小小的事，使他对书更加珍爱了。是的，他除过一天几个黑高粱面馍以外，再有什么呢？

This small incident made him treasure books even more. Yes, aside from a few coarse corn muffins each day, what else did he have?

只有这些书，才使他觉得活着还是十分有意义的，他的精神也才能得到一些安慰，并且唤起对自己未来生活的某种美好的向往——没有这一点，他就无法熬过眼前这艰难而痛苦的每一个日子。

Only these books made him feel that living was still quite meaningful, providing some comfort to his spirit and evoking a certain beautiful longing for his future life—without this, he couldn’t endure each difficult and painful day in the present.

而在他眼下的生活中，实际上还有一件令他无法言明的、给他内心带来一丝温暖和愉快的小小的事情。

In his current life, there was actually another small matter that he could not articulate, which brought him a touch of warmth and joy.

这件事实际上我们已经知道了，这就是：每天吃饭的时候，在众人散尽而他一个人去取自己那两个黑馍——每当这样的时候，他总能看见另外一个人做同样一件事。

This matter was something we already knew: every day during meal times, when everyone else had scattered, he would go alone for his two black muffins—every time he did this, he could see someone else doing the same.

当然，在起先的时候，他和那个叫郝红梅的女生都是毫不相干地各自拿了自己的馍就离开了。

In the beginning, he and the girl named Hao Hongmei were both indifferent, each taking their own muffins and leaving.

不知是哪一天，她走过来的时候，看了他一眼。他也看了她一眼。

He couldn’t tell on which day it happened, but as she walked past him, she glanced at him. He also looked back at her.

尽管谁也没说话，但实际上说了。人们在生活中常常有一种没有语言的语言。从此以后，这种眼睛的“交谈”就越来越多了。

Though neither spoke a word, there was a silent exchange. People often have a kind of unspoken language in life. After that, their eye "conversations" became more and more frequent.

孙少平发现，郝红梅实际上是班里最漂亮的女生。

Sun Shaoping realized that Hao Hongmei was actually the prettiest girl in the class.

只是因为她穿戴破烂，再加上一脸菜色，才使得所有的人都没有发现这一点。

It was just that her ragged clothing and pallid complexion made everyone overlook this fact.

这种年龄的男青年，又刚刚有了一点文化，往往爱给一些“洋女生”献殷勤。

Young men of that age, especially those who had just acquired a bit of education, often liked to curry favor with “foreign girls.”

尤其是刚从农村来的男生，在他们的眼里，城里干部的女儿都好像是下凡的仙女。

Especially the boys who had just come from the countryside viewed the daughters of city officials as if they were fairies.

当然，这般年龄的男女青年还说不上正经八板地谈恋爱，但他们无疑已经浮浅地懂得了这种事，并且正因为刚懂得，因此比那些有过经历的人具有更大的激情。

Of course, young people at that age couldn’t be deemed as having serious romantic relationships, but they undoubtedly had a shallow understanding of such matters, and being newly aware of them, they had even greater passion than those who had past experiences.

唉，谁没有经过这样的年龄呢？在这个维特式的骚动不安的年龄里，异性之间任何微小的情感，都可能在一个少年的内心掀起狂风巨浪！

Ah, who hasn’t gone through such an age? In this restless, Werther-like phase, any small feeling between the sexes could stir up a tempest in a young person’s heart!

孙少平目前还没有到这样的地步。他只是感到，在他如此潦倒的生活中，有一个姑娘用这样亲切而善意的目光在关注他，使他感到无限温暖。

At this point, Sun Shaoping had not reached that level. He merely felt that in his dismal life, there was a girl observing him with such kind and friendly eyes, making him feel an infinite warmth.

她那可怜的、清瘦的脸颊，她那细长的脖项，她那刚能遮住羞丑的破烂衣衫，都在他的内心荡漾起一种春水般的波澜。

Her pale, thin cheeks, her slender neck, and her ragged clothing that barely covered her shame and ugliness stirred ripples in his heart like the waves of spring water.

他们用眼睛这样“交谈”了一些日子后，终于有一天，她取完那两个黑面馍，迟疑地走到他跟前，小声问他：“那天，老师没收了你的那本书，叫什么名字？”

After they had “conversed” with their eyes for a few days, one day, after she had picked up her two black muffins, she hesitantly walked up to him and softly asked, “That day, what was the name of the book the teacher confiscated from you?”

“《红岩》。我在县文化馆借的。”他拿黑面馍的手微微抖着，回答她。

“'Red Crag.' I borrowed it from the county cultural center,” he answered, his hand holding the black muffins barely trembling.

她离他这么近，他再也不敢看她了。他很不自在地把头低下，看着自己手里的那两个黑东西。

As she stood so close to him, he dared not look at her again. He awkwardly lowered his head, staring at the two black objects in his hand.

“那里面有个江姐……”她本来不紧张，但看他这样不自在，声音也有点不自然了。

“There’s a character named Jiang Jie…” she initially sounded relaxed, but seeing him so uneasy, her voice became a bit unnatural.

他赶忙说：“是。后来牺牲了……很悲壮！”他加添了一个自认为很出色的词，头仍然低着。

He hurriedly said, “Yes. She later sacrificed… it was very heroic!” He added a word he thought was particularly outstanding, still keeping his head down.

“还有一个双枪老太婆。”她又说。

“And there’s also the old lady with double guns,” she continued.

“你也看过这书？”他现在才敢抬起眼皮看了她一眼。

“You’ve read this book too?” Only now did he dare to lift his gaze to look at her.

“我没看过。以前听我爸说过里面的故事。”

“I haven’t. I’ve heard my dad talk about the stories in it before.”

“你爸？你爸看过？”

“Your dad? He’s read it?”

“嗯。”

“Uh-huh.”

“你爸在？……”少平显然有点惊讶这位穿戴破烂的女生，她父亲竟然看过《红岩》，因此弄不明白她父亲是干什么的了。

“Is your dad around?…” Shaoping was clearly surprised that this ragged girl’s father had read "Red Crag," and couldn't figure out what her father did for a living.

“我爸是农民，成分不好，是地主，不，我爷爷是地主，所以……”

“My dad is a peasant; his background is not good, he's from a landlord family. No, my grandpa was a landlord, so…”

“那你爸上过学？”

“Did your dad attend school?”

“我爸没上过。我爷上过。我爸的字是我爷教的。我爷早死了……我没看过《红岩》小说，但我会唱《红岩》歌剧里的歌。我的名字就是我爸从这歌词里面取的。那歌剧里有一句歌词是：红岩上，红梅开……”

“My dad didn’t go to school. My grandpa did. My dad learns to write from my grandpa. My grandpa passed away early… I’ve never read the novel 'Red Crag,' but I can sing the songs from the opera based on it. My name was taken from the lyrics of that song. There’s a line in the opera: 'On Red Crag, the red plums bloom…'”

她这样轻声慢语地说着，他呆呆地听着。

She spoke softly and slowly, while he listened in a daze.

她突然红着脸说：“你的书还了没有？”

Suddenly, she blushed and asked, “Have you returned your book yet?”

他说：“还没。”

He replied, “Not yet.”

“能不能借我看一下？”

“Can you lend it to me?”

“能！”他爽快地回答。

“Sure!” he answered cheerfully.

于是，第二天他就把书交到了她的手里。

Thus, the next day, he handed the book to her.

在这以后，只要孙少平看过的书，就借给郝红梅看。

After that, any book Sun Shaoping had read, he would lend to Hao Hongmei.

无论是他给她借书，还是她给他还书，两个人不约而同地都是悄悄进行的。

Whether it was him lending her books or her returning them, both transactions were silently conducted without anyone else noticing.

他们都知道，一个男生和一个女生这样过分亲密的交往，如果让班里的同学们发现了，会引起什么样的反响——那他们也就别想安宁地过日子了！

They both understood that if the classmates discovered the overly close relationship between a boy and a girl, it could provoke quite a reaction—then they would no longer have peace in their lives!