郁达夫《故都的秋》英译版
《故都的秋》蕴含深沉的故都之恋、故国之爱，唤起人们对美的追求，对祖国的热爱。中国现代著名小说家、散文家、诗人、革命烈士郁达夫的散文名篇《故都的秋》将悲秋与颂秋结合起来，秋中有情的眷恋，情中有秋的落寞——这情是故乡情、爱国情;这落寞之秋是作者当时心境的写照，是对国运衰微的喟叹。
郁达夫 《故都的秋》
秋天，无论在什么地方的秋天，总是好的;可是啊，北国的秋，却特别地来得清，来得静，来得悲凉。我的不远千里，要从杭州赶上青岛，更要从青岛赶上北平来的理由，也不过想饱尝一尝这“秋”，这故都的秋味。
江南，秋当然也是有的;但草木凋得慢，空气来得润，天的颜色显得淡，并且又时常多雨而少风;一个人夹在苏州上海杭州，或厦门香港广州的市民中间，浑浑沌沌地过去，只能感到一点点清凉，秋的味，秋的色，秋的意境与姿态，总看不饱，尝不透，赏玩不到十足。秋并不是名花，也并不是美酒，那一种半开，半醉的状态，在领略秋的过程上，是不合适的。
不逢北国之秋，已将近十余年了。在南方每年到了秋天，总要想起陶然亭的芦花，钓鱼台的柳影，西山的虫唱，玉泉的夜月，潭柘寺的钟声。在北平即使不出门去罢，就是在皇城人海之中，租人家一椽破屋来住着，早晨起来，泡一碗浓茶，向院子一坐，你也能看得到很高很高的碧绿的天色，听得到青天下驯鸽的飞声。从槐树叶底，朝东细数着一丝一丝漏下来的日光，或在破壁腰中，静对着像喇叭似的牵牛花(朝荣)的蓝朵，自然而然地也能够感觉到十分的秋意。说到了牵牛花，我以为以蓝色或白色者为佳，紫黑色次之，淡红色最下。最好，还要在牵牛花底，教长着几根疏疏落落的尖细且长的秋草，使作陪衬。
北国的槐树，也是一种能使人联想起秋来的.点缀。像花而又不是花的那一种落蕊，早晨起来，会铺得满地。脚踏上去，声音也没有，气味也没有，只能感出一点点极微细极柔软的触觉。扫街的在树影下一阵扫后，灰土上留下来的一条条扫帚的丝纹，看起来既觉得细腻，又觉得清闲，潜意识下并且还觉得有点儿落寞，古人所说的梧桐一叶而天下知秋的遥想，大约也就在这些深沉的地方。
秋蝉的衰弱的残声，更是北国的特产;因为北平处处全长着树，屋子又低，所以无论在什么地方，都听得见它们的啼唱。在南方是非要上郊外或山上去才听得到的。这秋蝉的嘶叫，在北平可和蟋蟀耗子一样，简直像是家家户户都养在家里的家虫。
还有秋雨哩，北方的秋雨，也似乎比南方的下得奇，下得有味，下得更像样。
在灰沉沉的天底下，忽而来一阵凉风，便息列索落地下起雨来了。一层雨过，云渐渐地卷向了西去，天又青了，太阳又露出脸来了;著着很厚的青布单衣或夹袄的都市闲人，咬着烟管，在雨后的斜桥影里，上桥头树底下去一立，遇见熟人，便会用了缓慢悠闲的声调，微叹着互答着的说：
“唉，天可真凉了——”
“可不是么?一层秋雨一层凉了!”
北方的果树，到秋来，也是一种奇景。第一是枣子树;屋角，墙头，茅房边上，灶房门口，它都会一株株地长大起来。像橄榄又像鸽蛋似的这枣子颗儿，在小椭圆形的细叶中间，显出淡绿微黄的颜色的时候，正是秋的全盛时期;等枣树叶落，枣子红完，西北风就要起来了，北方便是尘沙灰土的世界，只有这枣子、柿子、葡萄，成熟到八九分的七八月之交，是北国的清秋的佳日，是一年之中最好也没有的golden days。
有些批评家说，中国的文人学士，尤其是诗人，都带着很浓厚的颓废色彩，所以中国的诗文里，颂赞秋的文字特别的多。但外国的诗人，又何尝不然?我虽则外国诗文念得不多，也不想开出账来，做一篇秋的诗歌散文钞，但你若去一翻英德法意等诗人的集子，或各国的诗文的Anthology来，总能够看到许多关于秋的歌颂与悲啼。各著名的大诗人的长篇田园诗或四季诗里，也总以关于秋的部分，写得最出色而最有味。足见有感觉的动物，有情趣的人类，对于秋，总是一样的能特别引起深沉，幽远，严厉，萧索的感触来的。不单是诗人，就是被关闭在牢狱里的囚犯，到了秋天，我想也一定会感到一种不能自已的深情;秋之于人，何尝有国别，更何尝有人种阶级的区别呢?不过在中国，文字里有一个“秋士”的成语，读本里又有着很普遍的欧阳子的秋声与苏东坡的《赤壁赋》等，就觉得中国的文人，与秋的关系特别深了。可是这秋的深味，尤其是中国的秋的深味，非要在北方，才感受得到底。
南国之秋，当然是也有它的特异的地方的，比如廿四桥的明月，钱塘江的秋潮，普陀山的凉雾，荔枝湾的残荷等等，可是色彩不浓，回味不永。比起北国的秋来，正像是黄酒之与白干，稀饭之与馍馍，鲈鱼之与大蟹，黄犬之与骆驼。
秋天，这北国的秋天，若留得住的话，我愿把寿命的三分之二折去，换得一个三分之一的零头。
Autumn in Peiping
Yu Dafu
Autumn, wherever it is,always has something to recommend itself. In North China, however, it isparticularly limpid, serene and melancholy. To enjoy its atmosphere to the fullin the onetime capital, I have, therefore, made light of travelling a longdistance from Hangzhou to Qingdao, and thence to Peiping.
Thereis of course autumn in the South too, but over there plants wither slowly, theair is moist, the sky pallid, and it is more often rainy than windy. Whilemuddling along all by myself among the urban dwellers of Suzhou, Shanghai,Xiamen, Hong Kong or Guangzhou, I feel nothing but a little chill in the air,without ever relishing to my heart's content the flavour, colour, mood andstyle of the season. Unlike famous flowers which are most attractive when halfopening, good wine which is most tempting when one is half drunk, autumn,however, is best appreciated in its entirety.
Itis more than a decade since I last saw autumn in North. When I am in the South,the arrival of each autumn will put me in mind of Peiping's Tao Ran Ting withits reed catkins, Diao Yu Tai with its shady willow trees, Western Hills withtheir chirping insects, Yu Quan Shan Mountain on a moonlight evening and TanZhe Si with its reverbrating bell. Suppose you put up in a humble rented houseinside the bustling imperial city, you can, on getting up at dawn, sit in yourcourtyard sipping a cup of strong tea, leisurely watch the high azure skies andlisten to pigeons circling overhead. Saunter eastward under locust trees toclosely observe streaks of sunlight filtering through their foliage, or quietlywatch the trumpet-shaped blue flowers of morning glories climbing half way up adilapidated wall, and an intense feeling of autumn will of itself well up insideyou. As to morning glories, I like their blue or white flowers best, darkpurple ones second best, and pink ones third best. It will be most desirable tohave them set off by some tall thin grass planted underneath here and there.
Locusttrees in the North, as a decorative embellishment of nature, also associate uswith autumn. On getting up early in the morning, you will find the groundstrewn all over with flower-like pistils fallen from locust trees. Quiet andsmelless, they feel tiny and soft underfoot. After a street cleaner has donethe sweeping under the shade of the trees, you will discover countless linesleft by his broom in the dust, which look so fine and quiet that somehow afeeling of forlornness will begin to creep up on you. The same depth ofimplication is found in the ancient saying that a single fallen leaf from thewutong tree is more than enough to inform the world of autumn's presence.
Thesporadic feeble chirping of cicadas is especially characteristic of autumn inthe North. Due to the abundance of trees and the low altitude of dwellings inPeiping, cicadas are audible in every nook and cranny of the city. In theSouth, however, one cannot hear them unless in suburbs or hills. Because oftheir ubiquitous shrill noise, these insects in Peiping seem to be living offevery household like crickets or mice.
Asfor autumn rains in the North, they also seem to differ from those in theSouth, being more appealing, more temperate.
Asudden gust of cool wind under the slaty sky, and raindrops will startpitter-pattering. Soon when the rain is over, the clouds begin gradually toroll towards the west and the sun comes out in the blue sky. Some idletownsfolk, wearing lined or unlined clothing made of thick cloth, will come outpipe in mouth and, loitering under a tree by the end of a bridge, exchangeleisurely conversation with acquaintances with a slight touch of regret at thepassing of time:
"Oh,real nice and cool—"
"Sure!Getting cooler with each autumn shower!"
Fruittrees in the North also make a wonderful sight in autumn. Take jujube tree forexample. They grow everywhere—around the corner of a house, at the foot of awall, by the side of a latrine or outside a kitchen door. It is at the heightof autumn that jujubes, shaped like dates or pigeon eggs, make their appearancein a light yellowish-green amongst tiny elliptic leaves. By the time when theyhave turned ruddy and the leaves fallen, the north-westerly wind will begin toreign supreme and make a dusty world of the North. Only at the turn of July andAugust when jujubes, persimmons, grapes are 80-90 percent ripe will the Northhave the best of autumn—the golden days in a year.
Someliterary critics say that Chinese literati, especially poets, are mostlydisposed to be decadent, which accounts for predominance of Chinese workssinging the praises of autumn. Well, the same is true of foreign poets, isn'tit? I haven't read much of foreign poetry and prose, nor do I want to enumerateautumn-related poems and essays in foreign literature. But, if you browsethrough collected works of English, German, French or Italian poets, or variouscountries' anthologies of poetry or prose, you can always come across a greatmany literary pieces eulogizing or lamenting autumn. Long pastoral poems orsongs about the four seasons by renowned poets are mostly distinguished bybeautiful moving lines on autumn. All that goes to show that all live creaturesand sensitive humans alike are prone to the feeling of depth, remoteness,severity and bleakness. Not only poets, even convicts in prison, I suppose,have deep sentiments in autumn in spite of themselves. Autumn treats all humansalike, regardless of nationality, race or class. However, judging from Chineseidiom qiushi (autumn scholar, meaning and aged scholar grieving overfrustrations in his life) and frequent selection in textbooks of Ouyang Xiu'sOn the Autumn Sough and Su Dongpo's On the Red Cliff, Chinese men of lettersseem to be particularly autumn-minded. But, to know the real flavour of autumn,especially China's autumn, one has to visit the North.
Autumnin the South also has its unique features, such as the moon-lit Ershisi Bridgein Yangzhou, the flowing sea tide at the Qiantangjiang River, the mist-shroudedPutuo Mountain and lotuses at the Lizhiwan Bay. But they all lack strong colourand lingering flavour. Southern autumn is to Northern autumn what yellow ricewine is to kaoliang wine, congee to steamed buns, perches to crabs, yellow dogsto camels.
Autumn,I mean Northern autumn, if only it could be made to last forever! I would bemore than willing to keep but one-third of my life-span and have two-thirds ofit bartered for the prolonged stay of the season.