(中英)現(xiàn)代散文:我愛作文 I Love Composition

I Love Composition

我愛作文

◎ Xie Bingying

◎　謝冰瑩

At the beginning of my first year at Peking Women's Normal University, our teacher of Chinese said to the class,

那是我初進女師大①的第一年，國文老師對我們說：

Now that you're university students, you may write on any subject of your own choice. You must each hand in for each semester at least seven or eight compositions. The more, the better. But, mind you, each composition should be well written, not slipshod.

“現(xiàn)在你們是大學生了②，作文題目可以由你們自己擬，每學期至少要交七八篇文章③，多多益善；但是有個條件，篇篇都要好文章，不可敷衍?！?

Sir, what if it's beyond my ability to do so? a classmate, whose name was not personally known to me, suddenly asked.

“老師④，不會作的怎么辦呢?”有位不知姓名的同學忽然這樣問。

Beyond your ability? Then how did you pass the examination for admission to the university? You're supposed to have learned composition as long ago as your middle school days. A university teacher's job is little more than giving you guidance in advanced studies. It's up to you to improve your writing ability. I'm in no position to do much to help you.

“不會作，怎么考進大學的？你們的文章，在中學時代應該早就寫通了，到大學校來，老師不過是指導你們做更深一層的研究；文章寫得好不好，還得你們自己努力，我是無能為力的?！?

You're too modest, sir, mumbled another classmate.

“老師太客氣了?！笔橇硪晃煌瑢W低微的聲音。

Sir, shall we do the writing in the classroom or after school?

“老師，我們的作文是在課堂上作，還是在課外作呢？”

That was a silly question raised by my humble self, a country girl. Some classmates started giggling at me. But I wasn't embarrassed at all. On the contrary, I thought their giggling was totally uncalled for.

這是我這個鄉(xiāng)下姑娘發(fā)出的愚問⑤，有幾位同學望著我笑了；可是我并不感到難為情，反而覺得她們的笑是多余的。

Do as you please. It's OK if you want to do it in the classroom. But write on a subject most favourite to you. Well, see you!

“隨便，愛在課堂上作的，就在這里作好了，寫你們最愛寫的題材，我走了?！?

We watched him passing out of sight around a corner of the long corridor. Thereupon, two thirds of the students also left the classroom. A student sitting on my right asked me in a whisper,

望著老師的背影，消逝在長廊的轉彎處，于是有三分之二的同學也跟著走了；一位坐在我右邊的同學悄悄地問我：

What are you going to write about?

“你作什么題目？”

Mother's Longing for the Return of Her Wandering Child, I answered without the slightest hesitation.

“《望斷天涯兒不歸⑥》?！蔽液敛华q豫地回答她。

A short story?

“是小說嗎？”

No. It's a lyrical essay.

“不！是一篇抒情的小品文。”

I was overjoyed at the advantages enjoyed by university students. First of all, we were given more freedom to do what we thought best. The composition class was just one example. I remembered what had annoyed me most in middle school was that the teachers of Chinese then never gave us composition subjects in advance. They would write a subject on the blackboard at the last minute when they came to meet the class. Some of them gave two or three subjects for us to choose from. Some gave us only one subject like Learn the New by Reviewing the Old, The Destiny of the Nation Is the Concern of Every Citizen, Thoughts on National Day, etc., all of which I found extremely boring. I preferred our teacher to make public the composition subject several days before the class met. I preferred lyrical, descriptive and narrative subjects to argumentative ones because being enthusiastic, young people are fond of lyrical and descriptive writings and also eager to write about their own emotions and aspirations. Only by giving a true account of our feelings, thoughts and life, can we produce good writings. Forcing students to do hollow theorizing in composition will not only fail to improve their writing ability but also subject them, so to speak, to an ordeal of invisible mental abuse. In my school days, I chose to write on whatever subject I liked best. Later, when I became a school teacher, I, by keeping firmly in mind the maxim "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself", always took care not to impose on my students anything that would cause mental torture. Sometimes, I would set 20-30 subjects for them to select from. Sometimes, I would just let them decide on a subject by themselves so that they could write about anything as they pleased. Occasionally, they even let me polish up the love letters penned by themselves, which, to tell you the truth, would read much more smoothly than the compositions they usually did.

我高興極了！真的，做了大學生的第一個好處是：有了許多自由，譬如作文，就是一個例子。記得我在中學讀書的時候，最感到傷腦筋的是：國文老師臨到作文課時，才在黑板上出一個題目，有的一次出兩三個，可以由你自己選擇；有的只出一個，什么《溫故知新⑦說》；《國家興亡，匹夫有責⑧論》；《國慶感言》……一類的題目，叫人一見便頭痛。我喜歡老師在作文的前幾天就把題目預告，而且最好多出些抒情、描寫、記述一類的題目，少作議論文；因為青年人最熱情，他歡喜讀抒情、描寫一類的文章，也喜歡發(fā)揮自己的情感和抱負。我們只有寫自己真實的感情，真實的思想，真實的生活，才能把文章寫得好；如果硬要由腦筋里壓榨出一些什么空空洞洞的理論來⑨，不但文章寫不好，而且對于這些學生，簡直是一種無形的精神虐待⑩！在學生時代，我喜歡寫自己最愛寫的東西；后來到了我當教師的時候，就深深地記著“己所不欲，勿施于人”的格言，我絕不傷害他們的腦筋?；有時一次出二三十個題目，由他們自由去選擇，或者干脆由他們自己作主，愛寫什么就寫什么。他們寫的情書，偶然也給我修改；說真話，那比他們平時的作文寫得流利多了。

As mentioned above, after I became a university student, there was nothing more agreeable to me than the freedom I enjoyed in writing. During this period, being poor and busy, I lived a hard life. I was so hard up that I couldn't even afford the streetcar fare. And though I worked nonstop day and night, I still felt hard pressed for time to finish correcting papers and preparing lessons. That was because while I was a first-year student at the university, I concurrently taught Chinese at two middle schools. Just imagine a country girl fresh from middle school having the audacity to teach those husky young northerners! They certainly had every reason to call me "Child Teacher".

前面說過，我當了大學生之后，別的沒有什么高興，最使我覺得快樂的是我有了寫作的自由。這個時期，我的生活苦極了，又窮又忙；窮的連坐電車的錢也沒有，忙到夜以繼日地改卷子，預備功課，還不能把工作完成。原來當我在大一的時候，就兼了兩班中學國文；說起來真太冒險了，自己還是個剛跨出中學不久的鄉(xiāng)下姑娘，去教那些又高又大的北方青年?，怪不得他們要叫我“孩子先生”了?。

謝冰瑩于1929年5月從上海到達北平，不久考入北京女子師范大學，《我愛作文》是她在這時期寫的一篇散文。作者對當時學校作文教學的一些看法，至今仍有參考價值。