Before-Bedtime Stories
Jute strings run between trees and they are
Ladders to fend off the cutting winds
We are hanging half sliced sweet potatoes, one by one
Our hands and mouth numb, nose-tips aching and snivel stringing down
Papa told us ghost stories from the classical collection
One after another, keeping us awake and doing the tiresome work
Sky is most dazzling in the coldest winter
And even when the work is done, we dared not go home alone
讲古
屋后的树档之间拉了很多绳子
在刺骨的北风中
我们将剡好的山芋晾上去
手与嘴都很麻木，鼻尖很疼，感觉不到鼻涕
这时候爸爸才会讲聊斋故事
一个接着一个，我们疲惫不堪但期待得毫无睡意
星空那么灿烂
晾完了，我们也不敢一个人回家
Behind My Family
One day, I was told to boil cornmeal porridge
And Mother came in to stir
So that it would not overflow
And Mother found that in the depth of the boiling pan
There is an egg and she did not scold my act of leaching
But merely mumbled
"You’ll eat an egg, while the family share the hen’s dropping"
I broke into tears
Suddenly realizing that I did not wash the egg
Mother scooped it out, chilled it in cold water
For peeling the shell in its entirety, and while I was busy weeping
A soft white solid oval was in my palm
With the consoling voice: Eat quickly before your brothers came.
I do not remember whether I ate the egg or not
Most probably I did, I guess
This is a clay stove that looked very similiar to ours when I was a child, but this one is smaller, perhaps for a family of two or three. The bigger black iron pan is for both boiling and cooking dishes. For a family of five or above, normally there are two or even three boiling pans in one oven, and the pan in this picture can be the smallest one. In the countryside, big pans are also used for boiling food for domestic cattle and pigs. We usually burn stalks of corn, wheat, cotton and soybeans, so there is a big space behind the oven.
偷嘴
有一次，我煮晚饭
锅开时，妈妈来搅锅
免得瀑出来
妈妈发现我偷煮了一个鸡蛋
只是说了一句：
“你吃鸡蛋，全家吃鸡屎”
我顿时忍不住放声大哭
因为鸡蛋没洗
妈妈将鸡蛋捞出来
用冷水激了一下，剥了皮
说：“快吃，别让你弟妹们看见”
现在我竟然忘了
当时到底吃了没有
我想我肯定还是吃了
After Winter Solstice
After Winter Solstice, the days became increasingly weary
Yes, weary. I was small, but I had learned
How weary life was growing
Every of the three meals was the same, cornmeal porridge
With dried sweet potato strips
To go with pickled turnip chips
Very often we kids would stir the bowl
Till the porridge became water and cornmeal again
When my brother and I entered our ninth grade
Mother would give us a glass of egg broth
Sometimes even with sugar
Mother said that now we were in the ninth grade
We should have something to nourish our brains
That year, Mother had hepatitis
入冬后
入冬后，日子越过越令人厌倦
是的，那时候我还很小
可我已懂得什么叫厌倦
每天都是山芋干玉米粥
就着腌萝卜干
经常，筷子搅得碗里淀汤
到了初二，每个早晨，妈妈
为哥哥和我用开水冲一只鸡蛋
有时甚至会加一点糖
妈妈说我们读初二了，要补脑子
那时，妈妈慢性肝炎
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