Category Archives: récits

今天，8月25，吃晚饭的时候，听到 Dolly Parton 去世的新闻。我想说点什么，可一开口，声音就颤了起来，嗓子也哑了，眼睛开始发潮，几乎就要轻轻地抽泣起来。我不想让妻子看见我这个样子，只好拼命把情绪掩饰过去。到底掩饰住了没有，我也不知道
👆点击文章标题阅读全文👆

I learned of Dolly Parton’s passing tonight at the dinner table. I tried to say something, but my voice trembled and became hoarse, my eyes grew moist, and I found myself teetering on the edge of a soft sob. I didn’t want my wife to see me like that, so I tried my best toContinueContinue reading “BMX Biking with Jolene”

一个陌生人。看上去很年轻。年轻到什么程度？你要是仔细看，甚至还能从她的神情里看出些许未成人的样子——一丝不自信感，些丝疑虑，仿佛对自己这么年轻就要走进成年人的世界，甚至走进做母亲这件事，还没有完全准备好。再看那张嘴，那两片微微开启着的嘴唇，前面那些让人想到成熟感的东西，又都瞬间又消失了，余下的唯有未经世事的天真与稚气。
👆点击标题阅读全文👆

我是上大学时第一次读到圣奥古斯丁的。有一年暑假回家，我打开刚买来的《忏悔录》。才刚刚翻开第一页，我就被震住了。在那以前，我一辈子从来没有读过这样的文字：如此纯粹，如此无私，如此彻底而又毫不掩饰地倾诉自己的爱，以及这种爱带给他的喜悦
👆点击文章标题阅读全文👆

1 I lately got back in touch with a girl I was supposed to marry many years ago. I learned that she was still single, though she had a grown child. I also learned that she had converted to Christianity, to what sounded to me like a denomination somewhere in the broad Protestant tradition, perhapsContinueContinue reading “Unconditional Love”

1 I’m looking at this picture of this young woman, probably taken when she was twenty-five, or no older than twenty-six. Lately, I’ve been looking at it quite a bit. But the more I look at it, the more confused I become. I don’t mean I’m getting confused about the identity of the person inContinueContinue reading “Portrait of a Stranger”

快到中午的时候，我的另一个表亲也到表哥家来看我。是个跟我同岁的姑娘。身体结实而丰满，浑身都是青春活力，一双眼睛亮闪闪的，笑起来让人忍不住跟着她笑。

在这以前，我知道自己有一个女表亲，知道去洛阳要见到她。可我当时心理上根本没有准备好。对我来说表姐只是个概念而已。谁会想到表姐居然会是一个热得跟太阳一样的年轻女子，会是个人一出场，就把你心里原有的东西全都弄得颠三倒四的女子
👆点击标题阅读全文👆

1. Little Devils and Knuckle Raps Growing up, we had no idea our mother was Hakka; we didn’t even know she was Cantonese, from the Province of Canton. We were aware that her looks weren’t exactly like those of the people around us, and that her speech wasn’t exactly like everyone else’s at the hospitalContinueContinue reading “Growing Up Hakka in Non-Hakka Land”

那时候，我们一家住在萨默维尔。有课的日子，坐高地街的公交，到戴维斯换乘地铁红线进城。第一天进城去上课，站在戴维斯地铁站台上等车时，忽然瞅见脚下那些铺地的红砖上刻着字。我感觉好奇，便慢慢后退，一便退，一边识读刻在红砖地上字。不知情的人，以为我不小心掉了个小镍币，在站台上来回找。只不过，我找的不是硬币，而是字。一个词认出来了，又认出一个；一行连起来了，又是一行。没多久，我意识到，自己是在读一首刻在地上的诗。

I’m nobody; are you nobody too?
Then there’s a pair of us.
Hush! Or they’ll banish us, you know.

我是个普通人；你也是吗？
那就有一对了。
嘘！别吱声，不然会被赶出去。
👆点击文章标题阅读全文👆

I was in Boston in 1997, just out of grad school, with no book titles under my belt and little teaching experience. All I had was a terminal degree, which every Jack and Jill in the shared office for adjunct faculty seemed to have. I was, to put it another way, a nobody. I alsoContinueContinue reading “My Run-in with Emily”