我的北京冬天
Beijing in Winter: It’s So Dear to Me!
文、译/林巍1
〔1〕对于冬天，人们一般会用些冷酷、萧瑟的字眼来形容；但北京的冬天对于我，却有着别样深切、浓重、惜情的感觉2。
[1] In describing winter, people prefer to use cold and bleak words. I have, however, formed a deep and strong attachment to Beijing’s winters.
〔2〕作为一个“老北京”，儿时的冬天是漫长的，但并不乏味，因为好像好吃、好玩的， 特别是那种别具特色的北京味儿3，一定是在冬天。
[2] As a native Beijinger, winters in Beijing during my childhood were lengthy but never boring since the delicious food and amusements characterizing Beijing were all related to winter.
〔3〕到了青壮年时，阴差阳错，我移民到了澳大利亚的昆士兰省(“阳光省”)，那里一年四季阳光普照，温暖如春。开始觉得很舒服，后来受不了4了。那时每当想起北京， 就会与这些事情联系在一起：鲁迅笔下清冷的四合院，那里“有两棵树，一棵是枣树，另一棵还是枣树”（后来明白了，那喻意着斗士孤傲、刚强的性格），老舍的骆驼祥子在呼呼的西北风中奔跑，林海音的“城南旧事”，李敖冬天中的法源寺……，还有就是那些遍布于北京各大公园、城根、河沟的正规、不正规的“冰场”。于是，在国外居住了十余年后，第一次回国，专门选了冬天，来重温5我的北京梦。
[3] As a young adult, I accidentally immigrated to Australia’s Queensland where the sun shines all year round: branded as a “sunshine state”, the climate is mild and springlike even in winter. After the initial excitement, I started to miss Beijing, which has always been intricately intertwined with such things as the chilly courtyard where “There are two trees, one is jujube and the other is jujube as well” wrote Lu Xun, symbolizing a fighter’s spirit and personality of solitude (as I later understood), the camel Xiang Zi (a character in a Lao She’s novel) running in the whirring of the northwest wind, Lin Haiyin’s Memories of Beijing, and Temple of Origin of the Dharma Gate by Li Ao, and all the authorized and unauthorized ice rinks in parks and rivers and near ancient ramparts spreading over Beijing in winter. It was precisely for this reason that I chose a winter to come back Beijing to revive dreams from my past.
〔4〕父母说，我有三样“童子功6”，会受益终生：滑冰、外语和写字（当时还未上升到“书法”高度）。滑冰是我从小学开始学的，这也沾了北京传统文化的光。
[4] My parents once told me that I had acquired three “skills gained from childhood” that would benefit me throughout my life, which are skating, foreign languages and hand writing (which didn’t quite reach the level of calligraphy at the time). I learned how to skate when I was a mere primary school student, nurtured by the traditional culture of Beijing.
〔5〕那时听老人讲，自打清末起，滑冰便是一项时尚的运动，称为“冰嬉”。因满清贵族来自东北，而北京的冬季也是河湖结冰且冰期很长，冰嬉曾作为皇家冬季一项重要消遣活动，还被乾隆皇帝定为“国俗”。冰嬉的项目主要是冰上蹴鞠，酷似打冰球。再有是跑冰，即冰嬉者穿上一种带有铁齿的鞋，在冰上溜行，比赛争先者夺标取胜。还有是“打滑挞”，冰嬉者从特制的冰山上往下滑，不倒者为胜。此外就是冰上杂戏了。故宫博物院藏有乾隆年间的《冰嬉图》，描绘的就是当时宫廷盛大的冰嬉场面。
[5] According to the elderly, ever since the late Qing Dynasty, skating had been a fashionable sport, dubbed bing xi or “ice playing”. Coming from the northeast, the aristocrats of the Qing Dynasty found the winter of Beijing quite agreeable, where the rivers and lakes were frozen for a pretty lengthy period. Once a royal pastime, Emperor Qianlong then further declared “ice- playing” a guosu or “national custom”. The “ice-playing” was all about Cuju, very much like ice hockey, together with “running on ice” (putting on a pair of shoes with iron teeth then drifting on ice to compete for the first prize). Another game called dahuata or “the big descent” was to sliding down a manmade iceberg and the slider would win if he or she could manage not to fall over. In addition, there were various ice-acrobatics. A painting named “Ice-playing” in the Palace Museum collection depicts the grand scene of the sport.
〔6〕据说清代每年腊八前后，受过训练的八旗子弟都要举行一场正式的比赛与表演， 即“冰嬉大典”。除了集体队列表演外，最引人眼球的是个人竞技部分，如金鸡独立、凤凰展翅、蜻蜓点水等高难度动作，绝不亚于今天的花样滑冰。
[6] It was said that every year around laba (on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month), the trained Banner Children would hold a formal game as an “ice-playing ceremony”. Apart from the collective cohort performance, the most eye-catching part was their individual athletics, such as posing as a “pheasant standing on one foot”, “phoenix spreading wings”, “dragonfly skimming the ice surface” and so on, their difficult moves being nothing less than today’s figure skating.
〔7〕由于官方的大力推动，冰上运动在北京民间遍地开花7，小孩儿很早便在冰上混，最开始时是坐冰车，记得是用一把木椅子，下面钉上铁条或铁丝，由别人推着或用铁钎子在冰上扎着走，从而有了最初的在冰上滑动、速行的感觉。稍大之后，不满足了，要在冰上站起来独行，于是以能穿上冰鞋为荣。
[7] Thanks to the official vigorous promotion, ice-sports became very popular among Beijing folks. Children started to play on the ice in their very early years, mostly with an “ice-chair” made by fixing iron bars or iron wires to the bottom of a wooden chair. They moved forward either by another’s pushing or by using iron drills, to gain their initial feeling of movement and speed on the ice. Later on, as they grew up a bit, they normally desired more independent moves on the ice and took great pride in wearing skating boots.
〔8〕就冰鞋的历史而言，晚清时，京津一带曾流行一种自制的冰鞋，俗称“凌鞋”， 由两块木板组成，上面分别钉着细铁条。人们将木板紧扎在鞋上，便可在冰面上如履平地。 每逢数九寒天，水面结冰，滑冰高手们便聚集到护城河冰面上，穿着凌鞋参加滑冰比赛， “如星驰电掣，争先夺标为胜”。据说，有人曾穿着这种自制的冰鞋，清早从朝阳门出发，顺着河道一路滑到通州，下午回来时手上端一碗通州的酱豆腐，以示自己跑了个来回。这在当时也成为老北京冬日的一景。
[8] As for the history of making skates, in the late Qing Dynasty, homemade skates known as “ice-shoes” were made from two pieces of wood with iron bars on the bottom. By tying the wood tightly to the shoes, one could “walk” fast on the ice as easily as on firm earth. Once the rivers were all frozen, the skillful skaters gathered on the city’s moats to compete being described as “moving as fast as flashing light to win the first prize”. It was also said that, wearing such homemade skates, someone could skate from Chaoyang Gate in the morning along the river course all the way to Tongzhou and return in the afternoon with a bowl of Tofu in their hands to show they had made the return journey, which was a typical scenario of old Beijing.
〔9〕到了民国初期，滑冰鞋的皮鞋可以由我国自行生产，再配上一副进口的冰刀，就成为中西合璧的滑冰鞋了。滑冰鞋价格的降低，以及北京天然滑冰场的开设，都为北京群众性冰上运动提供了必要条件，由此，北京的滑冰运动迅速普及起来。
[9] In the early of the Republic of China, skates could be produced by ourselves: a pair of ice-skate blades imported from the West and a pair of shoes made in China could combine to become perfect skates. The declining price of skates and the commercial operation of several natural ice rinks in Beijing provided the necessary conditions for ice-sports becoming popular among the locals in winters.
〔10〕说到北京的溜冰去处，首先想起的自然是什刹海冰场，如果北京的冰场也有老字号，那就非什刹海冰场莫属。什刹海本来就历史悠久，经过700多年的文化积淀，形成了其独特的魅力。这里原是古高梁河道，是一处天然水域，包括了前海、后海和积水潭。元建大都后，郭守敬奉旨修通惠河，引昌平白浮泉及以下诸泉入积水潭，形成了什刹海宽阔的水面，南来北往的粮船、商船停泊于此，以致“舳舻蔽水”；她的自然风光为燕京胜景之一，垂柳依依8，远山如黛，中国书画的意境在这里表现得淋漓尽致。到了冬天，什刹海万顷水面又变身为琉璃似的光滑冰面，成为一处天然的大冰场，“引无数京人来嬉冬”。那里面，又镶嵌了我儿时对北京的多少记忆！
[10] Concerning the places where people can skate, the first one that comes to mind has to be the ice rink in Shichahai: if there was such a thing as an old and famous skating enterprise, it would be nowhere but here. Shichahai, a place amassing a cultural history over 700 years, possesses a unique charm. Originally, it was an ancient sorghum-growing river, a natural water area comprising the former sea, backwater and billabong. After establishing the Yuan Dynasty (1271—1368), Guo Shoujing (1231—1316) was ordered by the emperor to repair the Tonghui River, channeling water from the White Spring and other small springs in Changping County to form the broad surface of the water in Shichahai, providing a port for victuallers and merchant ships of all routes to anchor, and the surface of the water was densely covered during busy times. Its natural beauty – weeping willows against the dim backdrop of distant hills – forms one of the eight sceneries of Yanjing and presents a perfect artistic conception depicted in traditional Chinese paintings. In the winter, the water surface becomes glassy ice, shaping a natural ice rink where “countless Beijingers are attracted to play”. For me, it is the place encapsulating endless memories during my childhood and youth!
〔11〕当年的文学作品《血色浪漫》里，男主角的一句问话，成了流行语9：“同学， 你去什刹海溜过冰吗？”而电视剧《梦开始的地方》中在什刹海溜冰的场面，女主角所说 的“五湖的、四海的水，不如什刹海的冰场美”，更是为人所乐道10。
[11] In those years, the hero’s query in the literary work Romantic Life became a popular sentence: “Classmate, have you skated in Shichahai?”And in a teleplay named The Place to Dream the heroine’s phrase had excited much interest among the public as well: “The water flowing to the east and west, when frozen in Shichahai is the best.”
〔12〕那会儿的时髦形象都在冰场上：小伙儿穿着压箱子底11的将校呢军装，戴羊剪绒的帽子，而姑娘们会围着大红的拉毛围巾，脚上蹬一双大老远从上海托人买来的黑色或白色小高跟滑冰鞋，吵闹、拉扯、“拍婆子12”，尽情在冰场上释放着自己。
[12] Fashionable images of the time were to be found on the ice rink: Boys wore worsted coat uniforms (often family heirlooms) and put on sheepskin hats, while girls normally sported scarves of royal scarlet with black or white medium heel skates on their feet, which were probably bought by somebody in Shanghai a thousand kilometres away. They were noisy, dragging and pulling and courting with abandon.
〔13〕当然，那时作为捕捉滑冰的去处，绝不只什刹海一地。特别是在正规冰场开放之前，天又足够冷了，我们便背起冰鞋，“哪里有冰那里去”。譬如，护城河，那原是古人用来维护城内安全、抵御攻城者的，后形成了一道风景，特别是在冬天，结了冰，变成了雪白色，上面又出现了东倒西歪的滑冰者。其实，北京的护城河，不是一潭死水，玉泉、白浮泉、密云诸水，皆是它的上源，而护城河还与转河、金水河、坝河、通惠河及“六海”相通，在京城的外围，形成了一个巨大的水路交通网。印象深刻的，是在故宫的护城河上滑冰，忽然感到，一边是历史的凝重，一边是现代的欢愉，古今对话，自然和谐13。
[13] The places we searched out for skating were surely not confined to Shichahai. Especially before the authorized ice rinks started to operate and the weather was cold enough, we picked up our skates and determinedly looked for rivers and lakes wherever they were frozen. Most often, we went to the city moats, which were originally used by the ancients to maintain security and defend invaders, later forming a landscape, especially in winter when they were frozen and became white, and stumbling figures appeared on the ice. In fact, moats in Beijing are not stagnant pools but are sourced by the waters of the Yuquan, White Spring, Miyun, as well as Zhuan, Jinshui, Ba and Tonghui rivers and the “Six Seas”, constituting a huge waterway network on the outskirts of the capital. One thing engraved in my memory was that one day when skating on the Forbidden City moat, I suddenly realized the harmonious communication between the solemn ancient and the entertaining present.
〔14〕此外，“寻冰”的地方还有北海公园、中山公园、紫竹院公园、玉渊潭、陶然亭等，如今随着北京—张家口冬奥会申办的成功，在这些地方相应都增加了一些冬季的游乐项目。
[14] Additional places suitable for skating, so at least it seemed us, also included Beihai, Zhongshan, Zizhuyuan, Yuyuantan, Taoranting and other parks. Since the success of Beijing- Zhangjiakou’s bid for the Winter Olympic Games, some facilities for winter sports have been installed in these parks.
〔15〕与此同时，是在冰面上的“抽汉奸”。所谓“汉奸” 其实就是个木制的陀螺（那时候买不起机器镟出来的陀螺，都是自己动手做的），即找一 段圆形的木棍或树干用小刀慢慢地将一头削成锥形，然后把握好需要的长度从锥形的上方锯下来，再到修自行车的车铺捡一颗滚珠镶在圆锥的底部便可。重要的，是把握好汉奸的身高和腰围，太胖了转不起来，太瘦了又容易倒。做好了汉奸再找一根小木棍，拴上一条布条，就能“抽”转起来。老人们说，因为小日本侵占了北京城，不少汉奸助纣为虐，于是老百姓就把陀螺当成汉奸来抽，以解心头之恨，后来这竟成了孩子们的一项冬季运动。在北京冬天的冰面上，还常可看到孩子们一边滑冰一边抽着汉奸，像是打冰球时带球滑行。鞭子功夫好的，可以边滑行边用鞭子控制高速转动的陀螺紧随自己平移，甚至让陀螺腾空跃起，越过障碍后再“钉”在冰上继续旋转。
[15] At the same time, another activity taking place on ice was “slashing traitors”. The so-called “traitor” was actually a wooden gyro. Since people then could not afford to buy machine- made ones, they all used ones made by themselves from a round stick or trunk. By shaping it into a conical block with a knife, chopping off everything above the cone-shape, taking it to the bicycle shop to set an iron ball on the bottom and enabling it to spin, a perfect “traitor” was then made. The point was to balance the proportion between the height and waist to avoid being too “fat” to spin or too “slim” to be stable. Holding a small stick tied with a piece of cloth one could then slash it to spin. As related by the elderly, during the Japanese occupation, some Chinese traitors assisted the invaders to perpetrate, so people made “traitors” to be slashed to resolve the hatred in their hearts, which later became a winter sport for children. On the ice during the Beijing winter, you can often find children skating while slashing “traitors”, very much like playing ice hockey. Some skillful ones can control the speedy gyros with the whip and make them roll in parallel, even levitate them to cross over hurdles and then descend to “nail” the ice, while still continuing to rotate.
〔16〕在不少“老北京 ”的记忆里，一定忘不了当年火爆至极的冰球赛。1981年，男子冰球世锦赛C组在北京举行，能容纳1.8万人的首都体育馆几乎场场爆满。据说，比赛引发的热潮席卷了整个京城，火爆度足以和今天的CBA总决赛相媲美。
[16] For many native Beijingers, an extremely popular ice hockey game may never be forgotten. In 1981, the men’s ice hockey Group C world championship was held in the capital stadium, where every section was filled to its full capacity of 18,000 people. It is said that the game triggered the upsurge in interest sweeping the whole city, matched by today’s CBA finals.
〔17〕可喜的是，自2016年以来，为积极响应“三亿人参与冰雪14”的号召，北京市各区已经开始统筹冰雪运动优势资源，因地制宜，加大力度推动冰雪项目的发展。同时，北京市体育局和市教委联合还启动了“百万青少年上冰雪15”项目，在未来将从六方面开展落实这一冰雪运动普及活动。
[17] To my delight, since 2016, in responding to the call to “involve 300 million people to participate in winter-sports”, Beijing’s districts have started to co-ordinate their advantageous resources in promoting the development of ice and snow events. Meanwhile, the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau and the City Board of Education have also jointly launched a project to “encourage a million youngsters to partake in ice and snow”, so as to popularize the winter sports from six aspects.
〔18〕现在，每当我冬天回到北京，都喜欢独自漫步在西北风中的小胡同，清冷寂静的公园，高耸的故宫城墙下，当然更少不了那结冰一片的湖畔。这时会深深意识到，所走的每一步16，都是历史，都是经历，都是现实；它们似乎都已过去，但又永远那么真切。惟其寒冷，更能显出其厚重与包容。我甚至想，没有在冬天来过北京的，不能算是真正到过北京。
[18] Nowadays, whenever I return to Beijing in winters, I like to stroll against strong winds in small alleys, cold and quiet parks, under the towering ramparts of the Forbidden City, and of course, along the frozen lakeside. With these steps, I cannot help but gain a deep sense of history, experience and reality. Things may have passed but they still appear vivid. The coldness in fact may manifest more of its profoundity and inclusiveness. I even wonder whether those who have been to Beijing outside of the winter season, have really been to Beijing.
〔19〕这样的北京是我的，也是你的，是千千万万有过同样感受17的人的。2022 年的冬天，当全球的冬季奥运健儿们来到这里时，多么希望他们都能从各自的角度，来分享18一份北京冬天里的情结！
[19] This kind of Beijing belongs to me, you and everybody who has been touched by the capital. In the winter of 2022, when the winter Olympic athletes of the world come here to participate in the events, I sincerely hope that they will all enjoy their own unique experience in the winter of Beijing.
（选自《英语世界》2017年冬奥会增刊）
注释：
1. 博士，暨南大学翻译学院特聘教授。北京人，现为澳籍，本文及个人以回忆的视角写出对北京冬季的怀想和感悟。
2. 这种“感觉”不是一般的 feeling、sense、perception、sensation、 become aware of 等，而是与前面的“深切、浓重、惜情”相关联，故形成一短语 formed a deep and strong attachment。
3. 这里的“北京味儿”不宜用 Beijing taste、Beijing flavor等，而是the character of Beijing, 这里用了其动词characterize。
4. 这里的“受不了”，不是一般的cannot bear something, cannot stand / take it anymore, 而是与下面的留恋北京冬天的情感相融合的，故变通为 I started to miss Beijing。
5. 这里的“重温”不是一般意义上review、furbish、go over, 而是想对北京旧梦的回顾，故用了 revive dreams。
6. “童子功”，一般的词典没有解释，只有根据其意思译为skills gained from childhood，也未见得完全吻合。
7. 表面意思是 blossom everywhere、flourish everywhere、be blooming everywhere (throughout the country)、be a mass of flowers，但这只是比喻，实际表现became very popular among Beijing folks。
8. 在古诗词里常用，如《诗经·采薇》的名句“昔我往矣 , 杨柳依依；今我来思 , 雨雪霏霏”，其中的“依依”，许渊冲注释为“杨柳柔弱随风摆动的样子”，但译为When I left here / Willows shed tear / I come back now / Snow bends the bough；此处又作了些变通：weeping willows against the dim backdrop of distant hills 即与后面的“远山如黛”融合在一起。
9. 可译为catchword、catch phrase、buzzword、buzz words，但这里是一句话，故用了a popular sentence。
10. 一般可译为 delight in talking about、take delight in talking about、indulge in elaborating on、dwell upon with great relish等；这里稍加引申，为 excited much public interest。
11. 字面意思是 the bottom of the box, 如I found the card at the very bottom of the box（我正是在箱子底找到这张卡片的），但此处实际指的是“传家宝”，故可译为 family heirloom、hereditary treasure 等。
12. 是上世纪六七十年代的流行语，意为to chase girls、to hang around with girls，这里将其泛指为男女青年间的打情骂俏，故不妨用 banter、flirt、court等。
13. 这里没有按字面意思译成natural harmony, 而是与前面的“古今对话”相结合，译为the harmonious communication。
14. 实际指的是“冰雪运动”，故宜译为winter-sports。
15. “上冰雪”，作为口号中的简化说法，意思是让他们参加冰雪运动，不妨也简译为to take part in ice and snow。
16. 这里不一定是every step, 而是“融入在了这些步子之中”，故用了with these steps。
17. 这里不是一般的feeling、experience、receipt等，而是一种感染，即emotionally affected，故用了touch。
18. 一般用share、partake of等，而enjoy的本义是get pleasure from…用在这里，有更积极之意。