腊叶

A piece of wax-like leaf

文/鲁迅   译/黎历

By Luxun /Tr. By Lily

灯下看《雁门集》，忽然翻出一片压干的枫叶来。

While I was reading the ‘Collections of Yanmen’ under the lamp, a piece of pressing dried maple leaf was suddenly pulled out.

这使我记起去年的深秋。繁霜夜降，木叶多半凋零，庭前的一株小小的枫树也变成红色了。我曾绕树徘徊，细看叶片的颜色，当他青葱的时候是从没有这么注意的。他也并非全树通红，最多的是浅绛，有几片则在绯红地上，还带着几团浓绿。一片独有一点蛀孔，镶着乌黑的花边，在红，黄和绿的斑驳中，明眸似的向人凝视。我自念：这是病叶呵！便将他摘了下来，夹在刚才买到的《雁门集》里。大概是愿使这将坠的被蚀而斑斓的颜色，暂得保存，不即与群叶一同飘散罢。

It reminded me of the late autumn of last year. Heavy frost fell at night, and most foliage was withered. In the courtyard, a tiny maple tree turned into red. I was wandering around it, scrutinizing the color of its leaves. When it was lush green, I never paid it such an attention. In fact, not all of the leaves were red throughout. At most they were only crimson in color, with some dark green halos. One leaf had a small bore hole, trimmed with dark black lace. Amid red, yellow and green speckles, it stared at you like a bright eye. I said to myself: oh, what a sick leaf! And then I plucked it off and put it inside my newly purchased book, ‘Collections of Yanmen’. Probably I was willing to temporarily keep the gorgeous colors of a falling sick leaf, not letting it drifting away along with other leaves.

但今夜他却黄蜡似的躺在我的眼前，那眸子也不复似去年一般灼灼。假使再过几年，旧时的颜色在我记忆中消去，怕连我也不知道他何以夹在书里面的原因了。将坠的病叶的斑斓，似乎也只能在极短时中相对，更何况是葱郁的呢。看看窗外，很能耐寒的树木也早经秃尽了；枫树更何消说得。当深秋时，想来也许有和这去年的模样相似的病叶罢，但可惜我今年竟没有赏玩秋树的余闲。

But tonight it was lying in front of me like a piece of yellow wax. Its eyes were not as shining as last year. A few years later, its old colors will be erased from my mind. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to know why I put it inside this book. It seems that the gorgeous colors of a falling sick leave can only be kept for a relatively transient time, not to mention its lush green color. Looking out of the window, the very hardy trees have gone bald for a long while, let alone the maple. When the late autumn of this year comes, I thought I might as well encounter a sick leaf resembling the one from last year. But unfortunately I actually had no leisure time to admire the beauty of autumn trees.

一九二五年十二月二十六日

December 26, 1925