Rules of the Game

By: Amy Tan (b.1952-)

游戏规则 (一)

I was six when my mother taught me the art of invisible strength. It was a strategy for winning arguments, respect from others, and eventually, though neither of us knew it at the time, chess games.

"Bite back your tongue," (hold back your tongue, lest you say something you will regret. ) scolded my mother when I cried loudly, yanking (猛拉（某物）) her hand toward the store that sold bags of salted plums (李子). At home, she said, "Wise guy, he not go against wind. In Chinese we say, Come from South, blow with wind—poom!—North will follow. Strongest wind cannot be seen." (The strongest way to win an argument is to keep to yourself,)( 最厉害，最可怕的力量是那些幕后的，可以掀起天翻地伏，却又不留痕迹。)

The next week I bit back my tongue as we entered the store with the forbidden candies. When my mother finished her shopping, she quietly plucked(拉；抽) a small bag of plums from the rack and put it on the counter with the rest of the items.

My mother imparted (传授) her daily truths so she could help my older brothers and me rise above our circumstances. We lived in San Francisco's Chinatown. Like most of the other Chinese children who played in the back alleys of restaurants and curio(小件珍奇物品) shops, I didn't think we were poor. My bowl was always full, three five-course meals every day, beginning with a soup full of mysterious things I didn't want to know the names of.

We lived on Waverly Place, in a warm, clean, two-bedroom flat that sat above a small Chinese bakery specializing in steamed pastries(糕点) and dim sum (点心). In the early morning, when the alley was stilt quiet, I could smell fragrant red beans as they were cooked down to a pasty (肉馅饼) sweetness. By daybreak, our flat was heavy with the odor of fried sesame balls and sweet curried(加了咖喱（或咖喱粉的），用咖哩粉调理的) chicken crescents. From my bed, I would listen as my father got ready for work, then locked the door behind him, one-two-three clicks. (三道鎖)

At the end of our two-block alley was a small sandlot(小孩们的运动用空地) playground with swings and slides well-shined down the middle with use. The play area was bordered (和…毗邻) by wood-slat benches (长凳；长椅) where old-country people sat cracking roasted watermelon seeds(喀瓜子) with their golden teeth and scattering(散射（scatter的ing形式）； 散布； 驱散) the husks(壳，荚)to an impatient gathering of gurgling(作咯咯声) pigeons. The best playground, however, was the dark alley itself. It was crammed (满的，挤满的) with daily mysteries and adventures. My brothers and I would peer into the medicinal herb shop, watching old Li dole out (发放;发给) onto a stiff sheet of white paper the right amount of insect shells, saffron(藏红花色的； 橘黄色的)-colored seeds, and pungent(辛辣的； 刺激性的) leaves for his ailing (生病的； 不舒服的) customers. It was said that he once cured a woman dying of an ancestral curse that had eluded (不为…所明白) the best of American doctors. Next to the pharmacy was a printer who specialized in gold-embossed wedding invitations and festive red banners.(春聯)

Farther down the street was Ping Yuen Fish Market. The front window displayed a tank crowded with doomed(难逃一死的) fish and turtles struggling to gain footing on the slimy(似黏液的；   黏滑的 ) green-tiled sides. A hand-written sign informed tourists, "Within this store, is all for food, not for pet." Inside, the butchers with their bloodstained white smocks(工作服) deftly(熟练地) gutted(取出…的内脏 ) the fish while customers cried out their orders and shouted, "Give me your freshest," to which the butchers always protested, "All are freshest." On less crowded market days, we would inspect the crates (装货箱；   一箱（之量） )of live frogs and crabs which we were warned not to poke(刺，戳 ), boxes of dried cuttlefish(乌贼，墨鱼), and row upon row of iced prawns, squid, and slippery (滑溜的) fish. The sanddabs (比目魚) made me shiver each time; their eyes lay on one flattened side and reminded me of my mother's story of a careless girl who ran into a crowded street and was crushed by a cab. "Was smash flat," reported my mother.