作品原文

谢冰莹 《海恋》

对于大自然的爱好，我是多方面的，我爱山，但更爱海。

自从来到厦门，我几乎天天都要到海滨去散步，踏在那细软的沙子上，有一种说不出来的舒适。当海风卷起雪浪来袭击海岸时，在美丽的浪花里，会拾到许多小巧玲珑的贝壳，和五色斑斓的小石子；还有那些碧绿的海草，长的像秀发，又美又可爱。我更爱躺在洁净轻柔的细沙上，静听着海潮的倾诉；当微风轻轻地从我的身边掠过，那种又清凉又轻松的感觉，真是舒适极了，甜美极了!

谁能否认海的伟大呢?我爱海，并不仅仅因为她的颜色美丽，和藏在海底那许多有趣的玩艺儿，而是爱她的胸襟广阔，化污秽为清洁。她容纳无数的细流，尽管它们的颜色有黑的也有黄的，一旦流到了海的怀抱，便立刻变成碧绿的了。碧绿是代表和平，代表一种静美。一个人，哪怕他的脾气有如虎狼那么凶暴，我相信如果长住在海滨，一定会变得和羔羊一般驯良；同时，那些心怀狭隘的人，如果常与海做朋友，我相信他也会改变成豪爽，痛快的性格。

厦门，真是个风景幽美的所在，四周被海环抱，街道是那么广阔，清洁；对岸是鼓浪屿，西边是南普陀，只要你的身体健康，你可以一天换一个地方游览。

世界上往往有许多巧事，是你没有想到的；我来到厦门中学教书，完全是一种意外的收获。庄校长奎章，虽然是师大的同学，我们却并不认识，是抵厦门的第二天，我随便到厦中去参观，看见校舍建筑在高高的山坡上，面临着海，风景非常幽美，于是就信步走进去，无意中会到了庄校长，随便谈起来，他就要请我去教国文；然而我当时不能决定，因为我还需要去游历闽西。后来一连接到庄校长好几封催我去厦门的信，我觉得有点太冒险，和一个陌生的人共事，将来如果意见不合又怎么办呢?其实我这顾虑是多余的，庄是个非常厚道的人，他的太太尤其忠厚温和，对待同事都很热情，好像他就是一个家长，没有课时，大家围在他的家里聊天，谈笑自如，非常有趣。

我到厦中时，还没有开学，正是热得要命的时候，庄先生夫妇约我去洗海水浴，差一点我被海浪卷去了生命。原来我生平没有看见人家游泳过，只在画报上看到一些游泳的照片，既然来到了海滨，而且天气这么热，自然我想下水去练习练习；没想到海浪是这么可怕的，它突然袭来，我被卷去了丈多远，口里灌进去很多海水，咸得我大声叫喊“救命呀!救命呀!”他们连忙把我的膀子捉住，又是一个大浪打来，把我们卷去了丈多远。海水越来越深，连最会游泳的都失去了控制的能力，何况我是个初下水的人?

后来他们好容易才把我拖到海滩上来，经过这一次危险后，我再也不敢尝试游泳了，我只高兴静静地一个人坐在沙滩上看书，晒太阳，或者拾贝壳。真的，对于拾贝壳，我发生了莫大的兴趣，每天回来，袋子里都是装得满满的；我把它们摆在书桌上，分成很多种类，向同事们夸耀。有些被他们抢走了，我也不心痛，因为第二天，我又可以跑去海滩拾许多同样的回来。

我对于海，好像着了魔似的一天比一天迷恋起来，我爱它，甚至一天也不能离开它。有时清早起来便奔向海滨，迎接血红的太阳由海边升起；有时特地在阳光将要落山的时候，去领略海滩的黄昏滋味。我更爱看矗立在海中央的灯塔，我佩服那守灯塔的人，他每天机械地守住自己的岗位，给与往来的航行者一种光明的指示；假若没有他，这海面将被黑暗所包围，来往的船只，随时都有触着暗礁的危险。

我爱海，我愿意将来有那么一天，筑两间茅屋在海滨，整天听柔风和海涛蜜语，看海水吻着海滩；如果那时我还有痛苦的话，(其实，我知道，痛苦会永远地跟随着我的。)我可以悄悄地投进海的怀抱，让雄壮的海涛，为我奏着挽歌，温柔的海风，轻轻地抚摸着我浮在碧波上的尸体；月儿和星星放出慈祥的光辉为我追悼。就这样，悄悄地没有一个人知道，除了月亮，星光，风和海，我离开了这苦恼的人间，该是多么美，多么快乐……

英文译文

I Love the Sea
Xie Bingying

I love diverse aspects of Mother Nature, but I love the sea more than the mountain.

Ever since I came to Xiamen, I've been in the habit of going for a walk along the seashore almost every day. It gives me an indescribable pleasant sensation to step on the spongy fine sand. When the sea wind dashes the snow-white billows against the beach, I can pick up from among the brilliant spray many pretty shells and colourful pebbles, as well as some lovely green seaweed as delicate as human hair. I’ m even more inclined to lie on the clean and soft sandy beach and listen quietly to the sea unbosoming itself. How comfortable and refreshed I will be to feel the cool gentle sea breeze brushing past me!

There is no denying the mightiness of the sea. I love her not only because she has the beautiful hues and many intriguing objects hidden deep underneath her, but also because she is broad and liberal enough to turn the foul into the pure. The numerous small rivers that she accommodates may be of a black or yellow colour, but once they flow into her bosom, they instantly take on the green colour signifying peace and tranquillity. A person with a terrifying hot temper will become, I believe, as meek as a lamb after a long stay by the seashore. Likewise, I believe a narrow-minded person will become tolerant and open-hearted if he often keeps company with the sea.

Surrounded by the sea on all sides, the city of Xiamen is really picturesque with clean wide avenues. Facing it on the opposite bank is Gulangyu, the famous tourist resort, and in the west is Nanputuo, one of the local scenic spots. Here you can choose to tour a different place of interest each day if you feel fit enough.

Lots of things happen by mere coincidence in this world. It has been an unexpected piece of luck for me to become a teacher at Xiamen Middle School. Zhuang Kuizhang, headmaster of the school, was a stranger to me when we first met though he has been a schoolmate of mine at Beijing Normal University. The middle school is located high up on a mountain slope facing the sea. On the second day after my arrival at Xiamen, I was so struck by the beauty of the school environment that I went sauntering into the campus where Zhuang and I met by accident and started chatting. He asked me if I would like to be a teacher of Chinese at his school, but, as I was to go on a tour to western Fujian, I could not say yes or no immediately. Later he wrote me again and again urging me to go back to Xiamen to pick up the teaching post. At first, I had misgivings about working together with a person whom I knew so little. What if he and I should fail to agree with each other in the future? My worries, however, turned out to be uncalled-for. Zhuang is very honest and kind-hearted. So is his wife, if not more. He treats all the teaching staff with warmth of heart as if he were head of a big family. We will often go together to his home to spend our free hours chatting cheerfully.

I came back to Xiamen to fill the teaching post before school began. It was unbearably hot, so Mr. Zhuang and his wife invited me to go seabathing with them. But surprisingly it ended up in my narrow escape from the surging waves. As I had never in my life seen people swim except in some pictorials and as the weather was so hot, I, being at the seaside and not knowing how dreadful the sea could become, naturally felt like having a go at dabbling in the water. Suddenly the violent waves came upon me and carried me quite a few metres away. “Help! Help!" I cried out with lots of salty sea-water in my mouth. They rushed to my rescue. But no sooner had they seized me by the arm than the surging waves returned to carry all of us quite a few metres away. In an increasingly rough sea, even a good swimmer may lose all control over himself, let alone me, an absolute beginner in the art of swimming.

It was with much effort that they managed to drag me onto the beach. Since then, I’ve never dared to have a go at swimming again. All I do is sit quietly on the beach reading and basking in the sunshine, or go collecting shells. True, shells have aroused in me so much interest that every day I will come back from the seaside with pockets bulging with shells. I’11 lay out my new acquisitions on the desk in many classified groups so as to show off before my colleagues. They may take away some of the shells, but I don’t care at all, for the next day I can bring back from the beach as many replacements.

I’ve become more and more crazy about the sea. I never let a day pass without seeing it with my own eyes. Sometimes, as soon as I get up, I’11 hasten to the seashore to greet the blood—red sun rising from the distant edge of the sea. Sometimes, I’ll go to the beach at sunset for the special purpose of enjoying the twilight scene. I’m even more fascinated by the lighthouse standing in the middle of the sea. My hat off to the lighthouse keeper for drudging at the tedious task of providing ships with a flashing light lest they should run up on rocks in the dark sea!

I love the sea. I wish I could someday live by the sea in a thatched cottage of my own so that I could all day listen to the soft breeze and the sea communicating with each other in sweet whispers and watch the rolling waves kissing the beach. If I should then have great sufferings (as a matter of fact, I know I can never steer clear of sufferings), I’ll quietly plunge myself into the bosom of the sea, and let the mighty waves strike up a funeral hymn for me, the gentle sea breezes softly caress my dead body floating about on the blue waters, and the moon and stars mourn over my death with their tender light. How wonderful it will be for me quietly to take leave of this afflicted mortal world without the knowledge of anyone except the moon and stars, and the wind and sea!