作品原文

段海峰 《认真严谨季羡林》

说起季羡林先生的认真，那是出了名的，有一回我供职的刊物要介绍季老，我打电话询问他的职务，他竟认真地把年龄、籍贯、职务等介绍逐一相告，连挂名的10多种职务亦不例外。他的意思是既然你问，我就要说清，含含糊糊有悖治学之道。

有一年，我住在北京大学勺园。因为住的时间长，就想起去拜望一下季老。既然同在一个校园，路途就不成问题，为防冒失，我先给季老打过电话，随后租辆自行车，5分钟后就来到未名湖畔，揿响了他家的门铃。

季老家住一楼，对面两套房室均是他的。初闻我甚觉惊讶，北京住房如此紧张，他竟住两套居室。后来一问才知，季老因为藏书多，家里堆放的书把人挤得几无下脚之地，他还带着日本等国的研究生，经常要在家中辅导。北京大学鉴于季老的成就和国际威望，特别再拨一套住房给他，这在北京大学尚属首例。季老将我让进东边一间，进门便是一排排书架，简直像个图书室。他把沙发上的书籍、信札搬到桌上，我才有落座的地方。他拉家常似的询问我一些情况，谦虚地称自己“老了，写不出什么东西了”。可是他的新著，却是一本连着一本。说了一会儿，电话铃响，他接完电话，又有人敲门，通知说下午有会。季老左右应付，也是忙中有差，他把写给我的题字写在老作家萧乾题字的背面。我接过来，觉得为难：这些字日后都要装裱的，现在两个大名人写在一张纸的正反面，我该装裱谁的呢？季老闻言，直怪自己不小心，说：“萧乾题字在先，我应该再补。这样吧，我随后用毛笔写个条幅寄给你，怎么样？”对这句话我不敢抱十分的信心，然而当我回到郑州不久，果然收到季老的来信，随信有毛笔写的题字，是朱熹的诗句：“少年易老学难成，一寸光阴不可轻。”这使我感动不已。

作品译文

The Conscientious and Rigorous Ji Xianlin

The conscientiousness of Professor JI Xianlin is well-known. Once the magazine for which I work intended to carry a biographical sketch of him. When I asked him over the telephone about his current position, he took the matter very Seriously and told me not only his position but also his age, place of birth, and over a dozen of his titular positions. His attitude seemed to be: Since you have asked me, I have to make everything clear. Vagueness and ambiguity are not in keeping with proper scholarship.

Years ago I stayed in the Shao Yuan Residence of Peking University. As it was quite a long period of time, I thought of paying the eminent Professor Ji a visit. Since we were on the same campus, I didn't have to worry about the distance. In order not to intrude unannounced, I phoned him first and then borrowed a bicycle. Five minutes later I arrived at the bank of Weiming Lake and pressed Professor Ji's door bell.

The Ji family lived on the ground floor, the two flats opposite one another in the corridor both belonging to him. When I first heard of this I was rather surprised. With housing in such short supply in Beijing, he occupied tow flats! Later I was told that Professor Ji had so many books piled up in his rooms that there was hardly any space left to allow a visitor in. Since he was supervising postgraduate students from Japan and other countries who often had to go his home for supervision, the Peking University authorities allocated one extra flat to him in recognition of his academic achievement and international renown. He was the first staff member, and so far the only one, who had two flats in Peking University. Professor Ji ushered me into a room on the eastside. Facing me were shelf after shelf of books, like a library. Only after he moved the books and letters from an armchair did I have a place to sit. As if idly chatting, he asked me some questions about myself and then said modestly that he was "too old to write anything decent". But his new works were being published one after another. After a while, the telephone rang. After he answered the phone, someone knocked at the door notifying him that there would be a meeting that afternoon. In the midst of coping with all of this activity, he mistakenly worte an inscription for me on the back of an inscription by the famous old writer Xiao Qian. When I took it from him, I felt very embarrassed. These inscriptions were both meant to be mounted and framed. Now that the two great celebrities had written on both sides of the paper, how was I supposed to mount it? Hearing my worry, Professor Ji blamed himself again and again for his carelessness and said, "Xiao Qian wrote his inscription first. I should write on another piece of paper as a replacement. Let's do it this way. In a few days I'll use my brush to write a scroll for you. Is it all right?" I was not very sure about the sincerity of his remarks. However, shortly after I returned to Zhengzhou, I indeed received a letter from him. Enclosed with the letter was an inscription he had written with a brush, quoting two lines from a poem by the famous Song-dynasty scholar Zhu Xi: "Growing old is easy for a young person, but scholarship is difficult. Therefore one must treasure every moment of life." I was deeply touched.