The books

  I and the books separate soon . Althought I'm not a hero , I have the feeling of sadness ,namely have no alternative .

  The books had arrived at my home since 1949, the year the country was liberated .At first they came piecemeal and, later, in set of bulk.some of them form Peking and Tianjin,and some from Suzhou ang Hangzhou .At first , I haven't much maney to buy them , so miss them .Then befor that I use  lot of maney to buy them generous at one time .Ina word , for more then thirty years , I and the books can be called "old friends".

  The ten chaotic years , I can't think about myself too much , and I treat those books unintentionally and powerless . But, they from those place to another suffering with torture , dampness , trample and damage , then come back in the end . I feel regreat for those that I have been lost . But , I don't hope to find them because compare with them , the thin-gs that I have been lost were more and important .

  Befor the books came back to my family , I regard them as usual . No matter what size , value , time and appearance , if I want keep , I treat them impartially , in cluding the one that tide over the difficult days with me . Cleaning , putting , propitiating and plainting , maybe all of this they already found .

This recently years , I aad some new copanion for them .When this new books came into my bookshelf I imprint the seal and write them name no longer . I only wrap them new covers to remeber the days they came and with me .

This because I am aware of that I will say goodbye to them soon. My destiny was arrenged befor I can hold . But I know I can't predict the destiny of those books , and also can't ensure .

                          Translated by Karen

《书籍 》孙犁

  我与书籍，即将分离。我虽非英雄， 颇有骇下之感， 即无可奈何。

  这些书，都是在全国解放之后，来到我家的。最初零零碎碎，中间成套成批。有的来自京沪，有的来自苏杭。最初，囊中羞涩，也曾交臂相失。中间也曾一掷百金，稍有豪气。总之，时历三十余年，我同它们，可称故旧。

  十年浩劫，我自顾不暇，无心也无力顾及它们。但它们辗转多出，经受折磨、潮湿、践踏、撞破，终于还是回来了。失去了一些，我有些惋惜，但也不愿去寻觅它们，因为我失去的东西，比起他们，更多也更重要。

  它们回到寒舍以后，我对它们的情感如故。 书无分大小、贵贱、古今、新旧，只要是我想保存的，因之也同我共过患难的，一视同仁。洗尘、安置、抚慰、唏嘘，它们大概已经体味到了。

  近几年，有为它们添加了一些新伙伴。当这些新书，进入我的书架，我不再打印章，写名字，只是给它们包裹一层新装，记下到此的岁月。

  这是因为，我意识到，我不久就会同它们告别了。我的命运是注定了的。但它们各自的命运，我是不能预知，也不能担保的。

  突然心血来潮，翻译了一篇短文，还有点难度。仅仅是直译，虽比不上专业翻译，但是也是尽力了。活到老学到老。