祖父和燈火管制
           ——冰心 
    一九一一年秋，我們從山東煙臺回到福州老家去。在還鄉的路上，母親和父親一再囑咐我(2)，“回到福州住在大家庭里，不能再像野孩子(3)似的，一切都要小心。對長輩們不能沒大沒小的。祖父是一家之主，尤其要尊敬……” 
    到了福州，在大家庭里住了下來，我覺得我在歸途中的擔心是多余的。祖父、伯父母、叔父母(4)和堂姐妹兄弟(5)，都沒有把我當作野孩子，大家也都很親昵平等，并沒有什么“規矩”。我還覺得我們這個大家庭是幾個小家庭的很松散的組合(6)。每個小家庭都是各住各個的，各吃各的，各自有自己的親戚朋友，比如說，我們就各自有自己的“外婆家(7)”！ 
    就在這一年，也許是第二年吧，福州有了電燈公司。我們這所大房子里也安上了電燈，這在福州也是一件新鮮事，我們這班孩子跟著安裝的工人們滿房子跑，非常地興奮歡喜！我記得這電燈是從房頂上吊下來的，每間屋子都有一盞，廳堂上和客室里的五十支光，臥房里的光小一些，廚房里的就更小了。我們這所大房子里至少也五六十盞燈，第一夜亮起來時，真是燈火輝煌，我們孩子們都拍手歡呼！ 
    但是總電門是安在祖父的屋里的。祖父起得很早也睡得很早(8)，每晚九點鐘就上床了。他上床之前，就把電閘關上，于是整個大家庭就是黑沉沉的一片！ 
    我們剛回老家(9)，父母親和他們的兄弟妯娌(10)都有許多別情要敘，我們一班弟兄姐妹，也在一起玩得正起勁(11)，都很少在晚九點以前睡的。為了防備(12)這驟然的黑暗，于是每晚在九點以前，每個小家庭都在一兩間屋里，點上一盞捻得很暗的煤油燈。一到九點，電燈一下子都滅了，這幾盞煤油燈便都捻亮了，大家相視而笑，又都在燈下談笑玩耍。只有在這個時候，我才體會到我們這個大家庭是一個整體，而祖父是一家之主！

注釋： 
本文寫于1982年7月22日，是冰心回憶故鄉和童年的一篇深情佳作。文章娓娓述來，形象地再現了童年時代家鄉生活片斷。 
(1)“燈火管制”本指戰時防空停電，作者用它指每夜定時關燈，有些俏皮。譯文結合文章內容增添Nightly一詞。在英語中，blackout一詞既可指“戰時燈火管制”，也可一般的“停電”，譯文所指是后者。又blackout也可換用power cut或power failure等。 
(2)“一再地囑咐我”意即“一再地告誡我”，譯為warned me again and again，比enjoined (或exhorted) me again and again通俗。 
(3)“野孩子”不宜按字面直譯為wild child。現譯為naughty child，其中naughty常用來指孩子“不聽話”。 
(4)“伯父母、叔父母”在英語以uncles和aunties兩詞概括即可。 
(5)“堂姐妹兄弟”在英語以cousins一詞概括即可。 
(6)“幾個小家庭的很松散的組合”譯為a loose community of several smaller ones，其中不妨以community代替combination；community為近代英語所常用。 
(7)“外婆家”指由婚姻而結成的親戚，如岳父母、妻子的兄弟姐妹等等，現以in-laws一詞概括之。 
(8)“起得很早也睡得很早”在英語有現成的表達：kept early hours。如逐字直譯為got up early and went to bed early似欠簡潔。 
(9)“剛回老家”譯為Having set foot in our old home，其中set foot in是成語，作“進入”、“踏上”解。 
(10)“妯娌”指兄弟的妻子，以in-laws表達即可。 
(11)“正起勁”意同“盡情地”，故譯to our heart’s content。 
(12)“防備”譯為in anticipation of，意即“預計到……（而采取措施）”。

Grandpa and Nightly Blackout 
                            ——Bing Xin 
    In the autumn of 1911, we returned from Yantai of Shandong Province to our native place Fuzhou.  While on the way, my parents warned me again and again, “Since we’ll be living in a big family in Fuzhou, remember always to behave properly and never act like a naughty child. Show respect for your elders, particularly your grandpa, who is head of the family…” 
    After settling down in the big family in Fuzhou, however, I found that my previous worries on the way turned out to be unfounded. My grandpa, uncles, aunties and cousins never thought me a naughty child. We treated each other lovingly and equally. There never existed anything like “family rules of good behaviour”. I also found that the big family was a loose community of several smaller ones, which lived and ate separately. They each had their own relatives and friends, for example, their own in-laws. 
    That year, or the year after, Fuzhou began to have its own power company and electric lights were to be installed in our big house too. That was something new in our home town. We kids, wild with excitement and joy, ran here and there in the house at the heels of the electricians. Each room, I remember, had an electric lamp hanging from the ceiling. The drawing room had a 50-watt bulb; the bedrooms each a lower-wattage one; the kitchens each an even-lower-wattage one. The whole big house at least had a total of some 60 electric lamps. The first evening when they were turn on, the whole house was suddenly ablaze with lights, we kids clapped with joy. 
The master switch was fixed in grandpa’s room. Grandpa, who kept early hours, would switch off all the lights when he went to bed at 9 o’clock in the evening, thus plunging the whole big house into deep darkness. 
    Having just set foot in our old home, we seldom slept before 9 o’clock in the evening. For it was but natural that after the long separation, my parents enjoyed hearty chats about the old days with their brothers and in-laws, and we kids of the younger generation played about together to our heart’s content. Hence, in anticipation of the sudden blackout at 9 o’clock, each small family would get a dimly-lit kerosene lamp ready in a couple of their rooms. No sooner had the big house been blacked out on the hour than we turned up the wicks of all the kerosene lamps. And, looking and smiling at each other, we would continue to chat and play merrily by the light of the kerosene lamps. 
     It was then that I realized what a complete whole our big family was, with grandpa as its head.