頭髮 Hair

Hair

头发

Today the main road through this village was suddenly decorated with many beautiful leaves, stretching all the way to the edge of the oak grove outside the village.

这村里底大道今天忽然点缀了许多好看的树叶,一直达到村外底麻栗林边.

穿The people of the village, men and women alike, were all dressed very neatly, as if for some great festival day. But in the sixth month there was no important

村里底人,男男女女都穿得很整齐.像举行什么大节期一样.但六月间没有重要的

festival, and even a wedding would not call for such a fuss — so what could it possibly be for?

节期,婚礼也用不着这么张罗,到底是为甚事?

The men over there were all singing their songs, and the women joined in too. I simply stood quietly to one side, watching.

那边底男子们都唱着他们底歌,女子也都和着.我只静静地站在一边看.

A troop of soldiers was escorting a bhikkhu in the prime of life, advancing up the road from the far end. When the villagers saw him coming, they sang even

一队兵押着一个壮年的比丘从大道那头进前.村里底人见他来了,歌唱得更

louder. The women all let their hair down, vying with one another to kneel by the roadside and spread their hair across the road.Seen from a distance, it looked exactly like a whole bolt

大声.妇人们都把头发披下来,争着跪在道傍,把头发铺在道中?从远一望,直像整匹

of black silk laid out there. The bhikkhu walked calmly across the women's hair;and the men behind him all shouted,

底黑练摊在那里.那位比丘从容地从众女人底头发上走过;后面底男子们都嚷着,

!』'O praiseworthy peacock banner!'

『可赞美的孔雀旗呀!』

Their shouting suddenly reminded me — wasn't this the very day that Dharma Master Meng, the champion of self-government, was to enter prison?This is what I was guessing to myself

他们这一嚷就把我提醒了.这不是倡自治底孟法师入狱底日子吗?我心里这

西便,『as he drew farther away down the village road, until at last I turned the west corner of the fence. Just as I rounded the bend, I came upon a young girl stroking her own hair, standing there looking very distressed. I asked her, 'Little girl, standing here like this, are you grieving for your Master'

样猜,赶到他离村里底大道远了,才转过篱笆底西边.刚一拐湾,便遇着一个少女摩着自己底头发,很懊恼地站在那里.我问她说,『小姑娘,你站在此地,为你们底大师

?』?'

伤心么?』

'Of course. But I also curse my hair for being so unluckily short — unable to spread out on the ground, to let the Master's feet

『固然.但是我还咒咀我底头发为什么偏生短了,不能摊在地上,教大师脚下

?』leave a little of their dust upon it. Tell me, of all the women in the village today, which one is not more fortunate than I?'

底尘土留下些少在上头.你说今日村里底众女子,那一个不比我荣幸呢?』

'What is so fortunate about that?.』If you hold true reverence in your heart for your homeland and your Master, that is enough.'

『这有什么荣幸?若你有心恭敬你底国土和你底大师就够了.』

'Oh!.』Reverence hidden silently in the heart is not enough.'

『咦!静藏在心里底恭敬是不够底.』

.』'Well then — by the time he comes out of prison, your hair will have grown long enough.'

『那么,等他出狱底时候,你底头发就够长了.』

,『Hearing this, the girl was overjoyed, so much so that she jumped up and said, 'With this blessing from you, sir, my hair by then will surely

女孩子听了,非常喜欢,至于跳起来说,『得先生这一祝福,我底头发在那时定

!』be longer than anyone else's. Many thanks!'

能比别人长些.多谢了!』

西Skipping, she went off toward the Liulianzi garden across from the fence. I walked on straight from the west, until I reached the edge of the oak grove. There the

她跳着从篱笆对面底流连子园去了.我从西边一直走,到那麻栗林边.那里底

ground was very damp, and the Master's footprints and the soldiers' bootprints were stamped upon it very clearly.

土很湿,大师底脚印和兵士底鞋印在上头印得很分明.

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What it’s about

A village decorates its road and sings as soldiers escort the Buddhist teacher Meng toward prison for advocating self-rule. Women loosen their hair, kneel and spread it like black silk for him to walk upon, while men praise the peacock banner. The narrator recognizes a public ritual of resistance in which bodily beauty and reverence transform an arrested leader's passage into a procession of honor.

Beyond the crowd he meets a distressed girl whose hair is too short to touch the teacher's feet and preserve their dust. He says inward respect should suffice, but she insists hidden reverence is inadequate. His consolation that her hair will be long when Meng leaves prison delights her as a blessing. At the forest edge, the wet ground retains both the master's bare footprints and the soldiers' shoe marks: unlike private feeling, public devotion and state force leave adjacent material records.

When it was written 背景

The Southeast Asian setting evokes Buddhist anticolonial nationalism; 孟法師 and the peacock flag point toward Burmese political and religious imagery without a full historical identification in the sketch. Spreading hair beneath a revered figure's feet recalls devotional legends, but here women convert the act into visible solidarity with an imprisoned advocate of autonomy. The narrator's preference for silent sincerity is corrected by the girl's demand for expression. Learners can follow the contrasts 心裏/地上, 短/長 and 頭髮/腳印: each moves conviction from inward emotion toward public, durable form.

Words in this chapter 生词