Han Suyin was born in Beijing in 1917. Her father was a Chinese railway engineer and her mother a Dutch lady. She is a physician and the author of many works, including A Mortal Flower, which tells of the experiences of the author and her family, both in and out of China. This excerpt describes the author's experience of looking for her first job in the early 1930s.
韓素音1917年生于北京。她父親是中國鐵路工程師，母親是位荷蘭女子。她是醫(yī)生，也是作家，著述頗豐，其中包括《塵世的花》。此書講述了作者及其家庭在國內(nèi)外的經(jīng)歷。下述節(jié)錄描寫了作者在上世紀(jì)30年代初第一次找工作的經(jīng)歷。

A Mortal Flower

Han Suyin

1 The day after meeting Hilda I wrote a letter to the Rockefeller Foundation, applying for a job.

塵世的花

韓素音

遇見希爾達(dá)的第二天，我就給洛克菲勒基金會寫信申請工作。
　
2 (1) Neither Father nor Mother thought I would get in. "You have to have pull. It's an American thing, Rockefeller Foundation. You must have pull."
父母親都覺得我不會被錄用。“你要有后臺才行。那可是一家美國機(jī)構(gòu)，洛克菲勒基金會。你一定要有后臺。”

3 Mother said: "That's where they do all those experiments on dogs and people. All the Big Shots of the Nanking government also came here to have medical treatment, and sometimes took away a nurse to become a new wife."
母親說：“那里，他們在狗和人身上做各種試驗(yàn)。南京政府所有的頭面人物也都來這里看病，有時還帶走個護(hù)士做姨太太。”

4 It made sense to me, typing in a hospital; I would learn about medicine, since I wanted to study medicine. And as there was no money at home for me to study, I would earn money, and prepare myself to enter medical school. I had already discovered that a convent-school education was not at all adequate, and that it would take me at least three more years of hard study before being able to enter any college at all. Science, mathematics, Chinese literature and the classics . . .with the poor schooling given to me, it would take me years to get ready for a university.
在醫(yī)院里當(dāng)打字員，對我挺合適。那樣我就能了解一些醫(yī)學(xué)知識，這很重要，因?yàn)槲蚁雽W(xué)醫(yī)。家里沒錢供我上學(xué)，所以我得掙錢，自己想辦法上醫(yī)學(xué)院。我已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)在女隱修會學(xué)校的教育遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠，要想上大學(xué)，自己至少得再努力三年才行。科學(xué)、物理、數(shù)學(xué)、中國文學(xué)、古典文學(xué)……就憑我學(xué)的那么點(diǎn)兒功課，要上大學(xué)還得準(zhǔn)備好多年。

5 "I will do it," But clenched teeth, decision tearing my bowels, were not enough; there was no money, no money, my mother said it, said it until I felt as if every scrap of food I ate was wrenched off my father's body. “我要上大學(xué)，”可是，咬牙切齒痛下決心是無濟(jì)于事的；家里沒錢，根本沒錢，母親說的，整天這么說，讓我覺得自己吃的每一小口東西仿佛都是從父親身上撕下來的。

6 "No one is going to feed you doing nothing at home." (2) Of course, one who does not work must not eat unless one can get married, which is called: "being settled at last." But with my looks I would never get married; I was too thin, too sharp, too ugly. Mother said it, Elder Brother had said it. Everyone agreed that I should work, because marriage would be difficult for me.
“你在家里閑著不做事，誰來供養(yǎng)你。”當(dāng)然，不工作就沒飯吃，除非嫁人，那叫做“終于有了歸宿。”可論我的長相一輩子也嫁不出去；我太瘦小，嘴快人丑。母親這么說。大哥這么說過。人人都覺得我該找事干，因?yàn)榧奕宋沂菦]指望了。

7 Within a week a reply came. The morning postman brought it, and I choked over my milk and coffee. "I'm to go for an interview. At the Peking Union Medical College. To the Comptroller's office."
不到一個星期，回信就來了。早上送信的郵差送來的，我正喝著加奶咖啡，一下子給嗆著了。“我要去面試。在北京協(xié)和醫(yī)學(xué)院。審計(jì)主任的辦公室。”

8 Father and Mother were pleased. Mother put the coffee pot down and took the letter. "What good paper, so thick." But how could we disguise the fact that I was not [even] fifteen years old? I had claimed to be sixteen in the letter. In fact, said Papa, it was not a lie since Chinese are a year old when born, and if one added the New Year as an extra year, as do the Cantonese and the Hakkas, who became two years old when they reach their first New Year (so that a baby born on December 31st would be reckoned two years old on the following January 2nd), I could claim to being sixteen.
父母親都挺高興。母親放下咖啡壺，取過信。“多好的紙，這么厚實(shí)。”可我們怎么才能掩飾我還不到15足歲的事實(shí)呢？我在信里說自己16歲。其實(shí)，爸爸說，這也不是撒謊，因?yàn)橹袊松聛砭褪?歲，要是到了新年再加1歲，就像廣東人和客家人那樣，他們第一次過新年就2歲了（所以說12月31日生的孩子到了1月2日就已經(jīng)2歲了），那么我可以說自己16歲了。

9 "You look sixteen," said Mama; "all you have to do is to stop hopping and picking your pimples. And lengthen your skirt."
“你看上去有16歲，”媽媽說。“你只要別再蹦蹦跳跳的、別再掐臉上的粉刺就行了。還有就是把裙子放放長。”