A Trip to Yan’an (I)延安之行（上）

In the summer of 1957 I decided to do my trip differently. I would travel as economically as possible. No VIP treatment1， no set schedules. Only a general destination of Yan’an， the “cradle of the revolution，” visiting ancient Xi’an on the way up2 and historic Luoyang on the way back. There would be no formal lectures. I would just meet people and chat.

1957年夏天，我决定来一场不同往常的旅行，尽可能少花钱，不要特殊待遇，也不事先安排日程，只有一个大致的目的地——“革命摇篮”延安，北上途中顺便游览一番古城西安，回程逛逛历史名城洛阳。我不做正式演讲，就是见见人，聊聊天。

Before the Long March culminated here， it had been a small ancient walled city on the banks of the Yanhe River with a population of 3，400. The wide river valley was surrounded by hills of yellow soil， cut by gullies and gorges. In 1937， when the Red Army， which had come to Yan’an at the conclusion of the Long March， went off to fight the Japanese， the people’s militia forces became primarily responsible for the defense of the Yan’an Prefecture.

红军长征会师延安前，这儿只是一座围有城墙的小古城，依延河而建，人口3400左右，宽阔的河谷两边是黄土丘陵，沟壑纵横。1937年，红军长征结束后进驻延安，以此为根据地抗击日寇，地方武装基本担任了延安地区的保卫工作。

As the headquarters for the Chinese Communist Party， Yan’an grew rapidly. Intellectuals flocked to it from all over the country. The population of the prefecture soared to 100，000 by 1939. The Nationalists， more afraid of the people than of the foreign invader， avoided clashes with the Japanese and imposed a blockade3 against the prefecture. Yan’an met the challenge by setting up home industries which turned out most of their daily necessities.

延安作为中共中央驻地，发展迅速，知识分子从全国各地蜂拥而来。到1939年，延安人口猛增至10万。相比于日本侵略者，国民党反动派更害怕解放区军民；他们消极抗日，对延安实行经济封锁。为应对困难，延安建立起家庭作坊，实现了大多数生活必需品的自给自足。

On the food front4 every student， cadre and Party leader guaranteed to produce 90 catties （about 100 pounds） of millet per year. In the Nanniwan5 sector outside Yan’an an Eighth Route Army brigade， composed mostly of southerners， hacked paddy fields out of the wilderness and planted rice， a crop the area had never known. They performed prodigious feats of production. Some of the men were jokingly known as qi si niu—“ox infuriators” because they could pull a plow through more acreage in a day than the average draft animal—which naturally aroused the jealousy and fury of the ox. The need for and feasibility of self-reliance became permanently impressed on communist thinking.

在粮食生产战线，无论学生、干部还是党的领导，都必须每年生产90斤小米。在延安城外的南泥湾，南方人居多的八路军某旅开荒种地，种上了当地闻所未闻的水稻。他们的生产创举令人惊叹，有的战士得了绰号“气死牛”，因为他们平均每天的开荒面积比耕牛开荒的还要多，牛自然也就会羡慕嫉妒恨了。必须自力更生而且完全可以自力更生，最终成为不可磨灭的共产主义思想。

Yan’an was the center of political and military leadership， the school in which cadres for these fields were trained. Tens of thousands passed through Yan’an for short-term courses. In Yan’an Mao wrote many of the profound articles which were to shape the destiny of China and influence the course of world history. Arts of and for the people got their start in Yan’an.6 It became the beacon， the inspiration， for millions of Chinese.

延安是政治、军事领导中心，是培养政治和军事干部的大课堂，成千上万人奔赴延安参加短期培训。毛泽东在这里撰写了很多思想深刻、决定中国命运、影响世界历史进程的文章。文艺属于人民、文艺为了人民的方针就是在延安提出的。延安，成了千百万中国人民前进的灯塔和指路明灯。

Despite the Kuomintang blockade， its fame continued to spread across China， around the world. Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune， who had served in Spain， came to serve and die in the Chinese revolution. Young American journalist Edgar Snow came to observe and talk with Mao， and ended by writing the classic Red Star Over China. Young American doctor George Hatem （Ma Haide） arrived in Yan’an and remained in China for half a century until his death， creating miracles of public health and nearly wiping out venereal disease and leprosy. Yan’an also drew American military observers， for it symbolized Chinese resistance against the common enemy.

尽管有国民党反动派的封锁，延安还是声遍全国，名扬海外。参加过西班牙反法西斯战争的加拿大外科医生白求恩到中国投身抗日革命，最终牺牲在中国。年轻的美国记者埃德加·斯诺来延安考察并与毛泽东会谈，写出了经典著作《红星照耀中国》。年轻的美国医生马海德来到延安，此后在中国生活了半个世纪，直至去世。他创造了中国公共卫生的奇迹，基本消灭了性病和麻风病。延安还吸引了美军观察团，因为延安是中国抗击两国共同的敌人日本侵略者的象征。

When we arrived the city was still in the early stages of its growth， but the old Yan’an spirit was going full blast. They had great plans： In the next five years the population would expand from 30，000 to 100，000. They would need that many for all their new projects. Irrigated land would grow from 10，000 to 50，000 acres. They would raise a lot more grain. While implementing water and soil conservation measures， they would move farming down from the hillsides to the valley floors and devote the slopes to grazing and orchards.

我们来到延安时，这里仍处于发展的初级阶段，但昔日的延安精神正在发扬光大。延安人制定了宏伟的计划：在下一个5年里，人口要从3万增加到10万，他们需要更多的人投入新建工程项目；土地灌溉面积要从6万亩增加到30万亩，以收获更多的粮食；在实施水土保持措施的同时，把农田从山坡地转移到谷地，把山坡用于放牧和果木种植。

What we were looking for were cave dwellings. Friends like Dr. George Hatem who had lived here in the old days had recommended them highly. Our hosts laughed and showed us a row of caves near the top of the bluff. Hollowed out of the yellow earth in vaulted arches fronted with a wooden frame which held a door and paper-paned windows， they were clean and surprisingly bright.7 The whitewashing probably helped. Furnishings were simple. An electric light bulb， a few wooden beds， a couple of tables and some wooden chairs.

我们想住的是窑洞，曾在这里生活过的马海德医生和其他朋友都对窑洞赞不绝口。招待人员一听就笑了，领我们去看靠近土崖顶部的一排窑洞。窑洞的建法是掏土成洞，洞顶呈拱形，洞口安木框门窗，窗上糊纸，里面干干净净，在白墙的映衬下，亮亮堂堂。洞内陈设简单，一个电灯泡、几张木床、两张桌子，还有几把木头椅子。

When we said these would be fine， our hosts looked startled. Only our earnest protests stopped them from carrying up spring mattresses and a few sofas. We liked the caves very much， and the location was ideal. There was a broad terrace in front of the caves shaded by several large trees. You could see for miles—the Yanhe River， the Tang pagoda on the hill on the other side， the large valley and the mountains beyond.

听我们说这些陈设就挺不错，招待人员一脸惊奇。他们要去搬弹簧床垫和沙发，因为我们诚心推拒，这才作罢。我们非常喜欢这些窑洞，而且它们位置也很理想。窑洞前有几棵大树，树荫下是块宽阔的台地，从这里可以看到好几公里外的延河、对面山上的唐代宝塔和远处的群山巨谷。

After supper that night， Comrade Huang gave us more background information8. He had been one of the local guerrillas and still walked with a limp from arthritis contracted hiding in damp gullies. Like all the old cadres we met in this area he spoke with infectious enthusiasm. He said in the days when Yan’an was the heart of the revolution， life was hard but everyone was cheerful. Wherever you went you heard singing. That buoyancy remained. The mountains were vast， the air was clear. The people were big， rugged， outspoken，9 and confident in their future.

晚饭后，老黄给我们讲了些过去的事儿。他在延安参加过游击队，因为老猫在潮湿的山沟里，得了关节炎，至今走路仍一瘸一拐。他和我们在陕北遇到的所有老干部一样，讲起话来特有感染力。他说，当初延安是中国革命的中心，生活虽然艰难，但每个人都充满激情，走到哪里都能听见歌声，这种乐观情绪一直延续到现在。这里群山巍峨，空气清新，老百姓为人宽厚实在，做事不拘小节，说话坦率，对未来充满信心。

The next day we visited the cave dwellings where Chairman Mao lived and worked during his stay in Yan’an. They were simple and austere. We spoke with old peasants who knew him. They said Mao was always friendly and relaxed， just one of the people. He refused to accept any special treatment. While directing the course of the revolution and writing his famous articles， Mao tended his own vegetable patch10 and wore old clothes. Hearing that we were from Beijing， the peasants asked us to send him their regards. We could only smile and nod.

第二天我们参观了毛主席在延安时期居住和工作的窑洞，里面简单而朴素。我们和见过毛主席的老农们聊了聊，他们说毛主席总是平易近人，和老百姓打成一片。他拒绝接受任何特殊待遇，一边领导革命事业、撰写宏篇大论，一边打理自己的菜地，穿的都是旧衣服。老农们听说我们打北京来，就托我们向毛主席问好。我们只好笑着点头，答应下来。

Yan’an natives were a colorful lot. The men turbanned their heads in small towels， knotted in front. （Towel turbans were worn in many parts of northern China， but in most places they were knotted in the back.） The towels were a protection against the dust and handy for wiping sweat. Tunics， padded or lined with sheepskin， were held in place by a sash， often with a brass-bowled long-stemmed pipe tucked beneath it like a dagger. Baggy trousers were lined or unlined according to season. Feet were shod with the ubiquitous cloth shoes， by far the most comfortable of footwear. Black cloth made the uppers. The shoes were light， they could “breathe.” “Athlete’s foot” among Chinese was virtually unknown.

延安人穿着打扮很有特色。男人布巾缠头，额前打结，华北许多地方也戴头巾，但大都脑后打结。头巾可以防尘，也便于擦汗。上衣絮棉花或衬羊皮，用一根腰带系着，腰间像插匕首一样，别一根长柄铜锅烟袋。裤子肥大，加不加衬里视季节而定。脚上穿的是随处可见的布鞋，这是那个年代最舒服的鞋子，黑布鞋面轻便 “透气”，难怪中国人几乎不知道何为“脚气”。

Everybody sang， men and women， young and old. The northern part of Shaanxi Province was famous for it. There were plaintive shepherd songs， sometimes to the accompaniment of a flute. And there were the duets—between boy and girl， husband and wife—tender， funny， broad， as the case might be. China’s first revolutionary opera， later a ballet， the White-Haired Girl， composed in Yan’an， was based on north Shaanxi folk songs. Singing seems to come naturally to hill dwellers.

这儿的人男女老少都会唱歌，陕北也以此闻名。他们唱多愁善感的牧羊曲，有时还有笛子伴奏。还能二人对唱，有少男少女对唱，还有夫妻对唱，或轻柔、或诙谐、或通俗，因演唱形式而异。中国第一部革命歌剧，后改编成芭蕾舞剧的《白毛女》，就是在延安以陕北民歌为基础创作而成的。唱歌似乎是山里人与生俱来的本能。

This being Saturday， the hostel threw a dance for us. American doctor George Hatem， who had been there in the early 1940s told me the Saturday night dance was a regular feature of life in Yan’an， a scratchy phonograph or a small pick-up band providing the music. Our dance was a bit more elegant. We had the orchestra from the local operetta company. The singers and dancers also came， as well as doctors and nurses from the hospital and cadres from half a dozen government units.

因为是星期六，招待所为我们搞了场舞会。1940年代初来过延安的美国医生马海德跟我讲过，星期六晚上的定期舞会是延安生活的一大特色，伴奏的是一台嘶嘶作响的留声机或一支临时拼凑的小乐队。我们这场舞会更高雅一些，请来了当地歌剧团的管弦乐队，歌唱演员和舞蹈演员也来了，还有县医院的医生护士和六七个政府单位的干部。

There was lots of dancing， with the girls inviting Singh and me in relays. Only when we pleaded the need to catch our breaths were we allowed to sit a number out. We slept well that night.

当晚可跳了不少舞，姑娘们轮番请辛格和我跳。只有我们提出歇口气儿时，才捞着坐下歇上一曲。那天晚上睡得可香。

1沙博理1983年当选为第六届全国政协委员，一直连任到第十二届，他始终重视参政议政，经常到全国各地考察。政协委员履职活动是法定职责，调研考察中正常的活动费用由财政负担，但沙博理的西北之旅并非政协考察，而是个人行程，因此不希望享受政协委员的特殊待遇。 2 the way up指去延安的途中，考虑到延安在西安的北方，此处译文具体化为“北上”。

3国民党反动派对延安的封锁主要在经济层面，不仅停发八路军薪饷、弹药和被服等物资，而且动用几十万军队在陕甘宁边区禁止粮食、棉花、铁、布匹、食盐等必需品的贸易，扣押、处罚运货商民。结合史实，此处增译为“经济封锁”。 4 1941年，由于日本侵略军的疯狂进攻和“扫荡”，国民党反动派的军事包围和经济封锁，解放区的财政经济产生了极为严重的困难。为了战胜困难、坚持抗战，党中央号召解放区军民自力更生，开展大生产运动。党中央领导人以身作则，与人民群众一起艰苦奋斗，延安各大中学校也纷纷召开生产劳动动员会，制定本学校年度生产劳动计划。 5南泥湾是延安县金盆区的一个乡，曾有可耕地面积100多万亩，但到抗战时期多为荒地。1941年，八路军第120师359旅开赴南泥湾地区，在随时保持战斗准备的情况下，以南泥湾为中心垦荒屯田，发展生产。

6中共中央于1942年5月2日至23日在延安杨家岭召集文艺工作者举行座谈会，史称延安文艺座谈会。毛泽东在讲话中明确提出了文艺为人民大众首先是为工农服务的方向，确立了党领导文艺工作的根本方针，直到今天仍然具有重要的指导意义。

7将英语的分词结构和从句分解为汉语短句，使用四字格，力求简洁明快，描写有空间感。

8结合下文可知，老黄讲的既有个人经历，也有延安历史和延安人民的精神特质，是几人之间的闲聊，因此译文也遵循轻松随意的风格，将background information译为“过去的事儿”，而非“背景信息”。 9译文将英语中的三个形容词进一步明晰化，点明了在“为人”“做事”“讲话”三个方面，延安老百姓的性格特点。

10 1938年11月至1947年3月，毛泽东等中央领导和中共中央机关在杨家岭窑洞中居住。在大生产运动中毛泽东以身作则、起带头作用，杨家岭窑洞下开垦了一块菜地，亲自打理。