光阴集 2024 The Gilded Years 2024 第 09 篇 Section 09
九月 贰拾壹岁：荻花秋瑟瑟，萧萧班马鸣 September: Twenty-One: Reeds Rustle in Autumn Winds, The Lone Steed Neighs Parting
返回 光阴集 2024 Back to The Gilded Years 2024浪淘沙·往事只堪哀 南唐 李煜
往事只堪哀，对景难排。秋风庭院藓侵阶。一任珠帘闲不卷，终日谁来。
金锁已沉埋，壮气蒿莱。晚凉天净月华开。想得玉楼瑶殿影，空照秦淮。
Lang Tao Sha: Past Events Are Fit Only for Grief
By Li Yu (Southern Tang Dynasty)
Past events are fit only for grief; facing the scenery, sorrow cannot be dispelled. Autumn wind chills the courtyard, moss creeping over the stone steps. Let the beaded curtains hang unrolled all day long—who would ever call?
Golden locks have sunk and been buried, high ambitions surrendered to weeds and wild brush. Evening coolness clears the sky as moonlight unfurls. How vividly I recall the shadows of jade towers and jasper halls, shining in vain upon the Qinhuai River.
暑假在学习英语的时候和两个傻子聊对英语学习的感想，将要出国的U同学对托福、GRE学习高谈阔论，并讲到自己不想功利地做事，V同学则以工具论的角度，阐发英语是一门最简单的学科。不论是出国考托福、GRE，保研刷六级，还是考研英语，英语说到底就是一个功利的跳板。我们实际上无计相回避对深造的渴望，于是在大二暑假的当儿这种渴望就化作了对英语的学习。
During the summer while studying English, I chatted about our impressions of language learning with two goofy pals. Classmate U, bound for overseas study, held forth on TOEFL and GRE prep, preaching that he refused to do things out of utilitarian motives; Classmate V, approaching it strictly as an instrumentalist, proclaimed English to be the simplest subject of all. Yet whether taking the TOEFL/GRE for going abroad, retaking CET-6 to boost postgraduate recommendation scores, or grinding for the national entrance exam, English is ultimately a utilitarian stepping stone. The truth is, we have no way of dodging our hunger for advanced study, and during the summer after sophomore year, that hunger materialized as the study of English.
现在我们学英语就像过去的每一次考试，都是一种不得不，一种对生活的苟且。但苟且没有错，而且有必要，尤其是在当下我无计相回避的二十一岁。古人的写诗何尝不是一种对苟且的喟叹，但毕竟我们要脚踏实地活着，一针一线织好未来的网。
Our present English study is just like every exam in our past: an unavoidable necessity, a compromise with survival. Yet compromising is neither shameful nor mistaken; it is essential, particularly at the age of twenty-one, which I have no way of escaping. Was not classical poetry itself a sigh over life’s compromises? Yet we must walk with our feet planted on the earth, stitching together our future tapestry stitch by stitch.
大一看的第一个晚会是商、机研究生联谊会，大二第一个晚会是2023级新生晚会，大三第一个晚会（虽然是下午）是2025届华为招聘会；能明显感受到大三的晚会气氛的明显变化，人人的眼里只有利益和前途，可以说是大三一个巨大的转变了。
The first gala I attended as a freshman was the joint mixer for graduate students of business and mechanical engineering; the first as a sophomore was the 2023 Freshmen Welcome Gala; the first as a junior (though held in the afternoon) was the Class of 2025 Huawei Campus Recruitment Talk. One could palpably sense the stark shift in atmosphere by junior year: every eye held only self-interest and career prospects—a monumental turning point for our third year.
这一年又认识了好多人。时而觉得缘分真的很奇妙，与很多人的相遇相识都源于某个不起眼的决定，却会无数次在后来的某天庆幸起那个小小的决定。而和一年前一样的是，这一年依旧要感谢相遇，感谢陪伴，感谢光临我世界的每一个你。
This year brought encounters with many new faces. At times, destiny feels astonishingly whimsical: meeting someone often traces back to an unassuming choice, yet countless times later, one whispers gratitude for that tiny crossroads. Just as a year ago, I must once more express gratitude for every meeting, every companion, and every soul who graced my world.
还要感谢自己在实现自我价值路上的追寻，对自己真正想要什么的探索，对生活中一切美好的感动，还有拥抱这个世界的勇气。虽友人常笑我“庆祝无意义”，但无论如何，今岁后的花会沿途盛开，以后的路也是。 这一岁，我要去寻找生活中最温柔的光。再会了，天真烂漫的20岁。
I must also thank myself for pursuing self-worth, for excavating what I genuinely desire, for being moved by every glimmer of beauty in daily life, and for summoning the courage to embrace this world. Though friends often tease me for “celebrating insignificance,” flowers will nonetheless blossom along the roadside in the year ahead, and so will the paths before me. At this age, I set off to seek the gentlest light in existence. Farewell, my innocent, carefree twenty.
21岁，也是到了花束般的恋爱的年纪了，唱着瓜西的21，和阿黛尔一起rolling in the deep。21岁，是郑钦文的年纪，也是胖猫的年纪；21岁，史铁生刚刚残疾，王小波还在放牛。人生前20年的生活还算按部就班，真正到了社会要考虑的事情就更多了。更希望自己可以成为宽容“无趣的大人”的人。
At twenty-one, one has reached the age of bouquet-like romance—humming Gracie Abrams’s “21” and rolling in the deep alongside Adele. Twenty-one is the age of Zheng Qinwen, and the age of Pang Mao; at twenty-one, Shi Tiesheng had just become disabled, while Wang Xiaobo was still herding cattle. Life in our first twenty years followed a relatively orderly track, but upon stepping into society, the variables multiply relentlessly. I only hope I can become someone who looks upon “boring adults” with generous grace.