旧历的年底毕竟最像年底，村镇上不必说，就在天空中也显出将到新年的气象来。
When you come right down to it, the wind-up of the old Lunar Year was what the end of a year really should be.
To say nothing of the hubbub in the towns and villages, the very sky itself proclaimed the imminent arrival of the New Year as flashes of light appeared now and then among the grey and heavy clouds of evening, followed by the muffled sound of distant explosions ―pyro-technic farewells to the Kitchen God.1
灰白色的沉重的晚云中间时时发出闪光，接着一声钝响，是送灶的爆竹；近处燃放的可就更强烈了，震耳的大音还没有息，空气里已经散满了幽微的火药香。
Flashes of lightning through heavy, grey evening clouds are answered by the dull explosions of firecrackers, bidding farewell to the Kitchen God as he departs for heaven to make his annual report on mankind.
Close by, the blasts have an ear-splitting ferocity, the faint smell of gunpowder hanging in the air before the noise has died away.
我是正在这一夜回到我的故乡鲁镇的。
On one such night I returned to Luzhen, my home town.
虽说故乡，然而已没有家，所以只得暂寓在鲁四老爷的宅子里。
I still called it home even though my immediate family was no longer there, a circumstance that forced me to put up at Fourth Old Master Lu's place.
他是我的本家，比我长一辈，应该称之曰“四叔”，是一个讲理学的老监生。
whom I am obliged to address as Fourth Uncle since he belongs to the generation before mine in our clan.
他比先前并没有什么大改变，单是老了些，但也还未留胡子，一见面是寒暄，寒暄之后说我“胖了”，说我“胖了”之后即大骂其新党。
he seemed little changed, only a bit older than before, though he still had not grown a beard as one might have expected.
Upon seeing me, he recited the usual social commonplaces; commonplaces concluded, he observed that I had put on weight; that observation having been made, he began to denounce the new party.
但我知道，这并非借题在骂我：因为他所骂的还是康有为。
I knew, however, that this was by no means intended as an indirect attack on me, for by "new" he had meant the reformers of twenty years back, people like Kang Youwei.3
但是，谈话是总不投机的了，于是不多久，我便一个人剩在书房里。
as our conversation was not taking a particularly amicable direction, soon enough I found myself alone in the study.
第二天我起得很迟，午饭之后，出去看了几个本家和朋友；第三天也照样。
I got up quite late the next day, and after taking lunch, went out to visit some relatives and friends.
I spent the third day in exactly the same way.
他们也都没有什么大改变，单是老了些；家中却一律忙，都在准备着“祝福”。
They did not seem much changed either―a bit older, that was all.
In every household people were busily preparing for the ceremony known as the "New Year's Sacrifice."
这是鲁镇年终的大典，致敬尽礼，迎接福神，拜求来年一年中的好运气的。
the elaborately reverent end-of-year ritual to welcome in the God of Fortune and to plead for good luck over the coming year.
杀鸡，宰鹅，买猪肉，用心细细的洗，女人的臂膊都在水里浸得通红，有的还带着绞丝银镯子。
Chickens and geese would be killed; pork bought; and the meats washed with a diligence and care that left the arms of the women red from the soaking.
Some women kept on their locally made bracelets―braided strands of silver―even as they washed.
煮熟之后，横七竖八的插些筷子在这类东西上，可就称为“福礼”了，五更天陈列起来，并且点上香烛，恭请福神们来享用，拜的却只限于男人，拜完自然仍然是放爆竹。
After the meat is cooked chopsticks are thrust into it at random, and when this “offering” is set out at dawn, incense and candles are lit and the God of Fortune is respectfully invited to come and partake of it.
The worshippers are confined to men and, of course, after worshipping they go on letting off firecrackers as before.
年年如此，家家如此，——只要买得起福礼和爆竹之类的——今年自然也如此。
So it is in every family, every year, as long as they can afford to buy food for the offerings and firecrackers; and so it was this year.
天色愈阴暗了，下午竟下起雪来，雪花大的有梅花那么大，满天飞舞，夹着烟霭和忙碌的气色，将鲁镇乱成一团糟。
That New Year's Eve, an overcast sky began disintegrating into snowflakes as big as plum-blossom petals that mingled with the smoke and prevailing bustle, adding a kind of frenzied confusion to the town.
我回到四叔的书房里时，瓦楞上已经雪白，房里也映得较光明，极分明的显出壁上挂着的朱拓的大“寿”字，陈抟老祖写的，一边的对联已经脱落，松松的卷了放在长桌上，一边的还在，道是“事理通达心气和平”。
By the time I had returned to my uncle's study, the roof of the house was already white with snow which made the room brighter than usual, highlighting the red stone rubbing that hung on the wall of the big character “Longevity” as written by the Taoist saint Chen Tuan.
One of the pair of scrolls flanking it had fallen down and was lying loosely rolled up on the long table.
The other, still in its place, bore the inscription“Understanding of principles brings peace of mind.”
我又无聊赖的到窗下的案头去一翻，只见一堆似乎未必完全的《康熙字典》，一部《近思录集注》和一部《四书衬》。
Aimlessly I went over and rummaged through the pile of old-fashioned stitched books on the desk by the window: an incomplete set of the Kang Xi Dictionary, a copy of Collected Commentaries to "Reflections on Things at Hand" and a copy of A Lining to the Garment of the "Four Books."
无论如何，我明天决计要走了。
I determined to leave the next day.
况且，一想到昨天遇见祥林嫂的事，也就使我不能安住。
In truth, it was recalling an encounter of the previous day with Xianglin's wife that confirmed me in my anxiety to be off.
那是下午，我到镇的东头访过一个朋友，走出来，就在河边遇见她；而且见她瞪着的眼睛的视线，就知道明明是向我走来的。
That afternoon, I'd been visiting a friend in the east of the town and, as I left, I spotted her by the river.
As she was staring straight at me, I knew she was heading in my direction.
我这回在鲁镇所见的人们中，改变之大，可以说无过于她的了：五年前的花白的头发，即今已经全白，全不像四十上下的人；脸上瘦削不堪，黄中带黑，而且消尽了先前悲哀的神色，仿佛是木刻似的；只有那眼珠间或一轮，还可以表示她是一个活物。
Of all the people I had seen during this visit to Luzhen, none had changed so much as she had.
Her hair, streaked with grey five years before, was now completely white, making her appear much older than one around forty.
Her sallow, dark-tinged face that looked as if it had been carved out of wood was fearfully wasted and had lost the grief-stricken expression it had borne before.
The only sign of life about her was the occasional flicker of her eyes.
内中一个破碗，空的；一手拄着一支比她更长的竹竿，下端开了裂：她分明已经纯乎是一个乞丐了。
a broken bowl lay inside it ― empty.
With the other hand she supported herself on a bamboo pole that was taller than she and had started to split at the bottom.
It was obvious that she had become a beggar, pure and simple.
“这正好。
"Just the man I've been lookin' for.
你是识字的，又是出门人，见识得多。
You are a scholar who's travelled and seen the world.