想当年，画栋雕窗，面临什利海，
With painted pillars and carved windows, it was then a splendid mansion facing the Shi-sha-hai Lake.
楼上楼下，文士雅集，商贾交易，
The rooms downstairs and upstairs would be packed with literati enjoying a get-together, tradesmen negotiating business affairs.
歌女卖唱，
and singsong girls performing for a living.
多少豪富人家在此举办过婚嫁喜筵！
And it also witnessed numerous wedding feasts held by rich and influential families.
梁园日暮，
But now.
如今已成为六、七个单位数十户职工宿舍的大杂院，
like a run-down royal palace, it has become a residential compound occupied by dozens of households with some of its members working at six or seven different organizations.
院内地震棚歪歪倒倒，小径曲折，乱石成堆，房檐碰头，不堪回首。
Piled high with rubble here and there, the whole place is in a terrible mess with makeshift shacks, a narrow path running zigzag across it, and eaves so low as to hit the head of passers-by.
我住的是最后院的最后两间平房，后墙外是一条小小的胡同，
I live in a one-story two-room house in the rearmost backyard backed by a small lane.
后墙窗高，在室内看不到胡同，但可听到胡同里磨剪刀的叫唤声、汽车喇叭声、妇女吵嚷声⋯
As the window is high up in the wall, I can't see anything in the lane, but can hear a lot of noises therefrom, such as the cries of itinerant knife sharpeners, the blaring of car horns and the shouting and screaming of women.
这些混杂的声音不时搅乱我的构思。
The mixed noises often disturb me in my work.
但终于我发现其中有一种声音是我所喜欢的：
Exceptionally, however, I find one voice so very pleasing.
"信---，拿报纸一"
"Letters, and newspapers!"
显然，那是一位姑娘清脆嘹亮的声音，她将尾音拉得长长的，
It's the clear, ringing voice of a young girl, uttered with a much prolonged last syllabic sound.
那音浪在胡同里家家庭院的上空久久荡漾，
Tt seems to keep echoing over the courtyard of each and every household in the neighborhood.
由我听来，那是音乐！
To me, it's music!
幸运的人们在等待喜讯，分离的亲人在盼望音信。
People who have fortune on their side will look forward to good news: people separated from their dear ones will long to hear from them.
人，总生活在希望中，
Man always lives in hopes.
个人的命运，国家的前景，世界的风云⋯⋯一切未来的和未知的在引人关注，
The personal fate, the prospects of the nation, the fast changing world ---in short， all variables and uncertainties in the future are causing great concern.
谁知明天将发生什么事情！
Nobody knows what tomorrow has got in store for us!
邮递员，她送来了末知的情况和消息，
The postgirl delivers to us news about the unknown future and about the real state of affairs.
有情和无情的真实！
pleasant or unpleasant.
犹如别人，我天天盼信，
Like others, I'm eager for mail every day.
墙外胡同里"那位邮递员姑娘的呼喊多亲切啊，
How heart-warming is the cry of the postgirl coming from the small lane back of my house!
日子久了，似乎我早已熟识她。
As the years g0 by, I seem to have known her for a long time.