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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.
韩素音1917年生于北京。她父亲是中国铁路工程师，母亲是位荷兰女子。她是医生，也是作家，著述颇丰，其中包括《尘世的花》。此书讲述了作者及其家庭在国内外的经历。下述节录描写了作者在上世纪30年代初第一次找工作的经历。
A Mortal Flower
Han Suyin
1 The day after meeting Hilda I wrote a letter to the Rockefeller Foundation, applying for a job.
尘世的花
韩素音
遇见希尔达的第二天，我就给洛克菲勒基金会写信申请工作。
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."
父母亲都觉得我不会被录用。“你要有后台才行。那可是一家美国机构，洛克菲勒基金会。你一定要有后台。”
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."
母亲说：“那里，他们在狗和人身上做各种试验。南京政府所有的头面人物也都来这里看病，有时还带走个护士做姨太太。”
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.
在医院里当打字员，对我挺合适。那样我就能了解一些医学知识，这很重要，因为我想学医。家里没钱供我上学，所以我得挣钱，自己想办法上医学院。我已经发现在女隐修会学校的教育远远不够，要想上大学，自己至少得再努力三年才行。科学、物理、数学、中国文学、古典文学……就凭我学的那么点儿功课，要上大学还得准备好多年。
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. “我要上大学，”可是，咬牙切齿痛下决心是无济于事的；家里没钱，根本没钱，母亲说的，整天这么说，让我觉得自己吃的每一小口东西仿佛都是从父亲身上撕下来的。
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.
“你在家里闲着不做事，谁来供养你。”当然，不工作就没饭吃，除非嫁人，那叫做“终于有了归宿。”可论我的长相一辈子也嫁不出去；我太瘦小，嘴快人丑。母亲这么说。大哥这么说过。人人都觉得我该找事干，因为嫁人我是没指望了。
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."
不到一个星期，回信就来了。早上送信的邮差送来的，我正喝着加奶咖啡，一下子给呛着了。“我要去面试。在北京协和医学院。审计主任的办公室。”
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.
父母亲都挺高兴。母亲放下咖啡壶，取过信。“多好的纸，这么厚实。”可我们怎么才能掩饰我还不到15足岁的事实呢？我在信里说自己16岁。其实，爸爸说，这也不是撒谎，因为中国人生下来就是1岁，要是到了新年再加1岁，就像广东人和客家人那样，他们第一次过新年就2岁了（所以说12月31日生的孩子到了1月2日就已经2岁了），那么我可以说自己16岁了。
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岁，”妈妈说。“你只要别再蹦蹦跳跳的、别再掐脸上的粉刺就行了。还有就是把裙子放放长。”
