少年失学当农民
Boy dropped out of school became a farmer
艰难的日子就这样一天天挨了过来。
So, the hard days pined away.
三年自然灾害之后，农村尽管还是生产队集体劳作，但随着公共食堂下放，各家各户房顶上终于冒起炊烟，可以自己开伙了。无论粗糠麦皮，还是苕藤菜叶，总算能自家烧火煮点吃的了。同时，各家各户还分了一点自留地，能够种点瓜菜充饥了。
After the three-year natural disaster, the countryside was still working as a production team, but with the release of public canteen, every household could start their own cooking. Whether the chaff or wheat husk, sweet potato stem or vegetable leaf, people finally could start their own fire to cook something to eat. Meanwhile, each family also divided a little private plot, to plant some melons or vegetables to appease their hunger.
阿弥陀佛，周兴和他们全家除了王姓大哥饿死，其余的家人总算在这场史无前例的灾难中存活下来。
Amitabha, Zhou Xinghe and the rest of his family survived in the unprecedented disaster, except for his brother Wang.
在这场天灾加人祸的大灾难中，据四川年鉴数据统计，在这三年中，整个四川的人口不但未增加，反而减少了1000余万人——但不管无论如何，这场波及全国、特别是四川的饥饿惨剧终于告了个段落。
In the midst of this catastrophe of natural and man-made disaster, the population of Sichuan as a whole declined by more than 10 million in the past three years, according to the statisctics of Sichuan Yearbook - but in any case, the hunger tragedy that had affected the whole country, especially Sichuan, had finally come to an end.
然而，好景不长，那时的政治运动似乎没了没完，紧接着农村又来了个“四清”运动。“四清”运动刚结束，轰轰烈烈的“文化大革命”又开始了。这场历时10年的空前浩劫，以“大鸣大放大字报大辩论” 开始， 后来又是红卫兵“革命大串联”，学校停了课，工厂停了工；到最后又是革命左派们“文攻武卫”，无论城市和农村，都打得乌烟瘴气，弄得民不聊生。
However, the good times did not last long; the political movement seemed to be endless, followed by the "Four Cleans" movement in the countryside. No sooner had the "Four Cleans" movement ended than the "Great Cultural Revolution" began. This unprecedented catastrophe, which lasted for 10 years, began with the "free speech, full expression, big debate, big-character poster" and was followed by the "Great Link-up" by the Red Guards. Schools and factories were stopped. In the end, it was the revolutionary leftists who "attack with culture and defend with force". Both the cities and the countryside were afflicted with a miasma of misery.
这些折腾，连地处边远山区的三台县未能幸免。
Even Santai County located in remote mountainous area did not escape from these tosses and turns.
学校停了课，教室结蛛网，教书的老师都成了靠边站的牛鬼蛇神。周兴和当时只有13岁，也就无书可读了。
The school was closed, the classrooms were cobwebbed, and the teachers were sidelined. Zhou Xinghe was only 13 years old at the time and had no school to read and learn.
父亲那时已经65岁，母亲也是病怏怏的，加之他们起早贪晚辛勤劳作，生命便渐渐有些枯竭了。那时，生产队分口粮全靠挣工分，做够了工分才能分口粮；工分没做够的人家，生产队要你拿钱才能称粮。兴和家里老的老小的小，不但挣不了工分粮，连分基本口粮的工分也挣不够，多年来已欠下队里不少超支款，每次只能再三求生产队赊口粮。这样的家庭，在当地显然只能低声下气，最让人瞧不起的。
His father was 65 years old, his mother was very sick, and they got up early and worked hard till night, so their lives gradually dried up. At that time, the member of the production team had to earn their rations according to the workpoints, and only when they had earned enough workpoints could they get rations. If the workpoints were not enough, the production team would ask you to take money to weigh the rations. The old and the young in Xinghe's family could not earn their rations, and even the workpoints for whole family’s basic rations were not enough. Over the years, they owed the production team a lot of money, so they had to beg the production team again and again for rations on credit. It was obvious that such a family could only be abject and ignoble in the local.
兴和记得，那是一个有冷风和落叶的夜晚，父亲点燃煤油灯，迟疑了许久，终于对兴和说道：“兴和，我13岁时，你爷爷就死了，就自己讨口饭吃。现在我和你妈都老了，要扭不动了……今年你也是13岁，又是家里的老大，现在既然读不成书了，我看，就回生产队劳动，挣点工分，挣点口粮吧……”说完，父亲忧郁地看了他一眼，把头低了下去。
Xinghe remembers that it was a night with cold wind and fallen leaves. His father lit a kerosene lamp and, after a long hesitation, finally said to him, "Xinghe, when I was 13 years old, your grandfather died and I begged for meals by himself. Now your mother and I are too old to work... This year, you are also 13 years old and the eldest son of the family. Now that you can no longer go to school, I think you should go to work in the production team and earn some workpoints and rations..." With that, his father gave him a sad look and dropped his head.
听着父亲那苍老喑哑的话语，望着斑驳的土墙上父亲那可怜兮兮在灯光下飘摇的影子，兴和心里一酸——老了，父母都老了，犹如两根燃尽油汁灯草，随时都有被风吹灭的厄运了。如此一来，全家人生活的担子就要毫不留情地落到自己稚嫩的肩膀上了。已经老了的父母亲，是不可能养活自己一辈子的。
Xinghe’s heart felt ached to hear his father's old and dumb voice, and looked at his pathetic shadow that waved in the lamplight on the mottled earth wall - his parents were old, just like two plants that had burnt out their oil and were likely to be blown out by the wind at any time. In this way, the burden of the whole family would be mercilessly fall on his young shoulders. It was impossible for the old parents to support their children for a lifetime.
“唔。”过了好久好久，兴和才含泪点了点头。灯光很黯淡，他父亲肯定没有看见他眼睛中就要溢出的泪水。
"Fine." After a long time, Xinghe nodded his head with tears. The light was dim, and his father must not have seen the tears that were about to overflow in his eyes.
兴和已渐渐长大，慢慢懂事了。这时，他想读书，梦里也想读书。在他的潜意识里，农村孩子只有读书，才有可能跳出农门，才有可能改变自己穷苦的命运。这个时候，他才只读了5年书，小学还没毕业，眼看就要扔下书兜，上坡和锄头粪桶打交道了。他不甘心，实在不甘心！但，面对眼前残酷的现实，他只是一个13岁的少年，除了要理解父母的苦心，听从父母的教诲，分担家庭的负担，还能有什么更好的办法呢？
Xinghe gradually grew up and became thoughtful. At that time, he wanted to study, even in his dream, too. In his subconsciousness, only by studying can rural children jump out of the countryside and change their poor fate. By this time, he had only been in school for five years. He had not yet graduated from the primary school, and he was about to leave his schoolbag and go uphill to deal with the hoe and manure bucket. He's not willing, really not willing! But, in the face of the cruel reality, he was only a 13-year-old boy. What better way can he do than to understand his parents' pains, listen to their teachings and share the burden of the family?
父母没有文化，眼前只是一片墨黑。这一辈子，他们活得实在太可怜了。他们就像碾坊中的老牛，每天是又饥又渴拉着沉重的生活碾子，日复一日，年复一年地循着碾盘边上那个圆圈，气喘吁吁精疲力竭地走着自己人生的路子。
His parents were uneducated. It's just black in front of them. They had lived a miserable life. They were like the old cattle in the mill, hungry and thirsty, dragging the heavy roller, day after day, year after year, following the circle beside the grinding base, panting and exhausted to complete their way of life.
几十年来，他们吃的是干枯的草，喝的是苦涩的水，眼睛上蒙的是黑布条。他们不知道碾坊外面还有蓝色的天空，天空中还有五彩的云霞，云霞里还有自由自在飞翔的鸟儿，鸟儿们还能无忧无虑地唱着悠扬婉转的歌。
For decades, they had eaten the dry grass, drunk the bitter water and had the black strips of cloth over their eyes. They did not know that there was a blue sky outside the mill, colorful clouds in the sky, free birds flying in the clouds, and singing carefreely.
但他父母坚持要送自己的儿子去学校读书，严格甚至严厉地督促儿子学好文化，其实是很明智的。虽然，他们的儿子没能读到多少书，所学到的知识也很有限，但这些知识毕竟还是开启了儿子的心智，让他知道了许多他们那一代人不知道的事情。随着儿子年龄的增长，社会阅历的增加，他必然就会透过碾坊的缝隙偷偷去看外面的天空，便会看见天空中还有许许多多值得追寻和遐想的内容，便会生出许多飘飘渺渺五光十色的非分之想，便会回过头去看碾坊里蒙着眼睛的老牛，气喘吁吁挣扎着走圆圈实在太痛苦太悲哀，进而就会产生出拼死一搏穷则思变的念头来……
But his parents insisted on sending their son to school and urged him strictly or even severely to learn well, which was actually very wise. Although their son didn't learn much, and the knowledge he learned was limited, it still opened his mind to many things that his parents didn't know. As the growth of the son’s age and the increase of social experience, he would undoubtedly see the sky outside through the gas of the grain mill, see many things worth pursuing and dreaming in the sky, produce many wispy and colorful inordinate ambitions, turn back and see the old blindfolded cattle in the grain mill, which was panting and struggled to walk along the circle with too much pain and too much sad, and then generate the thought to desperately gamble and change the proverty...
感谢可怜而又伟大的父母！
Thanks to the poor but great parents!
在父亲和他谈话的第二天，兴和就扛着锄头和社员们一起上坡了。那时的集体生产，每天早晨天刚亮就要上坡，到天黑了才能收工回家来。一个全劳力干一天记10个工分，10个工分大概值8分到1角钱。兴和年幼体弱，他干一天，大概能挣5到6个工分，能值5到6分钱。而且生产队还规定，每人每月至少要上26天班，未上够天数的人还要倒扣他工分。就连到了大年三十，社员们也要上坡去捞渣子回来添粪坑，家里粪坑的粪水达不到队里要求，也是要被扣工分的。
The day after his father talked with him, Xinghe went up the hill with the commune members, carrying a hoe. At that time, for the collective production, people went out to work in every morning at dawn, and stopped work to come home until the dark. A full laborer could earn ten workpoints a day. Ten workpoints were worth about eight to ten cents. Xinhe was a frail young man. He could earn about five or six workpoints a day, which was worth five or six cents. In addition, the production team stipulated that each person had to work at least 26 days a month, and those who did not work enough days had to lose their points. Even to the New Year's Eve, the members also needed to go up the slope to get some dreg back to add into the cesspool, because it would lose their points if the dung water amount of each home cesspool could not meet the requirements of the production team.
从这个时候起，兴和小小年纪，就和队里所有的人一样，开始承担起繁重的体力劳动了。一出工，每天免不得就要下田栽秧打谷，上坡担粪挖土。夏天，田里烈日烘烤蚊叮虫咬；冬天，坡上寒风刺骨挨饿受冻。刚开始，他劳作一天后，常常是累得精疲力竭全身酸痛，回到家一头就想倒到床上，但他只能咬牙坚持着。
From then on, Xinghe began to undertake the heavy physical labor at his young age, just like all the members of the team. Once working, every day can not be exempted from the field planting and rice threshing, uphill dung shouldering and soil digging. In summer, the scorching sun bakes and mosquitoes bite in the fields; in winter, the wind on the slope is chilled to the bone with cold and hungry. At first, he was tired and sore after a hard day's work. When he came home, he just wanted to throw himself into bed, but he could only hold on through gritted teeth day by day.
难熬的日子就这样一天天挨着。
The hard days went day by day.
但那时的兴和，每天肩挑背磨、吃苦受累都还罢了，叫他最不能忍受的，是他和家人在村上不但要受到别人的白眼，还要常常受到别人的欺负。
But at that time, Xinghe could still bear the daily burden shouldering and hard work, and the worst for him was that he and his family were looked down by the villagers, and even bullied by others.
究其原因，在兴和9岁那年，他家终于搬出地窖，从中山村3组搬到了1组，来到他母亲的祖母留下的房子里居住。这个组的村民几乎都是姓王，王氏家族在这里人多势大；而只有兴和一家是外姓，且又是老的老小的小，当然势单力薄。在那各家各户为各自生存的穷苦环境中，弱肉强食适者生存，他们受到有的人欺负就是必然的了。
The reason was that when Xinghe was 9 years old, his family finally moved out of the cellar and moved from Group 3 to Group 1 in Zhongshan Village to live in the house left by his mother's grandmother. Almost all of the villagers in this group were the Wang family. The Wang family was large and powerful here. And only Xinghe’s family was a foreigner, and only the old and young, so they were alone and weak. It was inevitable that they would be bullied by others in the poor environment in which each family was struggling for its own survival.
大概就是因为这个简单而复杂的原因，让还不谙世事的周兴和，更是过早地结束了本该拥有的少年生活，过早地承担起一个成人也难以承担的家庭生活重担来——在往后的岁月里，他即便不是挣扎在地狱，至少也是坠入到黑暗的深渊了。
It’s probably for this simple and complicated reason, Zhou Xinghe who was ignorant of worldly affairs, prematurely ended his teenager life, and bore the family burden which was even hard to adults - in the later years, even if he was not struggling in the hell, at least had fallen into the dark abyss.
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