Yuan Guoliang

作品原文 袁国良 《最珍贵的废书》 一天，收拾屋子，找出两本布满尘土的小学课本。女友说还不扔了？我抚摸着书半晌没说话。 书是我上高中时妈妈为我买的。妈妈是个一字不识的苗家妇女。家乡有种风俗，一个女人在去世时，口里必须含银（或金）才能入土为安。所以在贫因人家，攒钱置办一件小小的银饰便成了家庭生活的重要内容。那一年，妈妈起早摸黑喂了两头猪，终于置办了一对银手镯。 在临近高考的那段日子，妈妈时常进城给我送些吃的。她知道我复习忙，每次都是匆匆来匆匆去。有一天，妈妈去了不久却又回来，拉我到僻静处：“孩子，我替你买了两本考大学的书。” “什么！”我心里格登一下。常听人说学校外面时常有人用假书、假资料骗那些来自山区一字不识的家长。 “人家说，只要用这书，考大学包中。” “哪来的钱？” “镯子换的。” 我抢过书，撕去包装，一阵巨大的绝望顿时袭上心头：两本小学课本竟然就骗走了妈妈的镯子！ “孩子，行吧？” 望着满怀期望的母亲，我强压下泪水和屈辱，“行，妈，行的！” 后来我考上了大学，妈妈高兴极了，说是两个镯子花得值。她甚至想找卖给她书的人道谢！ “你妈后来知道真相了吗？”女友问。 “没有，我永远都不会让她知道。”     作品译文 The "Useless" Books I Treasure Most Yuan Guoliang One day I was cleaning up my place and found two dust-covered elementary school books. "Why not discard them?" said my girlfriend. I held the books tightly in my hands, didn’t respond for a while. Mom bought these books for me when I was in high school. She was an ordinary woman of the Miao minority who didn’t know how to read and write. In my home village, when a woman passed away, the custom was to put a piece of silver or gold in her mouth to secure peace in the world beyond. Therefore, to families of extreme poverty, it had become a very big deal in life to save enough money for a small piece of silver jewelry. One year, mom worked from dawn to dusk raising two pigs, which were sold to finally buy her a pair of silver bracelets. As the date of my college entrance exam approached, mom often came in town to bring me food and treats. She knew that I was pressed for time to study;…