● 陈晴山 Chen Qing-shan
 译／陈敏良 陈敏华Trans. by Peter Chen, Michael Tan

良儿：
My son Liang, be informed:

　　你寄来的一个卷烟的盒子，上星期五便收到了，因为这一个盒子
，我得着一个很好的教训，原来一切学问，最重要的是实验，单靠书
本上的文字说明是不够的，你所附来的图说，我与四舅、阿锡，都看
得很明白，可是做起来，总不成功，最后，我特地拿到老街场去请教
光水舅，他是做机器工作的，但亦从来没有用过这种盒子，他也不大
识字，当然不会看你的说明，只反复看了两下，便卷成了一枝烟卷，
我们照着他的方法去做，居然都成功了，而且不很困难，后来我再看
你的图说，就更加明白了。

　　Last Friday, I received the cigarette rolling tobacco 
box that you sent. Just from this little device, I learned 
a valuable lesson. Whatever learning one has, nothing can 
be more important than practical application. To rely on 
instructions from a book alone is never sufficient. The 
three of us, 4th uncle, Ah Xi and I, all had no difficulty 
in understanding the instructions and diagram that you sent;
it was all very clear. But tried as we did to actually use 
the device, we just could not get it to work! Finally, I 
took it specifically to uncle Guang-shui in Old Town. He is
a mechanic by trade, and has never ever used a cigarette 
rolling tobacco box. He is hardly literate and naturally 
would not understand the written instructions you sent. But
uncle Guang-shui took one or two look at the box and managed
to successfully roll out a cigarette. We followed his 
method and succeeded; moreover, it was not at all difficult.
I looked at your instructions and diagram again and they 
became that much clearer. 

　　我还记得从前在家乡小学校读地理课本，初见“铁路”这个名词
，总以为是一块铁板铺在地面给火车走过的，因为我们的家乡那时还
没有火车，小孩子不到外地去，从来没有见过火车，哪里知道是两条
铁路铺成的轨道呢？书本上的智识，就是这样，这一点感想，本来要
写在你妈给你的信中告诉你，可是看她写的字那么大，一张纸都给写
满了，因此再花二角半的邮费，另写给你。

　　I recall the time when I was studying geography in the 
primary school in the village, I first came across the term 
"tie lu" (literally "iron road") in the textbook. I had 
always imagined that this was a road paved with iron for the
train to travel on. There was no railway in our village at 
that time; unless the child has traveled beyond the village 
he would never have seen a train, how could he ever imagine 
that "tie lu" is actually a pair of iron rails laid out on 
the ground in parallel. Such is the knowledge from a book. 
I had intended to share this thought with you in the letter 
your mother is writing you. But I now see her handwriting 
is so enormous that she has completely filled up the page. 
Hence I decided to spend another 25 cents postage to write a
separate letter to you.

　　美瑜问你那个盒子值得多少钱，她的意思是要买一个作为你的礼
物送与均元的父亲，假如是不多钱的话，你就买一个送给他吧。

　　Your sister Mei Yu asks how much does the box cost. She
would like to buy one which she will present to her 
father-in-law in your name. If it does not cost a great 
deal, you may as well purchase one and give it to him as a 
present.

1958七月廿七日父字
Written by father，
27 July 1958


关于作者和这封信……

　　本文作者陈晴山为已故马华作家，活跃于二十年代。《荔子情》
专栏隔周三刊载他的旧作，由其子陈敏良、陈敏华两兄弟翻译成英文。

　　This article was written by a late Malayan Chinese 
writer, Chen Qing-shan who was active in the 1920s. This 
column appears every other Wednesday, featuring his works 
which are translated into English by his sons, Peter Chen 
and Michael Tan. 

　　1958年2月至1960年1月，陈晴山写了约20封信给到澳洲读书的长
子陈敏良。陈敏良选其中7封在本报陆续发表，选择准则是它们都反
映了其父“为师”的一面。本期选刊第五封家书。

　　Altogether, Chen Qing-shan wrote Peter Chen 20 letters 
between February 1958 and January 1960. Peter Chen left home
for studies in Australia in February 1958. He has selected 7
of these letters for publication. They were selected because
they all portray the "teacher" in his father. The fifth 
letters is printed today.