There exists a small, unassuming apartment complex,tucked away in a gated cul-de-sac that sits, cavernous, off the main city roadof Hsinchu, Taiwan. The buildings inside almost seem suspended in time. Vinescreep up dilapidated building faces, which were hewn from rough stone ratherthan brick or concrete. A dilapidated gazebo sits to the right of the entrancegate, once painted optic white, now unused and long since gone to seed. Builton a hill, the apartments look crooked, haphazardly placed. Sandwiched betweena bustling university on one side, and lofty, faceless apartment towers on theother, one could easily pass by on their daily commute, day after day afterday, without ever acknowledging the existence of this ramshackle collection ofbuildings. It appears old, ancient, forgotten. But for nearly a decade, it wasmy home.
在宽大深长的台湾新竹主干道边上坐落着一片小而不起眼的公寓小区，它们好像被幽闭的死胡同吞噬了一般。小区里的楼房几乎与时代隔绝。在看似并非由砖块或混凝土堆砌、而是在坚石中刀劈出来的楼房墙面上，年久失修的藤蔓肆意攀爬着。在入门处的右侧坐落着一座破旧的曾是纯白色的凉亭，如今因为凋零陈破，长期空置着。公寓楼建在小山坡上，看上去歪歪斜斜，像被随意地摆弄在那儿似的。它的一侧是熙熙攘攘的大学校园，另一侧是高耸的、鲜有特色的公寓楼。夹在这两者之间，难怪人们在日复一日的来来往往间轻易地把它忽略掉，忘记了这破烂不堪的公寓楼的存在。它老迈陈旧，被世人所遗忘。可是，在接近十年的光阴里，这是我的家。
The squat, four-story apartments were overshadowed by a canopy of treesthat filtered the sun’s rays, resulting in a perpetual crepuscule, a dreamytimelessness, even on the brightest summer afternoons. The tangle of vegetationseemed omnipresent, and sometimes it seemed that these apartments housed moreplants than humans. However, one area was left untouched by the overgrowth: ameticulously maintained row of trees stood in a private patch, segregated fromthe greenery that grew rampant everywhere else. “鳳凰樹,” my dad called them. Thephoenix tree.
低矮的四层楼公寓，被一片华盖繁茂的树木遮挡着，即使在最明媚的夏日午后，阳光的大部分也被密密麻麻的树叶过滤了，掩映出斑斑灼灼的朦胧昏暗、梦幻般的永恒感。繁杂的植物似乎无处不在，有时候不得不给人一种错觉：这公寓里住的树木比人还要多。然而，还有那么一块未被覆盖的处女地，与其他到处疯长的绿色植物区分开来。那儿种着一排精心养护的树。爸爸叫它们“凤凰树”。
And what an apt, beautifulname it is. For eleven months a year these trees lay dormant, undercover amonga sea of verdant green, barely distinguishable from other, less noble trees. However, come June, the phoenix trees would explode withlife, in a dazzling display of vibrant reds and yellows, as if the branches hadburst into flame. With peak bloom coinciding with graduation in Taiwaneseschools, the blossoms of the phoenix tree have come to symbolize maturity andthe transition to adulthood. However, the flowers of the phoenix tree are asshort-lived as they are brilliant, with all traces of the magnificent bloomvanishing in mere weeks. As such, phoenix flowers have also come to connote thebittersweet joy of parting ways with friends, a happy and sometimes very lonelymoment of life.
多么美丽又恰如其分的名字呀！一年中有十一个月的时间，凤凰树一直安安静静、默默无闻地沉寂在青绿色的海洋中，难以被识别。然而，六月一到，它们就迸发出强劲的生命力，在鲜艳欲滴的红色与黄色中纷繁炫目，枝条突然如焰火般熊熊地燃烧起来。盛花期也迎来了台湾学校的毕业季，六月的凤凰红，预示青少年到成年期的过渡与渐渐成熟。凤凰花虽灿烂却短寿，纷繁的花海在几个星期内就消失得无影无踪，恰似朋友间分别时刻的苦与乐、生命中快乐却又在不经意间孤单落寞的时刻。
Mono no aware.The beauty of transience.
稍纵即逝的美丽，真叫人伤感。
I left Taiwan in 2009. Left it for an unknown,forbidding new world. And in the flash of an eye, just as I was finally readyto call Houston my new home, it was time to leave again.
2009年，我离开了台湾，离开它，去往一个未知的、让人生畏的世界。时光在一眨眼之间掠过。当我终于可以接受休斯顿就是我的新家时，我又要离开了。
One of my close friends has recently become obsessedwith an old Taiwanese movie by the name of 那些年，我們一起追的女孩, a film aboutdealing with memories of the idyllic days of one’s youth. And what a fittingmovie it was for our times. “These are our ‘那些年,’” he mused, one lazyafternoon. Summer was coming to an end, and having moved through this chapterof our lives together, our circle of friends was on the cusp of parting ways,each ready to pursue the dreams that had been lovingly nurturing for the pastfour years, dreams that were on the cusp of blossoming. We were excited, butthis excitement was tinged with the melancholy of adulthood’s realities:everyone was going their own separate ways, forging their own paths forward.There was no going back.
我的一个好朋友最近总惦念着那部老台湾电影《那些年，我们一起追的女孩》，电影描述了轻松愉快的青葱岁月。这不正是我们那个年代的写照吗？“这就是我们的‘那些年’”，在一个慵懒的下午，他沉思自语。夏天已经接近尾声，它和我们共同经历了这一段人生的篇章。这时朋友们都在分别的交叉点上，每个人都准备好去追寻在过去四年里一直浇灌着、盛放着的梦想。我们兴奋不已，可兴奋的背后，却是成年现实的凄凉：大家就要分道扬镳，奔着自己的路去了。这一切都一往无回。
Matriculation, graduation,matriculation, graduation, matriculation, graduation. For our generation, thetrajectories of our lives seem ironclad. Never before have humans had their lives so neatly partitioned into suchcarefully measured, discrete periods: elementary school, middle school, highschool, college, then maybe some sort of graduate education, endlessly climbingthe ladder. And each period is bookended by grandiose ceremonies,matriculation, graduation, matriculation, graduation, emphasizing the boundlesspotential of new beginnings as well as the solemn finality of endings. Welearn, we laugh, we love, we live… and then we part, hopefully a littlewiser, a little more experienced.
入学、毕业、入学、毕业、入学、毕业！我们这一代人，生命的轨迹似乎一成不变。在人类历史的发展中，还从未像现在这样将生命整齐划分成这么几个精确又审慎的阶段过：小学、初中、高中、大学，然后可能还会有研究生教育，无休止地往上爬梯子。每一个阶段，都以一个宏大的仪式间隔开来，入学、毕业、入学、毕业，强调着新开端的无限可能，还有它们结束时有多么庄严。我们一起学习、一起欢笑、爱过、经历过……最终我们分道扬镳时，都盼望着能变得聪明些、老道些。
（～未完，待续楼下）
发表于 2015-8-18 13:30:41
