第26章 踏莎行（1）

斋堂，修渠，1958

截水移流，

开山筑坝，

云梯铁索空中架，

百花山侧走蛟龙，

遥看龙首飞泉下。

一脉龙身，

双峰桥跨，

悠悠龙尾几分岔？

三支清水绕村流，

无边秀色谁能画？

注：

斋堂位于北京市门头沟区，是穷困山区。1958年春节前到1959年春节前，北京大学部分教职员下放门头沟区。作者与经济系、法律系、生物系教职员一起被分配到斋堂乡西斋堂村劳动一年。

Tune: Treading on Grass

—Repairing a ditch at Zhaitang, 1958

Cut the water, change its fl ow,

Open the mountain, build a dam,

Hang a ladder iron-chained in the mighty dome.

Along the fl oral range the fl ood dragon wriggles,

Looked afar, its head plunges into the spring's realm.

Its majestic body long,

Twin peaks spans to fame.

Far-fl ung is its tail, how many are branches under its name?

Around the village three streams fl ow,

Who can replicate the beauty to the brim?

Note:

Situated in Mentougou district, Zhaitang was a poverty-stricken mountainous region in Beijing. From the period before the 1958 Spring Festival to the period before the 1959 Spring Festival, some faculty members of Peking University were transferred to Mentougou for manual labor. Li was allotted to Zhaitang village to the west of Zhaitang together with faculty members in the economic, law and biology departments for one year's labor.