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原文

想起清华种种

王佐良

我只是清华几万校友中的一个，现已不在清华工作，然而一说起这所学校，至今仍像年轻时候一样兴奋，话也像说不完似的。

清华吸引人的究竟是什么？它有很好的校园，设备，但这些别校也有；它的历史也不很长，世界大学中，成立已几百年的有的是；想来想去，还是由于清华的人，或者说清华人和中国历史的特殊关联。

说起清华人，我怀念我的老师们。大学一年级，俞平伯、余冠英两先生教我国文，一位教读本，一位教作文，都亲切而严格，有一次余先生指出我把爬山虎写成紫荆的错误，但又要我多写几篇给他看。二年级，贺麟老师教我西洋哲学史，见了我长达百页的英文读书报告不仅不皱眉，反而在班上表扬我；正是在他的指导之下，我读了不少古希腊哲学家著作的英译，真有发现新星球似的喜悦。温德老师在工字厅讲意大利文艺复兴时期艺术，打开许多画册让我们传阅，幽默地然而严格地区分画的优劣。同样难忘的事还多，那时候日本军队已在华北城市大街上演习，而清华的师生们则在学术上特别争气，不久又在政治上发动了公然反日的一二九运动。

我们这一级（1935-1939）还有一段特殊经历，即抗日战争的锻炼。我们两年在清华园度过，两年在长沙、南岳、蒙自、昆明度过。有的同学进入解放区打游击，大多数在大后方直接或间接地参加战争工作。但是学术上并未放松。昆明西南联大集北大、清华、南开三校的精华，师生在最简陋的条件下做出了当时第一流的研究成绩，青年人的成长分外迅猛。走遍半个中国给了我们以接触内地实际的宝贵经验，这是在清华园小范围内埋头读书所无法得到的。所以这次大转移又是我们知识和感情上的一次大扩充。

然而我们仍然怀念清华园。在昆明读书和教书的八年里，可以说没有一天不想念北方的故土。中国历史上，汉族士大夫几度被赶出北方，却没有一次能够回去。正如冯友兰先生指出的，只有这一次抗日不同。我们战胜了，1946 年夏我从昆明带着妻儿重新回到了清华园，虽然校舍残破，校园荒芜，但有陈岱孙先生领导一批员工在进行大规模的复校工作，不久就在北方的灿烂秋阳中重新上课，清华人意兴之豪，达到了一个新的高度。

接着，我出国留学。等我回来，清华园已经解放，开始了一个新的历史时期。

后来我转入别的学校工作。但是我心里始终保持着一种清华做学问的标准。

这标准并无人明确定出，但是无数师友“行胜于言”的实际榜样却使我悟到：做学问必须要有最高标准，而取得学问却是为了报效国家。简单说，就是卓越与为公。

译文

Reminiscences of Tsinghua by Wang Zuoliang

I am just one of the thousands of alumni of Tsinghua University, and although I am no longer working there, every time Tsinghua is mentioned, I would get as excited as when I was young, and can’t seem to stop talking about it.

What is it that makes Tsinghua so attractive? Its beautiful campus? Its advanced facilities? But all these are not lacking in other universities. Or its long history? But a good many universities in the world even boast histories of several hundred years. Having thought it over and over again, I come to the conclusion that it is the people of Tsinghua, or rather, the special relationship between its people and Chinese history, that makes it so attractive.

Speaking of the Tsinghua people, I cherish a lot of sweet memories of my teachers. As a freshman, I was taught Chinese language and literature by Professor Yu Pingbo and Professor Yu Guanying in reading and writing respectively. They were both encouraging and rigorous with me. Once Professor Yu Guanying pointed out that I had mistaken creepers for redbuds and encouraged me to write more for practice. As a sophomore, I was taught History of Western Philosophy by Professor He Lin. He did not frown at my one-hundred-page long book report in English, but rather praised me in class. It was under his guidance that I read a great deal of ancient Greek philosophers in English translation, the delight from which was just like that of discovering a new planet. I was also taught Italian Renaissance by Professor Winter in the Gongzi Courtyard. In his lectures, he passed around many painting albums, and humorously but rigorously offered his critical evaluations. I have many such unforgettable experiences. At the time when the Japanese troops were carrying out military maneuvers in the cities of North China, the teachers and students of Tsinghua were endeavoring to achieve excellence in learning, and soon openly launched the December 9th Movement, a political movement against Japanese invasion.

Our grade (1935-1939) also went through a special experience, an experience of being tempered in the Anti-Japanese War. We spent the first two years on Tsinghua Campus, and the last two at Changshang, Nanyue, Mengzi and Kunming. Some of us fought as guerillas in the liberated areas, while most stayed in the vast rear areas, directly or indirectly participating in war work. Nevertheless our academic work never let up. The Southwest Associated University in Kunming assembled the elites from Peking, Tsinghua and Nankai Universities, who, under the crudest conditions, achieved the best academic results of the time, with the young maturing very rapidly. Waling over half of China endowed us with invaluable experiences of getting closer contact with the reality of inland China. These experiences were impossible to obtain by burying ourselves in books within the confines of Tsinghua Campus. This great shift therefore broadened both our knowledge and our sympathies.

Nevertheless, we still missed Tsinghua Campus. During the 8 years of learning and teaching in Kunming, there was not a single day we did not miss the native land in the north. In the course of Chinese history, Han Literati had been driven out of the north several times, and had never been able to return. As Professor Feng Youlan pointed out, the Anti-Japanese War was an exception. This time we won the war. In the summer of 1946, I, together with my wife and children, returned from Kunming to Tsinghua Campus. Although the school buildings were worn out, and the campus desolate, a large group of staff led by Mr. Chen Daisun immediately threw themselves into reconstruction on a large scale, and before long, the Tsinghua people resumed classes under the splendid autumn sun of the north, their aspirations and enthusiasm reaching a new height.

After that, I went abroad to further my study. When I came back, Tsinghua Campus had already been liberated and ushered a new historical era.

Later on, I was transferred to another university. But the Tsinghua academic standard remains with me.

Such a standard has never been explicitly laid down, but the actual example set by our innumerable fellow teachers and students of “actions speaking louder than words” has made me realize that there must be the highest standard in scholarship, and that the ultimate purpose of gaining knowledge is to serve our country. To put it simply, “preeminence in academia and contribution to society.”

未经允许不得转载：帕布莉卡 » 王佐良《想起清华种种》 -英语翻译文学-中英双语