【Chinese Soy Sauce】中英文雙語詩

 

 

                     【我們的醬油】

 

 

                    
                         文/天玉之

 

 

中美混血的兒子捧著一碗白米飯 問

為什麽西班牙人的米飯 美國人的米飯

都有各種味道 而中國人愛吃白米飯？

我說：我們有醬油拌飯。已經吃了三千多年了

 

 

五六十年代 三年大饑荒時 

正在醫學院讀書的母親 以醬油加水充饑

文革時 母親因出身不好 遭到捆綁批鬥 

同事抱著繈褓中的我 以醬油水替代母乳 喂我

 

 

七八十年代 妹妹與我中學放學後 

最喜歡的零食 便是醬油和芝麻香油拌米飯

就像 美國人餓了 吃一碗 cereal 一樣

隻是 我們的牛奶和肉都是限量配給 稀缺的

 

 

現在 我們可以成桶地購買牛奶 雞蛋 和醬油了

還擁有許多別的東西：房產 股票 和選舉權

隻吃醬油加水的日子 大概

永遠不會再回來了。但願。

 

    

 

                  2021.1.8

 

              

 

 

            【Chinese Soy Sauce】

 

 

                    
                     By Tian Yu Zhi

 

 

My half Chinese half American son asked me, 

holding a bowl of white rice

why Spanish rice, American rice

are all flavored, but Chinese like to eat plain white rice?

I answered: we have soy sauce. We have been eating it 

for more than three thousand years

 

 

During the Great Chinese Famine*

in the 1950s and 1960s

my mother,  studying in medical school

added soy sauce to water to satisfy her hunger

 

 

During the Cultural Revolution*, my mother was taken away 

denounced and beaten in public

only because she came from a family of landlords 

her colleague fed me, a new born infant 

with soy sauce water, in replace of breast milk

 

 

In the 1970s and 1980s

my sister and I attended middle school

our favorite after school snack was 

a bowl of rice mixed with soy sauce and sesame oil

much like Americans eat a bowl of cereal

only that milk and meat were all rationed and scarce for us 
 

 

Now we are able to buy milk, eggs, and soy sauce 

in buckets; and own many other things ——

houses, stocks, and voting rights

the days when we only eat soy sauce water for dinner

may never be back again. I hope.

 

    

 

                           2021.1.8

 

 

 

* The Great Chinese Famine (1958-1962）is widely regarded as the deadliest famine and one of the greatest man-made disasters in human history, with an estimated death toll due to starvation that ranges in the tens of millions (15-55 millions+). （from Wikipedia)

* The Culture Revolution (1966-1976), estimates of the death toll in Cultural Revolution, including civilians and Red Guards, vary greatly, ranging from hundreds of thousands to 20 million (from Wikipedia)