​​婚姻是一座围城，城外的人想进去，城里的人想出来。

Marriage is like a fortress besieged: those who are outside want to get in, and those who are inside want to get out.

那时候苏小姐把自己的爱情看得太名贵了，不肯随便施与。现在呢，宛如做了好衣服，舍不得穿，锁在箱里，过一两年忽然发现这衣服的样子和花色都不时髦了，有些自怅自悔。

In those days she valued her affection too highly to bestow it causally. Now, however, she was just like the person who has some fine clothes made and, saving them for good occasions, locks them in a chest. Then one or two years later she suddenly finds their style and design are out of fashion and is filled with disappointment and regret.

有人失恋了，会把他们的伤心立刻像叫化子的烂腿，血淋淋地公开展览，博人怜悯，或者事过境迁，像战士的金疮旧斑，脱衣指示，使人惊佩。

Some people when jilted will immediately display their broken hearts in public and drip with blood like a beggar’s scraped legs to stir pity. Or else, after the whole affair is over, they will pull up their clothes in the manner of a veteran and point it out like an old battle scar to arouse awe and wonder.

可是心里忘不了他，好比牙齿钳去了，齿腔空着作痛，更好比花盆里种的小树，要连根拔它，这花盆就得迸裂。

But deep down she could not forget him. It was like the gum left empty and aching after a tooth is extracted, or like a small tree in a flower pot. To pull it up roots and all, one mush smash the pot.

她跟辛楣的长期认识并不会日积月累地成为恋爱，好比冬季每天的气候罢，你没法把今天的温度加在昨天的上面，好等明天积成个和暖的春日。

It must be said that her long years of friendship with Hsin-mei did not add up to love, just as in winter on one can add today’s temperature to yesterday’s to come up with a warm spring day for tomorrow.

孩子不足两岁，塌鼻子，眼睛两条斜缝，眉毛高高在上，跟眼睛远隔得彼此要害相思病，活像报上讽刺画里的中国人的脸。

Her son, not yet two years old, had a snub nose, two slanted slits for eyes, and eyebrows so high up and removed from the eyes that the eyebrows and the eyes must have pined for each other – a living replica of the Chinese face in newspaper caricatures.

她冷淡的笑容，像阴寒欲雪天的淡日。

Her faint smile was like an overcast sky on a cold dreary day.

幸亏年轻女人的眼泪还不是秋冬的雨点，不致把自己的脸摧毁得衰败，只像清明时节的梦雨，浸肿了地面，添了些泥。

Fortunately, a young girl’s tears aren’t yet like the raindrops of autumn or winter. They don’t bring destruction and ruin to the face, but are more like the steady rains of early April, which soak and swell the ground, making it muddier.

这雨愈下愈老成，水点贯串作丝，河面上像出了痘，无数麻瘢似的水涡，随生随灭，息息不停，到雨线更密，又仿佛光滑的水面上在长毛。

The rain grew bolder as it fell, the drops linking together to form a thread. The surface of the river seemed to have broken out with smallpox, as countless pockmarked eddies continuously came and went. As the rain became denser, it seemed as though hair were growing from the smooth, glossy surface of the water.

这是暮秋天气，山深日短，云雾里露出一线月亮，宛如一只挤着的近视眼睛。少顷，这月亮圆滑得什么都粘不上，轻盈得什么都压不住，从蓬松如絮的云堆下无牵挂地浮出来，本来还有一边没满，像被打耳光的脸肿着一边。

It was late autumn, and deep in the mountains the days were short. A ray of moonlight showed through the clouds like a squinting, nearsighted eye. After a moment the moon, too round and smooth for anything to stick to it and too light and nimble to be held down, floated out unencumbered from the mass of tousled, fluff-like clouds. On side was not yet full, like a face swollen up on one side from a slap.​​​​