文苑集錦

于右任與父相揖背書

于右任少時喪母，家貧。父親于新三在外經商，將右任托與伯母撫養。稍長，父親回來，用心督促兒子學業。遇到必背課文，兒子背誦一遍，他跟著背誦一遍。且背書時如師生禮儀，肅然異常。右任背書時，須先給父親作一個揖；父親背書時，將書本端正地放到桌案上，兒子站立一旁，父親向書本恭恭敬敬地作一個揖，而后背誦。“一燈如豆下苦心，父子相揖背章文”的情景在當地傳為佳話。（金文）

李鴻章向母賠罪跪三天

李鴻章母親天生一雙大腳，嫁到李家下田勞作，立下汗馬功勞。鴻章顯達后，這雙大腳鬧出不少笑話。李為直隸總督，將母親接來天津同住，各級官吏紛紛設家宴迎請，以示巴結。每當出門坐上八抬大轎，老太太一雙大腳總會露出簾外，招搖過市，引得路人駐足圍觀，成為街議笑料。李面子上下不來，苦苦哀求老媽將腳收斂一點。老太太勃然大怒：“你老爸當年也不敢說這般話，沒有老娘這雙大腳，誰供你們讀書做官?”說罷倒頭便睡，絕食三天，以示抗議。李只好連跪三天賠罪告饒，從此任憑老媽伸展大腳為所欲為。（炎西）

《馬可·波羅游記》成于獄中

意大利旅行家馬可·波羅是個神秘人物，他光是在世界的東方就游歷了20多年，直至公元1295年才從東方回到故鄉。

公元1296年，威尼斯與熱那亞之間為爭奪東方貿易市場而爆發了城邦戰爭。剛從東方回到故鄉的馬可·波羅捐資備船，踴躍參戰，結果兵敗被俘。在熱那亞的監獄里，他向難友、文學家魯思蒂謙諾(Rustciano)講述了在東方游歷20多年的所見所聞，魯思蒂謙諾用當時流行的中古法—意混合語將其記錄下來，這就是聞名世界的《馬可·波羅游記》。

700多年來，這本游記不斷輾轉抄錄、翻譯、刊印，至今共有各種不同文字抄本140多種，刊本120多種。這部游記對于幫助人們對西方了解、認識東方都產生了深遠的影響，與此同時研究馬可·波羅和其游記也成為國際上的一門顯學。15世紀末大航海探險家哥倫布就是在閱讀了游記后被東方的繁華富庶所吸引，從而產生了到東方探尋奇珍異寶的強烈欲望。當年他發現美洲大陸時，不僅誤把那里當作了游記中記述的“印度”，而且還把中美洲文明古城墨西哥城當作了馬可·波羅所描繪的“天堂之城”杭州。（沙舟）

古代的長亭短亭

“何處是歸程，長亭更短亭。”唐代詩人李白的這一名句，千百年來，不知觸動多少離人思歸的心緒，使他們黯然神傷。但什么叫長亭、短亭？這恐怕只有少數人知道。

原來古代各地的驛路兩旁，幾乎都有官府所筑的不少涼亭，往往每隔五里或十里就可以見到一座，形式也不一定都是亭子，簡陋的只是一座竹棚，大而精致的可以是一座四角或多角的小亭，甚至是一間青磚瓦舍，但習俗相沿，人們都把這些全稱之為長亭或郵亭，后來這些亭子逐漸演變為人們送別時的分手之處。那時，當有人離鄉遠出，眷屬和親友們每每不忍分手，便直送到十里長亭，有的還帶了酒菜去，要再敬遠行人幾杯，作為最后的餞別。

正因為這些長亭、短亭都是灑遍了離人別淚的所在，具備了“出感情”的條件，以致古代的文學作品里，無論詩詞歌賦、小說散文，不僅時常用到“長亭”這個詞，而且還有許多專門圍繞著長亭大肆發揮的佳作。人們印象最深的是王實甫的元雜劇《西廂記》中的那出《長亭》，張生和鶯鶯在長亭分手，那是一場生離死別的悲劇。（秦瘦鷗）

Literary Anecdotes

Like Father， Like Son

Yu Youren (1879-1964) was a famous calligrapher， scholar， and a senior KMT politician in the 20th century. He was born in a poor family and his mother passed away when he was still a little boy. As his father ran a business away from home， the junior was raised by his aunt. Later the father came home to take care of the son's education. When the junior had to learn a text by heart and recite it， the senior would have to do the same. Their reciting followed a strict formula. The junior would bow reverently to the father first before reciting a text. When it was the senior's turn to recite， he would put down the book on the table reverently and bow to the book before reciting the text.

Son Knelt Three Days to Apologize

Li Hongzhang (1823-1901) was the prime minister of the Qing government. His mother had big feet while other women at that time had small bound feet. She married into the Li family with big feet and contributed to the toils in the farm fields. When Li Hongzhang became a high-ranking government official， the feet became embarrassment to the son. After Li became governor of Zhili Province and his mother came to live with him， his colleagues gave dinners to entertain the new official and his mother. Taking a ride in a sedan chair， she would deliberately stick her big feet outside the curtain of the sedan chair， which became a public laughing stock. Extremely embarrassed， the son entreated his mother to hide her feet whenever she was in public. The mother was enraged， “How dare you! Your father dared not say this to me. Without my big feet， who would have provided for your education and who would have supported your political career??Then she tumbled into bed and refused to eat for three days. Li Hongzhang knelt for three days to apologize to his mother. From then on he let her mother show her big feet as she pleased.

The Travel of Marco Polo Was Written in Jail

Marco Polo traveled in the East for more than 20 years before he returned to Genoa in 1295. A war broke out in 1296 between Venice and Genoa for trade privileges in the East. Marco Polo donated money to the war efforts and took part in battles. He was thrown into jail after Genoa was defeated. It was in a Genoese jail that he dictated his travel in the Orient to a fellow prisoner， named Rusticello who， a story-teller， jotted down Marco Polo’s accounts.Thus was born the world-famous The Travel of Marco Polo.

For 700 hundred years， the book has been copied， translated， printed continuously. So far， there have remained more than 140 different copies and 120 editions. The book opened a door for westerners to see the Orient and inspired them to venture into the East. Today， the study of Marco Polo and his travelogue has become an important academic discipline.

Farewell Pavilions in Ancient China

“Where is my way to return home? A small pavilion after one large.?Li Bai， a Tang Poet， wrote the two lines in a poem more than 1，000 years ago. Many Chinese know this poem by heart. But few know what a small pavilion and a large pavilion really are.

In ancient times， a post road was dotted with pavilions set up by local authorities. Some pavilions were small and some large. Though called a pavilion， such a structure might vary from a simple bamboo shelter to a brick house though most were small four-corner pavilions. Some of these pavilions became post stations. Some pavilions became rendezvous where travelers said goodbye to their family or friends. Usually a large pavilion was distanced 10 li (five kilometers) from a city. Such a pavilion was usually where people finally parted after a banquet. Gradually， this image standing for emotional goodbye appeared more and more in literary works. Farewell at a Travelers?Pavilion， a scene from the Western Chamber， which is an opera masterpiece created in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)， made such a pavilion all known.

(Translated by David)