The Skating that I Learned from My Childhood

小的時候，父母對我說，看來有三樣“童子功2“童子功”，一般的詞典沒有解釋，只有根據其意思譯為skills gained from childhood，也未見得完全吻合。”你會受益終生：滑冰、外語和書法。學滑冰，我是從小學開始的。

[2]我的第一雙冰鞋是上小學時從王府井著名的利生體育用品商場買的（好像全北京只有那里賣冰鞋），當時覺得是天價，要省吃儉用好久；買來它是件大事，開始舍不得穿，睡覺時要放在床頭。每次滑冰后，又要仔細擦干、包裹起來。可是，天有不測風云，一次滑冰時被冰縫子卡了一下，冰刀中間被弄掉了一大塊，當時好不心疼，難受了好一段，幾乎下定決心不再滑冰。直到后來聽說什剎海冰場旁邊有位老師傅可以補修，于是找到那里，還真行！他用高溫把刀面融化，又加上了一塊生鐵，居然把缺口補平了，真是大喜過望！

When I was young, my parents once told me that three “skills gained from childhood” that would probably benefit me throughout my life, which are skating, foreign languages and calligraphy. I learned how to skate when I was a mere primary school student.

[2] I bought my first pair of skates,as “a major event in life”, in my early school days from the famous Lifetime Sporting Goods Store located in Wang Fu Jing (it seemed to me that it was the only place where I could buy skates in Beijing at the time) at a sky-high price which cost me quite sometime of frugal living. Initially, I begrudged wearing them and put the skates beside my pillow at night. And carefully dried them out and wrapped them up every time after skating. Unexpectedly, one day one of my skates got stuck in an ice crack and excised quite a large piece in the middle of the blade. Oh my gosh! So depressed, I didn’t want to carry on skating anymore until one day I heard there was a repairman near the ice rink in Shi Cha Hai and I went there. He melted the blade together with a piece of cast iron—and surprisingly, he fixed it! I was overjoyed.

[3] During that turbulent age of “boycotting classes and making revolution”,only by coming to the ice rink could we escape the political ambience and breathe in the nice cold fresh air as a distinct contrast. Strangely, the boycott actually provided us with more valuable time when we could freely talk, run,foment something (surely not “revolution”) and tumble as well. In retrospect,that was nothing but real childhood.

[4] Not long ago, while skating in an indoor ice rink in Beijing, a young guy came to me after my skillful performance: “Looking at your stylish skating, you must have practiced in Shi Cha Hai?” In the movie Mr. Six, the last scene of fighting and sprint was also shot in Shi Cha Hai. Clearly, people who have a special preference for Shi Cha Hai are not few.

[5] It is a pity that for some reasons winter sports in Beijing have gradually declined. Personally, I notice that it’s very hard to find skaters who are as skillful as I am, since they didn’t have the “skills gained from childhood” and are all occupied with their exams, tutorials and computer games.

[3] 那時正值動蕩年代，“罷課鬧革命3“鬧革命”一般可譯為carry out revolution、make revolution、rise in revolution、incite revolution 等。”，而只有來到冰場才可逃逸那種政治氣氛，一覽開闊的冰面，呼吸清新的空氣，形成鮮明的對比；也正是因為“罷課”，才給了我們更多的時間。在那里，我們可以隨便說，隨便跑，隨便鬧（自然不是“鬧革命”），當然也少不了隨便摔跟頭。回想起來，那才是真真切切的童趣！

[4] 不久前，在北京一室內真冰場滑冰，一小伙子過來對我說，一看您這范兒4“范兒”字典上一般釋為 style, 其實不只這個，還有 glamour、charisma、charm、personality 等，這里略加變通為stylish。，肯定是當年什剎海冰場出來的吧？在電影《老炮兒》中，看到那最后茬架、沖刺的場面，也正是在什剎海拍攝的。可見，有著什剎海冰場情結的人，實在不是少數。

[5] 可惜，后來因為種種原因，北京的冰上運動逐漸衰落了。明顯的是，就個人來講，現在的80后、90后中，比我滑冰好的實在不多，因為他們缺乏“童子功”，盡忙著考試、補習、打游戲了。

[6] Looking back, I have actually benefited greatly from skating. Studies suggest that the body’s response to the stimulation of cold air is itself a good fitness exercise, and the stimuli of differences between the air and skin temperatures can increase blood circulation and strengthen body functioning, which resulted in my vigorousness from early childhood. Mentally, it inspired me to think of another cold and open world when I was stuck in an unpleasant circumstance, and to avoid being trapped in this dead end. In fact, there are a lot of things in common in practicing skating, foreign languages and calligraphy,such as imitation, perseverance, sense of feeling, balance, rhythm, rhyme,strength, taste and so on, even a kind of indescribable inner beauty. Sometimes,I simply mix them up altogether. ■

[6] 回顧起來，其實我從小就受益于滑冰。研究表明，寒冷空氣對于人體的刺激，本身就是一種良好的健身鍛煉，因為空氣和皮膚溫度之間的差異能增加血液循環，有效改善機體功能，這使我從小有了一個好身體5“好身體”，不一定總是good health、healthy body、fitness 等，根據具體語境，還不妨用vitality、vigorousness 等。；在思維上，知道了在“沉悶”之外，還有一個“清冷”的開闊天地，從而不至于死鉆牛角尖6“死鉆牛角尖”還可譯為take unnecessary painsto study an insignificant [insoluble] problem、 split hairs、get into a blind alley 等。。同時，滑冰與外語、書法有著許多內在相通的素質，比如模仿、毅力、感覺、平衡、節奏、韻律、力度、品味等，甚至有一種難以言狀的內在美，有時我簡直把它們混同起來了。 □

暨南大學翻譯學院特聘教授。