今天是母親冥誕。母離開我們有兩年多了。下面是母親的同事寫的一篇關於她的文章。
http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/e2002/20021/zhuanjia2.htm
|
bbbbbbbbb
bbbbb |
| Jan.
200250n
|
Ione Kramer solemn and meticulous.
|
Ione
Kramer
By
former staff translator LIU ZONGREN
In 1965, I was, after six years of military
service, demobilized, and following a 15 month-long crack course
in English, assigned to work at China Reconstructs, now China
Today. I was installed at a desk in the far corner of a large
office, where I practiced typing every day. There were eight
other people in the room -- five Chinese and three foreigners,
who comprised an American man and woman, and a British woman.
I later came to know these three foreigners by their names:
Israel Epstein from the United States, who was a friend of Soong
Ching Ling (Mme. Sun Yat-sen, founder of China Reconstructs
and late honorary chairwoman of the People's Republic of China)
and co-founder of China Reconstructs; Epstein's wife, Elsie
Fairfax-Cholmeley, who came from a prominent British family;
and Ione Kramer, an American woman.
I sat in my corner every day, typing, as my
Chinese colleagues were bent over their typewriters translating
Chinese into English, and the three foreigners busily edited
the translations. For the convenience of our foreign colleagues,
all verbal communication in the office was in English. I was
unable to speak a single English sentence correctly, even after
the crack course, and had no idea what was being talked about,
and so for many days I felt left out and depressed. I was also
overawed by the presence of so many foreigners in one enclosed
place, who arrived and left by car, at that time a privilege
enjoyed only by high-ranking officials. Foreigners thus remained
mysterious and remote to me.
Days in China Today. |
One day Ione Kramer came over to me and asked,
"Liu, can we talk?" "What?" I rejoined,
feeling a tingle of panic, which made me forget to stand and
show my respect. Ione drew up a chair and sat down by my side.
"You have to be brave to learn," she said. "But
I know so little about English," I protested, trying my
best to pronounce each syllable correctly. "Don't worry
about that," she said. "The most important thing for
you to do is to practice more. If it's convenient, you can come
to the office 30 minutes early, and I will help you with your
pronunciation." I naturally felt this would be very convenient.
Our face-to-face teach-and-learn class began
the next morning. Ione's husband was a professor at Tsinghua
University, so she lived with her family on the Tsinghua campus.
Prior to that day, she had ridden a bicycle from her home to
the Friendship Hotel (where most foreign experts stayed), where
she boarded the office bus to work. She now had to ride her
bicycle all the way to the office, which took over an hour.
It was winter, and the Beijing wind blew bitterly cold.
A farewell party for Ione Kramer
before she left for the U.S. |
Ione had diverse plans to help me improve
my English, but all came to nothing owing to the political turmoil
of that period. Her husband was wrongly accused of espionage
around 1970, and Ione was implicated and put under house arrest.
Both were rehabilitated in 1978, however, and Ione returned
to her old job, editing our translations. Many Chinese intellectuals
became cynical after suffering in the way Ione had, but she
remained staunch and committed in her life and work. She was
as warm-hearted as ever to us young, inexperienced translators,
and especially to me, who had learned just enough English to
do basic proof-reading -- comparing words in the manuscript
with those in the galley. Ione continued to give me private
tutoring. I occasionally found short Chinese manuscripts that
I would translate as a way of improving my English, which Ione
would carefully correct, even though they were not for publication.
Little by little, she helped me build up my English, as well
as my self-confidence. In 1980 I took a government examination
and won a scholarship to study in the States for two years.
This was the opportunity that made it possible for me to become
a good translator. Ione congratulated me warmly, and I did not
say "thank you," because I knew she did not expect
it.
Ione Kramer retired many years ago and now
lives in the States with her husband and two sons. Two years
ago, she came to Beijing and invited me to dinner at the Friendship
Hotel. I wanted to pay the bill, but refrained from doing so.
Although I was already 58 years old at that time, I knew that
to Ione I would always be her pupil; a young novice who had
just started at the bottom-most rung of his career, at a salary
barely enough to carry him through the whole month.
------------------------------------------------
Ione Kramer came from the United States with her Chinese
husband to Beijing in September 1955, and started working for
China Reconstructs as English editor-polisher in December of
the same year. In 1986, after 31 years service, she retired
from China Reconstructs and returned to the United States.