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1、【英文文学】My Chinese MarriageUN AMERICAI saw Chan-King Liang for the first time on a certain Monday morning in October. It was the opening day of college, and the preceding week had been filled with the excitement incidental to the arrival of many students in a small town given over to family life. Ever
2、y household possessed of a spare room was impressed with the fact that good citizenship demanded that it harbour a student. Therefore, when I saw trunks and boxes and bags being tumbled upon the front porch of our next-door neighbour, I said to Mother; Mrs. James has succumbed!Pg 4 and set out for m
3、y first class with Celia, an old friend.As we crossed the campus, we noticed a group of boys, gathered on the steps of College Hall and talking among themselves. Celia turned to me. Do you see the one with very black hair; his face turned away a littlethe one in the grey suit, Margaret? Well, that i
4、s the new Chinese student, and the boys all say he is a wonder. My cousin knew him last year in Chicago, where he was a freshman. Going in for international law and political scienceimagine!I turned and glanced with a faint interest at the foreign student, on whose black hair the sun was shining. My
5、 first impression was of a very young, smiling lad. Looks well enough, I said rather ungraciously, and we passed on.I was a busy student, eagerly beginning my freshman years work, and I thought no more of the young Chinese. But aPg 5 day or so later I discovered him to be the owner of those trunks a
6、nd bags I had seen assembled on Mrs. Jamess porch. Chan-King was my next-door neighbour.We were never introduced to each other; as it happened, and, though we shared studies in German and French, we did not exchange a word for some time. Later I found myself admiring his feat of learning two foreign
7、 languages through the medium of English, a third, and doing it so very well. At the same time, though I was not then aware of the fact, he was also admiring me for proficiency in these subjects, in which I was working hard, because I intended to teach languages.The progress of my interest in him wa
8、s gradual and founded on a sense of his complete remoteness, an utter failure to regard him as a human being like the rest of us. He was the first of his race I had ever seen. But finally we spoke to one another by some chance, and, afterPg 6 that, it seemed unnecessary to refuse to walk to class wi
9、th him on a certain morning when we came out of our houses at the same moment.We parted at College Hall door with an exchange of informal little nods. I was happily impressed, but my impulse to friendship suffered a quick reaction from all that Chan-King was, when viewed against the background of hi
10、s race as I saw it. I had no intention whatever of continuing our association.almost changed sides in the discussion. This happened again and again.From the very beginning, I saw clearly, by some grace, the point at which Chan-Kings Oriental mind and Occidental education came into the keenest confli
11、ct: my attitude towards other menPg 35 and their attitude toward me. He was never meanly jealous or suspicious, but there was in him that unconquerable Eastern sense of exclusiveness in love, that cherishing of personal possession, so incomprehensible to the average Western imagination.I had planned
12、 to instruct a young man in French during the summer months, as a part of my vacation work, and I casually announced my intention to Chan-King. He opposed it at once, I thought unfairly. I was a great while persuading him to admit his real reasons for objecting. Finally I said, somewhat at random, I
13、f my pupil were a girl, you would not care.You have enough work as it is/ he persisted, but without firmness, and his eyes flickered away from mine. I laughed a little. He turned to me a face so distressed that my smile died suddenly. Oh, dont laugh! he saidJPg 36 painfully in earnest. You must keep
14、 in mind what you are to me. Icannot be different. I am sorry.I gave up my harmless young pupil and said nothing more. From that moment I began to form my entire code of conduct where men were concerned on a rigidly impersonal and formal basis. It was not difficult, for my first and only affection w
15、as centred in my husband, and the impulse to coquetry was foreign to my nature.My husbands determination to leave my individuality untrammelled was sometimes overborne, in small ways that delighted me, by his innate sense of fitness. We played tennis and he played excellently. One day, as we left th
16、e courts, he said to me, Tennis just isnt your game, Margaret. Your dignity is always getting in the way of your drive. I dont want you to give up your dignityit is too much a part of you. But youPg 37 might leave tennis alone and try archery. I am sure that is more suited to your type. The amused obedience with which I took his suggestion soon became enthusiasm for the new sport.To me, marriage had always seemed the most mysti
