1951年春天,我和卓秋被派到小埠东村蹲点兴办农民夜校。那时我俩相遇不久。她穿一身深灰色列宁服,翻衬着白领,齐耳的短发,白皙的面庞,显得端庄而又俏丽。 进村后接洽干部、开会,晚上到夜校听课,她总是拿着一本书抽空儿默默地在一边看。我问她看的什么书,她说是一本苏联小说,《钢铁是怎样炼成的》。她讲起这本书来,热情洋溢,妙语迭出,喜怒哀乐,津津乐道,还熟背几段给我听。一天,我去县里汇报工作回村,她在村外田间小道上迎候我。相见时她喜形于色,把那本《钢铁是怎样炼成的》递到我手中。 In the spring of 1951, Zhuo Qiu and I were sent to Xiao Bu East Village to set up peasant night schools. The two of us met then. She wore a dark gray Lenin suit, white-collar workers, Qi Er’s short hair, white face, dignified and pretty. After entering the village contact cadres, meetings, evening classes to night school, she always took a book to find time to silently silently watching. I asked what book she looked at, she said is a Soviet novel, “How steel is made.” She talked about this book, passionate, punchline, emotions, relish, but also familiar with the paragraphs back to me. One day, I went to the county to report the work back to the village. She was waiting for me in the field trail outside the village. When she met, she was in good shape and handed me the book, “How Is Steel Made?”