小船向着高塔下面的鄉村流去的時候，我還回過頭去看留在後面的茂盛的榕樹。朋友說，這是鳥的天堂。下面是小編整理的巴金散文《鳥的天堂》，英譯版欣賞。
Ba Jin
We had supper at Chen’s school. The heat had subsided. The sun had gone down behind the hills, leaving its glorious glow on the horizon, on top of the hills and on tips of the trees.
“Let’s go boating!” Chen suggested. We were standing by the pond in front of the school gate, watching the scene over the hills and on tips of the trees.
“Let’s go boating!” Chen suggested. We were standing by the pond in front of the school gate, watching the scene over the hills.
“Good idea,” the other friends fell in with him cheerfully.
We went along a gravel path for some distance and soon got to the river. There was a straw pavilion by the water. We went past the pavilion and found a couple of small boats under two tall trees along the river.
We jumped into one of them one after another. A friend unfastened the rope and pushed off the boat with a bamboo pole, and the boat moved slowly toward the middle of the river.
Three of us took turns to row the boat, and Chen and I sat enjoying the scene around.
On the hillside in the distance there stood a tower surrounded by many green trees. Such towers were hard to find elsewhere in the neighborhood. That was where Chen’s home was located.
The river was wide, the whitish water was undisturbed and the boat was floating on its smoothly. The three oars were paddling in the water with regular rhythm.
The river narrowed at one point. Clusters of tree leaves, leaves with lovely greenness, reached out over the water. They were many exuberant banyan trees, but their trunks were invisible.
As soon as I said they were “many” banyan trees, I was corrected by my friends. One of them said it was only one, and another said there were two. I had seen many big banyans before, but it was the first time I had seen a banyan as big as this one.
Our boat was nearing the tree, and I was able to see at close hand what it looked like: it was a huge tree, with numerous branches out of which roots grew and many of them drooped to the ground and dug into the earth. Some branches hung down to the water, looking from a distance like a big tree lying buoyant on top of it.
This was the season when trees were thick with dense branches and leaves (the tree began to bear small fruits and some had fallen). It looked as though the banyan was trying to show to us all of its exuberance. It’s so heavy with leaves in clusters, one piling on top of another, leaving hardly any space in between. The emerald green shimmered in front of our eyes, as if in every leaf there was a new life pulsating there. What beautiful trees of southern China.
Our boat slowed to a halt under the tree and stopped there for a moment. We did not get off to the bank as it was wet there. My friends said the tree was a “paradise” for the birds’; many birds had nested in it and peasants would not allow anyone to catch them. I seemed to have heard the sound of some birds flapping their wings, but when I turned to look I could not see any one there. Instead there were numerous roots standing on the ground like wood stakes. The ground was wet, probably washed by the tides. “Birds’ Paradise”, but there were no birds in it, I wondered. Our boat, poled by a friend, moved on and glided toward the middle of the river.
巴金 《鳥的天堂》原文我們在陳的國小校裏吃了晚飯。熱氣已經退了。太陽落下了山坡，只留下一段燦爛的紅霞在天邊，在山頭，在樹梢。
“我們划船去!”陳提議說。我們正站在學校門前池子旁邊看山景。
“好，”別的朋友高興地接口說。
我們走過一段石子路，很快地就到了河邊。那裏有—個茅草搭的水閣。穿過水閣，在河邊兩棵大樹下我們找到了幾隻小船。
我們陸續跳在一隻船上。一個朋友解開繩子，拿起竹竿一撥，船緩緩地動了，向河中間流去。
三個朋友划着船，我和葉坐在船中望四周的景緻。
遠遠地一座塔聳立在山坡上，許多綠樹擁抱着它。在這附近很少有那樣的塔，那裏就是朋友葉的`家鄉。
河面很寬，白茫茫的水上沒有波浪。船平靜地在水面流動。三隻槳有規律地在水裏撥動。
在一個地方河面變窄了。一簇簇的綠葉伸到水面來。樹葉綠得可愛。這是許多棵茂盛的榕樹，但是我看不出樹幹在什麼地方。
我說許多棵榕樹的時候，我的錯誤馬上就給朋友們糾正了，一個朋友說那裏只有一棵榕樹，另一個朋友說那裏的榕樹是兩棵。我見過不少的大榕樹，但是像這樣大的榕樹我卻是第一次看見。
我們的船漸漸地逼近榕樹了。我有了機會看見它的真面目：是一棵大樹，有着數不清的椏枝，枝上又生根，有許多根一直垂到地上，進了泥土裏。一部分的樹枝垂到水面，從遠處看，就像一棵大樹躺在水上一樣。
現在正是枝葉繁茂的時節(樹上已經結了小小的果子，而且有許多落下來了。)這棵榕樹好像在把它的全部生命力展覽給我們看。那麼多的綠葉，一簇堆在另一簇上面，不留一點縫隙。翠綠的顏色明亮地在我們的眼前閃耀，似乎每一片樹葉上都有一個新的生命在顫動，這美麗的南國的樹!
船在樹下泊了片刻，岸上很溼，我們沒有上去。朋友說這裏是“鳥的天堂”，有許多隻鳥在這棵樹上做窩，農民不許人捉它們。我彷彿聽見幾只鳥撲翅的聲音，但是等到我的眼睛注意地看那裏時，我卻看不見一隻鳥的影子。只有無數的樹根立在地上，像許多根木樁。地是溼的，大概漲潮時河水常常衝上岸去。“鳥的天堂”裏沒有一隻鳥，我這樣想道。船開了。一個朋友撥着船，緩緩地流到河中間去。
在河邊田畔的小徑裏有幾棵荔枝樹。綠葉叢中垂着累累的紅色果子。我們的船就往那裏流去。一個朋友拿起槳把船撥進一條小溝。在小徑旁邊，船停住了，我們都跳上了岸。
兩個朋友很快地爬到樹上去，從樹上拋下幾枝帶葉的荔枝，我同陳和葉三個人站在樹下接。等到他們下地以後，我們大家一面吃荔枝，一面走回船上去。
第二天我們划着船到葉的家鄉去，就是那個有山有塔的地方。從陳的國小校出發，我們又經過那個“鳥的天堂”。
這一次是在早晨，陽光照在水面上，也照在樹梢。一切都顯得非常明亮。我們的船也在樹下泊了片刻。
起初四周非常清靜。後來忽然起了一聲鳥叫。朋友陳把手一拍，我們便看見一隻大鳥飛起來，接着又看見第二隻，第三隻。我們繼續拍掌。很快地這個樹林變得很熱鬧了。到處都是鳥聲，到處都是鳥影。大的，小的，花的，黑的，有的站在枝上叫，有的飛起來，有的在撲翅膀。
我注意地看。我的眼睛真是應接不暇，看清楚這隻，又看漏了那隻，看見了那隻，第三隻又飛走了。一隻畫眉飛了出來，給我們的拍掌聲一驚，又飛進樹林，站在一根小枝上興奮地唱着，它的歌聲真好聽。
“走吧，”葉催我道。
小船向着高塔下面的鄉村流去的時候，我還回過頭去看留在後面的茂盛的榕樹。我有一點的留戀的心情。昨天我的眼睛騙了我。“鳥的天堂”的確是鳥的天堂啊!
