居然到了山西，天是透明的蓝，白云更流动得使人可以忘记很多的事，单单在一点什么感情底下，打滴溜转；更不用说到那山山水水，小堡垒，村落，反映着夕阳的一角庙，一座塔！景物是美得到处使人心慌心痛。
We are finally here on the land of Shanxi! The sky is liquid blue; eyes feasting on the white clouds overhead, one may loiter and dream at will in utter restfulness. Moreover, such landscape as hills and streams, small fortresses, hamlets, and the sun-gilt temple or pagoda can be observed anywhere at any time. Or we might as well say the eyes could fall on nothing that is not of a breathtaking beauty.
我是没有出过门的，没有动身之前不容易动，走出来之后却就不知道如何流落才好。旬日来眼看去的都是图画，日子都是可以歌唱的古事。黑夜里在山场里看河南来到山西的匠人，围住一个大红炉子打铁，火花和铿锵的声响，散到四团黑影里去。微月中步行寻到田垄废庙，划一根“取灯”偷偷照看那瞭望观音的脸，一片平静。几百年来，没有动过感情的，在那一闪光底下，倒像挂上一缕笑意。
Seldom have I had such a long journey. Tied up with various chores on weekdays, I yet was at a total loss when managing to shake them off and make my way here. During these ten days, everything into the eye forms a good picture and each day passed makes a happy song. At night we had gathered on a threshing floor round a big burning furnace, and watched the blacksmiths form Henan Province striking iron, the sparks and din of which diffused and sank into the surrounding darkness. By moonlight we had walked to fields and wilds and paused to contemplate—with the help of a "tinder"—the Buddha we had found, whose face had remained serene for hundreds of years, seemed to show a smile at that very glimpse.
我们因为探访古迹走了许多路；在种种情形之下感慨到古今兴废。在草丛里读碑碣，在砖堆中间偶然碰到菩萨的一双手一个微笑，都是可以激动起一些不平常的感觉来的。乡村的各种浪漫的位置，秀丽天真；中间人物维持着老老实实的鲜艳颜色，老的扶着拐杖，小的赤着胸背，沿路上点缀的，尽是他们明亮的眼睛和笑脸。由北平城里来的我们，东看看，西走走，夕阳背在背上，真和掉在另一个世界里一样！云块，天，和我们之间似乎失掉了一切障碍。我乐时就高兴的笑，笑声一直散到对河对山，说不定那一个林子，那一个村落里去！我感觉到一种平坦，竟许是辽阔，和地面恰恰平行着舒展开来，感觉的最边沿的边沿，和大地的边沿，永远赛着向前伸……
We traveled quite a few miles because of our archaeological work, and in many places we had lingered, musing over the vicissitudes that might have taken place there. Deciphering the inscriptions among the grass, or stumbling upon a hand or a smiling face of the Buddha among a mass of waste bricks, both could inspire great sensations in us. The various locations of the rural dwellings, though casual, were all so natural and pleasant that they were given a tinge of romance and the people inside were all with the most primitive simplicity. There were elders on crutches, and the kids stripped to the waist; along the road were all their faces bright with smiles and glowing with innocent enjoyment. Everything was new for us the newcomers who just broke loose from Beijing; we hanged here and there, gazing around, the setting sun behind our back, and felt as if having lost ourselves among the grandeurs of another world! The distinction between the clouds, the sky and us seemed to have disappeared. I laughed whenever I liked it, my laughter extending all the way across the river, through the mountains, and to the adjacent villages or woods which I could not even identify! I felt something serene, or perhaps infinite, was rising inside me and stretching about in parallel with the horizons; my faculties, seemingly all astir, were rushing forward in race with the ends of the earth…
我不会说，说起来也只是一片疯话人家不耐烦听。以我描写一些实际情形我又不大会，总而言之，远地里，一片田庙有人在工作，上面青的，黄的，紫的，分行的长着；每一处山坡上，有人在走路，放羊，迎着阳光，背着阳光，投射着转动的光影；每一个小城，前面站着城楼，旁边睡着小庙，那里又托出一座石塔，神和人，都服帖地，满足地，守着他们那一角天地，近地里，则更有的是热闹，一条街里站满了人，孩子头上梳着三个小辫子的，四个小辫子的，乃至于五六个小辫子的，衣服简单到只剩一个红兜肚，上面隐约也绣有她嬷嬷挑的两三朵花！
I belong to that kind of person clumsy with speech. And though I do have a tongue, I am afraid it might go so far and wide as to be a bore, while the present scene could be beyond words even to a man of eloquence. In a word, in a distant field we could see someone working, where crops green, yellow and purple were growing in respective rows; on every slope of the hill there were people walking or shepherds browsing sheep, their shadows revolving round their moving figures against the sunlight; before every county stood a gate tower, with a small temple lying beside and a stone pagoda rising out somewhere among. The josses and living human beings alike were with great piety, being content with having one corner of their own on the earth. The scene in the immediate vicinity was with more liveliness. The street was crowded with people, with children wearing their hair in braid three, four or even five and six scattering about! Their clothes, so plain as to be a sole red bellyband, still dimly bore two or three flowers that must be their Mama's work!
娘娘庙前面树荫底下，你又能阻止谁来看热闹？教书先生出来了，军队里兵卒拉着马过来了，几个女人娇羞的手拉着手，也扭着来站在一边了，小孩子争着挤，看我们照相，拉皮尺量平面，教书先生帮忙我们拓碑文。说起来这个那个庙，都是年代可多了，什么时候盖的，谁也说不清了！说话之人来得太多，我们工作实在发生困难了，可是我们大家都顶高兴的，小孩子一边抱着饭碗吃饭，一边睁着大眼看，一点子也不松懈。
And who has informed people beforehand that we were to be there, beneath the shaded tree before Her Majesty's temple? Yet the masters came over, the soldiers dragging their horses approached, and several women hand in hand coyly also came and stood beside us quietly. The kids jostled against each other to see us taking pictures, placing the tape measure and doing the measurement, while the masters helped us with the rubbing of inscriptions. Our talk shifted from one temple to another, all with so long a history that nobody could tell their origins! The increasing number of the villagers joining the talk added difficulty to our work, but we all were very happy. Even the kids having their meals with rice bowl in hands were all eyes, without any hint of relaxation.
我们走时总是一村子的人来送的，儿媳妇指着说给老婆婆听，小孩们跑着还要跟上一段路。开栅镇，小相村，大相村，哪一处不是一样地热闹，看到北齐天保三年造像碑，我们不小心的，漏出一个惊异的叫喊，他们乡里弯着背的、老点儿的人，就也露出一个得意的微笑，知道他们村里的宝贝，居然吓着这古怪的来客了。“年代多了吧？”他们骄傲的问。“多了多了。”我们高兴地回答，“差不多一千四百年了。”“呀，一千四百年！”我们便一齐骄傲起来。
The whole village would pour out to see us off whenever we left one place for another. Daughters-in-law pointed and explained to their old mothers-in-law, and the children ran to follow us for miles. Whenever we reached, this or that village, we were received with the same great hospitality. Discovering the effigy built in the year 552 AD, subconsciously, we gave out an exclamation of astonishment. The hunchbacked elders, aware that this antique article of treasure in their village had staggered us the strange visitors, returned us a knowing smile. "With a long history, isn't it?" They asked with pride. "Yeah, a long history absolutely," we assured them with joy, "of almost 1400 years". Then together we were wreathed in pride.
我们看看这里金元重修的，那里明季重修的殿宇，讨论那式样做法的特异处，塑像神气，手续，天就渐渐黑下来，嘴里觉到渴，肚里觉到饿，才记起一天的日子圆圆整整地就快结束了。回来躺在床上绮丽鲜明的印象仍然挂在眼睛前边，引导着种种适意的梦，同时晚饭上所吃的菜蔬果子，便给养充实着我们明天的精力，直到一大颗太阳，红红地照在我们的脸上。
We were still burying ourselves in those palaces and temples rebuilt in the Jin and Yuan or Ming dynasties here and there, and deciding the uniqueness of their styles, appearance, and making craft when the night gradually fell. It was only until then that we began to realize our mouth had been dry and our stomach empty, that another fulfilling day was over. Back to the dwelling place, body lying on the bed, the vivid impressions still haunted before eyes and prepared me for various sweet dreams. And the fresh fruits and vegetable we had during the dinner had too refreshed us with enough energy, until tomorrow morning we would be greeted by another new day of a big and red sun shining.