J: What a nice day today!
J:今天天气不错呀！
Y: Quite right. By the way, what are you doing these days? I saw you many times in the library. Do you have an exam?
Y:是的。顺便问一下，你这几天都在做什么？我在图书馆看见过你好几次。是 有考试吗？
J: Actually not. I'm reading a novel written by a Chinese writer Qian Zhongshu. The novel is a humorous tale about middle-class Chinese society in the 1940 s.
J:不是的。我正在读中国作家钱钟书的一本小说。这本小说讲的是 20世纪 40年代发生在中国中产阶级身上的幽默诙谐的故事。
Y： Let me guess... What you are reading is Fortress Besieged, right?
Y:我猜猜你读的是《围城》，对吗？
J: It’s amazing! How do you know?
J：太神奋了！你怎么知道的？
Y: To the general public, Qian Zhongshu is best known for his satiric novel Fortress Besieged, which is widely considered as one of the masterpieces of contemporary Chinese literature. It is quite easy to get the answer.
Y:众所周知，钱钟书最著名的就是他的讽刺小说《围城》了，它被公认为是中国当代文学最杰出的作品之一。所以我很容易就猜到答案了啊。
J: I see. Have you ever read it?
J:原来如此。那你也读过这本小说吗？
Y: Absolutely. I was deeply impressed by a sentence at the beginning of the novel,“ Marriage is like a fortress besieged: those who are outside want to get in, and those who are inside want to get out.” It seems that the title is derived from the sentence,
Y:当然啦。小说开头的一句话绐了我很深刻的印象，"婚姻就像围城：外面的 人想进去，里面的人又想出来。"看来，小说的题目就是来自这个句子。
J： Oh, I also remembered the wonderful sentence. However, this is a French proverb. Does the proverb also have a correspondence in Chinese?
J：噢，我也记得这个精彩的句子。但这是一个法国的谚语啊。汉语中也有跟他 相对的谚语吗？
Y: Maybe. As it was said, after he received his Bachelor of Literature in the University of Oxford in Britain, Qian studied one more year in the University of Paris in France. Therefore, no wonder he had a good knowledge of French proverb.
Y:也许有吧。椐记载，钱钟书在英国牛津大学拿到文学硕士学位后，在法国巴 黎大学学习了一年多。这样，他通晓法国谚语也就不足为奋了吧。
J: Really? He was able to master French after studying in France for more than a year. What a shame! I have studied in China for nearly two years, and I’m still having a few problems.
J：是吗？他在法国学习了一年多就能把法语掌握得这么好。真是惭愧啊，我已 经来中国留学快两年了，汉语还说得这么差。
Y: Well, your pronunciation is ok. What you need is more practice.
Y:你的发音不错，只是还需要更多的练习。
J： Thanks, you’re very kind. Well, did Qian write other novels? I like his writing style very much.
J：谢谢，你真好。对了，钱钟书还写过別的什么小说吗？我非常喜欢他的写作 风格。
Y: Well, Qian’s other magnum opus is the five-volume Guan Zhui Bian, which translated into English is Limited Viens. His novel Fortress Besieged introduced him to the public, while Guan Zhui Bian established his fame in the academic field.
Y：钱钟书的另一部巨著是五卷集《管铯编》，英译为 Limited Wemr。小说《围城》 让大众认识了钱钟书，而《管锥编》使他在学术界建立了威望。
J： Vm eager to know what the book exactly talks about.
J：我很想知道，这到底是一本怎样的书。
Y: It is an extensive collection of notes and short essays on poetics, semiotics, literary history and related topics written in Classical Chinese，
Y:它是用文言文写的集子，里面捜集了大量关于诗歌、符号学、文学史、以及相关内容的笔记和短评。
J: Classical Chinese? What is it?
J：文言文？那是什么？
Y: Classical Chinese is also called vernacular Chinese, which is the kind of character used in ancient China.
Y:文言文，是一种在中国古代使用的文字。
J: Oh, I see. Fve never read any Chinese books written in Classical Chinese.
J：哦，明白了。我还没读过用文言文写的汉语书呢。
Y： Nowadays, few works are written in Classical Chinese. Thus, it’s hard for you to get a view of it except ancient books.
Y:如今很少有人用文言文写作了，所以，除了古书，你也就很难再看到了。
J: What a pity! Ancient culture should be conserved.
J：真可惜！古老的文化应该被保留下来的。
Y: I do think so.
Y:我也这么认为。
