Spring flowers bloom
The birds are free
I'm still waiting
Waiting for my love
You're coming back soon
Say goodbye to winter
Winter is over. Spring slowly melted the ice in Beiping, and the small wave lake seemed to have just woken up, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a little green. There was green grass in the corner of the courtyard, and the cats called spring on the roof ridge of the wall.
——Lao She,"Four Generations Together"
Drink flower tea and bask in the sun
When the sun is shining, put yourself in it, like a piece of tangerine peel
Tea leaves are taken in turns to drink: chrysanthemum, jasmine, rose, lemon
These beautiful things seem to take me on my way to spring
——Yu Xiuhua, "I Love You"
Go to an unfamiliar tavern and have a cocktail
It was a pleasant spring night, a bright full moon was floating in the air, and the trees on both sides of the road began to sprout green shoots, which was the perfect time for a walk. I wandered the streets aimlessly for a while and decided to go to the bar for a cocktail. Instead of going to the nearby shop, I walked a little more and went into a bar I had never been to before.
- Haruki Murakami, "First Person Singular"
Translated by Ye Yi
Climb the mountains and pick mushrooms
In the spring we go to the nearby mountains to pick up ferula mushrooms. We climbed the highest mountain, which was cold, windy, and blooming with white flowers. That day we went over four mountains and found only two large buttons. Because the Ferienwohnung mushroom is really a very rare "mountain treasure", even if it is only as big as a button, we still have the heart to root it. Also because it is so rare, even though it is only the size of a button, we still use it to boil a big pot of soup.
Anyway, spring is coming. The river swelled and the earth was damp. Huge clouds moved from west to east, very low and fast. Sunlight moves through the gaps, casting bright beams of light back and forth on the earth. The place where the clouds are obscured is cold and clear, and the place where the light shines is brilliant and trance-like. This is a colorful, vast world.
—— Li Juan, "The Eternal Place of Kawutu"
Bring a can of beer outside of work
"I said I'd only ask you to give each colleague three cans of beer, and if that's fair too," Andy said, "I think when a guy works outside in the spring for a while, if there's a can of beer to drink, he'll feel more like a person." This is just my personal opinion and I'm sure they will appreciate it. ”
— Stephen King, The Shawshank Redemption
Translated by Ma Ainong
Paint spring down
We were so lucky to be here when the lockdown started. I've been working with my head buried. We don't go to visit anyone. It was simply amazing for me. I think we've become more creative. If we had been bustling, we wouldn't have been able to do all these paintings and cartoons, but no one bothered us.
I intend to stay here and do what I'm doing right now. But many people elsewhere are probably looking at their surroundings at this point — and painting them all down. I received some people's drawings on Twitter who looked at my work and then tried to do something similar. There are also small children who do this. Some of the paintings are particularly good. David Judas (a dealer friend) told me he went for a walk in Tuting Park today because the weather was perfect and the flowers were blooming. But he would never have thought of going there. Celia was staying in her cabin, but she said it was the first spring she had really watched closely. People are watching things.
— David Hockney, "Spring Is Coming"
Translated by Hu Yating and Yang Suyao
Observe animals falling in love
In order to overcome the inherent shyness in his eyes, he observed the love of animals. In spring, the world of trees is a world of marriage. The movements of the squirrels when mating are almost human-like; the birds flap their wings to mate; even the lizards run away in pairs, wrapping their tails tightly into a knot; the porcupines seem to become softer to make their embraces more gentle. The hound, Jiajia, is not at all timid because she is the only short-legged dog in Umbrosa, and boldly and conceitedly pursues a fat female shepherd or a she-wolf dog, acting according to the good feelings aroused by nature. Sometimes it comes back with a bite, but a happy chance in love compensates for all the failures.
- Italo Calvino, The Baron in the Tree
Translated by Wu Zhengyi
Cherry blossom viewing
In the spring of 2000, I went to Kyoto, Japan, with a few elders to enjoy the cherry blossoms, and we stayed at a small inn in Shijo Kawaramachi, next to the Kamogawa River. Around the end of March, Yoshino cherry blossoms bloom along the entire river, one Yoshino cherry blossom and one willow tree, one Yoshino cherry tree and one willow tree, which is very beautiful. It was early spring, and the light of the north country passed through the white petals, through the willow leaves to form that pale green translucent hue, which was very beautiful.
——Luo Yijun, "Story Convenience Store"
The plan of the year is spring
The weather is getting warmer every day. The city is like a tired horse, rolling in the last days of winter and spring. When it jumps up and shakes the snow, it will become a lovely spring girl. Spring is a good season, and people in general are looking forward to it in a good mood.
—— Liang Xiaosheng, "Snow City"
Look for birdsong in the city
A strange silence enveloped the place. Where, for example, have the birds gone? Many people talk about birds, feeling confused and uneasy. The place behind the garden where the birds are looking for food is deserted. The few birds that could only be seen in some places were also dying, trembling so much that they could not fly. It was a silent spring. The morning here used to be a chorus of crows, birds, pigeons, birds, wrens, and other birdsong; now there is no sound, only silence covering the fields, the woods, and the swamps.
- Rachel Carson, "Silent Spring"
Translated by Masaubo
Get a good night's sleep
On the night when the spring breeze was drunk, I had to walk around and go home until the sky was about to dawn. I went back to sleep when I was tired of walking like this, and I slept until the middle of the next day, and several times I had to sleep until the second sister came back from work. As soon as I slept, my health gradually returned.
—— Yu Dafu, "Spring Breeze Drunken Night"
Go and experience something like never before
I have experienced everything you know: spring, the breath of the earth, the wildflowers blooming in the fields, the morning fog on the river. Twilight on the ranch. I walked through towns and didn't want to stop anywhere. I have often thought that happiness belongs to those who have no concern in the world, who are always flowing and wandering around with eternal enthusiasm. I hate the home, the family, all the places where people seek rest, and I hate enduring feelings, the fidelity of love, and the obsession with ideas—everything that undermines justice. I often say: We should be fully prepared and ready to accept new things.
—— [Law] Kidd," "Food for Man"
Translated by Li Yumin
Go on a date together in the vast fields
Spring is here. Spring is coming, let's go play together. Remember old Goethe's Song of May? Love, love, splendid as a cloud... Let's make an appointment, let's go play together in the spring. I don't like mountains very much, I like the vast fields, woods and rivers. Let's go.
——Wang Xiaobo, "Loving You Is Like Loving Life"
Read a poem about spring
Along the lovely suburban tram line
There are white houses with pottery
There is a tempting walking path
No one rides, no one gets off
A small station in the field
However, I also saw it
Chimney of a nursing home
Under the cloudy sky in March
The tram slowed down
I make momentary fatalism
Replace it with the sweet fragrance of plum blossoms
Along the lovely tram line
Except in the spring, it is forbidden to enter
--Shuntaro Tanikawa, Shunten
Translated by Tahara
Skipping/truancy
"Spring, summer, autumn and winter" is the most likely to cause the desire to truancy is spring. Yu is in seasonal order, and handed down, without error. Spring loves to skip school, half of it is the first time to go to school, the heart is wild, untamable; half because in the spring you can fly kites, and you can go to the mountains to fold flowers.
——Shen Congwen, "In private school"
Try to forgive someone
We are delayed in winter, but spring has come. On a comforting morning, all sins can be forgiven. Such a day is a truce of sin. When such a sun burns in the air, sinners who do nothing evil will turn back. As long as we ourselves are pure and pure, we can see the purity of our neighbors. You may know that your neighbor yesterday was a thief, an alcoholic, or a carnalist, who was only pitiful or despised by him, and thus felt pessimistic and disappointed in the world; but the sun shone brightly, shining warmly on the first morning of this spring, recreating the world, and you will meet him doing some calm work, seeing his dry and lustful veins filled with calm joy, blessing the arrival of the new day, feeling the effects of spring with infantile purity, All his sins were forgiven.
- [Beauty] Thoreau's Walden
Translated by Su Fuzhong
Be in awe of all things
Although I do not believe in the order of all things, I cherish the slimy, spring-sprouting leaves, cherish the blue sky, cherish sometimes I do not know - believe it or not - why I love some people, cherish some of the feats of mankind, perhaps I have long ceased to believe in such great achievements, but still have respect for them out of old ideas.
- [Russian] Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
Translated by Rong Rude
Take a spring shower
Spring Rain——
A small child
In teaching cats to dance
—— [Japanese] Kazucha Kobayashi, "This World Is As Short as Dew"
Translated by Chen Li and Zhang Fenling
Fill yourself with energy
They have infinite confidence and hope in life, happiness, and themselves. They love people, and they love people, so happy, without a little shadow, without a little doubt, without a little fear of the future! Only in spring can there be such a clear and tranquil realm! There is not a cloud in the sky. That kind of energetic faith seems to not wither under any circumstances. So full of joy never seems to dry up.
- [French] Roman Rowland, "John Christophe"
Translated by Fu Lei
Come on a walk-and-go trip
Whenever spring came to New York, I could not resist the hint of the spring weather blowing across the river in New Jersey, and I felt that I had to go. So I went.
- Jack Kerouac, "On the Road"
Translated by Liang Yong'an
Buy yourself a bouquet of flowers
During this time, spring has descended from the surrounding suburbs to the markets in the city. Thousands of roses wither in the baskets of flower vendors who set up stalls along the sidewalk, and the sweet fragrance of roses floats over the city.
— Albert Camus, The Plague
Translated by Liu Mingjiu and Liu Fang
Hop on a bus aimlessly
Stretching out your feet in the spacious seats, the train suddenly stopped, suddenly started again, and swayed, only to see the Yamato Wilderness Spring Xia, the scenery is like a paradise, hills, fields, villages, temples, etc. outside the window to meet and grow away. Unconsciously, people completely forget the existence of time. When will I arrive in Nara? Where do you go now? What is the station? Such questions are no longer concerned, only to feel that the train is constantly stopping and driving and stopping, the wilderness outside the window is adjacent, always foggy, and the sun seems to never go down. I especially like to ride this slow train on a rainy spring afternoon. At this time, the body is lazy, and even confused and unconsciously dozing off.
——[Japanese] Junichiro Tanizaki, "Yin Feng Praise"
Translated by Li Shanglin
Blowing a warm spring breeze
Spring with temperature, to melt the road of winter, in the spring to take the road traveled in winter, thinking about the cold of winter, and these, no doubt in the spring wind naturally do not matter. A lot of trauma, just like this, suddenly got better, without obvious signs.
——Zhang Ailing, "In the Spring"
Reject ineffective socializing
When I grew up, I never lived as absurdly as others did, and even in Paris, in the spring, I did not go to visit, not to listen to the boring perfunctory, but to go to the countryside to visit the first flowering hawthorn trees.
- [French] Marcel Proust, "Remembrance of a Time Like Water"
Translated by Xu Yuanchong and Zhou Kexi
Open the doors and windows and let the sun shine in
The windows that had been closed for a winter were all opened, and the windows began to appear with the lips of the maiden, and the pots of flowers that were already budding appeared. The wind was no longer blowing from the northwest, no longer so cold and piercing. The wind began to blow from the southeast, warm and damp. Blowing on their faces moisturizes their faces. They came out of the house and out of their bloated coats. They came to the street, to the spring, and although they were still wearing scarves, at this moment the scarves were no longer for the cold, and began to become decorations. They felt the tight skin inside their clothes slowly loosening, and the hands in their pockets were slightly sweating. So someone put their hands out, and they felt the sun moving on their hands, and they felt the spring breeze gliding interestingly through their fingers, and it was at this time that they saw the dim willow trees on both sides of the river suddenly become tender green, and these changes were only done in a week. At this moment, the bells of bicycles on the street are as bright as the sun, and the footsteps and voices are as vivid as the tide.
- Yu Hua, "1986"
Wait for the outbreak to dissipate
Everything has ushered in spring, and in recent days, the scenery of the city has changed rapidly: flowers are blooming colorfully, birds are singing melodiously, children playing with different toys, a soloist blowing a Chinese flute, a pianist somewhere by the window, pressing the keys of the piano hesitantly, everyone is trying to regain the freedom of movement and interaction from the virus. Caution and restraint are also evident. But life is back, even more vibrant.
It was so nice to hear the sounds and noises that are characteristic of this big city again! Now, even the recordings of reminders played on those delivery cars are very enjoyable. Cities, in addition to the bodies drawn on the map, should also have souls.
—Stephen Spundr, The Chinese Diary
Translated by Bowen Lee
Tell each other about the arrival of spring
And about the name of spring, there must have been such a story: before the "Book of Poetry", before the "Book of Shang", before cangjie made characters, a lamb suddenly felt juicy when eating grass, a child suddenly felt the soaring when flying a kite, a leg suffering from wind pain suddenly felt comfortable, thousands of pairs of hands on the creek, on the pond, on the riverbank Huansha's hands suddenly felt the blood of the water... When they rushed to tell each other in surprise, they decided to pout their mouths into the shape of a whistle, naming the season with a pleasant whispering volume: "Spring.".
——Zhang Xiaofeng, "Spring nostalgia"
Go out and walk in the green, shake your spirits
There are more kites in the sky, and more children on the ground. In the city and the countryside, every household, old and young, also rushed out, one by one. Relax and rejuvenate your bones, shake your spirit, and do your own thing. "The plan of the year lies in the spring", just starting out, some are kung fu, some are hope.
——Zhu Ziqing, "Spring"
Be patient and wait for your timing
Be patient, don't be discouraged, you think, if spring is coming, the earth will make it do little by little, and the minimum amount of work we can do will not make god's production more difficult than the earth is for spring.
— [Au] Rilke, "Letter to the Young Poet"
Translated by Feng Zhi
Go to see the sea, go see the spring blossoms
From tomorrow onwards, be a happy person
Feed the horses, chop wood, and travel the world
From tomorrow, care for grain and vegetables
I have a house facing the sea and spring blossoms
—— Haizi, "Facing the Sea, Spring Blossoms"