我的母亲

今天是母亲冥诞。母离开我们有两年多了。下面是母亲的同事写的一篇关于她的文章。

http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/e2002/20021/zhuanjia2.htm

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		Jan. 200250n

Ione Kramer solemn and meticulous.

By former staff translator LIU ZONGREN

In 1965, I was, after six years of military service, demobilized, and following a 15 month-long crack course in English, assigned to work at China Reconstructs, now China Today. I was installed at a desk in the far corner of a large office, where I practiced typing every day. There were eight other people in the room -- five Chinese and three foreigners, who comprised an American man and woman, and a British woman. I later came to know these three foreigners by their names: Israel Epstein from the United States, who was a friend of Soong Ching Ling (Mme. Sun Yat-sen, founder of China Reconstructs and late honorary chairwoman of the People's Republic of China) and co-founder of China Reconstructs; Epstein's wife, Elsie Fairfax-Cholmeley, who came from a prominent British family; and Ione Kramer, an American woman.

I sat in my corner every day, typing, as my Chinese colleagues were bent over their typewriters translating Chinese into English, and the three foreigners busily edited the translations. For the convenience of our foreign colleagues, all verbal communication in the office was in English. I was unable to speak a single English sentence correctly, even after the crack course, and had no idea what was being talked about, and so for many days I felt left out and depressed. I was also overawed by the presence of so many foreigners in one enclosed place, who arrived and left by car, at that time a privilege enjoyed only by high-ranking officials. Foreigners thus remained mysterious and remote to me.

Days in China Today.

One day Ione Kramer came over to me and asked, "Liu, can we talk?" "What?" I rejoined, feeling a tingle of panic, which made me forget to stand and show my respect. Ione drew up a chair and sat down by my side. "You have to be brave to learn," she said. "But I know so little about English," I protested, trying my best to pronounce each syllable correctly. "Don't worry about that," she said. "The most important thing for you to do is to practice more. If it's convenient, you can come to the office 30 minutes early, and I will help you with your pronunciation." I naturally felt this would be very convenient.

Our face-to-face teach-and-learn class began the next morning. Ione's husband was a professor at Tsinghua University, so she lived with her family on the Tsinghua campus. Prior to that day, she had ridden a bicycle from her home to the Friendship Hotel (where most foreign experts stayed), where she boarded the office bus to work. She now had to ride her bicycle all the way to the office, which took over an hour. It was winter, and the Beijing wind blew bitterly cold.

A farewell party for Ione Kramer before she left for the U.S.

Ione had diverse plans to help me improve my English, but all came to nothing owing to the political turmoil of that period. Her husband was wrongly accused of espionage around 1970, and Ione was implicated and put under house arrest. Both were rehabilitated in 1978, however, and Ione returned to her old job, editing our translations. Many Chinese intellectuals became cynical after suffering in the way Ione had, but she remained staunch and committed in her life and work. She was as warm-hearted as ever to us young, inexperienced translators, and especially to me, who had learned just enough English to do basic proof-reading -- comparing words in the manuscript with those in the galley. Ione continued to give me private tutoring. I occasionally found short Chinese manuscripts that I would translate as a way of improving my English, which Ione would carefully correct, even though they were not for publication. Little by little, she helped me build up my English, as well as my self-confidence. In 1980 I took a government examination and won a scholarship to study in the States for two years. This was the opportunity that made it possible for me to become a good translator. Ione congratulated me warmly, and I did not say "thank you," because I knew she did not expect it.

Ione Kramer retired many years ago and now lives in the States with her husband and two sons. Two years ago, she came to Beijing and invited me to dinner at the Friendship Hotel. I wanted to pay the bill, but refrained from doing so. Although I was already 58 years old at that time, I knew that to Ione I would always be her pupil; a young novice who had just started at the bottom-most rung of his career, at a salary barely enough to carry him through the whole month.

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Ione Kramer came from the United States with her Chinese husband to Beijing in September 1955, and started working for China Reconstructs as English editor-polisher in December of the same year. In 1986, after 31 years service, she retired from China Reconstructs and returned to the United States.