“Cherish one's own beauty， respect other's beauty， and when both beauties are respected and cherished， the world will become one”， said Fei Xiaotong， a famous Chinese sociologist at a cerebration party in honor of his eightieth birthday about thirty years ago. In a time of growing interest in intercultural communication today， these words sound especially wise and far-sighted. Translation， as one of the most important means for cultural communication， is usually done into one's mother tongue from other languages by native translators. This largely guarantees the quality of translated text， so far as the linguistic readability is concerned. However，this method implies a one-sidedness in correspondence， as only the translator's “respect for other's beauty” is concerned， regardless， though not completely， of how the local people look upon and cherish their own beauty. It should be compensated by translations on the other way， that is，works selected， interpreted， and translated by the local people themselves into languages other than their own. This approach may go directly against the prevalent views in modern translation theories but， in my opinion，is worthy of practicing. It is perhaps an even more effective way to bring about successful communication in cultures， and the beauties of the world can really be shared by the world's people. It is with such understanding that the Shanghai Foreign Languages Education Press is organizing a new series of books， entitled Readings of Chin.ese Culture， to introduce Chinese culture， past and present， to the world， with works selected and translated by the Chinese scholars and translators.
The series will cover a wide range of writings including but not restricted to works of different literary genres. For the first batch， we are glad to provide three books of essays and one book of short stories， all written by authors of the 20th century. They will be continued by a batch of serious academic writings on premodern Chinese classics in philosophy，literature， and historiography， written by influential scholars of our time.Later， we will offer more books on classical Chinese drama， classical Chinese poetry， etc.

張培基，1921年生，福州市人。1945年畢業於上海聖約翰大學英文繫，同年任英文《上海自由西報》記者，英文《中國評論周報》特約撰高者兼英文《中國年鋻》（1944－1945年度）副總編。嬰年赴日本東京遠東國際軍事法庭國際檢察局（IPS）任英語翻譯，約兩載半，隨後赴美國印第安納大學研究英國文學，1949年業回國。歷任北京外文出版社編譯、中國人民解放軍外語學院英語教授、北京對外經貿大學英語教授兼該校出版社總編輯。中國譯協一、三屆理事，現任《英語世界》雜志顧問。

The Wise Man， the Fool and the Slave
On Presenting a View
Mid-Iife Loneliness
Winter in White Horse Lake
Loving Memories of Mother
National Crisis vs Heroic Natio
The Living Present
Mr． About-the-Same
Never Give up the Pursuit of Learning
Reflections on the Sports Meet
Dusk
Under the Linden Tree
I Took a Wooden Boat
Enjoying the Moon
A Place Without Autumn Insects
The Commercial Press and I
Nothing Is Impossible to a Willing Mind
Getting Married at 81
How I Started My Career as a Novelist
The Sight of Father's Back
Tribute to the White Poplar
Fog
Autumn in Peiping
A Chat about Marriage
On “Reading Is Always Benefiaa
Love Is Not a Game
Recollections of My High School Days
On Growing Flowers
The Torrent of Life
Smile
Stars on a Snowy Night
The Land of My Ancestors
Grandpa and Nightly Blackout
A Chat about Short Essays
Dreamlike Childhood
A Profile of Sa Zhenbing
Joys of the Teaching Career
My Narrow Escape from a Wolf's Jaws
From Chongqing to Hakone
Another Letter to Young Readers
Is the Ear Less Reliable than the Eye? - About the Story of jiao
Wei Qin
Time Is Life
Learning and Personal Inclination
Cultivating Good Habits
Random Thoughts （Excerpt）
A Brief Sketch of Peng Dehuai

First Love
I was then 14， and she about 13. I was living with grandpa's concubineSong in our temporary home in Hua-Pai-Lou， Hangzhou. The little girlwas our next-door neighbour Yao's daughter. She had originally been thedaughter of a Yang family in Qing-Bo-Men-Tou. As she was the third
child of the family， people often called her San-Gu-Niang. The old Yaos had no children of their own， so they took her as their goddaughter.
Hence she put up with the Yaos for more than 20 days per month. Though
Concubine Song was very friendly with the daughter-in-law of a distant
neighbour named Shi， who owned a mutton shop， she was not on speaking terms with old Mrs. Yao next-door. San-Gu-Niang， however， didn't care about all that. She would push our door open and enter to have fun. She would first go upstairs to have a little chat with Concubine Song， and then，after coming downstairs， stand beside the wooden table， which I used to share with our servant Ruan Sheng， to watch me practising handwriting after a wood-cut copybook for alligraphy by Lu Runxiang， carrying in her arms a big cat named San Hua.
I didn't get into any conversation with her， and nor did I ever dwell my eyes on her face and bearing - perhaps due to my myopia. But there was another reason for it. Though unconsciously attracted by her， I felt meanwhile so overshadowed by her brilliance that Ijust could't lift my eyes to take a close look at her. As far as I can now remember， she seemed to be a little girl with delicate features， black eyes， slender figure and small feet， and have othing especially appealing. But she was the first person of the opposite sex that had caught my notice. The first person that had made me love somebody else as much as myself. The first person that had made me sexually aware. The first person that had aroused my adoration for the opposite sex.
Of course I knew then I was nothing but an "Ugly Duckling"，but that didn't damp down my passion. Whenever she came to watch me practise calligraphy with the cat in her arms， I would hearten up
unwittingly and go about my job with redoubled effort and inexplicable joy in my heart. I didn't bother whether she loved me or not， and nor did
I know whether I myselfwas in love with her or not. Nevertheless， when she was around， I felt happy and desired to do all I could for her. That was my real state of mind， and that was also something bestowed on me by her.
I didn't know how she felt， but as for me， it wasjust a feeling of adoration，
and there was no thought ofanything having to do with sexual relations at all. One evening， Concubine Song suddenly burst into another fit of abuse at the Yaos and ended it up with，
"That Goddam Ah San! She's no good either. She's sure to end up a whore some day in Gong-Chen-Qiao.
……

“Cherish one's own beauty， respect other's beauty， and when both beauties are respected and cherished， the world will become one”， said Fei Xiaotong， a famous Chinese sociologist at a cerebration party in honor of his eightieth birthday about thirty years ago. In a time of growing interest in intercultural communication today， these words sound especially wise and far-sighted. Translation， as one of the most important means for cultural communication， is usually done into one's mother tongue from other languages by native translators. This largely guarantees the quality of translated text， so far as the linguistic readability is concerned. However，this method implies a one-sidedness in correspondence， as only the translator's “respect for other's beauty” is concerned， regardless， though not completely， of how the local people look upon and cherish their own beauty. It should be compensated by translations on the other way， that is，works selected， interpreted， and translated by the local people themselves into languages other than their own. This approach may go directly against the prevalent views in modern translation theories but， in my opinion，is worthy of practicing. It is perhaps an even more effective way to bring about successful communication in cultures， and the beauties of the world can really be shared by the world's people. It is with such understanding that the Shanghai Foreign Languages Education Press is organizing a new series of books， entitled Readings of Chin.ese Culture， to introduce Chinese culture， past and present， to the world， with works selected and translated by the Chinese scholars and translators.
The series will cover a wide range of writings including but not restricted to works of different literary genres. For the first batch， we are glad to provide three books of essays and one book of short stories， all written by authors of the 20th century. They will be continued by a batch of serious academic writings on premodern Chinese classics in philosophy，literature， and historiography， written by influential scholars of our time.Later， we will offer more books on classical Chinese drama， classical Chinese poetry， etc.
Some of the books in the series have been published before， but they have been revised and rearranged for the new purpose to meet the current needs ofbroader readers. We are looking forward to hearing comments and su~estions on the series for future improvement.