本文作者新凤霞，评剧演员，是青衣、花旦，评剧新派创始人。原名杨淑敏，小名杨小凤，天津人，中共党员。6岁学京剧，12岁学评剧，14岁任主演。1949年后历任北京实验评剧团团长，解放军总政治部文工团评剧团副团长，中国评剧院演员，作家。全国第七届政协委员。本文选自于《新凤霞回忆录》，由杨宪益翻译，文中大量出现口语化和中国特色词汇，译文处理得十分得当妥帖，是难得一见的优秀译文。

在旧社会，我们评剧演员常常挣钱不够吃饭，艺人们大都是拉家带口，生活困难。

In the old society, pingju players seldom made enough to live on, and as most were saddled with big families their life was hard.

演员们唱完戏还要各自找点儿活干，有人拉排子车，有人卖破烂，卖烟卷儿，当小工，拾烟头是普遍现象。

Apart from acting they had to find other work. Often they pulled handcarts, sold junk or cigarettes, hired themselves out as coolies, or collected cigarette stubs.

下雨或阴天回戏，不响锣就不给钱，是那时的规矩。

If a performance was cancelled because of bad weather, the rule in those days was: No show, no pay.

腊月二十三封箱，把“祖师爷”请到前台去，后台冷冷清清，演员们就更苦了，要等到年初一开戏了，才能挣到钱。

On the twenty-third of the twelfth lunar month, when theatres closed and the patron saint of actors was invited to the front stage, leaving the backstage deserted, actors were even worse off, unable to earn any more until the reopening on New Year's Day.

我家里生活苦，父亲做小买卖，妈妈是家庭妇女，弟弟妹妹多。

My family was hard up, with Father a peddler, Mother a housewife, and so many children to feed.

家里最大的是我，才十三岁，就唱戏养家了。

At thirteen, as the eldest child, I acted to help support the family.

真是一个钱撕成八瓣用，心里总想着怎样能够改善家里的困境。

Each single copper had to be eked out, and I kept racking my brains for ways to improve our difficult conditions.

早晨去喊嗓子，我带着一个小篮拾煤核，为了回家取暖。

Each moning when I went out to practice singing in the open air, I took a little basket to scrounge for cinders for our stove.

拾煤核也要放聪明点儿，常常换换地方，为的不受那些野男孩子的欺负，那些男孩子是成群结队的拾煤核。

Even when scrounging for cinders you had to have your wits about you and shift from place to place to avoid those mischievous boys who banded together to collect cinders too.

我是一个人，怕被他们欺负，我用换地方的办法，躲着他们。

Being all on my own and afraid of being bullied by them, I shifted around to dodge them.

他们看见女孩拾煤核就捣乱，揪我的小辫，向我身上扔虫子，吓得我看见他们就躲。

Because when they found me scavenging they made trouble, pulling my plait or throwing insects at me, so that the sight of them frightened me away.

腊月二十三灶王爷上天，后台封上戏箱，要等年初一开戏。

On the twenty-third of the twelfth month lunar the Kitchen God went up to the heaven, and the theatre shut down until New Year's Day.

封箱回戏，等于演员们封嘴，大家可苦了。