登土山Climbing the Earthen Mountain

The Covid-19 sealed off the campus， and the campus sealed off the students， but it was not able to seal off the souls trying to find pleasures on the campus. Therefore， on a mild spring day， I took six postgraduate students on a climbing trip. We made our way through the bushes and reached the top of the so-called “Earthen Mountain”， a new resort I had found before. The trip turned out to be pleasing enough.

新冠封了校园，校园封了学生，但封不住在校园内发现喜悦的灵魂。于是，在和煦的春光里，我带着六名研究生，披荆斩棘2，爬上一座被我称作“土山”的新去处，喜悦感十足3。

When my students heard the word “mountain-climbing”， they were not only excited but also startled. None of them had ever been told that there was a mountain on the campus， not to mention that the whole city where the school lies was on a plain region. Obviously， though I refer to it as an earthen mountain， it is a big mound actually， piled up for some possible construction. As the mound is so huge， it seems to possess the characteristics of a mountain： high and steep， ravines and greens. I love to climb mountains， which is something inside me. Therefore， a mountain-like mound undoubtedly assumed the magnificence of a real mountain and made my mountaineering aspiration come true.

学生们听到“爬山”，喜悦之外便是诧异，别说校园里有山，就是整座城都坐落在平原上。当然，说是山，严格地讲只是一大堆建筑用土，因土堆浩大，俨然具备了山的特点：高大，陡峭，千沟万壑，郁郁葱葱。喜欢爬山，是我的内在诉求，而山一样的土堆，无疑就有了山一样的伟岸，部分满足了心理上对于山的向往。

The Earthen Mountain is in a remote part of the campus. On ordinary days， scarcely are there passers-by around it， let alone any real climbing. Going through knee-level grass， our shoes were soon covered with dust， and our clothes got dirty. The place where the Earthen Mountain lies was once a construction site with the rumblings of machines and the workings of bulldozers. Massive soil from this piece of land， which was the size of a football field， was scooped out by bulldozers， and was soon piled up to be a small mound. The mound later grew into a much bigger one， before the bulldozers disappeared and the land was laid waste. The planned new buildings were nowhere in sight， leaving the mound lying there still. To dig a lake and build a mountain？ Time passes quickly like a white pony’s shadow across a crevice. The Earthen Mountain took its shape but no lake was ever built. Looking around， everything appeared to be motionless.

土山就在校园的一角，一个相当偏僻的所在，平日里，连山的周围都少有人经过，更莫提攀爬土山了。土没脚面草过膝，弄脏衣服不在话下。它曾经是一处建筑工地，印象中是几年前的事，听到过机器轰鸣，见到过推土机作业，足球场大小的一块土地硬是被挖起厚厚的一层，聚拢成一个土堆，土堆由小变大，之后就不见了那些机械手，任土地肆意荒芜，任土堆岿然不动，任想象中的建筑物不见踪影。或许是堆山造湖？但时光如白驹过隙4，湖不见而山依旧，瞭望四周，一切都显得那么寂寥5。

On my way to the campus， the mountain always came into view in the distance. In the first year when the mountain took its shape， it was pure earthen yellow. Then， the spring came. The mound took on the color of the tender grass when viewed from far away， but the greenness diminished as one came closer. In the summertime， the mound was blanketed with grass， only occasionally dotted with bare yellow earth. When it was getting cooler， there appeared a few tall reeds waving in the winds and glittering in the sun—such a common sight in the fall. In the middle of winter， a severe frost turned it back to yellow again. After only one year， the whole mountain took on new clothes. It became a fascinating sight， and passers-by in the distance stopped to have a look of it.

我去学校路上，远远地总要望见这座山。土山堆起的第一年，土黄土黄的6，春天来了，“草色遥看近却无”7;夏天到了，芳草萋萋，绿多黄少8。天气渐凉时，竟还长出几株高个子芦苇随风舞动，在太阳下闪着耀眼的光，总归是秋的模样。只是到了冬天9，一场寒霜，让黄土堆现了原形。只消一年，整座山就全然披上了新装，俨然成了一道风景，引得远处的路人为之侧目。

It was the first time for the students to follow me to this remote corner. We came through a wood of camphor trees. The ground there was covered with layers and layers of brownish leaves， rustling when stepped on. The sunshine cast shadows over the leaves， creating the same beautiful scenery as depicted in the poetic line “the pine chilled by the sunshine”. You may have more discoveries when not following a trodden path. To climb “the Earthen Mountain” is to seek for the pleasures of discovery. When we reached the foot of the mountain， no visible ascending paths could be seen， which showed that few people had been here. Last year， in this season of fragrance of acacia flowers， I climbed to the top of the mountain and wrote the prose “An Ode to the Acacia Flower” for remembrance. I know quite well the path to the top. There would always be a path in the bushes where piles of dead branches were found. They were laid for disguise deliberately by the people who set up vegetable gardens atop the mountain to guard against any possible trampling. The acacia flowers， together with the rape flowers， flooded the air with fragrance， which appealed both the bees and us explorers. We fantasized that the winding path leading to a secluded spot must have something secret.

学生们第一次跟我走到这个偏僻的角落。我们小心翼翼地穿过一片香樟林，黄褐色的落叶铺了厚厚的一层，踩在上面，窸窸窣窣，斑驳的树影衬托出“日色冷青松”般的秀色。不走寻常路，才会有更多的发现，爬土山，自然也是为了寻找这份发现的惊喜。及至山脚，却看不到上山的路，足见人迹罕至。在去年这个槐花飘香的时节，我不仅上了山，还写下一篇《槐花吟》聊作纪念。我深谙上山之道，草丛中有枯树枝掩映的地方必定有路，这是有心人在山上开辟了菜园为提防践踏而虚设。槐花和着油菜花，花香四溢，招徕了蜜蜂，也引来了我们这些探险者。曲径通幽，幽处定有神秘的存在。