摘要：众所周知，人的名字是人类文明的产物。中国人的名字，从远古的母系氏族社会起源，一路走到几千年后的今天，可以说，它是社会及其文化发展的缩影，而以姓名为中心形成的独特文化，通过子孙繁衍而代代承传。于是，才有了今天的我们时至清明祭祀自己的祖先，寻根溯源的礼仪。

前言

Foreword

众所周知，人的名字是人类文明的产物。中国人的名字，从远古的母系氏族社会起源，一路走到几千年后的今天，可以说，它是社会及其文化发展的缩影，而以姓名为中心形成的独特文化，通过子孙繁衍而代代承传。于是，才有了今天的我们时至清明祭祀自己的祖先，寻根溯源的礼仪。

As is well-known, a person's name is a product of human civilization. Chinese names, originating from the ancient matrilineal clan society and evolving over thousands of years to the present day, can be said to be a microcosm of social and cultural development. The unique culture that has formed around names has been passed down through generations via procreation. This is why we, in modern times, still observe the ritual of paying respects to our ancestors during the Qingming Festival, a tradition that stems from our desire to trace our roots.

随着对外开放的国策实施，出于爱好或其他原因，国人的名字增添了新的内涵——中西结合的名字应运而生，即有的中国人有了“老外”的名字，同样，有的“老外”有了中国人的名字。我书信中的“伊芙琳娜”，就是中国人给自己取“老外”名字的一个例子。

With the implementation of the policy of opening up to the outside world, due to personal preferences or other reasons, Chinese names have taken on new connotations—names that combine Chinese and Western elements have emerged. Some Chinese people now have "foreign" names, and likewise, some foreigners have Chinese names. "Evelina" in my letters is an example of a Chinese person giving themselves a "foreign" name.

其实，她是个纯粹的江南苏州美女，她有父母赐给她的美名——寰一，有微信名——缘缘，还有英语名——Evelina。两年多前，我俩因参加同一个英语兴趣班结缘，并保持微信联系至今。学习班快结束时，我俩一拍即合，成为笔友，因为我们都期待通过英语交流，继续学习英语。同时，作为兴趣爱好，我们都喜欢用母语之外的另一种语言—英语来描述我们的生活，丰富我们的精神世界，享受英语带给我们的快乐。

In fact, she is a pure beauty from Suzhou in the Jiangnan region. She has a beautiful name given to her by her parents—Huan Yi, a WeChat name—Yuan Yuan, and an English name—Evelina. Over two years ago, we met and became acquainted through participating in the same English interest class, and we have maintained contact via WeChat ever since. As the class was about to end, we hit it off and decided to become pen pals. This is because we both hoped to continue learning English through communication in this language. Moreover, as a hobby, we both enjoy using another language besides our mother tongue—English—to describe our lives, enrich our spiritual world, and savor the joy that English brings us.

互换微信之初，我俩各自把自己期待的称呼告诉对方。她让我称呼她——Evelina，而我则选择了自己的微信名——叶子，因为这个名字也是我精心思考而成的，它与父母赐给我的名字有异曲同工之妙。不过，我有自己的英文名字——Candy。其实对我来说，此名比起我父母给予我的名字、我自己起的微信名“叶子”（你知道，实际上我选择了一片绿色的荷叶作为我的微信图标）来说可是小巫见大巫了。取Candy这个名字是因为当年我在求学时，“老外”老师认为，我父母给我起的名字非常难发音，为了尊敬老师，我友善地临时启用了一个让“老外”上口且感觉良好的名字——Candy。

When we first exchanged WeChat information, we each told the other the name we preferred to be called. She asked me to call her Evelina, while I chose my WeChat name: Ye Zi (Leaf), because this name was also carefully thought out by me. It shares a similar charm with the name my parents gave me. However, I do have my own English name: Candy. But compared to the name my parents gave me and the WeChat name I named for myself "Ye Zi" (Leaf, actually, I chose a green lotus leaf as my wechat icon, you know). So, as for me, Candy seems insignificant in my eyes. This is because, back when I was studying, my foreign teacher believed my Chinese name too difficult to pronounce. Out of respect for the teacher, I kindly adopted a name that was easy for foreigners to pronounce and felt good to them—Candy.

这就是我清明书信抬头Evelina，还有我和她在通信中，我们选用了不对等名字的由来。下面是我为纪念我俩微信联系一周年时（2023年2月17日—2024年2月17日），我特制的送给她的电子卡片。祝贺我们用英语交流微信一周年！

This is the origin of why I addressed her as Evelina in my Qingming letter, and why we chose to use unequal names in our correspondence. Below is the electronic card I specially made for her to commemorate our first anniversary of WeChat contact (from February 17, 2023, to February 17, 2024). Congratulations on our first anniversary of English WeChat communication!

卡片中的大意是：亲爱的伊芙琳娜妹妹，你还记得吗，今天是我们英语微信交流一周年的日子。写完这篇文章后，我会把我们微信交流一年的记录发给你。如果你觉得它有意义，请接受它并保留。不管怎样，我相信那是非常美好的时光。让我们继续享受英语带给我们的快乐和成就吧！

Hi, Dear Evelina,

It’s so nice to read the English WeChat you sent me last night, which was written with your genuine emotion, I intended to respond it as usual, using a one-to-one method to communicate with you. However, I found that my mind kept going blank today, and whenever a thought did emerge, it was always connected with "missing."

你好，亲爱的伊芙琳娜

读着你昨晚发给我的英文微信，用真情实感而成的流畅的微信，本想和往常一样，用那种一一对应的方法与你交流，回复你。可发现，今天我的大脑总是一片空白，就是出现了思想，也总是和“思念”连在一起。

For instance, when I saw "spiritual home" in your text, my thoughts flew to the precious golden laurel tree and camphor tree planted by my parents that evergreen and grew stronger and more vigorous in pairs in front of our old house. When I read the word "flower," I was reminded of the day of my mother's funeral, when my best friend from senior high school brought white chrysanthemums to bid farewell to my mom.

看到你微信中的“精神家园”，我的思绪竟然飞跃到了我老家门前父母种植的金桂树和樟树，成双成对日益茁壮的常青树；看到你写的 “花”，我想到了母亲的出殡日，我中学最好的学友为母亲特意送行的白菊。

Another example is when I read, “Those two generations of mothers were working hard in order to give their daughters better future. The story is likely your great mother”, which took me back to the distant past, to the scene after scene of my childhood–my younger siblings and I were together with our mother.

看了你写的，“那两代母亲为了给女儿一个更好的未来而努力工作。这个故事很像你们伟大的母亲。”这句话把我带回了遥远的过去，回到了小时候我与弟妹们和母亲一起生活的一个又一个场景。

Even when you asked, "Why going to bed is it called 'gonna hit the hay'?", although I haven’t figured out the origin of this idiomatic American English, it reminded me of my childhood, when my mother always lined the bottom of our beds with dry straw that smelled of hay, soft and comfortable. Did Westerners also use hay on their beds in the old days, just like we did?

甚至，当你说“Why is it called going to bed is ‘gonna hit the hay’? ”时，尽管我不知道这句地道美语的来源，但我想起了自己小的时候，妈妈给我们的床铺底层总是铺着的带着有稻草香、软软的舒服的干稻草。难道西方人早年的床上也和我们小时候一样铺着稻草吗？

Furthermore, when I saw "I’m glad to hear that your little sister’s son is attending an interview to apply for graduate school in Beijing. We hope the young fellow will achieve his dream," with appreciation to you, it also brought me back to a deep and unforgettable memory of my mother. I remember clearly, in the final days of her life, when she was already in a coma for days, on the way to the artery repair surgery, she uttered her last words with feeble voice—three words: MA YA JI. That was my mother calling out the nickname of my youngest sister, the one she cared about the most (because my little sister was a single mother back then, living in Shenzhen and raising her son alone, and her son then had just entered high school).

此外，当我看到“我很高兴得知你妹妹的儿子正在参加北京研究生的面试。我们希望这个年轻人能够实现他的梦想，”带着对你的感谢之情，也让我想起了我对母亲的深刻而难忘的记忆。我清楚地记得，在她生命的最后日子里，当她已经昏迷了好些天，在去做动脉修复手术的路上，她用微弱的声音说出了她人生的最后一句话——三个字：满伢几。那是我妈对我小妹，她最牵挂的小女儿的爱称（因为那时我的小妹是单身妈妈，住在深圳，一个人带儿子，儿子刚上中学）。

Yes, my parents' spirits are watching over all of us in our big extended family, especially their youngest daughter they badly worried about. Yesterday, the sister's son shared his good news with all of us in our big family—see the picture (the name "Su Fujia," circled with a red marker, is my youngest sister's son). I believe that our parents in heaven must have shared this joy as well. Their MA YA JI’s son, the little kid of the past, has grown up and stepped out a key successful step.

是的，我父母在天之灵护佑了我们大家庭所有家人，特别是让他们牵肠挂肚的小女儿。昨天，我小妹的儿子和我们大家庭的亲人分享了他的喜讯——见图（红色马克笔圈住名字中的“苏赋嘉”就是我小妹的儿子）。我相信，天堂的父母肯定也分享了这一喜讯，他们的MA YA JI当年的小孩子长大了，有出息了。

No doubt you got the idea that all my thoughts above come from the fact that today is a special day for Chinese people, a special solar term—Qingming Festival.

显然，我以上所有的思绪，源自今天是个中国人的特别节日，也是一年中特别节气——清明节。

As you know, the Qingming Festival is one of the most important traditional festivals of the Chinese nation. It is a time when we pay respects to our ancestors and mourn our forebears. It is the bond that connects the Chinese people to their roots. It is also a spring ritual for hiking, enjoying nature, and nurturing new life. Tracing its origins, it originally consisted of two separate cultural themes, which gradually merged into one after the Song Dynasty. The famous Song Dynasty painting "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" depicts the prosperity of the Qingming Festival at that time.

正如你知道的，清明节是中华民族最重要的传统节日之一。它既是我们祭祀祖先、缅怀先人的节日，是中华民族认祖归宗的纽带，也是一个远足春游、亲近自然、催护新生的春季仪式。追其渊源，原本是两个不同的文化主题，宋代以后渐渐融为一体，著名的宋代《清明上河图》就是当时清明节的盛世图景。

The Qingming Festival, both in its origin and evolution, embodies these two symbolic meanings: gratitude and remembrance, and the pursuit of new life and protection of growth. It is a balance of yin and yang, a cycle of life and death, interconnected and propelling the traditional culture of the Chinese nation towards renewal.

清明节，无论是从它的起源还是从它的流变中，都包含这两个象征意义：感恩纪念，求新护生。一阴一阳，一息一生，相互联系，推动中华民族的传统文化走向新生。

Every year when the Qingming Festival arrives, the grass turns green and the flowers bloom beautifully once again. On this special festival and solar term, we light the lamps of our hearts and sprinkle wine upon the earth and sky, to mourn our ancestors, to be grateful to the martyrs, and to pray for the harmony of the sun and moon. We take to the boats to enjoy the spring, to see the fresh tenderness of the willows with their pale-yellow leaves, and to smell the fragrance of the myriad colors of flowers. We hike and climb, to see the spring scenery that fills the mountains, to quietly admire it, to walk slowly, with the spring scenery around us and we are within the view. Unconsciously, we reach the mountain peak. Looking out, the mountains are resplendent, our minds are refreshed, the famous poem "Looking at the Mountain" by the renowned Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu echoes among the mountains: "… We see all the other mountains small while we are standing on its peak."

一年一度清明到，又是一年的草绿花美。在这个特别的节日、这个特别的节气，我们燃起了心灯，酒洒天地之间，缅怀先祖，感恩先烈，祈祷日月祥和；我们荡舟赏春，观鹅黄垂柳的鲜嫩，闻万紫千红的芬芳；我们徒步登高，观挤满山间的春色，静静赏，缓缓行，春色里有我，我在春色中。不知不觉中，我们来到了山巅，一眼望去，群山璀璨，心旷神清，远古唐朝著名的诗人杜甫的名篇《望岳》在群山中回荡“……会当凌绝顶，一览众山小。”

This letter is a bit long, written in both English and Chinese. One reason is to study English with you, and the other is to share with friends and relatives who like my writing. Have a peaceful and pleasant Qingming Festival!

这封信有点长，我用英汉两种语言而成，一是和你共同学习英语，二是与喜欢我的文字的亲朋分享。清明节安详如意！

Yezi 叶子

April 4th., 2025

来源：外交官说事儿