《儿童时代》的编辑们叫我给小朋友写一篇《我的童年》。关于“童年”，我写过不止一篇了。现在不妨讲一段惊险的故事，给小朋友们听。

　　The editors of the Childhood asked me to write for kids an article entitled My Childhood. Since I have written more than once on the same subject, now I might as well tell you a thrilling story instead.

　　这大概是一九六〇年的事了，那时我的父亲是烟台海军练营的营长，我们的家就住在练营对面的一个职工家属的四合院里，这个四合院是盖在从山坡上挖出来的一块平地上。我总记得每天我母亲替我梳小辫的时候，我从后窗望去，外面是一堵高高的土墙，在每一个锄头挖过的凹孔里，都长着一小丛的蒲公英，她是我一生中所结交的“花”的朋友中的第一个！

　　It was probably in 1906. My father was then in charge of a Yantai naval training camp. We lived just opposite in an old-style quadrangle for naval officers' family members. It stood on a piece of level land dug out of the mountain slope. Every day, I remember, when mother was busy plaiting my hair, I would look out of the back window to set my eyes on a tall earthen wall and small clusters of dandelions growing out of the holes in the ground left by digging. They were the first flowers I have ever been friends with in my life!

　　在我家后面的山坡上，有一座和海上兵舰通旗语的旗台，我父亲常常带着一块石板——就是我们小时候上学时用的做算术的那种石板——和一个带着两面彩旗的水兵，上旗台去跟海港里的军舰通话。

　　On the slope behind our house was a platform for exchanging flag signals with warships at sea. Often, armed with a slate – the kind of slate as used by schoolchildren for learning arithmetic, father would mount the platform to communicate with warships in harbor, together with a seaman carrying two coloured flags.

　　那时候的烟台东山，还是荒凉得很，时常有狼在夜里出来觅食。我们的厨师父常抱怨说：昨天夜里盖在大鸡笼下，上面还压着一块大石头的鸡笼，又被狼顶开，把小鸡吃了。不如砌一个砖头的鸡舍好。我从来没看见过狼，也就没把这话往心里去。

　　Dongshan in Yantai was then a bleak and desolate place, often haunted by wolves at night hunting for food. Our cook often complained about wolves eating up our chicks the previous night after pushing off the heavy stone on top of the big bamboo coop. He suggested that a brick hen house be built to replace the bamboo coop. I had never seen a wolf, so didn't take his words too much to heart.

　　有一天傍晚，父亲又带一个打旗语的水兵，上旗台去了。水兵下来半天了，父亲还在台上，我就跑上旗台去找父亲。夜色苍茫里，我听见身后仿佛有一只大狗在跟着我，忽然听见父亲一声断喝：“你快上来！”我回头看时，只见一双亮得又凉得透骨的、灰蓝的眼睛，同时旗台上砰地一声巨响，是石板摔在地上的碎声，那大狗似的，有一双可怕的灰蓝眼睛的东西，拖着一条长长的尾巴，转身就跑了。这一切只发生在几秒钟的时间！

　　One evening, father went up the platform again with a signal man, but he remained there long after the seaman came back. So I started running up to meet him. Then, in the midst of the deepening dusk, I became aware of something like a big dog following at my heels. All of a sudden, father gave a loud shout, "Come on! Quick!" I looked back and saw a pair of grayish blue eyes glittering piercingly. Meanwhile, there was a terrific bang as father's slate was smashed to pieces on the ground. The dog-like big beast, with its fearful grayish blue eyes, immediately turned to scurry away with its long tail between its legs. All that lasted but a few seconds!

　　我跑上了旗台，父亲把我紧紧地搂在怀里说：“刚才追在你后面的是一只狼！不是我砸了石板把它吓跑了，你早就让它吃了。以后在这么晚的时候千万不要自己一个人出来，听见没有？”那时我在父亲怀里只是嘻嘻地笑着，我想象不出被狼咬着吃了是什么感觉。现在回想起来却有一种“后怕”。

　　Up on the platform, father hugged me closely in his arms and said, "It was a wolf that pursued you just now! Had I not frightened it away by smashing the slate, it would have eaten you up. From now on, don't come out by yourself after dark. Understand?" I giggled in his arms, not knowing what it was like to be eaten up by a wolf. Today, nevertheless, the small incident never fails to strike fear in me whenever I recall it.