Translated by Xia Yuzhu
Snowflakes are light, each having six tiny silver needles. Last night, they worked together to weave a well-fitted crystal outfit for the campus of S University. However, nothing is perfect, not even in a fairyland. The young dragon cypress at the north wall of the Humanities Building was bent over at a 30 degree angle after the night's snowstorm.
Several students came from a distance, each carrying a camera. Among them was a girl in a black wool overcoat. She was a real beauty, her almond-shaped eyes like pools of clear water or bright stars in the sky. It was hard to tell which they resembled more, but she herself was certainly eye-catching!
These members of the town's College Photographers Society had come out to capture the beautiful scenery endowed by nature. Laughing and talking merrily, they were approaching the leaning cypress .
"Let's take a shot just in front of the Building!" a rich baritone voice suggested.
"No, this cypress is bent by the storm and lacks natural beauty," the girl responded. Pointing to a place nearby, she proposed, "Why don't we go to the small garden of Biology Department, and they have not only cypresses there, but silver pines."
Her voice drifted in the crisp air like sweet, crystal sugar melting, slowly. So to the small garden they went, leaving their carefree laughter behind.
Another slim young man appeared at the Building, his coat stained with paint somewhere down the right corner in appreciation of the snow scene he suddenly caught sight of the bent cypress. He grumbled to himself, "The gardeners were indeed the campus in such a heavy snow as last night's. They should be held partially responsible for the ruin of the harmonious beauty of nature. "The amateur artist was staring at the bent cypress when inspiration flashed into his mind. He quickly opened his sketch book and drew an outline of the cypress with his charcoal pen. He planned to develop the sketch into a cartoon, when he got back to the dormitory. He had even figured out a title for it, "A Cypress Complains". He left with a sigh of sympathy for the bent tree and a flicker of disappointment in his eyes.
In the dim sunlight, a young worker, with a worn bag on his shoulder, was hurrying to the Chinese Department to audit a selective course. All of a sudden a gust of wind blew over the bent cypress, shaking the overlaying snowflakes down onto the young man's head and shoulders. He looked up and noticed the tree. Then he slowed his steps, took a glance at his watch and hurried away.
In a short while, he came back with a spade, an old bamboo stick and apiece of rubber band. He worked with his deft hands on the bent cypress until it was straight again. The bell for cLASS was ringing and he dashed to the cLASSroom.
Silence reigned. Faint bluish footprints, of all shapes and sizes, formed in the snow lines of illegible words with subtle implications. That cypress was quietly gazing at the snow, as if meditating on the mystery of beauty.
媲 美
一朵雪花的體態是輕盈的，宛如六枚小銀針，針萬線，給S大學校園繡出了合身的水晶外套、但是，正如童話世界也有缺陷一樣，文史樓北牆畔一株年輕的龍柏，由於一一夜風摧雪 ，已經傾側成三十度斜角了。 遠處走來幾個身背照相機的年輕人。其中那位穿黑呢大衣的姑娘真美，一雙亮晶晶杏核兒大眼，似湖？似星？誰也說不清，只惹得路人不時朝她張望。這群市大學生攝影協會會員準備捕捉大自然思賜的美妙鏡頭，”心情舒暢的說笑著，漸漸地走近這棵傾斜的龍柏。
※本文作者：佚名※