现在过年的心情是越来越淡了。过年有什么好呢，空长了一岁而已。春去秋来，平淡无奇地过日子，新的日子还不是和旧的一样过。除了自己越来越老愿望越来越实在之外。

Now I’m less and less enthusiastic about celebrating the Spring Festival. What does the new year signify? Nothing but one year older. One season succeeds another, bringing along new days which will be spent in the same old monotonous way. The only difference is that I’m older and less utopian.

想想我现在这种因为对平淡的日子的失望，进而对过年意兴阑珊的心情，我不禁钦佩起自己的父母了。他们可算是最坎坷的一代了：经历过三年自然灾害，下乡插队，艰难地回城找工作，上有老下有小，经济拮据，好容易子女长大了，工厂又在飘摇中。生活虽苦，却很少听他们抱怨，总是尽量给我们一个温暖的家，尽力地鼓励我们上进，做个有用的人。过年对他们来说，比平日更辛苦更操劳，但他们总是想方设法把年过得富足快乐。他们不是没有生存不易的感慨，岁月如刀，他们脸上满是沧桑的印记。他们是普通到不能再普通的人，日子也平淡到不能再平淡。有人说，做人难，做名人更难，其实真正难的是心平气和地做个普通人，不退缩，不泄气，尽自己的力量，肩负起应有的责任。

Whenever I think of my disappointment with the repetitious sameness of the days, and the consequent total loss of interest in spring festival celebrations, I can’t help admiring my parents. They belong to the generation who might be said to have experienced the roughest and toughest times.

They survived the three years (1959-1961) of natural disaster, then were sent to the countryside to work among the peasants. Later, after overcoming no small difficulties, they succeeded in coming back to the city and found some work. Having old people to support and young children to rear, they were often financially embarrassed. It was no easy job for them to have brought us up, and now they find the factory they work for is collapsing…

For them, life has been very hard. And yet, they have never been heard to complain. On the contrary, they have always tried their best to wrap us with familial warmth and encourage us to improve ourselves and be useful citizens. Celebrating the lunar New Year means for them more toil and moil. However, they will and can find the ways and means to make us feel happy and prosperous. Not that they do not feel the difficulty of survival; their faces do bear the evidence of the vicissitudes of the past years. They are the most ordinary of the ordinary run of the people, who live their lives in the most ordinary way. It is said that to live the life of an ordinary person is difficult and that it is even more difficult to live as a celebrity. But in actual fact, to be an ordinary person enjoying peace of mind, and trying one’s best and doing one’s bit, never shrinking from difficulties or losing heart, is the most difficult of all.