James Poy Wong 黃培正

"We only feel the preciousness of warmth in frigidity, but we don’t think of how dreadful the cold can be while in warmth. Humanity should be cursed indeed."

"Cold Bath"¹ - 1945

冷浴

冷了几日，连我也被冷病了。 在寒冷中才感到温暖的宝贵，但是在温暖的时候总不会想到寒冷的可怕。 人类确是值得诅咒的。

本来天气冷了，也不算得什么，不幸的是热水炉坏了，迫得要用冻水洗了个澡， 一时着了凉，病也跟着就来了。 本来坏了的第一天我就觉得有报告房东的必要，一气跑上四楼，恰巧房东不在家。 过了两日，迫得要跑下地下和大房东交涉。 大房东说一概不理，已经不是他的责任。 我心里 “他妈的” 地骂了好几句，口里却出不得声，到底他只是大房东。 前日二房东回来，我走去对他说明，他白眼睁了我几下，说 “知道了！”

但是两天过了，水炉还是冻水炉。 许多人的身都有成个星期冇洗了，却没有人埋怨过， 除了我也没有人出过声。 我看看这样的情形也索性不理了。 几天来人人都自己煲自己的水来洗面，也不觉得烦难。 渐渐咳嗽的声音在几处屋角起了。 刚才我听到了二房东的儿子也大声的咳起来，我心确实暗暗地欢喜，虽然现在水炉还没有工人来看过，但是我知道也不会久了。

这固然是一点很小的事，但是中国人的懒性确实应该及早检讨一下。 对于公益的事固然少理， 就是自己的安舒也不理会。 所以在横街就堆起垃圾，墙边就挂上黄痰，入屋就酸臭，看见就到处凌乱。 像我这样去找二房东确实有失中庸的体面。 二房东见了我倒疑起是反动派来，说不定要教我松人。 同楼住客也嫌我多事，因为水炉不是我自己一人的，我把它当作我个人的事就不对了。 他们到底也是中国人，断不会专对我以意气用事，只要有热水时，他们也乐得抢用的。

Cold Bath

It has been cold for a few days, and I even got sick from the cold. We only feel the preciousness of warmth in frigidity, but we don’t think of how dreadful the cold can be while in warmth. Humanity should be cursed indeed.

Surely it shouldn’t mount to anything when the weather is cold. Unfortunately the water heater was broken, forcing me to take a cold bath and caught a cold and became sick. At first when the heater was broken on the first day, I felt the need to report to the landlord. In one breath I ran up to the fourth floor, but coincidentally the sublandlord was not at home. Two days passed and I was forced to go downstairs to negotiate with the prime landlord. He said he would disregard everything without exception, as it was no longer his responsibility. I cursed “his mother’s” a few times in my head, but I could not make a sound out of my mouth. After all he is just the prime landlord. Two days ago the sublandlord returned, and I went to explain to him. He stared at me a few times with a supercilious look and said, “I knew now!”

But two days have passed and the water heater is still a cold water heater. Many people have not washed up for a whole week, and nobody has complained. Besides me no one even made a sound. Seeing such a situation I too might as well not be bothered. During these few days people boiled their own water to wash their faces, and they didn’t find it troublesome. Gradually coughing sounds came up in various parts of the building. I just heard the sublandlord's son was coughing loudly. I secretly feel glad. No worker has come to look at the water heater now, but I know it won’t be long.

This certainly is a very minor thing, but the laziness of the Chinese certainly should be reflected as early as possible. No doubt they disregard matters of public welfare, but they also ignore their own wellbeing and comfort. So there are piles of garbage in the alley, yellow phlegms hanging on the wall, sour odor within the house, and everywhere is a mess. Like the way I went to the sublandlord is really a breach of the etiquette of the Doctrine of the Mean. When the sublandlord saw me, he may unexpectedly consider me a reactionary and possibly tell me to “get lost.” My fellow renters consider me a busybody because the water heater does not belong to me alone, so it is wrong for me to consider it my personal affair. They nevertheless are also Chinese, so they probably should not be swayed by personal feelings especially towards me. As long as there will be hot water, they would also be happy to rush for it.