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又是春天，窗子可以常开了。春天从窗外进来，人在屋子里坐不住，就从门里出去。不过屋子外的春天太贱了！到处是阳光，不像射破屋里阴深的那样明亮；到处是给太阳晒得懒洋洋的风，不像搅动屋里沉闷的那样有生气。就是鸟语，也似乎琐碎而单薄，需要屋里的寂静来做衬托。我们因此明白，春天是该镶嵌在窗子里看的，好比画配了框子。

Spring has returned, and the windows may stay open for a long time again. The spring comes in through the window. One can no longer stay sitting in the room quietly, but must go outside through the door. But the spring outside the house is of no use! The sunshine is everywhere, and it appears no longer as brightly as that, that scatters the dark in the room. The wind is warmed up by the sun and blows everywhere, and it is not as dynamic as that, that the melancholy whirls up in the room. Even the birds’ twittering appears trivial and thin. The chant needs the silence in the room as a background. We understand through it that the spring should be let in through the window and then admired. It is like a picture and its framework.



同时，我们悟到，门和窗有不同的意义。当然，门是造了让人出进的。但是，窗子有时也可作为进出的口用，譬如小偷或小说里私约的情人就喜欢爬窗子。所以窗子和门的根本分别，决不仅是有没有人进来出去。若据赏春一事来看，我们不妨这样说：有了门，我们可以出去；有了窗，我们可以不必出去。窗子打通了大自然和人的隔膜，把风和太阳逗引进来，使屋子里也关着一部分春天，让我们安坐了享受，无需再到外面去找。古代诗人像陶渊明对于窗子的这种精神，颇有会心。《归去来辞》有两句道：“倚南宫以寄傲，审容膝之易安。”

At the same time, we know clearly that doors and windows have different meanings. The door of course represents entrance and exit. But the window is used also as an entrance and exit. For example, in the novel, burglars and lovers prefer the “mountaineering” through the window for the rendezvous. The basic difference between windows and doors probably is not only, whether somebody enters or leaves. If we want to enjoy the spring landscape, we can just say: If we have a door, we can go outdoors. If we have windows, we do not need to leave. The window removes the barrier between nature and human beings and lures wind and sun in so that the spring comes partially into the room. We enjoy that, sitting comfortably, and no longer needing to go outdoors. Writers in old times like Tao Yuanming understood this sense of the window. In Guiqulaici (Homecoming) two verses say:

I lean at the window that faces south, and trust it with my pride,

I look around in the small house, my comfortable home.



不等于说，只要有窗可以凭眺，就是小屋子也住得么？他又说：“夏月虚闲，高卧北窗之下，清风飒至，自谓羲皇上人。”意思是只要窗子透风，小屋子可成极乐世界；他虽然是柴桑人，就近有庐山，也用不着上去避暑。所以，门许我们追求，表示欲望，窗子许我们占领，表示享受。这个分别，不但是住在屋里的人的看法，有时也适用于屋外的来人。一个外来者，打门请进，有所要求，有所询问，他至多是个客人，一切要等主人来决定。反过来说，一个钻窗子进来的人，不管是偷东西还是偷情，早已决心来替你做个暂时的主人，顾不到你的欢迎和拒绝了。缪塞（Musset）在《少女做的是什么梦》那首诗剧里，有句妙语，略谓父亲开了门，请进了物质上的丈夫（materiel epoux），但是理想的爱人（ideal），总是从窗子出进的。换句话说，从前门进来的，只是形式上的女婿，虽然经丈人看中，还待博取小姐自己的欢心；要是从后窗进来的，才是女郎们把灵魂肉体完全交托的真正情人。你进前门，先要经门房通知，再要等主人出现，还得寒暄几句，方能说明来意，既费心思，又费时间，哪像从后窗进来的直捷痛快？好像学问的捷径，在乎书背后的引得，若从前面正文看起，反见得迂远了。这当然只是在社会常态下的分别，到了战争等变态时期，屋子本身就保不住，还讲什么门和窗！

Doesn’t that mean that small houses are also comfortable if there are windows, through which one can cast a glance of the distance? Further, it says,

In the summer night, I lie idly in the bed beside the window that faces north,

the refreshing wind enters rustling,

I feel immortal.

It means that a small house can turn into a paradise if the wind enters through the window. Although he lived on the countryside near Lu Mountain, he didn’t need to climb on the mountain in order to experience the freshness of the summer. The door stands for desire, because it allows us to strive for something. The window stands for pleasure, because it allows us to possess something. Not only the occupants, but also the visitors from outdoors sometimes think that there is such a difference.

A visitor must knock at the door and ask for permission to enter. He comes with a concern. At most, he is a guest. Everything is to be decided by the host. In contrast, whoever enters through the window, no matter whether he steals things or somebody’s heart, has decided already previously to take over your role of host. He does not care at all, whether you welcome or refuse him. In the verse drama “Of What Girls Dream”, Musset wrote a word to the point, that means, ‘The father opens the door and admits the material husband (matériel épouse), but the ideal (idéal)lovers go in and out through the window.’ In other words, whoever enters through the front door is a formal son-in-law. Although the father-in-law is content with him, he must still try to win the affection of the girl. Whoever enters through the window is the real lover of the girl, to whom the girl wants to give her soul and body.

If you go through the front door, you should ask the porter to report your arrival to the host. Then you must wait until he comes. After you have exchanged a few greeting-words with him, you can explain the purpose of your visit. You waste both thoughts as well as time. Is that so frankly and directly dealt with as those that enter through the window? That resembles the claim, the shortest way to knowledge would lead over the indices at the end of the books. If you instead begin to read a book from the beginning, the way appears winding and far. This difference exists of course only, if the society is in a normal state. In abnormal phases like the war, not even the house can be protected. Not to talk about doors and windows!