杨克的这本中英文作品集，精选了他在过去20年中所写的最具有代表性的部分作品，由英国资深诗人与文学编辑露西·汉密尔顿担任内容主编，由著名美国汉学家、翻译家丹尼斯·梅尔，美国诗人大卫·阿莱德，汉学家与翻译家西门·帕顿，旅英翻译家、剑桥大学英语文学硕士陆文艳等翻译，并经资深编辑、剑桥大学英语文学博士艾玛.诺夫德担任英语语言编辑。
  剑桥大学社会人类学教授、国王学院院士、英国国家学术院院士艾伦·麦克法兰特别为他的诗集写下序言：
  我曾在剑桥和中国的多个场合见到诗人杨克。很高兴他能多次参加我担任主席的剑桥徐志摩诗歌艺术节，并荣获诗歌奖。因此，能给各位诗歌爱好者们，介绍杨克即将在剑桥康河出版社出版的诗集，我感到特别荣幸和喜悦。
  众所周知，在所有艺术形式中，诗歌是跨文化转译领域里最难的一种。音乐、绘画、戏剧都因其特有的表现形式，更容易为人所欣赏。但诗歌是多层面的，并指向词语之外的诸多元素，而这些元素已储存在与诗人有着相似文化和语言背景的读者的先有经验之中。那么，当诗歌被翻译成另外一种语言时，在词语字面意思之外所指涉的大部分内容都会丧失，例如节奏、韵律和修辞，而这些内容也往往正是诗歌最初创作的原始驱动力。
  考虑到上述情况，我原以为听到和阅读杨克的诗歌时，会感到有些的失望与迷惑，一如我读翻译成英文之后的中国诗歌而常常感受到的那样。然而，情形并非如此（其中原由我将稍后简要解释）。相反的是，杨克的诗让我想起其他现代诗人——叶芝、奥登、T.S.艾略特和迪兰·托马斯，阅读杨克的诗歌带给我同样多的，或几乎同样多的愉悦体验。
  这固然部分因为我从十七次到访中国的经历中，对这个国家的风景和人民有所了解，故而能填充杨克文字中的某些画面。但仍有其它特质使得他的诗歌强劲有力，即使在英文译文中。无论在杨克的文字或文字所表达的思想里，都有一种巨大的能量和运行力，而在其内核中又有一种与之对比的宁静与和平。我不知道这是否与作品中的佛教或道家的冥想张力有关？
  还值得一提的是，杨克的每首诗在内容和主题上的多样性。它们的范围小至对一朵花或一滴雨的瞬间观察，大至对整个星球（如《地球苹果的两半》）甚至整个宇宙的解读。这些内容和主题各不相同，含括了从扎根于自然与植物之爱的乡村，到当代的城市景观。这些元素有效地混合在一起，现代中国的城市扩张遇见古老农耕中国的小片土地（如《在东莞遇见一小块稻田》），或者城市成为生命植物（如《我在一颗石榴里看见了我的祖国》）。它们同样捕捉到中国本身巨大的多样性，跨越各个省份，辨认不同的人民（如《人民》）。
  在关于人物的写作方面，无论是“特蕾莎修女”或普通中国劳动者，杨克都有一种深切的同情和共鸣，有着对千万个辛勤劳作者的尊严和抗逆力的认可。从他的诗歌作品里，我们听到了人们所遭受的苦痛以及自有之力量。这也引领诗人进入到某些关于社会不公、官僚主义、国家谎言和权力虚伪的不无讽刺的评论中去（如《有关与无关》）。很显然，诗人了解真实的劳作生活是怎样的。尽管他自己有着国际声名和文化地位，但他依然认同普通劳动者。
  在英文的译文中，难以辨明杨克的中文诗歌技艺多么高超，因此我必须接受他在中国获得诸多奖项，并已被翻译成多种语言的事实，以此证实他的能力。当然，这本诗集中的英文版诗歌作品翻译得很优秀，因而充满了有效而强力的暗喻，使用惊人而富于唤醒性的语词，让精神随着不同的节奏而推进。
  杨克的诗歌使我想起了伟大的中国绘画。前景、劳动人民、观察细致的风景都被描绘得精细入微。在此高度之后，薄雾缭绕的精神高山，思想和情感的高峰，在空间或时间的纬度上，都指向了广阔的中国景观（如受道家影响的《石头》）。
  诗歌是宝贵的。杨克的诗歌作为一种非凡的洞察，不论对于永恒的中国，或是这个星球上发生过的从乡村到城市生活的最迅速的变迁，都有着非凡的价值。他的这些诗作，将成为未来的一种重要历史文献，展示一个敏感而才华横溢的观察者，对于刹那间永恒和一沙一世界的持久的捕捉，而唯有诗人能做到如此。这些作品对于中国以外的世界也是重要的，因其对一个地方——如此陌生，然而在其深度上，又如此熟悉——给予了独特的一瞥。
  —— 艾伦 • 麦克法兰
  
  I have had the honour to meet the poet Yang Ke on a number of occasions in both Cambridge and China. I have enjoyed his presence at the Cambridge Xu Zhimo Poetry and Arts Festival, where he was awarded a special prize. So, it is an  honour and pleasure very briefly to introduce a collection of his poetry to be published by Cam Rivers Publishing.
  It is well known that poetry is the hardest of all art forms to translate between cultures. Music, painting, drama can all be appreciated for themselves, but poetry is multi-layered and refers to many things outside the words, already stored in the reader's experience. Almost all of its references are lost in translation, as is much of the rhythm, rhyme and diction, which gives the original force. So, I had expected that when I came to hear and read Yang Ke's poetry I would feel the same sense of disappointment and puzzlement that I normally feel when I read Chinese poetry in translation. Yet, for reasons I shall briefly try to explain, this is not the case. Instead, I read his poems with as much, or almost as much, pleasure as I read other modern poetry which I find he reminds me of – Yeats, Auden, T.S. Elliot, Dylan Thomas.
  This is in part because I know the landscapes and people of China from seventeen visits there, and can thus fill in some of the picture round his words. Yet there are also other features which make his poetry powerful, even intranslation. There is great energy and movement, both in the words and ideas, and yet there is also a contrasted stillness and peace at their heart. I wonder whether this is related to a Buddhist or even Daoist meditative strain in the work?
  There is great variety, both within each poem and in the subject matter of the poems. They range from minute observation of a tiny flower or rain drop, to the whole of the planet (as in 'Two Halves') or even the whole cosmos. They vary from the rural, rooted in a love of nature and plants, to the contemporary urban scene. Most effectively, there is a blending of the two, where the urban sprawl of modern China meets pockets of the old agrarian China (as in 'Small Rice Field'), or where the cities become living plants (as in 'Pomegranate'). They also capture the huge variety of China itself, ranging across it provinces, and picking out its diverse population (as in 'Chinese People').
  In its treatment of people, whether it is 'Mother Teresa' or ordinary Chinese workers, there is a deep sympathy and empathy, an acknowledgement of the dignity and resilience of the millions of hard-working human beings. We hear of their suffering and their strength. This also leads the poet into some withering comments on social injustice, bureaucracy, state lies and thehypocrisy of power (as in 'Related and Unrelated'). It is clear that the poet knows what working life is like and that despite his international celebrity and intellectual position, he still identifies with ordinary workers.
  It is difficult in a translation to tell how effective Yang Ke's technical skills are, so I have to accept that the many prizes he has won in China, and the fact that he has been translated into several languages, attest to his ability. Certainly, the poems are excellently translated so that they are filled with effective and powerful metaphors, employ striking and evocative words and phrases, and carry the mind along with a varied rhythm.
  Yang Ke's poetry reminds me of great Chinese painting. The foreground, the toiling workers and the minutely-observed landscapes are meticulously described with an excellent attention to detail. Behind this rise the misty mountains of the mind, tall peaks of thought and emotion which point to the vast landscapes of China, both in space and time (as in the Daoist-influenced 'Stone').
  The poetry is valuable as a remarkable insight into both timeless China, and the most extraordinarily rapid transformation from rural to urban life that has ever happened on this planet. The poems will be an important historical document in the future, showing a sensitive and highly talented observer permanently capturing, as only poets can, eternity in a moment, a world in a grain of sand. They are important for the world outside China in giving unique glimpses of a place which is so foreign, and yet, in its depths, so familiar.
  Professor Alan Macfarlane FBA
     序言作者
  
  艾伦·麦克法兰
  Alan Macfarlane
  
  艾伦·麦克法兰（Alan Macfarlane），是剑桥大学社会人类学教授、剑桥大学国王学院院士、英国国家学术院院士。
  有着学界“萌爷爷”之称的麦克法兰教授，早年就读于英国知名私立学校牛津“龙校”和“赛德伯中学”，随后在牛津大学获得历史学本科与博士学位，又于伦敦大学亚非学院获得社会人类学博士学位，在剑桥大学执教逾40年。作为世界知名历史学家与人类学家，他著述凡20余种，包括《英国个人主义的起源》、《玻璃的世界》、《绿金：茶叶帝国》、《日本镜中行》、《资本主义文化》、《现代世界的诞生》等，被译为多种文字，其中多部著作有中译本。
  他对于玻璃与茶的全球影响力研究，在科学界、人文社科界和艺术界都产生了重要影响，被《Science 科学》等世界顶尖杂志及出版社出版。
  
  （本篇文章内容获诗歌作者杨克和序言作者艾伦·麦克法兰教授授权）