Lin Huiyin 林徽因 Poetry Reading
Read by Hopkins Students and MSON students
This is a recording of 16 students from the MSON Chinese 5 course reciting “You are the April of This World” by Lin Huiyin (你是人间的四月天-林徽因 )。 The Malone Schools Online Network (MSON) provides motivated upper-level students at participating Malone Schools with a variety of academically challenging seminar courses that enhance each member school’s existing curriculums. Our Chinese 5 MSON course involves students at schools across the country - from Connecticut to Minnesota and DC who are passionate about studying the Chinese language and culture.
In this dark time, 你是人间的四月天 represents the hope we feel for reaching Spring and someday the end of the pandemic.
– Sophie Sonnenfeld, class of 2021, Hopkins School
你是人间的四月天
林徽音
我说你是人间的四月天
笑响点亮了四面风
轻灵在春的光艳中交舞着变
你是四月早天里的云烟
黄昏吹着风的软
星子在无意中闪
细雨点洒在花前
那轻那娉婷你是
鲜妍百花的冠冕你戴着
你是天真庄严
你是夜夜的月圆
雪化后那片鹅黄 你像
新鲜初放芽的绿 你是
柔嫩喜悦
水光浮动着你梦期待中白莲
你是一树一树的花开
是燕在梁间呢喃
你是爱是暖是希望
你是人间的四月天
You Are the April of This World
Lin Huiyin
I think you are the April of this world,
Sure, you are the April of this world.
Your laughter has lit up all the wind,
So gently mingling with the spring.
You are the clouds in early spring,
The dusk wind blows up and down.
And the stars blink now and then,
Fine rain drops down amid the flowers.
So gentle and graceful,
You are crowned with garlands.
So sublime and innocent,
You are a full moon over each evening.
The snow melts, with that light yellow,
You look like the first budding green.
You are the soft joy of white lotus
Rising up in your fancy dreamland.
You’re the blooming flowers over the trees,
You’re a swallow twittering between the beams;
Full of love, full of warm hope,
You are the spring of this world!
About Lan Lin
Modern Language Department Chair, Hopkins School
Dr. Lan Lin is a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese. She has dedicated 20 years to education since 2001. She has an MD degree in Internal Medicine from Wuhan University in China. Upon her arrival to the U.S. in 1997, she worked at Yale Medical School briefly as a research assistant in Endocrinology before deciding to pursue her life’s dream - to be a teacher. Her mother’s forty-year teaching career had always inspired her to become a teacher. But as an obedient daughter, she went to Medical School and fulfilled her mother’s dream of becoming a doctor.
In 2001, Dr. Lin completed her Master’s degree in Elementary Education with a K-6 teaching certificate from Connecticut. She taught at Worthington Hooker School in New Haven for seven years. Although the public school did not offer Chinese language classes, Lan taught Chinese language and culture to her students. She was the first teacher to introduce Chinese language and culture in her school district. Her students performed taichi and kungfu at the school’s annual International Day for each of the seven years that she taught there.
In 2007, Dr. Lin joined Hopkins School, an independent school in New Haven that was established in 1660. The school offers language classes in Arabic, Ancient Greek, Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish, in addition to Chinese. When she started teaching at Hopkins, the Chinese program had about 35 students. Under her leadership, there are now over 100 students enrolled in Chinese courses ranging from level 1 to level 7.
Dr. Lin is also involved as a Chinese advocate not only in her own school but also in the Greater New Haven area. She has worked with Foote School, where her children attended, to start their first Chinese program eight years ago. She served and helped the Yale Community Chinese School and Southern Connecticut Chinese School with curriculum design, hiring, and provided training for new teachers.
Dr. Lin was instrumental in forming a sister school relationship with Yali-Peicui School in Changsha, China. The exchange program now includes school visits as well as homestays. Dr. Lin has led seven student trips to China. Under her leadership, an annual Chinese New Year celebration with participation from over 700 students, faculty, and parents has been ongoing since 2010.
Dr. Lin currently serves as the Chair of the Modern Language Department at Hopkins School. She is also a board member of CLASS (Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools).