《背影》是朱自清(1898-1948)影響最大的抒情名篇之一，寫于1925年10月。作者用的提煉的口語，文筆秀麗，細膩縝密，讀來有一種親切婉轉(zhuǎn)、娓娓動聽的感覺。但它的巨大藝術(shù)魅力主要來自它飽含的真摯感情。

　　我與父親不相見已二年余了，我最不能忘記的是他的背影。那年冬天，祖母死了，父親的差使也交卸了，正是禍不單行的日子，我從北京到徐州，打算跟著父親奔喪回家。到了徐州見著父親，看見滿院狼藉的東西，又想起祖母，不禁簌簌地流下眼淚。

　　It is more than two years since I last saw father, and what I can never forget is the sight of his back. Misfortunes never come singly. In the winter of more than two years ago, grandma died and father lost his job. I left Beijing for Xuzhou to join father in hastening home to attend grandma’s funeral. When I met father in Xuzhou, the sight of the disorderly mess in his courtyard and the though of grandma started tears trickling down my cheeks.

　　父親說：“事已如此，不必難過，好在天無絕人之路!”

　　Father said, “Now that things’ve come to such a pass, it’s no use crying. Fortunately, Heaven always leaves one a way out.”

　　回家變賣典質(zhì)，父親還了虧空;又借了錢辦了喪事。這些日子，家中光景很是慘淡，一半為了喪事，一半為了父親的賦閑。喪事完畢，父親要到南京謀事，我也要回到北京念書，我們便同行。

　　After arriving home in Yangzhou, father paid off debts by selling or pawning things. He also borrowed money to meet the funeral expenses. Between grandma’s funeral and father’s unemployment, our family was then in reduced circumstances. After the funeral was over, father was to go to Nanjing to look for a job and I was to return to Beijing to study, so we started out together.