Whether from emotion or the habit of self-denial, he merely nodded politely and did not respond to his wife's question: "How did you get so old?"
老太太則直視著老先生說：「你怎麼變得這麼老？」也許是四十年的隔絕，也許是情感內斂的習慣使然，老先生只是一味點頭不發一語。從那回以後，他更關切大陸上種種變化的消息，也肯開口談談過往或批評時事。