評論
打印
"And after these years, your time is borrowed," he said, motioning for me to follow him to the edge of the clearing. "And then, you go back to the place you knew and loved. See this steep slope." He pointed toward the deep valley below.
“這以后，你的時間都是借來的，”他說，并用手示意我跟他走到那塊空地的邊緣，“于是，這時候，你就會回到你以前熟悉和熱愛的地方。你看這個陡坡。”他用手指指下面山谷的深處。
"Your mother and I, when she was nineteen and I was twenty-two, cleared this mountain slope together. We raised corn, beans, and pumpkins here," he continued, his voice rising with excitement. "That's why I came back up here. I went back to our youth."
“你媽和我，當時她十九，我二十二，我們倆一起開墾了這面山坡。我們在這里種玉米、豆子和南瓜，”他接著說道，因為激動，嗓門也越來越高。“那就是我為什么要回到這里來的原因。我要回到我們的青年時代。”
I looked at the vast mountain slope below. It was on this slope that my father once made me a little wooden plow. That was when I was six years old and they brought me to the field to thin corn.
我望著下面廣闊的山坡。當年就是在這面坡上，父親有一次給我做了一張小小的木犁。記得那年我六歲，他們把我帶到這塊地里來給玉米間苗。
Now, to look at the slope, it was hard to believe that they had done it all. For many of the trees were sixty feet tall and the wild vines had matted their tops together.
現在，看看這個山坡，你很難相信，這一切都是他們兩個人完成的。因為很多樹現在都已經有六十英尺高了，而且那些野藤已經把樹頂纏結成一片。
"And, Jess," he went on, "the doctor told me to sit still and to take life easy. I couldn't do it. I had to work. I had to smell this soil and touch it again. And I wanted to taste yams, tomatoes, and potatoes grown on the land."
“還有，杰西，”他接著說，“醫生叫我待著別動，完全放松地生活。可是我辦不到。我必須做點事情。我得聞聞這泥土，再撫摸撫摸它。而且我要嘗嘗這地里長出來的甜薯、西紅柿、土豆。”
I followed him from his clearing in the sky, down a new path, toward the deep valley below.
我隨他從那半空中的空地，沿著一條新的小路，走向下面的深谷。
"But why do you have so many paths coming up here?" I asked.
“不過你為什么要開辟那么多小路到這里呢？ ”我問他說。
"Oh, yes," he said. "Early last spring, I couldn't climb straight up the steep path. That was when the doctor didn't give me a week to live. So I made an easier path. Then, as I got better," he explained, "I made another path that was steeper. And as I continued to get better, I made still steeper paths. That was one way of knowing I was getting better all the time!"
“噢，對了，”他說。“去年舂天，我爬不動直上山頂的陡峭的小路了。那時醫生說我只有一個星期的壽命了。所以我就開辟了一條容易一點的路。后來，因為我情況有好轉，”他解釋道， “我就另外開了一條，比前面一條要陡一些。后來由于我不斷地好轉，我就陸續開辟了其他更加陡峭的小路。這成了我證明自己一直在好轉的一個辦法！”
I followed him down the path that wound this way and that, three times the length of the path we had climbed.
我跟著他走下了那條彎彎曲曲的小路，這條路大概有我們剛剛上來時爬過的那條路三倍那么長。
