評論
打印
But, in another way, the year of the drought was also one of the worst of my life, because that was the year that Abu Raja, the retired cook, decided it was time Magdaluna got its own telephone. Every civilized village needed a telephone, he said, and Magdaluna was not going to get anywhere until it had one. A telephone would link us with the outside world. A few men—like the retired Turkish-army drill sergeant, and the vineyard keeper—did all they could to talk Abu Raja out of having a telephone brought to the village. But they were outshouted and ignored and finally shunned by the other villagers for resisting progress and trying to keep a good thing from coming to Magdaluna.
但是，從另一方面來看，大旱的那一年也是我一生中最糟糕的一年，因為，就是在那一年,退休廚師阿布·拉賈決定在馬格達(dá)路納安裝電話，他說，每個文明的村莊都應(yīng)該安裝電話，馬格達(dá)路納如果不安裝的話，它永遠(yuǎn)都不會進(jìn)步。電話可以將我們與外部世界連接起來。一些人——如退役的土耳其軍隊中的操練軍士和葡萄園的管理員——都竭力勸阿布·拉賈不要在村里安裝電話。但是，他們微弱的反對聲被淹沒在擁護(hù)的聲浪中，其他村民對他們罝之不理，最后都躲避他們，說他們反對進(jìn)步，阻止先進(jìn)事物進(jìn)入馬格達(dá)路納。
One warm day in early fall, many of the villagers were out in their fields repairing walls or gathering wood for the winter when the shout went out that the telephone-company truck had arrived at Abu Raja's dikkan, or country store. When the truck came into view, everybody dropped what they were doing and ran to Abu Raja's house to see what was happening.
初秋一個暖和的日子，許多村民都在田間勞作，有的在維修墻面，有的在為過冬準(zhǔn)備柴火， 就在這時突然有人高喊著說，電話公司的卡車已到了阿布·拉賈的小店了。當(dāng)看到卡車時，所 有的人都放下了手中的活，然后跑到阿布·拉賈家去看熱鬧。
