《现代大学英语1》春随人意

3、Unit 2 Massage of the land

　　1 Yes, these are our rice fields. They belonged to my parents and forefathers. The land is more than three centuries old. I’m the only daughter in our family, and it was I who stayed with my parents till they died. My three brothers moved out to their wives’ houses when they got married. My husband moved into our house, as is the way with us in Esarn. I was then eighteen and he was nineteen. He gave me six children. Two died in infancy from sickness. The rest, two boys and two girls, went away as soon as we could afford to buy jeans for them. Our oldest son got a job as a gardener in a rich man’s home in Bangkok, but later an employment agency sent him to a foreign land to work. My other son also went far away.
　　是的，这些是我们家的稻田，以前归我父母，再往前属于我的祖先。这片土地已有三百多年的历史了。我是家里唯一的闺女，我一直留在父母身边，直到他们去世。按照我们伊萨的习俗，我的三个兄弟一结婚就都搬到他们老婆家去了，我老伴进了我家的门。那时我十八岁，他十九岁。我们俩生了六个孩子，两个没长大就病死了。其余的俩儿子、俩闺女一到我们有钱给他们买牛仔裤的时候就都离开了家。大儿子在曼谷找了份工作，给一家有钱人当花匠，后来一家劳务公司介绍他到国外去干活了，小儿子也去了挺远的地方。

　　2 One of our daughters is working in a textile factory in Bangkok, and the other has a job in a store. They come home to see us now and then, stay a few days, and then they are off again. Often they send some money to us and tell us that they are doing well. I know this is not always true. Sometimes, they get bullied and insulted, and it is like a knife piercing my heart. It’s easier for my husband. He has ears which don’t hear, a mouth which doesn’t speak, and eyes that don’t see. He has always been patient and silent, minding his own life.
　　我们的一个闺女在曼谷一家纺织厂里干活，另外一个闺女在一家商店里工作。有时候她们回来看看我们，呆上几天就走，她们不时给寄些钱回来，捎话回来说她们挺好的。我知道她们说的不全是实话，有时候，她们受欺负、受侮辱，想到这些，我就觉得像一把尖刀扎进我的心头。对我老伴来说还好受些，他有耳朵么也听不见，有嘴么也不说，有眼睛么也看不见。他老是什么事都不着急，什么话也不说，只操心他自己的那点事。

　　3 All of them remain my children in spite of their long absence. Maybe it’s fate that sent them away from us. Our piece of land is small, and it is no longer fertile, bleeding year after year and, like us, getting old and exhausted. Still my husband and I work on this land. The soil is not difficult to till when there is a lot of rain, but in a bad year, it’s not only the ploughs that break, but our hearts, too.
　　虽说这些孩子长期不在我身边，但他们永远都是我的孩子，他们一个个都走了，这可能就是命吧。我们的那块地不大，连年的使用已使它不再肥沃，就像我们老两口儿，慢慢老下去，且疲惫不堪。不过我和老伴还在这块地里干活，雨量充足的时候，地还不难耕种，老天爷不下雨的年份，不光是我们的犁断了，我们的心也碎了。

　　4 No, we two haven’t changed much, but the village has. In what way? Only ten years ago, you could barter for things, but now it’s all cash. Years ago, you could ask your neighbors to help build your house, reap the rice, or dig a well. Now they’ll do it only if you have money to pay them. Plastic things replace village crafts. Men used to make things with bamboo pieces, but no longer. Plastic bags litter the village. Shops have sprung up, filled with colorful plastic things and goods we have no use for. The young go away to towns and cities leaving us old people to work on the land. They think differently, I know, saying that the old are old-fashioned. All my life, I have never had to go to a hairdresser, or to paint my lips or nails.These rough fingers and toes are for working in the mud of our rice fields, not for looking pretty. Now young girls put on jeans, and look like boys and they think it is fashionable. Why,they are willing to sell their pig or water buffalo just to be able to buy a pair of jeans. In my day, if I were to put on a pair of trousers like they do now, lightning would strike me.
　　没，我们俩没怎么变，可我们的村子变了。哪些地方变了？就在十年以前，我们还能以物换物，可如今都用钱了。几年前，我们还能请街坊来帮忙盖房子、收割稻子或是打井。这会儿，都得付钱，他们才肯帮忙。塑料玩意替代了村里手工做的东西，以前男人们还做点竹器，可如今没人干了。现在村里到处都是乱扔的塑料袋，一下子冒出来不少商店，里面放满了五颜六色的塑料玩意，还有些我们用不上的东西。年轻人都去镇上和城里打工，留下我们这些老年人种地。我知道年轻人跟我们老年人的想法不一样，他们说老年人思想落伍了。我这一辈子从来不用去理发店，也从来不涂嘴唇或是染指甲，我粗糙的手指和脚趾是用来在泥泞的稻田里干活，而不是用来摆着好看的。现在的年轻姑娘都穿牛仔裤，看上去跟小伙子似的，可她们觉得这很时髦，为了买一条牛仔裤，宁可卖掉一头猪或是一头水牛。年青的时候，我要是穿上这种裤子，是会遭雷劈的。

　　5 I know, times have changed, but certain things should not change. We should offer food to the monks every day, go to the temple regularly. Young people tend to leave these things to old people now, and that’s a shame.
　　我知道，时代变了，可是有些事是不能改变的，我们应该每天给和尚施舍吃的，应该经常去庙里。可年轻人往往把这些事情都留给老人去做，太不像话了。

　　6 Why, only the other day I heard a boy shout and scream at his mother. If that kind of thing had happened when I was young, the whole village would have condemned such an ungrateful son, and his father would surely have given him a good beating.
　　噢，就在前几天我还听到一个半大小伙子冲他妈大声嚷嚷，我年轻的时候要是发生这种事，全村人都会谴责这么忘恩负义的儿子，他爹也会狠揍他一顿。

　　7 As for me, I wouldn’t change, couldn’t change even if I wanted to. Am I happy or unhappy? This question has never occurred to me. Life simply goes on. Yes, this bag of bones dressed in rags can still plant and reap rice from morning till dusk. Disease, wounds, hardship, and scarcity have always been part of my life. I don’t complain.
　　至于我自己，我是不会变的，我想变也变不了了。你问我是快乐还是不快乐？这个问题我从没想过。日子就这么一天天地过着。是啊，我这个穿破衣烂衫的一把骨头现在还从早到晚忙着插秧、割稻。 疾病、伤痛、艰难困苦、缺衣少食是我的家常便饭，我谁也不怨。

　　8 The farmer: My wife is wrong. My eyes do see—they see more than they should. My ears do hear—they hear more than is good for me. I don’t talk about what I know because I know too much. I know for example, greed, anger, and lust are the root of all evils.
　　农夫：我老伴说的不对，我的眼睛能看——看到了太多本不该看到的事情；我的耳朵能听——听到了太多对我不好的事情；我知道的事我不去说三道四，因为我知道的事太多了。比方说我知道贪心、愤怒和欲望是所有邪恶的根源。

　　9 I am at peace with the land and the conditions of my life. But I feel a great pity for my wife. I have been forcing silence upon her all these years, yet she has not once complained of anything.
　　对这块地、对我的生活状况，我挺安心的，但是对于老伴我感到难过，这些年来她一直忍受我的沉默寡言，她从来都没对外人说过我。

　　10 I wanted to have a lot of children and grandchildren around me but now cities and foreign lands have attracted my children away and it seems that none of them will ever come back to live here again. To whom shall I give these rice fields when I die? For hundreds of years this strip of land has belonged to our family. I know every inch of it. My children grew up on it, catching frogs and mud crabs and gathering flowers. Still the land could not tie them down or call them back. When each of them has a pair of jeans, they are off like birds on the wing.
　　我是想身边能子孙成群，可是孩子们给吸引到城里和外国去了，看来他们谁也不会回来生活了，我死后这些稻田留给谁呢？三百多年来这片土地一直是我们这个家族的，我对这片土地了如指掌。我的孩子都是在这块地上捉青蛙、逮螃蟹、采野花长大的，可这片土地既拴不住他们，也唤不回来他们，他们一有了牛仔裤，个个就像长了翅膀的鸟儿一样飞走了。

　　11 Fortunately, my wife is still with me, and both of us are still strong. Wounds heal over time. Sickness comes and goes, and we get back on our feet again. I never want to leave this land. It’s nice to feel the wet earth as my fingers dig into the soil, planting rice, to hear my wife sighing, “Old man, if I die first, I shall become a cloud to protect you from the sun.” It’s good to smell the scent of ripening rice in November. The soft cool breeze moves the sheaves, which ripple and shimmer like waves of gold. Yes, I love this land and I hope one of my children comes back one day to live, and gives me grandchildren so that I can pass on the land’s secret messages to them.
　　幸好，我老伴还在我身边，我们两个人还都算健壮，受了伤，伤口过段时间也就愈合了。疾病时不时光顾我们，过一阵病又好了。我反正是永远也不想离开土地，插秧的时候手指头插进水田里那感觉真是太好了，这时候再听我老伴轻声说：“老头子，如果我先死了，我就变成一片云，给你遮挡日头”，这滋味真是太美了。十一月的时候，闻一闻成熟了的稻子的香味真叫人舒坦。清凉的微风吹动着地里密密的稻禾，掀起了层层稻浪，像金色的波涛闪闪发光。是的，我热爱这片土地，我希望有一天我的几个孩子中能有一个回来过日子，给我生几个孙子孙女，这样我就可以把土地的寓意传递给他们了。