Unit 15A - Clearing in the Sky
Clearing in the Sky
Jesse Stuart
"This is the way," said my father, pointing with his cane across the deep valley below us. "I want to show you something!"
"Isn't it too hot for you to do much walking?" I wiped the streams of sweat from my face to keep them from stinging my eyes.
I didn't want to go with him. I had just finished walking a half mile uphill from my home to his, carrying a basket of dishes to Mom. I knew how hot it was. I knew also that from January until April my father had gone to eight different doctors. And they had all told him not to walk far.
But I could not protest to him now. When he made up his mind to do a thing, he would do it. He didn't care if it was 100F in the shade or 20F below zero. So I followed him down the little path between the pasture and the meadow.
Suddenly he stopped, took out his pocketknife, and cut a wisp of alfalfa. He held it up in the sun. "Look at this, Jess!" he bragged. "Did you ever see better alfalfa grow out of the earth?"
"It's the best-looking hay I've ever seen," I said.
"When I bought this land everybody said I was crazy." He bragged again. "It took me thirty years to make it do this!"
As I stood looking at this meadow of alfalfa in the saddle between two hills, I remembered how he had hauled leaves from the woods and spread them over this field and then plowed them under and let them rot. All that would grow on this ground when he bought it were pines and briars. The pines didn't grow waist-high. There wasn't enough strength in the ground to push them any higher. He cut down the pines and plowed the land. He sowed a cover crop and turned it under. Then he sowed a second, a third, and a fourth. In a few years he had the land producing good crops of corn, wheat and potatoes.
"But this is not what I want to show you, Jess," he said. "Come on. Follow me!"
I followed him through the pasture gate, then down a little narrow cattle path into the deep hollow.
"Where are we going?" I asked when he started to walk a log across the creek.
"There," he smiled, pointing toward a wooded mountaintop. "That's the way we are going!"
I followed him across the foot log he had made by chopping down a white oak, felling it over the deep stream.
Then we went up the winding footpath under the tall hickory trees, a place where I used to come with him when I was a little boy to hunt squirrels. But that had been nearly thirty years ago.
And through the years, from time to time, I had walked over the rugged mountain slope and there was never a path on it until my father had made this one. It was a pretty little footpath under the high canopy of hickory, walnut, and oak leaves. We couldn't see the sky above our heads.
In front of me walked the little man who once walked so fast I had to run to follow him. But time had now slowed him, and much hard labor had bent his shoulders. His breath didn't come as easily as it used to, for he stopped twice, and leaned on his cane to rest.
"Remember how we used to come here to hunt squirrels? The morning wind in August was so good to breathe. And in October when the rabbits were fat and the frosts had come and the hickory leaves had turned yellow and when the October winds blew they rustled the big leaves from the trees and they fell like yellow raindrops to the ground! Those were good days, Jess!"
"Is that what you wanted to show me?" I asked.
"Oh, no, no," he said as he began to climb the slope that rose abruptly toward the sky. The pines on top of the mountain above us looked as if the fingers of their long boughs were fondling a white cloud.
"Why do you take the path straight up?" I asked. "Look at these other paths! What are they doing here?"
Within the distance of few yards, several paths left the main path and circled around the slope, climbing the mountain gradually.
"All paths go to the same place," he answered.
"Then why take the steep one?" I asked.
"I'll explain later," he gasped.
My curiosity was roused. I thought he had found a new kind of wild grass, or a new kind of tree. For I remembered the time he found a coffee tree in our woods. It is, as far as I know, the only one of its kind growing in our county.
We finally reached the tall straight pines whose branches reached toward the blue depth of sky, for the white cloud was now gone. I saw a small clearing of not more than three-fourths of an acre in the heart of this wilderness right on the mountaintop.
"Now, son," he said as he pushed down the top wire so he could cross the fence. "This is something I want you to see!"
"Who did this?" I asked. "Who cleared the land and fenced it?"
"I cleared the land. And I fenced it!"
"But why did you do this?" I asked him. "Look at all the fertile land we have in the valley!"
"Fertile," he laughed as he reached down and picked up a double handful of the soil. "This is the land, son! This is it." Then he smelt the dirt.
"Just like fresh air," he said as he let the dirt run between his fingers. "It's pleasant to touch, too," he added.
"But Dad—" I said.
"I know what you think," he interrupted. "Your mother thinks the same thing. She wonders why I ever climbed to this mountaintop to raise my potatoes, yams and tomatoes! But, Jess," he almost whispered. "Anything grown in new ground like this has a better flavor. Wait until my tomatoes are ripe! You'll never taste sweeter tomatoes in your life!"
"This is the cleanest patch I've ever seen," I exclaimed. "But I still don't see why you took all this trouble. And all against your doctor's orders!"
"Twenty times in my life," he said, "a doctor has told me to go home and be with my family as long as I could. Told me not to work. Not to do anything but to live and enjoy the few days I had left me. But I have cheated death many times! Now, I've reached the years the Good Book allows to a man. Three-score years and ten!"
He got up from the tree stump where he was sitting and wiped the drops of sweat from his red-wrinkled face.
"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.
"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."
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.
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.
"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."
I followed him from his clearing in the sky, down a new path, toward the deep valley below.
"But why do you have so many paths coming up here?" I asked.
"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!"
I followed him down the path that wound this way and that, three times the length of the path we had climbed.
参考译文——半空中的一块空地
半空中的一块空地
杰西·斯图亚特
“就是这条路。”我父亲一面跟我说道，一面用他的拐杖指了指下面深深山谷的对面。“我想给你看样东西！”
“你不觉得对你来说今天天气实在太热，不宜走太多路吗？” 我擦去脸上直往下淌的汗水，以免汗水刺痛我的眼睛。
我实在不想和他一起走。我刚刚从自己家里带了一篮子饭菜，爬了半里山路上来送给妈妈。我知道天气有多热。而且我还知道，从一月到四月，我爸去看过八个大夫，他们都叫他别走太多路。
可是，我也知道我现在反对他没用。他要是拿定主意做某件事情，他就一定要做。他根本不管连荫凉处的温度都到了华氏100度还是零下20度。所以我只好跟着他往牧场和草地之间的小路走去。
他突然停了下来，取出了口袋里的小刀，割了一小把苜蓿，然后在阳光中将它举了起来。“看看这个，杰西！”他得意地说。“你这辈子见过比这更好的苜蓿吗？”
“这是我见到过的最好的牧草。”我说道。
“当年我买这块地的时候，大家都说我疯了。”他又吹嘘说。“我花了三十年的时间才让它上面的东西长得这么好！”
当我站在那里望着两座小山之间的这块苜蓿地时，我想起了他当年是怎样一次次把树林中的落叶拖来，铺在地上，然后用犁把它们翻到土壤下面让它们腐烂的。他刚买下这块地的时候，地里只长松树和荆棘。那松树都长不到半人高，因为地里的那点肥料根本不够让它们再往上长了。他就把松树砍了，把地犁松了，然后种上肥田植物，再犁地把它们翻到土壌下。 然后再种第二次、第三次、第四次。几年工夫，他就让这块地里的玉米、小麦和土豆有了好收成。
“不过这并不是我要给你看的东西，杰西，”他说道，“来，跟我来！”
我跟着他穿过牧场的门，然后顺着窄窄的牲口走的小路，一直往下走到那深深的小山谷。
“我们上哪儿去？”我看到爸爸走上了横跨溪流的原木，就又问道。
“就在那里，”他笑笑说，往被林木覆盖的山顶指了指，“那就是我们要去的地方。”
我跟着他走过了原木桥。那是他做的桥，他砍倒了一棵白橡树，让它顺势倒在那条深深的溪流上。
接着，我们走上了那曲曲弯弯的羊肠小道，路旁都是高高的山核桃树，我小时候常常跟他来这里打松鼠。但是那已经是差不多三十年前的事了。
这么多年来，我时不时地走过这起伏不平的山坡，而上面本来没有路，直到我爸开辟出了这一条。这条路非常美，头上是山核桃、核桃树和橡树的枝叶交错而成的高高的穹顶。我们抬头都望不到天空。
走在我前面的这个小个子男人，当年走路快得我必须一路小跑才能跟上。可是无情的岁月减慢了他的速度，繁重的劳动折弯了他的腰。他的呼吸也不如以前顺畅，他在路上停了两次，拄着拐杖休息。
“还记得从前我们到这里来打松鼠吗？那八月的晨风是多么清新啊。到十月的时候，兔子都养肥了，秋霜一来,那些山核桃树的叶子就都变黄了。十月的秋风一吹起，树上的大叶子就沙沙作响，像黄色的雨珠一样落在地上！多美好的日子啊，杰西！ ”
“那就是你要给我看的东西吗？”我问道。
“哦，不，不！”他说着，开始爬那直指天空的陡峭山坡。我们前面山顶上的松树长长的树枝看起来就像人的手指，正在抚摸着一朵白云。
“你为什么要走这条直上直下的小路呢？”我又问。“你瞧其他那些路！它们通向哪里呢？”
就在几码之外，有好几条小路离开了这条主道，环绕山坡蜿蜒向上。
“这些路都是通向同一个地方的。”他回答说。
“那为什么要走这条陡的呢？”我问。
“我回头再给你解释。”他喘着气说。
我的好奇心一下子被勾起来了。我想也许他找到了一种新草或是新树种。因为我记得他曾经在我们的林地中发现过一棵咖啡树，据我所知，在我们这个县，这种咖啡树还只有我们这一棵。
我们最终到达了那些高大挺拔的松树生长的地方。松树的枝干直插蓝天深处，刚才的白云已经飘走了。我看到在山顶这片树林的中心地带，有一块不到四分之三英亩的空地。
“好了，儿子。”他说着就把最上面的铁丝往下按了按，以便跨过铁丝网进去。“这就是我想给你看的东西！”
“这是谁弄的？”我问。“是谁开辟了这块地，又拉了这个铁丝网？”
“是我！是我开的地，也是我拉的铁丝网。”
“可是，你干吗这么做呢？”我问他，“我们在山谷里已经有那么多肥沃的土地了！”
“肥沃，”他笑着弯下身捧起了一捧泥土，“这才叫肥沃呢，儿子！这才是真货色。”说着，他闻了闻那泥土。
“就像新鲜空气那样。”他一面说着，一面让那土从他的指缝间流在地上。“这土摸着都舒服。”他加了句。
“可是爸——”我说道。
“我知道你在想什么。”他打断了我。“你妈也这么想。她不明白我为什么要爬到山顶去种土豆、甜薯和西红柿！但是，杰西，”他这时几乎像在和我耳语，“在这样新开垦的地里种出来的任何东西，都有特别的风味。等到西红柿熟了的时候吧，你会发现你这辈子从没有吃过那么甜的西红柿！”
“这的确是我见过的最干净的一块地，”我激动地大声说道，“但我还是不明白你为什么要去费那个劲，而且还不听医嘱！”
“我这辈子曾有二十次，”他说道，“医生跟我说，叫我回家和家人待在一起，能团聚几天就团聚几天。叫我不要再工作了。叫我什么都不要干，只要在剩下的几天时间里尽情地享受。可是每一次我都躲过了死神！我现在已经用尽了《圣经》上说上帝赐给每个人的寿命，我已经整七十岁了！”
他从刚才坐着的树桩上站了起来，用手擦去了他那布满皱纹的通红的脸上的汗水。
“这以后，你的时间都是借来的，”他说，并用手示意我跟他走到那块空地的边缘，“于是，这时候，你就会回到你以前熟悉和热爱的地方。你看这个陡坡。”他用手指指下面山谷的深处。
“你妈和我，当时她十九，我二十二，我们俩一起开垦了这面山坡。我们在这里种玉米、豆子和南瓜，”他接着说道，因为激动，嗓门也越来越高。“那就是我为什么要回到这里来的原因。我要回到我们的青年时代。”
我望着下面广阔的山坡。当年就是在这面坡上，父亲有一次给我做了一张小小的木犁。记得那年我六岁，他们把我带到这块地里来给玉米间苗。
现在，看看这个山坡，你很难相信，这一切都是他们两个人完成的。因为很多树现在都已经有六十英尺高了，而且那些野藤已经把树顶缠结成一片。
“还有，杰西，”他接着说，“医生叫我待着别动，完全放松地生活。可是我办不到。我必须做点事情。我得闻闻这泥土，再抚摸抚摸它。而且我要尝尝这地里长出来的甜薯、西红柿、土豆。”
我随他从那半空中的空地，沿着一条新的小路，走向下面的深谷。
“不过你为什么要开辟那么多小路到这里呢？ ”我问他说。
“噢，对了，”他说。“去年舂天，我爬不动直上山顶的陡峭的小路了。那时医生说我只有一个星期的寿命了。所以我就开辟了一条容易一点的路。后来，因为我情况有好转，”他解释道， “我就另外开了一条，比前面一条要陡一些。后来由于我不断地好转，我就陆续开辟了其他更加陡峭的小路。这成了我证明自己一直在好转的一个办法！”
我跟着他走下了那条弯弯曲曲的小路，这条路大概有我们刚刚上来时爬过的那条路三倍那么长。
Key Words:
protest [prə'test]
n. 抗议，反对，声明
v. 抗议，反对，申明
pasture ['pɑ:stʃə]
n. 牧场，草原
vi. 吃草
hay [hei]
n. 干草
sweat [swet]
n. 汗，汗水
v. (使)出汗
shade [ʃeid]
n. 阴影，遮蔽，遮光物，(色彩的)浓淡
vt
meadow ['medəu]
n. 草地，牧场
hollow ['hɔləu]
n. 洞，窟窿，山谷
adj. 空的，虚伪的，
cattle ['kætl]
n. 牛，家畜，畜牲
saddle ['sædl]
n. 鞍，车座，山脊，拖具
vt. 装以马鞍，
meadow ['medəu]
n. 草地，牧场
corn [kɔ:n]
n. 谷物，小麦，玉米
v. 形成(颗粒状)，
spread [spred]
v. 伸展，展开，传播，散布，铺开，涂撒
oak [əuk]
n. 橡树，橡木
rot [rɔt]
n. 腐烂，腐蚀，败坏
v. 腐烂，使 ...
creek [kri:k]
n. 小湾，小溪 Creek n. 克里克族，克里克人，
stream [stri:m]
n. (人，车，气)流，水流，组
oak [əuk]
n. 橡树，橡木
slope [sləup]
n. 倾斜，斜坡，斜面，斜线，斜率
vt. 使倾斜
abruptly [ə'brʌptli]
adv. 突然地，莽撞地，陡峭地，不连贯地
bent [bent]
bend的过去式和过去分词 adj. 下定决心的，弯曲的
canopy ['kænəpi]
n. 天篷，遮篷，苍穹
fell [fel]
动词fall的过去式
fence [fens]
n. 栅栏，围墙，击剑术
n. 买卖赃物的人<
wilderness ['wildənis]
n. 荒野，荒地
slope [sləup]
n. 倾斜，斜坡，斜面，斜线，斜率
vt. 使
fertile ['fə:tail]
adj. 肥沃的，富饶的，能繁殖的，多产的，（创造力）丰
steep [sti:p]
adj. 陡峭的，险峻的，（价格）过高的
curiosity [.kjuəri'ɔsiti]
n. 好奇，好奇心
flavor ['fleivə]
n. 滋味，香料，风格
vt. 加味于
sweat [swet]
n. 汗，汗水
v. (使)出汗
interrupted [intə'rʌptid]
adj. 中断的；被打断的；不规则的 vt. 打断；中断
fertile ['fə:tail]
adj. 肥沃的，富饶的，能繁殖的，多产的，（创造力）丰
patch [pætʃ]
n. 补丁，小片
steep [sti:p]
adj. 陡峭的，险峻的，（价格）过高的
plow [plau]
n. 犁，耕地
vt. 耕犁，
vi
corn [kɔ:n]
n. 谷物，小麦，玉米
v. 形成(颗粒状)，
slope [sləup]
n. 倾斜，斜坡，斜面，斜线，斜率
vt. 使
vast [vɑ:st]
adj. 巨大的，广阔的
参考资料：
1475
被折叠的 条评论
为什么被折叠?
到【灌水乐园】发言
