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I stopped to let the car cool off and to study the map.
我停下车 让汽车发动机冷却一下 同时查看一下地图
I had expected to be near my objective by now,
我本想离目的地已经不远
but everything still seemed alien to me.
但周围一切对我来说仍很陌生
I was only five when my father had taken me abroad,
我5岁那年 父亲就带我出了国
and that was 18 years ago.
那是18年前的事了
When my mother had died after a tragic accident,
当时我母亲在一次事故中惨死
he did not quickly recover from the shock and loneliness.
父亲未能很快从悲痛与孤独中恢复过来
Everything around him was full of her presence, continually reopening the wound.
他身边的一切都是母亲的影子不断勾起他的伤感
So he decided to emigrate.
于是他决定移居他国
In the new country he became absorbed in making a new life for the two of us,
在这个新的国家里 父亲专心致志地为我们俩开创一种新的生活
so that he gradually ceased to grieve.
慢慢地不伤心了
He did not marry again and I was brought up without a woman's care;
父亲没有再娶 因此 我在没有母亲的环境里长大成人
but I lacked for nothing, for he was both father and mother to me.
但我却什么都不缺 他既当父亲又当母亲
He always meant to go back one day, but not to stay.
他总想将来回国看看 但却不愿长期住下去
His roots and mine had become too firmly embedded in the new land.
因为他与我一样已经把根深深地扎在异国的土地上
But he wanted to see the old folk again and to visit my mother's grave.
但是 他想看一看家乡父老乡亲 为我的母亲扫墓
He became mortally ill a few months before we had planned to go
就在他计划回国的前几个月 他突然身患绝症
and, when he knew that he was dying,
他知道自己已奄奄一息
he made me promise to go on my own.
于是他要我答应一定单独回故乡一趟
I hired a car the day after landing
我下飞机后租了一辆车
and bought a comprehensive book of maps,
并买了一本详尽的地图册
which I found most helpful on the cross-country journey,
在乡间行车途中 我觉得它非常有用
but which I did not think I should need on the last stage.
但快到家了 我倒觉得它没什么用了
It was not that I actually remembered anything at all.
这倒并非是我背熟了地图
But my father had described over and over again
而是父亲曾详细给我讲了
what we should see at every milestone, after leaving the nearest town,
在过了离故乡最近的那个小镇后 在每一个路标处可见到些什么
so that I was positive I should recognize it as familiar territory.
因此 我相信这段路对我来说会是很熟悉的
Well, I had been wrong, for I was now lost.
唉 实际上我错了 我现在迷路了
I looked at the map and then at the milometer.
我看了看地图 又查了一下里程表
I had come ten miles since leaving the town,
从小镇出来 我走了10英里
and at this point, according to my father,
照父亲的说法
I should be looking at farms and cottages in a valley,
我面前应是一个山谷 有农场与村舍
with the spire of the church of our village showing in the far distance.
还可远远望见老家村子里的教堂的尖顶
I could see no valley, no farms,
可现在我却看不到山谷 农场
no cottages and no church spire -- only a lake.
村舍 也看不见教堂尖顶 看见的只是一片湖泊
I decided that I must have taken a wrong turning somewhere.
我想一定是什么地方拐错了弯儿
So I drove back to the town and began to retrace the route,
于是我驾车返回小镇
taking frequent glances at the map.
重新按路线行驶
I landed up at the same corner.
结果又来到刚才那个拐弯处
The curious thing was that the lake was not marked on the map.
奇怪的是那个湖没有在地图上标出
I felt as if I had stumbled into a nightmare country,
我感到自己就像平时做梦那样
as you sometimes do in dreams.
迷迷糊糊地闯进了恶梦境地
And, as in a nightmare, there was nobody in sight to help me.
就像在恶梦里一样 见不到一个人可以帮助我
Fortunately for me, as I was wondering what to do next,
不过 我是幸运的 正当我走投无路之时
there appeared on the horizon a man on horseback, riding in my direction.
从天边出现一个骑马的人向我骑来
I waited till he came near,
等他走近了
then I asked him the way to our old village.
我就问他去老家的路
He said that there was now no village.
他说那村子已经没有了
I thought he must have misunderstood me,
我想他一定误解了我的意思
so I repeated its name.
于是又说一遍村庄的名字
This time he pointed to the lake.
这次他用手指了一下那个湖
The village no longer existed because it had been submerged,
村庄已不复存在 因为已经为水所淹
and all the valley too.
山谷也被水淹没了
The lake was not a natural one, but a man-made reservoir.
这不是一个天然湖泊 是一座人工修建的水库
