新概念英語第三冊
Lesson 57 Back in the old country
1 . I hired a car the day after landing and bought a comprehensive book of maps,我下飛機後租了一輛車，並買了一本詳盡的地圖冊。
2 . This time he pointed to the lake.這次他用手指了一下那個湖。
3 . I waited till he came near, then I asked him the way to our old village.等他走近了，問他去老家的路。
4 . I had come ten miles since leaving the town,從小鎮出來，我走了10英里。
5 . I could see no valley, no farms, no cottages and no church spire -- only a lake.可現在我卻看不出山谷，看不見農舍，也看見教學尖頂，看見只是一片湖泊。
6 . But my father had described over and over again what we should see at every milestone, after leaving the nearest town,而是父親曾詳細給我講了，在過了離故鄉最近的那個小鎮後，在每一個路標處可見到些什麼。
7 . when he knew that he was dying, he made me promise to go on my own.他知道自己已奄奄一息，於是他要我答應一定單獨回故鄉一趟。
8 . I thought he must have misunderstood me, so I repeated its name.我想他一定誤解了我的意思，於是又說一遍村莊的名字。
9 . so that I was positive I should recognize it as familiar territory.因此，我相信這段路對我來說會是很熟悉的。
10 . I decided that I must have taken a wrong turning somewhere.我想一定是什麼地方拐錯了彎兒。
11 . But he wanted to see the old folk again and to visit my mother's grave.但是，他想看一看家鄉父老鄉親，為我的母親掃墓。
12 . The curious thing was that the lake was not marked on the map.奇怪的是那個湖沒有在地圖上標出。
13 . I stopped to let the car cool off and to study the map.我停下車，讓汽車發動機冷卻一下，同時查看一下地圖。
14 . The lake was not a natural one, but a man-made reservoir.這不是一個天然湖泊，是一座人工修建的水庫。
15 . I looked at the map and then at the millimeter.我看了看地圖，又查了一下里程表。
16 . but I lacked for nothing, for he was both father and mother to me.但我卻什麼都不缺，他既當父親又當母親。
17 . The village no longer existed because it had been submerged, and all the valley too.村莊已不復存在，因為已經為水所淹，山谷也被水淹沒了。
18 . and at this point, according to my father, I should be looking at farms and cottages in a valley, with the spire of the church of our village showing in the far distance.照父親的說法，我面前應是一個山谷，有農場與村舍，還可遠遠望見老家村子裡的教堂的尖頂。
19 . which I found most helpful on the cross-country journey, but which I did not think I should need on the last stage.在鄉間行車途中，我覺得它非常有用，但快到家了，我倒覺得它沒什麼用了。
20 . I had expected to be near my objective by now, but everything still seemed alien to me.我本想離目的地已經不遠，但周圍一切對我仍很陌生。
21 . It was not that I actually remembered anything at all.這倒並非是我背熟了地圖，
22 . Well, I had been wrong, for I was now lost.唉，實際我錯了，我現在迷路了。
23 . I was only five when my father had taken me abroad, and that we eighteen years ago.我5歲那年，父親就帶我出了國，那是18年前的事了。
24 . He said that there was now no village.他說那村子已經沒有了。
25 . So I drove back to the town and began to retrace the route, taking frequent glances at the map.於是我駕車返回小鎮，重新按路線行駛。
26 . I felt as if I had stumbled into a nightmare country, as you sometimes do in dreams.我感到自己就像平時作夢那樣迷迷糊糊地闖進了惡夢境地。
27 . His roots and mine bad become too firmly embedded in the new land.因為他與我一樣已經把根深深地紮在異國的土地上。
28 . When my mother had died after a tragic accident, he did not quickly recover from the shock and loneliness.當時我母親在一次事故中慘死，父親未能很快從悲痛與孤獨中恢復過來。
29 . And, as in a nightmare, there was nobody in sight to help me.就像在惡夢裡一樣，見不到一個人可以幫助我。
30 . He always meant to go back on day, but not to stay.他總想將來回國看看，但卻不願長期住下去，
31 . He did not marry again and I was brought up without a woman's care;父親沒有再娶，因此，我在沒有母親的環境裡長大成人。
32 . Everything around him was full of her presence, continually reopening the wound.他身邊的一切都是母親的影子不斷勾起他的傷感。
33 . So he decided to emigrate.於是他決定移居他國。
34 . I landed up at the same corner.結果又來到剛才那個拐彎處。
35 . In the new country he became absorbed in making a new life for the two of us, so that he gradually ceased to grieve.在這個新的國家裡，父親專心致志地為我們倆開創一種新的生活，慢慢地不傷心了。
36 . Fortunately for me, as I was wondering what to do next, there appeared on the horizon a man on horseback, riding in my direction.不過，我是幸運的，正當我走投無路之時，從天邊出現一個騎馬的人向我騎來。
37 . He became mortally ill a few months before we had planned to go and,就在他計劃回國的前幾個月，他突然身患絕症。