Beneath my clenched fingers the alder was wriggling like a small, frightened snake. My father saw that I was about to drop it.
"Hang on to it!"
“The branch is squirming," I repeated. "And I hear something that sounds like a river!"
"Open your eyes," my father ordered.
I was stunned, as though he'd awakened me while I was dreaming.
"What does it mean?" I asked my father.
"It means that underneath us, right here, there's a little freshwater spring. If we dig, we could drink from it. I've just taught you how to find a spring. It's something my own father taught me. It isn't something you learn in school. And it isn't useless: a man can get along without writing andarithmetic, but he can never get along without water."
Much later, I discovered that my father was famous in the region because of what the people called his "gift": before digging a well they always consulted him; they would watch him prospecting the fields or the hills, eyes closed, hands clenched on the fork of an alder bough. Wherever my father stopped, they marked the ground; there they would dig; and there water would gush forth.
Years passed; I went to other schools, saw other countries, I had children, I wrote some books and my poor father is lying in the earth where so many times he had found fresh water.
One day someone began to make a film about my village and its inhabitants, from whom I've stolen so many of the stories that I tell. With the film crew we went to see a farmer to capture the image of a sad man: his children didn't want to receive the inheritance he'd spent his whole life preparing for them—the finest farm in the area. While the technicians were getting cameras and microphones ready the farmer put his arm around my shoulders, saying:
"I knew your father well."
"Ah! I know. Everybody in the village knows each other... No one feels like an outsider."
"You know what's under your feet?"
"Hell?" I asked, laughing.
"Under your feet there's a well. Before I dug I called in specialists from the Department of Agriculture; they did research, they analyzed shovelfuls of dirt; and they made a report where they said there wasn't any water on my land. With the family, the animals, the crops, I need water. When I saw that those specialists hadn't found any. I thought of your father and I asked him to come over. He didn't want to; I think he was prettyfed up with me because I'd asked those specialists instead of him. But finally came; he went and cut off a little branch, then he walked around for a while with his eyes shut; he stopped, he listened to something we couldn't hear and then he said to me: "Dig right here, there's enough water to get your whole flock drunk and drown your specialist besides." We dug and found water. Fine water that's never heard of pollution.
The film people were ready; they called to me to take my place.
"I'm gonna show you something," said the farmer, keeping me back." You wait right here."
He disappeared into a shack which he must have used to store things, then came back with a branch which he held out to me.
"I never throw nothing away; I kept the alder branch your father cut to find my water. I don't understand, it hasn't dried out."
Moved as I touched the branch, kept out of I don't know what sense of piety—and which really wasn't dry—I had the feeling that my father was watching me over my shoulder; I closed my eyes and, standing above the spring my father had discovered, I waited for the branch to writhe, I hoped the sound of gushing water would rise to my ears.
The alder stayed motionless in my hands and the water beneath the earth refused to sing.
Somewhere along the roads I'd taken since the village of my childhood I had forgotten my father's knowledge.
"Don't feel sorry," said the man, thinking no doubt of his farm and his childhood; "nowadays fathers can't pass on anything to the next generation."
And he took the alder branch from my hands.
榿木樹(shù)枝在我緊握的手指下扭動(dòng)，如受驚的蛇一般。父親看到我想扔掉它。
“抓緊。”
“樹(shù)枝在蠕動(dòng)，“我又說(shuō)一次。”我聽(tīng)到像河流的聲音！”
“睜開(kāi)眼睛，”父親命令道。
我吃了一驚，好像被他從睡夢(mèng)中叫醒一樣。
“這是怎么回事？”我問(wèn)父親。
“這意味著在我們腳下，就在這兒，有個(gè)小淡水泉。挖的話，就可以喝到水了。我這是在教你怎么找到泉水。這是我父親教我的。這些東西你在學(xué)校是學(xué)不到的。它不是沒(méi)用的知識(shí)：人不用寫(xiě)作和算術(shù)都可以生存，但不能沒(méi)有水。后來(lái)，我發(fā)現(xiàn)父親在這里有名的原因是具備人們所說(shuō)的天賦：每次挖井之前總來(lái)咨詢他，他們都會(huì)看到他勘察田地或山崗，雙眼緊閉，雙手緊握榿木樹(shù)杈。父親每在一個(gè)地方停下來(lái)，人們就在那里做上記號(hào)并在此處挖掘，水流就會(huì)從這里涌出。”
很多年過(guò)去了，我去了別的學(xué)校，看到別的國(guó)家。我有了孩子，還出了些書(shū)。然而，我可憐的父親還在地球的一隅，那里他發(fā)現(xiàn)了很多淡水。
一次，有人要拍攝關(guān)于我們村子和村民的電影，就是從這些村民那里，我聽(tīng)到了自己講過(guò)的很多故事。我們和電影工作者一起去訪問(wèn)一個(gè)農(nóng)民，這是為了拍攝一個(gè)悲傷者的形象：他的孩子們不想要他傾注畢生精力為他們準(zhǔn)備的遺產(chǎn)--這個(gè)地方最好的農(nóng)場(chǎng)。當(dāng)技術(shù)人員準(zhǔn)備好了攝像機(jī)和麥克風(fēng)時(shí)，這位農(nóng)民抓住我的雙肩，說(shuō)：
"我和你父親很熟。"
"哈，我知道。這個(gè)村的人都相互熟悉...沒(méi)人覺(jué)得自己是外人。"
”你知道你腳下是什么嗎？“
"地獄？"我笑著問(wèn)。
"你的腳下是一眼井。挖之前我請(qǐng)來(lái)了農(nóng)業(yè)部的專(zhuān)家們，他們進(jìn)行了研究，分析了一鏟土的成分，最后做出的報(bào)告是，我的田地里根本沒(méi)有水。我有一家人要養(yǎng)活，有牲畜要養(yǎng)，
有莊稼要種，我需要水。這時(shí)我發(fā)現(xiàn)這些專(zhuān)家什么都沒(méi)有發(fā)現(xiàn)。我想到了你父親，請(qǐng)他過(guò)來(lái)。他起初不想來(lái)，我想他很不高興，因?yàn)槲乙呀?jīng)請(qǐng)過(guò)專(zhuān)家，而沒(méi)有請(qǐng)他來(lái)。但他最后還是來(lái)了。他砍了一個(gè)小樹(shù)枝，雙眼緊閉地四處走了一會(huì)兒，然后停下。他聽(tīng)到了我們聽(tīng)不到的聲音，他告訴我："就在這里挖，下面的水足夠供你家的牲畜飲用了，也可以淹死你那些專(zhuān)家們。"我們挖了挖，果然挖到了水。很好的根本沒(méi)被污染的水。"
電影人員準(zhǔn)備好了，他們要我開(kāi)始扮演自己的角色。
"我想跟你說(shuō)些事，"農(nóng)民說(shuō)，"你在這兒等著。"
他走進(jìn)一個(gè)小屋，這應(yīng)該是他儲(chǔ)藏物品的地方，然后，拿著一個(gè)樹(shù)枝出來(lái)，并交給我。
“我從來(lái)不仍任何東西，一直保存著這個(gè)榿木樹(shù)枝，你父親用它找到了水。我不明白的是，它一直都沒(méi)有干。”
我摸著樹(shù)枝，走動(dòng)著，心里升起一種難以言喻的虔誠(chéng)--這種感覺(jué)一直沒(méi)有干枯--我感到父親的目光越過(guò)我的肩頭。
我閉上眼睛，站在父親發(fā)現(xiàn)的這眼泉水上，我等著樹(shù)枝翻騰，希望聽(tīng)到泉水涌出的聲音。
手里的樹(shù)枝一動(dòng)不動(dòng)，地下的水也沒(méi)有歡唱起來(lái)。
童年后離開(kāi)村莊所走過(guò)的路的某個(gè)地方，我已經(jīng)忘了父親教我的知識(shí)。
"不要傷心，"他說(shuō)，無(wú)疑地，他在想著自己的農(nóng)場(chǎng)和童年。“現(xiàn)在的父親們都不會(huì)把知識(shí)傳給下一代了。”
他把榿木樹(shù)杈從我手中拿走。
1.Beneath adv. 在下方 prep. 在...之下
例句：
The ship sank beneath the waves.
輪船沉沒(méi)于波濤下面。
2.wriggle n. 蠕動(dòng),蜿蜒 v. 蠕動(dòng),蜿蜒前進(jìn)
例句：
I can't brush your hair if you keep wriggling all the time.
你要是一直扭來(lái)扭去, 我就沒(méi)法給你梳頭了.
3.squirm vi. (因不舒適、羞愧或緊張而)蠕動(dòng)
例句：
He was squirming (around) on the floor in agony.
他躺在地上痛苦地扭動(dòng)著.
4.arithmetic n. 算術(shù)
例句：
I'm good at history but not so hot at arithmetic.
我的.歷史成績(jī)不錯(cuò), 但算術(shù)不太好.
5.prospecting n. 勘探
例句：
Great successes were achieved in geological prospecting.
地質(zhì)調(diào)查成果豐碩。
6.bough n. 大樹(shù)枝
例句：
The bird settled on the topmost bough.
這只鳥(niǎo)兒在最高的權(quán)枝上停了下來(lái)。
7.gush n. 涌出 v. 使涌出,迸出
例句：
Oil gashed out from the broken pipe.
油從斷裂的管道中噴出來(lái)。
8.inhabitant n. 居民
例句：
He lives in a city with 100000 inhabitants.
他住在一個(gè)有十萬(wàn)居民的城市。
9.inheritance n. 遺傳,遺產(chǎn)
例句：
On the maternal side his inheritance was a happy one.
他從母方接受的遺傳是良好的。
10.shovelful n. 滿鏟(一鏟的量,一鍬的量)
例句：
He put a shovelful of snow in Kate's bed as a practical joke.
他把一鏟雪放在凱特的床上，以此來(lái)開(kāi)玩笑。
11.be fed up with 受夠了，厭倦
例句：
I am be fed up with this dull life!
我受夠了這種枯燥的生活。
12.piety n. 虔誠(chéng)
例句：
The old man has great piety towards God.
這位老人對(duì)上帝非常虔誠(chéng)。
1.they would watch him prospecting the fields or the hills, eyes closed, hands clenched on the fork of an alder bough.
【參考譯文】他們都會(huì)看到他勘察田地或山崗，雙眼緊閉，雙手緊握榿木樹(shù)杈。
【結(jié)構(gòu)解析】這里用了watch sb. doing sth.意思是“看到某人正在做某事”。“eyes closed, hands clenched...”做“prospecting ”的伴隨狀語(yǔ)，表示同時(shí)發(fā)生的動(dòng)作。
2.One day someone began to make a film about my village and its inhabitants, from whom I've stolen so many of the stories that I tell.
【參考譯文】一次，有人要拍攝關(guān)于我們村子和村民的電影，就是從這些村民那里，我聽(tīng)到了自己講過(guò)的很多故事。
【結(jié)構(gòu)解析】"its"指的是“my village”。“ from whom I've stolen so many of the stories that I tell”是定語(yǔ)從句，修飾“ inhabitants”。
3.I had the feeling that my father was watching me over my shoulder.
【參考譯文】我感到父親的目光越過(guò)我的肩頭。
【結(jié)構(gòu)解析】這句話相當(dāng)于"I feel that my father..."。
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