Message of the Land：土地的信息
这篇文章主要表达：在如今时代，人们对生态的破坏，环境的污染，土地给了我们很多启示，
告诉我们要保护环境。
文章原文及翻译：
是的，这是我们的稻田。它们曾经属于我的父母和祖先。
Yes, these are our rice fields. They belonged to my parents and forefathers.
这片土地有三百多年的历史了。
The land is more than three centuries old.
我是家里的独生女儿，是我一直和父母住在一起，直到他们去世。
I'm the only daughter in our family and it was I who stayed with my parents till they
died.
我的三个兄弟结婚时就搬到妻子家去了。
My three brothers moved out to their wives' houses when they got married.
正如我们伊萨恩这里的习惯一样，我丈夫住进了我们家。
My husband moved into our house as is the way with us in Esarn.
那时我十八岁，他十九岁。我和他生了六个孩子。两个在婴儿时就病死了。
I was then eighteen and he was nineteen. He gave me six children. Two died in
infancy from sickness.
其他两个男孩子，两个女孩子，到我们一有钱给他们买牛仔裤时就离开家了。
The rest, two boys and two girls, went away as soon as we could afford to buy jeans
for them.
我们的大儿子在曼谷的一个富人家里弄到个做花匠的工作，可后来有家职业介绍所送他到外
国工作去了。
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.
我另一个儿子也去了很远的地方。
My other son also went far away.
我们的一个女儿在曼谷的一家纺织厂里工作，另一个在一家商店上班。
One of our daughters is working in a textile factory in Bangkok, and the other has a
job in a store.
她们偶尔来家看看我们，住几天，然后又走了。
They come home to see us now and then, stay a few days, and then they are off
again.
她们经常送钱给我们，还告诉我们她们过得挺好。
Often they send some money to us and tell us that they are doing well.
我知道这并不总是真的。有时她们会受欺负、被侮辱，这种事就像刀子扎在我心上一样。
I know this is not always true. Sometimes, they get bullied and insulted, and it is like
a knife piercing my heart.
对我丈夫来说事儿就容易多了。他有耳朵不听，有嘴巴不说，有眼睛不看。
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.
他总是很能忍耐，沉默寡言，只关心自己的生活。
He has always been patient and silent, minding his own life.
尽管他们都长期不在我身边，可都永远是我的孩子。
All of them remain my children in spite of their long absence.
可能是命运把他们送走离开了我们。
Maybe it’s fate that sent them away from us.
我们那块地很小，也不再肥沃了，年复一年地流着血，像我们一样渐渐老了，精疲力竭了。
Our piece of land is small, and it is no longer fertile, bleeding year after year and,
like us, getting old and exhausted.
我和丈夫依然劳作在这片土地上。
Still my husband and I work on this land.
雨水充沛时地不难耕种，可是在大旱年景，不但犁会破碎，我们的心也会碎的。
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.
没有，我们俩没多大变化，可村庄变化不小。
No, we two haven't changed much, but the village has.
哪些事儿变了？仅仅十年前，你还可以用东西换东西，可现在都是现金。
In what way? Only ten years ago, you could barter for things, but now it's all cash.
几年前，你可以求邻居们帮着建房子，收稻子，或者打井。
Years ago, you could ask your neighbors to help build your house, reap the rice or
dig a well.
现在，只有给他们付钱他们才干。
Now they’ll do it only if you have money to pay them.
塑料制品代替了村里的手工制品。人们以前用细竹篾制作东西，可现在再也没有了。
Plastic things replace village crafts. Men used to make things with fine bamboo
pieces, but no longer.
塑料袋扔得村里到处都是。商店纷纷冒了出来，里面全是些花花绿绿的塑料制品和货物，这
些东西我们一点儿也用不着。
Plastic bags litter the village. Shops have sprung up, filled with colorful plastic things
and goods we have no use for.
年轻人去了镇上和城里，留下我们老人在地里干活。
The young go away to towns and cities leaving us old people to work on the land.
我知道，他们的想法不同，说老人们都过时了。
They think differently, I know, saying that the old are old-fashioned.
我这一辈子，从来没去过美发店，或者涂过嘴唇或指甲。
All my life, I have never had to go to a hairdresser, or to paint my lips or nails.
这些粗糙的手指头和脚趾头是为了在稻田的泥巴里干活的，不是为了好看的。
These rough fingers and toes are for working in the mud of our rice fields, not for
looking pretty.
现在，年轻姑娘们穿上牛仔裤，看上去像男孩子一样，她们认为这就是时髦。
Now young girls put on jeans, and look like boys and they think it is fashionable.
嗨，为了能买条牛仔裤，他们宁愿卖掉猪或水牛。
Why, they are willing to sell their pig or water buffalo just to be able to buy a pair of
jeans.
我那时候，要是我也穿上像他们穿的一样的裤子，就会遭雷劈的。
In my day, if I were to put on a pair of trousers like they do now, lightning would
strike me.
我知道，时代已经变了，可有些事不应该变。
I know, times have changed, but certain things should not change.
我们每天应该给和尚们吃的，按时去庙里（进香）。
We should offer food to the monks every day, go to the temple regularly.
现在，年轻人倾向于把这些事留给老年人，这真叫人遗憾。
Young people tend to leave these things to old people now, and that's a shame.
唉，就是那天，我听到一个男孩子朝他妈妈大喊大叫。
Why, only the other day I heard a boy shout and scream at his mother.
要是那种事发生在我小的时候，整个村子都会谴责这个忘恩负义的儿子，他爸爸肯定会狠揍
他一顿。
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.
至于我，我不愿意改变，即使我想改变也变不了。
As for me, I wouldn't change, couldn't change even if I wanted to.
我快乐吗？还是不快乐？这个问题我从来没想过。
Am I happy or unhappy? This question has never occurred to me.
日子就这么过着。是啊，这一把穿着破衣服的瘦骨头还能从早到晚地种稻子，割稻子。
Life simply goes on. Yes, this bag of bones dressed in rags can still plant and reap
rice from morning till dusk.
疾病、伤痛、艰辛和贫穷一直是我生活的一部分。我不抱怨。
Disease, wounds, hardship and scarcity have always been part of my life. I don't
complain.
农夫：我妻子错了。我的眼看见了——看见了许多不该看的事情。
The farmer: My wife is wrong. My eyes do see—they see more than they should.
我的耳朵听见了——听见了许多不该听的事情。
My ears do hear—they hear more than is good for me.
我不讲我知道的事情，因为我知道的太多了。
I don't talk about what I know because I know too much.
比方说，我知道贪婪、愤怒和欲望都是所有罪恶的根源。
I know for example, greed, anger, and lust are the root of all evils.
我对这片土地和我的生活条件挺满意的。但是，对妻子我很同情。
I am at peace with the land and the conditions of my life. But I feel a great pity for
my wife.
这些年我一直强迫她少说话，可她从来没抱怨过什么。
I have been forcing silence upon her all these years, yet she has not once
complained of anything.
我原来想要很多子孙儿女在我身边，可现在，城市和外国把我的孩子们都吸引跑了，他们似
乎没人会再回到这里来了。
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.
我死的时候，把这些稻田留给谁啊？
To whom shall I give these rice fields when I die?
几百年里，这片土地就属于我们家。每一寸我都很熟悉。
For hundreds of years this strip of land has belonged to our family. I know every
inch of it.
我的孩子在上面长大，抓青蛙和田蟹，还采野花。
My children grew up on it, catching frogs and mud crabs and gathering flowers.
可这土地还是不能拴住他们，不能召唤他们回来。
Still the land could not tie them down or call them back.
当他们都有了一条牛仔裤的时候，他们就像飞着的鸟一样跑远了。
When each of them has a pair of jeans, they are off like birds on the wing.
幸运的是，我妻子还和我在一起，我们俩还都很硬朗。
Fortunately, my wife is still with me, and both of us are still strong.
时间会治愈创伤的。
Wounds heal over time.
疾病来了又走了，我们又恢复了健康。
Sickness comes and goes, and we get back on our feet again.
我从来都不想离开这土地。
I never want to leave this land.
当手指伸进土壤插秧时，摸着湿湿的土，这真好啊；听到妻子叹着气说道：“老头子，要是
我先死了，我要变成一片云，给你遮挡日头。”这真好啊。
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."
十一月，闻着正在成熟的稻子的香味是真好啊。
It's good to smell the scent of ripening rice in November.
柔和、凉爽的清风吹拂着一束束稻谷，它们像金色的波浪一样起伏、闪烁。
The soft cool breeze moves the sheaves, which ripple and shimmer like waves of gold.
是啊，我爱这片土地。我希望有一天，我的孩子里有一个会回来居住，给我生一群孙子孙
女，我可以把这片土地的奥秘传给他们。
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.