Back in the old country
回到故乡
Did the narrater find his mother's grave?
叙述者找到他母亲的坟墓了吗？
I stopped to let the car cool off and to study the map.
我停下车，让车冷却下来，研究地图。
I had expected to be near my objective by now, but everything still seemed alien to me.
我本以为现在已经接近我的目标了，但一切对我来说似乎仍然很陌生。
I was only five when my father had taken me abroad, and that was eighteen years ago.
父亲带我出国时我才五岁，那已经是十八年前的事了。
When my mother had died after a tragic accident, he did not quickly recover from the shock and loneliness.
母亲在一次不幸的事故中去世后，他并没有很快从震惊和孤独中恢复过来。
Everything around him was full of her presence, continually reopening the wound.
他周围的一切都充满了母亲的气息，不断地重新揭开伤口。
So he decided to emigrate.
于是，他决定移民。
In the new country he became absorbed in making a new life for the two of us, so that he gradually ceased to grieve.
在新的国家，他一心一意地为我们俩创造新的生活，因此他渐渐不再悲伤。
He did not marry again and I was brought up without a woman's care;
他没有再娶，我在没有女人照顾的情况下长大；
but I lacked for nothing, for he was both father and mother to me.
但我什么都不缺，因为他对我来说既是父亲又是母亲。
He always meant to go back one day, but not to stay.
他总想有一天回去，但不愿意留下来。
His roots and mine had become too firmly embedded in the new land.
他和我的根都扎在了这片新土地上。
But he wanted to see the old folk againand to visit my mother's grave.
但他想再看看老人们，去给我母亲扫墓。
He became mortally ill a few months before we had planned to go and, when he knew that he was dying, he made me promise to go on my own.
在我们计划去的前几个月，他得了重病，当他知道自己快死了时，他让我答应自己去。
I hired a car the day after landing and bought a comprehensive book of maps,
下飞机的第二天，我就租了一辆车，还买了一本地图大全、
which I found most helpful on the cross-country journey, but which I did not think I should need on the last stage.
我发现这本书对我的越野旅行很有帮助，但我认为在最后阶段我不需要它。
It was not that I actually remembered anything at all.
实际上，我并没有记住任何东西。
But my father had described over and over again what we should see at every milestone after leaving the nearest town,
但我父亲一遍又一遍地描述了我们离开最近的城镇后，在每个里程碑上应该看到的东西、
so that I was positive I should recognize it as familiar territory.
所以我确信我应该能认出那是我熟悉的地方。
Well, I had been wrong, for I was now lost.
好吧，我错了，因为我现在迷路了。
I looked at the map and then at the milometer.
我看了看地图，又看了看里程表。
I had come ten miles since leaving the town and at this point, according to my father,
根据父亲的说法，我离开小镇已经走了十英里、
I should be looking at farms and cottages in a valley,
我应该看到山谷中的农场和小屋、
with the spire of the church of our village showing in the far distance.
远处是我们村庄教堂的尖顶。
I could see no valley, no farms, no cottages and no church spire-only a lake.
我没有看到山谷，没有看到农场，没有看到小屋，也没有看到教堂的尖顶，只有一个湖。
I decided that I must have taken a wrong turning somewhere.
我断定自己一定是拐错了弯。
So I drove back to the town and began to retrace the route, taking frequent glances at the map.
于是，我驱车返回小镇，开始重走原路，并频频查看地图。
I landed up at the same corner.
我在同一个拐角上了岸。
The curious thing was that the lake was not marked on the map.
奇怪的是，地图上并没有标出这个湖。
I felt as if I had stumbled into a nightmare country, as you sometimes do in dreams.
我觉得自己好像误入了一个噩梦般的国度，就像有时在梦中一样。
And, as in a nightmare, there was nobody in sight to help me.
而且，和噩梦一样，眼前也没有人可以帮助我。
Fortunately for me, as I was wondering what to do next,
幸运的是，就在我想下一步该怎么办的时候
there appeared on the horizon a man on horseback, riding in my direction.
地平线上出现了一个骑马的人，正朝我的方向走来。
I waited till he came near, then I asked him the way to our old village.
我一直等到他走近，才向他打听去我们老家村子的路。
He said that there was now no village.
他说现在已经没有村庄了。
I thought he must have misunderstood me, so I repeated its name.
我想他一定是误解了我的意思，于是我又重复了一遍村庄的名字。
This time he pointed to the lake.
这次他指了指湖边。
The village no longer existed because it had been submerged, and all the valley too.
村子已经不存在了，因为它被淹没了，整个山谷也被淹没了。
The lake was not a natural one, but a man-made reservoir.
这个湖不是天然湖泊，而是一个人工水库。
