TED演讲:我难忘的一次中国行(3)

 　　A few local houses around a local square. 有一些房屋建在当地的一个广场上。

　　In the middle of the square, a great tree, an oak¹ tree. 广场中央有一棵巨大的橡树。

　　And beside the oak tree, there was a well. 橡树旁边有一口井。

　　We sat down from the heat of the temperatures of about 40 degrees. 我们坐在橡树下躲避40度左右的高温。

　　Xuelin and I sat down beside the well and underneath² the tree, 我和雪琳在井边坐下来，就在树下。

　　and not long before people start coming to join us and start to talk about what we were doing, 过了一会儿人们开始加入到我们中间来，

　　why we were doing, what we were doing. 问我们在做什么以及为什么这样做。

　　And as we sat there, they explain that the tree that was providing the shade³ was some five hundred years old, 当我们坐在那里时，他们说提供树荫的树已经有五百年的历史了，

　　that the well just beside this was seven hundred years old. 它旁边的那口井已经有七百年的历史了。

　　And we were getting very nostalgic about this and I said to the few people over there. 我觉得很怀旧，我和那边的几个人开始攀谈。

　　I said have you had many visitors to your village? 我问他们是不是有很多游客？

　　Many foreigners come to your village? And they looked at each other and they said no. 很多外国人到他们村子里来？他们相互看了看，告诉我说没有。

　　And I start really excited. 我开始感到很兴奋。

　　I thought I discovered somewhere new and they said but we were not quite sure. 我觉得我发现了新大陆。他们告诉我他们不是很确定。

　　But the person who would know is the old man of the village. He's 95 years old. 但是村里有个老人会知道。老人已经95岁了。

　　He's lived here all of his life, apart⁴ from two years in 1943 在这里住了一辈子，除了1943年的时候，

　　when he went off to fight to liberate⁵ Jinan which was under Japanese occupation⁶ at the time, but he's lived here all his life. 他外出两年去解放当时在日本占领下的济南，他一辈子都住在这里。

　　So they went into the field and they brought him and he sat under the tree 他们就到田间去把他领过来。他坐在树下，

　　and they said has anybody, any foreigner visited at this village before. He said no, no, this man is the first. 他说这个村子以前没有外国人来过。这个外国人是第一个。

1 oak   

n.栎树，橡树，栎木，橡木

参考例句：

• The chair is of solid oak.这把椅子是纯橡木的。
• The carpenter will floor this room with oak.木匠将用橡木铺设这个房间的地板。

2 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

3 shade   

n.荫，阴暗，荫凉处，遮光物，灯罩，帘，浓淡，些微；vi. 渐变；vt.使阴暗，使渐变

参考例句：

• Don't cut down the tree that gives you shade.不要忘恩负义。
• These trees afford a pleasant shade.这些树下有一片宜人的树阴。

4 apart   

adv.除去，撇开；分开；相隔，相距

参考例句：

• I helped her pull the two fighting boys apart.我帮她把两个打架的男孩拉开。
• I like to keep my work apart from my family.我不喜欢让家里人插手我的工作。

5 liberate   

v.解放，使获得自由，释出，放出；vt.解放，使获自由

参考例句：

• They did their best to liberate slaves.他们尽最大能力去解放奴隶。
• This will liberate him from economic worry.这将消除他经济上的忧虑。

6 occupation   

n.职业，工作；占领，占据；占用

参考例句：

• I haven't entered up your name and occupation yet.我尚未记下你的名字和职业。
• Reading is a useful occupation to us.阅读对我们是一种有益的消遣。