雅思课外读物--The Man to Send Rain Clouds（英汉对照）

摘要：今天要跟大家分享的雅思阅读素材题目是The Man to Send Rain Clouds（送雨云的人）正文有注解，文章作者莱斯利·马蒙·西尔科，全文共21段，文章包含雅思词汇、例句讲解，一起来看！

[12] Ken stopped the pickup at the church, and Leon got out; and then Ken drove down the hill to the graveyard where people were waiting. Leon knocked at the old carved door with its symbols of the Lamb. While he waited he looked up at the twin bells from the king of Spain with the last sunlight pouring around them in their tower.

肯恩在教堂将卡车停住，里昂下了车;之后肯恩沿山而下，直开到墓地，人们在那儿等着。里昂敲了敲那扇古老的、刻着各种羔羊图标的大门。他一边等人开门，一边抬头打量西班牙国王赠送的那对鸣钟，此刻，它们静待楼塔，任落日余晖洒在身上。

[13] The priest opened the door and smiled when he saw who it was. "Come in! What brings you here this evening?"

The priest walked toward the kitchen, and Leon stood with his cap in his hand, playing with the earflaps and examining the living room, the brown sofa, the green armchair, and the brass lamp that hung down from the ceiling by links of chain. The priest dragged a chair out of the kitchen and offered it to Leon.

"No thank you, Father. I only came to ask you if you would bring your holy water to the graveyard."

牧师打开门，看清来人后，他笑了。“请进!今晚什么风把你给吹来了?”神父走向厨房，里昂站在客厅，手拿帽子，一边摆弄帽子的耳罩，一边打量房间，那棕色的沙发，绿色的扶椅，还有那用链扣悬挂在屋顶的黄铜灯。神父从厨房里拖出一把椅子，递给里昂。

“不用，谢了，神父。我来这儿只是想问问，您能不能带上圣水去一趟墓地。”

[14] The priest turned away from Leon and looked out the window at the patio full of shadows and the dining-room windows of the nuns' cloister across the patio. The curtains were heavy, and the light from within faintly penetrated; it was impossible to see the nuns inside eating supper.

神父转过脸去，望着窗外暮色笼罩的天井，以及天井对面女修道院饭厅的窗户。窗帘很厚，只有微弱的光线从里面透出，根本看不清里面用餐的修女们。

[15] "Why didn't you tell me he was dead? I could have brought the Last Rites6 anyway."

Leon smiled. "It wasn't necessary, Father."

The priest stared down at his scuffed brown loafers and the worn hem of his cassock. "For a Christian burial it was necessary."

His voice was distant, and Leon thought that his blue eyes looked tired.

"It's O.K. Father, we just want him to have plenty of water."

“你那会儿为什么不告诉我他死了?我至少还来得及给他办临终圣礼嘛!”

里昂笑了笑。“那倒没有必要，神父。”

牧师低头盯着自己破旧的棕色平底鞋和长袍折边。“对一名基督徒的葬礼来说，那是必要的。”

他话音冷淡，里昂心想，他的蓝眼睛看起来有些倦怠。

“没有关系，神父。我们只希望他的水够喝就行。”

[16] The priest sank down into the green chair and picked up a glossy missionary magazine. He turned the colored pages full of lepers and pagans without looking at them.

"You know I can't do that, Leon. There should have been the Last Rites and a funeral Mass at the very least."

Leon put on his green cap and pulled the flaps down over his ears. "It's getting late, Father. I've got to go."

神父一屁股坐进绿色扶椅，拾起一本印刷精美的传教士杂志。他翻弄着一张张满是麻风病人和异教徒的彩页，虽然他一眼都没看。

“里昂，你知道我不能那样干。再怎么说，也该办临终圣礼和葬礼弥撒。”

里昂戴上他那顶绿色帽子，把耳罩拉下来盖住耳朵。“时候不早了，神父。我得走了。”

[17] When Leon opened the door Father Paul stood up and said, "Wait." He left the room and came back wearing a long brown overcoat. He followed Leon out the door and across the dim churchyard to the adobe steps in front of the church. They both stooped to fit through the low adobe entrance. And when they started down the hill to the graveyard only half of the sun was visible above the mesa.

当里昂推开大门时，神父保罗站起来说：“等等!”他离开客厅，然后穿着一件棕色长外衣回来。他跟着里昂走出大门，穿过昏暗的教堂庭院，来到教堂前土坯砌成的台阶。他们弯着腰，穿过低矮的土墙入口。待他们朝山下墓地出发时，平顶山上的太阳只能看见一半了。

[18] The priest approached the grave slowly, wondering how they had managed to dig into the frozen ground; and then he remembered that this was New Mexico, and saw the pile of cold loose sand beside the hole. The people stood close to each other with little clouds of steam puffing from their faces. The priest looked at them and saw a pile of jackets, gloves, and scarves in the yellow, dry tumbleweeds that grew in the graveyard. He looked at the red blanket, not sure that Teofilo was so small, wondering if it wasn't some perverse Indian trick or something they did in March to ensure a good harvest, wondering if maybe old Teofilo was actually at sheep camp corralling the sheep for the night.

牧师慢慢走近坟墓，心里纳闷这些人怎么能在结冰的地面上挖出坑来;然后他想起，这可是在新墨西哥州，他看到了墓坑边上的一堆冰冷的松土。人们紧挨着站在一起，脸上呼出云状的小气团。牧师看了看他们，他看见墓地枯黄的风滚草上堆放着夹克、手套和围巾。他看着红毯子，不敢相信泰奥菲洛竟然如此瘦小，他在心里琢磨：这该不是印第安人玩的什么古怪把戏，或是为了好收成在三月举行的某个仪式吧?他想，兴许老泰奥菲洛此刻正在牧羊营把羊群赶进羊棚过夜呢。

[19] But there he was, facing into a cold dry wind and squinting at the last sunlight, ready to bury a red wool blanket while the faces of his parishioners were in shadow with the last warmth of the sun on their backs. His fingers were stiff, and it took him a long time to twist the the lid off the holy water. Drops of water fell on the red blanket and soaked into dark icy spots. He sprinkled the grave and the water disappeared almost before it touched the dim, cold sand; it reminded him of something, and he tried to remember what it was because he thought if he could remember he might understand this. He sprinkled more water; he shook the container until it was empty, and the water fell through the light from sundown like August rain that fell while the sun was still shining, almost evaporating before it touched the wilted squash flowers.

然而，眼下的情形是，他顶着干冷的风和刺眼的落日余晖，准备埋掉一块红毯，而最后一线阳光落在他的教区居民的背脊上，给他们的脸蒙上阴影。他手指僵硬，花了很长时间才拧开圣水的盖子。水滴洒落在红毯上，马上渗透成暗黑的冰点。他往坟墓里洒水，可刚要接触昏暗冰冷的沙面，水已消失不见;这让他想起点什么，他努力回忆那到底是什么，因为他觉得，如果能回忆起来，他就能理解这一切。他洒了更多的水;他摇晃盛水瓶，直到水瓶变空;水在落日余光中洒落，如同耀眼阳光中降下的八月雨，还没来得及打到枯萎的南瓜花，就已蒸发得无影无踪。

[20] The wind pulled at the priest's brown Franciscan7 robe and swirled away the corn meal and pollen that had been sprinkled on the blanket. They lowered the bundle into the ground, and they didn't bother to untie the stiff pieces of new rope that were tied around the ends of the blanket. The sun was gone, and over on the highway the eastbound lane was full of headlights. The priest walked away slowly.

晚风将牧师身上的方济会长袍吹得啪啪作响，让撒在红毯上的玉米面和花粉打着旋儿四处纷飞。他们将尸裹放进坑里，连系在毯子两头的硬硬的新绳也懒得解开。太阳下山了，远处的公路，东行道上车灯闪烁。牧师缓步离去。

[21] Leon watched him climb the hill, and when he had disappeared within the tall, thick walls, Leon turned to look up at the high blue mountains in the deep snow that reflected a faint red light from the west. He felt good because it was finished, and he was happy about the sprinkling of the holy water; now the old man could send them big thunderclouds for sure.

里昂看着牧师一步步爬上山坡。当他消失在厚厚的高墙中时，里昂转过身，抬头看看那些蓝色高山，山上厚厚的积雪反射出西边天空的微微霞光。他感觉不错，因为这事做完了，洒了圣水，他很开心;如今，老人家一定可以给他们送来大片大片的雷雨云了。