The Speaking Tree

By Vyoma Nupur

Absent-minded footsteps scrunched along the forest path, carelessly crushing new tree shoots and wild grass.1.（男孩）心不在焉地沿著林中小徑往前走，腳步“嘎吱嘎吱”作響，無意間碾碎了新枝和野草。absent-minded: 漫不經(jīng)心的，心不在焉的；scrunch:（擠壓、壓碎時）發(fā)出嘎吱聲；crush: 壓壞，壓碎；shoot: 嫩芽，新枝。Bees zipped past, buzzing loudly, as if picking up on the noisy irritation of the lanky boy striding along the river.2. zip: 快速移動，飛速行動；buzz: 發(fā)出嗡嗡聲；pick up on: 注意到；irritation: 煩躁，氣惱；lanky: 過分瘦長的；stride: 大步走。For a moment, the murmuring currents slowed their pace, as if watching Tom’s mindless abstraction.3. 有一陣，“嗡嗡”飛過的蜜蜂放緩了速度， 仿佛在看湯姆愣愣地出神。murmuring: 發(fā)出低沉的沙沙聲的；current: 水流，氣流；abstraction:出神，心不在焉。

“They cannot do anything without me… If I die today, it is as if they would collapse!” he murmured broodingly.4. collapse: 崩潰，瓦解；broodingly: 憂慮地，若有所思地。Shooting worried glances at the gray clouds hurrying on, he quickened his pace. As he entered the dense thicket, the fragrance of fruit made him realize he had missed lunch.5. thicket: 小樹叢，灌木叢；fragrance: 香味，香氣。His stomach growled as if on cue.6. growl: 隆隆作響，轟鳴；on cue: 恰好在這時，就在這時候。Fat raindrops crowned the pear he reached out to pluck from a low hanging branch.7. crown: 覆蓋……的頂端；pluck: 采，摘。Outside, the pitter patter increased but here the trees protected him from the downpour and made him forget his grievances against the world and his classmates who came to him for help with their homework everyday because he was a straight A student.8. pitter patter:（類似雨點落在堅硬表面上發(fā)出的）噼里啪啦聲；downpour:傾盆大雨，暴雨；grievance: 委屈，不滿；straight A: 成績最好的。

“Wait!” the voice whispered in the darkness. The fruit fell from his grasp9. grasp: 緊握。.

“Who is it?” Tom’s voice quavered a little, as he strained to see who called out to him in this jungle.10.“誰？”湯姆的聲音有點抖，他用力地張望，看是誰在林子里叫他。quaver:（聲音因緊張或害怕而）顫抖；strain to do:使勁干，竭力做；jungle: 叢林?！癐t’s me,” rode along the wind to him.

“Me??” Tom looked around frantically, his startled gaze trying to find the Me that spoke to him from nowhere.11. frantically: 發(fā)狂地，狂躁地；startled: 受驚嚇的。By the periodic flashes of lightning, all he could see were rain-lashed trees well endowed with leaves and fruit.12. periodic: 間發(fā)性的，定期的；lightning:閃電；rain-lashed: 被雨猛擊的；be endowed with: 被賦予，使天生擁有。As he crouched forward, his gaze fell upon naked branches shivering in the wind.13. crouch: 蹲，蹲伏；shiver: 顫抖，發(fā)抖。Slowly, he took in the vastness of the skeletal tree, bare and devoid of any foliage, like a gaunt,14. take in: 看清，看明白；skeletal: 骨瘦如柴的；devoid of: 毫無……的；foliage: 葉，枝葉；gaunt: 瘦削的，憔悴的。unclothed man standing in the midst of a well fed, richly dressed crowd. “D…did you just say something?” Tom said,feeling silly talking to a tree and expecting a response.

插圖 張亞坤

湯姆心不在焉地走在林間小路上，“嘎吱嘎吱”地踩著野草，悶悶不樂。他憂心忡忡地瞥了幾眼天空，鉛灰的云正迅速聚攏。湯姆緊趕幾步躲進叢林里，一時間大雨傾盆。忽然，有個聲音從暗處傳來……

“Yes, it is me and no, don’t freak out15. freak out: 吃驚，不安。,” the tree replied calmly. “Sit down and I will tell you a story…” “I just want to get out of here!!” Tom screamed, visibly shaken by being confronted by a piece of vegetation that spoke.16. visibly: 明顯地；be confronted by: 面對（有威脅性或困難的事）；vegetation: 植被，植物。

“SIT DOWN.”

Tom sat down shakily on a nearby tree stump, all the while staring unblinkingly at the speaking tree.17. 湯姆顫抖著坐在就近的樹樁上，目不轉(zhuǎn)睛地盯著說話的樹。stump: 樹樁；unblinkingly:不眨眼地。“I need your help. In the next 15 days, woodcutters from the Forestry Department are coming to chop me down because they think I am barren and dead18. woodcutter: 伐木工，樵夫；chop:砍，劈；barren: （樹或植物）不結(jié)果實的，不結(jié)籽的?！璦nd they are right in a way because I was consumed by ego, like you are today, Tom.”

“Once upon a time, I was as green and healthy as the others, you know,” the tree began dreamily. “I felt the perfumed breeze caress my leaves…19. perfumed: 芳香的，有香味的；caress: 愛撫，撫摸。I felt like a satisfied mother when I nurtured the fruit I bore. I was replete and content with happiness, swaying and dancing to the melodies of the wind and rain, basking in the golden waves of the sun.20. be replete with: 充滿的，裝滿的；bask in: 沐浴在……中。Monkeys danced with joy amongst my branches,bunches of parrots nestled in my swaying boughs, chortling musically like shining emeralds partaking of the fruit I had to offer.21. 猴子們在我的枝椏間歡舞，成群的鸚鵡偎依在我輕輕搖蕩的枝干上，笑聲悅耳，如同閃亮的綠寶石，享用著我給他們的果子。nestle: 安臥，偎依；bough: 粗枝；chortle: 咯咯笑；emerald: 翡翠，綠寶石；partake of: 吃喝，享用。I was alive, the center of their world….But as months passed I began to feel discontent. I was feeding these birds,I was their home. Bees pollinated22. pollinate: 給……傳授花粉。my flowers. Animals frolicked23. frolic: 嬉鬧，嬉戲。in me, passerbys sat down under my shade, and I was the jewel of the forest…But what was I getting in return?…I began to scare away the birds and the bees. After all, I could exist in splendid isolation. But I forgot that existence depends only upon co-existence… Animals stopped coming,bees stopped fertilizing my flowers, my fruits fell to the ground and started decaying.24. fertilize: 使受精；decay: 腐爛。I angered the River Goddess herself and She withdrew Her lifegiving water from my roots. My branches and roots have weakened and are dying.”

The tree’s voice trailed away with the exertion of speaking.25. 說著說著，樹的聲音越來越弱。trail away: 逐漸減弱；exertion:發(fā)揮，運用?！癝o Tom…” came the whisper, “help me be useful again…” “Pray to the River Goddess for me…These few flowers that still cling to my trunk, take them and offer them humbly to Her lapping currents as atonement and homage….so that She may have mercy on me and bring back her life fluids to my roots.”26. humbly: 謙遜地，謙虛地；lapping: 拍打的；atonement: 贖罪，彌補；homage: 尊敬，崇敬；have mercy on:對……憐憫；fluid: 液體，流質(zhì)?！癢hen you pass me each day on your way home, will you do this for me? Remember from my suffering that only when you share your bounty27. bounty: 慷慨，豐富。with others and make them happy, can you exist. You, like me, are in this world to be useful, to co-exist with others. Otherwise you have no purpose and your talents and skills will wither28. wither: 枯萎，凋謝。away like my branches.”

Hit by realization, it was Tom’s turn to whisper now. “Yes, I will help you each day, till you are strong and green again. And I will always help my friends at school and at home, so that I may grow powerful and vibrant29. vibrant: 充滿生氣的，精力充沛的。like a healthy tree and provide shade to those who need it on the path of Life. So that my roots of experience may deepen with the fertilizer of hard work,irrigated30. irrigate: 灌溉。with the fluid of love and so that others may also benefit from the fruits of my labor.”