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Lesson Three
TEXT A
Message of the Land Pira Sudham
Pre-class Work I
Read the
text once for the main idea. Do not refer to the
notes dictionaries or the
glossary
yet.
Yes,
these are our rice fields. They belonged to my
parents and forefathers. The land is morethan
thre
e centuries old. I'm the only
daughter in our family and it was I who stayed
with myparents till they di
ed. My three
brothers moved out to their wives' houses when
they gotmarried. My husband moved int
o
our house as is the way with us in Esarn. I was
then eighteenand he was nineteen. He gave me six
c
hildren. Two died in infancy from
sickness. The rest, twoboys and two girls, went
away as soon as we
could afford to buy
jeans for them. Our oldestson got a job as a
gardener in a rich man's home in
Ban
gkok but later an employment
agencysent him to a foreign land to work. My other
son also went far a
way.
One
of our daughters is working in a
textile
factory in Bangkok,
and the other has a job in astore. Th
ey
come home to see us now and then, stay a few days,
and then they are off they send s
ome
money to us and tell us that they are doing well.
I know this is notalways true. Sometimes, they
get bullied and insulted, and it is
like a knife piercing my heart. It'seasier for my
husband. He has ears
which don't hear,
a mouth which doesn't speak, and eyesthat don't
see. He has always been patient a
nd
silent, minding his own life.
All of
them remain my children in
spite
of their long absence.
Maybe it's fate that sent themaway fro
m
us. Our piece of land is small, and it is no
longer
fertile
,
bleeding
year after yearand,
like us, getti
ng old and exhausted.
Still my husband and I work on this land. The soil
is notdifficult to till when ther
e is a
lot of rain, but in a bad year, it's not only the
ploughs that breakbut our hearts, too.
No, we two haven't changed much, but
the village has. In what way? Only ten years ago,
youcould
ba
rter
for things, but now it's all cash. Years ago, you
could ask your neighbors to helpbuild your
house,
reap
the
rice or dig a well. Now they'll do it only if you
have money to paythem. Plastic things
replac
e
village
crafts. Men used to make things with fine bamboo
pieces,but no longer. Plastic bags litter
the
village. Shops have sprung up,
filled with colorful
plastic
things and goods we
have no use for. The y
oung go away to
towns and cities leaving us oldpeople to work on
the land. They think differently, I
kn
ow, saying that the old are old-
fashioned. All my life, I have never had to go to
a hairdresser, or to pa
int my lips or
nails. These
rough
fingers
and toes are for working in the mud of our rice
fields, not for l
ooking pretty.
Nowyoung girls put on jeans, and look like boys
and they think it is
fashionable
. Why,
they are
willing
to sell their pig or water buffalo just to be able
to buy a pair of jeans. In my day, if
Iw
ere to put on a pair of
trousers
like they do now,
lightning
would
strike
me.
I
know, times have changed, but
certain
things should not
change. We should offer food tothe
monks
every day, go to the temple
regularly. Young people
tend
to leave these things toold people now,
an
d that's a shame.
Why,
only the other day I heard a boy shout and
scream
at his mother. If
that kind of thinghad happ
ened when I
was young, the whole village would have
condemned
such an
ungratefulson, and his fat
her would
surely have given him a good beating.
As for me, I wouldn't change, couldn't
change even if I wanted to. Am I happy or
unhappy
?This
ques
tion has never occurred to me. Life
simply goes on. Yes, this bag of bones dressed
inrags can still plan
t and
reap
rice from morning till
dusk. Disease, wounds,
hardship
and
scarcity
have always been
par
t of my life. I don't
complain
.
The
farmer: My wife is wrong. My eyes do
see
—
they see more than they
should. My ears
dohear
—
the
y hear
more than is good for me. I don't talk about what
I know because I know toomuch. I know for
example,
greed
,
anger, and lust are the root of all evils.
I am at peace with the land and the
conditions of my life. But I feel a great
pity
for my wife. Ihave
be
en forcing
silence
upon her all these
years, yet she has not once complained ofanything.
I wanted to have a lot of children and
grandchildren around me but now cities and foreign
landshave a
ttracted my children away
and it seems that none of them will ever come back
to live hereagain. To w
hom shall I give
these rice fields when I die? For hundreds of
years this
strip
of landhas
belonged to o
ur family. I know every
inch of it. My children grew up on it, catching
frogsand mud crabs and gatheri
ng
flowers. Still the land could not tie them down or
call them each of them has a pair of
j
eans, they are off like birds on the
wing.
Fortunately, my wife is still
with me, and both of us are still strong. Wounds
heal over ss c
omes and goes, and we get
back on our feet again. I never want to leave this
's nice to feel the
wet earth as my
fingers dig into the soil, planting rice, to hear
my wifesighing,
protect
you from
the sun.
sce
nt
of
ripening rice in November. The soft cool breeze
moves the sheaves,
which
ripple
and shimmer
li
ke waves of gold. Yes, I love this
land and I hope one of my childrencomes back one
day to live, and g
ives me grandchildren
so that I can pass on the land's secretmessages to
them.
Read the text a second time.
Learn the new words and expressions listed below.
Glossary
agency
n.
机构;代理处;这里指职业介绍所
bamboo
n.
竹
Bangkok
n.
曼谷(泰国首都)
barter
v. to
exchange
goods for other
goods
以货易货
breeze
n. a light
gentle
wind
buffalo
n.
美洲野牛;
water
~
:
水牛
bully
v. to
threaten
to hurt sb. who is
smaller or weaker
欺负(弱小)
condemn
v. to
express strong
disapproval
谴责
crab
n.
蟹
craft
n.
handmade items
手工艺术(这里指手工产品)
dusk
n. the time before it
gets dark
黄昏
Esarn
n. a village in
Thailand
evil
n. bad or
harmful influence or effect
邪恶
exhausted
adj. tired out
fashionable
adj.
popular
合时尚的;时髦的
fate
n.
命运
fertile
adj.
~
land is land able to
produce
good crops
肥沃的;富饶的
forefathers
n. people
(especially men) who were part of your family a
long time ago
祖先
frog
n.
蛙
gardener
n. a person who takes care of a garden
greed
n. a
strong desire for more money, power etc. than you
need
贪婪
hairdresser
n. a person who
cuts and shapes your hair in a
particular
style
理发师
hardship
n.
difficult condition of life, such as lack of money
to become healthy again, to recover from awound,
especially to grow new skin
愈合
infancy
n. early childhood; babyhood
insult
v. to say
or do sth. that is
rude
or
act offensively to someone
侮辱
jeans
n.
(常用复数)牛仔裤
litter
v. to leave
(
plastic
bags, bits of waste
paper etc.) on the ground in a public place
扔得到处都是
lust
n. very strong desire for sex, money or
power
淫欲;金钱欲;权力欲
old-fashioned
adj. not
fashionable
老式的,过时的
monk
n.
和尚,僧人
nail
n.
指甲
pierce
v. to
make a hole through something; to
~
one's heart: to make one
feet very sad
reap
v. to cut and
gather
a crop such as rice
or
wheat
收割
replace
v. to
take the place of
替代
ripen
adj.
mature
成熟的
ripple
v. to
move in very small waves
在微风中摆动
scarcity
n. a
lack; not having enough, especially food
scent
n. a
pleasant smell
sheaves
n.
(sheaf
的复数
),
measure
of
quantity
in farming
捆,束
shimmer
v. to shine with a soft trembling light
发微光,闪烁
sickness
n. illness
sigh
v.
叹息
strip
n. a
narrow piece of
细长片
temple
n. a place for the
worship
of a god or gods
寺庙,庙宇
tend
v. If sth.
~
s to happen, it means that
it is likely to happen quite often, especially
sth. bad
or
unpleas
ant
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