DRESSED IN MOURNING clothes, Father stood facing southwest on a high bench and thumped1 thewaxwood butt2 of his rifle on the ground as he shouted: ‘Mother – Mother – head southwest – abroad highway – a long treasure boat – a fleet-footed steed – lots of travelling money – Mother –rest in sweetness – buy off your pain –’
The funeral master had ordered him to sing this send-off song three times, since only a lovedone’s calls can guide the spirit to the southwestern paradise. But he got through it only oncebefore choking on hot, sour tears of grief. Another long-drawn-out ‘Mom’ escaped from his lips,fanned out, and glided3 unsteadily in the air like a scarlet4 butterfly, its wings carrying it to thesouthwest, where the wilderness5 was broad and the airstream swirled6, and where the brightsunlight raised a white screen over the Black Water River. Powerless to scale the translucentscreen, the wisp of ‘Mom’ turned and headed east after a momentary7 hesitation8, despite Father’sdesire to send her to the southwestern paradise. But Grandma didn’t want to go there. Instead shefollowed the meandering9 dike10, taking fistcakes to Granddad’s troops, turning her head back fromtime to time to signal her son, my father, with her golden eyes.
Twenty days earlier, Father had gone with Granddad to dig up Grandma’s grave. It wasdefinitely not a good day for swallows, for a dozen sodden11 clouds, like torn cotton wadding, hungin the low sky, reeking12 like rotting fish and spoiled shrimp13. An ill wind carried a stream ofsinister air down the Black Water River, along whose banks the corpses15 of dogs shattered bymuskmelon grenades during the battle with humans the previous winter lay decomposing16 amidthe sallow water grass; swallows migrating north from Hainan Island flew across the river withdread, as frogs below began their mating ritual, gaunt bodies caught up in the passions of lovefollowing a winter of hibernation17.
Father stood with Granddad and nineteen Iron Society soldiers, all carrying hoes and pickaxes,at the head of Grandma’s grave. Golden flowers of bitterweed, the first of the year, dotted thefaded black earth of the column of mounds18.
Three minutes of silence.
‘Douguan, you’re sure this is the one?’ Granddad asked.
‘It’s this one,’ Father replied. ‘I could never forget.’
‘Okay,’ Granddad said. ‘Start digging!’
The Iron Society soldiers raised their tools, but were reluctant to start. So Granddad took apickaxe from one of them, aimed at the mound19, which arched up like a woman’s breast, andswung with all his might, to bury the tool in the soil with a heavy thud. He then pulled it towardshim, scooping20 out a chunk21 of the black earth.
Father’s heart knotted up as the pickaxe split the grave mound, and at that instant heexperienced fear and loathing22 for Granddad’s ruthlessness.
‘Dig it up,’ Granddad said feebly.
Forming a ring around Grandma’s grave, the soldiers began to chop and dig, levelling themound in no time. Father’s thoughts returned to the night of the ninth day of the eighth lunarmonth, 1939, when they had buried Grandma. Fires raging on the bridge and torches ringing herbody had illuminated23 her dead face, nearly bringing it back to life, before it was swallowed up bythe black earth. Now the likeness24 was being dug up again, and Father grew tense as the layerswere pared away, until he thought he saw Grandma’s smile as she kissed death through the earthseparating them.
The Iron Society soldiers stopped digging when the final layer of soil covering the sorghumwas removed and cast pleading looks at Granddad and Father, who saw their noses twitch26 as theoverpowering stench of decay rose from the grave. To Father, who breathed in greedily, it wasthe odour of the milk he’d suckled at Grandma’s breast.
‘Clear it away!’ Granddad ordered, his black eyes devoid27 of pity. ‘Clear it away!’
Reluctantly they bent28 down and began pulling the sorghum25 out of the grave. Transparent29 dropsof water oozed30 from the naked stalks, turned by decay into the glossy31 red of moist jade32.
Deeper and deeper they went, the stench growing stronger. But to Father it was the rich aromaof sorghum wine, intoxicating33, dizzying. He wanted to see Grandma as soon as possible, but theprospect also frightened him. The sorghum covering grew ever thinner, yet he felt the distancebetween him and Grandma increase. The final layer of stalks suddenly rustled34 loudly, wrenchingshouts of alarm from some of the soldiers and striking others dumb with fear. Their faces wereashen, and only Granddad’s insistence35 gave them the courage to peek36 down into the grave.
Father watched as four brown field voles scrambled37 up the sides of the unearthed38 grave, whilea fifth one, pure white, squatted39 on a supremely40 beautiful sorghum stalk in the middle of thegrave. Everyone stared at the brown voles as they scampered41 away; meanwhile, the white oneperched haughtily42 without stirring, staring back with its tiny, jet-black eyes. Father picked up aclod of earth and hurled43 it into the grave. The vole sprang two feet into the air, fell back, andscurried madly around the edges. With loathing swelling44 their insides, the soldiers rained clods ofearth down on the white vole until it lay smashed in the middle of the grave.
According to Father, Grandma emerged from the resplendent, aromatic45 grave as lovely as aflower, as in a fairy tale. But the faces of the Iron Society soldiers contorted whenever theydescribed in gory46 detail the hideous47 shape of her corpse14 and the suffocating48 stench issuing fromthe grave. Father called them liars49. His senses were particularly keen at the time, he recalled, andas the last few stalks were removed, Grandma’s sweet, beautiful smile made the area crackle asthough swept by a raging fire. His only regret was how fleeting50 the moment had been. For, whenGrandma’s body was lifted out of the grave, her lustrous51 beauty and delicate fragrance52 turnedinto a mist and floated gently away, leaving behind only a white skeleton.
After lifting the body out of the grave, the soldiers ran down to the bank of the Black WaterRiver and vomited53 dark-green bile into the dark-green water. Granddad spread out a piece ofwhite cloth and told Father to help him lift Grandma’s skeleton onto it. Infected by the sound ofvomiting in the river, Father felt a spasm54 in his neck, and hacking55 sounds erupted from his throat.
He hated the thought of touching56 the pale-white bones.
‘Douguan,’ Granddad said, ‘you don’t think your own mom’s bones are too dirty to touch, doyou? Not you!’
Moved by the rare tragic57 look on Granddad’s face, Father bent down and tentatively reachedout to touch Grandma’s pale leg bone, which was so icy it froze his guts58. Granddad tried to liftthe skeleton by the shoulder blades, but it disintegrated59 and landed in a heap on the ground. Apair of red ants crawled in the sockets60 that had once been home to Grandma’s limpid61 eyes, theirantennae vibrating. Father threw down Grandma’s leg bone, turned tail, and ran, filling the airwith howls of grief.
点击收听单词发音
1 thumped | |
v.重击, (指心脏)急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2 butt | |
n.笑柄;烟蒂;枪托;臀部;v.用头撞或顶 | |
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3 glided | |
v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 );掠过;(鸟或飞机 ) 滑翔 | |
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4 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
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5 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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6 swirled | |
v.旋转,打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7 momentary | |
adj.片刻的,瞬息的;短暂的 | |
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8 hesitation | |
n.犹豫,踌躇 | |
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9 meandering | |
蜿蜒的河流,漫步,聊天 | |
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10 dike | |
n.堤,沟;v.开沟排水 | |
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11 sodden | |
adj.浑身湿透的;v.使浸透;使呆头呆脑 | |
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12 reeking | |
v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的现在分词 );散发臭气;发出难闻的气味 (of sth);明显带有(令人不快或生疑的跡象) | |
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13 shrimp | |
n.虾,小虾;矮小的人 | |
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14 corpse | |
n.尸体,死尸 | |
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15 corpses | |
n.死尸,尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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16 decomposing | |
腐烂( decompose的现在分词 ); (使)分解; 分解(某物质、光线等) | |
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17 hibernation | |
n.冬眠 | |
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18 mounds | |
土堆,土丘( mound的名词复数 ); 一大堆 | |
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19 mound | |
n.土墩,堤,小山;v.筑堤,用土堆防卫 | |
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20 scooping | |
n.捞球v.抢先报道( scoop的现在分词 );(敏捷地)抱起;抢先获得;用铲[勺]等挖(洞等) | |
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21 chunk | |
n.厚片,大块,相当大的部分(数量) | |
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22 loathing | |
n.厌恶,憎恨v.憎恨,厌恶( loathe的现在分词);极不喜欢 | |
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23 illuminated | |
adj.被照明的;受启迪的 | |
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24 likeness | |
n.相像,相似(之处) | |
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25 sorghum | |
n.高粱属的植物,高粱糖浆,甜得发腻的东西 | |
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26 twitch | |
v.急拉,抽动,痉挛,抽搐;n.扯,阵痛,痉挛 | |
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27 devoid | |
adj.全无的,缺乏的 | |
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28 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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29 transparent | |
adj.明显的,无疑的;透明的 | |
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30 oozed | |
v.(浓液等)慢慢地冒出,渗出( ooze的过去式和过去分词 );使(液体)缓缓流出;(浓液)渗出,慢慢流出 | |
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31 glossy | |
adj.平滑的;有光泽的 | |
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32 jade | |
n.玉石;碧玉;翡翠 | |
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33 intoxicating | |
a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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34 rustled | |
v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35 insistence | |
n.坚持;强调;坚决主张 | |
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36 peek | |
vi.偷看,窥视;n.偷偷的一看,一瞥 | |
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37 scrambled | |
v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞 | |
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38 unearthed | |
出土的(考古) | |
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39 squatted | |
v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 );非法擅自占用(土地或房屋);为获得其所有权;而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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40 supremely | |
adv.无上地,崇高地 | |
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41 scampered | |
v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑,惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42 haughtily | |
adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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43 hurled | |
v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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44 swelling | |
n.肿胀 | |
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45 aromatic | |
adj.芳香的,有香味的 | |
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46 gory | |
adj.流血的;残酷的 | |
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47 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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48 suffocating | |
a.使人窒息的 | |
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49 liars | |
说谎者( liar的名词复数 ) | |
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50 fleeting | |
adj.短暂的,飞逝的 | |
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51 lustrous | |
adj.有光泽的;光辉的 | |
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52 fragrance | |
n.芬芳,香味,香气 | |
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53 vomited | |
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54 spasm | |
n.痉挛,抽搐;一阵发作 | |
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55 hacking | |
n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动 | |
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56 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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57 tragic | |
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
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58 guts | |
v.狼吞虎咽,贪婪地吃,飞碟游戏(比赛双方每组5人,相距15码,互相掷接飞碟);毁坏(建筑物等)的内部( gut的第三人称单数 );取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 );内脏;消化道的下段;肠 | |
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59 disintegrated | |
v.(使)破裂[分裂,粉碎],(使)崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60 sockets | |
n.套接字,使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 );孔( socket的名词复数 );(电器上的)插口;托座;凹穴 | |
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61 limpid | |
adj.清澈的,透明的 | |
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