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"And after these years, your time is borrowed," he said, motioning for me to follow him to the edge of the clearing. "And then, you go back to the place you knew and loved. See this steep slope." He pointed toward the deep valley below.
“这以后，你的时间都是借来的，”他说，并用手示意我跟他走到那块空地的边缘，“于是，这时候，你就会回到你以前熟悉和热爱的地方。你看这个陡坡。”他用手指指下面山谷的深处。
"Your mother and I, when she was nineteen and I was twenty-two, cleared this mountain slope together. We raised corn, beans, and pumpkins here," he continued, his voice rising with excitement. "That's why I came back up here. I went back to our youth."
“你妈和我，当时她十九，我二十二，我们俩一起开垦了这面山坡。我们在这里种玉米、豆子和南瓜，”他接着说道，因为激动，嗓门也越来越高。“那就是我为什么要回到这里来的原因。我要回到我们的青年时代。”
I looked at the vast mountain slope below. It was on this slope that my father once made me a little wooden plow. That was when I was six years old and they brought me to the field to thin corn.
我望着下面广阔的山坡。当年就是在这面坡上，父亲有一次给我做了一张小小的木犁。记得那年我六岁，他们把我带到这块地里来给玉米间苗。
Now, to look at the slope, it was hard to believe that they had done it all. For many of the trees were sixty feet tall and the wild vines had matted their tops together.
现在，看看这个山坡，你很难相信，这一切都是他们两个人完成的。因为很多树现在都已经有六十英尺高了，而且那些野藤已经把树顶缠结成一片。
"And, Jess," he went on, "the doctor told me to sit still and to take life easy. I couldn't do it. I had to work. I had to smell this soil and touch it again. And I wanted to taste yams, tomatoes, and potatoes grown on the land."
“还有，杰西，”他接着说，“医生叫我待着别动，完全放松地生活。可是我办不到。我必须做点事情。我得闻闻这泥土，再抚摸抚摸它。而且我要尝尝这地里长出来的甜薯、西红柿、土豆。”
I followed him from his clearing in the sky, down a new path, toward the deep valley below.
我随他从那半空中的空地，沿着一条新的小路，走向下面的深谷。
"But why do you have so many paths coming up here?" I asked.
“不过你为什么要开辟那么多小路到这里呢？ ”我问他说。
"Oh, yes," he said. "Early last spring, I couldn't climb straight up the steep path. That was when the doctor didn't give me a week to live. So I made an easier path. Then, as I got better," he explained, "I made another path that was steeper. And as I continued to get better, I made still steeper paths. That was one way of knowing I was getting better all the time!"
“噢，对了，”他说。“去年舂天，我爬不动直上山顶的陡峭的小路了。那时医生说我只有一个星期的寿命了。所以我就开辟了一条容易一点的路。后来，因为我情况有好转，”他解释道， “我就另外开了一条，比前面一条要陡一些。后来由于我不断地好转，我就陆续开辟了其他更加陡峭的小路。这成了我证明自己一直在好转的一个办法！”
I followed him down the path that wound this way and that, three times the length of the path we had climbed.
我跟着他走下了那条弯弯曲曲的小路，这条路大概有我们刚刚上来时爬过的那条路三倍那么长。
